Chapter 43: Chaos, Section 5

The silent universe remained vast and deep, dotted with countless stars. Perhaps right above one of these stars, the people of the Empire had already fallen into dreams. But who could know how many warships were fighting in the battles at the same time? The Empire’s war to suppress rebellion began just three days after the confrontation.

Fierce battles tore through the starfields, with massive Moorish warships clashing like giants. Such scenes became commonplace. From the start, both sides fought with near-total commitment, leaving no reserves behind.

But Kurokami knew this was only the beginning.
The Empire’s rebellion would undoubtedly be a protracted war—a fact determined from the start, beyond anyone’s control. Neither the Duke of Purple Rock nor the Moorish Emperor could change it, nor could he.

The fake Moors had accumulated vast resources over countless years—enough to show that they had already split off one-third of the Empire’s territory. The combined resources of so many star systems were astronomical. Unless a fool was in command, it would only be a matter of time before they built an army of astonishing strength. And the only constraint on such an army was manpower!

Times were evolving, and the patterns of war were changing. The old style of resource-draining battles no longer suited this world. In space warfare, warships were merely consumables—enough resources could keep factories producing them endlessly. Yet excellent commanders were extremely rare.

On this point, both the rebel Smo Empire and the powerful Moorish Empire were well aware. Thus, from the start, this was not a mere battle of attrition but a full-scale struggle where it was crucial to eliminate the opponent’s top commanders as quickly as possible. Only then could they gain an edge in the ongoing war.

Yet such intense battles posed no threat to Kurokami. While outside the chaos raged, he sat in his flagship, drinking and chatting leisurely with the monkey. On the vision screen in a corner of the room, Empire warships crashed around, but the two of them laughed heartily.

“Five hundred! Five hundred! Boss, we’re rich!” The monkey laughed uproariously, downed a bottle of red wine in one gulp, and tossed it aside—leaving more shards of glass in the corner of Kurokami’s room.

The monkey’s pride was well-founded. After all, not even he had expected that Black Hair’s single meeting with the emperor would yield such a reward. At first, people thought at most he might gain command of a small imperial fleet. Yet in just a short while, Black Hair already held the title of commander of the first squadron of the Royal Guard.

The Royal Guard!! Just thinking back to returning to the flagship and the looks the nobles gave him, the monkey couldn’t help but laugh. He knew Black Hair’s true background well. Given Black Hair’s real identity, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to call him the empire’s greatest spy. Yet now he had transformed into someone directly under the emperor—wouldn’t that shock everyone? Moreover, after the Grand Duke of Tarot explained the powers of the Royal Guard, this restless monkey became even prouder.

The Royal Guard was directly under the emperor’s control, with all its ships being elite warships of the empire. A single squadron always maintained a fleet of three hundred such ships, plus ten times as many supporting vessels. In comparison, ordinary imperial fleets paled in comparison. Though they had a large number of warships, most were standard models, and the gap between them and the elite ships was simply unimaginable.

But that was just the surface. What really made the monkey proud were the five hundred unassuming black small ships Black Hair had brought back. Having witnessed the emperor’s attack firsthand, he knew those five hundred small ships were the real deal. Compared to them, those three hundred elite warships were practically worthless.

So now, whenever he got a chance to rest, the monkey couldn’t hold back. He pestered Black Hair, insisting on getting a few of those ships to play around with. If refused? He’d act shamelessly.

Black Hair was both annoyed and amused by such behavior.

“You kid, are the emperor’s assets that easy to touch? Even if I gave you all these ships now, could you really command them? Do you know how many of them are the emperor’s spies? With just the two of us, can we really control them all?”

“Stop joking, Monkey,” Black Hair said, shaking his head with a helpless smile.

To be honest, Black Hair had thought about seizing the warships given to him by the emperor more than once. But he’d never acted. The main reason was his lack of confidence. He had seen firsthand how cunning the emperor was. If there weren’t any spies among those ships, Black Hair would be the first to doubt it.

But once something was in your mouth, how could you spit it out? From the moment he received those ships, Black Hair had no intention of returning them. What he needed was time.

The captain of the Royal Guard was merely his nominal position. His true task was to relieve the emperor of all troubles. In other words, he was like the elite warriors of Earth in the past—hidden in the shadows, killing anyone who tried to threaten the emperor. And the current rebels were Black Hair’s first targets. Targets he was more than willing to eliminate.

