Step Eight: Meet your mate

Getting off the space car, Lei was silent. It’s like all the excitement he had on the way were pure illusions- After coming to reality, it all dissipated in the air, not even leaving a speck of dust as it left. He wanted to ask, “Excuse me, Emily-san. Did your beloved AI perhaps get the wrong address? This is actually a case of mixing places, right? There’s no way our destination is really here, right?!”

However, Lei was a perfectly ‘timid’ guy so, of course, this words will never leave his mouth. He stayed put, a look of hesitance on his face, silently waiting for Ms. Emily’s next action. After a while, he watched as the old woman walked slowly and steadily ahead. She seemed to be familiar with the place. Walking a few steps, she stopped in front of a god knows what- the thing was barely visible from Lei’s angle and the shape was hard to make out of.

She raised her hand, reaching to press an object. A second later, the sound of a doorbell rang.

Lei continued to stay where he was. He finally couldn’t help showing the incredulous look on his face. It was actually a door!! And it even has a doorbell!! Heck, why would a door be in this junkyard?! Is this an entrance to some sort of secret organization?! Am I about to become a spy?!

 That’s right. The place they were standing right now is in front of a spacious junkyard. The type where scrap metals of all sorts are piled like a small mountain all over the place- They were currently facing the biggest and highest of this small mountains and the one with the door.

Lei’s previous excitement was instantly ignited. It was even more intense than before- This is the first time he felt so much excitement after coming to this place. He felt like he was about to discover and enter the headquarters of some huge organization, joining and becoming one of them(?) Upon entering, he would be able to see a technology more advanced than what he have seen and experienced(?) just like in movies. It should be something like a place that looks entirely different from the inside and outside. With dragons(?) flying around as vehicles, fairies(?) offering free personal services, cat girls(?) asking for head pats and rubs and big sisters(?) giving lectures and trainings. A perfect haven for men(?!)

All the descriptions above were due to the character’s overly excited state exceeding limited emotional capacity, causing emotional damage. To protect the character, rational thinking was temporarily turned off and will be turned on once the released of the excess emotion is over. Extremely illogical, messy, wild imaginations are currently running in the background.

Nevertheless, Lei didn’t forget his role as a person with a timid character. He quietly came over to Ms. Emily’s side, his expression showing both anticipation and fear. The little tail, Red, was following right behind, almost sticking it’s huge body on his back.

They waited for about 10 minutes before movements were heard behind the mysterious door. When it finally opened, a grumpy-looking, white-haired old man came to their sight. He was very tall. Lei estimated his height to be about 1.9 meters. His face was almost covered by beard, with only his eyes and a little bit below, showing. Irritation was written clearly over his face, his blue eyes glaring at them.

Lei’s excitement was extinguished instantaneously the moment the door opened. He was back to being rational and was very much into his timid role. He instinctively shank his neck, his actions showing his almost inability to keep himself from hiding behind Ms. Emily’s back. His thoughts inside were the complete opposite of how he looked though. He thought, Whoa, that’s some pressure you got. It’s a hundred times stronger than Ms. Emily’s!! Is it him? Is he the lunatic guy? No wonder he is the strongest in the galaxy!

Back when they were still on the space car, Ms. Emily told Lei that the person they were about to meet was the empire’s and the whole milky way’s strongest human. He has both physique, spiritual force, and overall quality of SSS rank. Just the pressure he emitted alone is enough to kill and subdue the whole galaxy.

Seeing a timid guy, an old woman, and a clueless bird outside his door, the old man’s irritation became even more visible. He was about to shut the door close when servants came in a row, holding various things in their hand, offering them to the old man. The old man’s attitude made a 180° turn, looking at the rows of ‘offerings’ for him. He kept the door open, scrutinizing the objects. He then gesture them to come in.

Lei was confused. He had three huge question marks right above his head. This confusion is not because of the old man’s attitude but of because of something else.

Ah- where did this servants came from? I don’t remember Ms. Emily bringing them? Did they follow us here? Why didn’t I see them?

When Ms. Emily, who had long been followed the old man inside, sensed that Lei wasn’t following her, she slowly turned her head, looking back. What came into her view was; Lei standing dumbly outside, his face about to distort with confusion, and Red, staying put, looking at his ‘mother’ and imitating the same dumb look on his little bird face.

This scene, Ms. Emily didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. Softly chuckling, she motioned the servants to bring the two over to her side. She explained,

“They arrived here earlier than us. I asked them to be on standby and prepare the gifts. He doesn’t like meeting people. We need to show our sincerity so we can make a deal.” Lei was enlightened and felt slight embarrassment for his obvious action. He said apologetically, “I-I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

Ms. Emily didn’t mind. She only smiled gently and continued walking ahead, following after the old man’s disappearing back. After turning a corner, they arrived at what seemed to be a living room. There were two wooden chairs in the room along with a small wooden table. The old man directly sat on one of the wooden chairs. Lei, assisted Ms. Emily to sit on the other while he and Red stood stiffly behind her.

