Ch 7 – Making human friends

Kersz was beginning to have regrets. He had underestimated the technology left behind by the ancient humans.

As he said before, he didn’t possess the tyrannical intention of dragging all of humanity to their deaths, but now, it seemed he had no choice in the matter.

Yu Xi was well-prepared, and carefully arranged the interior of the starship he had chosen. This starship was quite old, but Kersz was amazed by its capabilities.

He tried to persuade Yu Xi not to keep the “solar system” inside his pendant, but Yu Xi clearly had no intention of listening to him.

This was what the ancient humans had left for Yu Xi in the end, and he needed to keep it with him at all times.

Yu Xi was perfectly at peace, but Kersz was terrified out of his mind. He had a premonition that he was going to become a great sinner against all of human civilization. After all, he was the one leading Yu Xi there.

It would be better for him to just die out here.

“Good child.” Yu Xi noticed that he had zoned out, and immediately reached out to steady him by the shoulder. “What are you thinking about?”

Kersz was contemplating whether he should perish together with Yu Xi right then and there and put an end to the crisis. But considering the difference in strength between them, it was more likely that Kersz would die and Yu Xi would fly off on his own to explore the human world.

That was even more dangerous.

“Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you.” Yu Xi continued to soothe this overly-calculating human. “But if we have some sort of irreconcilable conflict and I tearfully take action against you, that doesn’t count as me abandoning you.”

Kersz: “…..Does ‘take action’ mean killing me?”

“I’m not usually this direct, but you are indeed a very complex child, and humans like you tend to cause a lot of trouble. In order for us to coexist in peace, I must make some things clear upfront,” Yu Xi said.

Kersz: ……

This was an exceptionally ruthless robot.

Kersz let out a heavy sigh: “I’m aware of the fact that I’m a deeply unlikeable person.”

Yu Xi, who was about to continue decorating the spaceship, stopped in his tracks.

“I’m not a well-behaved human. I’m a space pirate, not a politician or a judge.” Kersz lowered his head, looking very despondent. “If I can’t make you like me now, you’ll take me even less seriously when there are more humans around.”

Yu Xi tilted his head slightly: “Is it very important to you that I like you?”

Yu Xi felt that Kersz wasn’t someone who abandoned himself to emotion. Hadn’t he been constantly trying to pique Yu Xi’s interest in the human world? 

Kersz must have his own “career” he wished to pursue, regardless of whether that career was considered to be good or bad in his social environment. In any case, he had his own path to follow.

Yu Xi felt that his relationship with Kersz was more like having a guide than anything else. Kersz probably also wanted to gain some benefits from him, but those benefits had nothing to do with sentimentality.

Kersz: “…..You did save me, after all.” Where exactly was the boundary between Yu Xi’s rationality and emotions?

Yu Xi was unresponsive in the face of these words. At this moment, he truly resembled an emotionless robot. “Me saving you has nothing to do with me liking you. The two matters are unrelated.”

Yu Xi went on to arrange the decorations in the starship.

Kersz was a good-looking human and a capable “assistant” for now, but Yu Xi didn’t expect their relationship to last.

“Your reaction to me is really discouraging,” Kersz said, a little depressed. “After all, I’m still a human being.”

“Of course you’re a human being, and a very good one at that….ah, what are you doing?” As Yu Xi was adjusting the back of a chair, he stiffened when Kersz wrapped his arms around his waist.

“I’m spreading the warmth of humanity to you,” Kersz said.

“Thank you.” Yu Xi reached out and patted Kersz’s head, then continued to tidy the interior of the starship with this burr attached to him.

He only stopped once he had turned the starship’s interior into a playroom.

At Kersz’s suggestion, Yu Xi then made the starship’s hull even more inconspicuous.

Then, Yu Xi piloted the mid-sized starship and took Kersz away from the planet.

Kersz watched as Yu Xi took off his pendant and placed it on the ship’s control panel. The panel slowly sank down, and then small doors closed on both sides of the small recess.

A moment later, the pendant was teleported outside the starship. Yu Xi was able to remotely control the pendant, but Kersz couldn’t see what he was doing. It was too small, and there were no monitors tracking it.

But Kersz soon realized that the pendant was working, because through the main window of the starship, he witnessed the compression of an entire galaxy.

The stars and that single planet seemed to elongate, which was probably just a visual illusion as all visible light stretched and swirled toward a small point in front of the ship.

Those filaments of light formed a vortex that took up almost the entire view outside the main window.

Yu Xi reached over and covered Kersz’s eyes. Such a dazzling sight could damage the human’s eyes.

While Kersz could only see light, Yu Xi was able to perceive the folding and reorganization of space as it entered the shabby pendant, which finally regained its luster.

When Yu Xi retracted his hand, the necklace had already been retrieved.

Kersz labored to control his breathing. The scene he had just witnessed was so shocking that it was difficult for him to keep his cool. An entire galaxy had been compressed right before his eyes.

