Chapter 59: I’m not an Outlaw!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ye Chong was absolutely terrorized. He changed the direction of his engine in panic and landed the F-58 harshly. Zeep! The white laser skimmed through the forehead of F-58 and created a bottomless-looking crater on the ground, steaming.
The immense force made the F-58 land like a beast on four feet, to buffer the pressure produced due to sharp turning. And almost immediately after, the F-58 launched itself like a jaguar into the crowd.
Ye Chong had switched to ground-mode of the F-58 and considered himself familiar with the dynamics behind dashing by the beast. He mastered it fast and moved on fluidly. There was a certain rhythm in his running. The F-58 was also built with an avant-garde buffering system, so Ye Chong had an easier time piloting it on ground. Imagine bumping in the urban jungle without it, Ye Chong might need a comfort bag and all the measly amount of stamina left might just go into the drain along with his pukes.
The white mech was alerted by something as he stopped firing. He just silently followed Ye Chong behind.
Ye Chong had fully adjusted the F-58’s posture after a while but remained very close to the ground, with legs bent. Certainly a very strange posture to fly in… Ye Chong was helpless of this in actuality. F-58 was unarmed and keeping the same height with the sniper would be fatal. He could only try to ground the sniper by flying extremely low. That was his mere hope to fight back or else… he would be running for his life and probably get shot and no more. There were a lot of moments where a shot could have been made, yet it never happened. Ye Chong was confused. What was holding him back? Or was it a miss?
Ye Chong would never let the chance slip if he was the chaser. He would fire at every possible moment to nail the enemy. That was what living on the Trash Planet had taught him all these years - the blatant, crude, primal, supreme law of survival. He believed that such law might not be actually applicable in this society, especially after the incident the day before, but he believed that there were way more things unknown to him. He didn’t encounter the unknown, he was literally thrown into the unknown. Thus, like what all humans would do, he would pick the method he trusted and knew best to conquer the unknown.
Well, it seemed like Ye Chong still had a long journey down the road to understand society and change himself…
The curved legs might appeared to be awkward, however it would be the most effective way so far to dodge any incoming beam by changing the course using the leap of the legs.
It could be a golden opportunity to have some circus tricks but Ye Chong did not fancy the idea. The non-orderly wavy leap, the classic Thomas’s Spin, there are always times for those but not now! If I wanted to commit suicide there are better ways! Thought Ye Chong as he changed his direction from time to time between the densely grouped buildings at an attempt to confuse the opponent. This would give him temporary cover too!
The white mech seemed to have no counter for this. He stayed up high following Ye Chong. Ye Chong went lower and lower and tried his best to pick places with more buildings. That was a headache to the white mech because Ye Chong travelled like a phantom, sneaking from one spot to another. He would more likely to miss him if he were to lower his mech in the run.
Out of the blue, the black mech in front of him disappeared!
Ye Chong actually discovered a giant building in front, an extremely tall foundation. He got an idea and he rushed towards the corner of the building. Right when the white mech lost him, he jumped out of the cabin instantly and warped the F-58 back into the alternate dimension before he touched the ground. The people were staring at him in perplexity. He quickly submerged into the crowd and vanished.
He walked with the flow and cautiously glanced at the white mech, halting in the sky a few times on the way, "You did improve I guess." Mu praised.
"Well, this is the best I could pull off." Ye Chong replied.
"The location to claim your card is right at the central building in 500 meters."
"Got it."
The central building was about 300 floors tall, coated in metallic texture with glasses of dim blue. It was a futuristic building in cold colors. And there seemed to be a parking space for mech or miniature aircrafts at every 3 floors.
The interior was gently lit, decorated with walls of silver and countless cubicles separated by partitions of glass both transparent and half-transparent. The lobby contained a number of hologram projectors that kept rolling out the procedures of any form of application. There were also a few processors nearby for customers’ inquiry.
Ye Chong walked to one of the kiosks there. His fingerprints were scanned along with his retina, followed by his skeletal structure. A diprotic scan was also performed. These were the essential procedures for verification purpose. And Ye Chong’s identity was proven.
"The application of recreating your identity card has been completed. You may receive your card at your right. Please take good care of it and if you lose it again, do come to us soon." A mechanical voice of a female rang at the kiosk after the verification process. Thup! A pale green card was spat out of the automated machine, "Have a nice day!"
He looked at his card with curiosity. It was about the size of his wrist, slightly smaller. "Ye, this is your identification document. You’re no longer an outlaw. This took me way longer than I thought. The security at the residence info center was hard to get through. It took me a lot of effort just to get in. I almost got caught too! But luckily I’m fast." He laughed proudly.
The card contained his full name, gender and other personal information. There was also a unique logo of Fal galaxy. The identity card could be snapped after fingerprint verification to obtain the very core of the card, being the microchip. The chip could be placed into a specific kind of decoder to get more data. Well, of course, this was only useful for specific departments.
Ye Chong kept his card carefully.
He exited the building and headed back to his shop. The first wave of customers were coming anytime soon. He had got to make it back fast! He was tempted to re-summon F-58, yet… Ye Chong looked around. The white mech could be watching from anywhere. He wouldn’t want another round of reckless race into the unknown…
For what reason that white mech wanted to kill me so much? What did I do wrong?
Ye Chong was puzzled. Some may have suggested the use of Mu but that idea was long out of reach for Ye Chong, considering how Mu was so sassy to not let him have a ride for emergencies. Sigh, I’ll just walk on my feet. He ran on his feet fast, all the way to the shop!
The pedestrians at the side held their steps as they watched a road runner passing by.
"What the heck? This is impossible!"
"He’s too fast!"
"Am I high? Am I seeing things?"
They were probably thinking these thoughts while looking at a grown man rushing through the street in rumbles.
Ye Chong had to rush because the customers flooded the shop recently and most of them happened to be regular and returning customers.
I made it!
Right before the first wave of starving customers intruded.
That was a miracle, until… I’m tired… The customers of the shop were very self-aware of it seemed. There were only 32 seats in Grandpa Qian’s shop. So anyone could tell the seats were very insufficient and the customers left the moment they finished their food. They never stayed and they gave the seats to the coming customers. It was good but… that simply did not give a moment for Ye Chong to even catch his breath. He was usually much more energetic, however he drained himself too much during the escape in the morning.
"You seemed worn out, my boy. Are you okay?" Grandpa Qian asked unsettlingly upon seeing how Ye Chong was not his usual self. "Yeah, yeah, I’m fine." That was his reply for every regard he received that day.
Till the very last customer left in satisfaction, they finally got to start their meal.
The rice tasted sweeter than usual. Everything just felt tastier. Ye Chong gargled the soup.
In the midst of leisure, someone bashed into the place.