“I should be the one saying that.” Han Xiao looked at his broken limbs.
“Met a bit of danger, almost died,” Lerden said like it was nothing.
Although he was not very close to Han Xiao, he felt a little bit more relieved when he saw someone whom he considered a friend to still be alive.
Han Xiao raised the toolbox in his hand and said, “Seems like you need a very skilled Mechanic.”
“Is it free this time?” Lerden raised an eyebrow.
Han Xiao thought and said, “Get me a drink, in the same bar as last time.”
It was currently the break period of the Catastrophe; there was time to rest. The commanders had allowed Han Xiao into the city seeing that Black Star Mercenary Group had actively taken on the job of scouting.
Lerden had a backup implanted arm, so Han Xiao repaired and connected it very quickly. Originally, only Lerden’s right arm had still been made of flesh, but it was now broken, bound, and left alone. His expression was calm—he did not care about losing the only part of flesh that he had left.
The two entered the city and came to Herlous’ bar as Han Xiao had requested. There was quite a number of customers that day—all of them were civilians from nearby. The soldiers were bathing in blood and fighting outside the city, and most civilians hid in their home or in the official emergency evacuation areas. There were also some that chose to use alcohol to get rid of their terror. Ninety percent of the shops in the entire city were closed during the Catastrophe, but Herlous’ bar opened as usual, so the place was a little noisy.
Walking up to the bar counter, Han Xiao said, “Two glasses of your signature drink.”
Lerden immediately raise his hand and cut in. “Just one glass.”
Drunk, Herlous raised his head, and after seeing Han Xiao’s face, his expression changed. “You again!”
He remembered Han Xiao, a weird guy that came to find his brother’s old notebook out of nowhere who seemed to also know his secret.
“What do you want again?”
Han Xiao smiled and said, “Just here for a drink.”
Herlous stared at Han Xiao for some time then unwillingly took out a bottle of alcohol. Han Xiao did not speak to him again, just drinking and chatting with Lerden casually. Herlous saw this and kept his doubt. He turned away to attend to other customers while eavesdropping on the conversation between Han Xiao and Lerden.
Han Xiao looked at Lerden’s broken arm and said, “Don’t you feel pain?”
Lerden shook his head and said, “When I went through the implant operation, I told the doctor to cut off my nerves, so that injuries will not affect my combat ability.”
“You’re an Esper, so implants will weaken your power. Why did you do it?”
“It’s fine to be weaker,” Lerden said calmly. “I can live longer this way—a dead man is of no use.”
“To choose implants to live longer, and to actively execute the most dangerous mission, your love for your race really is strong.” Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled. “No one is born a hero; the supers of Sunil seemed to be too selfless. You guys must have your reasons, how about tell them to me? I’m quite curious.”
Lerden kept silent for a while. His expression became nostalgic, and the look in his eyes started to change a little. It was like he could hardly keep his calm when he thought about the past. He said slowly, “Just like every other Sunil, I once had a complete family. My father was strict, my mother was kind and warm, and I had two younger sisters. When DarkStar attacked, I was still a kid. Even now, I can still remember the laser cannons descending from the sky, thick like waterfalls, turning the largest buildings in the city centers into ash in an instant. We joined the evacuating crowd, and the military protected us. They knew clearly that staying behind meant death, but they still prioritized guarding us and sending us away.
“Unfortunately, my parents could not board Godora’s rescue spaceship. They died halfway there; a beam of laser turned my parents into ashes. I was just a kid in despair, and the only thing that I knew was how to cry. I followed the other refugees numbly. Every day, the army gave the refugees very little food. I was starving so much that I could not control myself at all. After I took the food, I hid more than half of the portion, only giving a little bit to my sisters. I just wanted to live at that time; I did not know how to think of anything else. Then… my two younger sisters starved to death.”
Lerden paused then said in a very low voice, “I can still vividly remember their expression, their bony palms grabbing my clothes as they stared right into my eyes, like they were telling me how hungry they were, but they had no energy to talk. Those two pairs of eyes filled with despair cut right into my heart. My brain was blank, and a few seconds felt like centuries. When their arms slipped down without strength, only then did I dare take deep breaths. I was completely petrified. I couldn’t believe what I had done. If I had shared the food with my sisters, even if I would be hungrier, at least we all could have lived, but I knew nothing back then—I only thought about having filling meals, I felt that if I ate less, I would be starved to death the next day…
“I followed the crowd up the rescuing ship numbly, not knowing where to go. There were many kids like me who lost their families back then; they were all given to veterans with a disability to raise. A group of kids and I were given to a veteran, too. From then on, we lived with him. He raised us and taught us how to fight. He was a rough, impatient man, but a good man and a good soldier. Many of us Supers were orphans that were raised by the race back then.
