by <unknown>
"As for the distress call… Don't answer it! Don't answer it! Don't answer it!"
"Well…"
The Fist King and his subordinate were both confused. "Why? Is Li Yao's distress call so dreadful?"
"Of course it is, because it is probably not Li Yao."
Boss Bai said with all solemnity, "It may be a scheme of the Immortal Cultivators, who are trying to deceive us with Li Yao's voice. If we really respond to it, chances are that the Immortal Cultivators will notice the anomaly and catch all of us. So, don't answer it. Don't answer it at all. Just pretend that we have never received the distress call and we are not even in the Blue Sky Market!"
"But it won't help."
Frowning, his subordinate stammered, "Boss, after receiving the distress call, we remotely scanned the edge of the Blue Sky Space Zone where the signal came from and detected a rather massive fleet. Right. The fleet was fervidly chasing a few unarmed, ragged carriers. The distress calls were sent from the carriers straight at the Blue Sky Market, and the carriers are fleeing toward the Blue Sky Market precisely too. They-they show no sign that they are changing their course at all. It's almost like they are certain that Boss is here, and they are determined to find you!
"We have analyzed the speed of the hunters and the runners as well as the distance between them. Even if we do not reply to the distress call, the runners are highly likely to reach the Blue Sky Market before they enter the firing range of the hunters, which will probably happen in twelve hours.
"In other words, in twelve hours at most, a whole fleet of hunters will arrive at the Blue Sky Market. Whether or not they will have destroyed the carriers of the runners, their starships are certainly in need of maintenance and supplies after such a long pursuit. In the several lightyears around, the Blue Sky Market is the best port for supplies. They will certainly be anchored in this place. That… That will be terrible!"
Hearing what his subordinate said, Boss Bai took a deep, deep breath.
"Well…"
In a trance, he said, "Assuming—just assuming—that we abandon everything in the Blue Sky Market and the starships we have just captured, will it be possible for us to escape before the mysterious fleet and the damn carriers arrive?"
"It's barely possible, boss."
His subordinate cried, "In order to swallow the twenty-eight pirate gangs and Li Wuji's fleet, our starships suffered heavy losses and are in dire need of a good rest before they take off again. If we embark on a long journey right now, we will be dead for sure without reliable supplies and maintenance ports!
"Also, we've been planning for such a long time and fought bloodily to achieve what we have achieved. How can we abandon all of it?"
"Yes, it's truly impossible…"
Boss Bai held himself back, but he finally couldn't hold it anymore. His face turned from pale to blue and then from blue to red, before he stomped on the ground so hard that almost the entire forsaken port was razed to the ground. "Li Yao, I'll kill you! I'll certainly kill you!"
He rushed to the command center in fury and, having no choice, asked his subordinate to send out the alarm for the highest battle preparation.
The Fist King also asked the Cultivators' fleet to be braced for a new round of battle remotely.
The whole Blue Sky Market was immediately caught in a mess.
The warriors of the Big Bai Pirate Gang were humans, and their nerves were not made of iron. Every human had weaknesses and needed to rest. Having just secured a shocking triumph, both the space pirates from the federation and the Cultivators of the Imperium were both excited and exhausted. Who could've thought that a new enemy would come at such a critical moment?
Wu—Wu—Wu—
The earsplitting alarms, echoing above the ocean of joy, poured down like a bucket of cold water.
"What's going on? A new enemy? A new enemy!"
Liu Li's eyes were swollen from crying. She was wiping her tears and looking for the Fist King to accuse Han Te when she suddenly heard the alarms. She was so shocked that she stood where she was, overwhelmed by the panic in the port for a moment, but very soon, she became firm again and went to the command center in a hurry. "Master Fist King! Master Fist King!"
"A*shole! What's going on?"
Deep inside the Blue Sky Market, at the end of an alley that was full of red lights, Han Te screamed too, and he ran out of the house; his clothes unorganized.
Quite a few of his buttons were missing, and his pants were only half zipped. There were the marks of multiple lipsticks in different hues on his face too.
The fury that was burning through the sky surrounded the young man who had made up his mind to be the "Best Banger in the Universe". His bloodshot eyes unleashed the brilliance that was almost equal to the main cannons of a starship. "Who has lived long enough and decided to disrupt Master Han's business? Let me give you a taste of Master Han's giant cannons!"
He ran to his starship crazily.
Countless other space pirates and Cultivators were returning to their battle posts in a hurry like Liu Li and Han Te. The Blue Sky Market that had fallen quiet before long was on fire again. The captives of the twenty-eight pirate gangs and Li Wuji's fleet were seething too, gradually going out of control.
On their way back to the command center, Boss Bai and the Fist King learned more about the hunters—very unoptimistic information.
The hunters were the regular army of the Imperium. They were the forty-seventh fleet in the sequence of the regular army, commonly known as "Flying Rainbow Fleet", which was a coalition fleet made of the elites of quite a few Sectors.
Of course, the Flying Rainbow Fleet was not a top-tier fleet in the four Kurfürst families or an expedition troop that had been tested by battles for decades in the frontline like Lei Chenghu's Astounding Thunder Fleet. It was merely a regional defensive force made of the few weak, barren Sectors at the edge of the Imperium.
