The Queen's Banquet

On Boundary King Star, most of the grand banquets are evening feasts, because a day on this planet is 36 hours long, and the interval between dinner and the early morning is more than nine hours, which is the only time that ordinary people have free time.

When Gu Ding and his group arrived at the banquet, it was still dark, and people were arriving one after another.

At this point, Gu Ding and his group found themselves in a rather awkward position, as most of those invited by Camilla were from forces within the Boundary River. Many of them knew each other and chatted happily as soon as they met, Gu Ding and his group didn't have a single acquaintance among them.

The fact that these newcomers, who had been in the industry for less than half a year and had been in the Boundary River for less than a month, were invited by Camilla to attend the banquet was something that no other force had anticipated.

Of course, while Gu Ding didn't recognize everyone else, many teams did. Most of the Interstellar Pirate in the Boundary River had seen the video of his battle with Yalo. Many teams didn't acknowledge the strength of Gu Ding Team, especially those who noticed Yalo's injury; they felt Gu Ding's victory had an element of luck.

"It seems we're not very popular." Liliath raised her glass and took a small sip.

"Just consider it a free meal, I'm leaving tomorrow anyway." Gu Ding didn't care about other people's attitudes.

Tagore's Little Thief Cat has also disappeared; who knows where it has gone to steal food again.

"Gu Ding, I didn't expect to see you here." A young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties walked towards Gu Ding and raised his wine glass in greeting from afar.

"His name is Eck, the captain of the Golden Lion Pirate Crew. His Pirate Crew is the second-ranked force in the entire Boundary River, second only to Camilla's Poison Scorpion Pirate Crew. Don't let his appearance fool you; he looks only in his twenties, but he's actually over 1,700 years old, and a Twelfth-Order Gene Body powerhouse. It's said that he stayed in this Boundary River to pursue Camilla. It's also said that he obtained two Ageless Fruits in the Universe Sea, which could keep one's appearance forever young. He ate one himself and gave the other to Camilla."

After listening to the Sea Emperor's introduction, Gu Ding raised the Mirka in his hand, "Captain Eck, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Eck had already approached, his gaze lingering briefly on the Mirka in Gu Ding's hand. He shook his head and said, "Gu Ding certainly has a unique taste. Drinking Mirka in this kind of setting, I wonder what the boss's reaction will be if she sees it."

"There's nothing I can do, my constitution is a bit special, I can't touch alcohol." Gu Ding smiled, but he didn't explain why he couldn't touch alcohol.

"I see." Eck interpreted this as Gu Ding possibly having some abilities limited by alcohol; if he drank, some abilities might become unusable. In fact, his ship's first mate had a similar limitation—he couldn't drink sugary drinks. Hearing Gu Ding's explanation, he didn't intend to delve deeper into the matter. "I really didn't expect Camilla to invite you. No offense intended. I've known Camilla for over three hundred years, even longer than she's been at the Boundary River. Her banquets invite newcomers, but those newcomers are all established figures in the Boundary River who have sworn allegiance to her for a certain period. You, however, don't meet either of those conditions, so I was certain she wouldn't invite you to this banquet. It wasn't until I saw you just now that I realized I was wrong."

"We were quite surprised when we received the invitation," Gu Ding. In fact, he didn't even know who Camilla was before receiving the invitation.

"When do you plan to leave this planet?" Eck suddenly asked a strange question.

"Let's leave first thing tomorrow morning!" Gu Ding felt that he had already seen everything he needed to see in the past few days. As long as he could resolve the Dark Magic Domain issue tonight, he could set off again.

"So fast?"

"We've already stayed for four days and done everything we wanted to do, so there's no need to stay any longer." Gu Ding didn't feel the trip was rushed.

"Starting from here, it won't take more than two weeks to leave the border river." Eck nodded. "We might even run into each other in the Fei Me Universe Country then."

"The Fei Me Universe Country?" Gu Ding asked, slightly puzzled. "You're planning to leave the Boundary River?"

"After all these years, it's time to leave. Twelfth-Order Gene Body's lifespan is only 1800 years; I have less than 80 years left. As Interstellar Pirate, our greatest dream is to die in the Universe Sea, isn't it?" Eck seemed quite composed. "Besides celebrating Camilla's birthday, I've also come to say goodbye..."

After a casual conversation with Eck, Gu Ding was deeply moved, not by love, but by the passage of time. He wondered who would be left by his side when he turned seventeen hundred. Perhaps some would choose to leave like Eck to find their own path; perhaps some would marry, have children, and retire from the world of Interstellar Pirate...

