“This one’s nice!” Lu Sheng immediately fancied a white flying ship which resembled a balance.

The flying ship resembled a space station more than anything.

There was a dark purple crystal in the center. The tip of the flying ship resembled the Chinese character for “mountain”. The tail of the ship resembled blades of leaves that turned like a fan.

From its looks alone, it was clear that this flying ship was fast.

By comparing this flying ship with the other flying ships around it, it was clear that this ship was a cut above them in terms of swiftness of activation or changes in motor power.

“Let’s go with this!” Lu Sheng was quite satisfied with himself for being able to run into such a nice flying ship at the final moment.

Usually, it would not be easy to run into such a nice flying ship.

***

“Ugh… Uh… I don’t… I’m never coming back! Never! Not in this life!” Bansai Benien cocooned himself in a blanket and holed himself up in a corner of the most hidden space capsule of the flying ship.

The capsule’s door was shut. Besides some puppets and beings with low intelligence, there was nobody else inside the flying ship.

As the son of the Benien Merchant Alliance’s president, he was born with a burden and hopes which he could never shake off.

He was not an only son; he had two older brothers and an elder sister before him.

However, as the son of the Benien Merchant Alliance’s president, the basic requirement they had for him was to study and gain knowledge in a number of subjects such as business, finance, social skills, intergalactic logistics, and other professional fields.

Hence, he had been taught various complicated and difficult subjects ever since he was a young child. What made Bansai feel helpless was that he was lacking greatly in natural talents, especially when compared to his older siblings. Also, he did not inherit an ounce of the outstanding bloodline his parents had.

However, because he was the only son of his glaringly brilliant mother who owned an extremely immense amount of resources and influence, nobody would say anything about him even though he had neither talent nor quality.

“But… I truly… don’t want to face that anymore!” When Bansai remembered the special course which he was forced to take before this, a thick fog of pain clouded his heart again.

“It’s one thing to take courses and study foreign languages, and I can even bear with learning how to pilot a flying ship, but that… I have no talent in that! It’s true! Why? Why must it be me!?”

Bansai recalled the painful memories. He immediately shuddered.

He never had the heart to harm anyone.

However, they wanted him to take part in a simulated dreamland killing training. The bloody and unbearably cruel scenes kept replaying before his eyes.

He threw up on the very first day of training. He lost consciousness from all the vomiting and collapsed from exhaustion.

However, that was useless. The seniors in his clan forced him to continue his training all the same.

However, he could not take it anymore!

For real!

After repressing his emotions to the extreme, he finally erupted. He secretly flew a special flying ship which he had silently modified. With the help of the special formations he used to pilot and modify the ship, he finally managed to break through his family’s blockade. He disguised his ship as an ordinary merchant ship and reached this stellar harbor.

Bansai buried his head deep into the blanket. He dared not raise his head.

He was very disappointed in himself. He could even imagine the deep look of disappointment on his mother’s face if she ever found out about him running away from a practice session again.

They had laid out a near-perfect pathway for his life. However, it was not a life that he liked or wanted.

In truth, Bansai knew that this terrifying training was only a fuse which triggered his bottled-up emotions for the world all this while.

“I… want to be free! I want to live my own life!” Bansai did his best to reduce his body’s size as he curled up. His tears could not stop flowing from his eyes.

His parents intended to groom him into the perfect heir, but that was not a life that he wanted to have.

He would rather his incredible big brother took over the merchant alliance. Even if his big brother wasn’t capable of handling it alone, he would still have his third sister on his side.

Bansai did not like to do business. He did not like it at all.

“Click.”

Just when Bansai was wallowing in his grief at his own fate, there was a sudden, faint metallic sound which originated from within the flying ship.

Something seemed to have breached the hull and entered the flying ship.

Bansai, who was extremely familiar with modifying flying ships, immediately recognized that this was the sound produced by the breaking of some metallic board.

This was not an ordinary sound. After all, this was an isolated cabin. Even a strong sound couldn’t necessarily reach him here.

“What… What’s that!?” Bansai slowly raised his head from among the blankets.

“Duu… Duu…”

Suddenly, the alarm within the flying ship started sounding.

Bansai shuddered.

“What’s… What’s happening!? Isn’t this within the area of the stellar harbor!?”

“Bam!”

There was a muffled sound outside. The alarm stopped sounding. All was silent.

Bansai’s ears stood in attention as he listened carefully. However, no other sound reached him.

He waited for a while, and then another short while, yet he could hear nothing. He started to relax.

‘Looks like it’s just some accidental malfunction. I’ll have to fix it soon!’ Bansai was starting to worry in his mind. He was worried that he might be unable to make it out of here quickly because of this malfunction.

If that happened, it would be highly possible for him to be dragged back by his family members who were chasing after him.

When he thought about the possible scenarios that could happen if he was brought back, he immediately shuddered and quickly stood up. He got off his bed and went over to undo the locks on the cabin’s door.

Brilliant radiance of various colors burst forth from the locks.

Soon enough, after the sixth lock was completely opened, Bansai pulled the cabin door open slowly. He peeked out through the slit.

