Eva and I took a moment to catch our breath inside the cargo bay. Neither of us was in any hurry to tempt fate by boarding the shipwreck again without proper precautions. Who knows if more of those things were hiding aboard?
After a while, we moved to the bridge. An unsettling calm atmosphere replaced the chaos we'd barely escaped. Wasting no time, I called out to Percy.
"Alright, Percy, arm all weapons and target the old ship's extremities. Let's chafe it down piece by piece until there's nothing left!"
Eva raised a brow. "Chafe it? Really? What's with the weird phrasing?"
"Shut it. Sounds dramatic, doesn't it?" I shot back, rolling my eyes. "If we turn everything into scraps, there's no way more of those things could stay hidden... if any remains."
Eva shrugged, keeping her mouth shut. We both knew better than to risk leaving behind something that would haunt us later.
Retreating to a safe distance, the Range Falcon's Beam Turrets roared to life, cutting through the void with focused lasers. Each shot was precise, slowly tearing into the derelict vessel. The rhythmic bursts systematically broke the ship apart, pieces of it glowing red-hot as they drifted into the dark.
Eva leaned against the console, her eyes glued to the monitor. "Doesn't look like there's anything left alive in there," she declared, her tone subdued.
"If there is, it's going to regret sticking around," I replied, not taking my eyes off the screen either.
She exhaled, her exhaustion palpable. "Well, that's one way to deal with a haunted wreck."
The Vernal Torrent disappeared piece by piece, reduced to a floating cloud of metal fragments within minutes. Its once-massive hull was now scattered around as a mix of random debris and space dust.
"Percy, halt the assault and begin scanning the debris field. Let's see what's left to salvage."
[Command received. Scanning for valuable materials and remaining threats.]
Eva stretched, rolling her shoulders. "I call dibs on whatever we recover first. You owe me for saving your ass back there."
"Huh...?" I gave her a sidelong glance. "You mean when you got caught by tentacles and I had to cut you free? Sure, Eva. Whatever floats your boat."
Realizing my sarcastic tone, she glared at me, its intensity could've burned through steel. "You—!"
I grinned before she could finish, enjoying how easy it was to get under her skin.
Soon enough, Percy's scans identified melted alloys and metals worth recovering. Out of the mountains of precious metals we'd hoped for, only about 50 tons of salvaged materials remained—enough to fetch 5 million credits. The heat from the lasers melted and combined the metals together, though, creating a grand mess of an alloy.
"It's going to be a pain to sell this chaotic thing," I muttered. "The union better take it, or we'd be losing out on profits."
While Percy continued to scan for more debris, I didn't stay idle. I put the recovered blackbox into the protected storage slot and ran a data recovery program. After a few minutes, the result came. The recent files were corrupted and unable to be recovered. Just as expected, but seeing the error still stung.
I didn't dwell on the loss. I focused on what we had gained. The star map data was partially intact, revealing a marker deep in unexplored space.
"Percy, match the map orientation with our current coordinates and set the marker's location as our next waypoint."
[Command received. Analyzing star map data… Complete. Displaying synchronized map. Setting new waypoint: (X:10,557.2, Y:-5,409.7, Z:383.3). Total travel distance: 5,000 km.]
Eva studied the updated 3D map, her expression grim. "That's where Major Terrence is? That's far. Too far. With our luck, something's bound to go wrong before we get there."
I smirked. "Oh, it's farther than you think. About threefold farther."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Her brow furrowed.
"First, we're going the other way. Percy, plot another waypoint equidistant but in the opposite direction."
[Command received. Plotting waypoint based on current coordinates… Complete. New waypoint: (X:13,229.82, Y:-64.48, Z:8401.14). Total travel distance: 5,000 km.]
Now, two waypoints gleamed on the map: one marking the unknown destination Percy just marked, and the other pointing to Major Terrence's last known location revealed by the blackbox.
Eva groaned, running a hand through her hair. "We're doing this backward, aren't we? Shouldn't we be rescuing Major Terrence first and then diving into whatever shithole you just marked?"
"Exactly," I said, leaning back in my chair. "Doing it backward is the right way to go."
"You're impossible," she grumbled. "I hope this doesn't get us killed."
Hearing her small complaint, I simply chuckled before barking out new orders. "Percy, activate autopilot and set out for the second waypoint at full speed!"
[Command received. Autopilot engaged. Calculating optimal trajectory. Estimated travel time: 18 minutes.]
"Perfect," I said, reclining my seat until it was nearly horizontal. "That's just enough time for a nap."
