Chapter 683 - 378: Encountering Danger

Among these Bag Race pirates, Su Ze plundered the Origin Gene of the Moon God leader himself, while the other five Star Gods were left for Lin Hua and the others to plunder.

After plundering another Bag Race Moon God, Su Ze’s collection progress for the Bag Race Origin Gene had reached 24%. If his Human Race Origin Gene were this complete, Su Ze would have become a Moon God directly.

However, plundering the Origin Genes of other races was like this—the boost to one’s own combat power was far less than that of one’s own race. He could only rely on quantity to win.

With the current completeness of Su Ze’s Bag Race Origin Gene, he wouldn’t gain much by plundering all five Star Gods, as most of it would be redundant. It was better to let Lin Hua and the others use them to increase their strength.

It was the first time the others had plundered the Origin Gene of another race, and they had all gotten a taste of the rewards. The wonderful feeling of a tangible increase in strength was easily addictive.

This time, Su Ze once again chose not to plunder the skills of the Bag Race Moon God. Skill slots at the God level were extremely precious, and he didn’t plan to use them casually. He would wait until he encountered a powerful skill that truly captivated him before seizing it.

Su Ze and his team collected their spoils and continued on their journey home.

Along the way, the group gathered for a post-battle debriefing.

Su Ze began, "Our first time working together wasn’t bad. But thinking about it afterward, I feel we were too harsh. We shouldn’t have taken their lives. We should just take their valuables and let them go."

"This..." Lin Hua and the others were stunned, wondering where this sudden burst of benevolence was coming from.

"Think about it. If we let them go, they’ll continue to be Star Pirates and keep robbing people. After a while, we can come back and ’punish’ them again. Wouldn’t that be another harvest for us?"

"While they’re alive, they are a renewable resource. Just like leeks, they grow back after you cut them. Killing them all is like pulling the leeks out by the roots. It’s not worth it."

Lin Hua and the others had a sudden realization. So that was Su Ze’s plan.

’A Star Lord is truly a Star Lord,’ they thought. ’He’s so farsighted, much more thoughtful than us. He has a deep understanding of sustainable development strategy.’

"But what if they move to a different place next time? Where will we find them?" Tano asked.

Su Ze shook his head. "The Bag Race generally doesn’t stray too far from their nest. They’ll just be active in a few Star Realms nearby. If we let them go, they’ll just find another spot in the vicinity to rob people."

"We’ll be maintaining order in this area for the long term, so we’re bound to run into them again sooner or later. And even if they never show up again, it’s no great loss for us."

"Also, we don’t have to let them all go. After all, you still need to plunder them to increase your strength. In the future, we’ll try to let the leaders escape. As long as the leader is around, they can quickly form a new pirate crew."

Of course, this was all dependent on the disparity in strength. If both sides were evenly matched, it would be unrealistic to always be thinking about leaving the opponent a way out.

This could only be considered when one’s own strength was completely overwhelming.

Overall, the Starry Sky Justice Team’s first mission could be called a flying start, with a considerable haul.

They had all plundered Origin Genes, increased their strength, and obtained a large amount of loot.

In terms of both numbers and strength, this band of Star Pirates was among the weakest. As a result, while the quantity of spoils was large, there was nothing high-grade.

Su Ze gave a small portion of the captured loot to Lin Hua and the other two; the lion’s share was turned over for public use.

The three of them naturally had no objections, especially since most of the public resources were used to improve Zexing’s overall strength.

"Let’s go, on to the next one!"

Su Ze planned to eliminate pirates all the way back. He estimated that by the time they returned to Zexing, they would have more or less earned back the expenses for this trip.

...

「A few days later...」

"This one’s tough! Retreat!"

When he saw two more Moon Gods pop out from the pirate crew before them, Su Ze decisively brought out the Magic Cube, ushered Lin Hua and the others aboard, and sped away at full power.

A group of Star Pirates stared blankly as the Magic Cube vanished into the distance.

"What the... Is he crazy?!" a Moon God leader cursed.

He clearly had a Sun God-level Spaceship, so why was he here acting like some weakling?

Deliberately maintaining the speed of a Star God-level Spaceship... was he looking for a beating?

If they had known their opponent had a Sun God-level Spaceship, they would have never attacked in the first place.

"Boss, should we give chase?" a Star God asked, sidling up.

"Chase my ass! That’s a Sun God-level Spaceship! You think you can catch it?"

At that moment, inside the Magic Cube, Su Ze and the others were sitting together. He looked at the Pope and asked, "What race were those guys?"

That group was the fourth band of Star Pirates Su Ze and his team had encountered on their journey. The first three had been weak and were dealt with smoothly.

Su Ze’s initial scan had shown this group wasn’t strong either, with only one Moon God leading eight or nine Star Gods. But unexpectedly, just as they were about to fight, two more Moon Gods arrived as reinforcements from a distance.

Su Ze was confident he could even kill a Moon God in a one-on-one fight, despite being out-leveled. But one against three? He’d be a fool not to run.

What was rare, however, was that this last group of Star Pirates wasn’t from the Bag Race, but a race Su Ze had never seen before.

Every one of them was ripped, with bronze skin, looking like bodybuilding champions. Even their faces were masses of knotted muscle, as if their facial features were also made of muscle.

"The Dou Race. I didn’t expect to see them here," the Pope explained. "The Dou Race is much stronger than the Bag Race. They are a proper, old-school third-rate race, and a very talented one at that."