The Almighty Ring

The planet-sized ships took on different routes, patrolling all areas within the light barrier. As Jiang Fei had been pushed more than ten lightyears away, there was no way he could have seen this spectacle.

After expanding several lightyears away, the barrier stopped and stabilized. While there was not a single living soul inside the barrier, there were countless smaller ships.

These ships were different. Incredibly so. Unlike the previous ships, these new ones looked extremely fragile, as if they were made from the cheapest materials.

They were so poorly constructed that even the worst ship in the Trade Federation military force⁠—a Second-Class Patrol Cruiser⁠—could do more damage. At most, these new ships were only as good as the ships used by lowly space pirates.

If Jiang Fei had seen these ships come out from the same wormhole as the galactic-sized cube, he would wonder why a civilization would deploy such useless spacecrafts. The cube itself was more than enough to conquer all there was in this universe.

So why would they even bother to deploy such tiny crafts?

“Am I in? I’m in!”

“Haha! I’m so excited! I can’t believe it! I’ve been waiting for this for so long!”

“Gaaaahhh! This is awesome!”

“What should we do next? Are there any orders yet?”

“Not yet. Calm down. Just wait for the announcement.”

…

Communication between these ships seemed to be without mediation. There was no encryption of any kind, anyone could tap into their line and listen to every word. Even though they were using a language that Jiang Fei and 0541 had never heard, the two of them could still understand what the newcomers were saying.

Speech was but one of the common methods to transfer information. Even the cheapest universal translator could detect a person’s brainwaves and translate the aforementioned information into a comprehensible language.

“That’s odd. There’s no system order until now… you know what? I think I’m going to go for a spin.”

“Don’t you think that’s risky? There’s no defensive line here. What happens if you encounter an enemy?”

“If I get destroyed, I get destroyed. I can always redeem another one, since this ship was given out for free!”

“That’s true! When you put it that way, there is literally nothing to lose!”

…

At the same time, Jiang Fei was trying his best to enter the barrier, only to find himself failing at every attempt. He had been waiting there for far too long and had not discovered anything interesting.

Taking out his shuttle, he left the edge of the barrier. Right now, he needed to talk to someone, to discuss the nature of this incoming thing. Whatever it was, it was clear that there was a new civilization with mastery of technology that no one had ever seen.

For once, Jiang Fei had no idea what to do.

Just as he was about to pull the lever to activate warp jump, several small ships leaped out of hyperspace and appeared right next to his ship.

“Look! There’s something here!”

“Try shooting at it!”

“Hold on! This crappy ship’s auto-targeting system is so bad that I need five seconds to lock onto my target!”

…

As soon as they talked, all of their communications had been intercepted by 0541. There was no need for decryption. Everything was as open as if they were talking next to Jiang Fei.

Jiang Fei bellowed, “0541, now would be a great time to get us out of here!”

His shuttle didn’t have any weapons or armor. Even if those ships were as crappy as can be, a simple shot from its weakest weapon would tear a hole in Jiang Fei’s ship. Without a ship, no matter what sort of realization Jiang Fei came to about these invaders, he would never be able to travel to safety and would die right there.

“Diverting all powers to the impulse engine. Brace for acceleration, Captain!”

0541 recalled all power he had channeled into the warp core and diverted it into the main impulse engines and thrusters. With a loud burst, the shuttle accelerated to the fastest sublight speed a ship could reach in just 0.3 seconds. Such a speed was blazingly fast.

“Shoot! He’s running away!”

“Go after him!”

“Don’t joke around. Unless we know where he is going, there is no way we can chase him without warping.”

…

The last thing he heard before he vanished into the darkness of space was a disgruntled moan. Jiang Fei’s shuttle was just too fast for them to target. They did open fire but without a secure lock-on target, their beam weapons were only as accurate as firing a pea shooter in the middle of a storm.

“What the hell was that? Where did they come from?” said Jiang Fei, once he was sure that he was safe from the enemy.

“I am not entirely sure about that, but if there’s one thing I’m certain of… is the fact that they came out of the barrier,” replied 0541.

“From inside the barrier?”

Jiang Fei failed to comprehend that logic. If those ships belonged to a band of pirates or bandits, who were sneaking in during the chaos to rob smaller ships of their property, Jiang Fei could understand. Though, he still would not acknowledge such a random event happening to him.

However, to say that those ships belonged to the same people that sent the gargantuan cube was absurd.

“I need tangible proof! I need to go back! If you say those ships are from inside the barrier, then I shall capture one and question the pilot!”

Jiang Fei engaged manual control and turned the ship around.

…

“Huh?! It’s that guy! He’s coming back on his own!”

“Lock target and shoot him!”

The enemy’s communications, or rather, just blatant yelling, was heard as clear as day.

0541 received an alert and tried to warn Jiang Fei, “Captain, they are trying to target us!”

“Noted.”

Jiang Fei pulled the accelerator lever higher and zoomed in between the enemy ships. When he was literally in between their ships, he put his ship into the ring, leaving himself floating in the vacuum of space.

“Where did he go?!”

“Did he warp away?”

“I don’t think so… we would have heard it.”

“Gah… this stupid ship is so crappy that it can’t even calculate the enemy ship’s trajectory!”

0541 diligently relayed all communication between the enemies to Jiang Fei. As he listened, Jiang Fei tried his best not to reveal his presence. That being said, he would not have been detected even if he moved about.

Unless they were purposely trying to find him, it would be hard for even a powerful Hypercruiser to detect a single life form in the middle of space. Not impossible, but improbable.

Jiang Fei grunted. “Come on, show me who you are…”

The crease in the middle of his forehead slid open. Omnisurge was activated, and coupled with the Blackhole Core, Jiang Fei’s combat level surged beyond 9,000,000 in an instant.

Truth be told, it had been too long since Jiang Fei had been in a fight or participated in any form of training. Even so, his combat level was still climbing. Every time he was aggravated or agitated, his combat level would rise up and the effect was permanent.

“Alert. High energy presence detected!”

“Alert. High energy presence detected!”

Detecting Jiang Fei’s enormous surge of power, the ship’s alarm system went off like crazy. However, because of his size, the ship’s sensors were unable to accurately determine his position.

Jiang Fei burst forward like a torpedo and crashed violently into one of the ship’s sides. He drew his hot plasma blade and sliced open the hull, as easily as sliding a hot knife through butter.

The ship’s integrity was not strong and Jiang Fei imbuing the plasma blade with Origin Force was certainly overkill. Putting the blade away, he pried the hull open with his bare hands and crept inside.

“0541, break in! I want information!” ordered Jiang Fei.

“Aye, Captain.”

The ship was about ten times the size of Jiang Fei’s shuttle. It wasn’t small but it could not be considered large either. Leaving 0541 to hack into the ship’s system, Jiang Fei dashed to the bridge to apprehend the pilot.

“What of the ship, 0541? Have you seized control?” asked Jiang Fei when he was about one or two corridors away from the bridge.

0541 reported back with disappointing news, “Something is wrong… the ship’s system is something I have never seen before. It’s using technology that is different from what I know. I cannot break in!”