Laziness is sothing that’s easy to co by but hard to shake off. After staying ho for just a few days, I felt like I was rusting away. Of course, the daily work remained as much as ever, but you have to understand—sifting through reports at ho with a hot cup of tea and a daughter hanging off you is entirely different from the stress of saving the world and personally leading the charge. While reviewing reports, you can enjoy such leisure, whereas outside, in the thick of action, there’s no such luxury—unless Little Baobao is around, in which case she’d hang on no matter the situation. But that’s a different story.
The Mimosa Race I encountered a few days ago is still staying in Shadow City. Their rchant ship, "Grass and Wood Ark," is currently undergoing maintenance at the Civilian Starport. The report in my hand is about matters related to this race. Under normal standards, intelligence on a Macro World caravan wouldn’t reach the Leader. There are countless races in the Macro World, and even naming them all is overwhelming for Sandora and . However, since we’ve recently prioritized intelligence on ghost ships, the intel on this perennial herb caravan, which had a direct encounter with a ghost ship, was delivered to us.
By the way, calling them a "perennial herb caravan" shouldn’t be an issue, right...?
The analysis report shows surveillance footage extracted from the ship’s main computer of "Grass and Wood Ark." According to the footage, the rchant ship had a narrow escape, brushing past a tower-like structure in the middle of the ghost ship, which took away one-third of the rchant ship’s hull. Those careless and undisciplined Forest Spirits were indeed lucky. Their luck not only lay in the fact that they didn’t crash directly into the ghost ship but also in that the ghost ship had no shield.
Yes, when "Grass and Wood Ark" collided with the ghost ship, it wasn’t blocked by the latter’s shield. The surveillance footage shows it was a very direct chanical collision. When the rchant ship’s external cara briefly scanned the ghost ship’s hull, it incidentally captured an image of a shield generator: it was dim and seed completely damaged.
Which is why I say those Forest Spirits were really fortunate. If the ghost ship’s shield had been up, the damage to their rchant ship wouldn’t have been so simple. The powerful energy of a Mother Ship Level Ghost Energy Shield would have caused the rchant ship’s reactor to detonate instantly upon contact. Even without such a disastrous explosion, their ship would have been burned into a floating mosaic in outer space. The result of a collision with an Imperial Warship would be just like that: the fearso force of the Ghost Energy Shield, more intense than a corona, surpasses the solid armor.
I hope those Forest Spirits, after retaining their lives, will learn to improve their organizational discipline...
I set the report aside for now, then for the third ti, peeled Little Baobao off and pressed her onto a nearby chair. The little girl was quiet for about thirty seconds before babbling in her language and crawling back toward . I couldn’t hold back anymore and complained to the little loli tinkering with the data terminal in the corner of the room, "I say, you finally ca out of your room; can’t you take care of your daughter?"
Bubbles didn’t even lift her head. She turned her fingers into needles to directly control the data terminal, focusing entirely on the holographic projection before her, speaking in a confusing jumble, "Farming materials... It’s your daughter too. She picked up ninety percent of her habits from you... And this drop rate is too low. I’m telling you, you spoil our daughter too much."
"For human-invented primitive entertainnt, you sure get into it," I couldn’t resist ribbing her. "You even got a data terminal universal cracked version... I an, you’re a Xyrin Host; can’t you just modify the data?"
Bubbles looked up at with a surprisingly serious expression, like she was preparing to run for the U.S. elections, "You’re questioning the faith of a non-RMB Warrior! Modifying the data wouldn’t be adventurous then, would it?"
I watched in bewildernt at this otaku who managed to tie gaming with faith. I had observed the ga screen she was engrossed in while reading my report for an entire one and a half hours, and the scene appeared unchanged, arousing my curiosity, "What exactly are you farming? How are you still stuck on that level after over an hour?" As I once again peeled Little Baobao off .
"Hard Crow Feathers," Bubbles mumbled, "drop rate of three out of ten thousand, but I stayed up too late yesterday and got lectured by Big Sister, so maybe I’m just having bad luck today. I’ve nearly hunted all the crows in this world to extinction and still haven’t gotten the drop..."
: "..." Turns out this girl is playing the ga to boost her luck!
Just then, Little Crow walked in with a plate of cake in hand, "Master! Mom baked a cake! For you!"
Upon seeing Little Crow, Bubbles’ eyes lit up, and the child engrossed in material farming imdiately jumped over to grab Little Crow’s arm, "Little Bird, transform your wings! Just the wings!"
Obedient Little Crow promptly spread her wings: after so training, she could now freely control her power for such specific transformations. In fact, with just her wings spread, this Silly Bird sowhat resembles the Dark Divine Race.
Bubbles, with a dazed look, reached out and started plucking feathers from Little Crow’s wings. I couldn’t stop her before she’d pulled out several. Then she compared the black feathers in her hand, "Alright, I’ve got the materials; modifying the data shouldn’t count as cheating now, right? I an, the difference between the 3D and 2D realms really requires so conversion..."
This kind of conversion! You’re just fooling yourself!
