Chapter 320: The New Eleventh B Squadron [Part 2]
“Yes. After the great chaos began, Vanguard absorbed some small hunter regiments into itself and reorganized its ten B-squadrons. Shawton, the original commander of the Sixth B Squadron was transferred to the A squad, and his position was taken over by another A squad member. Two lieutenant commanders were replaced as well. Some time later, an argument broke out within the squadron, and people started leaving one after another. Czedow was the first one to go. Dias left with Asiya, and Rikulab returned to his home with Dr. Merzenich Tico. The others were more or less gone as well. The only good news was that they weren’t given a hard time because the entire Sixth B Squadron was due for a massive reorganization anyway.”
“Did Ji Feng give any explanation regarding my disappearance?” Cillin asked.
“No. Part of the reason Eudy and the others left the Sixth B Squadron was to go search for you. This is all I know, however. I had picked up some of these info by connecting to the Sixth B Suqadron’s base. The rest was told to me by Czedow.”
“Can you contact Czedow now?”
“Sure! Wait a moment.”
Sigma quickly cheered up and contacted Czedow using their unique form of communication. Before Czedow left the Sixth B Squadron, he had told Sigma to contact him if Cillin and Wheeze were to return from the other side.
It didn’t take long for a connection to be established. In the past, Czedow was a robot of few expressions. Today, he was wearing a set of sportswear from somewhere and beaming at the sight of Cillin and Wheeze. Even his eyes looked bright and energetic. He was already rushing over to their location after learning their current spatial coordinates.
Xi Kai asked hesitantly while examining the smiling man on the screen. “Is this Czedow really a robot?”
“Yep. He’s very similar to the Origin robots,” answered Cillin.
Czedow had learned more emotions since the last time they met. He was gradually learning to express them like a real person as well.
Shusag and the others were stunned to learn that Czedow was a robot. For starters, he looked and acted nothing like a robot. Their conversation sounded everything like a chat between old friends and nothing like a dialog between robot and human as well.
“What are you going to do next, Cillin?” asked Sigma. After learning that his master was long gone and his brothers were either dead or “crippled”, Sigma had decided to stick the group for the moment and wait until they traveled back to the empire just like Moon. With the black box in their possession, they could come and go anytime they wished.
Xi Kai also expressed his desire to stay at GAL for the moment. He wanted to learn more about this galaxy, and he was also curious about Czedow. He hoped to find a spark of inspiration while interacting with the Origin robots.
Cillin thought for a moment before answering, “Sigma, can you contact Ji Feng for me? He told you how to contact him, right?”
“That’s correct.”
Sigma did just that, but not before encrypting the message as Cillin told him to.
At the planet designated Z-J100, Ji Feng was having a meeting with the leaders of the A Squadron. He was in the middle of talking when a message notification sound rang from his communicator, so he checked the message only after he was finished delivering his point. But the moment he saw the encrypted message, Ji Feng lost his cool completely and strode right out of the room, paying no heed to the concerned looks behind his back. When he reached his private lounge, he immediately contacted Sigma.
Ji Feng was very happy to see Cillin again.
Cillin didn’t try to hide the existence of the Mist Bodhisattva Empire from Ji Feng because he knew that the captain wouldn’t poke the hornet’s nest while GAL was still in chaos. After all, the Mist Bodhisattva Empire was a centralized power. He would have to be stupid or insane to make contact with an alien power at these chaotic times. Best case scenario, the empire discovered that GAL was fractured and took advantage of their vulnerability. Worst case scenario, they forced their way onto the chessboard and intervened in a way where Vanguard was helpless to do anything against or worse, led to the destruction of Vanguard. No, the only right time to contact the Mist Bodhisattva Empire was after the crisis was resolved.
Cillin refrained from telling Ji Feng too much about his achievements. Ji Feng didn’t think that Cillin could achieve too much in an alien galaxy ruled by the nobility in just two to three years either.
