Super Mothership
After reporting the Goldtooth Pirate Crew’s identity authentication key to the port control system, the spaceship carrying Nie Yun and the others slowly docked at a surface mooring point.
Shattered Star City, built inside the planet, could not be accessed directly and required entry through an elevator shaft that led straight down from the surface. However, the vacuum elevator was extremely fast, and in just over ten minutes, the two of them arrived inside Shattered Star City.
The planet’s rotational speed had clearly been adjusted so that the entire city maintained a certain level of centrifugal gravity.
All around them and across the dome above, their eyes were met with densely packed outlines of a modern metropolis. The curved visual perspective gave Nie Yun, who was accustomed to flat horizons and square angles, a strong sense of spatial disorientation, as if time and space had been flipped upside down.
“Gentlemen, need a guide? Just ten Shattered Star Points for a full day!”
“Hey, brother, need to fence some goods? Ollivander’s Fencing House — a century-old shop, the most honest prices in town, absolutely fair to young and old alike!”
“Handsome guy, what a great body! Come to our Red Pavilion — eighty percent off!”
“……”
The moment they stepped out of the elevator, they were surrounded by a swarm of people hawking their services.
Most of them were citizens of the Wolf Empire, along with many humanoid species of various appearances. Some held glowing signboards to attract customers, while others struck seductive poses, creating a rather chaotic scene.
“Get the hell out of here, all of you! I, Goldtooth, am no rookie — don’t get any ideas about us!” Goldtooth didn’t waste any words. He stepped forward, pulled out his gun, and aggressively waved the crowd away.
Clearly, these were brokers hunting for “fat sheep.”
After the disappointed crowd dispersed, only a few better-dressed individuals approached.
Newcomers were usually powerless rookies with little profit to squeeze out, whereas veteran pirates often carried opportunities for big deals — and those were the real “clients” sought after by major factions.
“Yo! Isn’t that Captain Goldtooth?”
The other brokers halted when they heard this. Since he was an acquaintance, they basically knew they had no chance, but they still lingered nearby, watching for any possible opportunity.
“Drake? So it’s you, you rascal.” Goldtooth looked at the speaker, clearly familiar with him.
The man was rather short, barely one and a half meters tall, and somewhat resembled a hyena-man. His eyes darted constantly, giving him an especially cunning look.
“Captain Goldtooth, it’s been quite a while since you last came to Shattered Star City. What is it — pulled off a big deal again?” Drake stepped forward with a grin.
A big deal, indeed — even my men and myself got sold along with it…
Goldtooth sighed inwardly, then stepped aside. “Drake, I’m no longer the captain. Our Goldtooth Pirate Crew has abandoned the dark path and joined the Ghost Pirate Crew. This here is our new leader — the Ghost Captain!”
“What?” Drake stared in shock.
The Ghost Pirate Crew?
When did such a crew appear in the Shattered Star Sector? Although the Goldtooth Pirates weren’t especially strong, they were still fairly well-known. And yet they had been absorbed by some completely unknown pirate crew?
Moreover, judging from Goldtooth’s fearful attitude toward this new leader, this clearly hadn’t been a peaceful takeover…
Drake studied this “Ghost Captain” with curiosity.
An unfamiliar face, black hair — seemingly not a race native to the nearby star regions…
“Beep, beep!”
Suddenly, the implanted detector in his right eye transmitted a message.
Drake’s expression immediately turned strange. He looked at Goldtooth in astonishment and asked, “A robot?”
The Wolf Empire’s detection technology was extremely advanced. In front of such sensors, mechanical insect avatars had become increasingly difficult to conceal. But Nie Yun had never intended to hide the fact that this was merely a machine body.
“Hehe! Just a little toy for traveling. No need to mind it.” Nie Yun’s mechanical insect avatar laughed in a distinctive metallic voice, openly acknowledging Drake’s conclusion.
A toy for traveling… More likely a means of concealing his true identity.
Still, judging by this “toy’s” lifelike craftsmanship, smooth movements, and the strength required to absorb the Goldtooth Pirate Crew, it was obvious that this Ghost Captain was someone of considerable wealth and power.
“Mr. Ghost, it’s a pleasure to meet you. May I ask if your visit to Shattered Star City is for business? I’ve done several deals with Lord Goldtooth before, and I’m backed by one of the Seven Great Pirate Crews — the Gold Coin Pirate Crew. You can rest assured about our reputation and credibility.” Pushing aside his inner thoughts, Drake put on a standard merchant’s smile.
After all, business is business, no matter who the customer is. As long as there’s money, who cares whether it’s ghosts or demons — even the King of Hell can be God!
