Chapter 18: The cold water only made it more obvious that he sensed the blood rushing up to his face
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Lin Xu knew Zhou Pingbo.
Fellow member of the Imperial Institute, head of the Zerg weapons development program, professor emeritus of Capital Star University, and honorary principal of Deep Blue Military Academy.
But these were only Zhou Pingbo’s achievements in the subtle and detailed field of expertise, and his reputation in the field was not enough to attract the attention of the Empire’s 100 billion people. People know him more for the social media that often reported him as a real-life example of anti-class discrimination.
Zhou Pingbo was born from an ordinary background, and although he was an alpha, he only had an E rating, which was worse than being born a disadvantaged beta or omega. He fought his way to where he was today, and many anti-discrimination advocates used him to show the public that birth rank doesn’t determine a person’s future. But Zhou Pingbo himself did not like to participate in such discussions. Lin Xu only caught a glimpse of him on a roadside news screen, just as he had only seen Heinrich in a poster before.
The beloved figure in the society pages froze at Lin Xu’s question, then replied, “I was there when you gave your presentation on the poetry of ancient Earth languages at Capital Star University, and I was one of the panel of judges. You were on stage giving your presentation and probably didn’t notice me, but that’s okay, we met face to face today.”
Zhou Pingbo was a scholarly, medium-sized man who spoke with a sense of humor that Lin Xu did not dislike, but felt that they had nothing to say to each other except courtesy.
He and Heinrich often had nothing to say to each other, but time flowed quietly like a stream, and even when they were silent, there was a strange and divine atmosphere that swept over them and caught Lin Xu’s emotions.
“It’s my pleasure.” Lin Xu replied formulaically, “What is it that Professor Zhou wants to see me about?”
Zhou Pingbo smiled, “I should have come to visit you long ago because you were willing to join the mission, but I heard that you were recovering from your injuries, so I didn’t dare to take the liberty of coming here until a few days later. Besides that… We need to talk about the assassins. Marshal Chu told me he gave you an electronic file, but a lot of things can’t be said with data, so we need to sit down and talk, you, me, Marshal Chu, and your student Ryan.”
Lin Xu’s face sank, and he did not refuse. Zhou Pingbo saw the watery mess in Lin Xu’s room through the doorway and kindly offered, “Let’s go to the conference room.”
“Okay, please wait for me to change my clothes.”
He closed the door for the moment, and Zhou Pingbo stepped aside to wait. Heinrich turned around and left, and Zhou Pingbo tried to stop him, “Where are you going?”
Heinrich turned sideways to avoid it, his breathing was unsteady, “I’m going back to change my clothes.”
He said and walked into his bedroom across the hall, leaving Zhou Pingbo confused, he didn’t know what Heinrich had to change in his new and neat uniform.
Heinrich’s first act upon entering the room was to wash his face with cold water, rubbing his eyes and cheeks viciously in the hope of clearing his head. The cold water only made it more obvious that he sensed the blood rushing up his face.
He was much calmer than the previous times he had smelled Lin Xu’s sweet smell, and instead of losing control of his sanity and going into a susceptible period, he managed to control himself and walk back to his room, and change out of his sweat-soaked shirt. After a brief cleaning, he changed into another uniform and headed for the conference room Zhou Pingbo had chosen.
Lin Xu and the others were already sitting in the conference room. Ryan, who he hadn’t seen in a while, was rattling off information about the amazing Victoria by Lin Xu’s side, and Zhou Pingbo, who was leaning against the table with his head propped up and his face expressionless listening to the whole thing, looked a little desperate, his brain numb from all the noise.
But when Heinrich arrived, Ryan stopped, his cold, inorganic eyes sweeping over him under the shadow of the brim of his military cap, and he reflexively rose and saluted, “Hello Marshal Chu!”
Heinrich nodded for him to sit down and dragged a chair between Lin Xu and Zhou Pingbo, who had to move to the side because of the crowded space.
When Heinrich took his seat, he first took off his military cap and placed it on the table, revealing his dazzling silver hair, then took off his pure white silk gloves and put them aside, and finally looked at Lin Xu with a straight, cool and elegant posture.
He had changed into a military uniform with brass trim and leather belt, finely tailored to reveal Heinrich’s athletic waist and chest, and his shiny epaulettes had an unassailable air.
With a gorgeous cap decorated with the Abyss Fleet arrows and shield insignia, it was a regular uniform.
