The walls and front-gate guards of the Deputy City Lord's Mansion were no obstacle at all to Xu Feng's spirit form.
He passed straight through the Rune Cannon emplacement atop the alloy wall, crossed the carefully pruned alien plants in the front courtyard, and entered a broad corridor.
Various collectibles hung on the walls on either side.
There were weapon fragments from ancient civilizations, skeletal specimens of unknown creatures, and several star-chart tapestries woven from some kind of metallic thread.
It seemed the Deputy City Lord really was as fond of collecting as people said.
Xu Feng followed the corridor inward, passed through three alloy doors that required identity verification, and entered an immensely spacious circular exhibition hall.
Its domed ceiling rose some sixty meters overhead. Pale gold rune bricks lined the walls, and the floor was paved with black stone tiles as smooth as mirrors.
The exhibition hall was far larger than he had imagined.
Soft, warm golden light made it look like an enormous museum.
Xu Feng gave it a cursory glance. No fewer than twenty spacecraft were parked inside.
Each vessel rested on its own display platform, beside which stood a metal plaque listing its model, age, and origins.
There were spindle-shaped interstellar speedboats, disc-shaped ancient probes, and even a biological warship fashioned from some sort of dark red creature's carapace.
With a single sweep of his gaze, Xu Feng spotted a gray, spindle-shaped spacecraft on a separate platform at the far end of the hall.
It was only twenty meters long, with a hull made from some dark gray alloy, its surface covered in fine, flowerlike patterns.
An armor plate was missing from the bow, exposing the intricate energy circuits beneath.
The engine nozzle at the stern bore obvious scorch marks, while the auxiliary thruster on