Starry Sky Railway: Twin Origins

Chapter 41 Negotiation

"It's alright, Clara."

Seeing Clara's worried expression, Lin Qiong gently comforted her.

"I'll just say a few words to Schwarz and then leave; I won't fight it."

Lin Qiong knew very well that as long as he didn't mention the word "star core" directly in front of Schwarz, he wouldn't provoke its hostility.

But if you convince Schwarz that you have a way to end the world's catastrophe, then it will tell you everything about the "Star Core".

Of course, even if Schwarzlo hadn't said it, Lin Qiong knew that the star core was in Cocolia.

Hearing Lin Qiong's words, Clara tilted her head slightly and looked at Lin Qiong with a hint of doubt, asking, "Big brother, are you sure you won't fight with Mr. Schwarz?"

Seeing that Clara was somewhat skeptical, Lin Qiong took out the light cone given to him by the Black Tower—"Record of the Fall of a Star God"—and showed it to her.

"Clara, look, I got this on a space station that's very far away from this planet."

Upon hearing Lin Qiong say that this was an object from outer space, Clara looked at the small card-like object in Lin Qiong's hand with some skepticism.

She was immediately drawn to the cone of light after just one glance.

There was a large red sphere engraved on it, inside which was a worm-like creature, and many worm-shaped black shadows were flying around the red sphere.

The outer shell encapsulating this light cone is even more perplexing. It looks as if the "light" was sliced ​​using some kind of technology and then solidified.

This also allows the light cone to emit a faint glow even in such a hazy, foggy weather.

"How is it, Clara?" Seeing Clara staring intently at the light cone in his hand, Lin Qiong called Clara's name softly.

"You've probably never seen this kind of item on this planet before, have you?"

Lin Qiong's call brought Clara back to reality. She nodded slightly. "Yes, Clara has never seen anything so amazing before."

"If I said I came from another planet, would you believe me?"

"Other... planets?" Clara found it hard to believe when she heard Lin Qiong's words, but she wavered a little when she saw the light cone in Lin Qiong's hand.

Seeing Clara's reaction, Lin Qiong, sensing an opportunity, pressed his advantage, saying, "If Clara is willing to take me to see Schwarz, how about I take you to visit the Star Train after we've resolved the disaster in this world?"

"Star Train?" Clara repeated the name she had never heard before. She knew that a train was a means of transportation, but what was a Star Train?

“Yes, the Star Train.” Seeing Clara’s confusion, Lin Qiong told her about a train that travels along the road laid out by the “Pioneer” star god Akivili, running through the vast starry sky.

Hearing that there was such a magical train in the world, Clara seemed somewhat intrigued. She also wanted to see for herself whether the Star Train that Lin Qiong had mentioned was really that magical.

But he was also worried that Lin Qiong and Mr. Schwarzroth would fight after they met.

After hesitating for a while, Clara looked up at Lin Qiong and said, "Well... I can take big brother to see Mr. Schwarz, but big brother has to promise not to fight with Mr. Schwarz."

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiong tried his best to maintain a calm expression, pretending to be composed and suppressing the joy in his heart. He nodded to Clara and said, "That's no problem. I'm just here to chat with Swaro. I won't fight with it."

Then, with Lin Qiong's assurance, Clara gestured for Perkins to open the door leading to the mansion.

Clara led Lin Qiong through the gate to the courtyard in front of the mansion, where a tall, one-eyed robot stood quietly in the center.

Upon seeing the robot, Clara immediately ran to its side, smiling, and said, "Mr. Schwarz, I'm back!"

“Welcome back, Clara.” Schwarzkopf’s single red eye flickered slightly as he looked at Clara, speaking in a cold, mechanical voice. “But—”

As it spoke, it immediately turned its mechanical head to look at Lin Qiong not far away, "Why did you bring him here?"

When he said this, Schwarzkopf's speech became slightly rapid, as if he were imitating how a person would act when angry.

Clara, noticing this, lowered her head and said nervously, "Mr. Schwarz, this older brother wants to talk to you in person."

"He assured me he wouldn't clash with you, so I brought him along..."

Schwarz looked at Lin Qiong, a beam of light shining from his single red eye and enveloping him.

"Analysis in progress—Analysis results: Target does not belong to the 'Earthfire' organization. Background: Unknown. Classification: Unknown information. Threat level: High-risk energy entity."

After the scan was finished, Schwarz stepped forward, shielding Clara behind him with his tall frame. "Given Clara's recommendation, I will give you a chance to speak."

"Now, state your purpose—you are an outsider."

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiong went straight to the point and said, "Swarovski, I hope that you and your robots can assist us in counterattacking the upper district."

"Rejected—My mission is merely to 'protect' the lower zones; I have no intention of intervening in conflicts between humans."

"What if I said that the source of this global cold wave is in the Upper Zone?"

Lin Qiong's words silenced Swaro for a moment. Unable to determine the truth of the statement, it began searching its database.

"Querying the database - Query result: Failed, reason: Access blocked."

After discovering that the record could not be found, Schwarz's single red eye became unusually bright.

"How did you obtain this secret, sealed deep within the world, a secret that no human being could know?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiong smiled. He knew that he had already succeeded halfway, even though he hadn't directly stated that he wanted to find the "Star Core".

Instead, it tells Schwarzlo where the source of the disaster is, so that its defense mechanisms are not triggered.

"Because... my goal is to end this century-long cold disaster that has swept the world."

Lin Qiong looked at the silent Schwarz and continued, "To end this disaster, everyone in the lower district needs to unite, and your help is indispensable in this process."

"..."

Schwarzkopf's massive computing power seemed to stop working at this moment, falling into a long silence after hearing Lin Qiong's words.

Then, it raised its iron head and looked at Lin Qiong, and a synthesized mechanical voice came from the sound-producing device inside its body.

"Start calculating the success probability for the target individual—result: infinitely close to one percent."

"According to calculations, your chances of ending this disaster are less than one percent."

"Conclusion - The target individual's request for assistance is rejected."