Star Hunter.

Chapter 237 Slaves? Alien People

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Chapter 237 Slaves? Alien People

To travel from Chang Laohan's planet to the Imperial Capital Star Region, one must change routes. Therefore, before leaving Xilin, one should familiarize oneself with the routes of major airports and book tickets in advance to avoid having to wait after arrival.

The issue of booking tickets highlights the advantages of being a noble. Nobles have their own air routes and starships, unlike commoners who have to keep track of the situation on major passenger terminal planets.

Xilin booked a ticket for a ship at the largest passenger terminal in the Twenty-Three Star Region, which is the largest passenger terminal in the Twenty-Third Star Region and is also known as an important transportation hub in the Twenty-Third Star Region. Of course, this transportation hub only applies to ordinary people. Nobles have their own air routes and ports and will not use the same terminals and aircraft as commoners, as that would be a demotion for them.

Xilin and Gray Cat need to take a passenger starship from Old Man Chang's planet to that passenger point. Unlike the route Xilin and Biller took to Barumbato, this route will take longer.

Xilin sat in the cabin, brought up the folding screens on each seat, and looked at the situation outside.

This passenger starship is not a direct starship; it stops several times at various stations along the way. At each stop, a passenger spacecraft will fly out from one of the starship's points and head to its destination. Only after the passenger spacecraft departs will the starship continue its journey.

For this reason, passenger seats are distributed according to stations. People at the same station will sit in the same cabin. When they arrive at their destination station, the cabin will be transferred to the passenger aircraft and transported to their destination station.

As Xilin watched the scene on the screen, a passenger-carrying spaceship detached from the starship and flew towards their station. From there, he could see a planet that wasn't very large, but there was more than one planet nearby. Xilin could see another planet further away, but that planet was surrounded by warships—yes, not passenger starships, but warships.

I adjusted the visibility and zoomed in on the distant planet on the screen. Perhaps due to a fixed setting, I couldn't see the planet clearly; I could only see its general outline. But even this general outline allowed me to speculate on many things.

There's a war on that planet.

  

The flashing lights and the obvious black mushroom clouds that rose from the ground told those watching that a fierce and large-scale war was taking place on this planet. Since they could use these weapons of mass destruction without any scruples, and regardless of whether these weapons would leave lasting effects, who exactly was the target of the war?

Not long after, news came from the Gray Cat that Xilin learned the truth—a racial war.

Grey Cat remained in a place unnoticed by people and undetected by the starship's protection and detection systems, using some connected networks to learn about what was happening on that planet.

Xilin has a receiver in his ear, a receiver specifically for communicating with Gray Cat. It won't be detected by the passenger starship's detection system. If Xilin wants to say something to Gray Cat, he only needs to write it on the electronic whiteboard set up on his seat for passengers' entertainment. Gray Cat can see what Xilin wrote on this electronic whiteboard through the starship's network. After reading it, he can hack into the network and erase the trace without being detected by the starship's monitoring personnel.

Gray Cat really wanted to communicate with Xilin using machine language, but Xilin only had a superficial understanding of it. Compared to human language, machine language was far more difficult. For now, they had no choice but to communicate using human language. However, because Xilin and Gray Cat were so familiar with each other, they often used characters that others couldn't understand to represent meanings they both comprehended. Therefore, even if someone saw them, they might not be able to understand their communication.

The information Gray Cat had gathered came through the receiver in his ear: "There's a conflict between the military and the locals. Oh, those locals don't look like us! They're aliens! Wow, what a huge bomb..."

Whenever Grey Cat mentioned the aliens, Xilin could guess what was going on.

Shortly after arriving in the Lanza Empire, Xilin learned about some of the conditions there, one of which differed greatly from those of the Star Covenant: their attitude towards aliens.

In the Star Alliance, genetic level is valued more than race. In fact, many star sectors of the Star Alliance are predominantly inhabited by people of different races, such as the Binger family in the H sector, especially people like "Mermaid Princess" Warsaw. There's also Eight Blades, and Red Wind... They are all considered people of different races, but as long as they have the ability, they can live very well in the Star Alliance. The Binger family goes without saying; they are a very influential force in the H sector. People like Eight Blades and Red Wind wouldn't be criticized even in the most bustling streets of the most prosperous planet in the Free Trade Zone 10. At most, a few people might glance at them curiously, but that's it; there would be no obvious rejection.

