T/N: Hey y’all, I’ll be out for the next 2 weeks, so there won’t be any updates until after Sep. 18. Any ko-fis during this period will also be counted after I return, and with releases stabilizing at 1x weekly by October.
As an apology, I’ll be release an extra chapter of IMG this week.
Happy reading!
-komorebi
The day was clear and sunny on December 21.
After Luo Fei bid farewell to his family, he left by himself.
Xize was a little worried. After all, Luo Fei is a prince, and if he encounters danger when he goes out alone, the consequences will be disastrous. But Lin Yuan was much calmer – his son is smart and calm, has good skills, and is protected by the S-cla.s.s smart mech Chongming. In addition, the real face of the First Prince has not been announced in public, so he should be fine going out alone.
Xize originally wanted to send the royal guards to follow Luo Fei to protect him secretly, but after hearing what Lin Yuan said, he could only give up. “I hope he can come back safely.”
Lin Yuan smiled and comforted, “Don’t worry, doesn’t our son’s mech have an open line to communicate with us? If he encounters any difficulty, we will know as soon as possible.”
Xize put down his concerns.
It’s really strange – his alpha father is worried about his son, but the omega father around him is very calm. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
————
When Luo Fei took an electric flying vehicle to the Capital Star s.p.a.ce station, there was still more than an hour before the take-off time of the s.p.a.ceship.
Wearing simple casual clothes, he walked into the crowd with a black bag on his back. Apart from his handsome appearance, he didn’t look much different from ordinary teenagers. The smart mech Chongming was placed in a s.p.a.ce b.u.t.ton on a necklace, and put into standby mode.
Luo Fei felt a little thirsty, so he went to the self-service shopping machine to buy a bottle of water.
The crystal card he took out was covered with a light blue protective film. Under the blue cover, it was actually the rarest platinum gold color, with the luminous Cepheus galaxy painted on it, unique to the royal family of the empire. Luo Fei deliberately covered it up in order to keep a low profile.
After returning to his seat, he took a sip of water. Watching the strangers coming and going, he raised the corners of his mouth in a good mood.
At eight o’clock sharp, a broadcast reminder to remind pa.s.sengers to board the plane sounded, and Luo Fei followed the crowd to the security checkpoint to line up.
Interstellar security checkpoints are very strict, especially in the capital of Cepheus. Pa.s.sengers undergo full-body scans at the airtight security checkpoint to check for dangerous goods, smart mechs included. After all, if someone manages to bring a smart mech to the Capital Star, it is likely to cause turmoil.
Luo Fei didn’t bring much luggage, and quickly pa.s.sed through the security check.
There are no more than 10 S-cla.s.s mechs in the entire empire. Equipped with the most high-end anti-monitoring system, such ordinary interstellar checkpoints cannot detect the existence of Chongming at all.
After boarding the s.p.a.ceship with the crowd, Luo Fei went to the second floor following his ticket, and located cabin 2089.
Ordinary tickets fit four people in one cabin. There are four safety seats side by side in the cabin, and two small dining tables for food. Although it’s a little crowded, the price is economical and affordable, so most people generally choose an ordinary ticket when traveling. In contrast, the layout of a luxury cabin is as s.p.a.cious and comfortable as a hotel suite. They have their own bathrooms, and even beds, for pa.s.sengers to sleep on during the flight. But the price is ten times that of an ordinary ticket.
Chongming didn’t understand why the owner didn’t book a luxury cabin, but human thinking is always complicated, and even a mech could not understand what the owner was thinking.
After settling down, Luo Fei sat down in his seat.
Apart from him, there happened to be a family of three in this cabin, a young beta couple with a little girl about seven years old.
The little girl blinked her eyes and kept looking at him. Seeing Luo Fei notice her, she bent her eyes and said, “Brother, you look so good-looking!”
Luo Fei smiled slightly. “Really?”
The little girl ran over excitedly and said, “Brother, are you going to the Lyra galaxy too?”
“Yes, on vacation and to travel.” Luo Fei nodded.
The little girl said: “There are many big farms in Lyra where you can go and pick fruits yourself! Many fruits in the greenhouse are ripe now. What do you like to eat, brother?”
