Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

The guy from the military heard this and was immediately about to flip out, "What the hell did you say?"

Luckily, not all soldiers are hotheaded; a comrade pulled him away.

Flower Scorpion sneered, "Kid, if you want to die, just say it. I’m very familiar with this part of the Shattered Star Belt!"

The communication was a bit rocky overall, but to say it was a big dispute isn’t accurate. To soldiers, what’s a verbal spat?

The key point was that her attitude showed she had the confidence, not someone you could easily fool with a few words.

Other soldiers also realized she’s a troublemaker. No one deliberately stirred things up, but the necessary formalities still had to be followed.

After checking their cultivation levels, the soldier was astonished, "An electromagnetic A-level and a wind attribute A-level?"

"Is this ever going to end?" Bentley got impatient, "You’re looking for Supreme, we’re just A-level!"

One hothead argued, "A-levels are not good enough, I need to verify identity!"

This guy wasn’t wrong in thinking that usually the identity of Five Major Attributes’ A-level doesn’t need verification, but these two have mutated attributes!

A chill flashed through Bentley’s eyes, "Tampering with Imperial laws, we do have surveillance, dare you say it again?"

No bluffing here; if the other party dared speak, he dared kill!

At this point, Flower Scorpion, unexpectedly, played the good cop, "Enough already, we’ve been quite cooperative!"

The soldiers had no choice but to reluctantly let the starship enter.

The starship entered the Asteroid Belt, drove along its edge for over a day, and then slowed down.

Soon, there was a fluctuation in space, and Qu Jianlei, Granny Jia, and Qinghu appeared.

Qu Jianlei nodded first, "This spot is good, minimal interference, successful on the first try."

This time it’s a ship-to-ship teleportation within chaotic space, any instability in spatial energy would cause teleportation errors.

Although they’ve experienced greater teleportation errors before, it’s best if there aren’t any errors.

Qinghu sighed, "It’s a pity we can’t achieve starship-level near-ground jumps, it would be convenient when exiting."

"No rush," Granny Jia was quite composed, "Once we find the people, there’ll be ways to handle it. The key is to find them first."

The space occupied by the Shattered Star Belt is much larger than the Asteroid Belt, with various complex phenomena.

But the atmosphere here is indeed better than the Asteroid Belt.

Though you rarely encounter large starships, when you do, they’d usually signal a greeting; the atmosphere is very friendly.

On many star bodies, you can see various observation points; in some places, there are signs of human activity.

Qu Jianlei even found patches of green on two small star bodies—those are greenhouse-cultivated plants.

So this is indeed a research project base, unlike the rough folks of the Asteroid Belt, who only know how to snatch minerals.

Six days later, Qu Jianlei and his group finally arrived at a mass of nebula.

This nebula mass was large, with a diameter of 50,000 kilometers, but the density wasn’t high, mostly gaseous material.

In fact, there were quite many solid materials in the nebula, and Palamera’s group was hiding among them.

But there were other forces in the nebula too—at least the Imperial set up two specific observation points here.

The starship entered the nebula and didn’t turn off its lights.

The lights couldn’t travel far in the nebula but at least implied confidence—if they’re daring to shine like this, they’re likely legitimate.

Then Qu Jianlei sent out the identification signal; regardless of trustworthiness, he followed Zhan Donglai’s instructions.

The starship moved slowly within the nebula, at a speed of five to six hundred kilometers per hour.

Going any faster would make it really hard to discern the surrounding environment.

Anyway, Qu Jianlei wasn’t in a rush. Who knows where Palamera could be hiding? Just take it slow and look,

In the blink of an eye, five days passed with Qu Jianlei not finding anyone, but instead sheltering two waves of survivors.

Neither wave was professional adventurers, just mere amateurs coming purely for thrills.

Otherwise, how could a mere 50,000 kilometers of nebula trap anyone?

Among them, those trapped the longest had been stuck in the nebula for over a year.

Apart from these two groups, Qu Jianlei faintly felt several clusters of eyes watching the starship from deep within the nebula.

But he didn’t care and wouldn’t ponder who they might be.

Most likely they weren’t a threat to him, and dwelling on it would only provoke unnecessary trouble and delay proper tasks.

Why bother? Anyone understanding the signal would naturally reach out to him.

What he didn’t know was that a hundred kilometers to his side and rear, three people were tightly tailing him.

They sat on a piece of fabric with a side length of about three meters, which could hover in the nebula, flying unstressed.

On the fabric lay six life support pods, tied to the three to prevent dispersion.

Underneath the fabric hung a lifeboat, appearing quite ragged.

A faint wave of aura surrounded the three, forming a thin protective shield, all clearly with Supreme Cultivation.

One of the men, with a handsome appearance, spoke up, "There’s something unusual about that starship; wasn’t it sent by your senior?"

