What started as a small dot in the distance soon grew into one of the largest space stations Li had ever seen.
A massive, grey, flattened cylinder—probably the size of Chongqing, Beijing and Shanghai combined—its surface was unevenly dotted with clusters of small blocks and extrusions, with a single spire jutting out from below.
The sudden surge in traffic caught Li off guard. Ships filled the surrounding space, their numbers increasing not just steadily, but exponentially.
Across the station's surface, billions of lights flickered on and off, like distant stars winking in and out of existence.
If he thought about it logically, they were probably just enormous windows, illuminated by the endless movement of travelers drifting through this vast universe.
The vessel passed dangerously close to the hundreds of millions of other travelers yet the pilot was experienced, gently guiding them towards an open platform. The intercom buzzed online again.
"This is Central Terminal; We will be taking control of your ship to ensure a safe trip to your designated platform. Please unlock all subsystems and remain calm."
A sudden jerk almost threw Li out of his seat, the ship taking a sharp turn towards a small opening in the station which Li soon realized was the entrance to a massive hangar.
"Pilot of vessel 3348-CRSM, please confirm your next transport is: 5TTY-DB; Consolidated System Transport, Covenant-bound."
"Confirmed"
Li and the chief's daughter gasped in unison as the ship slid into the hangar. The space stretched endlessly before them, packed with ships of every imaginable design.
On the sides, countless beings of different species moved about, each one a testament to the sheer vastness of sentience in this universe. To think—this was just a tiny speck in an ocean of life!
Aoki knocked on the door again.
"Li! Get your stuff. We're getting off in five minutes, sharp!"
Snapping back to reality, Li scrambled to gather his belongings. The sounds of the hangar bled through the walls now—a chaotic symphony of deep rumblings, excited chatter, and the occasional roar of departing ships.
He barely had time to steady himself before grabbing the chief's daughter's hand and rushing toward the front.
The moment the hatch cracked open, a wave of heat hit them like a physical force, followed by a stench that immediately reminded Li of his time in New York City.
The thick, pungent mix of industrial fumes, sweat, and alien aromas made him instinctively pull his collar over his nose.
He tried to keep up with Aoki and the other Guardians, but the sheer variety of species crowding the port made it impossible to focus.
His head swiveled from side to side, taking in everything—beings with glistening scales, others with too many limbs, some hovering, some crawling. It was overwhelming.
Their group took a sharp turn into a dimly lit corridor, which quickly opened up into a sprawling marketplace.
Kiosks lined the walls, stacked along multiple levels with balconies overlooking the bustling trade below. The noise was almost unbearable here—a blend of chirps, rumbles, clicks, and voices speaking in a dozen different tongues.
A towering, hairy tetrapillid loomed over the rest of the crowd, its multiple eyes locking onto Aoki. A mechanical voice crackled from a translator box strapped to its chest, buzzing out in broken, monotone English.
"COG transport to the Dark Borough?"
"Yes!"
The tetrapillid led them to a large platform, just as a massive tube sped by them, the wind nearly blowing Li off his feat.
"We're heading to the A78 which will bring us around the whole Central and from there we will take the transport to the dark borough; this vessel will be much larger than the previous one and as Overseer Zhang said, your training will begin. Get ready, there is a large crowd. I don't want you to be part of the 153rd crowd crush this year."
Moments later, a second tube, just as large, came into view, slowing to a stop as multiple entrances opened.
There seemed to be an amazing amount of accommodations for all types of species, including a variety of life support liquids for aquatic or semi-aquatic organisms.
Li held onto the chief's daughter's hands as the tube began accelerating.
A few furry and quite repugnant octopedal piglet-looking creatures started chattering in some otherworldly language.
Not long after, a large muscular humanoid looked over and grunted in annoyance, pointing at the pigs threateningly, to which they responded by spitting hard phlegm. The humanoid, who obviously was having a bad day, grabbed the nearest piglet by the neck and was about to slit its throat.
A sudden burst of righteousness inspired Li and he ran over, grabbing the arm of the large humanoid who was at least twice the size of him.
"No! S-Sir! Wait! Sir!"
The humanoid looked at Li and shouted in English:
"Guardian trash! You're ruining the galaxy! You think you can control everything here!?"
The piglet's friends began cheering loudly, shouting curses at the humanoid, who dropped their friend and now focused on Li. The air within the tube suddenly grew hotter. Thousands of eyes, photo-receptors, and echolocators were tuned on Li and the humanoid.
Just as Li felt as if this could not be more uncomfortable, a round security drone flew over, calculating the volts before stunning both of them. Li felt an excruciating pain before going numb, falling to the ground, right next to the humanoid who seemed to be unconscious.
"Hey! Hey! Stop right there! That's a Guardian! What are you doing?"
Aoki was shouting at the security drone, the passengers watching on in amusement.
The police drone replied with its standard protocol answer but was cut off, quite literally, by Aoki who had unsheathed his glaives.
The passengers collectively expressed their surprise. At the notice of the destruction, a swarm of ten specialized police drones emerged from the back of the tube, surrounding Aoki.
Li slowly started to gain control of his muscles just as Aoki began slicing through the drones, leaving a uniform clutter of smoldering hemispheres.
"Li, get up! We're leaving at the next stop!"
Aoki reached out a hand and pulled Li around but stopped short. Li looked towards the source of the surprise. In front of them, holding a large bayoneted rifle, almost the size of a large tree trunk, was an abnormally tall man in a large filthy trench coat, gas mask and a curved metal helmet.
The sharpened bayonet was just centimeters away from Aoki's neck and any wrong move would've gotten A tier hero skewered in just a matter of seconds.
"Hey, woah, take it easy man. We're Guardians. You make a wrong move, and you're done for buddy."
"Guardians, too? Does that mean anything anymore?"
"Kryne Rezvick?"
A loud snort could be heard from behind the gas mask,
"And who's the jumpy one?"
Aoki gulped.
" Li, Li Xuan C+ tier guardian serving on my squadron."
"Well make sure he puts his nose in his own damn world. A few of those piglet shits can die but we can't risk the Covenant"
"Yes sir!"
Kryne receded to the back of the tube, the crowd closing behind him even though Li could still feel the glare from behind the mask burning holes into him.
The tube slowed, and the doors opened. A new wave of passengers prepared to enter as Li and Aoki hastily exited with the other Guardians, hoping that Kryne wasn't following them.