They soon reached University City.
University City lay where the whole Fierce Dragon Kingdom came near the coastline; from here could be seen a small island in the distance, made by reclaiming land from the sea.
And over the sea a sea bridge linked the two sides.
And on that island a space elevator could be seen, linked to the vault of heaven.
"Thank you, ma'am." The two paid the fare and got out.
"You two girls take care out here. Remember to contact your parents. If you run into any trouble, go to the local peace officers," the woman driver did not forget to tell them as she left.
Now only Nannan and Jiang Yumeng were left by the roadside.
And it was already five in the afternoon.
"Where are we going next?" Jiang Yumeng looked at Nannan.
And at this moment Nannan's gaze had already settled on that island in the distance.
Jiang Yumeng had been with Nannan for a while now; she could gradually guess at what this little girl was thinking at times.
She said in great astonishment, "You're not thinking of getting onto that island, are you? That island is a strictly controlled zone. Without permission, never mind landing on the island, you couldn't even set foot on the sea bridge!"
"Over there is a controlled zone. But lately tourist places have been opened. People are allowed into special tour groups, can ride the space elevator and go up to the Dragon Palace Starport to look around." Nannan had of course come prepared this time and had looked into it thoroughly long before.
"Ah?" Jiang Yumeng had not known about this; she asked curiously, "Then how much is the ticket? Several million?"
Without thinking she had wanted to ask whether it was a few hundred thousand, but on reflection, the first-class plane ticket before had cost a hundred thousand.[1]
With this space elevator to the Dragon Palace Starport, how could a few hundred thousand possibly do it?
So she had asked whether it was several million.
"Fifty million a person. You can stay up there twenty-four hours," Nannan said.
"How much? Fifty million? For only twenty-four hours!" On hearing this figure, Jiang Yumeng felt her whole view of the world had changed.
It should be understood that fifty million was money the great majority of people in this world could never earn in a lifetime.
But here, now, it only let one person stay twenty-four hours in that Dragon Palace Starport.
Every minute truly was gold.
"Come with me." Nannan pulled Jiang Yumeng into a tall building beside the road.
Jiang Yumeng looked at this building; on it hung several signs, such-and-such Office.
And one of them she knew the meaning of:
"Dragon Palace Starport Travel Agency Office."
Good grief; there really was such a place.
"When we go in, you do the talking. Say we want to go up and look around. Buy the two soonest tickets, and use the card I gave you," Nannan said.
"Two tickets? I'm going with you?" Jiang Yumeng's eyes went wide.
She had never imagined she too would be going.
Nannan looked at Jiang Yumeng: "You've followed me all the way here. Besides, I'm worried that on my own they might not sell me a ticket. With a handy tool like you along, things are easier for me. Hurry up. Otherwise who knows whether we can even get up there today!" Nannan urged.
Jiang Yumeng, somewhat uneasy, led Nannan in through the door of this travel agency.
"Have you two come to the wrong place? McMen[2] is next door." The girl at the front desk inside the travel agency, seeing two girls, one big and one small, appear in her shop, asked with some surprise.
"We haven't come to the wrong place. We've come to buy tickets. We want to go to the Dragon Palace Starport and look around." With the experience of first class behind her, Jiang Yumeng was much calmer this time, but her back was sweating all over.
Hearing that these two had come to buy tickets,
the front-desk girl was somewhat surprised, glanced at the two again, and still felt some doubt.
But she showed the two into the room where business was handled all the same.
A sales agent was called over; she looked somewhat pleased.
After all, with an order this big, who knew how much commission she would get from closing it?
But when she saw that what sat before her were actually two girls, one of whom looked only five or six,
her expression too was very surprised.
"You two want to buy tickets?" Out of professionalism, the sales agent still asked.
"The two of us. We want the soonest tickets, preferably ones that can go up this afternoon. We'd like to spend the night up there," Jiang Yumeng said.
"Very well; please show your ID cards. We need to check your identities," the sales agent said.
Jiang Yumeng somewhat nervously took out her ID card, and Nannan took out her ID card and handed it over too.
