88: The bustling relay station

"Alert! Boss! They've locked onto the Stardust Freight ship and... they've started flying alongside it!"

On the bridge of the needlefish, the red alarm lights rotated silently, casting a grim light on everyone's faces.

Reno's fists were clenched tight, veins bulging on the back of his hands: "There's still time to jump now! If we hesitate any longer, we'll be trapped here along with her!"

"No." Chen Feng's voice was unusually calm; he didn't even glance at the eerie equilateral triangle the three ships formed on the star map. "If we jump now, we'll go from 'unknown observers' to 'explicit targets of flight,' and we'll completely scare off Su Li."

"Then what do we do? Just watch helplessly?" Reno's tone was filled with a soldier's anxiety.

"No." Chen Feng shook his head and looked up at Reno, a crazy and bold light flickering in his calm eyes. "We follow them."

"What?!"

"Since they want to provide an escort, let's join the party." Chen Feng lightly tapped a coordinate on the star map ahead of the three ships' course. "Let them think we're with Su Li."

Reno was completely shocked by Chen Feng's line of thinking. This wasn't just bold; this was dancing on a knife's edge!

"Pass the word: maintain radio silence and tail them from five hundred kilometers behind their flank." Chen Feng's command was beyond question. "Also, enter the exchange immediately."

His consciousness sank into the system as he directly ordered Reno: "At maximum speed, purchase the internal structural diagrams of the 'Scrapyard' relay station, its security system deployment maps, and... temporary backdoor access to the Area C power grid control system."

"Boss, this..." Reno instinctively wanted to say it was too risky, but the words died in his throat. He had grown used to it; behind every one of Chen Feng's crazy decisions lay layers upon layers of contingencies.

Three ships—one in front and two behind—formed an eerie escort formation, silently sailing toward that chaotic, lawless land.

Several hours later, a relay station welded together from countless abandoned asteroids and ship wreckage, resembling a giant metallic tumor, appeared outside the viewport.

"The Scrapyard relay station. We're here."

Stardust Freight's dilapidated ship was the first to clumsily dock in its berth, followed closely by the sleek, menacing Scout Ship that silently docked in an adjacent area.

"They're disembarking!" In the surveillance footage, six team members in black combat gear moved with practiced efficiency, fanning out in a tactical formation to secure the perimeter of the spaceport. "They're too professional, Boss. These aren't ordinary people."

"I know." Chen Feng's eyes were fixed on the screen. "Chaos is the best cover. Reno, prepare to execute Plan B."

"Understood!"

"Now!"

At Chen Feng's command, the micro-instructions he had already planted via the backdoor access were instantly activated.

"Boom—!"

The lights in Area C of the relay station flickered violently a few times before being completely extinguished in a dull explosion. Piercing alarms echoed throughout the spaceport, and countless smugglers and mercenaries, startled by the sudden turn of events, rushed toward the site of the disturbance, shouting and cursing. The relay station's rusted security robots also flashed red lights as they clumsily charged forward.

"The timing is perfect." Chen Feng looked at the Reconnaissance Squad on the screen, whose attention had been diverted, and nodded to Reno. "Disembark."

The two of them donned ordinary grey cloaks and blended into the crowd moving against the flow of the chaos, like two drops of water merging into a filthy ocean.

At almost the same time, aboard the Stardust Freight ship, Su Li—using the alias "Amy"—took advantage of the crew's panicked investigation of the disturbance. She descended the gangway alone, slipped away from the group unnoticed, and turned into a dark alleyway.

Inside a crude eatery called "The Rusted Noodle Shop" at the Scrapyard relay station.

Chen Feng sat in the most inconspicuous corner. Before him sat a bowl of synthetic protein noodles emitting a suspicious chemical odor, but he hadn't taken a single bite.

The door was pushed open, and Su Li walked in. She wore a black bodysuit suited for action, her face beneath the hood cold as frost. Her gaze swept through the eatery like radar, seemingly passing over Chen Feng without notice before she headed straight for the bar.

"Boss, your goods." She slid a data chip without a

trace to the bartender, who appeared half-asleep.

The bartender yawned and pulled another chip from under the bar to hand to her: "Your payment."

Su Li took the chip but didn't leave immediately. Instead, she leaned against the bar, seemingly verifying its contents. However, her sharp eyes were quietly observing everyone in the eatery through the reflection in the bar's mirror.

Finally, her gaze fell back on the man in the corner who kept his head down, seemingly more interested in a bowl of soggy noodles.

After confirming the chip, Su Li turned to leave.

At the moment she brushed past Chen Feng, a voice rang out—not loud, but clear enough to make her blood run cold.

"Miss Amy."

Su Li's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

"I'm afraid the profit margins for a job with Stardust Freight won't cover your risk costs, will they?"

Su Li's body went as rigid as a statue. She turned around slowly, inch by inch, her sharp gaze hidden in the shadows of her hood piercing through Chen Feng like two poisoned, cold scalpels.

"Who are you?" There wasn't a trace of emotion in her voice, only bone-chilling coldness and wariness.

Chen Feng looked up, a harmless smile on his face. He pointed to the empty seat across from him and said unhurriedly:

"An investor willing to pay for your 'losses'."

No sooner had he finished speaking.

"Bang—!"

The eatery's already rickety door was violently kicked open!

Several members of the Reconnaissance Squad, dressed in black combat gear and wielding Gauss Rifles, blocked the only exit, their dark muzzles aimed inside. The leader barked a cold, unquestionable command:

"Everyone inside, surrender immediately!"