A black and white chequered Golden Eagle could be seen descending in Red Shield’s port.
As soon as the spaceship landed, a young man dialed a contact number. “Boss, Gu Ding’s spaceship has arrived at the port.”
On the other end of the communicator was another young man in shades. He was sitting on the terrace of a breakfast shop, enjoying coffee and bread. “I see, send me a picture of them. Keep an eye on them, and if they split up, tell the others to follow them. Don’t leave any of them out.”
“Alright!” After hanging up, the man immediately took a picture of Gu Ding’s Golden Eagle and sent it to his boss.
After receiving the picture, the man in shades took off his eyewear. Then, he confirmed that the spaceship in the picture of the projection was indeed Gu Ding’s spaceship before he dialed another number.
“Hello, is this the Army’s General Mance?” The man in shades was rubbing his temples, and there was not much respect in his voice.
“Who are you? Where did you get this number?” The deep voice of a middle-aged man was heard from across the communicator.
“I would like to anonymously report the arrival of Gu Ding’s spaceship at Red Shield’s port. I just witnessed it myself. Isn’t Red Shield under your jurisdiction, general? You should send someone to take him away immediately. If not, Red Shield will be really unsafe. The Interstellar Pirate Gu Ding has a bounty of more than two billion Universe Credits. Additionally, each time he visits a planet, he stirs up something big. Ordinary citizens like me are a little afraid to go out with him around…”
The man in shades had not even finished when he was interrupted by the voice across the communicator, “Alright, we will investigate the matter and take care of it.”
“When will that…” The man in shades wanted to pressure him more, but the person on the other end had already hung up.
…
On Red Shield, in a luxurious hotel suite, a stocky middle-aged man sat up in his bed, half-naked.
“Who is it? Spoiling our mood this early,” a languid female voice came from the bed. Her hand touched the man’s broad back, and her fingers gently wandered on it as if she was a fairy.
“Get out, and you needn’t come anymore starting tonight.” Mance turned to look at the curvy, dark-haired beauty whose body fascinated him. He had wanted to enjoy his time with her for a few more days, but now it seemed merciful of him not to kill her.
“I… Did I do something wrong?” The young woman looked a little puzzled.
“You’ve done nothing wrong. Get dressed and out you go.” Mance managed to avert his eyes. “If anyone from the Childe family asks you, tell them that I’m not in the mood these few days. Tell them not to send any more women as well.”
With that, Mance turned around and sat on the edge of the bed, lighting a cigarette for himself.
The woman got dressed with a somber expression. However, she did not leave immediately. She went around the wide goose down feather bed and stopped in front of the man. “I don’t know what happened, but I know what you’re thinking. To you, I’m just a high-class whore the Childes sent to sleep with you. Therefore, you can just sleep with me a couple of times, get bored, and turn your back on me. I can leave, but before I leave, I want to make a few things clear: I didn’t sleep with you for money, I slept with you because I liked you! I’ll return this necklace you bought the day before yesterday along with three hundred thousand Universe Credits. Do you know how much the one I was wearing was worth? Eight million!”
The woman yanked off her necklace and threw it at Mance before picking up her heels and striding barefoot out of the hotel room.
“Euanna, I’m sorry…” Mance took the necklace and lowered his head in silence. “I had to keep my guard up since it involved the Childe family.”
“General.” Shortly afterward, a knock was heard from the door.
“Come in,” Mance stowed the necklace in his Inventory and shouted in response.
A young man dressed in military uniform pushed the door open and stepped near the bedside.
“What’s the matter?” Mance went straight to the washroom.
“General, we have just received word that Gu Ding’s crew has arrived at the port. According to the chief of staff’s deductions, his crew is after the Childe family this time.”
“I’m already aware of this. Someone called my communicator directly and tipped me off.” Mance spoke of the matter with some irritation. Ordinary people did not have his contact number. Except for a few subordinates that were directly under him, the only other person who knew his number was Euanna. Hence, that was why he was so annoyed earlier. Euanna might have leaked his number to the Childe family because she was the “escort” they had arranged for him from the start. He had been smitten with that woman for the last few days.
