The Star Knight

Opal and Raymond opened a double room in the hotel. Opal connected the terminal to the local area network of the God of War galaxy. The construction of Liexing’s information website is not as developed as that of the Republic. As a result, the once-a-week magnetic storm restricts the Internet connection with the Star Alliance. There is a problem with the signal transmission, and the two young and strong mercenaries are supporting their families, and there are very few dead houses.

But during the rest day of the magnetic storm, the number of people increased dramatically. The mercenary forum was noisy, and the entertainment hall was full of people playing virtual games.Inside the ring light screen is a blue cosmic star map. Opal participated in a simulated Star Wars, driving a spaceship to rush back and forth.

The scoreboard jumped rapidly, the sound of radio waves rustled, and a strange voice shouted: "Wrench! You're fucking cheating!"

Opal shouted "Yo He", and manipulated the small fighter to land on the Republic's star system mothership, circled around, and dense light bombs flew behind him, sinking his fighter.

"Wrench!" Opal said angrily, "You attacked me!"

"Little Oou—" Lily said with a smile, "I recognize you, this time it's me—"

A slightly familiar voice said: "Everyone stand firm."——It was Rosen's voice.

Opal screamed: "No way! You bully recruits!"

"What recruits!" The man said sharply, "Hurry up and line up, and get ready to join the battle!"

Opal suddenly recognized the voice of the instructor Gray Wolf, and immediately said, "I'll get someone to help!"

Opal put away the light screen and said, "Raymond, come to participate in the imperial war."

Raymond lay on the bed with his legs crossed, his feet in white socks moved, and he rested his arms on his pillow, saying, "Don't play, you can play by yourself."

Opal said: "What are you thinking about? About Sid?"

Lei Meng was noncommittal, squinting his eyes. Opal rolled over and got off the bed, and wanted to go over to say something. Lei Meng raised his leg and gave him a kick, gently kicked him back on the bed, and said, "Play your empire war."

Opal had no choice but to continue playing his video games. In the virtual world, there was no distinction between big and small. The mercenaries chose their camp and divided into two teams. One team invaded the territory of the Republic, and the other team defended it.

This virtual game is a global Internet platform technology bought back by Azeroth with a huge sum of money. From S-level mercenaries to restaurant owners, everyone can participate. Different people can play different roles in it.

"What are you thinking about!" Gray Wolf's voice said loudly through the communicator: "Be serious! Don't be distracted! Give Rosen some color!"

The leader of the attacking side is Gray Wolf, while the leader of the defensive side is Rosen. There are more and more people, and tens of millions of people have joined the entire interstellar battlefield. After talking with the temporary team members, Opal discovered that Gray Wolf and Luo Sen Sen turned out to be S-rank mercenaries!

The peak of the pyramid in the country of mercenaries, the left-behind members of the six S-level superpowers under Azeroth—the strength of these two people should not be underestimated.Gray Wolf's command tactics were simply amazing, and it was Opal's first time participating in a starship battle. Small warships were arranged overwhelmingly, and the formation changed rapidly.

Opal was not on guard and was defeated again. This time, he did not rush to join the battlefield, but chose the ghost mode, overlooking the entire U star offensive and defensive battle from the observation tower.Gray wolf's command is like an art in the dark universe, while the space magnetic defense array built by the six planets is Rosen's hero stage.Tens of thousands of soldiers participated in the battle and then disappeared in an instant and turned into dust in space. There is a heavy feeling of life and death, and the vastness of the world.

The battle fell into a stalemate, and Opal felt dizzy watching it. He temporarily went offline and turned off the LAN, and Raymond was still lying on the bed and sleeping.

"Hello." Opal went to lie down next to Lei Meng. Lei Meng opened his eyes and saw that the screen was off, so he didn't chase him away. The two lay side by side. Opal said, "What do you want to eat? I'm going to buy food."

Raymond said: "Whatever, I plan to take Sid's task."

Opal asked in surprise, "What made you change your mind?"

Raymond said absent-mindedly, "Let's try it. If it doesn't work, you won't lose anything, right? Let's go to the union for arbitration first, and then apply for the employer's special entrustment, so that Sid can add a clause with no risk of breach of contract."

Opal said: "Okay."

Raymond nodded, and Opal said, "I'll tell him now."

Lei Meng hurriedly got up and said, "No, wait a moment, we have to make thorough preparations."

Opal went to buy food, and when he came back, Raymond turned on the Internet and began to collect information about the M97 nebula.

