Era of Light

The wind was cold and it was snowing heavily.

The holographic projection signboard outside the bar sensed an approach of a person and lit up a circle of colored lights. Unfortunately, the signboard was aging and the response was a little delayed. When the word “Welcome” lit up and floated in the air, the visitor had already passed through this holographic projection as high as a person and rushed into the bar.

The lights in the bar were dim.

This asteroid, XueLi Star was far away from the central star and extremely cold all year round. After remodeling, this area that could barely support human survival also had long days and short nights.

Since the nights were so short that there was no enough sleep. Therefore, covering the windows and dimming the lights were the only way to pretend there was a nightlife. This bar also did like that. 

In the bar, there were more than half of the people wearing military uniforms and the other guests had already seen it.

There was a royal army stationed in the snow-capped mountains not far away— it seemed to be a newly-established army. The local residents didn’t know their numbers and code names. Also, they didn’t care too much about it . As those soldiers were training deep in the snow-capped mountains everyday, they didn’t usually see each other. Only on holidays of each month, men and women drinking in the bar at the foot of the mountain would see some officers and soldiers who spent their holidays to relax and have fun.

” Breaking news, breaking news!”

The man who rushed into the bar just now shouted loudly. He took off his antifreeze suit and shook it vigorously, shaking off all the snowflakes and ice crystals to the ground.

Then, a flat and small cleaning machine stumbling and sliding over stretched out its tool hand and started to deal with snow water on the ground. Because of the man’s shout，the noisy voice in the bar was silent for a moment and then became more lively. 

” Haha LaoYang, you just woke up from a hangover, right?”

” We all have already known!”

” You may be the last person who has seen the news of XueLi Star, hahaha.”

” Yang, yesterday, I told you to drink less, but you didn’t listen to my advice…”

The middle-aged man named Yang was not annoyed when he was laughed at by everyone. He squeezed into the middle of his acquainted drinking buddies, waved to the waiter for a drink, and said with a smile, ” You guys are so mean. You didn’t even send a text message and wake me up for such a big event!”

” Wake you up for what?”

” I’m going to get ready early, buy some honorable clothes, go clean shave my beard off and then get a haircut!”

The people next to him laughed even harder. A man laughed loudly and said, ” It is as if the prince came to see you on purpose. Are you a royal relative?”

LaoYang retorted loudly, ” Why didn’t the prince come to see me on purpose? He came to visit the residents of XueLi Star. Am I not a resident of XueLi Star?”

Everyone laughed at his thick skin and above their heads, a three-dimensional bust newscaster formed by holographic projection was still tirelessly popularizing the life of the current crown prince.

He was the firstborn son of the emperor and His royal Highness, the former empress named “Xiu” of the empire.

In this era where the average life expectancy had already exceeded a hundred years and some people with advanced genes could live to around one hundred and fifty years old, twenty-eight-year old age was really very young. However, the crown prince had already been very prestigious at such a young age.

Although he did not show any special genetic ability, he had excellent academic performance, extraordinary temperament and demeanor, gentleness and politeness. He was enthusiastic about charity and public welfare , also never engaged in any bad habits. Since childhood, His Royal Highness, the eldest son of the emperor, had always been an excellent role model for the children of the royal family, and he was an extremely qualified heir.

Two years ago, as the crown prince, he came to the battlefield to supervise the battle, and completely wiped out the rebel army that had plagued the empire for decades, which pushed his reputation to the peak.

The Glory of the Empire!

Everyone praised their flawless Crown Prince so highly.

Even an idle drunkard like Lao Yang felt proud due to Prince Xiu’s upcoming visit to XueLi Star. It was shown that how deeply His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

” The Prince’s visit here is probably related to us. It has nothing to do with a drunkard like him!”

In a corner of the bar, a soldier wearing military uniform sneered in a low voice.

” That’s right. “

The comrade sitting next to him agreed.

Another soldier frowned and said, “The crown prince came so suddenly, we didn’t receive any notice in advance.”

   “The notice is to inform the officers, of course we won’t receive it… Hey, Fred! Didn’t you just get promoted to second lieutenant? Do you have any inside information?”

The young man named “Fred” sat in the middle surrounded by several soldiers.

For the rank of lieutenant, he looked too young – he seemed to be in his early twenties, an age when most people hadn’t graduated from school.

Among the young soldiers who got together to drink, he had the highest military rank, but he didn’t have any pretensions, and everyone had no objection to him. Having performed missions on XueLi Star together for two years, Fred’s combat ability was obvious to all.

After being called by name, he said, “I really found out yesterday—Miss, please help me refill a glass of Fire Kiss, thank you. “

The passing waitress was busy and wanted to say ” wait a moment”. However, when she turned her head and saw the young man’s face clearly, she immediately withdrew her thought.

The young officer was sitting in the darkest corner. The dim lights of the bar did not damage his handsomeness at all, but added a little unrestrained elegance to his deep facial features. His brilliant short blond hair, which shone even in such a place, made an immediate impression. 

