Ou Zhanpeng had no intention of beating around the bush. The simplistic usage of the common tongue offered no room for circumlocution or subtlety. "What does 'x' mean?"
Another question?
Ling Xiao's heart was bleeding. Such a waste! Another three and a half tons gone!
That gold wasn't his either, and he couldn't take even half of it back to Earth. He had no idea why he felt so pained.
The others weren't faring any better, looking at Captain Ou as if he were an idiotic second-generation rich kid.
Ou Zhanpeng felt a pang of regret, but this batch of gold had come easily, so it was spent with equal ease.
It was like spending money. Handing over cash felt one way, while a simple scan-and-swipe, unseen and unfelt, was entirely different.
Moreover, Ou Zhanpeng understood the adage of not catching a tiger without entering the mountain. Their current situation was precarious: they didn't know the whereabouts of the Star Ferry, nor the position of the solar system. Being in unfamiliar territory, intelligence was paramount.
In any case, this gold was acquired for free. As long as it was spent wisely, what did it matter if it was all scattered?
Ou Zhanpeng's question wasn't complex, but the Black Horn people didn't know how to explain it, only gesturing emphatically at the outer side of their arms.
Given the simplicity of the common tongue, only one word could describe this situation. Unlike Chinese, where if one explanation failed, the language could be rephrased.
After pondering for a while, Ou Zhanpeng finally grasped something. "It seems to mean edge or outer side."
Ling Xiao couldn't resist his usual retort. "Outer star domain? Outer edge star domain? Why not outer rim star domain?"
"Perhaps it means that too," Ou Zhanpeng said.
Ling Xiao was incredibly curious. "If there's an outer edge, are there also inner, left, and right edges?"
Ou Zhanpeng directly asked the Black Horn people. They gestured and explained for a long time. Finally, unable to articulate it clearly, they simply displayed the star map.
A short segment of a spiral arm was mostly blank. Only a few lines in the inner curve divided this region of space into several different areas.
The Black Horn person pointed to the innermost edge of the inner curve, implying that they were all located there.
Ou Zhanpeng immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Anyone would know that the solar system was located on the edge of the inner curve of the Orion Arm. While on the scale of the spiral arm, each star domain was staggeringly vast, at least they hadn't traveled too far off course.
As for what this place was called, it was no longer important. Ou Zhanpeng waved his hand and directly gave the new bay star domain a new name.
He also added parentheses, marking it with two words: Inner Bend.
Not only that, but on the arc's apex on the other side of the spiral arm, he marked a few words: Elbow Tip Zone!
Ling Xiao grinned, a mix of laughter and tears.
With the "Elbow Tip," would they eventually divide it further into Upper Arm, Lower Arm, Wrist Zone, and Shoulder Zone? Or perhaps label the left side "Braised" and the right side "Stewed," with "Dongpo" at the very end?
Ou Zhanpeng was very satisfied. He asked a few more questions, such as the situation in areas further away from the arm, the powers present in each star sector, and which regions were dangerous and absolutely not to be approached.
The Black Horn people responded to each question. Although the translation was poor, everyone's horizons were broadened.
Ou Zhanpeng even seized the opportunity to ask why such a massive planet only yielded so little gold.
Over 6,000 tons of gold was indeed a lot, but why was such a large habitable planet worth so little?
The reason was not complicated. The most important point was not the pirates' disreputable status. Even goods acquired through legitimate means would be significantly devalued in the hands of pirates.
Considering the planet's true value, even several hundred times more would not be considered expensive. This 6,000-plus tons of gold was less like buying a planet from pirates and more like paying protection fees to pirates.
Hearing the Black Horn person's explanation, everyone suddenly understood.
Ling Xiao sighed with even greater emotion. "So, pirates don't just rob and plunder; collecting money from the spot is also part of their business. No wonder they were so eager to find us to take over!"
Ou Zhanpeng twitched his lips and offered no comment. Feeling that the timing was right, he finally posed the most crucial question: "Where is the Brilliant Star Kingdom?"
He didn't ask if they knew the Brilliant Star Kingdom, because if the other party knew, another two x gold would be gone.
"The Brilliant Star Kingdom?" The Black Horn person indeed seemed to be in a bit of a quandary. "Never heard of it. Any other clues?"
Ou Zhanpeng pointed to the two starships lingering in the distance. "Those types of ships are the standard warships of the Brilliant Star Kingdom."
