146: Chapter 146 Merchant Fleet

"Boss, but how are we supposed to locate the Captain?"

Sheila pursed her lips.

"She hasn't replied to any messages, and the Cangyun Airspace is so vast—where are we supposed to search in this endless sea of clouds?"

Zhou An rubbed the edge of his teacup with his fingertips, his expression calm: "I have a way. Since standard communication isn't working, we'll use 'irregular' channels. There's no shortage of capable people in this airspace."

With a thought, he opened the system's regional chat channel. At this moment, the channel was filled not only with insults and pleas for help, but also with various advertisements glowing in different colors. He precisely skipped over the false promotions and locked onto several "Know-It-All" messages that were constantly refreshing.

Most of these information peddlers concealed their true identities and races, their avatars all uniform shadows.

Zhou An activated anonymous mode and sent a private message directly to a few of the most active and reputable ones.

[Anonymous (Zhou An)]: I want to buy intelligence regarding the specific coordinates of the Winged Race's 'White Feather Guild'.

The other party replied extremely quickly, their words dripping with mercenary shrewdness.

[Anonymous Intelligence Broker]: White Feather Guild? There are a dime a dozen with that name in the airspace. If you're talking about that remnant of the Winged Race that got crippled by the Beast Race and is now under the name of the Great Elder Cormac, then I have what you need.

[Anonymous (Zhou An)]: Name your price.

[Anonymous Intelligence Broker]: Heh, straightforward. Fixed coordinates from twenty-four hours ago: five thousand units of Level 5 supplies. If you need real-time tracking service, valid for twenty-four hours with updates every hour, the price is thirty thousand Level 5 units. No credit, no haggling.

[Anonymous (Zhou An)]: Deal.

Zhou An swiped his fingertip, and thirty thousand units of Level 5 supplies were instantly transferred. Less than three seconds later, the other party's reply popped up along with a precise jump point.

[Anonymous Intelligence Broker]: Fast! The latest location has been synchronized. A word of advice: things are a mess over there right now, so good luck.

Zhou An opened the location and compared it on the holographic map.

"Found it."

"It's about two thousand kilometers away, right along our previous route. If we head back at full speed, we can intercept them within six hours."

"EVA, plan the shortest route based on this location, and automatically reset the course every hour after receiving new coordinates."

"Command confirmed, route planning in progress, estimated flight time is five hours and forty-two minutes."

With the location issue resolved, the atmosphere in the hall didn't lighten. Sheila sat silently on the sofa, her hands gripping her knees tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white from the pressure.

"Boss... after we find the Captain, how are we going to get in?"

Sheila's voice carried a hint of trembling and conflict.

"I'm already a traitor who abandoned my race for the sake of pleasure. If I just appear before my kin like this, I fear that not only will I fail to see the Captain, but I'll also be regarded as a traitor to the Winged Race who has desecrated the Wind God..."

She wasn't afraid of battle, but she was afraid of facing the scornful gazes of her former comrades.

Zhou An looked at her conflicted expression and was about to speak when Li Muzi, sitting nearby, suggested softly:

"Sheila, don't worry. Since there are obstacles to entering head-on, why don't we change our identity?"

Seeing everyone's gaze turn to her, Li Muzi pushed up her glasses, a gentle smile appearing on her refined face: "We can disguise ourselves as a merchant group selling supplies in this airspace. Every major guild is short on supplies right now, especially the White Feather Guild, which just lost a battle; they must be in urgent need of replenishment. Approaching them as merchants will not only allow us to get close to them legitimately but also let us secretly figure out Ivy's specific situation."

"A merchant identity, huh..."

Luo Ning's eyes lit up, and she immediately echoed the sentiment.

"That's good! Our fortress is currently piled high with supplies; just leaking a little bit would be enough to make those poor wretches jealous."

Zhou An tapped his fingertips on the desktop and gave the final say: "Let's do as Muzi suggested. Get close first, then probe."

"Since we've decided to change our identity to make contact, we need to first figure out the current situation of the White Feather Guild."

