The team member named Beverly Smith had been seen by Brian Clark; the person who appeared on the guest ship’s screen was him. What surprised Brian Clark was that everyone on this starship was very young—many were about the same age as Dylan Smith, some even younger, though not as young as Brian Clark himself.

With the lesson learned from Carrie Smith, the people on the ship treated Brian Clark fairly well. While it wasn’t exactly sincere, it wasn’t cold or distant either.

After calling Beverly Smith out, Dylan Smith went to Beverly Smith’s workspace. He twisted the silver ring on his hand, popped out a connector, and plugged it into a device.

“Analyze this video.”

The footage on the screen was exactly what Dylan Smith had recorded in the guest ship’s control room during the fight with the hijackers. It had been processed with infrared, so the darkness at the time wasn’t an issue. However, because of Dylan Smith’s movements during the fight, the video was a bit dizzying to watch.

Beverly Smith didn’t say much, his fingers flying over the device’s controls. The video segments on the screen were cut and then recombined in 3D; after adjusting the bitrate and a series of other tasks, it soon became a clear, smooth, and steady video.

“Analyze that kid Brian Clark.” At this moment, Dylan Smith was not his usual casual and unserious self—he was even a bit solemn.

Beverly Smith manipulated the footage, displaying Brian Clark’s every move in slow motion. The more Beverly Smith watched, the more shocked he became. “Deputy, are you sure that guy is human and not some other humanoid species?”

In the footage, Brian Clark seemed to anticipate the hijackers’ every move, easily dodging the gun barrels—even though this was in a control room with all the lights cut off.

“I’m sure he wasn’t using any auxiliary lenses, and he’s definitely human,” Dylan Smith said in a low voice, staring at the screen.

Beverly Smith’s brows were so furrowed they were almost knotted. “Deputy, there’s one more thing. When you guys were teleported over, I ran a genetic level analysis on Brian Clark. Logically, if he’s just a B-level genotype, the reliability of a multi-factor analysis should be over 95%. But this time, the result was only 90%. Why is there that missing 5% of uncertainty?”

He paused, then tentatively suggested, “How about we take a genetic sample from the kid? Bodily fluids, hair, even fingerprints would do.”

“No need. For a future companion, we should show the proper respect.”

“All right, but that kid really is amazing.”

“Of course. You should know your deputy’s eye for people. By the way, Beverly Smith, don’t you think Brian Clark looks familiar?” Dylan Smith started obsessing over this again.

Beverly Smith thought about it but really couldn’t recall where he’d seen him before. “The galaxy’s so big, there are plenty of people who look alike. Want to run a comparison in the computer database?”

“Forget it, not for now.” Accessing the archives required the fleet captain’s unlock code—too much trouble.

Dylan Smith sighed and gave up on the thought.

“By the way, Deputy, the captain has urged us several times to hurry up and meet them. The deal doesn’t seem to be going smoothly.”

“Got it, let’s get ready to go.” Dylan Smith waved his hand and walked out the door.

Chapter 10: The Frustrated Carrie Smith

Brian Clark didn’t immediately respond to Dylan Smith’s invitation to join the team, and Dylan Smith wasn’t in a hurry either. Both sides needed time to get to know each other, which would help with future teamwork.

Every day, Carrie Smith pestered Brian Clark about the benefits of joining the team. For capable people, Carrie Smith was never stingy with his enthusiasm. Plus, Carrie Smith was a battle maniac, often dragging Brian Clark to the training room for sparring.

Since it was just sparring, neither side used lethal moves, but even so, Carrie Smith thoroughly enjoyed himself. Brian Clark’s fighting style was something he’d never seen before—flexible and unpredictable, with a strange aura. Hard and soft, harmony and ferocity, all shifted at Brian Clark’s whim.

Even though Brian Clark was a B-level genotype, Carrie Smith never went easy on him, because Brian Clark had the ability to fight against A-level genotypes. Through sparring with Carrie Smith, Brian Clark also gained a lot; exposure to different fighting styles was greatly beneficial for self-improvement. During their matches, Carrie Smith shared many combat experiences and examples with Brian Clark, since Carrie Smith’s experience as a hunter far exceeded Brian Clark’s.

For a fleet traveling between star sectors, combat personnel had to know how to pilot mechs. Even if they weren’t great pilots, they still had to master the basics.

Good mechs were too expensive, so Dylan Smith wouldn’t let Carrie Smith take one out for fun. Since they couldn’t compete in real mechs, Carrie Smith dragged Brian Clark to the computer’s mech battle platform. While it wasn’t as thrilling as real combat, the simulation was decent enough for a few good rounds.

At first, Brian Clark was unfamiliar with it. Back on Ochre Earth, he’d played with hoverboards and amphibious flyers, but never with mechs. Initially, Carrie Smith won a few rounds, but after less than five, Carrie Smith started losing—and with each round, he lost faster and more miserably. Every time this happened, Carrie Smith would insist on switching mech types and start the competition again, only to repeat the cycle from victory to crushing defeat.

Eventually, even after changing mech types, Carrie Smith still lost disastrously.

“That guy’s not human!”

After another defeat, Carrie Smith exited the online battle platform, grabbing his messy hair and shouting.