CH 171

I understood what Baron Sisse meant. Bulu was also too exhausted to further help us. If we were to encounter more of those four-dimensional toads, things probably wouldn't end as well for us.

"Since these two are here, does that mean that there is something worth protecting nearby?" asked Wind Spirit completely out of nowhere.

However, her words were akin to a bolt of lightning that lit up my source of inspiration. If these four-dimensional creatures were Emperor Fille's creations, there would be a reason for them to be here.

"I think Wind Spirit makes sense. Those two have been roaming this area, so there must be something they were protecting here. I suggest we search this area for it," I said.

And thus, we started searching. Our surroundings were basically filled with piles of discarded ships. Many of them had been torn apart by the toads, but the area was big enough that we could still see numerous outdated yet intact ships.

Even after searching for a while, we weren't able to find anything special. At that point, exhaustion was starting to seep in. Dondon had reported our status to Spacetime through the communicator.

"Canyue, Master Crystal has a suggestion for us," said Dondon after finishing the call.

"What is it? Say it," I said in excitement. I was just worrying about our lack of results.

"Master Crystal suggested that we pick a ship and go inside," said Dondon.

I understood the idea. We had been trying to search for a valuable ship from the outside and had completely neglected to gather more information from inside these ships.

"Canyue, what do you think about this ship?" pointed Old Du at a rather intact ship.

I looked over and saw three ships piled together. The one at the bottom looked to be in good condition despite being subjected to the weight of the two other ships above it.

"This is an old Nebula-class cruiser. In the past, Nebula cruisers were the empire's main offensive vessels during their conquest of the Orion Constellation. After years of development, these older models were all retired from service," explained Baron Sisse.

"With so many here, it is obvious that the empire had produced many cruisers in the past," I said.

"There is so much iron here. No wonder the league is so determined to attack the Divine Empire," remarked Old Du with a sigh.

"Where there's energy, there's war. We can only hope that the side of justice will prevail," I said.

"Are you done talking? Let's go inside the ship already. This princess is tired of this place," said Wind Spirit impatiently.

Everyone moved. After scanning the hull with a laser probe, Dondon found an entrance to the side of the ship.

"I'll take point with Bao'er. Old Du will bring up the rear. Everyone else stays in the middle. Watch each other's backs," I ordered. It was better to be safe, as we did not know what other monsters we would encounter inside.

It was extremely dusty inside the ship. From the thick layer of dust at the entrance, the place had probably been abandoned for at least decades. With our lights on, we started studying the ship. The ship might be large, but we had picked the perfect entry point. We only took a short while to reach the central part of the ship.

"Canyue, over here!" Zhang Bao'er cried out in excitement as he pointed at a painting on the wall.

Everyone walked over and saw that Zhang Bao'er was pointing at some sort of blueprint. From it, we confirmed that the ship was truly an outdated spaceship. Its engine room was massive, and its cockpit was at the front of the upper level. We could also see the name of the ship on the blueprint: Lightning.

"Let's go to the cockpit and see if we can get some useful data," said Baron Sisse.

"Baron, don't tell me you believe we can directly fly this ship away," said Zhang Bao'er.

"If we can, why not? No matter what, this is still a battleship. It will have better defenses than a regular hauler," said Baron Sisse.

"Since we're already here, let's go to the cockpit," I finalized the decision.

It was spacious and dark inside the ship. Surprisingly, the insides of the ship were quite well-preserved. This ship was probably discarded because it had been replaced by a newer model, not because it had suffered damage. Following a central corridor, we moved slowly with our lights on. For some reason, a bleak feeling rose within me as I walked in this discarded piece of metal.

Before long, we arrived at the front part of the ship. The elevator no longer worked, so we had to climb up through the emergency tunnel. After a short climb, we finally reached the ship's upper level.

"According to the blueprint, the cockpit and command room are both here," said Dondon.

A thick door stood between us and the cockpit. Old Du stepped forth and gave it a push. The door was locked.

"We can't open this door. What should we do?" asked Old Du.

I then saw Baron Sisse step forth. He started studying the iron door.

