Ghost Millet Fruit? No, I'm in the Atmosphere

As energy ripples echoed continuously, one of the five light points in the Matrix flickered slightly before dimming rapidly, though it remained visible.

However, Star Origin was closing in at high speed, and the distance between the two sides was shrinking rapidly.

The eight ship-mounted cannons finished charging in a heartbeat, unleashing brilliant beams of light that blanketed the five starships tens of thousands of kilometers away; the immense energy waves rendered the five starships unable to enter sub-space.

"Damn, they're tough! Retreat, brothers!"

Inside the lead Elite-class starship, the tall, thin captain roared through the local channel, his panic intensifying as he watched a High-class starship take a heavy hit.

Boom! Boom!

As a flurry of light streaks flashed, the starship with the failing shields finally collapsed; its armor value, less than four digits, simply couldn't hold up.

It shattered with a thunderous roar after holding on for only a few seconds.

The entire starship exploded, the mysterious energy from the blast shredding all Star Weapons, while the four surrounding starships were knocked sideways by the shockwave.

After the ship cannons destroyed that vessel, the main cannon finished charging and struck the Elite-class starship in an instant, like an arrow shot by a god.

[Shield integrity: 45%]

"What kind of hellish attack is this?"

The tall, thin captain was utterly stunned.

Dozens of seconds later, Fierce Star opened fire again.

But this time, the target was not the Elite-class starship, but the remaining High-class starships. A dozen ship cannons followed suit, and the moment the main cannon struck, a barrage of attacks landed in quick succession.

[Star Points +50,000]

Fifty thousand in the bag. Having destroyed two High-class starships for a total of 100,000, it was a loss compared to the requirements for growth, but at least it wasn't his own loss.

"What a haul."

Wang Hao laughed, filled with smug satisfaction.

Ilde continued to control the main cannon and ship cannons, firing at full power, and soon destroyed the remaining two High-class starships, leaving only the Elite-class starship to launch a frantic counterattack.

Light streaks and main cannon beams swept out, attacking Star Origin violently, but their attack power of around two thousand couldn't even shake the Eternal Sun Wall.

Inside the Elite-class starship, thousands of space pirates and crew members were in a state of chaos, and the tall, thin captain's expression was grim, shifting between pale and dark.

Watching his shields on the verge of collapse, he sat down in his chair with a sigh of resignation: "Connect to their communication. I'll trade a piece of information for the safety of myself and my ship."

"I'm curious what kind of information could make you think you can buy an Elite-class starship and the lives of your crew."

The tall, thin captain said calmly: "The location of Ghost Millet Fruit."

Ghost Millet Fruit is a special fruit containing vast amounts of pure energy, capable of significantly promoting the growth and optimization of life energy.

In short, it accelerates the development progress of an esper's abilities while also allowing ancient martial artists to better refine their essence and energy.

It is extremely rare on the market.

Each fruit is worth no less than one hundred million Alliance Coins, and even if purchased with Star Points, it would cost one hundred thousand—and that's just the price, not a guarantee of availability.

The tall, thin captain was one of the few who knew the location of these suddenly discovered Ghost Millet Fruits, and he had mobilized all the top combat power of his pirate group to seize a portion of them.

He hadn't expected to run into Star Origin while looking for an easy target, only to be countered and hunted by the seemingly small ship.

According to common knowledge, a starship under two thousand meters should at most be Lv.21–Lv.40; who would have thought Star Origin possessed the strength of a veteran Elite-class starship?

Ghost Millet Fruit?

Where there are natural Ghost Millet Fruits, there must be Ghost Millet Fruit trees, and judging by his tone, there was more than one!

For so many years, the Blood Cloud Chaos Sector had been thoroughly explored, and this type of fruit required relatively distinct spatial energy to grow.

Since it had only just been discovered, it was likely in a new sub-dimension or a collapsed space.

These two locations were roughly equivalent to the secret realms of fantasy worlds; the former possessed relatively complete rules, while the latter was simply a small space.

