Chapter 16: Nightmare, Section 4

The conversation between the two didn’t last long. In fact, Hei Fa merely left the old general with a way to contact him before disappearing from the crystal. The massive armed planet gradually faded from everyone’s sight, eventually turning into a burst of blue light.

Yet after that, the old general fell into deep thought. He wasn’t a reckless man; in fact, within the interstellar fleet, his caution was well-known. It was precisely because of this that headquarters had entrusted him with this mission. But now, he was truly confused.

An alien civilization…
Judging from the young man’s attitude, it was a highly powerful civilization. Due to time and location constraints, he couldn’t pursue further inquiries. However, the old general believed that since even Hei Fa, who had successfully launched two ambushes against him, attached such importance to it, the strength of this alien civilization must be considerable.

“Is it concern for humanity’s fate, or the need for an ally? Heh, I think the latter is more likely.” The old general suddenly laughed and turned to his adjutant behind him.

“What do you think?”

At this moment, no trace of anger remained on the adjutant’s face—completely different from his behavior earlier in front of Hei Fa. His expression was serious, his eyes bright. Calm as a still lake, showing no emotional fluctuations. Upon hearing the old general’s question, he stepped forward slightly and bowed.

“General, I believe what he said is true.”

“Oh? Are you referring to that alien civilization, or his sincerity in requesting a ceasefire?”

“I’m not sure about his sincerity, but I believe the alien civilization he mentioned truly exists. Moreover, if I may venture a guess, there might be some conflict between him and that civilization.” The adjutant’s eyes flickered slightly. Seeing the old general remain silent, he continued,

“If my guess is correct, General, our choice this time could be very important.”

“I understand, I understand…” The old general suddenly waved his hand impatiently, interrupting him.

“It’s just a choice. Either we cease fire, have a deeper conversation with this young man, and fight together, or we bypass him and directly contact that so-called alien civilization to see if we can gain greater benefits. This isn’t something you or I can decide now. Perhaps headquarters will give us an answer.”

“But General, you are one of the highest-ranking commanders in your fleet. Your attitude directly determines the headquarters’ response. I think you should prepare yourself beforehand.” The adjutant spoke calmly, yet there seemed to be something implied in his words.
“What do you mean?” The old general frowned immediately.
“That guy with black hair—since he claims to be the leader of the 31st Star Region, aside from whether he can gain headquarters’ approval, he still holds vast resources at his disposal. And you, General, please forgive my bluntness, but you are already quite old.”
“So I should communicate properly with that young man to possibly gain something from it?” The old general’s voice rose sharply, his anger obvious even to a fool.
Faced with the general’s reaction, the adjutant seemed prepared, responding coldly without blinking.
“Yes, General. That’s exactly what I mean.”
Hearing the adjutant’s straightforward acknowledgment, the old general stopped getting angry and fell silent. He stood up, walked to the porthole, and gazed at the distant starry sky, gently running a hand through his gray hair.
“I am old. But I still have drive. I’ve been serving in the Interstellar Fleet since the beginning—53 years now. The fleet has rewarded me handsomely; eight private planets are enough to satisfy anyone’s desires. You must understand—what else should a soldier maintain besides a fighting spirit?”
Turning around, the old general’s eyes widened.
“Loyalty!! It’s loyalty!! You know I hate those greedy nobles, so I would never exploit this opportunity for personal gain. All we need to do is fulfill our duties! The 31st Star Region is the prey of the Interstellar Fleet, not mine personally.”
“I understand, General.” Seeing the general’s reaction, the adjutant nodded and said nothing more.
“Send a detailed report to headquarters, covering everything without omission. Then the fleet should continue onward. Once we reach the designated target, we’ll settle there. Take no offensive actions. All we need is to wait for a result,” the old general said softly.
“Yes.” The adjutant turned and left.
“War… is truly exciting…” The old general closed his eyes and leaned back in the comfortable armchair, seemingly about to fall asleep.

