Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Standing on the upper platform of the garage, Hao Ren watched as the refugees, whom he had just rescued, walked through the detection gate.
Nolan had only installed the detection gate and a temporary partition two minutes ago to ensure that everyone passed through the gate to enter the resettlement area. Supposedly, the detection gate was for security checks to prevent passengers, such as suicide bombers from sneaking into the area. But the real function of the gate was a lifeform scanner.
Hao Ren turned to look at the humanoid images on the holographic projection, below which was a progress bar. Whenever a passenger passed through the gate, the progress bar would extend a little.
Its purpose was to collect the lifeform data of the L’Haronne people. Whenever an inspector visited a new planet with intelligent life, gathering the parameters of the native lifeforms was the first task.
“Despite so many years on the job, it’s rare to work on a single task like this one,” Hao Ren lamented.
“Eighty percent is human, and there are a few mixed-races, such as elves in between.” The MDT floated next to Hao Ren’s head, reporting, “We’ve only saved a few hundred; the sample size is too small for us to analyze the species breakdown of the entire planet.”
Hao Ren waved his hand indifferently. “It doesn’t matter. After all, it’s just a start. But the real L’Haronne is very much different from the dream L’Haronne we visited earlier. The dream world groups many strange intelligent lifeforms on a single planet. Here, we’ve only seen humans and a few subspecies that are extremely close to humans so far. It looks like we can’t apply our experience in the dream L’Haronne here.”
Rheia rolled her eyes and said, “Are you blaming me for having a creative dream?”
“I still can’t believe that we just took in hundreds of refugees all of a sudden.” Lily scratched her head. Her ears flicked back and forth on her head. “Mr. Landlord, doesn’t this deviate from of our plan?”
Hao Ren shrugged. “You’ll get used to it. The life of an inspector is full of uncertainty. The only way is to adapt yourself. By the way, could you please tuck your ears away; there are no werewolves on the real L’Haronne.”
“Bah.” Lily snorted in dissatisfaction but still tucked her big fluffy tail and ears away.
The Petrachelys was neither an immigration spaceship nor a passenger ship. The living cabin could only accommodate a few dozen people, and there was no space for extra rooms and entertainment facilities. Building each of the hundreds of refugees a cabin would not be realistic.
Furthermore, Hao Ren was not going to allow those people to roam freely around his spaceship.
However, since they were refugees, they would naturally not be particular about the living condition and quality of life there. It was all the more so when these people had just escaped death, surviving the pirates’ guns and not falling into the World Scar. They would be thankful to have a safe place to stay.
The Petrachelys’ garage was massive. There were also many empty cabins added by the space expansion technology. Since the spaceship had transported some short-haul passengers a few times, the factory computer possessed a record of rapid resettlement facility drawings, which Nolan relied on to produce simple partitions and living necessities. Aided by the highly-efficient autonomous robots, Nolan completed the housing units while the refugees boarded the spaceship.
The refugees passed through the gates and walked to the end of the long winding corridor. There, they saw the clean dorms and were amazed. No one could have guessed that the novel and oddly-styled facilities had only been ready a few minutes ago and that they were standing in the garage at the lower section of the silvery-white spaceship.
After observing the refugee boarding process through a one-way transparent polymer window, Vivian felt bored and began to fiddle with a strand of hair on her chest. “They’ve boarded. Should we go and find out about their situation?”
“Captain Birken’s in Zone 1,” Hao Ren said. “At first, I thought that the old captain would have chosen to sink with the ship. Isn’t that a common story? I was ready to knock him out and bring him on board, but I was surprised that he didn’t follow the usual narrative.”
Lily could not help but shoot Hao Ren a look. “Who told you that every captain would sink with his ship? A uniformed old man with a white beard and a pipe would have abandoned ship, crying ‘it’s a trap’ the moment someone ‘biu-ed’ his ship with a pistol.”
Hao Ren knocked the husky maiden on the head and said, “Don’t simply quote game memes. Do you think everyone understands?”
Charlemagne walked cautiously into the room that was arranged for him. He had left the falling airship and was now standing in a solid spaceship, but he did not let his guard down. Instead, he was even more cautious in the strange and suspicious place.
The lack of magic sails and elemental trails, which made the ship seem unflyable, was not what mainly made him wary. The more important point was that with the erudite education he received, he could not even figure out where the ship had come from or the origin of the most common items in the ship.
The room door automatically closed after Charlemagne entered. He quickly turned around to check the door. After making sure that it was not locked, he began to look around the room. Charlemagne noticed that his cabin was cast from a type of silvery-white metal, and the finishing was meticulous as if it was the result of a one-time casting. The texture of the metal was unusual, its luster and hardness resembling mithril very much. But no one in this world would use mithril to build a house. So, he figured that it had to be some cheaper metal with excellent metallurgical performance.
Even so, the use of such remarkable technology and excellent material to build simple things amazed Charlemagne.
Charlemagne could easily see that the room had been built in a hurry. It had a square layout and was without any decorations. Besides having some windows and a door, it was basically a rectangular box made of six metal boards. The furnishings in the room were simple; there was nothing else he could do there other than use it as a sleeping quarter.
