Chapter 1166 - 1032: Sudden Incident

Chapter 1166: Chapter 1032: Sudden Incident

On the second day of the auction, Qu Jianlei and Nutrient Injection arrived early again, continuing to explore the surrounding market.

There were still plenty of good items, but not many that caught Qu Jianlei’s interest, perhaps having exhausted his luck prematurely.

The regrets were still present, but within a bearable range—after all, not bearing them wasn’t an option since he didn’t have much money left.

By evening, seeing fewer people in the auction hall, Nutrient Injection suggested leaving.

He believed those who brought treasures had likely sold most of their good items earlier.

"These people sell off temporarily useless items first to gather enough money for bidding in the main auction hall."

Qu Jianlei agreed with him, "It seems that in the future, we can just casually walk around the perimeter auction hall."

Nutrient Injection couldn’t forget the Instant Flash Skill practiced at dawn, "Shall we find a place to practice again after dinner?"

Qu Jianlei shook his head, "No need for that now, there are too many eyes watching. Once the auction ends, there will be plenty of time."

Yesterday, he was a bit restless and tested the Instant Flash. Since he had basically mastered it, he felt it was better not to stir up trouble.

Nutrient Injection slightly shook his head, looking somewhat regretful.

The two returned to the small courtyard where Koros was cooking inside; his culinary skills seemed decent.

Corona’s injuries had also improved considerably; she was a petite girl around 1.5 meters tall, with delicate features.

She was still wrapped in bandages, but her complexion wasn’t too bad. Upon seeing the two return, she even got up to greet them.

Seeing the two, Qu Jianlei was reminded of yesterday’s main auction.

The copper man’s appearance and the divine script on it; if brought into the main auction hall, selling it for twenty billion should be relatively easy.

If luck was good enough, selling it for sixty or seventy billion could be possible, although the copper man wasn’t a Dharma Artifact, so its upper limit was limited.

Corona seemed a bit introverted, not particularly talkative—mostly because the aura of Qu Jianlei and the other two was slightly overpowering.

Koros was a bit better, occasionally finding opportunities to chat with Nutrient Injection.

He knew this skinny guy could command the Supreme, but ultimately he was A-level, somewhat easier to approach than the Supreme, right?

Nutrient Injection responded with a few casual remarks, not out of aloofness, but because of the gap in their statuses.

Koros didn’t mind, besides asking about the auction hall, he also wanted to know when they could leave.

Nutrient Injection straightforwardly replied, "You pick a place, and I can send you two there anytime, ensuring safety upon landing."

Koros hesitated and asked, "Will anyone track us?"

Nutrient Injection rolled his eyes at him, "With your amount of money... is it worth it?"

He felt it wasn’t worth it, but Koros was uneasy; twenty billion was a staggering sum for him.

While the two before him handled this amount without hesitation, indeed worthy of trust, "Can we leave with you?"

"Well...!" Nutrient Injection found it a bit inconvenient but eventually relented.

"Alright then, considering you sold us the items, and factoring in helping you fend off the Supreme... the price wasn’t cheap."

Only then did Koros understand why they had this attitude.

When purchasing during the auction, maybe the price was satisfactory, but the issue with the Supreme remained.

As they were talking, Qu Jianlei suddenly stood up, body flashing, grabbing Corona and shooting outside, "Run quickly!"

Nutrient Injection reacted quickly, hesitating only slightly, he grabbed Koros and dashed outside too.

The next moment, a medium-sized freight starship streaked across the night sky and crashed heavily into the ground. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

With a loud explosion, the starship burst into flames, burning fiercely.

The location where the starship hit the ground was less than a hundred meters from their small courtyard, landing in another yard.

The fiery explosion directly destroyed that small courtyard and the blast wave crumbled most of the surrounding wall.

Both Qu Jianlei and Nutrient Injection used Instant Flash, even carrying someone along, they had already darted two kilometers away.

Koros originally wanted to resist, but seeing this, he was dumbfounded, "Was this... deliberate?"

Nutrient Injection blinked twice, pondering before speaking, "If deliberate, that’s quite excessive, isn’t it?"

Qu Jianlei’s expression also appeared odd, "But the starship crash... such a coincidence?"

Nutrient Injection pulled out his watch, "I’ll ask, but let’s find a safe place first."

In their panic, they rushed out without considering anything else, mainly to escape the blast power by getting further away.

Now, the area they were in was residential, with others nearby staring at the four of them in shock.

Especially Corona wrapped in bandages, under the streetlights, appeared quite conspicuous.

"Let’s go," Qu Jianlei held onto Corona and continued to flash, while Nutrient Injection released Koros, "Keep up!"

The four of them turned a few corners and disappeared into the night.

