Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Chapter 917 - 785: Just Basic Operations

The standoff between the Gao Fang warship and the battleship lasted for more than a day before the other side retreated back to the Space Fortress, seemingly to rest and regroup.Ship 3344 remained in place, avoiding the risk of another warship appearing, forcing them to retreat again, which would show a lack of confidence.

Another half day passed, and the Gao Fang warship began moving to another direction on the planet, seemingly giving some face to the military.

The military’s battleship didn’t follow in pursuit—when the other side offers face, it would be ungracious to continue being relentless.

Another day passed, and a starship lifted off from the planet, brushing past less than fifty thousand kilometers away from Ship 3344.

"A starship from the Cyan Blade Commerce Association!" Little Lake promptly issued a warning, "It belongs to the hostile forces!"

"The Cyan Blade Commerce Association is hostile too?" Paranoid was startled upon hearing this, "Do you have so many enemies?"

It wasn’t surprising for him to be startled, as two hundred years ago during his retreat to break through, it was when the Cyan Blade Commerce Association was at its most turbulent.

Qu Jianlei ignored him and instead asked, "Can we infiltrate their system?"

In space, without launching an Electromagnetic Interference Bomb, infiltrating a starship is quite difficult.

However, given the current close distance between both parties, infiltration was not impossible. It mainly depended on whether the other side was wary.

"Yes," Big Head Butterfly replied straightforwardly, "Their defenses are weak, data communications half-open... it’s literally inviting theft!"

"Alright, go for it," Qu Jianlei couldn’t help rolling his eyes; using idioms so abusively!

The Cyan Blade Commerce Association’s starship flew away, while 3344 continued guarding Cybertron, disappearing into space after a day and night.

Little Lake placed a locator on the Cyan Blade Commerce Association’s merchant ship, but the signal was timed and not very strong to avoid detection.

Pursuing a day and a night later was a bit late, but the general direction wasn’t far off, which was good enough.

pursued for two days to the approximate location, only to find that the other side had... jumped!

Nothing could be pursued after that, but Qu Jianlei wasn’t disheartened.

Given the ease of encountering the Cyan Blade Commerce Association’s starship, their influence in the Blade is evidently not small.

So he patiently waited, believing it wouldn’t take long to come across another of their starships.

If he really couldn’t encounter one, it wouldn’t matter, just waiting for that starship to return would do.

However, reality proved his assumptions were too simplistic.

The Cyan Blade Commerce Association is indeed the largest commerce association in the Blade Star Realm, but within it, the more typical powers are even more so.

Qu Jianlei waited for over ten days in this Star Realm, seeing more than thirty starships come and go, but hadn’t seen the Cyan Blade Commerce Association’s insignia again.

Fortunately, the invisibility ability of 3344 was strong, so others hadn’t noticed him.

That day, Little Lake finally cried out in delight, "Found a starship from the Cyan Blade Commerce Association; should we intercept and inquire?"

"No need to inquire," Qu Jianlei spoke calmly, "Direct attack, jam the information... aim to capture the starship."

The decision to attack directly was unfriendly, not typical of Qu Jianlei’s usual emphasis on "having a clear conscience."

But seeing among more than thirty starships, only one belonging to the Cyan Blade Commerce Association, he felt that attacking wouldn’t hurt.

Given so many choices, if these people still choose the Cyan Blade Commerce Association, they have to endure the harm coming their way, and it’s not anyone else’s fault.

Thus, Ship 3344 deactivated its invisibility and flew straight toward the starship, simultaneously signaling with lights.

"Stop the ship, prepare for inspection!"

However, the reaction of the Cyan Blade Commerce Association’s starship was predictable, as it sent back a light signal directly, "Get lost, stop pretending!"

It’s not surprising that the other side could detect anomalies with the Gao Fang warship, but even meeting an authentic warship might not improve their attitude much.

The next moment, the Gao Fang warship launched an attack, and because it was a tracer bullet, it looked like a warning shot.

But the other side immediately exploded, actually retaliating decisively.

Then, the doors to their belly began opening, evidently to release attack ships.

"It seems the choice wasn’t wrong," Qu Jianlei sighed softly; he was a bit worried about making the wrong move, but that’s just how compulsion is.

But the other side was clearly a merchant ship, yet they still carried attack ships; what proper person does that?

In the Asteroid Belt of the Celestial Hook Star Realm, it’s not unusual for merchant ships to carry attack ships, as the profits there are immense, and order is chaotic.

This is just a peculiar phenomenon in Imperial society, not generally applicable to regular settings.

In fact, even in the Asteroid Belt, most Armed Merchant Ships aren’t equipped with attack ships.

Paranoid heard this, rolled his eyes at him, "Pretentious, you’ve already taken action... what’s with the tracer bullets?"

However, the next moment, he was surprised to discover, "Ah, the other side is out of control?"

Then he glanced at Big Head Butterfly on the control room screen, incredulously asking, "Did you do this?"

Big Head Butterfly slowly turned around, "Just basic operations..."

