Chapter 6

After bidding farewell to his childhood sweetheart, Lin Youde felt a bit down.

"Looks like I'm on my own now..." Just as Lin Youde muttered this, he looked up and saw his robotic maid.

Lin Youde somehow found himself speaking to Noah, "How do you feel, Dajiao Star?"

"By your standards, it's called a terrestrial planet. Its water content is slightly lower than that of your home planet, and its vegetation coverage..."

"No, I didn't ask about that." Lin Youde sighed and corrected himself, "I mean, what's your subjective feeling about it?"

"Do humans have subjective feelings about a planet?" The little one's tone sounded surprised.

At that moment, a child floating nearby pointed at Lin Youde and said, "Mom, that big brother is talking to his robotic maid."

"Shh, don't look. That big brother might have autism. If you don't make more friends, you might end up like that too."

Lin Youde really wanted to warn the mother and child that they should lower their voices or use electronic communication when saying such things. But the child was too young to use electronic communication freely.

[It seems I shouldn't talk to you when others are around.] Lin Youde found himself getting used to communicating with Noah this way.

[Sure. But what they said about autism is interesting.]

As Noah spoke, a large amount of information about autism was synchronized into Lin Youde's consciousness.

The content rushed into Lin Youde's mind in nanoseconds, making him feel a bit dazed. Then he subconsciously thought about the scene from last night.

To be precise, it wasn't last night; it had been two months ago. Lin Zhengdao might have already forgotten that night, but for Lin Youde, it felt like it happened yesterday, so everything in his mind was crystal clear.

After receiving the acceptance letter from the Ship Service Academy, Lin Youde secretly contacted Lin Zhengdao via WeChat. Lin Zhengdao gave him a WeChat ID and said to add this ID after connecting to Dajiao Star's network. Lin Youde naturally asked who the owner of this ID was, and Lin Zhengdao told him it was a distant relative.

This was the first time Lin Youde knew he had a distant relative.

Thinking about this, Lin Youde used the nanomachines to give a command to his bracelet, and the WeChat ID stored in the bracelet was retrieved. He wanted to send an add request but hesitated when entering the verification message.

Should he write "I am your relative, Lin Youde," or "My uncle, Lin Zhengdao, said to add this WeChat after arriving at Dajiao Star"?

Just as he was hesitating, Noah's voice sounded: [We're here.]

Lin Youde looked up and met the gazes of what seemed to be his seniors. A well-figured senior girl approached first, "Are you a new student at the Ship Service Academy?"

Based on Lin Youde's precise visual estimation, the senior girl's bust was larger than Xia Yongzhi's, but her waist was also much thicker. She seemed to be using a stretchy skirt to cinch her waist, and with her pretty face, the senior girl gave Lin Youde a good impression.

"Yes," Lin Youde couldn't help but smile at the pretty senior girl.

But the senior girl lowered her head and pressed the "contact area" on her tablet. Lin Youde knew she was using nanomachines to exchange information with the tablet.

Modern humans can communicate directly with machines as long as their skin touches the contact area. Some machines are equipped with sensing systems, so they don't even need physical contact; humans can control them just by being nearby.

However, due to the recent retro trend, quite a few people still use keyboards to show off, like the senior in Lin Youde's line of sight who was using a very retro-style laptop, typing quickly on the keyboard. The senior was also wearing retro glasses, which modern humans never need because they don't get nearsighted.

But the senior girl in front of him clearly had no interest in tapping away at a keyboard.

"So, which department are you in?"

"What?" Lin Youde was stunned, "My acceptance letter doesn't mention any department."

"How can that be? Can I see your acceptance letter?"

Lin Youde nodded and projected his acceptance letter.

He heard the senior girl take a deep breath, "Dock 15..."

The other seniors immediately turned to look at them.

[Based on my mathematical model...]

[I know, they're all surprised.]

While responding to Noah, Lin Youde asked the seniors, "Is there a problem with this address?"

At that moment, a senior came over, looked at Lin Youde's acceptance letter, and patted his shoulder, "Amazing, Dock 15 is where they train ghost agents!"

"Ghost agents?" Lin Youde was completely shocked.

Before he could process this information, the senior asked, "Are you a Level 6 psychic?"

"Uh, no, I'm only a Level 1 psychic."

"Then you must have some other special skills. You look pretty strong, are you a space combat champion?"

Lin Youde looked down at his own build and smiled at the senior, "No, this is from doing farm work."

"How many hours have you spent on spacewalks?" Another senior floated over, "Five thousand hours? Or ten thousand hours?"

