Starbase at the edge of the solar system.
Ou Zhanpeng bid farewell to Xu Qing and stepped into the portal, instantly appearing in the command center of the starship.
"Prepare for departure!" Ou Zhanpeng issued the highest order, waving his hands continuously as the warship slowly disengaged from the base.
Gong Yiding's voice came through the comms, "Base operations are normal. Starship is cleared for departure!"
"Starship, received!" Ou Zhanpeng acknowledged, activating the jump system and inputting the destination coordinates.
The reactor's power output was instantly maxed out. However, what happened next surprised everyone – the wormhole refused to appear, unlike the instant completion of previous jumps.
Ou Zhanpeng wasn't entirely surprised. They had only operated within the solar system before, so speed was normal. Now, traveling 45 light-years away, a slower speed was not unusual.
But they waited for almost half a day. During this time, the reactor's power had not decreased. A tsunami of energy continuously poured into the jump system, yet there wasn't even a shadow of a wormhole.
Gong Yiding suspected something had happened to the Starship and kept sending messages asking what was wrong. Upon learning the reason, however, he felt they had gained much.
Seven full hours later, the black wormhole finally opened in front of the warship. Without even time to say goodbye, Ou Zhanpeng impatiently piloted the warship into the wormhole.
The moment they entered the wormhole, Ou Zhanpeng's heart was filled with anxiety. He worried about Earth's fate, anticipated the unknown world, but more than anything, he felt the cautiousness of a rookie venturing out.
The passage through the wormhole was like diving underwater and then surfacing. There was only a momentary daze, and the Starship appeared on the outskirts of a strange star system.
Did it come through so easily?
Ou Zhanpeng was a bit stunned, even disbelieving. It seemed Brain Fish was quite cooperative, and the coordinates it provided were far more precise than he had imagined!
However, just as he relaxed, all projections suddenly turned flashing red. The detection system automatically displayed the scene near the warship. To their surprise, they saw two more ships outside the hull, both of unfamiliar models.
Ling Xiao subconsciously swallowed. "Fat Ou, what's going on?"
Ou Zhanpeng thought, *Who am I supposed to ask?* But in front of so many people, he couldn't start arguing with Ling Xiao.
He shook his head. "Everyone, prepare for combat!"
Everyone was tense. Fortunately, the two ships showed no hostility. Instead, they flew away on their own.
Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Ou Zhanpeng felt something was wrong. He zoomed in on the display to reveal more details and suddenly pointed at one of the ships. "Look here, do you notice anything unusual?"
Ling Xiao immediately pointed to the top of the ship's bow. "That turret looks like it was added later?"
The ship's spine was equipped with three turrets. Two were wedge-shaped with a rugged design, but the middle one was round-headed and delicate, like a porcelain cup placed between two ceramic bowls – the styles were completely mismatched.
"Space pirates?" Ou and Ling exchanged glances and spoke in unison.
Only space pirates would piece together parts from different sources, creating such bizarre-looking ships.
Looking at the other ship, the DIY traces were equally obvious.
What astonished them even more was that as the detection range expanded, the Starship discovered more ships, long, short, round, flat – all sorts of shapes.
The largest ship was over ten kilometers long and at least five kilometers in diameter, round like a super-sized mushroom, not much smaller than the Starbase itself. The smallest was less than a kilometer, darting left and right in the void like a horny mouse, incredibly agile.
But regardless of size, all the spacecraft shared this refugee-style DIY mixed look. Not a single ship had a complete paint job; colors were everywhere, and garish graffiti was the norm.
The bizarre color combinations exuded a sense of defiance, as if declaring, "This tree is mine, this road is mine. I only rob for money, not for sex. Obey if you don't want to die!"
Ou Zhanpeng was completely disheartened. "This is the Glorious Star Kingdom? This is a pirate's den!"
Without a doubt, the Starship was the only ship with a regular paint job, standing out like a crane in a flock of chickens.
Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. But at this time and place, Captain Ou felt an unease, as if a thorn were in his side.
Would they be collectively targeted by space pirates?
Ling Xiao smacked his lips. "Brain Fish must have given us the wrong coordinates. Whether this place is actually the Glorious Star Kingdom is secondary. The key is whether we came to the right place. Is the distance to Earth really 45 light-years?"
