by <unknown>
By 'few', it was not counting two little children who were as cute as dolls.
Nobody knew how the two seemingly harmless and pitiful children appeared in the murky, chaotic Dragon Snake Space Zone.
Chapter 1935: At the Leo Dock, Civilization Arrives! |
Having enjoyed decades of abnormal prosperity, the Dragon Snake Space Zone was now embracing its doom.
The lawless, abnormal paradise was a land of outcasts that the federation intentionally set up in order to fish up enemies, which even the outcasts knew clearly.
However, at that time, they had still been under the naïve illusion that the 'liberators' from the Imperium of True Human Beings would sweep across and suppress the Star Glory Federation completely after they arrived.
In that case, they would certainly welcome the Imperium's army and fight their way back to their homes to relive their lives as nobles and rulers.
However, the luxurious dream was soon shattered by the news of the Black Wind Fleet's crushing defeat.
No outcasts thought that the aggressive expedition army of the Imperium would suffer such a great defeat. None of them had ever considered how they should live on after the Imperium's failure.
It was impossible for them to surrender.
They all had entrenched interests in the Water Crystal Sector, the Forest Ocean Sector, the Nether World Sector, and the Uranian Ring Sector in the past. Since they had been deprived of everything by the federation, they hated the federation's guts and would never submit to the federation.
Besides, according to the federation's theory, a lot of them owed bloody debts, and their hands were stained with the blood of the ordinary people. The federation did not let go of them even when under the massive pressure of the expedition army of the Imperium but sent out a large pack of headhunters to the Dragon Snake Space Zone to take them down. Since the federation had completely crushed the Black Wind Fleet and become the one and only dominator at the edge of the cosmos, was there any need at all to accept their surrender?
The outcasts were no better than meat on a chopping block.
Two years prior, when the Black Wind Fleet had just been crushed, the federation had focused most of its attention on Boneyard and the great development of the Ancient Sages Sector. It had no time to bother with the little land of chaos.
Besides, other than the outdated nobles who were still resisting stubbornly, the Dragon Snake Space Zone had a lot of ordinary people who had been moved to the place by the nobles. Now that the two parties had signed a peace pact on the surface, it was certainly inappropriate for the federation to attack the Dragon Snake Space Zone on a large scale.
Since the Dragon Snake Space Zone had always been fish that the federation fed in a tank, now that the larger stage was under the federation's control, it could do whatever it wanted to the outcasts. Naturally, there was no need to resort to means that were too harsh, which would affect the glorious image of the federation.
Therefore, the outcasts from the Dragon Snake Space Zone spent their last two peaceful years uneasily.
After the integration of the remaining soldiers of the Black Wind Fleet, the construction on Boneyard, and the establishment of Ancient Sages Special District, the federation was finally able to resolve the problem of the Dragon Snake Space Zone without meeting any hindrance.
Even the most sluggish outcasts could clearly sense that the noose tied their neck was getting tighter, and the daggers embedded inside the noose were stabbing into their carotid arteries. One light cough, and their heads would immediately be chopped off.
They had absolutely no chance to deal with the incoming death. The riots that were taking place in the Dragon Snake Space Zone were more like the last joy they had before their death than struggles to survive their death.
Therefore, the crime rate in the Dragon Snake Space Zone over the last year had increased dozens of times over. Atrocious cases were happening all the time, and gang fights large and small never stopped, which should come as no surprise.
Everybody wanted to survive, whatever it took. Everybody was working hard to make up for their crimes by capturing a few 'big fish' among the outcasts for the federation. The 'big fish', knowing that they were doomed, tried everything possible to change their appearance and their names, sometimes even going to the vast space to hide for a while, hoping to escape to the heartland of the federation under a false identity and find a remote place to settle in, so that their lives could be saved.
The Dragon Snake Space Zone was certainly no place for a strengthless, ordinary citizen.
The Leo Dock was a particularly perilous place that was full of unexpected danger.
It was a space dock not far away from Fish Dragon City, the main city of the Dragon Snake Space Zone, and it comprised hundreds of scrap starships, which meant that it could also be called a 'starship dump' of a fairly large scale. The main business of the dock was the modification, maintenance, and upgrade of starships.
The Dragon Snake Space Zone was a place where space pirates fought space pirates. Naturally, it boasted a high starship maintenance ability.
Dismantling more than ten scrap starships and reassembling their parts into a 'brand-new' starship was a high-risk, difficult job in the federation that was strictly forbidden, but it was merely a daily routine in this place.
After the War of the Uranian Ring, the nobles of the Uranian Ring Sector who lost the war had arrived at the place with countless warships. They had further improved the maintenance and modification level of the Dragon Snake Space Zone. They had also brought tremendous debris of scrap starships with them.
Naturally, in order to have a factory of starship maintenance and modification in the Dragon Snake Space Zone, one must have the support of brutal, capable big shots who thrived in the place.
That was exactly the case for the Leo Dock, which was a business that belonged to the Furious Lion Gang.
