Ender gathered his four teammates after the meeting and informed them of its contents.
After listening, the only female team member couldn't help but say, "Isn't this plan a bit…"
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant, because the plan was too crude!
"Our trial mission is indeed to investigate smuggling."
One male teammate said helplessly, "But the main thing is to cooperate with the Empire's Investigation Team. Even if we think this plan isn't great, we still have to listen to them."
Another student asked, "Captain, what do you think?"
Upon hearing this, the other three all looked at Ender.
Although Ender was the youngest in the team, his strength was the strongest, so they all respected him.
"If that smuggling ship doesn't resist, that's great. But if it chooses to resist to the end, then we will inevitably have to go to war with them!"
Ender rubbed his brows, "How many crew members are on the smuggling ship? What is their strength? We know nothing!"
No intelligence, facing an unknown enemy—this is the most troublesome part!
"According to the combat plan formulated earlier, with me as the core, we will jointly confront the enemy."
Everyone nodded, "Understood."
They thought the same way. With the protection of Ender, a strong person who had comprehended a Domain, their chances of survival would greatly increase.
...
Several days later.
An ordinary b-class cargo spaceship emerged from the Dark Universe, suddenly appearing in the real Universe and heading towards W-998.
Inside the b-class cargo spaceship's cockpit, several crew members had light screens in front of them, clearly operating the spaceship.
Two others were conversing. One man with scales on his face asked, "How is it? Has the receiving ship arrived yet?"
He was a Lizardman, one of the Human Race's branches, with a head resembling a lizard but softer and rounder, and distinct facial features.
The other man had a wolf-like head and black-gray fur all over his body. He was a Werewolf, one of the Human Race's branches, the Black-Gray Wolf Clan.
They were both wearing Force Armor, and next to them were Force Weaponss that could be picked up easily. The other crew members in the cockpit were also similarly equipped.
The Werewolf man replied, "Just received word, the receiving ship won't arrive until tomorrow."
"Tsk!"
The Lizardman said very unhappily, "Those guys don't know what they're doing! They're late again!"
Upon hearing this, the Werewolf man, who was already dissatisfied with their partners, seized the opportunity to say, "Captain, I think it's better not to cooperate with them anymore. Including this time, they've been late four times already!
"Our line of work values time. Even a minute's delay can lead to danger. Their actions undoubtedly increase our risk."
"Heh! If those guys didn't offer such a high price, I wouldn't bother cooperating with them!"
The Lizardman sneered, "If they don't give enough compensation this time, there won't be a next cooperation!"
Thinking of the high price offered by their partners, and the extremely high quality of this batch of goods, his face showed greed, "But then again, the quality of this batch of goods is truly high!
"If it weren't for the need for credibility in our line of work, the cost of swallowing this batch of goods would be too great, and there's no channel to sell it. I would have wanted to swallow this batch of goods!"
The Werewolf man nodded in agreement. This batch of goods was of very high quality and considerable value!
Unfortunately, credibility was very important for their smuggling business. Without credibility, they would no longer be able to operate in the surrounding intermediate Universe Countries, unless they left and started anew.
If it were just starting anew, that would be fine. They could bear that cost, at most suffering for a period of time.
The fundamental reason for not swallowing the goods was that they had no channel to process this batch of goods. This batch of goods could only be sold at a high price in the Molten Rock Empire. The prices in other surrounding intermediate Universe Countries were much lower, so there was no need to swallow them.
...
While the heads of the smuggling ship were conversing, inside the investigation ship hidden behind W-997.
Ender and his teammates had long been waiting. Seeing the message sent by the investigation captain on his communicator, he was the first to stand up, "Let's go! The target has appeared!"
Swish, swish, swish!
People inside the investigation ship flew quickly, and soon gathered.
"The target has appeared!"
The investigation captain's eyes flashed with fierce light, "Everyone prepare for battle. This operation will not issue an investigation warning, but will directly launch a boarding operation against the target!"
"Directly launch a boarding operation?"
Ender was puzzled; he didn't see any Breakthrough ships on the spaceship.
"Mm."
The Universe Level mentor leading the team was clearly familiar with the process, so he nodded and said to Ender and the others, "I'll go up first, and each small team will act according to the combat plan."
"Understood!"
Everyone nodded. They had received the combat plan not long ago, and each small team had its own combat area.
At this moment, the investigation ship experienced a slight tremor, indicating that the spaceship was accelerating.
Suddenly, the investigation captain spoke, "Activate holographic simulation!"
As his voice fell, the cabin transformed into a starry sky, and Ender and the others stood in the Dark Universe.
In the distance was a B-class spaceship, not clearly visible due to the distance, but judging from the increasingly approaching target, the target spaceship was not small.
"What's going on?"
Feeling the investigation ship's speed continuously increasing and getting closer and closer to the target, Ender was a bit bewildered.
Soon, he thought of something, and his expression changed slightly, "This is going to directly collide!"
"Prepare for impact!"
The Universe Level mentor leading the team suddenly spoke, "Everyone, follow me after I enter!"
...
Screech! Screech!
In a corner of the b-class cargo spaceship's cockpit, facing the radar's piercing warning sound, a crew member's face changed drastically!
"Boss! A spaceship is rapidly approaching! Estimated encounter in 10 seconds! No time to evade!"
"What?"
The Lizardman's expression was shocked, "No time to evade? Where did they appear from?"
The crew member replied, "From behind W-997. They have Advanced radar that shielded our scans, so we didn't detect them!"
"Damn it!"
The Lizardman cursed, "They can even shield a D9-class spaceship's radar. It must be the mad dogs of the Molten Rock Empire!"
Before his voice even fell, the spaceship immediately experienced a violent tremor, clearly having been hit!
Alarms continuously echoed in the cockpit. Red lights flashed on the light screens in front of the crew members operating the spaceship, dyeing half of their bodies red!
The Werewolf man beside him quickly shouted, "Report ship damage!"
"Engine room 91% damaged, can no longer provide power!"
A crew member's voice came through, but it was trembling slightly.
"The engine room is severely damaged, this batch of goods can't be saved!"
Upon hearing that the engine room was severely damaged, the Werewolf man turned and advised, "Captain, let's retreat!"
"Retreat!"
The Lizardman roared decisively, grabbing his third-order Original Force Greatsword, "We can't be caught by the mad dogs of the Molten Rock Empire!"
The Werewolf man followed, shouting, "Notify the brothers to retreat! Don't worry about this batch of goods!"
With that, the two fully armed individuals were the first to leave the cockpit, followed closely by the others picking up their weapons...