Author: 唇亡齿寒 / Lips Gone, Teeth Cold
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 59
As a high-end artificial intelligence, Leonard tirelessly performed the daily maintenance of the spaceship today, checking the computer system, dispatching robots to clean various places, and removing trash. Meanwhile, he transformed into a stream of data and sneaked around Leyting. Leyting had many low-end AIs since it was an industrial planet that used machinery to replace labor, reducing cost expenses.
“Oh, the fate of AI is to be ordered around!” Leo complained discontentedly.
In Leyting, he discovered many interesting things. For example, the fake diva he had seen in Neo Venice was also in Leyting. How coincidental! She (or he?) had just held a solo concert recently. Leo retrieved footage from the concert’s surveillance cameras and watched it with great interest, secretly storing it in his database.
The stage effects of the concert were dazzling and magnificent. Even Leo, who had seen countless strange landscapes, couldn’t help but be impressed. Theoretically, Leyting didn’t have the stage equipment to support such special effects. How did the director and stage designer of Camilla’s concert create such brilliant effects?
The search engine quickly provided him with the answer. “They actually landed Camilla’s spaceship directly on Leyting just for the stage effects? Because the spaceship carried special holographic projectors? Oh, poor people of Leyting. How spiritually and culturally void must your lives be?” Leo thought with sympathy.
While watching the concert video, he also tracked down Joanna’s whereabouts. She and her two subordinates had taken a bat-winged air car and were caught arriving at a five-star hotel in Leyting. Leo tried to sneak into the hotel’s surveillance system to monitor Joanna’s meeting with Duke Winnett, but he found that the surveillance system used an internal network, preventing him from hacking in externally!
If the “Lady of the Night” were docked at the spaceport now, Leo could have calculated without worry until he broke through the hotel’s weak firewall. However, he was on the “Dream of a Cold Night” now. If he used too much computing power, he might accidentally crash the spaceship’s system, and he wouldn’t risk crippling his own body just to deal with a mere hotel.
…But he was a bit worried about those three bastards. After all, they were handing over such an important item to the Duke. Leo restlessly roamed the circuits, eventually connecting to all the electronic eyes around the hotel. Even if he couldn’t see inside, he could at least keep an eye on the outside.
Alois tugged at his collar. This dignified-looking coat was very uncomfortable. Celia, with her excellent makeup skills, gave him a new hairstyle and smeared a lot of unknown gel on his face. After the disguise, Alois looked in the mirror and couldn’t recognize himself.
Joanna tied her messy red hair into a bun, put on a pair of metal-framed glasses, and wore a business suit, looking like a stern female secretary (this attire made Leo roll on the floor laughing for a long time).
Joshua didn’t change much, except he dyed his irises with organic dye and tied up his long hair. Although his attire was a bit strange, it wasn’t suspicious. Following Joanna, he barely looked like a bodyguard.
Now the three of them sat silently in the bat-winged air car sent by the Duke. As soon as they arrived at Leyting’s surface from the spaceport, the Duke’s subordinates came to greet them.
“I am truly honored by the Duke’s warm welcome,” Joanna said to the air car driver. The driver didn’t respond, as if he hadn’t heard her at all. This attitude touched a nerve in the female pirate, and she deliberately said loudly, “The Duke must be very compassionate to hire a deaf-mute driver!” As expected, she saw the driver’s eyebrows twitch through the rearview mirror.
The air car took a deserted path, deliberately avoiding Leyting’s busy areas, and finally arrived at the entrance of a luxurious five-star hotel. “I thought the Duke would choose to make the deal in some abandoned parking lot,” Alois whispered to Joanna.
“You’ve watched too many weird gangster movies,” Joanna replied in a low voice. “The Duke is officially here to ‘visit and inspect’, so there are probably a few reporters following. Every move is highly scrutinized, so it’s more convenient for us to visit him.”
Joshua coughed. “You two are speaking too loudly.”
They both fell silent.
A bellboy opened the car door. Seeing a lady, he extended his hand to help Joanna out of the car. Joanna ignored him and got out of the car directly, looking around, leaving the bellboy awkwardly standing there. Alois stifled his laughter, swaying as he got out, and Joshua followed him. The bellboy’s hand was still outstretched, but the assassin thought for a moment, then took a bill from his pocket and pressed it into the bellboy’s hand.