When the sales agent had taken them, she began looking up the identity information concerned.
After all, the Dragon Palace Starport was something very special.
Even if people were allowed up, their identities had to be checked thoroughly.
"You're the two young ladies of the Jiang Group, from the Aalborg Federation." The sales agent looked at the identity information on the page, then at the two before her.
The Aalborg Federation?
The Jiang Group?
On hearing these words,
Jiang Yumeng plainly froze for a moment.
She remembered there truly was a Jiang Group in the Aalborg Federation, a great consortium, very rich,
said to have a market value of over a hundred billion.
But how could she be some young heiress of the Jiang Group?
Could it be…
Jiang Yumeng glanced at Nannan beside her, still looking as innocent as ever.
The only possibility was that this little girl had prepared all this.
But how had she done it?
In so short a time, she had prepared this information, and in a way they could not see through.
Though she was only a university student,
she could see clearly
that this travel agency must have the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's official power behind it; otherwise how could it run a business going up to the Dragon Palace Starport?
That meant what they could check behind the scenes was a great deal, and their authority great too.
And even so,
this slip of a girl had still been able to pull the wool over their eyes!
Jiang Yumeng could not help being afraid again of who this little girl really was.
Before, she had only thought she was perhaps some rich family's playful young miss.
But now it seemed it was by no means so simple.
How was it she felt she had climbed aboard a pirate ship, with no chance even of getting off?
But things having come to this,
she had no way back either.
She could only nod and say, "Yes. This is my little sister. For this vacation of ours, we specially want to go to the Dragon Palace Starport to look around."
The sales agent glanced at Jiang Yumeng, then at the little girl who was only five or six.
"A little one this small, and you want to take her up to see it too?"
Nannan said with a cheerful grin, "Our teacher gave us homework, to write something about the Dragon Palace Starport. And draw pictures too. I told my daddy and mommy about it, and it's just my birthday. So they agreed to let us make this trip."
"Then why didn't they come along?" the sales agent asked suspiciously.
Nannan pouted, looking unhappy: "I wanted them to come before, but they kept saying busy this, busy that. They don't have any time to come at all; only big sister could go with me."
Having heard these explanations, there truly was some sense in them.
Having checked their identities and found no problem, the sales agent began looking up the tour groups.
"Our tour groups are rather special; they go to the Dragon Palace Starport. So there are some rules you need to keep strictly; if you break them, however big the family behind you, it won't be able to protect you!" The sales agent said this very earnestly and gravely.
"First of all, our tour groups provide a custom service, and a group service too. The latter is cheaper: fifty million star coins a person, ten to a group. The former is dear: two hundred million star coins a person. Which will you choose?"
Nannan had originally thought of choosing the custom service; that way there would be few people.
But on careful thought, for those plans of hers later on, joining a group might be better.
"We'll join a group," Nannan said.
Then she gave Jiang Yumeng a quiet nudge.
Jiang Yumeng said at once, "We want the soonest group. Preferably one that can leave this afternoon or tonight. That way we can spend the night up there."
"There truly is a group leaving tonight, at eight. Your identities are fine; then how would you like to pay?" the sales agent asked.
Jiang Yumeng this time very readily took out that secondary card.
But she could not help being somewhat worried again.
For the two of them the fare was a hundred million star coins.
Could this secondary card pay it?
The sales agent took the card without any change of expression; after all, those who came here were all rich or noble; what card had she not seen?
The card was swiped, and a hundred million star coins was soon deducted.
Two tickets were printed out.
These two tickets were rather special too; they were put into lanyard holders that could hang straight round the neck.
On the tickets were also Jiang Yumeng's and Nannan's personal details, photos and so on.
"You must keep these on you once you set out. If you lose them, there'll be big trouble. Then let me stress once more. On this trip, apart from the places the tour leader says you may move about freely, you must all keep close to the tour leader. In these tickets there's also a tracking chip. If you get a hundred meters away from the tour leader, an alarm will go off. If this happens three times, we have the right to pursue you in court! The penalty can exceed ten times the fare. Is that all understood?"
