Brilliant Fireworks

The one who blocked Gu Ding's path was naturally Wayne, who had been chasing Gu Ding all the way.

"This is Bucknell's base. Are you sure you want to make a move here?" Gu Ding "kindly" reminded him.

"My seven men are missing. You're the one who did this, aren't you?" Wayne asked angrily.

"Were you one of the seven people who came with you? I saw them torn to shreds by a Steel Arm Giant Ape. Do you have any other questions?" Gu Ding was actually telling the truth, but what he didn't say was that the Steel Arm Giant Ape had moved itself to the vicinity of the seven people.

Upon hearing this, Wayne's expression darkened further. He knew about the Steel Arm Giant Ape; its adult form possessed the cultivation of a peak two-star demon beast, and its combat abilities were no weaker than those of recently promoted One-Star High-rank God. If his seven subordinates encountered it, they would indeed have a hard time escaping.

"You won't be smug for long. I don't believe you won't leave this planet!" Wayne said harshly before turning and leaving.

Wayne's words were clearly implied: once your ship escapes this planet's atmosphere, it will be surrounded and blasted to smithereens by my fleet. We hadn't been able to catch up with Gu Ding's ship before, so the two sides hadn't clashed using their ships. But with ships, unless there's a huge difference in level, victory is basically won through numbers. No matter how powerful a single ship is, it can't win against a barrage of a dozen or so ships, even if it's one or two levels higher in rank, unless it's three levels higher or more. Wayne's plan was to surround and bombard Gu Ding's ship. The fleet he brought consisted of three- or four-star ships; even though Gu Ding's ship was indeed quite large, under such a siege, there shouldn't be any chance of a comeback.

Gu Ding simply shrugged. His Gu Ding Team wasn't afraid at all of fighting with spaceships. With Sea Emperor around, they were practically invincible. No matter how many spaceships came, they'd be easy prey, unable to even fire their cannons and likely to self-destruct.

"Are all the materials ready? If everything's alright, let's grab a bite and then leave. We haven't eaten in days," Gu Ding, looking at Liliath and the others.

"Everything was prepared before we even entered the ruins." Robert and Bigge nodded. They were mainly responsible for the procurement.

"We haven't eaten for many days, and we haven't dared to make any noise in that sixteen-story cave, for fear that monsters might come near." Liliath thought about how tough things had been these past few days and wanted to treat herself.

Gu Ding really wanted to tell them that the cave was actually a safe zone, and even if they were to barbecue or sing karaoke inside, the monsters from the sixteenth level wouldn't approach, but he held back from revealing this fact.

"I haven't eaten meat for so many days!" Elsa's eyes lit up again at the mention of food.

"If you want to eat meat, I recommend going to the Mite Restaurant. They make exceptionally good meat dishes. One of their signature dishes is called 'Hundred Meat Stew,' which is made by cooking over three hundred different kinds of meat in one large pot." The Sea Emperor's voice suddenly rang in everyone's ears.

"Hundred Meat Stew?! Won't that be too greasy?" Dokter, somewhat puzzled.

"No. They have a special cooking method that allows each of the more than three hundred kinds of meat in the same pot to have a different texture and flavor, and without any greasiness." The Sea Emperor's explanation made everyone even more eager to learn.

"Then I'd like to see exactly how they did it." Bigge was intrigued after hearing the Sea Emperor's explanation.

"Okay. Let's go to Mite Restaurant then!"

The Mite Restaurant was incredibly popular. It wasn't a normal mealtime, but when they got there, Gu Ding had a hard time finding an empty table.

After the group sat down, they saw many more people coming in one after another.

"This is the most famous meat restaurant on Helen Star. Many tourists who prefer meat will stop by to eat here when they pass by. It's basically open for sixteen hours a day," the Sea Emperor explained.

Just as Gu Ding and his group finished ordering, they heard a familiar voice coming from not far away.

"There are no seats left, it's all your fault! I told you to come earlier, but you wouldn't listen!" The one who said this was none other than Lolo Li, whom Gu Ding and the others had met at the ruins.

Behind Lolo Li were ten seventeen or eighteen-year-old youths, all with helpless, bitter smiles on their faces.

"It was clearly the little Princess who wasted time by buying toys..." a short man muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Lolo Li glared at him after hearing this.

The short man quickly waved his hands, "I didn't say anything, I didn't say anything..."

Just as Lolo Li was about to leave with her people, she suddenly caught sight of Gu Ding and the others, and immediately darted to their table.

"Sister Lily, Sister Elsa, you're here too!"

"Are there no seats left?" Gu Ding asked.

"Yes, it's all their fault!" Lolo Li turned around and glared at the group of people who had followed her.

"Then let's join us and eat together! Anyway, this smart table can adjust to the number of people." Gu Ding thought it wouldn't be a problem to add Lolo Li and the others.

"Okay!" Lolo Li agreed without hesitation.

"Little Princess, this isn't quite right..." The others hesitated.

"What's wrong with that? I met Gu Ding and the others in the ruins. If it weren't for them, Brog and I would have died in the Demon Suppression Tower long ago." Lolo Li turned to Brog, "Don't you think so?"

Brog nodded. "Please sit down."

