Wonderful, I’m gradually coming to understand it all.

There are still shadow demons nearby...

A chill ran down Lu Chen’s spine. Who would have thought that searching for a cat would somehow involve shadow demons? Fortunately, he hadn’t received any danger alerts. So the problem wasn’t too big. In fact, he finally felt a taste of adventure—much more thrilling than simply finding a cat.

Little Sirius was sweating at the forehead, her small face pale. Gloria furrowed her delicate brows, set down her teacup, and volunteered, “I’ll go check it out!”

Lu Chen refused. How could he let Gloria steal the first adventure from him?

“You’ll handle support and combat. I’ll scout ahead.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen the captain go scouting.”

“This is called staying at the front lines, a tradition from my hometown.”

“Aren’t you afraid at all?”

“I live with shadow demons every day—what’s there to be afraid of?”

Lu Chen snatched the teacup back from Gloria, took a sip of his self-motivating tea, and turned his head, “Besides, aren’t you two here to protect me?”

With that, he headed for the aft cabin. He put on the newly refitted armor and leapt off the ship.

Lu Chen thought to himself—he had a laser cannon and a lightsaber in hand. All evil must retreat—how could he possibly be afraid of a shadow demon?

Well, actually… he was afraid.

Laser weapons weren’t omnipotent. Danger alerts were.

Little Sirius connected to Lu Chen’s wrist through the ship’s light screen, informing him of the approximate location of the shadow demon. As it turned out, within a small area, a Beastmaster’s spiritual sense was even more precise than Lu Chen’s treasure map.

Lu Chen piloted his armor and waded into the wetlands, until he was completely submerged. Beneath the wetlands lay murky water, visibility nearly zero. Rust algae in the water blocked radar detection. The aquatic weeds below twined around him like seaweed. There were also elusive barnacles clinging to the armor’s exterior.

Lu Chen was forced to activate the cutting tool, hacking his way forward. Soon, guided precisely by Aili, he was able to skip even the small-scale search and go straight for the target.

There, in the muddy bottom, was a gasbag tightly bound by aquatic weeds and completely covered in barnacles.

“So it’s you… After the cruise ship exploded, this gasbag crash-landed on this dwarf planet, got dragged underwater by the weeds, and due to the rust algae and barnacles, the locator couldn’t send a signal.”

Lu Chen instantly pieced together the sequence of events.

Item identification displayed: [A modified gasbag covered by aquatic weeds and barnacles, made of an unknown composite swim bladder material, containing an imperial black-striped cat infected with shadow poison, already at its last gasp.]

So it was a cat infected with shadow poison…

Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

Wait—no! This was a big problem!

Shadow poison was essentially a soul toxin, only infecting highly intelligent humans or humanoids, and only those geniuses with strong obsessions.

How could a cat be infected?

Could it be, like Aili, a cat-eared ancestral throwback?

But if it were a cat-person, the item identification would have shown it—Aili herself had been identified as a wolf-girl.

Something was off here…

Without hesitation, Lu Chen used the cutter to slice away the aquatic weeds and brought the gasbag ashore. He cleaned off the barnacles at the bank, then carried it back to the ship.

After passing through the high-temperature steam sterilization chamber, he finally entered the rear compartment.

At last, he could see clearly.

The square solid gasbag was equipped with a locator and Hall thruster, but the rust algae had damaged them. If repaired, it might be worth something.

Gloria stared for a long time before speaking, “The cat’s inside?”

“Mm.”

“The shadow demon is in there too?”

“Mm.”

“So…the cat mutated?”

The logic was sound, but Lu Chen wasn’t certain.

“We’ll know once we open it.”

“Dangerous.”

Little Sirius stood far away, not daring to approach the cubic gasbag. It looked a bit like her own escape pod.

Gloria curled her lip, her expression unconcerned. “What’s the danger? As far as I know, cats can’t be infected with shadow poison—unless, like you, they’re a cat-person throwback.”

Aili shook her head. “Not a cat-person. It’s a shadow demon, and it carries shadow poison.”

Gloria patted Lu Chen’s shoulder. “There’s shadow poison in my bloodline too, and some people even drink it with pleasure.”

Aili still looked afraid. “Gloria’s blood isn’t infectious—this one is.”

“You geniuses should keep your distance. I’m not afraid,” Lu Chen said, preparing to open the gasbag.

It had a sealed and encrypted opening, but that was no obstacle for him.

