Kerlodd waved impatiently and said, “F*ck off. I don’t want to waste my time with you.”
Public spaceships were rather chaotic with quite many hidden gray organizations looking for suckers. Therefore, people who had the choice all disdained traveling with galactic travel agencies. Kerlodd disliked being in contact with scavengers very much; it spoiled his mood so much that he even lost his interest in his favorite Dark Blue Star Bubbles.
“Don’t be so quick to reject. I can see all of the natives that you’ve brought along are Supers, so their prices will be quite good. Consider it, okay?”
At this time, Han Xiao’s cold voice appeared from behind the two. “I think it’s time for you to leave.”
Cesoly turned his head around and saw Han Xiao standing behind expressionless. He smiled without caring, ignored Han Xiao, and gave Kerlodd a slight bow before leaving.
Chapter 321 - The Green Knight, Boneless Bird
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!”
Hundr
eds 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.
Chapter 322 - Attack!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“This is the captain of Short Horn Star speaking. Passengers, we have encountered an attack from scavengers. We will start to turn our engine to its full capacity. As long as we enter the jump gate, we will be able to get rid of the enemies. Please do not worry, the enemy will definitely not be able to break the defense—we are very experienced in facing attacks.”
This time, the voice from the broadcast was no longer an electrically mixed voice—it was the firm and manly sound of the captain, comforting the passengers.
As a low-class travel agency, the Short Horn Star could not always avoid facing robberies from scavengers and space pirates, so Short Horn Star had gone through special modifications. Thus, its shield was very tough, easier to escape.
This isn’t good… Han Xiao had a heartache. He just wanted to arrive at the destination safely—why did it have to be so difficult? A space attacks was something that he could not deal with at his current strength. To a certain extent, he could only hope for the best.
More than a dozen scavenger spaceships surrounded and attacked—there was a total of three logos. Suddenly, Han Xiao recognizes one of the logos.
Boneless Bird‽
Han Xiao immediately thought of Cesoly from a few days ago, and he went to look for him in the crowd right after but could not find him. Cesoly had disappeared without a trace. Han Xiao frowned and pulled an attendant aside, described Cesoly looks, and asked, “Where did this person go?”
This attendant was the woman attendant who had tried to seduce Kerlodd back then when they just boarded the ship. She was horrified and said while stuttering, “Tha—that passenger changed to the first class yesterday…”
Kerlodd nervously walked over and said, “These are Boneless Bird scavengers—they were definitely called here by that middle man. I can’t believe they are attacking so publicly. If this spaceship can’t withstand it, we’re all done for. I haven’t lived long enough.”
“You don’t say… No one’s lived long enough.”
The attack was too sudden and could not be prevented in advance. Cesoly had a group behind him and could call for people, but Han Xiao did not have any galactic organization behind him, so there was nothing he could do, and he was at a very passive state. Furthermore, Han Xiao did not actually know how to read minds, so Cesoly’s moves and thoughts were unknown to him. If he started a fight in the spaceship first, he would be chased out instantly.
There was no use of thinking of these things now. Han Xiao calmed himself down and said, “Cesoly is their man, and he is on board this ship, which means that these scavengers will not destroy this ship—they will definitely try to board it. There are two possibilities—one is that they will attack the Short Horn Star till it can’t function, threaten to destroy the ship, and make us give in. The other is that if they can’t break through Short Horn Star’s defenses, they will then attack us from inside and board the ship. We can’t do anything about the former, but we can try to resist against the latter.”
“Then what can we do?”
“We only can counter attack if we have weapons.” Han Xiao thought quickly. The spaceship did not allow possession of destructive weapons except in special cases, such as implants that could not be removed.
“All of the luggage and equipment is stored in the warehouse of the spaceship.”
“Okay, don’t leave me here, I can fight too,” Kerlodd said.
Han Xiao grabbed the female attendant and yelled, “Where’s the warehouse‽”
The female attendant heard their conversation. She opened her eyes wide in surprise upon realizing that the Godoran was the follower and that this low-profile human was the leader instead. It seemed that she had been wrong all along. She regained her focus upon hearing Han Xiao’s yell and pointed the way, shivering.
Without saying a word, Han Xiao was going to dash out of the hall immediately, but the female attendant hurriedly said, “Wait, don’t leave. The spaceship had entered safe mode, so the exit to the hall is locked, and no one can get out…”
Bang!
The players used their strongest attacks one after another. With a loud bang and streams of light, the broken mechanical lock shattered, and the metal gate was blasted away. Han Xiao did not slow down—he led the group and charged out of the gate. The remaining passengers in the hall were left panicking and lost.
The scavengers and the Short Horn Star were still in a stalemate. Most of the passengers were watching in horror. Han Xiao was not acting on impulses—he just never liked to let others decide the outcome, always wanting to have the upper hand.
If the Short Horn Star could escape successfully, of course, that would be the best outcome, but if its defenses were broke through, these actions that he took now in advance would be crucial. If they only started to prepare themselves after they break in, it would be too late.
The group ran for about ten minutes. The tremors from the attacks never stopped. They could feel the Short Horn Star trying to speed up, but it just could not enter the wormhole tunnel. Han Xiao knew that something was wrong.
There was a lot of equipment that could stop spaceships from entering the wormhole tunnel, and since scavengers did robberies, they definitely possessed such equipment to prevent their prey from escaping.
Suddenly, the spaceship trembled tens of times harder than it did before with deafening sounds of explosions. The group staggered and almost fell.
Han Xiao’s expression turned very serious.
The universe was a vacuum, so the sound of the explosion meant that the enemies had destroyed the shield and broken in.
This captain had jinxed it!
The moment that he heard the sound, a notification showed on his interface.
_____________________
You have triggered an emergency mission, [Protect Short Horn Star].
Mission Introduction: Due to certain reasons, some groups of scavengers have their eyes on Short Horn Star. They are preparing to board and attack all the passengers. Your fate is intertwined tightly with this spaceship.
Mission Requirements: Repel all the scavengers and protect Short Horn Star.
Reward: 350,000 Experience, 1,500 Enas, unlock area prestige.
_____________________
Looks like the scavengers chose the second method. There are two other scavenger groups other than Boneless Bird. The reason for them to work together and attack us is definitely more than just to capture a group of slaves…
Han Xiao turned around and saw the twenty or so players behind him standing in a daze, which meant that they were looking at their interface and had triggered the same mission. Fortunately for him, he would not have to spend his own quota.
Han Xiao opened the communicator and realized that there was no signal. There could only be one explanation for such a phenomenon—the scavengers had advanced equipment that could block the signal, which was definitely to prevent their prey from requesting help from nearby civilizations. It was clear that they were very well prepared and determined to catch their prey.
“The enemies have broken in,” Han Xiao said with a low voice. “We can’t rely on the guards of this spaceship, and I don’t want to give up fighting. We have to protect this spaceship. I have a plan. First, we’ll retrieve our weapons from the warehouse. Then, we’ll split up into three groups. One group will head toward the main control room, and another group will look for the captain and the cadres—they have authority to operate the spaceship, so the enemies will definitely head toward these two targets as well. There’s a very high possibility that we will get into combat, and we know nothing about how strong the enemies are, so act with caution.
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