Chapter Fifty-Three: The Desolate Star Region

Chapter 53: The Desolate Starfield

The Desolate Starfield.

Its existence has spanned countless centuries. From the moment its presence was first known, it gained fame for its peril. Since everyone knows how dangerous it is—then why do they still come here?

The Monkey wondered about this as well.

"Riot Asteroids," Long Ruyuan said slowly.

Liu Shaoyu nodded. "That's one of the main reasons. The supernova explosions that occur during star formation in the Desolate Starfield are far more unstable and frequent than those of ordinary stars."

The Monkey nodded too, though his face turned somewhat pale.

"And there is another reason… the Desolate Race," Liu Shaoyu paused before continuing.

At the mention of these four words, Long Ruyuan's face also paled visibly.

If the Monkey was unfamiliar with the previous two reasons, he had at least heard rumors about the Desolate Race, even if he cared little for this place.

The K-F730 Ice Ore—a mineral that can only be mined in the Desolate Starfield, and even then only deep within the land of a handful of brutally cold planets. The Desolate Race are the guardians of this rare resource. Anyone wishing to harvest the ice ore must first wipe out a tribe of Desolate guardians.

"Have you gotten in touch with Universal Corporation?" Liu Shaoyu asked.

"Yes. Xin Qingyi received information about a mineral discovery a week ago. Here are the coordinates." Long Ruyuan transmitted the data to Liu Shaoyu and the Monkey's personal computers.

A sharp breath escaped Liu Shaoyu when he saw the coordinates.

"Why are we going so deep this time?" he asked, puzzled. The location was perilously close to the heart of the Desolate Starfield.

"After the last battle in the Fengta Starfield, we burned through too much ice ore for the doomsday weapons. And it seems someone in the galaxy has been buying up ice ore on a massive scale. Prices have risen thirty percent in recent days. It's become nearly impossible to find any large deposits near the starfield's edge," Long Ruyuan explained, sharing the intelligence he had gathered before coming.

Liu Shaoyu fell silent, thinking deeply. He muttered, "It seems this universe is far from peaceful."

Whether he referred to the Desolate Starfield or something else was unclear.

"Let's move," Liu Shaoyu said, lighting a cigarette with his silver ZIPPO.

Beyond the planet, a ship's engines roared to life and the vessel disappeared into the void.

At the same moment, inside a house on the planet—

"Young master, they've departed."

"I know," Huang Xuan replied, his gaze darkening as he stared out the window at the sky.

"Liu Shaoyu, I'll make you understand this: there are some people you simply cannot afford to cross. Enjoy the gift I've prepared for you," he sneered, then brought up his computer, typed "Action" into a message, and hit send.

"Prepare for entry into the Desolate Starfield. Activate the shields as soon as the jump is complete," Liu Shaoyu commanded, unaware of Huang Xuan's machinations as they readied themselves for the stargate jump. On the other side lay the legendary Desolate Starfield. Though warships from various factions patrolled the gate, clearing away stray asteroids, the greatest danger was not always the environment—but people.

In the Desolate Starfield, everyone is a killer. Liu Shaoyu couldn't recall where he'd heard it, but it stuck with him. One gram of crystal ore cost a life, or more. Not just human lives, but those of the Desolate Race as well.

"All these people are desperate," Liu Shaoyu muttered, gazing at the swarm of ships clustered around the stargate.

Great fortunes attract the bold and the reckless. Some needed money, others needed them to need it. Adventurers poured in, wiping out entire tribes of the Desolate Race—or being wiped out themselves. The ice ore was shipped away in a steady stream, bound for nearer or ever more distant destinations.

There, each gram would claim more lives.

A cigarette burned down to its end, the ash clinging stubbornly to the tip.

"Let's go," Liu Shaoyu declared, flicking the stub into the ashtray. The ship's engines flared as it set course for a more distant destination.

Behind them, the stargate continued to swallow and spit out starships without pause.

"They're all desperate," Liu Shaoyu remarked.

"Warning: unidentified object detected three thousand meters ahead, speed twelve hundred seventeen meters per second," Thomas’s voice crackled into Liu Shaoyu’s ear.

"My god, that's fast. If we take a hit, we're finished," he said.

They had barely entered the starfield and already found themselves amid a small riot of asteroids. Chaotic gravity had trapped them here for who knows how many ages, wandering aimlessly like lost souls. But Liu Shaoyu knew—one collision, and they'd never return.

"Calculate the trajectory—evade!" he ordered. The ship's engines roared, shifting their course abruptly.

"Cut engines, activate shields," he commanded once they reached a safe position. The engines shut down, and they waited for the asteroids to pass.

Then, new blips appeared on the radar.

"Someone's behind us," Long Ruyuan noted, frowning.

The marker indicated another warship. In a place like this, running into others was rarely good news.

"Let them pass. Mark their signal, but ignore them," Liu Shaoyu decided after a moment's thought, silently hoping they were just passing through.

Soon, the asteroid swarm thundered past. The unknown warship was the first to power up and move on.

The three finally relaxed—it had just been passing by. They restarted their engines and continued on their way.

"Distress signal detected ahead," Thomas reported.

A distress signal? Liu Shaoyu’s brow furrowed.

"Confirm the details," he ordered, deciding to check before making any decision.

"That was the warship from before?!" Long Ruyuan exclaimed as he saw the message. "That’s too much of a coincidence. We just saw them a moment ago—how could they already be in trouble?"

To help, or not to help? That was the question. Liu Shaoyu didn't know the people on that ship. In a place like this, it was impossible to know if it was a trap.

"Let's check it out," Liu Shaoyu decided after some internal struggle. Watching others die was not his way.

"Locate the signal," he instructed. Thomas decoded the signal and a dot appeared on the local starmap.

"On a planet?" Liu Shaoyu wondered, puzzled.

Could it be an ice ore discovery gone wrong? If so, things would be even more complicated. Not only would they have to rescue someone, but they might also be plunging themselves into danger.

"Wait—communication request," Long Ruyuan interrupted his thoughts.

The call connected. The face of a young man appeared on the screen.

"Hello, we are the Parading Army Bounty Fleet. We're in danger and requesting aid from any nearby vessels." As soon as he finished, the transmission cut out.

Parading Army? Bounty fleet? Liu Shaoyu had heard that name before—if memory served, it was the group Wang Yuyan belonged to.

Damn! Now he had no choice but to help.

"Accelerate. Thomas, prepare to deploy radar jammers," Liu Shaoyu ordered as he piloted the ship.

Soon, they arrived at the coordinates of the distress signal—a deep blue planet, shrouded in white gas. It looked like an Earth with no continents.

A planet like this almost always contained ice ore, and likely the Desolate Race as well.

If that was the case, Wang Yuyan and her fleet must be here for the ice ore. Such planets were rare in the Desolate Starfield. Lucky or unlucky, who could say?

"Strong electromagnetic interference. Jamming ineffective," Thomas reported grimly.

We'll have to go down, Liu Shaoyu thought.

"Prepare for planetary entry. Ruyuan, Monkey—get ready," Liu Shaoyu ordered without hesitation.

The three donned their armor as the ship began its descent.

To the readers:

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