"Peculiar. How peculiar," muttered Baron Sisse.

"Baron, did you discover anything wrong?" I asked.

"This is very wrong. This door does not look like a regular cockpit door. Rather, it is a defensive door that should only appear in the event of an emergency. From my observation, this door was likely locked from the inside," said Baron Sisse.

"What? This door was locked from the inside?" I was astonished.

"Yes. I am sure it was locked from the inside," confirmed Baron Sisse.

"In other words, the people in the cockpit are still in there? They must have encountered some sort of emergency to lock themselves inside," I said.

"Should we clarify our identity and have them open the door?" suggested Dondon foolishly.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

"Have you gone mad, little cat? They've been inside the cockpit for decades. They are probably all dead," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes. From what we know, they are unlikely to have survived. Of course, there might be some sort of stasis pod inside since this is an emergency door," said Baron Sisse.

"To figure out this place's secret, we can only enter the cockpit," said Old Du.

Zhang Bao'er started uttering nonsense again, "Those people have been dead for so long. There won't be any ghosts here, right?" 

Immediately after he spoke, a cold breeze swept through the room.

"Why don't we leave and pick a different ship? This is too creepy," said Wind Spirit, who was frightened by Zhang Bao'er's words.

"Don't be afraid, Princess. I will protect you," Dondon hurriedly said.

I glared at Zhang Bao'er before asking the baron, "Baron, do you know how to open this emergency door?"

"This door's sole purpose is to protect the crew inside. It can't be opened outside, unless—" the baron hesitated. 

"Unless what? Just say it," I urged.

"Unless we can turn on the power of the ship again. We also need the captain's password if we want to open a specific section of the ship from the engine room. However, I don't know if this function is even available for a ship so old," said Baron Sisse.

"The ship is completely off. We can try to start up the power by turning on the engine. That won't be an issue. The problem is that we don't know the password," I said.

"That's troublesome. This is an outdated ship from decades ago. Maybe the captain is in there as well. How would outsiders know the password? I think we can only blast the door apart," said Zhang Bao'er.

I objected, "Absolutely not. Did you forget our goal? If we use explosives, we will alert the planet's defensive system." 

"What should we do now, then?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"I remembered something. All battleships need to leave their backup data in the imperial database. That includes retired battleships. I remember that the backup also includes the captain's password. However, only those with the highest level of authority can see it," said Baron Sisse.

"Great! So it is not impossible to get the captain's password," I said in excitement.

"But how can we gain access to the imperial database?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"We can't, but Dodo might be able to do it. Have you forgotten how Dodo once hacked into the imperial system through the juxi beast? We only need to look up a password. I believe Dodo can do it," I said.

"Even if that's possible, there are too many battleships here. How is Dodo supposed to know which ship's data to check?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Lightning. That's the name of this ship. It was written on the blueprint," said Old Du.

"Yes. That makes things easier. Dondon, contact Dodo and tell them about our situation. Have them look up the captain's password at all costs," I ordered.

Dondon immediately pulled out the communicator to carry out the order.

"Old Du, let's head to the engine room. Try to turn on the ship's power, but leave the engine off for now. We don't want to attract the attention of the patrols," I said.

"No! I'm not going anywhere! This place is too scary! I want to leave," Wind Spirit acted up again.

"Princess, you promised that you would listen to orders during this mission. You're making things very difficult for me," I said.

Wind Spirit thought of an excuse to stay after I confronted her. "We will need someone to watch over this door to see if any monsters run out once the power is back on." 

"Canyue, that makes sense. Why don't you stay with Wind Spirit and Dondon? The three of us will go turn on the power," said Old Du.

"Fine. We'll follow this plan. Be very careful. Stay in contact," I said.

Old Du nodded before leaving with Zhang Bao'er and the baron. Dondon, Wind Spirit, and I remained and hid behind the metal pillars in front of the cockpit's door.

"Reporting to the commander, I have informed Dodo of our situation. They are thinking of a way to obtain the captain's password. They will notify us the moment they get the password," said Dondon.

With everything in place, the only thing we could do was wait patiently.