"I'm afraid their motives are more complicated than you think." Yao Chen couldn't stand her laziness. He knew this girl really didn't intend to do anything, just waiting for others to slip up on their own. But such things are simple in theory, but if you overlook any important factors, you might be letting a wolf into your house without even realizing it.
Chaoge hummed a song softly, putting on an expression that showed she really didn't care about the matter.
"I forgot to tell you, when I came up here, Rhett told me that within three months, they might target the Federation's supplies."
Chaoge: ...Why is it so hard for me to take a break?
Slumped over her desk, looking utterly dejected, Chaoge muttered, "Can we discuss this later? Is it so hard for me to take a month off?" Even without Yaochen's reply, she knew it was impossible.
When I was just a nobody, I envied the bosses. But when I actually became a mini-boss myself, I realized that life is... well, let's not dwell on it QAQ
☆ Chapter 72: The Ninth Evaluation of the Yin-Yang Collection
Two months later.
The Yin-Yang Clan Headquarters Meeting Room in the West District of the City That Never Sleeps.
A pale blue screen floats in the center, behind which is a complete map of the galaxy. You can zoom in on any part of it and view the current flight path information.
"The area adjacent to the P4 Nebula should have housed E239 as a military base. However, after it was destroyed by the Planetary Destruction Cannon last April, the P4 Nebula's base was moved to a nearby constellation. It is of similar size and serves the same purpose as the previous E239 base." The speaker was Yao Chen. While briefly introducing the background of the target to the others, he tapped the small blue screen in front of him, and instantly the information about this military base was shared to the largest floating screen.
"Due to the scarcity of energy in the periphery of P4, all supplies for the forward military bases are provided by the rear. The supply frequency is once every six months. It is June now, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, Federation supply ships will be heading to this base this month." Jiang Ningtao, who was in charge of resources and data, took over from Yaochen and completed the information for everyone.
Ritter, who had originally suggested this operation, now had doubts: "This area of the P4 Nebula has always been a battleground for the Imperial Alliance and the Federation Legion. Taking action right when supplies are being replenished is quite risky, especially since this constellation only stabilized six months ago. Although the Crystalless Empire has not made any major moves on the battlefield in the past six months, no one can predict what might happen."
As he said this, his eyes remained indifferent, as if the matter he was raising was not a big deal.
So easily it stirred up Chaoge's memories... The so-called unexpected situation, wasn't it referring to the full-scale counterattack from the Empire when the Juecheng Federation was established last year?
How could she forget that she lost her most important friend here during that war?
That's why she's able to sit here today.
Yao Chen's purple eyes looked over coldly, devoid of any emotion, yet inexplicably made those within his field of vision feel a chill, as if he were not looking at a living person.
Spall was sitting right next to Ritter, his pale golden eyes filled with confusion. He kept glancing between Yao Chen and Ritter, not quite understanding why a simple question had made Yao Chen so angry. He instinctively tugged at Ritter's sleeve, signaling him to skip the question.
The little yellow cat, which was resting on his head, suddenly opened its eyes when it sensed the cold gaze from its natural enemy. Its orange-yellow eyes stared at Yaochen like light bulbs.
Rhett glanced at him sideways, meeting his disapproving gaze.
Chaoge smiled and shook his head at Yaochen, then looked at them again. After a long pause, he said, "Between this year and next February, the Wujing Empire should not make any major moves. Rather than the Federation worrying about the invasion of the Allied Forces, it is more accurate to say that the Empire should be wary of a sudden attack from the Federation."
Ying blinked her sky-blue eyes, twirling her dark red hair in her hand, and tilted her head as she asked, "Why? The empire's leader doesn't seem like such a passive person, otherwise the counterattack wouldn't have been fought so well back then."
Chaoge smiled upon hearing her question, her deep brown eyes fixed on the military base map in front of her, and replied casually, "Because next year, the Wujing Empire will hold a celebration for General Qin's 100th birthday."
One hundred years old is the age at which people in the Red Cloud Galaxy enter maturity; this age is extremely important.
Because this day is so important, it's only natural to prepare a birthday celebration after its announcement. And the question Chaoge had been curious about regarding her age has now been answered.
