Chapter 22: The Fortress, Section 4

News of the failed siege operation reached Old Jack immediately. He was currently playing sports naked with his maid when he heard the news, and he immediately weakened. His face turned blood red in an instant.
“Damn it!! Three hundred warships, and you tell me you didn’t even scratch them?!?” Old Jack was furious, barely able to control himself.
He was the lord of a star domain—having mobilized such a large force and even offended many surrounding powers—only to end up with such a result. How could he accept this? More importantly, as a result of this battle, his most valuable commercial planet, Silver Star, would suffer unimaginable losses. It might even become a mere residential planet in the future. It was simply a nightmare.
But he couldn’t worry about those huge losses now. What he had to consider was where the Creek Commercial Association had obtained such terrifying strength.
With just about a hundred ships, they had crushed his large fleet while suffering no damage themselves. From any perspective, this suddenly appeared force had completely disrupted the balance among the star systems. No lord of a star domain could feel at ease. Moreover, since this fleet was sent for the Creek Commercial Association, Old Jack was deeply worried about potential retaliation in the future.
Who were they?
The answer came quickly. Before Old Jack could issue further orders, a message arrived from Marshal Wick, the leader of the interstellar fleet, requesting a conversation. Soon after, a series of reports left him dizzy with shock.
“The 31st Star Domain? You mean… this unidentified fleet belongs to that recently prominent star domain?” Looking at Marshal Wick’s serious face on the screen, Old Jack’s face turned pale.
“That’s right, it’s them. Launching high-intensity, extreme-mode surprise attacks without prior notice is their signature tactic. In the entire universe, only their warships are accustomed to using ambushes to defeat opponents. Although I’ve never seen many of the ships that appeared this time, I’m sure they’re their new models,” Marshal Wick said firmly, though his gaze toward Old Jack was unfriendly.
“But, Old Jack, as far as I know, their fleet never takes the initiative to provoke. For this incident, you must give an explanation to me, to the entire interstellar fleet. Otherwise, I will prosecute you for war crimes!”

“Dare you!!” Old Jack roared. “Do you know who you’re talking to? I’m a noble!! Even your Interstellar Fleet has no right to give me orders!! The Silver Star incident is my personal matter; I don’t need your Interstellar Fleet to criticize me!!”
After observing the furious Old Jack for a while, Marshal Wick suddenly wore a strange smile—as if he were looking at a dead man. After a long pause, he sighed deeply and waved his hand.
“You don’t understand… But I believe you’ll understand soon. I only hope that by then, you won’t miss the Interstellar Fleet’s court. After all, it’s the only place that can keep you alive. That’s all I have to say. I hope you’ll behave wisely…”
With that, Marshal Wick ended the call.
Old Jack stood there, stunned.
In fact, Marshal Wick had good intentions. As someone who had once fought against the Blood Wolf forces, he knew all too well Black Hair’s protective nature. Last time, just a minor dispute with his subordinate fleet had escalated into a war. This time, his commercial association had been directly expelled—the outcome was uncertain. In Marshal Wick’s view, Old Jack, lacking sufficient military support and lacking judgment, was doomed.
Yet he had underestimated Black Hair. For Black Hair, eliminating this mediocre lord was merely a trivial task; what he truly wanted was a different outcome.
So, while Old Jack was still trying to cover up the truth behind the Silver Star incident, a message spread like a storm from the 31st Star Region, sweeping across the entire universe.
It was a formal, written announcement. Unlike ordinary official documents, it detailed in great length the unfair treatment suffered by the Creek Commercial Association on Silver Star and the extortionate actions of the lord’s nephew. This dealt a heavy blow to Old Jack right away. Then, in his capacity as an official of the 31st Star Region, Black Hair questioned Silver Star’s commercial environment, declaring that he would welcome the expelled Creek Commercial Association and allocate a planet to establish a new commercial capital for them.
Undoubtedly, compared to the act of killing Old Jack, this announcement dealt him an even more fatal blow. It fundamentally questioned Silver Star’s status as a commercial capital. And the proposal to create his own commercial planet was like a storm, sending all merchants into panic.