Under normal circumstances, such coalition forces were between "garrisons" and "deep-sky fleets" in terms of strength. They did not have the ability to fight for a long time across space zones, and they were not a tricky enemy.
They were the main opponents for the space pirates, who often played the catch-me-if-you-can game with them. Although they were much larger than the space pirates in number, their speed and efficiency were not always satisfactory because of the complicated command system and their low fighting will. It was often the case that the space pirates looted and escaped, and yet they could not catch the tail of the space pirates. They had always been mocked by the space pirates as "the slow and stupid soldiers".
But today, the situation had changed.
The four families and the reformists were fighting over the hegemony at the edge of the Imperium so passionately that they were even recruiting the space pirates without caring about the cost. The local armed forces of the barren worlds were naturally also the targets that the two parties fought over.
The Flying Rainbow Fleet had been more inclined to the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the reformists in the beginning because most worlds at the edge of the Imperium were deeply associated with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. They were naturally disposed to the reformists.
But the four families turned out to be more powerful and wealthy. There was no telling what promises they had made, but the few worlds behind the Flying Rainbow Fleet had taken their side and announced their support for the four families and the old Council of Elders publicly.
Naturally, the equipment of the Flying Rainbow Fleet had also been upgraded, and their combat ability had been improved. They were no longer the slow and stupid fish that they used to be.
Chapter 2470: The Disgraced Lord |
That being said, the most important factor in a war was still people and not the magical equipment. The four families could offer the secondhand warships that had been outdated in their own fleets to the local armed forces like the Flying Rainbow Fleet, but it was impossible for them to crea
te well-trained soldiers out of nothing and help the Flying Rainbow Fleet to complete the transformation.
Therefore, despite the support of the four families, the Flying Rainbow Fleet was still a random, undistinguished, undetermined, and unintegrated second-rate troop that was better at exploiting the people and the weak than defeating the strong enemies.
The Big Bai Pirate Gang in the past wouldn't have been scared when they ran into the Flying Rainbow Fleet. They could always escape even if they could not defeat the enemy.
But today, having just swallowed a whole Blue Sky Market, the Big Bai Pirate Gang was caught in a subtle situation because of the Flying Rainbow Fleet's unexpected arrival.
The awkwardness was almost like when a boa was unable to move after just devouring an elephant, a fat, strong, and stupid boar suddenly appeared on its way…
The Flying Rainbow Fleet naturally knew that the coordinates they were jumping to belonged to the edge of the Blue Sky Space Zone, which was the territory of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors.
They were now hostile to the Blue Sky Market now that they had joined the four families.
However, they seemed to have received the intelligence that Li Wuji of the four families was about to conquer the Blue Sky Market.
Li Wuji's rank in the four families was certainly much higher than the commander of the Flying Rainbow Fleet who had only joined them recently. Therefore, the commander dared not trespass but sent a communication request to the Blue Sky Market, hoping to find out whether it was an ally or an enemy that was occupying the place.
Boss Bai had come to the command center, but he was still unaware of the Flying Rainbow Fleet's purpose. Although the mother port of the Flying Rainbow Fleet was not far away from the Blue Sky Space Zone, the two parties barely had any interaction before. Those secondary troops always considered it a top priority to preserve their strength. They wouldn't have marched at such a heavily-guarded place as the Blue Sky Market without enough temptation.
In the meantime, the conquest of the Blue Sky Market was Li Wuji's responsibility. Boss Bai did not feel that the Flying Rainbow Fleet, as a dog bought over by the four families, had the courage to fight over food with its master.
Pondering for a moment, he commanded his subordinates, "Is Marquess Yongchun full now? If he is, invite him over for a meeting. Right, clean him from inside to outside with high-pressure water guns and sanitize him with fire before bringing him here."
When Li Wuji, Marquess Yongchun, was brought over, he indeed appeared to be very full.
At the very least, he had been gagging since the moment he appeared before Boss Bai and the Fist King, and he did not stop at all in the first five minutes.
His eyes were bloodshot, his cheeks deeply hollowed, as if there were two holes on his face. His lips and his hands were all cramping nervously. He had been away for only several hours, but it almost looked like he had been imprisoned in a dungeon for more than ten years.
The humiliation just now was no better than being abused by his own gender physically for ten days and ten nights. His mind had been completely broken, and he did not dare to look at Boss Bai in the eyes at all.
"Unlock my barriers."
Boss Bai spoke to his subordinate.
"Boss, about that—"
His subordinates were all stunned. Even though Li Wuji had been heavily wounded, he had the Cultivation of the Divinity Transformation Stage after all and was merely suppressed by the barriers on his forehead, the back of his head, and his spine. If the barriers were unlocked, what if Li Wuji suddenly burst out and decided to die with his enemy?
"It's alright. Just unlock my lord's barriers and you may leave."
Boss Bai smiled and said, "I can tell that my lord has thought it through and will not kill himself."
Since Boss Bai put it that way, his subordinates stopped arguing but drew the nails that were carved with complicated rune arrays and connected through crystal wires out of Li Wuji's body.