“Captain, this guy is one of the Gold Coin Pirate Crew’s agents in Shattered Star City. He owns many businesses here. As long as we’re willing to spend money, he can solve quite a few problems for us, and his prices are fairly reasonable,” Goldtooth whispered into Nie Yun’s ear.
“Mm. Since you’re an old acquaintance, that makes things easier. Mr. Drake, I’d like to purchase a batch of slaves — no restriction on race. The number should be around thirty thousand.”
The Wolf Empire did not prohibit slave trading, but it forbade the sale of Wolf Empire citizens. However, in Shattered Star City, that law was naturally little more than a formality.
Crew members and passengers captured from hijacked merchant ships, if unable to pay ransom, were often sold into slavery. Pirates who lost factional struggles were sometimes sold as slaves as well. As such, Shattered Star City never lacked slaves.
As for why Nie Yun wanted to buy slaves, that involved the “Auxiliary Pirate Crew Development Plan” he had formulated not long ago…
“Thirty thousand?” Drake’s eyes lit up. This was a huge deal — the commission alone would be substantial!
“Do you have any specific requirements for these slaves?” Drake asked excitedly.
“All young and able-bodied. Pirate slaves are preferred. In addition, I need about one thousand technical and managerial personnel.”
“The average price for able-bodied slaves is about three hundred Shattered Star Points each. Skilled personnel are a bit more expensive, averaging around one thousand points. By this calculation, the total would be about ten million Shattered Star Points.
However, given the scale of your purchase, I can offer you a ten percent discount — nine million. What do you think?”
“Deal.” Nie Yun answered crisply, as casually as if he were spending nine hundred.
Just look at that! Such a massive deal, no hesitation, no bargaining — this was absolutely a big spender!
Goldtooth nearly jumped in shock when he heard Nie Yun wanted to buy thirty thousand slaves. Nie Yun had never mentioned this to him before. By the time he reacted, the two had already more or less settled the price.
“Captain, thirty thousand isn’t a small number. The problem is, we don’t have that much…” Goldtooth ventured cautiously, but before he could finish, a single glance from Nie Yun made him swallow the rest of his words.
Drake, hearing Goldtooth’s remark, immediately stiffened. His expression turned subtle.
“Um… for transactions of this scale, we require a ten percent deposit first. Would that be acceptable?” Drake asked carefully, clearly worried that this massive deal might turn out to be nothing but empty excitement.
“WeChat or Alipay?” Nie Yun briskly pulled out his personal terminal, ready to transfer the money.
“Uh…”
……
With a rosy glow on his face, Drake collected the deposit and hurried off to prepare the slave data.
Goldtooth was also rather excited. He hadn’t expected his new boss to be this wealthy — that was nine hundred thousand Shattered Star Points, spent as casually as buying a cup of milk tea.
As for Nie Yun’s purpose in buying slaves, he could more or less guess.
The original Goldtooth Pirate Crew had fewer than fifty thousand members. Adding thirty thousand fresh troops would nearly double its size.
More importantly, the new and old members would each account for about half, making it far easier for Nie Yun to maintain control.
Nie Yun didn’t need these slaves to be particularly loyal — he only needed to break the existing dominance of the Goldtooth Pirate Crew. In the art of leadership, balance is everything. Such methods were nothing unusual.
With external capital injected, rapidly expanding a pirate crew through slave purchases was hardly a novel tactic. Many pirate crews that rose swiftly in the rankings had expanded this way.
Behind their new captain… there must be a massive financial group backing him! Goldtooth felt as though he had just been showered with angel investment.
“Captain, how much funding did you bring this time?” Goldtooth asked excitedly.
No need to ask — this was clearly going to be a massive expansion. Series A, Series B — let the investments come even harder!
“How much did I bring? The amount just now was basically all of it. Just a little spare change left. Heh, don’t worry, I’ve calculated everything. Math is my strong suit now.” Nie Yun replied calmly with a smile.
“Uh… what?” Goldtooth froze.
You just… used all the money to pay the deposit?! Then what about the remaining payment? Did a dog eat it?
No, no, that can’t be right. I must be misunderstanding something…
“So we still have 8.1 million left, just enough for the final payment, right? Yes, yes — Shattered Star City isn’t exactly safe. Being cautious makes sense,” Goldtooth comforted himself.
“No. The pirate crew’s public account has six hundred thousand. Adding your private stash, that makes about nine hundred thousand total. Don’t you even know how much money you have?”
Nie Yun’s words mercilessly shattered Goldtooth’s last illusion…
Come to think of it, a force that didn’t even possess basic intelligence about the Shattered Star Sector — how could it possibly have exchanged for Shattered Star Points, damn it…
Wait! My private stash?!
Goldtooth stood there in a daze, utterly disoriented. That was his retirement fund! And yet, in the end, it still couldn’t escape the devil’s grasp…
TL Note- Retirement Funds...
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