Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1594
Pondering for a moment, the messy-haired passenger asked, "Dongling, if you have to choose, do you think the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is better or the 'authorities' behind the four Kurfürst families is better? Would you prefer to live under the governance of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors or the 'authorities'?"
"The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, of course. The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is a hundred times better than the four families!"
Huo Dongling blurted out, "It's true that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is a bunch of cunning merchants who earns money from us through whatever means possible, but they have boundaries and business rules more or less, and they occasionally help us.
"Although I described them to be sleazy a moment ago, those planets were developed by them first before they half-sold and half-offered the properties to us. Otherwise, the poor folks like us could never expect to have our own homes.
"After the planets were sold to us, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors also sold us tremendous devices in expedition and mining on credit and taught us the necessary technologies. They even provided very convenient microcredit. Those things naturally had to be returned, with a rather daunting interest rate, but they kept us alive after all!
"Later, while the business teams of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors monopolized the imports and exports of the planets, they also often brought us new, bizarre magical equipment and new businesses. It was also possible for the capable young men of the settlements to become the employees of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, in which case their families would enjoy a more favorable interest rate and better technical support. Their days would be even better!
"All in all, Dad told me that the residents on the planets are like hens that lay eggs for the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, which would raise the hens and make them fat and strong first so that they could eat our eggs in the long term!"
The messy-haired passenger nodded his head, deep in thought. "Raising the hens before eating their eggs, that's not a bad idea. What about the four families?"
"The four families are the most ferocious wolves. All they think about is to kill the hens and eat the meat. Do they care about our life and death at all?"
With hatred beaming out of her eyes, Huo Dongling gnashed her teeth. "However cunning the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was, they at least provided loans, technology, education and market for us, but what did the four families and the so-called 'authorities' give us? Nothing except taxes and fines!
"The Immortal Cultivators that belonged to the four families hardly came by. Whenever we encountered famines, plagues, mine accidents, or high radiations caused by space storms, there was never disaster relief from the authorities, but whenever we had the slightest savings, the wolves of the authorities would swagger around blatantly.
"The port construction tax, the environmental protection tax, the traffic safety tax, the special tax for national protection, the tax for the renaissance of the Imperium, the tax for the evolution of mankind, you name it!
"Those taxes were the legitimate taxes collected by the authorities. As for the fees and fines collected by the local Immortal Cultivators in private, there were simply too many to count! You don't want to submit them? They would not hesitate to kill all the oppositions with their sabers and guns! Even if they did not kill openly, they could put on the skin of space pirates and go back for a pillage. How could the poor settlements like us expect to resist them?
"If they gave us a chance to survive after looting our money, like the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors did, it still would've been fine. But the lords of the four families never cared about our status. After all, we were just ants, weeds, and hominoids that deserved whatever became of us!"
The messy-haired passenger frowned harder and harder.
As she talked, Huo Dongling's eyes became red again. Tears rolled in her eyes for a long time, before she finally went on, "The Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors had an enormous plan of construction. According to the plan, the number of settlements on the South Spirit Planet should've surpassed ten decades ago and connected with each other, and we should've owned our own stable atmosphere. In that case, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors could've given greater businesses to us and sold more goods to us. Everybody would benefit from it. To quote the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, it would've been a 'win-win'!
"However, the Immortal Cultivators of the four families had been exploiting both the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the colonized planets greedily every year. They also domesticated a bunch of space pirates for robberies. The slight savings that we gathered were often entirely captured by them. When such things happened again and again, how could we possibly build our hometown?
"Let's just talk about this time. The four families announced that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors was a rebellious organization and forbade us from doing business with it. Whoever traded with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors would be regarded as an accomplice with the rebels.
"As obedient folks, we had always been loyal to the lords and His Majesty. Naturally, we did not want to 'conspire with the rebels'. But if the lords did not allow us to do business with the rebels, please give us enough food, water, and compressed air for us to live through the difficulties!
"At first, we all stayed at home dutifully. None of us dared to trade with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, and we all looked forward to the relief assets from the fleets of the four families. They shouldn't starve and suffocate us, should they?
"Hehe. An army of the authorities did come in the end. As it turned out, the high and mighty army did not bring a grain of food or a single water-cleaning cartridge. Instead, they damaged a lot of our own assets; our few assets that our lives depended on! Then, they simply rose and left, not leaving anything to us!
"The South Spirit Planet was among the better cases. I was told that a lot of settlements on the planets were slaughtered by the Kurfürsten's fleets and razed to the ground. It seemed that they used the heads of the folks as their fake accomplishments after they suffered setbacks in the attack of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors."
Huo Dongling shivered and said, "We truly wanted to stay loyal to His Majesty and the Kurfürsten, but they did not want our loyalty at all, only our lives. So, we couldn't just wait to get killed. We may be conspiring with the rebels, but so be it. There might be a way of survival if we take our chances in the Seven Seas Grand Market!"