“As time passed, I gradually took that veteran as my foster father, but I always had a grudge in my heart. I felt my past was too dark; I felt I was an evil man. If I told my foster father, would he chase me away? One day, on impulse, I told him about my younger sisters’ death, and he gave me a serious scolding… but not because of my selfishness. He scolded me that if I had the heart to think about the past, I should be spending that time to train. He said that the race was on the verge of being wiped out, and there was no time to be held back by the past. Even if I was a criminal of countless sins, as long as I held the gun to protect our race, then I had only one identity—a soldier. No one would care about my past, only what I can do…”
Han Xiao touched his chin and asked, “What happened to that old veteran?”
“The first time the Catastrophe came, although the disabled soldiers could have been protected, he actively requested to go into the battlefield, where he died. Afterward, I heard that he belonged to the team that protected my group of refugees; I even once received food from him…” Lerden shook his head. “I owe everything to the race; therefore, I contribute everything I am able to.”
“So, your contributions are to return favors?” Han Xiao turned around and looked at Herlous, who was leaning over, eavesdropping. The man was expressionless, and he turned around and walked away impatiently as if he had absolutely no interest in this kind of conversation.
“Not entirely. It’s also for the continuation of my race.” After telling the nostalgic story, the sadness from losing comrades earlier was washed away a little. Lerden wanted to know more about Han Xiao as well, so he changed the subject. “Let’s not talk about me, let’s talk about you. You…”
This time, Han Xiao suddenly stood up and cut him off. “Pardon me, I have a private matter to settle. I need to leave for a while.”
Lerden was speechless. Shouldn’t friends share such stories? Why is he running away after listening just to my experience? I feel I’ve been taken advantage of.
Han Xiao walked to the side, found Herlous, and said, “I want to talk to you privately.”
Herlous suddenly became cautious. “What do you really want?”
Han Xiao was direct this time. “I know many things about you, such as your strength, what your older brother left for you, and other stuff. Maybe you will be interested to hear about Sunil’s future.”
Future‽
This word made Herlous very surprised, and he becam
e even more unsure of Han Xiao’s goal. “Who are you?”
“I’m a Foreseer, or you can call me… a Prophet.”
Han Xiao gave a weird smile.
The reason for him to come into contact with Herlous multiple times was because he knew Herlous’ hidden identity—he was the main character of the Sunils!
Chapter 345 - Meeting the Liar Again (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Foreseer?” Herlous’ face was filled with doubt. A stranger had suddenly appeared out of nowhere to find him and said that he could foresee the future. He had never experienced something like this. What the hell is this?
Herlous’ first reaction was to not believe him. “Since you can see the future, do you know what I will eat tomorrow morning?”
“It’s okay if you don’t believe my identity; you just need to listen. Time will prove if what I say is true.”
Han Xiao ignored Herlous’ mocking and started his performance. He purposed acted mysterious and said with a voice only two of them could hear, “Contradictions have already appeared. Not long now, the guardians of your race will split up, and Planet Sunil’s revitalizing dream will forever be shattered. The Catastrophe will finish all of your resources and hope; the only path left will be to look for help and become a subsidiary of an advanced civilization. Your people will spread to live in different cities, gradually losing your independence, relying on the strong, then slowing losing your heritage and spirit. Your past will become your words, recorded into the history books of the other higher civilizations. Your children will only come to know of the history of your race through words. Your race will be another withered race in the broad universe…”
He used unclear words on purpose. Foretelling had to give people a blurry and unclear feeling, and when it really happened, people would feel enlightened and regret when they thought back to the foretelling. Han Xiao, of course, knew the future of the Sunil race; this race did not end physically, but they did ‘end’ in another form.
Spirit, heritage, belief, history—these were the things that a species had during the process of evolving. Through thinking in various processes and coming up with answers that belonged to this race, these untouchable things were what made a race a ‘civilization’. Just like the base of a building, they were something that everyone in a race shared, pillars that held the race together. There were many races and species of beasts, but no one ever called them ‘civilizations’.
Planet Sunil was a refuge civilization—Supers were their guardians, and the race appreciated their contributions but did not have extra resources to reward them. The race could only recover by relying on Supers. It was this everlasting contribution that sparked the contradictions. In his previous life, a group of the Supers could not take it anymore. They felt they had done more than enough, so they chose to give up their home and in search of ‘freedom’, abandoning the race, which they saw as a burden, taking the galaxy as their new home.
The Sunils were heavily wounded. Originally, the damage after every Catastrophe was still acceptable, and the strength of the race as a whole was slowly recovering. Everyone had been looking forward to the day when all that bitterness would be gone and they could taste the sweetness. However, when the guardians of the race split up, their situation went downhill extremely fast; the damage suffered through the Catastrophe started to grow larger than the race’s accumulated resources, and the times became harder and harder.
The Sunils did not have enough resources to migrate. Even if they did, they would not do so; they could only look for help. Many evil forces existed in the universe, and refuge civilizations were their favored prey. If they left Godora’s protection, worse dangers would come, such as large scavenger groups, slave traders, and many others. Examples of this were not extremely rare—slave traders with strong backing wiped out an entire race except one, then raised the price due to the reason of that one person being the last of an ‘extinct species’. There were also evil organizations wiping out races to fulfill some kind of ritual or simply for satisfaction.
