Chapter 64 - Sonny
Planet ACG 21 was shrouded in a thick, black fog. Only after the landing shuttle had made it through these Stygian clouds did Xia Fei finally get a good look at the entirety of the warship graveyard.
The surface of the planet was littered with an uncountable number of spaceships, which came in all sizes.
Spaceships of different shapes and colors were all piled up and lay in heaps across the ground. Some had already rusted and decayed until they were barely identifiable as ships, and there were even some that had plants growing on them, looking completely rundown.
The landing shuttle whizzed past the wreckage of a warship which was over a hundred kilometers long, its hull broken into two halves right down the middle. The size of it spoke of the spacecraft’s past glory when it was still in use.
Even though these spaceships had long since turned into nothing more than useless rusty metals, Xia Fei was still taken aback by the wide variety of space vessel styles that could be found here. This was a rare sight to behold no matter what planet it was.
The landing shuttle slowed as it descended on an open clearing, letting Xia Fei, as well as several other passengers, disembark.
Right across was the spaceport terminal. The inhabitants clearly knew how to reuse and recycle, for this place was actually an old warship which had been repurposed as a terminal, and the landing apron was the flight deck of a large warship.
Xia Fei carried his backpack and followed the crowd toward the terminal.
However, the man merely waved his hand and continued driving along.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but the shops you see in the city are all out to fleece you foreigners who know nothing about spaceflight. It’s best if you stay far away from them. The real proper factories will all be located far away from the city,” sincerely said this dark-skinned fellow.
He did not sound to be lying, so Xia Fei could not help but view him in a different light. Though he had a face, which looked like he was up to no good, he was not actually a bad person. It was quite a headache hearing the man speak, however, for he had been talking nonstop throughout their journey spanning over an hour.
The hovercar came to a stop on a deserted street. The man pointed to the left side and said, “This is the place. Tell my mom that I will be out sending a few night clients today so don’t wait up for me to have dinner.”
Xia Fei alighted from the hovercar and walked toward the direction the man pointed out. He saw a warship, which had been converted into an inn, up ahead, and there was a wooden sign hanging from the entrance: ‘Just Like Home Inn.’
The glass door was polished until he could see his reflection, and the floor looked as if it had been polished by someone too, with not a bit of dust or dirt on it.
Finding such a clean place of lodging in this place was truly quite a difficult task.
The dark-skinned man started his hovercar again and was about to leave when Xia Fei hurriedly asked, “What’s your name? I haven’t paid you yet!”
“The name’s Sonny, and just hand over the money to my mom!” The man waved and sped off.
Xia Fei made his way toward the inn even as he patted the dirt and grime from himself. The white T-shirt he was wearing had almost turned black by then.
Knocking on the glass door, he saw a dark-skinned woman in her fifties walking over, her filled-out figure twisting as she came and greeted him with an affable smile.
“Sonny sent me; your son said that he’ll be sending some night clients, so he’s going to be back late,” reported Xia Fei.
The woman very warmly brought Xia Fei into the establishment, using a duster made of cloth strips to tackle his dusty self.
“This place here is just too dirty. Come on in and take a shower.”
Sonny’s mother led him to a room on the second floor. The entire inn was silent. There did not seem to be any other customers aside from Xia Fei, which clearly showed that this inn did not enjoy very good business.
The room was very small, providing just a single-size bed and a metal cabinet. There was even an unknown green plant placed on top of the table.
Xia Fei was already content with such conditions. He was not particularly picky when it came to his food and lodging; all he needed was just a bed to sleep in and a warm meal to eat.
After taking a shower, Xia Fei lit a cigarette. He was sitting on the head of his bed, smoking, when he heard knocking at the door.
Opening up, he saw Sonny’s mother standing outside with a laundry basket. “Hand your dirty clothes over; I’ll wash them for you.”
Xia Fei quickly shook his head. “There’s no need. I’ll wash them myself.”
Without saying another word, Sonny’s mother pushed him aside, entered the room, and placed the clothes he had tossed to the ground into the basket. Even his undergarments were not spared. “Men ought to do important things. Leave things like washing clothes to the womenfolk.”
Not giving him any chance to get a word in, Sonny’s mother turned and left. She reminded him even as she walked off, “Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. We’re eating bacon and potatoes tonight.”
Xia Fei helplessly watched her leave, feeling grateful for this warm-hearted aunt. Sonny’s household looked to be fairly trustworthy.
At 7 p.m. sharp, Xia Fei made his way downstairs and saw that a bowl of golden yellow potatoes had been placed on the dining table; the steam coming from this dish looked particularly inviting, especially next to a plate with fatty yet lean streaks of bacon.
After the bumpy ride from the spaceport to his destination, Xia Fei had long since worked up quite the appetite, and seeing that there was no one around, he picked up a whole potato with the intention of shoving it right into his mouth.
“No stealing a bite!” Xia Fei had no idea where Sonny’s mother had yelled from, but the potato in his hand had already entered his mouth by then, and it happened to get lodged in his throat.
Xia Fei’s face went red as he choked on his food. He kept patting his chest before finally managing to spit out that potato.
That was when Xia Fei realized that there was a young child of around ten years of age standing beside him, staring at this strange foreigner with uncertainty.
“Why swallow it whole instead of biting it?” The youngster wondered.
“Ahem…” Xia Fei was rendered speechless and could feel his cheeks flushing warmly.
During dinner, he learned that the youngster was Sonny’s brother, Nemo.
Xia Fei had wolfed down his meal, patting his stomach in satisfaction as he pulled out a cigarette from his dimensional ring and began to smoke.
“You may look thin, but you’ve actually got such a big appetite. It’s good to eat plenty; boys ought to eat and sleep more so that they will have the strength to do the heavy lifting.” Sonny’s mother was full of praise for Xia Fei’s appetite.
The sound of a hovercar coming to a halt could be heard from outside and hearing the almost train-like commotion it created, it was apparent that Sonny was back.
The man stepped into the dining room, sat himself down without another word, and started eating with much gusto. By the looks of things, he was not feeling very happy.
“Didn’t you say that you’d be driving some night clients?” asked his mother.
Sonny inhaled a large piece of bacon as he answered, “Those people went back on their word and hired Fatty Luo’s car, instead.”
“Oh, that’s good, too. It’s best if you avoid doing business with such night clients. None of those people are dependable; who knows? You might just end up losing your life in the process,” remarked his mother.
Xia Fei abruptly understood that the night clients that they had been referring to were actually criminals and bandits who avoided seeing the light of day.
Thinking about this a bit more, Xia Fei suddenly spoke. “Sonny, would you be interested in making a deal with me?”