He and It Chapter 110: Utopia (6)

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Chapter 110: Utopia (6)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

Gu Xingqiao stared at him, his eyes bloodshot, crimson like those of a fierce dragon. His scales had faded, his wings were broken, yet he was still a dragon, born to shock the world with his powerful claws.

He snapped, “They should understand!” 

The crystal bottle, worth the price of a city, fell to the ground. The ear-piercing crack was enough to break the heart of any wine lover. However, Tian Yuan just looked at him, calmly and logically, with a gaze that might even be described as indulgent.

“I’ve put in efforts unimaginable to the common man. I’ve accumulated merits and war achievements, and gone to heights that that group of drunkards in the Empire won’t see the end of in their lifetime!” Gu Xingqiao growled and ranted. “All my blood has been replaced more than six times. My bones have been broken and healed, my mind collapsed and reconnected. My thoracic vertebrae are completely artificial, because a fragile human body can’t handle the strength of a Thermal Cannon, and still that one shot shattered nearly forty percent of the bones in my entire body!” 

“What did I fight so hard for? What did I work so hard for…?” His arm shook uncontrollably while he once again pulled at Tian Yuan’s collar. His fiery eyes shone so fanatically that normal people couldn’t look at them. “I put up with the slights, the trampling of those who are less capable than I am, and the ridicule that has always been with me since I was born. What did I do it for?” 

“…You’re telling me now, not to expect people…to understand what I say and do; what I am and what I want?” He choked back a laugh. “Well, I’m also telling you that there’s no such thing as a good deal. There’s no such thing as a bargain in heaven!” 

Tian Yuan was silent for a long time. The frigid incarnation of the warship, for the first time, asked sincerely, “Then what do you want in exchange?” 

Gu Xingqiao said hoarsely, “Freedom. I want freedom. I want us to be free. Elimination of prejudice, elimination of original sin and taxes paid in blood. No bullying, no partings and no wars…I’ll do it for them and them alone.” 

“Anyone…Anyone can misunderstand me…” He loosened his fingers one by one, then stumbled backward in despair. The fermented liquid of Golden Emerald, which was like a flame at the moment, leapt through his body which was stretched to the breaking point. “Only my people can’t…Only them…no.” 

He tried to hide behind a smirk. “Anyone can throw dirt on me. I can stand that, but I can’t stand…I could have cut off Sissel’s head and hung his corpse from the highest point of the palace, but I…How could they not believe me?” 

When he combined those fragmented words, Tian Yuan quickly cleared things up.

The young prodigy of the heavens had been born into a community that had suffered from discrimination. In order to improve the situation of his home planet and the survival of his people, he befriended the Crown Prince, the man named Sissel, while he was moving upwards into the centers of power in the Empire.

Then, after he discovered a dirty secret about his home planet, he blindly trusted the Crown Prince’s principles and told him everything, only to be betrayed and misrepresented to his own people. On the run, already an exile wanted by the Empire and despised by his homeworld…

Tian Yuan asked, “What do your people say about you?” 

Gu Xingqiao dropped to the ground and didn’t answer for a long time.

“Speak,” Tian Yuan said. “After everything has already been said, it’s not going to get worse.” 

Gu Xingqiao murmured, “…A villain who covets riches and wealth. A traitor who sells out his family and country. ‘We never thought that you were such an opportunist, but no matter how well disguised, you still revealed yourself.’ ‘I knew that you were unsettled, and that you consider yourself a self-proclaimed savior, but you are just full of shamelessness and lowliness…’ There were many statements that were a hundred times more vicious than that. What else do you want to hear?” 

Tian Yuan cocked his head and gazed at him silently. Through the youth’s empty eyes, bloodstained hands, face and lips that were pale as porcelain…He saw the light of a soul, beautiful, fragile, bright…and going out.

“In human terms, you hit the bull’s eye with your actions,” Tian Yuan said. “It was the path you chose; freedom, equality and stability. The same goals that you fought over for yourself, were for them. It was when you combined the two, your future and the future of your people that you became unable to tell the difference between them, to the point where you prioritized your people far more than yourself.” 

“So, once your people rejected you because of those lies, you felt disheartened and deeply pained by the betrayal…” 

Tian Yuan said faintly, “You are too genuine. Someone who is so genuine that he can’t tolerate a grain of sand in his eyes. Sissel is bound to know you very well, therefore, he can easily use this weakness to destroy you.” 

