Chapter 19: Secrets, Section 8

“Alarm!?” The black-haired man reacted several times faster than Madaro. Almost as soon as the sound was heard, he leaped out of bed and appeared at the door in an instant, just in time to see figures running from the other end of the warship corridor.
It was the young man who had brought him to the eleventh floor.
“Leader, something’s wrong. There are tons of patrol Bone Guards on the ninth floor! Way more than usual!!”
“What!? Did they discover our base!?” Madaro exclaimed in shock and rushed toward the young man, extremely anxious.
“I think not yet. Our base enters and exits through anti-space, with no physical entrance. They can’t have discovered it that quickly. But it seems they’ve sensed something. According to the brothers who serve the Bone Guards, there’s a traitor among us!”
“God!” Madaro gasped, stunned.
A traitor!!
The very word he dreaded the most had finally appeared…
Although his prisoners were all formidable individuals, without healthy bodies, they had almost no combat ability. With their advanced weapons useless, they had no choice but death against the Bone Guards’ attacks. To survive under their noses, they relied solely on superior skills and secrecy.
But with a traitor, their base would be exposed. Their means of survival would be destroyed in an instant. Madaro could hardly imagine the disaster that would follow. If this was a nightmare, he hoped to wake up soon…
Great drops of sweat streamed down his cheeks. At that moment, Madaro felt like he was in a steam room.
In contrast, the black-haired man remained calm. When he heard it wasn’t an external invasion, his eyebrows lifted.
“How’s the preparation to rescue my subordinates going?”
“Everything’s ready. The subspace positioning system has been installed in their cells. It can be activated at any time,” the young man replied quickly, glancing at Madaro secretly.
“Good. Then do it quickly. I want them all on the tenth floor within thirty minutes. Can you do it?” The black-haired man’s expression was serious, his tone leaving no room for refusal.
“Y-yeah… I can try…” The young man glanced at Madaro again, drenched in sweat.
What the hell? The leader of the Black Prison’s prisoners is the great Leader Madaro! Why, why are you, an outsider, giving orders here? Damn it, this black-haired guy’s aura is so terrifying—I actually don’t dare refuse! Screw it, I’ll go all out!!

Gritting his teeth fiercely, the young man finally stopped hesitating and rushed out at full speed.
“I’m sorry, Chief Madaro. I went too far.” Watching his rapidly disappearing figure, Blackhair remained serious, but slowly uttered words of apology. Yet, judging from his expression, there was no sign of remorse at all.
Beside him, Madaro had recovered from his shock. Hearing his words, he shook his head and smiled bitterly to himself…
It seems I’ve really grown old… Look at him—this is the kind of determination and presence a leader should have. No matter how severe the situation, he remains calm and decisive. His strong confidence can even inspire everyone around him. Truly, he’s worthy of having taken control of a whole star system from scratch. Compared to him, my own leader is nothing but a fool… just a figurehead.
With these thoughts, Madaro’s voice carried a hint of bitterness, yet he still showed enough understanding.
“Hmm, it’s okay… Mr. Blackhair, you did well. Even if you hadn’t said anything, I would have given this order anyway. By the way, I’ve thought it over—our cooperation really should continue. Don’t worry; we prisoners have nowhere else to go. If we can really leave this hellhole, we’ll all go to your star system. I have only one request: never abandon us, no matter what happens.”
“Never abandon us!”
Slightly stunned, a faint smile finally appeared on Blackhair’s face. He nodded firmly.
“Alright. I’ll never give up!”
……………………
The prisoners moved quickly. Although Blackhair had given them thirty minutes, by the time he left the warship and stepped into the tenth layer, he saw a crowd of dense dark figures in the square where he had first entered.
“Bloodpupil!” Blackhair’s sharp eyes immediately spotted the lazy kid among them.
Hearing his voice, everyone’s gaze turned toward him. Then they all froze in shock.
“Ha! What a day! To have so many beautiful dreams!! I just dreamed of being freed from my cell, and then I saw him appear. Hehe, guys, don’t disturb me—let me finish this dream. Whoever dares wake me up better not blame me for being ruthless!!”
Hearing Bloodpupil’s voice, the pirates around him immediately showed strange expressions.
Here he is again… This guy already has a group of subordinates, yet he’s still incredibly lazy. Talking nonsense about dreams… This isn’t a dream—it’s really the leader!!

