Chapter 23
“This… do we need to report it?”
Seeing that this group of pirates seemed different from ordinary pirates, everyone exchanged looks, not knowing what to do.
“Report it. Why wouldn’t we report it? We can’t refuse to warn others just because they didn’t hurt anyone. Maybe we were an accident, but isn’t the passenger who escaped a life too?”
The captain stood up, his expression solemn, and immediately began reporting it.
Only a few minutes after the leader left in the spaceship, he remembered the key point. They had treated themselves like soldiers. They had not taken hostages, and they had not even demanded protection money.
“Turn around.”
His subordinate was confused. “Huh?”
The leader slapped the person beside him on the head. “Idiot. We acted too differently. People will think we’re soldiers.”
The subordinate covered his head. “But we are soldiers…”
The leader slapped him again and angrily scolded, “Right now, we’re pirates.”
Everyone suddenly understood and finally realized what was wrong.
By the time they rushed back and chased for a stretch, they discovered that the civilian spaceship had not continued moving forward. Instead, it had chosen to turn back.
“Fuck, stop them!”
They had just chased after it when they discovered that troops from the border planet were already approaching this side. Judging from the insignia, they were even the marshal’s people.
“What do we do, boss?”
The subordinates panicked. They had not expected Su Yunshan to send people over. Could it be that someone above had made a mistake, causing their movements to be exposed?
“What else can we do? Retreat!”
The leader did not dare face Su Yunshan’s people head-on either. He could only grit his teeth and flee with his men.
As for the people on the civilian spaceship, they all wore expressions of having survived a disaster. Afterward, they told the military about Leng Zhuoyan getting into an escape pod.
When the officer heard that an escape pod had been activated, his expression changed slightly, but he quickly said, “We understand. We’ll send people to search. There’s no need to worry.”
“That’s good. I only hope she can hold on.”
The captain also understood that the group of pirates had come to hijack the ship because of Leng Zhuoyan, but human life was even more important.
Su Cha, who was lying in a nutrition pod on Water Blue Planet and had fallen into a deep sleep, suddenly felt a suffocating pain in her heart. Then she opened her eyes, only feeling dizzy. Her whole body seemed to have been swept into some whirlpool, and waves of darkness flashed before her eyes.
She closed her eyes again, forcefully suppressing the urge to vomit, and quietly waited for half an hour. The dizziness grew lighter and lighter. Once it completely stopped, she opened the nutrition pod and climbed out in a miserable state.
“Ugh—”
Aside from her, everyone else in the cockpit had yet to wake up.
She ran over to check the universe sector they were in. After confirming that their group was already on the road toward the Imperial Capital Planet, she finally relaxed.
Good. They had not deviated from their position.
That feeling just now should have been nausea caused by passing through folded space. As long as she endured it, she would be fine.
Suddenly, a white cylinder drifted over from the empty space ahead.
“Mm?”
What was that?
Su Cha leaned closer to the screen, wanting to see clearly what it was. Behind her, another nutrition pod opened. Bian climbed out from inside skillfully. When she saw Su Cha, she froze for a moment, not expecting that Su Cha, who had not gone through any training, had woken up before her purely by relying on her powerful mental power.
“You’re awake.”
Su Cha turned back and waved. “Come look at this. What is it?”
Bian leaned over. At first glance, she recognized it. This was actually a civilian escape pod.
“This is an escape pod. Usually, it’s only activated in emergencies. Let’s bring it in and see if there’s anyone inside.”
Su Cha said, “Okay.”
Bian said, “Activate capture and docking mode.”
[Activating.]
[Target approaching—]
[Target captured.]
[Capture successful. Docking complete. Please proceed to the rear cabin to inspect.]
Bian brought the curious Su Cha to the rear cabin. Looking at the escape pod before them, which was about one and a half people tall, Su Cha reached out and touched it. Bian touched some unknown spot, and the escape pod’s cover immediately opened.
An empty escape pod appeared in front of them. Su Cha let out a breath of relief, but Bian furrowed her brows tightly.
“This isn’t right.”
Su Cha tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”
“Normally, when an escape pod is activated, it means an urgent situation has occurred and the spaceship must be abandoned. In that situation, escape pods definitely won’t be empty. If there are empty escape pods, it proves the spaceship may have automatically launched all escape pods before crashing to ensure the safety of the people inside.”
“And now this escape pod has no one in it, which likely means the others aren’t in this direction.”
