Chapter 1 The Headstrong Ship Girl

It didn't matter if the Ship Girl was headstrong or not; she just felt it was fun to ram people with her head. Hao Ren was no longer concerned about the three pirate ships that had fallen into the planetary rift, but rather the white airship floating in the sea of clouds, which looked like it was about to explode and disintegrate at any moment.

That ship was two sizes smaller than the *Giant Tortoise Rock*, but it was still a large vessel. Perhaps it was this massive size that gave it good protection and damage resistance, allowing it to barely maintain its floating state after being bombarded by pirate ships for so long. However, just one glance at the ship's miserable appearance was enough to tell anyone that it couldn't last much longer.

There were countless large holes in the ship, and sizzling sparks spread along those metal parts of unknown purpose, like vines. White, sail-like structures drooped on either side of the ship, most of which had clearly lost their structural connection to the hull, with only a remnant structure barely holding on. Hao Ren didn't know what those sail-like things were for, but seeing the large number of pipes and lines that had broken off between the "sails" and the hull made it clear that they were super important.

That meant this ship was beyond saving—unless the Lahranians had already developed black technology like that of Nolan, where even just a steering wheel could self-repair.

"Get closer, be careful not to accidentally crash into them," Hao Ren directed Nolan to approach the white airship. "It feels like that ship is going to fall apart with just a puff of breath…"

Nolan adjusted her angle accordingly, carefully approaching the white airship. But just as she began to move, the image from the external monitor showed the humanoid creatures on the deck of the white ship panicking. They began to run around in a panic.

The data terminal dropped onto the console with a thud: "...Motherclucker, crashing into three ships in a row must have traumatized them. They probably think we're aiming at them."

Hao Ren thought the data terminal had hit the nail on the head. He looked at Nolan helplessly: "Look at the image you've created… Find a way to send a friendly signal to the people on that ship, or I'm worried they'll jump ship."

Nolan thought for a moment and flashed her headlights at the white airship not far away…

Charlemagne and his guards rushed to the deck. The cold wind in the high-altitude open environment was blocked by a magical barrier. Behind the translucent magical barrier, he stared dumbfounded as the silver-white giant ship slowly adjusted its direction and approached the *White Pearl*.

The people on the deck—whether they were experienced crew members or passengers who had mustered their courage—all screamed in alarm.

Charlemagne also gripped the longsword in his hand at once. He had personally witnessed how the silver-white ship had destroyed three pirate ships—slamming them down one by one like swatting flies, ruthlessly and irresistibly. Although it initially seemed like an ally when it attacked those pirates, no one could help but feel weak in the knees when it turned its bow towards them.

Then Charlemagne saw several bright lights suddenly appear in front of the silver-white ship, followed by a few flashes.

"Your Highness," a guard came over and said in a low voice, slightly nervously, "please leave here, it's dangerous here…"

"Tell everyone not to panic!" Charlemagne said. "Don't do anything stupid like abandoning ship at this time. That silver-white ship shouldn't be hostile."

"How do you kno—"

"Can't you see it's slowing down?" Charlemagne said, somewhat annoyed. "And it didn't use lights when it was crashing into those pirates earlier!"

As he spoke, a gap suddenly opened at the bow of the silver-white ship, and then a deafening voice suddenly came from inside: "Vessel ahead, please remain calm… We are not hostile… Repeat, please vessel ahead remain…"

The panicked crowd on the deck of the *White Pearl* finally quieted down.

On the bridge of the *Giant Tortoise Rock*, Hao Ren casually turned off the microphone and turned towards the bridge exit: "Let's go, let's go down and make contact with the locals."

Lia was still a little dazed at this time: "Speaking of which, since your spaceship has loudspeakers and language translation functions, why did you use headlights just now?"

Nolan explained a little awkwardly: "I forgot about this new device—how could a normal spaceship think that it would have a loudspeaker for external broadcasting, who are you going to talk to in space?"

Lia glanced at Hao Ren, who was walking in front, and then looked at Nolan, who was still on the bridge with an embarrassed expression, and thought thoughtfully: "This design is a bit strange…"

Four humans emerged from the silver-white giant ship, one man and three women, using some kind of beam-like "magic" to arrive on the deck of the *White Pearl*—although they were wearing strange clothes, their obvious human characteristics at least dispelled Charlemagne's doubts about "abyssal visitors" and "ancient wanderers."

Even if the other party was driving an airship that didn't look like it could fly anywhere and crashing all over the place, at least they were still the same species that could communicate, and if they could communicate, no problem was too big.

