CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 47: CARGO

The Iron Ore No. approached the location of the three spaceship wreckages.

After confirming there were no escape pods or any survivors, Chen Ming relaxed slightly.

Unexpectedly, before even reaching the Pirate Space Station, he already felt welcomed by it.

Very nice.

At least it shows that the military management isn’t stringent.

After all, pirates can rob so close to the Pirate Space Station, even closer to the Military Outpost, clearly the military does nothing about the pirates.

He just needs to be cautious, and there’s a huge chance he can leave here safely.

Chen Ming reflected on this and refocused on the present.

On matters related to these pirates.

He seriously considered the questions he asked the pirates and the answers he received.

Although the content the pirates mentioned sounded specific, Chen Ming only planned to selectively believe a portion of it.

At least he absolutely couldn’t trust the answer to the last question he asked the pirate.

Chen Ming didn’t believe anyone with their head on the line and essentially certain of their death would honestly answer questions from the person about to kill them.

No fool would do such a thing.

Even if forced to answer, at least half of what they say should be mixed with lies.

The pirate mentioned the military and Dusk were taking actions, causing prices to rise.

This kind of thing can immediately be verified at the Space Station, so Chen Ming could choose to believe it, because even if the pirates were lying, it wouldn’t serve any purpose.

But when the pirates said there was a smuggled Hammerhead Level with a militarized subsystem in the Dark Graveyard, Chen Ming had to consider carefully.

Although he was indeed tempted by that Hammerhead Level.

After all, as far as Chen Ming knew, the Hammerhead Level was an excellent destroyer under the Sinda Corporation he belonged to.

Despite having quite heavy armor, it still boasts good maneuverability.

The two fixed medium traction points and two small traction points at the front grant the ship quite formidable frontal firepower.

The militarized subsystem mentioned by the pirate further boosts the Hammerhead Level’s value.

Because all ships, unless they’re civilian-grade originally, sold to civilians are all castrated versions.

Regardless of the number of traction points or various ship values, even the armor is considerably reduced.

Though this Hammerhead Level might also be a castrated version, since it carries a militarized subsystem, it indicates it has something crucial that other castrated ships lack.

Spaceship Shield.

Shipborne Shield Generator is the biggest difference between military and castrated ships.

Shields don’t exist on ships facing weapons like Chen Ming’s Electromagnetic Spear, leaving them almost defenseless.

With the Spaceship Shield, even castrated ships can act almost like the official version ships.

It’s impossible to say Chen Ming wouldn’t covet such a ship.

Only Chen Ming didn’t feel the pirate’s words were truthful; whether this Hammerhead Level exists is still unknown.

The pirate claimed they came to search for the Hammerhead Level, but their previous behavior of shutting down all ship systems and hiding didn’t seem consistent with such an activity.

As they answered his questions, their words clearly attempted to persuade Chen Ming to look for that Hammerhead Level here, following their lead.

Chen Ming wouldn’t fall for such a basic trick.

Anyway, he initially came solely to alleviate the boredom and mental fatigue from staying inside the ship for extended periods, only doing one or two things.

He had satisfied the need for excitement, experienced space battle, and continued to stay on the Dark Graveyard side felt meaningless.

Searching the pirate ships’ cargo holds for collectibles and leaving would suffice.

Chen Ming piloted the Iron Ore No., flying several laps around the wreckage of the three ships.

He discovered the cargo hold of the Hellhound Level floating nearby.

Besides appearing somewhat damaged from the outside, the overall structure was quite complete.

The Hellhound Level was a commercial ship, where cargo is naturally the most important, so it makes sense for its cargo hold to have the strongest protection.

So the cargo hold remained intact after the ship exploded.

The traction device quickly locked onto the cargo hold, securing it to the side of the ship.

Chen Ming directly used the mining laser to cut open the cargo hold to ensure no one could hide inside before the explosion.

The modified mining laser cut open a hole in the cargo hold in an instant, working efficiently.

Unfortunately, using the mining laser requires opening the ship’s side armor, exposing the internal fragile equipment.

Otherwise, in the previous battle, Chen Ming could have opted to use the mining laser, as its modified power rivals some ordinary weapons.

However, since Iron Ore No. already had the Electromagnetic Spear, there wasn’t much need to do so.

As strange thoughts crossed Chen Ming’s mind.

The mining laser had split the cargo hold in two.

Exposing its interior.

The loss of anti-gravity modules and the explosion’s impact caused all cargo boxes to scattered messily inside the cargo hold.

Many boxes got damaged from the impact, revealing their contents, some appeared to be liquor.

Chen Ming used the traction device to pull a cargo box to the ship’s side.

He saw at a corner of the box a carved cargo order, listing the type and number of the ship transporting this cargo.

He had seen such orders at the Mining Space Station, so he wouldn’t be mistaken that these pirates were disguised as legitimate transport convoys.

"Ha."

Chen Ming let out a cold laugh.

Now that the pirates were dead, he had no choice but to collect these items as his own.

After ensuring no one was hiding inside the opened cargo hold.

While controlling the ship’s traction device to gradually pull all cargo boxes near the ship, he got outside personally.

He opened the boxes and started counting the items against the cargo orders.

Besides liquor, the convoy’s cargo included some cigarettes.

Cigarettes are valuable currency anywhere.

Chen Ming kept an eye on the liquor because he recognized its brand.

Long ago, when he first took office at the Mining Space Station, he attended a welcome party with the station’s manager and colleagues.

This liquor was placed at the banquet; although Chen Ming didn’t drink, he remembered it being quite expensive.

If he could sell it over at the Pirate Space Station, he might earn a good sum.

After a while, Chen Ming dismantled most of the floating boxes.

Packaging the undamaged goods and moving them into the Iron Ore No.

Fortunately, the Iron Ore No. had consumed a lot of materials over the last few months, and the spare space in the storage chamber could be filled with these goods. If space ran out, there were still the work chamber and captain’s chamber with extra room.

No worries about the Hellhound’s cargo hold packing more items than the Iron Ore No.

At this point, only three boxes floated outside the ship.

Chen Ming took a breath before picking up the crowbar and prying open all three boxes.

But when Chen Ming saw their contents, his actions suddenly halted.

Because the cargo in these three boxes wasn’t the cigars or liquor listed on the orders.

Instead, they contained syringes filled with pink liquid stored in transparent cryogenic containers.