Chapter 186 Loyalty
The silver knife and fork fell on the plate with a crisp knocking sound. The tip of the knife scratched, and a piece of white meat was cut off, accompanied by blue liquid. Then it was picked up with a fork and put into a lipless mouth. Two rows of fine teeth chewed it, and blue liquid was squeezed out from between the teeth.
The person eating at the table was an alien who looked very "alien". His head was very big, bald without a single hair, and his dark eyes were also large, and completely black with no difference between the pupil and the white of the eye. Compared to his big head, his limbs were so thin that they seemed to be just a bunch of bones, and his body was skinny. Because his body was not in normal proportion, his neck could not support his abnormally large head on a planet with slightly stronger gravity, so he had to use a special breathing mask and a wheelchair to move freely.
He has four fingers on one hand, three of which are thin and long, and one is very short, so the way he holds the knife and fork looks very strange. In fact, this is not the most suitable posture for his body to exert force, so his movements are very clumsy. However, looking at his expression, he is not bothered by this clumsiness, but rather enjoys the process of putting food into his mouth after such an effort.
Guard Luye, who stood silently at the side, actually found it difficult to understand this way of eating. His race was all terrestrial, and they looked ferocious like wild beasts, with hard spines on their backs and a strong tail behind them; although the upper limbs were short, the ends grew into swords during the long evolution, called claws, which were sharp enough to cut through the outer wall of ordinary spacecraft; the muscles of the lower limbs were high and bulging, without a trace of fat, which could provide him with explosive speed to easily dodge laser gun shooting. If it were him, he would swallow the piece of meat directly, at most, when the doctor was present, he would use his claws to cut it.
The alien above his head easily saw what his guard was thinking, and frowned with some dissatisfaction as he commented: "Luye, you have been with me for half a year. If you still can't understand what 'table manners' are, then I think you don't need to wonder why your race has always been regarded as beasts by most people in the alliance."
"Please forgive my poor expression, Doctor," Ruye said sullenly, "but as far as I know, the way you eat now does not conform to any well-known table etiquette in the Alliance. It's more like you are eating raw meat and drinking blood, except that you have an extra napkin."
"Of course you don't understand." The doctor smiled, his voice gentle, but there was a sense of mystery in his expression: "This is a little-known civilized table etiquette. From sitting down to leaving the table, from the visit to the use of each tableware, there are strict order regulations. It is very complicated. It took me a long time to figure it out."
"I don't see any value in it." Luye hated such formalistic etiquette details by nature. He tilted his head and thought for a while, then asked, "Since it is an unknown civilization, it must be very backward. Why does the doctor need to learn their etiquette?"
The doctor's black eyes gave people a strange feeling of flickering. He drew out his voice and said in a joking tone: "Of course it's because... they bring me a lot of help... a lot of help, so sometimes I can't help but want to understand these stupid monkeys. I have to say, there are still some interesting things in them."
…
My dear friend from the Blue Water Planet, I am sorry that I deceived you. I am not actually the interstellar explorer as I was originally told, but if I don’t use this identity, I don’t know how to explain why I appeared on the restricted planet.
Actually, I have two friends who are interstellar explorers. Although we seldom keep in touch, we are close friends who grew up together. Ten years ago, my friend, Duke, disappeared in the star field he was responsible for exploring. Because he was always careful, well prepared, and so good, my other friend Lei Lei didn't want to believe the official statement that "he died because of carelessness and mistakenly entered the asteroid belt", and insisted on finding out the truth about Duke's death... At least, to bring his body back to his hometown.
I think you must have guessed that Lei Lei also disappeared in the same star field not long after. The only relics he brought back were a piece of tentacle and a few pieces of cloth. Moreover, they used almost the same reasons to explain his "death in the line of duty", leaving Lei Lei's parents with the pain of losing their only son and a meager pension. And my beloved friend didn't even have a decent funeral, it was said that his stupidity caused huge losses to the expedition company.
I knew there was something wrong.
It's just that Duke and Lei Lei left me too few clues. Of course, in their eyes, I was just a brother without blood, who was not very smart, had a stable job and a peaceful life, so they didn't want to put me in danger. It has always been like this since I was a child. So I don't know what caused their death, and I don't even know which star field they explored.
Later, when I was missing my friends, I accidentally found a hidden message in Lei Lei’s diary. He used a unique code designed by us when we were young to record a place - the Earth.
This is a place I have never heard of, but fortunately, the Kayul Company I work for is a very powerful enterprise. It is said that it has close ties with more than 70% of the core planets in the alliance, and the remaining 30% will not reject Kayul's friendship and allow them to establish branches in their central cities. The company's internal information database contains intelligence on almost all planets. The only problem is, as a small employee with no authority, how can I access it...
