Chapter 168: Another Encounter

Shang couldn't help sighing and said, "Leaf, what a pity. Originally you could have played the hero saving the damsel in distress, but hey, now the chance is gone! Such a good opportunity, what a pity, what a pity!"

Shang's words made Ye Chong, who had been keeping his head lowered, roll his eyes mentally.

Whether the woman right in front of them was a beauty or not was beside the point; Ye Chong certainly had no intention of playing the hero.

A rapid series of footsteps approached. A large group of security guards surrounded the crowd, each casting fierce and hostile glares. Every guard held a thermal-line rifle, pointing the barrels directly at the group of burly men.

The burly men instantly froze in place. Even though they fancied themselves exceptionally skilled in combat, they certainly wouldn't dare throw their weight around in front of thermal-line rifles.

The security captain, Patton, was a middle-aged man in his forties with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a striking appearance. Every gesture he made carried a resolute and efficient aura. He asked in a deep voice, "Who is causing trouble?" His gaze swept slowly over the crowd and finally fixed on the menacing group of burly men.

The leader of the thugs knew their current predicament, so he awkwardly shrugged and forced a laugh. "Haha, we just wanted to make a joke! We didn't expect the reaction to be so intense. My apologies, truly!" The men behind him also cooperatively put on silly, smiling expressions.

Patton stared intently at them, and their laughter ceased abruptly. Patton shifted his gaze to the only woman present and asked, "Is what he said true?"

The expressions on the faces of the burly men instantly tightened as they all stared at the beauty. The beauty hesitated for a moment, clearly not wanting to escalate the matter, and gently nodded. "Yes!"

Seeing this, Patton fixed his gaze back on the burly men and said in a deep voice, "Since it was just a joke, we'll let it slide this time. However, I hope such jokes won't happen again!"

"Of course, of course!" the leader of the thugs replied hurriedly.

This storm in a teacup passed quickly. Patton and the security guards left the restaurant, leaving only two guards behind who periodically cast distant glances at the group of thugs. By the time everyone regained their composure, Ye Chong had long since vanished. Only the burly men remained, their expressions shifting unpredictably. Looking indignant and muttering a string of curses, they were clearly harboring deep resentment over the loss of face.

Seeing the fierce men depart, the restaurant's atmosphere lively once again. A large crowd immediately gathered around the beauty mentioned by Shang, all eager to curry favor. Yet the beauty kept scanning the crowd for Ye Chong's figure, finding nothing. Feeling quite disappointed, she could only force a polite smile to decline the advances and dejectedly return to her room.

"Hey. Such a great opportunity to play the hero was lost. Leaf, are you truly destined never to romance a beauty? Yet why is it that you always seem to encounter beauties?" Shang's tone was filled with confusion.

Before Ye Chong could reply, Shang suddenly changed tone in absolute panic. "Hey, it's shift-change time again! Goodness, why do you treat me like this? I just saw a beauty and now I have to step down! This is the most cruel thing in the world! Leaf, let me tell you..." The voice cut off abruptly.

"Leaf!" The voice was calm and steady. The moment Ye Chong heard it, he understood that Mu had taken over!

"Ah, Mu, you're finally up!" Ye Chong felt a sense of relief. Although Shang was full of crafty schemes at times, he never felt quite as reassuring as Mu. For instance, the spatial jump error from last time—if it had been Mu, that would never have happened! Moreover, Shang's incessant chatter often gave Ye Chong a severe headache, along with bizarre and peculiar questions that drove him up the wall.

Being with Mu was much simpler and far more familiar to Ye Chong. In fact, Ye Chong was well aware of his own weakness: interpersonal communication was his shortfall, and Shang was actually of great help to him in that regard. Yet he also knew that, at least for quite some time, he was unlikely to undergo any fundamental change in this aspect.

"It seems Shang has caused you considerable distress," Mu observed.

"Indeed. But he's just like that; as long as he doesn't encounter any so-called beauties, he's relatively quiet," Ye Chong stated truthfully.

"Mm, he has always been proficient in such matters," Mu summarized Shang's characteristics with extreme conciseness.

"Well, that's true! We still need ten days to reach Richie Star. Then we'll have to figure out a way to transfer to another spaceship bound for Blazing Wind Star. It seems there are ships heading there from Rici." Even though he knew Mu should already be aware of the current situation, Ye Chong still gave him a brief update.

"Heh, a more efficient approach would be to hijack this vessel, alter the course, and fly directly to Blazing Wind Star. According to the data, it would only take twelve days! Furthermore, based on my calculations, the success rate of a hijacking is over ninety-five percent," Mu suggested.

Mu and Shang truly possessed two completely different styles!

Hijacking? That certainly was an option, but after a moment's thought, Ye Chong decided to dismiss the idea. Drawing attention to himself right now was far too disadvantageous. All he wanted was to slip quietly onto Blazing Wind Star, find Lu Caichi's teacher, Wang Weixing, cure his strange illness, and then find a place where no one knew him to settle down peacefully. Reverting to the simple life he had on the garbage star would be the best outcome of all!

