Chapter 203: Wealth Key

Hugh stood with his hands behind his back on the bridge of the 'Wealth Key', looking out at the wormhole beyond the viewport.

The communication request had been cycling for 9 hours, but there was still no response from the star system on the other side.

"We must have used the wrong language, right? I think they received it, but they don't understand it."

The communications officer turned to look at Hugh, his eyes revealing fatigue, clearly on the verge of losing patience.

"The language translation software was provided by Anya,"

Hugh shook his head gently.

"That woman never makes mistakes in such matters."

Please, let it end soon...

As the captain, Hugh, though he didn't say it aloud, was actually feeling impatient in his heart and secretly sighed.

The 'Wealth Key', a well-known giant Warp merchant ship in the Star Alliance, consumed a large amount of Warp Zero Element for its voyages, making its costs quite high. It usually traveled on the busiest and most profitable trade routes.

If it weren't for repaying Anya's heavy favor, he would never have come to the end of this desolate route in his life.

There was no business along this route, especially in the latter half, where not a single human settlement could be seen, nor any merchant convoys.

Originally, there was an Apollo branch developing a new colony at the end of the route, but after a year of hard work, they were inexplicably overthrown by the Barbarians.

How disgraceful!

Although Apollo strongly denied the incident, the news had spread, severely damaging their corporate image and causing their prestige to plummet. Even small and medium-sized pirates began daring to raid their fleets.

After all, being defeated by Barbarians without aerospace capabilities hadn't happened in decades.

It was as absurd as machine guns losing to spearmen; it was hard to imagine how foolish they must be!

Forget it, forget it...

Being able to see what exactly happened in this backwater, satisfying his strong curiosity, was worth it.

He'd just pretend it was a vacation trip!

"Captain, communication received!"

Finally!

Not bad, they know how to reply, which means they aren't the hopelessly savage kind of Barbarians; at least they can communicate.

Commendable.

"What did they say?"

"They temporarily disagree with our request to pass through the jump point. They said they would first send three fighter jets to confirm."

"No problem, let them come!"

Hugh felt this request was reasonable.

As one of the Star Alliance's most luxurious top merchant fleets, the 'Wealth Key' often transported high-value cargo. Thirty percent of its income was spent on ensuring its own safety, and its escort force was not small.

They had long-term partnerships with four heavily armed mercenary frigates, all of which were brought along this time.

In addition, the 'Wealth Key' itself was no pushover; it was an armed merchant ship with a very powerful reactor.

It possessed firepower equivalent to a light cruiser under Star Alliance standards, complete with missiles and laser cannons. Its armor was relatively thin, and its radar was somewhat outdated, that was all.

If the other side only sent three fighter jets, it would definitely pose no threat.

If more than three, hmph hmph—

Then he would take action, aim all weapons, and 'teach' the Barbarians how to speak properly.

10 minutes later,

Chang Kong led two younger brothers, piloting their fighter jets through the wormhole, arriving in the 'next door' star system.

"Holy crap—what a huge one, a rich merchant!"

In the cockpit, Chang Kong controlled his fighter jet to circle while turning his head to look at the majestic 'Wealth Key'.

This cargo ship was 900m long, a rare catamaran structure. The two mirror-symmetrical main bodies on the left and right were each a complete cargo ship, separated by about 150 meters, connected by an octagonal core in the middle-rear section.

The four smaller ships next to it varied in appearance, ranging in length, but they were clearly warships. Chang Kong had already seen the constantly rotating laser cannon lenses tracking him.

"Executive Officer, did you see the footage from my helmet? They claim to be a merchant fleet, but looking at the scale of this fleet, their combat power is probably not low."

"I saw it. No problem, send the invitation."

Lu Yuan saw clearly that the largest ship was obviously not a warship; otherwise, a 900-meter-long capital ship would be a terrifying combat force.

According to Xian Yu's previous investigation, there were no more than 20 capital ships of similar size with publicly disclosed service information in the Star Alliance. These were strategic-level decisive weapons of major powers, and there was no conceivable reason for any of them to come to Li Star at present.

And if it truly was a merchant ship, then the goods within that enormous hull, one had to admit, were very intriguing!

"No need to guard against them?"

In the communication, Lu Yuan paused for a few seconds. "Needed, but this doesn't conflict with sending an invitation."

"You mean—"

"The wormhole space station currently only has two 15-million-ton yield nuclear warheads recovered from the industrial ship, but there are five ships on the other side. This means that as long as they aren't foolish and don't crowd together to pass through the wormhole, we definitely can't intercept them all with nuclear bombs."

"If the other party truly has ill intentions, I would prefer to ambush them with fighter jet swarms in our own star system. That way, the chances of victory are higher."

"Understood."

Chang Kong closed the communication and silently let out a breath.

