Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [209]

"Since we’re here…"

One of the Xianzhou’s famed eight phrases, and one that Sushang had heard countless times from her mother during her childhood. It was often paired with others like "You’ll get used to it," "Age catches up with you," and "What’s done is done."

These phrases invariably appeared before or after trouble occurred, and with her own experiences in mind, Sushang couldn’t help but feel nervous.

It was early morning, the first light of dawn breaking through the misty, cloud-laden skies. The astral craft cut through the ethereal haze, gliding steadily. The view was breathtaking, but no one on board was in the mood to appreciate it.

The humid air combined with the aftermath of a grueling night left Sushang feeling particularly disheveled. She was caked in grime and blood, her clothes sticky against her skin, making every movement uncomfortable.

Why did Lord Chen ask me to stop the craft here?

She cast a sidelong glance toward the figure behind her, trying to see what he was doing. They had been chatting earlier, but halfway through the journey, Chen Lin had suddenly asked her to halt the craft and had gone silent since.

As a soldier, Sushang adhered to the Cloud Knights’ tenets: maintain proper posture and obey orders without question, especially during missions.

But it had been several minutes now. Why was there no sound or movement behind her?

Unable to suppress her curiosity any longer, she turned her head—and froze in place.

There was no one behind her.

Lord Chen, who had been sitting there moments ago, was gone.

Her pulse quickened as she frantically searched the craft, finding nothing but empty air. Panic crept into her voice as she murmured to herself, “Could I… could I have encountered something… unclean?”

Questions she had pushed aside earlier began flooding her mind.

The Artisanship Commission was closest to the Alchemy Commission, but even by astral craft, it would take at least two quarters of an hour to travel between them. Yet Chen Lin had claimed he had been at the Alchemy Commission earlier, fighting alongside the Cloud Knights. How had he arrived at the Artisanship Commission?

If he had taken an astral craft, how had he entered the sealed-off sanctum? The Commission’s docks had been shut down ever since the incident, and no craft could enter. The closest landing point was outside the gates.

The more she thought about it, the more unsettling it became. Cold sweat drenched her back as her gemstone-like eyes trembled. Her entire body felt as though it had been submerged in an icy lake.

“I need to… I need to report this!”

With trembling hands, Sushang pulled out her communicator and typed a message to her superiors faster than she ever had in her life. The screen blinked with an error: message failed to send.

She slapped her forehead in frustration. Of course—today’s major operation had prompted the Divination Commission to restrict most civilian communications. With their distance from any major hub, there was no signal.

“What do I do? What do I do? Oh! I need to turn back!”

Rushing to the helm, she prepared to steer the craft back to the Commission’s dock when a voice behind her made her jump.

“It’s definitely there… Let’s keep going. Hmm? Why are you trembling?”

Chen Lin had emerged from the Nexus after confirming the woman’s movements. Seeing Sushang shaking like a leaf, he tilted his head in confusion. From his vantage point, the back of her sweat-soaked uniform revealed dampened white fabric beneath, its outline faintly visible under her armor.

“Y-you’re Lord Chen…?”

“Who else would I be?” Chen Lin furrowed his brow at the odd question, then chuckled. “You got scared when I disappeared earlier, didn’t you?”

Sushang nodded rapidly. “Mm-hmm!”

It wasn’t every day that someone talking to you vanished without a trace the next second.

Realizing he’d forgotten to explain himself, Chen Lin felt a pang of guilt. The poor girl had been so frightened she’d worked up a sweat.

With a snap of his fingers, a warm sensation enveloped Sushang. It felt as though a thin layer of water was flowing over her skin, soothing and refreshing.

Moments later, she looked down in astonishment. Her filthy clothes were spotless, and her sticky, grimy skin felt clean and dry.

“Consider this an apology for scaring you,” Chen Lin said. “I stepped away to confirm something. Just needed to make sure we weren’t headed to the wrong place. That’s all.”

“Another place…?” Sushang murmured, images from martial arts storybooks flashing through her mind.

