Chapter 76 Rescue

Chapter 76: Rescue

"Distress signal?" she muttered.

The female alpha inside the spacecraft looked at the distress signal she had just received, unable to figure out who else, like her, would be so reckless as to come to this dangerous star system devoid of Zerg. Was it someone else exploring and prospecting like her?

She couldn't understand it.

But since she had received a distress call, she might as well reluctantly mount a rescue. She set course for the location provided by the signal. However, her ship's energy reserves were low, requiring a day or two to recharge.

Once the ship was fully charged, the woman headed towards the coordinates from the distress signal. Due to the spatial instability of this star system, spatial jumps couldn't be used. A journey that should have taken two hours took half a day.

A rare habitable planet lay before her. It seemed some fellow unfortunate soul had crash-landed here in an emergency. She just hoped they were wealthy. She was a bit short on funds lately and hoped for a wealthy target to fleece.

The ship entered the atmosphere. Not knowing if the other party's communication equipment was still functional, the woman prepared to use the simplest method—a loudspeaker to call out.

Every ten seconds, she repeated "Is anyone there?" The volume was enormous, scattering flying creatures in the forest in all directions. If the other party was deaf, there was nothing she could do.

Of course, Ji Anzhi and Qi Yanshen could hear it too. At first, they thought it was an illusion, but hearing the same sound again ten seconds later, they immediately confirmed they hadn't misheard. Qi Yanshen urgently stored Thor in his Space Bracelet and then climbed to a high point to investigate.

Although the distance was considerable, making it hard to see clearly, the two instantly knew it was a human spacecraft! Qi Yanshen took out the signal flare he had prepared long ago and fired it into the air.

"Bang—Biu"

The red signal flare immediately revealed their position. The woman piloted her ship towards it, first using long-range scanning equipment. She was utterly astonished.

Two children? They looked barely adults. How did they end up here?

As the woman's ship gradually drew closer, Qi Yanshen and Ji Anzhi grew increasingly tense, hoping it wasn't pirates or the like, otherwise, they'd be in immense trouble.

Remembering Ji Anjue and Xiaoxue, Ji Anzhi whispered a few words to Qi Yanshen, then went down to pack Ji Anjue into the Space Bracelet and Xiaoxue into the cat carrier. He also gathered items that could serve as identification, such as the school uniforms they had changed out of days before.

While Ji Anzhi was packing, Qi Yanshen also got a clearer look at the approaching ship. It was a large civilian vessel, making it less likely to be pirates, who typically favored military starships for their speed.

The ship hovered at a certain altitude. A few minutes later, a hovercar approached Qi Yanshen. He subtly tensed, his hand resting near his thigh, ready to draw his dagger at any moment.

A female alpha disembarked. She looked very young, not much older than him, and gave off no aura of violence. The initial assessment suggested a low probability of her being a pirate.

The woman looked the newly adult male alpha, Qi Yanshen, up and down, and asked first, "Where's the other boy? And how did you two end up in an uninhabited dangerous star system?"

So this was a dangerous star system.

Qi Yanshen relaxed his expression slightly. "He's packing our things. We are both students at the Federal Aergang Military Academy. We were robbed during a trip, and in our panic, we ejected from our starship during a spatial jump, forced to make an emergency landing on this planet."

The woman raised an eyebrow. Ejected during a spatial jump? She questioned, "S-grade mecha?"

Qi Yanshen nodded. The woman understood. To withstand the spatial storms during a jump, one would need at least an S-grade mecha; otherwise, it would mean being torn apart.

It seemed these two kids came from wealthy backgrounds. Although she hadn't heard much about their academy's name, anyone who could possess an S-grade mecha couldn't be from an ordinary background.

The woman grinned. "I don't rescue people for free. What can you give me if I take you out of here?"

Hearing her demand for payment, Qi Yanshen relaxed most of his guard. People who openly demanded rewards like this were the least likely to betray and kill. For them, this was the safest scenario.

"Money."

"How much?"

"One billion, is that okay?"

"One billion star credits per person?"

"Yes. Any more, and I'm not sure if my family can provide it..."

Before Qi Yanshen could finish, her expression instantly turned ingratiating. It seemed the young man before her was extremely wealthy! This single job promised more than her total exploration earnings from the past three years combined. Indeed, one should do more good deeds!

