Chapter 41: I want to stay with you

There was a passenger spacecraft that went back and forth like a busy bee between the reception hall and the assessment venue.

Both Xia Fei and Su Ruoyu walked along the boarding aisle together, as Xiao Yu’s family was behind, waving their arms repeatedly as they said their goodbyes.

Xiao Yu was apparently very excited; a very moving smile appeared on her face as she turned back to wave back every few steps.

Since she did not have a spatial ring, Xiao Yu’s adolescent shoulders were carrying a huge mountaineering haversack. It was even much bigger than her frame, and anyone from behind would only see a bag swaying with difficulty.

Xia Fei sighed, “Why don’t you let me carry it?” He took the haversack off Xiao Yu’s shoulder and held it in his hands.

The haversack weighed up to 100 kilograms, but this weight was nothing to Xia Fei. His extended periods of cultivation and training had not only given him supersonic speed, but also the strength that far surpassed an average person.

However, Xiao Yu only just had her 12th birthday. A 12 years old little girl being able to carry that haversack was already a small miracle in itself, not to mention she would still be expected to carry it for the long journey ahead. At her age, girls should be staying at home playing video games and not participating in this sort of assessment where death could happen randomly.

“Thank you!” Xiao Yu used her handkerchief to wipe the sweat on her forehead, smiling sweetly to Xia Fei as she expressed her gratitude.

Xia Fei nodded and stored the haversack in his spatial ring.

“Eh?” Xiao Yu’s bright eyes darted about, revealing an incredulous look on her face.

She patted Xia Fei’s body like a curious child, eager to learn where Xia Fei had hidden her haversack, even going as far as to search through his pockets.

“Do you know magic?” Xiao Yu crooked her head to the side, curiously wondering aloud.

Xia Fei held Xiao Yu’s pale and delicate hand, “Let’s go. You won’t find it on me. I’ve already taken your haversack and transported it into another world.”

“Really?” Xiao Yu exclaimed! “What world is it?” Without a break, she began to ask about it curiously. “Are there monkeys there? Giant Pandas?”

Flashing their watches to the staff to verify that they were candidates for the assessment, Xia Fei and Xiao Yu boarded the spacecraft and located window seats for the flight ahead.

Xiao Yu was very intrigued by the spacecraft, constantly looking in every direction, momentarily examining something to one side and then checking out in another direction after a while.

The spacecraft had around 700 to 800 seats, yet there were barely a few dozen passengers on board.

The spacecraft escaped gravity and flew off, as Xiao Yu peeked through the window and waved goodbye to her family.

Soon after, the reception center turned in a small white dot on the ground, and that was when Xiao Yu finally sat back down in her seat, tossing the gifts that her family had given her on the floor as if she did not care for them; the excitement she had toward all these lethal presents was gone without a trace.

Xiao Yu used her small hand to tug at the watch, her eyes gazing out the window as it revealed a hint of loneliness that someone her age should not be feeling.

Xia Fei chuckled, “Xiaoyu, the gifts your family gave you are very special.”

Xiao Yu turned over to regard Xia Fei, looking somewhat pitiful, “Other kids would get dolls, games, but these are all the presents I have gotten ever since I was young. If it were not a knife, then it would be a gun, then there are all the poisons that my granny gives me, what am I supposed to do? I’m going to end up breaking their hearts if I tell them I don’t like any of these gifts. As the only child in the family, I could not possibly disappoint, can I?”

Xia Fei finally somewhat understood what was happening. It seemed like participating in this assessment was not Xiao Yu’s own intentions, but her family’s wishes.

He used her finger to lightly tug at Xiao Yu’s short hair, “Have you ever considered that perhaps your happiness might be more important than your family’s wishes? You ought to live for yourself, not for anyone else.”

Xiao Yu knitted her eyebrows, her two hands vigorously waving left and right. “That’s not right. My dad told me that being a human means being able to face your family and friends. Family and friends are more important than anything else in the world, taking on heavy responsibilities on their behalf. That is why Xiao Yu cannot disappoint my family, and I cannot bring despair to my friends either.”

There were very few people who would take on huge responsibilities for the sake of their friends, but there were plenty who were willing to stab their friends in the back. Xia Fei did not know how to explain Xiao Yu about the complexities of human relations, so all he could do was shrug his shoulders helplessly.

The spacecraft landed somewhere in the rain shadow, as there were already four humongous spaceships settled there.

These four spaceships appeared to be of the same style from the outside, squarish in shape with huge warp engine thrusters fitted at the back of the spaceship. It was designed in a black and gold colored structure, the outer shell bearing plenty of scratches, most likely the scars from colliding with space debris.

The spaceships’ huge bodies were several hundred meters tall, the length going for quite a few kilometers. It was hard not to feel quite shaken while standing in front of a spaceship that size.

Xiao Yu hugged herself with her two arms, the look of excitement on her face was rather expected, “These spaceships are really too spectacular!”

“True. One day, I hope to own a spacecraft that could travel across the stars,” Xia Fei boldly pronounced.

Xiao Yu thought about it for a moment, “If you own a spaceship, can you bring me along to see the stars?”

“Sure.”

“Will you let me pilot it?”

“Nope.”

Xiao Yu stuck her tongue out and did a silly face in response to this immediate rejection.

Pressing the navigation button on their watches, Xia Fei and Xiao Yu walked toward one of the spaceships.

As large as the spaceships were, the corridors inside seemed somewhat narrow and could only accommodate three people passing side by side.

After taking dozens of turns and changing elevators for the third time, Xia Fei and Xiao Yu finally arrived at the cabin floor that they were designated to bunk in.

Were it not for the navigation system, they would have very easily ended up lost in these complex and messy corridors.

Since Xia Fei and Xiao Yu had registered at the same time in the reception hall, they were both assigned the same level, and their rooms were very close to each other.

Xia Fei escorted Xiao Yu into her cabin, and the moment he opened the door, Xia Fei furrowed his brow.

There were two beds in the cabin, and on one of them lay a burly fellow. He was dark-skinned and all muscles, with what seemed like a lion tattooed on his arm. Even the smell of stinky feet was present in the cabin as if they had just stepped into a latrine rather than a cabin.

It seemed like having smelly feet was not just something earthlings had a license for, even aliens were no exceptions.

Hearing someone enter, the burly man did not even turn his head over and continued snoring; the sound of his snores was akin to that of a water buffalo.

Xiao Yu was pinching her nose as she exited the cabin, her movement supple and nimble.

“I’m not going to stay with him! That guy STINKS!” Xiao Yu was fuming.

Xia Fei was not comfortable with letting Xiao Yu share a room with that man either. Though Xiao Yu had just turned twelve, she was still a woman, after all.

“The person in charge of assigning the cabins was too careless. How could they arrange for a little girl to share the same cabin with a grown man?”

A staff member from the Adjudicator Union happened to walk past from a distance, so Xia Fei stopped the man to explain the situation.

The staff member only stayed in the room for a mere second before leaving visibly upset. It seemed like the man had been quite heavily assaulted by the smell from that burly fellow’s stinky feet too.

“I’m aware of this situation, and will immediately arrange for a new room for this candidate,” The staff said very readily.

“Give Xiao Yu a room with another woman. It’s not convenient to have a man and a woman staying together,” Xia Fei added.

“I don’t want that,” Xiao Yu had grabbed hold of Xia Fei’s arm and was already bobbing her head side to side. “I want to stay with big brother Xia Fei.”