Although this news is currently only known to the upper echelons of the Empire, it is only a matter of time before people in other countries and even other star systems find out as the date approaches.
"Ah, so will she hold the engagement ceremony and wedding together? After all, she's the leader I've met who holds the fewest celebrations. Would she even celebrate her 100th birthday?" Ying perfectly inherited Chaoge's tendency to miss the point. After listening to Chaoge's words, her attention shifted entirely to Qin Muge's plans to hold a birthday celebration. Finally, she muttered to herself, "Oh... it's hard to say, what if?"
[I'm relieved to find that nobody in the entire universe can guess what Qin Muge is thinking.] Chaoge also had the leisure to mentally complain to Yaochen.
[You should say that you're relieved to find out you're not the only one with a low IQ.] Yao Chen, who used to get frustrated when she made a mistake, had long since gotten used to her style and now even had the leisure to casually tease her again.
Pretending not to hear Yao Chen's words, Chao Ge tapped the table lightly with the back of her right index finger, nodded slightly to Jiang Ningtao, and announced, "If there are no other problems, then this operation is confirmed. Ningtao, arrange for people to monitor the interstellar transportation situation around the base, and the others should be ready to act at any time."
"Ying, Mo Nian, after dinner, take inventory of the armory and report any findings to Yao Chen. Ritter and Spall, take a look at your men and compile a list of those whose abilities can be put to use, then give it to Yao Chen. Meeting adjourned."
After speaking, Chaoge reached out and turned off the display on the AI, then got up and walked towards the door of the council hall.
The black over-the-knee boots struck the ground with a rhythmic sound, and the brown striped military trousers hugged her long legs perfectly. Although the brown short top she wore didn't have the same imposing presence as the military coat, it still accentuated her overall气质 (qi zhi - a combination of temperament, bearing, and style).
Not intending to dine with them downstairs, Chaoge went straight to the study, frowning at a piece of news she had just received.
A moment later, Yaochen walked in carrying a tray. Seeing her leaning back in her chair, frowning and seemingly lost in thought, he placed the tray in front of her and asked, "What's bothering you like this?"
Just as Chaoge was about to answer him, her gaze fell on the food on the plate, and she was immediately at a loss for words: "When did you learn to make fried rice from me? And this is clearly something you like to eat, are you sure it's my dinner?"
"It's good enough that you're given food. If you don't want it, I'll take it away later." Yao Chen made a move to take it away, so Chao Ge had no choice but to put the plate in front of her to avoid ending up not even having dinner.
"I really don't know what the point of being the boss is. They all act more arrogant than me in front of me." Chao Ge complained in a serious tone, threw a resentful look at Yao Chen, and picked up her spoon.
She scooped up some golden rice from the bowl with a spoon, mixed with some unknown chopped vegetables and meat pieces, and the aroma was incredibly tempting. Chaoge took a spoonful, thought for a moment, then stopped and looked up at Yaochen standing at the table: "A month ago, the Imperial Army ordered Yanxi to be stripped of her military rank and assigned to the subordinate planet M7, but she left there a week ago."
Yao Chen quickly found the relevant information based on what Chao Ge said, and then understood why Chao Ge frowned: "He joined the Blue Cross Pirate Legion in the Wasteland three days ago?"
The most powerful space pirate force is undoubtedly the 'Nightless Sky' led by the Lord of Nightless City—this force is basically composed of outlaws from the P4 Nebula, each with extraordinary abilities.
The second-ranked force is the Blue Cross Pirate Legion. Unlike Nightless City, its members are all wanted by people on the Red Cloud Galaxy's wanted list. They also possess a highly advanced combat army equipped with modified mechs, whose firepower should not be underestimated.
But this wasn't the most perplexing thing for Chaoge. What truly troubled her was that ever since Yan Xi escaped from M7, Yan Chen had applied to Qin Muge for the highest-level arrest warrant, which took effect today.
"What do you mean?" The blue-gray striped suit looked quite formal on Yao Chen, which made his serious expression even more solemn.
"It's because the Empire's recent movements have become increasingly unpredictable that I'll probably have to take some time to go back after this operation." After explaining his plan, Chaoge picked up the spoon in his hand. The fried rice, which had been steaming a little, was now almost completely cooked.
