masters of stars and galaxies

The nation of crows, the City of Xia, had just entered the end of autumn.

These ugly and intelligent life forms were the true masters of this city. They gathered upon the rows of trees, and with coarse, raspy monotone voices, made fun of the scurrying travelers coming to and fro.

Kah! Kah! Get screwed!

Underneath the spoke-shaped cloud-filled skies, they would occasionally flaunt their superior flying techniques.

The majority of the travelers held unsightly expressions as if their parents had died. They glared with expressions of hate at the circling shadows above and at the strange formation of mist higher above.

The skies of the City of Xia was covered by this mist upon entering the end of the ninth month. An approximate total of six grade three, three grade four, and five grade two earthquakes had happened in under a week's worth of time.

The magnitude and intensity of the earthquakes had yet to reach the limits to what the city could withstand, but the frail hearts of men were already rattled.

Sound and electric waves permeated through the City Xia's atmosphere. Over half of the noise were of people shouting with all their might:

Massive earthquake! Massive earthquake!

Right when modern civilization entered into the 22nd Century, various experts and scholars spoke of this kind of "social theory" openly, appearing in all sorts of media and reports.

Luo Nan was somewhat influenced by this.

He held under his arm a black leather notebook that had never left his side, and he walked to the underground subway. At this time the band on his wrist vibrated, receiving a signal. His aunt Mrs. Luo Shuqing pelted him with words:

"Come back home at night! Your uncle already finished making dinner!"

His Aunt had originally allowed him to live life independently, but due to the frequent earthquakes, she shredded their agreement and ordered over and over for him to return to their residence to take good care of the house.

Luo Nan absolutely couldn't agree to this. He had painstakingly tested into Acumen College. Didn't he do that for days of freedom and independence? What's more was that he was at a critical juncture. Who knows what consequences would occur if he tarried for a day!

The problem was that Luo Nan was never good with words; there wasn't a hint of persuasiveness in any of the arguments he brought up. The situation was becoming colder and colder. His Aunt seemed to stare and reach out through the telephone to carry him home.

Some information was sent over right when Luo Nan was getting a headache. Luo Nan just skimmed it over, and he secretly exclaimed a breath in luck. He hurriedly added another counterpoint: "I have to prepare for an interview tomorrow with a society......"

Interview? With which society?"

"Hic! The Mystic Arts Research Society."

"Mystic Arts?"

Madam Luo Shuqing was somewhat suspicious. Soon she called off to some corner:

"Mo Ya! Mo Ya!"

A somewhat hoarse voice, with a uniquely lazy tone, entered the conversation not too long later. This was Luo Nan's older female cousin Mo Ya. She had just graduated last year from Acumen College.

The Mystic Arts Research Society eh? I know them. Rumor has it that they have a lot of money and that their members are quite impulsive."

Luo Shuqing hated this attitude of her daughter the most, rebuking her on the spot: "Talk properly!"

Mo Ya laughed with a "Ha!" and said: "Your 'dear son' is in a bad situation. School starts in a month, and he's still interviewing. Clearly, he's a misfit! Major things flow together in Acumen University and western thought is very critical there. First, school credits are cut if one doesn't live in a society. And even when going to the next grade, it will be hard to find an academic advisor with good things to say in a letter of recommendation......"From this manner of speaking, which was like pouring oil on the fire, the mother-daughter war ignited once again in a flash. The focus of conflict shifted, allowing for the Luo Nan of over a hundred kilometers away to escape unscathed.

Luo Nan had been standing in his own family's living room for nearly half an hour by now. The sky had already turned dark and the living room lights automatically lit up, casting his figure to the window of a high-rise apartment building across the street.

Luo Nan spoke a command to cause the window curtains to close automatically.

But right at this moment, a dark shadow passed through the nearly closed curtain and fell onto the open balcony. It used its thick beak part open the sliding glass door. It walked inside, strutting, in a completely free and leisurely manner.

This uninvited fellow was a typical Corvus Frugilegus or Rook. Its entire body was jet-black aside from its ashen white beak. It looked to be thick, solid, and well-built, appearing to be larger than its kind by a factor. Its feathers fluctuated between a deep black and a hidden blue under the soft lighting.

It strolled around in the room for a few steps. It leaped onto a small coffee table in the living room with a shake of its wings and immediately leaned forward with its body. A sealed glass test tube the size of a thumb slipped out from its thick beak and fell onto the coffee table. A large amount of white powder was inside the tube.

Having spat out the foreign object in its throat, the crow sat comfortably for a long time. It showed off its bright and clear voice:

"Kua! Kua!"

"Ink! Shut up!"The cries of this crow would spell disaster in this sealed empty room. Luo Nan chided the crow quickly, grabbed the test tube to clean, and took out a cooked strip of meat prepared beforehand to stuff up the crow's beak.

This crow named Ink was still able to communicate quite well. It ate in a very elegant fashion and even used its wing to indicate to Luo Nan to pour for it some water.

There was also a dinner placed on the dining table to the side. The fragrance was nothing to write home about, keeping perfectly in line with the monotonous labor of a home artificial intelligence. The important thing was that the quantity of food was sufficient; it was enough to fill 3-5 people without a problem. Luo Nan displayed a first class superhuman appetite and ate at astonishing speeds. Coincidentally, he finished eating at the same time as Ink.

After Ink drank and ate its fill, it simply squeezed out of the sliding door window, flapped its wings, and flew away.Luo Nan tidied up the cups and dishes. His wristband vibrated once again, right before he wanted to enter the study. This time it was his cousin Mo Ya who contacted him. Mo Ya and her mother were completely carved from the same mold; she pelted him with words:

"How are you going to thank me for this time?"

"Hic! Thanks, sister."

"Tsk. You don't even know how to exchange pleasantries!"