Star Hunter.

Chapter 218: The Capital Accent?

Chapter 218: The Capital Accent?

A sudden and increasingly strong magnetic field change occurred around Xilin, and distortion began to appear around Xilin's body. ...

Xilin finally understood why he felt so obedient.

The curled lines on his fingers reacted to the opening of the spacetime vortex. The immense gravitational pull drew Xilin towards...

To be precise, the attraction was directed at the curled leaf pattern, but now, with the curled leaf pattern clinging to him tightly, Xilin became the one bearing the brunt of that force.

Green light emerged from the curled leaf patterns, enveloping the entire Xilin.

Xilin stood relatively far back, since the front was reserved for people like Gada and Jifeng. So Xilin spontaneously stood at the back of the group. Everyone was looking at the spacetime vortex in space, and no one paid attention to Xilin. Therefore, no one noticed when the anomaly first appeared.

When the gray cat turned its head to look, the light had just emerged from the curled leaf pattern. The light gave the gray cat a very frightening feeling. The gray cat often acted on its intuition, so when it saw this light, a sentence appeared in its mind: Xilin is going to the other side of the spacetime vortex!

So the gray cat jumped over, grabbed Xilin's arm with its paws, and wrapped its tail tightly around it.

  

In all the years that Grey Cat has existed in this world, it has only truly trusted Shilin. Even with the people in the Sixth Fleet, Grey Cat's trust in others is somewhat questionable. But what if something happens to Shilin or he suddenly disappears? Will he be captured and dissected by those strange scientists? Also, where Shilin is, it won't go hungry. If it's left alone, won't its living standards revert to normal?

Absolutely not!

The gray cat's actions were actually faster than its thoughts; all the subsequent ideas came to it after it had caught Xilin.

west Ying was a beat too slow. By the time he arrived, the light had already enveloped Xi Lin and the gray cat, and he was immediately thrown back.

Even Jifeng and the others couldn't get close to Xilin. In addition, the magnetic field fluctuations around Xilin were getting stronger and stronger, and the figures of Xilin and Gray Cat had become blurred, so the group did not force their way closer.

Seeing west Ying being thrown away, Gray Cat spat out the ring from his mouth. If he and Xi Lin weren't there, would Xi Ying be lonely? Would she be harassed by the other members of the Vanguard? Would she go hungry? Would she... In any case, the contents of this ring were enough to support west Ying's independence.

It's really admirable that this cat could think of these things for Xiying in such an emergency. Actually, the gray cat thinks that with Xilin around, he's a guaranteed meal ticket, and he'll definitely live better than Xiying. The gray cat is quite considerate of its "own people".

Grey Cat originally had something to say to west Ying, but he didn't get a chance to speak.

The light grew brighter and brighter, and the figures of Xilin and the gray cat became increasingly ethereal. Then, a beam of light flashed and shot straight into the spacetime vortex above.

After the light entered the vortex, the spacetime vortex slowly weakened until it disappeared.

Everything returned to normal. However, now there was a deathly silence all around; there were no calls, and everyone stared blankly at the vanished time vortex.

The long-awaited "shortcut" appeared and then disappeared just like that?

Ignoring everyone else's thoughts, Xi Ying reached out and caught the ring that Gray Cat spat out to him, which was slowly falling towards him. He closed his fingers and gripped the ring tightly in his palm. This was the ring that had been taken from Oskuro, and Gray Cat had always treasured it. Xi Lin had even planned to use this ring as a reserve "granary" for Gray Cat and west Ying. But now, Xi Ying was all alone.

west Ying tried to contact Gray Cat and Xi Lin, but there was no indication of their life status. Xi Lin's communicator was unreachable, and Gray Cat was also unreachable, as if the two had suddenly disappeared.

These two just disappeared suddenly.

Although he was just a robot, west Ying suddenly had a feeling he had never experienced before. He couldn't describe what that feeling was; it was too complicated. If he had to describe it in one word, it would be uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable.

Sigma would express his thoughts completely, but Xi Ying was more reserved, still wearing that same expressionless face, though the look in her eyes had become quite complex. However, Xi Ying kept her head down, looking at the ring on her hand, so no one else could see it.

"Eh? Eh!!!!!!!" Sigma's blue light turned into several large vertical lines as he cried out in a conflicted manner.

Sigmar's cry brought Gaddar and the others back to their senses.

"They...went in?" Xin Zhao said.

Gada and the others remained silent.

"This shouldn't be happening, this shouldn't be happening!" Sigma shouted, waving his arms as he rushed into the passage to look at the machine.

Ji Feng and his group followed them inside, eager to find out what the hell was going on.

After Sigma entered, he held his head in his hands, and blue bars of light flickered irregularly on his face, showing how turbulent his emotions were.

The energy was completely depleted, and the connection node program was also in disarray. Some instruments had problems, large or small. In fact, the programs on these instruments were all messed up and some were damaged. It would take a lot of time to repair them.

Before the gray cat was sucked in, it caused a kind of "mechanical language" radiation. Even Xiying and Sigma had a momentary image of it. However, Xiying and Sigma were special and survived. But other instruments were not so good. Whether it was the spacecraft that was not far away or the instrument inside the planet, they were all affected and their programs became chaotic.

