Super Mothership
To pirates, an advanced mech was a trump card for survival—something even more valuable than a warship.
Forcing himself to tear his gaze away from the “meeting gift,” Goldtooth did not let the tempting profit cloud his judgment. On the contrary, his wariness deepened.
There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, and no one would be saintly enough to hand out meals to pirates.
There was a saying in pirate circles: within wealth lies risk of equal value.
“I wonder whether this little meeting gift is enough to make up for the misunderstanding caused by our accidental intrusion into your territory?” Nie Yun asked with a smiling face.
“Enough! Of course it’s enough! Hahaha—me, Goldtooth, I love making friends with bold and generous people like you the most!” Goldtooth laughed heartily, then probed, “But you look unfamiliar, my friend. You’re not from the nearby star systems, are you?”
“Heh heh! Captain Goldtooth, could it be that you don’t know the rules of this line of work?” Nie Yun looked at him with a half-smile.
He was new here and short on intelligence. At a time like this, the more you said, the more mistakes you made. Saying nothing was safest—the rest was for the other party to fill in themselves.
“Oh! I understand! I understand! That was truly presumptuous of me!” Goldtooth nodded knowingly, very much in tune with the situation.
Just thinking about it made sense. Those who came knocking on pirates’ doors to do business—how many of them could afford to operate openly?
Big powers always acted with airtight precision. When hiring pirates to do dirty work behind the scenes, they were bound to be extremely cautious, leaving no trace behind.
And looking again at these warships he had never seen before, and these unfamiliar races—now that he thought about it, they were clearly part of the backer’s method of concealing their identity.
If the other party had revealed their幕后 patron right from the start, Goldtooth would instead have worried about whether he’d be silenced after the job was done.
“Captain Goldtooth, don’t you think we should find a quieter place to properly discuss our business?” Nie Yun gestured toward the heavily armed pirates still standing around, implying that there were too many eyes and ears.
“Mm! My apologies for the discourtesy. Please, follow me,” Goldtooth said with a smile, then gave a look to one of his trusted subordinates.
Though he spoke politely, none of the necessary procedures were skipped.
Goldtooth’s men used instruments to scan Nie Yun from head to toe three times. Only after confirming that he was not carrying any weapons did they lead him into the ship.
Once Nie Yun was out of sight, Goldtooth’s confidant immediately ordered several pirate mechanics to inspect the Ghost, leaving no corner unchecked—not even the ammunition bays and storage compartments.
…
Inside the ship’s reception room.
“Boss, we’ve checked everything. No problems,” the confidant whispered into Goldtooth’s ear.
The smile on Goldtooth’s face deepened as he looked at Nie Yun seated across from him. “May I ask how I should address you?”
“A name is nothing more than a label. Captain Goldtooth may call me ‘Ghost,’” Nie Yun replied, using his “stage name.”
Ghost? Goldtooth raised an eyebrow. Not even willing to reveal his real name?
His expression remained unchanged. “Then what kind of business does Lord Ghost wish to discuss with us today?”
“Heh! When you’re looking for pirates, the business is naturally… murder and arson,” Nie Yun said with a grin.
“Oh? And who’s the target?”
“A man named Jinlok. Has Captain Goldtooth ever heard of him?” Nie Yun asked.
Knowing both yourself and your enemy was half the battle. Nie Yun also wanted to gather some information about his opponent from these local snakes.
“Jinlok?” Goldtooth’s expression froze for a moment, and an indescribable glint flashed across his eyes.
Nie Yun was not surprised by Goldtooth’s reaction.
Jinlok dared to go to war with the Gemini Civilization and controlled dozens of star systems. His strength was evident—at the very least, he was one of the most prominent powers in the region. It was only natural that a local boss like Goldtooth had heard of him.
“May I ask—does your side have a grudge against that miser?” Goldtooth asked cautiously.
A miser? It seemed Jinlok was quite famous for that trait…
“Well… you know how business is. Competition is fierce. The marketplace is like a battlefield,” Nie Yun replied ambiguously.
So it was about suppressing a rival. Goldtooth immediately understood.
Although Jinlok was notoriously stingy and exceedingly greedy, he was also exceptionally talented in business and finance—otherwise, he would never have been able to build such a vast commercial empire.
And given his personality, it was hardly surprising that many of his competitors hated him to the bone. Being targeted for revenge was entirely normal.
Still, this fellow hadn’t even bothered to gather proper intelligence and had come straight to the Shattered Star Sector to hire pirates to deal with Jinlok…
For some reason, Goldtooth suddenly felt like laughing.
“Ahem! My lord must be joking. Jinlok may be widely hated, but no matter what, he’s still a lord. He commands five private fleets and more than two thousand warships.
I’ve also heard he recently purchased a combat-type vassal civilization. A small pirate crew like mine doesn’t dare to offend a force like that,” Goldtooth said bluntly, rejecting the proposal outright.
Two thousand warships?!
Even though he had been mentally prepared, Nie Yun was still severely shaken when he heard about Jinlok’s strength.
