LWGP - Chapter 229
Chapter 229: Morning Star
At such audacity, Saling unconsciously took a step back. By the time she realized it, the surroundings had already fallen silent.
The combat personnel, brimming with masculine hormones, were all red-faced, as if they had been perfectly conquered by the enemy army, completely defenseless. In response, a certain high-ranking medical officer, who had come from a military doctor background and always held the empire's soldiers to a high standard, felt a vague sense of irritation.
Had she been affected too?
More importantly, the Young Prince, who had appeared at some unknown time, had already approached. Many people knelt to salute him, but the Young Prince ignored them all, looking somewhat impatient and curious.
The moment Saling saw the look in the Young Prince's eyes, her heart skipped a beat. This was bad.
Just as she was about to have her assistant take Wang Jiu away, she saw that Wang Jiu had come to her senses. She glanced at the Young Prince, frowned, and then snapped the cigarette she had only taken two puffs from with one finger.
The Young Prince had arrived so quickly that it was too late to leave. In any case, by the time he was in front of them, he spoke up before Saling could. "Why did you break the cigarette?"
"They call you Prince. I thought this was a form of politeness."
The Young Prince frowned. "Not because I'm not old?"
Was the best way to please this fussy little prince to obey him, praise his maturity, call him a little adult who could stand on his own two feet?
But Wang Jiu said, "Your Highness is indeed very young."
Not old = very young?
You really don't know how to talk to people.
The Young Prince's expression darkened with displeasure. The good impression he had formed from the fleeting glance earlier vanished by more than half.
"For a female prisoner, you are truly bold."
Saling felt that line sounded a bit familiar.
Wang Jiu released the broken cigarette, letting it fall into a trash can. "Female prisoner? Whose? Yours, Your Highness?"
It was a flat question, its tone unclear whether it was born of anger or restrained indifference.
But this restrained and indifferent person had asked such a question in an extremely cold tone.
Whose female prisoner?
Who could toy with someone like her, make her bow her head in servitude, make her serve them with grace and beauty?
If it were the System, it would have retrieved this information from the vast data of world civilizations it had devoured upon loading the world—her non-refusal, non-acceptance, and non-acknowledgment seemed very passive. But her every silent, seemingly restrained provocation struck precisely at a person's most hidden points.
Greed, lust, curiosity, the desire to conquer, simple admiration, calculation, and so on—all the emotions that drove others were under her cryptic observation.
As long as you had value, she would let you see her endless allure.
And that single sentence was, in itself, a hidden suggestion—whose female prisoner? So, do you want her to become your female prisoner?
But it was obvious she was no female prisoner.
No female prisoner possessed such a strong sense of self, capable of ignoring Saling's cold threats and the prince's natural aristocratic air. Even when she had just spoken, she had been condescending, truly looking at him as if he were just a small child.
In that instant, the Young Prince almost thought he was seeing his cold, reserved, and terrifying father.
The corner of his eye twitched, but he immediately recovered and said angrily, "I don't care whose you are, you're a female prisoner either way."
He expressed his anger, only to see the lowly female prisoner remain calmly silent.
She probably didn't like arguing with children.
The Young Prince glared, finally falling silent. After a long moment, his face flushed red as he commanded Saling, "Lock her up! Without my order, no one is to touch her!"
Saling and Feng Liao felt a headache coming on.
The System went, Oho—the Imperial Young Prince platform has been successfully acquired.
He had already completely slipped into a certain role—whose female prisoner is she?
Even that pervert Saling had been bewitched by this female prisoner just now. Of course, she had to belong to this prince!
His Highness the Young Prince, who seemed simple-minded but couldn't suppress the powerful desire for conquest and victory inherent in a royal heir, felt he had gained the upper hand.
And Saling saw the result of this self-insertion but didn't understand its origin.
The certain perpetrator who even used a child's psychological issues was merely leaning against the railing, admiring the thunderous mirages outside, her expression gentle and slightly melancholic.
How beautiful, this world.
It's just too dangerous.
Half an hour before landing on Morning Star, the esteemed Imperial Prince gained a new female slave.
His Highness the Prince repeatedly emphasized that this was his female slave, and no one could stop him!
