The Star Knight - 31. Chapter Thirty One

Opal and Raymond opened a double room in the hotel. Opal connected the terminal to the local area network of the Ares Galaxy. The construction of Liexing’s information website was not as developed as that of the Republic. Once a week, the magnetic storm restricted the Internet with the Star Alliance. Two young and strong mercenaries are supporting their families, and there are very few dead houses.

However, the number of people in the magnetic storm has skyrocketed during the rest days. The mercenary forum is noisy, and the entertainment hall is full of people playing virtual games. Inside the ring-shaped light screen is a blue cosmic star map. Opal participated in a simulated interstellar war and drove the spacecraft to and fro.

The scoreboard jumped quickly, the radio waves rustled, and the strange voice roared: “Wrench! You fucking opened a cheat device!”

Opal yelled “yo ha”, manipulating small fighter jets to land on the Republic’s galaxy mothership, going around, and intensive light bombs flew behind him, sinking his fighter jets.

“Wrench!” Opal said angrily: “You attacked me!”

“Little Oou–” Lily’s voice smiled: “I recognize you, this time it’s me—”

A slightly familiar voice said: “Everyone stick to the ground.”-That was Rosen’s voice.

Opal screamed: “No! You bully the recruits!”

“What recruits!” the man said grimly: “Hurry up and get ready to join the battle again!”

Opal suddenly heard that it was the voice of the instructor Gray Wolf, and immediately said: “I’ll get someone to help!”

Opal put away the light screen and said: “Raymond, come to join the Imperial War.”

Raymond lay on the bed with his feet crossed, his feet in white socks moved, resting his arms, and said, “Don’t play, you play by yourself.”

Opal said: “What are you thinking? About Sid?”

Raymond was noncommittal, squinting his eyes, Opal rolled over and got out of bed, and wanted to go over and say something, Raymond gave him a kick, kicked him gently back on the bed, and said: “Play your empire war.”

Opal had to continue playing his video games. In the virtual world, no matter how big or small, the mercenaries chose the camp and divided into two teams. One team invaded the territory of the Republic and the other defended.

This virtual game is a planet-wide Internet platform technology that Azeroth bought with a huge amount of money. It can participate from S-level mercenaries to restaurant owners, and different people can play different roles in it.

“What are you thinking about!” The gray wolf’s voice said loudly in the communicator: “Be serious! Don’t be distracted! Give Rosen some color to see!”

The offensive leader is the Gray Wolf, while the defensive leader is Rosen. There are more and more people. Tens of millions of people have been added to the entire interstellar battlefield. After Opal talked with the temporary players, he discovered that the Gray Wolf and Luo Sen turned out to be an S-rank mercenary!

At the top of the pyramid of the Mercenary Nation, the left-behind personnel among the six S-class superpowers under Azeroth’s command-the strength of these two people is really not to be underestimated. The gray wolf’s command tactics are simply amazing. It was the first time that Opal participated in the space starship battle. The small warships were arranged over the sky and the formation was changing rapidly.

Opal did not watch out and was defeated. This time he did not rush to line up to join the battlefield. He chose the ghost mode to view the entire U-star offensive and defensive battle from the observation tower. The command of the gray wolf is like an art in the dark universe, and the space magnetic defense array built by six planets is Rosen’s heroic stage. Tens of thousands of singular soldiers joined the battle and died in an instant and turned into dust in space. There was a heavy feeling of life and death, and the boundless world.

The battle fell into a stalemate, and Opal was dizzy. He temporarily went offline and shut down the LAN. Raymond was still sleeping in bed.

“Hey.” Opal went to lie next to Raymond. Raymond opened his eyes and saw the screen turned off, so he didn’t drive him away. The two lay side by side. Opal said, “What are you going to eat? I’ll buy some food.”

Raymond said: “Whatever, I plan to take up Sid’s task.”

Opal surprised: “What made you change your mind?”

Raymond absentmindedly said, “Let’s give it a try. It doesn’t work and there is no loss, right? Let’s apply for union arbitration first, and then apply for the employer’s special commission, so that Shiy Dejia has a clause with no risk of default.”

Opal said: “Okay.”

Raymond nodded, Opal said: “I will tell him now.”

Raymond hurriedly got up and said, “No, wait a moment, we must be well prepared.”

Opal went to buy food, and when he returned, Raymond turned on the Internet and began to collect information on the M97 Nebula.

The Mercenary Star is not the planet with the most timely and richest information in the Star Alliance, but it is the most practical place for information. For tens of thousands of years, there are too many places in the universe that have left the footprints of mercenaries, and where there is danger, Where can I take shortcuts, and where I can’t be approached, these are intelligence exchanged with blood from the edge of life and death.

