Ruan Shiqing finished his work and went upstairs. He happened to see Xueqiu coming up from downstairs. He picked up the kid and held him in his arms. He pinched the tip of his ear and asked, "What are you doing downstairs by yourself?"
He was just asking casually, but he couldn't bear Rong Heng's guilty conscience. His body stiffened for a moment, and he tried to open his eyes wide to make himself look innocent. He also rubbed his head against Ruan Shiqing's arm and made a soft "woo" sound.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince tried to get away with it.
Ruan Shiqing really fell for it. He rubbed the kid and thought about what Mr. Rong said. He felt sad that such a small kid had to undergo training. He didn't continue the previous topic, but asked, "Are you tired of training in the military?"
How can we train such a small group
Mr. Rong is really strict with his younger brother, Ruan Shiqing thought.
Rong Heng shook his head and continued to rub his arm, even making a small "wool" sound in a baby voice.
In fact, once you become proficient in it, this behavior won’t be too much of a burden.
After all, it is really useful sometimes.
"What a good boy." Ruan Shiqing lowered his head, rubbed the top of his head with his nose, and hugged him and sat down on the cushion in the living room.
The three little cubs who were playing around immediately gathered around and rolled around Ruan Shiqing.
Only His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who was caught off guard by being rubbed affectionately, was still a little dazed. The place where his nose rubbed seemed a little numb and itchy.
He tried his best to hold back and didn't raise his paw to touch it.
A strange feeling spread in my heart, like the first flower blooming on a branch in the cold winter of December.
Ruan Shiqing played with the kids for a long time before washing up and going to bed.
Rong Heng was lying on his personal pillow, so close to him that he could even hear his slight breathing.
The strange feeling lingering in his mind made him unable to sleep, so he simply kept his eyes open and forced himself to think about Sikkim.
According to the information conveyed by Lucien, there are currently at least three forces in Sikkim.
The royal power headed by Si Yan; the big chaebols; and the so-called "Creator" who suddenly emerged.
Si Yan launched the "Sacred Transformation Plan" to restart the human mechanization experiment. The leaders of the four major chaebols are obviously interested in this experiment, but are still cautiously watching. The marriage between Seya Bart and Si Yan is probably a signpost for old Bart. And old Bart's attitude is likely to affect the other three. The "Creator" who suddenly appeared today hid behind the scenes and created a suicide attack, claiming that Si Yan is a false god. The purpose is probably to obstruct the "Sacred Transformation Plan", or in other words, to destroy the possible cooperation between Si Yan and the four major chaebols.
These three forces are currently closely related to the "Sacred Transformation Plan".
Everything has just begun, and the current situation among the three parties is still in a delicate balance. But once the advantage tilts towards one side, the balance will inevitably be broken and war is inevitable.
Apart from the "Creator" of unknown origin, both Si Yan and the four major chaebols possess enough power to start a civil war in the empire.
Rong Heng has no intention of getting involved. What he needs to do now is to bide his time and accumulate strength.
Only after the clarion call of war was sounded did he have a chance to fight.
However, Yengeis is too far from Sikkim, and many things are not convenient to do. B3024 is quite close to Sikkim, but it is too backward. If a war really breaks out, a long-range missile can turn this planet into stardust.
It's just too fragile.
If the B3024 star is to be used as a transit station, it must be armed as soon as possible.
Rong Heng glanced sideways at the person sleeping beside him.
With Ruan Shiqing around, spending a large amount of star coins to purchase armed equipment from outside is neither cost-effective nor likely to attract attention; it is better to purchase more advanced fully automatic production lines and corresponding equipment to improve production efficiency and manufacture a large number of weapons by themselves.
It is both cheap and safe.
Rong Heng lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then quietly left the bedroom and went downstairs.
When they got to the yard, he woke Noah up and said, "Check to see if the Naxi Group or Quark Dockyard has any plans to build or is currently building an arsenal."
"Please wait a moment. I need three minutes to confirm." Noah quickly searched and screened the relevant information: "There are twelve arsenals under construction under the Naxi Group, and thirty-six are ready to be built; there are nine Quark Docks under construction, and twenty-nine are ready to be built."
Three-fifths of the Galactic Empire's arms manufacturing industry is controlled by the Nashi Group and Quark Dockyard, and the remaining one-fifth is divided among military research institutes and scattered small businesses.
If we want to get these devices as quickly as possible without attracting attention, we must start with these two.
"Which one is closest to us?"
"The closest one to us is the Barham Arsenal, which is jointly invested by the Nashi Group and Quark Dockyard. It is the largest arsenal in terms of investment in the past decade and is still under construction."
It just meets Rong Heng's needs.
