Chapter 312

Chapter 313: Spoils of War!

To be honest, Yu Sheng was surprised.

He had seen show-offs, and he had seen people who stayed grand and stirring even at death’s door, but this level of grandstanding was a first.

The flash vanished far away. That was clearly some kind of Teleportation, maybe a prepared safe spot, maybe a random corner of space. Either way, it slipped out of Yu Sheng’s senses.

He felt a little regret. He should have spent more time studying the ship’s systems and searched for real weapons. Then he could have blasted the light while it was speeding up.

Too late now. Still, even if he felt sorry, he was not empty-handed. During the fight with the Sage, he had already fed his own blood into the steel and left a little mark on the enemy.

Losing the trail was fine. Fear born from blood and death would grow on its own. When fate brought the right hour, the prey would come back to the Hunter.

He reset his mood and focused inside the ship.

The Sage had run, but others had not. Plenty of secrets could be pried from the mouths of the cultists who lived.

The Control Hall was a mess. The surviving Hermitage Members were still caged in steel. The Living Metal made the bindings so tight they could hardly move a finger. Worse than the chains, though, was the hurt from the Sage’s betrayal.

Everyone had seen that flash get faster in the starry void and then Teleportation away.

So when Yu Sheng’s face reappeared on the ship’s walls, the cultists barely reacted.

“Clearly, your Sage abandoned you,” the iron scraping voice echoed through the hall as Yu Sheng’s face spoke to them, “and I doubt he ever believed in that so called holy path or noble sacrifice. What about you? How long will you resist?”

Silence held for a moment until an operator, still straining against his bonds, snapped: “D… don’t try to sway us! A traitor is a traitor, and we are we! We will never bow to a monster like you!”

Yu Sheng sighed: “Come on, you are the cultists. I am just a public spirited citizen. You make it sound like we swapped sides.”

The whole room went from afraid to furious in a heartbeat. Some started cursing.

Yu Sheng did not bother to argue.

He tightened the steel cages until they quieted, then spoke again: “Before I send you to your new home, I have questions. You can refuse to answer. It only means others who are more professional will question you later, and that will not be pleasant.

“My first question is simple. The Artificial Saintess and the Knights, are they made from living people? Where did you catch them?”

Silence.

He had expected that. He changed the topic at once: “Then something else. What are you doing in the Borderland? Why park a giant ship there? What is that Mistbound City?”

Another harsh silence. Finally a Hermitage Member spoke in mockery and curse: “That place is full of errors and flaws. It missed our correction and salvation. It will suffer disaster soon. You will learn nothing. You will die with them. All who refuse the holy path will die with this flawed world in the end.”

“Got it. I see where you stand,” Yu Sheng said calmly. He knew they would not give him anything useful, and he would not waste breath. “Given my mood, I would rather not leave you a way out. But after learning the truth about the Artificial Saintess, I found that killing you alone is not nearly enough. Let’s go. I will send you somewhere nice. The professionals there will make you talk.”

The Door in the Control Hall opened. Beyond it was not a ship corridor, but a hall inside the Special Affairs Bureau’s Containment Zone.

Fully armed agents and Deep Divers stood at the threshold, with Bai Li Qing and Song Cheng beside them. She was still cold and distant. He grinned like a fisherman who had just yanked up an eighty pound catch in front of two thousand onlookers, with a TV crew filming him for a live broadcast across the galaxy.

Now the last Hermitage Members understood where their missing fellows had gone.

The living floor began to writhe. Amid panicked cries, the final batch of prisoners was packed up and sent through The Door.

At last, the ship of secrets and schemes fell quiet.

The walls and ceiling that had twisted during the battle slowly reset. Yu Sheng’s face faded from the metal. A moment later, a ghostly Door shimmered in a corner, and Yu Sheng pushed it open and walked out.

“Finally done,” he said with a breath and a crooked grin, “died twice in a row. Irene really jinxed me.”

