“Ms. Anya is very much looking forward to meeting you as soon as possible,” the assistant said with a smile to Lu Yuan on the way to the New Hope VIP dock.

“The situation in the Star Alliance has undergone some significant and noteworthy changes in the past few days. She hopes to exchange views with you as soon as possible and discuss countermeasures. After all, New Hope and Cangyuan are already allies.”

“I understand.”

Lu Yuan nodded slightly.

“I’ve heard some things on the ship these past few days. Let me finish dealing with the branch’s affairs first, then I’ll come over as soon as possible.”

“Alright, we’ll be waiting for you in ‘Purgatory’.”

Arriving at the warehouse where the branch was located, Lu Yuan first saw the small cubicle specially built for Old Jia. The fellow was devouring a roujiamo while chatting with Lao Yu.

He’s living a good life, isn’t he?

The two were chatting very relaxed, seemingly having known each other for a long time.

“It’s Executive Officer!”

Seeing Lu Yuan, Lao Yu was very excited and came forward to shake his hand.

“Thank you so much! Now that Apollo is completely finished, we finally don’t have to worry about retaliation anymore!”

“You’re welcome. Have you all met with your families?”

“We have! I’ve been missing for almost two years, but thankfully my wife firmly believed I wasn’t dead and didn’t sell the company she inherited!

Even though the most valuable archaeological salvage ship is gone.”

Good heavens, you even know such an obscure phrase as “dead as a doornail.” It seems your grasp of “Earth’s elegant sounds” is indeed quite good.

Lao Yu stepped back and bowed deeply.

“Executive Officer, I am now finally qualified to make this decision. I am willing to lead my subordinates to join Cangyuan and become a subsidiary of Cangyuan specializing in salvage, recycling, and archaeological business!”

“Hmm, well then, welcome aboard.”

Lu Yuan gladly accepted the request.

“Don’t be disheartened, your ship might not be unrecoverable. We found many ships stolen by pirates at Dark Sun’s old lair.

I’ll have the employees stationed there contact you as soon as possible to see if your archaeological ship is among them.

If it’s not, it doesn’t matter. You can wait for Dark Sun’s pirate flagship to be repaired, then bring it back to New Hope and refit it into an armed archaeological ship according to your needs. I’ll cover the cost, considering it the first investment in the subsidiary.”

“Really!?” Lao Yu’s eyes were about to well up with tears, “That’s great, it’s really great!!!”

He knew that Dark Sun’s flagship was a Star Alliance standard light cruiser, over 300 meters long! And to facilitate robbery, its speed and maneuverability had been specially enhanced!

The Executive Officer’s generosity was simply saintly!

“Many thanks, great Executive Officer! But before that—”

He lowered his voice, his eyes sparkling with the kind of excitement a child has before a spring outing.

“Could you take us with you to search for the ‘ghost ship’ first? Although my crew isn’t skilled in combat, they definitely won’t disappoint you in terms of ship maintenance and upkeep~”

Lu Yuan smiled.

“That depends on whether Old Jia’s algorithm is effective. Have you two worked together before?”

“Yes!”

Lao Yu quickly pushed Old Jia forward and introduced him to the Executive Officer.

Old Jia also hastily expressed his gratitude to Lu Yuan.

When Ma Lou first brought him to the branch, he thought he had fallen from one den of thieves into another.

After all, organizations in the Star Alliance that impersonated the name “Cangyuan” were generally not good news.

But when he arrived, not only did he not have to work in a prison cell, but later that day, after showering and changing into clean new clothes, he was completely conquered by the steaming hot dinner at the branch.

He was over sixty years old, and it was the first time he had ever eaten a true “meal”!

At that moment, he secretly resolved to find a way to permanently “cling” to this place!

Later, his old friend Lao Yu appeared, explained everything, and after watching the battle report video by reporter Bianca, he finally confirmed that the one who rescued him was actually the true Cangyuan Future Technology.

Jia Henry realized that his luck had turned, and he had stumbled upon a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“If possible, please allow me to show you my work progress.”

Old Jia enthusiastically led Lu Yuan to his computer.

“Actually, the principle isn’t complicated. I’m sure you’ve guessed it too, the reason the ghost ship’s whereabouts are erratic is because it’s equipped with a jump engine that is currently lost.”

Lu Yuan nodded slightly.

“I anticipated that.”

“Good, you truly are a highly intelligent leader, just as the employees say! So, based on my collation of pre-cataclysmic documents, even in the golden age, jump engines were relatively rare high-tech products, and humanity likely never fully understood all their mysteries…”

“Get to the point!” Lao Yu elbowed Old Jia.

“Ahem—in short, this jump, it’s not random. When jumping along certain specific routes, the energy and time consumption will be relatively small.”

Lu Yuan: “You mean, jumps also have routes?”

Old Jia nodded: “Yes. It’s just that unlike Jump Point routes, this kind of route exists widely throughout the entire universe, extending in all directions. It’s more appropriate to describe them as planes, some parts are ‘wide,’ while others are very ‘rugged and difficult to traverse.’ Some pre-cataclysmic Scholars called these jump planes subspace, while others believed they were related to flowing dark energy—in any case, that’s not our focus today.”