"I don't understand, Doctor."
Luye thought for a while and said in frustration. He was considered smart and quick-witted among his own species, but in front of the real intelligent species, he felt like a mentally retarded person, stupid and didn't understand anything. This was the difference between them when they were born. Looking at the doctor's huge head with blood vessels clearly visible under the pale skin, and then looking at his own pointed head with most of the space occupied by thick and solid bones, he was not surprised at all why there was such a big difference in intelligence between them. His only hope was that the doctor would not send him back to his hometown, the backward and barbaric planet.
In fact, the doctor's body was not as thick as Ruye's thigh. He was so weak that he even lost the ability to run. Ruye could easily kill him with one finger. He followed the doctor, not for money, but for opportunities and glory, for the wisdom that the doctor possessed. He was willing to kneel in front of the alien with an egg-shaped head and no one was curious about it, because in the interstellar, there was gradually a rule that was established by convention - the non-intelligent species obeyed the intelligent species, which was their only way out.
"It's okay, think about it slowly, and you will understand it one day." The doctor said gently, looking at Luye with loving eyes, almost doting. As a smart man, he hates to get along with people who are as smart as or even smarter than him. In front of such people, he always feels that he is being scrutinized from the inside out and is always questioned. The simple-minded and strong-limbed race like Luye is the one he likes to cultivate the most.
"Okay." Luye nodded in conviction and didn't ask any more questions.
The doctor's mood improved. He forked another piece of the fat meat on the plate and asked Ruye, "Would you like some?"
"No," Ruye shook his head and said, "I don't like marine creatures. They make me allergic and they have a lot of thorns."
The doctor did not force it, but still explained, "This one has no thorns."
Luye stood firm and unwavering. From an angle that Dr. Zizhu couldn't see, he looked at the blue meat on the ground with contempt. Luye enjoyed the pleasure of biting and hunting, and had no interest in the food . Moreover, whether it was a fish with many bones or this kind of boneless but soft meat, he didn't like it. The strong and dense muscles of terrestrial species that were trained by running and hunting day and night had the taste he loved the most.
The tongue with flesh thorns turned around in the mouth and licked the sharp teeth. Luye felt a little hungry.
…
After waiting for eight full years, I finally found the opportunity, thanks to the caring supervisor Perry and his wife who could create explosions with kitchen utensils... In short, when no one was paying attention, I got the authorization card and used it to query the database of Kayul Company, and then obtained information that far exceeded my expectations in terms of detail and quantity. At the same time, I also learned the real cause of Duke and Lei Lei's death.
I know what they did to your hometown. I also know many similar terrible things. The culprit of all this is the Kayul Company, the company I have always worked for and believed in its justice and kindness.
At that time, I felt like I was accidentally standing next to the abyss and saw hell.
I want to apologize to you, my friend. At that moment, I wanted to give up. I didn't care about the countless victims, your compatriots, but only thought about my own safety. But perhaps it was fate that pushed me forward. When I was about to pretend that nothing had happened and leave, a colleague found me. She didn't realize what I was doing, but angrily accused me of entering a place I shouldn't have entered, but I was so panicked that I subconsciously knocked her out... Or maybe she died, I don't know, she bled a lot. Looking at her, I realized that I had no way out. Since I can no longer choose to continue living in peace, I can only fight to the end. If Duke and Lei Lei were still there, or you, you would definitely criticize me for being brainless, right? But when I made the choice, I felt unprecedented relaxation and happiness in my heart.
I downloaded all the information I could find in the database. Unfortunately, the supervisor was not at a high level and did not know the real core secrets. But this alone was enough. When I made it public, it would be the time for the murderers of Duke and Lei Lei to be brought to justice.
However, things don't go as smoothly as I imagined.
…
Ruyer was quiet and calm, which was inconsistent with his appearance. He waited until the doctor put down his knife and fork and wiped his mouth, which was not actually dirty at all, before asking, "How do you think it tastes, doctor?"
When he said this, Ruye was a little nervous. After all, this was a dinner prepared by him. Before this, he always ate the prey raw. Of course, this time was the same. Ruye's only contribution was to use his claw knife to divide the meat into small portions and put them on a beautiful plate for the doctor to taste.
The doctor did not say "satisfied or dissatisfied" as Ruye expected. He controlled his wheelchair to leave the table and asked pointedly, "The taste of traitor."
"I didn't betray you, Doctor. I swear on my life." Ruye hurriedly defended himself, kneeling on one knee and looking up at the Doctor eagerly, hoping that he could see his sincerity in his eyes. For Ruye, it would be better to be killed by his master than to have his loyalty doubted.
After a moment of coldness passed, the doctor stroked his head and said softly, "I believe you."
His eyes were so strange and sinister, like a demon from hell.
