Pirate starships typically adopt one of two attitudes towards powerful newcomers like the Starship. Either they keep a wide berth, serving them carefully to avoid offense, or they forge alliances, standing together in the same trenches.
Hours later, the auction finally concluded. Some starships departed, accounting for roughly a quarter of the total, but the majority remained stationary, patiently waiting.
Ling Xiao, filled with worry, asked in a low voice, "Should we leave?"
Ou Zhanpeng decisively shook his head, "Prepare yourselves and wait and see!"
He didn't know what to do next, but following the crowd seemed like the safest bet at a time like this.
Before long, the departing starships had all vanished. The remaining vessels began to stir. They ignited their engines and headed towards the targets they had identified that morning, pairing up and whispering mysteriously to each other.
Including the Starship, only three or five starships remained solitary.
Ling Xiao couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment, "What's going on?"
Ou Zhanpeng also hesitated, wondering if they should seize the opportunity to escape this troublesome situation.
But just then, a massive starship, nearly seven kilometers in length, slowly approached.
What was happening?
Ou Zhanpeng's nerves instantly tightened, and everyone else raised their vigilance. If the other party displayed even the slightest hint of hostility, the Starship would open fire immediately.
The Starship, with its 2.3-kilometer length, was larger than most pirate ships. Yet, parked next to this colossal vessel, it was like a cucumber beside a watermelon, not even in the same league.
Don't assume that larger ships are necessarily clumsy. The ability to construct a ship this immense and have it fly normally like a smaller starship indicated extremely advanced propulsion technology on the part of the owner.
Ou Zhanpeng's heart pounded, and he nearly drooled. How wonderful it would be if humanity possessed such advanced propulsion technology!
The Starship made all preparations for the worst. Fortunately, the situation did not spiral into an uncontrollable abyss. The other ship stopped a few hundred meters away and requested a direct communication.
A group of people exchanged bewildered glances, a mixture of surprise and doubt on their faces.
"Should we accept?" Ling Xiao asked.
"Accept! Why not?" Ou Zhanpeng made up his mind. "Let's see what they want first!"
The communication connected, and a species difficult to describe appeared on the screen. Although humanoid, its skin was a very deep, dark brown. Its head was covered in black, rod-like protrusions, as if it had a head full of short horns.
The facial features were distinct, but the eyes were extremely small and widely spaced. The mouth and nose seemed like those of a startled rabbit, squeezed together tightly, unwilling to separate.
Ou Zhanpeng kept a stern face and said nothing. The other party, however, spoke with considerable surprise, "Oh, humans?"
The person spoke in the common tongue, but their pronunciation was so strange that the translation device immediately malfunctioned, displaying an unidentifiable error.
Everyone felt a pang of dismay.
Ou Zhanpeng pondered for a moment before understanding what the other party had said. He spoke, word by word, in broken common tongue, "What's wrong with humans? Is there a problem?"
"No, no, no, what race you are is not important. I'm just a little surprised," the black-horned one said very slowly, trying his best to enunciate each word clearly.
However, his common tongue, like Ou Zhanpeng's, was that of a dabbler who understood only superficially. Despite his efforts, it remained difficult to comprehend.
Ou Zhanpeng decided to stop speaking and replied directly in text: "Speak directly if you have something to say!"
The black-horned one also seemed relieved and readily replied, "Deliver the gold!"
What?
"What gold?" Ou Zhanpeng's expression immediately turned grim. What did he mean?
The black-horned one blinked his tiny, mung-bean-sized eyes and tried to explain, "The gold for buying the planet."
Ou Zhanpeng was about to explode, thinking the other party had come to stir up trouble and buy Earth.
But the black-horned one's next words immediately extinguished his anger, "The victor takes all. You won, so the planet auctioned naturally belongs to you."
A group of people looked at each other, all stunned by this statement, unable to believe it was true.
Ling Xiao's expression was as if he had found a lottery ticket worth fifty million: "This thing can be inherited? So, they're going to give us a batch of gold? How much gold did they bid for the planet?"
This was truly a windfall!
Ou Zhanpeng was not as optimistic, "They must know we are not pirates, otherwise, there would be no need to explain so clearly."
"Does it matter?" Ling Xiao's mind was filled with gold. "Such a good thing, you wouldn't find it even with a lantern!"