If the room were the result of a designer’s proper planning, it would only show that the designer had a catastrophic sense of aesthetic and design philosophy.
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The sudden appearance of the silvery-white ship with its strange and unknown flying technology, alien-looking interior, and odd furnishings were out of this world—it was way beyond the prince’s comprehension. He had to start worrying about a new problem: he had desperately escaped a plunge into the World Scar only to fall into an unknown world. If the big ship just happened to be passing by and was being a Good Samaritan, he would be much grateful. But if the ship was another wolf in sheep’s clothing, he would be in trouble.
The worse part was that Charlemagne had no idea who was behind this conspiracy and what their purpose was.
Someone knocked on the door softly outside.
Charlemagne could tell who was outside the door judging from the rhythm of the knock. He opened the door and found Awenna standing there.
Awenna had washed her face and changed into a clean set of clothes. Now, she had transformed into the gracious Princess of Izzo.
“Awenna, are you all right…” Awenna walked in. Just as Charlemagne spoke to her, she cocked her finger and motioned for Charlemagne to stay silent. She then summoned a light blue rune and swept it over every inch of the room.
Charlemagne knitted his brows together. “Is the room bugged?”
“No, just a precaution.” Awenna waved the rune away and exhaled softly. The princess may have looked soft and gentle, but she was just as vigilant and thoughtful as her brother. “This ship is strange. I am a little worried.”
“It is indeed strange. I have never seen an airship that could fly without magic sails and elemental power. And everything here is just different from what we have ever known in the kingdom.” Charlemagne nodded. “What did you find?”
“Unbelievable,” Awenna said softly, but her eyes glimmered. “I can feel the ship surging with powerful energy. There is an extremely complex control system all over the ship, and information is flowing in every inch of it. It is like a living steel behemoth, in which blood vessels and nerves are all over its body, rather than a rudimentary pile of metal driven by several engines and magic cores.”
Charlemagne was wide-eyed, not because he thought that his sister was exaggerating—he knew that Awenna did not have a habit of exaggerating. Instead, she had great talent in magic since she was little. She was even considered as the Chosen of the Elements, who could “see” the elements and energy flows that ordinary mages could only perceive during deep meditation. Perhaps her view of the ship was the most accurate.
“Then, can you ascertain the origin of this ship? It seems like some spiritual object that the ancient elf craftsmen make or something Latonne excavated.”
“I have no idea.” Unexpectedly, Awenna shook her head.
“You have no idea?”
“The structure of this ship is beyond my knowledge. I can see some of its energy and information flowing, but I can also feel that what I’m seeing is the most insignificant part of its body. They’re like the hairs of a giant. And this ship works in a way that I have never seen before. Regardless of whether we look at elven classics or the wizard’s knowledge system, there is nothing like it.”
Charlemagne could not help but clutch the saber by his waist. “I am afraid that the crisis is not over yet; we have merely gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
Awenna was intelligent magic-wise, and she also did not lack vigilance. Despite that, she was apparently not as experienced in conspiracies as her older brother. She looked confused. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Did this white ship not destroy the pirate ships?”
“Do you really think that three normal pirate ships could have sunk the White Pearl?” Charlemagne asked back.
Awenna was silent in thought.
“The pirate ships were only wolves in sheep’s clothing; beneath their shells were military hardware,” Charlemagne said. “They accurately timed their attack when the White Pearl passed through the gleaming clouds and its energy shield was at its weakest. Once the initial attack began, they continued with long-range bombardments with no intention of boarding and looting. That is not how pirates operate. Pirates attack for money. If they do not board and loot the ship, how would they get their money? They would gain nothing by sinking the White Pearl over the World Scar yet they wasted their valuable flaming crystal shells.”
“So, they were not pirates?” Awenna came to her senses.
“They were real pirates. But someone must have hired them to do their dirty work so that outsiders would blame the attack on the pirates. Sinking a passenger ship over the World Scar, no one would find out if the ship had been looted.” Charlemagne shook his head. “Under normal circumstances, people who hire pirates do not trust the pirates, especially when it involves such a sensational mission. So, the employer would usually silence the pirates after they complete their job.”
With her level of intelligence, Awenna quickly put two and two together. “So, the ship we are in now—”
“I am not sure yet.” Charlemagne looked helpless. “If this were a standard battleship, I would know whether it is from Izzo or the Dragon Empire. But it is such a strange ship. I am not even sure if it comes from any known human kingdom. Such a ship, which emerged out of thin air and that neither you nor I can figure out its origin, is ‘invisible.’ Even if it sinks the White Pearl, no one will be able to trace it. But if that were the case, the mastermind would not have to hire the pirates in the first place.”
“I think we should talk to the owner of this ship,” Awenna said.
“I agree, but what identity do we use? What do we talk about? And are they willing to talk?” Charlemagne frowned. “If they are related to the pirates, we will blow our cover and become prisoners. If they are just passersby, we have to consider whether to continue disguising ourselves as ordinary passengers. However, ordinary passengers have little say.”
Awenna blinked and smiled faintly. “It is better to talk than do nothing, is it not?”