Chapter 1 The Battle Report

Inside the Hei Yao battleship's command center, an operator reported, "The battle is over. Radar scans confirm that all invading enemies have been eliminated, but the damage is a bit excessive."

"Battle damage report."

Li Ruiqi asked directly.

"A total of 521 training personnel and 521 mecha units were deployed. We eliminated 726 Type-I camouflage floating insects. One hundred and twenty I-generation Iron Guard mechas sustained minor damage, eighty-two sustained major damage, and three were scrapped! Personnel-wise, seventy-eight were slightly injured, twelve were seriously injured, and there were no fatalities."

The operator reported almost through gritted teeth; the battle results were simply appalling.

Li Ruiqi's aged face was taut, revealing not a trace of emotion.

He turned his head and asked Putemi, "How long until the first stop?"

"About seven days at sublight speed."

"Increase the training intensity for all combat departments."

Li Ruiqi said in a deep voice.

"Actually, you don't need to be so angry. After all, they've never experienced space combat before. It's normal for it not to be ideal."

Putemi tried to persuade him.

Li Ruiqi said with unusual harshness, "I can choose not to be angry. But those monsters won't show mercy. We can only force them into action now."

After hearing this, Putemi also fell into rare silence, and finally replied.

"I understand."

......

Seven days later, in the dark starry sky, the Hei Yao activated its stasis system. A gray planet in the distant star sea came into view.

At the entrance of the Hei Yao's highest-level combat room, special guests were arriving.

Spade, Augulas, Li Ruiqi, Putemi, and DeLayre walked over.

The guard saluted and opened the door.

As the five entered, Li Ruiqi stopped and instructed the soldiers at the door, "Absolutely no one is to be disturbed."

"Yes, Captain."

The guard replied respectfully.

Then the door closed!

The dim lights of the special combat room turned on automatically, and then the automatic video display began.

A prompt appeared: Remote communication is being established. Then, Long Ming and Iselin's images appeared.

Long Ming said to DeLayre in a deep voice, "DeLayre, we have fulfilled the conditions we agreed upon. Can we start talking now?"

DeLayre's old face twisted for a moment, as if he had made a great decision.

"Honorable Federal Councilor Long Ming, thank you very much for bringing me here. I also believe in your sincerity. Now we can start talking. This dead star you see is the former homeworld of our Batak Kingdom. After the Batak Kingdom was destroyed, this planet was rejected by the Ring City and drifted here. I used to be the hereditary Duke of the Batak Kingdom, in charge of the entire country's material distribution. I am ashamed to say that in the most dangerous time, I chose to escape and prolong my life."

Long Ming still gave DeLayre some face and did not mock him for escaping to the Ring City with a lot of wealth. Instead, he said considerately.

"Mr. DeLayre, let the past be the past. People always have to look forward and not always blame themselves. Our Federation has extended an olive branch of friendship to you, and we hope you will not disappoint us."

"I understand. Let me briefly tell you that although our Batak Kingdom was destroyed, most of the weapons were damaged. But it's not like nothing is left. As far as I know, there is still a considerable amount of star stones hidden in our national treasury, which used to be the royal family's private vault. Most importantly, our country once purchased the manufacturing technology for a third-generation mecha, but due to limited funds, we did not build a production line. Moreover, there are still a lot of raw materials and other technologies, as well as cutting-edge equipment obtained from the Ring City, and I know where they are."

DeLayre revealed everything.

"Very good, what do you want?"

Long Ming asked.

This DeLayre was very shrewd. Don't think that he has reached cooperation with the Federation. But he always held back. For example, he never talked about what was inside when discussing the exploration of their home planet, and insisted on talking about it on the spot. Moreover, he only revealed the matters about the Cup of Heaven and the entire Negative Universe little by little, always keeping enough bargaining chips in his hands.

"Honorable Speaker, I don't want much. I hope you can give me a noble status with certain exemptions. Let me and my family live decently within the federal system. Also, I hope I can get 10% of the profits from this."

DeLayre made his request, and he grasped the scale of the price very well. In fact, if he insisted on dividing a large portion, he might be able to succeed, but the consequences after success may not be good.

His current situation does not allow him to ask for too much.

However, Long Ming did not fully agree to DeLayre's request. He directly said, "The risk of exploring the Batak Kingdom is extremely high, and we may have to pay a heavy price. Moreover, no one can say for sure how much wealth remains inside after so many years, so I can only promise to give you 5% of the profit."

DeLayre's old face twitched violently. He expected Long Ming to bargain, but he didn't expect him to cut so fiercely.

But it doesn't matter. DeLayre also held back. He said,

"Speaker Long Ming, I know your difficulties, but I still insist on 10% of the profits. Of course, you will definitely not lose, because in addition to what I said before, there is one more important thing..."

Hearing DeLayre's words, Long Ming sneered inwardly, although his expression did not change much. As expected, none of those who can survive are easy to deal with.

"Oh, what is it? I'm not an unreasonable person either. You can talk about it. If it's weighty enough, it's not impossible to make concessions."

DeLayre replied with great confidence.

"Don't worry, you will definitely be satisfied with the thing, but..."

"But what?"

"It's like this..."

DeLayre said in a low voice.

......

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Inside the Hei Yao's hangar, Su Mo squatted, watching the team members train in piloting the Iron Guard mechas.

It has to be said that after this period of training, each team member has made excellent progress, far stronger than before.

If they were given enough time to grow, Su Mo believed that each of them could become an expert.

At this time, Chen Shan walked to Su Mo's side, squatted down, and handed him a nutrition bar.

"Eat something. It's really hell. Recently, the higher-ups have been asking us to eat this stuff every day, and my mouth can't take it anymore."

"The training intensity has been pretty high recently."

Su Mo took the nutrition bar, bit it open, and started eating.

"It's probably because the last space battle was too unsightly, so they issued a high-intensity training order. But it doesn't matter, the benefits of training are ultimately your own."

Chen Shan didn't care.