A Chemist's Interstellar Saga

Chapter 77: Kidnapping
Chapter 77: Kidnapping

After cleaning up everything, Arix and the three little tiger cubs stood in a line in front of the mecha, their four pairs of eyes simultaneously looking at the newly repaired mecha. They all exclaimed in awe.

”Wow! This big guy is so cool!” Cupid exclaimed excitedly.

”It’s just okay,” Sophia said with a disdainful look, but her eyes showed a hint of satisfaction.

”Arix and Sophia are amazing. You both did a great job!” Vita praised.

Arix and Sophia blushed a little at the compliment, their smiles growing wide.

After a moment, Arix suggested, ”Let’s take a few pictures together. It’s our first repaired mecha, and it would be a shame not to capture this moment.”

”Yes! Happy, happy!” Cupid was the first to agree, excitedly circling the three of them.

Sophia, for once, didn’t say anything sarcastic and nodded.

”I’ll choose the angles. Arix, give me your opticomputer,” Vita said indulgently, looking at the three of them. He took the opticomputer from Arix and used his psychic power to make it float in the air.

Following Vita’s directions, Arix stood a bit away from the mecha in the middle, holding Vita, Sophia, and Cupid in her arms. They all smiled for the picture.

They took photos in various spots: on the mecha’s shoulder, in its palm, in the crook of its arm, and finally inside the mecha’s control cabin, finishing with one last group photo.

Arix took back the opticomputer and opened the gallery, happily looking through the photos with the three little ones.

”Cupid, don’t move around so much next time. You made this photo blurry,” Sophia complained when she saw a slightly blurred Cupid in one picture.

”Got it. I won’t move next time,” Cupid replied, looking a bit sad.

”It’s okay, it’s just one photo. The others are great,” Vita said, lifting his paw to rub Cupid’s little head.

Arix didn’t say anything, just patted Cupid’s head to show comfort.

Arix wouldn’t get involved in the little ones’ affairs. After all, each of them was her precious cub. She loved them all equally and couldn’t bear to favor one over the other.

Fortunately, Vita had the nature of an elder, and he could help Arix take care of Cupid and Sophia. Without Vita, just thinking about handling these sweet troubles made Arix feel overwhelmed.

’Ah! Love Vita!’ Arix thought, feeling grateful.

After looking at the photos, Arix was ready to leave. She sent Vita and the others back to her psychic world to rest. Alone, Arix walked out of the repair room and closed the door behind her.

She wanted to thank the old man again but couldn’t find him anywhere.

Not long after she stepped out of the gate of the department, a man and a woman grabbed her. One of them covered her mouth, and the other wrapped his arms around her waist and carried her away.

Suddenly kidnapped, Arix was confused and didn’t react at first. Once she calmed down a bit, she saw that the people who kidnapped her were Cantet and Rhea. A bad feeling rose in Arix’s heart.

’Are they here for revenge? Should I resist when they start beating her?’

The kidnapping process was very short. In less than 30 seconds, Cantet and Rhea brought Arix to a secluded corner.

”What do you want?” Arix asked, looking at them warily. She also prepared Cupid in her psychic world for a fight.

Cantet and Rhea exchanged a glance. Then, they were about to take something out of the Space Button.

Arix grew more and more nervous, thinking they might take out guns or clubs to beat her. The tension was high.

Just as Cupid was about to come out, Arix saw two hands holding gifts appear in front of her.

’Gifts?’ Both Cupid and Arix were stunned.

Arix looked cautiously at Cantet and Rhea. Cantet was the one she had accidentally hurt, and Rhea was the one she had fought. Both of them ended in the hospital because of her.

Arix checked their faces again. Yes, it was definitely them.

So, they couldn’t possibly be here to give her gifts. They were more likely here to finish her off.

’Damn it, it’s a trap! Run!’ Just as Arix was about to turn and run, Cantet and Rhea grabbed her shoulders from both sides.

Arix closed her eyes in resignation. Then she turned to them and said, ”What do you want? I won’t resist, okay? Just do what you want quickly. Have some mercy and don’t give me sufferings.”

Cantet and Rhea looked at Arix in confusion. Rhea frowned and asked, ”I think there are some misunderstandings here. We came to apologize.”

”Apologize?” Arix almost looked at them with horror, wondering if they were crazy. ’Am I dreaming, or are these two crazy, or the world has just gone crazy as I expected?’

She had both of them end up in the hospital, and they came to apologize to her.

No matter how shocked Arix felt inside, she kept a calm expression, quietly watching them.

Perhaps the awkward silence made Cantet and Rhea feel uneasy. The latter coughed and decided to speak quickly.

”I shouldn’t have brought my own selfish motives and invaded your psychic world. Even though your psychic power retaliated against me, I still need to say, I’m sorry.”

Arix’s expression changed. She asked silently in her mind, ”Vita, is he telling the truth?”

”Yes, he tried to hypnotize you to get information, so I had Cupid teach him a lesson,” Vita, usually kind-hearted, held a grudge this time.

Arix was shocked to realize she had narrowly avoided a great danger.

She wasn’t even from this interstellar world. If Cantet had discovered her true identity, her fate would have been grim.

She had thought Cantet’s psychic power backlash was because she forgot to mention her psychic power level. It turned out that he was actually trying to invade her psychic world.

Infuriating, she said to Vita, ”Next time we meet someone like this, make sure they stay in hospital for at least six months!”

”Got it!” Vita, sharing the anger, clenched her tiny fists.

Having understood the reason, Arix showed no kindness to Cantet but still accepted the gift. She then gave a sarcastic, sweet smile. ”Captain Cantet, do you want to try again next time? The consequence isn’t severe; just another six month in the hospital.”

Cantet shivered and hid behind his sister, Rhea. He had had enough of hospital food.

Seeing Cantet scared enough to hide behind Rhea calmed Arix’s anger a bit. She turned her attention to Rhea, thinking what kind of apology she was going to offer.

Rhea, trying to maintain her cool demeanor, nearly lost it under Arix’s gaze. She awkwardly coughed and said, ”Um, Cantet is actually my brother. I thought you were hurting him on purpose, so I was harsh during the assessment. Sorry, here’s my gift. Please forgive me.”

Arix was speechless.

This truth was worse than not knowing. At least then, she wouldn’t feel so frustrated. The guilty was eating away from her, and she almost lost her dinner appetite. Now, she felt like something was stuck in her throat, making it impossible to swallow her anger.

However, Arix naturally had a soft spot for girls like herself. She sighed helplessly and took Rhea’s gift. Then she stared at the two and said, ”Apologies accepted, but I have one finally request.”

”Say it, we’ll definitely do it!” Cantet and Rhea looked at Arix with determined eyes, eager to show their sincerity.

Arix originally wanted to say, ”Just stay away from me in the future.” But seeing their eager faces, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Finally, she sighed and rubbed her forehead.

”You two are my brother’s comrades. Just take care of him should anything happens,” she said.

”No problem, that’s easy. Leave it to us,” Rhea quickly agreed, her voice full of enthusiasm.

Cantet, however, hesitated. In the end, he nodded silently, as if bearing a great burden. Taking care of his ’nemesis’ was a bitter pill to swallow. Just thinking about having to be nice to Kellan made him shudder.

But Arix didn’t know any of this. She genuinely believed that Cantet was a good friend of her brother. After all, Kellan had brought soup to Cantet when he was in the hospital. And Cantet had claimed to be friends with her brother.