The Highest Bounty - Chapter 257 - Meeting Elizabeth Again

During this time of more than thirty days, news of the battle Gu Ding’s crew had with Second Elder Potie from the Dark Sectors spread to every corner of Faye Cosmic Nation as well as more than ten Cosmic Nations through Skynet. Evidently, this included Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation.

No one had witnessed the results of the battle. Even the public that had seen the fight on Red Shield only witnessed a portion of the entire battle. Nevertheless, the outcome of the battle was not hard to guess as Gu Ding’s spaceship had ended up blowing up the Childe family’s house. Additionally, Potie’s name vanished from the Demigod Ranking. The sword god, Roland, had moved up from Number Eight to Number Seven.

Many had seen Gu Ding’s crew get pulled into Potie’s personal domain. It was safe to assume that she ended up dead as Gu Ding’s Golden Eagle set fire to the Childe family. The sequence of events made it quite easy for others to piece things together. Potie’s death had to have been caused by Gu Ding’s crew. Nevertheless, no one knew what happened that night in Potie’s domain. Whatever Gu Ding’s crew did to take out Potie remained a mystery.

The strange thing about it was Gu Ding’s crew seemed to have vanished after the incident at Red Shield. No news of them was heard for the next thirty-one days.

A heated discussion broke out on Skynet in an instant.

Some speculated that the battle had caused the death of Gu Ding and a few crew members, which resulted in the crew being disbanded.

Some guessed that someone on Gu Ding’s crew ended up suffering a serious hit and was currently recuperating.

Some even went as far as to say that Gu Ding’s crew must have found a new civilization ruin after leaving Red Shield and were in the middle of treasure hunting…

Some guesses made by the people were quite close to the truth of the condition of Gu Ding’s crew. Nevertheless, none of them would have expected Gu Ding’s crew to be in the Royal Capital Star Sector.

Furthermore, none of them would have expected Gu Ding’s abilities to have already upgraded themselves.

Gu Ding only took two days to succeed in cultivating the first chapter of the Imperial Phenomenon. His combat effectiveness increased by ten fold upon activation, but he could only sustain it for one minute. Throughout the following twenty-seven days, Gu Ding took the time to strengthen the God Power of Imperial Phenomenon and finally became able to extend its usage time from one minute to forty minutes. He used a total of fifty-eight Power Stones in the process of doing so.

On the day the Grey-faced Buzzard arrived in the Royal Capital Star Sector, Gu Ding took the time to inject Golden Combat Armor into his body. It enhanced his combat effectiveness by another fifty times. Factoring in the enhancements, his basic combat effectiveness of one hundred million points could reach one hundred trillion points. It was equivalent to the combat effectiveness of a Lower Ranking 1-Star Deity who had just achieved a breakthrough. With the help of Damage Stacking, the maximum combat effectiveness Gu Ding could reach was equivalent to that of a 4-Star Lower Ranking Deity.

The Grey-faced Buzzard slowly docked at the Interstellar harbor of the Royal Capital Star Sector’s Forget-Me-Not.

With Neptune’s help, the crew passed the identity verification with ease. The spaceship’s scan did not reveal any anomalies during the verification and Biggie, who was hidden in the spaceship with the cell repair berth, was not detected.

The Cosmic Nation Lord’s palace was located on a planet called Dragon Cove which was filled with many powerhouses. Elizabeth basically never left her palace and the only way to see her was to sneak in. However, the risk of doing that was too high, which was why Neptune had picked Forget-Me-Not for Gu Ding. If Dragon Cove was Elizabeth’s home, Forget-Me-Not was Elizabeth’s garden.

Forget-Me-Not was a tourist planet with incredible scenery. It was completely different compared to Dragon Cove when it came to security measures. The most important factor that determined their success was that Elizabeth would visit the planet at least once a month and stay for a few days during more leisurely times. Of course, she would bring many powerhouses secretly with her to protect herself. Nevertheless, the security was slightly less tight compared to Dragon Cove, and the probability of Gu Ding meeting her was higher.

“Elizabeth has been visiting Forget-Me-Not quite frequently for the past few months. She must be slowly delegating her work to others, but no one knows when the next Faye Cosmic Nation Lord will be chosen.” Neptune knew that the role of a Cosmic Nation Lord was not an easy one.

“She’s passing the baton to someone else? Why?” It was the first time Gu Ding had heard of it.

“Elizabeth is still quite young. Now that she has become a deity, it means that she has a long road ahead of her. Her role as a Cosmic Nation Lord will not help her advancement in any way. Besides, the congress of Faye Cosmic Nation and the Federal Government have nurtured many candidates for the role of Cosmic Nation Lord. Her position can be easily replaced at any time without the operation of the congress and Federal Government being affected. Compared to a Cosmic Nation Lord who is a Lower Ranking Deity, the congress and Federal Government hope to get a Medium Ranking Deity for the role, even if that Medium Ranking Deity is a member of the common public.”

“Why would that be?” It made Gu Ding even more confused. Why did it matter to the congress and Federal Government that the candidate was a deity?