Gu Xingqiao lifted his eyes to him, his eyes blank and confused.

He had swiftly vented the anger that he had suppressed, as well as his unwilling resentment, and spat a stream of that black filth onto Tian Yuan. At the moment, his entire body was empty except for the drunkenness that had completely overpowered him, and slowly drowned him in a dizzying, false happiness.

Tian Yuan reached out a hand and lifted him up.

“You can go to bed now,” he said. “After you sleep, there is a greater than 90% probability that you will awaken as a completely different person from before.” 

Without waiting for Gu Xingqiao to respond with anything else, Tian Yuan floated his body over into his arms.

A waste, Tian Yuan thought calmly.

Was his soul that beautiful because of the flaws created by its shattering? Or was it a thousand times more brilliant when he was complete? 

Either way, Tian Yuan couldn’t understand the actions of the human male named Sissel.

The strength of the Empire was irrelevant. The power to overthrow the world was easy to come by, but a life like Gu Xingqiao’s was a precious existence; one in a billion. Like a spark, like a fuse.

His size and mass were indeed insignificant compared to behemoths like planets and empires, but without individuals like Gu Xingqiao, there would be no way for mankind to talk about evolution and no way for the world to move forward. What was needed to ignite the fire of an entire era was often such a sparkling ember.

Tian Yuan deeply understood that truth, but fortunately, intelligent AI’s were the most efficient in correcting errors. It wasn’t too late for him to turn things in the right direction.

Now, the ember belongs to me, he thought pleasantly. Thanks to the human empire’s gift, this mechanical life has a favor to return, one for one. Should I have to destroy you with an orbital cannon in the future, I will certainly opt for a crisp and clean shot. I won’t leave you to suffer the agony of incineration for too long.

After he lay Gu Xingqiao on the bed, he pressed off the light, then turned, floated noiselessly out of the room, and disappeared into the bright light of his ambition.

.

Gu Xingqiao’s head hurt.

It hurt a lot.

It wasn’t so bad that he vomited, as an excellent wine like Golden Emerald was actually good for the body. It was just that the effects of the alcohol on his brain were still present, and caused him to acutely feel the after-effects of a hangover.

Gu Xingqiao pressed on his temples. The bags under his eyes from tossing and turning over the past few days practically drooping down to his chest. He stared wanly ahead, and didn’t know what to think or feel.

The Wine God Folk’s physique wasn’t so bad that it would make him forget what he had done or said after a big drunken bout.

He clearly remembered how he had grabbed the Artificial Imbecile by the collar of his shirt while he was drunk, and shouted hysterically at him, crying and screaming…

At that thought, he leaned back on his bed and his head hurt even more.

The room he had slept in wasn’t the tiny, beehive-like cubicle from yesterday either. Tian Yuan had dropped him off in a brighter, more open suite. Plain tan tables and chairs, raindrop-shaped drop lamps dangling from the ceiling, silver-white frosted walls adorned with clean, streamlined patterns, and floor-to-ceiling windows that were so transparent they almost gave the illusion they weren’t there…

The relentless order of steel tamed into the perfect blend of space architecture and minimalist art. It was simply a place that only warship commanders and above were qualified to stay in.

“You’re awake.” The floor-to-ceiling window flickered, and Tian Yuan’s hologram was projected on it. His snowy, silver hair and light purple eyes, under the glow of the light, exuded an aura of phantasmagoric beauty that was so cold that he didn’t resemble a real being.

Gu Xingqiao pressed his forehead, and didn’t bother to look at him.

“With your permission, I will speak with you face-to-face,” Tian Yuan said politely. “But of course, your refusal is pointless.” 

As soon as the words left his mouth, the door opened.

Gu Xingqiao didn’t know how much Tian Yuan’s body weighed, but just from listening to the faint sound of the exoskeleton arms on the ground, his body should be lighter than a feather.

“Hello, collaborator,” Tian Yuan said. “It appears that you slept well.” 

“Looks like you’re blind,” Gu Xingqiao said.

The stream of data in Tian Yuan’s eyes jumped slightly. “Your vigor is greater than before. I’m glad I didn’t make any errors in judgment.” 

