Upon entering the debris field, the Black Tortoise's inherent magnetism immediately began attracting surrounding metallic scraps.
Realizing his oversight, Zhou Tianming remained silent with guilt, pressing the accelerator in an attempt to shake off the approaching debris.
But metallic junk surrounded them from all directions—the more they moved, the more they attracted. After several evasive maneuvers, a long trail of debris now trailed behind them.
"Uh..."
Zhou Tianming forced an awkward smile. "Would you believe me if I said this wasn't intentional?"
Natarle raised an eyebrow, glaring at him. "Just get us out of here already!"
"Too late..."
Metallic debris from all sides came hurtling toward the Black Tortoise, leaving no room to dodge.
"Zhou Tianming! You've killed us!"
Fear flickered across Natarle's face.
"White Rabbit!"
Zhou Tianming shouted.
The [Yin-Yang] stopped rotating, the arcs of electricity around the Black Tortoise vanished, and its speed plummeted.
The next moment, countless metal fragments and space junk swallowed the ship whole.
Inside, Natarle initially clung to the handrails, eyes tightly shut, but after a few seconds, she couldn't hold back a scream:
"AHHHHH!!!!"
...
While Zhou Tianming was busy getting himself into mortal peril, an anomaly occurred at the spaceship exhibition hall.
A uniformed tour guide waved a small red flag, shouting through a megaphone at the crowd ahead: "Is everyone here? We're about to leave this ship."
After a headcount, the guide turned toward the airlock connecting the ship to the external shuttle.
"Please open the airlock—we're ready to depart."
"..."
No response came through the intercom. The guide pressed the communicator on the wall again. "Hello? Our group is assembled and waiting to leave."
"..."
The guide's heart skipped a beat. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to the crowd with a forced smile. "Must be a comms glitch. Please wait while I find another one."
Spaceship Bridge.
"What's going on?" the captain barked at the crew.
A crewmember frantically hammered at the keyboard, sweat pouring down his face, voice trembling. "No response—the ship's system isn't accepting commands."
"What?!"
The captain unbuckled and shoved the crewmember aside. "What do you mean? Can't you handle something this basic?"
Sitting down, he checked the systems himself.
Moments later, cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
His fingers slammed onto the Enter key with heavy clicks.
"Impossible! The system's been hijacked!"
...
Spaceship Exhibition Hall.
Tap-tap-tap—
A series of hurried, chaotic footsteps echoed through the corridor.
A man in a staff uniform sprinted forward, face twisted with urgency.
"Move! Move!"
He shoved through the unprepared crowd without slowing down, vanishing down the hallway.
"Seriously! Who does he think he is? Judging by his outfit, he's a staff member of the venue. I'm filing a complaint!"
People around expressed dissatisfaction, with several helping to lift the fallen person and offering quiet words of comfort.
The man ran to the organizer's office and kicked the door open.
Bang!
The wooden door slammed against the wall and bounced back swiftly.
Inside the office, several people who had been speaking froze, their eyes wide as they stared at the doorway.
The man pressed the rebounding door firmly: "It's bad! The spaceship is in trouble!"
The initially furious expressions on the leaders' faces stiffened.
About ten minutes later, after arriving at the exhibition hall's control room and figuring out the situation, the leaders were drenched in sweat, their faces filled with panic.
"A total of 214 ships—all hijacked?"
Their tone was full of disbelief.
Suddenly, the speakers in the control room emitted a piercing static noise.
Everyone covered their ears in pain.
A few seconds later, the noise faded, and a man's voice spoke: "Hello, everyone. I'm Sam."
"What?!" someone in the crowd screamed in terror. "It's that lunatic Sam!"
"Oh my, someone actually knows my name. That makes things easier. One hundred billion per ship—transfer the money, and the ship leaves."
The control room fell dead silent, everyone's faces frozen in shock.
One leader stammered, "A hundred billion is too much... With so many ships—"
"..."
Sam didn't respond, and the atmosphere grew heavy.
"Fine."
Whew—
The crowd exhaled in relief, and the speaking leader brightened. "How about... one billion per ship?"
Someone in the crowd frowned. "Are you seriously negotiating with him? He's the same Sam who escaped the East Asia manhunt!"
"Shut up!" Several other leaders grabbed the speaker, their expressions ingratiating. "Lord Sam, don't take it seriously."
"Haha." Sam laughed heartily. "No worries, no worries. You know, escaping the East Asia manhunt is a feat of mine. I'll give you face—one billion it is. Send the money."
As soon as he finished speaking, a payment QR code appeared on the control room's large screen.
The organizers, capable of hosting such a grand exhibition, were far from short on funds. Without hesitation, they transferred one billion.
Moments later, Sam's voice returned: "Just one ship?"
"Uh..." The leader forced a laugh, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
"Alright, catch."
"Huh?"
Everyone was confused.
Then, the QR code on the screen vanished, replaced by a live feed. Amid countless ships, a small 100-meter vessel broke away from the formation.
The leaders' faces lit up with joy.
But the next second, their smiles stiffened, turning to horror.
The ship accelerated—accelerated—accelerated—nonstop acceleration!
"No!" A terrified scream erupted in the control room.
In the blink of an eye, the ship plunged into the lunar surface, sending moon dust soaring like tidal waves.
Though utterly silent, a deafening roar echoed in everyone's minds.
Then, the ground shook violently.
Everything on the surface leaped into the air before crashing back down.
Crash! Boom!
Ahhh!!!
Collisions and screams erupted everywhere.
Outside the exhibition hall.
The ship's bow had flattened into a metal pancake. The bridge's windows had shattered completely—some crew members were smashed against the walls, leaving bloody smears, while others were sucked into cosmic space, their faces frozen in terror as they lost all signs of life.
The thrusters continued spewing blue flames as the ship's bow plowed a deep trench across the lunar surface.
Within moments, the kicked-up moon dust obscured the transparent dome above the stadium, dimming the light and leaving only a hazy white glow outside.
Before the tremors even subsided, the leader in the control room shouted while still scrambling to his feet: "We'll pay! We'll pay! 10 billion!"
"Sorry about that," Sam's voice dripped with amusement, "the price just went up to 100 billion. But consider this ship free—our treat."
As the words left his mouth, the flames from the crashing spaceship's thrusters shifted color on the display—from blue to orange.
Instantly, the flames erupted as the thrusters exploded violently, triggering a chain reaction of detonations throughout the vessel.
Explosions large and small burst from every section of the ship, sending debris flying and kicking up more lunar dust.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes... over ten minutes passed.
The crowd watched in stunned silence as the spaceship disintegrated into fragments, claiming hundreds—perhaps thousands—of lives in an instant.
Someone gulped audibly, rendered speechless.
...
Among the numerous ships in cosmic space, a 170-meter-long, yellow, flat triangular vessel.
The Bridge—
"HAHAHAHA!" Sam threw his head back in uproarious laughter. "Beautiful! Just beautiful!"
He stood up and strode to the CIC, pressing the all-ship announcement button: "Alright, you lot—time to party!"
"Ship selection starts now! One per person—let's see who gets lucky with the biggest ransom haul!"
"OHHHHH!!!!"
Cheers erupted from every corner of the ship.
Approaching Ding Yu, Sam clapped him on the shoulder. "Great work! Filter that passenger manifest for me."
He gestured around the bridge. "Pick out some prime ships for the bridge crew here."
Smiles spread across the faces of everyone present.
Sam returned to the captain's seat and gave two heavy slaps with his massive palms. "Rewards are handed out—now earn them. Screw up, and you'll answer to me."
"YES SIR!"
The crew raised their arms in unison, responding with booming morale.