Chapter 1309 - 1169: Mistakes and Luck

Chapter 1309: Chapter 1169: Mistakes and Luck

The people from the Anomalous Management Division didn’t consider the issue of forming enmities when they suggested seizing the bounty publicly; they were quite resentful internally.

Our side was the first to give chase, and we paid a significant price, yet we couldn’t demand exclusive rights to the results. It was truly unfair.

But there was no choice; they didn’t have as many personnel as the military, their battlefield cleanup capabilities were poor, and they also caused substantial losses to the military.

Even if they intended to forcibly claim the spoils, the military wouldn’t agree, and their strength wasn’t enough to resort to force.

So they could only emphasize information transparency first, and leave the rest for later.

The camp-level ship let out a cold snort, offered no response, and dispatched engineering ships, small ships, and lifeboats for search and rescue.

Staying silent was already considered courteous; they were extremely angry with the Anomalous Management Division.

—They caused such a huge mess for us, and now they’re not thinking about the aftermath but still focusing on those spoils?

In addition, the military was tensely calculating and analyzing: was the enemy warship really self-destructed?

If there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove it was self-destruction, the public statement could at least be vague.

This way, it could not only reduce animosity among allies but, from a publicity perspective, also dilute the fierce image of the criminals.

However, while they were busy, a company-level ship timidly remarked, "There were spatial fluctuations before the enemy’s fiery explosion!"

Typically, the military’s company-level ships don’t have equipment to detect spatial fluctuations; even regiment-level ships often don’t, but this one was an exception.

To protect the spatial fluctuation point, the military specially equipped this ship with the large-scale equipment required.

In fact, the regiment-level ship of the Anomalous Management Division also had similar equipment, but they didn’t notice it.

The firepower coverage of many warships, including regiment-level ships, with various massive energy fluctuations, caused serious interference.

And the spatial fluctuations before the fiery explosion were very weak — this was also the result of Qu Jianlei’s tireless improvement of the teleportation array.

The regiment-level ship, upon hearing this news, immediately began to retrieve the recent battlefield records.

In fact, the Anomalous Management Division is not lacking in professionals, but they were all blinded by the potential spoils earlier.

After being reminded, and calming down to take a look, they immediately noticed the clue, "The spatial fluctuation amplitude... wasn’t very large."

The other party actually dared to question our viewpoint, and the military personnel had nothing positive to say in response.

"Admit that your observational capability is weak if it is... What do you mean by large? Breaking through spatial barriers?"

The people from the Anomalous Management Division were already a bit upset, and they got even more annoyed upon hearing this.

"Speaking of professionalism, you military really are lacking a bit. These spatial fluctuations, you say, imply what possibilities?"

Besides fighting wars, the military does indeed have some deficiencies in other professional abilities, but they couldn’t accept such questioning.

"There are many possibilities, maybe they returned to within the range of an energy beam. Who can be sure?"

"Stop it, how could they go, body leap to near earth? Even if it succeeded, without starship protection, isn’t that suicide?"

Arguing won’t yield results, both sides were carefully analyzing what the spatial fluctuations were about.

Especially the Anomalous Management Division, they suffered considerable losses this time, and they needed to salvage some face.

Meanwhile, over forty million kilometers away, there was another weak spatial fluctuation, revealing two figures and a life support pod.

The two were somewhat dazed, and after stabilizing their minds, they looked around.

Qu Jianlei let out a light grunt, pouting in frustration; sure enough, something went wrong again.

Nutrient Injection shook his head to shake off the discomfort in his brain, "Boss, how far are we from the Omen Ship?"

Qu Jianlei shook his head, "Currently... can’t sense it, but undoubtedly, we’re still within the star system."

This teleportation mishap was much better than the previous one; looking at the space star map around, at least they were still within the star system.

Even if the Omen Ship is quite far away, they could still find it given some time.

In fact, as the Omen Ship came to their aid, it had begun scattering small detectors all around, with their perception range expanding.

Nutrient Injection wasn’t discouraged, "Let’s locate ourselves first; should we deploy the lifeboat?"

Locating themselves in familiar space wasn’t too difficult, and the lifeboat even had a simple location device.

"No need," Qu Jianlei shook his head slightly, "let me rest a bit, and I can locate us myself... The lifeboat’s target is too large."

The Big Head Butterfly in his mind was much stronger than that simple location device.

After a few minutes, he completed the location — the energy beams produced by the spatial fluctuations were excellent reference points.

As for that battle they just went through? In the vastness of space, it was nothing.

After locating themselves, finding the Omen Ship was much easier.

Sure enough, the distance between them wasn’t far, just over ten million kilometers.

Fortunately, Qu Jianlei had meticulously calculated the amount of Energy Blocks before departing, adding only a slight surplus.

At the very least, it ensured they wouldn’t teleport their group too far away.

However, Nutrient Injection was still a bit relieved, "Good thing we didn’t leap near the energy beam."

Teleportation mishaps aren’t too terrifying, what’s terrifying is teleporting to places they shouldn’t go.

