Chapter 77 Just Partners 22
Zhou's younger brother had good luck; the tour package he won not only included admission tickets to Yalan Star, but also round-trip tickets to the starship, which was a medium-sized starship with very spacious seats.
After Ren Yi took his seat, he put on an eye mask and turned on noise cancellation.
With Ren Yi's current physique down to the lower C level, although he's not to the point where he can't even sit on a starship, he will still experience slight discomfort when leaving a planet. His current actions are the common practices for most people when traveling on a starship.
As for the other side, Duan Rui, being an S-class chosen one, obviously didn't need this series of preparations.
However, because of the excuse he had just made, Duan Rui was still a little stiff after sitting for a while. Worried that Ren Yi might notice something was wrong, he turned to the side, facing the window. The pitch-black starry sky turned the coated window into a natural mirror, which allowed Duan Rui to clearly see Ren Yi's every move. The other man did all this calmly, without finding it tedious or disappointing.
Duan Rui lowered his eyes.
He knew that it was he who had been holding a grudge and hadn't moved on; between the two, Ren Yi had always been the more resilient and determined one. Even though the other was the one who lost the chance to board the mecha, he had to take care of his feelings instead.
Such weakness made Duan Rui despise and loathe himself.
So what does he have to offer to win her over?
He hoped to grow and mature further, so that he could appear before the other person in a more composed and steady manner.
When he becomes good enough, no worse than that person...
Thinking of this, Duan Rui recalled Zhou Kai's uproarious laughter that day.
There was no malice in the laughter, but that was precisely why.
Zhou Kai's performance was enough for Duan Rui to know: he must be an extremely outstanding person, so outstanding that everyone can only look up to him.
This is so self-evident.
After all, she was someone he... liked.
*
Ren Yi realized he was wrong. He shouldn't have let his guard down just because he wasn't part of the main storyline, forgetting an ironclad rule in the small world: "protagonist" and "accident" are always the same thing.
This was the first time Ren Yi had encountered a hijacking incident in all the starships he had built in this small world.
Moreover, this is a flight route from the capital planet to the famous tourist planet Yalan, which is practically a blatant slap in the face to the Alliance.
Based on the league's consistent style, these people will definitely not fare well.
But what will become of these robbers is a matter for the future; what's more important now is the safety of the passengers on board.
The various compartments on the starship were isolated from each other, and the group of hijackers who came aboard were not numerous enough. To prevent anyone from doing anything, they herded the passengers into several specific compartments for centralized guarding.
At first, it was extremely chaotic and noisy, but after several decorations in the cabin were shattered by the energy gun, the cabin suddenly fell silent, a kind of deathly silence that made people uneasy.
Duan Rui and Ren Yi remained relatively calm. Fortunately, the group didn't seem intent on separating them, and the two, who were already sitting together, were naturally moved closer together. Unsure of the situation, neither of them took immediate action, instead behaving indistinguishably from the other passengers.
Ren Yi observed the expressions and behavior of the guards for a while, then, using his body as cover, made a few hand gestures to Duan Rui: [What are they hiding from?]
After the group came up, they made no attempt to ask for money or valuables. Although they were carrying weapons, the deep look in their eyes revealed a similar panic to that of the hijacked passengers. They would occasionally turn their heads to look behind them warily, as if some kind of alien creature might suddenly appear. Their reactions to the slightest disturbance were far beyond normal levels—they were completely like frightened birds being chased by something.
They were indeed being chased and fleeing.
Inside the starship's cockpit, the captain's head was pressed tightly against a pneumatic gun, and he was forced to adjust the course.
Large beads of sweat streamed down his forehead as the captain struggled to maintain his composure while following the hijackers' demands.
But compared to the captain who was being threatened, the hijacker with the gun was actually in worse shape. The brown-haired man looked agitated, his eyes were bloodshot, and every muscle in his body was taut; he was so strained that his hand holding the gun was trembling. Looking at the open safety latch, one couldn't help but wonder if he might accidentally pull the trigger.
Seeing that the course had finally deviated from its original position, the hijacker said in a deep voice again, "Activate the alien warning system."
The captain was taken aback by this unexpected request. Just as he was about to say something, the muzzle of the energy gun tightened even more, and the brown-haired man threatened impatiently, "Open it!! Open it for me!!! Now!"
The captain had no choice but to shut up and do as he was told.
But this is by no means a wise choice.
Every starship in the Alliance is equipped with an alien early warning system, but this system is almost never activated in safe star systems along the inner route. After all, these areas are patrolled by Alliance forces year-round, and the probability of aliens appearing is virtually zero. Activating the early warning system consumes a huge amount of energy; even a short voyage would be enough to deplete the starship's full energy reserves, which is obviously not cost-effective.
Another crucial point is that the alien species' early warning system conflicts with the starship's navigation system. Once the former is activated, the starship's navigation relies solely on the captain's experience to determine its course, and they will often only (and can only) choose a few routes they are most familiar with. After all, in the vast expanse of space, the talent for human navigation is so rare that even in the military it is a treasure to be cherished, let alone on an ordinary civilian passenger ship.
Now, with the double debuffs of "deviating from the course" and "early warning system activated" stacked up, it's basically equivalent to the starship losing its direction.
