Chapter 457 - Hostage
Chapter 457: Hostage
Translator: Abyssruler Editor: Lucas
Lan Ling grabbed onto Sun Xin, “Don’t listen to her rubbish. Just take care of your wounds, alright?
“Missy, that money was your own money. You always let others walk all over you. When you employed me we agreed that you decide on public matters, whereas I make decisions for private matters.” Obviously, the money was a private matter.
“Sun Xin, I’m thirsty, go make two cups of coffee.” Lan Ling embarrassedly wiped her forehead.
“Hng, just one cup will do. He shall have to make do with plain water!” Sun Xin angrily stormed out.
Wang Zheng opened his plastic bag and took out his Skylink. It was entirely destroyed, so it seemed like he would not be able to pay off his debts immediately. He laughed bitterly, “Miss Sun wasn’t wrong, but my Skylink can’t carry out any transactions now. Hope that you’ll give me a few more days.”
Nowadays all transactions were made via Skylink. Without a Skylink, doing anything was extremely difficult.
“Don’t worry about it, Little Xin has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Oh right, what’s your name, and why have you come to Titatitan?” Lan Ling inquired curiously.
Wang Zheng smiled, “I’m Wang Zheng from the Solar System Federation. I’m from Earth, and am currently on active service here. My specific task hasn’t been assigned.”
“You’re really from the Milky Way Alliance?”
“I guess so.”
Lan Ling blinked her large eyes and asked: “Do you know what happened to you?”
The corners of Wang Zheng’s eyes trembled as he slightly smiled, “I know, my transport ship got shot down.”
Only after a slight pause did Wang Zheng continue: “If I’m not wrong, it should have been shot down by a Milky Way Alliance spaceship.”
Lan Ling gaped for quite awhile before asking: “So you already knew. However, you’re from the Milky Way Alliance yourself. Why would you be attacked by your own people?”
“There must have had been some mistake with their information. I’m definitely rather unlucky.”
Wang Zheng bitterly laughed. It definitely had to be a mistake, or else what else could it have been? It would be unwise to dig deeper, at least not for now.
Lan Ling was elegant and tender, and only gazed quietly at Wang Zheng. “On Titatitan, my word carries weight, but if you do not wish to say more I will not force you.”, she nodded.
Wang Zheng smiled, “Thanks for saving me, I don’t really know how to repay you.”
“If it were someone else, I would have done the same.”
It was apparent that Lan Ling really wanted to help him. In this short amount of time, hearing Lan Ling think out loud allowed Wang Zheng to sense her kindness. This made Wang Zheng really want to see more of Titatitan Star.
“Let me tell you a story. There was once a powerful empire with a perfect princess as the heir. However, one day, when the princess was in another country on a diplomatic visit, she crossed paths with a destitute young boy. They involuntarily fell in love with each other, but soon, they were separated by the sheer distance between their respective positions in society. The young boy knew that the princess was far above his reach, so he worked extremely hard. The princess and the young boy restrained themselves at all costs to keep their love under wraps. Alas there was finally a day where both the princess and the young boy could not resist any longer and announced their relationship to the world. At the time, everyone started to applaud and offered their congratulations to the couple. Well, what do you think happened next?”
“What a shame.” Lan Ling shaked her head slightly. Clearly this kind-hearted girl was also very sharp. “The princess should have endured for a little more, waiting for either the boy to grow more, or for her to attain more authority.”
Wang Zheng nodded, “Those who congratulated them turned their backs on them and took the princess away, preventing the young boy from contacting her ever again. After that, they also used their authority to transfer the boy away. Perhaps even that was not good enough for them, and they could only be at ease if the boy was dead. What a melodramatic story, don’t you think?”
Lan Ling shook her head strongly, “This storyline does seem a little old-fashioned. Didn’t expect you to have some talent in storytelling.”
Wang Zheng laugh, “People from Earth are all good at telling stories.”
He only hoped that Aina was not implicated in this incident.
Lan Ling exhaled and nodded her head, “Does the stupid boy still love her? Such a difficult love is so impractical. No matter how hard he tried, how would he ever be fit for the princess? If they had given up sooner, both parties would have been better off.”
Wang Zheng shook his head: “The princess was very dedicated. The link between the princess and him was like a tightly stretched rubber band. By the time they realised that, it was already too late. If one party were to let go, the other would be hurt.
Wang Zheng finished his speech and originally assumed that the kind-hearted Lan Ling would be touched to tears. Unexpectedly, Lan Ling was laughing and slapping the sofa really hard. “Look at your unforgettable appearance! Could it have been your first love?”
Wang Zheng’s face darkened. Keeping in mind that Lan Ling was his savior, he just nodded his head. Urgh, in the future, even if someone beats him up, he would never repeat such words again. However, he felt an indescribable sense of relief. In the past he would never have been so open with his words. A man must have dignity! When facing such trivial matters, a true man would just grit his teeth and get past it. As long as Aina was alright, he would endure it.
As Lan Ling watched Wang Zheng nod his head, she stopped laughing and stood up. She spoke to Wang Zheng with a serious tone: “Well, you should be happy. You didn’t die, and the facts have been settled. First love is just meant to be reminisced about anyway. Oh right, are you still going back to the Milky Way Alliance’s side? If you are unwilling to do so, I still lack a bodyguard by my side.”
