As energy ripples continued to reverberate, one of the five points of light in the Matrix wavered slightly before quickly dimming, though it remained present.
Meanwhile, the Star Origin was rapidly closing in, and the distance between them shrank fast.
The Eight-Gate Ship Cannons finished charging in an instant. Brilliant beams swept toward the five starships tens of thousands of kilometers away, and the powerful energy waves kept them from entering subspace.
"Damn, these guys are tough! Brothers, retreat!"
Inside the leading elite-class starship, its lanky captain roared over the local channel. He panicked even more when he saw an advanced starship badly damaged.
Boom! Boom!
As countless streaks of light flashed past, the starship whose shields were on the verge of collapse finally gave way. Its armor rating of less than a thousand couldn't withstand the assault.
It lasted only a few seconds before shattering with a deafening crash.
The entire starship exploded. The mysterious energy from the blast tore apart all the Star Weapons, while the four nearby starships were sent tumbling sideways by the impact.
After the cannons destroyed the starship, the main cannon finished charging and instantly struck the elite starship like an arrow from the heavens.
[Shield damaged: 45%]
"What the hell was that attack?"
The lanky captain was stunned.
Several dozen seconds later, Fierce Star fired again.
This time, though, its target wasn't the elite starship, but the other advanced starships. More than ten beams followed close behind, and the moment the main cannon hit, a barrage of attacks landed one after another.
[Star Points +50,000]
Another 50,000 in the bank. Destroying two advanced starships had earned them 100,000 so far. It was a poor return compared to what they needed for growth, but it wasn't his money being wasted.
"What a haul!"
Wang Hao laughed, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
Ilde kept firing the main cannon and ship cannons at full power. Before long, they had destroyed the remaining two advanced starships, leaving only the elite starship to fight back desperately.
Beams and main-cannon blasts swept across the battlefield, hammering the Star Origin. But attacks with a power rating of around two thousand couldn't shake the Eternal Sun Wall.
Thousands of star pirates and crew members inside the elite-class starship panicked. The lanky captain wore a grim expression, his face shifting between hope and dread.
Watching his shields near collapse, he reluctantly sat down. "Connect me to them. I'll trade information for the safety of my starship and crew."
"I'm curious what information you think is valuable enough to buy the lives of your crew and an elite-class starship."
The lanky captain answered calmly, "The location of the Ghost Millet Fruit."
The Ghost Millet Fruit was a special fruit rich in pure energy. It could greatly promote and optimize the growth of a person's life energy.
In other words, it advanced an esper's ability development, while also helping martial artists refine their vital essence more effectively.
It was extremely valuable on the market.
Each fruit was worth at least 100 million Alliance Coins. Even buying one with Star Points cost 100,000, and that was just the price—it didn't mean one was available to buy.
The lanky captain was one of the people who knew where these newly discovered Ghost Millet Fruits were. He had gathered all the top fighters in his pirate group, planning to seize some of them.
He hadn't expected to come across the Star Origin on the way and try to rob it, only for the tiny ship to turn the tables and kill them instead.
By common sense, a starship less than two thousand meters long could only be around lv21–lv40. Who would've thought the Star Origin had the strength of a seasoned elite-class starship?
Ghost Millet Fruits?
Wherever wild Ghost Millet Fruits grew, there had to be a Ghost Millet Fruit tree. And from the way the captain spoke, there was more than one!
The Blood Cloud Chaos Sector had long since been thoroughly explored. Besides, these fruits needed a fairly noticeable amount of spatial energy to grow.
If they had only just been discovered, they could only be in a new sub-dimension or a collapsed space.
These two places were roughly equivalent to secret realms in a fantasy world. The former had relatively complete rules, while the latter was simply a small space.
Either way, whatever they contained would be extremely valuable to the Alliance. A Sub-dimension Core or Space Heart would be tremendously useful.
Their value far exceeded that of the Ghost Millet Fruit.
In just a few seconds, Feng Xiao had roughly figured out the situation and identified the most valuable items.
Of course, the Ghost Millet Fruit would be useful too, especially for Wang Hao and Ilde. Thanks to the Heart of Dawn, his own ability had already reached full development.
All he needed to do now was level up.
Wang Hao and Ilde were different. They had to fully develop their abilities before they could improve their quality. Still, developing them step by step had its advantages. For instance, once fully developed, they would jump straight to lv50.
As for himself...
Feng Xiao glanced at his panel—lv12.
Well, no wonder. His powerful ability could grow without limit on its own. He had already leveled up twice so quickly.
Once he'd thought it through, Feng Xiao said calmly, "That sounds very tempting. So...
"Ilde, open fire. Wipe them out."
The energy rapidly gathering made the lanky captain, who had been so confident moments ago, turn pale.
"You don't want to know where the Ghost Millet Fruit is?!"
Feng Xiao casually accepted the tea brought by a service robot and smiled faintly. "It should be in some sub-dimension or collapsed space that hasn't fully opened yet, right?"
The lanky captain said tensely, "Exactly. But not many people know the location. If you kill me..."
"Star pirates are star pirates. When a new sub-dimension or collapsed space fully opens, it produces powerful spatial ripples and waveforms.
"Nearly every starship in the Blood Cloud Chaos Sector equipped with a blue-quality-or-higher Matrix Star Weapon can detect them. It isn't hard to calculate the exact location."
As Feng Xiao spoke, a small amount of Li-style Particles enveloped the area around them. Fierce Star's main cannon finished charging.
Just before the beam fired, Feng Xiao added, "There's bound to be intelligence about this in the Blood Cloud Sector. You're a second-generation captain, but you're not very impressive."
A powerful explosion expanded, its blinding light making Feng Xiao narrow his eyes. The immense shock wave spread out, pulverizing countless meteorites and asteroids.
[Star Points +150,000]
[Blue Shield Star Weapon +1]
The Star Origin didn't linger. It quickly left the area.
"Boss, if that sub-dimension and collapsed space you mentioned are so easy to detect, won't there be a lot of people competing for them?"
Wang Hao couldn't help asking.
Feng Xiao made no attempt to deny it. "There'll definitely be plenty. I expect star-land-class and maybe even star-dome-class starships to show up.
"But they'll only be after the Ghost Millet Fruits, not the things I want."
Feng Xue'an had told him about the two items. According to Feng Xue'an, even a country on the Blue Crystal Federation's level wasn't qualified to know the relevant intelligence.
So how could criminal factions confined to the Blood Cloud Sector, which could only deploy elite-class starships at most, know those two items existed?
If they did, the three collapsed spaces at the center of the Blood Cloud Sector—the strongholds of the three great pirate groups—would've been gone long ago.
The Space Heart was a priceless treasure that could awaken a person's epic-level spatial ability.
Its strength was no less than that of an ordinary legendary ability.
After hearing this, Wang Hao and Ilde immediately understood. They were also a little excited.
"So our ultimate goal is a Sub-dimension Core or a Space Heart?"
"Sub-dimensions and collapsed spaces have existed for quite a while, so there should be plenty of Ghost Millet Fruits.
"We can seize some without drawing the attention of those star-land-class starships. As for the Sub-dimension Core or Space Heart, we'll have to think it through carefully."
The two nodded to show they understood. After making a simple plan, the Star Origin continued roaming, hunting nearby pirate groups and other criminal factions.
After all, the returns here were far better than in another universe. They should take the opportunity to make a good profit and make up for their recent expenses.
Time passed quickly...
Before you continue