PFC Chapter 4207 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (4)
Chapter 4207 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (4)
Chapter 4207 A Guide to Wandering the Galaxy (XIV)
Tim sprained his ankle during the emergency landing. Miles and the Arkham Knight stayed behind to treat him. Peter went to check on the ship. Dick and Jason followed behind him.
"What's this about the robots you're talking about?"
"Are you sure your spaceship crashed accidentally?"
"I don't know, when entering the orbit, it suddenly warned me that the autopilot had failed, so I had to land manually. But I had never driven one of these before. The landing site wasn't good. It fell down when it was still a few hundred meters from the ground."
“You guys are really lucky,” Peter exclaimed, then spotted the spaceship stuck in the swamp in the distance. He added, “That spaceship is lucky too.”
"Isn't the quality good?"
Peter shook his head, offering no further explanation. Thankfully, the spaceship had landed nose-down. He had inspected it before boarding; the cockpit at the nose of this type of spaceship was the most sturdy. Had it landed sideways, the spaceship might not have survived so intact.
They walked to the vicinity of the spaceship. Peter looked around but saw nothing. Then he shot out two strands of silk, stood at the stern of the spaceship, planted a firm stance, and with a powerful pull, yanked the spaceship flat onto the swamp.
"Good heavens," Dick exclaimed.
Peter's expression didn't improve. He boarded the spaceship, went to the cockpit, and began checking the spaceship's logbook. After just a few glances, he understood: the spaceship was experiencing electromagnetic interference.
Dick sighed and said, "My manual driving skills are terrible, otherwise this wouldn't have happened."
Peter glanced back at him and noticed that this universe's Dick was relatively young, perhaps not yet Nightwing. Jason and Tim were also quite young, practically children. This universe's Batman really trusted sending them over.
“I know what you’re trying to say,” Jason said, standing behind with his arms crossed. “Batman initially didn’t want us to come, but we kept pestering him. After all, how could we not attend Robin’s summer camp in the multiverse?”
Peter sighed. He had been that age too, so he didn't say much about the topic. He simply said, "Actually, it was your manual driving skills that saved your lives."
"What do you mean?"
"The spaceship's signal was jammed, which is why the autopilot stopped working. And the landing route you took manually was too random, outside their expected range. By the time we arrived, they should have been searching for you all over the planet."
The two men felt a chill run down their spines. After exchanging a glance, they asked, "Why are they attacking us?"
"Some people don't want humanity to develop the Milky Way, so of course they'll try to sabotage things. In order to carry out the project in the Southern Cross, the defenses of the Nine Realms are not as tight as before, giving them an opportunity to sneak in."
"So, when they were interfering, they thought we would fall in one direction, but we manually drove and fell to another place. Just as they were rushing to find us, you arrived and rescued us?"
"More or less. But I don't think they're specifically targeting you. They probably just have some plans on this planet, but they haven't had a chance to implement them yet, and you just barged in. By the way, why did you come to this planet?"
“It’s part of the mission,” Jason said. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says that if we see any celestial bodies with unusual characteristics, we should go and check them out and record the data. This planet is located right in the middle of the gravitational fields of two stars, which we thought was quite special, so we decided to come and take a look.”
Peter nodded and said, "Then your only problem is that you didn't find a superhuman to team up with. I'll go ask if there are any Spider-Man or mutants available and have them come pick you up."
Jason pursed his lips, looking somewhat reluctant, but didn't voice any objections. Peter understood: they were young, and having finally gotten a chance to go out and have fun, they didn't want to bring outsiders, feeling they could manage on their own.
It seems things are going well in their universe. These three kids haven't experienced the harsh realities of life and are treating this like a game. But they should have learned their lesson by now—a spaceship crash is no joke, and even if they're safe in the end, the ordeal is terrifying enough.
Soon, Polaris and the others arrived with Tim. As soon as Tim arrived, he launched into a tirade: "I told you long ago, we need superpowered people!! You two just wouldn't listen!!! When the spaceship was falling, you were the ones screaming the loudest!!!"
The two men looked somewhat embarrassed, but Miles spoke up just in time, interrupting Tim's next words. He said, "If they choose to deploy jamming devices on this planet, then there must be something special about it."
“This planet is sandwiched between two stars, yet miraculously it hasn’t been captured by either. The magnetic field here is extremely chaotic; it could be called a spaceship graveyard,” Polaris said. “Our small spaceship can navigate normally here because of Dr. Schiller’s mistake… I mean, we chose a very high-end brand of spaceship, considered top-tier among commercial spaceships, and this is the latest top-of-the-line model, which is why it has such strong anti-interference capabilities. Slightly outdated spaceships simply can’t get in.”
“They probably think that human-made spaceships simply can’t fly here,” Peter said. “But that’s true. If we used drones to scout the way, the drones would automatically avoid areas with overly chaotic magnetic fields and wouldn’t be able to find our way here. So, you guys really did a great job.”
Robin and his trio's expressions softened somewhat. Tim found another rock to sit on and said, "When you find one cockroach in a house, it's probably swarming with them. The people on this planet didn't even have time to set anything up before we found them. But on other planets, they might have already succeeded."