Zhou An looked at the target coordinates flashing on the holographic projection and turned to look at Sheila.

"Sheila, who is in charge of the White Feather Guild right now? What's the internal situation like?"

Sheila recalled for a moment and answered earnestly: "The supreme leader of the guild is the Guild Master, and the second-in-command is the Great Elder, Cormac..."

Zhou An nodded.

"As long as they are lacking things, our plan will be easy to execute."

Zhou An tapped his fingers on the desktop, quickly finalizing the tactics.

"The White Feather Guild has just experienced a major battle, so they must be full of wounded soldiers and in urgent need of medical supplies and food. We will pose as 'Human wandering merchants' and provide medical services and basic supply trading."

He looked at Li Muzi and Shen Xingyue: "For this operation, Muzi and Xingyue will take the lead. Muzi will be responsible for communication and negotiation, while Xingyue will enter their medical area as an accompanying doctor to take the opportunity to find out Ivy's whereabouts."

"I have no problem with that."

Shen Xingyue pushed up her rimless glasses.

Li Muzi, however, frowned slightly. She looked at the massive fortress hull outside the window and said with some concern: "Boss, the plan is good, but this Cloud Top Fortress is too eye-catching. If we go over to sell medicine in a Level 5 fortress with such terrifying firepower, even a fool would think something is wrong. Once their radar scans us, they'll probably go straight into combat readiness."

Zhou An smiled: "That is a problem. So, do you have any suggestions?"

"Use my combat transport. My transport is small in size, and it looks like an ordinary transport spaceship from the outside, which fits the setting of a human wandering merchant perfectly. Plus, it has all the necessary medical and living facilities inside, so it won't arouse their suspicion."

"That works."

Zhou An made the decision immediately.

"Then Muzi will pilot your ship, and I and Xingyue will go with you. I'll act as the bodyguard you hired, and protect your safety while I'm at it. Luo Ning and Old Zhang will stay in the fortress, standing by outside the radar's limit, ready for fire support at any time."

"Understood!"

Everyone replied in unison.

...

Over the next few hours, the Cloud Top Fortress returned at full speed through the sea of clouds.

That mysterious intelligence broker was indeed highly professional.

Every hour, Zhou An's private chat interface would punctually pop up a photo containing exact coordinates. Most of the photos were taken from high altitude at a great distance, clearly showing a massive warship with the White Feather Guild's emblem sailing along.

Since he had nothing better to do, Zhou An looked at this precise intelligence and suddenly developed a bit of mischievous curiosity.

He opened the dialogue box with that [Anonymous Intelligence Broker] again.

[Anonymous (Zhou An)]: Since you're so well-informed, I'll buy another piece of information.

[Anonymous Intelligence Broker]: Please go ahead, Boss. As long as the price is right, I can even dig up the color of their underwear for you.

[Anonymous (Zhou An)]: I want to buy the location of this spaceship.

Zhou An sent the picture of his own fortress.

After the message was sent, the other side remained silent for about a minute, which was rare.

Just when Zhou An thought the other party's reconnaissance methods couldn't penetrate the fortress's [Stealth Field], a coordinate and an attachment were suddenly sent over.

[Anonymous Intelligence Broker]: You're welcome, five thousand Level 5 units. Because the anti-reconnaissance level of this fortress is extremely high, it took quite a bit of effort on my part. This is the coordinate from ten minutes ago, plus a blurry outline image as a bonus. This is a tough nut to crack; you'd better be careful when asking about this, Boss.

Zhou An readily transferred the supplies and then clicked on the coordinate and the image.

When he saw the jump point that almost completely overlapped with his current route, and the image of the fortress's rough outline despite the distorted light in the photo, Zhou An's eyes instantly deepened.

"Interesting."

He immediately cut off the communication and looked up at the console.

"EVA, did the radar matrix system detect any traces of being spied on or scanned just now?"

"In the past twenty-four hours, this ship has not been subjected to any known frequency radar scans, optical gazing, or energy band detection."

