‘Taken by aliens as if being caught like a monkey... Taken by aliens as if being caught like a monkey...’
Ye Bai's mind was instantly filled with this thought, like a barrage of ssages.
As to why the abductors could pinpoint her location so accurately, it was obvious that it was related to her replying to that email. The other party must have tracked her via planetary signals and found her exact location on Blue Star.
‘Don’t reply, don’t reply...’ The ntal barrage refreshed again.
How could she have forgotten that?!
Ye Bai now felt an overwhelming sense of regret. It was her own arrogance... She had thought she could handle even the Stellar Alliance, a behemoth of the galaxy, and that her level and territory in the ga ‘Onmyoji’ were ahead of even cosmic civilizations like Rui Lan and Kai Yin. She had almost forgotten that she was not just Bai Ye, but also Ye Bai.
She had been so obsessed with hiding the biggest secret—‘Bai Ye is Ye Bai’—that she had been blinded, neglecting the potential danger that ‘ancient human Ye Bai’ could face.
In the extre darkness and silence, Ye Bai sank into reflection.
In the interstellar era, public safety facilities were vastly different from those of ten thousand years ago. There were no blind spots on Blue Star; everywhere was under constant surveillance.
Personal terminals were incredibly powerful and comprehensive, integrating functions like communication, paynt, and planetary transportation... They could even instantly load defensive modules. Within the modified planetary magnetic field, they could almost defend against any non-military-grade attacks.
Previously, when Ye Bai used the purification module, no device had descended from the sky to shield her because the module’s effects were actually operated by Blue Star itself. The change was so subtle that it felt like simply opening an app, though the technological complexity behind it was beyond her comprehension.
Therefore, apart from paying for a hotel room to gain ‘private business space,’ Ye Bai’s sleeping on public benches was no different from being anywhere else on Blue Star.
Places like banks, train stations, and service centers, which used to be considered public safety zones ten thousand years ago, no longer existed on Blue Star. These functions had been replaced by personal terminals.
As a public star near a wormhole, Blue Star in this era was essentially seen as a ‘passenger station’.
It was just that this station was as large as an entire planet, and the vehicles moving through it were interstellar spacecraft, not airplanes or trains.
This environnt made Ye Bai, still carrying the mindset of ten thousand years ago, feel that she was unnoticed and safe.
Now, Ye Bai realized that there was no such thing as true safety!
The protection provided to interstellar citizens through personal terminals was limited, depending on the planetary standard. Blue Star was just a public planet, and its defense against wormholes was likely to be at a high level. However, the protection for individual citizens here was undoubtedly lower than in the core regions of their own civilizations.
This was also an era where technology and psychic powers between different civilizations could form hierarchical dominance.
The planetary and personal terminal systems that Ye Bai couldn't understand were probably easily hackable for the aliens who kidnapped her. In the mont they successfully abducted her silently, they must have blocked planetary signals, disguised planetary signals, and evaded all planetary surveillance.
If only she hadn't been trying to save money for ergencies by sleeping on the streets... No, even those capsule hotel rooms weren't difficult to crack. This ti, Ye Bai's abduction was most directly caused by her replying to that email.
Looking back, the job offer she originally received from Makur Star might not have been a legitimate recruitnt at all... Ten thousand years ago, scams using job offers as bait weren’t unheard of.
Who has ever seen a zoo paying monkeys wages and granting them the sa freedom and rights as humans?
People in the past would joke about envying the animals in zoos, protected and well-fed, but such an experience truly falling on a self-aware intelligent being would be entirely different.
More importantly, Ye Bai’s being taken away by such obvious ‘unconventional ans’ might not necessarily be for exhibition on Makur Star.
Zoological parks erged with the awareness of animal protection, but for those who just want to make money, there’s another industry called circuses.
Even darker scenarios included being used as exotic cuisine or materials for secret human experints...
As long as one was weak and backward, they could beco prey to others and be at their rcy.
The law of the jungle still applied in this interstellar era, perhaps even more clearly. Between different civilizations and races, there was no morality to speak of.
...
Wrapped in a sense of powerlessness, Ye Bai beca increasingly determined in her thinking.
She began to calmly look for solutions.
After trying to use her newfound ability ‘Identification’ for a while, Ye Bai didn’t gain much more information from the nutrient solution enveloping her, only getting more specific details like ‘oxygen ions’ and ‘hydrogen ions’.
Given the current situation and the strength of her newfound ability 'Identification,' all Ye Bai needed to do was to allow herself to 'touch' more external things in order to gain more information and find a way to cope.
Since her body couldn’t move, she still had her psychic powers.
The kidnappers didn’t know that Ye Bai had opened a starnet account. She could use the upgrade effects of Onmyoji to try to raise her psychic power to level D, allowing her to project her psychic powers outside her body.
So, Ye Bai imdiately logged into the starnet.
Before entering Onmyoji, she paused and searched for information about the Macul Group on the starnet.