He clicked on a star map on the screen.

“Executive Officer, look, according to the data recovered by adventurers from the wreckage of the doomsday interstellar, in the last few years of the doomsday cataclysm, a large number of advanced jump ships appeared in the Star Union Space.

I guess these uncommon ships were likely the human ‘golden fleet’ that came from the original Milky Way to provide support. Based on their recorded flight paths, it’s not difficult to determine the jump waypoints within the Star Union Space.”

Old Jia superimposed the ghost ship sighting records onto the star map marked with jump waypoints.

The truth gradually became clear.

“By observing the overlap between the two, I proposed an industry-leading hypothesis! I believe that the ghost ship, for some unknown reason,

is generally operating along a circular route, but it also frequently jumps out of the circular route and appears in surrounding areas.”

The star map then displayed this circular route.

Lu Yuan saw that this route was not a true circle; it twisted and turned, only connecting at its ends.

The circular route was quite extensive, encompassing over 70 star systems with wormhole Jump Points, and more than 300 deep-space star systems unreachable by the Star Alliance.

Most of the 32 coordinates initially given to Lu Yuan by the system were included within it.

A bit impressive...

Through this direct evidence, Lu Yuan immediately realized that the map Old Jia had concocted was correct!

Lao Yu also saw the trick.

“Assuming your calculated trajectory is accurate, then, on that basis, if we add the time the ghost ship was sighted as a parameter to the algorithm, wouldn’t we be able to predict its next appearance time and location? Then, we just stake out the spot, wouldn’t that work?”

“Alas!”

Old Jia sighed deeply.

“I did make Apollo believe that! Every time, my predictions for them were more accurate than the last, making them think I was truly working hard! Only then could I survive!”

“Wait a minute—what does that mean? This isn’t the entirety of your theory yet?”

“Of course not! Next, please see, this is the true essence of my real hypothesis—”

Old Jia opened the third map.

Lu Yuan saw that on this new map, the number of star systems included in the circular route increased from less than 400 to almost 1000.

“No—many of these newly added star systems aren’t jump waypoints at all?”

Lao Yu reminded him if he had drawn it incorrectly.

Old Jia remained unmoved.

“Exactly! Because no mathematical model can match the known sighting records of the ghost ship, what does this indicate? It indicates that our initial premise was fundamentally wrong!

We must assume that the jump engine installed on the ghost ship is extremely advanced! It uses a completely different principle from similar products in the golden age and can jump arbitrarily without relying on waypoints!”

“Hiss, I’ve never heard of such an engine,” Lao Yu stroked his chin, “Could the ghost ship be from an alien civilization more powerful than humanity?”

“It’s also possible it’s an experimental product of a top power from the golden age of humanity.”

Old Jia secretly glanced at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan, meanwhile, fell into deep thought.

Technology that transcends the laws of physics?

cangyuan one, it should be absolutely impossible to achieve this feat while cut off from external communication.

What exactly is the source of the jump engine? What are its specific principles?

It truly sparks the imagination...

“I don’t know what the truth is, but I’m confident in my results! Every single star system in here was manually added by me, verified repeatedly, and corrected over and over.”

“So you need sighting records,” Lu Yuan murmured, “is it to improve the prediction accuracy of the mathematical model?”

“Precisely, sir! According to my calculations, the ghost ship jumps approximately every 6 hours. Sometimes the jump distance is very short, less than 10 light-years, and sometimes it’s longer.

The longer the distance, the longer the charging time required. Currently, it’s already on its third circuit around the loop!”

Click!

After Old Jia finished speaking, his heart swelled with emotion, and he forcefully clicked the mouse.

His predicted arrival times for the ghost ship then appeared on the various star systems of the circular route, meticulously marked with error margins.

The further from the last sighting point, the greater the error.

“Good—well done!”

Lu Yuan, uncharacteristically showing his joy, vigorously patted Old Jia’s shoulder.

“Come with me to find the ghost ship, Mr. Jia Henry! You will have the opportunity to make history!”

“Thank you for your trust in me! I am honored!”

Old Jia stood up, placed his hand over his chest, and bowed solemnly.

“However, Executive Officer, we must depart as soon as possible, because I am definitely not the smartest adventurer in the Star Alliance. The information I previously provided to Apollo, if it falls into the hands of a true expert, it shouldn’t be difficult to deduce my entire algorithm!

I think the search for the ghost ship by various major powers has probably entered a fierce stage during the time I was confined, and the moment of truth is almost here!”

Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the cubicle.

Ma Lou rushed in in a panic.

“What’s wrong?”

“Executive Officer, North Star TV Station has breaking news! You must come and see!”

Hmm!?

Given Ma Lou’s steady personality, he had never used the word “must” with him before.

Lu Yuan followed him to the warehouse hall, looked up at the display screen hanging on the wall, and saw a face he hadn’t officially interacted with yet, but one that no one in the Star Alliance would find unfamiliar.

“Next, the Emperor of the Super Democratic Empire delivers an official speech.”

The host, Larry, reported in a low voice from off-screen.