Chapter 319: Yu Sheng's Long-Term Goal

The next morning, after finishing breakfast, Yu Sheng returned to the massive flying ship parked in the valley and entered the room where the Holy Coffin was stored.

The dark iron coffin remained unchanged, still standing on the platform as before, the humming sound emanating from within seeming as if it would continue forever.

"Alright, still the same old story—I've come to see you again," Yu Sheng sighed, sitting on the platform beneath the Holy Coffin, then casually tapped the iron coffin behind him, "Do you still plan to wake up?"

The Holy Coffin naturally made no response, merely continuing its low vibration.

Yu Sheng didn't expect any response either; he simply calmed his mind to sense the operational status of the various devices in the Holy Coffin chamber while casually muttering, "Just in case you don't know, this flying ship has been completely taken over by me. It's now docked on my territory. The Hidden Cultivation Society cultists who originally controlled the ship are either dead or fled; the rest have all been sent to high-security single rooms at the Special Operations Bureau—there, a group of friendly psychology experts will chat with them about life, ideals, and so on..."

"The one called 'Sage' escaped. It's said that at this level, he's a mid-level leader within the Hidden Cultivation Society, holding quite a high status. But he won't be at large forever, you know? I'm actually quite vindictive..."

"Last night, your phantom appeared in a wasteland. That place is also my territory; it's called 'Refuge Wasteland,' a place for injured souls to rest."

"Having said that... can you hear me speaking?"

Yu Sheng turned his head and glanced at the dark Holy Coffin.

The dim red lights on the surface of the iron coffin flickered slowly, responding to his gaze as if they were eyes.

Yu Sheng exhaled, slowly rose, and raised his hand to pat the lid of the Holy Coffin.

"If you've slept enough, get up. Don't you still have many things you want to do? I'll help you later."

After dropping those words, Yu Sheng turned and left the Holy Coffin chamber. Then, in the corridor outside, he took out his phone and dialed Bai Liqing's number: "It's me, Yu Sheng."

"I suppose you should be calling me by now," Bai Liqing's voice came through the receiver, "We've accumulated a huge pile of questions here."

"I've accumulated a huge pile too," Yu Sheng said casually, "Shall we meet and talk?"

"Sure, I'm in my office."

Yu Sheng made an "oh" sound, pushed open the door, and walked into the Director's office at the deepest part of the Special Operations Bureau. He raised his hand to greet Bai Liqing, who was sitting behind a huge desk: "Good morning."

Bai Liqing was still holding her phone in that pose. She lifted her eyelids to glance at Yu Sheng, who had gone ahead and pushed a chair over for himself, her tone somewhat helpless: "After meeting so many times, your operation of just pushing the door and walking in is still hard to get used to."

"You'll get used to it, you'll get used to it," Yu Sheng said with a cheerful laugh, sitting down in front of this female director, and went straight to the point, "Let's get to business directly. What's the situation with those cultists I sent over? Have the interrogations started yet?"

"Small-scale interrogations only just began this morning," Bai Liqing said calmly, "This will be a huge undertaking; results won't come in a day or two. We will assign the best interrogation experts, and for the next period, the Special Operations Bureau's main focus will be on this matter."

Yu Sheng raised his eyebrows.

"Even in the history of the Special Operations Bureau, this is a rare event," Bai Liqing continued, "Capturing almost an entire ship's worth of Hidden Cultivation Society cultists alive within a few hours, and not those lowest-level believers, but all at least at the 'Cultivator' level, having undergone 'Ascension' rituals of various grades, cultists with a certain rank within the Hidden Cultivation Society... This time, even the Council was startled."

Yu Sheng was not at all surprised by such a result.

Next came Bai Liqing's question: "That flying ship... you've already 'driven it back'?"

"I parked it in the backyard, in that valley," Yu Sheng answered quite frankly, and immediately added, "Let's get one thing straight first: I'm not turning that thing over—it's my personal war trophy, and it's now the Inn's property."

Bai Liqing was about to speak but was cut off by the latter half of Yu Sheng's sentence. Her expression remained largely unchanged, though her tone carried a hint of helplessness: "I know, which is why I wanted to remind you—by the way, are you familiar with the 'Deep Space Navigation Convention', the 'Interstellar Traffic Law', and the 'Warp Drive Safety Assurance Act'?"

Yu Sheng was instantly stunned, realizing that many of the drafts he had prepared in advance seemed not to have considered such a situation: "... What?"

"I knew it," Bai Liqing sighed. "You definitely haven't considered these details. The universe is not a lawless zone. Piloting a starship through uninhabited regions between stars and navigating within civilized zones are two entirely different concepts. Not to mention... if you intend to dock at a certain spaceport, you must at least be able to understand navigation signals and channel markers, right?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He really hadn't thought about this problem at all!