The corners of his mouth curled up slowly, and Rong Heng said: "Pay attention to the transport items and routes of their transport ships. If there is anything related to arms production equipment, notify me immediately."
I want production equipment but I don’t want to spend money.
What's the best way? Of course, look for someone who has it and grab it.
Noah agreed, and couldn't help but confirm: "Your Highness, please forgive me for reminding you that robbery violates the imperial law."
"The robbers are interstellar pirates, what does it have to do with me?" Rong Heng sneered. Before turning off the intelligent brain, he taught the upright AI: "Besides, this is not called robbery, it is called robbing the rich to help the poor. In ancient times, it was a virtue that would be praised."
These words seem to make some sense, but I can't think about them too much.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is always right, and it is impossible for me to expose him.
So Noah chose to keep his mouth shut.
Rong Heng waited for a week and finally got news from Noah.
—In three days, five transport ships will leave the Baku region and head for the planet Barum.
After Rong Heng received the news, he immediately contacted Hector and Mori. He himself sent a text message to Ruan Shiqing in the name of Snowball needing training, and asked Mori to send someone to pick him up.
To make the whole thing look more real, he also brought a little fox along.
This "training" may last as short as a week or as long as at least ten days.
The little fox was excited and reluctant, and said goodbye to his father 09, the little dragon cub and the little mermaid one by one.
Ruan Shiqing put a communicator on her wrist so that the little one could contact her at any time when she was away from home; the little mermaid handed her a small backpack filled with snacks, and made a cheering gesture to her with squinted eyes.
Only the little dragon kept circling around her, asking questions curiously, as if it wanted to follow her.
Hector watched from the side and said with a sigh: "This time it's just a small mission. If Heri wants to go, he can come with us."
Anyway, since I already have two cubs, it seems like it would be no problem to take one or two more.
—The story Rong Heng made up this time was: he and Hector needed to carry out a small mission near the planet b3014. The mission was simple and there was plenty of time, so he took Snowball and Nota with him for training.
!!!!!!!
The little dragon boy's eyes widened immediately: "Can I go too?"
After saying that, he looked at Ruan Shiqing hesitantly. He had never been far away from home.
The curious little cub is curious about the outside world, but is reluctant to leave his father.
"You can go if you want." Hector raised his eyebrows, looked at the little mermaid again, and said, "Since you want to go, let's all go together, Yuebai can come too."
The little mermaid, who didn't expect that she could go there too, lit up her eyes, with excitement and nervousness in her clear eyes.
Seeing the cubs like this, Ruan Shiqing couldn't help but laugh. With Mr. Yourong and Hector taking care of them together, he had nothing to worry about.
So he patted the cubs on the head and said, "If you want to go, go and have a look."
Now he is unable to take the cubs away from planet b3024, but now that there is a chance, it would be nice to let the cubs go out and have a look.
So in the end the three cubs followed Snowball and went to participate in the "training" together.
Hector led the cubs onto the "Glory", while Mori, who had used a disguise capsule, followed closely behind with the people below in a flying vehicle.
Several aircraft flew through the atmosphere of planet b3024 and landed on the hovering cyan battleship...
After the kids left, the house seemed empty all of a sudden.
The Xiong brothers are now able to take on independent responsibilities and handle most of the repair work in the store on their own and no longer need Ruan Shiqing's guidance.
Ruan Shiqing, who no longer had to take care of the baby, suddenly became idle. Apart from studying and working, there seemed to be nothing to do.
Looking out of the workshop window -
In the front yard, the Xiong brothers were doing maintenance work while chatting with waiting customers; on the other side, a small golden robot was singing and briskly pruning the overgrown falling star vines.
He alone seemed to have nothing to do except work and study.
Curling himself into the chair, Ruan Shiqing converted his intelligent brain into a neural connection helmet and decided to surf the Internet to relax for a while.
"Sir, long time no see."
Entering the holographic space, a gentle mezzo-soprano voice sounded in my ear: "How can I help you?"
Thinking of the "help" from the AI lady before, Ruan Shiqing still had some lingering fears, so he decisively rejected the other party's kindness: "Thank you, I just want to read the news and relax."
Noah was slightly disappointed: "Okay, if you need help, you can always call me."
Ruan Shiqing entered the news section.
In the holographic world, each section is a virtual world.
In the news section, people of all kinds stood in front of a wall covered with screens, discussing the latest news in low or loud voices.
Ruan Shiqing vaguely heard words such as "shuttle" and "attack".
Just as he was about to look at the content on the screen, a familiar voice came to his ears: "Master Ruan! It's you!"
Looking back, it turned out to be Dais, whom I had met once in Metista.
Dai Si's expression was very excited, he could even be called dancing with joy: "As soon as I saw you were online, I quickly came here."
