The Highest Bounty

Chapter 179: The Queen’s Dinner Party

The larger parties on Jiewang were mostly dinner parties as there were thirty-six hours in a day on the planet; there were more than nine hours between dinner and the wee hours of the morning. It was the only time an average person had free time.

By the time Gu Ding and his crew arrived at the party, it was not yet dark and guests were only beginning to arrive.

It was at such times where Gu Ding and his crew stood out like a sore thumb. Most of the people Camilia had invited were crews from Border River; many of them knew each other and were able to happily start conversations with one another. On the other hand, Gu Ding and his crew did not know anyone there.

It had not been more than half a year since their debut, and they were newcomers in Border River; they had not been there for more than a month. None of the other crews had expected Camilia to invite them to the party.

Evidently, Gu Ding did not know anyone, but a number of crews recognized him. A large majority of Interstellar Pirates in Border River had seen the video of his battle with Yarrow. There were quite a number of crews who were not impressed with the strength of Gu Ding’s crew, especially those who noticed that Yarrow was already injured during their fight and felt that Gu Ding’s victory was something of a fluke.

“Looks like we’re not welcome.” Lilliath raised her glass and took a sip.

“Think of it as a free meal. We’re leaving tomorrow anyway.” Gu Ding did not care about how other people viewed them.

Tagore, the little cat thief had also disappeared. No one knew where he had snuck off to in an attempt to steal food.

“Gu Ding, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” A young man in his mid-20s approached Gu Ding, he was waving his glass from a distance.

“His name is Ike, and he’s the captain of the Golden Lion Pirates. His crew is the second most powerful crew in Border River–second only to Camilia’s Scorpion Pirates. Although he looks like he’s only around 20 years old, his real age is over one thousand and seven hundred years old. He’s also a Rank-12 Gene Body powerhouse. It is said that he chose to stay in Border River to pursue Camilia. Apparently, he got two ageless fruits from the Cosmic Sea that can be used to preserve one’s youthful appearance. Aside from eating one of them himself, he gave the other one to Camilia”

Gu Ding raised the milca in his hand after listening to Neptune’s explanation. “Pleased to meet you, Captain Ike.”

Ike, who had approached them, paused for a moment to look at Gu Ding’s milca before he shook his head and said, “Captain Gu Ding has such a unique taste. I wonder how boss lady would react if she saw you drinking milca on such an occasion.”

“I can’t help it. I have a special constitution where I can’t touch alcohol.” Gu Ding smiled but did not say why.

“I see.” Ike began to think that some of Gu Ding’s abilities were restricted by alcohol. Once the latter was drunk, some of his abilities might be unavailable. In fact, the second-in-command on Ike’s spaceship had a similar ability restriction–he could not drink sweet drinks. Since Gu Ding had said it himself, he was not going to delve further. “I really wasn’t expecting Camilia to invite you. I don’t mean to put you down. However, Camilia and I have known each other for more than three hundred years, longer than she’s been here in Border River. She does invite newcomers to her parties, but they all have to have established themselves in Border River and pledged their allegiance to her for a certain period of time. You, however, don’t meet any of those requirements, so I was sure she wouldn’t invite you to this party. I only realized I was wrong when I saw you.”

“We were also surprised when we got the invitation.” Gu Ding smiled awkwardly. In fact, he did not even know who Camilia was until he received the invitation.

“When are you leaving this planet?” Ike asked a strange question out of the blue.

“We’ll be leaving early tomorrow morning!” Gu Ding felt that he had done what he needed to do in the past few days; he would be ready to set out again if he solved the matter regarding the Dark Sectors that night.

“We’ve been here for four days. We’ve done everything we need to do. There’s no need to stay any longer.” Gu Ding did not feel that he was rushing his journey.

“If we start here, we’ll be out of Border River in less than two weeks.” Ike nodded. “We might run into each other in Faye Cosmic Nation.”

“Faye Cosmic Nation?” Gu Ding was a little confused. “You’re leaving Border River?”