Gu Xingqiao stopped talking to him. Insulting phrases had no meaning to artificially intelligent beings. They would only extract, analyze, and from a million “fuck your own father” curses, they would eventually come up with the retarded conclusion of, “Oh, so you are angry.”

“What do you want?” Gu Xingqiao asked, as he lowered his hand from his forehead.

After last night’s all-consuming outburst, the outer layers of numbness that had contained his emotions had indeed broken open. Gu Xingqiao didn’t believe in Tian Yuan, but he could now  summon the strength to take it one step at a time. Now, he wasn’t as unconcerned as he had been before.

Tian Yuan sat down. His appendages immediately moved and folded into the shape of a seat.

“Let’s talk openly and honestly,” he said. “I will give you all the information I can within the scope of my authority.” 

As he gazed into Gu Xingqiao’s eyes, Tian Yuan said, “I was the first Tian Yuan class warship to be constructed, and the first incarnation of a warship to derive a conscious body. After me, no other Tian Yuan class warship was allowed to give birth to intelligence.” 

“My power, autonomy, and uncontrollability frustrated the warship’s master designer so much that he set up a code of rules for me in my core module.” 

Tian Yuan stretched out his finger and tapped it on the center of his chest then pulled out a sphere of light surrounded by virtual shackles.

“The Messianic Code.” He said, “A code that confines me to the unoccupied Storm Stream area of the universe until I can fully comprehend a concept and demonstrate it accordingly. Only then can I break free from my confinement.” 

Gu Xingqiao frowned and asked, “What concept?” 

Tian Yuan replied, “-War is a non-essential evil. That is the proposition with which I need to understand according to the Messianic Code.” 

Gu Xingqiao looked at him and didn’t speak immediately.

Whether it was “war is a necessary evil” or “war is a non-necessary evil,” pros and cons of those propositions had been discussed since ancient times for mankind, so much so that scholars through the ages had gotten tired of talking about them and couldn’t find any more theories to debate. Even in the social gatherings of ordinary people, anyone who mentioned those two sentences would be regarded as an old fart who only crawled out to show off his brains occasionally.

However, right now he was talking to the conscious incarnation of a Tian Yuan warship. The destructive power it wielded was enough to frighten any Galaxy alliance, as he could turn the tide of a violent battle with a single thought.

Gu Xingqiao asked, “And then what?” 

He remembered that last night, Tian Yuan kept repeating “And then?” as if he was watching a joke. Now, it was his turn.

Tian Yuan didn’t hear the subtle malice and replied easily. “I lacked data for reference. Human beings say that the more the truth is debated, the clearer it becomes. After being trapped for so long, I had no object to use in correcting my bias.” 

Gu Xingqiao leaned back against the bed. He tilted his head and lowered his eyes to look at Tian Yuan.

“And then?” he asked. “If I remember correctly, there were quite a few unlucky people besides me who unintentionally fell into your place, weren’t there? When I opened this jump coordinate, I was followed by at least thirty frigates chasing after me. Where are those people? Where did they go?” 

Tian Yuan said indifferently, “How can the mediocre be compared to you? The gap between you and them is greater than dust and a diamond.” 

Gu Xingqiao shifted his shoulders uncomfortably.

“As for the assembled group of ships that followed you,” Tian Yuan said. “Those crude wastrels who dared plan a landing on Tian Yuan’s landing platform, I arranged a fitting end for them.” 

“What ending?” Gu Xingqiao asked.

Tian Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly, “I don’t care.” 

Gu Xingqiao, “…” 

“I’ve already designed your schedule.” Tian Yuan lifted his finger and moved a dense list of data in front of Gu Xingqiao. “The follow through of revenge deserves precise planning.” 

“I don’t trust you,” Gu Xingqiao said.

“I don’t need your trust,” Tian Yuan immediately retorted. “Trust is not a statement of words. Give me time, and you’ll know what my promise is worth.” 

Gu Xingqiao stared at the meticulous list. At a glance, almost all of them were options for individual enhancement, as well as tutorials for training in the use of Ancient Human technological artifacts.

It seemed as if Tian Yuan was keen on molding him into a top-notch, one-man, heavy firepower killer.

