Master of the Stars

Chapter 52: Yan Yongbo (Part 1/2)

As Mo Peng’s voice faded away, the person who had just left came charging back in a hurry. He made his way inside with a lowered head. It seemed like he couldn’t hold on any longer.

Mo Peng felt that this person was absolutely weird, so he starting laughing.

Luo Nan had the vague sensation that he was the reason for this person’s bizarre behavior He swept a glance at this person’s face and saw that he was quite young. He wore old-fashioned gold glasses and looked to be like Bro Octopus at first glance. However, this person had shiny hair and smooth skin, looking to be a bit effeminate.

He looked familiar, but Luo Nan was unable to recognize him.

In any case, it would be bad to block someone off at the urinal to interrogate them. Luo Nan could only keep this person in the back of his mind as he and Mo Peng exited the restroom. They continued their conversation in a smooth manner:

“Who’s the person Uncle met? Was he from work?”

“He looks likes a rich person? He brought a bodyguard and a lawyer. Seems like he came to talk business. He looks to be quite young…..” Mo Peng could only recall this much.

The two strolled down the hallway at a pace that was not urgent nor slow. Then footsteps rang out from behind them. The young Wrong-Door Man had just left the restroom and was walking in the same direction as them, but he ended up going into a different room midway.

The distance was just right. Luo Nan released his mental senses to see what was going on inside the room. Right when he was sizing up each person’s face, a sentence struck his ear:

“This place is evil. We talked about him and now he’s here.”

“Who?”

“The one we were just talking about. The one who nearly choked Li Xuecheng to death1, and who entered into the Order Club.”

“Oh dang! That nutjob!”

“......” Luo Nan couldn’t refrain from touching his face.

Luo Nan had already advanced past the range of his senses after hearing the last sentence, but it should be fine even if he didn’t hear the rest of it. He finally recalled who that Spectacled Male was. He was one of Xie Junping’s good for nothing friend. His name was probably Liu Tao2. He was the one who initially described the Darksider life form.

Luo Nan was quite familiar with two~three people within the room. He should have met them all face to face on the warship, and they’re probably the small group of rich kids.

Luo Nan just didn’t expect that he would become a bit famous within that circle…… Even if it was infamy.

He no longer paid attention to these people, and he entered the large hall with Mo Peng.

Dialog still continued on within the room. While it was true that they were the circle of rich kids, a more accurate description would be that they made up most of the key members of the Construction Society…… They were only missing Li Xuecheng, who was resting in the hospital.

They were supposed to be having dinner with the manager of their co-financer, the Rainbow Fund3. But the manager was running late so they had yet to start dinner. They were bearing it with pain, so all they could do was to shoot off gossip to keep things alive.

“This kid’s relationship with Xie Junping is not clear at all. I heard that Li Xuecheng called the Broken Souls group to gang up on him the day after4. Not only was he unsuccessful, he was also sent to the hospital by Xie Junping5……”

“I think you have it wrong. How come I heard that this matter had something to do with Lian Jieyu?”

“Have you seen Xie Junping and Lian Jieyu hang out together in the past two days? It seems like that relationship is already over……”

Then the host Lang Ding6 stood up at this time: “I just got in contact with him. He’s outside. I’ll go out to welcome him.”

Liu Tao stirred out with a problem. His happiness soon died down a bit: “This kid is quite the big shot. We don’t even know his name or what he looks like even up until now……”

“It’s alright as long as he knows the procedure behind the Rainbow Fund’s official seal.”

Lang Ding laughed and called a few people to go with him. They headed to the large hall.

Luo Nan and Mo Peng had already entered the large hall at this time. He saw the four-person table that his family had booked in the far distance. It was actually full and there was even one more person standing up.

Mo Peng rolled his eyes upon seeing this: “They’re still not done chatting? They can’t be joining us for dinner right?”

Luo Nan walked closer and the pseudo-classical shutters no longer blocked his view. His foot suddenly trembled as the appearance of the person standing outside entered his eye.

The person standing was swift and fierce. His skin was dark and shiny. His ice cold gaze swept in his surroundings in vigilance. He had the appearance of a bodyguard. When Luo Nan’s gaze swept across, the dark-skinned bodyguard reacted at the same time, casting his deep and cold gaze over.

It was that dark-skinned man he saw at Gear…… The Burner7!

Luo Nan’s eyebrows creased slightly. His pace paused a bit, then he increased in speed as he walked directly over.

He saw who the other two people besides his aunt and uncle were sitting down. One was the lawyer he had seen on that day. Another was a man who looked to be around thirty years old. He had a handsome appearance and seemed to be laughing, but the creases on his face made it obvious that he maintained a serious expression all year round, causing his smile to appear stiff and distorted. He also gave off a bit of an inexplicable cold air.

But what gave one the deepest impression was located near the rim of this man’s eyes. It was an abnormal appearance of the color of blood entwining with tendons and muscles. It made a stark and demonic contrast with his smile.

That’s right. This man’s eyes were crimson red.

