IPC Chapter 1: Casweir

Interstellar Power Couple

Translator: Leslie

Quality Check: Lala

Editor: Chesh

First Published on Chaleuria

Chapter 1: Casweir

Lei Jue felt odd. It felt as if his life had returned to the very beginning. His body was cocooned by a warm liquid, safe as within a mother’s body.

This was a very novel experience. He attempted to open his eyes, but this action was quickly interrupted by the sudden sound of whirring. The liquid which had been warming him was quickly drained. What replaced it was some kind of mist, which was just as warm as the liquid. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the mist was a pale green. The gas circulated around him before immediately attaching to his body in wisps and his body was like a sponge as it slowly absorbed the tiny wisps.

“Mr Su, the patient’s primary treatment has been completed. According to your instructions, part of his memory has been wiped and the damaged neurons have already been successfully restored. Also, Plan A3 has been successfully implanted.” The speaker paused. “Following that, it’s best to give him a full physical checkup. If there are no other problems, he will only need some nutritional supplements and immunity strengthening during the secondary treatment phase.”  

“There’s no need for that; we don’t have much time for him to waste. Just get him out, first,” a cold voice rang out. What followed after that was the sound of a lid slowly opening.  

Lei Jue adjusted to the light, which was gradually becoming stronger. He immediately turned his head and looked confusedly at the two strangers who stood to his right.

Just five minutes ago, he was still a ranger at Mount Fanjing, where he was tasked with patrolling the mountain and watching over the wildlife. During a routine patrol, he had bumped into an illegal poacher. He was shot while protecting the snub-nosed monkeys and had died on the spot. When he opened his eyes again, he was already here.

“Who are you?” Lei Jue suddenly let out a hiss as he abruptly grabbed his head and curled up. Countless memories, which did not belong to him, began rushing into his mind and making him feel as if his brain was about to explode.  

“What is this!” the man addressed as ‘Mr. Su’ furiously shouted at the doctor upon seeing this spectacle. “Didn’t you say that his neurons had already been repaired?”

“Mr. Su, please calm your anger. They have indeed been successfully restored.” The doctor in scrubs looked at Su Erman with fear and anxiety. “I assure you that the Regeneration Capsule cannot malfunction. I think Mr. Lei only-only needs a little time to simply adjust.” 

“To simply adjust?” Su Erman squinted slightly as he looked at the person sitting inside the Regeneration Capsule. The person looked familiar, yet there was something just a little bit off about him. “Tell me, what is your name?”

“L-Lei Jue.” Lei Jue took two deep breaths of air and violently shook his head. Once he was sure that the pain in his head was slowly dissipating, he lowered his head to see his own body.

He actually had a new body!  

Although it may have sounded unthinkable, he had indeed transmigrated to a different planet after he died on Earth. The new memories informed him that this was the planet ‘Casweir’, a planet whose civilization had developed nearly a thousand years earlier than Earth. Right now it was the year 992, according to the Galactic Calendar, and the person before him called “Mr. Su” was “Su Erman”, his cousin’s trusted subordinate. As for him, he was originally called ‘Lei Jue’. However, the owner of this body was also ‘Lei Jue’ [1]. Although the written character for “Jue” was different from his original name, it was obvious that there was no difference in its pronunciation.

Su Erman could not hear the difference between the two. Seeing Lei Jue exit the capsule, his eyes slowly began filling with something inexplicable. He coldly left these words for the doctor: “If there is anything wrong with him, I will come looking for you again.” With that, he took Lei Jue and left.

It was only then that Lei Jue had a chance to properly take a look at his surroundings. This place was completely different from anything he had seen before. The room that he was in had had five or six things that greatly resembled coffins. These things were called ‘Regeneration Boxes’, medical machines that were able to restore damage sustained by the human body.  

Su Erman brought Lei Jue into a lift. At last, he couldn’t bear Lei Jue’s gaze anymore. “Young Master Lei Jue, you are part of the Lei family, please do not behave like a country bumpkin!” 

The corners of Lei Jue’s lips twitched. “Country bumpkin?”

Su Erman frowned in displeasure. “That’s right. The Master is currently waiting for you. I believe that he would not wish to see you in this state.”

