The cockpit was large, with five people inside. One stood guard at the door, his hands clasped, while another monitored the ship's surveillance footage, which covered the entire side bulkhead. The pilot and first officer sat at the front of the console, managing the course. Captain Valerie stood behind them, her arms folded as she gazed out at the vibrant, colorful space ahead, occasionally glancing up at the monitor to the side.
The moment Igor opened the door, the Alpha guarding the door felt the flow of air and turned back reflexively. Before he could speak, Igor stepped forward, covered his mouth with one hand, and strangled his throat with the other arm. With a sudden force, the Alpha guarding the door instantly passed out with his eyes rolled back.
Igor supported the gatekeeper's body and gently placed it on the floor. Just then, a crew member staring at the surveillance video caught a glimpse of a screen in the upper right corner. After a moment's hesitation, he called out, "Captain, could you please come and take a look?"
"What's wrong?" Valerie turned and walked to the left rear, standing under the surveillance screen and looking up.
The crew member pointed to the screen above his head and said, "Look here, what is this?"
At the spot he pointed, the camera footage flickered. The pearly white corridor walls had been covered in a layer of dark brown, vine-like material. The crew member stared at it for a long moment, then asked in confusion, "When did we plant this type of creeper?"
Valerie didn't know either: "Zoom in, whose room is this?"
"This is the resting cabin for crew members Kirk and Eddie. The one next to it is occupied by the young master and his friends who are just stopping by."
As he spoke, the camera zoomed in, and the view on the corridor wall suddenly became clear enough to make out the veins on the plant. The dizziness Valerie had felt before setting sail returned with a vengeance. She blinked hard twice, holding onto the back of the chair in front of her, and endured the discomfort to look again.
——A pair of bright red eyes suddenly appeared on the dark brown screen, like between the patterns growing on a vine, staring at her coldly.
Even though she was a captain of an interstellar pirate ship who had experienced countless storms, Valerie was still frightened. She got goose bumps all over her body, her hair stood on end, and she subconsciously took a half step back.
This half step put him into Igor's attack range.
His movements were still concise and sharp. In the blink of an eye, he knocked down a female Alpha who was only half a head shorter than him. At the same time, the lower half of the metal prosthesis on his left leg made a slight "click" sound. He raised his knee and hit the lower abdomen of the crew member next to him from the side, and stabbed the anesthetic knife, which was only 1.5 centimeters long and exposed through his suit pants, into the other person's flesh.
The next second, Igor quickly squatted down and used the cover of the chair to avoid two gunshots.
The first mate yelled, "Don't shoot, you idiot! The captain's still lying there!"
"What should we do then?" the driver yelled back in bewilderment. "Didn't you say he didn't have any large-scale lethal weapons?"
Who the hell would have thought that a young master who looked like he had built up all his muscles in the gym could have such a high fighting power!
Who would have thought that an ordinary mechanical prosthesis could be used in so many ways by these rich people!
——Igor’s left leg is a bionic weapon created by the military at great expense and with cutting-edge technology. It is waterproof, fireproof, and multifunctional, and can be called a small arsenal. It is unique in the entire universe and you can’t buy it even if you spend money.
This was a secret known only to a few high-ranking members of the Federation; the interstellar pirates were naturally unaware of it. Just as they were at a loss, Igor, pushing his wheelchair, rushed directly to the control console. As he passed Valerie, he snatched the weapon from her waistband and fired two shots at the first officer, accurately hitting him in the calf.
The first mate wailed, his knees buckling as he fell to his knees. Igor grabbed his head with one hand and slammed it against the ground, then stood up using the chair as support, looking down at the pilot, now the only conscious person besides him.
His gray hair was slightly disheveled, his eyes were crimson, and his expression was cold yet tinged with murderous intent, like a demon crawling out of the abyss. The driver, trembling with fear, dropped his weapon and raised his hands: "Don't kill me! I surrender!"
Igor asked, "Who is the person you are trading with in Port Yarple?"
The driver opened his mouth, hesitated, and said nothing.
Igor fired a shot at his feet and repeatedly asked, "Who is the person you are trading with?"
"It's the secretary of the governor of Port Alpre!!" The pilot collapsed, grabbing his head and shouting, "Every time we enter the port to deliver goods, I see him! As for whether there is someone else behind this, I don't know. Please don't kill me, I can help you fly the spaceship..."
Igor snorted, bent down to pick up the other person's index finger, and gently scratched the knife coated with strong anesthetic on his left leg.
The driver's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground.
"I've probably flown this type of spaceship more times than you have." Igor said to the dead crew member, glanced at the normally functioning control console and ignored it. Instead, he stood in front of the monitoring screen on the left and began to look for any traces of Azathoth and Hugo.
