As soon as the Federal Government’s latest bounty order had been issued, everyone rushed to check it out. Of course, the two groups that cared the most about the bounties were the Interstellar Pirates and the Interstellar Hunters.
Each Interstellar Pirates hoped that their bounties had increased, while the Interstellar Hunters began searching for new targets.
Both Gu Ding and Liliath were also prompted by Neptune almost immediately to check the latest bounty order.
When Gu Ding saw that both Liliath’s and his bounties had increased, he was a little surprised. However, he quickly noticed the note about his latest criminal offenses.
“Destruction of Planet Constlac’s starport platform canopy system and distribution of information regarding the Federal Government’s confidential missions and name list.” To be honest, Gu Ding was a little surprised that the Federal Government had convicted him of those crimes because it showed that they were very certain that he had done them. Nevertheless, Gu Ding found it strange that the people in the Federal Government could guess that those incidents were his doing but not the incident of the superweapons self-destructing. Instead, another crew of pirates was suspected of causing the superweapons’ self-destructions.
“The Fated Ones?” Gu Ding could not wrap his head around how the Federal Government had connected the poor pirate crew to the Constlac explosion.
“It looks like someone took the blame for us.” When Liliath saw the note that said Destiny was suspected to be the leader of the explosion on Planet Constlac, she could not help but giggle with her hand over her mouth.
“It’s a good thing. We’ll be in big trouble if the Federal Government finds out that we were the ones who did it.” On the other hand, Neptune felt relieved. “Your current bounties have far exceeded your strengths. It’ll take us at least twenty days to arrive in Mayor Sector. You should take this time to improve your strengths as soon as possible.”
“Gu Ding, can you refine a bottle of E-grade gene enhancer for me? I bought a lot of medicinal materials back in Fengyuan, and I want to take this time to level up to become a Level 3 Gene Body.” Liliath had seen Gu Ding refine medicine in Fengyuan, so she was sure that Gu Ding could refine an E-grade gene enhancer.
“Sure, I’ve got nothing better to do anyway,” Gu Ding agreed immediately. However, he raised a question after a short while, “But Lili, are you sure you want to use an E-grade gene enhancer? As far as I know, an F-grade gene enhancer should be enough to level up gene bodies below level 3.”
“My genes are a bit special, so F-grade ones are useless on me. In fact, back when I leveled up from level 1 to level 2, I actually used E-grade gene enhancers,” Liliath explained.
“If that’s the case, it would be better for you to use an E-grade one. It’s just that gene bodies lower than level 3 can’t really withstand the energy impact of an E-grade gene enhancer.” Gu Ding nodded after hearing Liliath’s explanation. He had only raised the question because he was afraid Liliath would not be able to withstand it.
“It’s nice having a pharmacologist around.” Liliath happily took out medicinal materials she had prepared earlier. “I have twenty sets of materials here that you can refine. You can refine all of them together and I’ll use the one with the best quality. Then, we can sell off the rest of them.”
“Alright.” Although Gu Ding had not expected Liliath to ask him to make twenty sets of enhancers in one go, he accepted the task with pleasure.
The first enhancer that was refined was of perfect quality, and Liliath looked at the color of the medicine in Gu Ding’s hands with wide eyes. It was of authentic grass green color and had no traces of imperfection; it was the color of an E-grade gene enhancer of the best quality.
Soon after, the second and third bottles of enhancers were refined, both of which were of perfect quality.
Naturally, Liliath was really excited because it seemed like she was witnessing history in the making. However, her eagerness soon diminished because while Gu Ding was refining the fourth bottle of medicine, the spaceship encountered a small group of meteorites. Even though Neptune had calculated a route to avoid any collisions, they were still hit by two small meteorites which caused the spaceship to shake slightly. As a result, Gu Ding’s fourth bottle of medicine was only of good quality.
After they had passed the meteorites, Gu Ding’s performance became steady again, and he managed to refine another sixteen enhancers of perfect quality consecutively.
“Although it’s too bad that a bottle wasn’t perfect, the results are still pretty good.” Gu Ding was satisfied with the results of his refining. He pushed the bottles of medicine toward Liliath. “Here, you can keep them for the time being. When the time comes, we’ll sell them.”
“Didn’t we agree that you’d take care of such things until we find a partner who’s good at financial management?” Liliath pouted and reached out to take an enhancer of perfect quality.
“Alright. Neptune, I’ll pass them to you.” Gu Ding chucked the remaining nineteen bottles of medicine into the Inventory. “I’ve decided to entrust you with all our future financial matters.”
“Why do I suddenly have another responsibility? Don’t you know that this kind of behavior is considered child labor and child abuse? I’m clearly underage…” Neptune protested.
“Among the few of us, you’re the best at calculation. The moment we find another crew member that has better calculation skills than you, we’ll definitely agree to hand over your extra responsibility to them.” Gu Ding grinned.
“You know that’s impossible unless you get a mature Skynet to join our crew.” Neptune knew clearly that he would never be able to give up his extra responsibility.
“Speaking of that, when are you going to evolve into your maturity, Neptune?” Gu Ding was suddenly reminded of Neptune’s growth.
“It depends on time and opportunities as well as your gene level. I’ll be able to sense it in advance if I’m about to start evolving. Currently, I don’t feel anything yet,” Neptune explained, “We’ll wait until Lili breaks through to Level 3 Gene Body. Then, we’ll get her to implant an Energy Crystal inside of you after she stabilizes. You’ll perhaps be able to break through Level 3 Gene Body, and my limitations might improve a little.”
“Back then when I broke through to Level 2 Gene Body, did your restrictions improved? I never heard anything about it from you.” Gu Ding could not help but ask when he heard the topic about restrictions.
“There wasn’t a substantial restriction upgrade, but my database improved a little. Perhaps it’ll be a better upgrade this time.” Neptune was not satisfied with the last restriction upgrade because it only unlocked some information on secret events that happened during the ancient civilizations; he did not get access to even the slightest bit of confidential information.
While Gu Ding and Neptune discussed among themselves, Liliath returned to her room. Liliath found a comfortable spot on the bed for herself and proceeded to drink the bottle of medicine. In the few hours that followed, she fell into a state of threshold consciousness where she was half-asleep and half-awake.
On the flip side, in Gu Ding’s hometown, Cerule, the Rose Tavern was having a grand celebration unbeknownst to him. Gu Ding’s bounty portrait was hung high on the wall behind the bar counter. The bounty showed his striking pearly teeth, and a huge print underneath it read one hundred and sixty million.
“All drinks are on the house today!” Auntie Roastbeef who fashioned a black tight leather outfit raised her glass high. “Cheers to Gu Ding!”