After listening to her plan, Yao Chen processed the current information and, based on the data that Ying and Si Bo had just uploaded, made another action plan and used the calculation module to calculate the success rate.
Since Chaoge wanted to have time to sneak back into the Wujing Empire to check on the situation after this operation, he needed to minimize the risks of this operation as much as possible.
While Chaoge ate dinner, Yaochen kept a close eye on the movements within the empire, searching for information related to the military. After all, he was an AI, so filtering junk information and searching for useful resources were at lightning speed.
"It seems the Crystalless Empire is quite busy this year. The exchange meeting of the three major families is in two months." Having intercepted the messages between several families in the military, Yao Chen raised an eyebrow, a hint of interest igniting in his purple eyes.
"An exchange meeting? You need to sit down, drink tea, and chat under some pretext to gather people from all three families? This industry is so messy." Chao Ge had just finished her fried rice and picked up the soup next to her. Hearing Yao Chen's words, she imagined the scene of a bunch of people from the three major families sitting there chatting.
It wasn't Yao Chen who was eating, but the person who looked like he was choking was him.
After a long pause, he weakly retorted, "It's not as simple as you think... The exchange meeting of the three major families is held every six years. Apart from the members already in the military, each family has ten slots. Those who obtain a slot participate in a test jointly formulated by the three families, and according to their ranking, they will receive corresponding resource support in their future political careers."
Oh?
As a qualified listener, Chaoge showed a look of sudden realization right after Yaochen finished explaining the relevant content of the exchange meeting.
Setting down the empty soup bowl, Chaoge licked her lips and smiled brightly: "What does this have to do with me?"
Yao Chen: ...I guess I was just being mean.
☆, Chapter 73: The Tenth Commentary on the Yin-Yang Collection
During the great war between the Red Cloud Galaxy and the P4 Nebula, there was a major battle involving various factions of galactic pirates. No one knows when or what caused this battle. Later historians tried to find some clues from the mecha recorders used in the war, but for some reason, the recorders were either completely damaged or the images they left behind were too blurry to be viewed. Thus, this war became the one with the most unsolved mysteries in the history of the war between the two galaxies.
At this moment, Chaoge had no idea that Yin Yang Group's actions would trigger such a large-scale butterfly effect.
"Aren't there too many merchant ships nearby?" Sitting in the main control room of his own spaceship, looking at the number of nearby merchant ships displayed on the electronic graph in the lower left corner of the control panel, Chao Ge tapped the table and raised his eyebrows to ask Yao Chen next to him.
With only half an hour left before the P4 Nebula supply team arrived, the number of merchant ships passing by was more than they had anticipated.
Yao Chen immediately began calculating the number of merchant ships that might pass through during this period based on the routes he currently knew, and quickly arrived at the answer: "Fifteen new routes have been added..."
He immediately looked up to see the surrounding environment monitored by the spaceship. Chao Ge followed his gaze and they both noticed almost simultaneously that several black dots were slowly disappearing in a certain place. A look of surprise flashed in Chao Ge's deep brown eyes: "Four-dimensional space jump?"
There are mechs around here! And more than one!
Ordinary merchant ships do not have the ability to jump between spaces. Even aircraft can only jump between three-dimensional spaces at most, and it is impossible for a three-dimensional space jump to cause the effect of tearing space.
This technology could only exist in the Crystalless Empire and the Allied Legion of the Red Cloud Galaxy. The people of the P4 Nebula do not need to use such combat tools; their original physical structure and family companion beasts already give them the ability to fight in a weightless universe.
"Could it really be Ling Tianji's Third Fleet?" Chaoge tapped his chin with his right index finger and murmured to himself as he looked at the star map.
She quickly regained her composure and pressed the communication button to contact the surrounding teams: "Operation halted. Unexpected situation. Continue to monitor the advance of the P4 energy unit, but do not alert them."
She turned off the communication and looked at Yao Chen: "Request communication within the maximum range and contact the surrounding merchant ships. I'd like to know how many bombs are buried around here."
His deep brown eyes remained calm, showing no sign of panic despite the unexpected situation. His deep brown eyes were the color of an iced coffee, as if his emotions had been frozen within them.
