Chronos
Grayish blue skin, dark blue eyes, and pointed ears were all characteristics of the saen people.
The visitor in the gray cloak pulled down the cape from his head after being brought to the reception room by Xie Luan. At once the other’s appearance was clearly visible to everyone, it completely matched the above description.
Wrinkles representing the passage of time could be seen at the back of his hands and face. It seemed to everyone that the age of this visitor should not be too different from their former president, he was also an elder.
“Are you Mr. R?” Facing an unfamiliar elder, Xie Luan used formal speech. [1]
“R” was the alias used by the person who had reached out to him on the starnet. For some reason, the moment Xie Luan saw the elder, he was inclined to believe he was this person.
Apart from Xie Luan, the expressions of everyone in the room couldn’t help but change slightly the instance they saw the saen and they subconsciously cast curious gazes at the other.
Truth be told, before today, they had never thought they would be able to see a saen in the flesh.
The reason why the saen race was said to be a rather mysterious race was because this race rarely showed its face in the interstellar.
From the old era until today, they hadn’t heard of the other participating in any events. This race generally only stayed on its own planet, and due to the extraordinary abilities of the saen race, no one in the interstellar wanted to provoke them for no reason.
When it came to establishing diplomacy with other races, the saen race was even more defiant than the shuren people. Their only known ally seemed to be the nox race.
Ever since the conclusion of the big incident more than 30 years ago, it had been even more difficult for other races to see the saen in the interstellar, unless they directly charged into the other’s territory.
The grayish blue skinned saen nodded to Xie Luan, and then revealed his real name, Kelái.
Kelái moved his gaze to the cub held by the youth in front of him. The cub was also wearing a small cloak, making others unable to see the cub’s appearance well. But even if disguised like this, he could make out that the cub was in fact an adult nox.
“Excuse me, regarding the necklace I want to purchase, may I ask what the approximate price range is?” Without thinking about anything else, Xie Luan opened his mouth and asked about the matter of the necklace. “And before then, I hope you can first let me have a look at the real thing.”
“I didn’t bring the necklace, but I can let you see an image.”
The voice of the elder was still very powerful, and as the voice fell, a corresponding holographic image was generated at the place the other’s finger pointed.
A necklace, the material indistinguishable from the one at the scene in Xie Luan’s memory, both the emerald-colored gems inlaid in the ring and the engraved name were completely identical as well.
Xie Luan had only described the general appearance of the item in the wanted ad. There was no doubt that the necklace in this holographic image was indeed the one he was looking for.
Found it.
Although he hadn’t really got it yet, Xie Luan at this time couldn’t help but lightly knead the little horns on the nox’s head through the cape and the tension around his brows and eyes eased up a bit.
According to rumors, the saen was a race that had been on good terms with the noxs. It was quite a coincidence that someone of this race had brought news about the necklace. Xie Luan was now a little hesitant to let the nox held in his arms return to his adult form. If he did, the saen people would know that there was in fact still one nox alive.
However, in the next moment, Xie Luan found his hesitation to be unnecessary. Because after nodding to confirm it to be the item, he heard the person opposite him say, “I am not going to sell this necklace.”
Xie Luan was taken aback. When he subconsciously frowned, the person opposite him continued, explaining, “It goes without saying it should be unconditionally returned to its rightful owner, but before returning the necklace, I first need to confirm that he truly is the owner of the item.”
When combined with the other’s line of sight, the one who he was referring to was very clear.
The other not only knew that the necklace belonged to the nox race, but also immediately noticed that the cloaked cub in his arms was a nox… Xie Luan’s arms immediately became completely empty. The nox originally nestled in his embrace had jumped away and changed back to his humanoid form, he was now silently standing beside Xie Luan with a cold expression.
Seeing the adult nox in standing before him in humanoid form, the elder from the saen race seemed to show a momentary excitement. He bent his waist a little towards the other. This movement was to express gratitude.
He was grateful to the nox race for assisting the saen race in the past. Now facing the last surviving nox, this grace cannot be forgotten.
“How are we going to confirm it?” Xie Luan asked.
“I will need him to follow me back to Chronos, the capital planet of our race, where it can be confirmed.”
Without explaining the specific confirmation method, Kelái only stated this prerequisite requirement first.
This request did not sound reasonable, moreover, it was related to Ya Yi. As a result, Xie Luan was slow to respond; he looked at the nox next to him.
“Don’t want to,” Ya Yi answered in a cold voice.
Compared to the necklace, the youth next to him was more important.
Don’t want to go to a place where I can’t see this person.
