Chapter 43: Chaos, Section 8

Black Hair’s operations went smoothly. After passing through the most dangerous rifts, his fleet gained experience. The journey that followed could be described as seamless. Especially after proving the possibility of teleportation, their speed increased dramatically. In just one day, this assassination fleet—completely made up of Leech warships and numbering up to five hundred—appeared behind the territories of the rebels.

It was like a hidden, dark bayonet. No one expected Black Hair to appear there. In fact, the Smo Empire’s entire attention was focused on the front lines against the Moore Empire. The rear was pitifully unguarded. When Black Hair left the nebula belt, he conducted a limited scan and found not a single fleet patrolling in hundreds of light-years around—his assassination fleet became the only armed force.

Yet this couldn’t be blamed on the Smo Empire’s poor defenses. It was simply that Black Hair’s appearance was utterly beyond imagination. The dangers of the nebula belt were well-known throughout the universe. Even after years of existence, the Moore Empire had never heard of anyone able to penetrate this natural barrier. Moreover, due to the assassination attempts on the emperor, the Moore Empire now had unprecedentedly strong forces for suppressing rebellions. Even the Duke of Purple Rock, despite years of experience, had to exert all his efforts against such power. The safety of the rear was left to the ubiquitous automated sentries.

Unfortunately, though these sentries were equipped with the Smo Empire’s latest technology, capturing Black Hair was like chasing a ghost. After all, when it came to special operations, no one in this universe was stronger than Black Hair, who had come from Earth.

So, even when Black Hair launched his hunt, the entire Smo Empire was unaware that such a ferocious “wolf” had slipped into its backyard.

With the addition of over twenty nobles and new rebels appearing constantly, their response to emergencies was sluggish. It took Black Hair less than a day to hunt down that minor noble. The power of the Leech warships was demonstrated once again. Fifty Black Crystal giants, combined into one force, crushed that noble as easily as squishing an ant. Although the enemy had fiveescort ships that offered slight resistance, they didn’t even manage to cause Black Hair any trouble. After destroying the enemy’s fleet, Black Hair still had time to reorganize their territory, destroying all the mining planets. Then, just as he arrived, he vanished silently into the universe.

With just this single battle, Black Hair caused a tremendous stir in the Smo Empire. It is said that when the news reached Emperor Zi Yan, this once powerful duke spat blood on the spot and immediately dispatched a medium-sized fleet of 300 Moor giant ships to carry out capture operations.

In no time, the entire Smo Empire became tense. Not only did the fleets fighting at the front fight even harder, but the nobles in the rear also accelerated the production of ships, determined to build a self-defensive force as quickly as possible. Within just five days, ten lords established their own private armies, doubling the number of ships in the Smo Empire’s fleet.

This was no joke, nor an exaggeration. Everyone understood that if Baron Beck could silently appear behind the empire and kill a minor noble right under everyone’s noses, he surely had the ability to do even more terrifying things. The Smo Empire had just been founded, with foundations far less stable than those of the Moor Empire. If it were severely damaged by him, it might collapse in a very short time, making it difficult to attract new members.

In essence, Black Hair’s appearance was like a thorn planted in the hearts of the rebels—something that had to be removed immediately.

Yet, the world is fair. Although Black Hair’s arrival caused a sharp increase in the rebels’ fleet numbers, it also exposed their weakness of a lack of skilled personnel. A large number of warships were produced, but there were no commanders or pilots to operate them, becoming a major problem for the Smo Empire. From Black Hair’s perspective, the Smo Empire’s aggressive stance was nothing but a display of bluster.

What good were all those ships if their quality was uneven and they lacked proper command? They were nothing but a ragtag bunch. Black Hair could spot hundreds of weaknesses in the Smo Empire without even looking. In fact, if he wished, he could take any major lord’s life at any time!

However, he would not do so.

The assassination mission was assigned to him by the Moor Emperor, and it was the condition under which he obtained those 500 leech warships. But that didn’t mean Black Hair truly agreed to it. On the contrary, if possible, he even preferred the Moor Empire to remain more chaotic. How could he possibly genuinely help the Moor Empire suppress rebellion?

So for over a month thereafter, Black Hair acted like a ghost, wandering around the Smo Empire’s backyard with five hundred warships. Today he would strike at one place, tomorrow at another. Occasionally, on a whim, he would go after the private armies newly formed by those great lords, causing quite a stir. Over the course of a month, more than two hundred minor nobles were harassed by him, but the actual results were minimal—at most five of them, for being too disobedient, had their entire families wiped out by Black Hair.