He stared at Yu Xi’s necklace: “That is…..”

“Galaxy-dot-zip.” Yu Xi referred to this pendant in the language of the ancient humans.

Kersz clicked his tongue in wonder, and Yu Xi began preparations for the space jump.

He could approximately locate Kersz’s point of origin, but considering the vastness of the universe, the area he narrowed it down to was far from small.

That area was definitely within the human sphere of influence, but it was unknown which specific subset of humans it belonged to.

As Kersz had said, there were now six major coalitions in human society, and space pirates were not welcome in any of them.

“It’s been so long since I’ve seen a large number of humans.” As he spoke, Yu Xi activated the jump point. “Hopefully we don’t come out very far from a habitable planet.”

“It’s fine if the planet isn’t habitable. Even on a mining planet, you’ll be able to pick up orphans by the handful,” Kersz reassured him.

“That’s not bad either.” Yu Xi took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he thought back to the humans in his earliest memories.

Those humans seemed to have all sorts of troubles.

Now that he had regained the opportunity to be close to humans, would he finally be able to understand what they were thinking?

Would he be able to figure out why no human being was willing to stay for him?

In the end, they had reunited in a different way entirely.

Yu Xi pressed the jump button, and the view outside the window instantly transformed into colorful waves of light as the space jump initiated.

“This starship isn’t shaking at all,” Kersz said in astonishment. “Has the jump started?”

“It’s almost over,” Yu Xi said.

“What an incredible ship!” Kersz exclaimed.

He then glanced at the control panel and let out a choking sound.

When he glanced out the main window again, it was pitch black outside, the absence of light waves indicating the end of the jump.

Kersz asked Yu Xi: “Did you scatter all those red dots over the control panel to celebrate our successful jump?”

Yu Xi looked over: “Oh, it seems we’ve jumped into the middle of someone’s starship fleet.”

A moment later, Yu Xi discovered through the system that the starships outside already had their weapons trained on them.

“Wait, our systems are incompatible. I need to speak with them.” Yu Xi rubbed his hands together, somewhat agitated.

Those starships were all similar in model. Although they were fully-armed, the fact that they hadn’t launched an attack suggested that the other side was likely attempting to establish contact with them.

After fiddling around for a while, Yu Xi finally connected to the other party’s main communications system. Then he looked up and ran his eyes over the modifications he’d made to the starship’s interior, nodding with considerable satisfaction.

It was just like a children’s playroom in here, demonstrating his absolute good intentions.

Yu Xi set the projection range to show the entire control room, then resolved to have a mature dialogue with humankind.

Yu Xi politely asked the other side for permission to communicate, and they readily agreed.

As expected, the humans had no intention of reacting rashly. They just didn’t understand where this starship had come from.

And once communication was established, Yu Xi discovered that the surprises didn’t end there.

A semi-transparent projection hung in the air. The other party had blocked out the background, leaving only a few miniature human-shaped projections.

Those people were wearing matching uniforms, and Yu Xi recognized the one in the lead.

Kersz had pulled up his portrait. He was the talented and capable lieutenant colonel who had a deep affection for Kersz.

“Hello…..” Yu Xi began.

But before he could finish speaking, the man behind the lieutenant colonel exclaimed in shock: “Kersz! That’s Kersz! He’s still alive!”

“How is this asshole not dead yet?! Did he come back to life?”

“What is he planning to do?! Protect the supply ship! Don’t let him steal it!”

“Fire! Fire!! Shoot this bastard to death!!”

Communication was unilaterally cut off, and the other side really did open fire.

The starship’s protective shield deployed, and Yu Xi stood there for a long moment in stunned silence.

When Yu Xi didn’t say anything, Kersz could only ask softly: “Mr. Yu Xi, are we going to run?”

Yu Xi turned his head to look at him: “There are deep feelings between you?”

Kersz: “His feelings toward me are indeed very strong. Ever since I blew up his house, they have gotten somewhat out of hand. I rejected him, but it was no use.”

Yu Xi: ……

“I just spoke to him,” Yu Xi said.

“Yes, Mr. Yu Xi.”

“He saw what I look like,” Yu Xi continued.

“And you look radiant.”

“So does that mean I’m now your accomplice?”

“Your posters will soon be hung in every corner of the galaxy, ah!” Kersz said in a passionate voice. He wasn’t sure if this counted as causing a lot of trouble for Yu Xi, or if Yu Xi would directly kill him.

Yu Xi: “Posters?”

Kersz: “Wanted posters.”

Yu Xi slowly squatted down and withdrew into himself. He was currently unable to handle such intense emotions.

Kersz: “Let’s run, Mr. Yu Xi.”

“Mr. Yu Xi?”

“Hey….don’t crawl under the table! We’re still under attack!”

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Chapter 6 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 8