Chapter 483: Volume 9 - CH 155

Extra Chapter, Two

Translated by boilpoil

Edited by boilpoil

The Maertons actually treated Xü Beijin and Lin Qin as lost members of their own species, even asking to take Xü Beijin and Lin Qin back to their own territory as citizens. Xü Beijin didn’t agree to that, though, with the excuse that they want to see how the humans they saved have fared. A fair reason, since Xü Beijin did play an instrumental role in rescuing this subordinate species, and the Maertons agreed, but have also promised that they will forever be welcomed ‘home.’

Meanwhile, the Maerton attitude towards humanity was quite colder and mechanical in comparison, no pun intended. They released these people imprisoned in ethically questionable practises, and left them to fend for themselves.

In any case, Xü Beijin and Lin Qin did visit the Maerton home grounds – as tourists for a honeymoon. They had two weddings, once back on Earth, the second time on the Maerton capital planet——Senbai.

It sure was a beautiful planet.

They settled down on Earth after that, but quite frequently made trips to Senbai. Then, as people they knew on Earth passed away one by one, they moved to Senbai altogether, spending much time there before becoming bored and decided to tour the galaxy.

With a cyborg body, they can expect to live much longer than people on Earth. Of course, it still falls far short of the Maertons, who practically have immortality figured out, but in the end, they are still different in existence from the Maertons – the same way they are from humans.

Xü Beijin didn’t try to figure these differences out in detail. Sometimes, he feels like the times have moved on without him; he is also unwilling to readapt to all these new changes. He would feel lonely, sometimes, out in the universe.

Humans really are a social species.

So in the end, he found much solace in the galaxy-wide Internet.

Or more specifically, the games.

Lin Qin would tease him about it, saying, “you were trapped in a game for too long to still have a gaming addiction, weren’t you?”

It’s already in distant enough memory to become something they can reminisce about, or even laugh about together.

Well, that’s not to say the scars from that time have faded.

Xü Beijin doesn’t like being alone, doesn’t like cramped or dilapidated spaces, and doesn’t like foggy weather. Lin Qin, meanwhile, of course says he likes and dislikes the exact same things.

They toured the galaxy for a long, long time, having been to almost every tourist hotspot there is, except the one famous ‘Planet of Everlasting Fog,’ which is itself only a nickname, as the planet’s own name is quite obscenely long.

People say the planet’s fog almost makes the scenery divine and ‘ascendant,’ but Xü Beijin never wants to go.

In fact, when the people he knew were still alive, and choosing to go somewhere for a trip, they all inevitably reject itineraries with this planet.

Of course, the planet is faultless, but the trauma really is too much.

Other things they dislike include tall, narrow buildings; most architecture on Earth is now shorter and ‘stubbier.’

Xü Beijin and Lin Qin have properties on both Earth and Senbai, both built by their own two hands. They spent most of their early life on Earth, quite some time on Senbai as they aged, and spent the last period touring the galaxy.

Both Earth and Senbai are planets that can be described as vast and empty.

After the Apocalypse befell humanity, even with the addition of people escaped from the Tower, the human population was still short of a million. It really was a difficult period, but they pulled through.

Though Xü Beijin and Lin Qin paid less and less attention to human news as time went on, knowing that they are fundamentally different from humanity at large.

Of course, they can visit and the few friends they knew, and the descendents of those who passed would certainly give them a hero’s welcome, but Xü Beijin knows they are different.

It’s actually not too different a story on Senbai; Lin Qin doesn’t exactly have much thoughts on it, but Xü Beijin himself doesn’t think of himself as a Maerton.

Senbai is actually even more sparsely populated than Earth. The Maertons enjoy having a physical presence, of course, but they own far too vast a territory. Most of the population is scattered around planets each individual likes.

So Senbai actually has net emigration, and is more of a planet with cultural and historical significance to the Maertons.

The many travellers of the universe would come here to admire and pay respects, or live for a short period of time, being a planet that welcomes all.

Xü Beijin and Lin Qin lived here for three whole decades.

When they eventually decided to leave, Lin Qin asked Xü Beijin, “are we selling the house?”

“No…” Xü Beijin, shocked, asked, “do you want to sell it?”

Lin Qin didn’t seem to care, and said, “only if you want to…” but he added, “you sounded like you never want to come back again when you were talking about leaving though.”

Xü Beijin stayed silent for a while, and asked Lin Qin, “do you think that I am a human?”

“You always told me what you see yourself as is far more important than anything else,” replied Lin Qin, who also said, “you always boasted about how you used that to trick NE’s logic, too.”

Xü Beijin couldn’t help but smile, and then said, “I just felt like I’m a kite fluttering in the wind.”

They drifted from place to place in the universe, sometimes staying a while on a stunningly beautiful planet, or sometimes moving rapidly through dozens of planets in the span of a few months.

There are times when Xü Beijin would ask himself, did he actually spend dozens of years in a tiny, cramped Tower?

It almost felt like a dream. Something lost and buried in the dust of history.

Speaking of which, just before they decided to move to Senbai permanently, they visited one of the last friends still alive.

Many people they knew passed due to old age already. Both due to human lifespan, and due to their mental exhaustion having lived for so long in the Tower. They already felt old.

