CHAPTER 48: 48. CONTRABAND

The glaring pink color of these syringes made Chen Ming feel a bit uncomfortable.

However, Chen Ming still endured this inexplicable feeling and found the cargo list in the corner of the cold storage box.

These pink syringes were a kind of stimulant codenamed DP-2.

Although Chen Ming didn’t know the meaning of the code or the specific effects of this stimulant.

But Chen Ming knew one thing: all stimulants were strictly prohibited in the Human Empire’s trade goods.

Ordinary people do not need the high-intensity combat against the Mechanical Race and Dusk at the border like the military does, needing to rely on stimulants to maintain focus and combat ability.

These stimulants flooding the market basically only have one use.

To let people feel the pleasure after using stimulants and become addicted to it.

Chen Ming already had a general idea in his mind about the source and destination of these pink syringes.

He also realized the reason this disguised or unmasked pirate merchant caravan stayed here was to wait for the contact they were trading these pink syringes with.

The pirate kept hinting to Chen Ming that there were good things in the Dark Graveyard, clearly trying to make Chen Ming stay.

Waiting for their contact to arrive to avenge them, or simply drag others into the water with them.

Whatever the pirates’ intentions, it didn’t matter to Chen Ming at all, as he only intended to clean up the wreckage a bit and then prepare to leave.

Even if these people might be connected to the military, Chen Ming wasn’t afraid at all.

He never planned to return to the Prosperous Star Realm through official channels; the identity of an employee at an abandoned mining space station had already doomed him to never getting along with the military.

Besides, others didn’t know if his ship was equipped with a Superspace Navigation System; once he left the Dark Graveyard, where in the vast universe could anyone find the already vanished culprit?

After thinking it through, Chen Ming concluded that his current situation was no different from before.

So, he didn’t waste more energy on this matter and continued to check the other two cargo boxes.

The remaining two cargo boxes contained normal alcohol products in one and were the same kind of cold storage box with pink syringes in the other.

Adding up the two cold storage boxes, there were about a hundred needles, none of which were shattered by the previous explosion impact.

Though the pink syringes’ profit was nowhere near the level of other things, Chen Ming had no liking for this kind of stuff and didn’t want to dirty his own hands.

Besides, these were clearly smuggled out from the military side, harder to sell than those tobacco and alcohol.

If sold, they would likely attract military personnel.

Chen Ming now avoided the military, so how could he take the initiative to do such a thing?

The two reasons combined made Chen Ming directly open the lid of the cold storage boxes in space, letting the pink syringes be exposed to the absolute cold of space.

Then, carrying the last box of alcohol, he returned to the ship without hesitation.

Chen Ming controlled the Iron Ore No. to turn the ship around, with the stern aimed at the two open cold storage boxes floating in space.

The spacecraft gradually began to accelerate, and the tail flames burned the cold storage boxes and the pink syringes inside to ashes.

Chen Ming did a final thorough sweep of the wreckage of the three ships.

Making sure all valuable items had been moved back to the spacecraft.

Then it was time to leave.

Staying any longer and encountering their trade contact wouldn’t be a good thing.

He knew nothing about them, and if they had combat power far exceeding the Iron Ore No., he might end up lost here.

Chen Ming locked onto the coordinates of the Pirate Space Station on the spaceship computer.

After adjusting the ship’s position, the Iron Ore No. entered another acceleration phase.

This time, the Iron Ore No. would directly reach the destination of Chen Ming’s journey, belonging to the Human World’s Pirate Space Station.

Five days after the Iron Ore No. left the Dark Graveyard.

An unmarked destroyer jumped out of the Superspace Channel, purposefully entering the depths of the Dark Graveyard.

This destroyer stayed in the Dark Graveyard for three days before leaving again.

It brought nothing with it when it arrived but took away the wreckage of the three ships just destroyed by Chen Ming when it left.

Chen Ming obviously couldn’t know about this, but even if he did, it wouldn’t matter.

Before leaving, he deliberately swept around, not only looking for valuable stuff.

He also found all electronic devices in the wreckage of the three ships that might store images or communication data of the Iron Ore No.

And either destroyed them on the spot or dismantled them into basic materials and brought them aboard.

The armor-piercing electromagnetic bullets he previously fired from the Electromagnetic Spear had also completely penetrated the ships, impossible to be left within the wreckage.

If they could still find him, then Chen Ming had nothing to say.

Time passed again—two and a half months.

The Iron Ore No. had bypassed the military outpost half a month ago.

After a long voyage, the Iron Ore No. was about to reach the star system where the Pirate Space Station was located.

Currently, the Iron Ore No. has begun to decelerate, expected to slow down to the standard speed for intra-star system navigation in five days, while also reaching the edge of the Pirate Space Station Star System.

Though he already checked in advance, Chen Ming still once again brought up the star system map on the ship’s control panel to deepen his impression of this star system.

He might need to spend some time on the Pirate Space Station, so getting familiar with the star system where the space station is located has no downsides.

The star system where the Pirate Space Station is located is a single-star system, and the star is a standard yellow dwarf star.

It has two planets, but neither is a habitable planet.

One is near the star, a desolate rocky planet with extreme temperatures similar to Venus or Mercury.

The other is an ice giant similar to Uranus or Neptune, situated outside the habitable zone, entirely blue in appearance and without rings.

The Pirate Space Station is set up on the orbit around the ice giant.

It’s convenient for collecting energy materials from the ice giant to keep the space station running for a long time.

Besides the star and the planets, there’s not much else of interest within this star system.

After all, if this star system was too good, the Pirate Space Station wouldn’t be established here.

Chen Ming closed the star system map and stretched.

He planned to take a long-forgotten moment of relaxation in the last few days before the spaceship starts decelerating and reaches the destination.

Doing nothing, thinking nothing, emptying himself to start the next journey in the best state.

After all, in the upcoming period, he would have to face something more terrifying than the natural environment of Rimu Star, belonging to the human world.

And it was still the most bottom-level, most dangerous belonging to the pirate world within the human world.

Five days later.

The Iron Ore No. arrived in the destination’s star system.

The shape of the Pirate Space Station was already revealed on the sensor.

Its overall form was close to disc-shaped.

From the center disc, thirty space arms extended, with most constructs distributed along these space arms.

The outer side of the space arms consisted of large areas of solar panels, maximizing external space utilization of the space station.

As the spacecraft gradually approached, Chen Ming could see with the naked eye through the ship’s window that a space arm was illuminated with guiding signal lights for ships.

After noticing Chen Ming’s ship approaching, the lights began to flash, guiding him into the space station.

Following the guiding signal lights, the Iron Ore No. slowly navigated into the space station’s dock.