Lingering Ghosts

Afraid Milili might misunderstand, Yang Ming deliberately put on his own Imperial military uniform instead of wandering around in a bathrobe.

Though he really wanted to.

As the hatch opened, Yang Ming's eyes lit up.

Milili had changed into a pair of tight jeans and a batwing shirt, with a heart-shaped pendant hanging from her snow-white neck, and he could still see the cute butterfly tattoo on her shoulder.

"Uncle," Milili looked up, studying Yang Ming's expression, "try these clothes to see if they fit—they've been steam-washed at high temperature... May I come in?"

"This is your ship, Captain Milili."

Yang Ming stepped aside with a gesture inviting her in, and Milili's smile gained a few more hints of confidence.

Clearly, she liked being called Captain.

Yang Ming deliberately left the hatch open.

Since there would be continuous jumps ahead, he secured the hatch with a suction cup.

Milili looked around the rest cabin she herself had only visited a few times, perching her shapely rear on the edge of the desk, and said with a smile: "I heard from Father that you and he teamed up to take down Kor Port Prison."

"That's right," Yang Ming pointed at the blue coating appearing outside the porthole, "You might want to find a place to sit steady—the jump's about to start."

Milili walked over to the sofa beside Yang Ming, sitting down like a proper lady with her long legs together, then leaning to one side.

"A jump operated by Dad will be very stable; it won't affect our chat... Uncle, are you a soldier of the Sherman Empire?"

"Before they abandoned me, I was," Yang Ming shook his head, "But from now on, I have to plan my own future."

"A powerful empire feels no pain no matter how many soldiers it sacrifices," Milili said with a look of disgust, "They bind individual freedom with imperial authority. I really don't understand why, in this day and age, there are still nobles as a ruling class!"

Hum—

The jump began.

A faint light appeared around them, like a layer of hazy lens, and the sound waves from their throat vibrations deviated slightly, stretching and thickening the echoes.

These were all phenomena unique to subspace.

After a dozen seconds, everything returned to normal, and the light membrane scattered into drifting specks of light that dissipated into space.

The ship immediately began a new coating, but this time it wasn't a blue glow.

"Does the ship have multiple subspace membrane emitters?" Yang Ming asked curiously.

"Yes," Milili smiled, "We have to maintain high mobility and anti-tracking capability. Don't let this ship's mere hundred-meter length fool you—sixty percent of its space is jump devices, plus an equal number of deflectors to avoid resonance, and the hull material rivals those large warships... A pirate ship is our second life, Uncle Hanton."

Yang Ming crossed his legs, gazing into her pale gem-like eyes.

"Milili, coming to find me while Kolev is handling the jump shouldn't just be about him showing concern. I'm a straightforward person—I prefer to cut straight to the point."

Milili bit her lower lip lightly: "My father praised your combat prowess highly... I wanted to confirm something first."

Checking the goods, huh?

A hint of amusement flickered in Yang Ming's eyes: "Milili, I can probably guess what you want to do. That guy Gimo—your father's former subordinate—he took your position as leader of the Black Dragon Pirate Group. You want revenge on him, right?"

"Yes," Milili's gaze turned sharp and filled with hatred, "I want to take back everything that belongs to me, without relying on my father's help."

Yang Ming said: "You've fallen into a misunderstanding."

"What?"

"Or rather, Kolev loves you too much, to the point that he's misjudged."

Yang Ming picked up the distilled water he'd been drinking earlier and moistened his throat:

"A pirate group is a bunch of unruly people. Succession shouldn't be father to son, but based on ability. Kolev thinks you have that ability, but in reality, you don't—yet."

"It was Gimo who framed me!"

Milili grew agitated: "I was tricked by him into buying those beauty devices, and I didn't know they were using the special funds meant for fuel cells! He planned everything!"

Yang Ming: ...

That was easy to get out of her.

"See, you can't even maintain basic composure. I provoked you so simply."

Yang Ming sighed, shaking his head with some disappointment: "I said 'yet.' You don't have it yet, but that doesn't mean you won't in the future."

Milili's pretty face flushed slightly. She glared at Yang Ming, unable to say anything for a long while.

The second jump began, and Milili used those dozen seconds to calm down.

"Uncle means we need mutual proof—I prove to you that I have the ability to reclaim the Black Dragon, and you prove to me your superior combat skills. Is that right?"

"Something like that," Yang Ming said, "But I also need to be honest with you about one thing."

