Chapter 1758: 479 Space City and the Gorgeous Female Devil
Chapter 1758: 479 Space City and the Gorgeous Female Devil
...
The vast, pitch-black starry sky solidified like an eternal backdrop in all the regions where minuscule creatures strained their eyes.
Aside from the occasional flash of starlight that briefly illuminated the desolate star domain,
this place was mostly filled with solitude and biting cold.
The tentacles at the rear of the Octopus Boat rotated rapidly like propellers, and suddenly burst forth with thrust, working in combination with the seemingly laggy but actually quite rhythmic "Jump", and continually pushed the Octopus Boat toward the coordinates of the designated area.
An hour later,
Matthew saw through the massive convex mirror and telescope the many starships and astral creatures docked near a star reef—
Enormous herds of Astral Fishmen's mammoth hermit crabs clung around the bottom of the star reef, anchors from their tails wrapped tightly around the reef, with several tough steel cables linking them to each other.
Decks and towers had been erected on the upper shell of the hermit crabs,
where numerous Astral Fishmen sailors bustled about, carrying something or other.
Apart from the Astral Fishmen and the hermit crab fleet,
Matthew also observed several Squid Ships!
The security on the Squid Ships was clearly far stricter than on the hermit crab fleet; every now and then, Matthew caught sight of a fully-armed Squid Alchemist stomping across the deck, and all the sailors and soldiers fell silent, as quiet as cicadas in winter.
That Alchemist leaned over the edge of the deck, cursing towards the hermit crab fleet for a while.
The actions of the Astral Fishmen subsequently became much more urgent.
Clearly,
this was a sort of solitary island-like astral transfer station amidst the sea.
Storluk Industries had established a small base on this isolated star reef.
And these Squid Ships were replenishing their supplies together with their escorts, the hermit crab fleet.
Matthew estimated it wouldn't be long
before they would set out again.
"Giant hermit crabs with essentially no firepower installations—it's a bit illogical even for a merchant fleet."
"The only explanation is that these Astral Fishmen have already become vassals of Storluk Industries; they just need to handle the trade transports, while security is entirely in the hands of the Squid Fleet under Storluk Industries' command..."
Matthew silently speculated in his mind.
However, his heart was also filled with numerous doubts—
After the Blood Moon Strike event,
the Squid Alchemists were supposedly wiped out.
So where did these Squid Ships come from?
After the Great Rift,
Melinda, an employee of Storluk Industries, had also passed information to Matthew twice.
But subsequently, due to severe severance between the material world and the astral world, the two had gradually lost contact.
Despite Matthew's interest in gathering intelligence on Storluk Industries,
since that last shot,
the space undead had been so low-profile that they were even less noticeable than after the Blood Moon Strike,
they were almost non-existent in the material world.
But Matthew knew well that this did not mean Storluk Industries had lost interest in the material world; they were simply biding their time.
Laying low was just a strategy for better hiding and recovery.
Moreover, according to the scraps of intelligence he had collected,
Storluk Industries' activities in the astral world were still very frequent; they had just reduced their presence in the material world.
In the astral world,
they remained a superpower only slightly less influential than the Starry Night God—
and the latter's prestige was inflated.
Storluk Industries, however, was not.
"They really have not stopped incorporating astral factions."
"I wonder what the situation with Melinda is now?"
Matthew gazed absently at the Astral Fishmen.
Then he asked Little Landmine:
"If they're heading to Storluk Planet, can we keep up?"
Little Landmine responded:
"It's difficult."
"They are mid to large-sized starships, traveling at great speeds in the Star Realm Ocean Current, and their Jump frequency far exceeds that of our Octopus Boat."
"The only way is to hitch a ride, but that comes with certain risks..."
Matthew considered for a moment:
"Shall we try it?"
Immediately, Little Landmine inserted two additional cables into the underside of the control panel of the Octopus Boat, with sizzling noises and sprays of bright yellow sparks.
The Octopus Boat swiftly engaged stealth mode.
It approached the underside of a giant hermit crab with agility and haste.
Then,
the tentacles at the rear of the Octopus Boat fastened onto the crab's belly as tightly as suction cups.
Once the stealth aura was activated,
they became as if non-existent.
Matthew had chosen this particular hermit crab.
He had just observed through the long-range equipment that this crab had completed transporting goods and all the sailors had left the deck for the cabins to rest.
Moreover, this hermit crab was one of the later numbers in the Fishmen fleet, making it relatively harder to detect.
Sure enough,
after about fifteen minutes,
the Squid Ships set out first.
The hermit crab fleet also began to depart one by one, with the Fishmen steering each crab's shell towards the astral ocean current on the other end of the reef.
Not until they successfully hitched a ride on the favorable current of the Star Realm Ocean Current
did anyone notice the uninvited guest lurking beneath one of the hermit crabs.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The slight disturbance of the fluid buffeted the convex mirror on the front of the Octopus Boat.
Aside from that,
there was no other movement within the Star Realm Ocean Current.
Just the faint lights emerging from the Squid Ships and other hermit crabs provided a sense that one was still in the world.
The current carved by the Squid Ships was impressively fast.
In less than an hour,
they had successfully approached the vicinity of the Storluk Planet.
Storluk is a plane.
And within the Multiverse, the carriers of planes are diverse—