After setting their next goal, Dark Night Starship officially set sail.
Chu Huaying walked to the control panel and set the navigation buttons. The Dark Night's flight speed was much faster than that of interstellar passenger ships, and it would only take a day to reach the Capital Star of the Luoke Empire.
When Xiao Lou escaped from Capital Star, he left a [ Tao Yuanming ] card with Qu Wanyue as a precaution. Once everyone arrived at the Capital Star space station, Qu Wanyue could activate the Peach Blossom Spring Teleportation to bring his teammates over, thus resolving the awkward situation of them not being able to pass through security.
These past few days, traveling back and forth between the Deep Sea Palace and the deserted island, the group hasn't had a proper rest. Seeing the exhaustion on their teammates' faces, Chu Huaying suggested, "Why don't you all go and rest first? At our current speed, we should arrive at Capital Star around 8 a.m. tomorrow. Since we have nothing to do tonight, you can get a good night's sleep and be well-rested before dealing with the Luoke Empire."
At this moment, everyone was in the Starship's command center. The Starship was quite large, with many rooms for resting. Chu Huaying arranged for her teammates to stay in the lounge near the command center. There were three rooms, two people per room, so they could look after each other.
Xiao Lou said, "Everyone has worked hard these past few days, get a good night's sleep. Hua Ying, please keep an eye on the navigation."
Chu Huaying nodded: "Don't worry, Starship will automatically navigate. I'll stay here and keep an eye on things."
Xiao Lou distributed earphones to everyone in the team, saying, "Contact us via earphone if needed."
The six people left the command room and went to the rooms arranged by Chu Huaying, where they closed the doors and went to sleep.
Each of these rooms has two single beds side by side, perfect for catching up on sleep without disturbing each other.
Perhaps because she was too tired, Xiao Lou fell asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed.
He slept soundly. He didn't know how much time had passed when suddenly Xiao Lou rolled off the bed with a "thud." His head hit the bedpost, and the pain instantly woke him. He looked around and saw that everything was shaking violently.
He was stunned for a moment, then sat up, supporting himself on the headboard, and asked, "What happened?!"
Yu Hanjiang, who was on the bed next to him, also sat up. The man rushed to the porthole, pulled back the curtains and looked out—outside the window was the pitch-black universe, and because the spaceship was constantly shaking, the stars in his field of vision were also swaying wildly.
Yu Hanjiang frowned. "We haven't spotted any other ships around. It doesn't look like we've been attacked." He gently pressed a button on the team's headset and asked, " Hua Ying?"
There was no response from the headphones.
Xiao Lou quickly put on his coat: "Go to the command room and find her!"
The two reached the door, only to find it locked from the outside. Xiao Lou couldn't open it no matter how hard he tried. Yu Hanjiang's eyes flashed coldly. He gestured for Xiao Lou to back away, then drew his Night Demon military knife and began hacking away at the metal door!
This knife truly lives up to its S-class weapon reputation; its incredibly sharp blade, capable of "cutting through iron like mud," cleaved the metal door in two!
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou went out one after the other, sideways.
The next room was where Lu, Tang, Shao, and Ye were resting. Yu Hanjiang walked to the door of room number 2, but couldn't hear anything from inside because of the soundproof door. Xiao Lou simply pressed the team's voice headset and asked, "Xiao Ye, Ninth Brother, are you awake?"
Ye Qi's panicked voice came through the earpiece: "I just woke up, what's going on? Why is the starship shaking again!"
Lu Jiuchuan was also woken up. He yelled "Damn it!" and said in a hoarse voice, " Chu Huaying is a Space Pirate herself. How could we be robbed by another Space Pirate?" His first thought was of Space Pirates, because the current situation was exactly the same as when they were on an interstellar passenger ship and suddenly encountered a Space Pirate interception in the middle of the night.
Back then, Chu Huaying, piloting the Space Pirate, intercepted the passenger ship. Everyone was woken up from their sleep by the ship's vibrations. Today, it happened again. What's going on?
Tang Ci said, "It doesn't seem to be Space Pirate …" His voice suddenly turned serious, "It's Starship that has lost its balance."