Mercenary Star is not the planet with the most timely and abundant information in the Star Alliance, but it is the place with the most practical information. For tens of thousands of years, there are too many places in the universe that have left footprints of mercenaries. Where is there danger? What places can be cut short, and where can't be approached, these are the information exchanged for blood from the edge of life and death.

Opal and Raymond huddled side by side on the bed while eating and watching. The information on the periphery of the nebula is dazzling. There are three living planets, followed by tens of millions of stars and asteroids. Each star is completely different. , The planet is also full of strange things, nitro, methane, heavy water, uranium, radium, and molecular variants and compounds between various elements fill the entire screen.

"This is not where we are going," Opal said.

Raymond: "I know, go to the center again."

There are two dark areas in the swirling M97 nebula. Opal pushed the touch light screen away with his fingers, pulled another photo, and said: "This is an unknown place, the dark field, and the nearest star gate is [-] miles away from here." A hundred astronomical units."

The two looked at it for a while, and in the powdery nebula, one of the dark spots led to a red line, and the note was "unknown composition".

Opal said: "It's strange, why did you build the Star Gate here?"

Raymond thought for a while and said, "Who knows? Maybe the empire once had a land reclamation plan, and it was temporarily put on hold because of something... What do you think is inside?"

Opal said: "I can't say for sure, it may be a black hole, or a few neutron stars... or it may be a mass of expanding gas... or nothing at all."

"Guess." Lei Meng said leisurely, he got up to pour the coffee in the pot: "Guess anything."

"I hope it's not a black hole." Opal stared at the darkness and murmured: "We need all the information we can find about this area, including the surrounding living planets, the history of the construction and development of the Starfield Gate, and the electric sparks. The delivery list of the courier company...includes what goods they deliver, as well as the origin and identity of the customer."

"Let's split up." Raymond said: "I'll go to that kid and ask, and go to the Republic once if necessary."

The relationship between Star Alliance member countries is very complicated. In theory, as long as the country they belong to is registered with the Star Alliance and becomes one of the member states, the identity card can pass without hindrance.

The nationality system before the Guang Era has been abolished, and the star registration on the identity card only represents the planet of birth and household registration.The relationship between the country of mercenaries, the republic, and the empire has changed in recent years. The two have been together for a long time. Raymond first went to the trade union to issue a certificate, while Opal went to the information center to inquire about all the content about M97.

After the day of the magnetic storm passed, Opal found out the list of mercenary groups that had been there to perform missions in the past, and learned about the situation one by one, while Raymond drove the spaceship to the Republic.After two full days of preparation, we finally met in the lobby of Sunshine City.

When Sid heard their plan, he just nodded gratefully, said nothing, and went to change the content of the commission—a special commission, the target was the Smoke and Sword Mercenary Group. associated.This is the anti-cheating mechanism of the country of mercenaries. In order to avoid entrustment by acquaintances, use money to help the mercenary group advance quickly.

The task has been adjusted to suit their E-level mercenary group, the monetary reward remains unchanged at 25 credits, and the union draws 20% to 240.Scoring is 118 individual points and [-] team points.

Lei Meng closed the mercenary diary and said, "Go and sort out the news first, and set off this afternoon."

Sid said, "I'll go with you."

Opal and Raymond immediately said in unison: "No!"

Opal: "We have no ability to protect you."

Raymond: "Don't make trouble."

Sid said: "But I have been there for nearly two cosmic years. I have searched many areas, and these are marked on the star map of my spaceship. Let me follow, and I can know the way."

Opal said: "Give us the star map, you can't..."

Sid insisted: "I won't get in your way! I can recognize my dad, so you can at least let me see, okay? I can do the logistics for you, fly the spaceship, I have my spacesuit for you, you Do not buy any more!"

Opal was really overwhelmed by him, the three of them discussed at the door for a while, and finally Raymond could only say: "You must swear that you will stay on the spaceship at all times, and you cannot come out without our permission."

On the tarmac, Sid moved out the living materials he could use, including some weapons, and after Raymond screened them, he moved the useful ones onto the Times-VI.

"Sid!" On the side of the tarmac, Xun drove over.

"Quick!" Sid laughed.

Xun: "Anyone picked it up? I packed my luggage, why are you two?"

Opal: "..."

Xun said: "Forget it, let's go." He picked up a bag and walked towards the spaceship. Opal immediately blew up and said, "Hey! Did you make a mistake!"

Xun said: "I promised Sid to help him find his father! What do you want to do? I don't want to go on a mission with you two trash!"

Opal: "Who wants to go on a mission with someone! Last time someone was beaten all over the ground by trash! This is my spaceship! Hey! Don't touch it! Warning!"

