First Interstellar Guide Chapter 76: Cousins Meet Again

Chapter 76: Cousins Meet Again

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Yu Ran carefully inspected every corner of the spaceship and found no traces of cameras or listening devices. Only then did he lift the perception block on Lu Zexuan. Lu Zexuan could finally see the scene before him. He found himself on a private spaceship with only Yu Ran present. In front of him was a huge container, from which came rustling sounds as if something inside was struggling to get out.

In his mind, Lu Zexuan asked, “Ranran, what’s going on? Are we safe now?”

“We’ve already left Planet B73. The next stop is a tourist destination, and we’re currently on the interstellar route. We’re temporarily safe,” Yu Ran replied.

Seeing Yu Ran’s serious expression as he looked at the container, Lu Zexuan couldn’t help but ask, “What’s inside?”

Yu Ran sighed and said, “See for yourself.”

Lu Zexuan was puzzled as he took a step forward and opened the container. In that moment, his pupils constricted, and his hands trembled violently—

He met a familiar face. A face that had often appeared in his dreams over the years, filling him with guilt. Major General Lu Cheng’an, his respected elder cousin! The person’s face was still the same as he remembered, handsome and strong. However, the bright smile that once adorned his face was long gone. His expression was extremely vacant, his eyes now a deep black void, devoid of any signs of life.

More importantly, his body… had completely transformed into the likeness of a golden eagle. Under the eagle’s neck was a familiar circle of white feathers, like wearing a necklace. The majestic ruler of the sky now had large patches of feathers burnt to a charred black color all over its body. There was a long knife wound on its chest, with fresh blood still seeping from it.

Lu Zexuan’s hands kept trembling. He tentatively reached out, wanting to touch the familiar face, but just as he was about to make contact, he stiffened and pulled back, his voice hoarse as he called out, “Cousin…”

There was no response from the other party.

Lu Zexuan’s emotions were on the verge of collapse. “Cousin! How did you become like this… Cousin…”

He rushed forward and knelt in front of the golden eagle, tears filling his eyes, his whole body trembling violently. A sharp pain pierced his heart, as if his entire heart was being squeezed by a pair of hands, making it almost impossible to breathe. He could hardly imagine how his cousin had endured all these years, how much suffering he had endured. How could the proud and brilliant pride of the sky become such a monstrous creature, neither human nor ghost?!

The golden eagle was weak due to excessive blood loss and the torture of being electrocuted while locked in a cage for a long time. Although it was awake now, it was still very weak, its eyes almost unable to open. Moreover, it was currently unconscious, despite Lu Zexuan calling out to him several times without any response.

Seeing Lu Zexuan’s agonizing and painful appearance, Yu Ran walked over to him, gently placing a hand on his shoulder and comforting him, “Don’t be too sad. Your cousin didn’t die back then. He became like this, transformed into this form, and was captured by the Dark Night Organization.”

Lu Zexuan wiped his face roughly, looking up at Yu Ran. He knew his cousin had transformed and had no consciousness. Whatever he said to Lu Cheng’an now would be futile; Lu Cheng’an wouldn’t understand a word.

Looking at the knife wound on the eagle’s chest, Lu Zexuan’s eyes turned red, and he asked in his mind, “Just now, was the person Morvi asked me to kill my cousin?”

Yu Ran nodded, “Yes. So, I didn’t dare to lift the perception block on you. I knew you have a deep bond with your cousin. Once you saw him, you wouldn’t be able to maintain a poker face and stab him.”

Lu Zexuan clenched his fists tightly, the joints making cracking sounds. That heartless beast Morvi actually used such a cruel method to test them! Ranran was right. If he really saw his cousin in this form, how could he pretend to be expressionless? How could he bring himself to stab him? Fortunately, RanRan reacted quickly, using a perception block to allow Lu Zexuan to smoothly act out the scene without Morvi’s knowledge.

Yu Ran glanced at Lu Cheng’an and said softly, “There was no other choice at the time. I had to let you really stab him. I calculated the position of his heart, so you stabbed a few centimeters off, causing excessive bleeding and fainting, but not fatal. This was also the only hope to save him.”

Lu Zexuan hugged Yu Ran tightly, his voice choking, “Ranran, you’ve worked hard… I didn’t know anything, but at that time, you must have been under a lot of pressure, right? Thank you… for finding a way to save him.”