Xie Luan choked when he heard the other answer so bluntly. However, at that same time, he happened to look over and met the eyes of the nox who was attentively gazing at him.
Quiet and focused, like a dragon guarding an important treasure.
This answer obviously also surprised the saen elder. But, after all was said and done, the matter didn’t really develop like this. After a few seconds of consideration, Xie Luan said, “He and I will go together.”
From the other’s behavior, Xie Luan could at least confirm the other did not hold malicious intentions.
Why did the owner of a necklace need to be confirmed in order to have it? As it involved the nox race, Xie Luan’s subconscious reaction was that there was probably something special about this necklace that he wasn’t aware of.
But as for what specifically, he could only find out after going to the planet.
Xie Luan wanted Ya Yi to get back what belonged to him, at the same time he also did not want to let go of clues related to the nox race.
Although this period of time at Yunbao branch was very happy and full of ease, Xie Luan had not forgotten the words the golden ball of light said to him at the beginning as well as the final guidance given to him.
This world has been destroyed countless times in countless different world lines. No matter how the course of events was altered, it had not affected the outcome. Xie Luan wanted to figure out what the root cause that led to this was.
He conferred Xia Qi with the powers of an acting president during his absence and roughly arranged the work for everyone for the short period of time he would be gone. After coaxing the cubs in the branch, he held the nox who had changed back to the form of a cub and walked out.
This time, instead of the commercial starship, Xie Luan used the private starship Kelái had brought to Gaia to travel between the planets. This small starship dedicated for long distance travels could be unmanned; as long as you input the specific coordinates for a destination, the starship would automatically follow the set route.
The destination this time was Chronos.
Looking at the name displayed on the virtual screen as their set destination, Xie Luan suddenly had a small realization.
Chronos.
In his world’s mythology, chronos was a word for time.
This world’s alien races obviously had nothing to do with his world’s culture. However, at this moment, Xie Luan remembered it apparently was the saen race’s ability to control time that made the other races afraid of offending them… The saen’s ability and Chronos… This was really too much of a coincidence.
The distance between the two planets was the farthest of any other planets Xie Luan had been to. Sitting down on the starship’s seat, Xie Luan’s head already began to nod.
Since entering the private starship, Ya Yi had changed back to his humanoid form. Seeing the human youth in the seat next to him fall asleep, his head drooping down, Ya Yi stood up and walked over. He then bent down and picked up the person, bringing him into his arms.
Sitting back down in his seat, Ya Yi adjusted the position of the youth in his arms so the latter could sleep a bit more comfortably.
The silver tail gently circled Xie Luan’s waist, and Ya Yi lowered his head to gaze at the youth who was sleeping peacefully. The pupils in his cyan eyes subsequently gradually narrowed slightly, like a big cat whose jaw was scratched.
It seemed like as long as he could guard him, he would feel happy. The tip of the nox’s tail raised slightly, reflecting his emotions.
Xie Luan didn’t know how long he had slept. He seemed to have woken up once in the middle of his nap and vaguely felt the tail around his waist, but fell back asleep as his posture had been very comfortable. In that moment, he had only awoken in a haze and fallen asleep within seconds.
When he opened his eyes again, Xie Luan realized that he was being held by someone. The nox, acting as his cushion, had also taken a rare nap, but even during this short rest, the other still had his silver tail circled around his waist.
If he moved, the other would probably immediately wake up.
After opening his eyes and pondering on it for a while, Xie Luan finally gave up on moving.
It took nearly four days to reach the destination. As he was getting off the private starship, Xie Luan saw a very fantasy-tinted scene.
Two moons.
A round plain moon and a round purple moon, hanging opposite sides of the sky.
The two moons looked very big, and it was hard for newcomers not to pay attention to this wonder.
Attracted to this fantastic scene, it took a while before Xie Luan’s gaze finally moved to the towering building in the horizon.
The building itself was like a huge old clock, but there was only one hand on this clock, and the hand pointed to letters instead of numbers.
α, β, γ… The hand on the clock had, from the beginning to end, been still on α. Xie Luan looked at the huge clock in the distance, he was a bit enthralled by it.
This huge clock that occupied such a conspicuous position must have a special function or significance to the saen race——
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Translator’s note:
I just realized why the description of the saen race sounded familiar– They totally look like the alf race from Onward, haha.
[1] – He actually did not use “Mr” but the formal version of “you”, 您 (nin), instead of 你, (ni). Funny enough, in Swedish the formal you is “ni”, pronounced just like the informal you in Chinese.