There was no attack of any sort. The Space Pirates, albeit not being the actual bandits, merely landed on their destination.

Everyone was rushing to find their friends to team up in order to explore outside. ZhuQiu, who was depressed for weeks on end, allowed the crowd's movement to pull her into the mess hall, where the crowd was the biggest. ZhuQiu, with much grace she could muster, helplessly try not to bump onto anyone, so as to not accidentally cut anyone with her burrs and sharp edges. She hadn't fully polished down her spine sheath.

"Hey Autumn Chaser!"

ZhuQiu turned towards the source of voice and finds JiaoTu, who was gleaming with shells that decorated her hair, waving at her. Breaking into a smile, our silly mannequin forgot about her sharp edges and made her way towards the teen girl. JiaoTu, named Sea Speaker, is a female Beta, from the world filled with three intelligent species that could breed together, much like the ABO-type novels. However, it's was more like Werewolves for Alphas, Merpeople for Omegas, and mix-blooded humanoids for Betas. JiaoTu's ancestry had consisted mostly of mix-blooded human and a sparse amount of Merfolks. Therefore, JiaoTu resembled human more than other hybrids. Her Omega ancestry also gave her the gift of marine communication, meaning she could speak with any sea creatures. JiaoTu, like ZhuQiu, is a cultivator of JieDan rank, although she was at the peak stage where ZhuQiu is still in her middle stage.

"What's happening?" ZhuQiu gently rubs JiaoTu on the head where there's no clams, treating her like a little sister she wished she had. Chang QinFei of the past had a little half-sister, but someone provoked rivalry between them and rendered the relationship thoroughly damaged. But, from what A'Xue last said, it seemed that the new Chang QinFei had some charm that brought the sibling relationship to fairly salvageable level, while fending off the external influences. Kudos to the newcomer.

"We landed back on Centalos II!"

"Landed back? There's Centalos I?" ZhuQiu wondered.

"Yes, and .. yes and no? It is the new Centalos I, but some stuff happened and they chased us —the aliens— out. I was there when it happened, but I was tiny so I don't know the details. Now that the former sovereign had retired, the new ruler invited us back to redo the treaty thing." JiaoTu explained, while tickling one of the shells on her hair. It subtly opened and closed, as if peeking at ZhuQiu.

"... Oh." ZhuQiu nodded.

"Wanna come with us? I'm going to look for a ...friend, and see how he's doing."

ZhuQiu didn't miss the slight pause when JiaoTu mentioned her friend. "I might have to go with Bi'An, though." She tactfully turn down to let JiaoTu have a reunion free of a certain third-wheeling mannequin.

"O-okay." JiaoTu almost coughed, but regained her composure and left the shells on her hair alone. ZhuQiu thought she spotted another one opening, but JiaoTu skipped away meekly before ZhuQiu could double-check.

ZhuQiu wandered through the crowds, listening in to random excited chatter. There were some who recognized her and greeted her, which ZhuQiu greeted back in reply. The huge frame of BaXia was visible in the distance. ZhuQiu start mulling on whether she should go up to him and find Bi'An.

"Finally we get to see the long lost face of Autumn Chaser." The sassy voice of SuanNi tsk-ed.

"SuanNi!" ZhuQiu spotted him and smiled at the familiar sight of black serpentine male with yellow diamond on his head. She had kind of missed his snarky comments on her alchemy work whenever she made a small flaw. He wasn't a sparkly person, but his humor laced straightforward remarks does have some warmth. A big contrast to the person next to him, though.

Shi DaMao was tagging along with SuanNi with a look of bored indifference. The only sign of acknowledgement was a slight pausing gaze on her face. Then his sight scanned away and seemed to spot someone else. He gave a one-sided smile and a half-nod to whoever that was. Definitely had a grudge against her, ah!

"So, you did skipped class because you just want to play, huh." SuanNi snarkily remarked with an eye-roll.