Upon hearing this announcement, Old Jack fainted on the spot.
A truly ruthless move—striking at the root of the problem.
Hei Fa’s actions were entirely in line with the principle of maximizing interests; he took advantage of the unfair treatment by the Creek Business Association to turn it to his advantage. Although the final outcome was unknown, it was clear that from now on, the Silver Star family would no longer be the sole beneficiary in the business world.
But ordinary merchants wouldn’t care about Old Jack’s thoughts. The sudden stance of the Blood Wolf faction brought obvious benefits to these small-scale merchants.
Although the 31st Star Region had not existed for long, it had gone through numerous fierce battles, and its reputation had already spread far and wide. Merchants, with their keen senses, knew even more details than the authorities did. Thus, they were well aware of the immense power in this region.
More importantly, the announcement from the 31st Star Region clearly stated that the management of commercial planets would be led by the Creek Business Association, with merchants organizing themselves. The Blood Wolf faction would only collect taxes and not get involved in anything else. This meant greater freedom for the merchants.
It should be noted that even Silver Star, famous for its free trade, had its management handled by the authorities. The profits involved were astonishingly large. Whether it was large business associations or small traders, the expenses spent bribing various officials each year accounted for 30% of all profits. It would be a lie to say they weren’t heartbroken every time they had to pay. Just this alone attracted the attention of all merchants.
However, rebuilding a commercial planet involved countless aspects.
Unlike ordinary residential planets, commercial planets required a favorable ecological environment, massive storage capacity, convenient transportation, and secure defense. None of these could be achieved overnight. Even though Hei Fa owned six top-quality planets, none of them met these requirements.
Of course, carrying out comprehensive environmental reforms to meet these standards wasn’t difficult. But the problem was that the planets of the Blood Wolf faction were all perfect, like masterpieces of nature. Who would dare to destroy them?
No one—not even Hei Fa.
But he used another tactic… spending money!!

A full forty tons of ore—Hei Fa invested heavily by purchasing two top-quality habitable planets that were close to each other, located near the border of the 31st Star Region and at the edge of the 15th Star Region. He then carried out comprehensive renovations on both planets, dispatching large construction fleets to use the most advanced technologies of the magic-guided civilization to build an optical transmission corridor between them. Once completed, these two planets were intended to become one entity, communicating with each other through subspace transmission and the optical corridor, striving for perfection. Their maximum throughput would be more than six times that of Silver Star. There were even four airports built—two on each planet!! Its name was… Twin Stars!

This move caused a huge stir. As soon as the planet renovations began under Hei Fa’s leadership, merchants from all corners of the universe flocked over. Soon, applications to join his project piled up like mountains, keeping Sulei extremely busy.

However, merchants are ultimately driven by profit. Despite the enthusiasm for applications, only a few major business associations had the courage to actually take action. Like the Creek Business Association, these major associations also pursued a path of large-scale transportation, backed by astonishingly powerful forces. The construction of Twin Stars caught their intense attention.

On one hand, the conditions offered by the Blood Wolf faction were extremely favorable, and on the other hand, Silver Star’s previous business model was indeed corrupt. These major business associations urgently needed a new hub, and Twin Stars was undoubtedly the ideal place. The problem, however, lay in the credibility of the Blood Wolf faction.

In this regard, the Creek Business Association set an example. It immediately announced that it would invest one billion crystals in the construction of Twin Stars and would also allocate no less than five hundred million in resources, with the entire association fully supporting the development!

This move immediately dispelled all merchants’ hesitation. Consecutive fleets of transport ships appeared around Twin Stars. Those major business associations were determined to secure a foothold there, each willing to invest five hundred million as startup funds!! In total, this amounted to an astonishing sum of over two billion.

Good heavens, that’s crystals… Two billion in funds could buy half a star region. Such a massive investment shocked the entire universe!!

Twin Stars instantly became the focus of all factions!!

And at this moment, Koko gladly accepted Black Hair’s invitation and arrived at a coordinate near Death Star. Here, he would witness with his own eyes the unveiling ceremony of the greatest weapon in the entire universe—the Thunder God Fortress!!