In fact, by the time the Fuzhou was already in orbit, the Qingqiu, a super-luxury liner registered under the Alliance Sea God Fleet but actually the personal property of the eldest Miss of the Berenkest family, had already left the Empire's Far Frontier sector.
Of course, Qingqiu was a name Miss Bei had chosen herself. Supposedly, it came from an ancient Earth storybook she was very fond of. Miss Bei was brilliant and widely learned, practically the reincarnation of the goddess Fein, deity of love and wisdom in mythology. Was it really so surprising that she knew a few ancient Earth legends?
This enormous liner, weighing three million tons, was equipped with battlecruiser-grade shields and armor, an outstanding power core and transmission systems, the finest jump and sublight engines, powerful multipurpose signal receivers, and an information-processing hub on par with those aboard major fleet flagships. In short, all it needed was weapons, and this "liner" could transform into a major fleet flagship.
Besides, at Miss Bei's personal request, her ship also contained a fully equipped, oversized laboratory. It could handle everything from experimental superpower physics to the sinister-looking field of biochemistry, and even mystical alchemy.
Still, the Qingqiu had only basic self-defense weapons for warding off pirates, fully meeting the standards for civilian ships. The Empire was very displeased with the vessel's size, but its paperwork was in order, so they could only grit their teeth and let it enter.
Now, the Qingqiu was carrying its owner along a relatively remote interstellar expressway in the Empire's Simoe Sector, heading toward the Femo Nebula. That was where the Empire's and the Alliance's spheres of influence met, and she was presumably planning to return home by way of that route.
Of course, the Empire and the Alliance were currently at odds over