"Hehe." That was all ZhuQiu could reply until another presence made themselves known. She didn't want to touch on the subject of her being a mental mess.

"Autumn Chaser!!" Bi'An appeared from the crowds and gave ZhuQiu a big one armed hug. "You coming with us, yeah?"

"If that's okay with you guys." ZhuQiu smiled widely at her.

"Of course!" Then the tigress turned to greet the two masters, "Master Scenter, West Ce—" She bowed  to greet a little more politely but was interrupted.

"No need to be so polite, Gate Guard" SuanNi bowed back to Bi'An, while Shi DaMao waved his hands impatiently. Bi'An took the hint and had a slight moment of hesitation.

Our silly dummy, however, did not notice the abnormality, ah! She was just subtly craning her neck, halfheartedly listening in, but trying her best to be discreet in her search.

"Come, Autumn Chaser. We must give you new clothes." Bi'An took in ZhuQiu appearance and wrinkled her nose, "you looked unkempt and smell like burnt coals!" So Bi'An hastily pulled her away with a rushed farewell nod to the two masters.

Embarrassed, ZhuQiu ducked her head and followed Bi'An obediently.

But who knows that the hole in ZhuQiu's cargo pant side pocket decide to get hooked onto a jutting accessory of a passer by and tore itself due to its singed fragility. The content of that pocket fell out and hit the floor with a small clatter that was drowned by the crowd's excitement.

SuanNi and Shi DaMao, as it was in their view, noticed it. SuanNi picked it up and wanted to call out to ZhuQiu but was stopped when a hand grabbed at the item. SuanNi snapped his head to see Shi DaMao scrutinizing the white jade pendant. It was circular and had a chrysanthemum crest carved tastefully on it. The gentle coloring of marbling pastels made it looked like it was made of pearls. Some soot dusted across the surface, though. What a careless owner.

Shi DaMao examine it for a little while and then shoved it into his magic space pocket without a word. SuanNi was puzzled by his fellow feline master's action, but asked no question and begin to act like nothing happened. Shi DaMao wasn't a frivolous person, nor was he simple-minded. There was some deep unknown meaning behind his action. If the feline master did not explain himself, it's futile to ask. 

***

Centalos II is a world of galloping centaurs and soaring kalaviṅkas¹Chinese: 迦陵頻伽 Jiālíngpínqié; Kalaviṅka is a fantastical immortal creature in Buddhism, with a human head and a bird's torso, with long flowing tail.[4].

The sight of galloping half-horse and half-man already scared ZhuQiu out of her wits, thinking she must have stepped into the wrong world. Our silly dummy then registered that she indeed had stepped off earth a long time ago. The calm didn't last when she spotted a large flying human-bird shaped creature. Are those.. angels?! The well known winged fairies?! But their legs are like birds... ah!

Bewildered, ZhuQiu gawked —with open jaw, because she is able to!— at the sight the flying creature that had the upper body of female humans, and the lower body of a bird, completed with bird legs. The wings extended from the human back, slightly below the shoulder blade that lead to actual human arms. Their long feathered tail trailing after them like ribbons. These are the kalaviṅkas.

The galloping and playful centaurs... are quite self-explanatory, but ZhuQiu can't help but think of the word 'wild'. They all looked very wild indeed, with long messy hair that mixed with the mane and tail in the wind. Their arms skillfully notching projectiles and shooting playfully at their fellow mates with bows and arrows. Some stray arrows almost struck a group of kalaviṅkas and they squawk at the offending centaurs while fluttering their wings and waving their fist.

This world's creatures have three pair of limbs, ah! Will there be insect-hybrid next?!

Lucky for our silly dummy, there were no insect-hybrid inhabiting this world. Yet.

"What do you think?" Bi'An was beside ZhuQiu, breathing the cool breeze. They were waiting for BaXia, GongFu, and YaZi in an arranged spot.

"Nice, ah." ZhuQiu didn't know what else to say. It was all new.

