A Failed Investment

Lyra walked through the busy streets and kept moving forward. The sights she saw became worse and worse. The bright neon lights slowly disappeared, strange graffiti appeared on the walls, and the smell of urine was everywhere.

The tall buildings made her look even thinner and weaker, and her unsteady steps showed that she had little strength left. She looked like a fragile deer that had wandered into a den of hungry wolves.

In the darkness, many blood-red eyes locked onto her.

Suddenly, a fireball shot through the alley and exploded in an empty spot. The hunters hiding in the dark were startled, and then they heard a rough voice say, "All of you get lost, this is my prey."

The sharp ones knew that the owner of the fireball was a level 4 Peculiar who used the power of flame.

So, everyone retreated for their own safety.

Sorren walked up to Lyra with one hand in his pocket.

He bent down, brushed her hair aside to look at her, and whistled. "Estimated at fifty thousand astrocredits. If I sell her to a distant planet, I'll make even more."

But then he frowned and stood up straight.

After looking her over, he grumbled impatiently, "She's so badly injured... Is she an escaped convict? Or was she supposed to be sent to the mines? God, I hope I can heal her with as little money as possible. Don't let me lose on this deal..."

As he spoke, Sorren reached for Lyra's collar. He wanted to check if the deal was worth it.

The young woman seemed lifeless at first, but when Sorren reached out, she suddenly struggled and sprang up.

Before Sorren could react, a cold knife was pointed at his heart.

"Behave yourself, pretty boy. Shut those pretty lips of yours, or I'll be sad to cut them off. Now, take me out of the city," Lyra's voice was soft but very cold. "Do this and you'll get a reward, otherwise... hmm?"

The knife tip turned slightly on his chest, and Sorren turned pale with fear. 'Damn... thought she was prey, but she's a cunning hunter!'

He swallowed and said, "I'll lead the way."

After saying this, Sorren picked up the young woman and went to the back of the alley. They got into a Lev and flew away.

On the rooftop, a person in black clothes closely watched everything. After the Lev left, he opened his opticomputer to report, "Sir, she has been taken by a trafficker."

"Call me again when you make sure she's dead."

…

Three hours later, the agent saw the two get out of the Lev.

They were now in the outskirts of the city. The man looked a bit unhappy. He was holding an opticomputer, flipping through it and trying to check its contents.

"What a useless thing, dying in my Lev. But... at least this gadget should be worth a few bucks," he muttered, dragging the body from the Lev's door to a distance and starting to gather firewood.

The agent scanned with his device, confirming that the body showed no signs of life. He then contacted his employer again and reported, "Confirmed dead."

"Mission complete."

In a luxurious mansion in the city, Ansel put down the communicator and sighed with relief. He gently stroked the soft fur of the beast-skin sofa and murmured to himself, "I hope she finds peace."

Meanwhile, in the outskirts, Sorren put away his portable opticomputer. He had planned to sell the body to experimenters, but judging by its damaged state, he figured it wouldn't fetch much.

Just then, the "body" suddenly glowed with a faint green light. She abruptly opened her eyes, making Sorren jump in fright.

"Where do you live?" she asked. It turned out she had been pretending to be dead.

Sorren stared at the still-bleeding wound beneath her. He didn't know why, but the answer slipped out of his mouth, "Voidstar No. 3."

"Lead the way then."

Sorren was undoubtedly an experienced trafficker. Human trafficking was a notorious industry in the border regions, beyond the reach of government control.

Elden Prime was the capital of the the Alliance. If Sorren dared to operate his business right under the government's nose, he surely had his ways of traveling between planets.

Only a trafficker could successfully take Lyra away, knowing the best ways to smuggle people without the officials, including Lyra's influential grandfather, noticing.

Sorren was stunned. He hated himself now. If he hadn't taken the greedy chance, he wouldn't be in such big trouble.

Lyra was still lying on the ground. She spoke mysteriously, "Why the long face? Just get me out safely. I promise you'll get your reward."

"Lady, weren't you about to die?" Sorren rolled his eyes. From the moment he first saw her, he thought she wouldn't live long.

Lyra managed a weak smile. "Unfortunately for you, no. And even if I die, I swear I'll came back and haunt every one of you."

Sorren saw the fierce look in her eyes and felt a shiver down his spine. He knew helping her would bring trouble, but not helping her would bring even bigger trouble.

Sorren sighed and said, "Alright, alright, I'll help you this once, but just this once."

…

Lyra didn't know how much time had passed, but when Sorren woke her up again, they had arrived at Voidstar No. 3.

The streets in front of her were desolate, like an old, barren town from a cowboy movie.

Occasionally, the wind blew, kicking up some dust.

They encountered a few people on the street. These people were unlike anyone Lyra had seen in the big city before; they were tall, strong, and their eyes were full of hostility and vigilance.

This desolate place, however, was Sorren's home. Returning here, he was like a fish back in the sea. His eyes twinkled with a plan.

He knew that the girl before him, despite her fierce temperament, was very weak now. So he suggested, "How about going to my place?"

"Alright."

Lyra noticed Sorren's shifty eyes but chose to ignore it. She was like a torch, almost out of fuel. Any chance to rest, regardless of the danger, was better than dying.

Walking through the streets and alleys, they arrived at Sorren's narrow, shabby basement home, littered with extinguished cigarette butts and crushed beer cans.

Lyra glanced around and said to Sorren, who was looking for something, "It's a nice place." — enough for her to hide.

After she spoke, the amulet on her neck began to glow. It was a Space Button.