Hearing this, everyone's minds buzzed.
Ou Zhanpeng was not much better off. If they had traveled hundreds of light-years away in one go... it wouldn't matter much if they took a wrong turn. But if they delayed the plan to deter the Four-Meter people, the consequences would be hard to predict!
"I just followed the coordinates," Ou Zhanpeng said.
Everyone was dumbfounded. Ling Xiao almost choked. "Brother, you should at least check the coordinates, right?"
Ou Zhanpeng directly recited a string of numbers. "You check. You check them however you want!"
Ling Xiao was rendered speechless. Who in their right mind would know where this place was?
As the group was struggling to figure things out, the warship suddenly received an external communication request, several at once. Everyone's gaze immediately focused on Ou Zhanpeng.
"Do we accept?" Ling Xiao asked.
Ou Zhanpeng hesitated for a moment, then finally shook his head. "Reject all!"
New to the place and unfamiliar with the surroundings, why would a bunch of people suddenly initiate contact? Was it reasonable?
As the saying goes, if someone offers unsolicited help, there's usually a catch. Small inns near train stations might fleece you and then try to pull a honey trap in the middle of the night.
A five-star hotel across the street is different. Even if it's poorly managed and about to go out of business, it won't have two old ladies standing at the entrance, shouting to drag people in.
These sudden communications reaching out to them must have ulterior motives.
After rejecting all communications in one go, the world finally became quiet.
But just then, a flash of blue light streaked past the Starship's left side. As the light dissipated, a slender spaceship appeared without warning.
Then, on the right side of the warship, a spaceship materialized from emptiness, appearing without any prior indication.
Further away, wormholes continuously opened and closed, spitting out spaceships and warships of varying lengths and shapes.
Ling Xiao suddenly shouted excitedly, "Look here!"
In the projection, two black ships emerged from the wormhole and slowly flew into the star system.
Before he finished speaking, two white ships appeared nearby. With their pure white hulls, they finally took some attention away from the Starship, no longer making it the most conspicuous vessel.
Despite being apparent rivals, there was no unusual interaction between the black and white ships; they coexisted peacefully.
Ou Zhanpeng's mind became even more muddled. What was this situation now? Were these warships captured by space pirates?
A rough scan revealed hundreds of ships in this star system. The Starship, from top to bottom, was stunned by this outcome.
A question gradually surfaced in everyone's minds: If they can gather hundreds of ships so casually, how powerful are the space pirates?
"Did we come to the wrong place?" Ling Xiao asked nervously.
"We're here now, and it's too late to leave," Ou Zhanpeng said with a grave expression. "Our identity should not be exposed. Since we are here, let's accept our fate and see what's going on first!"
"Okay!" Everyone agreed in unison.
They were all veterans who had been on the battlefield. They faced life and death with indifference and were ready to fight. What was this small scene? At most, they would risk their lives and fight the space pirates to the death!
Those unidentified starships, after detaching from superluminal speed, all headed into the star system. Ou Zhanpeng, following suit, piloted the Starship into the star system.
The warship suddenly received a message sent in Universal Common. Ou Zhanpeng and several others put their heads together, and combining the suggestions from the translation equipment, the final translation indicated that an auction was about to begin.
The group exchanged glances. Ling Xiao scratched the back of his head. "Auction? You mean an auction?" The wording was different, but in terms of meaning, it should be translated as such.
Perhaps aware that Universal Common could be imprecise in translation, the organizers wasted no further words and announced that the auction would begin immediately. All the ships present received a piece of information simultaneously, and a slowly rotating planet appeared in the center of the command module.
"The first item for bid is the third planet in this star system, a second-class habitable planet. Its distance is moderate, its environment suitable, and it is easy to terraform..."
Looking at the planet, dotted with patches of vibrant green against a desolate yellow, Ou Zhanpeng suddenly realized that it wasn't necessarily the most habitable environment that was most popular. Planets, in some ways, were like industrial raw materials.
Venus, with its extremely harsh natural environment, was like ore. It could be utilized, but with great difficulty.
Mars, although harsh, was much better than Venus, like raw ore, with little practical value.