Indeed, with Cang Yuan's own nuclear weapons not yet produced, facing an established fleet from the outside was truly very vulnerable.

A moment later, the Wealth Key received another communication.

"Captain, they said we can pass through the wormhole, but we are not allowed to cross the orbit of the outermost planet."

"Hmm, normal, and then?"

"Then, they suggested that both sides send an unarmed liaison craft to meet at the second Lagrange point between their planet and the sun. Strange—this is a standard peaceful contact procedure."

Oh?

Hugh felt a bit surprised.

Barbarians who had never been to space actually understood this Star Alliance procedure?

Was it tortured out of captured Apollo employees?

Forget it, it's not important. In any case, they were willing to follow the rules, which was a good thing.

His first impression of these 'Li Star people' was getting better and better.

"We agree!"

As the merchant fleet officially entered Cang Yuan's territory, the Engineers on Li Star also became busy, dismantling the turrets on the Warp transport ship to better convey goodwill.

A day later, the merchant fleet's shuttle and Cang Yuan's transport ship met at the second Lagrange point.

The two sides conducted preliminary communication via radio, coordinating their respective spacecraft to the same speed, achieving a relatively static posture, and maintaining an unchanging 3-kilometer separation.

Afterward, the merchant fleet personnel donned their extravehicular spacesuits and came 'as guests' to Cang Yuan's transport ship via spacewalk, conducting their first contact.

Everything followed standard procedure, neither taking advantage of others nor lowering themselves in humility just because the other party's ship looked impressive.

"Greetings! New friends from a distant star system!"

Hugh displayed the confident demeanor of a renowned merchant, personally coming forward to greet them.

He removed his spacesuit helmet and strode towards the messenger from Cang Yuan's side, Old Man Emitting Black Smoke!

Black Smoke also joined the trend this time by livestreaming; after all, it was an enormous amount of traffic, not to be wasted.

As the other party removed his helmet and approached, a massive flood of bullet comments appeared in the livestream.

"So huge!"

"It's not human!"

Hugh was approximately 2.3 meters tall, and his physique, from an overall proportional perspective, was rather slender, even thin, but compared to humans, he was still extremely robust.

Of course, none of that was the main point.

The main point was that Hugh had a face similar to a canid, covered in fur, with a narrow, long mouth, and a pair of ginger-yellow eyes that were full of wildness, yet his demeanor seemed very refined.

Upon closer inspection, one would notice that his helmet was also specially made, leaving space for his mouth and large ears on top of his head.

"Is this Star Alliance's racial customization?"

"Not a variant, definitely a pure alien, a cosmic dog-headed man!"

"Captain Hogg?!"

"Shocked, dog-headed man is fine, but this physique should be closer to a werewolf, right?"

"My goodness, there are werewolves? Looking forward to the day cosmic vampires come online—"

The bullet comments discussed line by line. In the game, Black Smoke was considered a well-informed veteran player, and he was stunned at this moment.

Star Alliance's genetic engineering, playing such elaborate tricks?

"Hahaha!"

The great merchant Hugh was not seeing this kind of gaze for the first time and did not feel offended.

"It's clear that you must be seeing our race for the first time."

"You're not human?"

"No. Our race is called Fenrir, one of the races elevated by humans."

"'Elevated' refers to—"

"During the golden age, humans visited our planet and found that we, who were then in the Neolithic Age, were very strong and very intelligent, possessing excellent warrior genes and hunting talents. So, they provided us with scientific enlightenment and conducted some genetic optimization, bringing us into space and incorporating us as steadfast allies."

Hugh said proudly.

"I know our appearance is somewhat similar to wolves native to Earth, but please believe me, even before being elevated,

Our race was far more advanced than ordinary mammals. Much more advanced!"

Really—

But it just looks like a talking, oversized dog-headed man—

"I see, I've been educated. Please forgive my previous rudeness!"

Black Smoke always felt there was another reason why humans elevated this race during the golden age, such as a natural fondness for dogs, an ancient pet,

But saying such things would be impolite.

It was clear the other party had a strong sense of racial honor.

"Don't mind it, I'm used to it."

"Hmm, then I won't waste our time. May I ask if you are here to establish trade?"

Hugh put away his amusing canine smile.

"I'll be direct as well, no. We are here to offer aid and help you move out of your current star system as soon as possible. You are currently in great danger!"

Black Smoke's expression remained unchanged.

The Executive Officer was truly right, what a divine person—

Even before coming to the meeting, Lu Yuan had already discussed the other party's purpose with him, pointing out that direct business was unlikely, and it was probably to sell favors.

Black Smoke quickly used his gaze and expression to manipulate the small screen and keyboard inside his mask, typing a report to Lu Yuan.

At this moment, he saw a message from the Executive Officer.

"First, make up a reason to scan the other party's genes!"