Hearing her words, Luo Fei couldn’t help but think of his playful little brother in the palace.
Her mother seemed a little embarra.s.sed, and she pulled the little girl over and said, “Don’t disturb this brother.”
Luo Fei said with a good temper: “It’s okay, your daughter is very cute.”
The woman smiled, picked up her daughter and put her in the safety seat. While buckling the safety buckle, she said: “She’s been like this since she was a child, and likes talking to people she doesn’t know. It’s good if you don’t find her annoying.”
Luo Fei replied: “She’s not.”
This is an ordinary family in the empire.
The girl’s father and mother are both betas, and the family of three also happened to be traveling to Lyra during the holiday period.
As he walked over to the cabin, most of the pa.s.sengers Luo Fei met were betas, which was completely different from the ratios he was used to in the palace.
The teacher of his physiology cla.s.s once said that the current ratio of omega, alpha, and beta in the empire is about 5:20:75. Omegas only accounts for 5%, the rarest, and there are not many alphas either, only about 20%. Most of the population, more than 75%, are beta.
But because Luo Fei was born in the imperial palace, and went to a n.o.ble school since he was a child, most of the students in the cla.s.s are children of military officers, officials, and n.o.bility, 2/3 of the cla.s.s were alphas and 1/3 were omegas. It’s rare to see a beta, and the ratio is the exact opposite of what the teacher said.
Therefore, Luo Fei never really had a particularly clear concept of what the teacher said about omegas being very rare and betas comprising the majority.
But now, he finally realized that of the many people on the s.p.a.ceship, almost all of them are betas. There are very few alphas, and no omegas can be seen.
This is the normal population composition ratio, right?
Luo Fei touched his chin with a smile, then turned to look out the window.
There was a long queue outside waiting to board. This s.p.a.ceship is a large interstellar pa.s.senger s.p.a.ceship of Imperial KM Airlines, accommodating thousands of pa.s.sengers at once. The ship has three floors – the lower two floors are ordinary economy cla.s.s, and the third floor is luxury cla.s.s. Pa.s.sengers boarded the plane in batches, so some had longer waiting times. Luo Fei was lucky today, the ticket he had was a.s.signed to the first boarding group.
He was watching the long queue outside the window when he suddenly noticed a group of people hastily bypa.s.sed the queue and walked into the VIP pa.s.sage on the side.
Guests who bought luxury boat tickets can go through the VIP channel. Luo Fei knew this a long time ago, but to his surprise, this group of people was very pompous. Eight tall and straight men wearing uniform black suits walked up. They were bodyguards trained in martial arts, and the people surrounded by the bodyguards were too well-protected – Luo Fei couldn’t see them clearly at all.
It was only when they walked through the VIP pa.s.sage and were about to board the s.p.a.ceship that Luo Fei saw the silhouette of a person through a gap.
The man was thin, wearing a simple white shirt and slim trousers, big sungla.s.ses and a mask, and his face was tightly covered.
Maybe it’s a popular star?
In recent years, the empire’s entertainment industry has developed rapidly, and countless stars have emerged, many of whom will bring bodyguards whenever they go out.
Luo Fei didn’t pay much attention to the entertainment industry, so he turned his gaze away and didn’t think about it.
After a while, the last batch of pa.s.sengers boarded the s.p.a.ceship, and a gentle female voice sounded in all cabins: “Good morning, everyone. This is the s.p.a.ce pa.s.senger s.p.a.ceship K-1314 of KM Airlines, departing from the Cepheus galaxy, heading to the Lyra galaxy. We are about to take off for a 9:00am on time departure. Please be seated in your seats as soon as possible…”
Then came a lot of safety instructions. Luo Fei sat on his seat and listened absently.
The clock quickly pointed to nine o’clock, and a green indicator light lit up in the cabin. After a few minutes of startup, the s.p.a.ceship slowly rose and left the gravitational range of the s.p.a.ce station.
With a violent vibration, the s.p.a.ceship finally broke through the atmosphere and entered the interstellar channel.