After Bian explained, Su Cha also understood the seriousness of the matter. “Then what do we do? Should we go look?”
Since this involved human lives, Bian hesitated.
Thinking of Su Cha and Modesty’s identities, then thinking of the meaning behind the unusual spaceship Young Master had specially sent, she bit her lower lip and shook her head. “At a time like this, going over won’t help. It may even expose our whereabouts.”
“You are the newest planet lord. If people discover that you entered the Imperial Capital Planet’s star region without applying, you may be forcibly fined.”
“And rescuing people is naturally the military’s job. I’ll tell Young Master later and have him inform Eldest Young Master. There are too few of us, and we have too few supplies. We won’t be able to do much. If the spaceship runs out of energy then, we’ll still have to trouble the military.”
Before they left, Eldest Young Master had instructed her that no matter what happened, Su Cha’s safety had to come first. They absolutely could not put themselves in danger.
Su Cha also knew she could not force it. Fishing someone out of the universe was practically harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
“Then all right. If we encounter another one on the way, we’ll help in passing. If we don’t, then forget it.”
The group continued forward. Unexpectedly, halfway along the original route, they were blocked by a belt of drifting rocks. With no other choice, Jinfeng manually piloted the spaceship around it.
After traveling several light-years, another escape pod actually appeared ahead.
Jinfeng immediately captured it and brought it in. Everyone rushed over and opened it. Wasn’t the person lying inside Leng Zhuoyan, whom they had not seen all this time?
“Leng Zhuoyan?”
Su Cha’s breathing grew somewhat urgent. She was afraid this person would just die like this. If that happened, how was she supposed to explain it to the other party’s parents? After all, Leng Zhuoyan had gotten into trouble because Su Cha had assigned her a task.
“Leng Zhuoyan, wake up.”
Su Cha could not control herself and reached out, lightly slapping Leng Zhuoyan’s face a few times. Seeing Leng Zhuoyan’s eyes tightly shut but her breathing steady, everyone became anxious.
“Cough, cough…”
“Stop hitting…”
Leng Zhuoyan coughed heavily twice, opened her eyes, and stopped Su Cha from continuing.
Su Cha guiltily withdrew her hand, but quickly asked, “Right, weren’t you looking for learning materials? How did you end up in a civilian escape pod?”
Thinking of why she had entered the escape pod, Leng Zhuoyan clutched her chest and gritted her teeth. “The Qu family.”
“The Qu family?”
Qu Yanting?
Su Cha helped Leng Zhuoyan sit up on the floor and asked with concern, “What happened with her family?”
Leng Zhuoyan glanced at her, then at Bian and the others, and did not speak.
Bian knew that she and Jinfeng were outsiders, so she took the initiative to give up the rear cabin. “You two talk first. Jinfeng and I will go to the cockpit and see whether anyone is following us.”
Su Cha nodded. “Thanks.”
Now, there were only Su Cha, Leng Zhuoyan, and Modesty here. Modesty was from Water Blue Planet, so it was fine if she knew. In any case, they were grasshoppers tied to the same rope. None of them could escape.
Leng Zhuoyan’s face was heavy. “The Qu family is definitely conducting human genetic experiments that are forbidden from private research in the interstellar world.”
“Human genetic experiments?”
Leng Zhuoyan’s words did not make Su Cha say anything. Instead, Modesty, who stood to the side, was the first to speak.
Su Cha looked over. “What, you understand this?”
Modesty’s expression was complicated. “I wouldn’t say I understand it especially well, but I’ve heard of it.”
Su Cha patted the floor beside her. “Oh? Tell us.”
Modesty did not sit beside her. Instead, she sat opposite her and said with a heavy gaze, “Genetic experiments are an extremely evil kind of experiment. They can use human genes to create a batch of gene-modified people with no consciousness. As long as their emotional systems are cut off, they become perfect war machines.”
“They have no emotions and don’t understand restraint. They’re like the Zerg, and even more terrifying than the Zerg, because they possess higher intelligence than the Zerg.”
Su Cha furrowed her brows tightly. “Similar to the living dead?”
Modesty shook her head. “Not exactly the living dead, because they can die.”
“These gene-modified people have shorter lifespans than ordinary people. Basically, they only live half as long as we do. That’s why this kind of experiment is extremely cruel.”
Leng Zhuoyan looked at her suspiciously and asked, “How do you know so much about genetically modified people?”
This was classified information even in the empire. Very few people should know about it.
