Chapter 25: The Fierce Universe, Section 7

The white-haired old man was the person in charge of building the Thor Fortress this time. How could Blackhair not be overjoyed upon seeing him?
It had taken several months to construct the Thor Fortress. Even the Thunderbolt Assault Ship, developed alongside it, had already been put into service. It was time for this massive main weapon to be fully operational. At a moment when the Moors had appeared, this most powerful weapon of the Death Star—a fortified fortress modeled after the Estio civilization—was undoubtedly the ultimate trump card.
However, Blackhair’s joy turned cold in the next moment.
Because the old man was shaking his head.
“Mr. Blackhair. I’m sorry to disappoint you. The Thor Fortress still needs one final step of integration and will require some more time to be completed. I’m here for another matter.”
“Hm? What is it?” His enthusiasm quickly cooled as Blackhair nodded casually. “Go ahead.”
“We’ve located the coordinates of the Moors’ occupied area.”
“Oh… you have? Good, finding the coordinates is great…”
“……..”
“…”
“What!!?” Blackhair suddenly realized what he had heard. His eyes widened in shock.
“The Moors’ coordinates!?”
“Yes, Mr. Blackhair,” said the white-haired old man, smiling at Blackhair’s astonishment. “We conducted a preliminary scan and analysis of that Moor giant ship. In its core, we found a data storage crystal. After cracking it, we obtained the coordinates of their latest occupied area. Of course, Mr. Blackhair, it could be a star system or just a base. Our technology isn’t advanced enough to fully decipher that crystal, so we can’t know the details. I’m sorry.”
“No, you needn’t apologize at all,” Blackhair said, shaking his head repeatedly. A hint of joy appeared on his face. “I must reward you! You’ve done an excellent job.”
“It’s an honor for us of Black Prison to serve you and the Death Star. If not for you, we would likely be dead by now,” the old man said, bowing slightly to show his respect, though his face couldn’t hide his joy.
“Hmm,” Blackhair nodded.

The old man was right. Compared to the Black Prison of the past, their current life could only be described as paradise. Around each person in the Black Prison, there were hundreds of people dedicated to serving them—covering everything from food, clothing, shelter, and transportation to luxurious pleasures, all up to the highest standards of Death Star. In some aspects, even the Black-Haired ones couldn’t compare to them. Unless they were engaged in research, each of them had at least two beautiful elf maidens at their side to serve them at all times. Even the most noble alien rulers would bow to them when walking on the streets. In short, as long as they could offer something of interest to Death Star, they could get anything they wanted here.

Given the Black Prison dwellers’ extreme destructiveness and peculiar ideas, the Black-Haired one even planned to create a separate planet for them as a testing ground in the future. Such high-standard treatment was likely unmatched anywhere in the human world. No wonder the old man was so satisfied and willing to contribute everything he had to Death Star.

Turning off the video crystal, the Black-Haired one fell silent. Though his heart was tumultuous, he remained calm on the surface. The Blood-Pupil fleet had returned three days ago, and Monkey had also been sent to the Wanderers. Now, his armed forces were almost fully restored, and the external environment had returned to normal. It could be said to be a peaceful period between wars. If he wanted to do something, this was undoubtedly a great opportunity.

But was that Moor race’s coordinates really not a trap?

The Black-Haired one hesitated.

“Boss, what are you thinking about?” Blood-Pupil’s voice suddenly rang in the Black-Haired one’s ear. Only then did he realize that, somehow, it had already gotten dark. A hazy night covered Death Star’s sky, with stars twinkling like lights—so clear and beautiful.

Smiling faintly, the Black-Haired one went to the bar, poured a glass of red wine for Blood-Pupil, and handed it to him.

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you go to the bar with those guys? Death Star’s bars are quite famous these days.”

“Yes, yes!” Blood-Pupil became interested at the mention of a bar. “That bar is new. It’s called ‘Dream of the Blue Angel.’ Their signature cocktails are amazing. Boss, I’m not joking—you really should try them. The taste is like a spring breeze one moment and like blazing fire the next; it’s absolutely exhilarating.”

“Oh?” The Black-Haired one was stunned. “Spring breeze and blazing fire? Are you feverish? Those are two opposite flavors.”

