Chapter 182
Translator’s Notes: Delayed post because my study was temporarily hijacked by paints, and my laptop lacks some necessary pa.s.swords to do my work. I’m VERY lazy after all.
Chapter 182: The Appointment from Nata [Part 1]
The other Sixth B Squadron members who had come along with Dias to Sector E to receive treatment sent in their notices in succession, agreeing to meet up a day later at the planet’s s.p.a.ceport and depart together to Sector K.
After chatting with everyone, Dias called upon Cillin to go search for Tico with him. The rest of the group would rest inside Dias’ sick ward. Asiya went away to take care of the recovery center’s discharge procedure.
Dias had exercised a lot more restraint ever since he and Asiya became a couple. He no longer acted as indecently as he did before, or at least that was how it seemed on the surface. He did not throw winks or whistles at beautiful nurses, and generally looked like an upright gentleman.
"You’ve moderated yourself a lot." Cillin teased him.
"Ahem, it’s not like I have a choice. This is the helpless life of a person with family." he said that, but he wore an extremely pleased look on his face.
Pleased my a.s.s!
Cillin cast him a disdainful glance before continuing, "If this is the case, then when are you holding a proper wedding ceremony? Your relations.h.i.+p may have been cemented, but you still need a proper status. Asiya’s custom attaches much importance in such things, don’t they? After the wedding, we’d be able to call her sister-in-law properly."
"Mm, that is a matter of course. But Asiya only has herself to begin with, and the only blood relative I have is my elder brother. We’ve talked about this for a bit and decided to hold a ceremony at the Sixth B Squadron’s base in Vanguard’s HQ."
After a sigh, Dias continued, "I may have lost this arm for Asiya’s sake, but Asiya never left my side especially when I was undergoing the directional induction portion of my core treatment. There were days I couldn’t move a muscle, and Asiya took care for me personally without ever disdaining her work. Tell me; what can be more satisfying than having someone taking care of you closely and carefully, especially when people like us, who often tread the edges of danger, lie on top of a sick bed? I have my own reasons for not willing to a.s.sume the role of a lieutenant commander, but there was no doubt that it was because of me Asiya had given up her position as a lieutenant commander.
At first, I was planning to tour her around the famous scenic spots of each Sector after we got married. I’ve seen that ‘Little Garden’ Qiqiu and you went to, and I would have liked to visit it myself. Plans have changed, however, and Asiya’s intention is for us to wait until the situation completely stabilises and when an opportunity presents itself. We cannot take the risk."
Cillin nodded. Right now they didn’t know what Sector S had turned into. The A Squads hadn’t publicly announced any news yet, and what the news media in GAL revealed were very brief notes. The actual heart of the news was very fuzzy.
Dias suddenly recalled something and came to a stop. He unb.u.t.toned the two upper b.u.t.tons of his s.h.i.+rt, pulled, and revealed a tattoo on his chest.
The corner of Cillin’s mouth twitched, "Is this&h.e.l.lip;"
Asiya’s name was tattooed onto Dias chest. Judging from the font, it didn’t look like Dias’ handwriting.
Dias’ eyebrows looked so happy they could fly, "Asiya had tattooed it on herself!"
"That means&h.e.l.lip;"
"That means she had the tattoo of my name written by me on the same spot as well!"
Holy s.h.i.+t this is corny!
Cillin shook off the gooseb.u.mps on his body and pretended not to notice the expression on Dias’ face that said: Don’t you envy me? Don’t you begrudge me? Don’t you admire me?
"Oh right, there’s something I need to ask you." Dias’ face suddenly straightened as he asked.
"What?"
"Do you know Yu Family’s Yu Linglung?"
Cillin frowned and nodded somewhat helplessly.
"You know about the people of Yu Family, right?"
"Not too much. Back at Seven Lights, I only knew that she’s called Linglung, but not her surname Yu. I’ve heard a little more something about her after that. I only know that the Yu Family has a huge amount of influence over the political circles of the entire GAL."
"It’s not just the political circles. The Yu Family is infinitely connected to the military, business and academic world as well. It is rumored that one of the Four Heavenly Edict Generals is surnamed Yu!"
Cillin’s pupils shrank. This was the first time he heard something a little more in-depth about the Four Heavenly Edict Generals. If there really was a person surnamed Yu among the Four Heavenly Edict Generals, then the Yu Family was far more complex than he had imagined. No wonder Lung did not want to provoke their ire.
