Chapter 980: Chapter 846: There’s Always a Next Time
Qu Jianlei arrived at the frigate and discovered that the sealed cabin was perfectly tight.
Then he asked Little Lake and learned that this was a manual hatch without mechanical transmission control, and there was no surveillance inside either.
The Big Head Butterfly had already reacted; the door was locked from the inside, and there was likely someone hiding inside.
It spoke aggrievedly, "This type of cabin... I don’t have the capability to inspect it, and I’m too busy right now."
There were so many different types of starships involved in this battle, and just taking inventory was a huge workload.
Moreover, the main ships were of types they hadn’t encountered before, and many structures were being seen for the first time, so some oversight was understandable.
Qu Jianlei nodded slightly and then used Spiritual Perception, but found nothing.
He looked around, picked up a metal rod, and tapped on the hatch a few times.
A slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he glanced at the Paranoid, "You’ve figured it out, yet you called me here."
From the information transmitted by the sound and vibration, he confirmed that there was indeed someone hiding inside.
However, Spiritual Perception couldn’t detect it, nor were there any temperature or life signs, no wonder Little Lake couldn’t find anyone.
Being able to evade his Spiritual Perception, it should be a Supreme without a doubt.
However, Qu Jianlei didn’t think that the Paranoid would fail to detect the other party—why did you ask me to join the fun?
The Paranoid also smiled slightly, "The backlash before a Supreme’s death, I don’t want to experience that... use a Spiritual Attack."
Actually, he was just unhappy being ordered around by Little Lake and was unsure whether he should kill this person.
Qu Jianlei heard this and coughed lightly, raising his voice, "You hear that? If you don’t come out, I won’t be polite!"
Actually, he didn’t know if this sealed cabin could hear the outside sounds, but it didn’t matter, at least it’s not executing without a warning.
There was no reaction from inside the sealed cabin, as if no one was inside.
Qu Jianlei naturally wouldn’t be polite and directly launched a Spiritual Attack, with considerable strength.
The first strike had no response, but he wasn’t surprised—the opponent should have spiritual protection gear.
After all, everyone knew that Rhodiola rosea used Spiritual Attacks to defeat the Supreme Siegel; it would be strange if the other party was unprepared,
He unhesitatingly launched a second strike, much stronger than the first, and planned to continue with a third strike.
However, the second strike had a response, causing a fluctuation of aura inside.
Apparently, the other party was injured, and the well-concealed aura could no longer be maintained.
When the third strike was launched, the fluctuating aura became even more evident.
Immediately afterward, the sealed cabin opened, and a figure appeared, "Stop... stop!"
The person wore an astronaut helmet—evidently prepared for a prolonged battle, making it difficult to recognize his face.
But just from the aura, Qu Jianlei recognized him; it was indeed Cartel.
Cartel’s figure was a bit shaky, forcibly speaking with spirit, "Do you know... what you’ve done?"
Qu Jianlei helplessly shook his head; he originally wanted to interrogate this person but now had no interest.
These people didn’t know where they got their sense of superiority; most likely, what they would say next was the usual intimidation and threats.
He was really tired of hearing such words, so he turned and left, "Paranoid, it’s up to you!"
"It’s me again," the Paranoid muttered, raising a hand to launch a Golden Wheel...
Qu Jianlei wasn’t concerned with the follow-up at all. After returning to 8384, he issued an order.
"Tie up all the starships, including the larger debris."
This was another laborious task, and finally, the battle was completely over; some small ships had also been activated by Little Lake.
While collecting the starships, the Paranoid returned, shaking two Storage Talismans in hand, "What a bunch of paupers!"
When he found Qu Jianlei directing Little Lake to bundle up the starships, he was momentarily puzzled.
"Many starships aren’t worth repairing, right? You’re really willing to pick up this junk?"
"What are you saying," Qu Jianlei rolled his eyes at him; he was quite sensitive to "picking up junk."
"Having taken out such a fleet, you must clean up the traces."
"How can these traces be completely cleaned?" the Paranoid couldn’t help but refute; he really loved to argue.
Then he pointed in one direction, "It’s just over three million kilometers to Gem Blue, they won’t notice?"
Three million kilometers is very far on the ground, but in space, it’s not that far.
Especially with this battle’s scale being large enough, all kinds of sound and light effects were maximized, probably observable even from five million kilometers away.
Moreover, some people already knew that Rhodiola rosea’s team might be ambushed, so how could they give up the opportunity to observe?
Qu Jianlei also knew this was indeed the case, but he calmly stated.
"Even if it’s just for show, clean up the battlefield, lest others see it as a provocation. Doesn’t the Imperial pride matter?"
The Paranoid’s mouth moved, but in the end, he didn’t argue—what the other side said was indeed reasonable.
So he chose another topic, "Are you returning to Gem Blue? The Feiying Group can’t escape responsibility for this attack."
He was someone who couldn’t tolerate unfairness, and it’s clear that Rhodiola rosea was also not one to let bygones be bygones.