BaXia was the first to show up, carrying an empty bag on his bag, while handing Bi'An a briefcase. "Burdened Scholar (FuXi) said he wrote two version of the notes. He also said, just pick one that feel right for the moment."

"Ah, he remembered!" Bi'An beamed and began to pull out an amulet and began to access the content. It reminded ZhuQiu of the time they first met.

ZhuQiu smiled at the memory and suddenly pat her thighs. She also had just remembered something, staring at her current outfit. The loose sleeveless tunic had no pockets, and the pocket on the loose Hakama²Hakama pants are the japanese pants that priestess wears, I'm sure you guys know of this?-like pants isn't really a pocket. ZhuQiu don't remember feeling anything solid when she squeezed her former outfit. She had lost her only souvenir she was given on earth. Disappointed at her own carelessness, ZhuQiu let her hand hang by her side and did not search anymore. Maybe it's still in her dorm.

Soon, a male figure with leopard spots approached them. He is YaZi, referred as the Warring Perceiver, one of the prized martial artist of the Space Pirates. He, like Bi'An and Shi DaMao, has a feline tail swinging from his tailbone. His tail was spotted like a leopard's. "Autumn Chaser. Lord Underneath." He greeted ZhuQiu and BaXia, hopping onto a nearby platform to wait. He didn't greet Bi'An because he knew she was accessing contents on an amulet on her hands with glazed eyes.

They waited for the last member of their group to turn up, as Bi'An continued to be busy. ZhuQiu kept an wandering eye out, looking for a certain furry kitten and wondered if it would be exploring the land too. But there were no sign of the cute toyger.

The scenery was easy to the eyes, subconsciously allowing ZhuQiu to gaze on and on without breaking the chain of thoughts zooming in her mind. The pale purple grass waved in the breeze, the sun shone with bluish brightness. It seemed cooler than earth's sun. Was it approaching winter here?

The sightseeing stopped when GongFu finally showed up.

GongFu, also known as Viper despite being of canine humanoid, almost reminded ZhuQiu of one of the werewolf characters she read in a teen horror adventure book she once read about demons and magic. He did have a fairly hairy features all around. His nose was sharp, as if he could sniff out other's thoughts. ZhuQiu noticed a chain hanging around his neck, holding a small glass vial that contained a fish-like scale. Curiously, it shone almost transparent with golden orange tones.

GongFu nodded in cool greeting, and shot a look at ZhuQiu. She stopped staring.

"Alright, fighters! Assemble!" Bi'An snapped out of the holographic session. YaZi puffed his spotted chest.

"Fighters?" ZhuQiu winced. She wasn't even ready for a scuffle.

"It's just sound a lot cooler than saying, 'aliens, time to go', ba."

ZhuQiu choked in a giggle. BaXia chuckled, too. The group began to make their way through the city with the glass tablet map in Bi'An's hands.

"Usually, we'd look around for synthmanoid that seemed lost and ask if they would like to join us." Bi'An spoke as they strolled, gathering the attention of several crowds. ZhuQiu felt the sight was both familiar and unfamiliar. It was just like the time they met her on earth.

"Why synthmanoid?"

"They usually have already died when they were previously humanoid, only that their soul was trapped from moving on and had to take refuge in another vessels. This always happen when a group of aliens come to settle in new planets. No one knows why but there's some suspicion that the concentrated Qi that we accumulated around us played some role. So it's partly our fault when a synthmanoid start existing." Bi'An looked at ZhuQiu with apologetic eyes.

Bi'An had brought up the subject partly to explain. The other part of the reason was that she heard ZhuQiu was being spiritless and wanted to give ZhuQiu some enlightenment and peace of mind.

If Bi'An had remembered correctly, ZhuQiu was too calm from the beginning. There was no grieve or complains as ZhuQiu took in everything with grace and acceptance, as if none of this was happening to her. This was also a sign of denial. At least the explosively reactive synthmanoids usually wear out their grievance from start. ZhuQiu's reaction was akin to the calm before the storm.

