Super Mothership
Shattered Star Sector.
“Captain, we’ve arrived. This is the most important core region of the Shattered Star Sector — Shattered Star City!”
This… is really damn… spectacular!
Nie Yun stared at the scene outside the porthole, and this heartfelt exclamation naturally rose within him.
What now appeared before everyone’s eyes was a jet-black rocky asteroid, about twice the diameter of Earth’s Moon. The asteroid itself was nothing special, yet what was truly shocking was… it was hollow!
Yes — completely hollow, pierced clean through from front to back!
It was as if a terrifying giant spear had bored straight through it, leaving behind a cavity over a thousand kilometers wide at its center!
The Shattered Star City mentioned by Goldtooth was not built on the asteroid’s surface, but instead along the inner walls of this central hollow, forming a colossal barrel-shaped space metropolis.
At both ends of the cavity lay a layer of pale red, honeycomb-shaped transparent crystalline structures. They looked highly defensive while also ensuring the airtight sealing of Shattered Star City, turning the interior into an independent enclosed environment.
The neon lights of the artificial city shimmered through the side crystals, making the entire Shattered Star City resemble a radiant ruby, giving off an eerily enchanting beauty.
“This celestial body used to be a military fortress. But it was struck by a devastating weapon during the war, leaving behind only this wreckage.
Several hundred years ago, the Seven Great Pirate Crews joined forces with other pirate groups ranked in the top hundred at the time, pooling funds to build Shattered Star City. From then on, this became the meeting place for all Shattered Star pirates. The number of pirates passing through here is counted in the tens of billions,” Goldtooth eagerly played the role of tour guide, enthusiastically introducing the origins of Shattered Star City to Nie Yun.
“Hiss!” Nie Yun sucked in a sharp breath.
So this whole thing was blasted into shape by a single shot? Matter-annihilation cannon? Or a lightspeed kinetic weapon? Were the Wolf Empire’s superweapons really this brutal?
I really want one…
Though shocked inside, he still had to maintain the calm expression of someone who had “seen it all.”
“Mm! So this is basically the pirates’ fencing hub, right?” Nie Yun nodded in understanding.
The many pirate crews of the Shattered Star Sector operated independently and were scattered across the vast star system. Naturally, not every pirate group had its own channels for selling stolen goods, so a centralized trading hub like this was extremely necessary.
“A fencing hub… well, that’s true, but we usually prefer to call it a ‘gold-melting den.’ Heh heh…” Goldtooth revealed a knowing grin — one every man would understand.
Pirates lived by the motto: live for today. Who saved money for tomorrow?
“Heh! Those Seven Great Pirate Crews sure had foresight. With this money sink and you premium customers who spend like crazy without needing persuasion, they’re raking in profits every day!” Nie Yun sighed.
“Every day? Try seven or eight bucketfuls a day!
All goods sold here are first forced down by 30%, while supplies and weapons are marked up to more than triple the market price. Back and forth, the profits are astronomical.
Last time, there was a captured economist who rambled on and on analyzing it for me. Basically, he said that when you calculate Shattered Star City’s total economic output, it’s even higher than the GDP of some wealthy star systems!” Goldtooth said with a dreamy expression.
“Mm! And in the end, you sold him for 3,000 Shattered Star points — right here in Shattered Star City. That transaction is still recorded on last year’s ledger.”
“Uh… your insight is truly piercing…” Goldtooth gave an awkward smile.
“Heh.” Nie Yun chuckled, glancing at Goldtooth with a half-smile. “Do you know what I admire most about you?”
Goldtooth couldn’t quite read Nie Yun’s meaning. After hesitating, he cautiously replied, “… Loyalty?”
Nie Yun: “……”
Mechanical Bug: “……” (→_→)
Several of the pirate underlings on the bridge were also about to lose their composure. How had they never realized before that their boss had such thick skin?
“Ahem! Loyalty? You don’t have that, and I don’t need it either.”
Does my divine cult leader win people over with loyalty? How shallow!
“Uh… heh heh!” What else could Goldtooth say? He could only put on an awkward yet polite smile.
“What I admire most about you… is your ability to act,” Nie Yun said with a grin, revealing the answer. “A top graduate from the Imperial University of Finance — how could you possibly need an economist to explain GDP? You sold him mainly because he was completely useless to you. Am I right?”
Whoosh! Cold sweat instantly poured down Goldtooth’s back.
Most pirates were desperadoes who couldn’t survive within the Empire, and nearly all of them had criminal records. As such, unless absolutely necessary, they would never publicize their identities.
Only a few trusted confidants within the base knew parts of his background. Could it be that someone had already defected to the new boss and spilled all his secrets?
This guy had only been here a few days, kept an extremely low profile, and most of the underlings hadn’t even met him — yet he seemed to know everything about the base inside and out… What the hell? This was downright eerie!
“I was young and impulsive back then, pushed myself a bit harder, heh… heh heh…” Goldtooth could only keep up his dry laugh.
“Hey, don’t be nervous. Being able to ‘act’ is a real talent. Lying low, biding one’s time, enduring humiliation — without the talent to ‘act,’ you simply can’t do any of that. And once you can, becoming someone of great power isn’t far off…”
I think I’m not far from death instead…
Goldtooth was on the verge of tears.
He had only tried to act a little dumb and harmless, showing incompetence and submissiveness, so that once the new boss stabilized the Goldtooth Pirate Crew, he wouldn’t quietly make him disappear.
Of course, he couldn’t deny that he also had certain extreme thoughts like “Let him be smug for now, once I turn things around, I’ll XXOO him”. Sadly, before his petty ambitions even had time to sprout wildly, they were completely dragged into the open.
This guy’s grasp of human psychology was terrifying. Could this be the legendary mind-reading technique?!
That’s right! This guy was psychic-type — it was entirely possible!
Wait — hadn’t he even imagined XXOO-ing the other party before? Goldtooth desperately wanted to slap himself. This was basically sprinting back and forth on the edge of suicide…
What would he do to me next? Goldtooth felt that there was an eighty-percent chance he was finished, and the remaining twenty percent… was just a matter of time before he was finished!
“C-Captain! I won’t act anymore! Please spare me! Waaah~!”
The two-meter-tall brute collapsed onto his knees and hugged Nie Yun’s leg, bawling his eyes out.
The surrounding pirates couldn’t help but turn their heads away…
So embarrassing!
We used to be this guy’s subordinates? Shameful!
“Hey, I’m not joking with you.” Nie Yun revealed an innocent, harmless smile, then waved his hand.
Whoosh! The door opened, and a figure walked in — someone about the same height and build as Goldtooth… a “person.”
A Mechanical Bug clone (Wolf Empire military edition). Its appearance simulated the typical racial traits of the Wolf Empire — black fur, looking like a werewolf clad in strange black armor.
After Nie Yun’s fine-tuning, it bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Nie Yun himself.
Who is this guy? Why have I never seen him before?
Goldtooth stared in shock at this suddenly appearing “fellow tribesman,” his mind struggling to process it.
“Next, I need you to fully put your talents to use and accompany me to Shattered Star City to put on a good show…”
The first half of the sentence was spoken by Nie Yun.
But the second half — the werewolf spoke it in perfect unison, their voices completely synchronized.
Two people — yet it sounded like a single voice.
“Uh…”
TL Note- Possesion...
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