Unfortunately, apart from recruitnt and advertisents, she didn’t find any information that could help her current predicant.
Most people on the starnet either communicated or played VR gas, so they didn’t pay much attention to such real-world entertainnt projects, which were entirely different fields. Ye Bai couldn’t even find reviews from interstellar travelers about Makur Star.
Seeing that she couldn’t find any useful information, Ye Bai didn’t waste any more ti and logged into Onmyoji.
It was evening in Bai Ye Village, and Ye Bai looked at the still-developing territory, calculating and evaluating in her mind.
Ti was pressing for her now; the faster she could reach level 20 and change her career, the better.
This ant that she couldn’t follow her original plan of waiting for the third batch of refugees to arrive and building a guard team before expanding the trade routes.
Leveling up wasn’t difficult for Ye Bai, but changing her career was the biggest issue.
‘Whoosh’
Ye Bai opened her backpack and looked at the building blueprint for ‘Source Well’—if she entered the Divine Realm, although extrely dangerous, changing her career wasn’t impossible...
But then she saw the 100 source energy crystals needed for construction and gave up.
It was too slow. Due to her trade with the traveling rchant, she had used up a large amount of the source energy crystals stored in the village. At the current production rate, it would take several more in-ga days to gather enough materials, and villagers couldn’t work at night.
She had no choice but to follow the path of a town transfer, which ant finding a faster way to get to a town.
... Traveling rchant?
Ye Bai’s gaze unintentionally landed on the hot air balloon by the marketplace.
The traveling rchant Kazmai would keep moving between towns for trade, and since the only other player village, Rui Lan Village, hadn’t reached level 1 yet, Kazmai’s next destination was most likely an NPC town, and there was a high probability it was the ‘Galaxy Zone Blue Star Server’ town not too far away in spatial distance.
In the PC version of Onmyoji, players couldn’t make requests to NPCs beyond the standard options, but this version of Onmyoji seed different?
Ye Bai’s eyes lit up, and she imdiately headed to the marketplace.
To give players ti to prepare goods, the ga had set the traveling rchant to stay in the village for two in-ga days. So even though Ye Bai had previously cleared out Kazmai’s inventory, she still saw him at the marketplace.
When Ye Bai appeared again, Kazmai showed a slightly surprised expression and then spread his hands, smiling at her:
"My lord, I've sold out everything I brought this ti, so there are no new goods."
"I know," Ye Bai nodded.
Kazmai wondered: "Then what did you co to see for?"
Ye Bai got straight to the point: "I want to ask if you can give a ride on your hot air balloon, to the next town you're heading to."
Upon hearing this, Kazmai was stunned, and then frowned, saying: "This... it doesn't follow our rchant's rules."
Ye Bai didn't give up and continued: "I'll pay you enough."
If the other party couldn't accept, Ye Bai would consider using 'zero-dollar shopping' to get the hot air balloon, even if it ant paying a huge price. But now it was a matter of life and death for her; there was no ti to worry about so much.
Perhaps it was the 20 points of goodwill at work, or maybe it was the rchant's instinct, Kazmai's brow raised, and his expression beca hesitant.
Noticing this, Ye Bai realized there was a chance and promptly took out a piece of Source Crystals from her backpack.
This Source Crystal was different from the coarse and ordinary ones traded before; it looked more crystal clear, and the energy glow in its core was also larger by a circle –【Source Crystal (Fine)】.
Though it was a primary mine, due to Carrie's high-level engineer working in it, the Bai Ye territory had managed to dig out two green-quality fine Source Crystals since the mine's establishnt.
"Nothing cannot be traded; the key lies in whether the value is equivalent," Ye Bai blinked and said to Kazmai the first principle of the rchant Guild.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you, My lord Bai Ye!"
The familiar rchant transaction interface appeared, and Ye Bai saw Kazmai placing a note on the scale, displaying as 【Kazmai's Companion Ticket】.
"Collaborating with you is indeed a pleasure," Ye Bai placed the Source Crystal on the scale.
…
Even though he agreed to take Ye Bai along, Kazmai still adhered to the rule of staying for two days, not imdiately departing, but leaving on the second in-ga day.
Ye Bai just happened to spend the night arranging future work for the territory, then packed all the tools, equipnt, and high-value items she might need for this journey into her backpack.
The next day, as soon as the ti ca, Ye Bai imdiately boarded the hot air balloon, waving goodbye to the villagers, and left Bai Ye Village together with Kazmai.
Sitting in the hot air balloon, Ye Bai looked down through the clouds, overlooking the erging territory, watching the various buildings and fields grow smaller, and a sense of accomplishnt welled up in her heart.
Only when the territory completely vanished from sight, leaving only the desolate wilderness, did she turn to look at Kazmai:
"Now, can you tell where our destination is?"
"Of course," Kazmai finally stopped beating around the bush: "We're going to the Mystic City of l-Lotus—a beautiful city of magic."
Reviews
All reviews (0)