Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Cesoly blended into the crowd and started chatting with others again. It seemed like he did not care much about the failed deal this time.
“Slave trader…” Han Xiao frowned as he looked at Cesoly’s back.
“I might be short of money, but I have my integrity.” Kerlodd snorted, finished his drink, and said after a pause, “There are hundreds and thousands of scavenger organizations in the Shattered Star Ring, recognizable by their tattoos. Some scavengers also do other shady business, like robbery, kidnapping, and extortion. That Cesoly is the middle man for the slave trade, in charge of looking for targets. He belongs to the ‘Boneless Bird’ scavenger group, a tough criminal group wanted by many galactic civilizations in Godora.
“The slave trade specializes in capturing rare species and Supers, selling them to customers with demands for viewing or beast fighting.”
Supers were very common in the universe but far less common than normal people. In the eyes of the people in the galaxy, Supers were considered trained warriors or talented geniuses.
Supers had higher positions, and some normal people started to have thoughts about controlling Supers. Thus, gladiator shows appeared. It was like watching a higher-grade boxing competition. The audience enjoyed watching the Supers fight each other to death both visually and mentally. Some official arenas hired Supers with high salaries, and some underground arenas bought Supers slaves; therefore, the Supers were always quite popular in the slave market.
“You guys have been targeted, so it’s best to be careful, but scavengers won’t do things that will cost them a loss. You should be safe in the spaceship since I rejected him, and he won’t continue to try,” Kerlodd said.
“I feel that his target isn’t us ‘natives’.” Han Xiao thought about.
The spaceship suddenly shook and got out of the light jumping state. The window at the side of the hall showed the Short Horn Star closing in on a dark-gray planet. Its surface was covered with mountains, and there was not any hint of green. It was just a desolate rock, with dark and black streams formed from the dead rivers.
This was Star Zone 5, filled with dangerous places, and this planet was one such place. Its danger level in the Godora Star Map was ‘Medium-High’, which meant there was more than a forty percent chance that an investigator would die there. Planet Aquamarine’s danger evaluation in their database was only ‘Low’.
The spaceship entered the atmosphere, hovered high up in the sky, and let out its airdrop cabins to collect the new passengers on the ground. The public spaceships would fetch passengers on their way of the journey, and there was someone on this planet that had called for the Short Horn Star travel agency.
The passenger that had just boarded at the VIP entrance was covered in a ragged white cape. The body shape under the cape was tall and large, and a big bag was hanging across his body. His footsteps were very heavy, accompanied by the clunk of metal clashing.
Coming in front of the scanning gate, this person unbuttoned their cape and showed their real face—he was shockingly half man, half machine. A very large area on his body had gone through mechanical modifications. Pipes and wires were hidden between the gaps of the armor, indication lights flashed, and only his right arm was human of his four limbs. There was no modification above his neck. He looked cold and handsome, especially his sharp eyes, which gave off an unwelcoming aura.
The eyes of this person were light green, beautiful like emeralds. His skin was very pale, and his half-machine body was full of scars from battle.
After the scan was complete, a sound came out of the broadcast. “Welcome aboard Short Horn Star. You have reserved the business cabin. Your passenger identification number is… Please enjoy your journey.”
The business cabin hall was at another place. There were not as many passengers there as the economy cabin, so its environment was better and quieter.
This person had no intention of stopping. He walked past the hall and went straight back to his room, with the passengers in the hall looking at him with shock.
“Is that ‘The Green Knight’?”
“That’s him alright, one of the very few warriors of the Sunil Family, high-class mercenary of the Mercenary Alliance, a very strong guy.”
“How unexpected to see him here. Didn’t they say the Sunil Family migrated?”
The people chatted among themselves and subconsciously lowered their voices. It was like they feared that person and did not want him to hear.
…
Of course, Han Xiao did not know who had boarded the ship. The broadcast announced that the next stop was another star zone. There would still be a few more stops before they arrived at the Juberly Hub, but he was patient and not in a hurry.
