Chapter 27: New Nobles – Section 1

Bloodpupil was right; Blackhair indeed had this plan in mind. As the saying goes, speed is of the essence in warfare. Since even Bloodpupil couldn’t imagine him choosing this route, others would be even less likely to think of it. Moreover, Lord Locke was about to arrive at the Dark Duke’s space station, so his vigilance would likely be relaxed. If they could chase after him quickly, even if he were extremely skilled, he would probably meet his end in the starry void.

Beyond that, the main reason Blackhair chose this route was that those three chaotic star regions happened to block three of the most crucial paths. If they had to take a detour, the number of jumps required would increase exponentially! On the contrary, if they forced their way through, they could save at least two-thirds of the distance!

Two-thirds! This was the universe—vast starfields filled with jumps. How much time could two-thirds of the distance save? Given the dangers of those three chaotic star regions, Blackhair simply had no other choice.

Seeing Blackhair’s silent demeanor, Bloodpupil immediately understood his intentions. But he was a fearless man—how could he possibly raise any real objections? He promptly assigned this route to his subordinates.

This caused an uproar. The octopus-like beings, lacking hormonal stimulation, were surprisingly timid. Upon hearing the truth about this route, nine out of ten of them cried outright. With tears streaming down their wrinkled faces, they looked like women who had just been raped. Yet in the face of the Bloodpupil pirates’ cruel laughter, their cries were utterly ineffective. In the end, they could only obediently return to their posts.

The fleet immediately turned in the starfield and headed along the predetermined route. After a brief acceleration, a burst of white light appeared, and the entire fleet vanished without a trace.

Of course, at the same time, Miss Veri, who was in her mansion, also received this message. She was still in a deep sleep when the message sent by Blackhair and the others was urgently reported by her butler. Hearing this news, the noble Miss Veri was instantly shocked, all traces of sleepiness disappearing. She got up in a rush, not even taking the time to tidy herself, and rushed to a giant stone screen in her room. After a few operations, the route of Blackhair’s fleet appeared on the screen.

Miss Veri was stunned. Her sudden cry sounded like that of an animal with its tail stepped on.
“Passing through chaotic star systems!?”

“Yes, my lady. Lord Baker chose the route that passes through those three turbulent star systems, without giving any explanation. But according to calculations, if nothing goes wrong, this route does indeed have the potential to allow him to beat Lord Locke to it.” The butler replied respectfully. Despite Miss Veri being quite scantily clad, he showed no unusual reaction.

“Just to get ahead of that damned Locke? That’s why Baker chose such a dangerous route!? Is he a merchant or a madman!?” Miss Veri shrieked, her expression extremely agitated—far from any semblance of ladylike composure.

“Does he even know how dangerous those three star systems are!? Even without those damned pirates, the ubiquitous cosmic storms could tear them to pieces!!”

“He must be well aware of that, my lady.” The butler turned a blind eye to Miss Veri’s outburst.

“Then why would they do such a thing? And worst of all, why bring along my White Swans!?” Miss Veri pressed hard, even questioning the butler as if he were the culprit.

Yet in the face of her outburst, the butler remained utterly calm, as if it were entirely normal. He showed no sign of surprise, not even a flicker of his eyelids, continuing to bow his head respectfully.

“As you say, my lady. Perhaps Lord Baker is indeed a madman.”

“He comes from a fallen family. Without your support, he might still be just an armed merchant without a base. For such a person, adventure is synonymous with life. To us, this route may already seem extremely dangerous. But for an armed merchant who could lose his life at any moment, it might just be an utterly ordinary journey.”

Hearing the butler’s explanation, Miss Veri’s fingers froze mid-air, leaving her speechless.

Indeed, the butler was right. How had she not thought of it? Someone like Baker had a mindset that could no longer be described as normal. With no base and all his assets being just one armed merchant ship, he was essentially a fugitive. And now she had painted such a bright future for him. It would be unreasonable if he didn’t go all out.

But… if he’s going to risk everything, then fine. But why drag in my five White Swans too?

For a moment, Miss Veri felt bitter and filled with deep regret.