Sid said: "Xun, wait, thank you."

Opal unceremoniously picked up Sid's collar, dragged him over, pressed him against the rear hatch of the spaceship, and said, "I don't care what you promised him, I will send him away immediately, go now!"

Opal got into the spaceship, outside was Xun's loud questioning and Sid's soft explanation. Xun has always been very aggressive, and both Opal and Raymond didn't like him.Sid was scolded bloody, and the voices of the two gradually drifted apart.

Raymond shook his head and smiled, and after waiting for a while, Sid came in, closed the door of the spaceship, with a half-smile on his lips, and Opal steered the spaceship to set off.

"Exchange information." Opal said, "What conclusion have you reached?"

Raymond said: "There is nothing unusual about the Spark Express Company. It is a very common private industry. The express customer of this order is a man in his 200s named Ya Sui. He wants to send a suitcase to M97 In the depths of the nebula, the black ant planet on the spiral arm goes up. According to the backup of the courier list, it contains a plant growth agent."

Opal asked, "How did you get this news?"

Raymond: "I inquired based on the contact provided by Sid. There are his father's former colleagues on Planet Gray City."

Sid nodded and said, "As far as I know, that's the case."

Opal said: "You just went for a stroll to see the scenery!"

Raymond said: "I even brought you special products! Don't forget it!"

Opal hurriedly said, "Take it out and let me see."

Raymond took out a pack of Gray City Star's special products from his backpack—it was a tart made of gray fruit. Sid smiled and said, "This tastes very good, and there are a lot of this kind of fruit grown in my hometown."

Opal didn't talk about him anymore, the three of them made tea and began to eat gray fruit sandwich pies. Lei Meng said again: "On the surface, it looks like a very ordinary express order. Go to the Black Ant Planet to plant plants. If it is so... ..."

Opal interrupted: "What if the inside story is unusual?"

Raymond said: "Then we have to go...to investigate on the Black Ant Planet."

Raymond's eyes were clear, and Opal understood almost at the same time.This is actually an accident, the cause is very common, and the accident is also very common, even if you try your best, you can't think of any special loopholes.

But neither of them said anything, so as not to make Sid think again, this is a very cruel thing.

After a brief awkward silence, Opal said: "I asked a few mercenaries who were on missions over there in the past. There are several people who have been there, and they said that there are three living planets there, none of which are inhabited by humans. There are many strange life forms living in this place, among them there are strange bugs on a planet with biological jets on their buttocks... They can leave the atmosphere and fly in space. They once attacked two other planets, and were later killed by these two planets. The monsters were defeated separately... Forgive me, I have always had a headache with history."

Raymond said: "This is almost the same information as Sid provided, you just invited the veterans to drink and chat!"

Opal said: "If you insist on thinking so, I have no objection."

Raymond: "..."

In other words, the two of them worked for a long time in vain and did not come up with any meaningful information at all.So everyone went on eating the pie, and didn't mention it.

"Oh, that's right." Opal remembered something again, squinted his eyes and said, "I applied to retrieve all the open commission materials, and one of them was also commissioned in the M97 Nebula."

Raymond moved his eyebrows, meaning: so?

Opal said: "This person's level and content have been canceled in the union, and his name is a question mark: '?'."

Raymond: "Is this strange? If he died in battle or stopped being a mercenary..."

Opal: "No, even if the victim is canceled, the name is still there. After leaving the union, the name and deeds can also be kept."

Raymond: "Suppose this person gets a new job and doesn't want his identity information to be found out, he can also choose to hide his name..."

Opal: "If you apply to hide it yourself, then the column of the person's name will display 'unable to view' instead of a question mark."

Raymond: "..."

Opal: "It feels like a reasoning game?"

Raymond: "That's enough, what exactly do you want to express?"

Opal shrugged and said: "It's just that I feel a little strange. I continued to search along the relevant content of the question mark person, and found that there is a page. In the optical brain content of the union database, I can find this guy with the name of the question mark. All tasks."

Lei Meng narrowed his eyes slightly, and began to notice something strange, and said, "Then in the commission he took over, his name was also a question mark? Shouldn't it be said that his name is a question mark?"

"No." Opal looked into Lei Meng's eyes and murmured: "All the missions about him have been deleted, not hidden, but completely deleted. The exploration content of M97 Nebula is no longer in the entrusted record, it is just made by He proposed to share a separate piece of information so that the younger generation of mercenaries can know more information."

Raymond asked a question: "When did that happen?"