As a child, she had asked her mother if the heroes in those stories—those who moved like phantoms, fighting with blinding speed—were real. Her mother had assured her they were. Such figures were masters of the martial arts, legendary warriors who stood above the world. If one was fortunate, they might witness such a figure in their lifetime—and perhaps even gain their favor.

Could Lord Chen be one of those legendary figures? A master of the arts, capable of disappearing and reappearing at will?

Her thoughts drifted back to that night at the training grounds, where Chen Lin had rallied the troops. Her captain, and even officers far above him in rank, had treated Chen Lin with deference. In the Cloud Knights, strength commanded respect. That meant Chen Lin had to be stronger than them all—possibly even stronger than the Commander-General himself.

Sushang’s eyes lit up as her imagination ran wild. Her small brain, which was not particularly accustomed to overthinking, began to conjure grand scenarios. She looked at Chen Lin with eyes full of admiration and reverence.

Mother, could this be the “great opportunity” you always talked about?

Meanwhile, Chen Lin was entirely preoccupied with how he might approach the dangerous woman he had been tracking. He had no time to deal with Sushang’s increasingly awestruck demeanor and waved her off dismissively. “Even if I explained, you wouldn’t understand. Just focus on piloting the craft. Let the grown-ups handle this.”

“Understood, Commander!”

The craft resumed its course, slicing through the misty sky.

“Commander Chen, may I ask what type of martial arts you’ve mastered? Sword? Spear? Staff? Halberd?”

“I haven’t mastered any martial arts.”

“But my mother said that great figures like you must be exceptional fighters. Did you fly off earlier when I wasn’t looking?”

“I’m not good at fighting, but I’m pretty good at running away.”

“Commander, you’ve mastered lightfoot techniques?!”

“…If you want to think that, I guess it’s not entirely wrong.”

And so, their journey continued with Sushang excitedly peppering Chen Lin with questions, to which he replied sporadically and with little enthusiasm.

Despite his downplayed responses, Sushang became more and more convinced.

Commander Chen must be a peerless martial master!

If Chen Lin had known what this chatterbox Cloud Knight was thinking, he might not have been able to resist pinching her cheeks and demanding to know, Who are you calling a master?!

After about fifteen minutes of high-speed travel, the craft made a sharp turn and docked smoothly at the cargo port.

Chen Lin disembarked and turned to Sushang, issuing instructions. “Wait here and be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. If things get dangerous, don’t hesitate to retreat. Understand?”

Sushang, who had just excitedly drawn her greatsword and was preparing to disembark, froze in place. “Commander, you’re going in alone? I don’t see any guards or escorts nearby.”

“And why would there be?” Chen Lin glanced at her and sighed. “Do you think I came here to do grunt work? This mission is extremely dangerous, and while I can protect myself, others might not be so lucky.”

Why does this girl seem a bit… slow? Chen Lin thought, briefly wondering if she and Seele might get along. They both shared a certain air of cluelessness.

“Keep the craft at a safe distance and be ready to take off at any moment. If something happens, just run.”

“What about you, Commander?”

“I run faster than you. By the time you move, I’ll already be back at the Alchemy Commission.”

“Then why did you need me to fly the craft here for you?”

“…Mind your own business.”

“Oh… okay…”

Sushang scratched her head, sheathed her sword, and obediently returned to the craft to follow Chen Lin’s orders.

He’s right, she thought. If this mission is dangerous enough to challenge someone as powerful as the Commander, I’d probably just be a burden.

Seeing that Sushang had complied, Chen Lin quickly made his way toward the location he had observed through his surveillance. His figure disappeared behind towering stacks of cargo crates, blending into the shadows of the western docks.

---

Between the staircases, sword light flashed.

The blade itself was unseen, but its sharp brilliance left a fleeting trace in the air. The cold it carried briefly dominated the space before vanishing.

Moisture in the air condensed into frost, falling like snowflakes, as several members of the Alchemy Commission—dispatched to create chaos across the Luofu—staggered backward. Their armor and hardened exoskeletons were cracked and shattered, and a thin, icy blue line appeared across each of their throats.

