There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

Little Fatty had done a thorough job hacking Alpha.

With Little Fatty’s skills and the high-tech backing of the Rongge Company, Alpha and the ship’s data terminal held no more secrets, spilling all their information.

According to Alpha, the creature Shadow God had taken out earlier was a "Void Spirit."

This creature could be classified as a Pseudo-man. It was a completely transparent type that was undetectable by infrared and could perfectly absorb all surrounding sound.

They hail from the Void. The mechanism that triggers their appearance is unknown, but once they manifest, only the military can suppress them.

According to rumor, they can devour human souls. They do this by walking directly into a person’s body and instantly absorbing their soul. Afterward, the remaining flesh explodes, and the creature moves on to its next victim.

It’s one thing if they appear on a planet, but if one manifests on a spaceship, everyone onboard will die at its hands. The vessel becomes a ghost ship, continuing on its programmed course until it reaches the next planet, where the Governor must personally intervene to eliminate the threat.

The exact method for eliminating a Void Spirit was a secret. Shadow God’s ability to destroy it was a unique player trait and not indicative of the standard procedure in this world.

Having gotten a grasp of the basic situation, Duan Fei took out his phone, connected to the ship’s database, and started to learn more about this world.

This was a world where humanity had left Earth and stepped into space.

While most of humanity’s technology was still stuck in the early 21st century, the interstellar travel branch of the tech tree had been pushed exceptionally far, making space travel commonplace.

The foundation for this widespread interstellar travel was the discovery of the Void and a method to enter and exit it.

The Void was a dimension parallel to the material world. Each transit into and out of it allowed a ship to traverse hundreds of light-years, expanding humanity’s reach from a mere few thousand kilometers to thousands of light-years.

Every journey through the Void had to be made via a Star Gate. This was because the Void was filled with vast quantities of Void Energy, which would adhere to anything passing through and cause unpredictable consequences.

These consequences included, but were not limited to: material annihilation, the manifestation of Void Spirits, the appearance of unpredictable wormholes, and crew-wide hallucinations.

Star Gates, however, could stabilize the travel route and cleanse a ship of any accumulated Void Energy, thus drastically improving the safety of each transit.

’The Void... Come to think of it, my [Spiritual Armor] also absorbs Void Energy. I wonder if it’s the same as the Void here. If it is, could I possibly acquire some new Skills?’

Stroking his chin in thought, Duan Fei decided he had to run an experiment. He wanted to see if he could trigger a special quest and obtain some Extraordinary Energy.

However, the first order of business was to deal with the aftermath of the Void Spirit’s attack.

Since it was a transport vessel, most tasks were delegated to the AI, so only a small crew was required.

But due to the Void Spirit attack, the captain, first mate, and the rest had all been killed. Of the original six-person crew, only Hancock remained.

The cleaning bots took care of the deceased crew’s remains. Meanwhile, Duan Fei retrieved spare uniforms from a supply closet and brought them over so they could start assigning roles.

"I’ve been looking into it," Duan Fei said. "Each role has different responsibilities, and the required skills vary. We need to assign our Professions and do our best to memorize our duties. That way, we won’t blow our cover during an inspection."

"But don’t we have command override?" Little Fatty asked, confused.

"The devil is in the details. This is a long-term instance, after all. Any carelessness, no matter how small, can build up and lead to failure. Conveniently, there were five crew members besides the navigator, so we can each take a role. The positions we need to fill are captain, first mate, communications officer, network engineer, and ship’s doctor. Hancock is the Navigator, so that’s covered. All things considered, I think I’m the most suitable to be captain."

Duan Fei had barely finished speaking when Little Fatty started nodding vigorously. Little Drilling Wind and Missionary of Love were indifferent, but Shadow God looked a little displeased.

"Hold on! I’m a hero! How can I not be the captain?!"

"Oh? Then you can do it. By the way, the captain needs to memorize seventy-three pages of communication call signs so we don’t blow our cover when contacting ground control or other ships."

"All hail the great Captain Duan! I’ll just be the first mate. Don’t worry, I’ll support you with every fiber of my being!"

Watching Shadow God cave in a single second, Little Drilling Wind felt the image he had of the star player collapse in his mind.

’Forget it. I should be a fan of the Lone Ranger instead. He doesn’t seem like the type to mess up so easily.’

With the captain and first mate assigned, the network engineer position naturally fell to Little Fatty. The roles of communications officer and ship’s doctor, however, were harder to place.

The ship’s doctor was usually a woman; that way, when people got injured, a trip to the infirmary would be a morale booster.

However, Little Drilling Wind’s in-game Profession was a journalist, which made him a good fit for communications officer.

Before Duan Fei could make up his mind, Missionary of Love stood up, shot a flirtatious wink at the group, and announced, "Leave the doctor role to me! I promise my loving Energy will leave everyone feeling a hundred times more spirited! Kira~"

Suppressing the urge to vomit, Duan Fei said, "I have some experience with Medical Skill myself. Why don’t I take the role?"

"Onii-chan, don’t be like that! Fine, I won’t even hold a grudge over what you did to me before!"

"Shut up! You translate for me! What exactly did I do to you before?! Go on, translate it! Translate it!"

"You know... meeting the parents, forcing me to obey you, things like that."

"That’s your translation?!"

Little Drilling Wind squinted at the group, feeling a distinct air of degeneracy hanging around them.

’I really, really want to go home.’

In the end, Missionary of Love got the ship’s doctor position after all, and Little Drilling Wind was assigned as the communications officer.

Having assigned the Professions, the group went to their respective stations to familiarize themselves with their duties and avoid blowing their cover later.

The systems in *Abyss* were hardcore, but not so difficult as to be completely incomprehensible to players.

For example, while the individual jobs sounded complex, they were made simple by wrist-mounted terminals. The players only needed to issue commands.

The deceased crew’s wristbands had already been hacked and implanted with the players’ personal information, making them official crew members, at least as far as the ship’s systems were concerned.

They had just finished familiarizing themselves with their duties when the ship’s communicator crackled with static. Then came the stern voice of a middle-aged man: "Long Range, Long Range, respond if you read me, respond if you read me."

The ship’s communications system used quantum entanglement wave transmission. This method ignored the limitations of distance, but its effective range was only about ten light-years.

Any farther than that required a relay tower, but those were so expensive that generally only the capital planet could afford them.

Hearing the voice, Hancock, who was still wallowing in self-pity, looked up nervously at Duan Fei, terrified he would say the wrong thing and arouse suspicion.

After all, they were prisoners!

And notorious Superpower User prisoners at that!

Feeling Hancock’s stare, Duan Fei nodded at Little Drilling Wind, signaling for him to open the channel.

Sitting upright in his chair, Duan Fei said seriously, "This is the Long Range. I am Astarte, captain of the Long Range."

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