However, things were different in the Lansa Empire, where race was a distinct factor. The rulers of the Lansa Empire—one emperor, three kings, and the majority of nobles—were of human lineage, with only minor differences. Those who looked distinctly different from humans, resembling beasts, were the absolute targets of suppression. The vast majority of the empire's slaves were these people, those whose appearance differed too much from the majority of humans and were referred to by the nobles as an "ugly race."

Zani is also considered a mutant, but firstly, he usually looks like an ordinary person and doesn't attract much attention; secondly, he has entered the Second Affiliated School and joined "Wings," so his status is no longer the same. Even if nobles are dissatisfied with him, they can only say so in private, not openly. However, if Zani were to encounter another mutant, such as those who look more like beasts, he probably wouldn't feel any sympathy.

Human nature is such a strange thing. Racial barriers and differences in bloodlines are like a deep rift, difficult to repair.

Some people in the cabin knew what was happening on that planet and started talking about it, laughing and joking, constantly referring to "those aliens," "those ugly monsters," and "ugly creatures"...

Xilin had always felt that many things in the Covenant were cruel enough, but after arriving in Lansa, he found that things here were even more frustrating.

In people's hearts, a mutant is not even as good as a pure beast.

After this war, more aliens on this planet will become slaves, sold to people everywhere. Those who rise up in resistance will be killed, and only those who obey will be spared, but they may not live long.

Through the images transmitted to the electronic board by the gray cat, Xilin saw the aliens on that planet—brownish skin, no hair, some hard protrusions on their heads, many hard wrinkles on their skin like tree bark, long feet... In short, apart from having a head, hands, and feet, and having eyes, a nose, and a mouth, they didn't look much like ordinary people.

Even though they have their own civilization and their own language and writing system, there's no way around it. In the eyes of the Lansa Empire, a different race is a sign of disloyalty. If they obediently follow the Empire's arrangements, all is well; but if any dissent occurs, the suppression is extremely forceful.

He could hear the conversations of the other people in the cabin, but Xilin wasn't in the mood to listen. Should he be glad that he looked similar to the people here?

Xilin pulled the sleep helmet from his seat, closed his eyes, and silently told the person next to him who was about to pull him over to join the conversation: I'm going to sleep, don't bother me.

As Xilin eagerly awaited, the starship finally arrived at the designated planet.

The activity on this planet is evident from the outside; there are many starships and spacecraft coming and going, both day and night.

When Xilin and his crew landed on the planet, it was still daytime in that region, or more precisely, it was morning. Xilin's ship ticket was for the afternoon, so he still had time to find a place to eat and comfort his stomach.

The moment Xilin stepped out of the cabin, he had only one feeling—people, all of them were people!

The airport terminal was bustling with people, and the population density didn't decrease much after exiting the terminal. Everyone was rushing around, and they all had one thing in common—they were all ordinary people.

There's nothing they can do; nobles have private ports, so they wouldn't come to a place as crowded as a pig farm.

With a large population, there are bound to be some dishonest individuals. Those dressed in rags and looking like refugees may not necessarily be wealthy. They may have made a fortune abroad and know that wealth is not something to be taken advantage of. They dress themselves up like refugees to avoid being targeted.

Xilin's attire was considered relatively good among these people, which Xilin himself did not expect. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Xilin punched someone who was about to attack him and then quickly left the port. After getting some distance away, he went to a restaurant with Gray Cat, but several restaurants they tried were all full.

Since they still had time, Xilin and Grey Cat took a taxi to look for it in a place farther away from the port.

There are indeed some more elegant places further away, but the prices are outrageously expensive. However, Gray Cat was drawn to the signature dishes displayed on the big screen outside the hotel.

"Fish! What a strange fish! It looks delicious. Xilin, let's go over there!" The gray cat raised its paw and pointed in that direction.

Looking at the hotel, Xilin could tell from its exterior that the prices inside were not low.