Opal and Raymond squeeze side by side on the bed while eating and watching. The information on the periphery of the nebula is dazzling. There are three living planets, followed by tens of millions of stars and asteroids, each of which is completely different. , The planets are also strange, nitro, methane, heavy water, uranium, radium, and molecular variants and compounds between various elements flooding the entire screen.

“The place we are going to is not here yet.” Opal said.

Raymond: “I know, go to the center again.”

There are two dark areas in the spiral M97 nebula. Opal pushed the touch screen away with his finger, pulled another piece of photo, and said: “This is an unknown place, a dark field, and the nearest star gate is also 1.7 miles away. Hundred astronomical units.”

The two watched for a while, and in the powdery nebula, one of the dark spots led to a red line, and the note was “Unidentified composition”.

Opal said: “Strange, what is the starry sky gate built here?”

Raymond thought for a while and said, “Who knows? Maybe the empire once had a wasteland reclamation plan, but it was temporarily shelved because of something… What do you think is inside?”

Opal said: “I can’t say for sure, it may be a black hole, or a few neutron stars… or it may be an expanding gas… or nothing at all.”

“Guess.” Raymond said leisurely. He got up to pour the coffee in the pot: “Guess what you want.”

“I hope it’s not a black hole.” Opal gazed at the darkness and murmured: “We need all the information we can find about this area, including the surrounding life planets, the history of the construction and development of the star gate, and electric sparks. The express delivery list of the courier company…includes what goods they deliver, and the origin and identity of the customer.”

“Let’s split up.” Raymond said: “I’ll go to that kid and ask, go to the Republic once if necessary.”

The relationship between the member states of the Star Alliance is very complicated. In theory, as long as the country belongs to the Star Alliance and becomes one of the member states, the ID card can pass through without any obstacle.

The nationality system before the Light Era has been abolished, and the star status on the ID card only represents the planet of birth and home. The relationship between the Mercenary Country, the Republic, and the Empire has changed in recent years. The two have worked together for a long time. Raymond first went to the union to issue a certificate, while Opal went to the information center to inquire about all the contents of M97.

After the magnetic storm day passed, Opal pulled out the list of mercenary groups that had been there to perform missions in the past, and learned about the situation one by one, while Raymond drove the spacecraft to the Republic. After two full days of preparation, they finally met in the lobby of Sunlight City.

When Sid heard about their plan, he just nodded gratefully and said nothing. He went to change the content of the commission-a special commission, the target was the Smoke and Sword Mercenary Corps. Both parties signed a certificate to confirm that there was nothing before this mission. Associated. This is the anti-cheating mechanism of the Mercenary Nation. In order to avoid the commission of acquaintances, money is used to help the mercenary group quickly advance.

The task of the E-level mercenary group was adjusted to conform to their tasks. The monetary reward remained unchanged at 250,000 credit points, and the union drew 20% and 50,000. The score is 240 individual points and 118 team points.

Raymond closed the diary of the mercenary and said: “First go to sort out the news and set off this afternoon.”

Sid said: “I will go with you.”

Opal and Raymond immediately said in unison: “No!”

Opal: “We have no ability to protect you.”

Raymond: “Don’t mess up.”

Sid said: “But I have been there for nearly two cosmic years. I searched many areas. These are all marked on the star map of my spacecraft. Let me follow and I can know the way.”

Opal said: “Give us the star map, you can’t…”

Sid insisted: “I will not hinder you! I can recognize my dad, you at least let me have a look, okay? I can take care of the logistics for you, drive the spacecraft, and use my spacesuit for you. No need to buy anymore!”

Opal was really overwhelmed by him. The three discussed at the door for a while, and finally Raymond had to say: “You must swear to stay on the spaceship at all times, and you can’t come out without our permission.”

On the tarmac, Sid moved out the living supplies he could use, including some weapons. After Raymond screened it, he moved the useful ones to Times-VI.

“Sid!” On the side of the apron, quickly drove over.

“Xun!” Sid smiled.

Xun: “Did anyone pick it up? I packed my luggage, so why are you two again?”

Opal: “…”

Xun said, “Forget it, let’s go.” He carried a bag and walked on the spaceship. Opal brake would blow up his hair and said, “Hey! Did you make a mistake?”

Xun said, “I promised Sid to help him find his father! What do you want to do? I don’t want to go on a mission with the two of you!”