In this life, she had not yet seen any gene-modified people. Only in her previous life had she seen gene-modified people being captured, causing an uproar across the entire empire and making everyone feel endangered.
Modesty pressed her lips tightly together and remained silent for a long time.
After a long while, she asked in a hoarse voice, “Can I trust you?”
Su Cha nodded seriously. “You can.”
“I am your planet lord. As long as your secret is not aimed at Water Blue Planet, then I stand on your side.”
“Because…”
Looking at Su Cha’s encouraging yet serious gaze, Modesty still could not say it.
Su Cha and Leng Zhuoyan waited quietly without urging her.
Modesty struggled internally for a while, but in the end, she still said it.
“…Monica is a gene-modified person.”
Monica was an omega created through genetic modification. But because she only had one side’s genes and was similar to a clone, she also had a genetic disease. Her blind eye was proof.
Her genes were not especially good, but she was still the descendant of an S-rank alpha. Unfortunately, clones could not replicate mental power and gender. Among dozens of rare omegas, she was the one with the highest rank.
Originally, she should have been taken to carry out missions, or sent to a high-rank alpha as a gift.
But in order to experiment on whether an omega whose emotions had not been cut off would develop feelings for a previous omega or alpha with high compatibility, she was kept behind.
Monica had emotions of her own. Even without the memories of the original body, she could subconsciously sense that something terrifying was happening. So she pretended to obey, then escaped.
What happened afterward was simple. While escaping, she was pursued. Because she was unfamiliar with spaceship controls, she accidentally scraped against a meteorite on the way, causing the spaceship to be scrapped. She had nearly died in the universe.
Fortunately, the heavens still showed her mercy. Not only did they not let her die, she instead fell onto Water Blue Planet and was picked up by Modesty. At that time, Modesty had not yet differentiated, so she also did not realize Monica was an omega. She only cared for her as a beta.
It was not until Modesty differentiated and Monica’s heat arrived that the two of them rolled together just like that, and their feelings were set.
After that, Monica told her why she had been hunted, afraid that if she was caught one day, Modesty would get hurt.
“Monica also doesn’t know who the people who made them are, but she heard that the people behind it may have something to do with the imperial military.”
Su Cha was thoughtful. “The military…”
“I understand. Don’t worry…”
Boom!
The spaceship suddenly lurched violently. Su Cha, unable to keep her grip, was directly sent flying. Leng Zhuoyan was the same. She had it even worse, because the impact when the escape pod launched had been too strong, and one of her ribs had been broken. At this moment, she was even more unable to resist and directly rolled into a heap with Su Cha.
Su Cha, rolling until she was completely dazed, instinctively hugged the person. When they were about to crash into the escape pod, she turned herself around and made herself hit the escape pod instead.
“Mm!!”
“Hiss, cough, cough…”
Su Cha coughed dully twice. Her arms also weakly released Leng Zhuoyan, whom she had protected well.
Leng Zhuoyan, whose face inexplicably reddened: “…”
“You…”
Su Cha clutched her aching shoulder and said in a deep voice, “Go to the cockpit first. It isn’t safe here.”
That blow just now had only failed to hit the area they were in. Otherwise, how could they still get up?
Bian rushed over in a panic, looking them up and down. “Are you all right?”
Su Cha shook her head. “I’m fine. What happened?”
Bian furrowed her brows tightly. “Interstellar pirates attacked us.”
“They may be here for her.”
She raised her chin toward Leng Zhuoyan, her tone very certain.
Leng Zhuoyan clutched her chest and coughed heavily once before saying with certainty, “It’s the Qu family’s army, not interstellar pirates.”
Bian looked at Leng Zhuoyan doubtfully. “General Qu’s family?”
Although she was somewhat doubtful about why Leng Zhuoyan was so certain, now was not the time to talk about this.
“Although the spaceship is equipped with weapons, none of them are especially destructive. They can’t withstand the enemy’s medium-sized spaceship. If we confront them head-on, we may very well be destroyed in this universe.”
The weapons on this spaceship had been provided by Tao Cheng out of friendship. Because Tao Yi knew that Su Cha’s location was extremely remote, for her safety, Tao Cheng had used his authority to equip this spaceship—which originally should not have been sold—with a set of weapons that did not deal much damage.
No one had expected the chance to use these weapons to come so quickly.
Everyone looked at Su Cha, waiting for her to speak and make a decision.