ZhuQiu truly did not mind the change, and waved the worries away. "I originally died anyways. I take this being given another shot at life."

Bi'An was silent for a moment, thinking of what else to say in comfort, only to hear another question from ZhuQiu.

"Does that mean there's also chances that the soul enters another empty organic life-forms, like the bodies of those whose soul has been gone?"

"That's what we originally thought, but no. Those who are able to enter another organic lifeforms are discovered to be transmigrators from different timeline. There have been no case of synthmanoid with transmigrated soul so far." Bi'An tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"T-transmigrators?" Hell, why doesn't that happen to her? ZhuQiu can take such thing! It's way easier than having to relearn everything that is so universe-shaking like cultivation, alien life forms, and the earth as she knew it.

Bi'An nodded, "yes, we did some investigation, most of them seem to ...come from different times of the world they transmigrate in. Sometimes, their futures and pasts varies by a lot of measure, giving us reason to believe in parallel worlds."

This... this is some advanced science fiction, ah! Parallel worlds?!

"I think there's some parallel reality where the Alpveom did not discover a way to infuse technology with Qi that they wouldn't be be the first to conquer other planets, thus setting off chain of events that leads to aliens agreeing on peaceful settlement instead of warring for some extra piece of lands. And along with some other events. Therefore, we would never met. Wouldn't that be boring?" Bi'An grinned guiltily.

"I do not feel bad being a synthmanoid, Bi'An." ZhuQiu smiled at her to show sincerity.

"We'll make it worth it, promise." Bi'An sighed.

"I have never taken part in such a meaningful conversation." The leopardine male quipped, earning a round of small chuckles.

The group wandered the streets in comfortable chatter among themselves, ZhuQiu diligently keeping a lookout for any sythmanoid in sight.

Bi'An: "How's little Owl?"

GongFu: "Good."

Bi'An: "Everything is okay with you two?"

GongFu: "Good."

Bi'An: "Can we expect kids?"

GongFu: "No"

YaZi: "You guys doing it often?"

GongFu: "..."

Bi'An: ...

YaZi: "Autumn Chaser."

ZhuQiu: "Yes?"

YaZi: "Did they do it often?"

GongFu: ...

ZhuQiu: "Do what?"

YaZi: "Tsk tsk, you are neighbors with Viper (GongFu) and little Owl(ChiWen, GongFu's mate) and you know nothing?"

Bi'An: "Perceiver ..."

ZhuQiu: "Oh, I didn't know, I was often in the smithy."

YaZi: "But not for some time last few weeks, righ— Hey! Why did you punch me?! Injustice!"

GongFu swung again to wipe the simper off Yazi's face, but YaZi wisely avoided the second punch. Bi'An shook her head with a suppressed smile.

Our silly dummy had always been painfully oblivious, so it was not surprising that she had not put together the constant fierce rhythmic creaking sound she heard sometime from the dorm opposite hers. She had thought her neighbor was working on a mechanical project back then.

"Viper, ah, Viper. Tsk. I can smell the pheromones sometimes too strongly in my side. I'm not trying to stop you, I'm just advising that daily overindulgence can make a man im— Ai ya!"

GongFu, who was 'working on a mechanical project', stepped on YaZi's tail with some force. ZhuQiu couldn't help but instinctively squeezed her phantom bottom appendage. That's got to hurt a lot, ah.

Bi'An couldn't help but laughed as she try to pull them apart. As for our silly dummy, it's safe to assume she almost had a tiny inkling of the underlying topic.

Meow.

ZhuQiu looked down and was instantly delighted. The toyger! She looked back to see how far they were from the space vehicle and noticed that it was very far. Did the toyger got lost while following its master?

Meoow. It rubbed its ears on ZhuQiu's metal calves.