Regardless of which it was, anything inside would be extremely valuable to the Alliance; a Sub-dimension Core or a Space Heart would be incredibly useful.

Their value far exceeded that of the Ghost Millet Fruit.

In less than a few seconds, Feng Xiao had roughly assessed the situation and locked onto the most valuable items.

Of course, the Ghost Millet Fruit was also very useful, especially for Wang Hao and Ilde, as his own abilities were already fully developed due to the Heart of Dawn.

He only needed to level up from here.

Wang Hao and Ilde were different; they needed to fully develop their abilities before they could improve their quality, though developing them step-by-step also had great benefits, such as reaching Lv.50 immediately upon full development.

As for himself...

Feng Xiao glanced at his panel—Lv.12.

Hm, as expected of a powerful ability with unlimited autonomous growth; he had actually leveled up twice so quickly.

Having made up his mind, Feng Xiao said calmly: "That sounds very tempting, so...

Ilde, fire. Wipe them out."

The rapidly converging energy caused the tall, thin captain, who had been so confident, to turn deathly pale.

"Don't you want to know the location of the Ghost Millet Fruit?!"

Feng Xiao casually took the tea offered by the service robot and smiled faintly. "Should it be in some sub-dimension or collapsed space that hasn't fully opened yet?"

The tall, thin captain said nervously, "That's right, but not many people know the location. If you kill me..."

"Space pirates will always be space pirates. When a new sub-dimension or collapsed space fully opens, it generates extremely powerful spatial ripples and waveforms."

"Almost any starship within the Blood Cloud Chaos Sector equipped with a Matrix Star Weapon of blue quality or higher can capture them, making it not difficult to calculate the precise location."

As Feng Xiao spoke, a small amount of Li-style Particles enveloped the surroundings, and the Fierce Star's main cannon finished charging.

The moment before the beam blasted out, Feng Xiao spoke again, "The Blood Cloud Sector must have intelligence on this; you, as a second-generation captain, are a bit lacking."

A powerful explosion rose and spread, the blinding light causing Feng Xiao to squint his eyes as the massive shockwave dispersed, pulverizing a large number of meteorites and asteroids.

[Star Points +150,000]

[Blue Shield Star Weapon +1]

Star Origin did not linger, quickly sailing away from the area.

"Boss, since that sub-dimension and collapsed space you mentioned are so easy to detect, there should be a lot of people competing for them, right?"

Wang Hao couldn't help but ask as this thought occurred to him.

Feng Xiao did not deny it. "Indeed, quite a few. I expect Star-Land and even Star-Dome Class starships will make an appearance."

"However, they will only be there to snatch the Ghost Millet Fruit, not what I am after."

The existence of both items was told to him by Feng Xue'an. According to Feng Xue'an, even a nation of the Blue Crystal Federation's caliber wouldn't even qualify to know the relevant intelligence.

One must ask, how could criminal forces suppressed within the Blood Cloud Sector, which could at most dispatch elite starships, know of the existence of these two things?

If they had known, the three collapsed spaces used as main bases by the three great pirate factions in the center of the Blood Cloud Sector would likely have been gone long ago.

The Space Heart was, after all, a supreme treasure capable of allowing one to awaken an epic-grade spatial ability.

Its strength was no less than that of an average legendary ability.

Upon learning this, Wang Hao and Ilde suddenly realized the truth, becoming somewhat excited.

"So, our ultimate goal is the Sub-dimension Core or the Space Heart?"

"The sub-dimension or collapsed space has existed for quite some time, so there should be plenty of Ghost Millet Fruit. If we snatch some, we shouldn't be targeted by those Star-Land Class starships. As for the Sub-dimension Core or the Space Heart, we must plan carefully."

The two nodded to show they understood. After a brief plan, Star Origin continued to roam, constantly hunting surrounding pirate groups or other criminal forces.

After all, harvesting here was much more cost-effective than in the alien universe. Naturally, they had to take this opportunity to make a good profit and subsidize their recent losses.

Time passed rapidly just like that...