MLiS – Chapter 10.3

Fear Not, For I Am With You

Luo Lan returned to her room. While finishing her drink, she leaned on the bed and browsed the latest published genetic research papers.

Before she came to Big Gemini, she submitted a paper. If she could successfully pass the publication, it would be a great help for her when she applies for the gene-repairer license.

“…In the distant ancient Earth era, humans have proposed that speciation, also known as germination, is a process of biological evolution. Biological species will be divided into two in evolution, forming alienated ethnic groups. The evolutionary forces of germination include natural selection, sexual selection, mutation, genetic recombination, genetic shift, genetic modification…”

Luo Lan’s heart skipped a beat. She subconsciously checked the author’s name and found that it was an anonymous article with an “S” letter code as the author.

Luo Lan thought of Qian Xu’s illness, and her mood became heavier.

She drank the Youlan Youlu silently. Before she knew it, most of the drink was gone.

Luo Lan felt dizzy, but her body felt as light as a feather. In a trance, she felt very relaxed and free, without any constraints. She could do whatever she wanted.

She opened her address book and called Qian Xu.

She wanted to tell him that when the electric current passed through her body, it felt half numb and half painful, much like the feeling she felt when she thought^[1] of him.

She wanted to tell him that lying in her own vomit was really the worst thing in the world, but it was not as uncomfortable as when he didn’t reply to her message.

She wanted to tell him that she was actually very afraid of him after the mutation, but she was even more afraid of losing him.

She wanted to tell him that she would be sad when she thought of his illness, but she didn’t dare to let him know, so she could only pretend to be indifferent.

The beeping sound kept ringing, but no one answered.

Luo Lan refused to give up, and while drinking the rest of Youlan Youlu, she continued to call Qian Xu’s personal terminal.

Once more… just once more… just… once more…

Later, she became even more muddled. She regarded the beeping sound as Qian Xu’s response and talked endlessly until she fell asleep.

Early in the morning, Luo Lan slowly opened her eyes.

It seems that she had a good dream. All the negative emotions in her heart were washed away by the dream. Her whole body felt refreshed and her mood uplifted.

She walked to the bathroom while she stretched herself.

Luo Lan’s eyes were closed, letting the personal cleaner in the bathroom help her wash her face. She thought about her dream last night. She kept calling Qian Xu’s personal terminal, talking endlessly, confiding in all her worries.

In the misty fog, Luo Lan suddenly opened her eyes. No! It must be a dream! It MUST be a dream!

She prayed reverently several times. Gathering her courage and ignoring the tremble on her body, she carefully checked her personal terminal.

“Ah! My God!”

She really did call Qian Xu’s number. Hundreds of times even.

Luo Lan picked up the cleaner and beat her head with it. Her mind was full of depressed shouting. Dead! She was dead meat! How could she do such a shameless thing?!

What would Qian Xu think when he saw hundreds of missed calls on his log?

She didn’t know where she hit the cleaner, but it suddenly switched modes and started spraying water wildly. Luo Lan was drenched all over her head and face.

She stood blankly, her eyes full of sadness. Drops of water kept rolling down her cheeks.

Even though she had done such a shameless thing; even though she called his personal terminal hundreds of times, there was still no news from Qian Xu.

————·————·————

After vomiting for five days in a row, Luo Lan finally adapted to the changes in the simulation cabin.

The training time was gradually extended to four hours, and she began to complete various actions according to Su Qi’s requirements.

In the morning was exhausting physical training, and in the afternoon was exhausting various skills training, such as firearm use, spaceship driving, escape and hiding, and anti-tracking……

Chen Sha sometimes came to watch her train. Sometimes he had his own works and couldn’t come.

The man who taught Luo Lan firearms was Su Er.

He has tanned skin and a simple and honest smile on his face. When he wore goggles, he looked very kind. Once he took off his goggles and showed his strange eyes, his honest smile suddenly felt like an evil smile.

Su Er’s eyes had undergone a natural mutation. Each eye was composed of 6,000 other eyes. Naturally, his ability was vision. He could effectively calculate the orientation and distance of objects at a glance. He was especially good at locating high-speed moving objects.

Luo Lan felt that sharing a class with a genius was too stressful! The mutant gene was definitely the most unfair thing in the world. She had lost even before the match started! How could her two eyes compare with the other’s 12,000 eyes?

Su Er patted her shoulder with encouragement. Just like Su Qi, he kindly comforted, “The commander and the chief justice are both my apprentices, yet they both shoot better than me.”

Chen Sha and Zuo Qiubai…

Luo Lan looked at Su Er wordlessly. Was “How to Sincerely Turn Comfort into a Knife” the only thing that he and Su Qi learned in their childhood?

————·————·————

-In the Afternoon. Shooting Training Room-

Su Er was explaining to Luo Lan the advantages and disadvantages of each firearm, “Always remember that there is no best weapon, only the best choice in different situations. If you choose the right one, you will live, and if you choose the wrong one, you will die…”

With a loud “bang”, the training room door was opened. The consul stood at the door.

He was still in his usual black hooded robe and silver mask. The whole body was covered up and down. However, there was a little anxiety in his motion. He was not as calm and relaxed as usual.

Su Er was taken aback. He put his legs together, stood straight, and saluted, “Consul!”

Luo Lan also reacted. She put down the gun that was being assembled, stood up in a hurry, and bent her knees, and bowed.

The consul gazed past Luo Lan before stopping at Su Er, “I’m looking for Chen Sha.”

“The commander is not here.”

The consul turned and left.

“You guys continue.”

Luo Lan and Su Er looked at each other.

Luo Lan asked tentatively, “Is that blood that I see on Consul’s boots…?”