"Hoo-hoo, let's make a deal. We don't have as much money as we did when we were in the Star Alliance, so let's be careful. We can go there, but apart from the Four Seas Fish Platter, I'll order everything else." Seeing Gray Cat staring intently at the various fish swimming around on the big screen that he couldn't name, Xilin couldn't bear to refuse. He figured Gray Cat would throw a tantrum if he refused, and when that guy got angry, he acted like a fool.

"I know, I know!" the gray cat nodded repeatedly.

After receiving assurances from the gray cat, Xilin took it into the hotel.

The hotel service was quite good, and there was even a dedicated pet lounge where people with pets were gathered.

Upon entering, you'll see a large mastiff. Perhaps because of this mastiff, the pets in the pet room are quite obedient, not daring to make a sound, and cowering in their owners' arms, eating the food their owners feed them.

But the gray cat is an exception.

The gray cat, with its tail held high, strolled around the hall, found a satisfactory spot, jumped onto the table, patted its paws, and gestured for Xilin to sit there.

Seeing that the gray cat ignored him, the mastiff declared its dominance and let out intermittent low growls.

The gray cat seemed to be in a good mood today, even sticking its tongue out at the mastiff after hearing its warning bark. That mastiff, it seems, is quite intelligent; it used to be the boss here, and all the pets that came in obediently chose to submit. But this cat dared to be so blatantly disrespectful! Cats can tolerate this, but dogs can't!

After a flurry of cat and dog play, Xilin led the gray cat to a small cubicle. This cubicle was reserved for just Xilin and the gray cat; the hotel staff had arranged it without charging extra, as the hotel would have suffered far greater losses if Xilin and the gray cat had remained in the pet lounge. The large mastiff that remained in the pet lounge had several obvious claw marks on its nose.

The gray cat paid no attention to the creatures outside that it categorized as idiots, burying its head in its "Four Seas Fish Platter." However, its radar-like ears, which twitched every now and then, told Xilin that it was keeping an eye on the area around the hotel.

Suddenly, the gray cat paused, raised its head, licked its lips, and said to Xilin, "There's something going on in one of the rooms."

The images projected from the gray cat's two eyes converged on the soup in Xilin's plate.

The image is of a luxury suite on the top floor of this hotel.

There were several guards outside the suite, and more inside. Inside the suite sat a young master, a boy of about thirteen or fourteen, enjoying a feast at a large table.

The guards protecting the young master were all dressed in uniform, made of very fine material that ordinary people could not afford. They should have been from some noble family, but strangely, there were no insignia on their clothes, so it was impossible to tell which noble they were.

Suddenly noticing the commotion outside, the boy ordered his men to bring the people inside.

Two people were brought into the suite: a middle-aged man and a young woman. The middle-aged man was a hotel manager, and the young woman was a waitress working there. Seeing the young woman's torn collar and the handprint on her tear-streaked face, Xilin could roughly guess what had happened.

Although the boy was young, he clearly understood things.

After seeing the boy again, she seemed to see a savior and told him everything about how the middle-aged man had forced her.

The young man smiled and comforted the boy, then instructed his men to escort the boy out before picking up his spoon again to drink the porridge in his bowl.

The young man was very grateful. He took two steps forward and stopped before the bodyguard could stop him. He bowed to the boy, wiped away his tears, and prepared to turn and leave. But just as he turned around, the young man and the middle-aged man who had been kicked in and was still on the ground suddenly took out something and fired at the boy.

However, not far from the boy, apart from a slight flash of lightning, the boy remained unharmed.

A transparent energy shield?!

Almost at the same time that Shao and the middle-aged man opened their mouths, their necks snapped and twisted irregularly before drooping limply, their eyes losing all their luster.

Strangely, none of the bodyguards standing around the boy made a move, and the two men's necks were broken just like that.

The boy drank a spoonful of porridge without changing his expression. He gently waved his hand, and the two people lying motionless on the ground were dragged to a room next door. It was still not the bodyguards who did it. Judging from the footage, the two dead people seemed to float into the room on their own.

Xilin knew that someone was invisibly staying next to the boy, and the two assassins hadn't noticed at all.

However, judging from the broken necks of those two people, the invisible person acted very quickly, killing them with a single blow. Their skillful technique showed they were a veteran.

The boy put down his spoon, frowned, and looked around. One of the men standing behind him asked, "Young Master, what's wrong?"

