Chapter 57: Interstellar War

Seeing the familiar-looking creature in Shi Chan’s arms, the boy, who was hiding behind the garbage and debris, couldn’t help but crane his neck to get a clearer view.

Unexpectedly, his slight movement caused an old, broken piece of material to fall from the pile, making a series of loud clattering noises as it tumbled down.

Shi Chan and Xi Ming both turned their gazes toward him.

“…I-I didn’t see anything!” The terrified Heng Qi’s voice became shrill, his mind going blank as he blurted out, then quickly shut his eyes.

Too scary! These people must be space pirates! They would definitely kill him to silence him!

Shi Chan reached out and pulled him out of the pile of debris. The boy was thin and small, looking no older than seven. Shi Chan lifted him effortlessly.

“Where is this place?” Shi Chan asked.

Heng Qi swallowed hard, not daring to open his eyes. Trembling, he replied, “This is Planet K32, the outskirts of Nico State’s waste disposal plant… There are no other detection devices here. You should leave. I didn’t see anything and won’t tell anyone.”

Xi Ming’s eyes flickered. “Federal territory.” He knew more about the border planets between the Federation and the Empire than the natives themselves.

Afraid that refusing to answer would get him killed, Heng Qi nervously admitted, “…Yes.”

“This woman—who is she to you?” Shi Chan continued questioning him.

“She… she’s my landlord.” Heng Qi was timid and answered whatever was asked.

Heng Qi didn’t know who his father was—probably some drunken gambler. His mother had recently gone to the city to be a merchant’s mistress. She hadn’t even looked at him before leaving, nor left him any money for survival.

The place Heng Qi currently lived in was rented by his mother, and the lease had about seven or eight days left. After that, he would likely have to live like the other homeless children, finding a bigger gap in the garbage heaps to shelter in.

However, Heng Qi didn’t feel much pain over it. Even when his mother was around, she rarely cared for him. The “guests” she brought home would tease him, and those with bad tempers would even hit him.

Since his mother left, at least the house had been free of those strange men.

His landlord had always been someone his mother tried to please, but before she left, she seemed to have had a fight with her. So, once his mother was gone, the landlord immediately tried to reclaim the rental. She even claimed that everything inside belonged to her and had nothing to do with Heng Qi.

For the past few days, the landlord had been coming by to take things away and scare Heng Qi, making him fearful every time he saw her. He had already begun secretly moving food outside, planning to start his homeless life a few days early.

He had heard from other homeless kids that they survived by scavenging valuable things from the garbage and selling them to second-hand shops. If they were lucky, they could even save up for a decent meal.

While Shi Chan was interrogating the boy, Xi Ming retrieved a long-unused wristband from his spatial storage and connected it to the StarNet.

Seeing the date—June 15, 5332—Xi Ming paused for a moment… 5332? The war should have already broken out.

There was no need to search for relevant information; the trending topics on StarNet were all about the war.

Xi Ming quickly scanned through the news and then shut off the network. “This place hasn’t been affected by the war yet. We should clean up the site and find a place to stay for now.”

If one were to imagine the border between the Empire and the Federation as a line segment, the most intense battles were happening at the middle of this segment, forming a peak in terms of conflict severity. The closer to the center, the fiercer the fighting, while the two ends were still relatively stable.

Federation-controlled Planet K32 was at one of these relatively stable border zones. Though close to the Empire, it was also near the ever-watchful Zerg territories. For now, the war between the Empire and the Federation had not spilled over to this region.

The people from Jugu had also been dug out of the protective capsule by Liang Yongqing, now standing scattered near Shi Chan and Xi Ming.

All twenty people had made it, including five scientists from different fields and fifteen young warriors skilled in ancient martial arts.

Only the scientists had suffered minor injuries from the wormhole turbulence; the others were in good shape.

Ancient martial arts were indeed powerful. When utilizing their techniques, these people’s physical abilities could rival S-class Alphas. Their training had even helped them protect themselves during the wormhole passage.

Xi Ming looked at these people, deep in thought.

His goal had always been to ensure that the Empire, Federation, space pirates, and Zerg all met disastrous ends. But if he wanted to build his own force, he would likely still need to develop within the influence of these factions.

Just like the Swift Eagle pirates—though he had initially gathered a team of people who held grudges against the Federation, Empire, and other pirates, he still had to absorb former pirates to expand.

But now, looking at the young warriors from Jugu, Xi Ming saw another possibility.

He said to them, “Once we find a place to settle, Xu Lin, you’ll teach everyone interstellar common language.”

This was precisely what they needed, so Xu Lin readily agreed.

As Xi Ming hacked into the local network to locate the gray zones of this planet, he continued pondering Jugu’s situation.

This group alone wasn’t enough, and the wormhole wasn’t a stable channel.

Xi Ming looked up at the sky. The wormhole they had just passed through hadn’t disappeared yet, but with his mental power, he could sense its edges beginning to collapse. It would likely vanish soon.

“What’s wrong?” Shi Chan, always attuned to Xi Ming’s state, immediately asked upon noticing his expression.

“I want to stabilize it and turn it into a fixed passageway to connect Jugu, so we can continuously bring people over.”

“Is that possible?” Shi Chan wasn’t very knowledgeable in this field. He tilted his head slightly to stare at the wormhole. “I was able to come here because of my contract bond with Feifei.”

Hearing its name, Feifei instinctively raised its head in confusion but, seeing that neither of its masters were paying attention to it, buried its head back into Shi Chan’s clothes, rubbing its dirty body against him.

The little plump bird tilted its head, curiously looking at the messy creature in Shi Chan’s arms.

Shi Chan continued, “If the wormhole can remain stable, we can really go back and forth to bring people over. I can still sense the artifacts I had contracted back in Jugu, serving as some sort of coordinate.”

He felt fortunate that the wormhole had appeared so suddenly—some of his contracted but otherwise useless objects had been left in his residence in Jugu’s capital. Now, they served as faint anchors. “But it looks like it’s about to disappear.”

Xi Ming had noticed that as well.

“I’ll buy some negative energy output devices to maintain the wormhole’s stability. You’ll help pick them up in a few hours,” Xi Ming said.

“Alright.” Shi Chan agreed immediately. “Where should I go? Should I go now?”

“In four hours.”