Chapter 37: Visiting the Empire – Section 1

Hei Fa had no idea. While he was trapped in that mysterious space, the entire universe had been thrown into chaos by the Moors.
It all started with those “angels”’s surprise attack on the First Corridor.
To be fair, the Moors were indeed the undisputed rulers of the universe, but they didn’t enjoy the support of all races. In this universe, aside from the tribes that relied on the Moors, there were many other races that also had extremely close ties with them.
These races referred to themselves collectively as… “The Rebels.”
Simple and straightforward, isn’t it? Just by their name, one could easily guess their purpose. In reality, their actions were similar to those of rebels during uprisings on Earth in the past. Composed of countless diverse races, they lived on the fringes of the Moor Empire. Those chaotic asteroid belts and stormy regions served as their paradise. Perhaps the environment there was harsh—they might not even get a whole piece of bread to eat every day, nor drink anything but the most nutrient-poor recycled water. Yet they led fulfilling lives.
Their purpose in life was simple: to linger at the edges of the Moor Empire and do whatever it took to cause trouble for them—raiding merchant ships, ambushing patrols, and even launching suicidal attacks, sacrificing their remaining lives for a glorious victory.
Of course, such attempts didn’t always succeed. If they failed, the Rebels would lose their lives as well. But seeing the Moor Empire suffer, even slightly, was enough to fill them with joy.
After all, they were survivors of the Moor Empire’s conquests. Their only reason for living now was revenge.
During this time, these Rebels experienced the happiest—and most painful—times of their lives.
The Moor Empire launched a crackdown on them.
In the areas once ravaged by the Rebels, fleets of Moorian warships moved like ancient beasts. Unlike their usual patrols, their actions now bordered on madness. No longer ignoring the existence of the Rebels, they launched near-suicidal attacks on their gathering places.

In just five short days, twenty-six rebel strongholds were reduced to rubble. Thirty-seven hundred rebels were slaughtered. In their former strongholds, scattered corpses floated in space like discarded trash, their eyes still reflecting the anger and terror of death, their pale eyeballs like those of dead fish.

Such intense conflict naturally reached all the rebels immediately. But rather than the sudden retaliation from the Moor Empire, the rebels were more concerned about who had caused this disaster. For them, death was merely a form of liberation. Yet if they could hear some good news before dying, it would be worth it all. So during that time, every dark bar among the rebels was packed. These men, driven only by revenge, with red eyes and dry lips, drank bitter chestnut wine while whispering excitedly. They fervently debated what could have prompted such a fierce reaction from the Moors.

The answer came quickly. It was the explosion that occurred in the First Corridor a few days earlier. It was said that a Moorian lord was nearby at the time and was also caught in the blast; his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Initially, it wasn’t a major incident, but unfortunately, this lord possessed firsthand information about the destruction of a star station. His disappearance directly triggered the Moor Empire’s retaliation against the rebels!

And it was said that the culprits of that incident were the “Winged Ones.”

The “Winged Ones” were the rebels’ nickname for those “angels” seen by Blackhair. In fact, long before Blackhair encountered them, they had already been active around the Moors. Unlike the rebels, however, their raids were always aimed at acquiring resources, with few acts of pure revenge. Thus, although the rebels couldn’t fully approve of the Winged Ones’ actions, they still regarded them as allies.

But this time, the Winged Ones caused quite a big problem. The Moors went to great lengths, even risking their own lives, in response. What excited the rebels was that, in just five days, although the Moors destroyed many of their strongholds, they also suffered terrible losses. After all, the rebels’ habitats were some of the harshest environments in space. No matter how powerful the Moorian warships were, fighting in such complex areas also meant heavy casualties. So those five days were not only a disaster for the rebels but also a blow to the Moors.

As many as sixty giant ships encountered a storm during their hunt and disappeared from the battle formation. Their true purpose was never achieved. None of the rebels knew that a cry had been sent from those missing ships all along: “Lord Beck, where on earth are you?”

Hei Fa was on his way. Without the First Corridor, he couldn’t complete Miss Wei Li’s orders on time. Yet he had to go to the Moor Empire, so he could only use the simplest method—ordinary teleportation—to cover the second half of the journey.

