"Skinny Monkey, am I seeing things? That ship, Determination, is gone!" Qi Bao shouted inside the Vengeful Ghost.

"Boss... I think... it’s gone," Skinny Monkey stammered, unsure of his answer.

"Stop hesitating! You’re the science officer. Explain this! What’s going on?" Qi Bao grabbed a pirate standing nearby and pointed to the empty space where the Determination had been, his anger clear.

The pirate paused and said, "Boss, the Determination must have jumped faster than light. It moved in place. I don’t know how, but that’s what happened."

Qi Bao stared at the Vengeful Ghost’s six main cannons, firing powerful energy beams into deep space. The beams vanished into the distance. He slumped into the command chair, feeling defeated.

After a moment, Qi Bao gritted his teeth and ordered, "Send a report to headquarters. Tell them that this guy, Gong Feng, broke the Win-Win Agreement. He will be the first on the blacklist. If any pirate group sees him in the Nebula, they’ll shoot him on sight."

Gong Feng had no idea that he had just become the enemy of all pirates in the Nebula.

In low Earth orbit around Bibo Star, a wave of energy appeared. A dark blue star gate opened, and a worn-out triangular ship slowly emerged. As the ship passed through, the star gate turned into countless light points and disappeared.

The space artillery in low Earth orbit immediately locked onto the strange ship. Any signs of hostility would lead to its immediate destruction. A destroyer from the 7th Fleet of the Kabas Empire’s Muhua star system approached, prepared to intimidate the ship.

Yefu Ichimura was the captain of the Peace, a destroyer. His job was to patrol space around Bibo Star, ensuring that pirates, criminals, rebels, and extremists didn’t attack the planet.

This was an easy task. As part of the local defense fleet, they rarely faced large-scale threats. Most of the time, it was just small skirmishes. Everything was calm.

The Muhua star system bordered the Pirate Nebula and had a diameter of 430,000 light-years. Bibo Star was 200,000 light-years away from the Nebula, so pirates rarely came this far.

Earlier that day, the Peace received a distress signal. It came from civilians who said they were being attacked by pirates. Yefu Ichimura was startled. He thought pirates had come near Bibo Star to raid. This was serious. If pirates attacked a life-bearing planet, the officer on duty would face severe punishment.

Ichimura quickly ordered the navigation officer to locate the signal. It turned out that the signal came from the Core 32B asteroid belt in the Pirate Nebula. Ichimura almost laughed. He didn’t want to deal with Nebula issues. It wasn’t his responsibility. He ordered the signal to be recorded for later reference, just in case someone asked about it.

After that, Ichimura relaxed and sat back in his chair. Less than a minute later, the ship’s alarm sounded. The radar detected an unknown ship in Bibo Star’s low Earth orbit.

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This surprised Yefu Ichimura.

Faster-than-light engines work by tearing a hole in space and creating a star gate. This allows ships to travel faster than light. However, the star gate is affected by the planet’s gravity, which could cause it to collapse.

When humans first discovered faster-than-light travel, they didn’t understand this risk. Ships that tried to jump near a planet were destroyed. After many tests, scientists discovered that a planet’s gravity affects the gate’s stability.

Since then, no one dared to open a star gate near a planet. No one had ever successfully done so.

"Damn it! How did that junk ship do it?" Ichimura stared at the triangular ship in Bibo Star’s low Earth orbit and ordered the Peace to approach.

The communication request beeped, waking Gong Feng from his thoughts.

When Qi Bao’s Vengeful Ghost fired at the Determination, Gong Feng thought he was going to die. He feared being turned into cosmic dust.

Just as the six energy beams were about to hit, the golden energy core of the ship extended threads to the old faster-than-light engine. Data flickered.

A miracle happened. The old engine opened the star gate without acceleration, and the Determination disappeared in an instant.

Gong Feng was disoriented by the flashing lights of hyperspace.

The communication went through, and Gong Feng saw a lieutenant from the Kabas Empire in a gray uniform.

"I am Captain Yefu Ichimura of the 7th Defense Fleet of the Muhua star system. You have entered Bibo Star’s low Earth orbit. State your identity, or we will shoot you down," Ichimura said firmly. This was standard procedure: introduce yourself, ask for the other person’s identity, to avoid mistakes.

Gong Feng quickly replied, "My name is Gong Feng, identity code CT2438GF2019941001, ship registration number JX5215223."

"Captain, he’s an Empire citizen from the capital star Chuan Tuo. The ship is registered as the Determination. The records show it just came back from the Pirate Nebula," the information officer Lana reported.

"Ah, an Empire citizen. Just another young fool chasing after fortune. He probably thought it was a good idea to jump near a planet. He’s lucky he didn’t get destroyed. Lower the alert. Continue the patrol. Don’t worry about him anymore," Ichimura ordered.

He wasn’t interested in dealing with pirates. The Empire had many greedy people trying their luck in the Nebula. Ichimura didn’t have a high opinion of them and even suspected some might be in league with pirates. He’d heard of the Win-Win Agreement and didn’t want to waste time on reckless adventurers.

After Gong Feng reported his information, he hoped to get help from the military. But to his surprise, the lieutenant quickly ended the communication, and the destroyer left.

"Unbelievable! They just left like that! And my sister’s in the military. She didn’t even ask if I needed help..." Gong Feng muttered, beginning to accept the reality of his situation.

He suddenly noticed the Platonic icosahedron crystal on the control panel. Gong Feng felt confused. He shook his head and looked again. It was still there, exactly where he had placed it.

"Hey, what are you? Speak to me!" Gong Feng shouted at the crystal.

"Captain, that’s just a crystal geometric shape. It doesn’t talk," the ship’s AI suddenly responded.

Gong Feng thought the AI sounded strange, different from before. But he decided to deal with that later. The more immediate problem was survival. When he realized the faster-than-light engine was completely destroyed, he winced. It was the most expensive part of the ship.

The Determination was badly damaged. The Vengeful Ghost’s cannonballs had destroyed part of the ship, and many systems and sensors were broken. The smell of burnt components still lingered.

Now, the ship could only stay in low Earth orbit, similar to a basic space station.

Looking out the window, Gong Feng saw a beautiful blue planet floating peacefully in space. He thought, "Bibo Star is nice. I didn’t expect the Determination to bring me here. It’s strange. There doesn’t seem to be anything special about it. But now it works for me. I can get help from my sister who’s stationed here."