As a result, the Smo Empire suffered no significant losses, yet it was utterly flustered by Black Hair’s actions. Moreover, Black Hair was well-versed in special operations tactics and never stayed in one place for a full month. The fleet sent by Duke Ziyan failed even to catch a glimpse of him, leaving the entire Smo Empire seething with hatred toward this Beck and filled with extreme fear of his elusive presence. They even gave him a new nickname: “Ghost of Darkness!”

“What a Ghost of Darkness! It seems you’ve been doing well lately. I’ve even heard about it here in the empire,” said Duke Taro, slapping the armrest of his chair and laughing heartily.

It had been one and a half months since their last departure. Black Hair’s fleet returned to the empire due to the need for supplies and other reasons. As soon as he arrived, he was received personally by Duke Taro. It was said that the great duke even skipped his entire day’s work to show how much he valued Black Hair.

It’s not surprising, really. Duke Taro’s current success is inseparable from Black Hair’s rise. Without Black Hair’s outstanding performance in the competition, he wouldn’t be where he is now. As the emperor’s confidant, he also understood very well that, despite now holding the power to control the emperor’s safety—having taken over from the former Duke of Death Dust—he was actually acting as a cover for Black Hair. What the emperor truly needed was a fierce commander like Black Hair to fight for him, not an old man with gray hair.

Duke Taro wasn’t someone without vision; otherwise, he wouldn’t have strongly supported Black Hair’s development from the start. So it’s understandable why he placed such high importance on Black Hair at this moment. There was one thing that still troubled him, though—that was the marriage proposal he had made for Wei Li. Black Hair still hadn’t given him an answer. Last time, it was because of the competition that the kid avoided him. This time, he absolutely wouldn’t let it slip by.

“The Archduke is too kind. It’s all thanks to your help that I’ve been able to achieve what I have today. I’ve come back this time to see if there’s anything you need from me, so I can prepare in advance,” said Hei Fa with a faint smile, raising the red wine in his hand to clink it against the Archduke’s. His attitude was humble and polite.

“Hehe, there’s nothing special. It’s all for the sake of the Emperor. I’ve just been busy dealing with matters related to the Smo Empire. As long as those rebels aren’t eliminated, I won’t be able to relax. A few days ago, the imperial military even issued a special call for volunteers, urging all warlike races within the empire to join the campaign. At the same time, a new group of commanders was appointed to intensify attacks on the front lines.” Seeing Hei Fa’s humility, the Archduke felt greatly relieved and smiled happily.

“Oh?” Hei Fa raised an eyebrow. “Have the vassal races been mobilized?”

“Yes,” sighed the Archduke. “We had no choice but to do so. This rebellion was originally planned by the False Moors. For the dignity of the Moors, the vassal races shouldn’t be involved. But things are getting difficult now. The False Moors have been plotting for years, with a solid foundation and immense power. If left unchecked, they might indeed succeed. That’s why the Emperor personally ordered that every possible effort be made to suppress them as quickly as possible.”

“Even if it means using the vassal races?” Hei Fa took a sip of wine, a subtle smile appearing on his lips.

“That’s right,” nodded the Archduke.

Of course, he understood what Hei Fa meant by that question. As the name implies, the vassal races were the victims of the Moor Empire’s years of conquests. They hadn’t joined the empire voluntarily but were forced by its overwhelming power. Normally, using them in external campaigns wasn’t a problem. But in this situation, it clearly posed a risk.

After all, no one was stupid. The fact that the Moor Empire had to resort to using its vassal races showed its own weakness. And over prolonged conflicts, the vassal races would inevitably produce many elites and accumulate resources. Once they grew too powerful, it might trigger another rebellion.

Ultimately, this was a huge hidden problem, leaving the Archduke deeply worried.

At the thought of this, Grand Duke Taro grew even more worried. Before this, when the Moor Empire was at its peak, who could have imagined such a huge upheaval would occur? In just a few months, everything had changed. The empire’s emperor was assassinated, and its territories were divided. The empire, which had endured for thousands of years, was now in shambles. Rebel forces had grown unprecedentedly strong, forcing the empire to deploy all its strength to suppress them. Meanwhile, the internal vassal tribes were also restless, making it impossible to feel at ease. Sitting in the seat of Grand Duke Deathdust was like sitting on the crater of a volcano—truly a source of constant anxiety.

But for now, he really had no solution. Fortunately, he had an excellent subordinate by his side, so he wasn’t completely panicked. It was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

With that thought, Grand Duke Taro suddenly slapped his head and winked at the black-haired man. “Oh, right. You’ve come back just in time. There are two things I need your help with.”

“Hmm. What are they?” The black-haired man was stunned, a badpremonition suddenly creeping over him. Suddenly, he shuddered.