The Star Knight

Epoch-VI took off and left the tarmac. Opal stood in front of the console to set the route and stared at the starry sky outside the window. From this angle, he could just see the blazing Ares star. It was like a huge fireball, exuding endless of light and heat.

The Ares star has reached the end of its lifespan. It has existed for nearly 170 billion years and will consume all its light and heat in [-] million years.Due to the limitation of its own mass, it will collapse at the end of its lifespan and form a black hole, pulling all the planets in the galaxy over, and this area will completely disappear in the universe.Even light can no longer detect its presence.

In 20073 in the Era of Light, the Great Astronautics Association issued the calculation of the lifetime of the Ares star.If it is converted into human lifespan, then its remaining life is only a little over one year.

But the life of stars is too long. From the birth of human beings to the present, the 4000-year civilization of the ancient earth period plus the light era civilization is only more than 3 years, [-] million years... Scientists don’t even believe in human history can last this long.

"This is an escort mission." Opal said while setting the route: "You can read the diary first."

Cullens opened the mercenary diary and sat on the sofa. Opal moved the pillow away, which was used by Raymond before. Without saying a word, he hugged their common memory and put it in the room go.

However, when I entered the bedroom and faced another bed, I thought that since Cullens is here, I will temporarily join the mercenary group. Although it is only a trial period, if they behave well, they will also be long-term partners. All collected cleanly.

He took it out again and put it back in its original place.

Cullens glanced up at him, did not speak, and continued to read his diary.

"The territory of the Galactic Republic." Cullens said: "C-level mission."

Opal hummed, sat down on the carpet, and looked at the details of the mission. Before he took over this mission, he had already made a little plan—the escort mission was not too difficult.

Task level: C.

Task content: Large Magellanic Cloud Sol star system, planets CT-U2, CT-U3, CT-U7 escort, assist the Youth Progressive Association to handle housewarming matters, the relocation location is undecided, and all members must be resettled (about 2 people) Only then can the commission be terminated.

Meeting Point: CT-U7.

Client: Jokes, secretary-general of the Youth Progressive Association.

Task reward: 18 interstellar credits, including room and board.

Remarks: There may be a small amount of battles on the destination planet, and the young people will provide small imperial combat mechs.

"A moving task." Cullens said: "It may require combat. I didn't say what type of combat it was, nor did I mention what kind of enemies I would encounter."

Opal said indifferently: "Consignments are like this. Employers always like to be vague and try to confuse certain concepts in order to save money. I guess the destination planet is a newly reclaimed wasteland, and there may be some wild animals there. .”

Cullens nodded and said, "It's possible. I've never done this type of commission. Is this the habit of employers?"

Opal: "Well, nearly [-]% of the commissions are a little concealed, and you will gradually become familiar with them in the future."

Cullens looked at the task seriously and said, "If there is a concealment nature, what do you think it will be?"

Opal said: "Based on my experience, it should be about fighting."

Cullens nodded and said, "It would be nice to have more complete information."

Opal: "You used to be a soldier of the Republic, have you been to the Sol galaxy?"

Cullens said with a smile: "Never, we are all closed training, and we are not allowed to go out to play casually. And I am not an explorer, I belong to the ground guard army, and I have no experience in galaxy exploration."

Opal got up to open the star map and said, "That's boring."

Cullens hummed and said, "So I yearn for the spirit of adventure and want to be a mercenary."

Opal enters the position of Sol's star and checks the notes.

Everything about the star map was recalled by him again—is this really the star map Corolin used?

Opal was very calm in his heart, if it really happened as he expected, so what?

His grief over Raymond's departure has been gradually replaced by his obsession with revenge. The wrench said, "We will have revenge one day", and all the mercenaries understand that this bloody feud will never be resolved. After the first assassination battle, the only meaning of living is revenge.

Raymond was just one of the many people killed by Kolorin. Hundreds of millions of lives died under Kolorin's hands. The king of meteorites didn't even know the identity and name of the dead man—including Suiyan, including Yinlong's The regiment leader, including the mercenaries who died in his two operations, each of them has his own name, but in the eyes of Corolin, they are just a few small stones on his way to greatness.

Not even small rocks, at best, just the dust of the universe.

Opal looked forward to the day when he could avenge Raymond and Azeroth with his own hands. When the long sword pierced Corolin's chest, he whispered to him that there was a half-robot who could not even be considered human, in order to stop him. Destroying the homeland where they lived, gave their lives.

Before that, however, there is still a long, long way to go.

He opens Notes.

[The name of Thor in ancient mythology: Thor.This was once a place that was missed by the ancient earth immigrants after exploring alien planets. The intersection of the magnetic fields of the four pulsar planets, these magnetic fields caused the Sol star to generate lightning that reached tens of billions of kilometers. Every other pulse intersection cycle, Thor will release countless lightning bolts, bathing the surrounding planets in thunderstorms. 】【The first gravitational range of the star is directly covered by lightning. There are no complete planets in this area, and there is only a halo-like powder meteorite belt】The panorama on the star map is an orange star, Next to it is a square diagram form, Opal glanced at the lower left corner and said, "What does the Hero diagram mean?"

