An Endangered Species

Lu Ren felt that his political career had come to an end. No! If being serious, his whole life was probably over too.

He had offended a bloodling, a newborn bloodling, one that was still in its early stages.

What race were the bloodlings? They had existed since the start of the recorded history. The Galactic Union had broken apart and been reestablished an N number of times, every race had taken the spotlight and then went extinct, yet they still remained a race which continued to thrive.

The entire galaxy knew that the race you must never ever mess with was this bunch of undying bloodlings. Their dreadfulness was not due to their valiant physique or their nature-defying self-healing ability, or even their ever-changing special abilities which everyone awakened, but one trait of their species which should have never existed, they were… Immortal!

Yes, immortal! No matter what kind of injuries they suffered, even if they were blown to bits with quantum canons, they would come back after a few decades if they were buried underground or soaked in water. This kind of species trait was virtually a computer-bug-like existence in the galaxy.

Just think, who can fight against people who just can't die. That’s why for the first and only time, all the galactic species came to a collective consensus - Don’t mess with the bloodlings!

And if one looked for a crime that was more serious than offending a bloodling, then it would be offending a newborn bloodling. The bloodling population wasn’t high in numbers, and the entire galaxy had no more than a few million of them. This had led to another one of their characteristics, without care for anything, they focused on one thing - protecting their weak.

Even if some young bloodling did something wrong, then… It must be other people's fault!

Lu Ren could recall that few hundred years ago an incident had occurred. A person had injured a newborn bloodling, and for it his people suffered from a genocide level of retaliation. An initially flourishing species was now one of the endangered ones in the galaxy.

Lu Ren looked at the result of the genetic test, the almost blinding phrase of "bloodling", and felt his heart fill with desolation. 

It was all over, all over, he was so dead.

What planet termination plan, what Galactic Union, what reason, what moral. These were all freaking bullsh*t in the eyes of bloodlings. He had offended a newborn, a bloodling newborn!

What should I do? What should I do?

"Have you contacted the Red Planet yet?" Lu Ren was like an ant in a hot pan, moving around aimlessly in the control room.

"Commander, you have asked that question thirty something times, we have already notified them in the morning."

"Did they send anyone over? Did they say anything?"

"Their support team has already departed, they will probably arrive soon."

"Then what about Miss Yao... No, the honorable lady bloodling? Has everything been arranged? Did she have any thoughts? Anything that she was displeased with? Did she say anything, especially regarding me?"

"Commander..." The deputy commander let out a long sigh, holding onto the person that was in a state of agitation. "You need to calm down."

"Tell me, how can I be calm?" Lu Ren was at the brink of bursting into tears. He caught the deputy commander’s hands and said, "Wang, take another look at me while you can. It probably won't be long before I become an endangered species too, it will be hard for you to see me again."

Deputy commander Wang's mouth twitched. "Commander, we're from the same species."

"Oh right, yes." Lu Ren was caught off-guard, and his facial expression became even more troubled. "From now on, we’re both part of the endangered species."

Deputy commander Wang was left speechless. He stood in awkward silence, sighing for the Nth time. If you had known that things would turn out this way, would you have acted differently? 

"Commander, I don't think Miss Yao is one of those unreasonable bloodlings. You remember a few days ago, wasn't she having a great time befriending Dr. Wang?" he analyzed. "Besides, you were just doing your duty before, now that we got the misunderstanding out of the way, she will understand."

"Is what you're saying true?" Lu Ren's eyes shone with light ignited by hope.

"Commander, if you're still worried, why not ask Miss Yao yourself?"

"Yes yes!" Lu Ren finally stopped wandering around heedlessly. His face cleared once he reached a solution. "I can't stay here and waste time anymore, I must hurry over and suck up to her. This way maybe my species might still have some chance of redemption."

When he finished, he pulled open the door and dashed madly towards the direction of the VIP room. That speed was like... as if he was the tiniest bit slower, the world would end.

Meanwhile, Yao Si was transferred into the VIP room. "..."

The world had changed too fast. She needed some time to buffer this memory.

She could faintly guess that in this galactic era, the existence of bloodlings was no longer a secret and their social position was not too low in the hierarchy. That’s why everyone had such drastic change in attitude to her when they learned of who she was.