The Black Horn person suddenly understood. "You mean the White Country?"
Ou Zhanpeng and the others froze.
Brilliant?
White?
Never mind, it was another translation hiccup. "If the White Country you're referring to uses these warships, then yes."
"It's over there!" The Black Horn person's starship turned, using its bow to indicate the direction to the Star Ferry, and gave a unit of distance related to light, which was, unfortunately, meaningless.
Perhaps when civilization develops to a certain extent, people become curious about the speed of light. Thus, not only do humans use light-years as a unit to measure cosmic distances, but the Black Horn people also use light-years.
The problem was that the orbital period of each planet was different. Human light-years and Black Horn light-years were not the same scale at all, and even converting between them was very troublesome.
Therefore, the Black Horn people's light-years were of no significance to humans.
While asking various questions, Ou Zhanpeng was not idle. He first brought up the star map and carefully observed the starry sky, but unfortunately, he couldn't find any familiar constellations.
This indicated that the Star Ferry's travel distance was greater than imagined.
Next, he activated the ship's observation equipment and soon found several pulsars in the boundless starry sky, carefully recording their positions on the star map.
These were known as lighthouses of the universe, but since they got this name, humans had never found an opportunity to apply them. Now was the time to fill that gap!
When all necessary questions were asked and answered, Ou Zhanpeng bid farewell and piloted the Star Ferry away from the planet, actively approaching a starship to inquire about purchasing ship-based jump drives and their corresponding control systems.
It would be even better if they could buy the technology.
Having come out this far, how could they not take advantage of the opportunity? After all, even if they took the 6,000-plus tons of gold back, it wouldn't be of much use. It was better to exchange it for something useful.
The planet was the main attraction of the entire auction, and one of the highest-priced commodities. With the Star Ferry having collected so much gold, it would surely attract attention from those with ulterior motives. If they didn't spend it quickly, wouldn't they be targeted by pirates later?
Exchanging it for physical goods was different. The possibility of attracting the covetous eyes of other pirates was extremely low. Even if someone harbored thoughts of treacherous gain, it would likely be an isolated incident, not a risk of being ambushed.
However, what Ou Zhanpeng was looking for was too peculiar. After asking more than ten starships, he couldn't buy even one set.
It made sense. If they had an industrial base, would they still be called pirates?
Captain Ou promptly changed his approach, no longer limiting himself to jump drives. He also inquired about weapons, equipment, star charts, trade routes, prosperous planets, declining planets, industrial powerhouses, and scenic spots.
He would carefully consider anything the pirates were willing to sell, and listen attentively to anything they were willing to say.
Ou Zhanpeng was like an eager student, not missing any opportunity to learn.
During this time, some people asked if Earth was for sale, which made Ou Zhanpeng extremely annoyed. However, among pirates, such transactions were clearly common. Ou Zhanpeng didn't want to offend too many people, so he could only offer perfunctory replies.
At first, Ling Xiao and the others looked on with curiosity, unsure of what Captain Ou was trying to achieve. It wasn't until he asked questions to which he already knew the answers, even at the cost of gold, that they understood.
Everyone suddenly realized.
It turned out that buying equipment was secondary; the real purpose was to verify the answers given by the Black Horn people. Ou Zhanpeng had never trusted the Black Horn people!
No wonder the Star Ferry had its shields active the entire time, not even turning them off when receiving gold.
Ling Xiao greatly admired Ou Zhanpeng's caution, but it didn't stop him from retorting, "Can't people trust each other a little?"
"Believe it yourself if you want. I don't even trust humans, let alone aliens!" Ou Zhanpeng waved his hand with great bravado. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
The answers from the Black Horn people were essentially no different from those of other pirates, but he still felt that something wasn't that simple, yet he couldn't pinpoint the source of his unease.
Ou Zhanpeng not only used this opportunity to ask questions but also re-observed the stars after changing positions, marking the positions of the pulsars. Through simple triangulation, he calculated the distances between these celestial bodies and the Star Ferry, carefully marking them on the star map.
Finally, comparing them with the data stored in the system, he quickly found the corresponding celestial bodies.
"How is it? Where are we?" Ling Xiao asked impatiently.
"More than three hundred light-years deep into the spiral arm. We've traveled too far!" Ou Zhanpeng's gaze was solemn, his mind in turmoil and chaos.
He never expected that a moment of negligence would cause them to deviate by over two hundred light-years. It was simply a joke!