After he said this, Dias gave Cillin a careful look with an odd expression on his face, "Your current appearance isn’t handsome, and in fact you’re even less handsome than I am now. What on earth did that little princess of the Yu Family see in you? Could it be the mischiefs of first impression? You did look a lot like a pretty boy previously."
Cillin did not say anything. He did not wish to be entangled in this subject.
Cillin might not wish to bring up the topic, but Dias wasn’t ready to let him escape, "Hey, kid. That Yu Family girl gave us a lot of help. Part of the reason we’re able to receive treatment so smoothly and quietly is because her."
The best medical region in Sector E was only this big, and most core treatments were basically done there. Considering that there were so many people in the whole GAL, Dias and the others should have experienced a lot of small frictions even if they might not have necessarily ran into big troubles. However, Dias encountered Yu Linglung while he was receiving his treatment at Sector E. In fact, Yu Linglung was the one who had offered to help on her own. No one in the Sixth B Squadron but Dias and Asiya knew about Yu Linglung’s appearance. At one point, they were confused why their treatment had gone so smoothly.
Cillin sighed on the inside as he listened to Dias’ words. I guess I owe that girl one.
"I know that that girl had helped us only because of you. Otherwise, with her background she may not necessarily need to give face even to the great four, much less people who aren’t even A Squad members like us. Although, in her eyes, the A Squad may not necessarily be more respectable than us." Dias let out a low laugh before patting Cillin’s shoulder, "Not bad, kid. Didn’t think that you would get your hands on a Yu Family member."
"Big bro, your use of words turned vulgar again."
"Ahem, it’s fine to be vulgar occasionally. I do have a family, and thus I can’t always be vulgar. That being said, while the Yu Family’s situation is incredibly complex, emotion isn’t something anyone can interfere with. As you know, while I’m no good in anything else, I do have a good eye for people. That Yu Family girl is serious about you. Don’t be troubled by what the A Squads would think in the future. If you really do like her, then don’t trouble yourself with someone else’s viewpoint."
"&h.e.l.lip; Let’s talk about that later."
They did not discuss about Yu Linglung any longer. Dias had only brought her up to Cillin because she had helped him once. Yu Linglung had helped them as a gesture to Cillin. The girl would be bitterly disappointed if he said nothing at all.
Tico and the other doctors lived in an isolated, one hundred plus storeys building. The treatment of doctors like her was pretty good, and the surface area of the apartment was big too.
When Dias and Cillin came to pay Tico a visit, she had just woken up from her nap.
Before this, in Dias and Cillin’s imagination, the apartment of a single woman based on Tico’s behavior and style should prioritise on tidiness
In reality, her apartment was tidy and practical. There was no garish objects to be found.
However, Tico’s type of tidiness struck a sizable amount of fear into the hearts of Cillin and Dias.
Chapter 182: The Appointment from Nata [Part 2]
The walls were hung with many anatomical charts. 3D models made of skeleton and entire sections of muscles were used as decorations. Molecular formulas were imprinted above the curtains, and they were all components of important medicines for patients during and post operation. The stereoscopic pattern of a huge antibody profile was outlined on the floor. They wondered whose antibody profile it belonged to&h.e.l.lip;
In short, Cillin and Dias didn’t say a word for a long time as they stood at the entrance with eyelids that wouldn’t stop twitching.
"What’s wrong? Did I scare you?" Tico pa.s.sed over two gla.s.ses of water so they could suppress their alarm.
"&h.e.l.lip; Dr. Tico, you are seriously quite the character!" Dias smiled in embarra.s.sment.
Cillin recovered quickly and looked around for a bit. The little rabbit was sleeping inside a specially made little house. One could see the white fur on its body through the circular doorway.
The rabbit was a lot quieter than its kind. It only twitched once after Dias and Cillin had come in, probably planning to continue its sleep. If they hadn’t learned so many incredible things about the rabbit, no one would have a.s.sumed that this rabbit was special.
"Alright, let’s talk business." Tico’s style had always been swift and direct. She disliked talking too many polite phrases or nonsense.
Dias dilly dallied no longer after hearing Tico’s words and set down his gla.s.s. He pointed at Cillin and said, "He is Cillin. I believe that you’ve figured it out yourself. Since you both know each other, let’s get straight to the point."
"Dr. Tico, big bro Dias had told me about you already. However, I would like to explain a few points before you make a decision."
Tico looked at Cillin and said nothing. She awaited his next words.
"In a Hunter regiment – especially a B Squadron who’s in the development stage like us – the fixed salary of even an excellent doctor is very little. Each member in the squad is given a limited amount of fixed salary, and we basically earn by means of manpower or goods. You will not enjoy a stable amount of high salary like the one you receive here."
