Chapter 130: Chapter 77 Deception and Gain
The Pirate Leader silently mouthed the name Psychic, which he once thought was just a legend.
Meanwhile, he used the remaining energy from the damaged ship’s engine to observe the outside view with sensors.
The ships belonging to him were all like his Mule Level vessel, with engines destroyed, paralyzed in space, completely losing their ability to resist.
Moreover, there was still a Frigate of Dusk quietly roaming the edge of the battlefield, without actually engaging them.
They were entirely defeated without the enemy showing their full strength.
The Pirate Leader’s heart was filled with despair.
But he didn’t want to die.
He attempted again to send a communication request using his personal terminal, which could still be activated.
This time, the communication was connected.
The Pirate Leader asked in a trembling voice: "What do you want? Everything on our ship is yours. I have three million credits left on my card. As long as you spare us, all of this can be yours."
Chen Ming, leaning on a simple text-to-speech equipment installed on the ship, responded with a mechanical tone: "You don’t want to die?"
"Yes, if you’re willing to spare us, we’ll do anything for you."
"Hmm..."
Chen Ming responded meaningfully, not rushing to give a clear answer.
Instead, he directly hung up the communication.
The Pirate Leader felt tightness in his chest upon hearing the busy tone, and the atmosphere in the captain’s room stagnated.
However, the feared assault did not occur; the surrounding ships didn’t open fire to destroy them.
Instead, a quiet period passed.
About ten minutes later, Iron Ore No. suddenly approached from the other side of the Superspace Channel.
It flew directly to the rear of the Mule Level vessel, aligning its hatch with the Mule’s engine nozzle.
Allowing Chen Ming to reach out and touch the Mule level’s hull, gaining control.
The whole process went smoothly, unnoticed by anyone.
Now the pirates were entirely blinded.
With the engines crippled and energy drained, most of their ship’s systems shut down.
Including sensors and external cameras.
Before the battle broke out, their window shutters were presumably opened.
After the engines failed at the battle’s end, these shutters wouldn’t close again.
Chen Ming deliberately left them in limbo to personally come and commandeer this Destroyer-level Mule.
After securing control of the Mule Level vessel.
Chen Ming proactively sent a communication request via the previous code.
The communication connected almost instantly, with the Pirate Leader’s uneasy voice transmitting: "Hello?"
Chen Ming’s purpose now was to keep the Pirate Leader alive to bring him before his boss. He had prepared his narrative along the way.
Chen Ming slightly rehearsed his performance, and began: "I won’t kill you."
The Pirate Leader’s voice was somewhat excited: "Really?"
"Why would I lie? If I truly wanted to kill you, would I bother saying so much? I just need you to do something for me."
"I know you might not trust my words, but believe it or not, if you don’t, I’d kill you."
The Pirate Leader had no other option but to say: "I believe, of course I believe, tell me your orders."
"Do you have others around you now?"
"No, I’ve just scattered them to prepare for posthumous affairs, I am alone in the room now."
"Alright, reassure your men, and don’t let them cause any commotion."
"Okay, what then?"
"I’ll send you to a location to follow orders from the influential figure who directed me here."
"What?"
Chen Ming adjusted his tone to sound particularly serious: "An influential figure requires you alive, wants to meet you personally."
"You should know, the government doesn’t care about the life or death of pirates like you. Whether I have your head or not, I can still claim your bounty."
"So, you being alive means certain important people have specific requirements."
The Pirate Leader couldn’t help swallowing with a mix of panic and surprise.
His mind was flashing past events constantly.
Desperately thinking about where he might have pleased or angered major figures.
Even though Chen Ming had directly attacked him, showing considerable hostility, it’s probably the latter, but a thread of hope remained in his heart.
The Pirate Leader knew he had done lots of dirty work, helped many people with tasks they didn’t want to do themselves, and done things that earned him others’ disdain.
The bounty on his head increased significantly while doing these things.
After gaining some fame, or rather infamy.
Indeed, people had sought him for tasks.
Some with genuine intent, others with malicious intent.
Whether it was sincere offers or malicious threats, he would selectively accept to avoid offending the wrong people.
Under such circumstances, being directly approached and crushed indicates something went wrong with what he did regularly.
Hence, he immediately recalled the small merchant caravan he had just robbed a couple of days ago.