Opal said: "The entry was written many years ago. I read the sorting of the storage, and the number of years is at least in the order of thousands. The administrator of the database also told me a very interesting thing. This The question mark person was changed by Azeroth himself."

Raymond: "So, how does Azeroth explain this?"

Opal: "There is no explanation, he has no time to meet me at all."

Lei Meng pondered for a moment, and then said: "I don't think it has anything to do with our entrustment."

Opal echoed: "At best, I can dig out some gossip about Azeroth... Forget it, I really have too much time."

Sid said: "I think, maybe it has something to do with it. Well, that's a kind of intuition."

Opal and Raymond looked at Sid.

"When adults talk, children don't interrupt." Opal said with no expression on his face.

"Sid is older than you." Raymond said casually, "Let's play bouncy pool."

After a short voyage of several days, they passed through the star gate of the M97 nebula and arrived at the beginning of the incident. During this time, Era-VI will continue to move forward along the trajectory of the previous transport ship.

Just by looking at the outside, it is impossible to find that there has been an explosion here. A star exuding red flames erupted with majestic light and heat in the darkness. This is a red giant star—a certain expansion form of a star on the way to destruction. .

The hot wind blows and disperses into the icy cosmic space, and thousands of ice crystals gather towards the stars in the space.

"Don't get too close." Raymond said, "You will be sucked in. I want to live a long life."

Opal glanced at the gravitational range: "It's still far away, safe."

Among the five display screens of the spaceship, hundreds of progress bars kept jumping, showing the detection energy of nearby elements, and the cabin was filled with red light.

They proceeded along the trajectory that the transport ship had traveled at that time. This was the plan proposed by Raymond. Sid had followed it several times, but with the thinking of Opal and Raymond, they still had to walk once.For seven days in a row, the two took turns on duty, sometimes sitting in front of the console with a cup of coffee in hand to watch the starry sky outside.

Sid was very tired and slept in the bedroom, while Opal and Raymond sat in front of the console and chatted casually.

"It's boring." Raymond drank a cup of coffee and stared outside the cabin.

Opal murmured: "I think it's okay, such a beautiful starry sky, no matter how you look at it, you won't get tired of it."

The two sat quietly, Opal asked: "Hey, dear, why did you help him?"

Raymond said: "You are enough, don't be so disgusting, we have only known each other for a few weeks."

Opal smiled, and Raymond said: "It's a little touched, he is quite pitiful, Azeroth reminds you not to forget the feelings of being a mercenary."

Opal said: "Is there any touch, you also have such a father?"

Raymond ignored Opal.

Opal adjusted his sitting posture, half lying on the swivel chair in front of the console, and closed his eyes.

Raymond: "Go inside and sleep."

Opal said: "I'm just meditating, don't interrupt me."

Opal's spiritual power spread out like a gentle ray of light, extending towards the vast and unknown starry sky, and the wind blowing from the distant red giant star spread to hundreds of light-years.It is huge, gentle, like a king occupying all places in view.

This king is in his twilight, and in tens of millions or hundreds of millions of years, one day in the future, it may collapse into a black hole, or burn out its own light and heat, gradually cool down, and become an icy star. Death Star.

Opal's spiritual world is going against the wind, and in the vast universe, it seems to be watching him quietly.

[Humans, what are you doing here? 】A loud voice sounded in my mind.

Opal: "!!!"

Opal's consciousness is like a small light in the majestic particle wind, he feels that this red giant star is talking to him!The surrounding planets are looking at him, the red giant star is like a king on the throne, surrounded by subjects composed of thousands of galaxies, looking down on him from a high position.

"I, I...are you talking to me?" Opal was stunned for a moment.

There was silence all around, and there was still only the magnificent and boundless stellar electromagnetic wind, which penetrated all his consciousness like a torrent.

After an unknown amount of time, Opal stammered, "Are you talking to me? Can we communicate?"

Rector said that stars have their own souls and thoughts, but they never communicate with lower creatures. Opal was very at a loss, and said: "I am a mercenary, I... come here to find someone, No, a missing transport ship... your name seems to be..."

Opal thought of the labels on the star map, and thought that those are the names given to them by humans. How could a huge star comparable in size to the entire God of War galaxy care about it?

"Have you seen that spaceship?" Opal finally asked after summarizing the matter.

He waited for a long, long time, until he almost thought that the question just now was an illusion, and felt many magnificent winds blowing between the stars, every inch of space was filled with atomic-like glowing electromagnetic particles.

Are the planets communicating?Is this their consciousness? !

[Your first question. ] The voice sounded again.