Luo Fei turned his head and looked out the window to see the Capital Star of Cepheus getting farther and farther away. It soon disappeared, and what followed was a vast and boundless cosmic landscape, dotted with countless stars. Occasionally, meteors would slide by, leaving long trails of light behind.
Having never left Capital Star since he was a child, Luo Fei couldn’t help being shocked at seeing such a spectacular scene for the first time.
He squinted his eyes, appreciating the scenery outside. The blue gemstone on his necklace suddenly lit up, and a mechanical voice sounded in his mind: “Master, the s.p.a.ceship has entered s.p.a.ce route 301 from Cepheus to Lyra. There will be three s.p.a.ce jumps, and the first one will be five minutes later.”
Luo Fei nodded to show that he heard.
Sure enough, five minutes later, the s.p.a.ceship trembled again, and the female voice on the radio sounded again: “Pa.s.sengers, please don’t panic. Our s.p.a.ceship is undergoing its first s.p.a.ce jump, and is about to leave the Cepheus galaxy…”
The little girl asked curiously: “Mom, what’s a s.p.a.ce jump?”
The woman was a little embarra.s.sed because she didn’t know how to explain, but she saw the boy opposite say with a smile: “A s.p.a.ce jump compresses the limit of s.p.a.ce, and then uses the power of the s.p.a.ceship to forcibly break through the s.p.a.ce barrier, so that the travel time across the universe can be shortened.”
The little girl nodded, half-understanding: “Oh!”
The emergence of s.p.a.ce jump technology greatly shortened the time needed to travel across the universe. For example, only eight hours are needed to travel from Cepheus to Lyra.
This jump allowed the s.p.a.ceship to successfully break away from the gravity of the Cepheus galaxy.
The next jump is when it reaches the vicinity of the no-man’s land in the universe –The ship needs to avoid the cosmic sandstorms that appear all year round and change its route.
…
Time seemed to pa.s.s very slowly, and the interstellar landscape also became aesthetically fatiguing after a long time.
But Luo Fei has always been patient, and enjoys such a relaxed time.
He kept looking out of the window, and after an unknown amount of time, a white nebula suddenly appeared. In the middle of the layers of white was a purple planet in the middle. Because of the distance, it looked like a brilliant purple gemstone wrapped in a ma.s.s of soft cotton.
The little girl immediately ran to the window excitedly, and pointed outside. “That planet is so beautiful, it’s purple!”
Luo Fei explained: “That is Bor Star, which is rich in natural mineral resources. Unfortunately, the temperature there is extremely cold and the environment is very harsh, making it difficult for human beings to live there.”
The little girl was stunned, and looked at him with admiration. “Brother you’re amazing. I’ve never even heard of Bor Star!”
Luo Fei smiled slightly, looked at her gently, and said, “When you grow up and go to middle school, you will learn astronomy courses. They’ll teach you about it when the time comes.”
The little girl asked curiously, “Is this what astronomy is all about?”
Her mother smiled and said, “Yes. It’s almost lunch time, let’s go to the restaurant first.”
Just at this time, a reminder sounded in the cabin: “Everyone, it’s time for lunch. The restaurant is in the lobby on the east side of the second floor of the s.p.a.ceship. Pa.s.sengers who need to eat can buy lunch for themselves. Today’s menu has been updated on the s.p.a.ceship intranet. Dear pa.s.sengers, you can check the menu at any time…”
When the woman heard this, she carried the girl off the safety seat, and turned around to ask Luo Fei, “Do you want to have lunch together?”
Luo Fei shook his head. “Go ahead, I’ll eat later.”
After the family of three left, only Luo Fei was left in the cabin.
He had Chongming connect to the network inside the s.p.a.ceship, wanting to see what would be served today, and then decide what to eat.
While looking at the menu, at this moment, the lights in the cabin suddenly went out.
Luo Fei frowned, stood up and opened the door.
— There was no light in the corridor, and the lights across all cabins were turned off almost at the same time.
Previously, the cabins on the third floor were all lit up, but now, the entire s.p.a.ceship seemed to have suddenly lost power, and it was pitch black, and lifeless.
Kinda of sad to think Luo Fei never traveled outside the capital as a prince until he’s 18. No school trips or family vacays, really?
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