The Highest Bounty - Chapter 158

Chapter 158: Biggie Has Awakened

Less than an hour after leaving Great Divinity, Neptune anchored Golden Eagle at the nearest administrative planet.

Bart and the other Interstellar Pirates poured out of Golden Eagle in utter disarray. Many at the harbor thought they were criminal escapees running from the Golden Eagle.

Robert spent only a few minutes on painting portions of the white spaceship into a gold color. The entire ship looked quite modern being interspersed with white and gold; the Army’s logo had been completely painted over.

Neptune wiped off the Army’s serial number easily. The whole process took less than five seconds.

When Bart and the others noticed Robert painting the spaceship, they realized that this little robot, who was only half a meter tall, was the mechanic on Gu Ding’s ship.

The process of painting the ship required special treatment of the metal on the spaceship’s surface by reconfiguring the atomic structure of the metal to obtain the desired effect. Only a professional mechanic would be able to conduct a painting job such as this. However, Golden Eagle was a large spaceship and it would take several mechanics a few hours to finish the job. Despite this, Bart witnessed Robert use less than a few minutes to finish more than 60% of the paint job. He grew envious of Gu Ding again. How wonderful it must be to have such a capable crew member.

The Golden Eagle only stayed at the harbor for a few minutes. When the paint job was done, it left the harbor.

“Bart, it looks like your place as the Newcomer King won’t last much longer,” An Luo made an unwelcome appearance and patted Bart on the shoulder. He had always been a friendly person.

Bart glared at him but did not retort. He knew that the bounty of their groups of pirates would immediately increase once Sharp and Emily returned to Army headquarters. Gu Ding’s increase would be the highest and there was no doubt it would overtake his. Bart had a feeling that once Gu Ding entered the Cosmic Sea, he would make big waves in that vast ocean in space.

Back on the Golden Eagle, Neptune’s analysis of Liliath’s blood results was completed.

“This poison is a new type of synthetic poison that has never been recorded in my databank, but according to my analysis, a major ingredient of the poison is human fluid. It must be that man’s special ability to convert his fluid into poison. Under such circumstances, only the poison antibodies in that man’s body would be able to cure Liliath. Another way to counter this is to harvest the antibodies from the body of someone who has the absolute immunity trait. However, there aren’t many who possess such a unique trait. The chances of finding this person are very slim.”

“I do have some good news though. This poison spreads slowly through the nerves in the brain. If the brain activity is lowered, it will slow down the spread of the poison. It would normally take around a week or so to spread throughout Lili’s brain, but if her brain activity is kept to a minimum, we will be able to keep Lili alive for much longer than that.”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to lower her brain activity?” Gu Ding voiced his worry.

Neptune was highly confident about this. “I was planning to use the simplest Quick Freeze technology. There is detailed information stored in my databank. In addition to that, with Robert’s high accuracy in execution, I don’t think there would be any issues. I’ve done a calculation and even if we choose to use the most basic Quick Freeze, we would able to extend Liliath’s lifespan to a month.”

“If that is the case, we should give it a try. One week is too short, and I’m worried it might not be enough time for us. Whatever trade the Dark Sectors is conducting, it doesn’t sound like anything good. Using Lili as a pawn means they are dealing with someone from Lili’s family. Since her parents are no longer around, whoever they are dealing with might not compromise over Lili. Besides, I can’t put Lili’s life in the hands of a bunch of strangers,” Gu Ding was not optimistic over the situation. The most reliable way was to rely on themselves to obtain an antidote for Lili.

“Also, is Biggie okay?” Gu Ding had been so fixated on Lilith that he had only just noticed Biggie lying unconscious on the cabin floor.

“He has suffered serious physical injury, but his body has not gone into a coma. I’ve scanned his body previously, and his wounds are rapidly healing. Even though it can’t compare to your High-Speed Regeneration, but it’s not too far off from your ability. He will probably awaken tonight.”

“If that’s the case, let him continue resting. Let’s take care of Lili’s situation first,” Gu Ding felt relieved to hear that Biggie was going to be okay.

He called Robert to the cabin and Neptune explained the plan to Quick Freeze Liliath. Robert agreed without asking any questions.

Robert quickly froze Liliath’s body in ice with the Quick Freeze ray under Gu Ding’s supervision. He had used less than half a minute to produce a golden box and proceeded to place the Liliath’s frozen body into it. There was a blooming flower from summertime printed on the surface of the golden box. There were also gorgeous looking tassels on it, which made the box look like an elegant art-piece.

