Chapter 94: Deliver the Big Cat

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Smoke filled the test site’s control room. Pirates slouched in their chairs, watching banks of monitors while fast-food boxes and empty bottles littered the floor. An old cleaning robot clumsily worked its way around the mess.

There was little of interest to see in this desolate place. The only amusement came from Lu Yao and his cat. A bearded pirate stared at the feed showing the small white feline climbing, chasing his own tail, and finally curling up to sleep. Before long, the pirate himself began to nod off.

Creisson sat nearby, one leg crossed, smoking as he watched Lu Yao on the screen. For two full days, Lu Yao had been building nothing more than a skeletal frame of a mecha. Yet Creisson knew he had not been slacking—aside from eating and sleeping, Lu Yao had worked without pause. Mecha construction was simply that slow and tedious.

“Boss.”

Scar-face leaned in. He had just delivered Lu Yao’s nutrient solution, which now hung from Lu Yao’s mouth.

“Speak.”

“Lu Yao says he wants some sand.”

“Sand? What the hell does he want sand for?” Creisson lowered his leg, suspicious.

“For the cat.” Scar-face made a scooping gesture. “A litter box. He said if there’s no sand, a few stones would do. He can grind them up with the industrial mixer.”

Creisson frowned. “And these past few days without sand—where has the cat been doing its business?”

The bearded pirate, startled awake, quickly pulled up footage. He showed Creisson a clip of Torque scratching in a corner. “Boss, look—Lu Yao scooped a box of small screws to use as litter. But they’re too cold. The cat doesn’t like them. Honestly, sand would be better.”

Creisson watched Torque bury his waste beneath the screws. His expression turned irritable. He waved a hand. “Fine. Have the next patrol bring back some sand.”

Scar-face hurried off to relay the order. Creisson rose, restless, and wandered over to the satellite feed.

“How’s the fight going between those two groups in orbit?”

“The Federation ships are still striking at Planet B12. Ground forces stationed there have fought them to a stalemate, and now the battle’s moved into space. From their insignias and weapons, I’d say the other side is a mercenary outfit from the border regions.”

“What’s the Federation doing tangling with them?”

“No idea. The Federation only has two ships there—it might be some old grudge. I recall those mercenaries once hijacked supplies from the Explorers’ Corps.”

“Hmph. The Federation’s as petty as ever. They haven’t spotted us, have they?”

“Not yet.”

“Good.” Creisson narrowed his eyes at the screen. “Shift the view right… there. Well, I’ll be damned—those mercs are tough. They’ve crippled a Federation battleship.”

“Boss! Debris from the battleship’s wreckage is falling toward the surrounding planets—B13 included!”

“Debris is nothing. Just make sure none of it smashes us.”

Creisson turned to leave—then froze at a shout.

“Boss, wait! A signal transmitter just entered B13’s atmosphere!”

He spun back. “Where? Show me!”

The pirate zoomed in. The satellite feed locked onto an oval object plummeting fast, wreathed in flames as it tore through B13’s thin air. Its hull glowed red-hot but held intact, unlike the fragments that had vaporized in the heat.

Creisson’ sharp gaze pierced the fiery gaps. “That’s an escape pod… Lock onto it immediately!”

“Federation personnel dropping in?!”

“Looks that way.” Creisson bit down on his cigarette. “But the pod’s already cracked. Whoever’s inside likely won’t survive. Doesn’t matter. I want that transmitter destroyed before the Federation tracks us here.”

At once, the pirates armed themselves and sped off in rovers and flyers toward the crash site. The blazing sun stretched their shadows across the desert, heat waves twisting the air. As they neared the impact zone, the stench of charred metal and blood wafted on the sweltering wind.

The escape pod’s silver-gray shell was burned black. Its lower half had ruptured, fragments scattered who knew where. The inner plastic lining had melted, dripping into the quartz-fused sands.

White smoke rose straight into the still air, blinding their view. Creisson raised a hand, signaling forward. Armed pirates advanced through the smoke, eyes catching on the blood pooling beneath the wreck—liquid that sizzled and vanished in the heat.

Then, a pair of bloodied hands clawed from a gap, scraping at the scorching ground. The sound of seared flesh tearing against metal was almost unbearable.

One pirate, wearing insulated gloves, tore away the remaining shell. A soldier in a half-shredded uniform spilled out, covered in blood. Barely conscious, he crawled forward, driven only by stubborn survival instinct. Half his body was shattered and burned. He wouldn’t last. He couldn’t even speak. A glance passed between Creisson and a pirate. A shot rang out.

The man’s skull burst, blood sizzling into vapor against the hot steel, leaving only a faint crimson stain. A pirate rolled the corpse over with his boot. The face was unrecognizable, cooked beyond recognition—but the colonel’s insignia on his shoulder caught their attention.

Kneeling, the pirate tugged a tag from the body and squinted. “Colonel Zhao Minghe… Silver Halberd Fleet. Boss, this dead man was a colonel!”

Creisson strode over, nudging the body. Dead was dead. A colonel meant nothing. He opened his mouth to order the weapons gathered when a rasping breath caught his ear. “There’s another one inside?!”

A pirate gaped. “Impossible. An escape pod only fits one.”

But when he wrenched back more of the wreckage, something gleamed silver-white in the shadows. A massive cat. The pirate blinked, confused. The animal crouched in the corner, trembling from the drop. Creisson stepped forward, recognition flashing in his eyes.