Even the starship of "Death," which had retreated further due to the spacetime vortex, was affected and went out of control for a period of time.

Sigma stood there looking at the instruments, sobbing, then looked at Xiying who was walking over, "What do we do? The 'shortcut' can't be opened for the time being."

"How long will it take before the 'shortcut' can be reopened?" west Ying asked. Ji Feng and the others also listened intently.

"It'll probably take three to five years, who knows. But..." Sigma looked at the string of characters and a flashing icon on the central screen, but didn't say the "but," ending with a sigh.

Both Gada and Jifeng asked Sigma some questions, and the conclusions they reached were absurd to them.

"Xilin and Huru might have been sent to the other side of the time vortex, but I don't know why." Sigma fiddled with his fingers, looking conflicted and aggrieved. His journey home was ruined, and with Xilin and the gray cat gone, he would be lonely.

Xilin didn't know what others would think after he left. After being enveloped by that green light, he felt isolated, and he lost consciousness the moment the green light shot into the spacetime vortex.

After a long time, he finally regained consciousness. Xilin felt as if his whole body had been torn apart and then pieced back together. The pain was beyond words.

A cacophony of noises: the sounds of thrusters and flying cars, voices shouting something unintelligible, the clatter of metal falling...

It gradually quieted down.

After a while, Xilin opened his eyes.

The scene before him reminded Xilin of his small room on Brown Earth.

The furnishings were very simple, even shabby.

In the corner, a dilapidated robot with exposed wires sat quietly, seemingly having been there for a long time, covered in a layer of dust.

Xilin moved his fingers and felt okay.

However, sitting up took a lot of effort from Boss Xilin, and his muscles ached all over as if they were being branded with iron. Because his injuries from being severely injured by Oskuro had not yet healed, and he had just gone through a painful journey through the time vortex, his injuries were aggravated, and Xilin gasped for breath in pain.

Finally catching his breath, Xilin saw the gray cat clinging to his arm like an octopus.

However, the gray cat was now motionless, frozen in place, and not breathing.

Xilin could sense the gray cat's life force; although the creature had no breath or heartbeat, it was still alive.

Xilin flicked the gray cat's ear.

Do not move.

He poked his belly.

It still doesn't move.

Xilin frowned. Had it crashed?

Xilin is still wearing the same clothes as before, but the protective suit is left on a rack next to him, with many tears in it.

Suddenly noticing something, Xilin turned to look, and the peeping tom shrank back, but not long after.

One head, two heads, three heads.

Three round heads with strikingly similar features poked their heads out from the doorway. They were tiny, bean-sized children, staring wide-eyed at Xilin, their eyes filled with curiosity, yet also a hint of fear.

As expected of a child, all their thoughts are written on their face.

Xilin smiled at them but didn't say anything. He wasn't sure what the situation was and was afraid of saying something wrong. A smile can express goodwill, especially for children, who can draw encouragement from a smile.

Seeing Xilin smile at them, the three little ones were encouraged and smiled back at Xilin.

Although the room's furnishings were rather shabby, indicating the owner's modest means, the three little ones had chubby cheeks and showed no signs of malnutrition. It's clear the owner values ​​their children's development.

One of the little kids shrank back and ran away, shouting something as he ran, but Xilin couldn't understand him.

It was indeed an unfamiliar place. Xilin knew the regional languages ​​of all the star sectors of the Star Alliance, but he couldn't understand a word the child was saying.

One of the little ones left, and of the remaining two, one was a bit braver. He slowly walked over, lay down by the bed, looked at Xilin, and said something, but Xilin couldn't understand it.

The little guy said something again, and Xilin gave a puzzled look, indicating that he didn't understand. But since he was just a child, he didn't think about whether Xilin could understand the language, and turned to say a few words to the little guy who was still peeking in through the door.

Just then, footsteps came from outside the door, and you could tell from the voice that it was an adult.

An elderly man, pulled along by the little boy who had just run off, walked in with a kind smile. Although he looked quite old, with a slightly hunched back, he was in good spirits and relatively healthy. His hands were rough and covered in calluses.

After seeing Xilin sit up, he said something to the old man. Xilin looked at the old man in confusion, indicating that he did not understand what they were saying.

The two little ones also rushed towards the old man, chattering away and pointing at Xilin, saying something unintelligible.

Old Man Chang was repairing machinery when his grandson ran over and said that the person they had brought back had woken up and was sitting on the bed, smiling at the three of them. Old Man Chang put down his work and was led this way by his grandson.

Originally, because it was the triplets' birthday, Old Man Chang had promised to take them on a trip to outer space for their birthday party. A few days ago, he took his old, beat-up flying machine and flew to outer space.

However, on their planet, people of their means, let alone the quality of their spacecraft or its ability to undertake long-distance travel and warp drive, simply couldn't afford the energy consumption of such a vessel. Families like theirs were barely managing to cover the maintenance costs of a dilapidated spacecraft. Old Man Chang had saved for a long time to afford enough energy for this flight. Moreover, given the condition of their spacecraft, it couldn't even stray far from their planet; it could only fly symbolically. It was only thanks to his grandson's sharp eyes that he spotted the person floating in space.