The woman excitedly tried to pat Qi Yanshen's shoulder, but he easily dodged. Unfazed, she wagged a nonexistent tail, leaned in flatteringly, and said, "Big sister will definitely get you both safely back to the Federation, don't worry. Just remember to transfer the money when the time comes. Remember, I want one billion per person after taxes. You won't play word games with your sister, will you, little brother?"

Qi Yanshen said firmly, "I won't."

The woman quickly pulled out her personal terminal to draft an agreement. She even added some demanding but not illegal clauses out of caution. Qi Yanshen took it to review. The terms were acceptable to him, but he still wanted to wait for Ji Anzhi to arrive before finalizing the signing.

When Ji Anzhi finished packing, carrying Xiaoxue in an opaque backpack, he saw a striking, casual alpha female with her hair in a ponytail and neat, practical clothing. However, the overly bright smile on her face gave Ji Anzhi a bad feeling.

The woman immediately stepped forward, wanting to grab Ji Anzhi. Qi Yanshen swiftly blocked her hand and spoke first, "We've reached an agreement. We'll pay this elder sister to take us back to the Federation."

Hearing "pay," Ji Anzhi was sure the amount wasn't small. Without asking further, he put on a grateful smile and thanked the alpha female before him. "Thank you. If not for you, we might have grown old and died here."

The woman vividly demonstrated the meaning of 'money talks.' She immediately replied, "Ah, ah, ah! No need for thanks. We're all human, helping each other is normal, very normal. Just a little thank-you fee is enough. So, little brother, come sign this."

The woman opened an electronic agreement, over twenty pages of disclaimers and requirements. Ji Anzhi understood perfectly. Human hearts are unpredictable; the agreement protected her interests from being ditched. Moreover, with this, if they didn't pay, she would have the law on her side even if it went to the Interstellar Court.

Ji Anzhi's eyes scanned the transaction amount and paused. He looked carefully. He wasn't seeing things...

One billion star credits per person?

So, together with Qi Yanshen, that was two billion star credits...

He believed Qi Yanshen could come up with that sum, but how could he? At most, he could scrape together a hundred million!

But Ji Anzhi signed the agreement without changing his expression. He had to sign it. Signing meant, at worst, a long road of debt repayment. Not signing might mean being dumped here dead the next second, or dying alone from illness here. Even if Qi Yanshen could leave, he wasn't confident he could survive until then.

Both nodded. And so, just like that, Ji Anzhi and Qi Yanshen boarded a stranger's ship. They had no other choice.

Noticing the ship was empty except for patrolling and cleaning service robots, Ji Anzhi guessed the woman piloted the ship alone, with daily operations on autopilot, relying on evasion or high-powered weaponry if encountering enemies.

He felt he could learn from her. Wasn't this the future he envisioned for himself?

Originally, the ship had five or six guest rooms, but these rooms saw little use. As supplies accumulated over time, only one clean guest room remained.

The woman felt a bit embarrassed, but only for a moment. She was being kind by rescuing them. They should be grateful just to get home; why demand so much?

Besides, they had probably been sleeping together during this period. Now they had a bed; what was there to complain about? Unless they were into some AB tragic romance?

And the guest room was quite spacious, from what she remembered. That single bed could fit two if they squeezed, or they could just sleep on the floor.

With these thoughts, the woman led the two to the only guest room, smiling. "There's only one guest room on board. Make do, little brothers. The other rooms are full of clutter, hard to clean."

The two expressed understanding. The woman said a robot would bring daily necessities and bedding later. She had things to attend to and left first.

After the woman left, the two entered the guest room. It was very clean, clearly cleaned daily by robots. The room had a porthole, offering a view outside, though only of nearby scenery—like the planet they had survived on for over ten days and a few closer planets. Everything else was pitch black.

The first thing they did upon entering was ensure the room's safety, checking for bugs, hidden cameras, and also blocking any small vents that could disperse drugs, to avoid being knocked out unknowingly.

As for the door lock, although they couldn't change it, Qi Yanshen found a biological alarm. It could work even without a signal, alerting them if it detected a living being entering its range.

After finishing these tasks, Qi Yanshen turned to find Ji Anzhi had already taken out that strange plant again, placing it properly. Xiaoxue was also let out to play. Ji Anzhi seemed worried, gently stroking the cat and the plant before him.

Qi Yanshen turned away. This was normal. Ji Anzhi had always been very concerned about the little creatures around him. Even during exams, when these could have been entrusted to robots, he insisted on bringing them along for the assessment, unable to rest easy otherwise.

The room had only one bed—too big for one person, yet a bit cramped for two. It was an oddly sized bed; it wasn't quite large enough, nor was it small enough.

