He and It Chapter 106: Utopia (2)

If you want more of this novel, we are accepting donations on Ko-Fi for sponsored chapters. https://ko-fi.com/exiledrebels

Chapter 106: Utopia (2)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

The silent nebula swirled, its endless particles refracted the light of the stars, and gave it a rose-like, golden-red color. It was like a burning fire, yet it was more violent and out of control than a fire. One look at it would cause a dizzying intoxication in the retina.

“You’re here again? ” A low, friendly voice came from his side. Gu Xingqiao didn’t need to turn. Sissel’s bright blue eyes and hair like gold had already appeared in his mind.

“Yes.” He smiled. “If I’m not here, where else would I be? “

Sissel’s smile was laced with a touch of sadness as he looked cautiously at Gu Xingqiao.

The Crown Prince’s features were handsome and defined, with golden brown, sword-like eyebrows. Whenever he frowned in worry, the person he gazed at would always have the illusion that he was the most aggrieved person in the world, the most worthy of pity.

“The feast is in full swing,” he said pleadingly, as he weighed his words. “Come back with me, and I’ll be sure to speak sternly to them! I’ll tell them to curb their stinking tempers-“

“The Imperials look down on the Folk of the Wine God. it’s a collective memory engraved in our genes, even if we are part of the Empire,” Gu Xingqiao interrupted his gambit. “Forget it, Sissel. You’re too soft-tempered to correct it.”

“I can!” Sissel couldn’t help but grab his arm, as he stopped the youth from dropping his head and walking away. “I’m the Crown Prince. Who dares disobey me? Xingqiao, trust me for once. You’ve made a great achievement in this siege. The celebration banquet is being held just for you! How can the most important guest not show up? Please, I’m beg you…”

Gu Xingqiao lowered his eyes and sighed wearily.

His black hair was shiny, and his eyebrows were like thick ink, but his skin was as pale as untouched snow after years of piloting ships and fighting among the stars. When he looked directly at his targets, he looked like a sheathed blade. It was only by staring at the ground with his eyes lowered, that his thick eyelashes were able to barely mitigate some of the sharpness in his demeanor.

For a Crown Prince, Sissel was too much of an idealistic man…or perhaps, boy. He loved to laugh and wasn’t shy about his tears and vulnerability. He always had an optimistic view of events, was incredibly open-minded in his political advocacy, and was equally unbelievable on the battlefield, to the point that his approach could be called indecisive benevolence.

The Empire’s aristocracy were mixed about this. Half thought that Sissel would become an emperor loved by the people. The other half thought that Sissel, as emperor, might give away two-thirds of the Empire’s territory.

His father naturally heard those voices, and thus the aides assigned to his son were all unabashedly hard-line hawks. Those generals and ministers, after spending time with Sissel, might be able to understand his noble character and recognize His Majesty as the future monarch, but when they were faced with Gu Xingqiao, they had nothing but contempt in their eyes; stares that were no different from looking at a whore.

The Wine God Folk.

Everything started because he was part of the Folk of the Wine God.

For that, he was grateful to Sissel, and held him in high regard. Radical and stubborn prejudice or his father’s iron-fisted style of rule, neither had left a trace in the Crown Prince. On the contrary, he had promised to change the Empire’s view of the Wine God Folk, and to push for reforms from the top down, so that one day, Gu Xingqiao, and people like him, would be able to walk in the sunlight with their heads held high..

..The memories were interrupted.

Deep, weary sarcasm flooded up from his heart in waves, like overwhelming vomit from a hangover.

Gu Xingqiao woke up again.

Where am I?

His eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he subconsciously moved his fingers.

I’m not…I’m not dead? 

Gu Xingqiao suddenly stiffened, and he stopped breathing. For the first time in a long time, he felt a visceral panic.

The molded poison affixed to his back teeth was a cutting-edge, pico-grade neurotoxin only available to military generals. It penetrated through the mucous membranes of the mouth faster than lightning, had no antidote, no possibility of recovery, and was designed to be the final killer for a martyrdom operation. How…He’s actually alive?!

Gu Xingqiao had already tried his best to suppress his heartbeat and breathing, however, the cold voice from earlier still recognized his trick.

“You’re awake.” The other party spoke indifferently. “To simply end your life, I would like to commend your determination. After all, in a span of approximately one thousand four hundred and fifty-two years, there were only four humans, and two fae, who made the same choice as you.”

Gu Xingqiao didn’t open his eyes. He needed a moment to process the feelings of horror within him.

Even if he had come to the end of his rope, his backup means would never go wrong. The toxin was the real deal, but it hadn’t been able to stop this unknown being from dragging him back to life from the clutches of death.

Him…? Maybe it was Him? What the hell was it? 

Fourteen hundred years…Long before the era of the Great Purge. Could it be that He was an ancient human? 

Gu Xingqiao opened his eyes.

In a halo of pure white light, he saw a…A big spider.

Gu Xingqiao, “?”

He couldn’t help but open his eyes a little wider.

No, it wasn’t a spider, it was indeed a humanoid individual.

The other retained the standard adult male form. His body proportions were as perfect as a martial god’s, and were most likely carefully engineered. His long hair was as thick as snow, and loosely tied up from his back, in a look that was still flawless, while the light purple of his eyes that gazed at Gu Xingqiao had hovering, precise arcs of light.

As for the tight-fitting combat uniform on the other party’s body, it was a style that Gu Xingqiao had never seen before. It was so smooth that it was almost white porcelain, but where the joints curved, it was as soft and flexible as snake scales.

Most importantly were the eight exoskeleton appendages behind him on both sides. They were white-colored and shaped like spears, the ends as sharp and pointed as the needles. They completely replaced the method of walking on two legs, and levitating the humanoid body to a height where it didn’t touch the ground.

