Chapter 562: Escape and Pandemonium
“The F-cla.s.s Cosmic Express wars.h.i.+p of the Demon Race. Though it’s small in size, it possesses an extremely fast speed, capable of clearing 10,000 lightyears every minute!” Lionheart Emperor Oro introduced with great trepidation.
Xia Fei was stunned. In the Alliance, the latest wars.h.i.+p with the greatest speed was the Ares or Stiletto-cla.s.s Interceptors, capped at 80,000 lightyears every minute. That was already quite a surprise to him, so a s.h.i.+p that traveled 10,000 lightyears in a minute? That meant that this nimble s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p could travel over 600,000 lightyears in an hour, nearly seven times that of the fastest s.h.i.+p in the Alliance!
This was truly the Law Realm; even the wars.h.i.+ps were much more advanced than the Alliance!
He had no idea what sort of technology the s.h.i.+p utilized. If he could bring back such a speedy flying technology to the Alliance, he was certain that it would ma.s.sively improve the rapid response capabilities of troops, and the lives of the ma.s.ses would be made for the better along with it.
Following Oro’s instruction, Xia Fei opened the boarding hatch and entered the s.h.i.+p.
Due to the electromagnetic interference, the automated systems of the wars.h.i.+p were all disabled. The s.h.i.+p was filled with icy-cold lakewater, so Xia Fei turned on the manual pressure regulating valve and released plenty of air to drain the s.h.i.+p of water.
The s.h.i.+p was truly very small. Xia Fei thought that the fin poking out from the base of the lake was but a small part of the s.h.i.+p, but only at this moment did he realize that it was the full-size of the s.h.i.+p once he boarded it. There was not even s.p.a.ce for a resting cabin, and with only two seats in the c.o.c.kpit, the entire s.h.i.+p was at most a thousand cubic meters, something that he could easily fit into his spatial ring.
While all the water in the s.h.i.+p drained out, the entire place remained damp. Xia Fei did a quick check of the flight systems and got it ready for manual operation.
“Strange. Why isn’t there even anyone onboard the s.h.i.+p?” Xia Fei curiously wondered. There ought to be a pilot in a crashed s.h.i.+p, right? This s.h.i.+p was empty, however.
Lionheart Emperor Oro was stored in Xia Fei’s spatial ring, as the s.h.i.+p was so small it could not even contain his ice coffin. If Xia Fei wanted to converse with the lion, he would have to send his consciousness into his spatial ring.
“Who says there’s no one? Look closely to your right.”
Xia Fei turned to his right, only to find a palm-sized mechanical unit lying on the ground, looking very much like a miniature robot which was covered in metal.
Approaching it, Xia Fei realized that it was a s.p.a.cesuit, and inside was a small skeleton, about the size of a mouse.
“They are known as Brusos, a type of sapient lifeform in the universe that is part of our Demon Race,” Oro said. “The Brusos are short and squat, and they’re the ones who accidentally crashed onto this planet. Wars.h.i.+ps of the Demon Race can be manually operated, so in the event of an electrical equipment failure, pilots can revert to manual control in order to avoid disaster. Unfortunately, Brusus are small in stature, so they’re incapable of steering the s.h.i.+p. All they could do was watch as they crash-landed, and the impact instantly killed him,” Oro explained.
Xia Fei nodded. Having a small frame was hardly the problem as the fault lay entirely on the fact that he attempted to pilot a standard-sized wars.h.i.+p despite his size.
Frowning, Xia Fei asked, “The crash actually broke his bones? Could they not have any law power?”
The Lionheart Emperor Oro replied, “Though you call this the Law Realm, it is actually just another part of the universe. In order to maintain a prosperous society, our ancestors, who first founded the Law Realm, took in several races that lacked any law power but had other specialized skills. Though they lacked a high social standing, they’re still a part of the Law Realm. Brusos are the best chefs, skilled at cooking fish, and are considered gourmet experts of the Demon Race.
“Besides, even a powerful warrior race like us, the Lionhearts, has about 10% of our people incapable of learning law due to genetic mutations or hereditary traits. There is a portion of individuals in the Law Realm that has no Law powers to speak of, so you can’t just generalize.
