They entered the control room, found the black box, and watched its contents.
Everything went smoothly. The people from the Guild didn't, and didn't dare to, cause Ethan and the others any trouble. This was a lesson learned with countless lives. Anyone who tried to do anything was swiftly and decisively killed.
The power gap was so vast it was despair-inducing, offering not the slightest glimmer of hope for victory. Apart from begging Ethan not to wipe them all out, they could do absolutely nothing.
Fortunately, for the Guild members, Ethan had no intention of killing them all.
After getting what he wanted, and after trying and confirming that Betty also didn't have authorization for the control room, Ethan led everyone away.
Everyone who returned to the Prinz Eugen was quite silent, which puzzled Selene until Ada roughly described the situation to her and Hill. Only then did they understand why.
"The good news is, we don't have to worry about being surrounded and ambushed by the Empire anymore."
According to the information recorded in the black box, the Empire had encountered major trouble. It had split internally, and war had broken out.
If a powerful empire is breached externally and falls into decline, there is still a possibility for it to turn defeat into victory and rebuild its glory.
However, if it dies from internal strife, then the lifespan of that empire has truly reached its end, and it can never return to its peak.
The situation of this training ground was rather complex. The most intense areas of the war happened to be the star systems surrounding this training ground.
After the war broke out, this training ground was inevitably affected. The Imperial personnel in the training ground began emergency evacuation. Those who didn't evacuate in time were all considered dead. According to the recorded time, the emergency evacuation occurred precisely during the period when Betty entered hibernation, which is also why her distress signal received no response.
Subsequently, in a great battle in this starfield, the military used weapons of mass destruction, almost completely destroying the area where the training ground was located. Fortunately, the training ground's position was relatively remote and did not face the attack directly.
However, it was still pushed away from its original position by the shockwave released by the explosion, flying farther and farther, directly lost in the vast universe.
Flying in one direction in space, without other influences, it would continue moving forward and not stop on its own.
According to the flight path at the time, this training ground would have crashed into a red giant star, in which case the entire training ground would have been completely reduced to ashes, leaving nothing behind.
Especially fortunately, along with the training ground, countless planetary fragments were also pushed and flew into the distance. As the training ground flew, it was constantly hit by meteorites, causing its flight path to deviate. It was finally captured by the gravity of a planet near the red giant, and along with countless meteorites, it remained in orbit around this planet, moving with it.
Even more fortunately, the energy emitted by the nearby red giant ensured that the training ground always had enough energy to absorb, allowing it to operate continuously for so many years without stopping due to energy depletion.
Unfortunately, however, the planet that captured the training ground naturally emitted various interferences, preventing the various communication and signal transmission equipment within the training ground from functioning normally. The interior of the training ground was unaffected due to the protection of the energy layer, but unfortunately, signals could not be transmitted outwards.
So, as far as the Empire was concerned, this training ground had been annihilated in that great explosion, and Betty had long been officially recorded as deceased by the Empire.
"This should be a good thing, right?"
Hill looked around. Although, apart from Ethan, none of them were native inhabitants of the training ground, it would be difficult for them to explain their origins, making it more likely that the Imperials would treat them as natives.
Based on what they learned from Betty, the Empire was not friendly towards the native inhabitants of the training ground, merely using them as consumables. If they wanted to escape the Empire's control, they would inevitably clash with this vast power.
But now this worry was gone. The Empire was finished, and no one cared about their identities. Wasn't this a good thing?
Everyone here, except perhaps Betty, should be happy, so why the silence?
"Nobody said it's a bad thing. I'm just thinking about what we should do next."
Everyone gathered on the bridge, discussing the next plan around the raised round table.
According to the collected information, a holographic star map was displayed on the round table. If the data recorded in the black box was correct, there was a huge planet right next to the training ground where Ethan and the others were located.
It was certain that there were absolutely no Imperial forces on this planet, otherwise they couldn't possibly have failed to discover this training ground, which had practically become a satellite of the planet.
"You want to go check out that planet?"
"Yes."
Ethan did indeed want to see what kind of planet it was. At the same time, he felt there was no point in staying here any longer.
The secrets of this world full of oceans had been made clear to him.