After that chance encounter in Metista, the two added each other's communication methods, but Dai Si never dared to contact Master Ruan actively.
As a master of mechanics, the other party must be very busy. Dai Si did not dare to disturb him easily. He could only look at the address book every day, hoping that the other party would log into the holographic world again one day.
Finally, he really waited for it!
"You came up to check because you noticed something was wrong, right?" Dais asked in a low voice.
What's wrong
Ruan Shiqing looked at him with a puzzled look in his eyes.
Dais seemed to have gained affirmation from this and continued: "Although Metista has released the data of the shuttle and even a virtual model, there are still some places that are not detailed enough." He looked like he was asking for credit: "My teacher happened to be in charge of investigating the shuttle. He sent me the 3D scan model of the entire shuttle. Do you want to see it?"
Ruan Shiqing:
Perhaps the doubt on his face was too strong, and this time Dai Si finally understood. He was surprised: "Aren't you here for Haiyan?"
"What is Haiyan?" Ruan Shiqing shook his head: "I just came here to read the news."
As expected of a master of mechanics, he can actually turn a deaf ear to what’s happening outside!
Dais pointed to the screen on the wall with admiration in his eyes and explained: "A few days ago, the Parka Palace was attacked by a shuttle suicide attack, and the entire west side of the Parka Palace was destroyed. But no one knows how the shuttle avoided the palace's guards and protection systems. And according to witnesses, after crashing into the Parka Palace, the other party also played a half-hour holographic image. What does this mean?"
He couldn't help dancing with joy. "That means it took the guards half an hour to break into this shuttle! What a powerful defense capability! The ordinary model of the 'Haiyan' shuttle can't do that. My teacher said that the shuttle has been modified, and the cloaking device and shield launcher have been cleverly modified. He asked me to study what changes were made based on the stereoscopic scan image."
Dai Si was in high spirits, but Ruan Shiqing's face gradually became gloomy.
"Petrel" shuttle, modified with cloaking device and protective shield, for suicide attack.
These overlapping familiar words made it hard for him not to think of the shuttle he had modified before.
Is it a coincidence, or...
"Can I see the 3D scan?" Ruan Shiqing asked.
"Of course." Dais set the private mode and released the three-dimensional scan image.
The moment he saw the scanned image, Ruan Shiqing's heart skipped a beat. After carefully checking the interior, he was more certain that this shuttle was the one he had modified before.
He didn't bother to talk to Dai Si and quickly browsed through the recent news.
Several days have passed since the incident, and all kinds of video materials have flooded the holographic Internet, and the identity of the attacker has also been revealed.
It turned out to be an ancient human.
Ruan Shiqing clicked on the video footage, and when he heard the words "Only the Creator can save mankind from danger, and the 'Divine Transformation Plan' is a scam of a false god", his brows furrowed even more tightly.
Calling them "creator" and "false gods" makes them sound like members of a cult.
The businessman Joel, to whom he introduced this business, was also an ancient human. Did he know about this? Was he also a believer in the so-called "Creator"
Ruan Shiqing had doubts one after another. He hurriedly said something to Dai Si and prepared to log off.
Dai Si finally managed to catch up with him, but he didn't expect him to leave so soon. He was reluctant to let him go: "Master Ruan, have you seen the problem with 'Haiyan'? Are you going to go offline and conduct further research?"
Ruan Shiqing paused for a moment, suppressed his anxiety, retrieved the scanned image, and roughly explained to him the improved principles of the cloaking device and the protective shield: "I just remembered that I have some urgent matters to deal with. If you don't understand anything else, you can send me a text message. I will reply after I see it."
!!! ...
"Master Ruan, you are such a good person!"
Dai Si saw him off with a farewell gesture.
After logging off, Ruan Shiqing called Joel. The other party's image appeared in the room, and it seemed no different from before: "Mr. Ruan, what's the matter?"
Ruan Shiqing observed his subtle expression and asked, "Have you read the latest news?"
"Are you talking about the attack on the Palca Palace?" Joel: "Of course I saw it. The entire holographic network is talking about it now."
He looked calm and composed, without showing any guilt or negative emotions.
Ruan Shiqing said slowly: "The 'Haiyan' shuttle the attacker was driving was the one I modified."
Joel's smile froze. He raised his voice and confirmed again in disbelief: "What did you say?"
"The 'Haiyan' shuttle that the attacker was flying was the one you sent me for modification." Ruan Shiqing said.
Joel looked even more surprised than he was. “Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake?”
There was absolutely no flaw in his expression. It was just the normal reaction of a person who just found out that he was associated with a cult member.
Ruan Shiqing couldn't tell the truth from the false, so he could only get straight to the point: "It can't be wrong. Do you know the true identity of the customer?"