It took Little Crow a few seconds to react, and then she opened her mouth and bawled. Even amidst her crying, she carefully placed the cake plate on the table first: despite the situation, she rembered her purpose, and watching from the side, I felt a mix of heartbreak and amusent, eventually pulling Bubbles aside and knocking her on the head twice.
Bubbles, clutching her head, continued to mumble, "Wow, the guide said completing this task would forcibly deduct a bit of health; I guess it’s true."
: "..." Looks like this girl is out of commission for a while.
With most of the docunts handled, I decided to leave the rest for the afternoon and head downstairs to see if those naughty kids were tearing the house apart again. With cake in my mouth and Little Baobao hanging from my neck, along with a grinning Silly Bird behind , I descended the stairs, only to encounter Anwina, the Ghost Maid, floating up. She first floated over to pat Little Crow’s head and then curiously asked, "Master, I heard divh crying earlier. What happened?"
"Bubbles went off on a gaming tangent again," I shrugged, "But I already gave her a talking to."
Anwina: "?"
At that mont, Sandora suddenly rushed out of her room, looking quite urgent. Grabbing my arm, she hurriedly said, "Ah Jun, co with to Shadow City."
I quickly put Little Baobao on the ground and asked with concern, "What’s wrong?"
"We’ve found a clue to that ghost ship," Sandora said quickly as she opened the teleportation gate leading to Shadow City, and then she briefly explained the situation. "The repair system of the civilian starport just sent a report saying that an unidentified component was found in the remains of the cargo hold of the ’Grass and Wood Ark,’ which is likely to have fallen off the ghost ship."
Upon hearing this, I imdiately got excited too. As I once again pried Little Baobao off of myself for the fifth ti and placed her on the ground, I signaled Anwina to keep an eye on her and stepped into the teleportation gate. "Quickly, quickly, let’s retrieve it before this ship crashes into soone else."
At that mont, Sandora suddenly rembered sothing and called towards the direction of the living room, "Xiao Xue! Xiao Xue, co here for a mont!"
The quirky and mischievous little troublemaker king ran to the top of the stairs, looking up at Sandora. "Second Mom, did you call ?"
Xiao Xue, as always, inherited her mother’s linguistic talent. Every ti she spoke, there was a certain probability she would instantly floor the listener. Sandora’s expression almost crumbled on the spot: "That title... alright, just follow along. We might need your ability."
Sandora had clearly been spending too much ti with us and had now developed so immunity.
The three of us arrived in Shadow City in a whirlwind, then boarded a shuttle to a civilian starport about 20 astronomical units away, where the Forest Spirit’s rchant ship lay. Along the way, I found it a bit incredible, "Speaking of which, isn’t the ghost ship supposed to be an Imperial warship? How did it drop components after a collision like this?"
The things made by the Xyrin Apostle are known for their tough quality. The space fortresses they build can operate well for tens of thousands of years, and even after being abandoned for hundreds of thousands of years, primitive civilizations couldn’t pry off an armor plate with all their might. Yet now, a civilian rchant ship modified from a decommissioned spaceship managed to knock off parts from the ghost ship, which truly seed unbelievable.
"It can only be said that the condition of that ghost ship might be worse than we imagined," Sandora frowned. "I read the previous report. It seems the ghost ship’s shield has shut down entirely, and now its components are easily knocked loose... it’s probably on the verge of disintegration, and we need to find it quickly. That ship has held on for tens of thousands of years, and we can’t let it fall apart inexplicably at the last mont. Xiao Xue also previously made a prophecy, saying the ship is connected to and that it has sothing special—right, Xiao Xue?"
Xiao Xue was holding onto a nearby porthole, lost in thought. Hearing this, she was montarily stunned, then looked at Sandora with a silly grin, rubbing her hands together. "Uh, Second Mom, if I said I was just talking nonsense for so pocket money that day, would you throw out on the spot?"
Sandora and I both stared in astonishnt: "..."
"I’m kidding, just kidding," the little rascal quickly waved her hands upon seeing that we might actually throw her out, "About that ship... maybe it’s because my prophecy ability isn’t as strong as Mom’s, but I can only sense that the ghost ship is different from other Imperial relics we’ve encountered. The connection between it and Second Mom... Mom Sandora isn’t just a simple affiliation, but if I had to explain it, I couldn’t really put it into words—I see the world differently than others, and, Dad, you should understand this."
I rember how Lin Xue tried hard to explain her way of seeing the world to us, and in the end I understood no more than a third of it. There was no way to empathize, so I didn’t dwell on it. As long as I know the results of the Prophet Prophecy, the process can be left to Lin Xue and her mother to figure out.