The planet being auctioned was different. It was equivalent to refined pure ore, requiring only simple processing to be utilized, making it the most expensive type.
Earth, on the other hand, was already a finished product. It would require enormous effort to remelt it to make Earth resemble what aliens desired, making it less cost-effective than the planet before them!
Of course, this was purely from an environmental perspective. If other conditions were taken into account, even shattering Earth wouldn't compare to this planet.
After lavishly praising the planet, the voice finally announced the start of the bidding.
Before the words had even faded, someone had already placed a bid: 100x Gold!
The group exchanged bewildered glances. Ling Xiao's cheek twitched. "What is this 'x' thing?"
"It should be a relatively large unit of mass, similar to a ton," Ou Zhanpeng said. "Since we don't know what this unit is, we can only use 'x' as a substitute."
Although he hadn't systematically studied Universal Common, translating this required not only accumulated knowledge but also a flexible mind.
Ling Xiao suddenly understood and kept calculating how many tons one 'x' might be.
While they were talking, the bids had already skyrocketed. In the blink of an eye, they exceeded one thousand 'x'.
"Is the translation correct? Why are they bidding with gold?" Li Keke asked, confused.
"Of course, it's correct. Gold is not only good on Earth but is also a hard currency throughout the universe," Ou Zhanpeng said with a smile. "Things are precious because they are rare. Gold is extremely scarce in the universe, with very low reserves, making it a very suitable interstellar currency."
"No way?" Li Keke didn't believe it at all. "Aren't gems more valuable than gold?"
Ling Xiao couldn't stand it anymore. "Sister, can you use your brain? When low-mass stars die, fusion only goes up to iron. What is gold? It's a rare metal created by high-mass supernovae and black holes!"
Ou Zhanpeng added, "Simply put, elements before iron can be considered light elements, found everywhere in the universe, and are essentially worthless. Take gems, for example. They are abundant in the Earth's crust. Just destroying a planet can yield a large quantity of gems. Heavy elements after iron are rarer, so their prices are naturally higher. Rare elements are even more so."
Li Keke's eyes widened. "It can be like that?"
Ou Zhanpeng smiled. "Those elements rarer than gold would certainly be more expensive!"
Ling Xiao suddenly said, "I feel like we can make a fortune selling resources!"
The Starship had two 3D printers, and their accompanying powders of various metals and non-metals filled several compartments, including many rare metals even rarer than gold.
Excluding common natural elements, the Starship also had dozens of radioactive isotope batteries, commonly known as plutonium batteries. These did not exist in nature and could only be manufactured by reactors. One gram was worth over twenty thousand.
Of course, this was just the value of plutonium itself. Whether space pirates would recognize it if they tried to sell it was another matter.
Li Keke rolled her eyes. "Are you thinking only about money?"
"Shut up, go away, you're just a woman!" Ling Xiao turned his head, showing Li Keke his back. "Fat Ou, look, these space pirates are even selling planets. Can we think of a way to exchange for some jump equipment from them?"
Upon hearing this, Li Keke immediately fell silent.
Ou Zhanpeng pondered and nodded thoughtfully. "We can try!"
As they spoke, the bids had already surpassed the 3000x mark. The bidding speed was not as fast as before, but it was still steadily increasing.
After all, it was a planet. A few thousand 'x' of gold was still too low; it should have been hundreds of thousands!
As he predicted, due to a shortage of gold, a combination of gold and other metals began to appear in the bids. At this point, each bid was made very cautiously, with increments of just a small amount.
Ultimately, the total amount of gold did not exceed 4000x.
Li Keke could hardly believe it was true. Regardless of what the unit 'x' represented, for such a large planet to cost only 4000 units of gold was too cheap!
After all, Earth's total gold reserves were as high as 4.8 billion tons. With so much gold, how many planets could they buy?
If these space pirates knew this, wouldn't their eyes turn red immediately?
Setting aside the unmined reserves, just considering the gold reserves of various countries, it should be enough to buy several fully equipped interstellar fleets, right?
And this was just gold, not including other precious metals, as Earth contained many heavy elements.
Li Keke suddenly felt that Earthlings were like beggars living on a treasure trove, possessing a mountain of wealth yet remaining ignorant!