"Hasn't my body been enhanced?"
Sherry held the popcorn, not intimidated by Ethan's words at all. Everyone on the ship ate and drank without restraint anyway, and no one's figure had gone out of shape. On the contrary, everyone's physique was getting better and better.
"If you keep eating nonstop, you might still turn into a fatty."
Ethan thought of Thor. He was a born Asgardian god, but after growing lazy, it had not taken long for him to become a couch potato.
Sherry had only undergone a certain degree of enhancement. She still had a long way to go before becoming a god. Forget becoming a god, she had not even reached the level of a demigod yet.
"I don't eat all the time, and besides, I've always been exercising."
Sherry grabbed two pieces of popcorn and threw them at Ethan. Life on this ship was very relaxed and pleasant. She could do whatever she wanted, and no one forced her to do anything, which had indeed made her a bit lazy lately.
She lowered her head and looked at her thigh, reaching out to gently pinch it. Did it feel like there was more flesh there?
"Ah, whatever. What's there to be afraid of if I gain a little flesh?"
Turning her head, she took another big gulp of cola, and Sherry quickly shifted her attention to something else.
"Haven't we already been notified? What else is there to say?"
Ethan would not come to the bridge unless there was something to do. Everyone was already tired of looking at the cosmic starry sky. No matter how beautiful and spectacular it was, seeing it every day would eventually get boring.
"I'm here to find Betty."
"Find me?"
Betty had always kept a low profile on the ship and had never made any demands. Every day, she did her best to complete her work. If anyone on the ship came to her for help, she would also do her best to assist them. So although Betty was quiet and inconspicuous, she had always been well-liked on the ship.
Sherry was not running around because she had specifically stayed behind to keep Betty company. Otherwise, standing watch alone would be very boring.
"Is something wrong?"
"It's about your family."
Ethan briefly explained the situation. With his current ability, he could easily pinpoint the exact location of Betty's family, then directly open a portal and transport the Venus to that area. Or he could simply take Betty there alone.
He came to find Betty because he wanted to ask her what she had decided to do.
In other words, Ethan wanted to ask if she wanted to leave. If she intended to return to her family and leave the Venus, then Ethan only needed to take her alone.
If she wanted to stay on the ship and only go back to see her family, then Ethan would need to transport the entire spaceship near the target location.
Of course, there was another possibility. Betty might have originally wanted to leave, but after seeing her family, she might find that they were no longer the "familiar" relatives she knew. After all, so many years had passed, and even though the average lifespan of Imperial citizens was relatively long, accidents could still happen.
"This..."
"Actually, you don't need to be so conflicted. Just say what you really think."
Betty was very hesitant. After living on the ship for so many years, she had gradually adapted to the lifestyle here, but she did miss her relatives very much.
Aside from that, she was also afraid of the uncertainty of the future. She did not know what the Empire was like now, how her parents and relatives were doing, whether the environment they lived in was the same as before, or whether she herself could adapt to a new living environment.
Compared to that completely unknown future, the future on the Venus was very clear.
The crew would gradually improve and strengthen themselves, and then they would move to a new world to live. Although she had not seen what the new God Country was like, she had been to that small island, so the environment should not be worse than that island, right?
No one interrupted Betty's thoughts. Sherry even turned off the movie she had been watching. Ethan did not rush her either. He simply stood quietly to the side, grabbing popcorn from the bucket Sherry was holding and eating it.
The bridge remained silent for a long time. A full half hour passed before Betty broke the silence.
"I want to go back and see. I want to know how my parents are doing."
This sentence also gave Ethan the answer he wanted. Betty wanted to go back and see, not go home. It seemed she only wanted to know the situation of her parents and whether they were living well. It was not necessarily because she had to go back and live with her family. Perhaps she was more inclined to stay on the ship.
"How about this? I'll have the Venus sail to the star system near your relatives first, then I'll take you there alone to have a look."
"Okay!"
Betty nodded. This was the most in line with her thoughts. If her parents were no longer alive, then there would be no need for her to even show herself.
Although there might still be blood relatives, in real life, the closeness of relationships was not determined by blood ties alone.
"Luna, I'll open a portal ahead in a moment. Before entering the portal, remember to activate stealth."
"Yes, sir!"
It was unknown what the situation was like near the planet where Betty's relatives lived. To avoid trouble, it was better to hide their spaceship first.