Yao Chen understood her meaning, reached out and pressed the spaceship's information transmission channel, and quickly gained control of the entire merchant ship. Information particles were rapidly emitted into space, contacting the merchant ship at maximum range, but the feedback was chilling.
Wearing a silver-gray military uniform jacket, Chaoge sat in the command chair with her legs crossed and her body leaning forward. Her right elbow was resting on her leg, and her index finger was pointing at her cheekbone. She pursed her pale pink lips and stared at the star map, seemingly lost in thought.
The overhead lights were not on; the only light emanating from the screens of various electronic diagrams on the control panel in front of him was from the spaceship. From Yao Chen's angle, he could only see the outline of her profile, with soft lines drawn from the bridge of her nose to her chin. Because her expression was somewhat serious at the moment, the lines subtly conveyed a sense of coolness.
“Basically, apart from merchant ships sailing on the original routes, no ships on the newly detected routes can successfully intrude.” Beneath the black bangs on Yao Chen’s forehead, his grape-like eyes were almost devoid of emotion, and even his words had a mechanical tone.
Just as Yao Chen finished speaking, a line of text suddenly appeared on the information page of the control panel: Abandon this operation, it's too dangerous.
Chaoge immediately turned to look at Yaochen, her eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty, as she asked him what was going on.
Yao Chen's eyes were also very complicated. He stared at the line of words for a long time before turning to Chao Ge with some helplessness and saying, "Give up. What I felt was not the power of the guy next to Qin Muge. There are no more than ten people in the entire P4 Nebula who can invade my core system."
This means that among the unknown forces currently surrounding them, there are people who can easily infiltrate the Yaochen System, and this person's strength is definitely among the top ten in the P4 Nebula.
After listening to his words, Chaoge turned back to stare at the line of text, remaining silent for about a minute before letting out a soft sigh. Just as she reached for the communication button—
A sliver of light from outside the window caught her eye.
The moment the communication button was pressed, a soft 'bang' sound came from the speaker.
Then there was no more sound.
Communication was cut off.
Chaoge got up, tore off his military jacket and threw it on the chair. He looked at the light outside the window and, based on the distance and approximate location, determined that his own squad had been attacked.
"Yaochen!" She grabbed the long-range scope beside her and shouted Yaochen's name. Yaochen immediately began sending communication requests to Ying and the others, and the only connection that was made was with Ritter.
"Some rats from P4 have infiltrated. The ship's command system just malfunctioned, but my White Serpent power repelled them. The energy fleet from P4 is already within target range. Also, the ship currently under fire is Mo Nian's, the one with the light-energy particle cannons mounted on its mechs." The clear voice reached Chaoge's ears through the speakers. Holding a long-range scope, Chaoge also spotted the wreckage of the ship that had been engulfed in flames in the vast universe.
Damn it! They were attacked by forces from more than one side!
"I understand. You can proceed now. Don't worry about us from now on." Zhao Ge replied with a frown, her gaze still fixed on the distance.
“Then, I’ll leave the person to you for now. If anything unexpected happens…” Rhett left these meaningful words and turned off the communication.
Her calm demeanor just now was all an act. Right after Ritter hung up the call, Chaoge angrily cursed, "I bought a watch last year!" Mo Nian and the others were attacked by mechs, and although Ritter helped deal with the traitor, he still didn't forget to warn her!
Are all these forces crowding here in a rush to be reborn?
They just wanted to quietly raid the P4 Nebula once!
"Not the Third Fleet! The mech systems around us that can fire light particle cannons aren't equipped with the Empire's AI system!" After hearing Ritter's words, Yao Chen immediately attempted to infiltrate the systems of those mechs, only to discover that the systems inside weren't Empire's at all. However, upon closer inspection—
Yao Chen sneered, "You dare to equip mechs with such an outdated system? Give me fifteen minutes, and I'll have all of their mechs activate self-destruct mode."
Chaoge nodded as she walked back to the command console: "I understand. Change the control to manual." Although Chaoge's specialty was also mecha, the speed at which she could modify those mecha systems was far slower than that of Yaochen, the professional AI.