Then he saw that Hugo had removed the controls and blocked most of the cameras. The interior of the ship was now a chaotic mess. There were crew members everywhere who, though not aggressive, seemed insane and irrational, with varying symptoms. There were also a handful of Omegas who, after being released from the cargo hold by Hugo, were caught off guard by this bizarre sight and were trembling with fear, some even crying loudly.
Igor: “…”
Are we really doing good things?
He began to doubt his own righteous camp.
The kidnapped Omegas certainly couldn't be left in the cargo hold, but neither Azathoth nor Hugo wanted to interact with a group of strangers. So after Hugo opened the cargo hold door and let the Omegas out, no one showed up to offer proper and friendly guidance and comfort to these children, who were no more than twenty years old.
Igor Sullivan, the only person who could take on this important task, is still on the wanted list. For the sake of everyone, he really shouldn't show up.
So the kidnapped people who had gone through so many hardships and dangers and finally saw the light of escape tried to run out of the cargo hold. For a moment they almost thought they were being sold to a mental hospital.
The former federal marshal had just taken down five Alphas without batting an eyelid, but now, looking at the group of crying little kids on the screen who were hiding in the cargo hold and closing the door again, he couldn't help but reveal a rare toothache expression.
On the other side, Azathoth brought Hugo to the cab to meet him.
"Our destination is Port Yarple." Igor temporarily ignored some details and pointed to the main target. "If nothing goes wrong, we just need to follow the pirates into the Federation and disembark the spaceship."
"But there are still twenty-two abducted Omegas on board, fifteen of whom are minors. They require the attention of the government police and the care of professional doctors. And we... it's not convenient for me to carry out this work, so if possible, after we arrive at the port, Hugo will publish the information about this ship on the interstellar network. The more eye-catching the better."
"But you don't need to mention our identities specifically. Just state the number of crew members and Omegas. I know a few well-known news commentators who are willing to take risks. You can contact them by private message or email."
He took out a notebook from the cockpit drawer, bit off the pen cap, wrote down a few email addresses and IDs on it, and handed it to Hugo.
Azathoth also glanced over and suddenly asked, "Nixon Evelyn? The one who wrote 'Analyzing the Possibility of Igor Sullivan's Treason Based on His Conflict with Viscount Joyce Five Years Ago'?"
He spoke this series of names fluently, obviously having read them carefully.
Igor was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted and smiled. "He's a friend of mine. I haven't read the article you mentioned, but he has a habit of pretending to be a supporter when he's extremely disgusted with something, exaggerating the situation and thus antagonizing passersby. Aren't there a lot of people calling him nonsense under that article?"
Azathoth nodded thoughtfully.
"That's it." Igor's expression lightened up when he mentioned his old friend. Then he suddenly realized something. "Wait, how did you see this article?"
His eyes fell on Hugo.
Hugo said angrily: "I'm not! I didn't! I've been working hard!"
Azathoth pulled out a mobile device from his pocket and said, feeling like a socially anxious otaku who had finally gotten his first phone: "It's quite useful."
Igor: “…”
Sooner or later, this day will come.
Could he still stop the god he believed in from reading gossip about him?
But the feeling of being suddenly stripped naked was too humiliating. Igor couldn't help but hold his forehead. He didn't ask Azathoth what he had seen. He just sat down in front of the console as if nothing had happened, and focused all his attention on driving the spacecraft.
Two days later, following the ship's original planned route, they arrived at the dedicated passage used by interstellar pirates and smugglers in Port Alple. The former ship's pilot, awakened by Igor, gave the customs inspector a stiff smile and handed over the pass.
Then they entered the federal territory smoothly.
At the same time, a hot news search and several blurry photos suddenly spread on Star Network, and several well-known commentators forwarded and commented on them.
At first glance, the news appears to be a made-up ghost story:
The ship, numbered 7592E, arrived at Port Alplai today. All 132 crew members have gone insane and are currently receiving treatment in the psychiatric department of Port Alplai City Hospital. Twenty-two Omegas were also hidden in the ship's cargo hold. They have been rescued and are in good mental condition, but the reason for the ship's crew's madness remains unknown.
What on earth had they seen in the universe? What had happened to them? Why had everyone, regardless of gender or mental capacity, been so intensely shocked and frightened, to the point where even those capable of verbal expression, in a delirium, repeatedly described an ugly plant with a dark brown trunk and strange patterns?
Others focused on the Omegas rescued from the spaceship. The Federation hadn't seen such a severe human trafficking case in decades. The central government took this matter very seriously, issuing an investigation just an hour after the news broke.
Officials personally acknowledged the authenticity of the trending content. Suddenly, the public's curiosity about the secrets hidden in it reached a peak.
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