During this lonely space voyage, Hei Fa had no idea that the Moors had already mobilized in force. He didn’t know what state his Death Star was in, nor what had become of the human expedition force that followed him. But he had no choice. The Moor Empire was too vast. A conventional war would likely take a long time to eliminate this threat. So Hei Fa could only gamble that the race would collapse from within.

Of course, in this gamble, Hei Fa wasn’t shy about acting as a catalyst.

He got in touch with Blood Pupil. As the one left behind by Lord Beck at the 76 Triple Star Station, Blood Pupil had undoubtedly become the station’s top leader. Though his actions bordered on overstepping authority, he had already taken control of the entire station’s fate until a new governor was sent by the Moor Empire. By now, nearly thirty Moor giant ships had gathered at the 76 Triple Star Station, making it the Moors’ closest force to humanity.

Hei Fa knew that after his disappearance, Blood Pupil might also be affected. So he urgently needed to know what the Moors had done in response.

Sure enough, as soon as the communication was established, Blood Pupil started shouting.

“Oh, damn it! Boss, you’ve finally gotten in touch with me. Where have you been these past few days? Why couldn’t anyone find you? Damn it, that little girl Wei Li is going crazy. And that old bastard Marshal Wick—they’re like a swarm of flies, buzzing in my ears every day!! My head’s about to explode!!”

“We were hunting birds,” Monkey interjected irritably, his small knife spinning in his hand, his face twisted in frustration.

To be honest, he was the most bored during this trip. He thought he’d be able to do something interesting by following Hei Fa, but instead, he spent the time sleeping. When he woke up, there were eleven beautiful ‘angels’ in the cabin, drawing the attention of all the crew. Asking Hei Fa about their origin yielded no answer. It was incredibly frustrating.

Of course, the monkey wasn’t stupid. He knew these angels must be related to the pursuit before falling asleep. But Black Hair refused to answer, so he couldn’t press further. Feeling depressed, he naturally didn’t speak kindly to Blood Pupil either.
However, Blood Pupil wasn’t aware of this. Seeing the monkey’s unamiable reply, she was taken aback and scratched her head.
“Hunting birds? Where in the universe are there birds for you to hunt? And why did you turn off your communication while hunting? I couldn’t get in touch with you at all.”
“Don’t listen to the monkey’s nonsense. Something happened here,” Black Hair interrupted their exchange, unwilling to let the monkey make things up. “How’s things where you are? I just heard that Veli tried to contact you. Did she leave any message?”
“Oh, of course. She seemed very anxious. It seems the First Corridor has been destroyed, and she can’t find you. Worried that you might return only to lose your way to the Empire, she gave me a coordinate. She asked me to pass it on when I got in touch with you. Veli said it’s the address of the Second Corridor, hoping you can reach it as soon as possible. She’ll leave someone there to meet you at the other end of the corridor.” Blood Pupil frowned and added, “From what she said, things seem quite unstable these days. She told you to be careful and try to contact her as soon as possible so she can protect you.”
“Oh?” Black Hair was stunned. He sensed there was more to it. “Protect me? Why protect me?”
“I can’t answer that either, boss,” Blood Pupil sighed. “And if I’m right, our forces at the 76 Triple Star Station won’t last long either. It seems the high ranks of the Moore Empire plan to send another governor. The exact time isn’t determined yet, but it won’t be long.”
“It doesn’t matter. If they come, just leave them to handle it. But we need to prepare in advance. Back to Veli’s message. Since she said she wants to protect me, it must mean something serious has happened in the Moore Empire. Do you have any news from there? Tell me what the most urgent matters are.” Black Hair frowned and interrupted Blood Pupil.
Seeing Black Hair’s expression, Blood Pupil was clearly stunned, seemingly not yet reacting. “Well, nothing really serious. The Empire just sent a large fleet to suppress some existing rebel forces. It seems many people died, and some of the Empire’s warships were destroyed too.”
“And you call that nothing serious?” Black Hair’s eyes widened. His heart sank suddenly.

Quell the rebel forces—either do it early or don’t do it at all. Why act now? Plus, there’s the message Veri left for him. His dark hair and expression changed instantly.
“That’s not right. They’re looking for me!”