Chapter 117: I Am Imperial Admiral Yan Gui Xing
A Zerg soldier wearing a helmet approached General Yao and spoke in the Zerg language. “General Yao, the fuel on this spaceship is leaking. There is a possibility of an explosion at any moment. For your safety, please return to the starship as soon as possible.”
General Yao gave a slight nod to indicate he understood. The Zerg soldier said nothing more and respectfully retreated to the side.
General Yao switched languages fluently. Using that voiceâso feminine it was bone-chillingâand a tone that was flat and eerie, he flashed a sinister smile that revealed a row of shark-like teeth. “Is there anyone who doesn’t want to lend their life to me? You can speak up; I’m a very democratic bug.”
The corpse of the man lay right beside them. The fresh air inside the spaceship had been replaced by the pungent metallic tang of blood; every breath tasted of slaughter.
Even if anyone had an objection, they were terrified of following in that manâs footsteps. No one dared to utter a syllable of refusal; they only dared to silently curse this bugâs eighteen generations of ancestors in their hearts.
Silence was taken as consent.
General Yao seemed to thoroughly enjoy this atmosphere. He didn’t continue speaking, instead leisurely tapping his right foot against the floor.
The hard sole of his military boot struck the metal deck, issuing a crisp, rhythmic thud-thud sound. It was like a hammer, smashing down, blow by blow, on the fragile nerves of everyone present.
This oppressive atmosphere lasted for nearly five minutes. Finally, having enjoyed himself enough, General Yao spoke slowly.
“Hehe, everyone is capable of making the right choice. What good children. In that case, I’ll tell you some good news.”
“This spaceship…” General Yao intentionally dragged out the sound, “is going to explode very soon.”
Everyone: “…”
How the hell is that good news? Does this bug actually know the definition of ‘good’?
“But don’t be afraid,” General Yao continued. “Since everyone has been so obedient, I will naturally take all of you onto my starship. I won’t let you be blown up~”
A starship? A Zerg starship?
For everyone present, this news was the worst possible outcome.
Everyone knew the protocol: if they stayed on the Imperial spaceship, any deviation from the flight path or drop in speed would be instantly detected by the spaceport. Once the spaceport noticed the anomaly, they would contact the ship. If contact failed, they would report it to the Ministry of Transport, and rescue ships would be dispatched.
But boarding a Zerg starship was equivalent to completely losing contact with the Empire. The chances of rescue would become microscopicâpractically zero.
In the boundless universe, if the Zerg wanted to hide, the military would never find them.
As for his promise to spare their lives… once they were on that ship, whether they lived or died would be entirely up to these wretched bugs.
The war between the Empire and the Zerg had raged for a century without ever seeing true peace. The Zerg were cruel and bloodthirsty; only a fool would believe they would treat hostages kindly.
When people know they are falling into a deadly trap, the survival instinct often overrides fear, gaining the upper hand.
Just like now. In the dead silence of the crowd, someone suddenly shouted, “I won’t go! Going there means death! I don’t want to go! I won’t go!”
This outburst ignited the fear in everyone’s hearts. People looked at one another, and soon, the unrest began.
“I don’t want to go either! Boohoo, I don’t want to die! I really don’t want to die!”
“Please, I beg you, let me go, okay? I can give you Star Coins, lots and lots of Star Coins!”
“Wuwu, I want to go home! Wuwu!”
“Nobody go! As long as we stand together, they can’t do anything to us!”
The crowd erupted into chaos. Cries and pleas mixed together, the noise threatening to blow the roof off the spaceship.
The Tentacle Adjutant, unable to stand the noise, shouted strictly for everyone to shut up or be shot. However, because General Yao was hugging his arms and watching the show with a smile, none of the Zerg soldiers dared to actually open fire.
Crouching at the very back of the crowd, two or three young men exchanged glances. Thinking the chaos would mask their movements from the Zerg soldiers, they quietly inched toward the half-closed cabin door behind them.
Standard civilian spaceships were equipped with four medium-sized escape pods, each capable of holding about 25 people. Four pods were enough to evacuate everyone on board.
These menâs target was the escape pods. What they didn’t know was that two of the pods had been smashed into useless scrap metal along with the tail of the ship.
The other two pods had already been destroyed by the Zerg soldiers. Even if they found them, they were unusable.
Of course, their self-righteous little maneuvers couldn’t escape the eyes of General Yao, who stood nearly three meters tall.
His scarlet vertical pupils watched with amusement as the young men made their “covert” moves. Just as they neared the door, revealing expressions of wild joy at their imminent escape, the corners of Yaoâs mouth hooked up in a chilling chuckle.
