Chapter 111: Boarding the Spaceship
Civilian long-haul spaceships are typically divided into two decks. The upper deck contains the captain’s quarters, the service robot charging station, the First Class lavatory, and a small recreation area.
If the ship carries a chief purser, there will also be a purser’s rest cabin next to the charging station. However, only flights exceeding six hours are staffed with a chief purser to better assist passengers while the service robots are recharging.
The lower deck houses Business Class and Economy Class, along with two lavatories and a small entertainment zone.
Generally, a spaceship of this scale accommodates one hundred passengers. However, due to the current extraordinary circumstances, only half the tickets for this return flight to Glass Star had been sold.
Yan Gui Xing and Mu Mu followed a service robot clad in a blue-and-gray uniform into the First Class cabin on the upper deck. The robot placed their small suitcase on the luggage rack and thoughtfully asked if they wanted their rooms combined into one.
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, the robot immediately retracted the folding partition between the two small cabins, merging them into a single suite.
The robot bowed forty-five degrees to Yan Gui Xing and Mu Mu, speaking in a cold, inorganic female voice: “I wish our two distinguished passengers a pleasant journey. Please call me if you have any needs.”
Since it wasn’t time for takeoff yet, the robot left the cabin door open upon exiting.
There were twenty small cabins in the upper First Class section. Yan Gui Xing had chosen a room towards the back; behind them was the staircase connecting the decks, followed by the small upper lounge and the public lavatory.
With the cabin door open, the field of vision was wide, allowing a view of the entire First Class section, all the way to the cockpit and charging room at the front. It was a prime location.
Yan Gui Xing didn’t actually feel that sense of unease when choosing the seat; he was simply accustomed to understanding his surroundings and maintaining the initiative.
Shortly after, the service robot led a few more people up. There were men and women, but all were traveling alone, carrying only one or two suitcases.
After a haggard-looking young woman in a black dress carrying two massive suitcases boarded, no other passengers came up to this deck.
Counting Yan Gui Xing and Mu Mu, there were a total of ten people in First Class.
After observing their clothing and behavior to roughly deduce their ages and occupations—and ruling out any threats—Yan Gui Xing lowered his eyes, too lazy to look outside anymore.
Mu Mu, seated by the window, immediately hugged the large, fluffy pillow provided by the spaceship and began to yawn, not paying attention to what Yan Gui Xing was doing.
It had rained incredibly hard last night. The house they stayed in looked intact from the outside, but in reality, there were cracks in the roof and walls, letting in both wind and rain.
The room had been damp, the blankets clammy, and Mu Mu’s injured leg had been aching. He had woken up repeatedly throughout the night, never getting a full rest.
The spaceship was set to a constant temperature of 26 degrees Celsius—warm and comfortable. The moment Mu Mu thought about being home in twenty-five hours, his taut nerves relaxed, and naturally, drowsiness set in.
Yan Gui Xing knew Mu Mu had suffered a lot recently. Unwilling to make him worry over baseless speculations, he kept his own unease to himself.
seeing that everything was normal so far, Yan Gui Xing began to think he might be suffering from post-war PTSD, causing his naturally suspicious nature to evolve directly into paranoia.
He leaned his body toward Mu Mu, crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes to rest while waiting for takeoff.
“Dear passengers, the spaceship will depart in fifteen minutes. The total voyage distance is two billion light-years, involving three spatial jumps. The estimated travel time is twenty-five hours.”
The cold, mechanical female announcement rang through the ship, startling the half-asleep Mu Mu. However, too lazy to move, he snuggled deeper into the wide seat and yawned. “Fifteen more minutes? That’s so long. Mu Mu thought we had already taken off.”
Yan Gui Xing chimed in, “Yeah, why is time passing so slowly?”
It was rare for Mu Mu to hear Yan Gui Xing complain about something, and he instantly perked up. He tilted his head to look at Yan Gui Xing, his eyes bright and piercing—a stark contrast to the person whose eyelids had been glued together just moments ago.
Yan Gui Xing sighed, meeting Mu Mu’s gaze. “Why are you looking at me like that? Do you not recognize me?”
“I just find it rare,” Mu Mu replied with a smile.
“Find what rare?” Yan Gui Xing asked, amused.
Mu Mu grinned, his eyes curving into crescents. “I find it rare that Gui Gui would actually be impatient.”
Yan Gui Xing sighed helplessly. “Mu Mu, I almost died here. Naturally, I’m more anxious than anyone to leave this godforsaken place.”
Besides, he clearly had a short temper and got impatient easily to begin with.
“Oh!” Mu Mu exclaimed. “How could Mu Mu forget about that?” He reached out and patted Yan Gui Xing’s forearm. “It’ll be quick. We just need to sleep, and we’ll be home. After we get home and sleep, we’ll go to D5 Star to pick up Wangwang and An An.”
During this time, Yan Gui Xing had learned from Mu Mu that after he went to the Frontier Star, it was Zheng An who had stayed by Mu Mu and Wangwang’s side, taking care of them. His impression of Zheng An had begun to shift.
