Chapter 39: 028 Kolev’s Secret Garden_2
Kolev nudged Yang Ming with his shoulder and complained,
“Arguing with this guy already gave
a headache, and as of now, so of your functions are officially redundant!”
“Oh, what a delightful thing…Settings are complete.”
Molly’s tone altered slightly as she spoke, becoming much more formal.
“Master, please set permissions for the guests.”
“Mimili, my only daughter, the sole inheritor of everything once I’m gone,” Kolev pointed at Mimili behind him, “her permissions are set to the highest level.”
...
He lowered his voice and added, “Except for the list of my assets, which she’ll get after I’m dead.”
“Permissions have been set, second master.”
Mimili held her forehead with her hand, her face reflecting helplessness, “Dad! I don’t need your things to survive!”
“But you definitely won’t live as comfortably without my care.”
Kolev laughed proudly and then pointed at Yang Ming,
“This guy gets the sa permissions as Mimili, but he is barred from entering the ladies’ ensuing quarters. The others are granted VIP permissions.”
“Permissions have been set, third master, barred from entering the ladies’ rooms… However, I can’t control those chanical door locks that aren’t connected to the network.”
“Just keep an eye on him! Report back to
at all tis!”
“Understood, my old master.”
Molly’s virtual image pulled out a notebook and quickly jotted sothing down.
Then, turning to roll call, two butler robots and eight maid robots stepped forward to help Yang Ming’s group remove their cumberso planet exploration suits; more than ten tread robots left the base through a different passageway, making their way to the pirate ship to transport supplies.
A few minutes later, everyone sat on the soft sofas on the left side of the main hall, enjoying delicious beverages, listening to soothing music, and admiring the wall projections of landscapes that were almost indistinguishable from reality.
The old pirates couldn’t stop marveling at the opulence of the place.
Yang Ming was already eagerly roaming all over.
After the robots had left, the vestibule appeared sowhat spacious.
To the left of the vestibule was the entertainnt area, and to the right was the work area, furnished with several workbenches, a row of black, boxy cabinets, and several highly integrated control panels.
The center area of the vestibule was left open, and after observing carefully for a while, Yang Ming quickly noticed sothing unusual.
It was a circular lift with a diater of twenty ters, which brought to light a hidden exit above it at an angle; considering the terrain outside—the ridges arrayed like fishbones—Yang Ming instantly formulated so conjectures.
“Kolev, there’s an escape pod and a launch track here, right?”
Yang Ming asked, surprised.
Kolev, who was busy showing off to his old buddies, raised an eyebrow and chuckled,
“A competent pirate always needs to have a clear exit plan. Since you’re so interested, I’ll take you for a tour first, Hanton. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Mimili asked, “Dad, you used to disappear every now and then, was it to co here?”
“Yes,” Kolev smiled, “if I died in prison, you would receive instructions from Molly, this place is my last gift to you— a self-sustaining base.”
Mimili’s eyes filled with emotion, and she said with a hint of guilt, “I ssed things up.”
“Chin up,” Kolev sighed, “your Uncle Hanton was right, I did see you through too many filters, but you have nothing to worry about, I’ll handle everything for you.”
“But Dad…”
“Let’s go, I’ll give you a tour!”
Kolev didn’t give his daughter a chance to say more, hooking an arm around Yang Ming’s shoulder as they headed down the corridor to the far right.
Mimili looked sowhat dejected.
“Master Mimili,” Molly’s projected figure appeared beside her, “he loves you very much.”
“Thanks.”
“He loves you more than you can imagine,” Molly whispered softly.
Mimili shrugged her shoulders, hugging her arms as she followed behind the two n, chuckling softly, “Looking at him now, he seems to prefer Uncle Hanton a bit more.”
Molly said, “It’s quite rare for soone as quirky and sloppy as your father to find a friend whose stench is as agreeable as his. This has been a wonderful experience for him in his old age.”
Mimili snorted with laughter, giving Molly a playful raise of her eyebrows.
They began a pleasant conversation.
…
Yang Ming had learned from the old man the origin of this base.
Kolev had spent a great deal of money on a base system that was part of the Planet Transformation System, which took machines over a decade to build.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to create an Intelligent chanical Crisis. If no one cos here, it will only continue to operate for twenty years,” Kolev said with a smile.
“Molly is the brain here. I patched her up in the head, so she seems a bit dopey. That’s also my masterpiece.”
He turned his head to glance at Mimili, who was distracted by a bauble, and whispered, “I usually call Molly my little daughter. Actually, when my wife and I planned on having our second child, we wanted to na her Mo Molly.”
“Mimili might get jealous,” Yang Ming reminded with a smile, “you’d better just treat Molly as a little housekeeper.”
“Yes, that’s right. Mimili really takes after her mother in that regard.”
Kolev stopped in his tracks, looking toward a corridor to the side, and smiled, “Up ahead is her mother’s tomb, and one day it will be mine too. Hopefully.”
Mimili had already been drawn by the signs here, heading towards the tomb at the end of the corridor with Molly by her side.
There was an indoor jungle inside.
Yang Ming leaned against a wall projecting an aquarium scene, watching with Kolev as their two ‘daughters’ walked away.
The old pirates had started exploring other passages of the base.
In a lower voice, Yang Ming asked, “What’s your plan?”
“In what respect?”
“Taking out Kimo.”
“Co with ,” Kolev said, subconsciously putting his hands behind his back, a gesture he had picked up from Yang Ming, “Molly, stop monitoring the two of us and alert us if soone approaches.”
Molly’s voice ca from the wall, “Alright, master.”
Kolev led Yang Ming on a slow stroll through the tastefully decorated residential area, the rec room, and towards the sport field at the rear of the base.
This old pirate analyzed carefully:
“Black Dragon is not solid as iron at the mont. Kimo was not originally my chosen heir. He’s just a captain and a squadron leader. The other three squadron leaders have rifts with him—at least they don’t obey as they appear to on the surface.
“My appearance is like smashing a hamr into these cracks. What we need to do next is to wait, just a little bit of waiting.
“Kimo is the anxious one right now.
“I plan to flip one of the other three squadron leaders. I understand their natures. They are pirates I trained, and that’s the basis of my standoff with Kimo.
“Then, Hanton, I need your help.”
“To take out Kimo?” Yang Ming said with a smile, “I’ll need an assault ship, or just put
in the sa room with him.”
Kolev patted Yang Ming’s arm with a warm voice and said, “Although this is not what I wanted to say, this is a transaction. I asked for your help because of my daughter, so I owe you enough in return.”
He paused his steps, pressed a few tis on a side wall, and the tal wall slowly rose to reveal a transparent glass wall.
And behind the glass wall lay a large hangar.
A pincer-shaped dium-sized vessel was silently resting in the hangar, beside it so movable high-legged racks, and about a dozen caterpillar robots busy at work.
“This is your reward. I’m transferring it to you at an extrely low price… just one million federal credit points, and you can pay in installnts. How about that?”
Kolev revealed a sly, rchant-like smile.
“Wow, just one million?”
Yang Ming couldn’t take his eyes away: “Are you serious?”
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