Chapter 319

Chapter 319: Yu Sheng’s Long-Term Goal

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Yu Sheng returned to the giant ship parked in the valley and entered the room where the Holy Coffin was stored.

The black iron coffin hadn’t changed at all. It stood on the platform like always, and the buzzing hum from inside sounded like it could go on forever.

“All right. Same as always-I’m here again.” Yu Sheng sighed as he sat on the platform beneath it and tapped the coffin behind him. “Are you planning to wake up or not?”

The Holy Coffin, of course, didn’t respond. It only continued its low vibration.

Yu Sheng hadn’t expected an answer. He sank his mind, sensing the devices running inside the chamber, and muttered on anyway. “Just in case you don’t know, I’ve completely taken over this spaceship. It’s docked on my territory now. The Hermitage Order cultists who used to control it are dead, escaped, or both. The rest were all sent to the Special Operations Bureau’s deluxe single rooms-where a bunch of friendly psychology experts will chat with them about life and dreams…”

He paused, then continued, voice cool.

“That one called Sage escaped. They say someone at his level is a mid-tier leader in the Hermitage Order, with a pretty high status. But he won’t stay free forever. I’m kind of vindictive.

“Last night, your phantom appeared in a wasteland. That place is also my territory. It’s called the Sanctuary Wasteland-a place for wounded souls to rest.

“Anyway… can you hear me?”

Yu Sheng turned his head and looked up at the coffin.

The dark red lights on its surface blinked slowly, like eyes meeting his gaze.

Yu Sheng exhaled, stood up, and patted the lid.

“When you’ve slept enough, get up. Don’t you still have a lot you want to do? I’ll help you later.”

With that, he turned and left the chamber. Out in the corridor, he pulled out his phone and called Bai Li Qing. “It’s me, Yu Sheng.”

“I figured you’d call sooner or later,” Bai Li Qing said. “We’ve piled up a bunch of questions here.”

“I’ve got a bunch too,” Yu Sheng said. “Want to talk face to face?”

“Sure. I’m in the office.”

Yu Sheng said, “Oh,” pushed open the door to the director’s office deep inside the Special Operations Bureau, and lifted a hand in greeting to Bai Li Qing behind the huge desk. “Morning.”

Bai Li Qing was still holding her phone. She lifted her eyes to him, and her tone carried a weary kind of disbelief. “We’ve met so many times, but you barging in like this still feels strange.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Yu Sheng dragged a chair over and sat down without ceremony. “Let’s talk work. The cultists I delivered-what’s the situation? Have you started interrogating them?”

“Small-scale interrogations only started this morning,” Bai Li Qing said. “This will be a major project. It won’t yield results in a day or two. We’ll assign the best interrogation specialists, and for the next stretch of time, the bureau’s main focus will be this matter.”

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow.

“Even in the history of the Special Operations Bureau, this is rare,” Bai Li Qing continued. “You captured almost an entire ship of Hermitage Order cultists within a few hours. And they weren’t the lowest-level believers. They were at least at the ‘cultivator’ level, had undergone different degrees of promotion rituals, and held certain ranks within the Hermitage Order. This time, even the council meetings were shaken.”

Yu Sheng wasn’t surprised.

Then Bai Li Qing asked, “That spaceship… you’ve already ‘driven it back’?”

“I docked it in the backyard, in that valley,” Yu Sheng said plainly, then immediately added, “But let me be clear. I’m not handing it over. It’s my personal spoils of war. It’s Hotel property now.”

Bai Li Qing looked like she was about to speak, but that last sentence stopped her. Her expression didn’t change much, but her tone turned even more tired. “I know. I’m only reminding you… do you know the Deep Space Navigation Convention, the Interstellar Navigation Act, and the Jump Safety Assurance Act?”

Yu Sheng froze, realizing none of the speeches he’d prepared covered anything like this. “…What?”

“I thought so,” Bai Li Qing sighed. “You never considered these details.

“Space isn’t a lawless place. Traveling through unclaimed deep void and traveling within a civilization’s range are two different things. For starters… if you want to dock at a starport, you at least need to be able to read navigation signals and route markers, right?”