However, Charlemagne still managed to restrain his impulse to go up and talk to the one man and three women: of course, he wanted to understand the situation as soon as possible and establish communication with the silver-white ship, which most likely came from an unknown force, but the training and education he had received over the years made him understand that he was no longer safe around him, and there were likely to be eyes from who knows where lurking here. In this situation, he had to continue to keep a low profile.

The guards also fulfilled their duties well, dispersing around like ordinary passengers and staring at the actions of everyone on the scene.

After Hao Ren arrived on the deck of the "white ship," his first feeling was that this ship was definitely uninhabitable. The slight tremors constantly coming from beneath his feet and the obviously skewed deck all proved that this thing was about to completely lose power and control, unless there was a group of black technology damage control teams on this ship who could ride the boilers back to port in a dominant manner even if the ship disintegrated, otherwise no one could save it.

Of course, having the autonomous machines that Nolan was carrying come out to work for a while might forcibly extend the life of this ship, and if it was extended too much, it would even allow this ship to have the ability to dash out of space at thirty times the speed of light, but that wasn't Hao Ren's purpose here.

"Who's in charge here?" he shouted loudly. "Send someone to talk to me!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the crowd standing far away disperse a little, and then a man wearing a long white coat, with white hair and a white beard, and as strong as a bear, walked over here accompanied by two crew members.

"I am Boken Goulian, the captain of the *White Pearl*," the old man, who was as strong as a bear, said. "Thank you very much for your help, may I ask…"

"Don't ask me, I'll ask, time is of the essence," Hao Ren waved his hand. "Can this ship of yours be repaired?"

The old captain choked, but still answered quickly: "Frankly speaking, it can't be repaired. It's only a matter of time before it crashes."

The crew members and a few passengers around him showed sad expressions on their faces after hearing this, but no one exclaimed in panic—those who dared to stand on the deck when the situation had deteriorated to this point basically knew the current situation, and those who still had illusions were huddled in their cabins trembling.

This answer was already expected by Hao Ren. He waved his hand: "Then don't waste time, come with me, board the ship!"

The old captain did not hesitate for even a second, and turned his head to shout to the first and second mates: "Organize everyone to the deck! Procedure three, board the ship and escape!"

The sailors immediately acted efficiently under the captain's command.

At this time, a cabin door not far away suddenly opened, and several dirty crew members ran out from inside. Behind the crew members was also a long-haired girl wearing a long dress—the girl was also covered in dirt, and patches of gray-black oil stains even covered the original color of the beautiful dress. She seemed to have been working below and didn't know what was happening outside. At this time, she saw a huge silver-white spaceship floating in the sky, and the surrounding pirates were nowhere to be seen. The girl's face was filled with astonishment.

She ran to the captain's side: "Captain Boken, what happened…"

"Miss Ivenna," the captain said quickly before the girl could finish, "The *White Pearl* has been severely damaged, we are transferring passengers, please follow my first mate, we are preparing to transfer to that silver-white airship."

The girl called Ivenna was stunned for a moment, and her eyes quickly swept between the silver-white spaceship and Hao Ren. Then she noticed the serious expression on Captain Boken's face and nodded slightly: "I understand. But my brother…"

"I'm here," Charlemagne walked quickly to Ivenna's side. "Ivenna, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, the magi-tech core exploded, but I wasn't injured," the long-haired girl said as she wiped the oil stains on her face with her sleeve, while her eyes swept over Hao Ren and his party without leaving a trace. "Brother, they are…"

"They're the ones who solved the pirates," the gray-haired man said concisely. "The *White Pearl* can't hold on any longer, we can only accept their kindness."

Ivenna blinked her eyes: "...Understood."

Hao Ren watched the actions of these Lahranians from a distance. In his opinion, the efficiency of these "air crash survivors" was quite high. Although there were also panicked passengers, most of them were carrying out the evacuation tasks in an orderly manner, especially the crew members, who were able to enforce orders and act quickly and accurately in such a chaotic and dangerous situation. It was as if they were well-trained soldiers.

But because he didn't know the situation in this world, Hao Ren didn't know if the performance of these people could represent the average level of the Lahranians.

He also noticed the long-haired girl and the young man with an extraordinary temperament and gray curly hair who ran up from the lower deck, but his gaze didn't stay on the two of them for too long—their clothes were not much different from the ordinary passengers around them, and their words and deeds were also normal, so there was nothing to pay attention to.