The starship dock of Morning Star was just ahead. This was one of the most prominent trading markets in the entire Fourth Spacetime, but it was also a place where all sorts of people mingled. To ensure safety, the main fleet had been disguised before entering Morning Star's orbit, and the starships had all been made smaller.
It was an operation that truly amazed Wang Jiu, so much so that she was contemplating whether she should "borrow" this starship.
After all, the Young Prince seemed like a nice person.
System: ???
Are you even human? You want to steal a minor's mode of transportation?
As it turned out, whether she was human was still unknown, but the Young Prince was certainly quite nice.
Standing on the dock as they were about to moor, a certain Young Prince showed his concern.
"Your family must be poor. I saw that even though you were injured that day, your clothes were still tattered. You've probably never worn good clothes or eaten good food. Do you know where we are? The Morning Star trade planet. There are lots of things down there. Although I look down on them, they're more than enough to broaden your horizons."
After docking, on the way to resupply various resources and head to Morning Star's legendary once-a-century Planet's Feather Festival, a certain Young Prince showed his concern +1.
"How is it? The streets are lively, right? There's everything here. Have you never seen anything like this before? Control yourself. Don't show an expression like you've never seen the world. If you embarrass me, I won't forgive you."
Upon entering Morning Star's largest and most luxurious interstellar mall, the Cosmic Tower, a certain Young Prince showed his concern +1.
"How about it? See anything you like? You're controlling yourself quite well. If there's something you really like, I can reluctantly buy it for you. But don't go too far. Although I'm not short on money, I can't spoil a female slave like you. That's the rule. Without rules, there can be no order."
Honestly, to protect a certain Young Prince, the formidable Feng Liao and Saling were supposed to be observing their surroundings for threats while discussing the follow-up investigation into the disappearance of the four young lords. But they simply couldn't concentrate.
Because the Young Prince was just so! Damn! Annoying!
The two high-ranking officials were hit with a full blast of chuunibyou, Long Aotian, Ye Liangchen, Versailles-style ultimate pronouncements. They had to endure for quite a while to maintain their composure and not offend their young master.
But Feng Liao, in the most tactful tone he had ever used in his life, offered a reminder, "Your Highness, are you thirsty?"
The Young Prince fell silent for a moment upon hearing this, then glanced at Feng Liao. He was very displeased, because when they were discussing the matter of the four young lords earlier, neither of them had considered his opinion!
He turned his head and said to a certain female slave who hadn't spoken a word since disembarking, "You've been drinking that disgusting nutrient fluid from Saling's medical bay all this time. You must want to drink these beverages, right? You don't have to hide such a physiological desire. I can buy you a bottle."
Saling, who had been cued: "…"
Feng Liao calmly sent her a private message: "Hold it in. This is His Majesty's only bloodline, the future emperor. Assassination is not an option. Or maybe I should just assassinate this female slave?"
Saling glanced at Feng Liao and changed the subject. "Did you offend someone in the military?"
Feng Liao: "No."
Saling: "You must have. Just like I must have offended His Majesty."
Feng Liao: "…"
Thinking about it that way, he probably had.
Otherwise, how could he have been assigned such a task? He must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck.
Fortunately, a certain female slave finally reacted. "Is that how you use the term 'physiological desire'?"
Although His Highness was not as pure as a blank sheet of paper, Saling couldn't just watch him get led astray by Wang Jiu. So she interjected, "If you're thirsty, I'll just go down and buy a bottle."
Wang Jiu: "Alright, then I'll have to trouble Lord Saling."
Her tone was exceptionally elegant and charming. The drink hadn't even been bought, yet it was as if one could already smell the fragrant tea.
Saling: "…"
Did Lord Saling buy it? She did, but she didn't leave. She probably ordered it online for a robot to deliver.
She watched Wang Jiu with a cold eye. Wang Jiu accepted the drink, slightly surprised, and glanced at Saling. "How did Lord Saling know I like lime flavor?"
Saling had just bought it randomly, even deliberately picking the sourest flavor. But with Wang Jiu's reaction, the Young Prince turned to look at Saling, his gaze speculative and somewhat disdainful: Conquered by my female slave just because she lit a cigarette for you? So lame. Look at me, I've been holding steady!
