Chapter 453 – Fallen Demon Coin, Spirit Court Guard

“Buzz-“

A sudden, strange sound startled Lu Yuan from his meditation.

When he opened his eyes, his pupils contracted slightly.

The once-bright and spacious cultivation room was now shrouded in a flickering red light, and a giant, pallid skull quietly emerged in the center of the room.

This skull wore a black monocular eye patch and, upon seeing Lu Yuan, let out a jarring laugh, “Hehehe!”

“Is this… a virtual image?!”

After a moment of surprise, Lu Yuan quickly understood the truth behind the red light and the skull and regained his composure.

Other than being frightening, there was no real harm.

But with the cultivation room in such chaos, continuing to cultivate was clearly out of the question.

Lu Yuan turned and left the cultivation room, only to find that outside, there were also flickering red lights everywhere and one-eyed skulls randomly emerging.

It seemed the spaceship’s lighting and audio systems had been completely taken over by these things.

Listening to the countless eerie laughs and seeing the unsettling red lights that flared wherever he went, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but feel a bit annoyed.

He reached for his personal terminal and tapped its screen.

“Lu Feng!… Did you secretly watch something on the spaceship’s Light Brain and get a virus?!”

This shout worked wonders.

A few seconds after yelling, the red lights and skulls in front of Lu Yuan vanished.

The spaceship returned to its usual peaceful state.

Lu Yuan’s expression softened as he turned to face Lu Feng, who was standing expressionlessly in front of him.

It seemed Lu Feng’s eye twitched slightly as he looked at Lu Yuan.

“What just happened?”

Lu Yuan seemingly forgot his previous outburst at Lu Feng and casually asked him about the situation.

Lu Feng took a deep breath and replied in a calm voice, “The spaceship system underwent an external attack, and a virus got in… but it’s been fixed now.”

“External attack?”

Lu Yuan frowned slightly, “Who attacked us?”

Lu Feng looked into Lu Yuan’s eyes and softly uttered two words.

“Pirate group.”

“Pirate group?!”

Lu Yuan’s gaze instinctively sharpened.

He was no stranger to the term.

Before setting off, he had researched various situations that might occur during long-distance interstellar travel.

Among these, encountering pirates was one of the most troublesome and likely issues for space travelers.

These ruthless, bloodthirsty fugitives roamed space like coyotes, and once they set their sights on a passing spaceship, endless trouble loomed.

They continuously attacked and harassed the ship, forcing it to change course.

They would slowly deplete the ship’s power, and when the time was ripe, launch a fierce assault.

They would forcibly breach the ship’s hull, seize everything valuable onboard, and capture everyone to be sold as slaves or simply killed.

Ultimately, the entire ship would be dragged away, stripped clean, leaving nothing behind…

According to yearly reports from Duoling, pirate encounters accounted for nearly 70% of all spaceship disappearances and damages.

Lu Yuan initially chose to travel with the fleet of the Eternal Day Guild primarily to avoid encountering pirates.

A top-tier guild fleet like that of the Eternal Day Guild possessed defensive strength that most pirate groups wouldn’t dare provoke.

The first half of the journey indeed proved safe and smooth, but it seemed inevitable challenges couldn’t be dodged. Just two days away from the Eternal Day merchant fleet, they faced pirates.

Despite knowing the crisis was imminent, Lu Yuan remained relatively calm.

He quickly moved to the spaceship’s observation deck and looked out through the porthole.

In the vast, silent expanse of the starry sky, dozens of ships, including his own, were gliding silently.

Without exception, each ship had its energy shield active.

Other than that, everything seemed normal, and Lu Yuan saw no sign of pirate ships.

“You won’t see them.”

Lu Feng stood beside him, also looking out.

“They’re hiding in the shadows for now and won’t appear just yet.”

By infiltrating the spaceship’s surface defense system, they’ve signaled that you’re already under their surveillance, forcing you to activate the protective shield and prematurely deplete the spaceship’s energy.

This is their usual tactic…”

Lu Yuan gazed quietly outside the ship for a moment, then turned back and asked calmly, “What are the others on the ships saying?”

After leaving the Eternal Day Guild fleet, their group formed a new, smaller fleet.

From what Lu Yuan understood, this fleet also had a core leader.

The other members of the fleet had even paid certain fees to this leader in advance.

Now that they faced trouble, it was the leader’s responsibility to find a solution.