“Talk.” The moment the old man’s bottom touched the chair, he spat this one word. His voice sounded raspy and hoarse but the words he spoken evoke an undeniable amount of pressure. He stared at them with his eyes that are both sharp and adamant. He was sitting rigidly, his back straight. Lei thought, How is he a lunatic? I have never saw a lunatic more intimidating than he is! He looks even more strict than the instructor we had in our military training back then!

Ms. Emily didn’t beat around the bush either. She said straightforwardly, “Mr. Bauer, this is Arthur. A person from a low civilization planet. We’re here today to make a deal with you. Arthur suffered a severe trauma on the way here. His case involved a powerful noble. The investigation is still in process and might take a few years to settle on estimate. Arthur is afraid staying here will endanger his life so I am helping him to move to a faraway planet for the meantime. It will take a lot of processing if we take the normal route so we’re here to discuss things with you.”

The old man shifted his eyes and stared at Lei, his gaze so piercing that it made Lei so uncomfortable, he shrank his head on his neck even deeper. He was silent for a minute then finally spoke, “Won’t die?”

Lei raised his head abruptly when he heard this. He stared at the old man then to Ms. Emily, his eyes shining with trepidation and confusion. Won’t die? What does it mean? Emily hesitated. But before she could reply, the old man spoke again. “How much?”

This time, Ms. Emily responded quickly. “I can give you as much as you want. As for the first question, you can chose to strengthen his body. But, you are not allowed to modify him. It will be against the law and he will lose all the chances he have to go back to his planet once you do.”

The old man snorted with her words. He replied, “300 million stars, high grade materials. Make him stay here. One week.”

“What was the high grade materials for? What about your portal?”

“Broken. Little Black.”

Ms. Emily was thoughtful. “Then, can he stay too?”

“Imprinting?” Ms. Emily slightly nodded. The old man frowned slightly before waving his hand. It was unknown if he meant to agree or not but just like that, the two reached a consensus. Lei perfectly captured all the key points.

Star is the Milky Way’s currency. Everyone from both federation, republic and empire uses them. Their appearance were small, transparent, glass-like with small encryption that can make the people know their value the moment they touch them. Ms. Emily gave Lei some of them earlier before they left.

It seems it would take one week for all the preparations to be made. Body strengthening, huh? The result the other day especially mentioned about his body being weaker than normal. Would one week really be enough? And that broken portal. A portal should be something hard to construct. Even with the empire’s technology, it should take a while to make. How is the old man going to do that within that extremely limited time? But this is all in favor to Lei. With this, he would be able to get away before the investigation in Planet Mata was made.

Of course, these are all only rough estimates with no real basis. He haven’t personally experienced how these things on empire work. He doesn’t even know what a portal looked like in person. But since he couldn’t ask, he can only assume with the use of logic.

After the two old people came into an agreement, Ms. Emily told Lei the gist of the situation, explaining the points clearly to him. She then gestured for the robot servants to take Lei and Red’s belonging inside. After some careful reminder, she left the two with the old man.

Ms. Emily left. The two men and one bird were left behind. They fell into a strange silence. The old man was still staring at Lei. Lei bowed his head, shrank his body, quivering like a quail. A long moment passed and the old man spoke, voice sounding raspy as before.

“Ten counts. Your real name and timeline.” He still had the same stern expression on his face, eyes still boring a hole on him, as if trying to see through his soul.

Lei was stunned. Eh? Was my acting bad? How did he know? He hesitated, thinking for awhile. Should I tell him or not? He haven’t spoken a word when the old man added “If you lie, the deal is over.” The he started to count.

“1.. 3.. 6..” Lei stared at him with slowly widening eyes. How did 3 came after 1? Do you not know how to count? Were you multiplying it by 3? Then why did it become 6 after?? Shouldn’t it be 9? No, hold on! That’s not the point, ah. Didn’t you say ten counts? How will it be ten if you skip numbers?! No, more importantly, is there really a need to pressure me like this?!

Nevertheless, he still hurriedly spoke the truth. He tsk. It had already come to this. Since he already knew, let’s just take the risk and be honest. He first took off the timid and nervous look on his face, saying “Lei Rainier from the year 2019 of the Gregorian calendar.”

These words made the old man look at his personal terminal and had a thoughtful look. Lei thought he would continue probing him but his next words surprised him instead. “Hmm.. 2019 of the Gregorian calendar, huh. Then, Eliza’s spirit must be in the year 2018.”

“Eliza?”