"What exactly are they trying to do?" Polaris asked, frowning.
“We can’t stay here any longer,” Peter said. “You guys get on the ship first, and we’ll go to the next planet to talk. Miles, help me move the bodies of those robots and the jamming devices they set up onto our ship. I need to study them.”
Miles nodded and then went to move the things. The Robin trio also went to restart the spaceship. The two small spaceships flew to a place a little further away from Scorpio and landed on a desolate, dark planet.
During the flight, Peter briefly examined the robot's remains and instruments. When the spaceship landed, he said, "That signal jamming machine was very powerful; in its normal operating state, it could cover the entire surface of a planet like the one we just saw. But I also discovered that this machine had another mode, which was a concentrated jamming mode."
"Concentrated interference?"
"You can think of it as modifying a shotgun into a sniper rifle, which can deliver a powerful electromagnetic attack to a single point."
Who is he going to snipe?
Peter shook his head. He knew, of course, that it was aimed at humanity, but he wasn't sure what exactly it was targeting. After all, if they already believed human spaceships couldn't get here, then it shouldn't be an attack on spaceships. So what was it attacking?
With no leads yet, Peter and his team decided to continue their investigation. Soon, the two Spider-Men Peter had called in the group chat arrived. One was the original Spider-Man, who was also quite young and shared common interests with the group of young people. The other was Spider-Man 2099, who was more mature and could ensure the team's safety.
The original Spider-Man was a talkative and cheerful guy, and he quickly became friends with them. Watching the group board the ship and set sail, Peter sighed and said, "I'm afraid the doctor anticipated the current situation, otherwise he wouldn't have gone against everyone's advice and used human detection."
“He proved to be right,” Polaris said. “While drones are convenient, they are too limited and not as flexible as humans. Luckily, we have these helpers from the other world; otherwise, we might not have run into them.”
"Let's go, next we need to focus on checking some areas with chaotic magnetic fields."
At this moment, Schiller and Pikachu are on the planet in Centaurus closest to the portal, planning the location for building the tavern.
“We really should build a tavern first, otherwise we won’t have anywhere to stay while we’re working here,” Loki said. “The dwarves have a pretty good construction crew who’s currently out of work. I’ll have them come and take a look. Give them some vibranium, and their efficiency is amazing.”
The Grandmaster nodded. While he was interested in building a luxurious casino, he didn't want to sleep in the middle of nowhere. But this planet was indeed quite barren; survival in the wilderness was impossible. Without buildings, they would have to return to Earth to sleep.
“Let’s get started as soon as possible,” Pikachu said. “The design plans are all ready, but we need to expand it a bit and add more rooms on the second floor. It’s just that it will be difficult to recruit enough staff so quickly…”
Pikachu looked at Schiller, and Schiller looked back at him; they stared at each other. Schiller said, "Why are you looking at me? I'm not cut out for working in a pub."
“Then go and hire employees,” Pikachu said.
"I've sent them all out to explore the Milky Way. Where am I going to recruit more people? I'll have to wait until the exploration is over."
"Then you'll have to take over," Pikachu said.
"Then what are you doing?"
"Come on, do you think running a shop is that easy? I need to brew beer, fill barrels, clean, and open the doors to customers..."
"It sounds like you did it all by yourself."
"Please, we also need a bartender and a chef. But considering that not many people are expected to come recently, you can take on both positions."
"Good heavens, don't you know I'm very busy?"
"Then tell me what you've been busy with."
"Uh... never mind, it's too complicated to explain. I'll just reluctantly help you out for a while. When those young people come back, they'll be scrambling to come and work here."
After making their decisions, the group went back to prepare. Pikachu went back to Earth to buy brewing ingredients and some ready-made beer. Schiller, on the other hand, had to buy some cooking ingredients; although he already had plenty, he needed to buy some fresh ones.
Loki then went to find the dwarven engineering team. He was the most efficient; the dwarves, upon hearing about vibranium and the chance to drink for free, came bounding across the highlands. Although Asgardians also enjoyed drinking and had excellent brewing skills, and drinking culture was prevalent throughout the Nine Realms, the dwarves were never short of alcohol. However, they were willing to try any kind of alcohol—they had been eyeing human wine for a long time.
The dwarves' construction methods are different from those of humans and magicians; they seem primitive: they first erect scaffolding and then stack bricks on top. But in reality, their efficiency is terrifyingly high; the bricks seem to have eyes of their own, stacking themselves neatly and orderly.
Moreover, they possessed advanced hoisting technology, not limited to ground hoisting but capable of aerial hoisting, and their engineering was extremely meticulous, with components fitting together seamlessly. Before long, a massive tavern rose from the barren land.
The first floor is a spacious hall with dozens of tables scattered around, and a huge circular bar. Behind the bar are two wide spiral staircases. The second floor has many guest rooms, almost like a maze. The third floor contains private meeting rooms, which are not yet in use.
Behind the stairs is the kitchen, with a passageway leading directly to the bar. Doors on either side of the passageway lead out to serve food. Above the bar is a magnificent crystal chandelier. Because it's a dwarf product, all the pipes and decorations are metal, and combined with Pikachu's medieval tavern style, it looks very steampunk.