Bramble Bird ship, [The Empress].
Gu Qing Shan was having a conversation with Laura again.
The little girl was still paranoid about Gu Qing Shan sending her back.
So they were still talking through a thick door that contained over a million seals.
“You sent out every royal fleet you have, would that really be enough to stop the Soul Shrieker for a while?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“It should be. There are enough offensive treasures to continuously throw away for about half a day, in that time, it shouldn’t be able to catch up with us” Laura told him.
“Have the fleets been arranged properly?” Gu Qing Shan asked out of concern.
“They have. The final wave of attacks will consist of automatic trigger landmine-type treasures and allow the fleets to easily retreat”
Laura boasted without fear: “Now that the Soul Shrieker lost its steed and is continuously attacked for half a day, it would definitely not be able to catch up”
Gu Qing Shan told her: “This method can only be used once——– and the Soul Shrieker seems to be able to sense where the [Order] is, so it will eventually come after us again”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there” Laura scoffed with displeasure.
“Still, we can’t let our guards down. Let’s hurry and move, we should get to Riddle world as soon as we can” Gu Qing Shan insisted.
“This Empress is personally controlling this ship today; don’t you worry about it” Laura told him in reply.
Gu Qing Shan nodded and went back on the deck of the ship.
Not too long after that.
Boss opened his eyes and sat up on the floor.
“How long did I sleep for?” he asked.
Ye Fei Li gave him a can of Soul Points drink and answered: “Three hours”
Boss received the drink, opened it, then drank it all at once.
He looked around.
Gu Qing Shan, Zhang Ying Hao, and Ye Fei Li were all sitting around him.
The ship was stably moving along the space vortex.
“It seems the Soul Shrieker hasn’t caught up to us yet——- this is good news, please give me another can”
“Here”
Boss popped it open and chugged the drink one mouthful at a time.
Gu Qing Shan asked: “How’s your current state?”
Boss held the second can in his hand and wiped his mouth: “It was a good sleep. I probably won’t fall into slumber again too soon, if I have more of this drink, I’ll be able to regain a bit more strength”
Regain strength…
This person appears to be very wise and knowledgeable, so what’s the extent of his strength?
Thinking that, Gu Qing Shan asked Ye Fei Li: “Do you have enough Soul Points stored?”
Ye Fei Li replied: “Don’t worry, I already made enough preparations before we left”
He used his ability again and created another can of drink for Boss.
Boss didn’t say a single word, received the can and drank it all at once.
Ye Fei Li immediately gave him another.
Boss swiftly finished the drink again
…
After the 25th can.
Ye Fei Li was breathing heavily: “I can’t anymore, I need to rest up a bit”
Boss sighed but said with satisfaction: “Thank you, thank you very much, this should be enough for today, any more would only be a waste—— I wouldn’t be able to fully recover all at once anyways”
“After I get well-rested, you can tell me whenever you need more” Ye Fei Li told him.
Boss glanced at him and nodded in satisfaction.
He stood up, walked to the railing of the ship, and stared at the void outside.
[The Empress] was moving along a wide arc while constantly adjusting its route.
There were no entrances to the strange and bizarre worlds to be seen.
The void itself was a greyish dark color, with a bit of knowledge, one would be able to tell that this was a ring-shaped windless passage that allowed the ship to move forward easily without interference.
But there was no way to infer where it was headed towards.
“We seem to be traveling in a hidden space current?” Boss asked.
“Yes, this is a hidden space current that’s used for smuggling” Zhang Ying Hao replied.
“What’s our destination?” Boss asked again.
Gu Qing Shan explained: “Riddle world, I have something crucial that I need to search for in that place”
To this end, Laura provided the ship, while Zhang Ying Hao provided a secret passage.
—–as a hitman, the fact that Zhang Ying Hao managed to survive all this time within the 900 million World Layers was because he had his means.
Not to mention how famous Riddle world was among the forces and organizations that dealt with underground dealings.
Boss had a contemplating look on his face: “That world… I seem to recall that it was a world specifically used by many to dispose of evidence. It’s a really hard location to reach, are you sure it would aid our upcoming battle?”
“I’m sure” Gu Qing Shan replied.
The Earth Creator was able to foresee the future.
It had made a lot of preparations.
—–and it’s surely trying to tell me something.
Boss then asked: “Alright, ah, how’s the [Order]?”
“The [Demon King Order] has been constantly telling me to run away” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Hearing that, Boss laid down on top of the deck again and lazily declared: “If everything is going well, I’ll rest up a bit more, call me if there’s anything”
Zhang Ying Hao took out a map and looked through it, then said: “There’s a supply station up ahead. After passing through that, we’d reach Riddle world in about half a day”
The group went back to rest.