Yu Sheng went silent.

He really hadn’t thought about it at all.

From yesterday to now, he’d been living in the shock of: We’ve got a spaceship now. And nobody around him was qualified to snap him out of it. Foxy had owned a ship back then, sure, but she hadn’t even finished elementary school. Irene’s education was basically prenatal classes with a kindergarten correspondence diploma. Hunter had been bureau staff at best. Squirrel had been eight and a half. And Little Red Riding Hood… forget it. She didn’t even have a driver’s license yet.

“Good thing you didn’t get excited and take the ship out for a spin,” Bai Li Qing said calmly. Then she stood up, hauled a heavy stack of books out of a nearby cabinet, and dropped them onto the desk.

Yu Sheng jumped. “What is this?!”

“A new captain’s navigation manual,” Bai Li Qing said. “It includes navigation laws for major civilization zones, ways to identify most navigation signals, jump conventions, and near-planet flight rules. It doesn’t cover specific handling techniques-I know you have your own way of piloting.” She added, “You’ll also need a basic star chart. It marks several major star regions that are friendly with the Borderland and can be reached directly, along with their corresponding jump nodes. That’ll help prevent you from ramming headfirst into someone else’s planet or space station.”

She paused, then shifted to the real point. “But that kind of data needs to be input directly into the ship’s navigation computer. If you agree, I’ll send a team of technical experts over to help you study that ship’s operating system. Of course, the bureau has its own goals. This is also to investigate the ship and grasp the Hermitage Order’s related technology. I’m stating that in advance and asking for your consent.”

Yu Sheng listened in a daze until the last sentence. Then he snapped back and nodded fast. “Right, I was going to ask that too. I need a group of experts. First, to repair the parts that got damaged. Second, to sort through the Hermitage Order leftovers on the ship. And third, like you said, experts who can deal with the operating system. If possible, I’d also like a team that understands interior design. I want to renovate the ship. And I need a regular construction crew. I’ve got new projects over on my side, and the docking platform needs water and electricity-why don’t you just send Engineer Sun over again…”

This time, Bai Li Qing went silent.

She’d been prepared for negotiation. She’d been prepared for conditions. She was even prepared for Yu Sheng to be difficult.

She wasn’t prepared for him to jump straight from “allow the bureau to board and collect evidence” to “please dispatch a small army to renovate Hotel’s new spaceship.”

Yu Sheng saw her face and immediately realized there was a misunderstanding. He waved a hand. “It’s not free labor. We’ll keep the accounts clean. Just see whether the cultists I captured this time are enough to cover the engineering costs. If not, put it on Holy Revere Hermitage. When I find their base, I’ll catch a few more…”

Bai Li Qing stared at him. Her voice came out flat. “…Do you think Hermitage Order cultists are radishes in a field?”

“I don’t know whether they’re radishes,” Yu Sheng said calmly, “but they treat people like wheat. I’m not done with them.”

Something in Bai Li Qing’s expression shifted. A thin layer of frost seemed to settle over her eyes.

“Sounds like you experienced something on that ship,” she said, voice quieter, “something that made you very unhappy.”

“Artificial saintess,” Yu Sheng said, letting out a slow breath, “and those knights around her… were made from living people.”

Bai Li Qing’s brows drew tight.

“They set up a special recruitment ground somewhere,” Yu Sheng continued. “It might be a fenced-off stretch of land, or it might be an entire planet. People are penned there, living in a customized society, raised as raw materials for artificial saintess and knights-harvested crop after crop. That’s one of their core technologies.”

Bai Li Qing didn’t speak, but the cold in her expression deepened.

“I know it’s a planet so distant I don’t even know where it is, and what happened there has nothing to do with the Borderland,” Yu Sheng said. “But it doesn’t sit right with me. So now it’s personal.”

“Then what do you want to do?” Bai Li Qing lifted her head and looked him straight in the eye. “Find and free a planet? Or wipe out Holy Revere Hermitage across the whole universe?”

“That… is hard,” Yu Sheng admitted, spreading his hands. “Hotel isn’t strong enough right now. But I think it can be a long-term goal. Like I said-why not try?”