Soon, Lu Chen unzipped a small opening, just large enough to peek inside.

He glanced in.

A pitch-black, amorphous mass…

The cat’s shape was no longer discernible.

Suddenly!

Several upturned crimson-white eyes split open in the darkness, all staring intently at Lu Chen—weak, yet piercing, as if they gazed out from the abyss.

Lu Chen was transfixed.

This mental assault was far stronger than Gloria’s bloodline powers. In an instant, his world spun, and he felt as if he were tumbling headfirst into the abyss, gripped in the hand of a god.

Marvelous—Lu Chen gradually made sense of everything.

Fortunately, his transmigrator’s soul was inherently resilient, and after drinking Gloria’s blood for so long, he’d developed some mental antibodies.

Dazed for a moment, Lu Chen quickly recovered his composure.

He smiled and asked Aili, “Do you want to take a look?”

“I don’t.”

Gloria bent down to look as well, her expression shifting in surprise.

“This is a type of shadow poison I’ve never seen before… Maybe that’s why it could infect a cat—a cat with no particular talent at that.”

Lu Chen nodded. “It seems the Lady Fariel who posted the bounty isn’t quite what she seems.”

Little Sirius didn’t dare look, but she understood the black cat’s state perfectly.

“It looks hungry… Can we give it something to eat?”

“Yes.”

Lu Chen nodded, took some bread and squid, and threw them into the cat cage through the opening.

Gloria suggested, “This is a lab cat. Forget about claiming the bounty—let’s bring it to the White Dew. Lady August will cure it.”

Lu Chen was a little taken aback—this was the first time Gloria wasn’t thinking about money. He didn’t decide immediately.

“It might not be safe to keep it on board.”

At that moment—

The ship’s radar showed a vessel approaching the dwarf planet.

Lu Chen didn’t get any danger alerts, so there was no need for an emergency takeoff.

“We have company.”

A dozen minutes later, a modified Class-30 disc-shaped scavenger ship hovered a thousand meters above the ground. Its blue-black hull and central engine emitted a whale-like hum as it hovered—a palpable threat. Immediately after, a real-time transmission fed a video signal to the cockpits of both the Dalian and the scavenger armor.

It was a pre-recorded video.

At the center, an elderly man with black hair, wearing a tattered mage’s robe emblazoned with the Interstellar Scavengers’ Guild emblem, his eyes steady and sharp, giving off an air of authority, spoke in a sonorous voice:

“Honored scavengers, we are Ship 1388 of the Interstellar Scavengers’ Guild. The Rakagumu Star System is Guild territory. Please immediately unload your cargo and depart, or pay one hundred spirit stones to join the Guild and become one of us, enjoying scavenger protection throughout the entire Pangu Passage!”

The black-haired elder then briefly introduced the Guild’s history, scale, and achievements: three hundred years of storied legacy, a fleet of over three thousand scavenger ships and a hundred thousand members across the Pangu Star Corridor, helping countless indigent people achieve prosperity, and maintaining a perennial position among the top one hundred thousand new-generation star pirates.

Lu Chen had heard of the Interstellar Scavengers’ Guild long ago. He’d even considered joining once. But now, seeing it in person, he realized it was little more than a shakedown pirate organization.

Lu Chen replied calmly, “We just arrived and aren’t familiar with the rules. We haven’t picked up anything.”

A low, suppressed, drunken and angry male voice answered, “Do you think I didn’t see the aquatic weeds and barnacles on the shore? Rules are rules—you have one minute to unload your cargo, or we’ll have no choice but to open fire.”

Gloria’s eyelids drooped. “Shall I take care of them?”

Lu Chen shook his head, gauging the class of the other ship—he’d already made up his mind.

“No need. I actually need a ship to take me to see Lady Fariel. I’ll go negotiate.”

Although he hadn’t planned to claim the thousand-spirit-stone reward, Lu Chen sensed something off about Lady Fariel and wanted to see just who she was. Perhaps he could raise the price on the spot! How would he know if he didn’t try?

As for the scavenger ship before him—Lu Chen didn’t like being threatened; he intended to go up and have a talk.

With this in mind, Lu Chen entered his armor again and leapt off the ship, firing up the bipedal engines and rocketing toward the hovering scavenger vessel overhead.

As he ascended, he called back, “In that case, I’ll pay the hundred spirit stones to join… By the way, what’s your organization called again?”