Shao Qingge was the last to wake up, and groggily asked, "What happened?"
Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice, "You all step back, the door is locked, I'll open it for you."
After saying that, he raised his military knife. With a swift and decisive movement, two cold glints flashed, and the doors of rooms 2 and 3 were snapped in two, split in two.
The teammates, who had just finished dressing, rushed out. Shao Qingge's hair was a mess; the half of his ponytail at the back of his head hadn't been fixed, and his chestnut hair was all loose, making him look quite disheveled.
Xiao Lou glanced at the electronic combination locks on the three room doors and frowned, saying, "I'm afraid things aren't that simple— there must be Hunters in the Space Pirate, otherwise why would we be locked in these rooms?!"
This conclusion sent a chill down everyone's spine. Ye Qi quickly realized, "Our room is locked from the outside, and the Space Pirate's balancing equipment has suddenly malfunctioned. Does this mean they want us to crash in space with the Dark Night Starship?"
Upon hearing this, Tang Ci's expression changed, and he hurriedly turned around and strode towards the command room.
The command room door was also locked. Yu Hanjiang strode forward and cleaved it open with a single stroke—the command room was empty; Chu Huaying was nowhere to be seen. Xiao Lou said into the headset, " Huaying? Can you hear me?"
There was no response.
Lu Jiuchuan and Tang Ci exchanged a glance, then walked to the control panel with grim faces.
The destination in the navigation system had been changed to the Clock constellation near Hilt No Mans Land, and the starship system's LCD screen was now filled with red malfunction indicators.
two
The moment the person stood in front of the control panel, an alarm began to sound in the command room—
"Balance system malfunction!"
"Gravity system malfunction!"
" Starship energy is about to run out! Warning! Starship energy is about to run out!"
The alarm blared louder and louder.
More than half of the indicator lights on the system display screen have turned into red exclamation marks, indicating a malfunction.
Tang Ci stood at the command console, rapidly typing on buttons. He zoomed in on the map several times, and noticed a large black vortex-like mark appearing on it. Tang Ci's face paled instantly. He said, "This starship won't last more than a few minutes. The legendary cosmic graveyard is right nearby..."
Ye Qi stiffened, walked over to Tang Ci, looked at the map, and exclaimed with wide eyes, "Could this be the cosmic forbidden zone that was mentioned in military academy classes, a place with frequent severe weather and cosmic sandstorms?"
Tang Ci nodded with a serious face: "That's right, the planet in front is Beta Horologium 131, a gravitational star that is most prone to severe cosmic sandstorms. It is said that countless starship debris floats around Beta Horologium 131, and countless people have lost their lives here."
Xiao Lou's face was grim: "Can the Dark Night be saved?"
Tang Ci and Ye Qi were both students in the mecha department. After graduating, Tang Ci became a mechanical engineer in the Lu Jiuchuan Legion. Upon hearing this, he immediately checked the various systems of the starship and shook his head, saying, "The intelligent system of this starship has been completely destroyed, and its energy is about to run out. We need to find a way to escape as soon as possible—quick, find an escape pod!"
Lu Jiuchuan couldn't help but say, "Damn it, Chu Huaying knows this starship best! Where did she go?"
Yu Hanjiang suddenly asked, "Are you sure she's really Chu Huaying?"
Lu Jiuchuan was slightly taken aback: "There shouldn't be any mistake, she's holding a spider dagger."
Yu Hanjiang: "That's Chu Huaying, whom we met before. And this one we met today?"
Lu Jiuchuan felt a sudden chill run through him—yes, the Chu Huaying they met today only exchanged a few words with everyone. She didn't produce the spider dagger, nor did she connect to the Telepathic Connection to verify information or confirm identities. After everyone boarded the starship, she set the navigation destination and then told everyone to rest.
She didn't say more than ten sentences from beginning to end.
Since Chu Huaying is the captain of Dark Night Starship, when everyone arrives at the starship and sees her standing in the command room, they naturally assume that she is the same person—they never doubt her identity.