Opal: “Who wants to have a mission with whom! Who was beaten up with rubbish to find teeth last time! This is my spaceship! Hey! Don’t touch it! Warn you!”

Xi De said: “Xun, wait, thank you.”

Opal held Sid’s collar unceremoniously, dragged him over, pressed him by the back door of the spacecraft, and said, “I don’t care what you promised him, I will send him away immediately, and go now!”

Opal got into the spacecraft. Outside, Xun asked loudly and Sid explained in a low voice. Xun was always aggressive, and Opal and Raymond didn’t like him. Sid was scolded bloody, and the two voices gradually moved away.

Raymond shook his head and smiled. After waiting for a while, Sid came in, closed the door of the spacecraft, and smiled at the corners of his mouth, opal steered the spacecraft off.

“Exchange information.” Opal said: “What conclusions have you come to?”

Raymond said: “The Spark Express Company has nothing unusual. It is a very ordinary private industry. The express customer of this order is a man over two hundred years old. His name is Ya Sui. He wants to deliver a suitcase. In the depths of the M97 Nebula, the black ant planet on the spiral arm goes up. According to the express delivery list, it contains a plant growth agent.”

Opal said: “How did you get the news?”

Raymond: “I used the contact person provided by Sid to check in the past. On Grey City Star is his father’s former colleague.”

Sid nodded and said, “As far as I know, this is also the case.”

Opal said: “You just went shopping around to see the scenery!”

Raymond said: “I brought you some specialties! Don’t forget it!”

Opal hurriedly said: “Take it out and let me have a look.”

Raymond took out a pack of Grey City Star’s specialty from his backpack, which was a pie made of Grey Fruit. Sid smiled and said, “This tastes very good. There are many such fruits in my hometown.”

Opal left him alone. The three of them made tea and began to eat ash fruit sandwich pie. Raymond said again: “It looks like a very ordinary express order. Go and plant plants on Black Ant Star. If that’s the case… …”

Opal interrupted: “What if the inside story is unusual?”

Raymond said: “Then we have to go to… the black ant star to investigate.”

Raymond’s eyes were clear, Opal knew almost at the same time. This is actually an accident, the cause is very common, and the accidents are also very common.

But neither of them said, so as not to make Sid think about it again, which is very cruel.

After a brief awkward silence, Opal said: “I asked a few mercenaries who performed missions over there in the past. There are several people who have been there, they said, there are three life planets, none of which are inhabited by humans. There are many strange creatures living in this place. Among them, a strange bug on one planet has biological jets on the buttocks… able to leave the atmosphere and fly in the space. They once attacked two other planets, and were later affected by these two planets. The monsters were defeated separately… Forgive me, I have always had a headache with history.”

Raymond said: “This is almost the same as the information provided by Sid. You are just asking the veterans to drink and chat!”

Opal said: “If you insist on thinking so, I have no objection.”

Raymond: “…”

In other words, the two were busy for a long time without any meaningful information. So everyone continued to eat the pie without mentioning it.

“Oh, right.” Opal thought of something again, and narrowed his eyes. “I applied to search all open commission materials, and one of them was also commissioned by M97 Nebula.”

Raymond moved his eyebrows, meaning: So what?

Opal said: “This person’s grade and content have been sold in the union, and the name is a question mark:’?’.”

Raymond: “Is it weird? If he died in battle or stopped being a mercenary…”

Opal: “No, even if the victim is sold off, the name is still there. After leaving the union, the name and deeds can be retained.”

Raymond: “Assuming this person has a new job and does not want his identity information to be found, he can also choose to hide his name…”

Opal: “If you apply for concealment by yourself, then the person’s name column will show’unviewable’ instead of a question mark.”

Raymond: “…”

Opal: “Does it feel like a reasoning game?”

Raymond: “That’s enough, what do you want to express?”

Opal shrugged and said: “I just think it’s a bit weird. I continued searching along the relevant content of the question mark person, and found that there are paginations. In the light brain content of the union database, I can find the guy whose name is the question mark. I have executed it. All tasks.”

Leimen squinted slightly and began to notice something strange, and said, “Then the name in the commission he received is also a question mark? How about saying that his name is a question mark?”

“No.” Opal looked at Raymond’s eyes and murmured: “All of his missions have been deleted, not hidden, but completely deleted. The content of M97 Nebula’s exploration is no longer in the commission record, but only by He proposed to share a separate information so that the younger generations of mercenaries can know more information.”

Raymond asked a question: “When did that happen?”

Opal said: “The entry was written many years ago. I looked at the inventory ranking. The number of years is at least on the order of thousands. The database administrator also told me a very interesting thing, this The question mark was changed by Azeroth himself.”

