Chapter 1: Arrest

You have the right to remain silent.
Now, put down your weapon. 

 GenZany02022-05-05Baihe

Near the end of the year, the days of the Khetar[1] Space Rogues did not pass easily. 

As a small-scale criminal gang, the Khetar Space Rogues worked many different kinds of jobs: smuggling, trafficking, looting, anything that would bring in money. 

In previous years, the Khetar Space Rogues would complete a big job to buy supplies for the new year ——But this year, the unfortunate thing was that the space rogues, who did not even make the top ten thousand on that awfully long list of wanted criminal organizations published by the Interstellar Federation, had made an accidental mistake.
Just as they were snatching merits at the end of the year, they bumped into the Federation’s Police. 

A tragedy. 

“I said to be careful when grabbing the kid more times than I can count.
Now that brat Zhao Yu bungled it and that garbage galaxy Chunmeng has alerted the Federation’s Police Headquarters.
They’ve been pursuing us relentlessly for a fucking month!”

The one speaking was a golden-haired beauty in a revealing outfit.
Her seductive curves and dark green eyes made people think of the Earth legend of Medusa from antiquity, but this Medusa’s temper was the most fiery amongst the Khetar Space Rogues——no one else came close. 

“Lilith, stop complaining.
Zhao didn’t mean it.
Who would’ve thought it was possible to run into a Federation patrol unit in a remote galaxy like that? Bear with it, we’ll be at the delivery point soon.
I’ll have Zhao take you to the Capitol Galaxy to drink the rum there?”

The Khetar Space Rogues had few members.
Compared to the other interstellar rogues at the top of the list, who even had their own bases, they only had thirty-two people in their group.
Having an imposing presence was really out of the question. 

While they were few in number, they were nimble.
The Khetar Space Rogues, because of their recent job in a major galaxy, attracted the attention of the Federation Police. 

It was just too bad that, while not a large group, they were really cunningly evasive.
Each time the Federation Police caught up, they slipped away like a fish.
And as for the Federation cops responsible for catching them, after each and every one of them were dressed down for a whole day and night, they learned from their mistakes, and after a year of using their military might, they managed to trace them. 

When Lilith heard someone chime in, her beautiful eyebrows creased and she snorted. 

She kicked the child beside her that did not even reach the height of her waist and spat on the ground, “Unlucky!”

That child had a tattered cloak draped on her body, her greasy, short hair covered by the hood and splotchy black soot smeared on her face, their expression empty.
Due to a long period of malnutrition, her body was weak and she staggered to the ground.
Her face went white because of the kick and suddenly coughed up a pool of blood. 

Red, irregular-sized droplets dripped onto the crimson sand, the color combination dazzling to the eye. 

The child was kicked onto the sandy ground.
The sand opened wounds in her knees and palms, causing unbearable pain, but she did not dare make a sound.
Under Lilith’s forceful gaze, the child tried to get back up, but because she had not eaten in such a long time, her body was truly weak.
She grew more flustered and more scrabbling, and she slipped and fell back to the ground. 

The Crimson Sand Planet was a planet in the northwest quadrant that would soon be abandoned. 

The surface of the Crimson Sand Planet was entirely covered in red grit with only a few special water holes occurring naturally, like an enlarged version of a desert.
With average, year-round temperatures no lower than 40°C, it had even earned an Earthly name—— “Sahara Planet.”

As for the indigenous people of this planet, they had long since all boarded illegal smuggling vessels to seek a living elsewhere.
Only those who were wanted in other places, bandits with nowhere else to go, and persons charged with “special jobs” stayed here. 

And now, the Khetar Space Rogues linked together the thirty-or-so slaves that they had trafficked from many different galaxies and walked them one in front of the other in a long, skewed line reminiscent of the caravan trains stretching across the desert during the ancient era to the outskirts of the Crimson Sand Planet. 

“Faster! Slow pokes, all the rogue groups were targeted by the cops before.
And now it looks like you’re going to make the whole line stop so you can climb out of this shithole, right?”

Lilith looked at the child but did not hit her.
She unraveled the whip hanging at her waist.
Suddenly, the whip lashed out.

The incisive tip of the whip sliced the tattered cloak into thinner strips of cloth. 

The child groaned and started to sway side to side, rattling the chains on her wrists and ankles and making an ear-piercing sound. 

“Hey! Lilith! Calm down——here.”

Zhao Yu, who was from the same group, was tall and strapping, but a bit chubby around his face. 

He pulled out a fruit-like seed and tossed it to Lilith. 

Zhao Yu figured that Lilith might have Romani blood of ancient times running through her veins.
Otherwise, she would not dress so similarly, with so many accessories hanging from her body; perhaps there was a natural-born passion for these curious decorations deep in her bones. 

“What is it?” Lilith caught it and under the direct sunlight, she narrowed her eyes to appreciate the object, which was no larger than a fingernail. 

The ‘seed’ was the color of white gold, wrapped in a flowing, unknown metal, and roughly oval in shape with two pointed ends.
In the sunlight, it flashed with a subtle, sumptuous luster.

One had to say, it really suited Lilith’s tastes. 

She swiftly moved her attention away from the child, entirely unaware that the child had timidly raised her head to glance at her. 

While her gaze may have been weak, she stared directly at the ‘seed.’ Like a dragonfly skimming across the surface of a pond, she soon averted her gaze and lowered her head like nothing had occurred. 

“Do you still remember when we came across that unstable planet, and we wanted to take advantage of the chaos to loot, making a fortune?” Zhao Yu scratched his head, “Luckily we ran into someone from Sylouis——legend has it that this planet’s people are dwindling fast.
I pulled this thing off her neck.
It looked pretty, some upper-class woman would like it.
Think you’ll get a good price for it at the black market one day?”

Lilith was overjoyed and she shook with laughter: “Why did you give me something you’d give to an upper-class woman?”

Zhao Yu smiled ingratiatingly: “Of course I’d give something so pretty to the most beautiful flower in our group.”

“How thoughtful!”

The two of them continued their flirtations, their voices dissipating into the gusting wind of the boundless desert. 

The child followed behind Lilith, mimicking her movements.
She suddenly felt the person b