Feeling Lu Zexuan trembling, Yu Ran felt a little soft-hearted for some reason. He patted Lu Zexuan’s back and said, “You’re welcome. He’s your most important family member, so of course I have to find a way to save him… Alright, calm down first. Let me check his mental landscape.”

Lu Zexuan released Yu Ran, composed himself, and turned to look at the golden eagle in the box. Lu Cheng’an’s face still had no expression, his expression blank, his pitch-black eyes staring blankly at Yu Ran. Yu Ran extended his green mental tendrils and connected to his brain—

Lu Cheng’an’s mental landscape was even worse than Yu Ran had imagined. Instead of the vast grassland it should have been, there was only desolation everywhere. The once lush and verdant grassland seemed to have endured a brutal apocalypse, with not a single blade of grass in sight. In the mental landscape, there was also no trace of the golden eagle – because the mutated sentinel had merged with the golden eagle as one.

Seeing Yu Ran’s grim expression, Lu Zexuan worriedly clenched his fists. “How is he… is there any hope for him?”

After a moment of silence, Yu Ran said, “He’s been distorted for too long, and his mental landscape has been completely destroyed.”

Lu Zexuan bowed his head in anguish. He knew that a distorted sentinel was almost as good as being sentenced to death, with no precedent for recovery, especially since his brother was an S-class distorted sentinel, making full recovery even more unlikely.

With his injuries, Lu Cheng’an wasn’t attacking them now. But once he recovered, he might mercilessly devour them.

Seeing Lu Zexuan’s distress, Yu Ran comforted him, “Fortunately, he’s still alive, and as long as there’s life, there’s hope. I’ve heard that the chairman of the Guide Association is the most powerful guide in the entire federation when it comes to healing abilities. But we’re not sure if the chairman is friend or foe yet. When everything settles in the future, if he’s not in cahoots with Morvi, perhaps I can join forces with him? Two S+ guides working together might be able to save your cousin.”

Although the hope was slim, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, he couldn’t give up on Lu Cheng’an.

Lu Zexuan quickly calmed down and asked, “What should we do next? Where would be the best place to hide him?”

The two exchanged glances and simultaneously concluded in their minds, “Red Spider Star?”

Currently, the safest place was Red Spider Star. They couldn’t return to the capital planet; they wouldn’t even pass through security with a distorted species like Lu Cheng’an. They didn’t know if other planets were experimental bases of the Dark Night Organization. Lu Cheng’an’s distortion had made him huge and distinctive, making it difficult to find a suitable hiding place.

Only Red Spider Star, not within the Federation’s territory, remained unknown to anyone.

After careful consideration, Yu Ran said, “I told Morvi that we would lure your father out and create an accident, then have you inherit the position of Eagle Legion Commander. Three days later, I’ll lead General Lu near the Wormhole in the Southern Triangle, pretending to blow up his starship. We’ll inform him in advance to take Lu Cheng’an into the Wormhole, and they’ll drop onto Red Spider Star.”

Lu Zexuan pondered for a moment and followed Yu Ran’s train of thought, “This way, they’ll be able to meet up with the Eagle Special Forces, and no one will know they’re still alive. Father will fake his death, and you’ll have completed the mission as planned, supporting me to become the legion commander. Morvi will trust you even more. When the time is right, we’ll let Father bring back the Eagle Special Forces and catch him off guard.”

Yu Ran nodded, “Yes, this is currently the only way.”

Lu Zexuan worriedly added, “But… Lü Xiaolong knows about the Red Spider Star.”

Yu Ran remained calm, “Don’t worry, I’ve already thought of that. When we left Red Spider Star and released those two little monsters on Dorado Constellation, I quietly attacked Lü Xiaolong’s mental landscape and altered his memory, making him think we escaped from S107, Dorado Constellation, not from Red Spider Star.”

Yu Ran replaced Lü Xiaolong’s memory of “the starship falling into a Wormhole, and everyone landing on Red Spider Star” with “the starship being attacked by flying monsters, and everyone landing on S107, a planet in Dorado Constellation”. Although it was a dangerous situation and they landed using escape pods in both scenarios, he barely noticed the change in location. Moreover, after attacking him, Yu Ran completely erased any traces of damage to his mental world using the White Fox’s healing abilities.