The girl had probably been keeping those words to herself for a long time, and she had almost been driven mad because of fear on the way. Now that she had finally let it out without restrictions, she felt that every pore on her body had been widened, and she was covered in hot sweat.
It was not until she finished her elaborate speech that she realized that the passenger with pretty eyes was probably one of the Immortal Cultivators whom she just berated. She couldn't help but shudder and observed the guy's face timidly.
There was not much to look at on the passenger's face, but his attractive eyes suddenly became particularly profound. From the warm brilliant, the coldness killing intent beamed out, scaring Huo Dongling out of her wits.
"Don't be scared, Little Dongling."
The passenger declared, one word after another. His voice was not very loud, but it sounded powerful enough to shake all the stars in the universe. "Trust me, the war will be over very soon. You will have a chance to go home and build your home… Trust me!"
"Okay, Mr. Li."
For some reason, although the guy's announcement sounded too ridiculous, Huo Dongling couldn't help but want to believe in him, a better future, and a better hometown.
Right then, Little Bear shivered, and orange lights shined in the cabin.
They were about to pass the last stone belt.
After passing the stone belt, it would be the largest and heaviest planet of the space zone, as well as its two gargantuan satellites.
The planet and its satellites constituted a rather unique, unstable three-body system, attracting and exchanging materials with each other. As a result, the three-dimensional space nearby was highly unstable, and natural wormholes appeared often.
Performing space jumps in such a place could save fuel and maintain the completeness of the starship as much as possible, which made it the most favorite jump point for the civil teams.
This place was the last jump point until the Seven Seas Grand Market. Once the jump succeeded, the vehicle would arrive within the Seven Seas Space Zone, where the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors still had a powerful garrison and an in-depth defensive system that covered the entire area, protecting the safety of the business teams coming through the place.
However, before the jump was completed, the place was still a daunting, perilous test. Amid the overwhelming meteoroids that were full of radiations, it was possible that the hunting warships of the four families were lurking and ambushing the civil business ships that were going to the Seven Seas Grand Market.
Even the most experienced captains had to be extra careful when they passed through the dangerous stone belt.
Otherwise, they could easily become the starship debris that was revolving fast inside the stone belt the next second.
The ten or so cargo ships that made up the business team entered the stone belt prudently and in panic. Everybody was praying to all the gods they knew that they would not encounter the ferocious hunting warships.
However, the wishes of the ants and weeds were perhaps not loud enough for the gods to hear. What they were scared of became the reality. Right when all the starships had entered into the stone belt, unable to turn around and escape, two narrow and long warships that looked like sharks suddenly protruded out of the back of a few giant meteoroids, lunging at the prey aggressively!
Chapter 2510: Shamelessness! |
For a moment, earsplitting alarms were ringing in the ten or so business ships at the same time.
Although the distance was too far away for them to distinguish the strangers' side, they would have cruised outside of the stone belt openly and contacted them voluntarily if they were the garrison of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors.
These two warships, however, had been lurking behind the meteoroids sordidly, covering their spiritual waves with the dust and radiation. It was not until the cargo ships could not retreat anymore that they finally marched out. Their hostility couldn't have been more evident.
They were probably the hunting warships of the four Kurfürst families!
For a moment, all the civil cargo ships panicked. Like a bunch of headless flies, they were about to disperse, only to be blocked by the rushing meteoroids, which raised colorful flames on their spiritual shields. Two of the ships almost collided because they failed to calculate their distance in time.
As it turned out, the two warships sent a message to the cargo ship at the same time. "Retreat your spiritual shields, lower your speed to one third, move forward in a straight line, and be prepared to be boarded!"
In the meantime, the heads of the two warships glowed, launching a barrage that blew the meteoroids ahead of the cargo ships into powder to demonstrate their unparalleled damage.
In terms of size, all the cargo ships were much bigger than the warships. Also, some defensive magical equipment such as minor cannons were accommodated on those ships too.
However, in terms of speed and firepower, as well as the well-trained, murderous soldiers on board, cargo ships couldn't be compared to warships at all. It was like a fat pig faced with a bunch of tigers.
"Stop!"
"Stop and accept inspection, or you will be killed immediately!"
The high-pitched ultimatum crashed into every cargo ship as well as everyone's heart like a meteoroid. Everybody was scared out of their wits.
Inside the warehouse of Little Bear, the few mercenaries who claimed to be professional killers were already shouting, "Are you f*cking deaf? Retreat the spiritual shield and prepare to be inspected. That's the most advanced 'Starry Shark'-level hunting warship, designed to block the enemy's sailing routes and supply lines! We are but thin-skinned cans in front of them that will be cracked after the slightest knock. What are you waiting for? Hurry and stop!"