Zhou Pingbo looked at Heinrich’s series of actions, a little speechless. The delicate lines of the regular uniform sacrificed comfort and mobility. Since during space combat, gravity may be lost at any time, the cap was no longer a standard, but more as an ornament, and the silk gloves… Neither protected against radiation, nor were resistant to heat and cold.
What Heinrich said about changing clothes was to go out and dress up in a fancy way? This reminded Zhou Pingbo of Heinrich’s dragon father, Andrea, who did dress up in fancy clothes. Zhou Pingbo always thought that Heinrich did not inherit this flair, but today it was an eye opener.
Lin Xu, who had gone to change his clothes, had changed into a normal standard white space uniform, quietly, and did not even have time to dry the water on his head.
Lin Xu himself did not have a problem with Heinrich’s outfit, but when the metal buckle of his armed belt clashed with the brass buttons, he glanced sideways and met Heinrich’s equally golden pupils.
“Marshal,” he greeted, “can we begin?”
Heinrich nodded, so Zhou Pingbo picked a less serious topic to start with, but he thought Lin Xu wouldn’t take the joke and changed the conversation to Ryan, who was cowering in the corner, “Guess why I’m not living on the Natural Evolution where the expedition is?”
“Huh?” Ryan froze, “Is there someone there you don’t like?”
Zhou Pingbo, one of the expedition leaders, was supposed to stay on board the Natural Evolution and arrange for work, but he had been living on the Victoria from the beginning, and most people thought he was just trying to make nice with Marshal Chu and get Heinrich Chu to talk to Congress after he returned to get funding for his experiments for the next few years.
Zhou Pingbo smiled and said, “You’re half right. I’m afraid someone on the Natural Evolution doesn’t like me, just like someone doesn’t like you and Mr. Lin, and I’m afraid for my life, and the Victoria gives me some peace of mind.”
“Why you?” Lin Xu asked, Zhou Pingbo was studying Zerg, he and Marianna studied ancient Earth history, the difference between the two was like a gulf in the sky.
“Maybe because I am more stubborn like Professor Marianna.” Zhou Pingbo took a sip from his glass of water and curbed the joking expression, “I’m researching weapons against the Zerg, and one of the directions is genetic weapons. What do you guys usually know about the Zerg, as an ordinary Imperial citizen who didn’t have contact with the Zerg Frontline? Is it that such things are huge, ugly, extremely dangerous, and difficult to eradicate?”
Ryan nodded frantically.
“Those descriptions are true, but they’re all pretty superficial. When I delved into Zerg construction, I discovered that the Zerg was actually a half-silicon-based, half-carbon-based creature with a rigid and unnatural structural nesting. The technology used to discover this fact was actually quite superficial, but strangely enough, I had never heard anyone mention it before. When I went to look up the relevant information, it was also blank. At first, I thought it was my good fortune to pick up a major discovery that had been accidentally missed by my predecessors, but when I reported the results and wanted to conduct weapons research for that point, the reviewer said, ‘Zhou Pingbo, stop.’
“I was very angry, but they wouldn’t allocate funds to me, so even if I wanted to research it, I had no choice but to put it on hold. A few years later, I headed back into the minefield.”
Speaking of this, Zhou Pingbo laughed lightly as if in self-deprecation, “I wondered why the Zerg must attack humans; there were basically no reports of other interstellar races suffering from Zerg attacks. The experiment was done by me alone, no one else was involved – I found that there is a gene in the Zerg that contains part of the human gene fragment, this one gene prompted the Zerg to make humans as the target of attack, never stopping unless death. But the Zerg cannot spontaneously generate gene fragments of other creatures, or at least, they have been exposed to humans very early. It should not be possible to embed a gene fragment of one creature into another creature, either, by technological means, or, by exchange of chromosomes, Zerg and humans…
“Then I began to consult the early Imperial information, the human exile period of history is fragmented, often told very vaguely. I also began to pay attention to ancient Earth history from this time, trying to understand how humans met the Zerg in the exile period, but there are no Zerg records in the ancient Earth history. You say, who put the human genetic fragments into the Zerg body? And why would they do that?”
“The person who wants to kill you.” Lin Xu said.
“The same person who killed Marianna and tried to silence you again.” Zhou Pingbo sighed, “A lot of people involved have already died, but what I didn’t expect was that they would dare hire interstellar pirates to attack Heinrich.”
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Heinrich’s clothes are new again!
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