Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 153: Marked for Caution

As soon as the other side's restart completed, the connection was automatically cut off.

With that, I didn't have to do much cleanup afterward, making it a surprisingly easy close.

"With this, I can make us passes to go enter the first cluster zone!" Nyssra cheered from beside me, spinning in her seat with excitement.

"Then get on it," I said. "You can do it here, now, right? I need one extra passkey too, so hand it over once you're finished."

"Ye—wait, what?" She froze mid-spin, clearly confused. "Two separate clearance keys...?"

"Yep." I nodded with conviction, rising to my feet. "We have our tail, remember? If they get blocked at the border, we lose the leverage they provide. We need them moving with us, not stuck behind."

The second passkey would be used by the Shadowless Hawks—our pursuers. Without it, they might hesitate at the boundary, knowing how much resistance they'd face crossing without clearance.

"Oh, right. Them..." Nyssra sighed, the reminder clearly souring her mood. "But anyway, I can't generate the keys here. Let's get back to the Halberd first."

"What? Isn't this computer better than the one onboard the ship?"

"It is, yeah... but have you thought about how massive the key is?" Nyssra countered, throwing a dose of common sense my way. "The encryption key alone takes up this much space. Imagine the full pass—and how much of a nightmare it'd be to transfer it from here to the ship."

"...Point taken." I gave a shrug in resignation.

Right then, Eva's voice called out from behind us. "If you two are done, let's move. I don't like this place—it feels like we're being watched."

"Ah, wait. Let me copy the key to my terminal first."

Nyssra turned back to the console, tapped in a few commands, and then dashed to join us at the exit—where Eva and I were already waiting.

On the way back, we didn't just rely on Nyssra's memory. I cross-checked every turn against the map I'd recorded on my personal terminal. Luckily, there was no discrepancy at all. She knew this maze-like place by heart, like it was her own backyard.

Within minutes, we reached the shaft leading back to the dock.

After climbing up and Eva giving the all-clear with a careful scan of the surroundings, we all sprinted toward the Black Halberd and entered through the loading bay—now filled with cargo that Nyssra had ordered as a cover.

The moment the hangar door sealed shut, all three of us let out soft sighs of relief.

"We should be safe here for now," I said, wiping the sweat from my brow.

Running around like this wasn't exactly my specialty.

"WOAH!"

No sooner had we stepped back onboard, something black shot toward my face—or rather, the top of my head. Of course, it was the little Void Dragon we'd left behind on the ship. No way it could fit inside my suit helmet, after all.

"Oh? Where's your orb?" I asked, noticing the absence of the energy sphere that was usually within its arms. "Did you finish absorbing it already?"

*PREEE!*

I can't actually understand Void Dragon language, but I'm pretty sure that was a yes. Even so, despite having absorbed the full energy from that orb, the little bugger hadn't grown much.

At best, its scales looked glossier, and its claws seemed a bit sharper. That's about it. I kept my disappointment hidden.

We moved on, returning to the bridge and strapping back into position. Eva took navigation, Nyssra focused on generating the passkeys, and I settled into the captain's seat.

Once everyone was ready, the ship's engine roared to life, igniting the thrusters. The dock doors opened smoothly, sliding apart like a mechanical iris.

The departure was clean—no obstacles, no last-minute delays. The station's soldiers didn't interfere or attempt to stop us. Maybe they were just cautious, not wanting to provoke a confrontation. Whatever the reason, we were grateful for the smooth exit.

Upon rejoining the rest of the fleet, the first thing we did was reestablish a shared navigation link between all ships.

Eva already had a route plotted out—one heading toward the planet where the Primula was located.

It was finally time to begin the real mission!

All ship thrusters activated in unison, and then we jumped into hyperspace.

In mere moments, we were already thousands of kilometers away from the station we'd just left behind.

"Aaaannd... done!" Nyssra declared a few minutes later. "Now, where should I send this extra passkey?" she asked, curiosity sparking in her eyes.

"Don't even ask. Just hand it to me."