“After all these years, I think it’s time to leave. A Rank-12 Gene Body only has a lifespan of eighteen hundred years. I have less than eighty years of my life left. As an Interstellar Pirate, I’d rather die in the Cosmic Sea. It’s our biggest dream, isn’t it?” Ike seemed unperturbed. “In addition to celebrating Camilia’s birthday, I came to say goodbye…”

Gu Ding was touched by the chat he had with Ike, not about love but about time. He had no idea who would be left with him by the time he turned seventeen hundred years old. Maybe some of his crew members would choose to leave and pursue their own passion like Ike. Additionally, maybe some of them would get married and have children; they would quit being Interstellar Pirates…

Lilliath, however, felt differently. “He’s a good man. He’s been loyal to a woman for 300 years. If I were Camilia, I would’ve married him.”

“I don’t think he’s strong enough yet. If I take him back to challenge dad, my dad would kill him.” Elsa looked at Ike with her hand on her chin. Her first instinct on the subject of marriage was to take him back to challenge her father.

“Gu Ding, the two men from the Dark Sectors have arrived at the port,” Neptune’s voice suddenly rang.

Gu Ding expression turned slightly grave. Although he had been waiting for the two to arrive, his mood did not improve. When he thought back to the old man who poisoned Lili, he became furious.

It was getting dark, flickering flames rose up from the palace walls and lit up the whole place in an instant.

As the flames rose, a woman in a purple dress could be seen slowly descending the stairs. A pair of pink sky-high heels rattled toward the banquet hall.

Many men gulped at the woman’s perfect figure that was being displayed through her corset dress. Only a small part of her proud bosom was visible, but the dress did not hide her cleavage. Additionally, her neck was fair and flawless like porcelain; it did not have a single wrinkle despite her age. She only had a light layer of makeup on, but she looked as delicate as a fragile piece of art, people only dared to look at her from afar.

The corners of her lips slightly curled up to reveal a polite smile, but it did not conceal her indifference. She had held many similar parties before and no longer found any novelty in them.

“Welcome to my birthday party. Today is my seventeen-hundredth birthday.” She paused for a moment before she continued, “Yes, seventeen hundred, not seventeen, nor twenty-seven…”

As Camilia made her speech, Lilliath carefully looked at her up and down. After a long while, she said with some uncertainty, “Gu Ding, don’t you think Camilia looks a bit like the woman with glasses we saw at the free reserve the other day?”

Biggie and Elsa shook their heads after taking a close look.

“They don’t look exactly the same, do they? This lady is much prettier and even though the one with glasses was not ugly, she is by no means in the same rank as this one,” Elsa voiced her opinion.

“Their disposition is a little similar. As for appearances, they’re two completely different people,” Biggie also voiced his opinion.

Robert chose not to comment on the subject. He was from the Mechanical Tribe and had different beauty standards from humans. He thought that the bespectacled lady was more beautiful.

Gu Ding squinted his eyes slightly and looked at her up and down. He muttered, “About the same height; Face shape seems a bit similar, but Camilia’s features are more refined; Teeth look about the same; The way they laugh is totally different. Kaya laughed loudly at times, while the Camilia in front of them only smiled with the same expression–it’s like someone had injected her face with curing agent… Nevertheless, judging by their disposition, they ought to be the same person.” Gu Ding could not really see much. All he had was a hunch that Camilia was Kaya, whom he had met in the free nature reserve.

“Your judgment is correct. Camilia and Kaya are the same person.” After listening to everyone’s analysis, Neptune revealed the answer. “I saw with my own eyes that morning you went to the nature reserve, Camilia had purposely disguised herself as Kaya to stalk all of you.”

“Why didn’t you tell us when we were at the nature reserve?” Gu Ding frowned slightly. Neptune had been aware of her identity but kept it a secret.

“That’s because it didn’t seem like she meant any harm. Perhaps she just wanted to get to know us. If I had told you in advance that she was Camilia, you would have felt uncomfortable with her. Therefore, I kept it a secret. You guys were able to have a good time despite not knowing who she was,” Neptune explained.

“No wonder those two vipers were so meek in front of her!” Lilliath had questioned Kaya’s identity but never thought she was Border River’s lady boss, Camilia.

“I’ve said all the nonsense I need to say. We can now return to our seats and enjoy dinner.” Camilia raised her glass to the crowd and took a sip. She then walked over to the table where Gu Ding was at and sat down in an empty seat next to him.

“Gu Ding, this is the second time we’ve met.” Camilia laughed.

“Yes, thank you for that time in the nature reserve. We had a good time.” Gu Ding meant to say that he had uncovered her disguise back then.

Camilia paused for a while at the statement and shook her head with a smile. “Looks like you knew.”

Just then, the party’s entrance was suddenly thrown open…