Raymond: “So, how does Azeroth explain this?”

Opal: “Without explanation, he has no time to meet me.”

Raymond pondered for a moment, and then said: “Thousands of years ago, I don’t think it has anything to do with our commission.”

Opal echoed: “At best, I can dig a little bit of Azeroth’s gossip… Forget it, I really am too idle.”

Sid said, “I think it might be a bit related. Well, that’s an intuition.”

Opal and Raymond looked at Sid.

“Adults speak, children don’t interrupt.” Opal said blankly.

“Sid is older than you.” Raymond said casually: “Let’s play bouncy pool.”

After several days of short voyage, they passed through the starry sky gate of the M97 Nebula and arrived at the beginning of the incident. During this time, Times-VI will continue to advance along the trajectory of the previous transport ship.

It’s impossible to find out that there has been an explosion from the outside. A star emitting a red flame is emitting majestic light and heat in the dark. This is a red giant star-a certain expansion form of the star in the process of its destruction. .

The hot wind blows into the icy space, and thousands of ice crystals gather toward the stars in the space.

“Don’t get too close.” Raymond said: “It will be sucked over. I want to live a long life.”

Opal glanced at the range of gravity: “It’s still far away, safe.”

Among the five display screens of the spacecraft, hundreds of progress bars kept jumping, showing the detection energy of nearby elements, and the cabin was full of red light.

They followed the path that the transport ship had taken at the time. This was the plan proposed by Raymond. Sid had already followed it several times, but with the ideas of Opal and Raymond, he still had to go once in person. For seven consecutive days, the two took turns on duty, sometimes each with a cup of coffee in hand, sitting together in front of the console and looking at the stars outside.

Sid was very tired and was sleeping in the bedroom. Opal and Raymond sat in front of the console chatting casually.

“It’s boring.” Raymond drank a cup of coffee and stared out of the cabin.

Opal murmured: “I think it’s okay, such a beautiful starry sky, no matter how you look at it, you won’t get tired of it.”

The two sat quietly, Opal asked: “Hey, my dear, why are you helping him?”

Raymond said: “Enough of you, don’t be so disgusting, we have only known each other for a few weeks.”

Opal smiled, and Raymond said: “A little touched, he is very poor, Azeroth tells you not to forget the feelings of being a mercenary.”

Opal said: “What’s the touch, you also have a father like this?”

Raymond ignored the Opal.

Opal adjusted his sitting posture, half lying on the swivel chair in front of the console, and closed his eyes.

Raymond: “Go inside and sleep.”

Opal said: “I’m just meditating, don’t interrupt me.”

Opal’s spiritual power radiated out, like a gentle light, continuously extending towards the vast and unknowable starry sky, and the color wind of the distant red giant was blowing and spreading to hundreds of light-years away. It is huge and gentle, like a king who occupies all places in the field of vision.

This king is in its twilight, and in tens of millions of years or hundreds of millions of years, one day in the future, it may collapse into a black hole, or burn its own light and heat, and gradually cool down and become an ice-cold Death Star.

Opal’s spiritual world went against the wind, and in the vast universe, it seemed to be watching him quietly.

[Human, what’s the matter here? ] A loud voice rang in my mind.

Opal: “!!!”

Opal’s consciousness is like a tiny light in the magnificent particle wind. He felt that this red giant star was talking to him! The surrounding planets are watching him, and the red giant star is like a king on the throne, surrounded by subjects composed of thousands of galaxies, looking down at him condescendingly.

“I, I… are you talking to me?” Opalsha was stunned.

There was silence all around, and there was still only that magnificent endless stellar electromagnetic wind, like a billowing torrent, penetrating all his consciousness.

I don’t know how long it took, Opal squatted and said: “Are you talking to me? Can we communicate?”

Reckett said that stars have their own souls and thoughts, but they never communicate with lower creatures. Opal is very at a loss and said: “I am a mercenary, I… come here to find someone. No, a missing transport ship…your name seems to be…”

Opal thought of the labels on the star chart, and thought of those names given to them by humans, a huge star comparable in size to the entire Ares galaxy, how could he care about these?

“Have you seen that spaceship?” Opal gave an overview of the matter and finally asked.

He waited for a long, long time, until he almost thought the question just now was an illusion, and he felt a lot of magnificent colors blowing between the planets, and every inch of space was filled with atomically glowing electromagnetic particles.

Is the planet communicating? Is this their consciousness? !

[Your first question. ] That voice sounded again.