Thunk.

Heads rolled to the ground, their necks frozen solid. Not a single drop of blood spilled.

“Ah…”

A soft, almost exasperated sigh escaped delicate lips. The woman shattered the ice blade in her hand with a flick of her fingers and continued forward until she stopped in front of a desk cleaved cleanly in half.

Bending down, she gently traced the smooth cut with her fingers, murmuring, “Hiding from me? That’s not like you… And yet, this feeling again.”

The eerie sensation of being watched returned.

Jingliu held her breath and sharpened her senses, but all she could hear was the natural sound of the wind. The feeling vanished as suddenly as it had come.

Since reaching the Artisanship Commission, Jingliu had sensed someone observing her. It wasn’t the work of a standard surveillance artifact—it felt more like someone was standing nearby, closely monitoring her every move.

No matter how vigilant she was, she couldn’t pinpoint the source. Her instincts as a swordswoman—refined far beyond her physical senses—told her someone was there, but whoever it was remained hidden.

“…”

Straightening up, Jingliu continued on her way. She had grown adept at discerning the sounds of mara strucks and Abundance beasts. Any disturbance within a few dozen meters painted a vivid mental image of her surroundings.

More creatures fell in her wake. Some became headless corpses; others were frozen into statues, forever sealed in their final moments.

Two more bodies collapsed with a thud, but this time, Jingliu didn’t move on.

She stood motionless, gripping her sword, as though waiting for something.

After half a minute, a figure emerged from the shadows, walking slowly across the stone floor before stopping about ten meters away.

“Impressive. Truly impressive. I don’t know what the Xianzhou did to deserve this—monsters and chaos everywhere. It’s enough to make anyone’s head hurt. But I wonder, just how much trouble will you bring to them?”

“…”

Jingliu turned toward the unfamiliar but calm and soft voice. She couldn’t match the sound to any face she knew.

Who could appear in such chaos besides the Cloud Knights?

“If you’re with the Cloud Knights, there’s no need to be nervous,” she said. “I have no intention of harming the Xianzhou. I’m here to capture someone—nothing more.”

She thinks I’m with the Cloud Knights?

Chen Lin narrowed his eyes as Jingliu sheathed her ice blade, showing no intention of hostility.

Still, the fact that Fu Xuan, the head of the Divination Commission, didn’t know who this person was marked her as suspicious. If she was friendly, her actions certainly didn’t reflect it.

Playing along, Chen Lin nodded. “I’m the Commander of the Changle Cloud Knights Division. Who exactly are you?”

“Commander…? The Cloud Knights have reorganized?” Jingliu murmured, her tone laced with faint amusement. “Interesting. Perhaps this makes them easier to command than before.”

Chen Lin’s brow twitched.

She seems oddly familiar with the Cloud Knights but doesn’t know about their current structure… Could she be talking about how they operated in the past?

He committed her appearance to memory: despite her blindfold, her facial features, slender figure, and attire all aligned with Xianzhou characteristics.

She’s likely not one of ours.

No official records. Not even Fu Xuan recognized her. That left two possibilities: an opportunistic outsider or an enemy.

“State your name and purpose,” Chen Lin said, altering the area’s physical properties. The gravity around her intensified, and the surrounding air became a vacuum. “Wandering around a sealed port, effortlessly dispatching enemies—such skill in a time of crisis is far too suspicious. I’ll have to take you in for questioning. If you’re innocent, you’ll be free to go afterward.”

Jingliu frowned, clearly aware of the changes in her surroundings.

“A clever technique,” she said, stepping forward over the corpses. Her sword returned to her hand, the frost it exuded sharper than before. “But such tricks mean little to me. Besides, you’re not even from the Xianzhou, are you?”

“…Correct. I’m not from the Xianzhou. But you… You’re far more dangerous than any Xianzhou traitor I’ve seen.”

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This is a fan translation of 在星穹铁道点群星科技树真的没问题吗? by 杏雨诗韵 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!