“I contacted them. The Amethyst Guild only instructed us to activate our protective shields and stay close to the fleet,” Lu Feng replied. “But they should have already called for reinforcements. What I am worried about now is…”

Lu Feng frowned and said, “Due to the space pirates, the Amethyst Guild might choose to temporarily change course. If that happens, who knows how many days it will take us to reach Planet Lirva…”

After hearing Lu Feng’s analysis, Lu Yuan nodded expressionlessly.

He was in a terrible mood.

What was supposed to be just a few more hours to their destination now stretched into an indefinite wait because of the space pirates.

However, he had no better solution.

In this situation, he could only stick with the main fleet.

If he tried to break away alone, his small single-pilot spaceship wouldn’t get far before the space pirates devoured it completely, leaving not even a trace.

“Although it’s not an exceptionally rare event… it’s quite unlucky that this had to happen on my first trip. It feels like there’s a cuckoo bird perched nearby… bringing misfortune along…”

Lu Yuan sighed quietly to himself.

In the time that followed, he couldn’t focus on cultivation.

After contemplating, he decided to retreat back to the cultivation room and pulled out the heap of odd items he had bought at the Trade Square in Ellis.

Activating the [Extraordinary Contact] skill from the [Scholar of the Mysterious Department] professional panel, he summoned the gray vortex that connected to the unknown and began tossing items into it one by one.

“[Extraordinary Contact], experience points +1…”

“[Extraordinary Contact], experience points +1…”

Lu Yuan watched as the experience points for the [Extraordinary Contact] skill on his professional panel gradually increased, purely as a way to pass the time. Previously, when he tossed fruit into the vortex, the entity on the other side would return the fruit core after it was gnawed clean.

Now, he had nearly finished throwing in this pile of miscellaneous items, but there wasn’t even the slightest reaction.

Well, not exactly.

In the middle of this, when Lu Yuan tossed in a few bottles of potions with unidentified ingredients, unknown effects, and a somewhat foul smell-picked up from some stall-into the vortex, a few wisps of green smoke emerged from the vortex. It looked much like the kind of unpleasant gas you’d let out after eating something that didn’t agree with you…

“Whoosh-“

With the pile of items almost completely sacrificed, Lu Yuan casually picked up a black, hard object-uncertain if it was a bone fragment or a piece of stone-and gently tossed it into the gray vortex.

After this round of “sacrifices,” his [Extraordinary Contact] had already leveled up to lv2, and his professional experience as a [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)] had also increased, bringing him closer to the next level.

Just as he was contemplating this, the gray vortex began to shrink.

Lu Yuan was about to seamlessly proceed to the next round of summoning and sacrifices. But at that moment…

“Pop-“

A sound much like someone spitting out watermelon seeds occurred just as the gray vortex was about to vanish, and a bright, shiny object suddenly flew out of the vortex.

With a “Clink Clank,” it landed on the ground, producing a crisp and pleasant sound.

Lu Yuan’s hand froze in mid-air as he reached for the next item to sacrifice. He stared blankly at the unexpected and unannounced “return item,” a peculiar expression gradually spreading across his face.

Reaching out, he gently picked up the object from the ground.

Lu Yuan wasn’t quite sure how to describe this item.

It looked like a crudely-made trinket.

About the size of two fingernails, Lu Yuan couldn’t identify what type of metal this was forged from; it had a dingy yellow hue and felt slightly warm to the touch. It even carried a faint, pungent sulfur-like odor. The metal sheet was irregularly shaped, with one side smooth and bright, completely clean.

The other side bore an image: a peculiar creature with spindly limbs but a large, round belly, grinning widely to reveal a mouthful of sharp, thin teeth. It looked bizarre and eerie, yet a bit comical and laughable at the same time.

“Hehehe-“

As Lu Yuan examined the metal sheet in his hand, a strange, sinister giggle abruptly echoed in his ears.

“Who’s there?!”

Lu Yuan jerked his head up, scanning his surroundings. He initially thought it might be the space pirates attacking the spaceship systems again. However, after some investigation, he discovered…

The eerie, wicked laughter seemed to emanate from the bizarre metal sheet in his hand.

Lu Yuan tried a few more times. Indeed, whenever he held the metal sheet and lightly rubbed the side with the image of the odd creature, the hehehe laughter emerged.

This sharp, grating laughter oddly matched the bizarre creature’s image of spindly limbs and a big belly on the metal sheet.

