Ch 55: Interplanetary Planting Master

Aftermath

The battle in the underground world ended swiftly. Working together, Lu Li and Shen Jin quickly eliminated all of the awakened dark beasts. Throughout the process, both of them moved cautiously, trying not to accidentally awaken any more of the dark creatures.

Stepping over the scattered bodies, Shen Jin crouched beside the dead spiritual entity. After its life completely faded away, its body had significantly shrunk and withered, resembling a mass of grayish curdled gel. Staring at the corpse for a while, Shen Jin suddenly spoke up, “The Zhuang Wei that the Third Corps brought back—he’s a fake, isn’t he?”

Su He: “…”

Lu Li didn’t deny it. “Nothing seems to escape Colonel Shen’s notice.”

Shen Jin collected the corpse from the ground and looked at Lu Li. “I only just figured it out. Zhuang Wei went missing along with the Iris, while you all came back unscathed, and Zhuang Wei was supposedly in a coma, gravely injured. One version of him appears in the Federation, while another remains hidden in the outer territories. It’s odd, to say the least. If it were a ploy between the Seventh Corps and Zhuang Wei, with the Special Affairs Division receiving intelligence that the real Zhuang Wei’s spiritual world was shattered, and even if he woke up, he wouldn’t live long—the whole thing would be too excessive as a ploy. The only explanation that makes sense is that the Zhuang Wei the Third Corps recovered is a fake.”

After a pause, Shen Jin continued, “It’s likely that the real Zhuang Wei couldn’t be parasitized, so they created a fake. Although cloning technology is banned in the Federation, given that they can mass-produce dark beasts, replicating a person wouldn’t be too difficult. The only issue would be that a sentinel’s spiritual world cannot be cloned, and having him severely injured and in a coma conveniently solves that problem.”

His analysis aligned exactly with Lu Li’s suspicions, and Lu Li responded with silence in place of confirmation. Shen Jin’s tone shifted, “The beast tide on Broken star, and the one on Iris all those years ago—both were premeditated, weren’t they?” He took a few steps forward, standing face-to-face with Lu Li’s black mech, and pressed, “What do you know about the beast tide on Iris? Is there something I should know but don’t?”

Su He, intimidated by Shen Jin’s imposing manner, instinctively glanced up at Lu Li. Lu Li lowered his head to plant a calming kiss on Su He, holding him close. In a composed voice, he said, “Everything I know, you know too. Given that we have different—”

“Bullshit different positions!” Shen Jin interrupted angrily, grabbing hold of Lu Li’s black mech. “I’m not asking you as Colonel Shen Jin from the Special Affairs Division, I’m asking as a survivor of Iris! I have the right to know the truth about what happened back then.”

Lu Li stared at him for a moment before suddenly throwing a punch at the silver mech’s face. Caught off guard, Shen Jin staggered back, crashing into the ice pillars behind him. Retracting his fist, Lu Li said coldly, “I’m not hitting you as Lu Li from the Seventh Corps either. I’m hitting you as a survivor of Iris. You’ve strayed from our original goal, and I don’t think you’re in any position to ask that question.”

“…” Su He stood there, thinking how incredibly cool Lu Li looked while throwing that punch!

The silver mech quickly got back up, and Shen Jin remained silent. Above them, the light grew brighter as two more black mechs descended. Liao Kai whistled at the slightly disheveled silver mech, calling out, “Boss, all the dark beasts above have been cleared out. They were as weak as baby chicks.” He landed behind Lu Li, and suddenly noticed the dormant dark beasts in the ice pillars. Surprised, he asked, “Are these all alive?”

Lu Li nodded, “What about the rest?”

This time, Wei Na responded, “All under control.”

Lu Li gave an approving nod and said indifferently to Shen Jin, “I assume Colonel Shen doesn’t mind?”

Shen Jin was so exasperated by Lu Li that he almost laughed, “And what if I do mind?”

“Nothing much!” Lu Li replied, utterly composed. “Just thought I’d ask.”

Shen Jin: “…”

Su He burst out laughing but quickly realized it wasn’t the right time to laugh and stifled it. Amused, Lu Li ruffled his hair and said, “It’ll be tough on you later when you blur the memories of the Special Affairs Division’s action team.”

Having just fought off an alien, Su He was feeling extremely confident and nodded, thinking it would be no big deal. The mechs returned to the surface, where five captured sentinels and one guide lay unconscious aboard the starship.

Twirling the tranquilizer gun in his hand, Shen Shen teased, “Want a shot, big brother?”

Shen Jin jumped out of his mech, giving his brother a cold stare. Lu Li interrupted their exchange, instructing, “Hurry up, the Special Affairs Division’s reinforcements are probably on their way.”

Su He stepped forward instinctively, extending his mental tendrils. To his surprise, the sentinels’ sensory barriers weren’t very strong, allowing him to easily infiltrate them. It was Su Qin the guide’s mental barrier that gave him some trouble, requiring more effort. Just like before, Su He didn’t alter their memories but blurred the images of Lu Li and his group while reinforcing their memories of the Red Spider Pirate Group. As Lu Li had said, since the Red Spider Pirates had already taken the blame for many things done by the Iris, what’s one more?

