Chapter 593: Antecedent
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Could it be the dimensional crack you told me before?" Rui Bing recalled with tears welling up her eyes after seeing the visual just now. She might have experienced parting with loved ones but she was still a rather simple person who only fought with her fists and kicks for justice and love. Her voice was muzzled by her nasal as she spoke.
"Mhmm, maybe," Ye Chong nodded in agreement.
In the visual projected, the harshly wounded red-tailed beast had a moment of hesitation before it left the place for good, and the motion looked still for the next few minutes. If it was not the dust particles rolling on the ground, Ye Chong would have assumed the visual had ended. It was clear that this mech was installed with a powerful detection system, or a powerful energy system, more precisely speaking.
The visual was fast-forwarded at drastic speed and Ye Chong could see the constant harassment by other red-tailed beasts 26 years after that. The detection had never stopped working for the past 26 years and certainly had justified its outrageously long-lasting energy reserve.
Towards the later part of the visual, Ye Chong finally understood why that red-tailed beast left the scene at first, as well as how the mech lasted till now - perhaps, the prey was not meant to be consumed after all. As Ye Chong continued observing, he saw a small pack of red-tailed beasts being shredded into countless pieces upon approaching it. The densely formed crack of dimension seemed to have distorted them into a swirl of flesh.
The mech was apparently a fly-trap for the red-tailed beasts, captivating and deadly.
The red-tailed beast that decided to leave the mech alone had 8 toes, while these seemingly blind red-tailed beasts had 5. From this, Ye Chong could speculate that red-tailed beasts with more than 5 toes could sense the dimensional phenomena, though it was a wild guess.
As time passed by, Ye Chong witnessed the massive migration of the red-tailed beasts while the timestamp matched the period where red-tailed beats were first seen, at an abrupt occasion, in He Yue galaxy.
This place was obviously a real place of death with these spatial distortions around. Ye Chong gave up counting the deformed carcasses piling up by the mech as he shifted his attention to the number of packs of migrating red-tailed beasts. There were 57 packs of them that attempted a migration in the last 26 years and only 12 of them actually made it.
The strange thing was… only a handful of them were spotted at He Yue galaxy, so where were the rest? No one knew, but clearly a majority of their compatriots had been slaughtered mercilessly by the dimensional cracks.
There were a few of them scouting the escape path and mostly they were sacrificed. Ye Chong's speculation could be true, judging how the scouts all had more than 5 toes and they also happened to be the leader of their respective packs. Their leadership made them take up the most dangerous task ever while their innate ability only gave them a partial chance of survival, as they still needed luck in order to survive.
Ye Chong was not able to perceive their full departure however. The record seemed to have not captured the exact manner the red-tailed beasts "transported" themselves via the spatial window.
Nevertheless, this mech contained precious information, a large amount of them.
And one of them mentioned Shang.
Shang had always been a total mystery to everyone and this time Ye Chong had something like a biography about this tactical ally of his, which included a clear, complete visual of him in his prime.
There were bits of information about Ye Luo and the pilot of Shang, but those failed to grab Ye Chong's attention. His sole interest was always on either the friend or the foes, Shang or the red-tailed beasts in this context. Ye Chong believed he hardly associated with Ye Luo and the family.
While still being remained in the shock after witnessing the destruction caused by the dimensional cracks, Ye Chong began reading the journal entries stored in the processor. There was nothing particularly futuristic about storing a journal for mech pilots. No fancy hologram projection, no audio record, it was just an ordinary page of words written by the pilot as believed to be about rather significant events. It was more manageable, perhaps, for space exploration pilots to keep their journals in text form since it had a smaller file size. It also seemed like the "black box" for the mech since the journal was stored at the most well-protected component of the processor.
Ye Chong evaluated each entry carefully. The journal was concisely written yet every single sentence was terrifying to both Ye Chong and Rui Bing.
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
It was my 17th birthday today. I was gifted 'Lazunite'."
Lazunite was probably the name of this mech, which was a combination of lazunite and nightfall.
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Lazunite was a great ally. It's been 3 months since obtained. Lost only in the 39th round in clan war. The other clan members was defeated by Lazunite in less than 10 moves."
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Free space zone, encountered strong enemies of 20, defeated 19 and had a draw. Departed home, during which Xue Lai clan scouting team encountered, all destroyed."
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Another encounter with the Xue Lai team. 110 casualties this time, smashed 42, wounded 17 and the rest escaped."
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
The third time encountering Xue Lai, with 178 units. Utilized the geographical benefits, smashed about half of the group, escaped the scene safely."