"I have a feeling that I'm being watched."

The bodyguards exchanged suspicious glances. They had already confirmed that there were no surveillance cameras in the room, and that the entire hotel's surveillance system was controlled by the bodyguards; even if there were, they wouldn't be seen.

The boy stood up and circled around, looking at each bodyguard. Then he suddenly said, "Take out all your communicators!"

After the boy said those words, the gray cat disconnected the video feed.

"Wow, who exactly is that little guy? Isn't that too sensitive?" the gray cat exclaimed.

"That's called keen insight."

"Same idea." The gray cat flicked its ear. "I noticed something was off before; turns out there was an invisible man hiding there."

"Alright, hurry up and eat. We'll leave after we finish to avoid getting into trouble," Xilin patted the gray cat's head. "Have you removed the traces?"

"Nonsense, of course. Let that kid worry about it."

After finishing his sentence, the gray cat stopped talking about the boy and hurried to finish his fish.

Inside the hotel suite, the young man frowned and remained silent, staring at the numerous communicators piled before him. After a long pause, he said, "Send these back and have the technical department test them again! Thoroughly investigate this hotel!"

"Yes, young master."

After finally finishing their meal, Xilin and Gray Cat rested for a while before heading to the gate to board the plane. Gray Cat darted up and disappeared in a flash, and Xilin wasn't worried about being spotted. He boarded the aircraft and found his seat.

He boarded the aircraft an hour early. After sitting down, Xilin closed his eyes to rest, but even with his eyes closed, his mind was still on what he had witnessed at the hotel that day. Who exactly was that boy? Xilin was certain that the person was a nobleman, and a nobleman of considerable rank at that. How could a thirteen or fourteen-year-old react so calmly to an assassination attempt? Compared to the people Xilin knew before, such as Peter and Yuan Xingming, this boy was far too composed, seemingly indifferent to death. Such a person was either accustomed to life and death or cold-hearted and callous.

Time flew by as Xilin pondered. Just a minute before the aircraft was to stop landing, the person sitting next to Xilin arrived late. The seats here were arranged in pairs; Xilin was on the outer edge, and the other guy was on the inner edge, with two additional seats on either side of an aisle.

The guy sitting next to me seemed pretty optimistic.

"Oh my god, I finally made it! Whew—"

The guy let out a long sigh before sitting down, looked at Xilin, and gave him a friendly smile. "Have a nice trip, buddy!"

Have a pleasant trip!

You can't hit someone who's smiling, so since the other party was being friendly, Xilin couldn't keep a stern face.

Shortly after taking their seats, the spacecraft finally took off after a series of checks, flew into a starship at the spaceport, and then, as on the previous flight, the passenger cabin was transferred into the main cabin of the passenger starship.

However, the passenger starship stopped abruptly shortly after leaving the planet, before it could even enter warp drive mode, because there was a noble's transport ship in front of it.

It is a generally accepted principle that civilian starships must give way to the aircraft and starships of the nobility.

Xilin bought a ticket for a regular starship; the ticket for a luxury passenger starship was too expensive, almost ten times the price, and Xilin didn't want to spend that money. Regular passenger starships are slower, and some ports and routes are not open to them, so the journey takes longer than for a luxury starship, and the cabin conditions are much worse.

Therefore, traveling on a commercial starship inevitably involves frequent stops and starts, which is why many people can't stand it and choose a luxury starship instead.

Xilin glanced to the side and saw that the guy sitting next to him was already fast asleep, drooling, and the loud conversations around him didn't seem to bother him at all.

Finally, the flight was able to continue. A voice in the cabin reminded passengers to wear their sleep helmets to avoid any adverse reactions, and gave a formulaic explanation of what to do if any adverse reactions occurred.

In fact, for people on the starship who experience discomfort due to flight, their lives could be in danger if the situation is serious. Therefore, such warnings are usually broadcast before the flight. However, most of the time, passengers need to take the initiative themselves. After all, the people here are not nobles, and even if someone dies, it will not have a big impact.

Xilin glanced at the guy sleeping soundly next to him, thought for a moment, and then gently woke him up.

"Wha...what's wrong?"