So, after arriving at the capital planet, Lü Xiaolong’s mind only remembered the Dorado Constellation. He had no recollection of them ever going to an unknown planet below a Wormhole. Therefore, the existence of Red Spider Star remained unknown to the Dark Night Organization.

Lu Zexuan admired Yu Ran’s planning. Ranran was really cautious, almost foreseeing all the details. This also indicated that Yu Ran had been preparing for this day for too long. Perhaps as early as when they left Red Spider Star years ago, he had already regarded this planet as the most important part of the plan.

***

Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran pretended to be on a leisure trip, roaming around in their spaceship. To avoid the risk of Lu Cheng’an being discovered, they spent their days eating and sleeping in the spaceship. Occasionally, they visited some tourist attractions, carefully hiding the golden eagle whenever they stopped.

Yu Ran modified Morvi’s self-destruct device into something harmless, creating a loud noise but no real damage. Three days later, Yu Ran recorded a video of Lu Cheng’an’s face and sent it to General Lu Tingyu, “General Lu, your nephew is in our hands. If you want him back alive, bring 1.25 million credits in person to retrieve him.”

The demanding tone in the message was meant to resonate with the style of the star pirates.

General Lu Tingyu, who was usually mild-mannered, was infuriated when he saw the video. He immediately summoned a few of his most trusted guards and secretly headed to the location specified by Yu Ran.

At the same time, Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan had already returned to the capital planet in a civilian spaceship. Yu Ran needed to create an alibi for Lu Zexuan and swiftly take over the Eagle Legion after the news of General Lu’s demise arrived to prevent internal chaos.

As they returned to the capital planet, General Lu Tingyu set out on his journey. He piloted a small starship into the depths of space, arriving at an unfamiliar star system based on the navigation coordinates provided.

One of his guards whispered cautiously, “General, this might be a trap. How could Major General Lu Cheng’an suddenly come back to life after years of sacrifice? Could the other side have faked the video to lure you in?”

General Lu Tingyu’s expression was extremely serious, “Do you think I can’t distinguish between truth and falsehood, especially when it comes to my own nephew? That’s Cheng’an! These despicable star pirates actually captured Cheng’an and demanded a ransom from me! I will make them regret this!”

The guard wanted to say more, but General Lu Tingyu waved his hand to stop him, “That’s enough. My brother entrusted me with the care of his only son before he passed away. I failed to take care of Cheng’an back then, but now that I know he’s alive, I will rescue him at all costs!”

The soldiers exchanged glances but didn’t say anything more. When the old general became stubborn, there was no persuading him! Little did General Lu Tingyu know, a drop of sweat trickled down his forehead at that moment—Son, how’s my acting as your father? 

In that video, there was a number, 125, which was the distress signal agreed upon between father and son when exchanging their special agent badges. This indicated that Lu Zexuan was present during the recording.

Combined with the words conveyed to him by the agents before Lu Zexuan departed, General Lu Tingyu almost instantly understood everything. His son had discovered the secrets of the Dark Night Organization, perhaps even rescued his elder cousin, and now needed his assistance! General Lu Tingyu initiated a secret operation, only informing a few senior generals of the legion. If anything happened to him, Lu Zexuan would immediately take over as the legion commander.

On June 3rd, 500, another tragic news swept through the major news networks of the Federation. Major General Lu Cheng’an of the Eagle Legion had been kidnapped by star pirates. General Lu Tingyu, with the ransom, went on a secret rescue mission, but the ruthless star pirates directly blew up General Lu’s starship! The wreckage of the starship was sucked into a Wormhole, and both Major General Lu Cheng’an and General Lu Tingyu perished.

When the news reached the capital planet, several generals of the Eagle Legion came to find Lu Zexuan according to General Lu Tingyu’s will. Upon hearing the news of his father’s sacrifice, Lu Zexuan burst into tears in front of his seniors.

Yu Ran, with red eyes, gently hugged Lu Zexuan, saying, “How could this happen… Zexuan, don’t be too sad…”

Lu Zexuan wiped away his tears and choked out, “I will avenge my father!”

Three days later, General Lu Tingyu’s funeral was held solemnly on the capital planet. His wife, Jiao Shuo, attended the funeral, her face pale and unsteady. Lu Zexuan supported his mother, bowing deeply in front of General Lu Tingyu’s image at the grave. From that moment on, Lu Zexuan would become the youngest legion commander in the history of the Federation.