“What are you looking at? Why are you laughing so happily?”
Miller had just arrived at his workstation in Patrol Team Six of the Federal Interstellar Patrol Department when he saw his teammate, Zhu Di, next to him, giggling foolishly at her terminal.
“Hahahahaha, have you seen this video? It’s too funny,” Zhu Di flipped her terminal over, pointing at a video on the screen. “It’s an audio clip that suddenly went viral on StarNet. The music is very catchy, and when paired with the cat, it inexplicably makes people laugh.”
Miller looked at the video. A cat was standing there blankly, and as the music started, the cat quickly began to spin.
There was no meaning to it; the cat was just spinning.
The background music was also very simple, a series of connected and repeating simple musical segments.
oiiaiooooooiai~
Miller watched the video. His brain clearly told him that this video was meaningless.
But for some reason, his eyes remained fixed on the video until Zhu Di put her terminal away.
Zhu Di raised her eyebrows, “Interesting, right?”
Miller was stubborn, “It’s… alright, I guess.”
Zhu Di was displeased by his response. She shook her head and walked away, “There’s no point talking to someone as boring as you.”
She was too lazy to say more and sat down directly to start working. Today, Patrol Team Six was on duty at the headquarters.
Headquarters duty involved handling some textual work, and the rest of the time was free, making it a relatively relaxed day. She wanted to enjoy her free time and not let her good mood be ruined by a dullard.
The Federal Headquarters still retained some traditional habits; some necessary documents were still double-backed electronically and in paper format.
After Zhu Di finished her textual work, she finally opened the light screen to check the Patrol Department’s official email. She considered her work done for the day.
That was her original plan.
Until, as soon as she opened the light screen, a special email popped out and opened automatically.
【Information Content: A kind citizen from Xiangyang District has sent you a message】
【Hello, members of the Federal Patrol Team:
I know a clue about an assault boat with a black merlion emblem, and it has some treasures from the Star Pirates.
As a kind citizen of Federal Interstellar, as a good person, I am willing to inform the Patrol Team of this clue.
Of course, it will require some shiny star coins to unlock the clue.
The quality of the clue is also related to the amount of star coins.
If interested, please contact: ★☆●■※
P.S. I am a law-abiding citizen, a very good one, and not affiliated with the Star Pirates】
Zhu Di: ?
What is a Xiangyang District citizen?
—
Lin Wei Yu sat in the driver’s seat of the assault boat with her legs crossed, her fingertips rhythmically tapping on an antique computer, making a “crunch, crunch” sound as she ate.
Beibei was next to her, using its mechanical claw to pull out a bag of potato chips found in the Star Pirates’ storage locker, feeding the chips to Lin Wei Yu’s mouth, one piece after she finished the last.
Lin Wei Yu was currently typing for her next mission.
If her intelligent brain were still around, she could directly type with brainwaves, which would be easy and simple.
However, she didn’t feel it was a pity. Lin Wei Yu preferred typing. It felt more tactile.
She planned to write a short story of ten thousand words and had just finished outlining it.
After the system saw Lin Wei Yu start typing and read the outline, it became incredibly excited, stating that contacting the Patrol Department would be left to it, telling its host to focus on typing and promising to do it discreetly.
So Lin Wei Yu wrote the email for the Patrol Department, leaving everything else to the system.
Then, just as she finished the introduction, the system projected a light screen in front of her.
It was an invitation for an encrypted call.
Lin Wei Yu chose to connect.
“Unknown communicator,” a cold, stern male voice came through, “you have one minute to prove this isn’t a joke.”
Lin Wei Yu gestured with her eyes for the system to switch to an electronic synthetic voice for her before speaking: “This assault boat has a black merlion emblem, the code has been rubbed off, the engine has been modified, and there’s a hidden storage compartment next to the power room. I can send you a few pictures as a token of sincerity.”
The system immediately sent over a few partial images.
Carlos, the captain of Patrol Team Six, received the pictures and confirmed that the other party was indeed providing information about a Star Pirates’ ship, and a relatively advanced assault boat at that.
He heard that there was a capable person among the Star Pirates who could optimize engine performance, making spaceships travel faster.
If they could capture this spaceship...
“I need to know the completeness of the assault boat.”
Lin Wei Yu didn’t reply directly, instead demanding to hear their offer first: “I need to hear your offer first to determine if this is worth discussing.”
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the communication.
“...How much do you want?”
Lin Wei Yu countered: “How much are you willing to give?”
Carlos wanted to push the price down and immediately offered: “500,000 star coins.”
“Oh, that’s a pity. This assault boat crashed, with 96.3% damage. The power system and energy room are completely Deprecated, only some of the pirates’ cargo remained. What a pity, what a pity. If it were complete, I believe you would offer a more sincere price. It’s truly a shame.”
Carlos instantly understood the subtext from the other side: for 500,000 star coins, they would only get part of the cargo inside the assault boat.
For a moment, he just wanted to sneer; this kind citizen was truly greedy.
Muting himself, Carlos asked the technical personnel next to him, “Have you been able to pinpoint the other party’s location?”
The technical personnel wiped the sweat from his forehead, “The traced location points to an extremely dangerous asteroid field. It’s impossible for anyone to live there, and an assault boat wouldn’t be there either, or it would have been shattered by asteroids long ago.”
Carlos looked at the technical personnel, “Are you saying that the Patrol Department’s technology cannot break through the other party’s program?”
The technical personnel nodded under pressure.
He silently cried and complained in his heart, why was it his turn to be on duty today? The captain of Patrol Team Six was a supporter of the “Absolute Rationality Faction,” and talking to him was really stressful and terrifying TAT.
Upon hearing this answer, Carlos didn’t pursue the technical personnel. He thought of something else: since this person, who called himself a kind citizen, was so technologically advanced, he might genuinely have the ability to obtain an assault boat from the Star Pirates. This indicated that the information about the assault boat should be true.
The configuration of each team in the Patrol Department was not high. High-end spaceships like assault boats were allocated to Legions with more dangerous missions. They could only look on with envy.
If they could own an assault boat...
Just thinking about it made him excited.
If Patrol Team Six accomplished this, he could also apply to his superiors. Not to say that the assault boat would become exclusive to their small team, but letting them use it more often should be no problem.
And! More importantly!
Next time they went on a mission, driving a Star Pirates’ assault boat to apprehend Star Pirates—who would refuse such an in-your-face opportunity!
Carlos tried hard to restrain himself from laughing out loud.
On the surface, he was still a supporter of absolute rationality; he couldn’t expose his true self.