Barren Star – Chapter 19
by Little PandaGiving you a bouquet of flowers.
Hua Zhuoyu had no intention of stopping them.
The three judges who came to the Barren Star this time were He Chao, Ning Mo, and Zhao Qiuyu. He Chao was proud and arrogant, Ning Mo was quiet and reserved, and the one most likely to make this mistake was Zhao Qiuyu. She was basically the definition of impulsive and hot-tempered. Moreover, her ancestors were all botanists, with an unusual passion for real, existing plants.
Outside the base perimeter.
Zhao Qiuyu held several branches of blood jade-like red thorns, her eyes full of excitement: “Red thorns, not plastic synthetics, but real existing plants! How can plants survive on Barren Star? Have their genes overcome the dark pollution? I wonder if they could grow if we took them back to the Imperial Star.”
Ning Mo glanced at Zhao Qiuyu with furrowed brows. Zhao Qiuyu’s movements were too quick – before they could stop her, she had already broken off branches and fought off the patrolling robots nearby. When seeing the plants, she was also very shocked, but unlike Zhao Qiuyu, she hadn’t lost her head. Looking at He Chao, who seemed indifferent to the situation, she rubbed her temples and sighed: “The base’s protective shield is still running, this place probably has an owner. We should nowโ”
“It must be Boss!” Zhao Qiuyu said with absolute certainty. She carefully cradled the red thorns in her hands, staring intensely at the stretch of blood-red thorny plants, and exclaimed, “Why else would Boss stay here? Boss is really amazing, how could she cultivate plants? Could she have brought some old scholars here?”
Ning Mo didn’t argue, but she thought the possibility of this base belonging to Hua Zhuoyu wasn’t high, because this was the Ning family’s station. If her younger cousin was still on Barren Star, the ownership rights should be in her hands.
He Chao’s eyes flickered, and he said in a deep voice: “Barren Star only has one base, let’s go in.” Just as He Chao’s words fell, a series of sharp alarm sounds rang out. Unusual light flowed across the protective shield, rippling like water. A sense of warning arose in He Chao’s heart! His expression turned severe as he shouted: “Back to the ship, we’ve been locked on!”
Shells came thundering down like a meteor shower toward He Chao’s group and their ship, showing no mercy. At first, the three were certain Hua Zhuoyu was here, but now doubt crept into their hearts. If Hua Zhuoyu was here, would she put them in such a predicament? Perhaps Hua Zhuoyu was also trapped here? Was the enemy using this to lure them in? In that split second, countless thoughts flashed through their minds.
At this moment, Hua Zhuoyu followed Ning Buyi into the hall, her lips pressed together in silence.
Ning Buyi had no interest in dealing with Hua Zhuoyu. She crossed her arms and watched the scenes playing on the electronic screen, letting out cold laughs. Though she hadn’t formally met these three people, the distance wasn’t far. She activated the “Dominator” skill, marking them as enemies. Let’s see if these three have what it takes to escape Barren Star!
The bombardment was relentless, with deafening explosions. Ning Buyi’s face was tense as she gritted her teeth in pain at the cost. The ammunition was single-use consumables that needed to be replenished after use, and who knows how much money that would take. But if they didn’t attack quickly, with the three judges’ abilities, they would eventually figure things out, and then the base would suffer even heavier losses.
He Chao, Zhao Qiuyu, and Ning Mo scrambled back to their ship in a mess, but the previously well-functioning system suddenly malfunctioned, with only an electronic “Loading” sound. They had planned to counterattack using the ship’s weapons, but who could have predicted this? There wasn’t enough time to manually restart the system. They were now completely locked on by the artillery, about to be “caught like turtles in a jar” (Chinese idiom meaning trapped with nowhere to escape).
He Chao angrily threw a punch, raising his head to stare intently at the protective shield ahead and the combat robots slowly emerging.
“That’sโ” Ning Mo’s heart jumped to her throat, and after a brief pause, she sharply called out, “Beidou!”
Zhao Qiuyu frowned: “Should we fight?” Although they were trapped in the spaceship, they weren’t at their wit’s end yet, after all, they had mecha and could still use their special abilities.
He Chao said coldly: “This base is too mysterious, we might as well take this chance to go in and look around.” He meant to give up the final resistance. Loosening his sleeve buttons, he strode toward the exit of the cockpit. Ning Mo and Zhao Qiuyu looked at each other in confusion, and after thinking for a moment, decided to follow He Chao’s lead.
Inside the base, Ning Buyi watched this scene and secretly sighed in relief. It was best that they were willing to lay down their weapons. They probably had the intention of exploring the mysterious base too, right? Her temples were throbbing, like there was a storm brewing in her head. She rubbed her brow, still not trusting these three “conscious” judges. Fortunately, Beidou had knocked out all those who surrendered.
“Are you going to bring them into the base?” Hua Zhuoyu, who hadn’t expressed any opinions throughout, finally spoke.
“What then, throw them outside to feed the beasts?” Ning Buyi gave a cold laugh, her face still showing traces of anger. If Hua Zhuoyu wasn’t here, she certainly wouldn’t make this choice. But with Hua Zhuoyu present to keep watch, those three couldn’t cause any trouble. Taking a long breath, Ning Buyi mockingly added, “The impartial Star Court? The pure and noble judges? They look more like thieves to me!”
Hua Zhuoyu was speechless.
The actions of these three people had made her lose face, but what she cared about wasn’t the face, but Ning Buyi’s mood. After thinking for a moment, she asked: “Are you angry?”
