Ruan Mingchu led Mu Yu through the passengers still crowded around the viewing window, turning several corners until the surroundings gradually disappeared.
This is the luggage compartment, where passengers can store large items. However, most people don't bring too much stuff, and the room can easily fit it all, so the shelves here are mostly empty.
Since Ruan Mingchu brought him here, there must be something unusual about this place, Mu Yu thought to himself with certainty.
Without realizing it, he had completely trusted Nguyen Minh Thu as a person and his abilities.
Seeing Ruan Mingchu about to speak out of the corner of his eye, Mu Yu subconsciously covered her mouth: "Don't reveal the question, let me do it myself."
Mu Yu's sudden approach intensified the sweet scent around her nose. Ruan Mingchu quietly took two deep breaths before slowly nodding.
Seeing Ruan Mingchu nod, Mu Yu finally let go of her hand with relief, took a step forward, and searched for anything unusual inch by inch.
Once Mu Yu was far enough away, Ruan Mingchu took another deep breath and couldn't help but sigh, "Pheromone always tastes better when it's fresh."
If only Mu Yu could stay by his side forever. This was the first time Ruan Mingchu had the thought of "being together forever," and even though it had nothing to do with love at this moment, it was still a milestone.
Ruan Mingchu found a place to sit nearby, looking obedient and waiting for Mu Yu to find out what was wrong.
In reality, his mental energy spread rapidly outward from his own center, enveloping the entire spaceship.
In the short time it took to get from the main control room to the luggage compartment, the spacecraft shook twice more.
The passengers stopped simply peering through the observation windows and demanded a reasonable explanation from the staff. The spaceship's announcement system began playing on a loop, and unlike the explanation given to Ruan Mingchu and his companions, the staff attributed the tremors to interference from cosmic dimensional waves.
The sophisticated, incomprehensible language reassured most of the passengers. What they wanted wasn't the truth, but an explanation that could convince them and put their minds at ease.
Besides Ding Junji, Gong Zhushen, and the other nine people scattered throughout the spaceship in an attempt to find the truth, there were also ordinary passengers who, unable to be "pacified" by the staff, began searching everywhere.
All of this was within Ruan Mingchu's perception.
In addition, the whispers of space pirates disguised as staff, the modified star beasts floating in the air and stumbling around, and the devices installed in various parts of the spaceship were all under Ruan Mingchu's control.
Outside the spaceship, the warship disappeared into space. If Ding Junji and his team successfully resolved the problem, the warship would not appear. Otherwise, they would make a grand entrance as if heroes had descended from the heavens.
Ruan Mingchu pieced together the truth of the incident from the exchanges among the space pirates. Among the passengers was a member who had defected from their organization—a researcher who had stolen their latest research.
So they came to clean house and reclaim the stolen goods.
However, this researcher received help from a certain force; they only knew that the researcher was on this spaceship, but they didn't know who he was.
The space pirates planned to first incite public panic, then hijack the spaceship, drive the entire ship to their base, and incidentally extort ransom from the ordinary passengers.
The tremors were caused by devices they had secretly installed throughout the spaceship. The space pirates were confident that everything was foolproof and were just waiting for the spaceship to leave the Double Nine system and enter the isolation zone before they made their move.
Little did they know that those who thought themselves hunters had become prey for others.
The researcher deliberately revealed his whereabouts to the space pirates, intending to conduct an experiment on the people on the spaceship, and the blame would fall on the pirate crew.
The modified star beasts floating in the air were released by the researchers, which is the latest achievement that the space pirates wanted.
These star beasts are invisible, about the size of a mosquito, and their individual strength is probably not even at the D-rank. If they could be seen, an ordinary person could easily crush one with one hand.
But they appear in large groups, and the frequency of their wing flapping creates a strange resonance. Different frequencies have different consequences; for example, this frequency can make people feel irritable and short-tempered.
Combined with the petty tricks of the space pirates, the effect was excellent.
However, after examining the little star beast, Ruan Mingchu determined that it would not cause irreversible damage to a person, so he let it go.
Ruan Mingchu estimated that Ding Junji and his team would first discover the devices hidden in various parts of the spaceship, and then discover the space pirates.
As for this luggage compartment, it has nothing to do with the above. The above are external conflicts, while this is an internal one.
With the luggage compartments remaining empty, some staff members got the idea to smuggle some items in. It wouldn't put much strain on the spaceship, and they could earn a good amount of extra money. Although this behavior was not allowed, as long as they weren't discovered, it was as if they hadn't done anything.
Ruan Minh Thu did not know how long the smuggling operation had lasted, nor did he know how the staff traded the goods or how much they profited from it.
All he knew was that those people would repent for their actions.
Mu Yu would linger in front of each luggage rack for a while. But he found nothing on the empty racks, and he couldn't very well peek at the passengers' luggage, which was really frustrating.
As Mu Yu moved forward, Liya, hiding behind a large box, trembled.
Lia was filled with regret. She shouldn't have sneaked out when she needed to pee. What if she had been discovered?
Lia is ten years old and a female Beta. Despite her young age, she has been living independently since she was five and has been navigating the complexities of society.
She was one of the "items" that were smuggled into the country.
They were hidden in specially made large suitcases with soundproofing capabilities, and with the assistance of some staff members, they successfully boarded the spaceship.
Logically, they should have taken care of their eating, drinking, and relieving themselves in the box, but Lia was clean and didn't want to defecate in the box, so she climbed out.
No one usually comes to the luggage compartment, so Lia didn't think too much about it. She didn't expect two people to come. It was really strange!