“This insulation box will keep her frozen for at least thirty days as long as it does not leave the spaceship and get exposed to sunlight, or experience pressure from the outside or inside of the ice layer,” Robert explained after completing the process.

Gu Ding sat next to the golden box as he stared at it in a daze for a few hours. He stayed silent and it was difficult to figure out what was going through his mind.

In those few hours, the Golden Eagle went full speed ahead toward Tampa as instructed by Gu Ding.

“Biggie has awakened,” it was the first time Neptune had seen Gu Ding act this way. Neptune was slightly worried. It was lucky that Biggie woke up at this time, giving Neptune the chance to say something to Gu Ding.

“Okay.” all Gu Ding did was give a simple nod without much of any reaction.

Biggie slowly opened his eyes while lying on the ground. He was slightly disoriented from the unfamiliar environment, but he quickly realized in astonishment that he was in a spaceship. It was easy to tell from the spaceship’s interior that it was ten times the size of the Grey-faced Buzzard.

Biggie flipped over and sat up as he looked around him. He saw Gu Ding sitting on the sofa nearby.

Gu Ding gave him a slight nod. “You’re awake.”

“Did we manage to escape?!” Biggie was surprised. He knew that none of the pirates but himself was strong enough to go up against Sharp and Biggie. After Sharp had overpowered him, he lost consciousness and had no idea what happened after. Under the circumstances they had faced, Sharp would have the upper hand when he returned to the harbor. There should not be any obstacles in his way and all the pirates would have been arrested by the Army.

It was not a surprising question to Gu Ding as the chances of them making it out were slim. “Yup, we managed to escape!”

“Is this spaceship the Army’s Golden Eagle?” Biggie guessed that this must be the Army general’s Golden Eagle when he raised his head and noticed the height of the ceiling and the spaciousness of the main cabin.

“It’s ours from now on,” Gu Ding nodded and corrected him.

“We’re using the Army’s spaceship? That’s not a good thing, is it? Won’t we be hunted down by them?” Biggie was a little worried.

“I bought it from Sharp. Neptune has erased the serial number and Robert has made some adjustments to the ship’s surface. Besides, we’ve entered the Border River, so it won’t be easy for the Army to come after us.”

Biggie shook his head, which was still aching, after hearing Gu Ding’s words. He stood up and finally noticed Liliath sealed within the golden box placed in front of Gu Ding. He quickly ran toward it. “What happened to Lili?”

Gu Ding finally explained what had transpired whilst Biggie was unconscious. Neptune had even shown Biggie some video clips of their time on the battlefield.

Biggie lowered his head in worry at the frozen Liliath after watching the videos. “Is there any way to get an antidote?”

His question was obviously directed at Gu Ding.

“I’m looking for it. Nisoth had instructed me to head to Tampa. He said there might be someone there who could help Liliath. I’m planning to take a look there,” Gu Ding was quite optimistic as Nisoth was from the Holy Gospel Tribe and his divinations were rarely wrong. He was also the one who had informed Gu Ding that Liliath would not die.

“The prophecy of the Holy Gospel Tribe should be accurate, right? Nothing’s going to happen to Lili,” Biggie thought that Liliath was sure to be saved if the Holy Gospel Tribe had said so.

“I’ll check the fridge for some food. You haven’t eaten anything since this morning, right…”

…

The Great Divinity’s harbor was buzzing with activity the next morning. More than thirty Army spaceships had touched down.

This time, they were led by another general from the Army–Bruce. He was normally fond of making jokes, but today, he was unusually stern, only giving a few simple greetings to his old friends, Sharp and Emily. He would always hand out sarcastic jokes, but none were heard from him today.

Bruce recognized the severity of the situation. There were more than four thousand deaths within the Army, and it was preposterous that not even one Interstellar Pirate was arrested under the leadership of two generals. If other Cosmic Nations learned of this, it would be a major embarrassment to the Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation. Such a serious matter would also badly tarnish the reputation of Sharp, Emily, and the others.

Sharp, Emily, Nisoth, Walter, and the rest of the surviving Army members quickly boarded the spaceships.

More than thirty spaceships anchored for less than ten minutes before leaving in unison, heading back in the direction of the Army headquarters.