It'd be way too weird to give her the direct number of the Shadowless Hawks' boss, right? The fewer people who know the details, the better. Anonymity was still our strongest shield.

"Tsk, cheapskate~!"

Nyssra stuck out her tongue—a playful gesture that, honestly, didn't match her otherwise cool and composed appearance.

Anyway, she went ahead and sent the key to me via local file transfer, finishing the operation in under five seconds.

"T-Two petabytes..." I gasped, blinking in disbelief at the sheer size of the file. "This could probably contain every written and published novel in the entire universe—with space left for a few thousand encyclopedias."

"What? Pfft! No way~!" Nyssra quickly dismissed my exaggeration. "Even without counting modern ones, just the historical literature inside our Voltherian Empire already exceeds 5 PB."

"..."

Guess I underestimated the literary prowess of this universe.

Anyway, without wasting time, I began the process of "delivering" the massive package to the one who needed it. I typed in her personal address, attached the 2 PB passkey file, and hit send.

With a file that enormous, the sending process dragged on for minutes.

But with this, along with the cheeky little message I wrote in as flavor text, those people should be properly motivated to chase after us—no question.

Now, we had done everything necessary.

All that remained now was to secure the Primula—and escape. The "escape successfully" part being the most difficult, of course.

Our hyperspace jump wasn't direct; we had to make at least two planned stops. These were marked checkpoints regulated by the Voltherian Empire's Military.

And yes, we were heading to those checkpoints. Boldly. Straight through the front door.

By now, our presence should've been flagged at most of the major checkpoints. But judging from how things went at the first stop, they weren't too trigger-happy. At least, they hesitated long enough.

There shouldn't be any major risks...

Roughly three hours later, we finally reached our first destination—the boundary between the second and third clusters.

Though it had the smallest "radii" among the three main clusters, it boasted the largest surface area—being the outermost ring. Thanks to that, our arrival didn't take much time.

Our ship exited hyperspace, decelerating gradually until it reached a stable cruising speed as we approached the border control—where a lengthy queue of ships had already formed, all awaiting inspection.

"Fuck... Do we really need to queue up too?" Eva groaned, clearly irritated by the sight. "Can't we just skip ahead? We're posing as them, after all..."

"Well, we could, technically..." I replied, shaking my head. "But let's not stand out until we get past the second border."

"...Then we've already failed that." Eva shot me a look. "We stood out way too much at our first stop."

"Not too much... I think."

We had drawn attention, sure, using an infamous group's identity, but hopefully not so much that we were outright flagged... hopefully.

The queue was inching forward, slower than molasses in zero gravity.

It was so painfully slow that I started seriously considering Eva's earlier suggestion.

A while later, I broke the silence.

"What's the holdup anyway? Are they tightening security because of us?" I asked Nyssra, mostly to pass time with idle chatter.

"No, the security here's always been strict..." she replied, though some doubt crept into her voice. "But this is overkill. It's almost like they're trying to isolate or intercept something specific..."

"...Not us, I hope?"

"Nope," Nyssra shook her head with certainty. "I accessed their database earlier—we're marked as [caution] only. The military wouldn't ramp things up like this for just a caution tag."

"Caution...?"

So that's how they flag potentially suspicious groups. Good to know. But if this isn't about us, then... who are they targeting?

{Queue ID: 0084750030501, Please move forward for inspection.}

Before I could dig further into that thought, our turn came. Fortunately, the ships ahead of us were all from the same merchant conglomerate—they were cleared en masse.

We all moved forward in a single wave, guided by light markers. Once we reached the designated zone, all ships came to a halt.

{We will now begin scanning. Remain still and avoid interfering—any such attempt will result in a mandatory 30-day detention...}

The robotic voice crackled over the comms, cold and clinical as it listed instructions and penalties for tampering with the process.

'Thirty days for interference... Sounds like they're desperate.'

Somehow, I got the distinct feeling they weren't looking for smuggled goods.

They were definitely looking for someone. A specific individual.