Meredith moved quickly, arriving almost immediately after Elizabeth and the others returned with the message.

She did not know what Ethan wanted to talk about, but he had already proven what he said before. His appearance was indeed a stroke of luck for everyone on the Prometheus.

If not for Ethan's presence, no one would know what might have happened in this place with aliens and terrifying bioweapons. The entire exploration team could have been wiped out.

Although there were some casualties, they were within an acceptable range. At the same time, this scientific mission achieved results far exceeding expectations, a living Engineer, which was incredibly significant.

Even if they returned to Earth immediately, the gains were enough to cause a huge sensation.

The only pity was that Peter Weyland never gave her what he wanted, even after his death. No matter how successful this mission was, she would still gain nothing upon returning to Earth, and might even face a worse situation than before.

But now was not the time to think about these things. Meredith was wondering what exactly Ethan wanted to do.

This alien suddenly appeared on the Prometheus, harmed no one, and even saved many people. She did not believe this person, who claimed to just be passing by and watching, was truly that kind. She was certain he had an ulterior motive.

Unfortunately, she had already tried to pry some information from the man named Logan, but he was tight-lipped and did not reveal anything at all.

It seemed she could only get the specifics from the person named Ethan.

"Is this... a black hole?"

When Meredith arrived, Ethan was standing in the armory, lifting all the surrounding canisters into the air. Without seeing him make any special movements, the canisters flew one after another into the pitch-black sphere above Ethan's head, which seemed capable of swallowing everything.

From Meredith's perspective, the thing above Ethan's head looked exactly like a small black hole. When she realized this, she felt her legs go a bit weak, and even had an impulse to turn and run.

"Do not worry, it will not accidentally hurt you."

The thing above Ethan's head was an aggregate of spatial energy, the same move he had used against Ego recently, creating a massive spatial storm within a limited range. This time, Ethan had made some improvements, opening a teleportation channel with a certain suction force at the center of the storm to discard the already pulverized but potentially remaining residue.

The other side of the teleportation channel was still a nearby star, so even if any residue remained, it would be completely destroyed by the star.

However, the suction force at the center of this energy storm would only affect objects it actually touched. The reason the canisters were flying was that Ethan was using Mage Hand to pick them up and then throw them into the energy storm above his head.

This meant that unless Ethan made specific adjustments, as long as you did not actively touch this energy mass, you would not be harmed by it.

Considering that thing looked like a black hole from the outside, no one would actively touch it.

Waving his hands, Ethan cleared all the canisters in this storage area clean, then lowered his outstretched hands.

As he moved, the black-hole-like energy storm above his head gradually subsided, seeming to disappear as if sucked into the singularity at its very center.

"What exactly was that?"

Meredith's first thought was some kind of small black hole generator. This alien named Ethan, who looked no different from an Earthling, must possess a higher level of civilization. Perhaps those wondrous abilities before were the effects of equipment she did not understand.

But Ethan overturned her speculation with a single sentence.

"Magic."

"..."

Meredith clearly did not believe it. Although she was not a scientist, the environment she grew up in and the fact that she was leading a group of scientists on a scientific expedition to explore human origins, which had almost overthrown all religious legends and proven that humans were created by another higher-level civilization, made her skeptical.

And right at this moment, you are telling me you are using magic?

"Do not joke. That is not funny at all."

Ethan shrugged. He was telling the truth, but if the other party did not believe it, so be it. He did not have to force her to accept his explanation.

"Let us get down to business."

Hearing Ethan mention business, Meredith immediately cast aside the magic joke.

"You are finally willing to state your purpose?"

"Before that, what do you think of this spaceship?"

"Spaceship?" Meredith immediately remembered that the structure they were in was actually an Engineer's ship. According to the star charts the scientists had found, the destination of this ship was Earth. "What about this spaceship?"

"This ship has a faster speed, allowing you to return to Earth in less time."

As Ethan spoke, he did not stay still but kept moving through the ship. Meredith could only follow him forward.