Moreover, since Chu Huaying was a Space Pirate from the beginning, everyone deduced that she wouldn't have a clone, so no one thought about it at all... Now it seems that Hunter took advantage of this loophole!
Xiao Lou said guiltily, "Even the best plans can have flaws; it was our carelessness."
Lu Jiuchuan pressed his temples, his head aching: "It's not entirely your fault. Who would have thought that Chu Huaying's mother also had a clone?! But there's no medical record of hers in the chip data we obtained. Besides, she's not from the Luoke Empire. She's been a Space Pirate since she was a child, wandering in the universe. How could she have been cloned?"
Xiao Lou said, "There's no time to worry about that now, let's find the escape pods!"
Every legitimate starship should be equipped with an escape pod. Now that the starship system has been destroyed and energy is about to run out, the escape pod will be their only hope.
Everyone realized the seriousness of the situation.
As soon as they finished speaking, Shao Qingge and Ye Qi immediately flew off using their teleportation cards, with Yu Hanjiang following closely behind. The three arrived at the stern of the starship and were astonished to find that all the escape pods had vanished…
Yu Hanjiang saw that all the doors in the corridor were locked. He picked up the Night Demon military knife and slashed his way through!
The man exuded a murderous aura, his gaze so cold it seemed to freeze everything in its path. As he cleaved open every room inside the starship, everyone was horrified to discover—
This starship was completely empty.
When Xiao Lou walked over and saw this scene, he clenched his fists and his voice trembled slightly: "This is a trap."
Yu Hanjiang said coldly, "They knew that the few of us couldn't pass the security check, so they would have CEO Shao use the Peach Blossom Spring to teleport us directly. So the fake Chu Huaying personally went to pick up CEO Shao and Ye Qi and bring them to the starship. CEO Shao opened the Peach Blossom Spring, and we all appeared in the command room—we had no idea that there was actually no one on this starship."
Xiao Lou continued, "This is a trap specifically set for us."
Where did everyone on Starship go? And where is the real Chu Huaying?
They've been busy at Merfolk Clan for the past few days; the Dark Night Starship has been out of sight for four whole days. What happened during that time, nobody knows.
Having just successfully resolved the Merfolk Clan side quest, the group, upon reuniting with Chu Huaying, experienced a fatal lapse in complacency. They assumed that Xiao Lou No. 5 of the Merfolk Clan... Clone is the Boss. After defeating this Boss, the next Boss is naturally His Majesty of the Luoke Empire, Xiao Lou's father.
Unexpectedly, on the way back, Hunter dug such a big pit for us!
The spacecraft's balancing system has completely failed.
The entire starship was shaking violently, even rotating 360 degrees, making it even more thrilling than a roller coaster.
Ye Qi was small and thin. When the spaceship suddenly spun around, he was thrown dozens of meters away. Ye Qi was so frightened that he quickly used his teleportation card to fly back and grabbed Shao Qingge's hand. Shao Qingge quickly pulled him back with one hand and grabbed the door frame with the other.
Tang Ci has always hated roller coasters at amusement parks, and now, the unbalanced starship is swaying wildly in space like a headless fly, even more so than the roller coaster's flips.
It was so disgusting that he almost vomited from being shaken so much that his face turned as pale as paper.
Lu Jiuchuan stretched out his long arms and pulled Tang Ci into his embrace, holding him tightly.
The two rolled on the ground for dozens of meters. Lu Jiuchuan stretched out his long legs and hooked them forcefully onto the broken door frame in the corridor to steady himself. He asked in a low voice, "Are you alright?"
Hearing the rapid heartbeat from the other person's chest, Tang Ci took a deep breath and said, her face pale, "I'm fine. It's just that I really can't bear to die here..."
Plum Blossom J survived being chased by so many Hunters.
It seems that a Hunter's strength lies not in quantity, but in quality. One highly intelligent and calculating Hunter like this is enough to cause everyone trouble!
The feeling of failing at the last minute is not pleasant at all.
Xiao Lou felt incredibly guilty after hearing his teammates' conversation.