The rebels—no, it should be called the Smo Empire now—were indeed very powerful under the leadership of Duke Purple Rock. Their number of warships could even rival that of the Moore Empire. But this wasn’t something Black Hair needed to worry about. The formal campaigns would naturally be handled by the Moore military. His role was to quietly take the heads of every rebel amidst the Moore Empire’s grand military campaigns.

On this point, Black Hair believed no one could do it better than him.

In just three days, right when the fighting between the opposing sides had just begun, he had already brought his new men here, bypassing the main battlefield. What appeared before everyone was a highly peculiar nebula corridor—vast clusters of granular matter gathered together to form a long, swirling mass of clouds. The fleet led by Black Hair seemed minuscule in comparison to this enormous cloud. Through the portholes, the purplish-red clouds surged violently, with no end in sight.

The nebula was breathtakingly beautiful. Under the light of distant stars, each particle reflected a purplish-red glow, sparkling like diamonds. Yet no one dared take it lightly—not even Black Hair.

Because this beautiful nebula had a well-known name in the Moore Empire: the Corridor of the Dead.

Composed mainly of countless naturally formed stone essence particles, this highly concentrated nebula was beautiful but not accessible to everyone. Within the empire’s territory, there were only four such natural nebulae, each one evoking both love and fear. Loved for the nearly inexhaustible natural stone essence they contained, which saved collectors much effort. Feared for the peril lurking behind those abundant resources, a danger that made every subject of the empire shudder.

You should know that the formation of stone essence particles requires an exceptionally complex environment. Besides high temperature and pressure, strange energy turbulence is also essential. Moreover, the omnipresent ions in the star clusters make each natural stone essence particle act like a bullet fired from a gun, shooting out at high speed along with the natural flow of the star clusters. Unaware ships might easily get caught in this and be completely destroyed by the impact of the stone essences and the high pressure.

The armor of imperial warships is made of stone essence, which shows just how hard it is. Natural stone essences, formed by natural environments, are even harder than diamonds! Coupled with their irregular shapes, their sharp edges are like blades!

Since the establishment of the empire, no fewer than four hundred ships have disappeared each year in these four nebula clusters—clear evidence of this. Over time, fewer and fewer people dare to approach these nebula clusters, except for bankrupt miners. No one else wants to take the risk here.

But Black Hair had no choice but to come here. Only through this place could he silently enter the core of the rebels’ territory.

Actually, he was already inside the territory of the Moor Empire. The original empire territory was now divided into two, with this area becoming the boundary between them. The massive nebula clusters served as bridges spanning this boundary. Apart from here, the surrounding starfields were filled with numerous watchposts set up by both sides. To sneak in, one would need to be invisible.

Although leech warships were good, they were not invisible frigates and thus lacked such capabilities. This left only one path for Black Hair. On the list given to him by the emperor, a young baron currently on the other side of the star cluster was his first target.

The nebula cluster was enormous—almost borderless, shaped more like a horizontal bucket. But Black Hair knew it wasn’t completely impregnable. Those massive cloud vortices were like tornadoes. The edges were indeed dangerous, but the core was surprisingly calm. Aside from high pressure and jumping ions, the threat to ships was practically zero. This was a conclusion the empire had reached long ago—originally for mining purposes, but now it benefited Black Hair.

Of course, even so, the nebula clusters cannot be passed through casually. Without a sturdy ship hull and keen senses, recklessly entering them is tantamount to seeking death. That’s why Black Hair specifically asked the Grand Duke of Tarot for an old Moor to act as his guide. It is said this Moor used to be a down-and-out miner who went bankrupt several times due to his love for gambling, but managed to get back on his feet by forcefully entering the nebula clusters. Now, assigned by the Grand Duke of Tarot, he was extremely excited.
Working under the captain of the First Squadron of the Royal Guard was, after all, a honor. The old Moor had a deeply ingrained sense of hierarchy in his mind.
“Alright, you’ve rested enough, I think.” Shaking off his distracting thoughts, Black Hair stopped teasing the monkey and suddenly stood up. Seeing this, the monkey also put away his playful expression and finished the last bottle of red wine.
“Boss, is it starting now?”
“Mm.” Black Hair nodded gently. His gaze passed through the porthole and fell on the massive nebula cluster, with a glint appearing in his eyes.
With the empire in chaos, he needed to act faster.