“The more powerhouses that appear in a Cosmic Nation, the more resources its Federal Government will receive. That is, the congress would want powerhouses to appear in their respective territories even if the powerhouses are common people or Interstellar Pirates.”

“As for why the Federal Government needs those powerhouses, it’s because the entire human race is a race that is close to falling out of position in the vast Cosmic Sea. That is the same reason why the Federal Government has cut down on capturing and killing Interstellar Pirates. Any Interstellar Pirate that is not against the human race is to be captured alive. Besides that, the Federal Government is also willing to share its profit and benefits with different powerful organizations within the Cosmic Sea by giving up some territory and allowing Interstellar Pirates to grow.

“No matter your identity, where you’re a member of the Army, an Interstellar Pirate, a mercenary, or anything else, you belong to the human race. If the entire human race was faced with apocalyptic extinction, Gu Ding, would you stand up for your race?” Neptune suddenly asked.

 Gu Ding nodded heavily. If the entire human race was wiped off, it would mean his friends, even Cerule, would be completely annihilated. It would be impossible for him to stand by and do nothing even if he was just an Interstellar Pirate.

“The Federal Government thinks the same way too. On some level, if the Interstellar Pirates become more powerful, it would motivate the Federal Government to increase in strength as well. That would in short push the entire human race to become more powerful. Under dire circumstances, even an Interstellar Pirate would stand up for the human race if need be. Nevertheless, it goes without saying that this does not apply to organizations such as the Dark Sectors which are against the human race.”

Neptune’s explanation helped Gu Ding understand that he had been born in a great era.

“If this was the previous era, the Federal Government would give everything they have to capture and kill every single Interstellar Pirate. In the past, Interstellar Pirates were like rats. Many of them were killed on the spot. It was because of the extreme killings in the last era that some Interstellar Pirates who had the potential to do great things were killed. As a result, the Army lost powerful rivals to compete against, and it indirectly lowered the ability of the entire Army. The number of powerhouses who were of the human race dropped to a historical all-time low during that era. It made the Federal Government realize their grave mistake.

“If the human race was forcefully demoted from first-class to second-class, they would be forced to depend on another race. Otherwise, they would be picked clean by the other race. Additionally, if things ended up deteriorating further, the entire human race would be exterminated by the first-class race.

“Moreover, even if they chose to depend on the first-class race, their powers would be limited to less than 10% of their condition. Most of their resources would be forcefully taken by the first-class race. Falling into the category of the second-class race would almost mean that they could be sold legally and traded as slaves.”

“If the human race falls under such conditions, it would be impossible for them to rise up once again.”

Neptune’s explanation made Gu Ding frown. He shook his head to clear his mind of those thoughts. “Let’s hear Elizabeth’s schedule.”

“Elizabeth will arrive at Forget-Me-Not within the next few days. A lady named Midea will be accompanying her along with at least four demigod powerhouses who are at their peak. They’re all tasked with protecting her in secret. There is the possibility that an extreme demigod powerhouse will be with them.” Neptune’s access to the Cosmic Nation Lord’s secret files may have been limited, but he was still able to provide some information by collecting data from different locations.

“That woman Midea is very powerful! Although, I’ve never seen her name appear on the Demigod Monster Ranking.” Gu Ding felt that it was quite strange.

“There’s nothing strange about that. The Star Chambers would never reveal information of people who are closely related to the Federal Government. That is a deal made between the Star Chambers and the Federal Government. There has never been a Cosmic Nation Lord who has been on the Demigod Monster Ranking. With that being said, the same restrictions must go for the bodyguards of those Cosmic Nation Lords. That woman’s combat effectiveness is not too far off from Roland’s. I estimate her combat effectiveness to rank among the top twenty powerhouses of the Demigod Monster Ranking. She has enough combat effectiveness to at least kill a 1-Star Deity. However, she is not an obstacle for you right now. Your greatest obstacle is Elizabeth. She may only be a 1-Star Deity, but she has the combat effectiveness of a 4-Star Deity. Factoring in the last few months in which she continued cultivating, she must be as powerful as a 5-Star powerhouse now.”

“Hey, that spaceship looks really grand!” Dockett cried out in admiration.

Gu Ding turned toward where the man was looking, it was a gold and purple Phoenix. The Phoenix had the crown of a golden phoenix encrusted on top of it. The spaceship clearly belonged to Elizabeth. Gu Ding had not expected her to arrive so soon.

The Phoenix slowly descended, attracting a crowd toward it.

The employees of the nearby harbor and some local merchants knew who the owner of the spaceship was. Nevertheless on the tourist planet called Forget-Me-Not, many tourists were unaware of who the owner of the spaceship was. The crowd was pushed to the side by a few members of the Army but no move was made to evacuate them. Many people started taking pictures of the spaceship.

Then, the hatch of the Phoenix quickly opened and a beautiful woman in a purple dress exited it with a light smile on her face.

It was only then that the crowd realized the owner of the spaceship was Her Highness, The Lord, Elizabeth.