Ye Fei Li was immersed in his games.
Boss felt a bit interested so he watched on the side.
Gu Qing Shan and Zhang Ying Hao were enjoying a drink while exchanging stories of their experience during this past year.
“Is [Chaos] really as you said it is? A highly personalized supportive power?” Zhang Ying Hao was intrigued.
“Ah, yes. It’s quite interesting, but there is still a lot I don’t know about it since I haven’t gotten to study it completely” Gu Qing Shan replied.
“If that’s the case, I might actually try it out if I have the chance. After all, my strength is an issue that needs to be resolved one way or another” Zhang Ying Hao considered.
Gu Qing Shan reminded him: “Make sure to watch out for the Soul Shrieker. It’s the Envoy that spreads [Chaos], so it might have countermeasures against normal [Chaos]”
Zhang Ying Hao lowered his voice: “Right, why are you looking to get to Riddle world?”
“I once obtained a chance to enter Riddle world from a senior who might have left something there for me, but since I got stalled, I couldn’t make it in time” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Zhang Ying Hao chuckled: “Left you something? There are all sorts of things in that world, it’s a place that sells everything”
“I’m not too familiar with that world”
“It isn’t anything too complicated. Everyone in the underworld is wary of being backstabbed and betrayed, so Riddle world became a trading world under various tacit agreements and eventually grew to become prosperous”
“A trading world? I’ve been through a black-market world called the Drifting Sand world” Gu Qing Shan said.
“Riddle world is known as the most advanced black market in the 900 million World Layers” Zhang Ying Hao told him.
“What’s so advanced about it? Does it have some sort of rule that protects its integrity?”
“It actually does, the entirety of Riddle world is under a severely strict Law: While in that world, as long as a person hold their mouth shut and does not say anything, no one would be able to hurt them”
“What if someone insisted on trying?”
“The Law of the world would kick him out and randomly teleport him into an extremely faraway world”
Gu Qing Shan nodded in understanding: “So the name ‘Riddle’ actually meant ‘hidden words'[1], if that’s the case, it would certainly guarantee safe transactions”
Zhang Ying Hao continued: “That’s why the true danger lies in the area around Riddle world”
“What do you mean?”
“Organizations that had been conducting business in Riddle world for a long time are always keeping an eye out in the surrounding space vortex, preparing to plunder from any weak and foreign passengers that comes by”
“That’s a bit troublesome, but since we’re riding the Bramble Bird Empress’ ship, there shouldn’t be any issues” Gu Qing Shan concluded.
As soon as he said so.
Bam!
A dull sound of impact.
The ship swayed a bit.
Laura’s voice came from below: “Gu Qing Shan, there’s a small group of ships blocking the space vortex in front of us, preventing us from moving forward”
“Did they open fire?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“They did, the ship is fine, they wouldn’t have been able to punch through the hull anyways but I wanted to ask you what we should do now” Laura replied.
Gu Qing Shan was surprised: “We’re currently riding [The Empress] but they still couldn’t recognize us?”
Laura told him: “I’m currently using a new type of camouflage, from the outside, this airship seems like a perfectly normal ship”
“You were afraid that this ship would be discovered by subordinates of the Envoy of [Chaos]?”
“Yeah”
“That was smart” Gu Qing Shan praised her, “Compared to being discovered by the Envoys of [Chaos], I’d rather encounter a few bandits”
“Then, what do we do now?” Laura asked.
“No hurry, they’re coming to us” Gu Qing Shan told her.
Several hundred people arrived flying from the void outside the ship.
They quickly surrounded the ship.
The leader of the bandits looked down on the four people on the deck of the ship and scowled.
He then turned to someone next to him and grabbed him by the collar: “This ship is clearly a pathetic wreck that’s falling apart with nothing but four pieces of garbage on it, and you said this is worth us moving out?”
The man who was grabbed seemed to be the scout, who nervously asked: “A lot of ships had been using this kind of camouflage lately, so I just thought they might be as well”
Hearing that, the leader was a bit less displeased.
He flew above [The Empress], looked down on the four people, cleared his throat, and asked:
“Which one of you is the Boss?”
Everyone was surprised.
Gu Qing Shan, Zhang Ying Hao, and Ye Fei Li stepped aside to reveal Boss who was lying on the deck.
“Boss, he’s looking for you” Zhang Ying Hao said.
[1] the word for “riddle” in Chinese also means “hidden words”.