Su Er affirmed her guess, “It is blood. He probably went to do a mission, but was in such a hurry to go back that he forgot to change his boots.”

Luo Lan remembered when she first came to Alikarta, she had seen the consul through a video call.

Wearing a black combat uniform, he slashed and ripped a sharp-toothed bird’s belly, causing its flesh and blood to fly everywhere.

Luo Lan asked Su Er, “Have you seen Consul, that old man^[2]—”

“Old man?” Su Er was astonished.”Consul sat in that position in his forties. He is the youngest consul in the history of the Federation. Where is he old??”

Luo Lan said sheepishly, “I heard Bai Licang call the consul that way. The Dukes also seem a little afraid of the consul. I thought—… Um…Have you ever seen His Excellency the Consul^[3] without his mask before he got ill?”

“I have seen it.”

Luo Lan’s curiosity was lit, “What did he look like?”

There was a trace of fear on Su Er’s face, “When Consul was the General, he was notoriously handsome and considered very good-looking even in the army, but he was also notoriously cold and bloody. You may think that he was popular even with his cold look at that time. But, no, I think he became popular only after he wore his mask…” 

Luo Lan didn’t believe it one bit. “He is more popular after wearing a cold mask that shows no expression at all? What is he like before?”

“The best in the world. With the face of an angel, the heart of a devil, and the body of a beast!”

Luo Lan let out a laugh. She laughed back and forth that she couldn’t help but slap her hand on the table. 

Su Er said embarrassedly, “It’s not me who said it. It was the former Duchess, Commander Chen Sha’s mother.”

Luo Lan’s gossip spirit immediately awakened. She felt that a woman who could say such words was also the best in the world. She blinked her big eyes, as if to say “Keep talking, don’t stop.”

“After the battle on Morgana Star, Madam commented that General Nanzhao did not treat the enemy as a human being, nor did he treat himself as a human being; He was cruel to the enemy, leaving nothing, not even a single hair; He was even more cruel to himself, skinning and crushing his bones and marrow! Madam lamented that she didn’t know what he had encountered when he was a slave. At such a young age—”

Su Er realized that he had spoken too much and shut his mouth.

Luo Lan asked in surprise, “Slave? Consul was a slave? How is that possible?”

Su Er hesitated for a moment, “Consul, just like you, was not born in Odin Federation. He was a slave bought by Professor An when he traveled to other planets. He was only 16 years old and not yet an adult, but because he has a heterogeneous gene, he was abused. I heard when Professor An bought him to Odin, he was battered and was so close to dying. It was not easy to save him.”

Luo Lan was completely absorbed in Su Er’s story. The young man from that time came to a completely unfamiliar world all alone, just like her. At that time, was he as lonely, helpless, and nervous as she was back then?

“What happened later?”

Su Er refused to indulge her. His thought was unknown. He just sighed sadly, picked up his gun, and motioned Luo Lan to continue with the class.

————·————·————

After the firearms lesson, Luo Lan walked out of the shooting training room only to find that Qian Xu had contacted her.

When she was in training, she would turn off her personal terminal as instructed. Unexpectedly, she missed Qian Xu’s message because of it.

Luo Lan didn’t even bother to change her clothes. She called back immediately.

A moment later, Qian Xu accepted her call.

Luo Lan asked eagerly, “Did you look for me? What’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing. I just saw that you contacted me many times and thought you were in trouble.”

Luo Lan was very ashamed, “I’m fine. That day, I drank Youlan Youlu and got drunk. About that… why did you only reply to me now…?”

She held her breath while waiting for the answer.

Qian Xu’s voice came slowly from the personal terminal, “An Na suggested that I undergo a closed psychotherapy, and the personal terminal was shut off.”

Luo Lan let out a sigh of relief and knocked on her forehead repeatedly. Next time, she shouldn’t blindly entertain all sorts of ideas. She was heartbroken for a long time. Turns out the reason was so simple.

Luo Lan smiled and said, “I have a surprise for you when I go back to Alikarta.”

“Okay.”

Luo Lan noticed that Qian Xu was not as cold as before. It seemed that the psychotherapy suggested by An Na had played some role. She decided, when she went back, she would give An Na lots of gifts.

The two chatted for a while before Luo Lan reluctantly ended the call.

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Footnotes

1. 想你 – xiǎng nǐ. Could mean “thinking of you” or “missing you.” Luo Lan could mean both, or only think/miss. After all when I think of you, I may not miss you. But when I miss you, I definitely think of you.↵

2. 老人家 – lǎo rén jiā; lit. Grand Old Man, Old man from our family. Bai Licang called the consul this way in Chapter 6. Everytime I write old man in this chapter, it is actually 老人家. It isn’t derogatory. Calling someone with 老 suffix is actually a sign of respect in Chinese. It’s an honorific.↵

3. 执政官阁下, zhí zhènɡ ɡuān gé xià. Zhí zhènɡ ɡuān is consul, while gé xià is Your/His/Her Excellency.  Title + suffix. Just like 指挥官夫人. Zhǐ huī guān is commander, while fū ren is Madam/Lady of the house/Wife.↵

Amoeba’s Corner

Happy Thursday!

I 想你, Yin Nanzhao!

Yin Nanzhao! The best in the world. With the face of an angel, the heart of a devil, and the body of a beast! 我爱我爱我爱!

Qian Xu warms up to Luo Lan, my heart can rest at ease. (or can it, really?)

————·————·————

Obligatory Closing
If you like what I do, please consider checking my ko-fi! ( ˊᵕˋ)
I also put some advanced chapters there if you are interested! (づ￣ ³￣)づ

This chapter words count (excluding title, footnotes, and TL’s corner): 1994