Chapter 76 — ILK Chapter 76

Remote Planet "We’ll go for you and bring Qiu Linghua back." In the dim hangar, the atmosphere was stagnant as Sang Ye made her proposal. "You stay at the base and hold off Qiu Lingxin."

This way, Jiang Sili wouldn't be exposed, and Sang Ye wouldn't have to face a hysterical Qiu Lingxin. Moreover, she could clear her name while she still had her freedom.

The White Wolf Group's routine smuggling routes relied on spatial jump channels established by various satellite transport stations. With a few well-placed bribes, the guards rarely scrutinized identities, especially in high-turnover positions. This was how they assisted Guides in moving across the stars.

Spatial jump channels were built to conserve energy and time, primarily the former, as fuel was prohibitively expensive. In contrast, Space Fortresses and heavy warships were equipped with jump engines, allowing them to jump to any coordinates without a channel. However, this required rigorous standards for hull material and size to prevent the ship from being torn apart in the massive energy vortex generated by the engine.

Sang Ye and Lin Changli chose one of the private warships he kept on the artificial island. These ships were unregistered, untraceable, and each was equipped with a jump engine—the reason Lin Changli could visit other planets whenever he was in a bad mood.

Jiang Sili provided a set of coordinates: a planet on the furthest edge of the Gamma Galaxy, surrounded by barren stars. For years, it had been the stronghold of the White Wolf Group.

"Ready for a space trip?" As they strapped into the cockpit, Lin Changli joked with Sang Ye, "It’s a bit out of the way, but with the jump engine, we’ll be there in about half an hour."

Sang Ye disabled her terminal's location tracking. "You seem to trust Jiang Sili a lot," Lin Changli noted.

Sang Ye looked him in the eye. "Is he not worth trusting?"

"I'm just curious."

Sang Ye thought for a moment. "Everyone has selfish motives, but I don't think he's a bad person. What do you think?"

"There’s a term: idealist. That’s him," Lin Changli replied flatly. "But he wasn't brave enough to be a martyr for those ideals."

…

A month before Jiang Sili joined the White Wolves, he took his graduation exam. The mission: destroy a small Zerg legion of about 500 units at the border. It was a suicide mission. The Zerg possessed the collective mental power of the Hive Mother and lethal mental toxins. The toxins from an S-rank Zerg could bypass the most advanced gas masks, invading the mental landscape to destroy the spiritual form. Wu Huansheng’s permanent facial scar was a testament to this danger.

Jiang Sili was the perfect candidate. His Teng-Snake was immune to all toxins; in fact, his own venom was far more potent than the Zerg's. He passed with flying colors, but it was there that he faced his first moral crossroads.

He encountered his distant cousin, Jiang Zhaoyuan, and her White Wolf pirates. This notorious group lingered near battlefields to pick up war orphans. Normal orphans were sent to orphanages. But the "abnormal" ones—the hybrids—were taken in by the pirates.

These children bore the traits of both humans and Zerg: wings, antennae, multiple limbs, or compound eyes. They were rejected by both societies, often killed at birth or abandoned by parents to be crushed by the fires of war. The White Wolf Group had been founded by such survivors. Because they possessed the abilities of both races, they were elusive. They hid on a discarded planet, taking in social outcasts and supporting themselves through theft.

Jiang Zhaoyuan, who could maintain a human appearance, had been hidden by the Jiang family matriarch until she chose to leave society. She inherited the leadership of the group to protect her kind.

That night, a young Jiang Sili heard a baby crying. His mentor told him to ignore it, saying, "Some things aren't worth your attention." But Jiang Sili snuck out. He saw infants lying in the mud and gunpowder, some crawling out of Zerg eggs, crying for parents who would never come.

Except for Jiang Zhaoyuan.

When they locked eyes, she was shocked to see a soldier. Holding a hybrid infant and a Zerg egg, she looked up at the high-and-mighty Jiang Sili and asked: "We have the right to live too, don't we?"

His mentor appeared behind him, ordering him to capture the "thieves" to build his political capital with the Imperial elite. Jiang Sili asked, "What will happen to these children?"

"They are abominations. Who cares if they die?" the mentor replied, looking at him as if he were insane.

In the silence, Jiang Sili realized his mentor truly thought he was offering the best choice. Faced with his career versus his conscience, Jiang Sili made his choice: he slid down into the trench and stood beside Jiang Zhaoyuan.

…

When the warship landed on the remote planet, Jiang Zhaoyuan prepared to flee, assuming it was a raid.

"We aren't here to arrest you," Sang Ye radioed, stopping them. "We just want to take Qiu Linghua back."

Sang Ye jumped down from the ship. "You?" Zhaoyuan recognized her but grew wary of Lin Changli.

"It's okay," Sang Ye pushed Lin Changli back. "He listens to me. We have no ill intent. We’ll take Qiu Linghua and leave. We won't reveal this location. My locator is off, and this ship is private and untraceable."

Zhaoyuan’s antennae twitched, sensing Sang Ye’s genuine emotions. She was telling the truth.

"...She's upstairs, playing with the children," Zhaoyuan replied unexpectedly.

Sang Ye followed Zhaoyuan into the building, passing people with insect wings, multiple arms, and half-bestialized forms. Behind the town, the hills were covered in small graves.

"Most people here don't live long," Zhaoyuan explained. "Human and Zerg genes are incompatible. I can live longer because the human genes won out, but most only get twenty or thirty years. We have no 'value' to society."

A burden. Outcasts. Not even the most hypocritical politicians would use them for a platform.

"Living to the end here, seeing the universe occasionally, and dying naturally..." Zhaoyuan found the words, "...is a good life."

At the end of the corridor, a door was labeled "Nursery." Inside, Qiu Linghua was holding two bottles, feeding two infants who had small antennae on their foreheads. She didn't look like a kidnapped victim; she looked remarkably peaceful—even with a child hanging off her neck and shouting in her ear.