…
The following entries seemed much later…
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Age: Over 30. Skills: honed apparently. A master of oneself, ranked the top. Improvements were significant. No one in the clan could defeat me. Overjoyed."
…
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
A man with broken heart, without the will to fight. The greatest depression comes from the heart. Sigh."
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Encountered a large group of Xue Lai, presumably coming to challenge for fun. Cleared 2/3 of the entire army. We might be the greatest nemesis to each other, not even the other aristocrats could compete."
That was when Ye Chong clicked the next entry and saw something.
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Xue Lai had a backup this time. A formidable foe. Possibly their top mech model Shang."
That was it.
That was really it. Ye Chong enlarged his eyes, as finally confirming Shang's identity, being a mech of the Xue Lai clan, the top-notch model too, 2 decades back. That explained his capabilities even today, handicapped. Ye Chong could not help but to marvel Shang at his prime.
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Shang challenged. Pilot: Unknown. Fought 10 days straight, outcome: negative."
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
20th day. Outcome: negative."
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
A few fights had been done with Shang coming back. Outcome: negative."
"Outcome: Negative."
"No outcome after the battle."
…
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Shang had won over my respect. Intend to ally. Lack of a method however."
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
A gentle touch, a fateful encounter truly. The top pilot of Xue Lai clan was a woman! Her name was Yu Yu. Heart: pumping fast. Body temperature: rising."
…
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Formed a party. No regrets in life, not anymore!"
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Utilized pathway of Xue Lai and entered 5 major galaxies. Rapports grew, travelling in relaxation. Hope the journey never ends!"
…
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Officially engaged. Today was the marriage. Not even the difference of our family could stop us from getting married. We shall hide from the world, away from the families. Now I finally realized where my heart was broken."
…
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Yu Yu was pregnant. Felt happiness. Jaws were sore from long hours of smiling. If Ye Juxing saw this, he would be laughing."
…
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
Our child was born. Yu my love was fine. It was a boy and he was named Ye Chong."
Ye Chong froze, his logical formulation of mental schema had gone chaotic! He seemed to have no longer recognized the world.
It took him a while to recover from the shock, during which he realized his hand was held by Rui Bing.
Her eyes were passionately on Ye Chong, her lips could not help but to constantly biting each other upon perceiving Ye Chong's confused stare and a tighter grip.
Somehow these little gestures had given Ye Chong a kind of strength. His eyes grew clear as he nodded at Rui Bing, returned her a grip too. Rui Bing's face reddened while her eyes fixed upon Ye Chong's.
Ye Chong's parents had been revealed. It had always been a concept more foreign than the red-tailed beasts, the unknown creature across dimension to Ye Chong whenever it came to "home" or "family". He only knew, the closest term to such sense of belonging, "Papa".
He finally realized which Trash Planet the girl in the visual mentioned was, and the recipient too, as well as Shang's point of existence.
So, they were his parents. Out of the sudden, Ye Chong had a strong urge to see their faces. He tried searching through the database, only turning out to be a wild goose chase. He could not see a clear visual of them, and could only pick up a few brief lines from the recording.
He repeated the recording countless times, listened with a passion like it was the first time he heard it.
He imprinted these voices in his head, then he carried on reading the journals.
"XX Month XX Day XX Year
The bloodline of our Ye Chong had always been our worry. What could happen if blood of Ye family and Xue Lai clan came into connection? But the outcome was, surprisingly, positive. The blood test result reflected a clear characteristic of Ye family. Our son would have a great body like his father. Yu my love had conducted test on our son's Xue Lai bloodline too. The result matched, perhaps he could inherit the intelligence and powerful calculation ability of his mother. Well, the downside was, as his mother stated, it was not confirmed even among their own kind.
But, I believe we had made a major discovery! The marriage across both families would not taint and kill the bloodline! This would be significant to both Ye family and Xue Lai clan, though I am not sure if it is applicable on all families. Still, I strongly believe that this would be quite something for every family in the galaxy!"
Ye Luo no longer sounded concise as he was in this entry. One could almost feel his excitement from the writing.
The entry explained everything!
Ye Chong finally understood how he was able to activate Mu/Shang, while having the bloodline, thus the inhumane physique of Ye family.
His mind ran fast, as he pieced everything together.
The reason of his appearance on Trash Planet.
The motive of the MPA, also the Xue Lai clan hunting down Mu/Shang upon seeing him.
The explanation to the fading effect of the toxic of silver liquid in Black Coves.
The strangely terrified reaction of Mu upon seeing the 8-toed claw underground that time.
The reason why Mu/Shang's database contained mostly information from Ye family and Xue Lai clan.
Yes, it all made sense, made perfect sense!