Perhaps from certain perspectives, General Birito was a cautious and prudent man, but at his core, he still had a warrior’s blood flowing through him. The long years in the military were like a fine wine to him, one from which he couldn’t extricate himself. So after his adjutant left, the old general drafted another telegram and sent it secretly. In this telegram, he expressed his views on Black Hair and offered some suggestions for future developments. Of course, only he and Marshal Wick, who received the telegram, knew what those suggestions were. Upon receiving the orders, the massive fleet set sail once again, but without that oppressive atmosphere. Although the conversation between the old general and Black Hair was kept secret, almost every crew member seemed to understand something from the departure from the armed planet and felt somewhat relieved. On the other hand, the headquarters of the Interstellar Fleet was shocked by this unexpected news. All the senior officers were summoned immediately to discuss this sudden challenge. Of course, lacking precise information, they couldn’t come up with any solution and could only issue an order to the old general to suspend the attack. Yet this was enough to convey the headquarters’ stance. At least compared to the alien civilization, Black Hair was still human. And humans had always been an exclusive race. Unless forced, the Interstellar Fleet didn’t want a war within their own race. Moreover, in just one month, Black Hair had fully demonstrated his strength. But one thing was interesting—the messages from headquarters never mentioned the term “Lord of the 31st Star Region.” This showed that they still held an ambiguous attitude toward Black Hair’s self-proclaimed claim and intended to drag this issue out for a long time. Everything would only become clear after actually encountering the alien civilization. “What a bunch of stubborn old fools,” Black Hair sneered, removing his fingers from the keyboard. If anyone were watching behind him at that moment, they would have seen that on the screen in front of him were precisely the latest orders sent by the Interstellar Fleet to General Birito!!

“They have no choice either. Head, you’ve given them too little information. Any normal person wouldn’t make hasty decisions. Compared to the Moor race, your existence is more realistic. Maybe they plan to wait for a while before deciding whether to become enemies with you,” Blood Pupil interjected. At that moment, he was lazily leaning back on a sofa, savoring the rich red wine, his eyes narrowed so much they almost became slits. If one didn’t pay attention, one might think he was already asleep.

“That’s inevitable. Blood Pupil, but I really can’t provide much information either. It was Mason who told me about the existence of the Moor race, and his understanding of this race is limited to just the terrifying aspects. I really don’t understand—since the Stio civilization created it, why didn’t they leave enough records in its database? If time was tight, that seems a bit far-fetched,” Black Hair said, frowning in confusion.

“Maybe they did it on purpose?” Lily suddenly spoke up.

“How so?”

“They’re afraid of the Moor race, but they’re also so kind-hearted. Maybe they don’t want the horrors of the Moor race to spread through their data and cause panic among other races?” Lily spoke hesitantly, not even believing her own words.

“Stop joking. Only fools would do that. Besides, they didn’t know that Mason’s planet would fall into our hands one day. How could they possibly make such preparations?” Blood Pupil scoffed, dismissing Lily’s absurd idea.

It was indeed illogical. No matter how they thought about it, they couldn’t find a reasonable explanation. The topic was put aside for now. But putting the topic aside didn’t mean delaying action. Under Black Hair’s urging, the Blood Wolf faction launched its largest expansion effort since its establishment.

The Gold-Eating Insects accelerated the mining of Cemxi ore, and the Death Star City began to be transformed into a fortress. As ships after ships of ore were shipped out, Silver Star also started selling it. The actions of the Blood Wolf faction caused a huge sensation in human society.

Cemxi ore was one of the most precious ores in the universe. Who knew how so much of it could appear all at once? The Silver Star market was like it had experienced a magnitude-8 earthquake. Almost all the merchant guilds’ ships rushed here like bloodthirsty leeches from every corner of the universe. The market was overcrowded.

Frenzied buying, absolute madness. All merchants were captivated by this suddenly appearing Cemixi ore. In their eyes, it represented endless wealth. The massive influx of people also posed an unprecedented challenge to the security of Silver Star. In just three days, the Silver Star government issued five orders restricting entry, highlighting the severity of the situation!
Yet even so, it couldn’t stop people’s greed. As news of the abundant Cemixi ore spread, the attention of almost all factions was drawn to it. Even those who had planned to wait took the chance to send their own fleets.
Silver Star was in turmoil. Heavy pressure weighed on everyone’s mind. Everyone was searching…
Who was the real owner of this Cemixi ore??