Lei Jue flipped through his memories to recall that particular cousin, who actually had no blood relation to him at all. After a moment, he said, “Thank you for the reminder.”

The personality of the original owner of this body wasn’t exactly the same as his. Most of the time, he tended to be a bit quiet and reticent. If Lei Jue didn’t want to raise any suspicions, he should definitely be mindful of his words and actions. However, the development of this place was, indeed, the same as ‘Lei Jue’s’ appearance—it was absolutely stunning. It was the reason why he couldn’t be blamed for his slip of control. 

Upon seeing Lei Jue staring at his reflection in the wall of the lift, instead of glancing around everywhere, Su Erman turned his head back with satisfaction and brought Lei Jue out of the lift.

It was only then that Lei Jue realized that they had been underground. The place they were currently at, though, looked like an airport ramp. It was just that what was on the ramp did not look like any kind of aircraft he had seen before, but was instead something that resembled a flying saucer. Not only that, it was highly intelligent. The moment Su Erman neared it, it had already verified its owner’s identity and opened its door. 

“Flying Wolf, return home,” Su Erman said while Lei Jue sat down with him.  

“Alright, sir,” a soft and gentle woman’s voice sounded from the computer, “please sit tight.” 

As the safety belts, which automatically adjusted to fit the passengers’ bodies, slowly buckled, the aircraft gradually began leaving the ground. 

Lei Jue looked down on a whole new world. 

There were no tall buildings here, nor were there any aftereffects of rapid technological advancement everywhere. Instead, there were lush green plants and the environment was nice. There were also many kinds of animals that he had never seen before. 

The animals all seemed quite satisfied.

When Lei Jue descended from the aircraft, a gigantic golden butterfly flew towards him and landed on his shoulder.  

Earth didn’t have a butterfly with such a pure golden color; it was probably a species native to this place. It was the size of an adult’s hand, called an ‘empress butterfly’, one of an extremely rare species of butterflies. Usually, they weren’t friendly with humans. They were also elusive, which was why even Su Erman couldn’t help but stop and watch for a moment.

He wasn’t sure whether or not he was imagining it, but he thought that the empress butterfly’s color had become more vivid after it landed on Lei Jue.  

Lei Jue slowly placed his hand to the side of his shoulder, palm up. When he was still working at Mount Fanjing, he was especially prone to attracting animals, from critters as small to bees to those as large as black bears. Those who knew him also knew this, but he hadn’t thought he would also carry this trait over with him even after death.

The empress butterfly seemingly understood Lei Jue’s intentions and slowly flew into Lei Jue’s palm. Lei Jue looked at it for a short while, then let it fly. However, it still followed behind him.

“Mother, it seems that Little Jue has recovered fairly well,” Lei Haige said to his mother, Yu Fenglai, as he watched his younger cousin teasing the butterfly. “You can rest easy now.”  

”Mm.” Seeing that Lei Jue’s complexion was fairly good, Yu Feng nodded her head in satisfaction. “The election for the Minister of Defense is before us. We need the help of the Xiao family, so this time it is imperative that the marriage between the Lei and Xiao families goes through. You will need to watch Little Jue more; don’t let him stir up any kind of incident again.

“Rest assured, I’ve made them wipe part of his memory. He doesn’t remember who the person he liked was. Having forgotten those feelings, it’s natural that he won’t be too likely to reject Xiao Lingyu.”

“That is for the best. Having this useless thing staying at home is also a waste of resources.” Yu Feng frowned. “Might as well hurry and gift him to the Xiao family in exchange for some tangible benefits.”

“Right.”

“Madam, Young Master Haige, I have brought Young Master Lei Jue back.” Su Erman walked over with the boy and slightly inclined his body . “The doctor said that Young Master Lei Jue’s body has recovered well. All of the objectives for the primary treatment have been met.”

”Are you sure it’s all of them?” 

”Yes, Young Master Haige.” 

“Very well.” Lei Haige nodded his head, giving Lei Jue a once-over. “Xiao Jue, do you feel unwell anywhere?”  

“No. Auntie, cousin, I’m very well, just a little sleepy.” Lei Jue averted his gaze to cover his slight derision. “Can I go back to rest first?”