Zhou An leaned back in his chair.

The stealth function of the Cloud Top Fortress couldn't even be detected by a Level 5 Beast Race flagship, yet it had been silently photographed by an intelligence broker hiding in a chat channel.

This meant that the other party either possessed some kind of rule-based item that transcended conventional technology or possessed a rare talent.

"This Cangyun Airspace is indeed full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

Zhou An muttered to himself, and the slight underestimation he had felt due to his continuous crushing of opponents was instantly wiped away.

"Even with all the resources in hand, one cannot underestimate anyone among these three million survivors."

As they got closer and closer to the White Feather Guild's coordinates, Zhou An stood up and stretched his shoulders.

"Muzi, Xingyue, get ready to switch ships. It's time for us to pay the guild a visit."

And in the previously calm command hall, a cluster of glaring red spots suddenly popped up on the holographic screen.

"Report."

"The advance reconnaissance drone deployed fifty kilometers away has sent back an encrypted signal. Large-scale energy reactions have been captured in the target area; the footage has been synchronized."

The holographic projection spread out instantly.

In the picture, in the center of a thick sea of clouds dyed golden-red by the sunset, a massive fleet capable of blocking out the sky was sailing quietly.

What a shocking scene—at the very core of the fleet, a super-beast several times larger than the Cloud Top Fortress was emitting flowing light.

That was a Level 6 warship; it looked like a moving island of steel, and around it, hundreds of warships of various shapes were crowded together.

"Is this the entire foundation of the White Feather Guild?"

Zhou An looked at the hair-raising formation on the screen and couldn't help but click his tongue, a hint of playful interest appearing in his eyes: "Counting roughly, there are probably forty or fifty Level 5 escort warships, and the rest are all Level 4 elites. This power is indeed greater than I imagined."

Sheila, standing to the side, looked at the familiar warship emblem on the screen, a flash of complex emotion in her eyes, and explained in a low voice: "Boss, this actually isn't the entire strength of the White Feather Guild. At the peak of the guild, we had over a hundred Level 5 warships alone. White Feather usually splits its main force into two; the Guild Master and the Great Elder take the most elite batch as a mobile force, while the remaining half is led by the Vice Guild Master."

Zhou An nodded, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest of the command chair.

"Those 'little dots' around the fleet must be the wandering merchants, right?"

Zhou An pointed to some unarmed or lightly armored ships on the edge of the big screen.

"Yes," Li Muzi walked over. "Although the White Feather Guild's airspace is heavily guarded, they are currently extremely lacking in high-end resources and medical supplies. You see those merchant ships with the 'Sky Engine' logo and the 'Elf Race' natural emblem? They are very active in this area."

Looking around, this cruel airspace layout actually displayed a kind of morbid prosperity. Because the survival world had developed to a high level, those survivors who were unwilling to get involved in life-and-death struggles, or who had powerful forces backing them, mostly chose to do business in this sky.

Here, business was done broadly, but it was also dangerous.

"There's no such thing as a creed in this sky," Zhou An stared coldly at a small Elf Race spaceship weaving through the gaps between the warships. "One second they might be trading with smiling faces, but the next second, once they discover the other party is showing signs of weakness, they'll probably turn into robbers and start fighting immediately. Most of those who dare to do business here are behemoths like the Tianqing Guild, or special neutral races like the Elf Race."

The Elf Race and the human race had reached a subtle tacit understanding on some levels; they did not easily engage in major wars and possessed natural resources and fine craftsmanship that other races urgently needed, so they acted as a buffer in the contest among all races and had business dealings with almost all of them.

"It's time for us to change our disguises, too."

Zhou An stood up and looked at Li Muzi and Shen Xingyue.

"EVA, keep us at the edge of their radar. Muzi, prepare your transport and supplies. Since the Tianqing Guild and the Elf Race can get in, there's no reason for our 'Human private medical merchant group' to be turned away."

"Understood, Boss."

Li Muzi bowed slightly. "I'll go prepare the supplies for the trade."