“Then what shall we do? The young master of the Childe family is going to have his rite of passage soon. They’ve invited many of us to the function. It wouldn’t be very nice if we leave it be, right?” the young man asked anxiously.
“Gu Ding’s crew may not be here to cause trouble. Perhaps they are just here to watch? Just have someone watch over them and see what happens.” Even though Mance said as such, he did not think it was the case.
He knew that Gu Ding’s crew must have had something to the with the Childes. If not, the Childes would not have brought in so many talented people for the rites of passage. He had come across fifteen to sixteen Rank-13 powerhouses in the last few days. One of the guests was even a demigod. It was a little excessive considering it was a kid’s rites of passage.
Additionally, the main point was that Red Shield was under his own jurisdiction. In theory, a rite of passage like such only required them to invite him–the Army’s supreme commander. However, the Childes had sent out invitations with not just his name on it, but with the names of all the members on his team who had the combat effectiveness of a Rank-12 Gene Body and above. At the time, Rance had noticed something strange but did not give it much thought.
When he arrived at Red Shield, he could only sense a storm brewing when he saw a lot of powerhouses. It was only then that he realized the Childe family had invited all the powerhouses of his team to serve as cannon fodder. Only after receiving the tip-off did he learn that Gu Ding’s crew was the root of everything.
As an Army general, he was considered a prominent figure in Faye Cosmic Nation. He had always been a man of his word in the Army. However, he had been tricked by the Childe family this time. First, they found a woman to bewitch him. Then, they got the woman to lure him into serving as cannon fodder against Gu Ding’s crew. It greatly displeased him, so he decided to sit tight and watch.
Gu Ding and his crew had no idea that such kind of politics was still ongoing on Red Shield.
As soon as the spaceship docked, everyone gathered in the living room.
“Gu Ding, shall we go straight to the Childes to find the young master after getting off the spaceship?” Elsa was fueled with the urge to fight as she raised her fist. After all, it had been a long time since she had fought anyone, and her hands were itching. Furthermore, the main point was, when she felt that her combat effectiveness was improving a little too slowly, Neptune taught her a combat method called Stack Boxing. Using it with the special energy in her body, it worked much better compared to her using Righteous Force.
“No hurry, the rites of passage won’t begin until another two days. Do it now and we might have to leave before the rites of passage. We only have to eat and play for the next two days. We’ve been cooped up in the spaceship for more than half a month, so let’s call these two days a holiday.” Gu Ding had no intention of settling the score with the Childe family’s young master so soon.
“That sounds good, but is it safe?” Lilliath did not think it was a good idea to show up at the enemy’s door like that.
“Don’t worry, they won’t make any big moves until the rites of passage. They’ll just send a few people to test us,” Gu Ding said adamantly, “As long as we don’t cause any trouble, they won’t dare do anything. If they did, it would be the equivalent to them announcing to all Interstellar Pirates that they don’t welcome them here. Nearly a third of their business clients are Interstellar Pirates. Besides, they would want to be more prepared. Two more days is exactly what they want.”
“Humans are really complex creatures. If I were you, I would take care of the danger immediately no matter the cost.” Neptune had some difficulty in understanding what Gu Ding was thinking. “According to my calculations, there’s only a 12.88% chance that the Childes will trigger the other Interstellar Pirates if our crew is killed before the rites of passage. A lot of the businesses they run have a certain advantage in the market, so it’s very unlikely that someone would give up their products, probably less than 5%.”
“You can’t calculate these things in terms of probability. All they know is that killing us before the rites of passage would be frowned upon by Interstellar Pirates, so they wouldn’t dare risk such a thing.” Gu Ding shook his head. He was aware that calculations were not always reliable, which was why Neptune was not suited to be the military advisor of their crew.
“I think Gu Ding has a point. Neptune can calculate the probability of an outcome in a split second. However, if it were the Childe family, it would take them a lot more time to gather all sorts of information and data to make such calculations. It would take days or even months for them to work out the probability of an outcome.” Lilliath nodded. “Therefore, they wouldn’t waste time doing things like that and just use a rough estimate.”
“Then we can get off and have breakfast now.” Gu Ding grinned. He was rarely supported by others whenever he disagreed with Neptune who was generally faultless. He was flattered by the support he got for his judgment which did not come easy.