That neurotic laughter caused the crying and begging to weaken by a third. It also made Yan Gui Xing, who had been observing him from the shadows, tighten his brow. Not good.
He grabbed Mu Mu, who was trembling with fear, and pulled him behind his back. He turned his body sideways, shielding the small and thin Mu Mu completely.
In the next instant, he saw General Yao raise his hand. A lead-gray laser gun appeared in his grip. Yan Gui Xing quickly glanced sideways and saw the muzzle pointed directly at the young men who had turned their backs to squeeze through the door gap.
Get down!
It was too late. Before Yan Gui Xing could shout the warning, the three men collapsed to the ground. Blood gushed from their bodies, quickly pooling into a thick, sticky puddle.
The people near them screamed and scrambled backward, terrified of the blood touching them. As they moved, the rest of the crowd surged again, the crying and begging growing louder once more.
“My, how noisy,” General Yao said. The smile remained on his lips, but his scarlet eyes were filled with impatience. He suddenly realized that keeping so many people was simply too loud. Killing a portion of them wouldn’t matter; the survivors would be enough to threaten the Imperial Military.
Having made up his mind, General Yao turned his head to speak to the Tentacle Adjutant beside him. Because he used the Zerg language, assuming these humans couldn’t understand, he spoke at a normal volume.
Or perhaps he simply didn’t care if anyone understood. After all, these people were meat on his chopping block; to kill or to flay was entirely up to him.
General Yao probably never imagined that Yan Gui Xing, whom he had been searching for so bitterly, was right there in the crowdâand that Yan Gui Xing understood the Zerg language.
Hearing Yao’s words, Yan Gui Xingâs face instantly darkened. His cold, ruthless aura radiated outward, no longer concealed.
The captain squatting beside him jumped in fright. He looked at Yan Gui Xing tremblingly and whispered, “What’s wrong? What are they saying?”
Yan Gui Xing turned sideways to look at Mu Mu. Meeting his worried gaze, he whispered, “They want to kill half the people.”
The captain stared at Yan Gui Xing in shock. “What?!”
Mu Mu was also scared silly. Five people had died in just a short whileâhow could they want to kill more?
“Gui Gui, what do we do? Are we going to die?”
Yan Gui Xing took a deep breath. He forced a smile for Mu Mu and spoke quickly, “Do you remember the words I said to you in the captain’s quarters?”
Mu Mu knew Yan Gui Xing was referring to telling him to be obedient. He nodded.
Yan Gui Xing wanted to pat Mu Muâs head, wanted to hug him one more time. But he feared any intimate action would implicate Mu Mu. His hand rose, then fell back down. Instead, he squeezed Mu Muâs hand tightly, his lake-green eyes gazing at Mu Mu with deep longing.
That look was profound, as if he wanted to carve Mu Muâs very being into his memory.
A long, long time later, when Mu Mu would wake up startled from dreaming of this day, looking at Yan Gui Xingâs profile hidden in the dim light of the star lamp, he would realize that in that moment, Yan Gui Xing had been saying goodbye.
“Don’t be afraid,” Yan Gui Xing said gently. “Achi will be here soon.”
Mu Mu didn’t know why Yan Gui Xing suddenly mentioned Achi, but the uneasiness in his heart told him to hold onto Yan Gui Xing, or he would lose him.
He reversed his grip to hold Yan Gui Xingâs hand, but Yan Gui Xing had already let go and stood up.
Mu Mu’s fingers brushed past Yan Gui Xing’s fingertips, grasping nothing but air.
“Gui Gui, what are you doing? Squat down quickly!” Mu Mu looked around in terror, grabbing the hem of Yan Gui Xingâs clothes, trying to pull him back down.
Yan Gui Xingâs sudden movement attracted the attention of every human and Zerg in the spaceship.
General Yao narrowed his scarlet eyes, staring fixedly at Yan Gui Xing. He seemed to be trying to match this familiar-looking human with a specific face in his memory.
Although the Zerg looked humanoid, they distinguished their own kind primarily through Zerg characteristics.
They were somewhat face-blind when it came to humans. Furthermore, Yan Gui Xing had lost a significant amount of weight; his face was gaunt, creating a stark difference from the photo General Yao had memorized.
It wasn’t Yao’s fault. Even though he hated Yan Gui Xing to the bone, he couldn’t recognize him immediately even when he was standing right in front of him.
Yan Gui Xing stared coldly at General Yao and revealed his identity. “I am Imperial Admiral Yan Gui Xing. Release them, and I will be your hostage.”