The starship has a clear "Purple Pool Mine" marking, and Zhan Donglai is not only the second-in-command of Purple Pool but also oversees mining operations.

Another rough-looking man shook his head, unwilling to say more, "Let’s observe a bit longer."

"If we keep waiting, none of us will hold on!" the dashing man couldn’t help but protest, "What exactly are you worried about?"

The rough man hesitated for a moment and let out a heavy sigh, "If he had sent a City Guard warship, I definitely would’ve pursued it."

He knew Zhan Donglai’s strength, and his actual combat power was slightly inferior.

Even if another supreme joins, it might not resolve the current predicament.

But as an alumnus, this was not something he could say, "Even a customs enforcement warship would do, why send a mining starship?"

A mining starship could work but one surely isn’t enough.

If there were more than two supreme beings coming, for safety’s sake, at least two starships should be expected.

Anyway, he just felt something was off, though it wasn’t to the extent of doubting his senior.

The dashing man gave a bitter smile at these words, "The reinforcements we called are even farther away, making it even less likely they’ll come... we’re really reaching our limits."

Finally, a silent middle-aged woman spoke up, "If push comes to shove, we could always raid a base."

"That would just make things more complicated," the dashing man shook his head, dismissively.

For supreme beings in distress, forcibly taking from others is nothing unusual, but it’s truly inappropriate at this moment.

The woman dismissively retorted, "Just pay them off; we’re not short on money."

"Is this really a money issue?" the dashing man huffed irritably, "It would expose our location and situation!"

"Alright," said the rough man, who was actually Palamera, speaking up.

The four of them, all supreme, had teamed up to venture into the Maiden Star Realm and had always gotten along well, with no need to worry about internal disputes.

But while there were no disputes when gaining opportunities, and distribution was discussed, who would have thought they’d find themselves in a predicament?

Noticing everyone was a bit heated, he finally resolved, "Shall we just move in and see?"

"We should have done so earlier," the dashing man suggested, "If worse comes to worst, we can retreat, and if it comes to it, we can admit defeat."

"Why should we?" the middle-aged woman was displeased, "We worked so hard for these opportunities, we won’t give them up even if it kills us."

Upon hearing this, the dashing man erupted in anger, "You make it sound as though I’m afraid to die, but it’s just about whether it’s worth it!"

His suggestion was that if they really couldn’t resist, they could hand over their findings to the military and perhaps still benefit.

If they truly encountered the group trying to seize their chance, he definitely would fight to the death, no question about it.

"Enough, stop arguing," Palamera interjected once more, "Prepare for battle."

Qu Jianlei and the others were investigating when suddenly Flower Scorpion spoke up, "There’s a high-speed object approaching from the rear side!"

Hearing this, everyone looked over, and Bentley couldn’t help but exclaim softly, "What on earth is that thing flying?"

Even Granny Jia and Qinghu didn’t understand.

However, given their much greater experience, they still managed to maintain their composure.

"Raise the shield," Qu Jianlei ordered in a deep voice, "Begin charging weapons."

No matter what was approaching, adopting a combat posture couldn’t hurt.

Soon after, the strange object also had a sequence of lights flashing on it, alternating between bright and dim.

"Signal confirmed," Big Head Butterfly turned around in Qu Jianlei’s mind, "It should be Palamera."

"Or they’ve been captured, and their soul searched, leading to the leak," it added.

"You didn’t need to say that last part," Qu Jianlei silently grumbled, "Too much intelligence and you’ll get dissected."

Palamera and the others were slightly taken aback upon seeing the starship’s shield being raised.

However, the shield’s light soon dimmed again, and all three of them exhaled lightly.

The response from the other side was nothing unusual in interstellar travel.

Nonetheless, the three didn’t drop their guard, with Palamera even quietly enveloping everyone in rock armor.

Qu Jianlei watched them preparing and didn’t react much.

When they approached to within seven or eight kilometers, he had Little Lake project a line of text, "Palamera?"

Upon seeing this, Palamera flashed a confirming light signal, followed by the final identity verification signal code.

All of this was completed within a brief minute, following which the starship’s cargo bay door was seen slowly opening.

"That went smoothly?" the middle-aged woman murmured softly, "Stay cautious, though."

"Hmph," the dashing man sneered, "Once we’re inside the cargo bay, they’ll have no say."

In space, supreme beings have their hands tied against a starship, but inside its confines, it’s a completely different story.

Then, the three of them entered the cargo bay unimpeded, along with the six lifeboats they brought with them.

As they felt the cargo bay door closing behind them, the three surveyed the interior, instantly stunned.

"Are there still other lifeboats in use?"

(Updates up to here. Please summon monthly votes, subscriptions, and recommendation votes.)