The Orion Arm was only 3,500 light-years wide. The Star Ferry had crossed a tenth of it in one go. If this happened a few more times, wouldn't they reach the other side of the spiral arm?
No wonder so many pirates were gathered here. Perhaps pirates from hundreds of light-years around had all converged here!
However, everyone was merely astonished; they didn't feel much shock.
Let alone comparing it to the Milky Way's diameter of 100,000 light-years, even compared to the Orion Arm's length of over 10,000 light-years, 200 light-years was not worth mentioning, not even a fraction.
But for humans, light-years were once an unattainable distance. To have now crossed three hundred light-years was an unprecedented feat, enough to immortalize everyone.
Therefore, everyone felt a sense of unreality, as if they had fallen into a dream, but the shock was not really felt.
It wasn't that everyone's reflexes were slow, but after leaving Earth, it was all just the void of space, at most adorned with stars and planets. After the initial shock, all that remained was a monotonous sameness.
From a sensory perspective, being in this unfamiliar star system was not much different from being in the solar system.
Three hundred light-years was even less worth mentioning. Although everyone knew it was a vast distance, light-years were merely an abstract concept in human perception, impossible to grasp concretely, naturally lacking the soil for shock.
Unless it was specific to a particular planet, such as navigating through Saturn's rings, where the colossal Saturn occupied half the visual field. Only such strong contrasts could evoke the deep emotions hidden within everyone's hearts.
After asking almost all the pirates, only one starship indicated it had jump drives for sale. However, they had no intention of selling them and certainly didn't carry them on board. If the Star Ferry wanted them, they would have to go with them.
Furthermore, they had to pay first before viewing the goods, the price was exorbitant, and there was no guarantee that the equipment was in good condition or functional, all with an "take it or leave it" attitude.
Ou Zhanpeng wished he could slap them to death. "Pay first, then view the goods"? This was clearly a blatant attempt to swindle him.
It seemed they wouldn't be able to find any good items from the pirates. But it didn't matter. The Star Ferry had already obtained the coordinates of a batch of habitable planets, including several industrial planets. It was just a matter of making a few more trips. With money, could they not buy equipment?
The Star Ferry no longer needed to stay here. Ou Zhanpeng had made up his mind and was about to leave when suddenly a wormhole opened in front of them, and the Black Horn person's starship emerged from it.
The other starships around them also quietly converged.
With the hostility so evident, Ou Zhanpeng immediately realized something was wrong. "All hands, prepare for combat!"
After speaking, he immediately contacted the Black Horn person. "Friend, what is the meaning of this?"
"It means nothing," the Black Horn person, still with that ghastly appearance, smiled smugly. "Stop playing dumb. Hand over the Nebula, and I guarantee your safety."
The unreliability of the common tongue had once again cost Ou Zhanpeng. He understood the word "star," but in the common tongue, the word "cloud" also meant mist, haze, and emptiness.
As a result, Ou Zhanpeng interpreted "cloud" as "mist," and was instantly bewildered. "Star Mist? What do you mean?"
He subtly activated the jump system, but the wormhole only appeared in front of the warship for a moment before vanishing into nothingness.
"Don't bother. We've already interfered with nearby jumps. Hand over your warship immediately!"
It was only then that Ou Zhanpeng realized they were talking about the Nebula. But where did he get a Nebula... Wait, the Star Ferry base was also called the Rainbow Nebula, perhaps the base was Rainbow, and the warship was Nebula?
But how did the pirates know?
Ou Zhanpeng's expression turned extremely grim. "You came looking for us just for our warship?"
"You guessed right," the Black Horn person said. "Did you think gold was that easy to earn?"
Indeed, pies don't fall from the sky!
Ou Zhanpeng took a deep breath. "Who told you our ship was the Nebula? It's just a replica."
"A replica?" The Black Horn scoffed. "If you can even replicate the reflective shield, then I have nothing more to say."
Well, Ou Zhanpeng finally understood where the problem lay. "Can't we negotiate? Aren't you just after wealth? I'll give you gold!"
"Where would you get gold?" Ling Xiao whispered a reminder.
"Let's try to bluff first. What if we succeed!" Ou Zhanpeng gritted out the words.
"You go ahead!" Ling Xiao had nothing more to say.
"Stop the nonsense!" The Black Horn person finally ran out of patience. "Hand over the ship, and live; refuse, and die!"
Ou Zhanpeng's anger flared. "I'll f*** your mother!"