A few days later, after confirming with Li Yaqi, the people she contacted had already arrived at the designated location with five T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ships, waiting for him.

Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser also set off.

"Wow..." Annie looked at the bright Bridge of the T3 Blizzard, her mouth wide open.

Although she had been responsible for building several T2-class Interstellar Warships, this was her first time being personally present on a T3-class Interstellar Warship while it was in operation, especially in such an important location as the Bridge.

Like a curious baby, she looked around here and there.

"According to our flight route, we will head to the North Star System Star Gate. After passing through several Star Gates, we will arrive at the Star Gate of a border Star System, and then travel to the edge of that Star System.

There, we will rendezvous with the fleet arranged by Li Yaqi to receive the T2 Moose ships.

Afterward, we will continue toward the Reef Starfield.

The entire voyage is expected to take at least fifteen days.

On the T3 Blizzard, as you instructed, in addition to the replacement crew needed for those five T2 Moose ships, we have carried as much food as possible." A blonde, twin-tailed succubus girl standing next to Zhao Chen said, somewhat nervously.

This was the candidate for training that Lilith had recommended earlier.

The succubus, Aili.

For this operation, because Lilith stayed at the Owl Dragon base, she suggested that Zhao Chen bring Aili along to gain some experience.

"Hmm, proceed as you said." Zhao Chen agreed.

"Warp engine route pre-set complete. Next, we will enter the acceleration phase, and in ten minutes, we will enter the warp flight phase.

Within ten minutes, all crew members must enter Deep Sea Mode! I repeat, within ten minutes, all crew members must enter Deep Sea Mode!" Aili's voice rang out across the entire Starship at this moment.

At the same time, stasis pods appeared on the Bridge.

However, when Zhao Chen looked at the stasis pod next to him, he almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.

It was a stasis pod only a little over a meter long, very compact.

It gave the feeling as if... a minor's stasis pod had come out to work.

This stasis pod was naturally Annie's.

The size of a stasis pod can be intelligently adjusted according to the body size of the corresponding user.

With the imminent entry into Deep Sea Mode, the Starship system scanned the personnel information on the Bridge and arranged each person's stasis pod in the position closest to them.

Annie didn't think much of it. She walked into the stasis pod that belonged to her and didn't forget to wave at Zhao Chen next door: "Commander, good night."

Then, Annie really closed her eyes, just like a child preparing to sleep.

This Annie is too innocent. If all the dwarves in her tribe are like her, they would be too easy to trick... too easy to get along with.

Zhao Chen walked into his own stasis pod.

Afterward, the T3 Blizzard would use the Star Gate in the North Star System.

Using the Star Gate meant there was no need to worry about exposing the T3 Blizzard's tracks.

Because, looking at this T3 Blizzard from the outside at this moment, it was completely different from before.

The entire Starship used a grey paint job, and there was extra camouflage in some areas of the hull.

Before departure, according to Zhao Chen's requirements, Annie had disguised this T3 Blizzard to look more like another obscure T3 Interstellar Cruiser on the market.

Therefore, judging solely by its appearance, it would be difficult for anyone to recognize this Starship as that legendary Starship, the T3 Blizzard!

No one would know that Zhao Chen was about to leave the Starlight Empire silently.

At the thought of leaving the territory of the Starlight Empire for the first time, Zhao Chen felt a little excited.

...

A few days later, in a border Star System located at the junction of the North Wind Star Sector and the Chu River Star Region, a grey Interstellar Warship sailed out from the Star Gate.

Afterward, it quickly entered warp flight status again, heading toward the edge of the Star System.

I don't know how much time passed.

The grey Interstellar Warship finally slowed down and stopped.

"All personnel on the Bridge must return to their posts within one minute and check the Starship's data.

All personnel on the Starship must return to their posts within three minutes and stand by." Aili quickly woke up from the stasis pod and relayed the order.

Zhao Chen looked at Charlotte next to him.

Charlotte said: "We are attempting to make contact with the handover target."

After waiting for more than ten minutes, they finally received a signal on the communication channel.

It was a string of garbled code, but in Zhao Chen's eyes, it was not that simple; this was the secret handshake signal Li Yaqi had given him to rendezvous with that group of Interstellar Pirates.

Zhao Chen input another string of garbled code and transmitted it. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Soon, both sides made contact and determined the handover location.

Relying on its high cruising speed, the T3 Blizzard quickly arrived at the designated location.

"The Starship radar detected ten Interstellar Warships ahead, all of which are T2-class Interstellar Warships." Charlotte looked at the Starship radar.

Although this was a normal handover, as a General, she would always be ready for battle, prepared to face anything that might happen.

Hiss, hiss, hiss.

A video communication window popped up at this moment. After a brief blur, against the background of a somewhat dim Bridge, a woman wearing a half-ghost mask appeared.

The woman wore a dark red top. The half-ghost mask covered half of her face. On the exposed half of her face, besides fair skin, there were unknown black patterns, appearing like some kind of text or design.

But Zhao Chen did not recognize them.

"All five T2 Moose ships are here. As requested, they are stocked with synthetic nutritional meals sufficient for 200,000 people for one month, along with some basic daily [N O V E L I G H T] necessities.

According to the agreement, after you confirm everything is correct, my personnel will withdraw from these five T2 Moose ships, and your crew will be responsible for taking over the Starships." The woman's voice was somewhat hoarse; it was unclear whether it was naturally like that or disguised.

Her pair of pupils were actually crimson, which is very rare.

Her eyes were filled with indifference, much like when Zhao Chen first met Charlotte.

Zhao Chen noticed that Charlotte's tail next to him had stopped wagging and was held at a special angle.

Zhao Chen knew that was the state Charlotte maintained when she was on high alert.

She was wary of the ghost-masked, red-eyed woman in front of them.

"Very well." Zhao Chen replied. Since this was someone Li Yaqi said could be completely trusted, Zhao Chen would not act rashly before the other party performed any threatening actions.

Subsequently, several shuttles departed from the hangars of those five T2 Moose ships; the five T2 Moose-class ships were kept only in a low-power, automatic operating state.

Afterward, Zhao Chen's crew began to board the shuttles to enter those five T2 Moose ships.

During this period, Zhao Chen also noticed Charlotte quietly instructing the crew boarding the ships to be cautious, and at the same time, to conduct a thorough search of those five Interstellar Warships to ensure there were no hidden dangers.

The entire process of handing over the Starships lasted half an hour.

After Zhao Chen's crew officially took over the five T2 Moose-class ships, Zhao Chen looked at the ghost-masked, red-eyed girl opposite him.

"Handover complete." Zhao Chen said.

"Goodbye." The masked, red-eyed girl said coldly.

"We might have further cooperation in the future. I wonder how I should address you." Zhao Chen inquired.

Future cooperation involving items that needed to be transported for Li Yaqi might require dealing with this group, so it was better to understand them first.

"We are the Bloody Mary Mercenary Group. As for my name, only the dead know it. Are you sure you want to hear it?" The ghost-masked, red-eyed girl said in an icy tone.