Cullens got up and walked to the star map, his eyes full of surprise.

"The Hertzsprung-Russell spectral analysis diagram." Cullens explained: "It is used to show the temperature and illumination of stars. Sol is a blue giant star, which means that it is very young. The blue giant star is a high-quality main sequence One of the stars."

Opal said, "But it's not blue."

Cullens said, "Well... I don't know why, maybe the Great Astronautics Association has its own standards."

There are shining bands of meteorites around the star, like a halo around the star, and the halo is empty, which is a very rare phenomenon.

There are thousands of planets on the periphery of the halo, revolving around the star Sol in a mighty way.

[Four distant pulsating planets release magnetic fields, which interfere with the rotation of the ancient Thunder God, causing these lightnings. The lightning released by Thor has been completely weakened after passing through the light belt, and the lightning can span dozens of astronomical units. It is a miracle of the Creator.This star is very young, equivalent to a baby among hundreds of billions of star inhabitants. Perhaps because of this, it is always moody, and likes to thunder from time to time, smashing all the planets close to it. 】【Sixteen planets suitable for human habitation will occasionally be disturbed by electrical energy from the universe. Lightning passes through the atmosphere, ionizes nitrogen, and forms small amounts of nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ammonia. ] "Nitrogen-fixing plants are almost all on these planets." Cullens said: "There are also nitrogen-fixing bacteria... It may rain nitrate and ammonia rain. I heard that the Sol galaxy is a good place to produce nitrogen energy equipment .”

Opal nodded slowly, and Cullens said again: "It's a good star map, how much did you pay for it?"

Opal: "Sent by a friend, I have another one from a pirate... Actually, I want to use this one more."

He took away the star map that Rector gave him, and inserted the star map that was looted from the pirate ship in Lonely Star. This star map was produced by Da Yuhang Company, and it only had coordinates and images without any explanation.

"Forget it, let's use this." Opal changed back the star map that Rector gave him, and sat down at the coffee table.

Cullens smiled and said nothing.

It takes three cosmic days to go from Liexing to the Sol galaxy, and Opal is always silent, sitting in front of the console, watching the starry sky outside the window.

Opal was so silent for a whole day, and the next day he still sat without speaking.

Cullens said: "Let's chat, comrade, what can you teach me? I think you are quite powerful, I believe I am not following the wrong person."

Opal said: "No, I'm still a young man, don't place too much hope on me. In fact, I'm too weak to protect even my closest people."

Cullens smiled and said, "Your little robot is fine."

Opal said: "My mother gave it to me, it is very smart, E7."

E7 blinked and beeped, and Cullens said, "Can I see you, E7?"

E7 took a photo of Karens, and Karens said: "My home is in the silver gray galaxy of the Republic."

"Sounds good." Opal said, "Who else is in the family? Why don't you stay in the Republic after you retire? As far as I know, the Republic treats retired soldiers well."

Cullens said: "Well, but that's only for individuals and spouses... I have a father and a mother in my family... Actually they are not my blood relatives. Do you know the battle of Kenqila?"

Opal shook his head, and Cullens said, "Kenqila is a small planet."

Opal asked, "What happened there?"

Cullens said: "When I served in the ground forces of the silver gray galaxy on the ground, I took a boy, about your age, and he was a very handsome boy."

"I bet he died later," Opal said.

Cullens nodded with a smile and said, "That's true. He is one of my favorite students. He is very smart...the kind of smartness that is just right, not arrogant and supercilious. He dared to resist the power in the army , but every time there is a way to escape, he taught me a lot, and I admire him from the bottom of my heart.”

Opal said: "In fact, Lie Xing's thinking is also the same. Mercenaries believe that they are born equal, no one discriminates against the weak, and no one claims to be a senior, and uses rank to bully newcomers."

Cullens said: "Yes, his behavior is similar to that of mercenaries. He insists on what he thinks is right and is very brave. I think it is a waste of talent to keep him in the ground force, so I applied to send him to the exploration team. go inside."

Opal could almost guess what happened. Sure enough, Cullens said: "Later, he died during a mission, but he saved the entire team. I am proud of him."

"For a lot of people, they're probably thinking 'if I don't send him on the expedition, he's not going to die' ... something like that," Opal said.

Cullens said: "But I don't think that everyone has their own pursuits in life. He very much hopes to explore the universe, rather than staying in the ground forces for a lifetime in order to live longer and safer. You know, the value of life is not the quantity of time, but the quality, so I never blame myself for his sacrifice."

Opal murmured: "You are right, my teacher once said this too."

Opal remembered what Rector said about the life of the mayfly star, the absolute length of time is not very meaningful, the key is whether a person lives for himself and does what he wants to do.