The main cabin was empty.

“Phew…”

Bansai immediately sighed with relief.

He’d initially thought that some pirate had boarded his flying ship. He had given himself quite the scare.

“There’s someone here?” Suddenly, a huge hand reached down from the skies and landed firmly on his head. His feet were lifted off the ground.

Bansai’s face turned ghastly pale. He flailed his limbs frantically and screamed like a girl. “Kyaaah!”

“Bam!”

Lu Sheng, in his black robes, landed a punch on Bansai’s belly. Everything was quiet now.

…….

“Splash!”

Bansai slowly came to. He had been awakened by a splash of ice-cold water.

He was lying on the metallic floor of the main cabin, with his face facing upward. On the seat of the main console beside him, a majestic-looking man with a strong and tall build sat upright.

The youngster could swear that he had never seen such an imposing, tall, and mighty man before in his entire life!

Bansai was looking at the person who sat with his legs crossed on the seat before him with blurry eyes.

“Are you the master of this ship?” The man had long hair which reached his waist. His muscles were as tough and strong like chunks of rocks and metals. Even the baggy black robe on his body could not cover up the strong contours of his physique.

Lighting left clear black and white lines on the side of his face. On top of that, he had a terrifying gaze which resembled a lion.

Bansai merely met his gaze, and he already had the feeling that he was about to be torn to shreds by the man’s canines.

This was a man who was as majestic as a lion!

This description rose to the surface of Bansai’s mind subconsciously.

“I’ll ask you again. Are you the master of this ship?” The man on the seat looked down at Bansai. He spoke in a lazy tone, like a wild beast which had just woken up from its slumber.

“…Yes! I am!” Bansai immediately responded loudly out of reflex as he shuddered in fear.

“What’s your name?” Lu Sheng asked casually.

“Ban… Bansai!” It finally struck Bansai that his ship had just been hijacked.

A hijacking!?

The color drained from his face. Strength escaped from his legs. He nearly fell to the floor.

His heart raced. He felt as if his blood wanted to make a complete circulation in a few short seconds.

Cold sweat broke out on his back. There was a faint prickling sensation on his skin.

‘Dead… I’m dead!’

He’d read one too many stories about how cruel galactic pirates were.

‘I’ll definitely be killed! I’ll die! I’ll actually die!’

“From now on, you’re my first mate!” To his surprise, this man waved his great arm and pointed toward him.

Bansai was already feeling cold from the fright. Sweat kept trickling down his back. Then, he heard this statement.

“Hm? Eh!?”

“Thud.”

His eyes rolled and he slumped to the ground.

Lu Sheng was slightly taken aback with the sight before himself. This young man was shaking from the moment he was dragged out. He did not even have to resort to intimidation for this young man to lose all his courage.

Lu Sheng initially thought that the young man would relax and feel calmer when he said that he would not kill him.

He did not expect this young man to faint.

“Toram, wake him up.” Lu Sheng looked at the time. He needed a person to control the ship.

The single passenger ships operated in dummy modes; hence, they were easy to maneuver. However, the operating system of this flying ship was extremely complicated.

It had been clearly modified before this. Also, the level of modification was high.

He had no idea how he should control this ship. He could only let the ship fly on its predestined course.

Then, he finally found a living person on the ship. Judging by his attire, this young man must have been the true master of this ship.

However, he did not expect this man to be this easily scared.

Toram Bach walked up to the man. She raised the bucket of cold water which had been readied on the side and dumped its contents onto the young man’s head.

“Splash!”

The bone-chilling ice water sent a shiver down Bansai’s body. He slowly came to, but he was still in a daze.

“If you’re awake, get to work,” said Lu Sheng, annoyed. “Otherwise, there’s no value in keeping you here.”

Bansai shuddered. No value? He would definitely be killed if he had no value! He would be killed!

“Roger!” he suddenly shouted. He turned around and ran toward the main control panel. Ha managed to sit before the panel.

Then, his hands turned into shadows.

The flying ship suddenly shook. It swiftly shifted its course and sped off toward another galaxy.

“Jump. Head toward the periphery of the Green Branch Sect near the Pain Galaxy!” Lu Sheng ordered.

Although the Green Branch Sect intended to frame him, it had nothing to do with his current predicament. Moreover, the Green Branch did not know that he had cost them an entire planet.

Since he was going up against the Mother of Pain, it was still safe to travel there.

“…Roger!” Bansai hastily responded.

This flying ship was clearly controlled by a system which Bansai had designed. It was only suitable for this ship.

Lu Sheng initially intended to learn about it using Mental Energy, but after learning that it was not practical by asking Bansai, he gave up on that idea.

At the end of the day, the important thing was for him to be able to read a galactic map and know the ship routes.

The flying ship’s energy furnace was well supplied. Perhaps it was the result of the modifications; even a virtual rotational high-energy furnace was installed.

This energy furnace was the fruit of Libra City’s cutting-edge technology. It was capable of continuously absorbing and converting most matter and energy in space into energy.

This enabled the ship to save most of its fuel and extend the sailing time.