He fished out his phone and called Bai Li Qing: “Hey, it’s Yu Sheng. Everything good on your end? Are they under control?”

“All smooth,” Bai Li Qing answered, cool as ever. “Their will to resist is weak.”

“Of course it is. Their boss shouted a grand speech, then ran away in front of them. He even killed more than ten of his own people just to fight me,” Yu Sheng said, annoyed. “Really, letting that guy run… I got careless.”

“The Special Affairs Bureau has dealt with the Holy Revere Hermitage many times. Capturing this many cultists at once is a rare major victory,” Bai Li Qing said, still calm. It sounded like she was trying to comfort him. “Do not worry about the escaped leader. The cultists you brought back are enough for us to piece together the truth of this operation.”

“Hope so,” Yu Sheng muttered. After a pause, he added, “By the way, about sending you the Artificial Saintess with the matching Holy Coffin… I may have to break that promise.”

“What happened?”

“Something went wrong. The Artificial Saintess died, and the Holy Coffin broke. I am not sure I can repair them,” he said, then hesitated. “Also… that Artificial Saintess was special. I will explain when I get back.”

“Alright,” Bai Li Qing replied simply. “When will you return?”

“In a bit,” Yu Sheng said, looking around. “I have an idea.”

He heard a quick inhale over the line.

“Is one idea from you that scary?” he asked, helpless.

“Tell me the idea first,” Bai Li Qing said, holding steady.

“I want to try to ‘drive’ this ship home.”

“You can pilot a Holy Revere Hermitage vessel? Their navigation and driving System is famously strange,” she said, losing some cool.

“No,” Yu Sheng said plainly, cutting her off. “But I do not need to pilot it. I just need a little time to ‘understand’ it better.”

She went quiet for a few seconds. He could tell she got what he meant.

“Like with that Valley?” she asked carefully.

“About the same.”

“You… ate the ship?”

“I did,” Yu Sheng said without shame. “Otherwise, how do you think I sent you prisoners by the batch? With my old fighting skills alone?”

Bai Li Qing drew a deep breath.

“Understood. If you have a better plan, the Special Affairs Bureau won’t interfere. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” he said, smiling. Just before hanging up, he remembered something and brightened. “Oh, one more thing. I almost forgot!”

She tensed at once: “Go on.”

“Calling the Borderland from here counts as interstellar roaming,” he said, wincing. During his walk around the ship after reviving, he had checked the fees for Stellar Union Communications. The numbers had nearly blinded him. “Can the Bureau reimburse that?”

The silence on the other end crossed the stars and roared in his ear.

Half a minute later, Bai Li Qing seemed to grind out a single word: “Yes.”

“Great. I am good then. Time to study the ship. Bye.”

He hung up in a very good mood.

Settling the spoils always felt nice.

In the Control Hall, the wreckage of battle healed at a speed you could see.

Yu Sheng did not actually know how to repair all that high tech. He simply restored damaged areas to the state they were in when he first took over. If you had to name the process, it was like the Regeneration that followed his deaths.

Destruction was rewound. Damage was erased.

That was why, when the Sage was about to self destruct, Yu Sheng had to throw him out, even though he did not explode in the end.

He had not yet finished taking over the whole Upper Area. If the blast spread beyond the hall, he would not be able to fix anything outside.

He had promised Irene a souvenir.

Now the takeover of the ship neared its end.

Relaxed, Yu Sheng walked past rows of seats and control consoles.

Metal rippled under his steps. Pipes reshaped at his side. Drooping cables curled and slid back into the grooves of walls and ceiling like living things. With a soft hum, power returned across the hall.

Behind him, the dark consoles lit one by one. Holograms and screens sprang up with jumping data about the universe, the stars, and secrets of far Deep Space.

Yu Sheng stopped before the wide viewport and narrowed his eyes.

Bathed in distant starlight and the glow of the heavens, he let out a satisfied sigh: [This souvenir will give Irene a real scare.]