The friend they visited was Su Enya – who was also the only person Xü Beijin was closely acquainted with, that chose not to retrieve her memories.

Xü Beijin felt like she must have known what happened during the Apocalypse, though. She just doesn’t want to admit or think about it.

Actually, when Xü Beijin and Lin Qin visited, she didn’t even open the door for them.

Xü Beijin was certainly amused and slightly saddened, asking, “it might be the last time we see each other, are you really not opening the door?”

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“I’m too old for you youngsters,” Su Enya was still as straightforward with her words as ever, but the tone betrays her advanced age, “so do your part for the elderly, and don’t come trigger me.”

Xü Beijin then said, “you could do this too, you know.”

Xü Beijin and Lin Qin had no choice because their physical bodies were dead.

People on Earth could choose to undergo this procedure though——To order a custom cyborg body.

They cannot achieve immortality like the Maertons, of course, but they will be able to live a while longer.

But Su Enya, and all the other acquaintances Xü Beijin knew refused it.

It was actually their descendents who happily embraced the technology, and even found fun in switching up bodies every now and then.

Su Enya replied, “I said, I’m too old for this shit.”

Xü Beijin is silent.

He recalled his conversations with Su Enya back in the Tower. For many of them, the world has changed so drastically that… their brains just refused to follow. There were so much to do, so much to learn about.

A lot of those who emerged from the Tower actually lived almost like they were still in the Tower – like hermits.

Many of them were left behind by the ages, just as Xü Beijin feared.

But they also——They regretted nothing, and would not trade their past experience for anything else. They had, have and will always be humans.

Actually, after some people paid good money to have the Maertons design the cyborgs for them, the Maertons also decided to accept those people as their kin.

As the practice gained some traction, Xü Beijin and Lin Qin didn’t stand out that much anymore.

Still, a lot chose to be like Su Enya, and Mu Jiashi, refusing to procedure. Some felt that was ‘reactionary’ or even ‘cruel.’

Many descendents of humans wanted to see them live longer as well, even pulling the names of humanity’s heroes, Xü Beijin and Lin Qin, as examples to convince them.

Though Mu Jiashi gave quite the brusque response when asked, apparently, saying “I’d rather die than live for a thousand years like them.”

When Xü Beijin heard, he wanted to ask, ‘what’s wrong with living a thousand years, huh?’

Although he did come to appreciate the tedium in life later. He and Lin Qin actually lived even more seclusively than the hermits, as they were called. They didn’t go out much, and mainly spent their time online.

Almost like actual Maertons.

Well, and possibly like a significant amount of humans before the Apocalypse, but their Internet, with all its infrastructure was already destroyed by the callously indifferent Fy’ecas.

The people who lived through that and wasn’t imprisoned in the Tower chose to embrace a slightly more reality-oriented lifestyle.

Xü Beijin and Lin Qin, who knew how long they were going to live for, embraced the casual, nonchalant lifestyle of the sundried fish almost as soon as they were out of the Tower, though.

There was even that time, when Mu Jiashi came to visit, only to leave, stamping his feet, swearing never to come again.

They all worked hard to save the world, and now you’re the first to laze about?

——Well, ‘save the world’ was still ongoing, of course. It is far more difficult to recreate what’s lost than destroying things.

Xü Beijin wasn’t doing ‘nothing,’ though, because in the early days, it was because of him that the Maertons agreed to declare that the human species were under their protection.

The guarantee of one of the strongman of the galaxy was quite enough for humanity to develop well in the breathing space.

As the difficulties were surpassed, Xü Beijin and Lin Qin slowly backed out of both human and Maerton life.

While his name was still on the history books, not many human descendents remembered or revered him personally as time went on.

Xü Beijin was happy with that development.

Then they left after becoming bored on Earth——Well, more generally, because humans have reclaimed and developed land almost up to where Xü Beijin and Lin Qin lived in seclusion. So they chose to move altogether.

“I don’t get why you keep avoiding people,” Lin Qin dissed him thus, “is it more comfortable to talk to people online instead?”

“It is,” Xü Beijin actually nodded to that tease, saying, “I only need you in reality. Besides, most of the people we knew are basically dead. It is actually quite sad to be here.”

“We still have a lot of time together though.”

Xü Beijin, smiling, and pinching his little apple’s face, then said, “you’re right. So, let’s try living on another planet.”

Lin Qin watched as he packed.

“What’s in the past is in the past,” Xü Beijin said, taking a deep breath, “it’s time we saw the wonders of the universe for ourselves.”

Then they spent thirty years cooped up in Senbai.

Lin Qin asked some time during that, “so you’re just addicted to games, is that it?”

Xü Beijin pointed out to him, all serious like, “no, we are just simply two hundred years behind everyone else.”

‘So this was why he was going to make up the difference with two hundred years of hikikomori life, huh,’ was what Lin Qin wondered then.

He was slightly bewildered, but Xü Beijin’s relaxed and quietly happy smile was also soothing to him. Wasn’t this still nice? He thought.

boilpoil's notes:

In this part of the chapter, we learned that Xü Beijin couldn't be arsed to do anything after escaping the Tower. I'd like to imagine he had Lin Qin carry him everywhere whenever he wanted to go somewhere but was too lazy to move his own two legs.

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