<h4>Chapter 325: Honestly</h4>


    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion


    The wreckage had been lying at the bottom of theke for months. And a month or so had also passed since Hao Ren issued the “lost and found” notice. The owner, who had just been found did not belong to any civilisation sphere. Instead, the owner was from an exploration and mercantile consortium. They were not rted to any government and they were situated in a remote corner of the universe, where transportation andmunication were inconvenient. That exined the slow response.


    Hao Ren took the opportunity to scout more information about them and learned that they were a unique phenomenon in interster expansion.


    The universe was a vast and diverse ce; with a sufficient level of technology, the colonial choices and opportunities offered to interster races were huge. Opportunity came with risk, but to the brave explorers, the word “risk” was simply not in their dictionary. That was how the exploration and mercantile consortium operated. The group consisted of members of different races from various civilisation spheres; there were merchants, mercenaries, exiled politicians and even pirates. They were rich and powerful, and they had the ability to build their own kingdom in the vast universe. Some races supported their own kind in exploration where they would form alliances among themselves. However, the conservative races viewed such exploration as illegal. Nheless, despite the regtions, interster exploration never stopped. Instead, it flourished. The vast and open universe made it difficult for any ordinary civilisation to enforce the regtions on exploration activities. So,s colonised by explorers began to develop on the fringes of the major civilisation spheres. These coloniseds initially became the transit points for pirates or merchants, but theyter developed into something bigger. They became centre stage and existed as small kingdoms, gaining recognition from other civilisation spheres. These tiny kingdoms, even with only a few coloniseds were starting to gain legitimacy.


    Under normal circumstances, these tiny kingdoms were basically small yers. They survived in the gaps between other giant civilisations. However, despite their different social formation, mode of survival and development, they were categorically considered as monwealths” by the major civilisations.


    Half of the explorers were made up of merchants or people who imed to be merchants. They were collectively known as “the exploration and mercantile consortium” among the major civilisation spheres, irrespective of whether their members were former merchants, former pirates or former mercenaries.


    A group who called themselves the Kab Commonwealth had exerted im on the spacecraft wreckage in Hao Ren’s announcement. The group constituted of at least 10 exploration and mercantile consortiums, which was a pretty normal phenomenon. Most of the members of the group came from the Kerbal Civilisation Sphere. The Kerbal Civilisation Sphere, a rtively young civilisation was known for their zeal in interster exploration. They supported any exploration efforts that were not against thews of the Imperial Empire. For this reason, the star regions in their neighborhood had seen many small kingdoms of this kind flourishing. This civilisation sphere had confirmed the legal status of the Kab Commonwealth using the official channel. And now, it sent the relevant documentary proof to assist the Kab Commonwealth in its im.


    Hao Ren was basically waiting to meet up with the little green men in Kuiper Station either the following day or the day after that.


    Once Y’zaks was back, Hao Ren announced the important news. Everyone, except the clueless Becky and the chopstick maniac, Lil Pea was happy. They felt a sense of relief because the puzzle was finally solved.


    “I’ve talked with the MDT and there’s a probable solution to the salvaging operation.” Hao Ren nodded. “Since the spacecraft is a non-living thing, getting it through the Wall of Reality isn’t going to cause much harm. We can tow the wreckage to the real world with little impact. The only problem is, how do we get the owner and their salvage team into The ne of Dreams, and then retrieve the wreckage from the bottom of theke without alerting the natives?”


    “I’ve requested arge teleportation gateway, which will arrive in the next few days. It’ll be installed in some unused work space in Kuiper Station. That teleportation gateway could send the entire salvage team into The ne of Dreams via dream. Meanwhile, Hao Ren will use his Dimensional Pocket to bring the salvaging equipment in,” the MDT added. “Thending spot shall be near the Beinz Blood Lake. But, we’re not sure if the search effort there is still going on, so let’s just improvise when we get there. We have the technology. If necessary, we’ll create an explosion nearby to act as a distraction. When they move their army away to check out the explosion, the salvage team can then make the dive. As far as I know, the Kab Commonwealth has enough technology to aplish the salvage operation alone.”


    Hao Ren nodded, then said, “We have ns for other aspects of the operation too.”


    “Good.” Y’zaks guffawed, scraping his shiny bald head. “I guess I can take a back seat. What about Lily?”


    Lily was sitting in a chair with her back and drumstick tail facing them. She was clearly in a good mood. She was eagerly waiting for her beautiful, soon-to-be-reborn tail despite the fact it looked really weird with the bandage. “Leave me alone, I’m having a facial treatment.”


    Hao Ren sighed and said, “Do you call that a facial treatment, on the butt? Really?”


    Agitated, Lily pounced on Hao Ren.


    The scuffle onlysted a few seconds before someone interrupted. Becky, who had been silent the whole time suddenly said, “Can I go home now?”


    Hao Ren’s hand was still in the air, holding off Lily’s ghastly teeth. He froze like a deer in headlights when he heard what Becky said. Lily did not get the memo and she bit on his arm. Hao Ren’s Steel Membrane Shield then popped up like a trump with a tingling, metal sound. Lily covered her mouth in pain and ran with her tail between her legs. “You bastard, why didn’t you dodge?”


    Hao Ren coughed a couple of times and forced himself to act naturally while his mind worked hard to find an excuse to pacify Becky. But, he knew he could not sweep the matter under the rug any longer. Becky was not a retard. She was only here on Earth for sightseeing after all. Wishing for her to forget about going home was not possible. The more he evaded her question, the sooner she would get suspicious.


    It was better to say something earlier thanter. Hao Ren knew he had to bite the bullet now. So, he took a deep breath, then said, “Becky, I… umm… I have something to tell you. But, let’s have a drink first.”


    Becky took a ss of water from Vivian and Hao Ren gave the MDT a couple of knocks. “y some rxing music.”


    Then, he took out a sutra and shoved it to Becky. “Read a couple of pages first. It’ll help if your mind bes empty and void…”


    Becky could not stand it any longer. She demanded an answer, “What are you trying to say?”


    Hao Ren spread his hands. “You can’t go home. More specifically, you can only go back home for a short while. You can’t stay in The ne of Dreams anymore. You, just like us, have be an authentic earthling…”


    Becky almost dropped her ss. She was dumbfounded. She asked, “What… do you mean by that?”


    Hao Ren began to exin everything to her. He had specifically emphasised the fragile rtionship between The ne of Dreams and the real world as well as the unimaginable consequences if life from the real world overstayed their wee in The ne of Dreams.


    Becky froze like a mannequin for a long while, but her facial expession changed like buttons in messenger. It was hard to guess what she was thinking. Only after Hao Ren was sure that Becky would not go berserk, he began to exin further, “You can still go home. It’s just that the time you can stay at home has be a little shorter. Think of it as moving from The ne of Dreams to Earth. Aside from that, there’s no difference—”


    Becky raised her hand and stopped him. “That’s okay, I understand. I just need some quiet time. And don’t freaking ask me why I need that goddamn quiet time.”


    Hao Ren felt a sense of relief. She was still as loquacious as usual. That meant everything was going to be fine.