CHAPTER 780: ON THE MOVE

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"What are the odds, huh?"

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"To think that somebody would find it this soon. This has got to be the first time in history, yeah?"

"Not just that, he also didn’t withhold the info for himself. He reported it right away. You got to respect that."

"Anyways, are we moving now or what?"

"We are; just wait for Berk to give one final set of instructions to his pets, and we’re good."

"Hey, they’re not my pets! They’re my beloved children! How dare you!" Councillor Berk huffed at his fellow councillors before returning to his communication devices.

The other councillors rolled their eyes and patiently waited for him to be done.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long before he was done.

"Alright, I’m good. Let’s go," Berk stated.

"Good, stay still all of you. Don’t resist and don’t move; otherwise, this won’t work."

One of the councillors stepped forward and released some kind of thick gel from his sleeves, which he splattered on his fellow councillors, who were fighting the urge not to show their disgust.

It’s not like the gel looked bad or smelled bad; if anything, it closely resembles one of those shower gels that ordinary humans used to clean themselves. It’s just that its consistency was closer to a slime than a gel, and it felt somewhat weird on the skin.

But the councillors obediently stayed still and allowed their comrade to slather this gel all over them.

Once they’re covered from head to toe with the gel and sealed inside it, the gel instantly hardens like a clay mold. Afterwards, the councillors did some slight movements and broke out of the mold. When they got out, they no longer looked the same.

As it turns out, this was a transformation gel. It alters not only their physical appearance but also their energy signals, making them look and feel like an entirely different person altogether.

The idea was so simple that it’s extraordinary. In fact, it’s for this reason that this particular councillor was able to go this far into his career.

"Alright, it’s all good. We can move now."

"Thanks, Urek. How long does this last again?"

"As long as you don’t use too much force, it will stay on," Urek, the one who slathered this transformation gel on them, replied.

"Well, how much force is too much force?" Berk asked.

"Anything beyond the Empyrean level," Urek stated.

"Oh. Shouldn’t be too hard, then." Berk shrugged.

They moved as they talked, marching towards the ship that they would use to move out.

Once they got on the ship, they went to their seats and strapped themselves in.

"System, start the engines and take over the flight."

[ID Verification: Required]

"User: Incognito. Password: User1234User56789!@#."

[ID confirmed. Welcome, UserNull! ]

[System-assisted flight initiating.]

Tss!!

After confirming the identity of the pilot, the ship’s engine roared to life, and the launch protocols were activated through system assist. Meaning that the ship’s system AI will be who’s taking over the flight.

"I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. That incognito account is just fucking ridiculous." Patricia, one of the councillors, snorted to herself.

"I know, it’s great, right?" Gibson, also one of the councillors, smiled with all of his teeth on display, looking so proud, like he was being praised.

"I mean, hey, it’s easy to remember. The password’s so simple, you literally can’t forget it." Berk chuckled on the side.

"It’s dumb," Patricia sneered. "I still can’t believe that it hasn’t been used for nefarious purposes yet. You made it so easy for someone to just waltz in and use any of our ships with the account and leave the HQ with anything they could get their hands on."

"It’s because it’s simple that nobody would think it’s possible." Gibson wiggled his eyebrows at her. "With how hard it is to get into the HQ, everyone would think that everything we do isn’t so simple, that there will always be layers to our actions."

"And on the surface, that might be true. We’ve got enough going on in the HQ to leave that kind of impression on anybody. And that’s precisely why we can get away with this. When everybody thinks that everything we do is complicated, they wouldn’t dare to think that we’d do something so simple."

Patricia grunted and remained silent on her seat. Begrudgingly, she understands that there’s merit to Gibson’s idea, and she can’t really complain too much because tech and ships aren’t really her specialties; they’re Gibson’s.

Although Gibson might sound like an easygoing guy, his understanding of modern technology was unmatched. Patricia also refused to believe that he wouldn’t leave any security measures with this incognito account; that wasn’t Gibson’s style.

[Destination, Captain? ]

"Rising Sun Domain," Gibson replied to the ship’s AI. "Right, while you’re at it, send a docking permission once we’re halfway there."

[Acknowledged.]

[Please sit tight and relax; the ship is about to take flight.]

Fwoosh! Boom!

The engines roared, and before long, the ship had already taken flight. It blended together with the many other ships that exited the HQ.

As the central base of operation, it’s not weird for many spaceships to enter and depart the HQ.

Don’t get this wrong; every ship that enters and exits the HQ is heavily monitored. They, as the incognito party, just happen to not have to deal with that because of Gibson’s genius. The incognito account he uses took care of everything else; that’s how they’re able to exit the HQ without raising any alarms.

The flight was peaceful. They didn’t speak to each other anymore. They just closed their eyes and meditated, waiting until they arrived at their destination. Only Gibson was awake for the most part, observing the flight and the systems, making sure that everything was working well.

Eventually, they passed through the halfway mark of their route. The system has already sent a docking permit to the system of the Rising Sun Sector Domain and received a positive reply.

The flight continued until they finally arrived at their destination. They came posing as reinforcements from the previous group that came earlier.

Initially, the general guarding the passage was skeptical. That’s when he suddenly stayed still as if he were paralyzed. Then, in a turn of events, he dropped his suspicion and granted them entry.

"Huh, interesting kid."

Gibson looked at Patricia, who’s now wearing an amused smile on her face, and asked, "What’s up?"

"Well, I can’t be sure yet, but I think the kid saw through our disguise."

"What!? How?" Urek, who heard her claims, exclaimed in disbelief at first, but considering it was her who said it, he knew that there was merit to her words, so he asked her how she could tell.

See, Patricia’s specialty was scouting and intelligence. Nobody has been able to lie to her face without her knowing. She could also see and predict behaviors after a single glance, and her perception range was insane.

"That general just now originally didn’t plan on granting us entry, but then he changed his mind out of nowhere. That’s because that Stormrider kid whispered to him and ordered him to let us through."

"I swear that kid looked at us the moment we got near this place. But that’s weird because he’s at the center of this domain. The distance between us and him is about two small cosmic realms. There should be no way that his perception could cover such a wide area."

"Okay, that’s weird and all, but how does that explain him seeing through our disguise?" Urek asked.

"Because he granted us entry to his place," Patricia stated. "He looked at us and saw what’s happening. He had no reason to let us in. We’ve received permission to dock, but that’s it. We didn’t state our intent to enter his domain until now."

"He doesn’t know us, and the general was suspicious of us. Any sane sector lord will not let us through until our identities are confirmed."

"But this boy took one look at us and allowed us to enter. Isn’t that just weird?"

Urek was silenced by her implications.

"Maybe he didn’t see through our disguise." Berk spoke this time, "Maybe he just sensed that we hold no ill will and allowed us to pass?"

"A small Universe Master can do that to us? Are you even hearing yourself?" Patricia retorted.

Berk was silenced by that. She’s right. There should’ve been no way for this sector lord to see through their intent, which couldn’t be masked by Urek’s gel, by the way.

If he could do that, then he’s either insanely talented or they’re slacking off. And it’s not the latter. Was it the former, then? Maybe, but that’s just absurd.

"Alright, guys. Don’t think too much. We’re in, and that’s all that matters." Nicholas finally spoke for the first time. "They just told us where Travis and his team are being kept."

"Stop trying to psychoanalyze the kid. He’s just concerned about his domain and his people. Our priority is to secure the doors to the Unstable Heavenly Domain and also to help the kid protect his territory. Let’s do just that."