"About fifty hours..." Lin Youde was uncertain, feeling that it might not even be fifty hours, so he said it with a lot of hesitation.

"So, it's..."

Just as the two seniors were about to propose new theories, a glasses-wearing senior behind them shouted, "I checked the spaceport entry records, his name is Lin Youde."

Everyone instantly had an "I see" expression.

Lin Youde sighed slightly at this scene.

In the past eighteen years, he had faced similar situations countless times, in elementary school, middle school, and high school—twice in high school, once when he entered as a freshman and once when the classes were divided into science and humanities.

"Although I have the surname Lin," he explained to the seniors, "I have no relation to the well-known Lin family."

"But you're entering the training program for ghost agents," the senior who asked if Lin Youde was a Level 6 psychic said, "If you have no special skills but are still selected for this program, you must be from the Lin family. Do you have any special skills?"

Lin Youde thought about it and realized he really didn't.

"No, no, no," Lin Youde still couldn't accept this, "I can't be from the Lin family. I've had a tough life for so many years. How could a Lin family heir have such a tough life?"

In that moment, Lin Youde thought of Lin Zhengdao's fat son and his domineering aunt. He had suffered a lot under their names over the years, so he was even more certain that he couldn't be a Lin family heir.

"Even Hamlet, when he was in trouble, had girls coming to him." Lin Youde suddenly remembered something.

Wait, there really was a girl who came to him...

[What is Hamlet?] Noah interrupted Lin Youde's thoughts.

"Hamlet what?" The senior in front of Lin Youde frowned, almost in sync with Noah.

The senior girl who greeted Lin Youde first answered, "Hamlet, a tragic hero. Anyway, if you're going to Dock 15, you shouldn't go with us. You should take a shuttle to the bottom of the spaceport, where there are military shuttles to Dock 15. The shuttle station is over there."

"Thank you." Lin Youde thanked her, grabbed Noah's hand, and had Noah activate his thrusters to fly towards the shuttle station.

After Lin Youde left, the glasses-wearing senior, who had been buried in his computer, suddenly said, "I checked the Lin family's public genealogy. There's someone with the same name and age, but I'm not sure if it's him."

"That's none of our business anyway," someone replied.

***

On the shuttle, Lin Youde accessed the Lin family's homepage and then checked their public genealogy.

[You don't need to do it yourself; I can help you.]

[Thanks, but I'm used to doing it myself.] Lin Youde responded while continuing to read the webpage.

A few seconds later, he was completely shocked.

To access the Lin family's homepage in New Zhengzhou, one had to use an Ansible communication device, and there were only four such devices in all of New Zhengzhou. So, Lin Youde and the people around him had never thought to check.

After all, most people considered the Lin family a legendary existence far away, so they subconsciously thought they would never encounter anyone from this family in their lifetime.

Even Lin Youde himself never thought he could be a member of the Lin family.

But the fact was, Lin Youde's father, Lin Zhengyi, and his uncle, Lin Zhengdao, were both members of the Lin family's "Zheng" generation, and Lin Youde himself was a member of the "De" generation. Additionally, from the genealogy, Lin Youde learned that the difference between the main branch and the collateral branches was that the main branch members had the generational name as the second character, while the collateral branches had it as the third character.

So, Lin Zhengyi and Lin Zhengdao were both members of the main branch, but in Lin Youde's generation, the "De" character was placed as the third character—Lin Zhengdao's son was named Lin Guangde, with "De" as the third character.

"In other words, our family was marginalized for some reason..."

Lin Youde also noticed that in the Lin family genealogy, the generational names for females were different from those for males. Males were named with "Song," "Zheng," "De," etc., while females were named with "Yun," "Xiang," "Qing," etc.

At this point, Lin Youde noticed a name in the family tree that was quite close to his: Lin Xiangzhi. Although she was a generation younger, this girl was actually the same age as Lin Youde...

Lin Youde suddenly realized why he had noticed this name. The owner of the WeChat ID Lin Zhengdao gave him was actually named Lin Xiangzhi.

At that moment, the shuttle's internal speaker announced in an electronic voice, "Military shuttle station, military shuttle station."

Lin Youde released his seatbelt, picked up his luggage, and followed Noah, who was leading the way, off the shuttle.

He didn't have much trouble finding the shuttle to Dock 15.

"A robotic maid?" The military soldier floating near the shuttle entrance had a subtle expression.

"Uh, can't I bring a maid robot to Dock 15?"