The shuttle quickly arrived at the Civilian Starport. This Starport is also one of the facilities under the Ti-Space Administration, and is a supporting building of the Macro World. This brings us to the developnt of the past two years: as the Macro World Network grows stronger, more and more potential races are discovered or recomnded by Reviewers. These races or civilizations have established official exchanges with the Empire, and naturally, the Macro World Network is no longer limited to personnel flow. The logic is simple: those races that have officially contacted the Empire and learned of the World Gate can’t just be satisfied with sending one or two people to other worlds for sightseeing. Thus, more and more spaceships and larger official fleets began to appear in the Macro World Network, from various worlds, races, and civilizations. So of these fleets are caravans, so are envoys, and others are simply large-scale tour groups. The capacity of the Dinsion Hub Square in Shadow City is limited, so we built large World Gates and corresponding Civilian Starports around all dinsion hub nodes (within half a light-year still counts as surrounding), which is the type of Starport where the Forest Spirits dock.
This type of Civilian Starport and the large World Gates around it, ant for large spaceships to pass through, are open for free: for the Empire, which has unlimited resources, and all Star Gate facilities operate and maintain themselves, there’s simply no need to charge ordinary races for anything. Every race that officially contacts the Empire can apply for a passing code that fits their needs. Captains use their allocated passing code to perform "DIY tours" between these ports distributed across different worlds. However, the fact that the Empire doesn’t charge doesn’t an there’s nowhere to spend money at the Starport: so clever races early on applied for service windows at the Starport and opened shops on the Empire’s vast and available lands. These shops offer services beyond the free ones, such as local dining and entertainnt, to the fleets from Otherworld that are docking. The Imperial Capital World’s Starports also have stalls that sell various souvenirs produced in Shadow City (after all, not every ship can get a pass to Shadow City, so interstellar sailors who are lucky enough to visit the Empire’s core area like to buy so souvenirs in the Starport near the Imperial Capital as a way to flaunt their experience of seeing the world). Of course, thrifty captains can complete their Macro World journey without spending a penny. The services provided by Void rchants (which have beco an increasingly large and formal group) are just there to make their journey a bit more comfortable. So, fleets from Otherworld constantly coming and going, the ever-operating Empire Starport, and the Void rchants selling various goods in the Starport’s alleys and streets together form a fresh subculture circle—
The starship sailors who often cross worlds call it the "Void Age of Great Navigation," and they speak the term with pride, as if they’ve created a new era.
Sandora and I are aware of this situation, and everything in this subculture circle, including those Void rchant super vendors, actually started only after being registered with the Empire. The Empire’s leaders tacitly approve of it; Sandora doesn’t think anything is worth paying attention to, while my starting point is: ever since all the cunning vendors of the Void beca active, Sicaro’s business has beco increasingly challenging...this makes feel particularly gratified.
The Starport is located above a dark red artificial planet, one of the first Planet Battleships created by the Empire. It was severely damaged in a previous battle, with its power core and weapon systems scrapped, so it was retired early. Most of its weapons were removed, and a lower-power power core was installed, transforming it into a downgraded quasi-military fortress permanently stationed in Shadow Space. There are many such downgraded planets in Shadow Space, serving as anchor points for various civilian facilities. This one is just an example.
The surface environnt of this dark red artificial planet is poor, with the wounds of past wars leaving its crust unstable. Hence, almost the entire population of this mini-Constant Star System (there’s an artificial sun here) is concentrated in the Orbital Starport and surrounding Space Castle, with only a few ecological zones scattered around the mines on the artificial planet: so goblins willing to spend money and risk their lives applied for surface mining rights on this downgraded planet. Those green-skinned crazy little dwarfs work day and night on the retired Planet Battleship, extracting rich tal veins and super alloy slag left by the war. This stuff is considered waste by the Imperial Army, but in many parts of the Macro World, it’s a highly sought-after treasure—it can be slted down to make new starships and outperforms any natural material you might find in a regular universe.
This could probably also count as part of the Macro World System’s "special local customs and practices."
The Civilian Starport is a large irregular frawork. Being a civilian facility, its architectural philosophy is "big and usable is fine," so it doesn’t look very aesthetic. On both sides of the alloy frawork extending from the Starport, there are nurous diverse spaceships from Otherworld visitors docked, and under Sandora’s guidance, I soon spotted the unfortunate "Grass and Wood Ark" rchant ship.
It’s parked at a maintenance berth on the starport’s planet-facing side. It was transford from a large aircraft carrier into a cargo spaceship. The front half of the spaceship is alright, but the back half noticeably lacks a lot. Nearby, twisted tal beams and fragnted armor abound, making it look like a broken wooden stick sawed crudely in half: that collision was indeed fatal.
Most of the crew of this spacecraft are currently temporarily staying at the Starport, with only so injured and those gone to negotiate with the "Pan World Insurance Company" missing from here: they’re all in Shadow City. The talkative Mimosa we t two days ago is one of the Forest Spirits who left this place.
In the temporary customs office that "Grass and Wood Ark" applied for, we t the "boss" of this Forest Spirit Caravan, the port manager, and of course, that accidentally discovered part from the Ghost Ship.
(By the way, asking for a monthly ticket at this ti of month, I’m not sure if it’s reliable, since timing-wise, it’s neither here nor there, but honestly, I’m really afraid of forgetting by the end of the month...)(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welco to co to Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.)
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