At this very moment, in a corner of the Azure Princess, Yu Lian and Wien had finally successfully infiltrated.
In fact, the moment Yu Lian dragged him out of the hatch, Wien began to regret it. He suddenly realized that the power and energy of the space survival suit were very limited, and it would be very difficult to support both himself and Yu Lian drifting to the Azure Princess on the opposite side. One must know that this was in space; what looked like a short distance was, on the ground, truly as far as the horizon.
"...You're not planning to use spiritual energy, are you?"
"It's a method, but I'm not on the mage path, and I don't have high-level abilities yet. Using spiritual energy to push us over is a method... but I'd run out of energy before we arrived," Yu Lian said.
"Then..." Wien was about to ask when he saw Yu Lian simply raising his right hand in the opposite direction, then extending his left hand to grab the energy pack hanging on his back.
Horatio Wien was quite displeased with this action, feeling as if he were a giant cat being held by the scruff of its neck. He felt that the other party was clearly taking advantage of him at every opportunity and was about to flare up, but then he saw Yu Lian chanting an extremely awkward command in a certain direction.
In the empty space of the Universe, in a space where theoretically even matter did not exist, airflow actually appeared.
This guy's oxygen pack is leaking? This was Wien's first thought, but he immediately felt that he was being too gloomy.
In this Universe, all unscientific situations could be attributed to the occult, i.e., spiritual energy. This was the education Wien had received since childhood, so he quickly realized that Yu Lian must be carrying some spiritual energy treasures.
"You, you're even more hidden than I imagined!"
What am I hiding? Yu Lian subtly rolled his eyes at Wien. He wanted to find something to retort, but Horatio Wien, who came from a prominent family, was not a gossipy person. After saying that, he didn't ask any more questions, not giving the other party any chance to find fault.
Yu Lian unhappily adjusted the direction of the airflow with the Pamino Ring, while also pulling open his thrusters. After more than ten minutes of floating, he finally pushed himself and Wien to the Azure Princess. He activated the magnetic suction cups on his feet, adjusted his posture, and stepped onto the ship's outer hull.
Wien finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he hadn't exerted much effort, he was drenched in sweat and felt even more tired than Yu Lian.
Yu Lian looked up at the ship, which was tens of kilometers long, and felt as if he were in a plain of steel; looking out, he couldn't see the end.
Before these ultimate artificial mechanical creations, humans, who believed they could master the world, appeared so tiny, as small as dust. However, in the Universe, these ultimate artificial creations were also equally tiny, as small as invisible bacteria.
However, what was called 'tiny' was merely a relative concept of size. In Yu Lian's memory, spiritual energy users capable of destroying this luxury cruise ship, which weighed over a million tons and resembled a space fortress, were rare but indeed existed in the Universe. Similarly, artificial objects capable of completely turning an entire vibrant, youthful stellar system into dead silence also indeed existed.
Yu Lian sighed silently, stomped his foot on the hull, and said to Wien, "This ship... doesn't it feel very familiar?"
"Mikhail's family was indeed one of the builders of this ship, but I've never been on it," Wien said.
I mean, the future you has all sorts of indissoluble bonds with this ship! Why are you acting like you don't know it? What a heartless scumbag!
Wien completely didn't understand why Yu Lian's gaze at him carried a hint of condescending disdain. He immediately said with a cold face, "Wearing a space suit and directly floating onto the ship using occult means. I must say, that is indeed an admirable method. However, there's a technical problem here..."
"How do we get in, right?" Yu Lian said.
One of the most frustrating things in the world is having your punchline stolen by someone else, especially the person involved.
Wien was very frustrated now, but at least he understood that he absolutely could not show weakness in front of his mortal enemy, which prevented him from losing his composure. At this moment, he saw Yu Lian bending down, tapping and knocking on the ship's outer hull, looking for all the world like he was digging for treasure on a steel plain, which immediately made him want to complain even more.
However, soon, he saw Yu Lian stand up and wave his hand at a certain spot on the ship's outer hull. He vaguely saw a blurry ripple flash, slide, and explode there, then directly slam into the ship's body.
Horatio Wien seemed to hear a silent roar and even felt the ground tremble slightly. He finally managed to regain his footing and turned his head to see that a gap had already appeared in the ship's hull.
"Mikhail, your family's shipyard is so famous, I didn't expect it to..." Wien had just thought this when he heard Yu Lian say, "Don't worry, Rozes's Brooklyn Shipyard is still one of the Commonwealth's shipbuilding consciences. It's just that this Azure Princess uses a new three-layer hull technology, and each layer of protection is different. The outermost layer uses Xiandanu Heavy Industries' K2 nanoliquid metal armor, which is self-healing... It's just that this material doesn't have very good 'occult resistance'; using spiritual energy to damage it can cause its self-healing ability to temporarily stagnate."
"...Spiritual energy, you transcendent ones are truly convenient!" Wien knew this was undignified, but he truly couldn't help but express a bit of envy, jealousy, and hatred.