Things went as Cillin had predicted. For now, Ji Feng decided to leave the empire alone.
Still, Ji Feng was very delighted by Cillin’s return and the information he brought back with him. As one of the people who thought highly of Cillin’s potential, he wanted to make Cillin the commander of the Sixth B Squadron or transfer him into the A Squadrons. However, Cillin turned down both suggestions.
“From what I learned, the current Sixth B Squadron is no longer the Sixth B Squadron I once served. Practically everyone I knew is gone, and I doubt I’ll be able to get along with the new members.”
“So?” Ji Feng waited.
“So, I would like to apply for the creation of the eleventh B Squadron.”
Cillin’s reply caused Ji Feng to raise his eyebrows. He mulled over the request for a short while before smiling. “Okay, I accept your application. In fact, you can take over your old base immediately since the current Sixth B Squadron isn’t using it. That base is just a reserve base for them.”
“But why?” Cillin was confused. That base was pretty good, so why go through the trouble of building a new base on a different planet?
Ji Feng shot Cillin a meaningful look. “You might want to ask someone else that question. Let’s just say that some humans… and non-humans made them change their minds.”
Cillin immediately turned to look at Sigma. Sigma looked away and pretended to be socializing with Wheeze, but there was no hiding the blue strips flickering toward his direction from time to time. Unless he was sorely mistaken, the “humans” Ji Feng was referring to were Eudy and the others, and the “non-humans” were Sigma, Czedow, Snowball, Dough and hell, even the Lovages living beneath the base.
“How much capital do you need to establish your squadron? Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but we’re short on capital on pretty much every front due to the chaos we’re in. There’s only so much I can spare you right now,” said Ji Feng.
“In that case, it can wait until later. For now, can you keep a lid on those who might object to the creation of an Eleventh B Squadron?”
“No problem, you just leave that to me. When you’re ready, send me a form and I’ll deliver the capital you need.”
Ji Feng leaned back against his chair after breaking off the call. He couldn’t stop smiling. “Don’t disappoint me, Cillin.”
Wheeze was the happiest out of everyone who learned that Cillin was going to form a new B Squadron. My own B Squadron, my own territory!
By the time Cillin told Moon to pilot the space fortress to the base, Ji Feng had already ordered the Sixth B Squadron members still at the base to evacuate—not that there were many of them who were still on that base. Ever since its original residents were gone, they had received all kinds of harassment that drove them up to the walls. It was as if there was a god of mischief running around the base and toying with them from time to time. Spooky noises were just the appetizer. Sometimes the doors would fail, and they would be trapped inside a passageway for days. Sometimes, the walls of the restroom would move on its own. Long story short, those who had no choice but to stay there felt that they were one step away from developing mental illnesses, and they couldn’t be happier to be away from the god forsaken place.
Sigma and Moon were very happy to be able to return to the base. Xi Kai also got to witness his ancestors’ work with his own eyes.
It had been a terribly long time since Wheeze returned to the base, so it went absolutely wild running all over the place and playing with the Lovages.
“So this is our new life?” Shusag said happily while spreading his arms. He very much looked forward to the future. When he saw Tesoro staring wide-eyed at absolutely everything around him, he slapped his son in the back of his head before asking, “What are you thinking?”
For once, Tesoro didn’t object to the hit or reply to Shusag’s question. For a long time, he simply stared at the base rising from the underground before asking, “I can pilot a fighter and fight a battle now, right?”
Shusag let out a chuckle before hitting him again in the same spot, but much gentler this time. “Not yet, newbie. You won’t like to hear this, but right now you’re even worse than that little girl Sha Rou.”
Tesoro was about to make a retort when Cillin said to them, “Go choose your rooms. This little guy here will lead you to them.”
“Yiya—” A tiny Lovage waved its chela and beckoned the father and son to follow it.
A spaceplane came from outer space while Cillin, Moon, Sigma and Xi Kai were busy rearranging the base.