Among the many ruthless, notorious forces in the Dragon Snake Space Zone, the 'Furious Lion Gang' was one of the most revered ones.
Therefore, when Jin Beibei saw the two pink, cute children next to the shivering metal garbage made of debris of starships that could fall at any moment, she was so surprised that she almost could not believe her eyes.
The two guys had round cheeks and the smoothest skin. Their sweet dimples and their big eyes that were glittering like stars were enough to motivate anyone who saw them to hug them and rub their faces.
They looked very similar, suggesting that they should be twins, but the air around them was vastly different.
The boy looked vigorous and scared of nothing. The girl was relatively quiet, if not shy, but also full of curiosity about the entire world.
In any case, they were two children that should not have appeared there at all.
This was a lair of scumbags, murderers, and bandits, not a place that two harmless, pitiful children should visit.
Jin Beibei's father was one of the best welding masters of the Uranian Ring Sector. She had learned a thing or two from her father, too. The father and daughter had managed to make a living in the Leo Dock with their handicraft.
Despite the protection of such an identity, Jin Beibei was still occasionally harassed by scoundrels. Chances were that she would be swallowed by the wolves without leaving the tiniest bones behind.
Jin Beibei was aware that there were some pedophiliac perverts among the scoundrels. If such 'juicy' and 'delicious' children fell into their hands… they might hope that the garbage mountain had collapsed and killed them immediately.
More importantly, how did the two children sneak into the dock in the first place?
This was a space dock surrounded by a dark, cold vacuum. It was impossible to drift in at all!
"It's dangerous! Get out of there!"
Jin Beibei's heart was grabbed when she saw the two innocent and ignorant children. She imagined that the two children must have escaped from a starship that had come for maintenance and modification.
>
Recently, a lot of 'big fish' in Fish Dragon City had been planning their escape. They needed to modify their starships into the model that could drift for decades in a long journey by itself. The business in the Leo Dock was thriving. Several starships waited in line for maintenance and modification every day.
Many people took off to the depths of space after the modification was done, not even returning to Fish Dragon City.
Since they were going to escape, it was not strange that they would take their children with them.
Having no time to consider much, Jin Beibei hurried to move forward and grasp one child with each arm, rescuing them before the metal mountain collapsed.
Her physical strength was rather huge, thanks to her years of experience working with enormous metal components during the maintenance of starships.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The metal mountain piled up by debris of starships collapsed behind her. The two children both shrank their necks and said nothing, but there was not much fear on their faces. They simply stared at her with their big eyes in apparent curiosity.
"Who are you two brats exactly? Did you not see the 'Maintenance Base, Staff Only' sign outside?"
After returning to the small warehouse where she kept her welding materials, Jin Beibei finally took a deep breath in relief. She asked the two children, "Who did you come here with? Where are your parents? Why didn't they take care of you?"
The two children looked at each other and pouted at the same time.
"Mom is very busy and has no time to take care of us," the boy said. "Besides, she is surrounded by many mean uncles and aunts who do not allow us to approach her. If we barge in by force, it will be dangerous for us."
"Our father went to a place very far away," the girl said. "We want to go to meet our father."
"Huh?" Jin Beibei did not expect such an answer. What kind of irresponsible parents were they? Did the two children sneak into a starship and go to the Leo Dock by accident?
It was very possible. The two children were beautiful and lovely, but their faces and hands were covered in oil stains and dirt, and their clothes were as ragged as a beggar's.
There was no telling how much they had suffered before they went to the Leo Dock.
Jin Beibei recalled the days when she travelled to the Dragon Snake Space Zone with her father through so much trouble as a little girl.
Her heart immediately softened.
Thinking for a moment, she took out two white crystals and threw them into two cups. After a shake, they immediately turned into two cups of warm milk.
Handing over the milk, she said very gently, "Don't be scared. Have a rest at my place first. We'll work this out. Right. My name is Jin Beibei. What are your names?"
"Thank you, Sister Beibei!"
The two children were very polite. They took over the milk with both hands and sipped carefully.
They seemed very unused to the taste of milk, or rather, they were very unused to the very movement of 'drink'. They appeared restrained, rigid, and even 'mechanical'.
"It's so delicious." The boy licked his lips. "My name is Li Xiaoming."
"So, this is the taste of real 'milk'." The girl blinked her big, crystal-like eyes. "My name is Li Wenwen."
Chapter 1936: Me, My Dad, and My Grandpa |
Jin Beibei felt her heart aching as she watched the two children gulp the milk. She could not help but take out the sweets that she had hidden in secret before. Looking at them eating the food ravenously as if they had not had anything for a long time, Jin Beibei felt both sorry and ridiculous.
While the two children were eating, Jin Beibei took the opportunity to ask them about their hometown, their parents, and how they got to the Leo Dock.
There was no telling whether the two children were highly vigilant or downright silly, but they could not say who their parents were or where they came from at all.