"I don’t mind this. After saving up for so many years I have just about enough." Tico said.
"There are a lot of rules in the squad."
"Dias had already talked to me about this. I’m fine with them. I will obey."
"In Vanguard, you are allowed to act with a greater degree of independence and freedom. However, betrayal is absolutely not acceptable. This is something every person who joins a Hunter regiment must know about."
"Of course, I don’t like traitors either."
After speaking for a while, Cillin found that Tico had done her research on the rules of Hunter regiments, and had planned for what she was going to do in the future too. She had prepared very well before the transfer.
"Alright. I am very glad that you are able to join Vanguard’s Sixth B Squadron. Oh right, there is one more thing. I can only recommend your recruitment as a lieutenant commander, but it is up to the commander and lieutenant commanders of the Sixth B Squadron to make a joint decision on whether you officially qualify during a meeting. Moreover, we have several subteams inside the squad too, and you’ll have to choose&h.e.l.lip;"
"I choose your team. I am pretty satisfied with the members of your team." Tico smiled and said, "Plus, Little White would have friends if I join you."
They were the only team with a lot of animals in the entire Sixth B Squadron, and none of them were characters to be trifled with. Someone had even said jokingly that in the Sixth B Squadron, you would rather offend their men than offend their animals.
"In that case, there’s nothing else I would like to add." Cillin said and cast a glance at Dias. Dias shook his head to show that he had nothing else to add too.
"When are we departing?"
"Tomorrow."
They informed her about the time of meeting and latter arrangements so that both sides could match their activities. Tico said that she would definitely arrive on time.
Naturally, Tico would not openly walk together with Dias and the others. She would leave with them after she had turned in her resignation. Some people in the recovery center would absolutely hold an opinion about her resignation, and they might even cause her trouble as well. It was exactly these eccentric and hypocritical b.a.s.t.a.r.ds that Tico hated in this place, and what was even worse was that they were busybodies too.
The next day, Cillin and the other waited before the s.p.a.ceplane at the s.p.a.ceport at the appointed time. The Sixth B Squadron’s members arrived in succession too. Tico was very punctual. She wore a dark colored windbreaker and wore gla.s.ses on her face. That rabbit should be inside her pocket.
After making sure that everyone who were supposed to show up had shown up, Cillin then ordered Beaver to start the engines and to get ready to take off.
Not long after Cillin’s s.p.a.ceplane had left, there was a man standing not far away from where their s.p.a.ceplane was originally parked. He turned around to leave and opened a comm channel at the same time, "Tell the Miss that they had departed safely. The rest is under your responsibility."
Cillin’s flight home was incredibly smooth. At first they thought they would run into some trouble, but in reality the flight was inconceivably smooth. There were almost no hindrances along the way.
Cary and Udoze sighed while facing each other. They were hoping they would get a chance to fight, even if their opponents might have turned out to be some blind small fries. Itchy. They were so itching for a fight.
Cillin said nothing throughout the way, and Dias and Asiya did not linger around the subject either. They discussed with everyone about the Sixth B Squadron’s potential future plans.
The gray cat swept a tail across Cillin’s face while it lay on top of his shoulder, "What’s wrong? You pretending to look deep or something?"
Cillin grabbed the gray cat off his shoulders and put it on his lap. The gray cat was about to pursue the matter further, but its chin was scratched so comfortably by Cillin that it let out a lot of wheezing sounds from its throat. A few rubs later, it began to feel sleepy.
Cillin continued to think about certain things as he scratched the gray cat’s bottom chin. The smoother their journey was, the more prominent Yu Family’s power and ability showed themselves to be. While Yu Linglung might not be able to bring much forces into play on her own, it was enough to guarantee their smooth journey in Sector E.
In fact, it wasn’t just Sector E. Their journey from Sector E to Sector K was incredibly smooth, and they did not encounter any abnormalities at all. Sometimes the places where the borders between Sectors intersected were pretty chaotic, and there were at least pirates roaming about the place. Moreover, it was possible for any single s.p.a.ceplane or transport that did not look like it belonged to a large force to be intercepted by them. However, although they had once discovered two stars.h.i.+ps obviously approaching them with malicious intentions, they left not long after for whatever reason and caused Cary to sigh for a long time. In fact, Cary wasn’t the only one who was sighing. Many of the personnel who had received recovery treatment were itching for a fight too. It was only natural for their hands to get itchy after idling for such a long time.
