Chapter 109: The Orbits (1/2)
Chapter 109: The Orbits
Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The flock of angry mechs from FMPA eventually stopped chasing… but that only happened 3 days later… Ye Chong was thanking god that he brought supplementary batteries sufficient to sustain him for the last 3 days, or he would have drained his battery and got stuck in the space like those FMPA mechs. Meanwhile, Mu seemed to hardly have the issue of energy depletion. He somehow had a much longer battery lifespan. Whoever created Mu must be some genius for being able to produce such a large battery capacity in limited space.
He did expect Old Pang and Ka Sang to stop at some point.
However both of them actually brought some batteries too, which was surprising to Ye Chong.
If you were to lose your battery, you would have gotten stuck and died. Only that would happen if you were in the space with such misfortune.
Nonetheless Old Pang had already become confused because of the continuous chase running around the Orbits, his atrocious memory could not pinpoint where he was.
At least they had gotten rid of those irritating mechs. They could look for a spot in leisure. No one cared what would happen to those mechs that had drained all their batteries. They were helpless. The ending for them was clear.
They flew on under energy-saving mode.
”30 years ago…,” muttered Old Pang. ”I came to the Orbits but I wasn't alone. My brother came along back then. I was 17… I wonder how much had changed here…if those people I once knew lingered?” His words were filled with sentiments.
Mu’s voice came abruptly, ”The galactic map of the Orbits in detail was nowhere to be found. It does not exist even in the Fal main databank!”
”Those civil servants… Kek…” Old Pang sneered, ”I was not really sure of the landscape here too. I only remembered this place being a very complicated terrain, with lots of places perfect for hide-and-seek. Most criminals, the fearsome ones came here to conceal themselves. You guys better be careful. No word could reach them. Everyone here speaks with their fists and no one would care if you were killed. Especially those Mentalists, get away from them, never talk to them, they can be a nuisance.”
”Mentalist?” asked Ka Sang curiously. ”What the heck is a mentalist? Why have I never heard about it from you?”
A mentalist? Ye Chong was intrigued as he too had hardly heard a title like that before.
”Ka Sang, my boy Ka Sang, you better be staying low once we got there,” Old Pang’s tone was grim. ”The Mentalists are at a high position in the Orbits. They don’t get into fights but they have the rights of being an arbitrator in one. Thanks to their protection, those watchdogs of the government were never brave enough to disturb folks at the Orbits. Back when I was 17, I witnessed a slaughter between a mentalist and a fighter when I visited this place with my brother. The mentalist was around 40 years old, looked all weak but the fighter just dropped dead before him. It was spooky because the mentalist did not even lift his hand.”
”That spooky?” Ka Sang screamed.
Ye Chong was spooked out too as he could not figure out a way of committing murder without moving anything.
”So yeah, you've got to stay low, don't do anything funny with them. They are easy to recognize though. Most of them wear blouses in pale green and they hardly leave their residences, so don’t worry. Instead we should be cautious with the folks outside… many of them come from a hideous background and they are bloodthirsty and inhumane. They adore fighting and the fight won’t end till one of them collapsed. If your fists do not match theirs, you are only there for humiliation and tortures.”
”Fighting? I love fighting more than anything!” chuckled Ka Sang, acting like a big boy.
A hint of frigidity flashed in Ye Chong’s gaze.
”There it is!” Old Pang shouted out of sudden. ”That red planet ahead of us! Yes, that’s it! The Red Giant!” His tone turned much relaxed and started to get excited, ”I was so worried wondering if I missed it! This is the easiest planet to recognize, the vegetation is all red, which is quite extraordinary. The residents on the planet are also the friendliest in the Orbits! I had spent most of my time here in the past! So I knew this place better than any other!”
Some uncertainty had been brewing inside Ye Chong, as their next move became clearer he finally had the leisure to ask, ”The Orbits share only a few days of flight away from the actual course for main cruises. But why haven’t we run into a spaceship yet?”
Old Pang was astounded by Ye Chong’s question at first, he giggled as he replied, ”Course? You mean that course that Sabre adopted? Hah! That route was abandoned for years! It was just so happened that Fred the Great demanded a change of course to Morienste all of sudden. Yeah, a great man Captain Hatik is indeed, for he actually remembered that this route existed! The course was absolutely the very shortcut to Morienste and people hardly use it now, it is supposed to be rather safe… But sighs… nobody had thought that we would come across these punks!”
Ye Chong was speechless after hearing such an ordinary explanation. He was expecting something greater. He was well-aware of why the great master demanded a change in the course but of course he had to keep it to himself, though he did not really have the feeling to confess everything to Old Pang.
The conversation went lighthearted at first, then suddenly the smile on Old Pang vanished, ”Just some heads up - after we got into the Orbits, we can’t simply get out. The Orbits behave like the other world of the galaxy and is completely shut off from the outside world. You could get in but not out. People rarely manage to leave the place. My elder brother was only able to leave after fulfilling some tasks given by some sort of Elder at the place back then; for me, I was sent along with my brother. And I had never seen him since then…,” sentiment filled his words again.
Ye Chong did not comfort the good Old Pang like his partner did.
The setting of the place was something new to Ye Chong. He hastily communicated with Mu in his head, ”What’s your take on this, Mu?”
”Based on the information received, we do not have many options here,” his tone was flat as usual.
Ye Chong took a glance around the endless space and darkness, his smile was bitter, ”Right… This is like the only living route we could get. Guess we have to act as we move then.”
”Agreed,” concisely Mu replied.
Ye Chong sat inside his Yu Di and his thoughts wandered…