Ou Zhanpeng still felt uneasy. Since their cover was blown anyway, they might as well go all in. "What do you need us to do?"
A windfall was certainly good, but he didn't believe such a thing would happen to them.
The black-horned one's expression shifted subtly, perhaps he was smiling, "Of course, you need to secure ownership of the planet, and then complete the exchange of money for goods."
With that, Ou Zhanpeng finally understood.
After defeating the Black Ship, the planet theoretically belonged to the Starship. Other pirates might have been tempted by greed and tried to snatch it. Therefore, it was necessary to first confirm ownership of the planet and then complete the transaction.
Expanding his thinking, it wasn't even certain if the other party was a winning starship from the auction. Perhaps they had seen that the Starship knew nothing and were intentionally trying to take advantage of the situation.
Strike first, suffer later. Even if the wronged party showed up, the Starship, having received the money, would be unable to go back on its word.
In this way, with the Starship as a buffer, the black-horned ones could advance or retreat, placing themselves in an invincible position!
Having figured out the details, Ou Zhanpeng immediately made a decision, "Where is that planet?"
The black-horned one looked surprised, "You don't know?"
"Should we know?"
The black-horned one probably realized that the Starship was completely clueless and no longer played coy. "It's in this star system, the third planet. Didn't you notice?"
Ou Zhanpeng hadn't looked closely. He zoomed in and indeed, it looked exactly like the holographic projection. He immediately began to consider whether this deal would be beneficial or detrimental.
Noticing Ou Zhanpeng's hesitation, the black-horned one urged repeatedly, "If you don't take the initiative, it means you are defaulting on your ownership of the planet, understand?"
"What does he mean?" Ling Xiao was completely baffled.
Ou Zhanpeng's thoughts turned a few times, "Perhaps he means that in the pirate world, the strong prey on the weak. If you give up benefits already obtained, it's like being weak and easily bullied, which could lead to unnecessary trouble."
Having a big fist didn't necessarily mean being right, but among pirate groups, having a big fist was fundamental to survival.
"Holy cow, is that true? Are aliens so good at psychology?" Ling Xiao suddenly felt that aliens were not only skilled in technology but also had minds like honeycombs, full of holes.
"It has nothing to do with psychology. They are in such an environment; those without a bit of cunning would have long since perished," Ou Zhanpeng secretly resolved, "Attention all personnel, this vessel will initiate jump. All departments prepare for combat!"
At the command, with ten seconds to countdown, the Starship activated a wormhole and appeared near the third planet.
To prevent any surprises, they maintained a slight distance.
However, the Starship's appearance here was itself a declaration of ownership to all pirates.
There were no anomalies near the planet. It simply hung quietly in the void, half exposed to sunlight and half hidden in darkness.
A moment later, another wormhole opened nearby, and the black-horned one's starship emerged, appearing near the Starship. They showed great trust – if the Starship had attacked while they were passing through the wormhole, their ship, no matter how large, would have been destroyed.
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly felt like he had become the fox in the idiom "the fox borrowing the tiger's might," but this fox was rather too large. Even without the Starship, would any unobservant eye provoke them?
Whether it was that pirates were generally law-abiding or that they believed they couldn't defeat the Starship, the two ships cruised around the planet. No other pirates approached them proactively, nor did any other starships contact them. It seemed this windfall was secured.
As Ou Zhanpeng breathed a sigh of relief, many questions also arose in his mind.
Still with the attitude of going all in, Captain Ou was not polite and posed a series of questions he couldn't understand.
The black-horned one was patient and answered them one by one.
Only then did everyone learn that pirate auctions never restricted the identity of participants. It was common for people to seek revenge, rescue others, or stir up trouble during auctions. There were even those who specifically used auctions as an opportunity to settle scores.
Generally speaking, as long as the actions were directed at a specific target and not a blanket attack, there would be no collective retaliation.
This wasn't because pirates valued righteousness, but because competition among pirates was fierce. One less starship meant one less competitor, which was a good thing for other pirates.
Besides, going out of one's way to help unrelated strangers, and for the sake of petty squabbles involving raiding and plundering, required an immense amount of recklessness and stupidity.