Reaching the edge of a small grove, Nutrient Injection started contacting, while Qu Jianlei released his perception to check the small courtyard’s condition.

The next moment, another loud explosion rang out, it was unknown what else was in that starship, but it exploded again.

This time, the blast was even more powerful, causing many surrounding houses to collapse.

Qu Jianlei and his group were about three kilometers away from the explosion point, but they could still feel the intense ground tremors and the blast wave rushing towards them.

"At least a dozen are dead," Qu Jianlei murmured softly, unsure if it was just an accident.

Soon, an official starship arrived at the scene, sealing off the surrounding area, and the City Guard also arrived for rescue.

Nutrient Injection also had an off-road vehicle sent over, and the four of them got in and quickly left.

Not long after, a message appeared on his wristwatch.

According to the official announcement, the power system of the cargo starship had aged, and parts had fallen off, causing the accident.

Qu Jianlei snorted, "How could they find out the detailed cause so quickly? I doubt it’s credible."

He himself was skilled in repairs and had some authority on the matter.

Nutrient Injection also trusted his judgment and sighed lightly, "But I don’t think there’s a need to deal with us like this, right?"

A medium-sized starship explosion has a significant impact, and the destruction it causes cannot be underestimated.

Qu Jianlei agreed with his view, "The key is that this tactic doesn’t work on us... what is their intention?"

Even if the two of them hadn’t learned Instant Flash, during the starship’s descent from the sky, they would have had enough time to escape.

Given the known consequences, if they hadn’t grabbed Koros’s siblings and escaped, the brother could have run away with his sister.

Those unable to escape in the surrounding yards were ordinary people or low tier Awakened with less alertness.

If the target of this starship was the four of them, then the planned action was fundamentally flawed.

"I’ll go check again," Nutrient Injection stopped the car, and his body flashed, disappearing into the darkness.

They were already more than thirty kilometers from the explosion site, which should be relatively safe.

Qu Jianlei also got out of the car, alertly perceiving the surroundings.

Although the off-road vehicle was comfortable, it was too cramped, and if anything happened, it would be inconvenient to react promptly.

The next moment, the Big Head Butterfly began to spin, "Three crew members of the starship ejected in an emergency, with one sustaining minor injuries."

Qu Jianlei silently asked, "What’s the cause of the malfunction?"

The Big Head Butterfly spun again, "Before ejecting, the three claimed... the power system emergency overdrive was uncontrollable."

"You’ve got to be kidding," Qu Jianlei scoffed, "Did all the braking protections fail?"

Little Lake also knew the situation, "It is certain that it was indeed a sudden incident."

Qu Jianlei was rendered speechless — Could I have attracted this much trouble?

At the Imperial level of technology, the probability of vehicle accidents is not high.

In the atmosphere, the chance of a starship accident is even lower than that of aircraft, let alone ground vehicles.

Now the starship has crashed, and it actually collapsed buildings. This is about as likely as being hit by a meteorite, isn’t it?

By midnight, Nutrient Injection finally obtained the latest news.

It was indeed human-caused damage, with the power system and protection devices being sabotaged.

Before the accident, the starship had encountered extortion, with demands for two billion nameless Silver Notes, or the starship would be destroyed.

The current issue is that more than one starship has been extorted, and two have already crashed.

After this news spread, the Planet Government issued an emergency order to prohibit all starship takeoffs.

Fortunately, the order came in time, and since the incident happened at night, there weren’t many starships taking off.

Subsequent inspections revealed that over a dozen starships had been sabotaged.

The sabotage methods were the same, using specific external ray scans to damage the power and protection systems.

The Destructors not only used high-tech weapons but also had a high level of skill, leaving no trace of damage from the outside.

The sabotaged starships were located in different areas, confirming organized crime.

Moreover, all the damaged starships had been extorted without exception.

Additional information showed that more starships had received extortion messages, but their hulls were not yet damaged.

However, the extortionists were also rampant, issuing new extortion messages upon learning of the Government investigation.

They claimed this wouldn’t end easily, and if payments weren’t made, more brutal measures would follow.

Nutrient Injection’s expression was a bit strange when relaying this information.

— The Government believes the gang’s motive might be related to the ongoing auction event.

At the auction, most people used nameless Silver Notes, which was also what the extortionists demanded.

And to extort so many starships at once shows their greed — it’s impossible for the Supreme not to be involved.

So now the Government is considering whether to consult with the organizers and take some action.

Cancel the auction? That’s unrealistic... not to mention the hundreds of Supreme attendees; don’t they need to save face?

However, the Government believes that if not for the auction attracting so many Supremes, they could have conducted a thorough investigation, and things might not have escalated to this point.

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