The Interstellar Queen of Scavengers

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: On the Brink of Disaster

Rows of airships were taking off one by one.

The one Ji You and the others were boarding was the last in line, the final one to take off. The pilot had already started the engines, ready to leave the ground—

At this moment—

”Are we leaving now?”

”Let’s wait a bit longer, my dad hasn’t come back yet.” Among the passengers, someone became anxious and hurriedly spoke up to make a request.

At this time not having returned meant either encountering danger or disregarding the pilot’s warning and still lingering in the West District wilderness. In any case, these passenger airships wouldn’t change their plans for just one or two people.

Moreover, entering the West District was risking life, and it was common for people to lose their lives in the wilderness. This wasn’t an exceptional case, and no one would jeopardize their own lives for a few individuals. These airships that shuttle year-round between the sanctuary and the wilderness had seen enough of such incidents.

”Big brother, please, my dad will be back soon. He said he would only be gone for a little while and would hurry back.”

”Could you please wait a little longer?” The voice speaking was a young girl, her expression urgent and her words pleading. Today she and her father had come out to gather, and as everyone was afraid of danger, hardly anyone dared to venture deep. The girl’s father and a few other daring strong men had gone deeper before leaving and told the girl to stay put and definitely not delve further. But—It was time to gather, and neither her father nor the other men had appeared—

The girl was incredibly anxious, she dialed her father’s contact number, but no one answered—

If the airship left now, those who didn’t manage to board would definitely be left behind in the wilderness, and if lucky could survive unscathed through the night. If unlucky, they might end up in the mouth of a Star Beast.

The pilot’s face showed hesitation, clearly not a hard-hearted person.

The girl pleaded, ”Big brother, please, just wait a bit longer.”

None of the other passengers on the airship spoke up.

Seeing this, the pilot clenched his teeth and said, ”I’ll wait 5 more minutes, after 5 minutes, whether or not people have caught up, we have to leave.”

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

...

Time, in the girl’s heart, felt like an eternity.

Suddenly, several disheveled figures appeared in the distance. Seeing that the airship was still there, they showed ecstatic expressions and sprinted towards the airship.

Ji You looked up and saw about 4 or 5 people, among whom was possibly the girl’s father. Her heart slightly relaxed.

Immediately following—

The people rolled and crawled up onto the airship.

”Quick!”

”Let’s go!”

”A group of Red-haired Larks are chasing after us!”

The moment these people boarded the airship, without even finding seats to sit down, they hurriedly urged.

”What?” The pilot heard this, his face changed, and he immediately started the airship, ready to escape.

The girl watched as the figures boarded the airship, but—no more figures appeared afterward. Before the joyful expression on her face faded, it instantly turned pale. She almost burst into tears and asked, ”Uncle Zhang, where is my dad?”

”...Yaya, you... your dad is gone.” The strong man surnamed Zhang said with a heavy tone.

”Dad!!!” Upon hearing this, the girl screamed desperately, tears rolling out like a dam had broken...

Ji You could neither bear to watch any longer nor listen. She put on noise-canceling equipment and then lay down in the cabin.

Hearing that a group of Red-haired Larks was chasing them, no matter how much the girl pleaded, the pilot dared not linger any longer. He immediately drove the airship, swiftly leaving the West District wilderness.

Soon—

The airship landed in the sanctuary. Passengers disembarked one after another. Before leaving, Ji You lifted her eyes and looked ahead, the girl named Yaya had already fainted from crying...

Ji You felt as if her throat was blocked, very uncomfortable, and couldn’t help but sigh softly.

”Ah~”

At this time, only a few passengers remained on the airship. The girl’s seat was three away from Ji You. As Ji You stood up to leave, she stealthily slipped the Iron Pear Wood she collected today into the girl’s hand without drawing anyone else’s attention and then left silently.

Not far away, Ryan unexpectedly witnessed Ji You’s actions, and a ripple flickered through his calm, lake-like black eyes.

...

After disembarking from the airship, Ji You still felt very depressed.

Whether you accept it or not, reality is just that cruel.

Perhaps, the Beast Tide is about to strike, and she might be the next one to lose her life.

So—

She must enhance her strength.

As soon as possible!

As quickly as possible!

Ji You silently swore to herself.

Since her arrival, survival has been very hard, but as long as she didn’t act recklessly, her life was free from worry. But now knowing that her life might not be secure, Ji You truly realized the importance of having great strength.

She needed to become stronger!

Strong enough to protect herself and her loved ones—

Beside her, Lea sighed lightly, ”You, for safety, let’s not go out into the wild anymore.” Even if they had to, it would have to wait until the Star Beast disturbances settled, otherwise, going out was courting death.

Ji You nodded, ”Yeah.”

Lea said, ”You, I discussed it with grandma, with the money earned yesterday, I plan to buy a set of training equipment. My Physical Strength is on the cusp between D and C grade, to see if it’s possible to break through to C grade.”

After pausing for a few seconds, Lea looked at Ji You and said softly, ”You, don’t waste your money either, buy a set like I am.”

Ji You: ”I know.”

In fact, she had this intention too. She had wanted to buy training equipment to improve her strength before, but whether it was gravity training equipment or other training gear, the prices were unaffordable for someone as poor as Ji You.

Finally, she had earned some money, only to squander it on those seemingly useless Iron Plates.

This matter, Ji You didn’t even dare to mention to Lea, Ryan, and others.

Ah!

Walking with heavy steps, Ji You returned home. Having returned, she didn’t clamor to buy expensive natural food, but silently took out a nutrient solution, opened it, and took a tasteless bite before turning on the Light Computer to watch the Alliance’s news broadcast.

After watching the news broadcast, Ji You let out a slight sigh of relief.

The situation was clearly not as severe as Ji You had imagined. The news only mentioned slight disturbances in the creatures of the Erathia Triangular Zone, and the Alliance had already dispatched troops to investigate. All the investigation results so far could not confirm if it was a sign of the Beast Tide’s arrival, requesting the public not to panic excessively.

Moreover, not only were the Star Beasts in the Erathia Triangular Zone acting up, several other places were also showing abnormalities...

The Beast Tide occurs once every hundred years, and for thousands of years, there have been virtually no exceptions.

There’s still ten years left.

But—

What made humanity feel very helpless was that every Beast Tide outbreak had almost no fixed location; it could erupt in sparsely populated Star Domains or in bustling and lively Star Domains, making it impossible for the government to deploy battles in advance or arrange for public evacuation to reduce unnecessary casualties.