First Interstellar Guide Chapter 88: Encountering Danger

Chapter 88: Encountering Danger

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Marshal Qin Xiao returned to his residence shortly after, pretending to be seriously ill, lying in bed for several days in a row. During his illness, he secluded himself from visitors, only allowing his most trusted housekeeper to take care of his daily life. The outward explanation was that he, being old, accidentally caught a cold in the rain, and was bedridden. In reality, he was using this time to secretly plan how to leave the capital star.

As a federal marshal, leaving directly with a warship would easily arouse suspicion from enemies. The best method was to blend in with the ordinary crowd, take an interstellar spaceship to leave the capital star first, and then transfer to other means of transportation after reaching a remote star system, heading to the Horologium Constellation.

Since Qin Xiao could help Yu Ran and Tang Ce fabricate identities, creating a false identity for himself was effortless. In a matter of days, his identity documents were ready — he was an ordinary fruit merchant, with a large farm in the Shepherd constellation, here to discuss business.

Word of the marshal’s illness prompted greetings from major legions. Lu Zexuan also sent a message, “Please take care, Marshal. If anything happens to you, we would be deeply saddened.”

This message was conveyed by Yu Ran.

Ranran was his only family in this world, with him being his grandfather, and Xie Chen, his aunt. If something happened to him, Ranran would surely be devastated. So, he had to be cautious this time, trying to bring back some important information alive.

Thinking of Yu Ran undercover in the Dark Night Organization made Qin Xiao’s heart ache. His beloved Ranran had suffered too much over the years. Now, unable to leave the capital star, let him personally verify the truth of the past.

As the supreme commander of the federation, he had to seek justice for his son and daughter-in-law, for the sacrifices of the Starlight Legion, and for the countless innocent sentinels treated as experimental subjects, to console their spirits.

***

In the blink of an eye, July arrived, and the marshal’s condition worsened, reportedly unable to get out of bed. The assistant secretary who stayed by Qin Xiao’s side to monitor him, seeing Qin Xiao age ten years in an instant, privately reported to Morvi, “Marshal seems to be in bad shape. He already had lung problems, and this cold has triggered severe pneumonia. His mental state is also not good, being in a daze most of the time, with less than five hours of clarity in a day.”

Morvi, alert, asked, “Really? He’s not faking it, is he?”

The assistant asserted, “No, I’ve seen him spitting blood these past few days. His most trusted housekeeper even shed tears secretly, wondering if preparations for his funeral should be made. His condition seems to be multiple organ failure, and there’s no treatment pod available unless he undergoes organ transplants.”

Morvi, rubbing his chin, pondered for a moment, saying, “If the old marshal stays at home, it won’t hinder our plans. That’s perfect. Keep an eye on him, and report any movements to me immediately.”

Unbeknownst to them, on the same day the secretary left Marshal Qin Xiao’s residence, the “seriously ill” Qin Xiao secretly changed into casual clothes, donned a large hat, and with a new identity card, secretly went to the capital star’s space station. He walked briskly, with a calm demeanor, showing no signs of being bedridden.

The space station was bustling with people, with soft mechanical sounds in the background, “Passengers traveling from the capital star to the Shepherd M11 planet, interstellar spaceship boarding will begin shortly. Please have your luggage ready and proceed to the security checkpoint.”

Qin Xiao blended into the crowd, queuing for a security check. As he passed through the security checkpoint, a familiar “beep” sounded, verifying his identity successfully. The staff handed Qin Xiao the verified boarding pass. Qin Xiao smiled, took it, and followed the crowd onto the interstellar passenger spaceship.

Meanwhile, back at the marshal’s residence, a body double disguised as Qin Xiao lay in his bedroom, emitting sounds of severe coughing. After several hours of interstellar flight, Qin Xiao arrived at the Shepherd constellation. This was the federation’s largest agricultural base, with farms and orchards everywhere, the air filled with the aroma of various fruits.

Qin Xiao used this as a transit point, purchasing an expensive high-speed interstellar shuttle as a businessman.