"Luck isn’t too terrible, right?" Qu Jianlei touched his forehead, his expression slightly strange.

"The starship can’t pick us up immediately, the teleportation command takes time... A starship is coming from over two million kilometers away."

Now the lifeboat can be released and head towards the Omen Ship, no need for the Nutrient Injection’s help.

However, the bad news is that a starship is coming towards them, leaving them with nowhere to hide.

There’s still some distance for now, but undoubtedly, if the other party continues for a while, they will definitely be discovered.

Compared to the vastness of space, the two of them and a Life Support Pod are insignificantly small.

But under the observation of the passing starship, they would be as conspicuous as could be.

If they release the lifeboat at this moment, it will only be discovered sooner.

The two looked at each other, silent for two or three seconds, then the Nutrient Injection took out a cloak, "How about, we give this a try?"

In actuality, she could voidify her body, as long as the operation didn’t last too long, it wouldn’t shorten her lifespan.

Previously, when she quietly followed Qu Jianlei and others, she used this method.

But letting her shield Qu Jianlei and the Life Support Pod wouldn’t be very effective, and the output would vastly increase, making it possible to shorten her lifespan.

After acquiring the Invisibility Cloak, the Nutrient Injection hadn’t had time for sacrificial refinement, so only the boss could give it a try now.

Qu Jianlei took the cloak, draped it over himself, and quietly activated his Inner Breath.

"Wow, this is amazing!" came the Divine Sense of the Nutrient Injection, "It’s not just invisible, it’s quite hard to perceive too."

The cloak couldn’t completely resist her full Perception—even a Fake Nascent Soul is much stronger than a Golden Core.

However, if she hadn’t been sure that the boss was right beside her, she would probably think that the small anomaly wasn’t worth paying attention to.

Qu Jianlei spread the cloak, covering the Life Support Pod, "How about now?"

"The Life Support Pod is gone too," the Nutrient Injection happily replied, "Good thing the cloak is big enough."

She had studied the cloak carefully but didn’t dare to try it lightly—having too little Spiritual Qi in her body, she had to return to the base for sacrificial refinement.

"It’s quite consuming on Spiritual Qi as well," Qu Jianlei muttered quietly.

He immediately realized upon testing that the cloak was probably a Dharma Artifact for Golden Core Stage, not difficult to drive.

But concealing himself was relatively easy; to additionally conceal something like the Life Support Pod required much more Spiritual Qi.

However, he didn’t need to maintain it for long; he could activate it within a million kilometers of the starship.

After all, he still had the capsule of millennia-old Stone Milk, so the Nutrient Injection wouldn’t have to expend lifespan.

Yet Qu Jianlei underestimated the incoming starship—it turned out to be a military Patrol Ship.

He thought at worst it was a passenger ship that would proactively scout the surroundings but wouldn’t detect too far.

Fortunately, when the opposing side was about 1.5 million kilometers away, he suddenly sensed a warning sign and activated the Invisibility Cloak.

The Nutrient Injection was pulled into his embrace, feeling bewildered for a moment, "What’s going on? This is far more than a million kilometers, right?"

"Something feels wrong," Qu Jianlei’s brows slightly furrowed, "Let’s see what’s happening."

Meanwhile, on the Patrol Ship, someone gave a light exclamation, "Hmm, did we miss some sort of image?"

Soldiers on duty usually perform their tasks diligently, so they replayed the footage to thoroughly verify.

However, since the distance was truly vast, and they were on a routine patrol mission, the detection equipment hadn’t been boosted to maximum.

Even when they magnified the image to the limit, it still remained blurred—there seemed to be something there, or maybe there wasn’t.

Perhaps... there was a faint Energy Fluctuation?

The Energy Fluctuation generated at such a great distance couldn’t be observed from a Habitable Star—there’s too much Energy of all sorts.

Space, however, is dead silent and clean.

Although occasional unreasonable Energy Storms would appear, most of the time, subtle changes would be transmitted very far.

After discovering the anomaly, the Patrol Ship diligently searched back and forth twice around the area.

Ultimately finding nothing, they coolly departed.

This period lasted for about two hours, and Qu Jianlei had to swallow seven or eight capsules.

Even so, the Spiritual Qi in his body barely exceeded half—he had to maintain a certain Combat Power in the unpredictable space.

The Nutrient Injection, upon recognizing that it was a warship approaching, understood why the boss changed plans.

Fortunately, the two of them and the Life Support Pod were small enough, they narrowly avoided direct collision with the warship.

Passing by twice, each time three to four hundred kilometers apart, it was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

When the opposing side was two million kilometers away, the Nutrient Injection finally sighed, "Thankfully, we didn’t release the lifeboat."

It’s fortunate that she didn’t choose to voidify her body, otherwise... she might have had to resort to killing.

Qu Jianlei put away the cloak with a light sigh as well, "Good thing we didn’t immediately have the starship come to pick us up."

Then neither of them spoke—they needed to wait a bit longer, until the warship had gone far enough, before they could proceed with their next move.

After a while, the Nutrient Injection used her Divine Sense to ask, "Now, do you still have to keep holding onto me?"

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