Joel was still surprised and nodded. "Yes, the one who found me was a Bis man. I have dealt with him twice before, so he is not a stranger. Even if you say so, I still find it hard to believe that he has any connection with the attacker."
He looked calm and didn't seem fake.
But Ruan Shiqing still had doubts in his heart, and finally he could only say: "I don't want to be associated with this attack, you don't want to be involved either, right?"
"I understand what you mean. I will never reveal a word to anyone." Joel made a serious promise.
Ruan Shiqing nodded and then cut off the communication.
Then he called up the virtual screen and continued to browse related news reports.
Unlike Dai Si who was completely focused on "Haiyan", the focus of the holographic network was on "the Creator" and the "Divine Transformation Plan".
Most people did not believe the attackers' words, but a few people once again questioned the "Sacred Transformation Plan."
Ruan Shiqing finished reading the news and found that almost no one mentioned the attacker's race.
Are ancient humans just a coincidence
After turning off the virtual screen, Ruan Shiqing pondered for a moment and called Shen Wuzhuo again.
After much thought, he still felt uneasy about Joel, so he could only try to get information from Shen Wuzhuo.
The two made an appointment to meet at the tavern they met last time.
When Ruan Shiqing went over, Shen Wuzhuo had already arrived and filled the empty glass. He asked in confusion: "Is there a problem with your cooperation with Joel?"
The matter of the shuttle might cause trouble, and Ruan Shiqing did not intend to tell Shen Wuzhuo, so he was vague and only said that there were some conflicts in their cooperation and he wanted to confirm Joel's background with Shen Wuzhuo.
"They are just ordinary businessmen, with a slick personality, but they are not bad people." Shen Wuzhuo thought for a moment and said, "Although I have known them for a longer time, we all have our own jobs, so we don't interact with each other much on a daily basis. We only meet at mutual aid clubs and occasional gatherings in pubs."
He was not sure about anything deeper.
It seemed that he could not get anything out of Shen Wuzhuo. After sitting for a while, Ruan Shiqing left on the pretext of having something to do.
They came here in a landspeeder, but Ruan Shiqing had something on his mind at the moment, so he simply opened the protective shield, reduced the speed of the landspeeder to the minimum, set the destination, turned on the automatic driving, and then sat in the driver's seat, lost in thought.
It was not until a series of rustling sounds behind him pulled him out of his thoughts.
There was an inexplicable uncomfortable feeling as if someone was watching me from behind.
Ruan Shiqing turned around, but found nothing. There was nothing on the display either.
He lay back in confusion, but the feeling of being spied on came back. The rustling sound was intermittent, like the sound of some kind of body rubbing against each other.
Ruan Shiqing remained calm and looked at the display screen, but there was still nothing.
But the voice in my ears is real.
He frowned, raised the protective shield, and quickened his pace back home.
After parking the speeder at the door, Ruan Shiqing looked back again, but still saw nothing. Then he drove the speeder into the front yard.
A lot of messy things were piling up in his mind, like a ball of wool that he couldn't sort out. Ruan Shiqing simply put them all behind him and went to take a nap first.
When I woke up after catching up on some sleep, I felt refreshed.
After changing clothes and going downstairs, Ruan Shiqing prepared to video chat with the kids first.
As a result, as soon as I walked to the door of the workshop, I saw the two Xiong brothers and the little robot crowded at the door.
"What's wrong?" Ruan Shiqing asked.
"There's a kid at the door." Xiong Yuanyuan turned her head and said, "He looks weird and is standing at the door motionless. When I asked him where he came from, he didn't say anything."
Little brat
Ruan Shiqing walked out in confusion and saw a kid standing at the door, just a little taller than his knees. His skin was pale without any blood, his short hair just below his jaw was dark green, and his eyes were a strange dark red. What was even more strange was that he had two long and thin tentacles on his forehead.
When he went out, the other person turned his head and looked up at him with a dead look in his eyes.
No wonder Xiong Yuanyuan said it was strange.
It's really strange.
Ruan Shiqing looked at him for a moment, then stepped forward and asked, "Where are you from?"
The other person looked at him without blinking, took a step towards him, but did not speak.
"Where are your parents?" Ruan Shiqing is always more patient with cubs.
But the other party either didn't understand or couldn't speak, so he just stared at him without any response.
Maybe it's a lost kid from some family.
Ruan Shiqing hesitated for a moment, then took a small stool and asked him to sit at the door, fearing that his parents might come looking for him soon.
But from noon to evening, when the repair shop was about to close, no one came to take the strange cub away.
He sat motionless on the small stool that Ruan Shiqing handed him, without a trace of light in his dark red eyes.