Milili stood up, quietly watching Yang Ming.

"Until you become better than your father, I won't consider becoming your subordinate," Yang Ming warned, "In fact, even if you do surpass your father, I won't sacrifice my freedom. At most, we can only cooperate temporarily."

Milili nodded, said nothing more, and turned to leave the cabin.

If she hadn't kicked the bulkhead in the corridor, Yang Ming might have thought the future Star Widow was a docile lamb.

These clothes had clearly been worn by someone else, but the fabric felt soft, and there were indeed traces of disinfection.

Yang Ming locked the cabin door, studying himself in the wall mirror as he stripped off the Empire's military uniform for the last time.

Whoosh—

The jump began again.

Yang Ming narrowed his eyes, ready to savor the dozen or so seconds of strange sensation, when his eyelids suddenly twitched.

Coo-coo-coo—

Yang Ming thought he must have misheard.

He spun around sharply, seeing the cabin environment ripple with overlapping images; as he closed his eyes, a scene flashed swiftly before him.

A deep starfield, brilliant nebulae—all meaningless distant scenery.

As if right ahead, dead ahead in the darkness, that young girl floated silently, her broken body curled up, seemingly asleep in the void of space.

The, the Valkyrie?

Coo-coo-coo—

'I want to devour you.'

'I want to devour you.'

'I want to devour you.'

Posa's whispers echoed endlessly, and behind her, the phantom of a planet seemed to appear; just as Yang Ming tried to look closer, the light and shadow before him trembled slightly, and everything vanished.

The jump was complete.

A faint lingering note drilled into Yang Ming's ears, like the Valkyrie murmuring in a dream.

'Merge with me, Yang Ming.'

Every hair on Yang Ming's body stood on end.

Couldn't even an Antimatter Bomb kill the Valkyrie?

As everyone knew, the principle of an Antimatter Bomb was to use the annihilation collision between antimatter and matter to produce high-energy gamma rays, converting mass into energy at nearly one hundred percent efficiency.

The strongest weapon developed by Earth civilization, the hydrogen bomb, could only achieve less than 0.7 percent mass-energy conversion!

Ah, right, talking about power without considering mass was just being a thug.

The Antimatter Bomb Brother Ji had detonated back then might not have had that much mass; the small Landing Craft where he and Lina were had been attacked at close range without suffering significant damage.

If any wreckage of that Research Ship remained, and if that wreckage contained cells of the goddess, it could allow the goddess to revive!

That was the most terrifying aspect of Ancient God Lifeforms.

They were aggregates of cells, and individual cells could also serve as spores for infinite division, growth, and reconstruction.

Even if the Valkyrie wasn't dead, she must be in her weakest state right now. He might be able to finish her off for good!

No, that wouldn't work either. The area around the Research Ship's Explosive Charge would surely be surrounded and investigated by Empire legions. He had barely escaped; going back would just be delivering himself on a silver platter.

Yang Ming walked quickly through the interior of this Pirate Ship, his mind a tangled mess.

It was like he felt he had reached the doorstep of a happy life, pushed the door open, and found a Valkyrie wielding a blade living inside.

A string of curses rolled through Yang Ming's heart as he pushed open the door before him, arriving at the ship's bridge.

This place was less a bridge and more of a combined living quarters.

Only a third of the area was an operating console, with an old-fashioned wooden ship's wheel in the center; the rest of the space was filled with weapon racks, dining tables, and chairs.

A dozen or so figures crowded around Kolev, who was frowning at a projection screen before him, seemingly looking over accounts.

"You all step out for now. Let me chat with my friend," Kolev said. "Milili, stay."

The dozen or so pirates nodded in acknowledgment and filed out of the bridge in a subdued atmosphere.

Yang Ming hid his anxiety, forcing a smile as he walked forward.

"How's it going, Kolev?"

"A complete mess," Kolev said, opening a bottle of liquor nearby and pouring some into an empty glass for Yang Ming. "Sorry you had to see me at my most embarrassing moment."

Milili pursed her lips slightly on the side.

Yang Ming pulled out a chair and sat down, lifting the drink to sniff it before taking a small sip.

"Where are we heading now?" Yang Ming asked.

"The middle section of the Second Spiral Arm, near the borders of a few small nations. We're about to check out the Black Market around here," Kolev shrugged. "Honestly, I'm a bit lost right now. News of my escape will spread through the circles soon. Those bastards who betrayed my daughter—the ruthless pirates I personally trained—will definitely make a move against me and Milili. I can imagine them unable to sleep or eat."

