Starry Sky Railway: Twin Origins

Chapter 40 Reunion

Lin Qiong walked steadily toward the mansion. Just as he had walked a short distance ahead, he arrived at a campsite where mechanical enthusiasts were stationed.

He noticed a large crowd gathered ahead, surrounding a tightly closed iron gate. The people on their faces were beaming with joy, as if they were waiting for something.

The scene before him puzzled Lin Qiong. He was curious as to why this group of people were gathered happily in front of a tightly closed door.

With this question in mind, Lin Qiong started walking towards a little boy on the outermost edge of the crowd.

"Hello, little friend," Lin Qiong said, gently patting the boy's shoulder from behind.

The little boy, who was trying to squeeze into the crowd, was startled by Lin Qiong's action.

The little boy suddenly turned around and looked behind him, only to find Lin Qiong looking at him with a smile.

This scene left the little boy with a puzzled look on his face. He was curious as to why this stranger was looking for him.

So the little boy timidly spoke up, "Y-you... hello, big brother, is there anything I can help you with?"

Seeing that the little boy was a bit nervous around strangers, Lin Qiong said in a gentle tone, "Don't be nervous. I just want to ask why so many people are gathered here?"

“We’re waiting for Mr. Perkins to open the door.” The little boy seemed quite happy when Perkins was mentioned.

"Perkins?"

Lin Qiong began searching his memory for the name. He frowned slightly, as if he had heard the name somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.

“Yes! Mr. Perkins always comes to open the door for us at this time,” the little boy said excitedly. “Big brother, are you here to play with the big robots too?”

When the topic of robots came up, the little boy became like a dam bursting, sharing his experiences of playing hide-and-seek with robots.

Looking at the little boy, Lin Qiong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. One second the little boy was looking at him nervously, and the next second he started sharing about his robot friends with him.

Just as Lin Qiong was thinking this, the crowd surrounding the iron gate suddenly began to stir, and everyone was excitedly discussing it.

"I'm coming!"

"Hey, Mr. Perkins, you look great today!"

"Let me in right now! I'm going to study 'grizzly bears' today!"

Lin Qiong followed the crowd's gaze and saw a small robot that looked like a traffic light slowly walking towards them.

When it approached the iron gate, the green signal light flashed slightly, as if issuing some kind of command.

There was a loud "clang."

The iron gate that had been blocking the crowd opened, and the crowd surrounding it surged toward Swallow's encampment.

The little boy who had just been spoken to by Lin Qiong waved excitedly at Lin Qiong and shouted, "Big brother! Come on, let's go find the big robot to play with!"

After saying that, the little boy ran off into the Swallows' camp without looking back.

Seeing this, Lin Qiong smiled and sighed inwardly at the innocence of the children.

Just as he was about to follow the crowd into the Schwarzschild base, the robot named Perkins suddenly sounded an alarm, its signal lights flashing and emitting a blinding red light.

"Unknown visitor detected - Initiate authentication process."

As the cold, mechanical voice sounded, a uniform red beam of light shone from Perkins' signal light, sweeping across Lin Qiong's body from top to bottom.

All of this happened so suddenly that Lin Qiong didn't even have time to react. He didn't remember this part being in the plot.

Could it be because I skipped the orphanage in Rivet Town and came straight here?

Just as Lin Qiong was pondering where the problem lay, a cold, mechanical voice pulled him back to reality.

"Unable to retrieve current visitor information - Activate alert mode!"

Then, the robot named Perkins leaned its entire body slightly forward, as if it was about to crash into him.

Seeing this, Lin Qiong also gripped the bat in his hand, looking at the robot in front of him with a solemn expression.

He had come alone to avoid conflict with Schwarz and his group.

Unexpectedly, Schwarz's robots were so unreasonable. They scanned his body without warning and started fighting when they couldn't find his personal information.

Just as Lin Qiong was about to strike first and smash the robot to pieces with a stick,

A splash of red in the distance caught Lin Qiong's attention. He saw a petite figure hurrying towards him from the direction of the mansion.

At the same time, a voice that Lin Qiong found very familiar came from that direction.

"Perkins, wait a minute!"

Upon hearing this shout, the robot that was confronting Lin Qiong stopped flashing its red signal lights.

"Instruction received - deactivate alert mode."

As the petite red figure drew closer, Lin Qiong was able to see the person's face clearly.

Looking at that familiar white hair and red eyes, the person who had been calling out from afar was indeed Clara.

After reaching Perkins' side, Clara stopped, put her hands on her knees, and breathed heavily.

"Hoo...hoo...so he was the older brother from the big mining area." She fixed her gaze on Lin Qiong and said after thinking for a moment.

"Is there something you need here?"

"I'm here to talk to Schwarz."

Seeing Clara's puzzled expression, Lin Qiong explained the purpose of his visit to her.

Hearing Lin Qiong's words, Clara seemed somewhat surprised and said, "Mr. Schwarz told me that, based on calculations, there was a high probability that you and 'Earthfire' would come looking for it, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly."

Lin Qiong waved his hand and said with a smile, "Coming to see Schwarz was just my personal idea, and it has nothing to do with 'Earthfire'."

"Then, Clara, can you take me to see Schwarz?" Lin Qiong asked softly, looking at the girl in front of him with a smile.

It would be much easier if Clara were there. Lin Qiong was worried that if he went in directly, Schwarzschild might mistake him for an intruder.

But if Clara can take me in, I won't have to worry about being kicked out by Schwarz.

Upon hearing this, Clara's eyes dimmed, and she hesitated, head bowed, saying, "Um... Mr. Schwarz said that, according to calculations, there's a high probability that a fight will break out if it meets you."

Clara doesn't want to see anyone get hurt...