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Seeing that he had captured the attention of Arthur and Star-Lord, Jeff cleared his throat and said, "If you want to sell me…"
He was on the verge of tears, wondering if there was any sense of fairness or humanity left in the world.
He was simply trying to help the kidnappers sell himself!
Where could he seek justice?
Feeling frustrated, he sighed, "All you need to do is contact any Nova Empire official to negotiate the price. Secondly, you should prepare a transaction site, preferably a colonial planet on the border of the Nova Empire. If you're outside their territory, they won't risk coming after you. Even if they do, it might trigger the deployment of Nova Corps, making things even harder to handle."
"So, a colonial planet near the border, where you can retreat if needed, is the best choice. Even if problems arise, as long as you're outside Nova Empire's territory, you can leave at any time! The Nova Corps won't pursue fugitives beyond their borders."
He paused and added, "As for how the transaction will be carried out, that's up to you. After all, even if I tell you, you probably won't listen."
Star-Lord nodded, "Makes a lot of sense!"
Arthur gave Star-Lord a look and then approached Jeff.
Jeff looked at Arthur with a sincere expression, and Arthur grinned, giving his shoulder a pat— Jeff disappeared!
"That's really convenient!" Star-Lord looked enviously at Arthur. "When can you get me one of those?"
"...I might be the only one with this kind of thing on Earth."
Arthur said, "Do you trust his words?"
Star-Lord immediately shook his head vigorously, "No, not at all! He definitely has his own agenda! But what does that have to do with us? We just want to make money, and he wants freedom. There's no conflict between us!"
"But if he's up to something, it might be easy to get in, but hard to get out."
Arthur rubbed his chin and said, "I don't think this is going to be simple."
"So, we should make a plan!"
Star-Lord said earnestly, "The plan starts with contacting the high-ranking officials of the Nova Empire!"
"…"
Arthur was feeling unusually tired. Was this guy completely obsessed with money?
"Listen!" Arthur came to Star-Lord and said seriously, "We can do this, but we must plan each step in detail! Given our current situation, our understanding of the Nova Empire is far from deep, so to solve this perfectly without any conflict, sell the trouble, and make some money, we need to deepen our understanding of the Nova Empire. First, we need to find out if they have any precedent for buying hostages. If they do, what methods do they use to retrieve their hostages? After all, their real goal is not just the hostages, but also us— the shameless kidnappers and the large sum of money they are about to spend!"
Star-Lord seemed to wake up and nodded immediately, "Yes, that makes sense. So, what's next?"
"...That sounds familiar."
Arthur blinked.
"I learned it from you!"
Star-Lord laughed, "Don't worry, I'll gather the Nova Empire's data and understand their related cases! I'm an expert in this!"
"Great."
Arthur said, "Then we'll divide the work. You handle the data collection and case studies, and I'll work on the action plan."
Star-Lord thought for a moment and said, "Why don't I come up with the battle plan? Do you think you're smarter than me?"
"No, of course, you're smarter; I'm just more specialized!"
Arthur said, "I've taken similar courses before!"
Star-Lord nodded in realization, "Alright then, specialized tasks should be handled by specialists!"
Arthur sighed with relief. If he said Star-Lord was still immature and naive, like a rookie just starting out, this kid would surely forget the important things and drag him into problems all day long!
He didn't think he had much time to waste on such petty arguments. He hoped to get the money quickly, buy a spaceship, stock up on enough fuel, and head home as soon as possible.
In fact, Jeff was indeed a big surprise from Star-Lord.
Star-Lord had originally traded Jeff for an interstellar map that detailed the route home.
As for how much profit Jeff himself could generate, Arthur wasn't very concerned.
To his surprise, this profit could still come back to him!
Although he didn't have Yondu's easy trading channels, with a little caution, it might still be possible to make some money, which would greatly shorten his time to return home.
...
...
Star-Lord was indeed skilled in intelligence gathering.
He obtained many Nova Empire cases through various means, compiled them, and handed them over to Arthur.
When Arthur picked up one of the reports to review it carefully, he nearly had a fit.
"I can't understand this at all!!!!"
He was familiar with the universal language of the universe, but he truly couldn't make sense of these alien characters.
The symbols in his hand were bizarre and mysterious, and he had no idea what they meant.
With no other option, he had to turn to Star-Lord for help.
What he received was Star-Lord's merciless and unrestrained laughter!
Arthur clenched his fists, making cracking sounds. Star-Lord looked at his fists, then at the documents in his hand. Considering his survival instincts, he began to explain to Arthur.
Not only did he explain, but he even prepared to teach Arthur how to read these texts.
Arthur initially wasn't keen on learning, but considering he didn't know how long he'd be staying in space, knowing an extra language could be beneficial, so he obediently started to learn.
His memory and learning ability were top-notch!
In just three days, he completely mastered these strange symbols, inadvertently demoralizing Star-Lord, who became gloomy for a while. This brightened Arthur's mood considerably.
Two days later, Arthur reviewed all the documents thoroughly and, after much thought, called Star-Lord for a meeting.
"Directly capturing officials and demanding ransom is a rare occurrence in the history of the Nova Empire. Their current adversaries, the Kree, are not used to leaving survivors. However, from the few cases available, it seems they do have some acceptance for ransom and exchange of hostages. Moreover, they prioritize the lives of the hostages!"
(End of Chapter)