BATTLE FOR STARS

“My name’s Ding Yufei, and this is my...” Ding Yufei hesitated, suddenly unsure how to introduce Belina. Calling her his female intimate partner obviously wasn’t appropriate, but saying he was her male intimate partner felt even stranger to him.

“My name is Belina. We watched your matches in the Mech Fighter Tournament,” Belina said smoothly, rescuing him from the awkwardness. “You left a really strong impression on us.”

Most people only cared about who won or lost in mech fighting matches. If they remembered the name of the mech a fighter piloted, that was already unusual. Even if they knew the fighter’s name, very few paid attention to what the pilot actually looked like. To the gamblers in the stands, only the outcome mattered—not who was inside the cockpit.

But Ding Yufei and Belina would never forget her.

Not only because they had watched from the best VIP box with the clearest view, but because Lina’s incredible performance had allowed them to win against Emperor Hogan twice in a row. Without that, they would never have ended up visiting the slave trading center today.

“I just got a little lucky,” Lina said modestly. “At least I didn’t make you lose money, right?”

She knew almost everyone watching the matches placed bets. Otherwise, nobody would care about the tournament at all.

“Not at all. Thanks to you, we made quite a bit,” Ding Yufei replied with a grin.

“That’s good.” Lina lowered her voice slightly. “I... I overheard what you two were talking about earlier.”

“Huh?!” Ding Yufei stared at her in surprise. He hadn’t expected her to really be listening in on their conversation.

“I was born from my mother too,” Lina explained quietly while looking at the two of them. “But I can barely remember it anymore. I came here today hoping I might rediscover some of those feelings... but it seems I really have forgotten.”

Lina was unusually talkative today.

Maybe it was because she had finally met someone else who had also been born naturally from a mother’s womb. The familiarity made her feel strangely close to them. More importantly, Ding Yufei wasn’t a slave owner or a local civilian from this planet—just a visitor. That allowed her to speak more openly about herself than she normally ever would.

She had already confirmed that through their wristbands.

“Whether you remember or not doesn’t really matter,” Ding Yufei said as he looked toward the young mother inside the nearby room. “A mother’s love has already been passed on to us.”

“Yes.” Lina nodded softly. “I still remember the happy days I spent with my mother when I was little.”

“I remember a lot of moments with my father too,” Belina added. “He didn’t spend much time with me, but those memories felt amazing. Way better than those simulation robots.”

“What did your mother do?” Ding Yufei asked curiously.

“She was a mech fighter too.”

“Wow. No wonder you compete in the Mech Fighter Tournament. Guess talent really runs in the family,” Ding Yufei said with admiration. “What about your father?”

“I’m not really sure. My mother never talked about him. Maybe...” Lina paused slightly. “Maybe he was just a randomly assigned man.”

“That’s okay. I was raised mostly by my father too,” Belina comforted her.

“Meeting you two today really feels like fate,” Lina said happily.

To her own surprise, she had started chatting with Ding Yufei and Belina as if they were old friends. That had never happened before.

Maybe it was because the three of them shared so much in common. Or maybe it was because Ding Yufei and Belina weren’t from this planet. They didn’t look at her with the superiority of a master or noble.

For the first time in years—other than with her mother and her male intimate partner—Lina was having a genuinely pleasant conversation with someone.

The three of them talked for a long time.

None of them realized that these three people would one day alter the fate of the Resk Empire itself. Their accidental meeting would eventually become the beginning of a chain of events that changed everything in the turning wheels of imperial history.

“I really want to touch your mech someday,” Ding Yufei suddenly said with a sigh. “I’ve never actually piloted a real mech before.”

“That’s easy,” Lina replied immediately. “My mech, Eve, is still at the gladiator center. But if you don’t mind, the training facility I use isn’t far from here. There are several practice mechs there you can try.”

It was the first time Lina had ever voluntarily invited someone to her training grounds.

Deep down, she truly regarded Ding Yufei and Belina as friends.

“That’s totally fine. Any mech is good enough for me.”

“Then come with me.” Lina stood and led them toward the exit. “Oh, and put away your wristbands.”

“Why?” Belina asked.

“If I bring two VIP guests to the training grounds, it’ll attract too much attention. I’d rather avoid that. Just come as ordinary friends.”

“Your master won’t have a problem with it, right?” Belina asked while slipping both VIP wristbands into her bag. “If necessary, we can pay to use the mechs.”

“My master’s been away lately. During the carnival season, he’s off relaxing somewhere himself,” Lina explained.

“You... hate your master?” Ding Yufei suddenly asked. “I heard slave owners have all kinds of privileges over their slaves. Some of them are... hard to accept.”

“Hate?” Lina thought about it for a moment. “For me... it’s actually not that bad.”

“Maybe because I earn a lot for my master. He rarely hits me or abuses me. At most, he uses my body to relieve stress. But honestly, that’s pretty normal here. I wouldn’t call it hate.”

Compared to other slaves, Lina genuinely believed her master treated her quite well.

“You’re already remarkable,” Belina said. “From what I know, most slaves wouldn’t even dare discuss their masters’ behavior.”

She actually knew this was forbidden under Resk Empire law. Slaves generally weren’t allowed to criticize or even discuss their masters. But Ding Yufei didn’t know those customs. He had only asked out of curiosity.

“That’s true,” Lina said with a bitter smile. “Slaves go through years of conditioning. They’re taught to obey their masters absolutely, respect them, and never speak about them. Many slaves don’t develop independent thoughts until years later.”

“But I’m a little different. I wasn’t sold to my master until I was twelve, so the conditioning never sank in that deeply.”

“Then your ears...” Ding Yufei asked. “Ordinary civilians don’t usually have pointed ears, right?”

“I had a minor surgery after being sold to my master,” Lina explained.

“Seriously? They do that?” Ding Yufei frowned. “But twelve is basically adulthood already. How could you still be sold as a slave?”

Lina slowly told them the story of herself and her mother.

“In the Resk Empire, even civilians can sell themselves into slavery—as long as they’re willing, and a slave owner agrees to pay their asking price.”

“I was sold to my master when I was twelve. My mother had just died that year. Even though I was already twelve, my body hadn’t developed nearly as much as the same-age slaves raised by slave companies. There was no way I could survive on my own outside.”

“If I hadn’t sold myself as a slave, I simply wouldn’t have survived.”

“For me, the only good thing was that I was already older when I became a slave... which meant the cost to buy back my freedom was much lower.”