Chapter 44: Forty-fourth Day of Being a Salted Fish

Zhu Rong remained expressionless. “Marshal Lu Yuan, of course I know him.”

“No.” Ying Xun slapped his own forehead. “What I mean is, does he know you?”

“You should ask him that,” Zhu Rong replied.

“…” Ying Xun took another swig of wine.

On the other side of the monitor, Siming burst out laughing.

Geshu Qing was laughing too. “Rongrong’s logic is truly something else.”

“Even though it’s an unexpected situation,” Siming said with a smile, “she’s handling the answers well.”

Geshu Qing nodded. “She’s very smart.”

“Zhu Rong is incredibly talented,” Siming added. “Lu Yuan once said that among all the people he’s met, Zhu Rong’s talent is one of a kind.”

Geshu Qing said, “Speaking of which, it just occurred to me… should we give ‘Lu Yuan’ a code name from now on? If someone accidentally overhears our conversation, it might expose him.”

“Hmm, I actually overlooked that.” Siming thought for a moment. “What do you think we should call him?”

“…Pfft.” Geshu Qing started laughing as he thought about it. He mimicked Ying Xun’s gesture, giving a thumbs up. “White-haired, and his fighting is ‘top-tier.’ Why don’t we just call him Boss White?”

“…You’re terrible at naming things.” Siming wiped his face. “It’s better to find a name that has absolutely nothing to do with him.”

“Then you pick one.”

“Let’s call him Salted Fish.” Siming grinned. “Surely no one would expect their Great Marshal to be a salted fish who lies on the sofa all day without moving.”

“But nobody is actually named Salted Fish, right?” Geshu Qing questioned.

“Formal name Tang Xianyu¹, nickname Salted Fish… Surname Tang, which sounds like ‘lying down.'”

“A girl’s name?”

“Isn’t a girl’s name even better?”

“…Tang Xianyu.” Geshu Qing pondered the name and clicked his tongue. “Aren’t you afraid Lu Yuan will beat you to death if he finds out?”

“He wouldn’t care about something like that.” Siming waved his hand dismissively. “If you call him Salted Fish, he’ll only be happy.”

“…”

On Zhu Rong’s end, the conversation continued.

Ying Xun wasn’t that easy to fool, but he also realized he had missed the initial opportunity to trick the truth out of her while she was off guard. As long as Zhu Rong refused to speak, he wouldn’t be able to find out anytime soon, even if she really did know Lu Yuan.

He wasn’t exactly frustrated, but Ying Xun picked up the wine bottle and took another gulp anyway.

Zhu Rong: …

Ying Xun squinted his eyes, studying Zhu Rong for a while. “Little sister, what’s your name?”

“Zhu Rong.”

“Where are you from?”

“The Galactic Center.”

“Bullshit! Can people even live in the Galactic Center?” Ying Xun slammed the table. “You aren’t some undercover spy sent by someone, are you!”

“Does this place…” Zhu Rong hesitated. “Even need a spy?”

“That was a tone of contempt! It definitely was!” Ying Xun snapped. “If you look down on us so much, what are you even doing here!”

“I’m not.” Zhu Rong was very calm. “I want to join you.”

“Purpose?”

“An identity,” Zhu Rong answered.

“Ha!” Ying Xun sneered. “Star pirates don’t do fake identities.”

“I don’t need one. Having the identity of a star pirate is enough.”

“So you’re saying-“

Ying Xun slammed his wine flask onto the table with a loud thud.

Zhu Rong looked at him calmly.

On the other end of the monitor, Siming and Geshu Qing also grew slightly tense.

Ying Xun leaned forward slightly, his gaze falling on Zhu Rong – specifically on a button on her chest. “Are you, and the people behind you, even more scandalous than star pirates?”

“I have no identity, we have no identities,” Zhu Rong replied. “I am twelve years old. The mecha I use is one I built myself over two months.”

She pointed to the button. A monitor was hidden there. “Of the people behind this, one is fourteen. His surname should have been Geshu.”

Ying Xun’s pupils constricted slightly.

Zhu Rong continued, “The other person is quite ordinary. He’s an uncle who helped us escape.”

“We come from the Galactic Bulge, the legendary dead zone, a land of no one,” Zhu Rong added finally. “We have no optical computers, and we have never registered on StarNet.”

Zhu Rong didn’t provide much information, but in an instant, Ying Xun’s mind filled in many blanks.

“We won’t trouble you for long,” Zhu Rong said. “We only need a temporary refuge, and then an opportunity to ‘accidentally’ run into someone from the Geshu Family.”

“Accidentally?” Ying Xun asked.

“If you have a way to help us make contact, that works too. But we guessed you might not be willing.”

Ying Xun tilted his head, reached out for the wine bottle, and leaned back in his chair. “What’s in it for me?”

“Aren’t we benefit enough?” Zhu Rong looked at him. “Me, Geshu, and the uncle will all join you. Even if we obtain official identities later, we will still belong to the Sea Eagle.”

