There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

It was called the Land of Exile because the Star Gate here was far from the center of the Alliance, on the very edge of its territory.

The farther a place was from the center, the weaker the Alliance’s rule became. Maintaining control here would require a greater investment, which was a losing proposition for the Alliance.

Thus, after realizing how difficult it was to maintain control, the Alliance abandoned the Star Gate’s upkeep, leaving it to the Interstellar Pirates, the rebel army, and the madmen of the Mechanical Sect.

This place was more chaotic than the Ares Star Gate and more lawless than a prison. If it weren’t for the need to take a shortcut, Hancock would have never chosen this route.

As they drew near, a drunkard’s voice crackled over the communications channel: "Pay up, or pay with your lives."

Before Captain Duan Fei could reply, the voice on the other end said, "Oops, my hand slipped."

Seeing the Star Gate’s remaining Energy Cannons already starting to charge, Duan Fei had no choice but to fly out of the ship without a Space Suit. He used the [Rough Healing Technique] to sustain himself while reaching out and completely neutralizing the dazzling cannon fire.

Thank heavens the cannon fire was energy and not a physical projectile. Otherwise, everyone at the Star Gate would have witnessed the incredible feat of Duan Fei crushing energy blasts with his bare hands while simultaneously pushing the spaceship.

After crushing all six incoming blasts, Duan Fei returned to the bridge and sank wearily into his chair.

Neutralizing the energy blasts was nothing, but constantly having to heal himself was exhausting.

He had Little Drilling Wind reopen the comms link and asked, "So, what was that about paying up? Or paying with our lives?"

The man on the other end seemed to sober up instantly. The previously gruff voice became exceedingly polite. "Paying up is out of the question, and paying with your lives was just a joke. Welcome to the Land of Exile. If you decide to annihilate this place, please let me know so I can get a head start on running away."

"I’ll consider it."

"Thank you for your mercy. Have a pleasant journey. Oh, and we’ll clean your ship, free of charge. Is there anything else you require?"

"Give it a wax."

"Right away! Need an oil change? A uranium top-up?"

"Use your judgment."

"Yes, sir! It is my honor to serve you!"

After the call ended, the pot-bellied communications officer on the other end let out a sigh of relief.

’A guy who can smash energy blasts with his bare hands... That’s just terrifying.’

’A Superpower User of that caliber could wipe out anyone they pleased here.’

’All we can do now is hope he’s just passing through. Otherwise, the Land of Exile is in for another bloodbath.’

After turning the ship over to the Star Gate for maintenance, Duan Fei confirmed their layover would still be twelve hours.

There were currently four days left before the instance ended, and they still had two days of travel ahead of them.

By that calculation, they would have two full days to investigate on Azure Star, which should be enough time to uncover more secrets.

After they landed, Little Fatty fiddled with his phone for a moment before saying, "All set. I’ve hacked into the local credit system. I sent a bunch of credit points to each of you—just think of it as cash. You can’t take most of the stuff you buy here with you, so just go have some fun."

Counting the long string of nines on his wristband, Little Drilling Wind sighed, "If only I had this many Abyss Coins. But... won’t this be dangerous?"

Little Fatty scoffed. "The tech skills here are a complete joke, and my hardware is ridiculously powerful. I’d love to see anyone even notice there’s a problem."

"Don’t jinx us! We don’t want to get dragged down with you!"

"Relax! Those who believe in me shall have eternal life!"

"I told you not to jinx it! Is that something a mere mortal like you should be saying? Ugh, whatever. Chief, let’s go buy some equipment!"

"Let’s go! It’s time for a research party!"

The two of them scurried off. The Shadow God went to uphold justice and enhance their title’s effect, the Missionary of Love went to spread love, and Little Fatty decided to check out the local black market for any good finds.

In the end, the only ones left were Duan Fei and the Spirit Detective.

Duan Fei was pretty experienced when it came to dealing with children.

After all, he had raised Jinghong much the same way. ’This is bringing back memories,’ he thought.

So, Duan Fei leaned down and asked with a gentle smile, "Are you hungry? Want some milk?"

"...Have you forgotten that I’m a Spirit Detective? I only have a singular passion: solving problems."

"Understood. In that case, please prove Goldbach’s conjecture for me using the simplest possible method."

"Milk. Two sugars."

Sipping milk from a bottle, the Spirit Detective trailed Duan Fei through the black market, noticing he had a particular fondness for ancient books.

Duan Fei, who never haggled, was quickly identified as a walking wallet. A flood of ancient books was brought to him, and the sellers fleeced him mercilessly.

They laughed at Duan Fei for having more money than sense; Duan Fei laughed at them for not knowing true value. Once the deals were done, they each walked away, chuckling to themselves and thinking the other was a complete idiot.

In this instance, nearly all information had already been uploaded to the database. Ancient books had transformed from vessels of knowledge into luxury items, making the very act of reading one seem strange.

Beside a mountain of books, Duan Fei casually picked one up and began to read it intently.

Seeing that Duan Fei was actually reading, Sai Wen asked quizzically, "What are you doing?"

"Research. I’m looking for information related to the Void. There’s nothing in the database, so I thought I might find some clues in ancient texts."

"How is that possible? How could something as mysterious as a Void Spirit be recorded?"

"Hmm, I see."

"What did you find? Don’t tell me you got that lucky! You can’t be serious!"

"No. I just realized this is too inefficient. I can’t read through all of them."

"Obviously."

"Which is why I need your help. But first, let me ask: if I hire you, it doesn’t count as child labor, does it?"

Just as Sai Wen was about to speak, Duan Fei nodded thoughtfully. "Then again, if I don’t pay you, it doesn’t count as employment, right?"

"...Would it kill you to act like a capitalist for once?"

Duan Fei’s plan was simple. Spirit Detective Sai Wen had the ability to perceive when something was amiss.

By leveraging this ability, all Duan Fei had to do was hand the ancient books to Sai Wen and have her identify which ones felt "problematic" regarding their content on the Void or Void Spirits.

Using this method, they could quickly sift through any number of ancient books to find the ones with relevant records. After that, it was just a matter of reading through them carefully to pinpoint the information.

Looking at the books Sai Wen had singled out, Duan Fei discovered they all used different names to refer to the Void.

"The Corrosive Sea," "The Land of Darkness," "The Evil of All Things"...

Having gazed into the Void himself, Duan Fei knew these names weren’t chosen at random. Only someone who truly understood the Void could have come up with them.

This meant that others had indeed gazed into the Void in the past and left behind corresponding research.

But after finishing a few of the books, Duan Fei’s expression grew grim.

’No wonder the Federation forbids this knowledge.’

’The Void was far more terrifying than he had ever imagined.’

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