Saling held back, and still didn't pull out her exquisite scalpel.
However, she and Feng Liao soon discovered that only one of the Young Prince's statements was believable.
This prince has been holding steady.
How so?
When they passed a clothing store, he complained that Wang Jiu's patient gown was unlucky and imperiously told her to go in and pick whatever she wanted.
Pick whatever, fine. One piece, fine. But why did you go in and sit down?
The Young Prince: Can this prince be expected to stand?
Since he was already sitting, she might as well pick a few more pieces. Otherwise, it would be awkward to sit down just to stand right back up.
Is this prince short on money?
After leaving the store, the Young Prince asked what clothes she had just bought. She hadn't even tried them on, so who knew if they looked good. A slave is a slave, so timid, not at all magnanimous.
"Magnanimous?" Wang Jiu asked lightly. The Young Prince nodded. "Of course. With an air like mine. Watch carefully. Come in with me. You'll wear whichever one I tell you to."
Wang Jiu's gaze swept over him like a feather, noncommittal, but she did indeed enter under the Young Prince's "coercion."
"This one, wear this one!" The Young Prince sat down as soon as he entered, pointing a finger at a certain dress.
Wang Jiu glanced at it, then casually pointed to one beside it. The sales attendant immediately retrieved the one beside it.
The Young Prince: "???"
Why don't you listen to me! Aren't you afraid this prince will kill you!?
Saling and Feng Liao: "…"
Your Highness, you're still young. Besides, the sales attendant doesn't know you're the prince.
But this female slave really had quite the entourage.
The empire's top medical officer, one of its top generals, and the imperial prince were all waiting obediently outside for you to change clothes?
Feng Liao frowned and sent a private message to Saling: "Should you contact His Majesty, or should I?"
This female slave was a bit toxic. It seemed His Highness was falling into her trap.
Saling: "In the eyes of His Highness and many others, I am His Majesty's little mistress he toys with on the side. What do you think?"
Feng Liao was slightly embarrassed and could only contact a certain His Majesty himself… and turned on the live camera. He had just begun to report the situation seriously.
Within the Imperial Palace, in a vast study, the walls and ceiling were filled with floating books. The desk was piled high with government affairs. A tall man dressed in a black sweater and black trousers was reading a core secret scroll delivered by a spy.
As he read, he listened to Feng Liao's report, but he didn't look at the video feed being transmitted.
He didn't even look at his son, who had been away for over a year.
After listening, he said, "Is that all? Such a trivial matter…"
His tone wasn't intentionally cold, but naturally stern and indifferent. But he was suddenly interrupted because his only son, the noble Crown Prince, had slid off the comfortable, stylishly creative sofa.
Even the composed General Feng Liao couldn't help but turn to look, and so the camera also shifted.
The dressing room door opened. Champagne iris. A woman.
Indeed, very magnanimous and high-class.
The Emperor glanced once, then looked away and said flatly, "Find a chance to kill her."
Feng Liao: "But His Highness…"
The Emperor: "He is the Crown Prince."
Then the Emperor cut the communication.
Saling watched as Wang Jiu let the Young Prince frantically buy all sorts of clothes for her and asked, "Are you satisfied, or are you uneasy?"
To say she was vain and had ulterior motives seemed too obvious.
To say she had substance and grace, she wasn't demure or ladylike enough.
Wang Jiu turned back and gave Saling a light smile. "Not just anyone is qualified to buy me clothes."
The System could testify to that statement.
This woman had never lacked a school of fish eager to offer her their devotion.
"Besides, I'm not letting your prince pay for me for no reason."
Saling raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"He called me ugly. Several times."
Ugly was one thing, but a female slave too?
Wang Jiu felt that not taking the opportunity to kill this little brat was already the height of forbearance. What was fleecing him a little?
It wasn't like she couldn't beat Feng Liao and Saling anyway.
Saling hadn't expected such an answer. Her expression turned slightly stern, and she said coldly, "You hold a grudge, but you don't know whose grudge you're holding. You're playing with fire."
But as Wang Jiu casually browsed the clothes here, she brushed past, her breath like the fragrance of orchids by Saling's ear.
