Boss...
The title was familiar, but Qin Chu was certain he had never been a space pirate in his life.
The space pirate who had spoken was still waiting for Qin Chu's response, while everyone at the table looked up at him like chicks looking at their mother hen.
Qin Chu was silent for two seconds, then subconsciously tried to fiddle with his personal terminal to immediately contact the First Legion and capture all the space pirates.
But considering his current status, he managed to suppress this instinct.
Without eating any more, Qin Chu got up and left the restaurant, checking data on his terminal as he walked toward the starship's cockpit.
The personal terminal displayed a time period, Imperial Calendar 5143, which is the current year.
Qin Chu frowned slightly as he pondered his current situation.
The current situation is beyond his expectations. Each small world that Noah previously placed him in was a virtual world created by combining the databases of the main brain.
But this world is exactly like a projection of the real world.
In the previous world, he only encountered portraits of his adoptive father and biological parents, but in this world...
Turning his head to look at the space pirates who were greeting him on the starship, Qin Chu found many of them familiar, as if he had seen them on some wanted poster.
Sitting in the cockpit, Qin Chu checked the list of all space pirates in the starship's system one by one.
This world is different from other worlds. Qin Chu's purpose is not to disrupt the intricacies of this world, so there is no task assigned by Noah.
His goal is to find the mastermind.
Since the space pirate ship is a real space pirate ship, and the space pirates on it are also real space pirates, then is the mastermind of this world... also the mastermind of the real world?
Qin Chu narrowed his eyes, tapped the screen of his personal terminal, and tried to call the mainframe directly.
But when he clicked in, he remembered that his current identity was the leader of space pirates.
Unless a space pirate is completely insane, they wouldn't keep the connection port to the mainframe in their personal terminal.
Otherwise, wouldn't he just stand there yelling and begging people to come and arrest him?
Having dismissed the idea, Qin Chu frowned and pondered.
Before he could figure out what was going on, he felt several gazes directed at him.
He turned his head and saw that the group of space pirates were all crammed into the cockpit, looking at him nervously.
"What are you doing standing here? Don't you have anything better to do?" Qin Chu said.
Having traversed so many worlds, Qin Chu was no longer flustered when faced with a new identity.
Upon hearing this, the bald man who had just spoken immediately clapped his hands: "Yeah! Boss, we just got a shipment from Planet Miles, all beautiful young men and women!"
Qin Chu's brows furrowed instantly: "Chapter Three, Article Ten of the Imperial Law states that those who traffic in people shall be sentenced to life imprisonment."
Star Thieves: "..."
Qin Chu instantly thought of his public persona, raised his hand to rub his temples, and said nothing more, only cursing, "Get lost."
Halfway through making him roll away, Qin Chu suddenly thought of Levi.
This person came with me and we've been sticking together quite closely; he's probably on this starship right now.
He called out to the bald man again: "Come here."
"Boss, what's up?" The bald man bowed and scraped.
Qin Chu stared at him from head to toe for a while, but didn't feel particularly like punching him. He was certain it wasn't Levi.
Thankfully it wasn't.
Otherwise, with Zhang looking like that, Qin Chu really wouldn't have the heart to eat him.
Logically, Levy should have come looking for him after entering the New World.
But this guy has always liked to cause trouble. They even had a fight when they were in Noah's space, so it's possible that he's deliberately keeping quiet and refusing to show himself right now.
Qin Chu thought for a moment and said to the bald man, "Call everyone on the ship over here."
"Boss, is it everyone?" the bald man asked.
Qin Chu nodded: "Yes."
The group of space pirates looked confused, but probably because Qin Chu, the leader of the space pirates, had a lot of influence, they did as he said.
Soon, a scene resembling a household registration check unfolded in the cockpit of the Black Spider Star pirate ship.
A group of oddly shaped space pirates lined up and passed in front of Qin Chu.
At first, Qin Chu stared at the person carefully for a couple of seconds, but he quickly lost patience and waved for the person to hurry up and walk over.
Qin Chu quickly frowned.
There weren't many people on the pirate ship. Qin Chu even glanced at the cooks, but still couldn't find Levi anywhere.
After all, they had fought and slept in the same bed. Even if Levi was trying to hide it, Qin Chu couldn't completely miss him. But now, after going through everyone's trail, Qin Chu still couldn't find Levi anywhere.
We can't afford to lose people when we're going through the outer data layer, can we?
His already less-than-pleasant mood plummeted further. Qin Chu looked at the space pirates standing to the side and asked, "Is that all?"
The space pirates all nodded.
The pirate ship slowly sailed away from the edge of the star system, and the shadow of the blue-purple protective shield gradually shifted and shrank in the starship's window.
Just as the projection of the protective shield was about to disappear, a huge tremor suddenly came, and the entire interior of the pirate ship shook.