The Solar System had been desperately churning out ships like dumplings, yet even now it only had barely a hundred warships. Meanwhile, some wealthy merchant casually fielded over two thousand. A certain upstart suddenly felt truly poor…
This was practically begging to be robbed and redistributed!
“Captain Goldtooth, there’s no need to rush into refusing. The Shattered Star pirates don’t even fear imperial fleets—why would they fear a mere Jinlok?
It would just be a matter of robbing a few merchant ships under Jinlok’s banner to teach him a lesson. The risk is minimal.
Rest assured, the price we’re offering will absolutely satisfy you,” Nie Yun said.
“Heh. It seems you really are an outsider, completely unaware of the situation in the Shattered Star Sector. This isn’t a matter of price…” Goldtooth curled his lips into a mocking smile.
“Hm?” Sensing something wrong from Goldtooth’s expression, unease stirred in Nie Yun’s heart.
The next instant—something went terribly wrong!
Whoosh! Dozens of energy beams suddenly rose around Nie Yun’s seat, instantly forming a square-shaped energy cage that imprisoned him within.
…Huh?!
Nie Yun was dumbfounded. That fast? Negotiations already broken down?
He had expected these pirates might turn hostile—but he hadn’t even named his price yet!
Couldn’t they at least let him finish his lines?
Nie Yun looked at the pirates across from him, who now wore hostile grins, completely confused about where things had gone wrong.
It was obvious that they had been sincere at first. But the moment he named Jinlok as the target, Goldtooth’s attitude had changed.
Could it be that this random pirate group he ran into was somehow connected to the mission target?
What—just because you’re both named Jin?
That’s not how distant relatives work, is it?
If that were really the case, Nie Yun was ready to pack up and run straight back to the Solar System.
Jinlok must be the chosen one of this world, blessed with a protagonist’s halo. Untouchable. Absolutely untouchable!
“What does this mean, Captain Goldtooth?” Nie Yun frowned, expressing his anger just enough to be appropriate.
“What does it mean? Hahahaha…” Goldtooth clutched his stomach and laughed for quite a while before finally educating Nie Yun on some basic facts about the Shattered Star Sector.
The Shattered Star Sector was home to countless pirate groups. Goldtooth’s crew was merely a small one.
Among them, there were seven truly powerful pirate forces. One of those was the Black Sail Pirates—and Jinlok had deep ties of cooperation with them.
Simply put, Jinlok had powerful backing.
“Ah… money is a good thing, but you need to be alive to take it—and alive to spend it,” Goldtooth sighed, seemingly regretful that the deal had fallen through.
Only then did Nie Yun realize—so Jinlok played both sides of the law!
Small pirate crews like Goldtooth’s weren’t afraid of offending Jinlok. At worst, they could grab a haul and hide away in the Shattered Star Sector.
But offending a local tyrant like the Black Sail Pirates? That would mean having nowhere left to stand.
The Shattered Star Sector might be chaotic, but it clearly had its own ecosystem. And those seven pirate groups were obviously at the top of the food chain, exerting an invisible deterrent.
This really was the price of lacking intelligence…
“Captain Goldtooth, as the saying goes, even if a deal fails, goodwill remains. Even if you can’t move against Jinlok, there’s no need to treat a guest like this, right?” Nie Yun said helplessly, spreading his hands.
“Hahaha! My apologies—but your meeting gift was simply too tempting,” Goldtooth laughed loudly. “With such a fine mech in my hands, while my brothers are still piloting scrap heaps, I can only ask you to spend a little more.”
If he truly let such a naïve, fat sheep walk away, even the Pirate God would spit on him.
Since the deal was clearly dead, why not take the opportunity to squeeze out a ransom?
Judging by this man’s status, even if nothing else worked, he could still be used as leverage against the opposing fleet—guaranteed profit with no loss.
As for offending whatever power stood behind him… a bunch of outsiders who didn’t even know the most basic local intelligence—how much of a threat could they really be?
“Brother, don’t blame me for being ruthless. Bringing yourself alone into a tiger’s den like this—if I didn’t act, even my men would look down on me!” Goldtooth grinned, his golden tooth gleaming even brighter.
“So you’re saying… you want a ransom?” Nie Yun asked.
So he really had been kidnapped after all. Pirates everywhere were all the same, weren’t they…
“Stop playing dumb. If you know what’s good for you, hand over the money and the equipment obediently. Otherwise, with skin as tender as yours, you won’t be able to withstand a little ‘rough handling’ from us brothers. Heh heh heh…” the confidant behind Goldtooth said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.
Seeing that there was no peaceful way out of this, Nie Yun responded decisively. “Fine! As long as you guarantee my safety, you can name any terms you want!”
“…Huh?”
Goldtooth and the two confidants behind him were all stunned.
They had seen generous people before—but never someone who paid ransom this enthusiastically!
The corner of Nie Yun’s mouth curled up ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Being kidnapped was fine—but while inviting a god was easy, sending one away would be another matter…
TL Note- Enter the Pirate...
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