Yang Ming nodded. "Yeah. Milili might not be a threat to them, but you're different."

Milili's eyes nearly rolled to the ceiling.

"What else can I do?"

Kolev glanced at Milili and continued:

"For now, I have to show my face publicly. Go to the Black Market where pirates gather, catch up with my old friends, and openly declare that I've retired from the pirate scene. From now on, I just want to take Milili and find a quiet planet to grow old."

Yang Ming frowned. "Will they believe it?"

"Of course they won't," Kolev said. "But Hanton, you need to understand—I still have some prestige. When I voluntarily express that I don't want to be enemies with Gimo and the others, they'll have to consider how their men feel. Pirates can be ruthless to their enemies, but they must show enough care for their own people. Otherwise, they'll eventually die by a subordinate's gun."

"And after that?"

"Maybe disappearing into obscurity and retiring wouldn't be a bad choice."

Kolev added, "Milili isn't cut out for this. She'd be better off opening a beauty salon."

Milili lowered her head and bit her lip.

"No, no," Yang Ming said with a smile. "Parents always see their children through rose-tinted glasses. Milili is a born pirate, I assure you."

Milili's eyes flickered with surprise. She hadn't expected such praise from Uncle Hanton.

Kolev frowned deeply. "But she failed."

"Everyone fails. Success can't be the main theme of life. What matters is whether, after failure, we choose to try again or sink into despair."

Yang Ming spoke slowly:

"You can't expect Milili to match wits with the underlings you've trained. She was only sixteen or seventeen back then, and she's just twenty now. Your men—which one of them isn't a hardened rogue forged through decades of roaming the seas with you?"

Kolev's expression softened slightly.

Milili's gaze toward Yang Ming carried a hint of gratitude.

"You have a talent for comforting people too," Kolev remarked with a sigh.

Yang Ming asked, "During that Continuous Jump just now, did we pass through anywhere? Did we cross the Empire's border?"

"Oh, what about it?"

Kolev said:

"Hanton, didn't you learn basic physics in school?

"The principle of a jump is traveling in a straight line. The universe we live in is a four-dimensional body, contained within a five-dimensional world.

"Why four dimensions? You can intuitively see an object's three-dimensional properties—length, width, height. From a five-dimensional world looking at us, they can see our length, width, height, and time state.

"Our universe in that five-dimensional world is like a surface. You can imagine that when this surface is reduced in dimension, it becomes a series of complex polyhedra that can't be accurately calculated by our methods. When we jump, we're navigating rapidly inside these polyhedra.

"We live in a four-dimensional world, but we're also part of the five-dimensional world. Just like how a cube you see is also wrapped within our universe, we can exploit a few rules of the five-dimensional world."

Yang Ming shrugged. "Why not just fold a piece of paper and poke a pen through two overlapping holes?"

"Oh, your physics knowledge is so primitive," Kolev shook his head. "That's just an analogy."

"You mean, during a jump, we might pass through some distant space in another dimension."

"Yes, but we can't determine the exact locations of those spaces. They're all extremely abstract."

Yang Ming sat there, lost in thought.

How to deal with the Valkyrie?

Going into the Sherman Empire's territory now was clearly impractical. If he went later, the Valkyrie might have already recovered her strength.

He had already gained the upper hand. The Valkyrie should need some time to recover.

That was the opportunity.

He had to become stronger.

He could build a powerful pirate crew—or not just a pirate crew. A legion of intelligent machines was also a good choice.

He needed greater power, both individual and comprehensive. If he could use a legion's main cannon to 'bully' the Valkyrie, that would be perfect.

At this moment.

Yang Ming's nerves, which had just relaxed, tightened again as he constantly pondered the path ahead.

Kolev held his forehead with one hand, his aged face full of exhaustion, clearly also thinking about his and his daughter's future.

"Let's officially cooperate, Kolev."

Yang Ming suddenly spoke, raising his right hand as if for an arm-wrestle.

"Just what I was thinking," Kolev grinned, his withered old hand reaching out to clasp Yang Ming's in a firm grip.

(Ps: Any parts not covered by modern physics are purely speculative extensions. This isn't real. If it were things like black hole radiation, I could at least throw in an introduction. But for jumps, subspace, and warp drives, I can only offer a Baidu link.)