Chapter 46: Chapter Forty-Six: Void Ship Crashes (1)
Chapter Forty-Six: Void Ship Crashes (1)
Valen glanced towards the source of the disturbance and saw a smiling Anas casually approaching him.
Standing beside Valen, he also gazed at the massive orb while greeting:
"Hey Valen."
Valen acknowledged with a nod, while responding: "Hey Anas."
They both remained silent afterward, watching as the Void Ship flew past the cliff housing Greenfield Headquarters, and a river of darkness was revealed several kilometres below.
After flying for a while, they came across another cliff. They could faintly make out some houses, but due to their high altitude, they were no larger than ants.
Anas was content with watching in silence while Valen returned to trying to reach the second step of the Sound Path.
After a while, Anas snapped his fingers, disrupting Valen’s focus once more, which caused Valen to grit his teeth.
However, Anas didn’t seem to realise this as he summoned a large blue 3D projection map before Valen and himself.
Over 90 red dots could be seen flying above what looked like cliffs in the projection.
Anas pointed at a certain red dot and said:
"This is our Void Ship."
Then, after observing Valen’s curious expression, he added:
"I got this map of the Astral Veil at a great cost, but I can sell it to you if you want. How does ten million credits sound?"
Valen stared at Anas sceptically, wondering what his intentions might be. Why would he be willing to sell such an important resource?
Anas’s expression fell as he sighed.
"I’m trying to build a genuine friendship between us, and yet you keep doubting me. Why would I want to harm you in the first place?"
Valen kept a straight face. Such words could only fool kids.
But after a while, he still asked:
"Is this the full map of the Astral Veil?"
Anas didn’t reply — probably because he was a bit annoyed. He simply snapped his fingers, causing the map to grow even larger and reveal more details.
Valen glanced at the different cliffs and their names, then nodded. It might not be the full map of the Astral Veil, as the Astral Veil was very large, but it still contained a lot of information useful at Valen’s current level.
Just as he was about to speak, he immediately noticed something out of place.
His eyes narrowed as he scrutinised it.
The projection was blue, but once it enlarged, a dark region came into sight.
It was a cliff so large that Valen suspected it was as large as, or even larger than, Greenfield Planet — excluding the Astral Veil.
The only time he had seen a cliff so massive was when he entered the Astral Veil. At that time, the Void Ship had switched to lightspeed mode, and even at such speed, it had taken a few seconds to leave that cliff.
He had initially thought it was a unique case, but it seemed he had been wrong.
Anas spoke up when he noticed Valen’s startled expression.
He touched the projection of the dark cliff region while explaining:
"Do not think much about it. That place is a forbidden region for us. The treaty we signed with the Astral Veil’s native humans was that we would never step foot into that place, and they would allow us to travel freely across their land. If we went back on our words, a war could possibly erupt."
Valen glanced curiously at the dark expanse, but didn’t probe any further.
Even he hadn’t heard of such a thing, yet Anas knew.
This made him ponder the identity of the luminous-haired teenager before him.
Afterwards, he asked for Anas’s ID so he could transfer him the agreed amount of credits for the map.
Once they got each other’s IDs, before Valen could even transfer the money, Anas had already sent the 3D map diagram over to him. This made Valen develop a good impression of Anas.
Usually, you had to pay before the goods were delivered. Only in rare cases could the reverse happen.
He immediately downloaded the map, taking a look at it to ensure no part was missing before he proceeded to send the money. But Anas waved it off, saying the map was a gift.
This made Valen uncomfortable, so he decided to send the money anyway. But who knew Anas would reject it?
The transferring of credits wasn’t a one-way process unlike when one was receiving a message. The receiver had a choice to decline it.
Valen felt like he had been deceived, but he didn’t know where to vent. He could only blame himself for having downloaded the map the moment he received it.
But if he went ahead and deleted it now, wouldn’t it offend the other party?
He didn’t want to make friends with people whose intentions he couldn’t read, but he even more didn’t want to become enemies with them.
So he could only sigh and call up his 3D map diagram to take a closer look.
Immediately, he noticed something wrong.
He shot a curious look at Anas and asked:
"You said that the dark region was a forbidden zone for us — outsiders — correct?"
Anas nodded with certainty.
"Indeed."
Valen’s brows gradually furrowed as he pointed at the projection before him.
"Then... why are we heading there?"
Anas wore a confused look as he glanced at the red dots on the 3D map.
At some unknown point, one of them had departed from the fleet of Void Ships, heading south.
The colour drained from Anas’s face as he muttered in a barely audible voice:
"We’re doomed."
Suddenly, everyone within Void Ship 69 could hear the roar of engines and feel the faint tremors beneath their feet as the vessel sped up, entering lightspeed mode.
Alarms blared within the Void Ship as the cold mechanical voice of the Humanity System resounded.
[WARNING! WARNING!! WARNING!!!]
[Traitor has been detected. Massive rewards await those who subjugate him.]
All of a sudden, the walls of the Void Ship changed and began displaying the happenings within the Control Centre of the ship.
A young man’s hand was wrapped around the captain’s throat, the crew members surrounding them frozen in place.
The young man appeared to be around twenty-four years old. He possessed short black hair, sharp features, and an athletic build.
Many Evolvers aboard the Void Ship instantly recognised him for who he was: Zayd.
One of the strongest in the younger generation.
The captain being held aloft was a middle-aged man with silver-streaked hair and a dignified face.
Yet at this moment, his eyes radiated coldness.
Zayd didn’t seem affected by it as he commanded:
"Turn the ship around. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be nice."
The captain remained silent, refusing to respond.
Seeing this, Zayd barked as he lifted the captain higher into the air:
"TURN IT AROUND!"
The captain became visibly frightened as he shivered, but he still remained resolute.
"No. Even if I die, I wouldn’t turn the ship back. I chose to follow the Day Walkers because they have more prospects in the War. If you all knew what was good for you, you would’ve switched sides by now."
The Void Ship became silent, with several seconds ticking by.
Valen was beginning to feel anxious.
Right now, they had almost reached the forbidden region. With their current speed matching that of light, all it would take was a second or two.
Zayd released the captain and retrieved something from his Inventory Ring, a black ripple appearing above his finger before it vanished.
The captain barely had time to breathe before metallic restraints snapped around his wrists, preventing him from escaping.
Zayd glanced around, causing the nearby crew members to swallow nervously.
Then he asked in a calm tone, seemingly unbothered by the fact that they had just entered the forbidden region:
"Who else among you can steer this ship?"