“Of course you may, but you can only rest for two hours, because three hours from now, Marshal Xiao and his family will be here as guests. You will need to begin tidying yourself up an hour before then.”

“Marshal Xiao?” 

”That’s right, don’t you remember?” Lei Haige’s eyes had something resembling schadenfreude within them. “You were engaged to Marshal Xiao’s youngest son, Xiao Lingyu. They learned that you were discharged from the hospital today, so they want to visit you. Aren’t you glad?” 

”Yes.” Lei Jue slowly raised his head and looked at Lei Haige. 

“Emily—” Lei Haige smiled insincerely as he looked back at Lei Jue, calling for a robot housekeeper, “—please send Young Master Lei Jue back to his room to rest. Oh, that’s right, when he wakes up, please don’t forget to explain the… etiquette for receiving guests before he washes up.”  

”Yes.” 

Emily made a beckoning gesture. Lei Jue followed her to his own room, which was on the second floor. It was spacious, brightly lit, and shaped like a dome. Whether it was the floor or the walls, the surfaces were like crystalline glass. He took a step in and heard a beep. The room’s temperature promptly adjusted to a temperature that the original body’s owner favoured, and the dome-shaped ‘crystal cover’ behaved as if it were alive, changing from ‘full transparency’ to a display of the Milky Way.  

This was adjusted by Emily, who had followed Lei Jue’s arrangements for when he wanted to rest. When Lei Jue laid on the bed, it was as if he was under the starry nightscape, each twinkling little star seemingly about to fall onto him. Occasionally, a shooting star would streak through. The scene was incredibly realistic, but as he watched this beautiful view he lost all sense of exhaustion. This was mainly because he had remembered that the Lei family was about to unite with the Xiao family through marriage.  

The Xiao family was the number one military family of the Beiling area. They were inheritors of metal element abilities. Ever since the formation of the Galactic Alliance, practically every battle had Marshal Xiao Zhicheng’s involvement. It could be said that his military exploits were many and illustrious, and his name was known far and wide. Most unfortunately, during the marshal’s last battle, he had fallen victim to a strange poison hadn’t been able to recover. And now his health continued declining with each passing day. Although he had searched for the best medical teams throughout the Galactic Alliance, he was only able to narrowly keep his life. It was impossible for him to lead soldiers into battle, as he had before.      

However, this wasn’t the most worrying matter. What was most worrying was that the marshal and his wife had borne a total of five children in their lives, but none had inherited the metal element abilities of the family—including Xiao Lingyu, who was to wed with the Lei family.  

Others had said that the Xiao family was likely to end with this generation. The family was currently barely being propped up by Marshal Xiao’s remaining prestige, but once the marshal was gone, the Xiao family knew what would become of them without the support of an elemental ability user.

It was obvious that the reason why the Lei family intended for Lei Jue to marry into the Xiao family was to squeeze the last bit of their worth dry. Lei Haige’s father was currently the Deputy Minister of Defense, but there were two other deputy ministers apart from him. If he wanted to be the actual minister, he would naturally need some external help. Marshal Xiao’s support was an indispensable component.

As for the Xiao family, perhaps it was because they could see their family’s power waning daily, so they wished to find a family that could protect them. 

As his train of thought arrived at that point, Lei Jue laughed derisively. This was not to mention how the Lei family would definitely burn their bridges after getting what they wanted. His cheap fiance, Xiao Lingyu, was a notorious philanderer. If the Lei and Xiao families were really to join each other in marriage, his “romantic rivals” might even outnumber the monkeys he had seen on Mount Fanjing. With this kind of person, even if the Lei family were kind, they could not possibly care that much.  

But it seemed that the marriage couldn’t be avoided. Lei Jue refused to marry Xiao Lingyu, and the price had been brainwashing and partial memory erasure. If he were to refuse again, what fate would await him?

[1] 雷绝,雷珏: The original Lei Jue’s name and our main character Lei Jue’s name respectively. They have the same names phonetically. However, the ‘Jue’ character is written differently. Pronunciation-wise, you wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart. The first ‘Jue’ can mean any of ‘absolute’, ‘extremely’, ‘death’, ‘sever’, or ‘exhaust’. The latter Jue means ‘two pieces of jade joined together’. 

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