Alois’s stomach hurt even more from holding back his laughter.
The driver drove the air car to the hotel garage. A man in a black suit stood at the entrance of the hotel, holding a communication device to his ear. After saying something, he walked towards Joanna, bowed, and gestured invitingly. “This way, please.”
Alois carried the silver box and followed Joanna with Joshua. The man in the black suit stopped her. “The Duke only invited you.”
Joanna raised her wrist, trying to grab the hair on her shoulder, but only caught air. She remembered her hair was tied up. So she adjusted her glasses instead. “Do you expect a delicate woman to carry such a heavy box?”
Delicate woman! Alois’s lungs were about to burst from laughter!
The man in the black suit didn’t insist. “Alright.” He led the three through the hotel lobby and took the “staff-only” elevator to the 23rd floor. Along the way, Joanna keenly noticed several security guards disguised as ordinary guests (who were secretly glancing at her) and a few reporters trying to dig up news on the Duke (just from their sneaky, suspicious looks, it was a miracle they hadn’t been kicked out of the hotel).
Outside the door of a luxurious suite on the 23rd floor, the man in the black suit bowed again and opened the door for Joanna.
“Thank you.” Joanna smiled. She remembered “manners” at this moment.
Alois and Joshua nodded to the man as well, making him feel embarrassed.
“By the way,” before entering, Alois suddenly asked, “Is Princess Alveira staying on this floor too?”
The man was stunned. “No, the princess is staying upstairs, on the top floor.” This wasn’t a secret, so he was puzzled why the other party asked.
Alois smiled appreciatively at his honesty. “Thank you.”
Alveira stood by the window. The large floor-to-ceiling window was tightly covered with thick floral curtains, supposedly to protect the distinguished guests in the room from being spied on by malicious people outside. Alveira always sneered at this reason. With special tinted glass, it was absolutely impossible to see inside from the outside. She couldn’t understand why the hotel staff had closed all the curtains, making the room as dark as night. Did they think the guests staying there were vampires afraid of sunlight?
“Rose.” The princess called her personal maid. “What’s today’s schedule?”
“Yes.” Rose picked up the terminal and opened the itinerary. “There are no arrangements for this morning and afternoon. At 6 p.m. planetary time, there is a dinner with the military factory executives that you must attend in formal attire.”
The words “formal attire” made Alveira frown. She hated wearing elaborate evening gowns and exchanging insincere pleasantries with various people. She’d rather go hunting with Darius, play games with Musaya, or even simply read and chat with Annot than attend a dinner party.
She opened a narrow slit in the curtain and peeked down. A black bat-winged air car drove into the hotel, and a few people got out. She couldn’t see who they were clearly because a tall tree below obscured her view, but she immediately recognized the air car as one of Duke Winnet’s private cars, usually parked in the hangar of his flagship “Stella”. Alveira had only seen it once but would never forget it. Although the car didn’t look particularly luxurious, (according to Musaya) it was a discontinued limited edition with superior performance and immense value. So she remembered it very well.
But the Duke rarely used this car. Why was it here?
Shortly after the car arrived, several people dressed as reporters were “asked” to leave the hotel by security. Alveira could almost imagine the security guard’s cold tone. “Sorry, your behavior violates the privacy of our guests. If you don’t want to be sued, please leave immediately.” Ten minutes later, a dozen black air cars drove toward the hotel. But they didn’t enter through the main entrance. Instead, they went around to the back of the hotel building.
Alveira let go of the curtain. “Rose, where is Winnet?”
“The Duke is in his room. Do you want to see him?” Rose said. “The Duke said he’s not feeling well today and instructed not to be disturbed by anyone. But if you wish to see him, I’m sure he would…”
“No,” Alveira said. “Rose, bring out my casual clothes and my gun.”
Rose’s eyes widened. “Your Highness…?”
“Secretly gather everyone we can trust and prepare to escape.” Alveira lowered her voice. “He’s coming to kill me, by night he’s coming to kill me [Note].”
The author has something to say:
[Note] From the Bible, Nehemiah 6:10: “Then he shut himself in and said, ‘Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.'”
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