Eliminate the Guild? He didn't think eliminating the Guild was a good option. With the Guild maintaining it, this place barely had a semblance of order. If the Guild were eliminated, plunging this world into chaos and disorder, no one could be sure of the outcome.
After all, this was just a training ground, which could barely be considered a spacecraft with a complete ecological circulation system.
Although it could be viewed as an asteroid, its ability to withstand risks was incomparable to that of a real planet.
After so many years of use, and relying on the Guild's half-hearted maintenance, many systems were on the verge of collapse, especially some severely aged equipment, which was only barely being maintained.
No one could say when this training ground would collapse. Ethan felt he should find a way out for the people here.
That planet was the option right before them.
Ethan wasn't a saint, but letting disaster happen and countless innocents die right before his eyes was something he truly couldn't accept.
If he had no ability, that would be one thing. He didn't like or want to do things like shouting slogans hoping others would step in to save people. If he had the ability and was willing, he would help. If he didn't have the ability, he wouldn't hope for others' help. After all, no one owed anyone anything, and he had no right to dictate others' actions.
In fact, most of the companions he had found shared this kind of personality. They weren't like bleeding hearts who wanted to interfere and help in every situation, but when they encountered something they couldn't stand to see and had the ability, they didn't mind lending a hand.
"I'm not against it, but how should we do it?"
The Prinz Eugen was just a surface vessel. Currently, none of them had entered space.
Even if they already had the ability for space travel, how would they transfer so many people from the training ground? Especially since many of them didn't even know the truth of this world.
"These are all solvable, but no matter what, we must first go and see if that planet is suitable for habitation."
If it was a planet unsuitable for habitation, none of the subsequent matters could proceed. Instead of considering transferring people there, it would be better to consider giving the training ground a major overhaul to ensure it could operate stably for another thousand years.
"So the only problem to solve is needing a spaceship?"
Hill summarized that whether other things could be done, or how they could be done, could be considered later. The only problem to solve currently was the spaceship. With a ship, they could leave here and go to the nearby planet for a preliminary inspection.
"Yes."
Ethan stroked his chin. He began thinking about whether he should go back to the Marvel world to get a spaceship, or just find Star-Lord and ask him for help.
Star-Lord Peter Quill's Milano had the ability to freely enter and exit planets. At the same time, Star-Lord had rich exploration experience and could help him better determine if this planet was a suitable habitable planet.
Of course, Star-Lord wasn't the only one with a suitable spaceship and these abilities, but Ethan wasn't familiar with those people. He had some sort of connection with Star-Lord Peter Quill, and even without a connection, he could invite him for help by hiring him.
From the perspective of efficiency and possibility, getting Peter Quill to come was undoubtedly the most correct choice.
After Ethan explained his idea, everyone also felt that this method was quite reliable. Compared to other complete strangers they knew nothing about, Star-Lord was at least an acquaintance.
"Do you want to go back and see?"
This time he was just going to call someone for help, and Ethan didn't need to take everyone with him. However, he still asked Maria Hill, as this was going to the world where she lived. Perhaps she wanted to go back and see?
Maria Hill hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to go back and see, and also report the situation to Fury.
Most importantly, she could give some training methods to Fury, allowing him to try and see if he could train a group of law enforcement officers with extraordinary powers to curb the increasingly rampant crimes committed by superpowered individuals and the growing number of superheroes. This was, of course, with Ethan's permission, and was actually part of the deal between Ethan and Fury.
Apart from Maria Hill, there was no need for the others to go along. Anyway, for them, Ethan would reappear before them the second after he left.
Everyone didn't even have the interest to say goodbye to Ethan. They just urged him to quickly bring back the spaceship, not Star-Lord.
It wasn't just Ethan who didn't want to stay in this training ground anymore. After understanding everything, no one wanted to continue staying here.
Knowing that the Empire wouldn't pose a threat to them, they didn't necessarily need a fully built space battleship to depart. A regular spaceship would suffice.
As for the energy layer, that thing couldn't stop Ethan.
Only Betty was completely bewildered, not understanding what these people were talking about. Why did these people think a spaceship was something you could just have if you wanted one? And where was Ethan going when he said he was going out for a trip? How was he planning to get there?
(To be continued.)
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