Gu Ding then re-entered the number of people onto the dining table. The table automatically expanded, the chairs for everyone moved automatically, and even more chairs rose automatically from the ground. The number of tableware on the table also automatically increased and was arranged according to each person's seat.

"Let's add a few more dishes. Order whatever you like," Gu Ding said with a smile.

Lolo Li didn't stand on ceremony at all, flipping through the menu screen on the table several times and ordering nearly twenty dishes, along with a bunch of drinks.

The meal was rather quiet for both sides, as the presence of outsiders made it difficult to bring up many topics. However, Lolo Li, Liliath, and Elsa seemed to get along quite well, with Elsa's mouth almost constantly filled with various kinds of meat.

Tagore was to Gu Ding's left, lying beside a plate, slowly munching on various large meat patties. Blue, on the other hand, was squatting to Gu Ding's right, his little paws cradling a leaf of vegetable, slowly putting it into his mouth.

Gu Ding himself didn't pay much attention to his image. He never cared about what others thought of him and quickly stuffed all kinds of food into his mouth, second only to Elsa in speed.

In contrast, Bigge and Dokter seemed more normal. Although they were also focused on eating and barely spoke, at least they had some table manners.

As for Robert, he was drinking a special light-energy plant beverage from which he could obtain energy.

Apart from Lolo Li and Brog, the rest of Duncan's team seemed a bit uncomfortable. Most of them were slowly sipping their drinks, only occasionally taking a bite or two of food.

"I just heard that you offended Wayne. Should I talk to him? He'll definitely give my dad face and won't bother you anymore," Lolo Li suddenly brought up the matter.

"Thank you, but no need. We have a way to deal with Wayne." Gu Ding smiled and declined Lolo Li's suggestion.

"But Wayne is High-rank God ..." Lolo Li still seemed a little uneasy.

"Little Princess, don't underestimate Gu Ding and his team. A team with an initial bounty of over 100 million for all its members entering the Universe Sea can't be judged solely by their cultivation level," Brog said with a smile.

"Alright then!" Lolo Li thought for a moment. It was indeed true; the cat named Tagore had demonstrated Combat Strength in the ruins that even surpassed Brog's. "So, what are your plans after you leave Helen Star?"

"Let's first wander around the Shallow Sea Zone, then head to the deep sea." Gu Ding's words were essentially meaningless; almost all Interstellar Pirate followed this itinerary.

But Lolo Li sensed something else in his words, "Don't you plan to establish a base in the Shallow Sea Zone? Your reputation is pretty good right now, so if you establish a base, quite a few people should join you. If needed, I can ask my dad for help."

"No, establishing a base is a long way off, and we don't have any plans in that regard for now." Gu Ding shook his head. "We'll ask for your help if we need it in the future."

"Great! Then you all need to work hard and strive to get an even higher bounty, making your names known throughout the Universe Sea!" Lolo Li raised her glass. "Also, please come visit our Lolo Star sometime!"

Gu Ding and his group gladly accepted the blessing and raised their glasses.

This meal was naturally hosted by Gu Ding. Lolo Li and her group didn't eat much; ninety percent of the dishes on the table were eaten by their own people.

After finishing their meal, the two teams went their separate ways.

Gu Ding and his group headed towards the port, while Lolo Li and her group went straight back to the hotel.

"Gu Ding and the others are probably doomed this time." After returning to the hotel, Brog looked at the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the port and suddenly said, "Wayne has prepared a fleet to guard the port. As soon as Gu Ding others leave the atmosphere of Helen Star, their spaceship will probably be destroyed."

"If they can escape this calamity, they will definitely achieve great things in the Universe Sea, at least in the Shallow Sea Zone, they will become famous." Lolo Li also looked towards the port in the distance.

As darkness fell, Gu Ding and the others returned to the spaceship, which quickly took off under the control of the Sea Emperor.

Seeing that Gu Ding and his crew's spaceships were making some movement, Wayne gave an order, and more than twenty spaceships took off almost simultaneously.

Seeing these spaceships take off simultaneously, Gu Ding raised an eyebrow. "Sea Emperor, let's set off another fireworks display this time!"

The Titan Warship took off and quickly broke free of Helen Star's atmosphere. At the same time that Gu Ding and his Titan Warship leaped out of the atmosphere, more than twenty other spaceships also followed suit.

"Fire!" Wayne gave the order from atop a spaceship, his voice filled with boundless rage and hatred.

The twenty-odd spaceships immediately locked onto Gu Ding's Titan Warship and pressed the launch button at the first opportunity, but not a single cannon fired.

"Wayne, you made the biggest mistake of trying to surround me with your spaceships." Gu Ding's voice came clearly through the communicators of the twenty-three spaceships to everyone's ears. "Because... I have a way to hack into all the spaceships' systems."

No sooner had Gu Ding finished speaking than all twenty-three cannons on the Titan Warship simultaneously fired, instantly tearing through the protective shields of all the ships. Then the second and third cannons followed in quick succession...

At the port of Helen Star, many people looked up at the sky. As darkness fell, they could clearly see several flashes of light appearing in the sky.

That flash of light was familiar to many, as they had seen it before; it was the effect of a spaceship explosion, as dazzling as distant fireworks...

The fireworks lit up twenty-three times...

Lolo Li and Brog, standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, also clearly saw this scene, and their faces were filled with shock.