Opal didn’t know why, he suddenly noticed a star in the distance, and his vision condensed there in just a second.

[And here. 】

Opal’s gaze shifted again, and he turned to a dark place in the M97 Nebula. The next moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and woke up.

Raymond put a blanket on him, and this slight gesture interrupted his meditation.

“What are you doing!” Opal yelled at him angrily.

Raymond said: “Are you crazy.”

Opal ignored him, closed his eyes, and entered meditation again. However, his vision was completely different this time. The red giant star was still emitting light, and the endless dark red silky particle wind was no longer visible.

Opal radiated his spirit several times, but no matter how he tried, the red giant did not respond at all.

“Hey, talk.” Opal shouted in his mind: “There was a little accident just now.”

Opal: “Let me sing a song for you, can you play table tennis? Have you seen the wandering pig and bear? Now the second generation!”

Opal: “Do you know a man named Reckett?”

Returning without success, Opal opened his eyes, the culprit Raymond was still drinking coffee leisurely.

The appearance of the star is still in Opal’s mind. He spins the swivel chair, turns on the star map, calls up the surrounding galaxies, moves both hands, and turns the star map head and foot.

Raymond: “?”

Opal turned his head to look out of the porthole and adjusted the angle of the spacecraft. The spacecraft tilted ninety degrees. In fact, in a place where there is no gravity, the effect is the same whether it is head-up or tail-up. The difference is only in the distant nebula disk. Horizontal or vertical.

He adjusted the Age-VI to a suitable angle against the star chart, and while looking out the window, he marked it on the star chart.

“What’s the matter?” Raymond said.

Opal looked at the star map suspiciously. It was a star-it is impossible to go to the star. What do the red giants mean?

Raymond said: “This is your meditation experience?”

Opal said: “Yes.”

Raymond laughed, Opal said: “Is this funny?”

Raymond said: “I heard that the Holy See also used this method to solve problems. The Pope closed his eyes and rested for a few minutes, so the entire galaxy was different because of the divine revelation…”

Opal said: “This is what the planets told me.”

As soon as he said this, he realized that it was wrong. He seemed to be saying too strange that Raymond would probably not believe it.

Raymond did not agree. They looked at the star map together, and Opal scratched his neck questioningly. Go here? He will only die when he gets close to the star, even if he is not burned to death, he will be pulled in by gravity… He noticed the planets around this star system. There is a planet named Black Ant.

Mark as follows:

[Condition: Safe. 】

【Higher intelligent creatures: evolved from arthropods, possess a certain degree of intelligence, and are warm and hospitable. 】

What did Opal vaguely understand that Sid’s father’s spacecraft is related to this planet? ! Maybe it made an emergency landing on Black Ant?

Raymond: “Safe and hospitable.”

Opal said: “Don’t believe the above evaluation. For the owner of the star map… I think what he calls’safety’ does not mean our safety.”

Lei Meng Wei asked with a little doubt: “The owner of the star map is very strong?”

Opal replied: “Well, very strong…”

Reckett is indeed very strong, but Opal seems to vaguely think of something…Is this what Reckett marked? He has been here before? The owner of this star chart…

Raymond called up the dense line of small prints below and said: “Look.”

The content of this voyage diary is short, but surprising:

[This planet is not marked in the Star Alliance Aerospace System. Intelligent life is in the form of an ant, which is very rare. It’s like a laboratory abandoned by the creator. I named it “Black Ant”. 】

The name of the black ant star turned out to be Reckett? ! Although Opal has become accustomed to Reckett’s profound knowledge and knowledge, he couldn’t help being deeply shocked when he read this commentary.

He was following the footprints of Reckett, exploring step by step in the vast universe. Just thinking that the teacher had also been to this planet, there was an indescribable blood and excitement in his heart.

Immediately afterwards, a basin of cold water extinguished his excitement.

“Sid? Are you there?”-Xun’s voice came from the spaceship’s amplifier communicator.

Opal’s mouth twitched slightly, and Raymond spilled coffee all over his hands.

Opal: “…”

Raymond: “…”

“Yes! Here!” Sid woke up, ran out of the control room, and said loudly, “Xun! Are you here?”

“I’m right behind your spaceship!” Xun said, “I plan to go out to see!”

Sid said: “You can use the spare spacesuit in my spacecraft, will you use it?”

Xun said: “Yes! I’m going out now.”

Sid said: “You set up the positioning and following system, and remember to fix the magnetic field on the spacecraft cabin…”

“Sid! Tell me first!” Opal roared, “What the hell is going on!”