Chapter 1 A Colossus

A massive spaceship hung suspended in the port, making Hao Ren feel like he never needed to watch Hollywood movies again.

It was hard to judge the ship's size with the naked eye. To Hao Ren, its long axis looked like a mountain range suspended in the port. The ship was painted light blue, with glimpses of light gray and silver-white underneath, whether by design or through modifications. The ship was wedge-shaped, with one end larger than the other, but the transition was gradual. Two perpendicular dividing lines split the ship into four symmetrical sections. Thinking of the double-hulled ships built by humans, Hao Ren thought this should be called a "quad-hulled ship." The wider end of the ship faced the interior of the Fourth Connecting Port, while the narrower end faced the starport's opening, directly towards the distant, glittering stars. Complex light signals traveled across the ship's hull, like wandering fireflies.

Below the ship were the Fourth Connecting Port's four enormous steel beams (the material was definitely not steel). Transparent crystals filled the spaces between these beams, making one feel like they might fall into space. The beams emitted a constant, soft glow, which seemed to resonate with the lights on the ship's hull above.

"Those are force-field confinement devices," the guide said, having realized that Hao Ren was seeing this for the first time. She maintained a perfect professional attitude as she explained everything. "The four main beams stabilize the ship in the port, preventing drifting, and provide departure acceleration or arrival guidance for some older ship models – after all, there are still many less advanced civilizations in this universe."

Hao Ren nodded, looking towards the port's opening to space. He had noticed other large objects slowly drifting past in the distance. The guide noticed his gaze and explained, "Those are other ships arriving or departing. This is a large relay station, and all ports are controlled by efficient artificial intelligence. The daily ship throughput is in the hundreds."

Hao Ren clicked his tongue. His gaze returned to the giant ship in front of him. "How big is that thing, exactly? Holy crap... is that a space fortress?"

"It's not that big," the guide said with a smile. "It's a passenger-cargo ship from a private company, a medium-sized model in its series, with a long axis of 3.2 kilometers. It has rudimentary space expansion cargo holds. It's a big one for some primitive civilizations, but in your eyes... is this considered a big ship?"

Hao Ren was taken aback, not immediately understanding what "in your eyes" meant. A few seconds later, he suddenly remembered his identity: employee of the Xiling Empire Temporal Administration. Although he was currently a temporary worker and an apprentice, that apprentice level was still an internal Empire classification. To outsiders, there was no difference between a trainee inspector and a formal inspector. The guide was treating Hao Ren as an "important person within the system." Feeling a great responsibility to uphold the Empire's dignity, Hao Ren nodded gravely, like a big-tailed wolf. "Yes, of course, I wouldn't compare it to an Imperial ship..."

The data terminal muttered in Hao Ren's head, "Keep pretending. Have you ever seen any other flying object built by the Empire besides me?"

"Sure, I've seen Raven 12345's house. It can fly, and it can fly backwards."

Data terminal: "..."

At that moment, the guide took out a small device and pressed it a few times, seemingly signaling to other port staff. Then, she led Hao Ren and his group forward. "My task is finished once I bring you to the captain. Please follow me."

Hao Ren followed. He had seen a small group of people standing on a metal platform below the ship, looking like staff members. This group fulfilled Hao Ren's "little green men" fantasies. Half of them were humans similar to those on Earth, but the other half were strange and varied. There were short, fat creatures with hairy faces, aquatic species wearing strange spherical glass helmets filled with liquid, and two thin, small dwarves with deep green skin. Seeing these people, Hao Ren finally sighed in relief. He felt like he had finally seen aliens in the true sense of the word. The guide next to him looked too familiar, and he couldn't find the feeling of entering the sea of stars...

No matter how strange their appearances, the group wore uniforms that were uniform or at least similar in style, with a light yellow triangular logo. The logo matched a badge on the ship's hull, clearly indicating that they were staff of this flight. The guide led Hao Ren forward to greet them, and finally stopped in front of an unusually burly man, a playful smile on her face. "Captain, your guests have arrived. The rest is up to you."

"Alright," the man called captain was sturdy and strong, his square face looking quite imposing. His robust muscles seemed about to burst through his gray-white uniform. He seemed to be familiar with the guides here, smiling and waving at her. "Go back and tell that old codger Laval that I'll bring some good wine next time I come, and tell him to get his wallet ready!"

The guide nodded and bowed with a grin, then disappeared in a burst of distorted light.

"You three are the distinguished guests?" The "captain" turned to look at Hao Ren and his group. "Um... which one is the Inspector?"

This was the first time in his life that Hao Ren had been addressed as an Inspector. He was flattered and quickly nodded. "Me, that's me. Is there... any boarding procedure?"

"You're on official business. After identity verification, all procedures and security checks are waived," the "captain" said, waving his hand to his crew to board the ship. He took out a rectangular device that glowed blue. "Identity verification requires a scan..."

Before he finished speaking, the data terminal jumped out of Hao Ren's pocket. "I'm here, scan me, scan me."

Hao Ren watched in astonishment as the data terminal floated over and rubbed against the "captain's" scanning device. He heard a "ding" sound, indicating that the verification was successful...

This was the first time in his life that he had seen a ticket that could check itself in!

"Then, Inspector and two assistants, please board the ship," the captain said, pointing to a metal platform suspended in mid-air. He grinned. "Interstellar Express Company Transport Ship 883 wishes you a pleasant journey."

Nangong Wuyue jumped up first. "Let's go, let's go!"

Hao Ren completed the boarding process in a daze. He stood on the floating platform and drifted into a small hatch at the bottom of the giant ship. After that, he floated around in a bunch of messy corridors and warehouses before finally arriving at a clean and spacious place. The incredibly robust captain roared into the communications equipment on the floating platform: "Alright, signal the control tower, prepare for liftoff!"

"How long will it take us to get there?" Hao Ren suddenly remembered that he had never asked about the duration of the trip. He had no idea what "eight hundred light-years" meant. After staring blankly at the ultra-futuristic scenery for a while, he realized that he had to go faster than light. "Don't laugh at me, but this is my first time on a spaceship..."

"No problem, no problem, they've told me everything," the captain said, shaking Hao Ren's hand vigorously, making his knuckles crackle. "We'll be there in a day. You can stay in your cabin and take a nap, and we'll be there when you wake up. This ship is the star ship on this route, awarded advanced status for seven consecutive years. By the way, just call me 883..."

Hao Ren was stunned. "...883? Isn't that the name of your ship?"

"I named her after myself!" The captain, who called himself 883, laughed. "That's the custom on my planet. A man should have a ship with his name. We live by our ships, and ships are a man's second wife!"

Hao Ren: "..."

He felt that the captain had misunderstood something, but it seemed that there were cultural differences between different races. It was better not to delve into the issue.

Hao Ren was led to his assigned cabin by another crew member. He was surprised to find that it was a luxurious suite with four bedrooms. Although the interior furnishings were strange, he could mostly figure out what they were used for. He subconsciously asked, "This room wasn't specially modified for the three of us, was it?"

"No, this is a standard first-class cabin," the crew member, a dark-skinned, short young man, said with a shy smile. "This ship is a passenger-cargo ship. The d6 to d17 cabin sections on the flanks are dedicated passenger areas. We have luxurious and thoughtful passenger services, and most of the rooms are tailored for Class One carbon-based passengers... Although due to the captain's brain fart in choosing the wrong license, we haven't had any passengers yet and there's no passenger service department on board, please believe me, at least the equipment in the room is professional."

Hao Ren: "..."

He had a strange feeling that he had been tricked again!