“The snow leopard… That soldier was Zhao Minghe, wasn’t he?”

“Right.”

“Then this beast at his side must be Zhou Yunchen’s snow leopard—the same one from Lu Yao’s research films.” Creisson’ mouth curved into a sly grin. “Drag him out. Give him to Lu Yao. With two cats around, maybe he’ll build mechas in peace. Oh, and didn’t Lu Yao ask for sand? Bring plenty back. This one will need it too.”

At the mention of Lu Yao’s name, the snow leopard’s ears shot upright. The pirates hauled him out. The big cat whimpered, low and pained. Creisson stared a moment, then summoned more men.

“Scan him. Check for trackers.”

They ran the scanner over his body. When it passed the nape of his neck, the device shrieked.

“Boss, found one.”

“Good.” Creisson exhaled smoke, flicked his cigarette into the sand, and watched it burn to ash in an instant. “Dig it out, crush it. Then bring him back.”

The Rambler, medical bay.

“The escape pod has already landed at the designated site,” Li Mo said, leaning against the wall. “The chip signal went dark. It’s chip damage, not the host’s death.”

“Mm. That means the General has already made contact with those star pirates.”

Li Mo glanced at Zhao Minghe. This landing operation had made Li Mo the fourth person in the galaxy to know that General Zhou Yunchen could actually switch between human form and snow leopard form.

At the time, Li Mo had been so stunned that he had blurted out the question of whether Lu Yao knew about it. Zhou Yunchen had given him a heavy, unreadable look. Thinking back on it now, Li Mo could only sigh.

He had watched Lu Yao’s documentaries. He remembered vividly every scene of the snow leopard—on a rope leash, or leaping onto Lu Yao’s shoulders and rubbing against him with wild affection. If Chief Engineer Lu had no idea that the pet he raised was, at his core, a human being… Li Mo dared not follow that thought any further.

“From here on, it’s up to the General,” Zhao Minghe said with a sigh.

An intelligent medical arm was busy applying medicine to his wounds. After the staged cosmic battle arranged by Zhou Yunchen and Li Mo, the escape pod that crashed into B13 had contained a basic clone of Zhao Minghe.

According to plan, they had never intended for that mindless clone to survive. The damage to the pod’s outer shell had been carefully calculated to ensure the clone would be fatally wounded while still keeping the snow leopard safe.

But to produce the clone quickly, Zhao Minghe had been forced to donate his spinal stem cells and reproductive cells. The former extraction came with searing pain, but that had been fine—Zhao Minghe was a tough alpha. The latter extraction, however, used the most primitive, humiliating method imaginable. Even a tough alpha could not keep the embarrassment from showing on his face.

He had not brought any spare clothing aboard the Rambler. His uniform had gone straight onto the clone. Now he was stuck in a borrowed patient’s gown. That was even more humiliating. Zhao Minghe let out a long sigh, convinced that his sterling reputation had been ruined for good on this starship. Li Mo quietly patted the aide’s shoulder in a gesture of comfort.

Lu Yao set down the welding torch and the visor, then stepped back a few paces to inspect the mecha frame, three-quarters complete.

It was only a one-meter-tall prototype. Creisson hadn’t demanded innovation—he simply wanted Lu Yao to replicate one of the Federation’s most powerful existing mecha designs. Lu Yao had decided to cobble together a prototype first to appease the man holding a knife to his throat.

But even when making a mere prototype—even for a client threatening his life—Lu Yao worked with exacting precision. To Creisson, who knew nothing about the true pace of mecha construction, there was nothing amiss.

The lab door slid open. Lu Yao turned, only to see the limping pirate.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing.” The man smirked faintly and strode straight toward him.

The distance between them shrank. Lu Yao sensed danger and his expression sharpened. “Step back.”

The pirate didn’t respond. He clamped a hand down on Lu Yao’s shoulder. Lu Yao lashed out with a kick to his knee, but he was no match for an alpha determined to overpower him. The pirate twisted, throwing Lu Yao hard onto the floor. Components scattered with a clatter.

Clang—crash—

“Get away from me!”

Pain shot up Lu Yao’s spine. The pirate loomed over him, sneering. “Don’t bother shouting. Nobody’s here. Unlike the others, I’m not so uptight. Whether an omega gets taken or not doesn’t change his work. What’s there to be afraid of?”

Fury burned in Lu Yao’s ice-blue eyes. The instant the pirate seized his collar, Lu Yao snatched the welding torch at hand and drove it into the man’s other leg. The searing flame scorched through flesh, fat sizzling with a sickening hiss as the pirate screamed.

Lu Yao drove his knee upward, forcing the man back. His face was as cold as steel. Pinning the writhing pirate down, he saw the man’s hand lunge for his waist. In the next heartbeat, Lu Yao stabbed the electromagnetic molecular knife straight through the pirate’s palm into the metal floor, fusing flesh and alloy together in a spray of sparks.

The agony of cellular disintegration was beyond imagination. The pirate’s screams rose another octave, echoing through the lab.

Author’s Note:

The countdown to the big reveal is ticking.

I was randomly pairing Li Mo and Zhao Minghe—stoic, weary mercenary x gentle, dependable aide—and to my surprise, they sparked. But there’s no room in this story for a side couple. Just me rambling for fun.

 

 

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