Liliath, however, had a different perspective. "He's a good man, staying by a woman's side for over three hundred years without ever leaving her. If I were Camilla, I would have married him long ago."

"I don't think he's strong enough. If I take him back to challenge my Old Dad, he'll definitely kill Old Dad." Elsa rested her chin on her hand and looked at Eck's back. The first thing she thought of when she heard the topic of marriage was to take him back to challenge her Old Dad.

"Gu Ding, those two from the Dark Magic Domain have arrived at the port." The Sea Emperor's voice suddenly came.

Gu Ding's expression darkened. Although he had been waiting for the two to arrive, he couldn't shake off his rage. The thought of the old man poisoning Lily fueled his anger.

As darkness fell, flickering flames rose from the walls surrounding the palace, instantly illuminating the entire palace.

After the flames rose, a woman in a purple dress slowly descended the steps, her pink Hate-the-Heavens High Heels clicking as she walked into the banquet hall.

The woman's perfect figure, revealed beneath her form-fitting long dress, made many men swallow hard. Only a small portion of her impressive breasts were exposed, yet the cleavage was undeniable. Even her neck was porcelain-white and flawless, without a single wrinkle left by time. As for her face, it was only lightly adorned, exquisitely beautiful like a fragile work of art, inspiring awe from afar.

A slight smile played on her lips, revealing a polite grin, but it didn't hide her indifferent attitude. She had hosted these kinds of banquets far too many times, to the point that she found nothing new about them.

"Welcome everyone to my birthday party. Today is my 1700th birthday." She paused, then continued, "That's right, 1700 years old, not seventeen, not twenty-seven..."

Just as Camilla was giving her speech, Liliath stared at her closely, looking her up and down. After a long while, she asked somewhat uncertainly, "Gu Ding, don't you guys think Camilla looks a bit like the bespectacled woman we met at the **protection zone a few days ago?"

After observing carefully, Bigge and Elsa both shook their heads.

"They look completely different, don't they? This lady is much prettier. Although the lady with glasses wasn't ugly, she's not even in the same league as this one," Elsa offered her opinion.

"Their temperament is somewhat similar, but as for their appearance, they are completely different people," Bigge also gave his opinion.

Robert chose not to comment on this topic. As Mechanical Race, his aesthetic sense differed greatly from that of humans. He actually thought the bespectacled woman he had met earlier was more beautiful.

Gu Ding narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing her up and down, then muttered to himself, "Similar height; face shape seems a bit alike, but Camilla's features are more delicate; teeth look almost the same; their smiles are completely different. Kaya sometimes laughs heartily, but this Camilla always has the same expression when she laughs, like her face has been injected with a hardening agent... However, judging from their demeanor, they should be the same person." Gu Ding didn't actually see much information; he just intuitively felt that Camilla was the same Kaya that his group had encountered in the **protected area.

"Your judgment is correct; Camilla and Kaya are indeed the same person." After listening to everyone's analysis, the Sea Emperor gave his answer. "I personally witnessed that after you went to the Nature Reserve that morning, Camilla deliberately disguised herself as Kaya and secretly followed behind you."

"Why didn't you tell us this when we were in the Nature Reserve?" Gu Ding frowned slightly. The Sea Emperor had known the other party's identity for a long time, but had kept it a secret.

"Because I felt she didn't mean any harm at the time, she probably just wanted to get to know us. If I had told you beforehand that she was Camilla, you would inevitably have felt uncomfortable around her. So I simply kept it a secret, and as it turns out, you had a lot of fun without knowing each other's identities," Sea Emperor explained.

"No wonder those two dragons were so docile in front of her!" Liliath had always questioned Kaya's identity, but she never imagined that she was the boss of this boundary river, Camilla.

"I've said all the nonsense I needed to say. Everyone can go back to their seats and enjoy dinner." Camilla raised her glass to everyone, took a small sip, and then walked over to the table where Gu Ding was, sitting down in the Gu Ding seat next to him.

"Gu Ding, this can be considered our second meeting," Camilla said with a smile.

"Yes, thank you for that time at the Nature Reserve. We had a great time," Gu Ding said, indicating that he already knew about the disguise the other party had put on.

Camilla was taken aback, but simply smiled and shook her head. "So you all already knew."

Just then, the banquet door was suddenly pushed open... (To be continued).