"Understood." Jiang Yumeng and Nannan nodded.
"Do you have any luggage to bring?" the sales agent asked.
"Just what we have on us," Jiang Yumeng said.
"Very well. Please wait here. In a while a bus dedicated to going onto the island will come; get on the bus, and you can set off straight for the island," the sales agent said.
"All right."
Jiang Yumeng and Nannan walked into the very luxurious waiting suite beside them.
There were beds here, a shower room, everything one could want.
It was called a waiting suite, but to call it a presidential suite would not be the least exaggeration.
After all, the ticket price was fifty million star coins a person.
When Jiang Yumeng sat on the sofa, her expression was still somewhat dazed.
In just those few minutes, she had paid out a hundred million star coins?
She felt as if she were dreaming.
And in a little while she would be able to go to the Dragon Palace Starport?
She slapped her own face.
Ow, ow, ow!
She had used rather too much force; she held her somewhat reddened face.
"This isn't a dream; there's no need to hit yourself so hard." Nannan beside her looked at her as if at a fool.
Jiang Yumeng came to herself at this point, stared at Nannan, and could not help asking, "Just who are you? How can you forge identities in so short a time? You're not some kind of assassin, are you? Wanting to go up to the Dragon Palace Starport and carry out some kind of attack?"
At the thought of this, Jiang Yumeng felt her legs go weak.
If that were really so, ten lives would not be enough to cover her sentence.
"Don't worry, I'm not a bad person. Though this time I may have you take some risks with me, I can promise that when you leave, you won't come to any harm. I really have come here to find my mommy." As Nannan spoke, she took a sheet of paper from her bosom.
Jiang Yumeng looked over; on the paper was a portrait.
"This is your mommy?"
Nannan nodded.
"If she's your mommy, why are there no photos?"
"Mommy says she doesn't like having her photo taken," Nannan said, her head lowered.
A mother of whom her daughter had no photos, only a portrait the daughter had drawn herself.
"Just what does your mommy do?" Jiang Yumeng asked again.
Nannan shook her head: "I don't know; she only says she holds a post at the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's Dragon Palace Starport. But she never says what post. But my mommy must be very important!"
Jiang Yumeng pondered.
To hold a post at the Dragon Palace Starport, and a secret one at that, meant her position was certainly no ordinary one.
Jiang Yumeng asked some more things about Nannan's family too, but Nannan kept her mouth shut.
What she had told Jiang Yumeng was already a great deal.
She still remembered Mommy saying that their family's affairs were very secret and must not be told to outsiders.
An hour later,
the sales agent knocked at the door.
"Come in," Jiang Yumeng said, at a look from Nannan.
The door was pushed open.
The sales agent was outside: "Young ladies, the bus is waiting outside."
"All right."
Jiang Yumeng and Nannan walked out with their backpacks on.
Outside the door was parked a very luxurious bus; a bus that could originally have seated forty or fifty people had been refitted to accommodate ten.
"Why is there a child too?" A young woman looked curiously at the two extra people.
"These are two newly added. Sisters. Take a bit more care of the little one," the sales agent told her, then looked at Jiang Yumeng and Nannan and said, "This is your tour leader for this trip."
"Hello, you two. You can call me Sister Miaomiao. Don't worry, on this trip I'm a professional; I absolutely guarantee the money you've spent will be worth every coin!" Sister Miaomiao, the tour leader, said to Jiang Yumeng and Nannan.
"You can board now."
Nannan and Jiang Yumeng got on the bus.
Jiang Yumeng swept her eyes over the people on the bus at this moment.
Apart from the driver, there were fifteen people.
But seven of them wore matching uniforms with the travel agency's name on them,
so they were evidently the travel agency's staff.
Those eight guests, men and women, young and old, could all be seen from their faces to be rich or noble!
Perhaps finding it surprising that a university student and a girl of five or six had boarded this time, they glanced over without thinking.
"Your seats are here." Miaomiao the tour leader pointed at a place.
This place was near the front of the bus; Jiang Yumeng and Nannan sat here,
and this tour leader Miaomiao could sit right beside them.