230: Chapter 230 The Vast Starry Sky

"However, I must warn you," Liliya said, changing the subject, "Earth's currency is worthless in the universe. All transactions there must be conducted using the universal currency—star coins."

"star coins?" Song Yang felt unfamiliar with the term.

"I still have some here."

As Liliya spoke, she raised her snow-white wrist; a faint glimmer appeared on the surface of the bracelet that looked like an ornament.

The next second, a dozen or so circular metal coins, the size of bottle caps, appeared out of thin air and landed in her palm with a clatter.

The coins were a dark gold color, engraved with complex spiral patterns that Song Yang could not understand at all.

Song Yang suddenly felt they looked familiar.

This was not his first time seeing such things.

Back on Earth, after he killed those Star Pirates, he had seen piles of identical dark gold coins in their storage bracelets.

At the time, he had just assumed they were some useless metal scraps and casually tossed them into a corner of his system space along with other miscellaneous items.

He hadn't expected them to be hard currency throughout the entire universe.

He had taken a rough glance at the time; the mountain-like quantity was likely substantial.

"Is this enough for us to use this time?"

Song Yang asked calmly, his gaze falling on the few star coins.

Liliya handed him the star coins, a hint of amusement on her lips. "If you spend sparingly, it's enough for you to stay in a hotel in the main city district for one day, or buy the most expensive energy drink."

Song Yang took the lightweight metal coins, but his heart surged with waves of emotion.

A drink only costs a dozen or so star coins?

Then wouldn't what he confiscated from the Star Pirates be a huge fortune?

Song Yang's consciousness sank into his system space. With a slight thought, the pile of dark gold metal pieces he had forgotten in the corner appeared clearly before his "eyes."

They were no longer meaningless scraps, but the key to cosmic civilization.

One, ten, one hundred...

As his consciousness swept over them, the precise number appeared in his mind.

5.73 million.

This was the entire net worth of those Star Pirates.

"When the lorraine crashed, the guards on the ship were dutiful until the very last moment."

Liliya's voice rang out. "Their storage bracelets should still be there."

Song Yang's heart stirred.

Several corpses wearing combat suits appeared out of thin air in the slightly spacious rear cabin of the spaceship.

They maintained the postures they had held before death, with no wounds on their bodies, only having lost the breath of life.

Liliya's gaze swept over those familiar faces, a flash of imperceptible sorrow in her eyes, but it vanished in an instant.

Song Yang said nothing more and removed the storage bracelets from their wrists.

They were the same style, only more exquisite than those of the Star Pirates.

He examined them one by one.

"4.9 million."

"5.15 million."

"4.82 million..."

The amount of star coins in each bracelet was similar to the total net worth of those Star Pirates.

Six guards, totaling a staggering 30.2 million.

Adding those from the Star Pirates, he now possessed over 35 million star coins.

Song Yang was momentarily dazed.

He silently transferred all those star coins into his system space, merging them with the previous pile to form a true mountain of money, shining with a dark gold luster.

"It seems we don't need to worry about travel expenses."

Song Yang withdrew his focus and looked at Liliya, his tone devoid of much emotion.

Liliya's lips curled back into that amused smile:

"It's more than just a hotel. If you wanted to, you could use this money to buy a large group of beautiful slaves, and it would be more than enough."

Just then, Zeus's voice rang out in the cockpit out of thin air.

"To be precise, it is 35.93 million star coins.

According to the real-time price index of the Alpha Centauri system, this money can purchase 327 standard luxury apartments on the main planet 'Qiming', or a small armed fleet equipped with Level 3 warp engines."

"By the way, a reminder to the Captain: although you are very wealthy now, in the universe, wealth also means danger.

Although the laws of the main planet Qiming are strict, there are always desperate criminals willing to challenge the bottom line of the law for 30 million star coins."

Song Yang nodded, keeping this reminder in mind.

Unknowingly, three days passed.

"The jump channel is about to end. We are expected to arrive at the outer perimeter of the Alpha Centauri 73 system in 37 seconds."

Zeus's voice suddenly appeared. "The ship is undergoing final deceleration, please sit tight."

As soon as the voice fell, the bizarre and motley scene outside the porthole began to quickly become clear and stable.

The distorted bands of light were smoothed out by an invisible hand, re-condensing into brilliant stars one by one.

The ship jolted violently, like a giant whale leaping out of the deep sea.

A magnificent and boundless starry sky suddenly appeared before their eyes.

In the distance, a massive blue planet hung quietly in the universe.

Around it revolved countless spaceships, small as stardust, as well as a ring-shaped space station of unimaginably huge proportions.

Countless spaceships, under the guidance beams of the space station, flew in and out of the planet in an orderly fashion.

"Welcome to the universe."

Liliya said softly, her silver eyes reflecting this unfamiliar sea of stars.

The ship was pulled by a soft blue beam, sliding steadily toward the massive ring-shaped space station.

Outside the porthole, countless ships formed bands of light, orderly, keeping their distance from each other, all flowing toward that azure planet.

"Gravity tractor beam detected ahead. The ship has been locked onto by the space station's port management system."

Zeus's voice rang out at the right moment. "Identity verification and cargo scanning are in progress. Identity verification passed.

'Antique-class' civilian exploration ship.

No contraband. Permission to enter port granted.

Route planned. Captain, please authorize autopilot."

"Authorize." Song Yang's voice was very calm.

The ship followed the vessels in front, descending along the planned light rail toward the planet's surface.

This process lasted nearly five minutes, like riding an interstellar elevator through the clouds.

Finally, a slight vibration came, and the ship docked steadily in an exclusive parking space glowing with a soft light.

"Are you ready? Let's go see a real civilization."

Liliya turned her head and asked with a smile.

Song Yang did not answer, but walked forward and pressed the button to open the cabin door.

"Hiss—"

The cabin door slowly rose.

Song Yang's footsteps stopped the moment he stepped out of the cabin door.

The place where he stood was a massive semi-open port. Overhead was a translucent dome, and one could see light trails drawn by aircraft high above, like intersecting neon lights.

As far as the eye could see, there were metal spires piercing the clouds, their surfaces flowing with the light and shadows of holographic advertisements, and huge virtual images weaving and dancing between the buildings.

On the ground, all kinds of "people" were coming and going.

A merchant with blue skin and soft tentacles on his head was excitedly pitching something to a tall creature covered in rock-like armor.

A graceful woman with transparent dragonfly-like wings on her back was leading a bouncing, furry little creature as they walked past them.

Most of them retained a humanoid form with two legs and two arms, but their skin, features, and appendages highlighted the vast differences between their species.

This scene was more impactful than any language.

His "huge fortune" of over 35 million seemed to lose its dazzling aura against the backdrop of this city, becoming just a ticket that barely qualified him for entry.

"What, are you scared?"

Liliya walked to his side and looked in the direction of his gaze. "Don't look so inexperienced; this is just Port 7 of the main planet Qiming."

Just then, Zeus's voice came from the storage bracelet on Song Yang's wrist.

"Docking fee has been automatically deducted: 15 star coins.

Remaining docking time: 23 hours and 59 minutes.

Friendly reminder: any form of conflict is prohibited in the airport area. Violators will be directly eliminated by law enforcement robots."

Song Yang took a deep breath of this unfamiliar air, his gaze sweeping over the strange-looking aliens, and finally landing on the depths of the city in the distance.

"Let's go, let's see this world that is different from Earth."