“Heh.” Ying Xun grinned, raising his wine bottle toward Zhu Rong and gesturing vaguely toward the other star pirates peering through the porthole outside. “Did you all hear that? We’ve got newcomers. Go to the cellar and bring out all the good wine for me!”

“Whoo!!!” The drunks cheered, rushing out while dancing and calling to their friends.

On the other end of the monitor, Siming and Geshu Qing also breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Watching this conversation had made them quite nervous. Both parties had answered very quickly, and the content was different from what they had previously anticipated.

• Ying Xun had asked far fewer questions than they had imagined.

In their minds, Ying Xun should have carefully interrogated her about many more things. For example, how Zhu Rong managed to build a mecha herself, how they lived in the Galactic Center before, what was there…

Fortunately, Zhu Rong performed well, appearing perfectly capable of keeping up with Ying Xun’s train of thought.

…In any case, the hurdle of joining the Star Pirate Syndicate was cleared.

Aboard the Sea Eagle, Ying Xun flashed a “friendly” smile at Zhu Rong. “Little sister, since this is settled, why don’t you call your brother and your uncle over? Since you’ve decided to join us, there’s no need to stay on guard anymore, right?”

In his view, the only reason only one member of the trio had shown up was to prevent him from making a treacherous move.

With one person inside and two guarding outside, he wouldn’t dare move against the one inside lightly – god knows how the two outside would react if he did. The one inside was the youngest of the trio; if the two outside were even stronger and ended up dismantling his pirate syndicate, he would be the one losing out.

Two backups of unknown strength served as a Deterrence.

But now that both sides had reached an agreement, this Deterrence was no longer necessary.

Looking at his wide grin, Zhu Rong remarked, “Suddenly, I don’t really want to join anymore.”

“Don’t be like that,” Ying Xun said. “I happen to have a big ‘business’ deal I’m planning to do with you all.”

–

Desolate Planet.

“Guess what Siming and the others are doing?” Goudan asked Lu Yuan as he brought the dishes to the table.

Lu Yuan was still looking at his tablet and answered casually, “Drinking, probably?”

After a moment’s thought, he added, “And discussing with the pirate leader how to sell Geshu Qing for a high price.”

“…Sell?”

“Yeah.” Lu Yuan nodded. “With someone as significant as Geshu Qing, it wouldn’t be the Sea Eagle’s style if they didn’t extort a massive sum from the Geshu Family.”

“Sea Eagle?” Goudan grew more confused as he listened. “Didn’t they go to… the Pegasus Star Pirate Syndicate? Where did the Sea Eagle come from?”

“Well… their first stop was Pegasus, but they will definitely join the Sea Eagle,” Lu Yuan explained. “Because the Sea Eagle followed me for the longest time.”

Lu Yuan understood Siming’s thoughts perfectly. That guy went to Pegasus mainly because it was near the Grey Triangle, a famous grey area and the location of the largest black market near the Sixth Spiral Arm. People from pirate syndicates, merchants doing shady business, and even military and political figures would appear there.

It was a good place to gather information.

But the one Siming truly wanted to join was definitely the Sea Eagle… Lu Yuan knew exactly how curious Siming and Goudan were about his past.

“…I see.” Goudan gave a sheepish laugh. “So you’re very familiar with the Sea Eagle?”

“Yeah.” Lu Yuan recalled, suddenly smiling. “The leader of the Sea Eagle, Ying Xun… is a very peculiar creature.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s a master of playing the fool.” Lu Yuan thought for a bit. “He looks like he has no brains at all, but in reality, he does… but then again, not entirely.

“He’s… a mystic in another sense. He’s always in a superposition of having brains and having none. It’s hard to know what he’s thinking or what his goal is, and it’s hard to know how much he can actually see, know, or think about a situation.”

“…” Goudan didn’t know how to respond to that evaluation for a moment.

“However,” Lu Yuan concluded, “the guy is a good person. So at least there won’t be any danger for Siming and the others to go to him.”

“There are good people among star pirates?”

“Of course there are.” Lu Yuan nodded. “Don’t look at people with prejudice.”

Goudan clicked his tongue. “True, even in a place like this Desolate Planet, there are plenty of good people.”

• He didn’t seem embarrassed at all when praising himself.

Lu Yuan smiled, switched off the tablet and set it aside, then reached for his bowl.

“How are the names coming along?” Goudan asked.

Lu Yuan paused for a moment before answering, “I have a few ideas.”

“Oh?” Goudan was curious. “You’re moving pretty fast. Let’s hear them.”

“Well… I haven’t finalized anything yet,” Lu Yuan said as he reached out to pick up some food with his chopsticks. “In ancient musical theory, there are the Five Tones²: Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, and Yu. There are exactly five of them in Er Ya’s group, and since they’re going into music, I thought I might use those Five Tones to name them.”

Translator’s Notes