He thought he had considered everything thoroughly. He had the Hunters in Merfolk Clan completely outmaneuvered, used the fake Liu Qiao to rescue the real Liu Qiao, had Old Mo's Nightmare Card disable Xiao Lou No. 5's strongest magnetic field shield, and even used a coloring card to dye a silver tail, pretending to be the prince of Merfolk Clan before abdicating the throne to Liu Qiao...
It's fair to say they had an extremely successful run in the Merfolk Clan.
Who would have thought that after just leaving the Merfolk Clan instance, before they could even catch their breath, another boss was waiting for them, and a rather cunning one at that, who used a "luring them into a trap" move to send them to their doom!
The Dark Night Starship flips rapidly through the universe like a roller coaster.
The crowd was so shaken that they saw stars, their bodies were sometimes upside down and sometimes crashed into the hard metal wall. Their internal organs were almost dislocated, they couldn't see anything clearly, and their minds were in complete chaos.
The energy was running out, and the lights in the corridor flickered.
The metal door, which had been cleaved in two by Yu Hanjiang, floated around in the corridor due to weightlessness.
Just then, the starship flipped violently again, and a sharp piece of metal pierced straight towards Tang Ci's eye. Lu Jiuchuan narrowed his eyes and suddenly reached out to grab it, but the sharp edge of the metal instantly cut his palm, and blood splattered everywhere in the air. Tang Ci cried out in a trembling voice, "Ninth Brother!"
Lu Jiuchuan forcefully threw the metal into an empty room next door and whispered, "I'm fine, everyone think of something!"
The balance system is broken, energy is running out, and to make matters worse, ahead lies the cosmic graveyard where countless starships have been torn to pieces. If a sandstorm hits, the entire starship will be shattered into pieces, with unimaginable consequences…
Ye Qi's eyes reddened with anxiety: "What do we do? They didn't leave us a single escape pod! If we just break through the starship and get out, without oxygen, we won't survive more than a few seconds in space!"
Just then, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang out in the command center: "Warning, a cosmic sandstorm has been detected ahead, approaching our position at a distance of 100 kilometers... 80 kilometers..."
The starship was falling too fast.
Once a starship is swept away by a sandstorm, it's like a ship at sea encountering a Category 10 hurricane, which will absolutely leave no trace of its inhabitants.
Ye Qi closed his eyes in despair.
Shao Qingge suddenly tightened his arms and hugged Ye Qi tightly, whispering a few words in his ear.
Ye Qi paused for a moment, not hearing clearly.
Just when he thought he was doomed, Xiao Lou suddenly shouted, " Hanjiang, start Spirit Fox!"
Yu Hanjiang realized what was happening and quickly took off the ring from his hand and handed it to Xiao Lou.
With a soft flash of silver light, a clear, youthful voice rang in everyone's ears: "S-class mecha Spirit Fox is activated. What are your orders, Master?"
"Lower the cockpit, prepare for flight." Xiao Lou, as if grasping at a straw in despair, dragged Yu Hanjiang up into the Spirit Fox's cockpit, shouting to his teammates in the corridor, "Everyone, come quick!"
Yu Hanjiang tossed the white silk to his brother, Lu Jiuchuan, who caught it and flew up with Tang Ci in his arms. Shao Qingge and Ye Qi used their teleportation cards to fly directly into the cockpit. Xiao Lou didn't dare to waste a second and pressed the start button immediately after his teammates entered the cockpit.
"The hatch is about to close."
"Flight system activating... 5, 4, 3, 2... 1."
As the countdown ended, the Spirit Fox's massive tail suddenly unfurled, transforming into broad wings. The sharp metallic lines along the mech's body gleamed brilliantly under the lights.
The S-class mecha soared into the sky, shattering the protective glass of the Dark Night Starship. Countless shards of glass scattered into space, like tiny meteors streaking across the sky.
Almost at the instant the Spirit Fox soared into the sky, the spider-shaped Dark Night Starship crashed into the area swept by the cosmic sandstorm. Within the dark vortex of the sandstorm, the Dark Night Starship quickly shattered into pieces...
Everyone who saw this from the porthole broke out in a cold sweat.
That was so close! We almost got wiped out!
******