From a stowaway who had entered Earth against the law to the honored guest of the space station, this transformation was way too fast. Even her room in the infirmary was moved to this so-called highest standard VIP room. Her caretakers had expanded from Dr. Wang in the beginning to a group of doctors led by Dr. Wang.

They had also said that they had contacted the new planet in which the bloodlings now liver and they would soon send people to pick her up.

She no longer had to open her mouth to ask for anything, everything was taken care of by other people. Everyone had became extraordinarily warm towards her.

But this… this was too over the top!

"Honorable bloodling lady." Lu Ren's serious face was abruptly squeezed into a chrysanthemum1. He smiled rather brilliantly when he passed her a cup of red liquid. "This is fresh blood collected from a galactic beast from the B galaxy in Zone S, hundred percent organic and free of pollution. It was transported using the fastest superluminal wormhole. Does it suit your taste?"

"Ummm… Thanks!"

Yao Si took the cup into her hands. The liquid inside the cup shimmered like a ruby, it’s smell able to compete with duck blood. Yet she didn't have the stomach to drink it, because this was the thirty-seventh type of drink the commander by the last name Lu had sent her.

No matter how delicious it was, she couldn’t drink anymore.

She didn't know why this commander was losing his mind. Three hours ago he had come here without a single warning and, like a maid, made himself busy around her. She couldn’t even reject him. If she did, he would weep like an old man, right there on the spot, as if he had nothing to look forward to in life anymore.

Yao Si had unintentionally mentioned that she was hungry some time ago, and so he had various foods sent to her. It was like the slightest bit of her dissatisfaction would cost him his life. The service was so hospitable that it made her suspect whether the person before her was really the same one as the solemn and stern man she had seen earlier.

"What's wrong? My honorable bloodling lady." When Lu Ren realized that Yao Si wasn't drinking, his nerves were immediately stretched thin, and even his breathing became ragged from anxiousness. "Does this food not... not suit your taste?"

Looking at his aged face that was about to tear up, Yao Si had no choice but to respect the elderly. She bit the bullet and took a sip. "No, it's delicious."

"That's good, that's excellent..." Lu Ren finally let out a long breath. With the same chrysanthemum-like smile from before, he said, "If you like it, I will contact the W planet and reserve the best part for you. I hope you had a satisfying and comfortable stay at our space station No.333, your satisfaction is our responsibility."

His smile was growing brighter. In Yao Si’s eyes, he only had one more sentence to say before he became a shop assistant, and that sentence was - Please leave a good review, darling!

"Do you guys get a bonus commission if a bloodling gives a positive review?" She couldn't restrain her curiosity.

"..." Lu Ren was stupefied, it took him a few seconds before he could respond with a smile. "You must be mocking me, it is my honor to meet a distinguished bloodling like you, that is all."

"Oh..." She caressed the cup, then blurted out, "I thought you had something you need my help for."

Had she mistaken him? A commander like him spending such a long time guarding her here was because he was a groupie?

"Actually, there is a minor thing..." Lu Ren gritted his teeth and decided to spill it. "I need to ask a favor from you."

So there was something!

"What's the matter?"

"It's just the misunderstanding we had before..." His heart was now hanging right at his feet, barely above the ground, as he examined Yao Si's expressions, then he carefully said, "We have duties as a space station, and have mistaken you for an intruder."

"This matter!" If he hadn't mentioned it, she would have forgotten it already.

"Yes!" Lu Ren's smile became even more cautious. "You see, the galaxy is so big, a little space station like ours rarely gets the opportunity to meet a distinguished bloodling like you. We haven't received any notices beforehand that someone was hibernating on a planet meant for termination, that's what caused the misunderstanding."

"Yes." It was all just a coincidence, so why was he mentioning it? "So?"

"So you see..." He took a step forward. "Can we treat this as if it had never happened?"

He had spent three hours in torment like he had epilepsy because he was afraid of her complaining to the bloodlings when she returned! Did it really matter that much if she held him accountable or not?

Yao Si had no clue about the diplomatic strategies, but seeing that he had such an urgent look on his face, maybe it was really serious to treat a bloodling unjustly. However, since this matter was essentially just a misunderstanding, she didn't really mind, so she nodded.

 "Let your heart be at ease commander, this issue will of course..."

Before Yao Si could finish her sentence, a cold voice suddenly cut her short.

"Will of course be called to account!"