Luo Binhan was a man with plenty of experience traveling abroad.
The suitcase he’d packed for his trip abroad contained three changes of clothes, two pairs of socks, a set of toiletries, a few boxes of specialty snacks from Li Hai City, a phone charger and plug adapter, some exchanged foreign currency, his passport, a water bottle, and a pack of tissues. In his pockets, he had his phone, wallet, and a lighter. The wallet held his credit cards, some spare change, a keychain, his ID, and a few passport photos.
As for the lighter, Luo Binhan had a habit of smoking sometimes—like when he found out his hapless younger sister had gotten into a string of trouble—but he wasn’t a heavy smoker. Carrying the lighter was more of a hobby. It was a luxurious silver lighter, its surface engraved with an intricate arabesque pattern. Zhou Yu had given it to him as a coming-of-age gift on his eighteenth birthday, back when Zhou Yu’s childhood sweetheart hadn’t yet gone missing.
’This is all so strange,’ Luo Binhan thought. He didn’t want to blame Zhou Yu, but he couldn’t help feeling his friend was just incredibly unlucky. Just before the new year, Zhou Yu had lost his childhood sweetheart—who was practically his betrothed—and now his best friend was being abducted by a UFO. ’What a raw deal for that reclusive medical student. Is this how it ends? Is Zhou Yu going to spend the rest of his life with just his parrot for company?’
But this was no time to be thinking about Zhou Yu and his parrot.
Luo Binhan and all his personal belongings were brought into a circular hall. It looked like a fairly normal lounge, with soft chairs, bookshelves, and a television (or at least, something that looked like one). There were even a few glowing potted plants on a table. The entire hall was brightly lit, but he couldn’t see a light source. In the very center of the floor was a large, transparent glass panel, revealing the deep, endless void of space below. ’So this is the cosmic version of a glass-bottomed bridge,’ he thought.
Luo Binhan skirted the area, a little awestruck. From the starlight streaking past, he could tell the ship was moving at incredible speed. ’Where’s the sun?’ He had no memory of the ship zipping past that giant ball of fire.
Just then, a green-haired person floated over. He said to Luo Binhan, "You know the floor is a simulation, right?"
"Huh?"
"A simulation," the green-haired man stressed. "Did you know? The Silence is a brilliantly designed ship. It would never have its bridge right up against the outer hull. The energy systems are actually located right under us... By the way, what do you think of the flower arrangement on the table? Do you think it’s better to have all the calyxes tilting in the same direction, like they are now, or would it be better to arrange them symmetrically based on whether they have an odd or even number of petals?"
"Wha—?"
"The arrangement! The arrangement! Some statistical data claims that the placement of living matter contains an intrinsic order, which can often reveal certain unconscious traits of the species living there, but ah, that’s not important," the green-haired person said excitedly. "Color! I think color is the priority. Which green is better, #006030 or #009100? And speaking of which, how can the codes you people use to differentiate colors be so simple? Is that really sufficient? You must have a lot of insufficient things where you’re from, right? Can you name the top ten most insufficient things on your planet? What are your thoughts on life amidst the material scarcity on the surface of a rocky planet?"
Luo Binhan said politely, "Hello. And goodbye."
The green-haired person was about to speak again when Jing Huang walked right up and kicked him. The kick didn’t connect, instead passing straight through his body.
"Hey, Helm. Go fly the ship."
The green-haired person floated up as Luo Binhan stared, dumbfounded. With a wave of his hand, his hair changed to purple. "Captain, I must express my dissatisfaction. My name isn’t Helm. My name is ’Belongs To’—ah, this mathematical symbol is quite common in your culture, you know? Are you aware that linguistic divides exist on your planet? When you see it, does it spark any thoughts about foreign languages?"
Halfway through his sentence, "Belongs To" suddenly turned back to Luo Binhan. He stuck a finger in front of his face and drew a glowing symbol in the air: ∈.
Jing Huang glanced at the symbol, then said with unshakable certainty, "You control the ship, so you’re the Helm. Now cut the crap and go fly it."
The purple-haired ∈ vanished on the spot with a resentful air. Having witnessed this, Luo Binhan grabbed Jing Huang by the collar. "...What the hell was that? A person or a ghost?"
Jing Huang pried his hands away. "An Information-Aggregate Cognitive Divergence Branch."
"In English!"