But it was too late to say anything. Just as Miss Veri rushed to the Space Station Military Headquarters to discuss countermeasures, the Black Hair faction had already completed the third jump and entered the first Chaos Star Region.
Speaking of which, Black Hair was truly grateful for Miss Veri’s generosity. The performance of those five Swan-class warships was absolutely outstanding. Despite Li Feng accelerating repeatedly along the way, they still managed to keep up without falling behind, completely changing Black Hair’s perception of the Moor Empire’s warships as bulky and slow. Their willow-leaf shaped, multi-layered hulls also made them look extremely beautiful. Compared to them, Li Feng, with its layers of camouflage, resembled an ugly duckling—truly pitiful.
And most importantly, this excellence wasn’t limited to speed; it applied equally in battle.
Sure enough, they encountered pirates.
It was their first time exiting the jump after entering the Chaos Star Region. Due to the extremely harsh environment, Black Hair was very careful when choosing the jump coordinates, finding several clear areas within storm zones—the only safe spots within three standard jump ranges that weren’t affected by storms. However, what he didn’t expect was that while such places were safe for him, they might be the same for pirates as well.
There, it turned out to be a gathering place for three pirate organizations! With a disguised supply station and thirty oddly shaped pirate ships!!
As soon as they exited the jump, before even having time to scan the surroundings, they were hit by intense artillery fire. As the vanguard ship, Li Feng naturally had no chance to dodge and took the full brunt of the attacks. Instantly, the front of Li Feng was smashed to pieces, with the armored fragments from its camouflage scattering like fireworks.
It was fortunate it was Li Feng; if it had been an ordinary warship, it might have exploded right away from just this attack. The most direct consequence of exploding right after exiting a jump was that it would disrupt the anti-space jump coordinates, burying the subsequent ships still in transit.
But Li Feng wouldn’t. Although it was also severely damaged and seemed likely to explode at any moment, how could one judge the armor of the Wandering Clan with ordinary standards? In fact, despite its pitiful appearance, the actual damage it suffered was equivalent to none! Those shattered armored pieces were merely the crust of the Wandering Clan’s cellular structure—the real alloy armor hadn’t even been touched…

What made Black Hair and Blood-Pupiled eyes laugh the most was the Wanderer’s shell… that damn thing could regenerate infinitely!! Go ahead and attack as hard as you want. As long as no single barrage could break through its defenses, Li Feng would remain as unshakable as a mountain!!

But you can’t just take without giving in return. You bunch who are blocking my path might as well experience my fury.

Without a word, the experienced Blood Wolf pirates immediately counterattacked as per their habit. Those octopus people became their perfect targets. The pirates, who were used to being crew members, now held absolute power and were so excited their eyes turned red. A flurry of orders came from their mouths, leaving the octopus people scrambling, wishing they had more tentacles!!

But soon they realized they not only had fewer tentacles but also seemed to be running out of hormonal secretion.

These Por merchant commanders didn’t use conventional fleet combat tactics—they went all out in a desperate fight!!

They even ordered the entire fleet to perform a short-range tactical jump!!

You see, although jumps can theoretically be done at any time, in reality, whether in the human world or the Moor Empire, they’ve always been used for long-distance travel. Who would have thought someone would use them in battle? Were they not afraid of making a calculation mistake and disappearing? Or jumping out only to find their coordinates overlapping with those of other ships and causing collisions?

The Blood Wolf pirates dared to do it!!

Accustomed to Black Hair’s fighting style, when it came to desperation, there was probably no one in the entire universe braver than them. Although tactical jumps were dangerous, for these testosterone-driven men, they were nothing more than an appetizer! Especially with Black Hair in such a hurry to get somewhere, if these pirates were allowed to act freely, they could do anything.

As a result, this tactical jump naturally became material for the octopus people to boast about later.

They actually succeeded in sending five Swan ships straight into the lairs of those Storm Pirates, leading to a true close-quarters battle. The nearest Swan ship was less than 500 meters away from the enemy—almost resulting in a catastrophic collision due to overlapping coordinates!!

The Storm Pirates obviously never expected such a reckless fleet and were thrown into chaos by the sudden turn of events. With nearly thirty ships, they were as disorganized as chicks in a nest, unable to find their direction. Even worse, some Storm Pirate ships fired randomly, hitting their own allies.

For a moment, the scene was utterly chaotic. Meanwhile, the black-haired Swan Warship reaped huge benefits from the chaos, exploding into fifteen fast-medium-sized ships that moved through the Storm Pirates as if unimpeded. Violent energy beams filled every inch of space in an instant. In less than ten minutes, they completely crippled these Storm Pirates—fewer than five ships remained!!
At that time, the black-haired Li Feng leisurely activated his teleportation circle amidst the astonished and enraged gazes of the Storm Pirates, then disappeared into the vast starry sky, heading straight for the next turbulent star region…