“Those with no law power will be unable to use even a Spatial Compa.s.s, nor can they pa.s.s through a Gate of s.p.a.cetime. That is why wars.h.i.+ps exist, for the commoners’ use.”
Xia Fei did not care to continue this line of conversation. He did not really care about these Brusos, and the priority was still to leave this planet as soon as possible.
Without the aid of electronics, everything was made much more difficult, requiring Xia Fei to manually examine each and every part of the wars.h.i.+p. Fortunately, Xia Fei had knowledge in mechatronics and mechanical sciences, so he very quickly familiarized himself with how this s.h.i.+p was designed and operated without the help of Oro.
‘Turns out Xia Fei has quite the understanding toward machinery and wars.h.i.+ps. Hmm?’ Oro said inwardly, astonished.
Since Xia Fei did not need his help, Oro decided to just watch from the sidelines, interested in seeing how Xia Fei could make out of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
For the entire day, Xia Fei kept making adjustments to the s.h.i.+p.
The structure of this F-cla.s.s Cosmic Express wars.h.i.+p from the Demon Race was simple and st.u.r.dy. The damage sustained from the crash was hardly too severe, so it was still capable of flight. The only issue was the electronic interference.
As everyone was well aware, modern wars.h.i.+ps had a heavy reliance on electronics; without it, radar, navigation, air regulatory systems, et cetera would be unavailable for use. Xia Fei had to activate every mechanical component of the s.h.i.+p manually, and a new Heart of Spirit had to be fitted into the energy capacitor before it was ready to go.
“If I’m not mistaken, the only way for us to leave this planet is by manual ignition, borrowing the thrust from the engine to escape the electromagnetic fields that surround this planet before the electronic systems can be repaired after we enter into s.p.a.ce proper,” Xia Fei said gravely.
The Lionheart Emperor Oro nodded. “That’s right. A s.h.i.+p with its electronic systems knocked out is still capable of flight, though it will need quite a lot of help. As long as we can escape this planet and be out of range from the electronic interference, we’ll have hope.”
Xia Fei did not say a word in response as he inspected the engine component once again.
The engine had a manual ignition valve. Xia Fei pulled the control lever, and an explosion sounded from the engine.
*Bang*
A blue flame shot out from its thrusters. The manual ignition was a success!
Xia Fei hurriedly sat himself in the pilot’s seat and pushed the accelerator up to 30%.
*Kaboom*
The bottom of the lake stirred from the disturbance, as the s.h.i.+p blasted its way out from the water and through the thick layer of ice, heading straight for the clouds!
“Success!” Phantom cheered.
Xia Fei clutched the steering, guiding the s.h.i.+p’s trajectory. He was in no rush to break through the atmosphere; instead, he flew in the air, carefully examining the s.h.i.+p’s condition as he did.
“Okay, this should do. The damage to the s.h.i.+p isn’t too severe, so it should be capable of s.p.a.ce travel.”
With that said, Xia Fei pulled the steering toward himself, and this sharkfin-shaped black s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p blasted through the atmosphere and entered s.p.a.ce!
….
Flying far away at one go, the s.h.i.+p finally escaped the electronic interference. The electronic equipment on board was, thus, partially restored to functionality, but the all-important radar and navigation system was still silent.
Xia Fei took out several repair drones from his spatial ring and set them to work. These things were capable of automated repair, able to restore function to machinery as long as there were no severe defects that could not be repaired.
“Ah, intelligent repair drones from the G.o.d Race. You’ve got quite a few good things in your hands.” Lionheart Emperor Oro smiled as he said this. Having escaped the place that he was trapped in for millions of years, he was of course the most excited out of them all.
Several minutes later, 80% of the electronic equipment had restored functionality. Xia Fei did not bother fixing the parts of the s.h.i.+p that would not be used much for flight. He only had so many repair drones, and it was no good to waste them. It would not be difficult for him to fix up all the lifestyle equipment like refrigeration and the ilk after he got back.