"When you examined my body that day, you were quite rough. You didn't care if it hurt."
"Tell me, will I hold a grudge against you?"
Favor and intimacy, a single step apart.
Saling's breathing hitched. As if she had been touched by a hot coal, she turned and moved two steps away, her expression placid.
Playing with fire.
Whose body would be burned?
System: "You really don't discriminate between men and women."
Wang Jiu: "Flirting has never been about gender, only about sex."
I think it's about your schemes.
The System saw through it all. This Saling and the Young Prince were both useful to her.
One for medical purposes, the other as a resource platform.
As for that Feng Liao… now that Lao Wang had yet to acquire the strength to contend with him, he had clearly been cast into the cold palace by her.
This woman was just that ruthless and pragmatic.
After buying a pile of clothes, the Young Prince regretted it, feeling like he had contradicted himself and been too indulgent with this female slave. The rules were no longer in order. To save some face, he was very cold to Wang Jiu for the rest of the time. Fortunately, Wang Jiu had no interest in dealing with him either.
She was observing this world.
A top-tier interstellar mall could encapsulate the culture of this spacetime. She even saw a high-end mecha store.
She remained inconspicuous, but the Young Prince took the lead and walked in. Feng Liao said, "Your Highness, we have these in the capital, and they are of a higher grade."
The Young Prince snorted. "I'm just looking at how inferior this is."
To be honest, if he hadn't been born to a good father, he wouldn't have survived the first three minutes, let alone a single episode.
Feng Liao and Saling were speechless, but they both glanced at Wang Jiu. Wang Jiu was looking at the mechas in the display cases or standing before them, occasionally listening to the introductions from customers and staff, and she was gradually getting a sense of this world's mecha civilization.
The mecha levels corresponded to the class divisions of the game world. After all, the Fourth Spacetime had also undergone an apocalypse and reconstruction. Morning Star also had countless cities that had developed from territories. The one they were in now was the largest, Morning Star City.
Grey, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Purple Gold, Legendary, and Ancient.
However, although Ancient was mentioned, it seemed that mecha technology had only developed to the Legendary level. No Ancient mechas had ever been seen.
After all, mechas were not natural treasures or game-produced resources; they were created by post-apocalyptic technology. If they didn't exist now, they certainly didn't exist before.
The highest-grade mecha for sale in the shop they were in was Gold-grade. Purple Gold-grade mechas were not for sale, nor were they allowed to be sold. At least, not in the Xingyao Empire.
With centralized power, the strongest technology was naturally in the hands of the officials. The Fourth Spacetime had a total of three empires, all vying with each other, and their strength was primarily based on the power of their mechas.
"I heard they sell Purple Gold-grade ones in the Xingyao capital. Son, don't worry, Daddy will definitely buy you the best mecha."
"Wake up. Our son's average attributes are only three thousand, and he hasn't even grown all his teeth yet. A Purple Gold mecha? He'd be carbonized by the energy as soon as he got in."
"Then we can buy it for him to use when he grows up…"
"Darling, first take a look at the price of this Silver-grade mecha." A noblewoman pointed a finger at the display screen in front of the mecha, and its various stats and price automatically appeared.
Oho, three million gold coins.
The pot-bellied tycoon was dumbfounded.
Wang Jiu, on the other hand, glanced at this Silver mecha. It was indeed quite expensive, and it didn't even seem to be the best among the Silver-grade ones here.
"These people are so inexperienced. You can't judge a mecha purely by its grade. You have to consider your own attributes and class path. If a highly compatible Silver mecha is pitted against a poorly compatible Gold mecha, used by the same person, the former will definitely perform better," the Young Prince lectured sagely, while peeking at Wang Jiu's reaction.
Wang Jiu sighed softly. "Your Highness is truly knowledgeable."
The Young Prince's brow relaxed, and his little ears twitched, as if trying to hide their reddish hue. He walked away with his hands behind his back. "What's all the fuss about? It's just common sense."
Saling: "Your Highness, you're going the wrong way."
The Young Prince: "…"
However, along the way, many people from various planets and cities were complaining that mechas were too, too expensive.