As the distance drew closer, Luo Nan drew a step closer to confirming that the atmosphere in the booth was absolutely abnormal. Uncle’s expression was calm and Aunt’s expression was a deep as water. Neither spoke a word, there was no trace of happiness of a reunion between old friends.

That red-eyed man was also silent. The voice that came out of the booth was the elitist accent of Lawyer Zhu:

“I am temporarily unable to explain the intentions behind Mr. Yan’s last minute proposal to transfer. However, with my professional foresight, I believe that there are many mechanisms at play……”

Luo Nan and Mo Peng already walked right outside the booth at this time. The dark-skinned bodyguard had stared at Luo Nan all this time. Luo Nan didn’t feel much from this openly cold gaze, but Mo Peng could no longer take it.

“I say that there’s something wrong with this atmosphere……”

The red eyed male saw them at this time. He waved his hand, indicating to Lawyer Zhu to stop. His gaze turned and fell directly onto Luo Nan’s face. He paused a bit but took the initiative to stand up and crack a smile.

This smile was extremely grotesque.

His lips were opened wide and the two corners of his mouth were deliberately tightened up to affect the muscles of his cheeks. His eyes didn’t squint from this smile but instead enlarged. The crimson red corner of his eyes trembled slightly. That bizarre distorting of his face was indescribable.

“This must be Luo Nan. I remember the last time I met you, you just came out of the womb 8 . You weren’t even as big as a hand. And so you’ve grown up……”

“YAN YONGBO9!”

Luo Shuqing had slammed the table with a bang! Her voice had never been this furious and intense.

The entire restaurant went quiet. The customers further away all turned their heads around to look.

The server made his way over in a hurry, wishing to find out what was going on.

And this also drew the attention of Lang Ding’s group, who had just entered the large hall and were looking around. They first saw the familiar dark-skinned bodyguard without noticing anything else.

“Hey! They’re here.”

The group came over with their curiosity. Lang Ding, who lead the way, first saw the situation within the booth. His gaze flitted across from Luo Nan’s face and fell onto the red-eyed man’s face.

His expression changed colors in an instant. He cried: “Yan…… Professor Yan?”

The members of the Construction Society’s committee followed behind him. Some were at a loss, some were stupefied. But all those who were able to recognize this face had this thought run secretly in their mind:

This financial backer…… his schemes run so deep!

1. Li Xuecheng (李学成, literally Li Excel at Learning) being choked. Luo Nan sent Li Xuecheng a hypnotic suggestion to stop breathing when Li Xuecheng had destroyed his flexible e-ink screen on the warship in Chapter 9.2.

2. Liu Tao (刘陶, literally Liu Pottery). Liu Tao was introduced in Chapter 13.1 and was an exposition tool to describe the Darksider life form.

3. The Construction Society getting the financial backing of the Rainbow Fund. The Construction Society and the Mystic Arts Research Society are the two major societies bidding for the assets of the Order Club. The Construction Society received the financial backing of the Rainbow Fund, which will tilt the scales more towards them. Described in Chapter 32.1.

4. Li Xuecheng's attempted revenge. Li Xuecheng hired a group of thugs to go beat up Luo Nan, streaming it live after he kidnapped Lian Yu (Chapter 19.2) to watch the result together. Luo Nan gets saved by a mysterious person who runs off chasing the thugs (Chapter 20.1-2). Luo NanHe meets this person, Xue Lei, later on, and they become friends.

5. Xie Junping (谢俊平, literally Xie Handsome Peaceful) sending Li Xuecheng to the hospital. Xie Junping rescues Lian Yu and beats up Li Xuecheng in Chapter 20.2.

6. Lang Ding (郎鼎, literally Lang Cauldron). Lang Ding is the chairman of the Construction Society and was introduced in Chapter 32.1.

7. Dark-skinned Man, aka Hei Lianpi (黑脸皮 literally, Dark/Hei Skinned Face). Luo Nan encountered this Burner the first time back on the Warship (Chapter 16.1). Luo Nan meets this person again at Gear in Chapter 32.1 with the lawyer of the Rainbow Fund. His full name was given in that chapter. He was first mentioned in the story as Old Hei in Chapter 12.2 and was seen working under Yan Yongbo on the Warship.

8. Luo Nan (罗南, literally Luo South) coming out of the womb. In Chapter 31.2, Luo Nan describes how his mother had suffered a fatal injury in his grandfather's laboratory out in the wilderness due to some sort of attack/chaos that happened. She removed Luo Nan from her womb and placed him in a life-sustainment pod to save him. The fact that Yan Yongbo was there to witness this implies that he was involved with the chaos that happened in the lab.

9. Yan Yongbo (严永博, literally Yan Always Rich). Yan Yongbo was first introduced at the end of Chapter 11.1. He is the son of Yan Hong and was also a professor at Acumen College like his father. He voluntarily retired in the year 2090 for some unknown reason. He is also the Burner from Quantum Corporation who assisted He Yueyin in killing the burning wraith on the warship.