"What you people would call artificial intelligence," Jing Huang said impatiently. "Just ignore him. The divergence branches almost never have stable personality data. He just babbles on all day. It’s annoying as hell."
Luo Binhan was reminded of his parrot. The bird used to get along well with Jing Huang, too. It would sit in its cage all day, squawking "Captain! Captain!" while frantically rocking its little bird swing.
"So, can I go back now?" he asked Jing Huang, his expression grim.
"Go back? My ass," Jing Huang said. "You’ll die if you go back."
Luo Binhan fell into despair. He felt, deep in his soul, that his life sucked, these aliens sucked, and this entire universe sucked.
Jing Huang pushed him down into a soft, egg-shaped chair and said, "Yalei, deal with him. I’m going to sleep."
"Sleep? My ass!" Luo Binhan lunged for his hair. "You’re going to explain everything to me, right now!"
Luo Binhan expected to grab him as easily as he had before, but this time Jing Huang slid away beneath him. Luo Binhan watched, dumbfounded, only realizing a few seconds later that his own seat was rising.
The egg-shaped chair rose to the ceiling. Several small trays slid out from the seamless wall, bearing a few drinks and some exquisite flower arrangements. The flowers looked a bit like wood sorrel, but their colors were far more vibrant and lovely. Luo Binhan cautiously picked up the drink that looked most like plain water. Just then, another soft chair floated up from below.
A woman was sitting in the chair. The moment Luo Binhan saw her, he was utterly captivated, nearly dropping the cup in his hand.
She had a head of beautiful, golden-brown hair, intricately braided into a bun at the back of her head and adorned with small flowers. Her bronze skin was smooth and radiant, as if coated in a layer of honey. She wore a tight top that was barely more substantial than a bra, revealing glowing tattoos on her exposed collarbones and stomach.
This woman easily ranked in the top three most beautiful women Luo Binhan had ever seen. Her dark complexion and stunning figure gave her a unique, wild allure. But that wasn’t what made her truly special.
Two huge, black, curled horns, like a goat’s, protruded from her thick hair. Her leather pants left her strong, smooth thighs exposed, while from the knees down, her legs were covered in brown fur that ended not in a pair of delicate feet, but in sturdy, dark-black hooves.
The horned and hooved woman leaned forward gracefully, plucked a small purple flower from the table, and popped it into her mouth. Chewing on the flower, she said, "Hello. I am Yaliriga, first mate of the Silence."
Her voice was low, husky, and full of magnetism. Luo Binhan felt a jolt, like an electric shock, shoot from the soles of his feet to the tips of his hair. Her voice was like a feather, tickling his insides until his whole body tingled. Luo Binhan knew with absolute certainty that this was the feeling of being utterly smitten. The last time he’d had a crush this intense was back in middle school.
And so, overcome with emotion, he said, "Could you please stay a little farther away from me?"
The goat-horned woman, Yaliriga, tilted her head and gave him a look full of captivating charm. A stray lock of hair curled like a vine, swaying gently beside her ear. Her every little movement was so enchanting that Luo Binhan couldn’t stop himself from continuing, "With horns that heavy, doesn’t your neck get tired?"
"My skull is one millimeter thicker than yours, my cervical vertebrae have a diameter two millimeters wider, I have six more spinal bones, and my muscle distribution is different," Yaliriga said. "Physiologically, I’m better built for bearing weight."
"Are you a Half-Beastman?"
Yaliriga swallowed the flower stem. "No? First, you’d have to define what a Half-Beastman is."
Luo Binhan gave up trying to think. He asked, "What is it you people want with me?"
"To protect you," Yaliriga said, plucking another flower. "At least, that’s what the captain says."
"Why do I need protection?"
Yaliriga began dipping the flower into one of the drinks. "Because you’ve gotten involved with the captain. He has a group of enemies who are masters of assassination. They kill anyone who gets associated with him."
Luo Binhan nodded calmly, leaned over the side of his chair, and flipped his middle finger at the floor below, roaring, "Jing Huang, fuck your immortal ancestors!"
Then he turned back to Yaliriga and said, "Please, continue."
Yaliriga gently bit down on a flower petal with her pearly white teeth, her lovely lips parting in an enchanting smile. "I’ll explain in the simplest terms," she said.
Luo Binhan was about to say something else, but Yaliriga rose from her chair. She brushed a finger with a crystal-studded nail across her lips, then leaned over, wrapped her arms around Luo Binhan’s neck, and gave him a long, deep, and sweet kiss.