But in reality, Yu Lian made it sound simple, but it was not simple at all. The impact formed by spiritual energy was indeed more agile, clever, and bizarre than all currently known attack methods, but to directly destroy its unique function in a short time, one would at least need to understand the composition and nano-repair principles of this type of armor.
Fortunately, in the future, K-type nano-armor would be sold throughout the Universe. Xiandanu Heavy Industries, after making a fortune, was still not satisfied and directly opened up manufacturing authorizations, enjoying patent royalties. Half a century later, in the Galaxy, even pirate ships wouldn't dare to greet others without a layer of nanoliquid armor.
One of Yu Lian's beloved ships in his previous life was, of course, one of them. He still dared to declare to the universe spirit that, apart from Xiandanu Heavy Industries' core R&D personnel and senior Engineers, no one in the Universe understood fluid armor better than he did.
And once the self-healing function of the fluid armor was affected, the ship's other inspection functions would naturally activate automatically.
Then, from not far away, a door, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, suddenly opened on the originally smooth, mirror-like hull, and a robot, as large as a millstone and very similar in appearance to a crab, crawled out.
The large fellow's probe directly scanned Wien and Yu Lian, but it decisively ignored the two of them and crawled straight towards the gap.
Yu Lian waved to Wien, went directly to the still-open door, and squeezed in.
Wien also hurried over, entering the ship almost at the moment the door closed, once again breaking out in goosebumps. He always felt that if he didn't make it into the ship in time, Yu Lian might actually leave him outside.
"Don't worry, even if you can't make it, I won't leave you outside," Yu Lian said.
If you hadn't added that, I might have believed you. Wien gnashed his teeth, quickly forced himself to calm down, carefully observed the surroundings, and was about to say something when Yu Lian said again, "Oh, by the way, don't be in a hurry to take off your mask."
"..."
Calm down, Horatio, this is your sworn enemy! He will definitely not miss any opportunity to strike at you! This must be his conspiracy to trample on your dignity, you must not lose your composure!
Wien paused for nearly ten seconds before saying in a very calm, even overly calm, tone, "This should be the outer compartment of the automatic repair robot; of course, there won't be oxygen. I still have that much common sense!"
Yu Lian nodded, observed the compartment, nodded and greeted the robots that were tightly pressed against the wall and not activated, and then moved forward, rubbing his body against the narrow mechanical passage.
Although Wien didn't understand why, he still followed behind the other party.
The two squeezed and walked for nearly five more minutes, passing through several Fork in the road, but Yu Lian didn't hesitate at all. He knocked on a side panel, then pushed hard, revealing a passageway.
"Hmm, Engineer's passageway."
Machines cannot complete self-circulation. Therefore, no matter how automated a machine cabin is, there must be access passages for Engineers and technicians; this is an iron rule of this Universe.
Wien was dumbfounded.
The other party was too skilled, so skilled that it was as if he had lived on this ship his entire life.
The two walked along the Engineer's passage for another half minute, then saw an elevator.
Taking it should lead directly to the upper deck of the ship.
However, Yu Lian did not immediately activate the elevator.
Instead, he carefully inspected the surroundings and finally found the access point for the pipelines.
He opened his terminal, connected, and hacked, his movements swift and precise, much like a high-IQ tech criminal who had been active in the underworld for many years.
Just like those in movies who invade banks and merchant ship vaults as if they were their own homes.
Wien was almost out of strength to be surprised.
He quickly noticed the TV screen Yu Lian had connected to his personal terminal; it was a live broadcast from the Blue Star National Television, and what immediately caught his eye was President Nockham's haggard, decaying face.
Indeed, just as the Commonwealth's "Dominators" had guessed, the outside news media only saw the footage broadcast from the Azure Princess by Brigadier General Morey.
Their image had temporarily been salvaged to some extent.
But even so, it was enough to cause a frenzy among media outlets nationwide, and even throughout the All-Galaxy.
"Currently, regarding this matter, neither the Presidential Palace nor the Defense Committee has issued a definitive statement.
We will constantly monitor the development of the situation!" a well-known news anchor said with a heavy expression.
He said it was heavy, but Yu Lian always felt that the guy's expression was holding back laughter, looking like someone who enjoyed a good show.
This was understandable.
As media professionals, they didn't really care about Brigadier General Morey's demands, whether they were reasonable, or the subsequent developments and consequences.
They only needed to know that this major event alone would provide them with enough material for several years.
At this point, it was even possible for these people to kneel down and call Brigadier General Morey "dad."
After the live broadcast ended, Yu Lian and Wien looked at each other, speechless, unsure what expression to make.
In his Past life, had such a thing happened?
It shouldn't have happened, right?
A President, plus a Defense Committee Chairman, plus a large group of dignitaries being held hostage—just the weight of the hostages alone would make this terrorist act infamous enough to go down in history.
He had no reason to forget it.
So, is it my fault again?
This darned butterfly effect?
"Are General Schwartz and Brigadier General Morey on such good terms?" Yu Lian thought for a long time; the butterfly's wings probably only affected this aspect.
After all, General Schwartz's true nature had not been exposed.
