Chapter 871: Chapter 741: Courting Death
Qu Jianlei surveyed stars for many days and naturally knew that some stars had natural caves.
However, natural caves and those crafted by human hands are ultimately different.
Even if the elemental aura during the crafting process is erased, there remains a difference.
Indeed, there is a distinction between natural creations and those made by humans; perhaps someone can mask them skillfully, making them hard to detect.
However, upon reaching Supreme cultivation level, the sixth sense is greatly enhanced, making it quite easy to detect anomalies.
Back then, when someone searched for Qu Jianlei, they found someone else’s secret vault for this very reason.
Thus, Qu Jianlei can ascertain there is a problem with this stone cave.
He descended to inspect it and, sure enough, it was a secret vault built by an Awakened, containing quite a lot of supplies.
Upon careful perception, he confirmed that this secret vault hadn’t been visited for at least thirty years.
Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment, shook his head, and sealed the vault, leaving the supplies untouched.
He was uncertain if the Awakened who built the vault was good or bad, but perhaps this was their last lifeline.
Given this, why cut off the other person’s last means of survival?
To be honest, the supplies inside were quite ordinary; he didn’t lack them.
If the vault contained extremely valuable riches, he might not have been so polite—someone capable of collecting immense riches surely wouldn’t be of low ability.
This little unexpected discovery reminded him that these deserted star bodies might not be devoid of hidden presences.
One must know, this was still a highly radiated star body—prolonged exposure is harmful to human health.
With this realization, Qu Jianlei paid more attention to inspecting each desolate star entity carefully.
In a flash, over ten days passed, and one day, he reached an irregularly-shaped star body.
This star body was roughly elliptical, somewhat like an egg, larger at one end and smaller at the other.
The star body had some ridges but was heavily weathered and lacked sharp points.
The longest stretch of the star body was less than one hundred kilometers—it was arguable whether checking it was necessary.
However, for reasons unknown, Qu Jianlei felt inexplicably touched.
Following this intuition, he landed the starship.
This star body also had some weak radiation, but it was negligible. Qu Jianlei brought out various instruments.
Besides the regular inspection instruments, he took out a high-power ultra-short frequency oscillator.
The latter was specifically used to explore rock structures, making it easier to discover cavities and stratifications.
In reality, probing a star body this size was still quite strenuous for the device.
Qu Jianlei used it mainly to disguise his brainwave fluctuations.
After experiencing the matter with the silhouette, he had become somewhat superstitious about his intuition.
No matter the case, perceiving anomalies warrants caution.
Then, he deployed five probes, embedding them into the star body’s surface.
During this process, other instruments showed no anomalies, so he activated the oscillator.
Afterward, his Perception was stealthily released—not very strong, but exceptionally refined.
With such caution, even if the opponent had a Concealing Array, he could still sense some abnormalities.
Because he operated very cautiously, the efficiency wasn’t high, and it expended significant Spiritual Power.
For an area at this neck-to-head scale, wasting resources wouldn’t be acceptable without near-blind confidence.
After a minute and more, he finally detected an anomaly.
Within a shallow crevice was a carefully hidden cave, definitely crafted by human hands.
The Awakened who built this cave certainly put in much effort; an ordinary Supreme might not even perceive the abnormality.
Most importantly, Qu Jianlei faintly felt: there’s likely a living being inside this cave!
Could it be Kerry? He wondered but felt the possibility wasn’t high.
The arrival of the 3344 ship was quite apparent; even a common Awakened would have detected it.
Since it was detected, they would surely conceal their aura and make proper digs_confirmation_idotp>aus
Kerry being Supreme would have concealed so deliberately, could Qu Jianlei, with his half-baked Spiritual Perception, perceive the other party?
So, it should be an A-level or B-level Awakened, poor at Concealing Aura, hence discovered by him.
Obviously, the Awakened hiding here is a fugitive, or they might moonlight as a Star Thief.
But should these individuals necessarily face death? Qu Jianlei didn’t think so.
Nor did he believe he had the authority to judge strangers.
His daily conduct was guided by one principle: as long as you do not provoke me, I’m too lazy to play the role of a righteous Envoy.
However, having discovered a hidden presence, not investigating wasn’t an option.
After a while, he retrieved the probe and moved the ultra-short frequency oscillator.
Intentionally or unintentionally, he moved it to a place about five kilometers away from the cave.
This distance, plus the probe line about a kilometer long, could basically detect the basic situation inside the cave.