He had already made up his mind. Once they returned, he would thank Zheng An in person and ask him about his future plans. Did he want to stay on D5 Star, Glass Star, or go with them to the Capital Star?
Did he want to continue doing business, or did he want a large sum of Star Coins to live as a wealthy idler? Anything was fine. He had a vast fortune; supporting an idler like Zheng An wouldn’t make a dent.
Thinking about this, Yan Gui Xing found it incredible. In the past, he definitely wouldn’t have considered so much for someone who diverted Mu Mu’s attention from him. He would have only tried every possible way to sever the connection between that person and Mu Mu.
Of course, he had already done that once before.
But now, here he was, actually planning to support a useless guy who wasn’t outstanding in any way, was cowardly, and liked to gamble.
Yan Gui Xing found it quite funny. This was probably the difference between having died once and never having died at all.
The two of them shifted the topic from Zheng An to Wangwang. Yan Gui Xing was clearly more willing to talk about Wangwang with Mu Mu; he was already planning to add a giant doghouse to the lawn.
When the mechanical female voice sounded over the broadcast for the third time, the spaceship finally began to take off. The human chief purser assigned to the ship arrived belatedly. After greeting the ten passengers in First Class and kindly reminding everyone to fasten their seatbelts, she closed the cabin doors.
This long interstellar journey had finally begun. And hidden within the vast, boundless expanse of space were all kinds of dangers.
The spaceship quickly entered the jump point for the first spatial jump. In the blink of an eye, the jump was completed; they left the Frontier Star and entered a star system.
After the jump, passengers were free to unbuckle their seatbelts and move around. Perhaps because life on the Frontier Star hadn’t been very comfortable for anyone, not a single person left their small cabin to walk around.
Mu Mu had fallen into a dazed sleep the moment the ship ascended. He curled up in the seat hugging his pillow, completely unaware of when Yan Gui Xing adjusted his seat into a bed and arranged him into a comfortable sleeping position.
Yan Gui Xing still harbored that sense of unease. While his nerves weren’t completely taut, he didn’t dare sleep at all. Even when resting his eyes, he kept one ear open.
About four hours passed before the ship transitioned from quiet to bustling. Dinner service had begun in the Economy cabin below. People had also slept enough and were getting up to use the lavatories. Since the queues downstairs were long, some people found a shortcut and chose to use the lavatory on the upper deck.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor, followed by the soft inquiries of the purser who had come out of the lounge upon hearing the noise. Then came a knock on the door, and the purser asking if they needed dinner.
Yan Gui Xing hadn’t rested well, and his temples were throbbing painfully. Just as he was about to decline, he caught a glimpse of Mu Mu, curled up in a ball beside him, rubbing his eyes as he sat up.
“Gui Gui, is it time to eat?” His soft, glutinous voice was hoarse and slurred from sleep. Yan Gui Xing had heard how Mu Mu spoke without his hearing aid before, so he instantly understood what Mu Mu was saying.
He raised his voice and said to the purser waiting outside, “Two dinners, please.”
“Certainly. They will be brought to you in fifteen minutes. Please wait a moment.”
Fifteen minutes? It takes that long just to deliver a meal? Yan Gui Xing raised an eyebrow at the time, but then remembered this was a civilian vessel, not his starship where chefs were on standby twenty-four hours a day to serve food instantly.
Yan Gui Xing wasn’t hungry, but he was worried about Mu Mu. He tilted his head and asked, “Are you hungry? We have to wait fifteen minutes for the food. Do you want a tube of nutrient fluid first?”
Mu Mu was still half-asleep, his brain a foggy mess. He couldn’t accurately distinguish what Yan Gui Xing was saying, but hearing the question about being hungry, he rubbed his stomach, yawned, and shook his head.
“Not super hungry yet. Mu Mu can wait.”
Yan Gui Xing curled his lips into a gentle smile and pinched Mu Mu’s cheek. He stood up, took down the small suitcase from the luggage rack, rummaged through it to find painkillers and a tube of nutrient fluid, and swallowed the medicine with the fluid.
By this time, Mu Mu had woken up a bit more. Seeing Yan Gui Xing taking medicine, he asked with concern, “Gui Gui, does your leg hurt?”
After swallowing the medicine, Yan Gui Xing replied, “It was a bit noisy just now, so I have a slight headache.” In reality, his headache was caused by his nerves being strung too tight.
Mu Mu let out an “Ah,” then extended both hands toward Yan Gui Xing. “Gui Gui, bring your head here. Mu Mu will rub it for you. It won’t hurt after a rub.”
Yan Gui Xing adjusted the direction of his seat and leaned his head on the armrest closest to Mu Mu, letting Mu Mu use his head for practice.
Mu Mu had no massage experience. When he said “rub,” he literally just pressed the pads of his fingers against the temples and gently moved them in circles. It didn’t have the slightest therapeutic effect.
If the time, place, and person weren’t wrong, Yan Gui Xing would have thought Mu Mu was flirting with him.
Perhaps a lover’s hands truly held magic; with Mu Mu’s clumsy stroking, Yan Gui Xing’s tense nerves actually began to slowly relax.
[Author’s Note]: The next chapter is where things go down.
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