From yesterday until now, he had been completely immersed in the extremely impactful matter of "there's a flying ship at home." Among the people he had contacted, no one could remind him—Hu Li had a flying ship at home back then, but she hadn't even finished elementary school; Irene had a diploma from a kindergarten correspondence course after prenatal education; the Hunter was just a Special Operations Bureau employee back then; when Squirrel had her accident, she was eight and a half years old; and Little Red Riding Hood, don't even mention her, she hasn't even taken her driver's license test yet, she turns eighteen next week...

After thinking this through, Yu Sheng's eyes became even clearer.

"Fortunately, after you drove the flying ship back, you didn't enthusiastically go out for another spin," Bai Liqing said calmly. Immediately, she stood up, moved a pile of books from a nearby file cabinet, and placed them on the table.

Yu Sheng was startled on the spot: "What is this?!"

"A navigation manual for novice captains, containing navigation regulations for major civilized zones and methods for identifying most navigation signals, the Warp Convention, near-earth navigation norms—it doesn't involve specific flying ship control technology. I know you have your own way of piloting," Bai Liqing said, then added, "Additionally, you will need a basic star map to help you mark several major star regions friendly to the Borderlands that you can reach directly, along with their corresponding jump nodes. This can effectively prevent you from crashing headlong into someone else's planet or space station."

Pausing here, she shifted the topic: "However, this type of data needs to be directly input into the flying ship's navigation computer. If you agree, I will send a team of technical experts over later to help you study that flying ship's operating system. Of course, the Special Operations Bureau has its own purposes; this is also to investigate that flying ship and master the relevant technology of the Hidden Cultivation Society. I must state this in advance and seek your opinion."

Yu Sheng listened, stunned, until the other party's final words came out, when he suddenly snapped back to reality and quickly spoke up: "Ah, right, I was about to say that too. I need a team of experts: first, to repair the damaged parts on that ship; second, to organize the Hidden Cultivation Society's leftover items on board; and third, the experts you mentioned who can handle the operating system. If possible, it would be best to have a team that understands interior design and decoration, as I want to renovate that ship. Additionally, I need a regular construction crew; I have a bunch of new construction projects over there, and the flying ship's docking platform needs water and electricity connected. Why don't you just send Engineer Sun over again..."

This time it was Bai Liqing's turn to be stunned: "..."

She had intended to discuss with Yu Sheng arranging a team to go onto that ship. Although they would indeed be there to help, the main purpose was naturally to collect more information about the Hidden Cultivation Society. But obviously, the degree of "active cooperation" from Yu Sheng's side exceeded her imagination.

It jumped instantly from "allowing the Special Operations Bureau to board for evidence collection" to "trying to milk two thousand engineering experts from the Special Operations Bureau to renovate the flying ship for the Inn." The skill level of milking sheep was breathtaking. She had been a director for over a hundred years; the last time she saw someone so shameless...

She had never seen anyone so shameless.

Seeing the other party's reaction, Yu Sheng knew there might be a misunderstanding and quickly added: "It's not free labor; the accounts still need to be settled clearly. Just see if the cultists I caught this time are enough to offset the construction costs. If not, the bill goes to the Holy Hidden Cultivation Society. Later, I'll find a way to locate their nest and catch some more..."

Thus, the feeling in Bai Liqing's heart shifted from one kind of amazement to another. Her facial expression almost couldn't hold: "... Do you think Hidden Cultivation Society cultists are radishes in the ground?"

"I'm not sure if they are radishes, but they treat people like wheat in the fields," Yu Sheng adjusted his sitting position on the chair, his tone calm, "My business with them isn't over yet."

Hearing Yu Sheng's words, Bai Liqing's expression changed slightly.

"It sounds like you experienced some... unpleasant things on that ship," she said very seriously.

"Artificial Holy Maidens, and the 'Knights' around the Holy Maiden," Yu Sheng said, exhaling lightly, "were made from living people."

Bai Liqing immediately frowned.

"They established a dedicated 'recruitment site' somewhere, possibly a fenced-off piece of land, or even an entire planet. Many people were kept there, living in a customized society, bred as raw materials for Artificial Holy Maidens and Knights, harvested crop after crop," Yu Sheng said slowly, "This is one of their 'core technologies'."

Bai Liqing said nothing. On her face, which always lacked variation, a layer of frost seemed to faintly appear.

"I know that is a planet so distant we don't know where it is. What happened there has no connection to the Borderlands," Yu Sheng continued, "but this matter blocks my thoughts. So now, this is a personal grudge between me and them."

"Then what do you want to do?" Bai Liqing raised her head, looking very seriously into Yu Sheng's eyes, "Find and liberate a planet? Or eradicate the entire Holy Hidden Cultivation Society across the universe?"

"This matter... is quite difficult," Yu Sheng spread his hands and said frankly, "The Inn's strength is not enough right now, but I think this can serve as a long-term goal. As I always say—why not try?"

(End of Chapter)