If she gets found out, she's finished. Forget about her future life of wealth and luxury; she might not even survive.
Lia prayed silently, hoping she wouldn't be discovered.
However, the deity she prayed to ignored her as always, and Mu Yu discovered Liya.
The two looked into each other's eyes, and Mu Yu saw fear and despair in Liya's eyes.
Mu Yu moved the box aside and saw Liya's full appearance.
She had no legs, but a silvery-white tail, which curled up in grievance.
Under Mu Yu's gaze, she trembled uncontrollably.
Mu Yu frowned: "Mermaid?"
Why would such a small mermaid appear in the luggage compartment?
Mu Yu reached out to pick up the little mermaid, but the shelf was cold. However, his hand was met with Liya's cries: "No, don't grab me!"
Liya's pure and innocent face was covered with tear stains.
Mu Yu was at a loss.
Ruan Mingchu came over upon hearing the noise and sighed silently when he saw Liya and Mu Yu facing off.
Desire breeds darkness, yet some people depend on darkness to survive.
Ruan Mingchu patted Mu Yu on the shoulder and affirmed, "She is not a mermaid."
Mu Yu immediately thought of the artificial mermaids auctioned at the night market. But how could an artificial mermaid be left unattended and placed in a luggage compartment?
Could it be that she awakened her self-awareness and secretly ran away?
Ruan Mingchu understood Mu Yu's question and explained, "It's not an artificial mermaid, but a modified mermaid."
The word "reform" conceals countless acts of bloodshed.
Transforming humans into mermaids involves cutting off their legs and growing mermaid tails. No matter how much pain the recipient suffers, how low the success rate is, or how much damage the transformation will cause to their body.
If the legs are replaced with a tail, the selling price increases by hundreds or thousands of times.
This is a huge industry chain. Nguyen Minh Thu overheard his father’s conversation with his ministers and secretly sent people to investigate.
However, the border war was intense at the time, and Nguyen Minh Thu did not have the energy to investigate much, so he did not expect to encounter him here.
Hearing the word "modification," Lia trembled all over. She was only a ten-year-old child, and remembering the orders that told her to "bite open the poison sac in her mouth and commit suicide if discovered," Lia burst into tears.
Ruan Mingchu had a habit of setting up a mental barrier whenever he wanted, so that no sound from the luggage compartment could be heard.
He pulled Mu Yu to sit on the box: "Wait for her to finish crying."
Mu Yu was stunned as Ruan Mingchu pulled him along, still reeling from the word "reform." This little girl was so pitiful; sent to the operating table at such a young age, and now who knows where she'll be sent.
Human trafficking... is it impossible to stop?
After Liya had cried herself out, Ruan Mingchu carried her to another box.
Ruan Mingchu asked, "What's your name?"
Liya thought for a moment, and decided that this was something she could say. "Liya, Li as in jasmine, Ya as in elegance."
As she spoke, Lia started crying again. Her name was so beautiful; she didn't want to be called 45802.
Ruan Mingchu still didn't comfort the seemingly pitiful little guy, but instead coldly asked, "What are you doing?"
Lia shook her head violently: "I can't say."
"Waaah—I don't want to die! I haven't had a good life yet, I haven't worn a pretty princess dress, I don't want to die..."
Lia started crying again, her eyes red and swollen, tears streaming down her face like they were free.
Ruan Mingchu rubbed his temples; the sound of a child crying was indeed worthy of being listed as a high-quality weapon.
"Who told you to die?"
Lia cried, "You...you all! It's all your fault for finding me. I can't be seen by outsiders, sob sob sob."
Ruan Mingchu began to reflect: perhaps he really wasn't suited to communicating with children? Ten minutes passed, and he only managed to get her name; the rest of the time, he just listened to her cry.
Since Liya is so young, Ruan Mingchu couldn't directly search her mental sea.
He looked at Mu Yu beside him, who was even more confused.
Okay, maybe kids will like Miyazaki Shin more because he's always cheerful?
Ruan Mingchu sent a message to Gong Zhushen, asking him to buy some snacks and pastries that children like and bring them to the luggage compartment.
This news left Gong Zhushen bewildered, but he still obediently went to the supermarket on the spaceship. Since Ruan Mingchu hadn't specified what he wanted, and Gong Zhushen didn't know the person's particular preferences for snacks, he generously bought three large bags.
Rushing to the luggage compartment, they saw Ruan Mingchu and Mu Yu staring expressionlessly at a little girl with a human body and a fish tail crying.
The scene was so terrifying that even the usually meticulous Miyazaki Shin overlooked the detail that there was no sound coming from outside the door.
Gong Zhushen stood bewildered at the doorway, unsure whether to go in or back out.
Ruan Mingchu waved to him, and only then did he walk over.
"Brother Ruan, I bought a little of every flavor." Gong Zhushen opened the bag for Ruan Mingchu to see.
Never interested in these fancy but meaningless things, Ruan Mingchu couldn't tell the difference between good and bad, so he put the snack bag next to Liya.
Ruan Mingchu didn't speak, but Liya's eyes kept drifting towards the snacks, and tears were streaming from the corners of her mouth.
He was still a gluttonous child after all. In the past, he could only look on with envy, but now the food was right in front of him.
Lia stopped crying: "Can...can I eat this?"
Ruan Mingchu laughed, "Eat whatever you like."
A smile chased away the previous coldness, and Liya felt an increasing sense of warmth towards him, not because of the snacks at all.
Lia took out a bag of marshmallows, carefully opened the seal, pinched one, sniffed it first, and only reluctantly put the marshmallow into her mouth after smelling its sweet aroma.