Gold-grade mechas were priced in the tens of millions of gold coins.
Wang Jiu couldn't afford one unless she sold her resources. But her current resources were all calculated in Goblin Shop points, which would be useful in the future, so it was unlikely she would convert them into gold coins.
She had never thought that gold coins would have such a sales avenue before.
As Wang Jiu pondered, she tried to open the game's social and trading circles, only to find that it was blocked from other spacetimes.
"I could trade with Wei Yuan and Qing He before?"
System: "That's because you had a medium. This is considered a privileged secret. If you hadn't come to the Fourth Spacetime, I wouldn't have told you."
Wang Jiu had an epiphany. "A medium? Between Qing He and me, it was that file folder, right? That woman used the file folder to screen cooperative partners and act as a medium. And Wei Yuan… his medium should be Ming Shu, who was placed in the third spacetime."
In other words, both people and items could act as a medium. But without a medium, she couldn't contact the third spacetime…
In that case, there was only one person she could contact now.
She opened the private chat page with Qing He, wondering if there was a time difference between the two spacetimes.
Towards this king, Lao Wang still had some social etiquette. Her first sentence was:
"Miss me?"
It took a while for Qing He to respond. "What is it?"
Contacting her when there's a problem, burying her when there's not. Lao Wang's social style had always been crude.
Qing He didn't ask where Lao Wang was or how she was doing. Her first reaction was that this scourge was here to use her again.
"Fourth Spacetime. Mecha."
Qing He was silent for another moment, either busy or digesting this news. "You actually didn't die in the spacetime tunnel."
A single sentence illustrated the difficulty of traveling between spacetimes.
"If you didn't die, how could I?"
Qing He: "I'm different from you. The second spacetime I'm in is in a period of decline, so the spacetime wall is already much weaker. Plus, the gap between the second and third spacetimes is the smallest among the four. It's nowhere near the gap between the third and fourth, or the first and second. To put it bluntly, the first and fourth are the furthest from us, and the level of beings within them is also vastly different from ours. This creates a disparity in the spacetime barriers, like concentrated salt water versus fresh water…"
It was rare to hear the distant King Qing He, who had seen through Lao Wang's nature, say so much. Wang Jiu: "You seem to be worried about me?"
Extremely sensitive, and she just had to point it out.
Qing He: "You probably can't come back."
Wang Jiu was stunned for a moment, then understood. "The system doesn't allow people from high-energy-intensity spacetimes to return to low-energy-intensity ones. Just like the difficulty of your return is far greater than the difficulty of us going to the second spacetime?"
Qing He: "Yes. And you also have to factor in the strength you gain there. With several factors combined, the spacetime damage you'll encounter upon your return will be at least a hundred times what you experienced before."
She was certain that Wang Jiu would grow crazily strong in the Fourth Spacetime, unless her living conditions were excellent and finding that Bloodthirsty Beast wasn't difficult.
But she had heard that Lao Wang's luck wasn't very nice; her corpse-looting depended entirely on her disciple and the System's random unlocks.
So…
At this moment, however, Wang Jiu asked the System, "Can I resurrect the Old Lady in the Fourth Spacetime?"
System: "During the pioneer phase, the data of living beings in each world is recorded. Each spacetime has its own database. For example, you can use a puppet and a teleportation scroll to follow someone in this world, but you can never be registered to a respawn point. If your HP drops to zero, you can only revive on the spot or lie there as a corpse."
In other words, the same applied to the Old Lady.
Resurrecting in the Fourth Spacetime meant losing the greatest advantage the game gave players. She would forever be the most fragile of beings, forced to live under Wang Jiu's protection.
System: "It's not a big deal. Just let her stay in a city. It's safe inside a city…"
Wang Jiu: "That's not an option."
The System was taken aback, but it quickly understood.
The Old Lady was an incredibly proud and stubborn person, and Wang Jiu's personality was shaped by her. She would spend her life protecting the other's character.
In that case, there was no other way. Wang Jiu had to return to the third spacetime.
Turning back, Wang Jiu replied to Qing He, "It's too early to talk about that. I'm not even sure where that Bloodthirsty Beast is. I'm contacting you for something else."