"According to the rules, the total volume of your personal items cannot exceed 1.5 cubic meters, and the total weight cannot exceed 200 kilograms." The military soldier looked at Noah, "Has your robot been illegally modified to exceed these limits?"

"No," Lin Youde said firmly, then added to himself: But she has Level 12+ psychic abilities and can perform mass-energy conversion.

"Then there's no problem," the soldier, who obviously didn't know Lin Youde's thoughts, waved his hand, "You can bring your robot to Dock 15 and have her accompany you throughout your training, Mr. Ghost Agent."

"I'm not a ghost agent yet."

"I know, but it doesn't hurt to be nice to someone who might become a ghost agent, right?" The soldier smiled at Lin Youde and gestured for him to enter.

Lin Youde entered the shuttle and found a seat. At that moment, a boy in the front row stood up and turned to look at him.

"Lin Zhengyi's son?"

"Yes," Lin Youde nodded.

"Hmph, the son of a coward wants to be a ghost agent?" The boy pointed at Lin Youde's nose, "I bet you won't even pass the selection test, let alone become a ghost agent's support personnel."

Because his father was called a coward, Lin Youde was instantly furious, but the boy activated his bracelet's projector and proudly displayed his psychic level, which made Lin Youde reconsider his plan to punch him. Suppressing his anger, he asked, "Who are you, do I know you?"

"It's normal that you don't know me, because Lin Zhengdao, who raised you, is too ashamed to admit he's from the Lin family because of your parents. Let me tell you, I'm Lin Deguang. But since you're about to be eliminated and sent back to that remote colony of New Zhengzhou, it doesn't matter if you remember my name or not." With that, Lin Deguang turned around and said to the others in the same row, "Let's go, let's go, stay away from this guy, or you'll be contaminated."

So, Lin Deguang and his followers moved to the other end of the cabin, far away from Lin Youde.

"You're hurting yourself," Noah suddenly said, "Please relax your facial muscles, or you'll bite your lip."

"Thanks for the advice," Lin Youde nodded at Noah, who was focused on playing the role of a normal robot.

At that moment, a light and pleasant voice sounded in Lin Youde's ear.

"Is this seat taken?"

Lin Youde turned around and saw a girl with short hair and a thin fringe, with a prominent beauty mark at the corner of her eye, which added a touch of elegance to her already delicate face, elevating her beauty to a higher level.

Lin Youde's heart cheered: A beautiful girl, a beautiful girl!

Before he could fully appreciate her beauty, the data for her bust appeared: 86, not small, plus a slim waist...

[Can't you turn off this feature? It's ruining the atmosphere. The feeling of a beautiful encounter is completely destroyed!] Lin Youde complained to Noah.

[OK] Noah replied in English.

The beauty mark girl tilted her head, as if urging Lin Youde to answer her question.

"This seat is free," Lin Youde answered decisively, "Please, sit down."

The girl smiled and sat down next to Lin Youde, then said something unexpected, "Don't mind that guy. Even within the family, his personality isn't well-liked, and there are many who don't like him, including me."

"Uh, you are also..." Honestly, Lin Youde was still not used to his new identity as a member of the Lin family. It felt so unreal that he wasn't sure if he should continue the conversation, in case it was a misunderstanding.

But the beauty mark girl smiled at Lin Youde, "I'm just like you. You might not know me, but I know your father. My name is Lin Xiangzhi, and I'm your aunt, sort of."

"Then Aunt, please be careful of people surnamed Yi." Lin Youde blurted out this strange thought, not knowing why he suddenly had this association.

What if the beauty mark girl hadn't read that ancient novel? That would be awkward, and he would be considered a weirdo—after all, in this era, people who had read "The Return of the Condor Heroes" were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

To his surprise, Xiangzhi laughed, "Haha, I will. I didn't expect you to like ancient literature. You look so tough, but I'm impressed, Aunt is impressed!"

In front of the girl's charming smile, Lin Youde scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed, and humbly said, "No, I just read a bit here and there..."

As they chatted, the shuttle took off silently, passed through the force field barrier at the spaceport entrance, and flew towards Dock 15.

(We've hit 10,000 recommendations on the second day of release! Not updating more would be unfair to all these recommendations. I'll put it out there: I have 100,000 words in reserve, and I'm not updating more to stay on the new book list longer. If I update 10,000 words a day, I'll be off the new book list in 20 days, but if I update 6,000 words a day, I can stay on for 30 days. However, the new book list isn't as effective as the homepage recommendation list. If you keep me on the homepage recommendation list, I'll give up the new book list and update 10,000 words a day. That's it.)

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