"Damn," Paranoid quirked his lips, for someone usually without much expression, it spoke volumes about his inner shock.

On the hidden 8384 ship, Bentley and the others didn’t know what happened, but they received the message from 3344.

"Boss wants us to board the ship," Xiao Qin was uncertain and looked at Flower Scorpion, "What does this mean?"

"It’s just as it sounds," Flower Scorpion stood up, "I’m going to put on the Mecha, and Claire will focus on controlling the weapons,"

Xiao Qin was still a bit puzzled and glanced at Bentley, "What about the people on the starship?"

Bentley gave her a strange look, then turned and left, muttering under his breath, "If we don’t kill them, what use are they but to make waste?"

One must admit, the members of the Cyan Blade Commerce Association remained quite tough, even knowing the starship was out of control, they insisted on fighting in their Space Mechas.

But it was no use; under the pincer attack of two warships, what could a few Mechas do?

Little Lake, being such a miser, couldn’t bear to damage the Mechas, tirelessly working to control the Mecha systems.

Very unfortunately, Claire commanded 8384 to have its avatar destroy two Mechas.

Big Head Butterfly spun around in anger, "Wasteful! Wasteful... I’ve never seen such wastefulness!"

Qu Jianlei and Paranoid exchanged a glance and smiled wryly; the attack from the 8384 ship was also under this guy’s control.

But on this point, Little Lake did fairly well; in front of Bentley and the others, it didn’t show any signs of being humanized.

Therefore, even if Claire issued a "Chaotic Order," as long as it didn’t conflict with Qu Jianlei’s instructions, it would faithfully execute them.

The enemy had some crew members who tried to resist in the cabin, but that was even more futile.

There was no need for the two Supremes to act; just two A-levels were sufficient, especially since Bentley was an Electromagnetic A-level.

However, Bentley’s technique also damaged some components in the cabin, causing a significant decline in the starship’s performance.

The three starships quickly left the combat area, and after two days of traveling, they found a large meteorite.

Using the meteorite as cover, Qu Jianlei began to repair the captured merchant ship.

The parts weren’t a perfect fit, so he had to dismantle some from 8384, literally robbing Peter to pay Paul.

But moving forward, they would mainly use the merchant ship from the Cyan Blade Commerce Association, with the other two starships just providing support.

Because this merchant ship had the Imperial certificates, allowing takeoffs and landings in any Imperial region.

After erasing the Cyan Blade Commerce Association’s logo, the three starships set sail again, with their target being the Hope Star Realm.

In fact, from the beginning, Qu Jianlei’s choice was the Hope Star Realm.

The reason for detouring to Blade Star Realm was because none of his starships had certificates, intending to acquire one with them.

How exactly to acquire it, he hadn’t planned entirely on the way; he could swap, buy...or of course, rob.

Qu Jianlei thought the third possibility was more likely; even in the first scenario, he might have to force the other side to exchange.

Given this, he certainly needed to go somewhere not very friendly to him; Blade Star Realm was the most suitable.

Now, having successfully seized the ship, he wasn’t interested in making more trouble for the Cyan Blade Commerce Association; after all, that wasn’t the main conflict.

The 3344’s mechanical arm gradually accelerated with the two merchant ships until they entered warp state.

Jumping from Blade to Hope Star Realm took quite some time, almost ten days.

Reappearing in space, everyone except for Paranoid had a slightly strange look on their faces.

After all, they were all born in this star realm—except for Xiang Xue, who spent a long time here too.

The first place Qu Jianlei chose was the Star of Hope; the order here was generally ordinary, and he didn’t have many grievances.

But currently, 8384’s performance had decreased, and being somewhat obsessive-compulsive, he felt this wasn’t safe.

After all, what he relied on the most were the 3344 and 8384 ships; the other starships... were at most temporary.

Hiding the two main ships in space, the seized starship slowly landed at the Star Port of Star One.

There were no problems during the landing. However, as soon as the starship touched down and the crew disembarked, two inspectors approached.

The inspectors had a decidedly unfriendly attitude, using very stiff wording, demanding to see relevant certificates.

Flower Scorpion directly released her B-level aura, "Mind your attitude, or suffer!"

"What about Awakened," an inspector muttered nonchalantly.

But despite the words, their attitude softened somewhat, especially after Xiao Qin also released her aura.

However, their attitude fundamentally changed when they saw the starship’s registration.

"Blade Star Realm?" one inspector frowned slightly.

People from Blade were their least favorite to deal with, not only rude but also clannish, with little to profit from.

Yet, they couldn’t back down because of that. Having finished checking the certificates, they boarded the starship for further inspection.

Luckily, there was no attack ship among them; otherwise, there would be more trouble.

The seized starship was empty, without even a computing unit, leaving nothing worth checking.

As they walked off the starship, one inspector casually asked, "Do you have any relationship with the Cyan Blade Commerce Association?"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Xue frowned. She had suffered at the hands of the Cyan Blade Commerce Association, even having her Storage Talisman taken.

She directly released an A-level pressure, speaking with a stern face, "What’s it to you?"

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