Furthermore, given that pirates usually moved erratically, victims often went to great lengths to seek justice during auctions. Pirates were accustomed to this, and it would be more surprising if there were no disruptions during an auction.
The rule of "the victor takes all" was not made arbitrarily. It was to entice victims with benefits, transforming them into new pirates by a simple change of identity.
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly understood. So that's how it worked, no wonder!
At first glance, it seemed a bit contradictory, but then again, men had two great hobbies: corrupting the innocent and reforming the wicked. Why couldn't pirates have some wicked fun?
In addition, pirate auctions were not as straightforward. They were generally divided into two stages: public transactions and free transactions.
The former was, naturally, the auction segment, usually for selling spoils of war that were less troublesome, or when they were confident they wouldn't be targeted by victims. However, instances of failure were quite common.
The black-horned one even used the Black Ship as an example to illustrate the dangers of auctions, as if to warn Ou Zhanpeng that if he obtained good items in the future, he shouldn't be so high-profile. Captain Ou's face darkened upon hearing this.
After the public transaction ended, pirates who did not wish to participate in free transactions could leave. If the Starship had left earlier, it would have meant voluntarily forfeiting the planet's ownership, and by now, other pirates would likely have been fighting over it fiercely.
Then came the free transactions, which were essentially private deals, usually for things that were best kept out of the limelight.
The rules changed slightly during this phase. Sellers actively sought buyers, and buyers simply waited for the experts to arrive. No one inquired about what was being traded, so trouble was rarely encountered.
Compared to auctions, free transactions had the advantages of lower prices, higher quality, and greater safety, making them very popular among pirates. It was often possible to find good deals.
From a certain perspective, free transactions were the highlight of the auctions.
However, what was traded publicly was generally safe. But for items obtained through free transactions, one had to consider carefully. If one accidentally got into trouble, losing money to resolve the issue would be fortunate; the fear was losing money and still not solving the problem.
After circling the planet several times and scanning all its data, they confirmed that no one would cause trouble.
The black-horned ones indicated that the gold could be delivered. A hatch on the side of their ship opened, and a cube-shaped object slowly floated towards the Starship.
Ou Zhanpeng operated with both hands, a tractor beam enveloping the object and locking it in mid-air.
The sensor scan revealed no issues before the object was brought into the ship's hold. It was 100% pure gold. The scan indicated the object's volume was exactly 9 cubic meters, weighing approximately 174 tons.
So, one unit equaled 1.74 tons!
Finally understanding the unit conversion between humans and pirates, Ou Zhanpeng did not hesitate and took possession of nearly 4000 units, or over 6000 tons of gold.
Although it sounded like a lot, it was only 340-odd cubic meters, piled together it was merely a stack of 7x7x7, easily fitting into a large cargo bay.
Yes, looking at the data alone, it wasn't much. Describing it as the size of a two-story building would be more intuitive.
With the transaction complete, the black-horned ones got the planet, and the Starship acquired a pile of gold out of nowhere. Both parties were delighted.
"This deal is worth it!" Ling Xiao's smile was so wide that his tongue was exposed to everyone's view.
It was just too profitable!
But only over 6000 tons of gold for a planet? That price was too cheap! Something felt not quite right.
Ou Zhanpeng was not as excited as expected. He continued to contact the black-horned ones, clearly stating that the Starship's appearance there was a coincidence and expressing his desire to purchase some information from them.
He didn't mention why their appearance was unexpected, and they didn't ask.
The universe was full of mysterious events. Many people got lost due to various accidents, and some were forced to become pirates because they couldn't find their way home.
"Absolutely! " the black-horned ones readily agreed. "Two units of gold per question."
Ling Xiao cursed, "They're robbing us blind!"
Two units of gold, that was three and a half tons!
As if hearing his dissatisfaction, the black-horned ones explained, "That's the going rate. You can ask other starships if you don't believe me."
Ou Zhanpeng directly sent back one unit of gold, "Where is this place?"
"You really got lost! Your luck is too good!" the black-horned ones exclaimed with much emotion.
"You still haven't answered my question."
"This is the Outer X Sector!" the black-horned ones said.
The 'X' here was a character Ou Zhanpeng had never encountered, instantly confusing everyone in the bridge.
Didn't they say common tongue was simple? Was this the simplicity they spoke of? It would be better if it were more complicated!