The Cosmic Battleship slowly approached the docking bay entrance. The massive hangar door slid open, and a group of Bright Race People clad in Armor revealed their refined faces as they stepped onto the ramp.
Then, a very mechanical-looking stairway began to descend, section by section, like a growing plant. In a moment, it reached the base’s ground, anchoring itself.
"Welcome, brothers from the Divine Domain, who have come from so far! I am Victor, the Third Elder of the Bright Race’s external affairs department."
The leading Bright Race Person walked toward the group of Armor Warriors and spoke politely.
"No need for formalities. We are here on routine business. Please lead the way."
The leading warrior from the Divine Domain’s tone was not friendly, and his expression was quite grave.
Hearing this, the Third Elder’s expression darkened slightly, but he maintained his composure and led the group onto the floating stairway.
The group then slowly flew toward the massive, docked Cosmic Battleship ahead.
"My lord?"
The Fifth Immortal, seeing that the others didn’t seem to have noticed Zhao Rui, couldn’t help but ask curiously.
"I am not one of the Bright Race People!"
At this point, Zhao Rui no longer concealed the truth and said directly, "You are free!"
With that, he flew toward a distant interstellar transport ship.
As for his previous vessel, if he didn’t plan on going back for it, it would most likely be recycled as scrap by the base.
"This..."
The Fifth Immortal was stunned and couldn’t help but look back at his brothers.
The other Immortals were also incredibly surprised. Only the First Immortal remained calm and composed, saying, "I will continue to follow our lord. If you wish, you may come along. If not, you are free to leave on your own."
With that said, he hurried after Zhao Rui.
The other four Immortals were stunned for a moment. They hadn’t expected their leader to be so decisive. ’Could it be that our lord possesses some other incredible power we don’t know about? Something great enough to make our leader overlook the immense disappointment of him not being one of the Bright Race People?’
After all, the Bright Race People were the hegemonic power in this Star Realm. As long as they allied themselves with the Bright Race and became their vassals, they could thrive and multiply.
They would no longer have to worry about harassment from cosmic nomadic forces or destruction from ordinary, powerful forces of nature.
The few of them exchanged a look and, without another word, followed along.
"Following me won’t necessarily bring you any benefits, and it’s not guaranteed to be a good thing. Are you sure?"
Zhao Rui asked without turning his head.
"I have faith in you, my lord, and I have faith in my own judgment."
The First Immortal smiled faintly. His white hair and youthful face made him look all the more transcendent and otherworldly.
"Good!"
Zhao Rui said casually and said no more, walking straight toward an interstellar ferry.
"Where are you folks headed?"
An attendant with the body of a bird and the head of a snake approached them.
This bird-person spoke the common tongue of the Bright Domain, not the universally used Divine Soul Transmission.
Divine Soul Transmission was a High Tier language. Without a certain level of power, it was impossible to master, and not all interstellar beings could use it.
Zhao Rui pointed to his own mouth, indicating to the attendant that he couldn’t speak the language.
Seeing this, the snake-headed bird-person deftly pulled several earplug-like devices from its pocket and handed them to the group.
Zhao Rui took one and put it in his ear. Soon, he could clearly understand what the other was saying.
"That’ll be fifty star coins, please."
"Will this do?"
Zhao Rui had no currency from the Bright Domain, so he offered one of the Exotic Treasures he had obtained from the God and Demon Space as payment.
"This..."
The attendant’s eyes lit up, but it feigned a difficult expression.
"When you convert it to your currency, I’ll let you keep half."
"Ah? This... rest assured, sir, I’ll get it done for you right away."
The snake-headed bird-person’s strange, unreadable face crinkled with wrinkles; it was clearly ecstatic.
It quickly made a call on a communication device, and in just a moment, another strange snake-headed bird that looked much like it came flying over with a FLAP of its wings.
The strange bird was carrying a small machine in its hand that looked like a point-of-sale terminal.
"I’ll convert it into energy coins for you, so you can use them whenever you need."
The snake-headed strange bird said thoughtfully. It picked up the device and, after a flurry of taps and clicks, performed the operation.
After finishing, it handed a bracelet-like object to Zhao Rui and then used a receiving device in its own hand to check the signal.
"Done!"
Zhao Rui nodded and said, "Take us to the Star Realm in the Bright Domain that’s closest to the outer edge."
"You got it, no problem."
The snake-headed strange bird nodded, then respectfully invited Zhao Rui and the others to board its ship.
The ship wasn’t large, only about a hundred meters in diameter, and was an oval-shaped vessel.
Stepping inside the ship, the interior instantly lit up, displaying all sorts of welcome banners, making it look like a party.
It nearly blinded them.
"Rest assured, my honored guests. My humble vessel has everything you need for food, drink, and entertainment. I guarantee you’ll have a wonderful journey."
As it finished speaking, the snake-headed strange bird clapped its hands, and two round, stout robots emerged from deeper within the ship. The robots glanced at Zhao Rui and his group and then began to emit a scanning beam.
In the blink of an eye, six lifelike female humanoid figures appeared before them.
Holograms!
Zhao Rui’s face twitched.
The snake-headed strange bird gave an awkward chuckle. "Honored guest, if you want physical companions, that’ll cost extra. I can even get you ones with biological signs, or even from the same race as you, but it would take some effort, and I’m afraid it would delay your journey."
"That won’t be necessary. Get rid of these. Just give us a few Quiet Chambers."
Zhao Rui waved his hand, rejecting the offer.
"You got it. Rest assured, no one will disturb you."
The snake-headed strange bird quickly led them to the ship’s passenger cabins.
Besides their group, there were other closed rooms on the ship, occupied by other passengers.
As for their destinations, he didn’t know.
Of course, Zhao Rui didn’t bother to ask.
The room’s decor was quite luxurious, at least on par with an interstellar hotel on Blue Star.
"Well, I won’t disturb your rest. Just call me if you need anything!" The snake-headed strange bird paused, its long neck held still for a moment, then it bowed and backed out of the room.
"Mhm."
Zhao Rui nodded. He then called the Five Immortals in and explained the next step of his plan.
He didn’t know the precise coordinates of Blue Star or the Solar System.
Even if he did, with that invisible Boundary Wall in the way, he would probably just fly around aimlessly like a headless fly, unable to find his way.
After all, the rift he found back then was discovered by a stroke of luck.
In the vast Solar System, searching for a rift like that was truly like finding a needle in a haystack.
What’s more, he didn’t even have the Solar System’s coordinates.
However, previously, Zhao Rui had invaded the sea of consciousness of that Bright Divine Race Person and gleaned some key information about various Star Realms.
Information such as remote Star Realms, the Brookfan Star Sea, and ray bursts.
This trip was to head toward the remote Brookfan Star Sea.
"My lord, what do you need us to do?"
"Hijack this ship!"
"..."
The Five Immortals blinked. They were all beings who had lived for several thousand years, but they never expected that their lord, who looked so harmless, would decide to just up and hijack someone’s ship.
After all, the other party had shown no hostility, and their service had been, one could say, exceptionally thoughtful.
But since their lord had spoken, the Five Immortals naturally had no objections and immediately nodded in agreement.
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