Su Cha did not make a decision immediately. Instead, she said, “Go back to the cockpit first.”
“Zhuoyan, remember to hide later. Modesty too. Absolutely do not show yourself, and do not make a sound.”
Leng Zhuoyan pursed her lips. “What are you planning to do?”
Su Cha looked as if victory was already within her grasp and said profoundly, “I have a way. Don’t worry.”
This spaceship was used in the universe after all, so it had quite a few rooms, meant to make resting convenient. After casually stuffing the two of them into one room and closing it properly, Su Cha brought Bian to the cockpit.
“Request communication with the other side.”
Jinfeng thought Su Cha had gone insane. Request communication at a time like this—would the other side agree?
They had already greeted them with an attack. Fortunately, when the ship was built, it had been specially constructed with unique materials. Otherwise, it would not have been able to withstand that shot.
Jinfeng let out a deep sigh, thinking Su Cha believed there was no hope and had decided to give up.
But to his surprise, the moment the communication request was sent, the other side accepted it.
The other side’s leader wore a comical mask. Su Cha, who had removed her mask after boarding the spaceship, was using her true appearance. The moment the other party saw Su Cha’s face, he knew who she was.
He looked around and found no familiar people beside her. He sneered. “Miss Su, you’re traveling outside, and the marshal didn’t send anyone to protect you?”
Su Cha lied without changing expression. “He did.”
Relying on the fact that Su Yunshan cared about face and definitely would not openly announce to the empire that she had been “made to” leave the Su family, this lie came to her easily.
The leader narrowed his eyes slightly, confirming that he did not see anyone else in the projection. “Is that so? Why don’t I see them?”
Su Cha said unconcernedly, “If I let you see them, would you still talk to me obediently? The Su family’s army has always valued swift and decisive action. Once they strike, victory follows. Not letting you see them is for your own good.”
Although the original owner’s mind was somewhat twisted, she cherished her life greatly. Every time she went far away, she had to bring a large group of bodyguards and soldiers, afraid she would die if she was even a little careless.
So when they heard Su Cha say this, the people on the other side hesitated somewhat.
“Boss, what do we do?”
“Shut up.”
The leader punched his subordinate on the head. The expression in his eyes changed again and again. In the end, he still did not directly give the order to attack the spaceship in front of him.
If he had killed her directly before seeing Su Cha, then so be it. But now that he had seen her, with Su Cha’s identity, even if Su Yunshan did not care about her, he would definitely seize the chance to make an issue of it. The one at risk then would still be him.
“Miss Su, I won’t make things difficult for you either. As long as you open the spaceship and let us go in to search, we’ll let you leave. How about that?”
“Not how about.”
Su Cha’s expression was arrogant. She looked down on the other party with contempt and spat, “You? You think you can board my spaceship? Do you believe I’ll have someone break your dog legs right now?”
The leader was provoked into anger too, and his tone completely cooled. “So you refuse the toast and choose the penalty drink?”
Su Cha put both hands on her hips, lifted her head and puffed out her chest, looking like a proud tiger. “What about it? What can you do to me?”
The leader snorted coldly. “Fire!”
Bian’s expression twisted. “!!”
Jinfeng: “…”
Was she crazy?
She was really crazy, right? Why would Su Cha provoke an interstellar pirate? Even if they were not real pirates, they were still an armed military force!
Su Cha stiffened her neck, her face flushed red as she shouted, “Who’s afraid of who!”
The communication was cut off. The arrogance Su Cha had been pretending immediately shattered from her face, and she said directly, “Next, you’re responsible for dodging. If you can’t dodge, let them attack the tail.”
“What exactly are you doing this for?”
Bian’s expression was somewhat broken. Was her beautiful youth going to be buried in this empty universe with this madwoman?
Su Cha sat down and directly fastened her seatbelt. Ignoring Bian’s collapsed shouting, she said expressionlessly, “Counterattack with full force. Attack the other side’s wings with maximum damage.”
Then she pulled over the intercom beside her and began speaking to the two people in the rest room. “Both of you, lie down in the nutrition pods. Absolutely do not come out.”
When Leng Zhuoyan heard her voice, she thought for a while, but still decided to listen to Su Cha.
Modesty’s heart hung in the air and would not settle. “Will it be unsafe? The other side has weapons.”
Leng Zhuoyan said, “If you go over now, you’ll only cause trouble.”
She directly opened a nutrition pod and pushed Modesty inside. “Lie down.”