The person who was woken up by Xilin was still sleepy. He smacked his lips, then wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. He looked at Xilin with some confusion, but didn't seem annoyed at being woken up.

"We're about to enter flight mode. Aren't you going to put on your hibernation helmet?" Xilin pointed around. Most of the people in the cabin were wearing their hibernation helmets, with only a few perhaps already used to it and not wearing them.

Upon hearing Xilin's words, the man scratched his head, smiled, and said, "Oh, thank you."

He thanked them, but still didn't put on the hibernation helmet. Instead, he pointed to himself and said, "I'm in good physical condition, I don't need to wear it."

Xilin stopped paying attention to him. Xilin himself didn't wear it either. When the surroundings were relatively quiet, he didn't want to wear it. That thing was too stuffy to wear.

Midway through the flight, the man woke up once and ordered a meal from the starship because he was hungry.

Xilin woke up when the robot delivered the meal.

"Sorry to wake you up." The person took the meal from the robot, looking somewhat apologetic.

"It's okay." Xilin also ordered a set meal. "I'll replenish my energy while I'm at it."

The man chuckled, opened the meal box, and started eating. He seemed very hungry, and ate rather messily.

After finishing their meal, the man chatted with Xilin about the pros and cons of the set meal. Although he ate quickly, his evaluation of the set meal was insightful and to the point.

Xilin listened and pointed to the corner of his mouth: "There's residue."

"oh."

The man wiped it with his sleeve.

Xilin pointed to his nose again, and the man stuck out his tongue and licked it.

Xilin: "..."

If he wasn't mistaken, this person's tongue was incredibly long...

After licking, the man belatedly realized what was happening. He looked at Xilin and, seeing that Xilin didn't seem to have any discriminatory reaction, licked again, this time going even further, past her eyes and almost reaching her eyebrows.

Xilin simply raised an eyebrow. "Quite the tongue."

The man's mouth dropped open. "Aren't you surprised?"

"That's strange."

"Don't you think...that..." The man opened his mouth again, pointing to his teeth.

Xilin saw that the guy's teeth were moving, grinding against each other to scrape out food residue from between them.

Xilin paused for a moment: "It's quite unique. It doesn't even need an electric brush."

After confirming that Xilin meant no harm, the man smiled and said, "My name is Libero! It's nice to meet you!"

"My name is Xilin." Xilin continued deciding on the food in his set meal.

A mutant, indeed, Ribello is a mutant. Although he currently appears similar to ordinary people, these small details reveal his difference. Upon closer inspection, one will notice that Ribello's pupils are not round, but oval. Ribello's fingers can grow very long, and can also retract, just like ordinary people; this is merely an expression of Ribello's abilities.

"It's strange that you don't discriminate against people of other races," Ribero said.

"There's nothing to discriminate against; I'm not an aristocrat."

Libero shook his head. "In the Empire, regardless of whether you're a noble or not, people of other races are discriminated against, unless you reach a level where people dare not discriminate against you!"

As he said this, Ribero's eyes lit up.

Xilin nodded, but did not offer any opinion.

Libero was overjoyed to have finally found someone who didn't discriminate against people of other races. He chatted with Xilin all the way, but it was mostly Libero who did the talking, with Xilin saying very little.

Having someone to chat with made the journey much faster.

The final destination of this trip is the capital, but very few people actually arrive at the capital. When they arrive at the capital star system, many people in the cabin begin to change their clothes, changing out of their ordinary clothes and into expensive and glamorous ones. It seems that such fine clothes can give them a little more confidence.

Xilin and Libero looked at these people; they really hadn't expected this to happen, nor were they prepared for it.

The people in the same cabin were all coming to the capital, but neither Li Bello nor Xilin explained in detail why they came to the capital. Li Bello only said that he came to study, while Xilin said that he was trying his luck.

Many people come to Beijing to try their luck. There are many influential people and opportunities in Beijing, but the pressure is also much greater. Most of the people in my cabin were also there to try their luck.

After parting ways with Ribero, Xilin and Gray Cat met up and began to figure out what to do next.

After thinking it over, Xilin decided to go to the First Affiliated Hospital first, as the Yuan family's matter was still difficult to resolve.

However, Xilin did not expect to see Li Bello again at the entrance of the First Affiliated Hospital.