“What exactly did I toss into the vortex?” Lu Yuan pondered aloud as he stared at the metal sheet, retracing his steps from the last sacrifice.

If he remembered correctly, he had thrown a so-called “fossil” into the gray vortex, picked up casually at Chiqino’s stall.

It was unclear, and Chiqino himself probably didn’t know what it truly was. Little did he expect that the small piece he sacrificed to the vortex would actually return something!

This was, in fact, Lu Yuan’s first “successful sacrifice” in the true sense.

“The question is… what exactly is this thing used for?” Lu Yuan speculated, examining the peculiar metal sheet in his hand. “It can produce eerie laughter, so it’s clearly not a normal item-at the very least, it’s an extraordinary item…

Oh, right, I almost forgot I have that skill!” Lu Yuan lightly tapped his forehead.

On the [Scholar of the Mysterious Department (Extraordinary)] professional panel, there were three basic professional skills. Besides [Chaos Divination] and [Extraordinary Contact], there was also [Mysterious Perception], which was meant for situations just like this.

“I haven’t used this for so long, I almost forgot I had this skill… let’s give it a try.” Holding the metal sheet, Lu Yuan attempted to activate [Mysterious Perception].

As the skill activated, the metal sheet in his hand suddenly heated up a bit.

Immediately, a piece of information was transmitted back to Lu Yuan’s mind-

[Coin from the Abyss, sealed with a Fallen Demon.]

[Throw it, and you might break the seal, summoning the greedy Fallen Demon from within the coin.

PS: If it’s in a good mood, it might help you once.]

“Abyss coin… Fallen Demon…”

“So, the bizarre creature depicted on this coin is actually the so-called Abyssal Fallen Demon? Tossing the coin can summon it?”

Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered with amazement. His first successful encounter using [Extraordinary Contact] had granted him such an item. It seemed quite useful, potentially allowing him to call forth temporary muscle in a tight spot. However, there appeared to be considerable uncertainty with its use. If luck wasn’t on his side, the summoned entity might not be an ally but an adversary intent on taking his life.

“I’ll have to find a chance to test it out sometime…”

Lu Yuan wasn’t planning to keep this thing around for long. The notions of the Abyss and demons, combined with the effect of this Fallen Demon coin, felt like an unpredictable time bomb that could go off at any moment.

Still, acquiring the Fallen Demon coin sparked a strong interest in Lu Yuan for the [Extraordinary Contact] skill. If it worked once, it could work a second, third time… Exchanging seemingly worthless “junk” for unusual, potentially useful items was certainly a worthwhile endeavor.

“And… what exactly is the Abyss? Next time I enter the Crow Dreamscape, I should ask the crow deity if she knows anything about it…” Lu Yuan mused as he fiddled with the Fallen Demon coin in his hand.

He was getting ready to sacrifice the remaining items he had, hoping he might strike it lucky once more.

At that moment, a knock came at the door of the cultivation room. Lu Yuan immediately put away the coin and opened the door, striding out.

Outside stood Lu Feng, looking calm and composed.

“What’s up?” Lu Yuan asked.

“Good news,” Lu Feng replied. “It won’t be long before we successfully reach Planet Lirva.”

“Huh?!”

Lu Yuan was pleasantly surprised, but more than that, he was taken aback. He couldn’t help but ask, “The space pirates are gone?”

“Yes,” Lu Feng nodded. “They’ve left for now and probably won’t be back anytime soon.”

“Why?” Lu Yuan inquired, curious.

Lu Feng didn’t explain further but led him toward the observation deck.

When they arrived at the observation deck, Lu Yuan got a glimpse of the scene outside the spaceship through the porthole.

At the forefront of their fleet, there was a silver-white spaceship taking the lead position. With keen eyes, Lu Yuan noticed a silver-white Mecha hovering atop the ship. It appeared quite large, entirely silver-white, with a pair of unfolded white metal wings and a tail resembling that of a lizard. The Mecha emanated a brilliant white light, giving off an inexplicable sense of majesty and inviolable sanctity in the dark, silent starry sky.

“It’s a Spirit Court Guard,” Lu Feng’s low voice sounded in his ear.

“The person piloting this Mecha represents the supreme will of Duoling in this part of the starry sky…

We’re quite fortunate; there happens to be a Spirit Court Guard accompanying this fleet. With a Spirit Court Guard protecting the fleet, even the most reckless space pirates need to carefully consider whether they can afford to provoke us before making a move…”