As for exactly how they got to the Leo Dock, they did not hide anything. Exactly as Jin Beibei had speculated, they snuck into a starship in Fish Dragon City and were brought to this place later, although it was hard to imagine how two children who were still wet behind the ears hid themselves from all the crew members on the starship and how they appeared inside the dock without being caught by any of the surveillance cameras.
However, that was the only plausible explanation so far.
"So, you do not have any family on the starships that are currently docked here?" Jin Beibei found it tricky. "This is not good. What are you going to do now?"
The two children's answer, however, amused her.
Xiaoming and Wenwen said that it was not entirely an accident that they had gone to the Leo Dock but a planned trip. They had been preparing to go to the Dragon Snake Space Zone to find a place where they could modify and upgrade starships so that they could get a starship capable of remote space jumps and go to meet their father.
"You don't know what you are doing at all!"
Seeing that the two children were talking about 'remote space jump' and other cr*p carefully, utterly unbefitting for their age, Jin Beibei could not help but feel worried about their future.
"Let me tell you. No good guys ever come to the Leo Dock to maintain or modify their starships. They will not care about two cash-strapped children like you at all, and they won't help you find your father! No. If they are willing to take you with them, it will be even more dangerous because they will likely… do very terrible things to you!"
She thought that it should be enough to scare the two children, but she was greatly surprised by their reply.
"We do not intend to board on anyone's starship," Li Xiaoming said solemnly. "I have seen the starships modified in Sister Beibei's dock. They are too lousy and will fall apart after only a few remote space jumps."
"Thankfully, there are all kinds of materials and parts here." Li Wenwen began to speak nonsense, too. "The starships that have come here for maintenance have brought abundant fuel and resources. It should be enough for us to upgrade a starship on our own."
"You… want to modify and upgrade a starship on your own?"
Jin Beibei was utterly dumbfounded, unable to imagine what kind of greenhouse the two children had been raised in that made them so 'innocent' and 'ignorant'.
Leaving the technological and cost problems aside, the starships docked in the Leo Dock mostly carried desperadoes who were in a hurry to run away. However rich the buyers might be, they would not sell their fuel and resources!
If the two children were really carrying precious items with them, they would certainly be killed and thrown into the high-energy reactors. What could their father do about it even if he were a god?
"You—you must not do anything stupid!" Jin Beibei said, somewhat at a loss. "Let me think if there's anything I can do for you. I don't know what to do yet, but your way is definitely not going to work out. It's not so simple. The starships docked here won't sell the precious fuel and resources to you at all. Even if they do, the owner of the dock…"
"Sell?" The two children looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time. With the most naïve and innocent smiles, they said, "We did not say that we intended to buy what we need. We don't have any money."
"Well…" Jin Beibei was completely defeated by the two children. She paced back and forth in the small warehouse for a long time. Then she began to shift her attention to the little children's parents. "Do your parents not have any contact details? Perhaps I can help you reach out to them. If they have some forces under their control, it would be easier."
"We do have mom's contact, but it is very dangerous to talk to her because we will be discovered. We are too weak right now and do not want anybody to discover us," Xiaoming said naively. "Dad went to a place far, far away and is beyond reach right now. We want to find him."
"Where did your dad go?" Jin Beibei asked. "Why did he go there?"
Xiaoming ignored the first question and simply answered the second one. "Our dad went t
o look for his dad."
"Your dad's dad… So, you mean your grandpa. Does your grandpa not live with you? Why did your dad go to look for your grandpa?" Jin Beibei scratched her head, wondering if some complicated family issues were involved. It seemed quite a headache!
"Dad's dad. Well, I think it should be our 'grandpa', shouldn't it?"
The two strange kids tilted their head and thought for a long time before they decided the obvious question. Licking the cake residue on her lips, Wenwen said while she swung her legs that looked like lotus roots, "We have no idea why dad went to look for grandpa, either. But they seem to be in a rather bad relationship. We merely want to go there and observe how exactly dad treats grandpa."
"Right, Sister Beibei." With cream all over his lips, Xiaoming suddenly said, "We do not know how to treat dad, so we want to see how dad treats grandpa and then adopt the same pattern. It is like 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. Do you think it makes sense?"
Jin Beibei could not help but feel amused. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That is not how you should use the phrase. However, it is basically correct, isn't it? If your dad treats your grandpa well, you should be nice to your dad; if your dad does not treat your grandpa well, you should find a way to teach him a lesson so that he will be nicer to your grandpa."
Jin Beibei had a very responsible father. The two of them had lived with each other throughout many difficulties.
Hearing what the children said, she had already pictured an irresponsible and bad-tempered father and a mother who was occupied in work and neglected her children for the sake of her career or power.
She could not help but despise the father and the mother whose names she did not know yet.
"If dad treats grandpa well, we will be nice to dad; if dad treats grandpa badly, we will treat dad in exactly the same way—this is so reasonable!" Xiaoming seemed to be greatly enlightened. Thinking for a moment, he asked, "Then, what if dad kills grandpa? Can we kill dad, too?"
