Lu Yuan strode to the forward cabin, where a team of soldiers had already lined up in front of the control room. Looking at their faces, they were clearly the same soldiers who had been chatting in the living room earlier.
“Report, Captain. The first mecha squad has assembled. Please give instructions, Captain.”
Lu Yuan gave a brief glance, and every soldier he looked at straightened their backs even more.
“All units, stand by.”
“Understood, Captain.”
After unlocking the control room’s smart lock with an iris scan, Lu Yuan stepped inside, and the door behind him closed silently.
There were three soldiers operating the control panel. One with a square face looked up with excitement when he saw Lu Yuan enter.
“Captain, we’ve detected a starship within our monitoring range.”
“Upon investigation, we found that it’s a heavily armed battle-type starship. Just the meteorite particle cannons on the exterior number in the dozens. This is only the equipment visible on the outside; the weapons inside are still unknown. But from my analysis, it’s definitely comparable to the Empire’s first warship, the Zeus.”
“Show me the analysis map.”
The square-faced soldier swiftly operated the control panel and quickly pulled up the analysis map on the screen.
Lu Yuan stared at the massive starship on the display, his expression grim.
He was analyzing the chances of winning if a battle broke out. The answer was almost none.
The warship they were on was equipped with top-tier weapons, including the latest meteorite particle cannons, though they only had a few dozen. There were various other new weapons, but the size difference was too great. The enemy ship was a supergiant starship, while they were on a small military vessel.
The enemy’s size was hundreds of times larger than theirs.
This was the first time Lu Yuan had encountered such a dangerous situation in his military career.
He couldn’t help but wonder what to do next.
Fighting head-on was definitely not an option. He wasn’t foolish enough to take on an elephant with an ant.
He had to think of another way.
“Zhang Bai, investigate which faction this starship belongs to.”
Lu Yuan also thought inwardly about which faction could own such a supergiant starship.
First, he could rule out other countries’ ships. In the interstellar world, only the Empire and the Federation were powerful enough to own such ships. However, both sides had many interactions, and Lu Yuan recognized the Federation’s warships.
Certainly, it’s not out of the question that the other side has secretly manufactured other warships in private. However, even if they did, such ships wouldn’t blatantly appear on interstellar public routes—they’d be hidden more carefully.
Thus, it’s highly unlikely this warship belongs to the Federation.
Other than that, the most probable options are either space pirates or the Interstellar Trade Union.
Just then, Fang-faced soldier Zhang Bai reported his investigation results.
“Commander, after a thorough examination, we found that this warship likely belongs to space pirates.” As he spoke, he handed over a stack of detailed information for Lu Yuan to review.
“Space pirates?” Lu Yuan muttered the words to himself, falling into thought.
“Can we determine which faction of space pirates it belongs to?”
Interstellar space pirate groups are massive organizations on par with the Empire and the Federation. However, these pirate groups are divided into many factions. Some are relatively reasonable and maintain friendly relations with the two major powers, while others are utterly ruthless and hostile to both.
“Commander, this is a brand-new warship. The hull hasn’t been marked with any insignia, and no faction flags are displayed. It’s impossible to determine which pirate group it belongs to.”
While the group was racking their brains in front of the control console, little did they know that they’d already been discovered by the crew of the massive warship opposite them.
Onboard the Tianyu super warship, Mu Xingye was familiarizing himself with the newly acquired vessel. Top-notch configuration was truly top-notch—the smooth controls were absolutely superb.
Suddenly, he noticed a small black dot on the lower-left corner of the display screen. Alarmed, he zoomed in for a closer look.
“Hey, boss, there’s a warship over here! It looks like it belongs to the Empire—I see their insignia!”
He rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Should we shoot it down?”
Gu Yincheng, standing behind him, found Mu Xingye’s obnoxiously bright green hair particularly irritating and kicked him hard in the rear.
“Shoot what? Can’t you act civilized? We’re space pirates, not bandits. Also, when we get back, change that green hair of yours. It’s blinding me.”
Clutching his aching backside, Mu Xingye grumbled, “Boss, you just don’t appreciate art. Green hair is the latest interstellar trend—it symbolizes vitality and upward spirit.”
“I don’t know about vitality, but I do know that if you don’t change it, I’ll make sure you’re flying upward—out of the airlock.”
Huo Zhan, with his fiery red hair, overheard the commotion. A small red flame flickered to life in his palm as he lifted it threateningly. “Boss, need help? I promise I’ll burn it down to ash, making it easy to send him flying.”
Seeing Huo Zhan joining in, Mu Xingye wasn’t about to take it lying down. He might not dare provoke the boss, but Huo Zhan was fair game. With a leap, he tackled him, and the two started wrestling.
Gu Yincheng watched them brawling in the control room. As they weren’t using their abilities, he let them be. Instead, he focused on the Empire warship on the display screen. After observing for a while, he realized that the other side hadn’t made any moves—they were simply staying put, watching.