Qi Yanshen looked over at the other side of the guest room. Half of it was a rest area, while the other half was a living area, equipped with a table, chairs, a sofa, and a coffee table. Near the entrance was a washroom with laundry and drying functions. The conditions were decent.

Qi Yanshen silently designated the sofa as his bed until they returned to the Federation. Having made his interest in Ji Anzhi clear, he couldn't shamelessly share a bed.

When the robot brought daily necessities and bedding, Qi Yanshen naturally picked up one of the quilts and headed toward the sofa, making himself at home.

Ji Anzhi hadn't expected Qi Yanshen to sleep directly on the sofa. He thought Qi Yanshen might ask about sharing a bed, but instead, he had clearly staked out his spot.

Ji Anzhi's feelings about this were complicated. On one hand, Qi Yanshen's action showed great respect, indicating he wouldn't take liberties and was politely keeping his distance. On the other hand, wasn't Qi Yanshen supposed to be pursuing him? His attitude drew a clear line.

Ji Anzhi didn't know how to evaluate this, and it made him curious about how Qi Yanshen had developed feelings for him. Could it simply be out of a sense of responsibility?

With no way to know, Ji Anzhi set aside his speculations and murmured a thanks to Qi Yanshen.

In the void of space, there was no day or night, only the passage of time. As evening approached, the two decided to ask the woman some questions, so they followed the robot's directions to the command room.

The command room had been almost transformed into the woman's half-bedroom, fully equipped for rest.

The woman had already spotted them through the corridor surveillance and wasn't surprised when they entered. She smiled and asked, "What's up?"

Qi Yanshen stepped forward politely and asked about their current location. The woman replied, "As for this place, you probably wouldn't know the specifics, so I'll just tell you the general area. This is the buffer zone between the Federation's First Legion and Second Legion. As for why it's a buffer zone, it's because the space here is extremely unstable, making safe space jumps impossible. You two were lucky—the other side of this zone has unstable time. If you'd fallen there, you might not even have ashes left."

Qi Yanshen roughly guessed where they were. His mother had mentioned it before, saying there was an uninhabited starfield between the First Legion and the Second Legion, either due to unstable time or unstable space, making it difficult for the military to control. Of course, this applied to the Zerg as well—they'd perish even quicker than humans if they entered this area.

It seemed their luck was a mixed blessing.

"How long will it take us to leave this starfield?"

The woman thought for a moment. She had only been exploring this starfield for a year and had planned to stay for at least five, which meant she had ample energy reserves. Besides, the profit from sending these two young men home was substantial. While exploring and discovering new and interesting things could earn money, expenses like energy replenishment, ship repairs, and other costs often left her in the red. Thankfully, her sister was good at making money, or she'd be relying on basic subsidies.

Moreover, with her sharp eyes, she could tell these two youngsters were anything but ordinary. She might even get some extra subsidies. No matter what, she had to send these two benefactors... ah, no, these two young men back to school. Playing hooky isn't what good kids do.

"Leaving this starfield will take at least a month. Our position is somewhat near the center, so we can only travel at one light-year every ten minutes. Going faster could trigger spatial dislocation, and the ship could split in two."

Qi Yanshen asked, "Which Legion are we closest to right now?"

The woman pulled up the star map, which was usually hard for kids to understand. After checking, she replied, "Closer to the Federation's First Legion. Do you want to seek help from the Federal Military Department?"

As she spoke, she grew wary. What if these two were the offspring of high-ranking officials in the Federal Military Department? If they were decent people, it might be fine, but if not, she could be in danger...

Just as the woman grew cautious, Ji Anzhi spoke up first, "We're students at a Federation military academy. Wouldn't it be faster to send a message to the Federation military for rescue? Besides, once our parents find out something happened to us, they'll definitely inform the academy, and eventually the military will get the message. I just want to go home sooner..."

His voice grew softer toward the end, and if not for an Alpha's excellent hearing, the woman might not have caught it.

Seeing the beta young man lower his head dejectedly, the woman suddenly felt her own heart was tainted, seeing everything through a suspicious lens.

These kids had been through so much without breaking down, and here she was doubting them!

Somewhat stiffly, the woman said, "Then we'll head to the First Legion. Don't worry, my piloting skills are excellent!"

"Thank you, sister."

The woman waved her hand and handed them a box filled with nutrient solutions, books, and various other items. She told them to head back if they had nothing else to do, and if they were bored, they could use the things inside to entertain themselves.