"He burned his own life." Cullens said with a smile: "Compressing his soul and blooming a bright light is more meaningful than many lives in this universe. His 1 minute is equal to many people. life."

Opal nodded slowly, and Cullens said: "But his family can't understand that a considerable part of the Republic still respects the ideas inherited from the ancient earth... They think that people are social people, parents have parental responsibilities, and children have children Everyone does not live for themselves, they need to face their own responsibilities from the moment they are born, and dedicate their lives to their relatives, friends, and country.”

Opal said, "I can't say whether it's right or not."

"Well..." Cullens said: "In the final analysis, it is still a balance between giving and receiving, or a trade-off between the rights and obligations of autonomy in life."

"Some people think that the soul is their own, while others think that people who purely pursue their own lives are selfish. In this society, parents live for their children, and children do their best to meet the expectations of their parents and others, and even the cultivation of the country. One's own responsibility, so living alone in the world also needs to make parents, friends, and relatives rest assured, happy, and proud."

"In many star fields of the Republic, this kind of thought is still the mainstream, and the interstellar community is also split because of this thought difference."

"So after I retired, I started to take care of his family, expecting them to understand that his life was worth living. His brother was also in the army and had no time to take care of the family. His father broke up with his brother, and his My brother is deeply ashamed to have such a father, because his father is an alcoholic. His father needs a lot of money, so I have to come out to be a mercenary, and walk around by the way to increase my knowledge."

Opal asked: "I don't know who my father is, my mother has passed away, I think if I want to be a mercenary, she should support me, but I can understand what you said, you and Is he a lover?"

"There was a time, but his brother was repulsive, or hated me," Cullens said.

Opal asked again: "Where are your own parents?"

Cullens said: "I haven't been in touch since I was born. The Republic needs newborns, so my parents who have never met each donate sperm and eggs, and they are combined and matched in the inventory. I was born in the cultivation cabin and raised by the government. When he was seven years old, he entered the Tifeng Military Academy and joined the army, and was a major when he retired."

Opal looked at Cullens. He was about the same height as himself, with deep eyes, thin and capable, full of explosive power like a cheetah.

He is not handsome, but he has a different kind of demeanor, self-discipline, resolute, courageous and full of perseverance - that is a kind of loyalty and decisive character unique to soldiers. As the head of the regiment, but also a partner, he is not arrogant because of his former rank of major, nor does he particularly cater to Opal because of his C-level mercenary status.

Opal said: "I think you are very good and sensible, and it is an honor to fight side by side with you, comrade-in-arms."

Cullens smiled and said, "Tell me about you."

Opal recalled for a moment and said: "My hometown is a mineral planet, but I'm sorry, I can't explain some things too clearly..."

He picked out some of his experiences and briefly told Cullens. Cullens didn't get to the bottom of it. After listening, he said, "It's very interesting. I'm starting to yearn for a life like a mercenary."

"I was like this at the very beginning." Opal said: "Full of longing, full of longing, until the day my comrade-in-arms sacrificed. In fact, before I met you, I originally planned to do it alone. I haven't been thinking clearly. Why are there many people in Lie Xing who like to place orders, isn’t it a very happy thing to advance and retreat with comrades-in-arms and complete commissions together?”

Opal: "After Raymond left me, I realized the feelings of many people. It's not that they don't like to cooperate with others, but they can't afford to lose or lose. Just think about it. It’s like taking a piece of your soul and it’s never coming back.”

"You're going to come out, trust me," Cullens said.

Opal glanced at him, and said, "But what if we encounter the same situation again? For example, if I fight bloody battles with you, one day in the future, you will die too."

Cullens laughed, and Opal said, "So I'm alone again, and have to suffer this pain all over again."

Cullens said, "I'm not the equivalent of your old friend."

Opal said: "It's not equivalent, because he is my lover, and you are a comrade-in-arms, but the process of losing a friend is definitely not easy..."

Cullens said: "Thank you for accepting me. I believe you are serious about accepting me as your combat partner. Do you listen to Legerson's songs?"

Opal said, "Listen to it once in a while, why?"

Cullens said: "He sang a song to the effect that life itself is a cycle of gaining, losing, experiencing, and forgetting."

Opal's pupils reflect the magnificent starry sky outside the porthole.

Cullens said again: "Everything will leave you one day, only your heart is real. Those who have a family will lose their family, and those who have love will eventually lose love. What do you have? You will eventually face the day when you lose it. Losing and gaining always go hand in hand. People will never have anything except themselves... everything else is scenery.”

Opal nodded, and Cullens said, "You will come out slowly, and you have more important things to do."

"What's the matter?" Opal said.

Cullens: "I don't know what you can do, you have to decide for yourself, burn your life, whether you can do it or not, live on, wait until the natural end of life, and one day you will meet your lover .”

They didn't talk any more that day, and Opal fell into long contemplation, and finally he found what he wanted to do—one day, he would get rid of Cologne.

Whether he did it himself, or contributed his own strength to solve the impact of the Meteor Corps, he shouldered this responsibility.