As for what role Feiying played in this event, or whether it was unjustly blamed, that’s not important at all.
Even if the information was leaked by other forces, it’s absolutely impossible to say that Feiying knew nothing about it.
He’s already made up his mind, even if a few people have to be killed by mistake, he must vent his anger.
Upon hearing this, Qu Jianlei sighed softly, then shook his head, "No rush, we can settle this account slowly, there’s plenty of time in the future."
The Paranoid was utterly curious now, "So what are you going to do next?"
"I will definitely inform the old lady and them," Qu Jianlei answered without hesitation.
"We might have already caused a huge uproar with this, we need to inform them to escape as soon as possible, or it might be too late."
How could he not want to go back and find out the person who leaked the information? But comparatively, the safety of his comrades is more important.
Upon hearing this, Flower Scorpion couldn’t help but speak up, "I truly admire the boss for this, truly loyal and righteous."
The Paranoid was a bit unconvinced, "We’ve detained all the people, can the information still get out?"
However, even Flower Scorpion could answer that argument.
"Not to mention the military’s long-range communication capabilities, with such a large fleet out here, is it possible for no one to know?"
If there hasn’t been news of the fleet for a long time, naturally someone will realize: something happened to the fleet.
It took three hours to clean up the battlefield, and the cleanup was very... not thorough!
But Qu Jianlei couldn’t wait any longer, the later they left, the greater the danger might be for the old lady and them.
They were just doing it for appearances; being roughly right would suffice.
Then he beckoned Flower Scorpion and the Paranoid, and the three of them entered the last-arriving Omen Ship.
This starship hadn’t participated in the battle at all, and it bore no damages.
Moreover, its appearances in the Celestial Hook Star Realm were so rare that it likely hadn’t attracted attention yet.
Later, the 3344 fleet and another anti-smuggling ship participated in the battle, but sustained very few injuries, staying close to the Omen Ship for support.
As for the other four heavily damaged starships, they could only drag their huge starship wreckage composites at a slow pace.
The three relatively undamaged starships traveled quickly, and during this process, they didn’t idle; they interrogated the captives aboard the ships.
Among the more than thirty captives, besides the fleet personnel, some were from the latter two armed merchant ships.
The fleet members generally kept their mouths tight, but some couldn’t hold out in the end.
There were even those who actively cooperated, revealing that they came from the Anomalous Management Division.
—This department wielded great power and was very strict, but some came to earn a name and were willing to reveal their identity in exchange for life.
The main purpose of this fleet coming to the Celestial Hook Star Realm was to capture Ran Bingluan, who triggered the Tribulation Thunder.
After several failed attempts, the Anomalous Management Division reassessed Ran Bingluan and his associated forces, leading to this decision.
Just as the Paranoid speculated, the initial setup of this fleet was perfected by the Anomalous Management Division for the military.
The original intention of establishing the fleet was to deal with small to medium-sized fleets with Supreme beings.
However, regarding specifically how the fleet should be used, the Anomalous Management Division and the military had different understandings, which could be called a conceptual disagreement.
This time, the Anomalous Management Division sent the fleet, hoping to use some typical cases to prove their direction was correct.
After arriving, the fleet had been patrolling near the asteroid belt and was very cautious about confidentiality.
However, Balrog found out about this and proposed borrowing this fleet.
It was also through the captive’s mouth that Qu Jianlei learned some related news about Balrog.
The cause of the incident needs no further explanation, it was the Laval Clan’s extermination case, with one survivor highly valued by Balrog.
As for the whereabouts of that A-level survivor... he died in the just-ended Star Wars.
At that time, he was piloting a small ship, got hit, and then perished.
Space is truly unfriendly to Awakened beings below the Supreme; no matter how much of a genius, one must face cruel realities.
Speaking of geniuses, Qu Jianlei heard another genius story, related to the second-in-command of the Celestial Blade Star Patrol Guard, Harman.
It turns out that when Harman acted against them, it was because of his very genius grandson.
The genius is in his early sixties, already at the A-level peak, but it will still take some time to break through to Supreme.
Harman is getting old and won’t live much longer; he wishes to pave a path for his grandson while he’s still alive.
Unfortunately, given his Realm, he can at most leave some A-level connections, but cannot possibly invite Supreme-level help with full force.
However, his grandson is already A-level, so such connections are not particularly crucial.
Therefore, when Harman heard that Balrog wanted to deal with Rhodiola rosea, he took the initiative.
He certainly knew how formidable Rhodiola rosea was, but since his life was almost at an end, he wasn’t afraid to take a risk.
Due to this mindset, he remained extremely cautious, not forgetting to take poison, hoping not to implicate his grandson.
In the end, he had the obsession to protect his descendants, without any further hidden conspirators.
Qu Jianlei understood this sentiment; for those nearing death, there is no surprise in craziness.
What made him a bit uncomfortable was: Why do you think Balrog’s odds were necessarily higher than Rhodiola rosea’s?
Comments