Speaking of this strange illness, it truly caused Ye Chong some puzzlement. Whether it was the effect of the meditative breath technique or the nature of the illness itself, the time interval between his attacks was growing increasingly long. Quite a bit of time had passed without a single episode. Furthermore, whether Ye Chong had simply grown accustomed to the inhuman agony or the pain was indeed diminishing, he was now capable of maintaining a clear mind to resist during an attack. Ye Chong even wondered if the strange illness might eventually heal itself entirely.

Ye Chong opened his eyes, waking from his meditative breath! Whether it was due to having gone without meditation for so long, the effects of this session were exceptionally remarkable. He could now clearly perceive his spiritual consciousness during the meditation. According to the data he obtained from the old man Yin, this meant he had completed the preliminary training of the meditative breath technique.

This surprised Ye Chong beyond measure. Given his snail-like progress from before, he had thought completing the preliminary training would take who knows how many years. Later, upon arriving at Jiukai City, which was teeming with mechanical masters and apprentices, Ye Chong hadn't dared practice the meditative breath at all, estimating that the extremely faint spiritual perception he had managed to cultivate with such difficulty had long since vanished. He never expected that this meditative breath session would progress by leaps and bounds, completing the preliminary training in one fell swoop. How could Ye Chong not be astonished?

After pondering for a long time without coming up with any rational explanation, Ye Chong had no choice but to give up.

However, the benefits brought by this meditative breath were real, and he felt them deeply. His original eyesight and hearing were already extraordinary, but now not only had they slightly improved, what delighted Ye Chong most was that his mind was exceptionally clear, as if immersed in cool water, and his thoughts had become several times more agile.

Waking up, Ye Chong felt his stomach rumbling. Looking at the time, it was well past regular dining hours, and the restaurant should be mostly empty. He decided to head to the restaurant to find something to eat.

The restaurant on the luminescence-class spaceship was open around the clock, allowing passengers to dine whenever they pleased. When Ye Chong arrived, the cavernous restaurant was entirely empty. The so-called beauty he had encountered previously was not here this time, which allowed Ye Chong to breathe a sigh of relief.

The restaurant was neatly arranged with many food dispensers. The main body of a food dispenser was a long metal cabinet lying horizontally on the floor, with a food exit at one end and an optical computer mounted right above the chute.

Ye Chong walked up to a food dispenser and randomly tapped in a few food selections on the optical computer. Most of these items were things he had never eaten before, so he simply picked them at random. Soon, with a soft chime, a tray laden with various dishes slid out from the exit right in front of him. Ye Chong snatched it up, found a random seat, and dug in with gusto. With not a single soul in the restaurant, Ye Chong didn't need to care about his table manners at all, burying his head and eating heartily.

Just as Ye Chong was eating with great enjoyment, he suddenly heard a few muffled voices speaking loudly. Ye Chong raised his head to see a group of people walking into the restaurant, talking unrestrainedly as if no one else was around. Ye Chong couldn't help frowning slightly. Weren't these the exact same people from yesterday?

As luck would have it, their gazes turned toward his direction, locking eyes with Ye Chong. The eyes of the group lit up; they immediately stood up from the seats they had just taken and began walking menacingly toward Ye Chong, forming a vague encirclement.

Ye Chong merely glanced at them, then acted as though he had seen nothing at all, lowering his head to continue devouring his meal.

"Stinking brat, hehe, it's just you alone here today. Let's see how you escape this!" the lead thug sneered viciously, closing in step by step while cracking his knuckles menacingly. The men around him all wore malicious grins.

What felt rather strange to them, however, was that the frail youth in front of them showed not a shred of fear. Ever since they appeared, he hadn't stopped eating for a single second. Was this guy just released from a starvation cell? The lead thug couldn't help feeling a sense of absurdity.

Thinking of the embarrassing plight he and his brothers had suffered yesterday when surrounded by security guards, a nameless fury suddenly surged within his heart.

The burly men surrounded Ye Chong in the center, all of them sneering coldly. Yet they failed to notice the cold glint in Ye Chong's downward-gazing eyes suddenly contracting like needlepoints!

"Heh, stinking brat, what a small world after all!" The leader forced a sinister smile, reaching out a palm as broad as a cattail fan toward Ye Chong's shoulder. The rest of the crew wore expressions anticipating a good show; the person before them was scrawny and frail, making him the absolute perfect target for play and humiliation. Several of them even wore eager expressions, clearly wishing to step up and take a turn themselves.

The thug's hand was mere inches away from brushing Ye Chong's clothes when, abruptly, a blur flashed before everyone's eyes. None of them saw how it happened, and immediately afterward, a piercing, miserable scream shattered the tranquility of the restaurant!

The crowd was startled into horror. Th-this voice... wasn't that their boss?

Every gaze involuntarily converged on their boss, and instantly, they all sucked in a cold breath simultaneously, their faces draining of color!

They saw that their boss's right arm was twisted into an unnatural shape, resembling a braided dough twist, with stark white bone protruding from the elbow joint and torn flesh peeling back. Because no major blood vessel had been severed, only a faint spray of blood stained the bone and meat, presenting a sickening sight that made one want to vomit!

Despite such excruciating agony, the thug surprisingly did not pass out, a testament to endurance that compelled admiration. Unfortunately, that only prolonged his misery. He stood bent over, clutching his right arm, his face distorted by pain as he emitted blood-curdling shrieks that made one's hair stand on end!

Everyone was stunned! Utterly and completely dumbfounded!