During the installation of the probe, because he was closer, he accidentally discovered that there was an even more obscure aura inside the cave.
Could it be that the person is not alone?
But then he thought, it wouldn’t be surprising, fugitives hiding together here is the right thing to do.
In this cold and dead space, being alone for a long time, one might go crazy?
Not just anyone can withstand the endless loneliness like he does.
In fact, without the company of the Little Lake, he felt he wouldn’t last long.
So the question arises: could there be a Supreme in this shadowy team that he couldn’t perceive?
Thinking of this possibility, Qu Jianlei couldn’t help but ponder more: could Kerry really be hiding here?
Then, a bit of dilemma welled up in his heart: if it really was Kerry, should he give this guy a chance?
After all, he developed a sympathy for Kerry, both had spiritual shortcomings, and could easily empathize.
However, despite the dilemma, he still fixed five probes in place.
Yet, just as he was about to start the oscillator, a massive spiritual power suddenly crashed into his mind!
This spiritual power was so formidable, it was considered outstanding even among the Supremes Qu Jianlei had encountered.
Moreover, the spiritual power attack was very discreet, with no sign whatsoever!
Not to mention anything else, just based on this skillful technique, the opponent was an old fox with a very high level of micro operation in spiritual power!
There really is a Supreme... Qu Jianlei smiled bitterly, activated his spiritual power, and met it harshly.
What he didn’t know was that beforehand, the people inside the cave had briefly discussed whether to make a move on him.
The initial mainstream opinion was to let him go — dealing with an A-level was fine, but that warship was not easy to handle!
Unfortunately, someone recognized the equipment Qu Jianlei was using, "That’s an ultra-short frequency oscillator!"
Being knowledgeable is certainly good, but if used improperly, it could spell disaster.
As Qu Jianlei moved the oscillator, the people in the cave discussed and had already made a decision.
That is to first use a spiritual attack to kill this A-level and then see how the warship on the other side reacts.
Why use a spiritual attack first? Because this method of attack has no external appearance, making it hard to observe concretely.
One could imagine, when exploring an unknown star body, if an Explorer suddenly collapsed without warning, how would their companion react?
—Well, no matter how they would react, encountering a mysterious crisis is better than being attacked by humans!
In the Age of Space Exploration, the most terrifying thing is not the complex celestial phenomena, nor the unknown Mutant Beasts, but... humans!
As long as it’s not an attack from the same kind, the other side might not react so strongly.
If the warship suspected that their person might have been poisoned or something, they might even send rescue forces.
There were actually heavy weapons inside the cave, and if used unexpectedly in consecutive attacks, there was a good chance they could destroy the opposing Gao Fang warship.
That’s right, these people had already recognized that the incoming warship... it wasn’t a legitimate warship!
Precisely because of this, they developed some intentions; otherwise, they would have concentrated fire on the warship long ago!
Their thinking was, if they could capture the warship intact, that would be ideal!
But if the other side insisted on fleeing, then they would have no choice but to injure or destroy it.
However, doing so would make it difficult to hide from people on other star bodies, and this hiding place would be exposed.
Building a base camp in space is not easy, Qu Jianlei himself could testify to that!
For various reasons, the Supreme chose to attack Qu Jianlei with spiritual power, which, though a bit strange, was logically sound.
Qu Jianlei indeed did not expect the opponent to choose spiritual attack.
But he was prepared for anything, unafraid even in the face of other forms of attack!
The two spiritual powers clashed heavily, and the Supreme’s opposing spiritual power immediately scattered, evidently fainting.
Qu Jianlei was also suffering, feeling a sharp jolt in his head, even seeing two small stars dance before his eyes.
This indicated that the opponent’s spiritual power was extraordinarily strong, even stronger than Siegwa’s final stand in spiritual power.
However, this doesn’t mean he got weaker, but rather that he was distracted and not focused on spiritual defense.
Just now, Qu Jianlei had used up some spiritual power, and subconsciously, he planned to conserve it for future use.
But after being attacked, even with golden stars flashing in his eyes, he directly unleashed his Supreme presence.
Earlier, he was contemplating, if it was Kerry, whether to show mercy.
But now, since the other side initiated the attack, there was no need to hesitate, retaliate fiercely!
If he didn’t control his strength well, accidentally killing someone, it’s not his fault.
In fact, by openly displaying his Supreme dominance and exposing his spiritual strengths, the opponent’s fate was essentially sealed.
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