The group went silent upon seeing the little cub. They knew exactly what that 'little kitty' is. No one spoke a word as they stared at the kitty basking in the attention.

Unaware of her comrade's frozen state, ZhiQiu cooed and picked the toyger up by its armpits, holding it up in the air like it's a baby. The tail swung impatiently. Meowww.

"Who's a little kitty~" ZhuQiu teased the toyger, garnering shock from the rest. She held it at the crook of her arms, cradling it while scratching its chin.

The pampered toyger flickered its eyes at Bi'An with coolness, the message got across and Bi'An was the first to speak, "This cub usually doesn't like strangers. I've never seen it letting anyone close before."

"Really? Maybe they moves too fast? Sometimes cats want to know that you are not going to harm them before coming up." ZhuQiu absentmindedly stoked the toyger's fur. ZhuQiu is a firm believer that there are no special treatment without a cause, therefore she reasoned that her constant skillful petting allowed the cat to feel comfortable, thus its increased tolerance towards her. Ai, if it can be said, in the past being viciously clawed was worth the furry reward, ah!

"Maybe." Bi'An's words were a bit too ambiguous but our silly dummy's attention have been distracted by the furry creature in her arms.

"Cats?" The corner of YaZi's mouth twitched.

"Yes, in Earth, pet cats are said to be much less excited than pet dogs." ZhuQiu tentatively replied, peeking a look at the group members in turn to see if anyone was taking offense at how she speak about house kept animals. No one took offense.

"Wow, you guys managed to tame this wild guy?" YaZi pointed at GongFu who ignored him.

ZhuQiu felt awkward about telling them how the humans domesticated the creatures that they shared planet with, so she just smiled.

Normalcy was restored to the group as they walk on, encountering with various sights of vending stone stores.

Kalaviṅkas hatchlings and centaurs foals were playing tag among themselves, often some kalaviṅka ones landing to rest their wings. The half-foals were jumping as high as they can, trying to catch their flighty friends. The human part of them appeared like seven to ten years old human child.

There were a lot of stores that had kalaviṅka keepers, some women faces staring with beady eyes at casual walkers, some doing other things to increase their produce. Some stores had centaurs, too.

There was one store where a couple of male kalaviṅkas was looking at the wares. ZhuQiu had not seen many adult male kalaviṅkas, nor had she seen many adult female centaurs. She puts this observation to the back of her mind, and looked at various wares instead. She wondered how trading takes place in here, and how would she earn some if money was required.

Bi'An, too, was lost in her own thoughts about the treaty. She knew the former King Kentaur VI when she was younger. The last time they met was when King Kentaur chased them with soldiers of centaurs surrounding them, giving them only the exit that lead to the space vehicle. Bi'An, that time, had just reached her teens and lived most of her childhood in Centalos II —formerly Centalos I, which in turn is also formerly Centalos, long story— and had been on the road every since.

At first, there was some apprehension when Bi'An heard that their destination was Centalos II, but the negative feeling was mostly washed away when they landed. It was nostalgic. The leftover apprehension was nothing to do with the planet. It was more focused on the current King Feruus X.

GongFu, on the other hand, was lost in an entirely different spectrum of thoughts that aren't quite clean. It revolved around his omega, ChiWen, among various other bawdy things.

YaZi was definitely not lost in his thoughts as he subconsciously scan the surroundings with his Qi, at the same time as he looked at various vendors and the buildings. There was a reason he was dubbed the Warring Perceiver.

The 'little kitty', on the other hand, was trying not to get lost in the thoughts of surrounding ZhuQiu and her finger of wonders. Do not look down on this 'little kitty', ah! Do not judge a book by it's cover, this 'little kitty' is not 'little' and it was once one of the five most powerful figure, just that he 'accidentally' fell into mortal realm and was too lazy to get back. Running around randomly with the Space Pirate is much more fun!