“Exactly, boss. That’s exactly how it feels. Their ‘Angel’s Dream’ beer is like a clear spring at first sip, but after a while it turns into a raging fire. It’s not just me; many people love that taste. Don’t you know? That bar has now become a gathering place for us guys. Those idiots go to the bar instead of training. It’s as if something there tempts them. I’ll find a chance to deal with them.”
“Deal with them?” The black-haired man laughed in disbelief. “Aren’t you fascinated too? By the way, if all the guys go to that bar, won’t there be any safety issues? Those guys aren’t easy to deal with.”
“Not really.” Blood-Eyed scratched his head. “It’s strange too. Even though we always go to that bar, there hasn’t been a single fight. It’s as if they’ve all become civilized. And that bar just opened. It’s said to be run by an alien, but no one has ever seen them. It’s really puzzling.”
Hearing this, the black-haired man finally became interested. He nodded slightly and took a sip of red wine. “Well, now that you mention it, I’m a bit interested too. I’ll go there with you when I get the chance. But since you’re here now, I actually have something else to ask you.”
“Oh? What is it?” Blood-Eyed was surprised and gently set down his glass.
“It’s not anything major. I just got the coordinates of the Moors’ gathering place.”
“Really!?” Blood-Eyed shuddered, his eyes widening.
“Yeah. I cracked them from our loot. But no one knows for sure what’s at those coordinates—whether it’s a planet, a star system, or a huge base.”
“I see… Boss, what do you think?” Blood-Eyed winked cunningly.
“Tch. What else could I possibly plan?” The black-haired man sneered, disdaining Blood-Eyed’s obvious attempt to provoke a response.
“The monkey was found on a Moor ship. That’s why I’ve always been interested in that race. I really want to know what lies behind them. This is an opportunity, and I plan to go there.”
“With a fleet?” Blood-Eyed grinned, revealing his white teeth. “Boss, do you want to fight them?”

“Who told you I was bringing a fleet?” Black Hair glanced at him. “I only need the Stormbringer. Its hull is specially designed with camouflage capabilities. I can disguise it as a freighter. Although the Moors have a poor reputation, I don’t think they lack commercial dealings. I’ll bring enough supplies as proof. Of course, that depends on gathering sufficient intelligence first. Right now, the Black Prison Group is working hard to crack it, and I think results will come soon.”
Hearing Black Hair’s explanation, Blood Pupil fell silent. The glass in his hand trembled slightly before he finally spoke after a long while. “Do you realize how dangerous this is?”
“Very well.”
“Then I won’t say more, leader. You’re the chief, so your word counts. But this time, I must go with you.” Blood Pupil gritted his teeth, determination showing in his eyes.
“I won’t be at ease otherwise.”
“As you wish, Blood Pupil.” Black Hair smiled, a hint of emotion in his eyes.
With the decision made, Black Hair quickly began preparing. He assigned tasks on Death Star layer by layer. Sulei was in charge of resource planning, while Baroka stayed behind to handle security. Koko took overall control of foreign trade, having full authority over the Twin Commercial Stars and alien markets. Hong and Lan, the two brothers, were taken aside by Black Hair to serve as attendants on this mission.
To be honest, since following Black Hair on Hell Star, the Hong and Lan brothers had rarely acted alongside him. Black Hair trusted them greatly and assigned them their own mech squad. They lived up to expectations, performing exceptionally well. In several consecutive missions, whether in command or in solo combat, they stood out greatly. This time, Black Hair was taking them along as their final test. If they passed, he planned to assign them suitable positions in the future fleet.
However, Black Hair also knew these two brothers weren’t that simple.
If he remembered correctly, they had once been slaves, and their entire clan had been slaughtered. Black Hair didn’t think such deep-seated hatred could be hidden forever. Perhaps all they needed was a chance.
Black Hair had no problem giving them that chance. But it would also depend on whether they deserved it.
The decryption was completed in seven days. The Black Prison Group lived up to Black Hair’s expectations, extracting a large amount of intelligence from that data crystal, including some fragments of the Moors’ language. Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, they couldn’t fully crack it, and most of the information obtained was fragmented.

But this was enough. Because Black Hair had already found what he wanted.
As he had expected, the Moors indeed had their own business network. However, their business model was different from that of humans—it resembled something controlled by the military. With each expedition, specialized merchants would accompany the army to collect and trade in the spoils of war. And these merchants were not of any race known to humans.
Black Hair chose a race with a relatively complete language structure to disguise himself with, and loaded Li Feng with plenty of supplies. On the fifth day, they finally left Death Star and entered a jump leading to the Moors’ gathering place.
In the cabin, Black Hair inserted two fingers into his chest… there, a blue crystal was pulsing.