Even now, his public image was still that of a stern, iron-blooded soldier who hated evil, as well as a learned and wise general.
"There are many people who are on good terms with General Schwartz.
Although he is impartial and has offended many, there are plenty who hold him in high regard.
In this incident, quite a few people are speaking up for him," Wien snorted.
"Even my uncle wanted to argue his case, but he was scolded back by my grandfather and father, who told him to stay out of such matters."
He remembered that Horatio Wien indeed had an uncle in the military, who was now a major general.
However, the famous Wien family was still led by his grandfather, who had served as Prime Minister for ten years and Speaker for five, and his father, who was currently a senator.
"Actually, I also feel that General Schwartz is a bit wronged," Wien added.
Oh, indeed, Zhou Gong was afraid of gossip!
Before his exposure, this guy had such a reputation and popularity.
However, on the timeline of this world, he probably had no chance of being exposed.
"...I just checked, there are only a few hundred people on the bridge.
It must be Morey's choice; they are all important figures.
But there should still be more than twenty thousand people on the ship, and their current location is unknown," Yu Lian said.
Wien nodded: "Indeed, we need to plan carefully! But we can't just leave them... First, we need to find weapons!"
This was probably the difference between Horatio Wien and ordinary people.
If it were someone else, wouldn't their first thought at this moment be to escape, or find a secluded place to hide?
However, the above options probably never entered his consideration from the beginning.
"Currently, we don't know how many enemies are on board... Also, as you saw, that destroyer should also belong to Brigadier General Morey's people.
Therefore, everything must be carefully planned!
We must confirm all the conditions on the ship, the number and equipment of the enemies, the situation and location of the hostages, and also establish contact with the outside world."
More importantly, the situation of Feifei and Uncle Wang, who were still on the Azure Princess!
Feifei was just an ordinary little girl; she was indeed quite capable of fighting, but that was only within the scope of ordinary people.
Being able to take down five or six people was her limit.
Any ordinary person with a pistol would be beyond her ability to contend with.
And Uncle Wang... a dignified Six Rings "Adjudicator," an existence known as a Saint.
Logically, he should be able to freely control the Heavenly Eye domain, hostility judgment, and even the Judgment Ring, easily covering the entire ship with his perception.
There was no reason for the enemy to succeed so easily, right?
No, there were still some methods.
Yu Lian quickly thought of several possibilities.
He couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Even a mere Two-Ring like himself had methods, so there was no reason why Morey, a Four-Ring, couldn't do it.
Never think that everyone else in this Universe is a fool.
In any case, compared to the safety of Feifei and Uncle Wang, Yu Lian genuinely didn't care much about the lives of the important figures on the bridge.
"Then... where do we go?" Wien asked.
"The Azure Princess's central control room!
All the ship's information terminals are there!"
Once there, they might be able to find a way to gain control of the Azure Princess's internal facilities.
Additionally, Wang Jingyang should have been on standby there earlier, responsible for the ship's security and spiritual energy protection, so there might be some clues left behind.
"Also, haven't you noticed that after boarding the ship, our personal terminals lost their external communication function?
The other party obviously used wireless information shielding equipment... If there were other parts and equipment, I could try to manually invade through wired signal lines.
But we have nothing here."
Wien also sighed: "Understood... As for weapons, we'll improvise."
Just as the two were about to act, they suddenly heard a mechanical vibration.
Yu Lian's expression darkened.
He pulled Wien against the steel wall of the pipeline, raised the Pamino Ring, and created a murky gas wall in front of them.
This type of mystical gas barrier could, to some extent, interfere with thermal and image capture.
And Yu Lian knew that in this era, most combat robot AIs were generally poor, with mediocre automation levels and weak target acquisition capabilities, so they might actually be fooled by him.
However, to be safe, he still carefully released the Fa Fu'er Dragon Eye, mentally preparing for a "White Hooded stealth" approach.
A few seconds later, at the corner of the passage in front of them, the figure of a combat robot truly appeared.
It was slender, terrifying in appearance, and moved on eight legs.
Wien lowered himself, tightly gripping a stun gun.
This was his only weapon, detached from his spacesuit, originally intended for temporary engineering repairs in emergencies.
Perhaps the gas wall opened by the Pamino Ring really had some effect, as the robot stopped in place, seeming hesitant, and did not immediately rush over.
Instead, it extended its red probe, menacingly feeling around, as if it were a scorpion searching for prey.
Wien didn't dare to breathe loudly.
Although he couldn't identify the model of this machine, he knew that his stun gun could never deal with this thing.
In contrast, Yu Lian wasn't afraid at all.
He had confirmed what this thing was; it definitely wasn't his opponent.
Gray Mist Alert Machine Type 3?
Why was this thing here?
Was there a Gray Mist Intelligence Core on this ship?
Were the butterfly's wings too mischievous this time?
But just then, the scorpion-like drone seemed to sense something, lifted its probe, suddenly turned around, and drilled into another passage.
Wien let out a long breath, but before he could recover, Yu Lian had already chased after the machine.
He gritted his teeth, looked at himself, almost unarmed, but still followed without the slightest hesitation.