 At this moment, he was lazily leaning on the soft sofa cushions in the bar, the collar buttons of his military uniform were undone, revealing the strong muscles under his clothes.

“Hey Hello. ” She poured the wine, brushed her long curly hair, and smiled charmingly, “Is this your first time visiting our bar?”  

Fred asked with a smile, “Miss, how do you know it’s my first time here?”

” If a handsome Mr.soldier like you had been here, it’d be impossible for me to forget.”

The waitress threw a wink and boldly asked in public, ” Are you free tonight?”

Folk custom of XueLi Star was open and warm, just like the best-selling wine, Fire Kiss on this icy planet.

The soldiers around him were booing and laughing, but Fred who was far from being shy like most boys of his age, responded with a hat removal salute- even though he wasn’t wearing a hat.

“Thank you for your invitation, beautiful lady. I’d love to say ‘I’m free’ so much, but today’s just a bad day——My baby’s spaceship is coming to port soon, and I have to pick him up.”

“Oh! Do you have partner? ” The waitress said with a slight disappointment and shrugged, 

” Then Forget it, I’m not interested in those who have a master. “

The beautiful waitress left, but the soldiers sitting around became lively.

” Fred! You kid has a girlfriend?”

” Just like that.” Fred admitted generously.

” Not bad, Fred! Career and love are very honorable.”

While several people were joking about Fred’s love affair, they suddenly heard a vague curse from another table.

” Both of them were born to the former empress. The crown prince is the glory of our empire, but the third prince doesn’t treat ordinary people as human beings. Such a jerk!”

” Lower your voice if you don’t want to die!” The companion at the same table said quickly, glancing in panic at the corner occupied by the royal garrisons.

So the voice at that table went quiet, and a soldier whispered, “Foolish people. How could the incident two years ago be as simple as they thought?”

Two years ago, the rebel army was completely wiped out, and it was not honorable to win that battle. Only speaking of the royal family, two princes came to the battlefield personally. At the end of the war, one made meritorious achievements, while the other was exiled.

The meritorious person was the crown prince who supervised the whole battle, and the one who was seized the title and exiled was the third prince, Alfred who parachuted into the battlefield. Being not only the youngest prince but also the younger brother of his Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Alfred made a “wrong command”. He ordered the use of destructive anti-star weapons at the very last moment of the stalemate with the rebels, thereby directly destroying the asteroid, along with the rebels and civilians on the planet.

This time, the rebels were annihilated, but the turbulent public opinion almost flooded the Holy Golden Palace. Like that, the little prince who was only nineteen years old at that time was taken away from the title of Prince and exiled to the border to consider his own mistakes. However, it was like that the people’s anger was barely calmed.

It’s not to blame those who mentioned the third prince in such a civilian bar.

The reason why civilians are civilians was that most of them did not have superior genetic abilities. They were just ordinary people. The development of interstellar society had long passed the stage of expanding territories and maintaining civilization for those who needed special genetic abilities. Now such an era of worry-free survival had gradually advocated equality of birth.

In an era like this, how could the third prince who ignored the lives of civilians in pursuit of war results not incur the condemnation of the people.

“What happened two years ago has nothing to do with us.” Another more steady soldier said, “We have just to finish the current task in XueLi Star.”

” Difficult to say. ” Fred shook his glass and said, making the blood-red Fire Kiss ripple in the glass

“The prince is already on his way … it’s time for our mission to end. “

When he said this, the expressions of other soldiers became subtle and someone said, “If the crown prince really came for this matter, someone would naturally respond it. Don’t you say the Third Prince’s penal colony is near XueLi Star?”

Fred asked with interest: “Who said that?”

“I guess,” the soldier shrugged. “The communication base station here is so poor, but every time the message processing of our side is very fast. It means that the person who issued the command is not far away. At least it is impossible to be on another cantilever, right?”

Another person said, “The third prince has been sick for the past two years, probably because he did not use to the extreme climate of the border. After all, he is the youngest prince, who grew up , being pampered in the Holy Golden Palace. How could he not fall ill in this kind of place? “

Fred nodded in agreement: “It makes sense.”

When he pressed his wrist, a series of vein-like blue letters appeared on his strong wrist. That was local time.

“It’s not early, I have to go.” Fred waved goodbye to those young soldiers and said, “It’s very nice to drink with everyone, and I’ll make an appointment next time.”

Outside the bar, there was already a Ski-Doo with all blackened windows waiting on the side of the road, and Fred went straight to it. Then, the ordinary and low-key Ski-Doo started immediately and drove away from the bar smoothly.

In the car, in addition to the driver, there was a slightly thin young man.

“The glory of the empire …” Fred chuckled ironically, leaning on the back of the chair, and ordered, “Go to Starship Port.”

“Yes,” replied the young man respectfully, ” Your Highness.”