“Captain!!” The synchronized shouts erupted like thunder across the square. Immediately afterward, those burly men rushed at Black Hair from all directions like hungry wolves, their desperate expressions as if they had been starving for years. Unfortunately, after taking just a few steps, their legs gave way, and they collapsed in a heap, entangled with each other, too weak to free themselves. Damn it! What the hell did those damned Bone Guards give them to make them lose all strength?!

Yet their thunderous shouts scared Blood Pupil. He jumped up with a yell, slapping the nearest pirate on the head while cursing loudly. “Damn! Didn’t I say not to wake me up? What the hell are you shouting for?! Do you want to die?! Want me to stretch your muscles for you?! Damn, I just had a dream about the Head appearing—now you wake me up! I, I… Ah?! Head!!!”

Before Blood Pupil could finish speaking, he suddenly saw Black Hair standing beside him, smiling. He froze instantly. After a long while, he suddenly shouted, “Damn!! It’s not a dream!!!”

“Thud!!” In his excitement, Blood Pupil immediately followed in the pirates’ footsteps and crashed facefirst into the ground. The Summoned Core appeared and devoured the small creatures on the pirates one by one. Black Hair wasted no time. Right in front of everyone, he healed all the pirates. In the blink of an eye, those once weak men who could barely walk became full of energy. All the prisoners around were stunned. In less than thirty minutes, all the pirates stood neatly in front of Black Hair once again.

“Head… I’m truly sorry. Due to my failure in organization, thirty-three of our brothers were taken by the Bone Guards…” Blood Pupil spoke first, but his voice was no longer filled with excitement.

Although he was a killer who didn’t value life, those pirates were still brothers who had eaten and trained together with him. It would be a lie to say he felt no emotions. If possible, Blood Pupil would have preferred to die instead. Thus, his tone was filled with guilt.

Black Hair shook his head and silently patted Blood Pupil’s shoulder.

“You are responsible for my death. But I am also responsible for trapping you all here with me. Someone must take this responsibility, and someone must pay the price. The only thing I can do now is take on this responsibility and make them pay. Believe me, the price will be severe. And someone will definitely regret it!!” After a pause, the dark-haired man’s expression improved slightly. “Now, come with me. Meet our new allies. They’ve prepared enough equipment for you; you’ll get what you want.”

With that, the dark-haired man turned to face Madaro, who was approaching behind him, and gave a strange smile.

“Leader Madaro. Do you need me to get rid of the troublemakers for you right now? As you can see, the Bone Guard’s drugs don’t work on me.”

“No need, Mr. Dark Hair. Time is pressing. We can deal with that after we get out. If we can’t get out, what’s the point of freeing ourselves? After being trapped for so long, we old men have long forgotten our fighting instincts.” Hearing the dark-haired man’s words, Madaro was stunned for a moment but quickly shook his head helplessly, rejecting his suggestion.

Then, the old man led the way into the square.

It was another unusual tour. But this time, it wasn’t the young man acting as the guide. Instead, it was Madaro, the leader of the prisoners, who led them personally. He was far more knowledgeable than the young man. Under his narration, the features of each new mecha were vividly displayed before the pirates.

Gasps of surprise arose one after another. The deeper they went, the more astonished the pirates became. Seeing those neatly arranged mechs, their faces showed utter disbelief, as if they were truly dreaming.

Beyond reality, purely elite-level—each one was a professional-grade mecha more powerful than the captains’ mechs outside. How could such a thing exist at the bottom of the Black Prison? No… this can’t be a joke… Look at that one—damn, it’s actually equipped with four six-barreled cannons!! Does it think it’s a fixed artillery platform? And that one—what the hell, a giant kinetic sniper rifle!! Does it think it can shoot through a warship with just one shot?

“Leader… is all of this for us?” Unseen, Blood-Eyed appeared beside the dark-haired man and asked in a low voice.

Having seen so many elite-level mechs, even this veteran couldn’t help but feel excited. Thinking about what the dark-haired man had said earlier, he couldn’t help but confirm it.

“Mm.” The black-haired man nodded firmly. “It’s all for you guys. But you only have one hour. I didn’t tell you before, but the Bone Guards have already noticed this place. There are traitors among their prisoners as well. So time is of the essence. In this one hour, you need to get familiar with all the mechs here and form groups based on each person’s strength. Once the time is up, we’ll set off immediately. Let those up there pay the price!”
“Not escape!?” Blood-eyed frowned, his expression freezing.
“Annihilation!!” The black-haired man nodded decisively, a cold smile appearing on his lips.