“Believe her.”
For some reason, Leng Zhuoyan kept feeling that the current Su Cha might be unreliable, but there was hope.
Boom!
[Hull damage: 5%!]
The spaceship shook violently, and the two nearly failed to stand steadily.
Sensing danger, neither of them dared remain deadlocked.
After Modesty lay inside and closed the hatch, Leng Zhuoyan also quickly lay down in another nutrition pod. Once both of them closed their eyes, several straps quickly extended and secured the nutrition pods. No matter how the spaceship jolted, the nutrition pods did not move at all.
Bang!
[Spaceship damage: 15%!]
The spaceship was struck twice in a row in the same place, and the damage rate immediately rose.
Jinfeng was a trained pilot after all, and he was also a talent transferred out of the military’s combat department. Faced with this situation, he completely understood what Su Cha meant.
If they gambled, there might still be a way out. Su Cha’s identity would make the other side wary. They might want to capture Su Cha alive, but Su Cha’s light brain would definitely alert the police immediately and notify the military of her location and situation.
If her gene chain was tampered with, the military would also discover it immediately.
This was one of the reasons Su Cha had nothing to fear.
As soon as the other side said “fire,” she had silently pressed the alarm button. Even though she had been driven out of the Su family, the authority on her light brain was still the highest level. Therefore, her alarm system connected directly to the military, and it was directly linked to Su Yunshan’s marshal department.
When the military alarm system was triggered and the screen filled with bright red, chaos erupted in the military.
“A member of the military has been attacked outside. Immediate support requested!”
“It’s someone from the marshal’s department!”
“Location received. Depart immediately!”
A grand force of soldiers immediately piloted warships and rushed toward this side at the fastest speed. Nearby troops were also immediately mobilized, fully rushing over to provide support.
Bang!
[Spaceship damage: 40%!]
Even though Jinfeng had reacted very quickly in this situation, the body of the ship was still hit by a shot. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, and he did not dare relax in the slightest. He worked hard to adjust their position, trying his best to avoid the attacks. When they truly could not dodge, he used the already severely damaged tail to take the hit.
After taking another shot, he finally found the moment to counterattack. “Missiles locked on left wing—”
“Three-shot burst, fire!”
Bang, bang, bang!
All three shots landed on the same position. The other side’s left wing was directly blown to pieces.
“Fuck!”
“What kind of material did the other side use to build that spaceship? How is it this resistant to attacks?”
Looking at the left wing that had been destroyed by a single round of fire, the leader nearly went insane.
Because they had been secretly dispatched to carry out this mission, their spaceship was the most inconspicuous kind. It could even disguise itself as a small private passenger ship.
Naturally, the equipment on this spaceship was not especially good. After all, it was only meant to capture one person. They had not expected to run into Su Cha, who did not reason with anyone at all.
What was more, she was piloting a warship with the thickest armor in the military, one that was even equipped with weapons.
This made the leader even more convinced that although Su Cha appeared on the surface to be disliked by Su Yunshan, in reality, this was only another form of doting. Everything was meant to conceal Su Cha’s true abilities.
“Damn it, we were all deceived. This isn’t a private civilian ship at all. This is a military warship!”
The leader hammered the spaceship wall fiercely and quickly said, “Turn the ship around. Leave here at once. Su Cha definitely sounded the alarm immediately!”
With Su Cha’s identity, if she called the police, the people from the marshal’s department would discover it at once. Then they would unite with nearby troops and bring a large number of weapons to encircle and suppress them.
At that point, they would not be able to leave.
Moreover, their left wing was damaged, which had already created a major obstacle for space-fold jumping. For an escape pod that might or might not be on their spaceship, it was better to hurry and chase the others.
“Damn it. Next time, I won’t be so easy to talk to.”
“Retreat.”
The others were also resentful and dissatisfied, but they could do nothing to Su Cha.
Jinfeng was covered in sweat, and his hands were cramping from steering.
He said hoarsely and uneasily, “We’re almost out of weapons. Only the last two shots remain. If they don’t leave, we’ll be exposed.”
Su Cha’s heart was also filled with nervousness. She gripped the seatbelt tightly. The metal seatbelt was dampened by the cold sweat in her palm. She swallowed and could not say a single word.
She tried hard to open her mouth, wanting to say something, but the hair on her forehead had long been soaked by anxious sweat.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, constantly telling herself in her heart that it was fine. It would definitely succeed.
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