He made use of the time to gather information from the passengers and the galactic channel on the communicator. The communicator also worked as a television. With advanced technology came psychological enjoyments—many channels were dedicated to playing all sorts of entertainment shows. Han Xiao found quite a lot of good stuff in one of Kerlodd’s files called ‘Investigator Work Documents’…
After looking at it for a while, Han Xiao turned it off in silence, his eyes burning.
“Godorans really know how to play.”
Kerlodd drank alcohol every day, and his allowance was finished very soon. He asked for more money from Han Xiao but came back to no result. Thus, he then slept in his room every day, totally lacking the attitude of one who had been kidnapped. In fact, Han Xiao was amused at how calm this Godoran was.
Life in the spaceship was simple and quiet; he just wanted to arrive at the destination peacefully.
However, change came without any warning.
In some area on the way of Short Horn Star’s route ahead, a few scavenger spaceships hovered in the universe quietly. Their designs were unique with signs of being modified unprofessionally. This was the unique style of scavengers. The ‘Boneless Bird’ logo was painted on the side of the spaceships.
In the main ship’s internal deck, scavengers from different species were having a party. The Boneless Bird Leader was sitting on the high chair, holding a barrel and chugging it down while laughing out loud.
The leader of Boneless Bird was called Serpent Braid. He was almost four meters tall and had the blood of Stone Giant. His muscles were bulging, his skin was stone, his face was covered with a beard, and a braid of hair on his head hanged down to his waist, thus his nickname.
Scavengers traveled around the gray areas. Their reason for making money was to enjoy themselves, so partying was their most common activity.
“Ding ding! New message!”
The interface on the main ship’s control panel flashed, and a line of words appeared. Its sender was Cesoly.
“Guys, the job is here.”
Serpent Braid threw away the barrel, and it shattered in the corner. He stood up, wiped away the alcohol on his beard, and said with a ferocious face, “The target this time is worth a lot of money!”
Hundreds of scavengers below growled in excitement.
…
“Pair of threes.”
“Four Kings.”
“Five twos.”
“Pass… Wait a minute, where did the other two come from?”
On Short Horn Star, a group of players squeezed into the room and played poker out of boredom.
After staying on the spaceship for so many days, there were no more missions for them to accept. Furthermore, combat was not allowed in the ship, and many areas were not open, so these players could only find enjoyment themselves. The journey could not be skipped, which had always received complaints. Some players went offline to rest, so only one third of the players were left online.
The online spot and reviving spot could be locked onto the transportation tool, so there were no worries of being lost in space.
Han Xiao sat to the side and looked at the time—there should be only a few more days till they arrived.
Short Horn Star had arrived at the Garton Galaxy Star Zone 2 at this time. The area started becoming more urban—quite a number of the planets here had civilizations, and it was an area where Godora paid a lot of attention to managing as it was closer, which meant it was easier to manage. The spaceship stopped the greatest number of times to fetch passenger here. As long as they arrived at Star Zone 1 and entered the stable wormhole gate, they would be able to reach the destination.
At this moment, the ground started to tremble unusually.
A piercing alarm sounded from the broadcast instantly after.
Han Xiao’s expression changed a little, and he instantly stood up. Kerlodd woke up from his sleep as well, and the two walked out of the room hastily. The players behind them were lost but knew that there must have been some accident, so they followed the two of them.
The hall was chaotic at this moment. All of the passengers walked out and looked outside the window, terrified.
Colorful explosions flashed outside, but there was no sound due to the lack of air.
The scavenger spaceships fired at the Short Horn Star. The Short Horn Star had already activated its high energy shield, and a light-yellow energy shield protected the spaceship like an eggshell. The scavenger spaceships were much smaller than Short Horn Star, but they were also much more agile because of that. They dodged the attacks and dashed around, but Short Horn Star could not dodge anything due to its large size—it could only endure the attacks with its shield.