After dealing with the unconscious captives, the group prepared to leave Snowfall Star. Bai Xiaoxi had already been brought back to the starship by Shen Shen, and Su He was looking around for Moska.

“Moska!” Su He extended his mental tendrils, and Moska eagerly came running back. Having fought valiantly against the dark beasts, Moska affectionately coiled around Su He’s clothes, proudly presenting a fist-sized energy stone it had found. Moska extended two of its tendrils, lifting the stone excitedly for Su He to see.

Su He: “…”
Shen Jin: “…”

The group exchanged glances as Su He suddenly remembered something. He nudged Lu Li, hinting, “The dark beasts.”

Lu Li chuckled and directly asked Shen Jin, “What will the Special Affairs Division do with the underground dark beasts?”

“You want them?”

Lu Li nodded without hesitation.

Shen Jin snorted, “Has the Iris fallen this low? What are you planning to do with the dark beasts? Make canned meat?”

Everyone had strange expressions, and Shen Jin, venting his earlier frustrations, said, “There’s a small asteroid belt not far from the frontier. The bodies of the dark beasts to be disposed of will be dumped there. If the Iris wants them, go ahead and retrieve them yourselves.”

“Thanks,” Lu Li said sincerely.

Shen Jin shot him a long, thoughtful look before turning to leave.

Shen Shen quickly piloted the starship into the air. Just as they were entering the atmosphere, the Special Affairs Division’s reinforcements had surrounded Snowfall Star. Starships continued to arrive from the dark depths of space, and the lead ship detected Lu Li’s group, requesting to connect and verify their identities.

“Activate the wormhole.”

Lu Li ignored the request from the other ship. Amidst the flashing electric lights, a black vortex gradually formed. A few starships attempted to intercept, but Shen Shen activated the weapon system. In the midst of particle cannon crossfire, their starship plunged into the wormhole. Realizing this, Liao Kai belatedly said, “Looks like the Red Spider Pirates will take the blame for this again.”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Returning to the Iris once more, Su He felt as if it had been a lifetime. He comfortably took a bath and lay down on the bed, his thoughts drifting back to a comic he had read back on Earth. In the comic, wherever the protagonist went, a murder would happen. Su He thought to himself that wherever he went, dark beasts seemed to follow.

“Couldn’t be more unlucky!” Su He concluded.

He sighed silently as his thoughts spiraled. The words of the alien lifeform lingered in his mind—“test subject”—a phrase that bothered him. The alien had spoken about the fusion of human flesh and pure energy particles from the star river as if they were intimately familiar with his situation. Su He couldn’t help but regret that they hadn’t kept one of the aliens alive for questioning. However, with the Special Affairs Division watching closely, keeping a live alien would’ve been more trouble than it was worth.

Su He chuckled at himself, feeling like he had been brainwashed. He even considered that maybe the alien lifeforms weren’t entirely talking nonsense. Perhaps humans really were test subjects of aliens, just like the dark beasts. And maybe his sect was just a more unique experiment among them? His thoughts raced from the myth of Nuwa creating humans to God creating man… no matter what, he couldn’t stop his imagination from running wild.

Meanwhile, two rooms away, Lu Li was reporting the situation on Snowfall Star to Li Zhengdao. In just an hour, the events had progressed to a point that none of them could have anticipated. The old man was stunned as he listened to Lu Li recounting the events—dead aliens, the cultivation of dark beasts, and his expression became increasingly strange.

“All the aliens you mentioned are dead?” Li Zhengdao asked.

Lu Li nodded. “Their bodies are quite fragile. Once they leave their host, they’re easy to kill.” His tone was innocent, as if it had all been an accident. The old man didn’t doubt him, but he lamented, “I was hoping we could capture one alive.”

Lu Li reminded him, “With the Special Affairs Division around, any captives might not stay in our hands.”

“They wouldn’t dare!” the old man said, slamming his hand on the table. “If they try to take them, I’ll storm the doors of the Special Affairs Division myself.” Lu Li chuckled, but then Li Zhengdao’s expression turned grim as he remembered something. “Do you recall the medical officer, Aileen?”

“What about her?”

The old man hesitated before saying, “Lin Ji suspects that Medical Officer Aileen is behaving suspiciously. He thinks she may have been parasitized. What’s worse is that Lin Ji believes the alien that parasitized Aileen is the same one that infected Song Silan back then.”

Lu Li asked, “Is there any evidence?”

Li Zhengdao let out a helpless laugh. “There is, but it requires the cooperation of that little guide, Han Rui.”

A thought clicked in Lu Li’s mind. “Han Rui is Han Qi’s son?”

Li Zhengdao sighed with a bitter smile and nodded.

Lu Li: “…”

After finishing his conversation with Li Zhengdao, Lu Li thought about Han Rui’s background and couldn’t help but marvel at how unpredictable life was. Who would have thought that the person Lin Ji had saved on Broken star was the son of Song Silan? With that in mind, Han Rui’s initial hostility towards the Iris now made more sense.

He got up and returned to the cabin, where he found Su He staring out of the window, lost in thought. Lu Li smiled to himself, realizing that the dark beast tide on Broken star hadn’t been entirely a bad thing. Without it, Su He would likely still be on Broken star with Han Rui, dreaming of farming, selling vegetables, and saving up to buy a starship. Convincing Su He to leave with him might have taken who knows how long.

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