Interstellar: Return of the Villain
Chapter 23: Wrong Hostage

Chapter 23: Wrong Hostage

The trafficker’s spaceship was like a moving prison, with cages and cells taking up most of the space. When Lyra and the others were shoved in, they saw a bunch of other "goods" already locked up.

"Bastards!"

Zinnia, bound by metal cuffs, was tossed into a cell with Lyra and a few others who had resisted. The cell was designed to suppress superpower particles.

"Zarek won’t let you get away with this!"

BANG!

Clive kicked her in the face, sneering, "I’m counting on him showing up. I want revenge for my fallen brothers!"

He then turned to his eager crew, "These two young women, keep your hands off. Our big payday depends on them. The rest? Just make sure you don’t kill them."

The gang erupted in eerie cheers.

"Thanks, boss!"

A fat woman with a cigarette leaned against the wall and scoffed, "A bunch of idiots thinking with their nuts."

Soon, cries of misery echoed from the nearby cells, including from women, men, and even kids.

Furious, Zinnia kicked the iron door repeatedly, "I’ll kill you all!"

The fat woman glanced at Lyra in the corner and warned, "Behave," before walking away.

"Bastards, scum..."

Zinnia cursed until she was exhausted. Tears streamed down her face as she listened to the screams and sobs, "It’s my fault they’re suffering..."

At that moment, Lyra, who had been calm, spoke softly, "Even if these people hadn’t run into this today, someday others will. These beasts are always there hunting and hurting people. It’s not your fault."

Zinnia knew that people suffered and lost their lives every day; she just hadn’t seen it up close before. "You’re right. These criminals are to blame."

The prison guard obviously trusted the special cell, so no one was guarding them now. They had all gone to the other cells for fun.

Time crawled by.

Suddenly, in the corner of the cell, a faint green light appeared on the back of Lyra. She seemed unconscious, leaning against the wall.

All the prisoners were startled, but they remained silent and still.

The cell had surveillance.

Generally speaking, Peculiars have two types of powers: superpower and psychokinesis. There’s no inherent link between the two. High superpower doesn’t mean high psychokinesis, and vice versa.

However, psychokinesis is crucial for Peculiars to manipulate superpower particles and activate their abilities.

If two Peculiars are at the same level, the one with higher psychokinesis can manipulate superpower particles more effectively and quickly.

This is common knowledge among Peculiars, but Zinnia’s guards were still shocked.

They knew this cell could even limit a psychokinesis level of 6000. The fact that Lyra could still manipulate superpower particles meant her psychokinesis was on par with a Master Peculiar.

What usually took ten minutes to heal took Lyra about three hours, and just internally—To avoid suspicion, she left visible wounds.

She then used the same method to heal the severe injuries of the others, a process that took another twenty hours. They hadn’t replenished any energy during this time.

Zinnia had calmed down, possibly becoming numb to the nearby screams. Suddenly, her watch vibrated.

She sat up quickly, her sparkling eyes signaling everyone—rescue had arrived.

The group immediately perked up.

However, Lyra remained uneasy. She was worried about the upcoming confrontation.

In the vast universe, military warships could only hide using cloaking devices. But even if they surrounded the trafficker’s spaceship, they couldn’t attack because of the hostages.

The military sent a signal to the enemy ship, "To those inside, surrender and release the hostages immediately!"

Clive, sitting in the pilot’s seat, initiated a communication request. Seeing the young officer’s holographic projection, he sneered and greeted him, "Dear Lieutenant Rymes, what a pleasure to see you here. I haven’t thanked you for taking such good care of my business and my man."

"You’re welcome," Zarek glared at him, his face stern. "So what do you want me to do?"

"What do I want?" Clive slammed a button beside him, and the spaceship immediately fired a shot at the military’s main ship. The soldiers displayed expressions of frustration because, due to the hostages, they couldn’t retaliate.

"All I want to destroy you!" Clive’s scruffy face twisted into a devilish grin as he ordered his men, "Go, bring me the people from the special cell!"

Realizing what was coming next, Zarek clenched his fist behind his back.

Lyra and Zinnia, along with the guards and four other resisting passengers, were dragged over and thrown in front of the holographic projection.

Clive grabbed Zinnia’s face, forcing her to look at the projection.

"See? She ended up in my hands," Clive said, patting Zinnia’s face with a disgusting grin.

Zarek couldn’t hold back anymore. "I’m warning you, don’t touch her!"

The once-strong young Zinnia was now barely breathing because of the beating, and that made Zarek both furious and helpless.

"Hahaha, want to save her? Come in alone!" Clive taunted.

Zarek’s people became anxious. They tried to calm him down, "Sir, stay calm!"

"Our first thing is to save the hostages!"

As they spoke, a scream came from the other side of the holographic projection.

Clive shot a guard right in front of them. "If you don’t come, I’ll kill one person every minute. If there aren’t enough here, there are plenty in the cells."

No one dared to stop Zarek anymore. Soon, he was piloting a fighter into the enemy ship alone.

Clive dragged Zinnia to ’greet’ him.

Lyra couldn’t hear anything in the cockpit, but she could feel the residual shocks of superpower clashes through the metal floor.

The guard next to her, who had just been shot by a laser, was barely breathing, with blood gushing out uncontrollably. That scene terrified the other passengers.

The fat woman kept a close eye on Lyra, afraid she might try something. In reality, however, Lyra behaved as obediently as a puppy.

Suddenly, an electromagnetic cannon hit the ship from the other side, causing the entire vessel to tilt.

"Enemy attack!" The fat woman rushed to the control panel. "Is it the military?"

"No!" The captain at the helm manipulated the controls and brought up a side image. His face changed dramatically upon seeing the emblem on the other ship. "It’s the three major forces from Voidstar No. 2!"

Voidstar No. 2 was their next destination.

At that moment, Blackheart’s large face appeared on the screen. "You’re surrounded. Either abandon the ship and scram, or get blown to pieces. Your choice."

The fat woman couldn’t understand why this group, usually only interested in profit, was suddenly attacking them.

"Blackheart, we have no quarrel with you!"

"Bullshit! You think I don’t know what happened to you on Snowfall? You’re being hunted by the military and trying to drag your troubles to Voidstar No. 2? You sick of living?" As he spoke, Snakehead and Caesara’s faces also appeared on the screen, the presence of three level 7 Peculiars making the fat woman’s heart sink.

Originally, Clive had made a lot of plans to leverage Voidstar’s special status against the military.

"We want to settle on Voidstar No. 2 and have prepared a big gift for you," the fat woman said, projecting images of Lyra and a bunch of women and children. "This cargo is worth at least a billion astrocredits."

To her surprise, the three leaders all burst out laughing.

"Merrell, do you even check who you capture? You dare to grab Sis Marv?"