Chapter 349: The Spaceship Disappears
With no other choice, Long Hao, who knew nothing about this kind of hacking technology, could only grit his teeth and continue to wait.
Two hours passed before Yuan Ling’s rapidly moving fingers finally came to a stop.
He rubbed his aching brow and said, exhausted, "Spaceship AE-37 has disappeared."
"What do you mean, ’disappeared’? How can a spaceship just disappear? Did it malfunction and make an emergency landing?"
Long Hao couldn’t bring himself to imagine anything worse, so he suppressed the violent rage surging within him and forced his thoughts toward a relatively better possibility.
"Get your emotions under control! You’re going to turn into a Frenzied Beast before we even find Qinqin!"
"Hah... You’re so rational. If you’re so capable, why don’t you rein in that frantic spiritual power of yours!" Long Hao sneered.
Yuan Ling, who was also struggling to stay calm, retorted, "...We’re different. My Riot Value still has room to rise."
Long Hao could only scoff at that.
"Cut the crap. I’m asking you, what do you mean the spaceship ’disappeared’?
Could it be that your skills just suck and you couldn’t find it?"
"Mr. Long, as the Third Prince of the Empire, are you not aware of the very reason I was pardoned?"
Of course, he knew.
When Yuan Ling had been sued by his junior, he would have faced decades in prison, even if he’d avoided the death penalty.
It was he who had given the military a crucial fighter jet design schematic, which in turn earned him their full support and secured his safe release from prison.
The military had also paid a price back then to persuade his junior to drop the lawsuit and sign a settlement agreement.
That fighter jet had since been built and was now in its trial phase.
Given his own status in the military, he was naturally qualified to test-pilot that very jet.
’The person who drew this schematic,’ he could only think, ’is a genius!’
As for Yuan Ling, his main downfall had been the accusation from his junior of forcing himself on a female.
Many of the Empire’s top brass hadn’t actually believed the plagiarism accusation.
However, his teacher had never officially sued him for it, meaning no legal case was established, so no one was obligated to investigate the matter.
From start to finish, his teacher had only used public opinion to attack him for plagiarism.
With this kind of online scandal, either the party involved had to issue a clarification, or they had to present evidence and sue for defamation.
But Yuan Ling had done nothing.
So, naturally, no one had stepped in to investigate.
All in all, while Long Hao was unsure about Yuan Ling’s character, he had complete faith in his skills.
At this thought, he reined in the violent rage churning in his mind and asked in a low voice, "So, what do you mean, ’disappeared’?"
Yuan Ling’s lips moved, but the words seemed to catch in his throat.
Still, he did his best to remain calm and said, "I’ve checked all nearby flight paths and planets."
"And the result...?"
"Nothing."
After a moment of silence between them, Yuan Ling continued, "In this situation, there are only two possibilities.
First, the spaceship fell into a black hole.
Second, the spaceship malfunctioned and crashed."
After thinking it over, he hesitantly added, "Or maybe there’s one other possibility. Perhaps they went off course and landed on a planet with a strong, shielding magnetic field..."
Long Hao gave him a speechless eye-roll.
’What an absurd theory. The nerve of him to make up something like that to delude himself.’
Of course, Yuan Ling also knew his theory was absurd. But if it were either of the first two possibilities, Jiang Qin’s chances of survival were minuscule.
As for suspecting a Cosmic Beast, neither he nor Long Hao had even considered it.
After all, when a Cosmic Beast encountered a spaceship, it would either ignore it or casually swat it away like a fly or a small toy.
There had never been a case of a Cosmic Beast dragging a ship away completely unharmed to take home and play with.
Their power had always been one of pure destruction.
* * *
However, what Yuan Ling and Long Hao could never have expected was that Jiang Qin and the others had actually encountered both scenarios.
First, they were dragged away by a Cosmic Beast, and then they discovered that the planet they’d been dropped on contained large amounts of substances that created a shielding magnetic field.
Inside the spaceship, a sense of defeat couldn’t help but rise in everyone’s hearts.
Finally, the warriors’ squad leader, Pique Rivera, stepped forward to arrange a planetary exploration mission.
He explained to Jiang Qin, "Based on the current situation, this planet likely contains large quantities of materials that can shield magnetic fields.
Most likely, it’s a large amount of ore."
After all, the planet looked desolate. If it had anything in abundance, it was surely sand and rock.
"But there’s also a small chance that there are people on this planet, and they’ve set up signal-jamming towers."
Barren planets like this are often hideouts for criminals.
This made the squad leader quite worried.
If they were all lost here, it would be a huge blow to the Federation.
But regardless of the situation, their prospects didn’t seem optimistic.
He actually hoped it was just the ore’s interference. In that case, they would only need someone to use the escape pod’s remaining power to leave this planet, travel to a different one, and try to contact someone for pickup.
As for using a private spaceship to leave...
’Besides a Master Mechanic like Yuan Ling, who would even have a Space Button that could hold an entire spaceship?’
’Items like that were never circulated publicly.’
Jiang Qin clutched the bracelet on her left wrist.
Inside was a super-cool Mecha.
Yuan Ling had given it to her personally on the morning she left, having rushed for a very long time to finish it.
But... she hadn’t had a chance to learn how to pilot a Mecha yet.
Lan Yuyan knew how, but he probably couldn’t pilot it now. His spine couldn’t take the strain.
’I wonder if Lan Yan knows how...’
’I heard he was the underachiever type at school, the kind who always sat in the corner and never socialized.’
...
The arrangements for exploring the planet also didn’t require Jiang Qin or the two brothers to participate.
In the squad leader’s eyes, they were people to be protected, so he didn’t even schedule the Lan Yuyan brothers for the night watch.
The stars outside had set, and by the clock, it was already the morning of the second day.
But outside the spaceship, it remained pitch black.
The thirty warriors who had gone out to explore in different directions had not returned all night.
Meanwhile, Federation News was already broadcasting the story of the missing spaceship.
A female news anchor spoke in a crisp, clear voice, "The Federation has dispatched rescue teams to search for the missing AE-37.
Any citizens with information are encouraged to call the hotline at 100-*** to provide tips.
If the information is confirmed, there is a reward of ten million."
For the Beastmen waiting at home for their female masters to return safely, it felt like their world was collapsing.
The same was true for the families of the warriors, the families of the other females, the families of their partners, and all the people who loved them.
Everyone felt like the sky was falling!
Over a hundred females!!
The lowest Level among them was a B-level female, and at the top was Jiang Qin, the newly revealed S-level female—all of them were missing!
This was undoubtedly devastating news.