Chapter 753 - 401: According to Plan

Outside the Spirit Race Public Star Realm, a Sun God-level Spaceship was parked in space.

Inside the spaceship, the Ape Race Sun God, Yuan Shan, sat on a chair, his face expressionless. The metal armrest, however, had already been twisted into a mangled knot in his grip.

"Damn it, we didn’t find them again!" the Fox Race Moon God below him said, grinding his teeth.

They had heard that the Starry Sky Guard Team had reappeared to wipe out more pirates and deduced that their next destination was likely the Spirit Race Public Star Realm. So, they had rushed over ahead of time, loitering near the realm in an attempt to intercept them.

But unexpectedly, by the time they arrived, the Starry Sky Guard Team had held back again, launching no new anti-piracy operations.

This was the second time!

Previously, when they went to Duobao Star to intercept them, the Starry Sky Guard Team had done the same thing, suddenly ceasing all activity.

It was as if the Starry Sky Guard Team knew they were coming. Whenever they were around, the Guard Team would lie low and stop their anti-piracy operations.

The key problem was that they couldn’t recognize the members of the Starry Sky Guard Team and had no way to track them.

Even if a member of the Guard Team stood right in front of them, they wouldn’t be able to tell.

On Mengxing, Su Ze and his team had appeared as members of the Bag Race. Later, when hunting pirates, they all used Nian Race identities.

’Are they the Bag Race or the Nian Race?’ Yuan Shan suspected they were neither.

But he couldn’t guess their true race.

Therefore, his only hope was to arrive in time while they were conducting an anti-piracy operation. Only then could they confirm the identity of the Starry Sky Guard Team.

"What did those slaves confess?" Yuan Shan asked in a deep voice.

"They don’t know much," the Fox Race Moon God replied. "They were all captured alive by the leader of the Starry Sky Guard Team and imprisoned on his spaceship. They only know the group’s approximate numbers and strength. As for their race and identities, they are completely in the dark."

Before Su Ze left Duobao Star, he had sold several Moon God-level slaves.

Yuan Shan had subsequently bought all of them.

That was how Yuan Shan learned that the Starry Sky Guard Team had indeed been to Duobao Star.

So, he was very puzzled. Why had the Starry Sky Guard Team been so uncharacteristically quiet during their time on Duobao Star? ’Could they have really discovered us?’

What was even more absurd was that the Starry Sky Guard Team had been wiping out pirates all along the route from Duobao Star to the Spirit Race Public Star Realm, yet by the time he arrived, they had vanished without a trace again.

Yuan Shan couldn’t help but wonder if the Starry Sky Guard Team possessed some kind of treasure that could predict danger.

He had no idea, however, that all of this was merely a coincidence.

Truth be told, Mr. Ya did have a skill for predicting danger, but foreseeing a threat from a Sun God was extremely difficult. Besides, Mr. Ya hadn’t been traveling with Su Ze’s group for the latter part of their journey.

The Fox Race Moon God continued, "According to the slaves, when their pirate gangs were wiped out, the Starry Sky Guard Team only deployed one or two Moon Gods and a dozen or so Star Gods. The leading Moon God was exceptionally powerful, capable of defeating opponents of the same rank in a single blow. He’s very likely the one who killed Young Master Yuan Shan.

"However, we can’t be sure if that’s their full strength. It’s hard to say whether there are even more powerful experts inside their spaceship."

Yuan Shan fell into thought for a moment before saying, "They have likely already entered the Public Star Realm. Even our Four Beasts Commerce Association, not to mention the entire Beast Race, wouldn’t dare break the rules within the Spirit Race Public Star Realm. The consequences would be more than we could bear.

"If we want to kill them, we can only make our move after they leave the Public Star Realm. I will meet with the head of the Four Beasts Commerce Association within the realm and requisition some personnel. On one hand, we’ll track their movements inside the Public Star Realm. On the other, I’ll have men pose as Star Pirates outside and wait for them to take the bait."

The Fox Race Moon God said with flattery, "My lord, that’s a brilliant plan! With this two-pronged approach, I refuse to believe they won’t reveal themselves!"

Yuan Shan glanced at him and said, "You will be in charge of coordinating the investigation inside the Public Star Realm. They must have accumulated a large amount of loot that they need to sell, so they will certainly head to the core commercial district. As long as we watch for anyone selling large batches of suspicious resources, we will find them."

The core commercial district comprised a thousand planets. While the workload would be immense, this plan still significantly narrowed the search area.

Moreover, if they focused on certain suspicious resources—like used spaceships or large quantities of low-tier materials—they would be targeting the most obvious types of loot held by Star Pirates.

Then there were the slaves. The moment Su Ze tried to sell a Moon God-level slave, he would immediately expose himself as a member of the Starry Sky Guard Team.

...

The entrance to the core commercial district of the Spirit Race Public Star Realm was located on an ordinary, habitable planet.

The entire planet had been converted into a "parking lot" by the Spirit Race, exclusively for people to dock their spaceships before entering the core district.

Su Ze and Mr. Ya had arranged to meet here, but Mr. Ya’s group had not yet arrived.

He could roughly sense the locations of Mage, Dou Er, and Dou San—those he had parasitized—and knew they were approaching, so they had to be on their way.

Su Ze and his companions pretended not to know one another, breaking into groups of two and three as they entered the core district.

Only Dou Yi and Su Ze’s clone proceeded alone, unaccompanied by anyone else.

The only way to travel from the entrance to the planets within the core district was via the Teleportation Array.

Su Ze and his team had obtained a map that included descriptions of the one thousand planets in the core district.

Each of these thousand planets was equivalent to a Public Planet in the outside universe, but they had been sorted into different categories.

For example, some planets were dedicated to material trading, some were for people to set up stalls, and others handled only the wholesale of low-level evolutionary resources...