He thought for a moment and understood—they must’ve spotted their warship but were unsure whether it was friend or foe, so they were cautiously waiting.
But leaving things like this wouldn’t do. After some thought, he called over Ji Shutong, who had been quietly studying the new warship in the control room.
“Old Ji, put up our insignia so that the warship on the other side can stop hesitating and move along.”
“Got it, understood.”
Ji Shutong gave Gu Yincheng an OK gesture, then bent over to operate the controls. Within minutes, the insignia was up.
In the Empire warship’s control room, Lu Yuan and his crew were tensely watching the opposing warship.
When they noticed movement from the other side, Lu Yuan even pushed aside the young soldier at the console to take over personally. He knew that if the opposing side launched an attack, only his piloting skills could ensure they had any chance of escape.
The control room fell into an eerie silence, and the tension was palpable.
Suddenly, the soldier monitoring the other warship exclaimed excitedly, “They’ve raised their insignia—it’s the Tianyu Pirates Group!”
Everyone in the room finally relaxed, even Lu Yuan letting out a long-held breath.
The Tianyu Pirates Group, though technically pirates, was one of the more reasonable factions among all space pirate groups. Their relationship with the Empire and Federation wasn’t overly hostile, and they weren’t known for mindless pillaging of every warship they encountered.
They typically only demanded “transit and protection fees” from ships traveling their routes—a practice most found acceptable. After all, they maintained the safety of these routes they had established. Even traveling Empire or Federation routes required fees, so this wasn’t unusual.
Moreover, their warship wasn’t currently in Tianyu’s jurisdiction but had simply encountered them by chance. In such cases, Tianyu pirates generally ignored them.
This was unlike the second-ranked Bloodshade pirate group, who roamed the galaxy causing chaos, pillaging, and destroying indiscriminately—a scourge detested by all.
However, underestimating the Tianyu group would be a grave mistake.
Little did people know that five years ago, the previous leader of the Tianyu Pirates Group, Gu Xuan, suddenly died due to an explosion of mental power.
Tianyu handed over leadership to his only son, the 20-year-old Gu Yincheng. At that time, the top-ranked space pirate group wasn’t Tianyu but another infamous group, Devour, as notorious as Bloodshade.
Devour attempted to seize the opportunity for chaos to eliminate Tianyu and claim dominance for itself.
But who would have guessed that Gu Yincheng, the newly appointed leader of Tianyu, though young, was far from weak? With his 3S-level mental strength and exceptional command abilities, he managed to suppress Devour, even though the latter was twice as powerful.
In the end, not only did Devour fail to annihilate Tianyu, but it was destroyed instead. Even their leader was killed by a single strike from Gu Yincheng.
From that moment, Tianyu firmly secured its position as the number-one space pirate group, and Bloodshade, ranked second, didn’t dare make a peep in Tianyu’s presence.
Lu Yuan also understood that Tianyu’s sudden display of their insignia likely meant they had detected him but couldn’t be bothered to engage, simply signaling for them to clear out.
Lu Yuan relaxed a bit but didn’t entirely let his guard down. Instead, he maneuvered his warship to quickly bypass Tianyu.
On Tianyu’s spaceship, Gu Yincheng glanced at the departing warship, then at Mu Xingye and Huo Zhan, who were still fooling around, and gave each a solid kick.
“Enough. Quiet down, everyone. We’ve been out here long enough—it’s time to head back.”
In her cabin, Lin Huanyan had no idea what had just transpired. All she knew was that the spaceship paused for a moment, then suddenly sped up and quickly left the area.
Not long after, Lu Yuan knocked on her door to call her out.
Lin Huanyan was cautious. Hearing Lu Yuan’s voice, she didn’t immediately open the door. Instead, she asked several questions from her personal information file.
She had heard from the instructor who guided her earlier that Lu Yuan was a very responsible soldier who took every mission seriously, so she trusted that he would answer her questions correctly.
If he couldn’t answer, then it definitely wouldn’t be him. Fortunately, he was reliable and got everything right.
Only then did Lin Huanyan put down the incubator she had been holding tightly and open the door.
When she did, she was met with Lu Yuan’s approving gaze.
“You’re very cautious. That’s a good habit.”
Lin Huanyan merely smiled in response. Back on Earth, her country had always advocated for anti-fraud measures, with everyone downloading the national anti-fraud app. As an outstanding Party member working in the nation’s perilous maritime zones, she naturally kept up with such initiatives.
This sense of vigilance had been instilled through her country’s consistent awareness campaigns—she had just mastered it better than most.
Discord
@dogfoodplease or @dogfoodplease#8837translation works:
ARTTEDSBGT (After Rebirth The True Eldest Daughter Starts Brewing Green Tea):
main story – completed translating
extras/side stories – i still dont have money and account to access this
ATISIUP:
ongoing