Hearing Yan Gui Xingâs words, Mu Muâs vision went black, and he nearly fainted. He gripped Yan Gui Xingâs hem tightly, desperate to pull him back.
But Yan Gui Xing remained unmoved by Mu Muâs efforts. He stood there motionless, like a towering mountain, shielding Mu Mu from the wind and rain.
The crowd erupted into chaos again at Yan Gui Xing’s self-identification.
“It’s Admiral Yan? Heavens! Didn’t the news say he died? Why is he here?”
“Is it really Admiral Yan? Could it be an imposter?”
“If Admiral Yan is here, does that mean the military has sent people? Are we saved?”
General Yao’s gaze finally settled on Yan Gui Xingâs signature lake-green eyes. He finally confirmed Yan Gui Xingâs identity, and a terrifying killing intent flooded his scarlet pupils.
His thin lips pulled back toward his ears in a horrific grin, his two rows of sharp shark teeth gnashing together as if he wanted to swallow the man before him alive.
“Worthy of the man His Highness admired. Truly courageous.” General Yao chuckled, looking insane. “I, too, admire you. Fine, I can agree not to kill these people. But as for when I release them… that depends on the sincerity of your Empire.”
General Yao personally stepped forward, dragged Yan Gui Xing out of the crowd, shackled him with electronic cuffs, and escorted him onto the Zerg starship.
The moment Yan Gui Xingâs clothes were ripped from Mu Muâs grasp, Mu Mu felt like he was going to collapse. He wanted to cry, to scream, to chase after him and hug Yan Gui Xing tightly, to stop those monsters from taking him away.
But he remembered Yan Gui Xingâs words. He had to be obedient. He would listen to Gui Gui and wait for him to come back.
Mu Mu clamped his hands over his mouth, stifling all his sobs into his palms. The captain beside him watched with heartache and gently patted Mu Muâs shoulder.
The Tentacle Adjutant, who had stayed behind, stepped forward. In cold, stiff Imperial Common, he said, “Hand over your terminals, then clasp your hands behind your heads and walk forward in a single file.”
As he spoke, Zerg soldiers were already moving to collect the terminals.
Although the crowd was reluctant, the blood of the few who had died hadn’t even dried yet. No one wanted to be the next corpse, so they obediently handed over their terminals.
When they reached Mu Mu, Mu Muâhis face a mess of tearsâshook his head. Deliberately mimicking the Tentacle Adjutantâs tone, he said, “Mu Mu, Mu Mu doesn’t have a terminal.”
The Zerg soldier didn’t believe him for a second. He pressed a laser gun against Mu Muâs forehead and extended a black-gloved hand in front of him.
Tears streamed down Mu Muâs face. He sobbed, “Mu Mu really doesn’t have a terminal. Mu Mu doesn’t have one.”
The Tentacle Adjutant noticed the situation and walked over. His towering body bent down at a strange angle, his terrifying vertical pupils meeting Mu Muâs black eyes, which looked even clearer after being washed by tears.
“Terminal. Hand it over. Or I kill you.”
Mu Mu continued to cry, muttering incessantly, “Mu Mu doesn’t have one, no terminal. They don’t give one to Mu Mu.”
The captain beside him glanced at Mu Mu. His hands, hanging by his sides, clenched into fists. His voice trembling, he said, “He… his intelligence is impaired. He’s a fool. The Empire doesn’t issue terminals to fools.”
The Tentacle Adjutant turned his head to look at the captain. Under that gaze, cold sweat poured down the captain’s forehead. Raising his hands, he said, “I’m not lying. It’s common knowledge. If you don’t believe me, ask the others, or check the galactic network.”
The Tentacle Adjutant turned back, his cold vertical pupils scanning the faces of the crowd one by one. Suddenly, he looked at the girl trembling in the corner and asked, “Is he telling the truth?”
The girl, having been singled out, shivered violently and nodded vigorously. “Yes! The Empire doesn’t equip people with intellectual disabilities with terminals.”
The Tentacle Adjutant randomly selected a few more people. After receiving the same answer, he nodded to the Zerg soldier holding the gun to Mu Muâs head. The soldier lowered the laser gun and moved on to the next person.
After collecting the terminals, the crowd followed the Adjutant’s orders. Hands clasped behind their heads, they walked out one by one, boarding the starship via the ramp lowered from the Zerg vessel.
[Author’s Note]: Yan So-and-so exposed himself because he was afraid Yao the Bug would randomly select Mu Mu. He wasn’t confident he could survive this himself.
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