Hardly had they finished talking when the two hunting warships took action in their impatience.
Taking advantage of their speed and agility, they moved quickly in the stone belt that had a complicated environment and approached the fleet of cargo ships while they shot at the surroundings of the cargo ships to make them draw closer to each other. In the meantime, they spurted out countless dark, giant iron balls from their abdomens.
Those iron balls were all attached to deft mechanical arms, which were not meant to attack but to spurt out flames, granting them unparalleled mobility. They were like the swiftest octopi.
As the mechanical arms opened and closed, the giant iron balls crowded at the cargo ships, and no matter how the cargo ships dodged, it was impossible to escape from their scourge.
Very soon, the shell of every cargo ship had attracted a couple of giant iron balls. From the mechanical arms, gels were spurted out, whose speed did not decelerate even in the vacuum, sticking them to the cargo ships tightly.
Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi! Zi!
High-heat flames spurted out of the holes on the surface of the giant iron balls. Condensed into narrow sabers, they cut holes on the shells of the cargo ships more than easily that were precisely the size of the iron balls. There was not the slightest gap, so no oxygen was leaked out.
In such a way, the battle units accommodated within the giant iron balls could invade the cargo ships openly.
Inside every iron ball were three to four Immortal Cultivators in crystal suits as well as a dozen crouched battle puppets.
Such a methodology of invasion was very similar to the regular tactics of the Colossi. It was barely possible for two warships to control more than ten cargo ships at the same time, but once the Immortal Cultivators entered the business starships, unless everybody was united and put up resistance together, they would have no choice except to surrender.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
In the collision of armors, four Immortal Cultivators in black crystal suits that looked like fiends broke into the warehouse of Little Bear, preparing to attack the cockpit ahead from there.
"Ah!"
Sensing the intense stink of blood from the strangers, many crew members and passengers were shrieking.
"Lay down your weapons. Drop all your weapons!"
"You are all rebels, and you are going to reinforce the Seven Seas Grand Market, aren't you?"
"Lay down your blades and weapons. Nobody is to summon any of their spiritual energy, or you will be killed immediately!"
Detecting the mercenaries, the attackers were suddenly alarmed. The dozen battle puppets hopped over at the same time, aiming at the mercenaries with their dark barrels.
The mercenaries who were talking about what a great time it was were all frightened. The first mercenary hurried to say, "We are all Marquess Yongchun's people. This is just a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding!"
"A misunderstanding?"
The Immortal Cultivator in the lead grinned hideously and suddenly stepped forward, slashing from down to top across the mercenary's left abdomen and right shoulder. Half of his body was immediately chopped off, and the most stinky guts were flowing on the floor!
"Ahh!"
The crew members and the passengers cried even more miserably.
The Immortal Cultivator in the black crystal suit pointed at the second mercenary and said gloomily, "Speak now. Why are you going to the Seven Seas Grand Market? You must be the spies of the reformists who have escaped from the capital, and you are going to contact Jin Yuyan in the Seven Seas Grand Market because there is important intelligence that you need to deliver, right?"
The second mercenary was dumbfounded, not expecting the soldier would be so shameless as to make such a serious accusation so easily. His pants were almost wetted when he saw the miserable body of his "big brother". Knowing that he would be killed however he was going to answer, he looked around and noticed Huo Dongling. As if he had caught a lifesaver, he screamed at the top of his voice, "I am not! I'm not a spy of the reformists, but I know who is! That boy! That boy in black leather coat and black cape over there! Please be careful, he is very strong, and he does not dare to reveal his real face. He must be a spy! A great spy!"
"Huh?"
The Immortal Cultivators in black crystal suits suddenly grew hostile. Turning around with the dozens of battle puppets, they moved their eyes to the corner where Huo Dongling was at.
"You—"
Huo Dongling felt that she had fallen into an ice cave. She did not expect that the Immortal Cultivators could be so brutal and shameless and that they could make up such things just for a slim chance of survival.
"Boy, just admit it, you are a fu*king spy of the reformists!"
Hiding behind the Immortal Cultivators in black crystal suits, the mercenary grew cocky and declared gloatingly, "Weren't you very awesome a moment ago? If you are capable, just show your skills in front of the brilliant, invincible, and righteous warriors here! Why are you covering yourself so tightly, not even revealing your face? You must have intelligence with you. Very important intelligence!"
Looking at his shamelessness, Huo Dongling finally couldn't help but cry. In a feeble voice that only she could hear, she roared, "What kind of heroes are you?"
"Don't mind that. It doesn't matter. They did not intend to keep anyone alive in the first place. The result is the same whether or not the few mercenaries say anything."
The voice as warm as the winter sunlight, however, flowed into Huo Dongling's mind in a hot stream. The messy-haired passenger said casually, "There are three types of hunting warships that the four families sent out to block the sailing routes.