"What's going on? Is there a problem with the jump?" someone asked.
The space pirate piloting the starship glanced behind him and immediately cursed, "Attack! They're surrounding us!"
"Who goes there? There are no National Defense Force personnel around here!"
A group of people anxiously peered outside.
Qin Chu was still sitting in the chair, but a bad feeling was creeping into his mind.
He bent down to look at the screen in the cockpit, and sure enough, he saw a very familiar starship.
The starship is entirely silver and enormous, resembling a dazzling shooting star as it travels through space. At its top is an inverted triangle emblem.
Everyone in the empire knows that this symbol represents the Imperial Military.
Whenever a starship bearing this symbol docks on the Imperial Capital, it always elicits enthusiastic cheers from the people.
But for the space pirates fleeing within the Empire, this inverted triangle is a harbinger of impending death.
The Empire has four legions, each commanding a top-tier starship. The starships' appearance is not uniform; it all depends on the starship captain's personal aesthetic.
Staying in the outer reaches of a star system year after year is too boring, so adjusting the appearance of a starship has become a form of entertainment.
During non-combat periods, the starships of the Second to Fourth Legions each have their own unique style, changing from red to fluorescent green every month.
Only the starships of the First Legion, due to their captains being too boring, have maintained the original silver appearance of the starships since they came from the factory, and haven't been changed at all for more than ten years.
However, because the captain of the First Legion was too fierce, this ordinary silver color became the most feared color by criminals both inside and outside the Empire.
The people on the pirate ship were now in a panic: "Holy crap! The First Legion, they even brought their starships here!"
"How could we have alerted them? We carefully avoided them!"
"This place is three warp points away from where the First Legion is stationed. Why did they chase us here?!"
"Damn it, I don't want to go to jail..."
A motley crew was in disarray, and Qin Chu stood in front of the monitor, his feelings quite complicated.
He never imagined he would one day become a space pirate leader. Even less did he expect to be hunted by his own warships.
How strange!
I'm catching myself.
A contact request popped up on the screen from the first warship.
However, the pirates were not given a chance to click "agree" in the application. In no time, the pirate ship's system was forcibly breached, the screen flashed, and a slightly chubby face was revealed.
"I am Burke, the deputy commander of the First Legion. I hereby order the pirate ships ahead to immediately halt their warp drive and cease their escape, or we will begin our attack immediately."
Upon hearing this and seeing his familiar subordinate, Qin Chu's feelings became even more complicated, and he did not respond for a moment.
Seemingly dissatisfied with his attitude, Burke's feigned seriousness crumbled. He pointed at Qin Chu on the other side of the screen and said, "Hey kid, don't be so rude. Let me tell you, I'm the one talking to you, and you're being all polite. If it were our captain, you'd be frozen to death right now, believe me?"
Qin Chu: "..."
For a moment, Qin Chu couldn't tell whether Burke was flattering him or threatening him.
But he soon noticed a problem.
This world has the First Legion, and its deputy, Burke, so... there must also be Qin Chu, the commander of the First Legion.
After going around in circles, I ended up facing myself in the virtual world again.
Qin Chu narrowed his eyes, looked at Burke, and said, "Where is your captain, Qin Chu? Tell him to come see me."
Burke was stunned by his extremely arrogant attitude and couldn't bring himself to retort for a moment.
Qin Chu frowned, about to ask another question, when he heard a loud "bang" from the entrance of the pirate ship he was on.
Then the air pressure inside the entire ship suddenly changed, and an alarm sounded inside the starship: "Warning! Warning! The ship has been illegally intruded upon, and the pressure valves have been damaged! Warning..."
Amidst the sudden pressure release and piercing alarm, a figure wearing an extremely thin protective suit slid in from the outside.
He was tall and imposing, exuding an innate sense of authority. His messy curly hair was swept back, revealing deep-set eyes and brows. His exceptionally bright blue eyes gazed at Qin Chu with a lazy smile.
With a "snap," the hatch closed, stopping the pressure leak, but the alarm continued to sound.
A group of space pirates stood pressed against the wall, silent as cicadas in winter.
The man who had scaled in from space with his bare hands walked step by step toward the pirate leader in front of the control panel, saying in a mocking tone, "According to the military control regulations, Article..."
He paused here, looked down and took out a piece of paper from his chest pocket, looked at it, and then continued, "Article 119, Arrest the leader of the Black Spider Pirate Gang, Levi."
As soon as he finished speaking, he walked up to Qin Chu.
With a "click," an electronic handcuff was fastened to Qin Chu's wrist.
Qin Chu looked down at the handcuffs on her wrists, then looked up at the man in front of her, raising one eyebrow.
The man smiled and pointed to the epaulets under his protective suit: "Let me introduce myself. I am Qin Chu, the captain of the First Warship."