However, given the current situation, the captain understands that activating the early warning system could cause the starship to get lost in the sea of stars, but not activating it would result in his immediate death. Even a fool would know which option to choose.
After the early warning system was activated and it was confirmed that there were no threats within the detectable range, the brown-haired man seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, his whole body slumping down. He gritted his teeth, "That madman Lando!"
The Purfer Corporation is a well-known energy and mining conglomerate in the Southern Galaxy.
However, few people know that this group started as space pirates and only became a legitimate organization registered with the alliance after changing its identity. Even so, it has never been lacking in dirty work behind the scenes, and the group's headquarters is not the empty shell building on Iridium Cloud, but on another remote fourth-magnitude star with very little jurisdiction over the alliance.
Given that they started as space pirates, it's easy to imagine how much importance the Perver Corporation places on military force. As the corporation grows, conventional mechs and weapons can no longer satisfy their ambitions. The most advanced level of these weapons is always controlled by the military. If they don't want to clash head-on with the Alliance and be wiped out, they can't afford to do that.
Naturally, they shifted their focus to the alien species that could fight the mechs head-on, and then began to conduct in-depth research in the field of biological genes. After disregarding human life, not caring about the means, and wantonly trampling on human ethics, they made considerable progress, and Lando was the most outstanding work in this process.
But no one expected that this man-made weapon would turn around and kill its master.
The brown-haired man, recalling the carnage he had witnessed that day, paled even more than the hostages he was currently holding: A monster! That was a monster!! It was definitely not human!!
Unlike his colleagues who immediately switched allegiance to their new boss when they realized something was wrong, Roger ran away very decisively.
Before that, he looked down on Lando's status as an experimental subject, and he had long been enemies with Lando. On the other hand, he knew clearly that Lando was a madman, not like a human at all! Did those people think they would have a way out? What a joke! Anyone who was even remotely involved in the experiments, anyone who had been involved in them back then, would not survive!
Rogge knew that heading towards the Alliance's central region was extremely dangerous, but he had no other choice. If they were in the outer star system, Lando could switch to his fully evolved alien form without any scruples. Without the deterrence of heavy weapons, their group wouldn't stand a chance against him.
Seeing that the warning system hadn't reacted in any particular way, Roger was finally able to catch his breath and think carefully about his next move.
If they were to join the alliance and exchange their intelligence for protection...
To be honest, Roger didn't want to choose this path. Even if he had to exchange that intelligence, he wouldn't dare gamble on how lenient he would be. But one thing was certain: he would never be able to live the life he used to.
But if he doesn't do this, once Lando catches up with him, he won't even have a "future," let alone his previous life.
Just as Rogge was struggling with a difficult decision, a commotion suddenly broke out outside, so loud that it could be heard through the soundproofing panels into the driver's cab.
Roger slammed his fist through the communicator in a fit of rage, demanding in an unfriendly tone, "What's going on?!"
The projected light screen showed the faces of his men, as well as the pool of blood behind them and the people lying in the pool of blood.
The projected figure still wore a look of lingering fear. Faced with his boss's grim questioning, the man pointed at the corpse and trembled as he replied, "He...he wanted to deliver a message!"
If that idiot's subordinate were standing right in front of him, Roger would want to slap him to death.
So what if I send a message? What's the big deal?!
With such a large starship gone, how could the Alliance not have noticed?! Deviating from the course, interfering with the magnetic field, and covering coordinates—they accomplished all of this the moment they arrived. Even if the signal could be transmitted, it would be a fake address to the Alliance, which would be perfect for confusing their vision and buying time—although the time they could buy time would be limited, it was definitely better than nothing.
Now look what's happened! Someone's dead! Someone's died!!
Even if the league wants to appease the public, it absolutely cannot let this matter go easily.
Rogge's somber gaze swept over his subordinate, and he began to consider the possibility of pinning everything on him and then handing the man over, but he quickly abandoned the idea. The Alliance wasn't stupid; they wouldn't believe such a flimsy excuse.
More importantly, he really didn't want to spend the rest of his life under the league's supervision.
Now that this path was completely blocked, Roger actually breathed a sigh of relief.
Think of a way!!
There must be some way to take down Lando at the same time and evade the League's pursuit.
*
Outside the cockpit, hidden by Duan Rui's body, Ren Yi, who was sending a message to the Alliance, also looked extremely grim.
Both of them noticed the magnetic field interference, but unlike on Luodai Star, Ren Yi didn't have the system's help this time. He could only rely on his personal intuition to determine the approximate location range and then try to send it out.
Ren Yi could tell that this group of people seemed to be avoiding something. He had originally thought that they would drag it out until they negotiated with the alliance.
In this way, they would not take hostages unless absolutely necessary in order to seek refuge, and the safety of the passengers on the starship was basically guaranteed.
Ren Yi only considered the development of the mind, without thinking about the excessive reactions of this group of people when stimulated.
Watching the blood slowly seeping from the adjacent compartment, Ren Yi's fingers slowly clenched into a fist—
It has turned into the worst possible situation.
Since negotiation is not an option, the only remaining option is to threaten people with their lives.
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