Qing He: "To sell me a mecha?"
What a sharp woman.
Wang Jiu: "What kind do you like? I'll buy it for you."
To any woman, this sentence was absolutely the most beautiful thing to hear.
But coming from Wang Jiu's mouth, no matter how nice it sounded, didn't it still mean she had to pay in the end?
Qing He was still considering when Wang Jiu opened a video feed, letting the dazzling array of mechas fall into her line of sight.
What was the difference between this and opening up a warehouse of Hermès bags?
This woman was definitely going to fleece her. How much was the purchasing fee?
Qing He held back and said, "State your terms."
Wang Jiu: "You make an offer first, then I'll raise the price."
She didn't know how wealthy this woman was yet, so it was hard to gauge how much wool to shear.
Qing He: "Don't forget your Gobi Territory is still in my hands."
Wang Jiu: "Sleep with any of the men and women in there you want, I don't mind. Just don't get pregnant. If word got out, people might think it was me."
Are you nuts?
Qing He was helpless, but also decisive. After all, she didn't know when this Wang Jiu might get killed by someone in the Fourth Spacetime.
"A fee of two million gold coins."
Oho, so this woman was probably willing to spend twenty to thirty million gold coins on a Purple Gold mecha.
She wouldn't be interested in anything cheaper.
A little rich king, huh? Probably a huge amount of resources accumulated after the destruction of the second spacetime. Her average attributes might even exceed 200,000.
Wang Jiu: "That's too much. How could I accept? Let's just make it 20% of the total purchase price of the mecha."
Qing He: "…"
After returning, she found that this woman was more challenging to her moral cultivation than the Eternal Night Race.
There was no haggling, because Qing He knew Wang Jiu wouldn't budge.
This woman did business like she was killing a fish. One strike, and the head was chopped off.
"Help me choose now," Qing He said directly.
"Not now. This market doesn't have any Purple Gold-grade ones. I have to go to the capital."
Then were we just talking for nothing?
Just as Qing He was about to end the private chat, she heard Wang Jiu say, "Let's start by reselling the lower-grade ones."
This was her real goal.
Wang Jiu wanted to resell mechas to the third spacetime to fleece a large amount of gold coin resources, then use those gold coins to buy the resources she wanted in the Fourth Spacetime. But she couldn't trade directly. Her only cooperative partner was Qing He.
Qing He thought to herself: So, she needs something from me too. She just proposed the Purple Gold mecha first to make it impossible for me to refuse this deal. Now the only problem is the split.
"A 10% commission on the resales."
Wang Jiu smiled. "I thought you'd make an outrageous demand."
Qing He: "My teeth aren't good enough to bite you."
But Wang Jiu agreed. She would fleece her on the purchasing fee, but she wouldn't be stingy with the commission on the much more profitable resale business.
When it came to business, she had always had standards.
The two subsequently discussed the details of the transaction. They both needed to prepare funds. Qing He ended the private chat.
Although she was curious about the Fourth Spacetime, she also knew it was very dangerous there. It wasn't wise to be distracted chatting with her.
Wang Jiu, however, had no opportunity to buy mechas right now, because there was a commotion in the vicinity. It seemed many people were heading in one direction.
For no other reason than the mecha fighting arena up ahead.
Although their identities weren't revealed, someone had naturally gone ahead to arrange for a private box. The group entered a spacious box directly, from which they could clearly see the fighting arena below.
At this moment, there were already mecha-equipped combatants fighting fiercely in the arena.
Both were Silver mechas, but their flight speeds surpassed that of low-grade flying devices.
The more Wang Jiu watched, the more her hands itched for a Purple Gold mecha.
But she also knew that getting a Purple Gold mecha wasn't just a matter of money; it also required connections. So she had to go to the capital. And in the past few days, she had also found out from her assistant that the capital's medical center had a Xingyao detection device that could analyze the constitution of any living being. Even a great king with a million average attributes would have their data and constitutional secrets analyzed.
The capital was a must-go, but she also knew it was full of experts…
As Wang Jiu was contemplating her next move, she heard a sudden collective cheer from the fighting arena below. A look revealed that a famous figure from Morning Star had entered the ring.
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