Shortly after, he piloted the shuttle to the location of the Red Spider in the Southern Triangle constellation. He was one of the highest-ranking guides, but the exact purpose of his journey to the target planet remained unknown. He couldn’t venture into the unknown alone; he needed assistance. And Tang Ce, secretly hidden by Ranran on the Red Spider planet, was his best bet.

***

At three o’clock in the afternoon on July 10th, Marshal Qin Xiao’s small spacecraft set sail for the Southern Triangle constellation. After setting the navigation, after traveling for some time in interstellar space, the radar suddenly detected unknown targets ahead, and there were many of them. The screen was filled with tiny dots, and Qin Xiao immediately ordered the spacecraft to hide, observing through a telescope.

A huge starship was hovering in space, bearing the emblem of the Federation Presidency. At this moment, the presidential starship was surrounded, fiercely bombarded by several star pirate warships adorned with strange wolf totems!

“Boom! Boom!”

Electromagnetic cannons exploded one after another, casting blinding flashes of light across the dark cosmos. The presidential guard was locked in fierce combat with the star pirates. Many warships were destroyed, and the debris of mechas mixed with blood floated in space, the battle was extremely fierce. However, obviously, there were too many star pirates, and the presidential guard was at a disadvantage.

Qin Xiao, watching this scene through the radar telescope, furrowed his brow tightly. His spacecraft was civilian and unarmed; for this reason, neither side in the melee noticed his presence.

President Harrison, surrounded by star pirates? It seemed that the Dark Night Organization intended to kill the real president, allowing the fake one to take Harrison’s place and win the election? This speculation sent shivers down Qin Xiao’s spine. Just as he was thinking about how to save the president, a massive black spider suddenly appeared behind the star pirates — the spirit body of Zhu Tianyi, head of the Federal Investigation Division.

At this moment, the black spider expanded into its complete form, massive and fierce. Its eight long legs swung in the air like sharp electromagnetic knives, slicing several star pirate warships into pieces in an instant!

— Cooperative combat with spirit bodies, Zhu Tianyi was risking his life to save people.

The sudden appearance of the giant spider threw the star pirates into chaos. Zhu Tianyi forcefully tore open a path from behind the star pirates. He broke through the pirate’s defensive circle with his combat ship, the black spider crouching over his ship, and the small combat ship flew to the side of the president’s starship in an instant.

At this moment, President Harrison, standing on the bridge, looked extremely grim. Although the presidential guard was professionally trained, they were no match for these reckless star pirates! These star pirates even activated self-destruct programs, using their ships as weapons to ram into them!

The guard suffered heavy casualties, and the protective shield of the starship was shattered by repeated collisions.

Seeing the starship tilting and about to fall, Harrison took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thinking he was about to perish.

At that moment, a familiar voice came through the communicator, “Mr. President, activate the escape pod quickly. I’ll catch you!”

…Was it Zhu Tianyi? Harrison’s eyes lit up suddenly and he hurriedly entered the escape pod, activating the emergency escape system. Just now, surrounded by star pirates, the escape pod was useless; once ejected, it would be instantly destroyed by their laser cannons. But now, with Zhu Tianyi coming to their aid, perhaps they still had a chance.

Harrison’s escape pod was forcefully ejected.

Zhu Tianyi piloted his ship, maneuvering swiftly in the air, accurately catching the falling escape pod! At almost the same time, his black spider suddenly spewed out countless white spider silk threads, which quickly formed into layers of spider webs above the president’s escape pod, creating a solid and thick defensive net.

“Boom!” A cannon shot towards them, but the defensive net spit out by the spider miraculously intercepted it. The cannon exploded in a dazzling blaze, burning down the defense net in an instant, but the escape pod was nowhere to be seen.

Among the star pirates, curses rang out, “Damn it! Chase them!”

Everyone knew that Zhu Tianyi was an S-level sentinel, and the spider web ability evolved from his spirit body could be used to capture people. Unexpectedly, the spider web spewed out instantly by the spider intercepted a pursuing cannon at a critical moment?!

The pursuit cannon was intercepted, Zhu Tianyi used the brief two seconds to accelerate his ship to the maximum speed, carrying the president’s escape pod like an arrow, flying into the dark cosmos.