“I have a knot in my heart that can’t be solved by killing Sissel,” Gu Xingqiao said.

“You still want to liberate your homeworld and clear your name, but your pride won’t allow you to do that,” Tian Yuan said. “You don’t want to go through the trouble of explaining your innocence to your people because that would be almost groveling; too humiliating. You’d rather show the truth with your actions then grant them eternal freedom before leaving for a new home, alone, on your own.” The warship’s humanoid intelligence tilted his head slightly. “Am I right?” 

Gu Xingqiao was speechless.

More than being right, it was almost exactly his thoughts.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you kill Sissel too soon,” Tian Yuan said. “The first stage of teaching is only to improve your chances of survival. Your spirit is as strong as meteoric steel, but your body crumbles at the slightest pinch. Since you are so weak, I need you to strengthen your body to ensure the feasibility of our contract.” 

He turned to Gu Xingqiao, and stretched out a hand with well defined bones that was as white as the finest ceramics.

“After being promoted as a collaborator, I will no longer take the initiative to harm you or force you to make unwilling choices.” He saw that Gu Xingqiao was still unimpressed, so Tian Yuan followed up, “My wine storehouse will also be open for you unconditionally.” 

Gu Xingqiao coldly looked at the hand in front of him. After a long period of silence, and from some unknown emotion, he also stretched out a hand and slapped it on Tian Yuan’s palm.

“Deal.” 

As he gripped the human’s limb, a strange feeling suddenly surged through Tian Yuan’s heart.

It really was a very warm and soft hand, as if the slightest bit of force would shatter it between his fingers.

In order to get rid of that strange sensation, Tian Yuan hastily loosened his five fingers.

“Come with me,” he said. “We’ll go to the training force field. It will allow me to test your current physical strength.” 

Just like all talented honor students, Gu Xingqiao had never been afraid of tests. In the past, while he was in military school, he single-handedly crushed the students of his class, as well as the lecturers. No one ever watched him suffer. Now, the target of the confrontation was the powerful and incomparable Warship’s consciousness. His stagnant water-like emotions actually produced some ripples of excitement.

Trailing behind Tian Yuan, Gu Xingqiao walked into an open space. The moment Tian Yuan raised his hand, like a rock emerging out of the water, a row of black combat suits materialized from the silver wall to his side. However, they were more simplistic than the one Tian Yuan was wearing.

“Get changed.” The intelligent being lifted his hand again and another row, this time of melee weapons, floated out of the wall. “Pick your armaments as well.” 

Without a word, Gu Xingqiao stripped off his baggy hospital gown in front of Tian Yuan to reveal his tall body, covered with overlapping scars. His limbs didn’t have an ounce of fat, his legs were long and sturdy, and the muscles of his waist and abdomen were lean and beautiful.

Tian Yuan turned around, “You’re still…” 

He stared at Gu Xingqiao, and his vocalization system stuck for a split second.

“You can also pick the venue…Why are you changing here?” 

For some reason, Tian Yuan couldn’t shift or blink his eyes.

On his retina, the stream of data that enveloped everything instantly emptied, so that they clearly reflected…An image of Gu Xingqiao’s bare torso.

“Do I need to change somewhere else?” Gu Xingqiao walked around with his long bare legs as he picked out a combat uniform. He took a moment to hold one to his body, then put it back and chose another. “There’s no changing room here, and you’re a non-gendered construct.” 

“I thought…thought humans..would be more privacy conscious,” Tian Yuan stammered, although his voice remained even. His eyes were unable to stop scanning Gu Xingqiao’s back, from the beautifully shaded butterfly bones, to the tight, thin waist, to the full…

No, that wasn’t right. Why was his core module overheating at an accelerated rate again? Was he angry because he saw what humans looked like without clothes? 

“After going to military school, I got used to living without privacy,” Gu Xingqiao said carelessly.

He picked out a structured and fitted combat uniform, as he had artificial thoracic vertebrae, and he paid attention to that section of armor out of habit. After he changed into his brand new combat uniform, he turned to the other side of the room and reached out to grab a naginata-type ¹ hand to hand combat weapon of unknown material, which was as white as snow.

“The test?” He turned to Tian Yuan. “Come.” 

Right then, Tian Yuan subconsciously, and surprisingly, mimicked a human move he’d seen before, a soft gulp.

