Contrary to everyone’s expectations, this battle turned out to be quite anticlimactic.
Lin Xiaohe crushed the Special Action Team of the Security Department with her raw strength.
At the border, the stardust content in the stardust cloud wall was astonishingly high, almost as if it was about to turn into a solid form.
From a great distance, the Imperial reconnaissance ships blared with piercing alarms. They maintained a safe distance, did their best to collect the battle data left behind at the scene, and then headed back home.
Out from the black market darted more than a dozen modified civilian spaceships.
One of them, the Mantis, flew several laps around the Federation Security Department Special Action Team’s warship but still didn’t dare to tow the warship away.
“Boss, what should we do with the supplies that the Xinghe Party left with us?”
Nearly seven billion worth of supplies was taking up a huge amount of space. More than two-thirds of the warehouses under the Mantis Armed Group’s name were being used to store these supplies.
A gruff male voice came through the Mantis: “What else can we do? Just leave them there!”
His subordinate looked troubled. The rental fees for these warehouses were one of their major sources of income: “They only paid a storage fee of one billion. How long are we supposed to keep this stuff?”
“As long as we want. If you’re not happy about it, go ask that god of death for the money.”
At the thought of how easily Lin Xiaohe had wiped out the stardust-mutated jellyfish, the subordinate felt a chill run down his spine. He shook his head like a rattle drum: “I wouldn’t dare!”
The leader of the Mantis Armed Group didn’t dare either, so he had no choice but to swallow this loss. “In a while, contact our regular clients and sell them the video of this battle.”
“Sell it exclusively?”
“Low profit, high volume. Sell it to as many as we can. If they want the on-site elemental analysis, that’ll cost extra!”
The Mantis Armed Group had a very well-established sales system. Within less than a month, almost every high-ranking official in the Federation and the Empire had a copy of the video.
After Lin Xiaohe fled to the Dark Domain, the Federation government and the Security Department stopped pursuing her.
First, because Lin Xiaohe’s strength was right there. Killing her would cost the Federation a tremendous price.
Second, because Lin Xiaohe had retreated to the Dark Domain, a zone where life was impossible. Even criminals exiled by the Federation and the Empire only dared to hide in the black markets on the edge of the Dark Domain, never venturing deep inside.
Therefore, the Federation government publicly announced: “Great news for all! The traitor Lin Xiaohe and her followers have been expelled to the Dark Domain.”
Melina, who had just attended the Fourth Star Ring Education Conference, got into her hover car and was immediately met with a flood of public opinion and propaganda.
She lowered her gaze, her hands by her sides clenched tightly into fists, unable to suppress the worry in her heart.
Lin Xiaohe hadn’t gone to the Empire—she had chosen the Dark Domain instead!
Melina felt agitated. She pulled out an e-cigarette from her pocket, her hand holding it trembling slightly.
The honey-flavored e-cigarette had lost its usual sweetness; her mouth was filled with a bitter taste.
Originally, she had paid a huge price to set up a backup plan in the Empire, one that would have ensured Lin Xiaohe a place to stay once she fled there.
But Lin Xiaohe never played by the rules!
Why on earth did she choose the Dark Domain?! How was that any different from walking to her own death?
Tigre Star, high-end VIP ward.
Cassian let out a long sigh: “Because Lin Xiaohe is a big gambler. Deep in her bones, she has that rebellious, risk-taking, adventurous spirit.”
Judging from Lin Xiaohe’s many battle experiences, her risk tolerance was extremely high.
What’s more, even if she went to the Empire, she would still be met with suspicion and restrictions.
Given Lin Xiaohe’s personality, could she ever put up with that kind of mistreatment?
“The Dark Domain, huh…” The strong man rubbed his chin, his eyes glittering with a knowing look. “I hope she can hold on for two more years.”
If the boss never woke up, he would personally go to the Dark Domain and take her head as an apology!
Almost everyone believed that Lin Xiaohe and her people going to the Dark Domain was essentially a slow form of suicide.
In reality, Lin Xiaohe and her team were having a very pleasant journey through the Dark Domain.
“Wow, so fast!” Brother Pili acted like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world, pressing his face against the transparent viewport glass, staring at the scenery outside with fascination.
The Dark Domain was supposed to be silent, vast, and boundless, a place where you couldn’t feel time or space, as if forgotten by the universe.
But the catch was that among the giant sound whales coming to welcome Lin Xiaohe, there were several babies.
These baby giant sound whales learned that Lin Xiaohe’s spaceship fleet hadn’t brought much supplies, so they volunteered and strongly insisted on helping the ships save fuel.
Lin Xiaohe considered that the Dark Domain was endless, and finding a suitable place to settle could take who knew how many years of travel. So, after only a moment’s hesitation, she agreed.
What she never expected was that the baby giant sound whales’ way of helping was so uniquely unconventional.
Like tossing a ball, they flicked their tails to generate gravitational waves, sending the ships flying over a huge distance.
Then they competed to see who could throw them the farthest!
At first, Brother Pili and the others weren’t used to this sudden acceleration and abrupt stopping. They threw up all over the place.
But the baby giant sound whales had finally gotten a new toy—there was no way they were giving it up!
To keep these humans from tattling to Lin Xiaohe, the baby whales instinctively figured out the “give a beating, then a sweet date” approach.
They spat out a long string of colorful bubbles from their mouths, wrapping the ships completely.
The bubbles glowed on their own, shining brighter than any planet in the thick, inky darkness.
I have to say, it worked like a charm. Brother Pili and the others were utterly dazzled, no longer complaining about hardship or fatigue.
Seeing this, Lin Xiaohe helplessly pressed her forehead: “These people are so easy to please.”
The lead giant sound whale swam alongside Lin Xiaohe. When she wasn’t paying attention, it gently flicked its massive tail fin, sending the Hummingbird flying out of sight with a wave-like gravitational pulse.
The baby whale in charge of the Hummingbird squealed excitedly: “Whee! Faster, faster!”
The other baby giant sound whales protested loudly: “No fair! That move doesn’t count—do it over!”
Under the reproachful gazes of the babies, the lead giant sound whale pretended nothing was wrong and got down to business with Lin Xiaohe.
“The elder went far away to hunt. If you want to find him, you can go to Whale Sea.”
Lin Xiaohe did have many questions she wanted to ask him, but some things were more urgent than others. Finding a suitable place for the Xinghe Party members to settle down was the top priority.
The lead giant sound whale nodded in understanding: “Then I’ll take you to the Ruins.”
The Dark Domain isn’t completely empty—it just has an extremely low density of galaxies.
Take the Milky Way, for example. It’s about 180,000 light-years in diameter, with a central bulge about 10,000 light-years thick. At the very core, the density of stars can reach as high as 289,000 per cubic light-year.
If you replaced the Milky Way with a Dark Domain, within the same size range, there might be only one star or even none at all.
What the giant sound whales called the Ruins is similar to the galactic center of the Milky Way—it’s the region with the highest concentration of stars.
Lin Xiaohe was full of anticipation, but that anticipation fell flat once she set foot in the Ruins.
The Ruins were exactly that: ruins. Here and there, a few scattered stars, three or five at most, with occasional wisps of thin nebular dust.
Tests showed that the dust was mostly made of calcium carbonate with small amounts of iron—low value, pretty much useless.
“Apart from the Ruins, are there any other places with stars?”