Gradually, they left the star pirates behind. Only then did Zhu Tianyi open the top hatch and bring President Harrison inside. Looking at Zhu Tianyi’s pale face, Harrison immediately connected with Zhu Tianyi’s mind with mental tendrils.

Just now, to protect them from escaping, the spider body was bombarded by laser cannons, covered in injuries, even three legs were blown away. When the spirit body was injured, it would cause unbearable pain to the master. At this moment, Zhu Tianyi’s mental landscape, the cave, seemed to be crumbling.

But he still forced himself to say, “Mr. President, I’m sorry I’m late. The Investigation Division has their undercover agents. It took me a while to shake off Kroger and locate the place you sought help from.”

Harrison said seriously, “Stop talking. You focus on piloting the ship, I’ll treat you.”

Zhu Tianyi’s mental landscape was a vast underground cavern, deep and maze-like. Due to severe injuries, the black spider had also returned to the mental landscape. Harrison reached out with green tendrils, gently wrapping the spider, the soft light carrying a hint of warmth spread all over the spider’s body. At the same time, countless green tendrils stretched out in the cavern, supporting the crumbling structure.

The healing ability of an S+ guide was indeed powerful, and soon Zhu Tianyi’s mental landscape stabilized. Harrison sighed slightly in relief and said solemnly, “I never expected them to obtain my itinerary and collude with numerous star pirate groups to ambush us halfway! My guard was almost completely wiped out.”

Zhu Tianyi whispered, “Luckily, I found the undercover agents of the Investigation Division in advance. Before Kroger could act against me, I shook him off. Otherwise…”

Otherwise, the president would have perished in the depths of space, and Zhu Tianyi would have been killed or controlled. The two looked at each other, both with grim expressions.

Harrison said, “Where can we escape to? Those star pirates will surely hunt us down.”

Zhu Tianyi also didn’t know where he could take the president. He only had this one ship. If they were caught up by the star pirates, how could he contend with hundreds of desperados?

Just then, a small spacecraft appeared not far away. Its speed was not inferior to Zhu Tianyi’s ship, obviously the most expensive super-speed spacecraft among civilian ships, usually used for self-driving travel by the wealthy.

The spacecraft actively sent a communication request, verification information: Director Zhu, follow me.

Zhu Tianyi was taken aback and answered the call. A stranger’s face appeared on the dialogue screen. He had a long white beard, thick eyebrows, many black moles, and wrinkles on his face, looking like an ordinary old man — but his eyes were calm and sharp, extremely familiar.

Was it Marshal Qin Xiao? After serving as the head of the Investigation Division for so many years, Zhu Tianyi could recognize a person by his eyes alone. As he was still surprised, the other party said in a deep voice, “The star pirates won’t let you go. Follow me quickly. We’ll quantum leap to the Southern Triangle constellation.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his spacecraft disappeared instantly.

Ahead was precisely the point for quantum leap. Zhu Tianyi decisively followed —

Quantum leap could lead to several star systems. Zhu Tianyi chose the Southern Triangle constellation. As a result, shortly after the quantum leap, they were all swept into a massive cosmic wormhole!

The warship caught in the vortex of the wormhole was tossed about like a ship overturned by waves. Zhu Tianyi and Harrison almost vomited from the violent shaking. Seeing the marshal’s spacecraft also spiraling in the vortex of the wormhole not far ahead, Zhu Tianyi had to silently activate the protective shield.

It wasn’t until more than ten minutes later, with a loud noise, that they landed on a strange planet.

[Another human machine fell down again!]

[Is this also sent by Ranran?]

[He’s afraid we’ll be bored, so he sent many people to accompany us to play, right?]

[Ranran is really good to us.]

Three figures emerged from the spacecraft and warship, seeing a forest shrouded in red mist. Above their heads, there was a continuous buzzing sound. Those flying insects, why did they look a bit like spiders? Zhu Tianyi and Harrison looked at each other, both at a loss. What’s going on? Did the marshal already know about this place?

Marshal Qin Xiao ignored the two’s puzzled gazes, his face showing a complicated expression as he looked at the red mist forest ahead. Didn’t his Ranran spend three years alone here?

Author’s note:

The queen says: Ranran, it seems like Red Spider Star is becoming your stronghold 🙂