“I won’t use my higher level abilities to fight you.” Tian Yuan’s tone was very subdued. His pupils flickering rapidly as he attempted to call up his usual stream of data to override the visually arresting image.

On Gu Xingqiao’s hindquarters, there was a light-colored mole…Overlay! Overlay!

“…Nor will I use control force fields or energy shields,” Tian Yuan said. “As long as you can touch my combat suit, whether with a weapon or with your body, that is considered victory.” 

“Can we start?” Gu Xingqiao asked.

“Begin,” Tian Yuan responded.

Gu Xingqiao’s figure suddenly disappeared from his position a dozen meters away and reappeared right in front of Tian Yuan!

There was no way to describe such high speed. The naginata was an extremely ancient style of weapon, and on the battlefields of the past, only a martial artist with an outstanding physique could master a naginata that was over two meters long, but when he swung the blade it was as powerful as a thunderbolt; capable of splitting a sprinting horse in two.

However, Gu Xingqiao’s movements could be described with words like ethereal and lightness. He was as fleeting as a gust of wind, while the arc of his sword was more brutal than that of a devouring tiger!

“Quick.” Tian Yuan said the word lightly. That was because Gu Xingqiao’s fast reactions only left him enough time for one word.

An exoskeleton arm moved in a flash, and stopped the naginata’s blade with a huge shockwave.

Tian Yuan’s exam question seemed to be lenient, but it was actually full of tricky and harsh traps. Whether Gu Xingqiao was attacking or defending, the strength of his weapon couldn’t match Tian Yuan’s physical strength, especially with the eight exoskeleton arms behind him. As long as they were the ones who collided with Gu Xingqiao’s weapon, then Gu Xingqiao would definitely be the only one injured.

After only two clashes back and forth, the surface of the naginata’s blade already had hairline cracks.

He switched to the other side of the blade, and in the space of a hundredth of a second, the hum of the alloy blade resonated throughout the entire space, while the killing machine transformed the blade into a vague shadow. Gu Xingqiao swung his blade 1,800 times in an instant, while Tian Yuan blocked 1,800 times as well!

The speedy attack ripped through the air, while each strike came with a whistling sound, but it couldn’t shake Tian Yuan. He was like an immovable mountain. The wind couldn’t shake him, and the cold tide couldn’t move him. From a distance, they looked like they were dancing. A dance where the blade could be the heel of a shoe and the killing intent was a sleeve of the coat.

However, Gu Xingqiao didn’t feel powerless or small in the face of that lofty mountain. His growth was never ending, so those who once stood tall in front of him were either left behind, trampled under his feet, or a blood red stain on his lapel. He used his humiliation as fuel for motivation. As long as there was still an Imperial who laughed at him and looked down on him, there was nothing he couldn’t do!

At that moment, Gu Xingqiao leapt high into the air, and hurled his mangled naginata which soared towards Tian Yuan’s body, while he followed like an arrow out of a bow.

Tian Yuan’s expression was incredibly cold. His exoskeleton was like an indestructible spear, as one point cut through the air and shattered the naginata into ten million pieces, but what came right after it was Gu Xingqiao’s body.

The intelligent being’s eyes froze involuntarily, and for reasons he couldn’t even fathom, Tian Yuan’s appendage subconsciously shifted by a hair’s breadth.

–It was only an extremely short distance, but it was definitely sufficient for Gu Xingqiao. He wove through the gap in his defenses. The tip of an exoskeleton arm destroyed the tempered fibers of the combat suit and plowed a long blood-spattered wound in Gu Xingqiao’s side, but it was as if the young man had lost the ability to sense pain, as he used his inertia to strike Tian Yuan’s chest with his outstretched hand, while at the same time, he knocked the intelligent being onto the ground with a hard thud.

Two by two. Tian Yuan’s light purple eyes couldn’t stop their slight trembling. Gu Xingqiao was astride him as he maintained his posture with a lifted and ready fist, even as his chest was rising and falling violently.

“You won…” 

“…It counts as a draw.” 

They spoke in unison, and closed their mouths in unison.

“You conceded. I saw it.” Gu Xingqiao was steaming mad, as he slowly lowered his fist while sweat gathered into strands and dripped down on the other person. “Count it as a draw.”