Crack! The guest hall’s front door was pushed open by the sturdy Sun Xin. She carried a saucer with both hands, and there was only one cup on it; clearly Wang Zheng did not have a share. She just happened to hear Lan Ling mention her bodyguard. Her eyes opened wide in surprise and she opened her mouth to speak, but Lan Ling glared at her, so she simply twisted her mouth and glared intently at Wang Zheng without saying a word.
Wang Zheng definitely had to return to the Milky Way Alliance. His Skylink was broken, but the Federation Army’s transfer orders were saved on his memory card. If he didn’t go back, the entire federation would think that he had died.
However, it was not time to return yet. There were some things that he had to clarify, in particular the situation on Titatitan Star. The Lan family was one of the three big powers, and if he were to return to the Milky Way Alliance, he would not be able to understand the actual situation as well as he could here. At the same time, he had to at least wait for Lan Ling to recover the data on his Skylink.
If the ambush had not happened, Wang Zheng would not have minded. A soldier is meant to follow orders, but while orders are meant to be followed, the preservation of one’s life has to still remain in one’s hands.
“If it’s alright, I would like to spend some time recuperating here.” Wang Zheng ignored Sun Xin’s loathing expression and made his request.
Lan Ling was very generous. With a smile, she recommended Wang Zheng to be a member of her bodyguard team. After all, if Wang Zheng were to stay, he had to have an official designation.
Lan Ling’s bodyguard team was in fact the first part of the Lan family’s personal troops. The usual family troops mostly consisted of multinationals, and of course also included some of the Lan family’s descendants. Wang Zheng was brought over by Sun Xin, but Sun Xin’s expression was not great at all.
“Little Brat, you must be the hostage that Missy’s brought back. Come, take my hand, let’s see how strong you are.”
Captain Miloxius gestured to Wang Zheng to arm wrestle. This blockhead was 2.3 metres tall. His nickname, “God of Strength”, appealed to Wang Zheng immediately.
“Captain, take it easy, this hostage spent a lot of Missy’s money, make sure not to break him.” a squad member roared from the side, with a gaze full of ridicule at Wang Zheng. Lan Ling was rather renowned on Titatitan and she treated others well too, but people like Wang Zheng surely did not deserve it.
The moment they linked hands and before any strength was even exerted, Wang Zheng already started to wrinkle his brow. Miloxius stared blankly, for his opponent did not seem to resist at all. Perhaps his opponent was too weak, and his complexion also seemed to reveal that he had not fully recovered from his wounds. Miloxius felt like he was being too much of a bully.
Releasing his hand, Miloxius gave Wang Zheng a pat on the shoulder, “Little brat, let your body recover first, then you can start working hard to pay back your debts!”
Wang Zheng smiled and nodded, “Thanks.”
Miloxius clapped his hands, then started to assign the day’s bodyguard tasks. There were five people per shift. The completion of every four hours of duty would be followed by eight hours of rest in order to ensure that the bodyguards were alert while on-duty.
Wang Zheng had an easy time as well. His work would last for eight hours. Whenever the on-duty squad members needed something, they would call for him. If they were thirsty he would deliver water, and if they were hungry he would send food – these were the miscellaneous tasks he had to do.
While these people looked down on Wang Zheng, they were not truly evil. However, thinking about it, while the saying goes that saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven floor pagoda, this was a rather outdated concept. This was not a game either, and a large amount of money was estimated to have been spent. As long as your life was slightly lowly no one was willing to cure you, and furthermore Titatitan was only considered a third-rate planet in the Milky Way Alliance’s eyes, so the spending must have been higher than usual as well. It was definitely no small sum, but Wang Zheng was now rather well-off, so he intended to repay his debts immediately once the Skylink data was recovered. However, Lan Ling had mentioned that the procedure was still rather troublesome.
There were no taboo topics to the bodyguards. Their idle chatter consisted of either news known to all Titans, or rubbishy gossip instead.
At the same time, the latter was the type of information that Wang Zheng was most interested in. The gossip contained small details that could be extracted and analysed, such as how the Titans were like, the conflict between the trade unions and the early immigrants, the position the Lan family held among the immigrants, etc. Wang Zheng really wanted to know more about the planet’s overall situation as well.
With over a million immigrants, the Lan family was the clear leader of them all, and were loved and respected by all immigrants.
These millions of immigrants were not be underestimated. Their long-term interactions with the Titan people led to a strong sense of trust being developed over the years. Other people would not be able to easily obtain such a strong trust, not even the Milky Way Alliance.
From the chatter, Wang Zheng gained a better understanding of some of the unique characteristics of Titatitan Star. The ground’s magnetic field in this place became extremely erratic due to the presence of the Titan ore. In some areas, it was similar to space in the sense that there was no gravity, whereas in other places gravity was ten times or even a hundred times stronger.
Of even greater interest to humans was the fact that within the unique environment of the Titan Ore’s magnetic field ring, light-based weapons would deviate in an unpredictable way.
As a result, laser weapons were nowhere to be seen on Titatitan Star. They were still present as old-fashioned firearms, but their power was severely reduced. This was also the reason why the people from the chamber of commerce did not dare to rush indiscriminately into action, for the Titans were frighteningly skilled at combat on their own planet. No one dared to use large-scale weapons of destruction either, for directly breaking the rules of the Milky Way Alliance’s charter would have unbearable consequences.
“I heard that women from Earth are very conservative?”
“It’s not that bad.” Wang Zheng wiped away his sweat. With this bunch of old perverts, the conversation inevitably turned toward women in no time at all.