"Hush—"

Mingmei made an excuse to leave the main control room. Recalling what Gudrian had said when inspecting the starship, Mingmei's mind surprisingly converged with Mu Chen's on the same point.

In the darkness, a figure suddenly appeared before her. Before she could react, a familiar cool fragrance enveloped her, tickling her nose. Mingmei looked up, the vague outline in the darkness enough for her to recognize the person.

"What are you doing here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Mu Chen hadn't expected Mingmei to be away from the slave quarters. But a moment later, a thought struck him. "Has there been a riot in the slave quarters?" he asked.

"Mm," Mingmei nodded.

Mu Chen couldn't help but say, "That's much faster than I anticipated."

According to the plan, Hu Yue and the others were supposed to create a significant disturbance outside before he found and destroyed the control switch for the slave quarters' door, releasing the people inside.

But so far, he hadn't received any signal.

After Mu Chen explained his plan, Mingmei's eye twitched. Could she say that all of this happened because of her and Lu Xiaoyao?

She secretly ran away, and Lu Xiaoyao shouted for help, which attracted the attention of the star pirates who were supposed to be ambushed by Hu Yue and the others, causing the current situation?

"Emmm, I'm not really sure. It's just that I'm an NPC, so I had a way out… hahaha."

Mingmei couldn't see Mu Chen's face in the darkness, but after her awkward laughter, she clearly heard a faint tremor in his voice.

She could tell he was laughing!

"Everyone is locked in the slave quarters. How did you get out, and what are you doing?"

"Infiltrating the enemy."

As Mingmei spoke, she gave an account of her NPC mishap background filling event, leaving Mu Chen stunned.

"Is this game so buggy?"

"Who knows?" Mingmei couldn't help but rub her forehead. "I'm really in a bind now. Helping you guys is wrong, but not helping you is also wrong. Tell me, how did a star pirate undercover agent defect?"

"Maybe—for beauty?"

Mingmei was taken aback. The next moment, she felt a tightening around her waist, and Mu Chen pulled her into his arms. His voice came from above her head. "A star pirate falls in love with her captive and defects for love?"

Gui Gui: [I'm vomiting, what a ghostly plot, I don't agree!]

Mingmei: […]

This trope was a bit too melodramatic. After all, she wasn't someone without principles.

Abandon her stance for looks?

[I'm not that kind of person (Even if the host is that kind of person, don't say it so blatantly!)]

Mingmei and Gui Gui simultaneously spoke their monologues in their hearts.

Mingmei: ?

Gui Gui: …

"I think you shouldn't make up stories like this," Mingmei tactfully expressed that Mu Chen's "love script" was too cliché and that Mu Chen was more suited for the script of a maniacal killer.

Mu Chen: ?

"What did you discover here?"

Realizing that the image each had of the other seemed a bit off, in order to avoid hurting their feelings by continuing, Mingmei asked how long Mu Chen had been here and if he had made any discoveries.

"This starship's configuration includes energy stones, attack weapons, as well as gene modification drugs, mecha, and escape pods."

Mingmei had already inquired about these things that Mu Chen mentioned, but she didn't expect there to be just this much.

"That's it?"

"And nutritional fluid?"

"That's it?"

"That's it."

The two fell silent. You only put this much stuff in such a big starship?

Who wouldn't be speechless?

"I remembered something in the star pirates' main control room," Mingmei expressed her concern, regarding the gene modification drugs.

"Even if this starship can carry so many people, once it takes off, those who haven't undergone gene modification still won't be able to survive in the end. And there are the side effects brought about by this gene modification."

The mortality rate was so high that Mingmei felt it was cruel to use it on those selected.

But without it, there was a one hundred percent chance of death. With it… there was a glimmer of hope.

It was just that the cruelty they were worried about seemed even more insignificant given the lack of genetic medicine.

"No matter what, let's take over the starship first. You've been here for so long, have you come up with any ideas? There's probably going to be a big commotion in the slave quarters outside."

Mingmei couldn't help but worry about Lu Xiaoyao's side.

…

"Hiss! Ouch!"

Lu Xiaoyao, who had fallen to the ground with the robot and inexplicably become a robot cushion, felt as though her internal organs had shifted.

Then, she endured the pain and quickly tucked her limbs under the robot. A series of clangs and bangs mixed with the smell of burning alerted her that the robot under her had been destroyed.

"Get out of the way!"

A nearby NPC rushed to Lu Xiaoyao, pulled her out from under the robot that had been blown up by the other robots, and helped her up from the ground.

But the moment Lu Xiaoyao stood up, a burst of blood suddenly blossomed at the temple of the NPC who had just saved her.

She had just escaped death and was about to thank him with a smile on her face when she saw him fall in front of her with her own eyes.

"Big brother, what do you do? You're so skilled!"

"Public servants of the people, glorious military police."

"Wow! You're amazing!"

"You're amazing too, little girl. You look so small, but the power bursting from your body is so strong."

Before escaping the slave quarters, it was this NPC and his teammates who had saved her and Zhen Po. Lu Xiaoyao even remembered their conversation when she had been trying to get close to him.

His hearty smile formed a stark contrast with his pale and lifeless appearance now.

Lu Xiaoyao didn't know what she was feeling at the time. All the movements around her seemed to slow down in that instant.

Out of the corner of her eye, she finally saw the star pirate holding an energy gun and shooting only at her. The malicious smile on his face couldn't be concealed.

"Go to hell!"

The man saw Lu Xiaoyao standing there in a daze and was about to continue shooting, but he didn't expect Lu Xiaoyao to react so quickly. The next moment, she rushed in front of him and landed an uppercut directly on his face!

"You go to hell!"

After Lu Xiaoyao roared angrily, she threw another angry punch. As he reeled backward from the punch, Lu Xiaoyao grabbed his arm, felt his wrist, and twisted it hard.

As he screamed, she snatched the energy gun from his hand and kicked him hard in the crotch!

"You—all of you, go to hell!"

Lu Xiaoyao, in a bloodthirsty state, turned on gunfight mode with the energy gun in her hand.

When Hu Yue saw Lu Xiaoyao's state, she couldn't help but sigh, "It's been so long since I've seen her like this~"

Hu Yue had seen "Lu Xiaoyao" go berserk when they played games together before, but she hadn't seen Lu Xiaoyao enter that state again for a long time.

…

"I think you're underestimating Lu Xiaoyao." Seeing that Mingmei was still worried about Lu Xiaoyao, Mu Chen reminded her that Lu Xiaoyao's potential was more than what she usually saw.

"That's… that's not her."

Mingmei knew what state Mu Chen was talking about. Now that Lu Xiaoyao and Lu Gui were separated, she wasn't Lu Gui.

"But, back then, he borrowed Lu Xiaoyao's body."

Mu Chen disagreed with Mingmei's point of view. "Her physical fitness and motor skills are there. As long as she wants to, she can reach that state.

Besides, fledglings leave the nest so that one day they can soar independently in the sky. Otherwise, Marshal Lu and Lu Gui wouldn't have let go. Lu Gui could have taken Lu Xiaoyao with him to the Third Army."

As Mu Chen spoke, he pulled Mingmei along the dim depths of the starship. "Next, it's time for us to help…"