The radar screen turned on, and a star map was displayed.
“Is this the Law Realm?” Xia Fei curiously wondered out loud. “So this expanse of s.p.a.ce covers such a large area. It’s practically ten Alliance st.i.tched together.”
Lionheart Emperor Oro chuckled., “Oh no. That’s just a portion of the Law Realm, the territory belonging to the Demon Race. The G.o.d Race’s territory is even larger than what we have, and the stars beyond are the uninhabited s.p.a.ce.”
Xia Fei was shocked. It was no wonder that the Law Realm needed s.h.i.+ps which could clock 600,000 lightyears an hour. This expanse of s.p.a.ce here was actually so unimaginably huge!
“Enter the code into the radar system, and the star map of the G.o.d Race territory will show. The code is…”
Xia Fei entered the hidden star map according to Oro’s instruction, and the complete territory of the two peak races finally appeared before him.
“Alright, let’s get going,” Xia Fei said.
…
Piloting a Demon Race’s wars.h.i.+p back to the Yu family was indubitably foolish.
Xia Fei first parked it beyond the border and stored the s.h.i.+p into his spatial ring before cycling through the Gate of s.p.a.cetimes and finally returning.
“I’ve actually spent 739 third grade Origin Crystals!” Xia Fei calculated the cost of his expenditure from his gate travel, suddenly realizing that although Gate of s.p.a.cetimes could speed up his journey, the cost of doing so was shockingly high.
Phantom mused. “With Lionheart Emperor Oro by your side, as well as the Demonic King Beast egg, and the Demon Race’s express s.h.i.+p, how could you still be unsatisfied? Who knows how expensive all these things are? You ought to be happier!”
Xia Fei shrugged. Indeed, he had quite the haul from this trip. Just the powerful Lionheart Emperor Oro was already worth several tons of crystal; the dedicated tutelage of an expert was immeasurable in terms of value, and Xia Fei had yet to decide what to do with that egg, uncertain if he should keep the offspring for his use or exchange it for something else. No matter what he ultimately decided on, there was no doubt that it was a treasure.
The warrior a.s.signed to guard the Gate of s.p.a.cetime was evidently very astonished to see Xia Fei. After all the repeated incidents, Xia Fei was now famous in the Yu family, and the latest story of how Xia Fei had yelled at the demoness Yu Qiqi was like helping stand up for all the warriors that the forty-ninth sister had bullied.
“Xia Fei?! YOU’RE ALIVE?!” The man on duty by the Gate of s.p.a.cetime was middle aged with a short beard, and he exclaimed his shock when he saw Xia Fei.
Xia Fei pouted. The man sounded as if he ought to have died.
“Quick, report to the patriarch! Tell him that Xia Fei’s back!” The person ordered his men.
In no time, Yu Hua appeared through the Gate of s.p.a.cetime, smiling as he patted Xia Fei on his shoulder. “It’s good that you’re back. I was afraid that there would be a huge mess you tarried any longer.”
“What sort of mess?”
Yu Hua smiled slightly. ” Do you still remember Miss Mu Fuping, the one you kicked as if she’s a ball from the Gate of s.p.a.cetime?”
Xia Fei frowned. “I didn’t kick her. I tossed her.”
Yu Hua laughed uproariously as he led the way to Xia Fei. “Alright, whether you kicked or tossed her, that lady held a real grudge on you, but after watching the video playback, she discovered that what you had done saved her, so she became a mess of grat.i.tude, instead.”
“At the moment, she’s over at Patriarch Yujiang’s, refusing to leave, threatening our Mu family to find you, but because you were sent to the wrong coordinates, and no could find out where you had been transported to, even the powerful Mu family was helpless. So yeah, Miss Mu is presently spending her time here with her parents.”
Xia Fei heard all this before commenting, “Well, I’m back now, aren’t I? Just tell them that and let them leave. Matter solved.”
Yu Hua smirked as he shrugged. “It’s not that simple. Come follow me quickly. In any case, this situation is a mess, and the Yu family is on the brink of having a pandemonium.”