Regulations kept the universe balanced, but it could not get rid of all evil.
In the end, Sunil accepted Godora’s military aid and migrated once again. Godora split the Sunils up and sent an army for long term ‘protection’. As Godora made more decisions and as time passed, the Sunils were assimilated, ending the Sunil ‘Civilization’.
The three Universal Civilizations made laws that forbade the invasion of lower civilizations, but the war never ended. The festive, boisterous, and the regulated universe was just the surface, and hidden in it were many ambitious civilizations that either waited or were already acting. After all, every civilization dreamt of becoming the overlord. Since it was not allowed to invade lower civilizations through war, they assimilated them. Even the lawful civilizations were not completely kind people, and even Godora, who held pure blood beliefs, also cultivated subsidiary races.
Whether a civilization prospered or fell was on the population. If the people wanted their civilization to continue, others would only grab the opportunity to take advantage of them. Every day, there were races or civilizations dying in some corner of the universe—what difference would one more make? At most, their race’s history would be recorded and become a conversation topic after dinner or a record that did not make a difference to anyone.
Some galactic shows liked to report the dilemmas faced by civilizations, and its selling point was sparking sympathy in the audience, but hoping that others would turn sympathy into actual action was extravagant. One might make an emotional decision because of one’s emotions, but when it came to an entire civilization, an entire race, only profit mattered. After all, Sunil was just one of the hundreds of thousands of normal races. It had no right to receive special treatment.
Furthermore, this was Shattered Star Ring, the edge of the visible universe, rural and unpopulated. The active groups of people were scavengers, abandoned people, mercenaries, and vulture-like pragmatists.
Furthermore, DarkStar had attacked the lower civilizations because they wanted them to spend Godora’s resources. If one refuge civilization could stop relying on Godora and rely on itself because it had revitalized, how could the DarkStar allow the birth of an ally of Godora?
Han Xiao used vague words to describe this future to Herlous, letting him know that the Sunil’s future was covered in darkness.
“Why did you tell me something like this? Do you think I will be interested?” Herlous asked indifferently. He raised his head and gulped a mouth of alcohol, looking completely unconcerned.
“Because I saw your ending, many things can be prevented.” Han Xiao smiled.
Herlous put down the glass and said curiously, “How do I end?”
Although he did not believe that Han Xiao was a so-called prophet, most people would be curious about their future. Han Xiao had talked about many things earlier, and Herlous really wanted to know how this guy would ‘foresee’ his fate.
Han Xiao stopped instead with a smile and said, “When you believe I’m a foreseer, I will tell you.”
“I already do.” Herlous took back what he had said previously.
“If you really believe, you’re welcomed to actively find me next time.”
Han Xiao smiled; lying did not work on him.
Herlous was the storyline main character of Sunil. According to this person’s experience, Han Xiao thought that there was a chance to take away this main character role. At this time, Herlous was still an alcoholic escaping from reality, not matching up the style of a ‘storyline main character’. The parts he was going to play had yet to start, and the Great Mechanic Han had done all this specifically to target Herlous’ changes in the future, to leave a heavy impression.
His faction had to have more than one ‘NPC’ other than himself, and Herlous was the first testing target.
At this time, an argument could be heard from the corner of the bar. One of them was clearly drunk and ha
d a conflict with his friend. It seemed like they were on the topic of the survival of their race, and they had a conflict due to disagreements.
“You don’t know about sh*t,” the friend said furiously. “This is all part of Godora’s plan. They purposely migrated us to a dangerous planet. How could they not know this planet’s actual environment? Godora wants us to beg them!”
Chapter 346 - Contradictions and Splitting Up, Last Stage of the Catastrophe
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
On the other side, the drunk man spun the alcohol bottle. He was very emotional as he shouted loudly, “Then we beg Godora! What can race honor do? Only staying alive is important! These leaders’ heads are all full of sh*t. Too many people died every time; my two younger brothers died in the army! All of this is useless, so we should get help from Godora. Why are we acting so tough! These Supers are useless. If they really were strong, the Catastrophe would be long gone!”
The drunk talked in a very disdainful and emotional tone, despising the Supers and the military for being too lousy, blaming and complaining with more and more vulgar language. This kind of action angered the other customers. Supers and the military were heroes to most of the civilians—any doubts or insults would cause an outrage.
“Everything you are enjoying now is because the heroes fought their lives for it. Who are you to talk!”
The drunk sneered and said, “This is what they should do—with ability comes responsibility. If not for the race’s cultivation, they would be ordinary people just like me.”
“People like you are so disgusting; you should be sent out the city!”
The drunk sneered again. “Even if the city’s defenses are broken through, I’m a civilian that will be prioritized in the evacuation. I won’t be the one dying anyway.”
“You don’t deserve to be protected!” The crowd became even more furious.
The argument became heated. Lerden sat at the bar counter, expressionless, like he did not hear it at all. He did not even bother to turn around and look.
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