Dias and Asiya’s reaction towards their feelings was a stern scolding. They were in a critical period, who cares about their itching hands! If they really were itching for a fight, they could find someone from other B Squadrons to train with after they got back to Sector K.
Those people who received treatment were very excited after they had returned to Sector K and the base smoothly. The moment they came back, they went away and sought out their friends to reminisce about old times.
Cillin’s ‘easy’ mission shocked G.o.d knows how many pairs of eyeb.a.l.l.s out of their sockets. The fact that not a big scratch could be found on the s.p.a.ceplane showed just how big of a dumb luck Cillin had managed to pick up on his journey.
However, before Cillin had the chance to discuss about Dr. Tico with the other lieutenant commanders, a transmission from the A Squadron pulled him away immediately.
"What is it? Who invited you?" Dias asked.
A moment of silence later, Cillin answered, "Nata."
Nata was the former commander of the Third B Squadron. He was detained during the incident fifty years ago and was imprisoned at Sector S’ prison. Now that Nata was back in the A Squad’s base, it meant that whomever was performing the mission at Sector S had done well. Nata had already been safely escorted back home.
This was Nata, the guy who shared a very close relations.h.i.+p with Enji and Chamonidine. Why on earth had he come looking for him the second he returned from Sector S?
Despite Cillin’s current status as a lieutenant commander, he wasn’t allowed entry without an A Squadron pa.s.s. Therefore, Nata had already informed him in the transmission that Falvey would be receiving him. As the son of Nata, Falvey was the current commander of the Third B Squadron. He possessed an authorised pa.s.s just like Shawton.
Falvey had flown over on an airplane. The airplane had the A Squadron’s symbol on it. Nata was probably the one who mobilised the vehicle, since he was the only one who had the authority to mobilise a plane like this.
Some of the Sixth Squad’s members were frightened when they saw Falvey. Everyone knew about the few B Squadron commanders in Vanguard, not to mention that Falvey had never displayed a good att.i.tude towards members of other squads. In reality, Falvey’s face just wasn’t very expressive to begin with. He looked incredibly mature and wielded high prestige when he put on his t.i.tle of commander, but word from the members of Third B Squadron was that Falvey was actually a pretty good person.
As rumored, Falvey lacked expression on his face. However, the fact that he had gotten off the plane to exchange a few words with Cillin was an incredibly rare occasion already. Had it been a different lieutenant commander, Dias had a feeling that Falvey wouldn’t have even bothered getting off the plane. He would just speak directly in the plane itself.
It was probably less of Falvey’s own intentions and more of Nata’s instructions, he thought.
That a.s.sumption was in fact, true. Even now Falvey was still annoyed by this. They had gone through much difficulty at the risk of their lives to finally rescue his dad. The battles at Sector S’ grade five prisons were just too intense, and four out of the ten personnel the A Squadron had sent to the rescue suffered grievous injuries and nearly died at that place. The rest of them were more or less hurt too, and they weren’t able to save a couple of people from the grade four prisons. Still, the fact that they were able to save so many people was something to be lauded.
The problem was that Nata had asked for Cillin, a newly appointed lieutenant commander of the Sixth B Squadron the moment he came back and had a chat with old friends who visited him.
With Falvey’s horizons, and after he was appointed as a commander for so many years, a mere lieutenant commander was beneath his attention, much less the lieutenant commander of a B Squadron that was just recently promoted.
However, he was unable to endure his dad’s earnest exhortations, and so Falvey flew over personally on a plane his dad had mobilized personally to receive Cillin with extreme reluctance.
Falvey’s first impression of Cillin was&h.e.l.lip; not much at all, really. He looked a little stupid, and he was way too young. He also lacked a fierce atmosphere and appeared very amiable.
"Are you Cillin?" Falvey said with a rigid voice. No one could hear any emotion from his voice, and this was a reason why Falvey was excellent as a commander. It was exactly because he lacked an expression on his face and even emotions in his voice that his subordinates thought that he was highly mysterious.
"Yes, I am." Cillin did not mind Falvey’s att.i.tude. He did not forget the proper courtesies.
Falvey nodded expressionlessly, "Let’s go."
What followed after that was silence. Long, long silence. Seeing that Falvey had no wish to talk after getting on the plane, Cillin did not ask anything either. He closed his eyes and took a small nap.
The duo arrived at the A Squadron’s base in silence just like that.
The airplane landed at a particular spot. It wasn’t the same spot as the one Cillin had arrived on earlier, but judging from the level of authorisation, it would seem that their current landing spot was of a higher rank.