Chapter 400: Kunpeng

Chapter 400: Chapter 400: Kunpeng

The ship’s cargo bay door soon began to close slowly.

"Come on, let’s go to the cockpit."

Li Yao then led Long Ming and the others toward the ship’s cockpit.

The ship’s cockpit was quite spacious. Seven crew members sat at their respective consoles, busy with the final pre-flight checks.

"Kaidi, are you ready?"

Li Yao asked a middle-aged man with rough skin and a calm expression, who was wearing the uniform of a master sergeant.

"Yes. We’re ready to depart at any time."

Kaidi nodded.

"Then request departure clearance from the command center."

Li Yao gave the order without a moment’s hesitation.

"Yes!"

Kaidi immediately sent the request.

A notification popped up shortly after.

"Request approved. Opening starship passage exit 17."

"Depart!"

Li Yao issued the command to Kaidi after seeing the reply.

Kaidi and the others immediately began their procedures.

"Power output at forty-five percent!"

"Activate anti-gravity unit!"

...

The small spaceship slowly lifted off, flying toward starship passage 17 ahead.

KA-CHUNK~

The sealed starship passage opened.

After entering the passage, the ship continued forward, finally exiting Blacktan Fortress smoothly and entering the vast, starry sky.

Just then, Long Ming witnessed a truly stunning scene.

Countless small spaceships emerged from Blacktan Fortress. Like a school of fish pouring into the sea, they swarmed forward.

At that moment, Kaidi reported to Li Yao.

"We’ve received an order from the command center. We’re to proceed to the region at coordinates 1451, 3266, 5222 and await further instructions!"

"Execute the order."

Although Li Yao was a bit surprised, she still gave the command.

"Yes!"

Kaidi immediately steered the ship toward the coordinates.

Long Ming was also a little surprised to hear this. ’So we’re not heading directly to Guangxiao Planet,’ he thought. But he didn’t say anything. After all, he was lucky enough to have caught a ride with them.

Just then, a very curious An Yue asked Long Ming a question.

"Mr. Long Ming, there’s something I’m very curious about. May I be so bold as to ask?"

"Sure."

"You’re from a Little Civilization, so how do you have a custom Third Generation Mechanical God?"

"Well..."

Long Ming was momentarily stunned.

"I know! You must be the prince of your civilization, right?"

Fenma said excitedly.

"No, that’s not it."

"Then what are you?"

Li Yao and the others were all very confused.

"If I had to give myself a title, it would be ’merchant’."

"Oh, a profiteer!"

An Yue said with a chuckle.

"That can’t be right. I heard you’re a hero in your civilization. ’Hero’ and ’merchant’ don’t exactly go together."

Li Yao had some knowledge of the rumors surrounding Long Ming.

Although the civilizations that joined the Star Alliance varied in strength, it was nearly impossible for someone called a hero by their people to be a merchant. After all, merchants were profit-driven, the very opposite of selfless heroes.

"It’s nothing, really. I’m just a pretty casual guy."

Long Ming replied, slightly embarrassed.

"Alright."

Li Yao and the others didn’t press the issue further.

Time passed bit by bit.

「About half an hour later.」

Kaidi reported to Li Yao.

"Captain, we’re about to reach the coordinates."

Hearing Kaidi’s words, Long Ming, Li Yao, and the others looked up at the distant starry sky, where countless small ships were suspended in space.

"Hold position and wait."

Li Yao calmly gave the order.

"Yes!"

Kaidi immediately brought the ship to a halt.

About ten minutes later, a ripple suddenly appeared in the distant starry sky. A moment later, a Level 5 transport ship emerged from subspace. It was unimaginably massive, stretching 260 kilometers long. Shaped like a Kunpeng, its entire body was covered in thick, black armor, and its back was densely packed with neat rows of docking ports.

HISS. "What kind of ship is that?"

Long Ming asked in amazement as he stared at the vessel.

"That’s the Level 5 transport ship, the Kunpeng. It’s also the largest ship in our Forty-Second Legion."

Li Yao explained to Long Ming.

"Oh."

Long Ming nodded.

Just then, a stern voice came over the public communications channel.

"This is Deputy Legion Commander Bassaf of the Forty-Second Legion. All small craft are to dock with the Kunpeng immediately. The Kunpeng will then carry all vessels into faster-than-light travel. Furthermore, all NCOs are to proceed to the combat hall for a briefing immediately upon boarding."

"Yes, sir!"

A chorus of grim responses echoed back.

Li Yao turned her head and said to Kaidi.

"Begin docking procedure!"

"Yes!"

Kaidi then maneuvered the ship, inching closer to the Kunpeng.

At that moment, the Kunpeng’s docking ports all opened, extending platform-like mechanisms.

One by one, the ships landed on them and were then magnetically clamped into place.

「Several minutes later.」

Li Yao’s ship also landed successfully.

"Let’s go. If nothing’s gone wrong, Luoxue and the others should also be on the Kunpeng. We’ll be able to see them once we’re aboard."

Li Yao said to Long Ming.

"Alright!"

Long Ming nodded.

Li Yao led Long Ming and the others out of the cockpit.

They walked down the connecting passageway and soon reached a moving platform.

Li Yao reached out and tapped the virtual control screen.

CLICK!

The entire platform began to move rapidly.

「A moment later.」

The moving platform arrived at a massive combat hall.

The entire combat hall was bustling, filled with NCOs who had come aboard for the meeting.

Just then, Long Ming spotted the figures of Luoxue, Qian Wei, and the others in the distance.

He turned to Li Yao and her two companions and said.

"Thanks for bringing me here. I’m going to meet up with my teammates."

"Don’t mention it."

Li Yao replied politely.

"See you later, handsome!"

Fenma waved goodbye to Long Ming with a grin.

"Goodbye."

Long Ming gave a wave and walked over to Luoxue and the others.

At that moment, Luoxue and Qian Wei were discussing something in low voices.

"This mission is very dangerous. Something’s bound to go wrong. Guangxiao Planet is too close to the front line."

Qian Wei said with a worried expression.

"I know the risk is high, but we have no choice. We have to meet our mission quota, or our situation will only get more difficult."

Luoxue also sounded helpless.

Just then, Long Ming, piloting the Gale, walked straight over.

The NCOs along the way looked on in surprise when they saw Long Ming.

"Holy shit, a custom Third Generation Mechanical God?"

"Who is that?"

"I don’t know. It’s weird. I thought there were only twenty-something people in our Forty-Second Legion with Third Generation Mechanical Gods, and even fewer with custom models! But I’ve never seen a model like this before!"

...

The crowd discussed him with great curiosity.

At this point, Long Ming walked right up to Luoxue and the others and stopped.

Luoxue and the others also looked up at Long Ming in confusion.

"Why are you all staring at me like that? Don’t you recognize me?"

Long Ming asked with a smile.

"Long Ming!"

...

The faces of Qian Wei and the others were filled with shock and disbelief.

Luoxue also spoke, completely surprised.

"You have a Third Generation Mechanical God?"

"Yeah. What’s so strange about that?"

Long Ming replied nonchalantly.

"This is great! The mission’s in the bag now."

Qian Wei and the others all beamed with joy.