Opal didn't know why, but suddenly noticed a certain star in the distance, and his vision was concentrated there in just one second.

[And here. 】

Opal's gaze shifted again, to a dark place in the M97 nebula. The next moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and woke up.

Ramon interrupted his meditation with the slightest gesture of throwing a blanket over him.

"What are you doing!" Opal yelled at him angrily.

Raymond asked, "Are you crazy?"

Opal ignored him, closed his eyes, and entered into meditation again, but this time his field of vision was completely different, the red giant star still radiated light, and the boundless dark red silky particle wind was no longer visible.

Opal disperses his spirit several times, but no matter how hard he tries, the red giant star no longer responds in the slightest.

"Hey, talk about it." Opal shouted in his mind, "There was a little accident just now."

Opal: "Let me sing a song for you. Can you play table tennis? Have you seen The Wandering Pig and Bear? Now there is a second generation!"

Opal: "Do you know a man named Rector?"

After returning in vain, Opal opened his eyes, and the culprit, Raymond, was still drinking coffee leisurely.

The appearance of that star was still in Opal's mind. He spun the swivel chair, opened the star map, called up the surrounding galaxies, and moved the star map up and down with both hands.

Raymond: "?"

Opal turned his head to look out the porthole, and adjusted the angle of the spaceship. The spaceship was tilted at [-] degrees. In fact, in a place without gravity, the effect is the same no matter whether it is head-up or tail-up. The only difference is that the nebula disk in the distance looks like Horizontally, or vertically.

He adjusted the era-VI to a suitable angle according to the star map, and marked it on the star map while looking out the window.

"What's wrong?" Raymond asked.

Opal looked at the star map suspiciously, it was a star - it is impossible to go into the star, what does the red giant mean?

Raymond said: "Is this the enlightenment of your meditation?"

Opal said: "Yes."

Raymond laughed, and Opal said, "Is this funny?"

Raymond said: "I heard that the Holy See of the Empire also used this method to solve problems. The Pope closed his eyes and meditated for a few minutes, and then the entire galaxy was different because of God's revelation..."

Opal said: "This is what the planets told me."

As soon as he said this, he realized that it was wrong. It seemed that what he said was too strange, and Raymond would probably not believe it.

Raymond did not take it seriously, the two looked at the star map together, Opal scratched his neck in doubt, where?After getting close to the star, it will only be sent to death. Even if it is not burned to death, it will be pulled in by gravity... He noticed the planets around this star system, and one of the planets was named: Black Ant.

Mark as follows:

[Situation: Safe. 】

[Advanced intelligent creatures: Evolved from arthropods, with certain intelligence and hospitality. ] Opal vaguely understands something. Sid's father's spaceship has something to do with this planet? !Maybe it crash-landed on Black Ant Planet?

Raymond: "Safe and hospitable."

Opal said: "Don't believe the above evaluation, for the owner of the star map... I think his so-called 'safety' does not mean our safety."

Lei Mengwei was a little puzzled and asked: "The owner of the star map is very strong?"

Opal replied: "Well, very strong..."

Rector is indeed very strong, but Opal seems to have vaguely thought of something... Is this marked by Rector?Has he been here before?The owner of this star map...

Lei Meng called out the densely packed small characters below, and said, "Look."

This voyage diary is brief but striking:

[This planet is not marked in the space system of the Star Alliance. Intelligent life is in the form of ants, which is very rare.Like a laboratory abandoned by its creator.I named it "Black Ant". 】The name of Black Ant Star was actually named by Rector? !Although Opal has become accustomed to Rector's profound knowledge and insight, he still couldn't help but be deeply shocked when he read this note.

He is following the footsteps of Rector, exploring step by step in the vast universe, just thinking that the teacher has also been to this planet, there is an indescribable passion and excitement in his heart.

Immediately afterwards, a basin of cold water quenched his excitement.

"Sid? Are you there?" - Xun's voice came from the spacecraft's loudspeaker communicator.

The corner of Opal's mouth twitched slightly, and Raymond spilled coffee all over his hand.

Opal: "..."

Raymond: "..."

"Yes! Yes!" Sid woke up, ran out of the control room, and shouted: "Xun! Are you here?"

"I'm right behind your spaceship!" Xun said, "I plan to go out to space to see!"

Sid said: "You can use the spare spacesuit in my spaceship, will you use it?"

Xun said: "Yes! I'm going out now."

Sid said: "You set up the positioning and following system, remember to fix the magnetic force field on the spaceship cabin..."

"Sid! Tell me first!" Opal roared, "What's going on!"