Although, to be fair, this 'little kitty' initially joined because of the word 'Pirate' in the name of the sect. Who knows that it was scammed into a sect that actually extend helping hand to help various planets' inhabiting locals to lessen the negative feelings, ah! Scammers, ai ya! Disappointing. Disappointing, ah! But given the good treatment, it gotten too lazy to search for another sect.

When the group finally reach the assigned residence, ZhuQiu remembered that they had not been able to find any lingering synthmanoid. Perhaps, they would show up at a later date. Or they had already shown up at an earlier date. ZhuQiu remembered how she had spent several days trapped in a room, only to be 'rescued' and spent additional time on Lotus Lab before having the world exposed to her. Who knows.

The lodgings that is given to them this time is a massive yurt³yurt - a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling covered by felt. The entire structure was massive to the point of nearly engulfing most regular Earth's houses. ZhuQiu felt thrilled, she had seen pictures of Mongolians and Kyrgyzstanis living in yurts and they had seemed so wildly freeing. 

They pushed aside the curtained entrance and entered the yurt. The interior layout was floor mattresses placed in a circular formation near the walls of then tent. In the middle, a thick center beam boasted it presence, reaching an impressive height, carrying the weight of leaning support that make up the wall. The space between each mattresses was large, accommodating the naturally large frame of an average centaur.

The right half of the spaces were already occupied and there were some presence already inside. ZhuQiu and the group met eyes with the centaurs inside, they abruptly stopping whatever they were doing, watching at the newcomer with interest.

There were four centaurs in total. One of them, the leanest of the four, had black mane and tail, with bronze colored skin. One with equally tanned, but a tad paler, had honey brown mane and tail. The other two seemed to be twins, olive complexion with auburn manes and and tails.

"My greetings!" Bi'An spoke in Thoraka, the common language of Centalos II, and saluted.

"My greetings," YaZi mimicked with a wave.

"Hi." ZhuQiu nodded with the cat in her hand staring at the centaurs.

"Hello." Baxia bowed.

GongFu just nodded politely.

The centaurs looked at each other and then one of them— the lean one— trotted up to greeted the five aliens: "Welcome to our humble abode. You are our new companions until whenever you decide to leave. Please make yourselves at home. I am called Alexore. This," —Alexore gestured at the honey brown maned centaur— "is Kenatorus. And these," —the twins half-bowed when being addressed— "are Bennidein and Bennidos. You can call both of them Benniduos because it's hard to tell them apart anyways. "

ZhuQiu tried her best to remember their names.

"Thank you!" Bi'an took the lead to introduce themselves in the same fashion. When she finishes, she then followed-up with, "Any rules we're required to heed?"

"Only that you do not slit our throat in the middle of our slumber!" Kenatorus ginned, flicking his brown hair out of his face. He earned chuckles from everyone.

"Alright then! Please forgive us for our ignorance!" Bi'An beamed as the welcoming centaurs gestured to all the free space in the yurt. Bi'An threw her briefcase and picked the place it randomly landed on.

BaXia already eyes a place most further away, in consideration that he might be too big and would accidentally hurt someone with his rock-hard skin. So he chose one on the side opposing the entrance, it was very far back, and gently settled down. He was five mattress away from Bi'An.

ZhuQiu picked a mattress right next to Bi'An, which was four mattress away from BaXia, and settled down on it. The little kitty jumped off her arms and landed on the bedding. It walked around, sniffing all corners and then finally curled up in approval. Bi'An side-eyed the toyger and raised an eyebrow. It did not looked at her to make a point.

ZhuQiu laid like a starfish, and marveled at the tallest part of the ceiling, where the support beam meets the frame of the building. It was so high up, that i felt like those western cathedrals she seen online. It made her felt small and incomparable to the world.

GongFu settled on the place about two mattress away from the entrance.

YaZi simply chose one next to the entrance simply because it was in his nature to feel more safe near an opening. Plus, if anything else, he would be the first to be alerted to outside movements.

And to fulfill that unintended prophesy, YaZi indeed sensed something.