Sorren was shocked, his mouth agape. He wanted to say something, but a silver light poured out from the Space Button. Then, Lyra started to shrink in the light, getting completely enveloped until she disappeared.

A huge metal egg appeared in Sorren's room.

Staring at the silver egg, a myriad of questions flashed through Sorren's mind.

'Is this girl really human? Can I still sell her? How do I explain to the buyer — Hey, buddy, just wait a few months, and a beautiful young woman will hatch from this egg?'

Feeling deflated, Sorren slowly sat back on his bed. He could only console himself: 'The universe is full of strange people, maybe someone will pay a high price for this egg.'

Unfortunately, that peculiar buyer never appeared — or perhaps, the universe was so vast that those seeking an egg-born beauty had not yet found Sorren.

In any case, the egg remained in Sorren's possession. Every day, he checked to see if it had any cracks, but each time he was disappointed.

This went on for seven years.

Stardate June 1, 3024

Sorren saw off another group of clients.

He had moved to a new home, but over the years, he hadn't made much money. The new home was only a little better than the previous one. It was not much bigger and still very cramped—his old home was so small he could barely fit a bed.

In the center of the already cramped room, a giant egg took up three-quarters of the space.

On the egg, Sorren's sweaty clothes, unfinished food, and used tissues lay scattered.

Sorren walked over slowly and habitually checked the eggshell.

There were still no signs of hatching.

He sighed and sat down, leaning against the egg. He began to question himself. 'Was I out of my mind when I decided to keep this thing?'

The egg was very tough. A drill couldn't pierce it, and a hammer couldn't break it, so it had to be valuable.

However, no one wanted to buy it because it was made of an unknown material. Even though it was very strong, people were unwilling to pay a high price for something they didn't understand—especially in the illegal market.

Occasionally, one or two players showed interest. But once Sorren told them that there was a person inside, they refused to buy it.

Sorren tried to convince himself not to care too much. But he had spent a lot of money and resources to smuggle it out of Eden Prime. If he couldn't sell the egg for a good price, he would lose money.

Thinking about this, Sorren gritted his teeth and let out a howl, then punched the egg hard.

"F*ck! Damn it!"

Sorren cried out in pain, biting his injured fist. When he looked up, his red eyes were a little wet, either from the pain or from his headache.

His neighbor, Wealey, happened to pass by. Seeing Sorren in such a sorry state, he couldn't help but mock him, "Don't cry, little girl. I'll tell you what, you might as well give this thing to Snakehead. If he sells it, maybe he'll be merciful and give you a little bit."

"Get lost. When did you start eyeing my treasure?"

Even though he couldn't sell it, Sorren firmly believed it was a treasure.

As for Snakehead... Sorren had once sold him a stellar beast, but Snakehead insisted on pulling off the beast's scales and weighing it after it had pooped. Snakehead was very stingy, so doing business with him always meant a loss.

"Then keep crying, little girl," Wealey sneered. Then, after closing his door, he made a phone call, speaking very respectfully.

The next day, Sorren's apartment door met a tragic fate.

Worse yet, after being kicked off its hinges, it crashed into Sorren's bed, breaking it.

Considering the bed was made by Sorren himself with rusty iron, this result wasn't surprising.

Sorren was still in bed, so when the bed collapsed, he got buried under a pile of clothes and blankets. However, he remained unexpectedly calm, as if he had anticipated this would happen.

Without opening his eyes, he angrily shouted, "F*ck, who the hell is it?"

"It's me!" A fat man appeared in the doorway. Like Sorren, he was a level-four Peculiar. He led a group of goons inside and said, "Sorren, crawl over here and kiss Daddy's toes."

He was a goon from the biggest merchant association under Borderline Voidstar No. 3.

Sorren's expression changed, but he forced a smile and got up, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He approached, saying, "Captain Oren, what brought you here?"

While speaking sweetly, he shot a venomous glance at Wealey behind Oren. This neighbor was truly a sneaky snake, and Sorren decided that after dealing with this situation, he would make Wealey pay.

Oren pushed away the cheap cigarettes Sorren offered, looking disgusted. He puffed out his belly and said, "I heard you have something interesting. You stupid boy, you should have brought it to the association earlier. That way, you could have sold it long ago. It's better than using it as furniture now."

As he spoke, his companions surrounded the shiny silver egg.

Sorren's mind raced. He quickly admitted, "I only realized yesterday that it was valuable. I was thinking about how to prepare it to take to Snakehead."

Then he added sarcastically, "Who was the fool who told you I was hiding it? But I assure you, I know this egg best. If you want to take it now, you should take me too. If you have any questions, you can ask me.

At this point, Sorren decided he wouldn't let Wealey get away with this.

Wealey panicked, "Captain Oren, you promised me..."

"Shut up, it was you who badmouthed Sorren behind his back." Oren changed his tone quickly. He pushed Wealey aside with his belly and approached the silver egg.

"Have you checked what it is?" Oren asked.

The person in charge of inspecting it looked hesitant.

Oren, despite his rough demeanor, had sharp instincts. "The more mysterious it is, the more valuable it is. Take it with us. We have a hundred tools we haven't tried yet. I believe we can open it."

The small apartment immediately became crowded and busy. A group of goons started packing up the egg.

As they bustled around, a cracking sound came from the giant egg.

The shiny silver egg suddenly transformed into a very large ball of light, taking up even more space than before.

No one had time to process what was happening. The next moment, green vines began to grow wildly inside the room. They wrapped around everyone, pinning them to the ground.