Throughout this journey, these humanoid aliens gave me the impression that they were merely strolling around, cheerfully heading towards any unexplored asteroids they came across.

In the main control room, Song Chi’s gaze shifted and looked ahead, thousands of kilometers away.

There, a Second-Rank humanoid alien team seemed to be heading back to their base, the central area of their activity range.

However, what caught Song Chi’s attention was not these Second-Rank humanoid aliens but the various asteroid belt creatures they were escorting, some of which were of First and Second Rank.

Song Chi furrowed his brows, a speculation that had never before crossed his mind emerging in his heart.

"Could it be that they have always been capturing these creatures living in the asteroid belt?"

After this thought arose, Song Chi recalled several past encounters. Over these two days, he had come across more than one or two such teams of humanoid aliens, and indeed, a few of them were escorting various asteroid belt creatures.

Thinking of this, he felt fairly certain, yet the doubt in the depths of his heart still lingered.

The strength of these asteroid creatures varied greatly, and the humanoid aliens did not seem to be in want of food, so what exactly was their purpose in capturing these creatures of the asteroid belt?

With this question and a hidden curiosity, Cang Qiong continued to move forward.

Three days later.

Six days had passed since the release, and to tell the truth, Song Chi was somewhat nervous.

He wasn’t nervous about whether these humanoid aliens would pose a threat to his life.

With the Neutron Star Core Armor component in place, even if among these humanoid aliens there were beings of Fourth or even Fifth Rank Level, he was confident that he could secure enough time to enter Ruins Market.

What he was worried about was whether he could obtain enough rewards from these beings. His previous disappointing Ruins Market trade had caused him considerable doubt about whether he could gather the remaining fifty Golden Merit Points in the next two months.

Therefore, he could only pin his hopes on these humanoid aliens, or rather the mysterious outpost behind them.

"I hope that a Purple Relic or some top-rank resources will appear; otherwise..."

Next to an asteroid about a kilometer in size, Cang Qiong floated quietly. In the main control room, as Song Chi muttered to himself, he cast his gaze towards the horizon.

His eyes flickered with surprise and disbelief, two distinctly different expressions mingling in his eyes.

Tens of thousands of meters ahead, there appeared a light orb of several thousand kilometers in diameter, pale white in color. The white light orb was spherical and enveloped an asteroid belt of similar diameter, seemingly carving out an independent space.

What surprised Song Chi the most was not knowing how this pale, spherical light orb formed, as there were no energy fluctuations emanating from its surface.

And that was why the Silver III Generation Super-Wave Magical Energy Detection Radar had never detected its presence before.

Beyond that, Song Chi saw teams of humanoid aliens continuously entering and exiting through that layer of light. The teams that entered the light orb were mostly escorting more or fewer asteroid belt creatures, while those who came out were always empty-handed.

At this point, Song Chi could almost confirm that the main mission of these humanoid aliens was to continuously capture the creatures from the surrounding asteroid belt.

As for the specific reason, that was yet to be determined.

To figure this out, Song Chi made a special trip into Ruins Market, and when he came out again, the Enslavement Medal component on Cang Qiong had its enslavement imprint changed from 5/5 to 4/5.

The handyman Zhao Lei, after entering the Ruins Market with a Ruins Market Walking Command, had been sealed by the laws of the market, and then his enslavement was lifted.

Of course, this was only temporary. Once the dealings with the humanoid aliens were done, he would still have to re-enslave Zhao Lei.

As for the freed enslavement imprint, Song Chi now had another use for it.

Inside the brig of Cang Qiong, a specially-made alloy cage imprisoned a Third-Rank humanoid alien.

This was captured two days earlier by several Void Assassin Clan Soldier Figurines acting together, kept in reserve for this moment, which had now come.

As his thoughts turned, the Enslavement Medal component activated, and an enslavement imprint shot directly towards the Third-Rank humanoid alien inside the cage.

Without much resistance—even a Thorned Flying Dragon of the Flying Dragon Species had little resistance against the Enslavement Medal, let alone this humanoid alien of, at best, excellent lineage?

With the enslavement successful, a mind induction was successfully established between the two.

Song Chi quickly transmitted the doubts that had lingered in his heart for a long time.

"Why capture these creatures from the asteroid belt? How was the energy barrier formed? And where do you come from?"

Hearing Song Chi’s string of questions, the already respectful Third-Rank Humanoid Alien Race replied one by one:

"Alien Race, exploring!"

"The energy barrier was opened by a strange object of our race, a faux boundary stone."

"Since my birth, I have always lived within the barrier!"

Listening to this explanation, Song Chi’s gaze flickered uncertainly; the words "exploring" in particular set his mind wandering.

And upon hearing the term "purple relic," there was a slight joy in his eyes. A purple relic, whether or not it could be transformed into a shipborne component, could be exchanged for Golden Merit Points at the Merit Tower, which fully demonstrated the formidable energy behind this group of humanoid aliens.

Besides, since they could produce one purple relic, it was even more likely that they possessed a second or even a third one.

As for the last piece of information, it surprised Song Chi the most. This was a Third-Rank member of the Humanoid Alien Race, who must have lived for at least one or two hundred years, always within this barrier; what on earth was that about?

Could it be that there were extremely rare and difficult-to-mine resources within the barrier?

Or was it related to the exploration he had mentioned before?

But if it really had to do with "exploring," what did it mean to explore for one or two hundred years? How many alien species had they captured over these one to two centuries, and what exactly were they exploring?

With this curiosity, he continued to question.

"Exploring, exploring what exactly?"

The Third-Rank Humanoid Alien Race was silent for a moment, seemingly organizing its thoughts.

"Deep within our territory, there is a spatial passage. All the captured aliens are sent deep into the passage."

Song Chi’s heart skipped a beat; the significance of the four words "spatial passage" was difficult to fathom.

After all, whether it is a spatial passage formed by a void rift, spatial wormholes, spatial gates, or the like, all of these involved matters of great importance.

And judging by the actions of the higher echelons behind these humanoid aliens, whichever type it was, the spatial passage within the barrier was undoubtedly tied to vast interests or fortune.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have spent such a long time, one or two hundred years, planning.

"Where does that spatial passage lead? Or rather, what is within that spatial passage?"

"I have never been through that spatial passage; our elders don’t allow us to approach it!"

Hearing this, Song Chi’s eyes narrowed.

If even Third-Rank members of their race were not allowed to approach, there must be something earth-shattering hidden deep within that spatial passage!

One just didn’t know what kind of strength those so-called elders possessed.

Song Chi was eager to know what was deep within that spatial passage, to understand the strength of the humanoid aliens inside the barrier, and whether Cang Qiong had the power to fight them.

With these thoughts, he continued to ask:

"What about the strength of these elders in your race, and how many are there?"

The Third-Rank Humanoid Alien Race, enslaved by the [Enslavement Medal], didn’t hesitate at all; now in its eyes, Song Chi, its owner, was everything.

"Half-Step Fourth Rank, a total of five, all are Half-Step Fourth Rank!" Stay tuned to empire

Song Chi’s heart leaped again, the information he had obtained today was truly astonishing.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read