Ning Buyi countered: “Isn’t that obvious to anyone with eyes? How can I not be angry? They’ve wrecked my home’s entrance!” Ning Buyi had no outlet for her rage and unleashed it all on Hua Zhuoyu. The small savings she had worked so hard to accumulate had shriveled up again!
Hua Zhuoyu gave an awkward smile, knowing she had walked right into the line of fire (Chinese idiom meaning to encounter someone’s anger). She lowered her eyelashes in thought for a moment, then suddenly her right hand held a neatly bundled bunch of lavender. Holding out this bouquet to Ning Buyi, she blinked and said: “Don’t be angry anymore.”
The faint fragrance lingered at the tip of her nose, and Ning Buyi’s brain froze for a moment. Her eyes, round with anger, widened in disbelief as she said: “You’re using my own flowers to try to please me? Hua Zhuoyu, how can you be soโ” Ning Buyi wracked her brains but couldn’t think of an appropriate adjective. She gave a cold snort, but after this commotion, her anger had indeed dissipated quite a bit.
Hua Zhuoyu said: “He Chao is the son of a wealthy merchant, their family’s treasury is even richer than the royal family’s. Zhao Qiuyu, the one with short white hair, her ancestors were researchers, completely devoted to studying plant revival, and they developed many plant growth agents that you can’t even buy on the market. As for Ning Mo, just from her surname you can tell which family she’s from, perhaps you should call her ‘elder cousin’.”
When Ning Buyi heard about these people’s backgrounds, she felt annoyed, but quickly understood the implication. She crossed her arms and gave Hua Zhuoyu a sideways glance: “Are you suggesting I take advantage of the situation?” (่ถ็ซๆๅซ – Chinese idiom meaning to loot during a fire/take advantage of someone’s misfortune)
Hua Zhuoyu smiled: “How is it taking advantage? This is compensation. After all, they damaged our carefully cultivated red thorns.”
‘Our’ indeed, she didn’t do any of the hard work! Hua Zhuoyu really had no shame. Ning Buyi cursed silently, snatched the lavender bunch from Hua Zhuoyu’s hand, pulled out an ordinary copper vase from her space button, poured in three nutrient solutions before placing the lavender stems in it. She held the copper vase while glancing at Hua Zhuoyu, and said with a cold snort: “You’re coming with me later.”
Hua Zhuoyu nodded: “Of course.”
When He Chao and the other two woke up, they found themselves thrown onto gravelly ground, with lock rings on their wristsโwhich meant they had no hope of using their spiritual power or special abilities. He Chao struggled to stand up, but was immediately kicked back down to his knees by Beidou, who stood guard without moving an inch. He Chao’s face turned red, flashing with humiliation and anger. He took a breath to calm his emotions, then turned to Beidou and asked: “Where is the base’s owner?”
“The owner will be here soon.” Beidou’s electronic voice was calm as water, without any fluctuation.
“Can you sense the fresh plant fragrance?” Zhao Qiuyu didn’t seem too concerned about their situation, her eyes frighteningly bright.
“Plants are basically extinct in the star system, how could there be so many?” He Chao responded coldly.
Zhao Qiuyu shook her head: “My sensing can’t be wrong.”
Just as they were discussing in low voices, a chubby little ball came flying over, fluttering its wings. Its fluffy head was crowned with light purple flower petals that looked like twinkling stars. Not only that, but its claws were also holding a bunch of lavender.
“Lavender?!”
“Feng Jiu species?!”
Two voices rang out simultaneously, their tones becoming sharp with excessive surprise.
The little Feng Jiu heard the words “Feng Jiu” and stopped. It flew to the top of Beidou’s head, looking down at He Chao, Zhao Qiuyu, and the others from its high perch.
“Chiu chiu (onomatopoeia for bird sound), what kind of people are they?”
Beidou: “Enemies.”
When the little Feng Jiu heard this, it immediately became angry, handed the lavender to Beidou, and started frantically scratching at the three restrained people below, looking like it wanted to scratch their faces to pieces.
“Isn’t the Feng Jiu Princess looking for her sister?” Ning Mo covered her face with her hands and said quietly. Recently, the Empire’s Prince had made a big fuss helping the Feng Jiu Princess search for someone, but it ended up unresolved, though most people still remembered this incident. Barren Star Base No. 1 was too strange – whether it was the plants, Beidou, or the Feng Jiu’s appearance, everything exceeded their expectations.
“Who knows?” Zhao Qiuyu shrugged, staring intensely at the bunch of lavender, seemingly mesmerized by it.
“Little Jiujiu.” A clear female voice suddenly rang out like a spring stream, and the little Feng Jiu immediately stopped its flapping and scratching upon hearing it. It flew angrily toward the approaching Ning Buyi and Hua Zhuoyu, finally landing on Ning Buyi’s shoulder. Its right wing pointed forward, and after two “chiu chiu” sounds, it said: “They bad, hit me!”
The disheveled trio of Zhao Qiuyu and others were speechless at these words – how could they possibly have attacked the Feng Jiu in their condition? Their gaze fell on Ning Buyi for a moment, then shifted to fix on Hua Zhuoyu.
“Zhuoyu!” “Boss!”
The triple chorus rang out, their eyes full of expectation and joy.
Ning Buyi clicked her tongue, giving Hua Zhuoyu a cold stare.
Hua Zhuoyu smiled slightly, looked at Zhao Qiuyu and the others, and pretended to be confused: “Do I know you?”
The author has something to say:
Better you than me.
(ๆญป้ๅไธๆญป่ฒง้ – Chinese idiom meaning to sacrifice others to save oneself).
Zhuoyu: Saving myself first, wife more important
Leave the pals and appease the angry wife!