Because Xilin was wearing a protective suit, Old Chang automatically categorized him as an engineer performing space operations. Space missions are dangerous; one wrong move and you could be thrown into space and abandoned. Old Chang knew many such cases; many engineers had died in space this way. Wealthy people could use maintenance robots, but those without money had to rely on manpower. They couldn't afford such high-end maintenance robots, and they didn't trust the cheaper ones. Therefore, those without the means preferred to hire maintenance engineers to perform space operations.

The money earned that way was earned by risking one's life. Old Chang did such things when he was young, but now that he's older, and also because he can't bear to leave his little ones at home, he hasn't gone back to doing that kind of work and is doing his current job dutifully.

Old Man Chang also saw the gray cat wrapped around Xilin's arm. Old Man Chang sighed, it was really not easy to have such a loyal pet, but unfortunately, when they found this person, the gray cat was already stiff, as if it had been dead for some time.

If the gray cat knew what Old Man Chang was thinking, it would definitely be furious.

Old Man Chang had never seen the style of Xilin's protective suit before, so he probably wasn't from their planet. However, Old Man Chang had worked in space maintenance before, so he felt a sense of sympathy for Xilin. He felt even more sorry for Xilin when he saw his age. Such a young man had taken on such a dangerous job. If he hadn't met them or if his protective suit hadn't been torn, he would have been dead.

Xilin's protective suit was torn after Old Man Chang rescued Xilin; otherwise, it would have been impossible to treat Xilin or even give him any medicine.

His grandson said the man seemed a bit slow-witted, but Old Man Chang figured the young man couldn't understand their language. After thinking for a moment, Old Man Chang switched to another language, speaking a somewhat broken version of the capital's language, which was also the empire's common language, and carried a strong sense of arrogance.

"Can you understand me?"

Xilin truly understood what Yuanye meant. At the same time, he was also incredibly shocked. This language was very similar to the one Yuanye had taught him when he was a child. Yuanye said it was the language of his hometown, but Xilin had never found such a language in the Star Alliance. He never expected to hear it here.

"Yes, I can understand some of this," Xilin said tentatively.

Upon hearing Xilin's words, the old man's eyes lit up. "So you're from the Imperial Capital Star Region!"

Xilin scratched his head, looking embarrassed. In fact, he had no idea what "Imperial Capital Star Region" meant.

Seeing that Xilin did not deny it, Old Man Chang categorized Xilin as a young man who grew up in the Imperial Capital Star Region but whose family was poor and who had come out to perform dangerous work for some reason.

Only people from the capital city star system can pronounce it so clearly. It's rare to find people with such standard pronunciation in other star systems. It's hard to fake. At least, in all these years, apart from videos in the media, Old Man Chang has never heard of anyone on this planet who can speak such standard capital city dialect.

"You're a mechanical engineer, right?"

I guess so.

Old Man Chang looked at Xilin with pity. Making a living in the capital wasn't easy, and since he had come to their small, run-down place, he must have been forced into it. "Alas, poor child."

Xilin maintained his smile, but seeing Old Man Chang's expression, which was seven parts pity and three parts affection, Xilin's lips twitched again and again.

"My surname is Chang. Just call me Grandpa Chang like the other kids around here," said Old Man Chang, handing Xilin a glass of water and a few pills.

Xilin took the pills immediately and thanked Old Man Chang.

Old Man Chang smiled happily when he saw Xilin taking the medicine so readily. If it were anyone else, they would have spent a long time studying the medicine with suspicion.

Old Man Chang was unaware that Xilin had immediately analyzed the ingredients of the pills upon receiving them—they were all basic tonics—which was why she had taken them so readily. One wonders if Old Man Chang would be heartbroken if she knew the truth.

"My name is Xilin." Xilin didn't say much, only that he was alone.

Old Man Chang chatted with Xilin for a while, and Xilin learned a little about the family's situation.

The three little ones Xilin met were five-year-old triplets, numbered sixth, seventh, and eighth. Old Man Chang simply called them Little Six, Little Seven, and Little Eight, without any other names.

The situation here is dire; the survival rate of children in a family is too low, so each family has many children. Because of the high mortality rate, people here generally don't give their children formal names directly, but rather give them a different name when they reach adulthood or under certain special circumstances.

The old man's wife passed away early, and their capable son also died in an accident. His daughter-in-law had been struggling to give birth, but after her son's passing, she grew increasingly thin and died after giving birth to triplets. This left the old man and his six children behind.

Why are there six children? The eldest and second eldest did not survive.

However, the eleven-year-old twins, Chang Xiaosan and Chang Xiaosi, did well and were admitted to a good school, leaving this area to study.

As for Chang Xiaowu, he suffered setbacks from birth, had poor physical condition, was often sick, and was a pitiful child who grew up taking medicine.

Old Chang now earns a meager living from his small repair shop to support himself and his children. This area of ​​the planet is filled with families similar to Old Chang's, running their own small repair shops to make a living.