As a result, she also gained some understanding of the ship's internal structure. She now knew the locations of the various storage areas, and she had personally witnessed Ethan throwing those terrifying canisters into the black hole.

"And then? You are going to give us this ship? What do you want in return?"

Meredith watched Ethan continuously clear these dangerous items and mention the ship's faster speed. Considering his abilities to hypnotize Engineers, control objects, and even create small black holes, she understood that he had already claimed the ship beneath their feet as his spoils of war.

He would not be so kind as to give away his spoils for free. She probably had to pay something to get it.

Did this ship tempt Meredith? It would be false to say it did not.

Setting aside the inherent dangers of things like the stasis pods, the sheer flight time alone was enough to make them want to switch ships.

"The Prometheus."

"What?"

Meredith thought she had misheard. Did she just hear the Prometheus?

"How about trading this Engineer's ship for your Prometheus? You will not lose out on this deal."

Of course, they would not lose out. Although the Prometheus was an interstellar spaceship meticulously built using Earth's most advanced technology, draining most of Weyland Corporation's funds...

Compared to a spaceship from a higher civilization with mature interstellar navigation technology, it still was not impressive enough.

What is more, besides its more advanced technology, this ship had an even more important special significance, it was an alien ship, a ship used by humanity's creators.

Even just one reason would be enough to drive the entire Earth mad, let alone both.

But she could not understand what Ethan wanted with the Prometheus. It was not that she was reluctant to give up the ship, she was just curious.

"The external design of the Prometheus suits my preference, so I want to collect it."

"Coll...ect?"

Meredith was speechless. Then she glanced sideways at Hill and Logan, noticing their completely unsurprised reactions, as if Ethan was telling the truth.

Thinking about it, many wealthy people on Earth also had the habit of collecting antique cars or even antique planes. This did not seem entirely incomprehensible.

It just felt strange to her that the most advanced ship on Earth was, in the eyes of the other party, merely something to be collected.

"You are still hesitating with such a good offer?"

"No, I think this deal is excellent, but there is one issue."

"What?"

"How can I be sure this ship is safe enough? And none of us know how to operate this ship."

This was indeed a problem. In Meredith's eyes, Ethan was also an alien, no different from the Engineers who wanted to destroy humanity.

She could not be sure that Ethan having Meredith and the others fly this ship back to Earth was not a plan to destroy Earth. After all, this ship was filled with terrifying weapons. If Ethan spread even a little bit of them anywhere, the entire crew might die before reaching Earth, bringing death to Earth along the way.

The most sensible person in this team was this woman. If it were those scientists, they would probably have happily agreed to the ship exchange.

"I can wait for you to conduct a thorough inspection yourselves to ensure safety before completing this transaction."

Ethan pointed downwards.

"Furthermore, if you do not trust the results of my work, you can also choose a ship that I have not been to yet and clear out the dangerous items yourselves."

Regardless of whether they could do it more cleanly and thoroughly than Ethan, doing it themselves would always be more reassuring than having an outsider do it.

So Meredith felt this proposal was quite reliable. She was just surprised that there was more than one alien ship here, which made it less surprising that Ethan was willing to offer one for exchange.

"As for piloting the ship, you will likely have to figure that out yourselves."

If David had not died, that robot would have been an excellent pilot. He had already learned the Engineers' language and quickly figured out how to operate this ship.

However, the scientists under Meredith's command were guaranteed to be intelligent. Given some time, fully understanding the ship might be difficult, but flying it back to Earth would not be too difficult a task.

At this point, both sides had essentially reached an agreement, but the transaction could not be completed immediately just because they had talked it over.

Meredith's crew needed to personally clean out a ship. Even after cleaning, they would need to transfer supplies from the Prometheus, especially equipment related to living, which all needed to be moved over.

As for anyone opposing this deal? Only Captain Janek felt some concern about piloting an unfamiliar ship for interstellar travel, but he did not strongly object. After all, they all understood what this deal meant.

More importantly, everyone, including Captain Janek, wanted to return to Earth sooner.

(To be continued.)

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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.

◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)