After every nail was plucked, Li Wuji would shudder, with a cluster of bloody mist that was slightly stinky erupting out of his body.
After eighty-one barriers were plucked, his subordinates hurried to exit the room and close the door for him. Right now, Boss Bai, the Fist King, and Li Wuji were left alone.
"My lord, have you thought it through?"
His hands behind his back, Boss Bai stood before Li Wuji and looked at Li Wuji who was out of shape. "Can we talk about cooperation now?"
"I-I…"
Li Wuji shuddered nonstop. With the flames of both dread and hatred beaming out of his eyes, he mumbled, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you for such great humiliation! I'll kill you!"
"Haha, great!"
Boss Bai opened his arms and exposed the vulnerable spots on his chest and his abdomen to Li Wuji. "Whatever you want to do to me, my lord, you can do it now. Even if you can't defeat me, you can at least die a hero's death and deserve the title of a marquess of the Imperium. Come on, come on, let's do it!"
Holding his iron arms, the Fist King observed coldly, showing no sign that he was going to offer Boss Bai any help. He even stepped backward, implying that he would not intervene in the duel between the two of them.
Dumbfounded, Li Wuji shivered for a long time. The combat ability of the Divinity Transformation Stage was recovering, and the enemy who had greatly humiliated him was right before him, undefended. But he simply couldn't summon any strength to smack the disgusting and hideous face.
"Why are you not moving?"
Boss Bai's voice suddenly grew sharp. His right hand turned into a flash of lightning and slapped Li Wuji in the face heavily, blowing Li Wuji to the ground. The lord's previously hollowed face was immediately swollen like a bun, his saliva, snot, and blood spurting out at the same time. "Just do it, you coward, pussy, and boneless dog!"
"Ah…"
Crouching like a shrimp, Li Wuji wailed desperately. There was no telling whether it was because of pain or because he was angry at his extreme inability.
"Now that my lord refuses to attack, I imagine you must've thought it through."
Boss Bai rubbed his hand that was aching because of the slap just now on his leg while he said casually, "In terms of level and combat ability, you are far from me and Fellow Cultivator Lei. You will be dead for sure if you challenge either me or the Fist King!
"Even if you luckily survive and escape back to the four families, so what? Having been deceived and lost the entire fleet, you will only be defamed and mocked by other nobles!
"Your only hope, and the only way to keep your reputation, position, and power, or even to make one step forward, is to play the trick of cooperating with the enemy. First of all, you will help me and Fellow Cultivator Li to deceive your family and the Imperium so that we can grow and expand under the name of the 'National Protection Army' into a giant beast that nobody dares to mess with.
"Then, Fellow Cultivator Lei and I will naturally devote all the resources and help my lord to rise in the four families through whatever means possible to reach the critical places.
"Hehe, there's no need to feel that you are a 'traitor'. It doesn't hurt to tell you now. Our strength is far beyond your imagination. We have too many spies in the four families and even the reformists. Many nobles you saw every day were actually our people. You are now only following their example.
"How about it, my lord, have you thought it through? We have an unexpected situation right now. I don't have the time to waste on you. Let's make it quick. If you nod your head, you will be a dog before me but still the awesome Marquess Yongchun after you're back to the territory of the four families, with the hope of moving one step further in the near future.
"Or let's be more frank. Revenge is a dish best served cold. My lord, even if you want to seek revenge for your humiliation today, you need to return to your family alive and control even greater power first before you make a comeback, don't you?
"You are still not agreeing? Fine, as long a
s you slightly shake your head, I'll humiliate you no more but give you a quick death, sending you to meet Blackstar the Great!"
Boss Bai intimidated him brutally.
Li Wuji struggled even harder. There was no telling how many rounds he debated with himself, and dirty tears even ran out of his eyes, but he finally nodded his head helplessly and disgracefully.
The nod seemed to have used up the strength of his life. He collapsed on the ground and moaned like a dying dog.
"My lord, you are truly a smart man. I'm sure you will rise higher in the leadership of the Imperium!"
Boss Bai took a long breath in relief and smiled. Taking out a delicate handkerchief from his pocket, he squatted and helped Li Wuji to wipe the snot and blood on his face. "Look, I still remember my lord's quirk and have the handkerchief prepared for you. Hurry and clean up yourself, and then contact the commander of the Flying Rainbow Fleet!"
Now that Li Wuji had been bent, the communication between the Blue Sky Market and the Flying Rainbow Fleet was much easier.
Never would the commander of the Flying Rainbow Fleet dream that Li Wuji, who had come to attack the Blue Sky Market with a great army, had "defected" in only twenty-four hours. Naturally, he confessed his purpose "dutifully" through the remote communication device.
What the commander said was naturally not to be entirely believed, but Boss Bai was an experienced general, and the Fist King boasted remarkable analysis and deduction abilities. They were able to figure out the general picture of the whole thing.
As it turned out, the Flying Rainbow Fleet had been wandering outside of their defense area and, under the excuse of a long-distance drill, carrying out a rather old but dishonorable military mission of the Imperium—enlisting cannon fodder.
