Chapter 8: He can still afford it.
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Lin Xu was saved from a bullet by Heinrich, but the chord in his head that sensed danger was still tense and warning him. Suddenly, Lin Xu kicked Ryan’s knee, who was still standing on the sidelines, and Ryan fell to the ground in pain.
The bullets stopped shooting at Lin Xu and Ryan, and it seemed the killer didn’t want to get into trouble for killing Heinrich, just as the next moment, after a bang, the waiter serving Marianna’s champagne was shot in the head, blood and brains flying.
“Go after the killer!” Heinrich shouted at the two officers around him, and Lin Xu underneath him reached out and pushed him away, darting towards Marianna.
She fell into Chen Jinshan’s arms, no longer breathing, her white dress laying in layers on the floor, stained with blood and still looking gorgeous.
Chen Jinshan hugged his wife tightly and sobbed uncontrollably.
Lin Xu could not stop, only to feel cold hands and feet, he half kneeled beside Marianna, with a ray of hope to test Marianna’s pulse, but the cruel reality shattered his last illusion, Marianna’s heartbeat and breathing all stopped.
Lin Xu seemed like a still statue, the shouts and people around him were far away from his senses in an instant, at this moment, he almost lost the ability to think and distinguish his feelings. He was silent for a long time, and finally raised his hand to help Marianna close the sea-like blue eyes.
Her body heat was draining rapidly, and would soon turn into a cold, stiff corpse. How could someone want to kill Marianna? She was so good, it didn’t make sense…
—
The officers of Endymion Star arrived late as in all movies and dramas, and the host of the party, His Highness the Prince, never appeared in front of the guests, but the headlines of the next day’s newspapers were hung with pictures of him being interviewed by the media in front of the museum gates.
In the 3D image, His Royal Highness, with a sorrowful and determined expression, and the police chief beside him, assured the public that the case would be solved and that a brilliant professor could not be killed for nothing.
The next night, the sniper caught by Heinrich’s officers confessed to the assassination, admitting that he had joined forces with the waiter to warn humanity that the Empire, with its many external enemies and troubled internal economy, was not the right time to spend a lot of money on exploring the so-called home planet, which had been abandoned 3000 years earlier.
The waiter was silenced, and the sniper became the only criminal and was sentenced to death.
On the third day, Lin Xu attended Marianna’s funeral, with Heinrich also in attendance. That night, Lin Xu boarded the speedy transport S105, which would catch the early departure of the Abyss Fleet in five days.
Heinrich talked him into it.
The unsuspecting public might be convinced by the official explanation given, plus the emotional media coverage, and even ignite a higher passion for this exploration. As time passes and a new wave of information rushes in, the death of an upper-class omega who had nothing to do with life would quickly fade from memory. But Lin Xu, who was at the scene at the point of a blackened gun, could not believe the facile rhetoric.
All of the police department’s autopsy and ballistics procedures were just a haphazard walk-through to come up with answers so quickly. Lin Xu didn’t trust them, and just as he was about to sneak into the evidence room and steal something to investigate on his own, Heinrich cut him off halfway.
He produced an exhaustive test report that covered everything from the drug test to the killer’s identity background. Heinrich said that the killers were probably the same group as the Star Pirates who had attacked the fleet a few days earlier, killing only Marianna this time, and that they would probably go after Lin Xu next.
Lin Xu inclined his face then and replied in a cold voice – let them come then.
“I thought you would be more interested in finding the real culprit behind this.” Heinrich stated calmly, “So do I.”
Lin Xu, who had already turned away, turned around to face Heinrich, his light gray eyes looked at him for a few seconds and asked, “Does Marshal Chu’s promise still stand? If I want to join the expedition, can I always come to you?”
Heinrich would not refuse. So, Lin Xu was now on the bridge of the speedy transport ship.
Ryan was also brought on board the transport ship, there was a bullet at the banquet that night that was aimed at him, Lin Xu did not want to leave and suddenly receive Ryan’s obituary in the vast universe, only to bring with him to feel more at ease.
At the moment, Ryan was cowering in his swivel chair, cautiously peering at Lin Xu who was flipping through the starship’s piloting manual.
Arnold, the only pilot, in addition to operating the starship, also glanced at Lin Xu from time to time and found that he was really comparing the manual with the operation buttons in front of him, “Mr. Lin, are you going to learn to pilot a starship?”
“Hmm.” Lin Xu replied briefly, the cold white light cast on his side face, quite a bit of impersonal air.
But Arnold could stand even Heinrich’s strange temper, and he didn’t mind Lin Xu’s coldness at the moment. Only a kid like Ryan would feel panicked and overwhelmed when talking to someone who had just lost a loved one, stammering and then simply shutting up.
“Most of the operations of this transport ship are done by artificial intelligence and can sail under single pilot conditions; more complex starships require more manpower. However, small civil aviation ships in general are loaded with intelligent automatic navigation systems, so Mr. Lin doesn’t have to worry about maneuvering.”
Lin Xu raised his eyes to the huge front window glass of S105, where countless rotating bright spots floated in the dark universe, and where even the most outstanding human eyesight could not reach, more stars existed silently, tacitly signifying the depth, stillness, vastness and horror of this universe.
If everything was as Heinrich speculated, he would face an enemy that may have several times his numbers and technology, making Lin Xu regret for the first time in ten years after coming to the interstellar era, having almost no contact with any weapons and equipment.
He needed to catch up on all kinds of knowledge.
The S105, as a speedy transport ship, sacrificed a lot of space for assembling weapons for its speed and cargo capacity, and Lin Xu could only learn a little bit of starship piloting skills, and could not touch heavy weapons for the time being. Oh yes, there were still two mecha in the warehouse, belonging to Arnold and Heinrich respectively.
“What about the mecha?”
“Huh?” Arnold stuck for a moment, he did not expect at all Lin Xu such anti-technology, nature lover would be interested in mecha. Lin Xu also brought his two rabbit-cats on this interstellar travel with him.
In deep space combat, the exoskeleton armor alone had not been able to meet the needs of combat power, more than forty meters high giant mecha in a battle gradually seized the main position. To protect deep space, warriors could not be afright of being shot through the armour by a few tiny space junk, being exposed to the vacuum and death due to extreme cold and intense radiation, so the mecha was assembled with enough firepower to carry out effective strikes against enemy warships.
The gravity-free state also made it possible to operate a giant mecha.
When one stood at the foot of a mecha and looked up, the cold intimidation of industrial civilization poured down on one’s head, leaving one as small as an ant, and beginners may even start to get weak before they get on board. The steel machinery gave off a gut-wrenching sense of extreme contempt for the individual.
“Uh…” Arnold replied after some thought, “A mecha can be dozens of times more expensive than a civilian starship, and aside from military assemblies, only some super-rich people will customize a private mecha for their addiction.” The implication was that Lin Xu might not have access to a mecha, but Arnold quickly added, “There are a number of popular mecha games on StarNet that are quite realistic, so Mr. Lin can give them a try.”
“How much is it?”
“Huh?” Arnold was stuck again, and after hearing Lin Xu repeat the question again, he answered in a trance, “A billion star coins to start…”
“Still affordable.” Lin Xu calculated with a slight frown.
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Marianna no! I liked her!