…So lofty that it was as if the slightest touch of his toes on the floor was an out-of-character insult.

“I am Tian Yuan,” the other said in a flat tone. “By coming here, you are now owned by me, and it is only logical to act according to my will.”

Gu Xingqiao remained silent.

There was no need to say more. He had already guessed the identity of the other party.

One thousand four hundred years ago. The Era of the Ancient Humans. Tian Yuan.

The many existing warships were divided into nine ranks, ranging from the smallest model, the “Longclaw”, which was only as big as a sea ship, to the “Stella”, which was so long and vast that it was enough to ignite a star. The forces of the Galaxy relied on them to expand their frontiers, to seize profit, and to exert power.

But Gu Xingqiao knew that before human civilization had entered a darker, more backward age, the true hegemony of cosmic navigation had existed, and there was a rank greater than the Stella.

And its name was Tian Yuan.

Every Tian Yuan was the true embodiment of the most brilliant technology of mankind. They could serve as worthy Noah’s Arks, or become destructive forces that could annihilate the spinning arm of a galaxy. Pulling a briefly dead person back into the human world once again should be a trivial matter, as easy as a slap in the face, for the creature in front of him.

“I thought that Tian Yuan had disappeared long ago.” Gu Xingqiao stared upwards with a jaded expression. “It’s lacking a bit of common sense to call you an avatar, so what are you? An intelligent AI?”

“According to the definition of human concepts, it is reasonable to call me an incarnation.” Tian Yuan stared at him expressionlessly.

“And?” Gu Xingqiao asked quietly.

Tian Yuan said flatly, “Arise, human, and continue your duties. I healed you because I took an interest in you. Based on controlled observations, the gesture of you crying out and bending your knees for mercy will have a fairly weighted probability of entertaining me more than the carbon-based creatures before you.”

Accompanying his blunt command, an invisible force field instantly closed around Gu Xingqiao’s entire body like an impenetrable bubble, and forcibly wrapped around him with the intention of casting him into the opening below.

Gu Xingqiao hadn’t yet looked down, but he could hear the hissing of beasts emerging from the dark entrance, as well as the sound of meat being devoured, intertwined with the occasional rotation of a saw wheel and the roar of organs ripping open. It was just like a complex, open meat grinder factory.

“OK. I’ll fall down directly to my death.” Gu Xingqiao’s mood was unperturbed. “I don’t care. It’s all up to you.”

Tian Yuan observed him carefully.

“You are already owned by me. Why don’t you act according to my will?” He made the statement together with a query, “I read your memories. You call yourself ‘Wine God Folk.’ Based on your existing native cultural environment, adult Wine God Folk are known for their fanatical wills, fawning bodies, and highly uncontrollable spirits. That makes them excellent tools for pleasing other intelligent species.”

Gu Xingqiao’s eyes snapped up. His suicidal calmness dissolved into a brittle façade, and once he momentarily broke through that camouflage, his eyes were as cold and dead as certain vipers. Here he was capable of turning the fiery flames of his heart into a solid force that would frantically rip out the world’s throat.

“–Why don’t you please me?” Through the transparent force field, Tian Yuan was observing him as if he was an unruly plant in a glass jar. “As is the duty of your clan? “

“…Shut up.” Gu Xingqiao said.

He finally had a different reaction. The data stream in Tian Yuan’s eyes jumped slightly, and actually produced a little mood swing similar to “happy.”

“I also found something else interesting,” Tian Yuan continued without haste. “The underage Wine God Folk, known in your cultural milieu as the ‘Wretched of the Scourge Empire’, need to leave their home planets and go to the Empire’s power centers to pursue their education. In the course of their schooling, there is an overwhelming 91% chance that the Wine God Folk, including you, will suffer from the collective bullying of the Imperials, a systematic society that infinitely harbors and all but condones harassment.”

He reviewed Gu Xingqiao’s recollections and excerpted an original quote. He inclined his head as he repeated, “‘Is a tool that will get its master killed, considered a good tool?'”

He chose one more. “‘You are not as obedient as a domesticated dog, but you are much better looking than a domesticated dog.’”

Gu Xingqiao’s fingers clenched deep into his palm. He ground out, “I told you to shut up.”

Through the stream of his memories, Tian Yuan stared at the youth before him with interest. “And what are you going to do? You want to defy me? I am indeed willing to listen to your–”

“And what can you do?” Gu Xingqiao was like a cornered beast, as he stared into the other’s eyes with a gaze as vicious as fire. “An avatar of consciousness trapped in this place, only to wander alone for eternity. You have created a body for yourself, a medium capable of movement, but so what? How dare a prisoner with a life sentence have the face to mock the freedom of a tool!” 

Tian Yuan stared at him motionless. The light in his eyes quivered for a moment.

“Does your existence have a meaning? ” Gu Xingqiao laughed. His grin, which revealed his white teeth, was more like a rictus. “I don’t think there is, and I’m sure you yourself don’t think there is either. Why else would you be so bored as you are? Desperately searching for the slightest thing that can interest you, just to prove that you are not an invisible existence to the world?”

Tian Yuan’s pupils suddenly shrunk as Gu Xingqiao snapped, “I’ll tell you again, get lost! I don’t have time to waste time with a giant baby who searches for affirmation like he’s searching for milk!” 

His hand reached back hard, and pulled off the safeties on his combat suit that were designed to go into the back of his spine.

The sound of bone cracking was crisp and clear. In a split second, Gu Xingqiao fell, twisted, into the suspended barrier like a puppet that had lost all its strings.

For the second time, with his last conscious thought, he hoped that this incarnation would save face and stop clinging on to him for dear life.