Eva glared at me. "You're napping? Seriously? I'm stuck here babysitting the monitors, and you're sleeping?"
"Yup. Oh, and wake me up when we're close—and don't get any weird ideas. I plan to stay chaste until the right one comes along."
With my teasing, her face rapidly turned crimson. "Who would even—?! You're insufferable!"
Laughing softly, I closed my eyes. Messing with Eva was one of the few simple joys I have in the galaxy. Too bad she was the vengeful type—it would've been perfect otherwise.
After closing my eyes, the god of dreams quickly pulled my consciousness away. I won't deny it—after all the exploration we'd done over the past few days, I was completely drained. With only the two of us on the ship, long simultaneous breaks weren't an option. And after barely surviving that alien encounter with nothing but tin cans protecting us, exhaustion was inevitable.
Sure thing, it's only natural I was tired. But Eva herself should also be dead-tired, especially after being squeezed like freshly picked orange under a juicer.
When I woke up I saw her slouching on top of the control panel, her arms were used like a pillow with her head cocked slightly to the side.
I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes and looked at her face, an angelic visage that met my gaze. Her long lashes cast faint shadows over her cheeks and her plush pink lips slightly parted as she breathed softly. Really, this girl's a stunner—as long as she keeps her mouth shut.
I spent a few seconds staring in wonder and then snapped back to the Star Map on the bridge. It appeared we were already at our destination.
"Ugh, did I sleep too long?" I groggily muttered, slightly blaming Eva for falling asleep with me. "Percy, how much time has passed?"
[10 hours since entering this dimension. 8.5 hours since leaving for the set waypoint.]
"... 8.5 hours?" I blinked, trying to process it. What was supposed to be a quick nap turned into full-blown hibernation!
Shaking the sleepiness off my eyes, I skimmed the view outside the visors, confirming we were indeed stationary in the middle of an asteroid field.
Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief. "Good. It's a familiar sight. Thankfully, we made it to the right spot."
This was exactly the asteroid field I was searching for. Somewhere in this emptiness, floating unseen, was "that" item. A treasure left by the developers, hidden for only the most diligent, most well-informed, or the insufferably-bored-with-nothing-better-to-do players to discover.
"Percy, start scanning the surroundings. Prioritize detail over distance. Look for any rectangular metal boxes floating around or embedded inside the asteroids."
In the past, most players would have just rushed to the next quest marker without giving this area a second thought. But thanks to some crazy completionist who spent thousands of hours poking around here, a secret piece, an endgame-level content, had been discovered. Somewhere in this asteroid field was an incredibly powerful weapon. Finding it, though, was almost entirely up to chance.
Unless, of course, you had the Range Falcon.
Among all the ships, it was the only one with a radar that could penetrate objects and analyze their internal structure based on signal distortion, jitter, delay, and quality of "echo" that returned. Almost nothing could slip past its detection.
[Command received. Scanning all asteroids within 0.1 AU... Complete. Detected a total of 5,723 units matching the initial description.]
"That's... a lot," I muttered, taken aback.
You could find the thing in the game almost instantly using this search. But it seems reality wasn't so generous. "Okay, limit the search to non-radioactive objects smaller than five cubic meters in size."
[Additional parameters received. Filtering results... Complete. 68 units match the description. Marking all items on the Star Map.]
"Sixty-eight." I let out a heavy sigh, settling back in my chair.
Better than having to check thousands, but not great, by any stretch of the imagination. "Guess we'll have to check them one by one."
I yawned and stretched, already dreading the repetitive task ahead. But as I prepared myself for the chore, a soft groan broke the silence.
Looking in the voice's direction, I saw Eva stir, lifting her head groggily. Her red hair was a complete mess, with stray strands sticking to her face. She blinked slowly, her bleary eyes locking onto mine as she tried to shake off the remnants of sleep.
"... Huh?" she muttered, her voice thick with grogginess.
I opened my mouth, ready to tease her, but before I could get a word out, her eyes snapped open wide with alarm. Her whole expression had shifted from sleepy confusion to outright panic in an instant.
"Watch out...!"
Her words barely registered before the entire ship jolted violently, sending me flying out of my seat and onto the cold metal floor. My heart raced as the deck beneath me trembled, the vibrations reverberating through the Range Falcon like a warning bell. There was no mistaking what had just happened—something enormous had slammed into the ship's shields.
I scrambled to my feet, adrenaline pumping through my veins, and turned toward the starboard-side visors. My breath caught in my throat as my eyes landed on the source of the impact.
"No way...!" I gasped, staring at the impossible sight before me.