After instructing Luna, Ethan reached out and gently scooped toward Betty, making a grabbing motion. Then he rubbed the fingers of his right hand together a few times. With his movements, small points of light appeared on Ethan's hand and slowly condensed into an arrow symbol, pointing upward at an angle.
"Luna, adjust the course."
"Yes, sir."
The Venus began to adjust its direction of travel. As the arrow turned to point straight ahead, Ethan gently tapped it. The arrow immediately turned into a stream of light, passed through the front window of the bridge, flew forward for hundreds of meters, and then suddenly exploded, transforming into a gigantic gate of light.
"Activate stealth mode!"
Without needing any further instructions from Ethan, Luna directly activated the Venus's stealth system. In addition to being invisible to the naked eye, the Venus's stealth system could also evade detection by various types of equipment, ensuring that the spaceship would absolutely not be discovered when it did not want to be found.
The invisible Venus slowly passed through the portal. To avoid causing a commotion or attracting certain people's attention, the other end of the portal was also very well hidden and showed no abnormal phenomena at all. Unless something happened to crash into the portal and was transported to the other side, no one would discover anything was wrong.
Ethan and the others were not that unlucky. When Ethan opened the portal, he made sure there was no debris near the exit.
When the spaceship arrived in a new star system, there was no need for Ethan, the captain, to give orders. Sherry, who was still holding the popcorn bucket, and Betty, who had just been a little excited, immediately switched into work mode. They sat in front of their corresponding consoles and carried out a series of operations, observing and detecting the surrounding environment.
Nebula, who had learned the situation from Luna, also hurried over at this time. Her arrival made the work more efficient, while Ethan held the popcorn Sherry had thrown over and quietly watched from the sidelines.
"How is it?"
"This is a star system with three habitable planets, and all three planets show signs of life." Nebula looked at the screen in front of her and gave the preliminary observation results. "There are various facilities in orbit around these planets. It's clear that civilizations exist on all three planets."
Calculated by distance from the star, they were located between the closest first planet and the second planet, and closer to the second planet. Through the front window, they could now see a spaceport in orbit around that planet.
Appearing at this location proved that Betty's relatives were on the planet ahead.
"Should we land on the planet?"
"Wouldn't we be attacked as invaders?"
Although there was no movement from the other side at the moment, even with a stealth system, such a large spaceship approaching would still cause some abnormal phenomena and could easily be detected by the other party. At that point, any stealth system would be useless.
"Luna, can you hack into their system?"
Ethan only waited a few seconds before Luna gave her answer.
"Sorry, sir. I cannot hack into the system they are using unless a system sample can be provided for me to analyze first. Only then can I attempt to hack it."
With a completely unfamiliar system, expecting Luna to immediately crack and hack into it was indeed a bit difficult. Ethan did not pay too much attention to it. He was only waiting for Betty to prepare herself mentally.
"It looks like we'll have to land directly. Are you ready?"
Taking a deep breath, Betty nodded without hesitation. Ethan instructed Nebula and Sherry, "Wait for me here," and then instantly warped to that planet with Betty.
The Venus quietly remained in the void. It was not absolutely stationary, otherwise it would drift farther and farther away from the planets moving along their orbits. Sherry and Nebula found some things to do to pass the boring time. When Sherry picked up the popcorn bucket beside her again, she found that the popcorn was all gone.
"Ah! Damn it!"
Imhotep and Anck-su-namun briefly greeted and chatted with the two of them, then went to Modred's world to develop their temple cause.
The ship returned to a state of calm, while Ethan and Betty were in a large office, staring at the middle-aged man behind the desk across from them.
"Intruders!"
A shout rang out from behind Ethan. He also knew that two people behind him had simultaneously drawn their weapons and were preparing to aim at him and Betty, while both Betty beside him and the middle-aged man across from them had expressions of disbelief.
"Dad?"
"Betty?" The middle-aged man suddenly came back to his senses and immediately tried to stop his subordinates. "Don't shoot!"
But his reaction was still too slow. The two people behind him had already pulled the triggers, but two fatal energy beams stopped directly behind Ethan. This bizarre scene left everyone in the room stunned.
(To be continued.)
Checkout my new book: Only I Level Up in JJK?
It's real gooood trust me : )