Super Mothership
Using the asteroid field as cover to launch a surprise approach, then deploying long-range robots to destroy the base's defensive installations, followed by a mechanized assault force to draw the defenders' attention while covering the real decapitation team.
That was Nie Yun's assault plan after evaluating the combat strength of both sides.
With the pitifully small force at his disposal, even taking on the defenders from a single direction would have been difficult. If he wanted to achieve his objective while minimizing his own losses...
...then openly attacking the base while secretly going after its leadership was the only viable option.
Cold sweat streamed down Gold Dagger's face as he stared at the silver metallic sphere still emitting wisps of heat. He wasn't naive enough to believe that after going to so much trouble, the enemy had simply sent him an Easter egg...
The pirates in the control room also stood frozen in place, not daring to move an inch. Their eyes remained glued to the sphere, terrified that the seemingly harmless little object would transform into a fiery demon the next second and engulf everyone present.
After all... their enemy's most distinctive trait was blowing themselves up at the slightest opportunity.
"Click!"
Including Gold Dagger, everyone's hearts skipped a beat.
However, the earth-shattering explosion they had expected never came.
"Crack... crack..."
A sound like an eggshell breaking echoed through the room. The silver sphere suddenly split open down the middle, revealing a tiny black figure.
It was a miniature robot resembling a model, standing only about ten centimeters tall. Despite its size, it was exquisitely crafted. Its appearance was unmistakably that of the Mechanical Bug avatar Nie Yun had used in the Shattered Star Region—the Wolf Empire version of a werewolf.
No one had expected such a scene. After a brief moment of stunned silence...
"What the hell is that?! Die!"
Unable to bear the crushing tension any longer, one of the pirates beside Jin Dagger drew his sidearm and fired at the tiny robot.
Whoosh!
The beam, powerful enough to punch through three centimeters of steel, was stopped by a thin energy shield. The little mechanical figure inside remained completely unharmed.
"What?!"
Gold Dagger and the other pirates nearly had their eyes pop out of their sockets.
A miniature robot that small actually had an energy shield?!
The sight completely overturned everything they thought they knew. Even the Wolf Empire couldn't miniaturize energy shield technology to such an extent.
Had the Mechanical Race's technology really advanced that far?
In truth, Nie Yun hadn't been capable of this until recently. Forget a robot just over ten centimeters tall—even building one several dozen centimeters high had been extremely difficult.
But everything changed after acquiring the technology from the Legendary Mecha Core.
Simply put, Nie Yun had constructed a miniature version of the Legendary Mecha Core inside this tiny robot.
Because of its limited size, however, the energy supply was insufficient. As a result, it could only generate an energy shield instead of the Legendary Mecha's crystalline energy barrier.
"Ahem! I'd advise everyone not to act rashly. If anyone makes another unwise move, I can't guarantee you'll even have time to leave your last words."
After demonstrating a bit of its capabilities, Nie Yun pointed meaningfully at the robot's body.
Only then did everyone notice the words written on it.
Across its chest: "Flammable."
Across its back: "Explosive."
Everyone: "......"
Simple. Direct. Impossible to misunderstand.
The entire room was forced to "calm down."
Even if they wanted to attack, there weren't any heavy weapons inside the control room. Against this tiny mecha, they probably wouldn't win anyway.
Seeing that everyone had wisely decided to cooperate, Nie Yun turned toward Jin Dagger, seated in the command chair.
"You must be Captain Gold Dagger of the Gold Coin Pirates."
Gold Dagger now understood that the lives of everyone present rested entirely on the whim of the person behind this little machine. Having weathered countless storms over the years, his nerves were exceptionally steady, and he quickly regained his composure.
"You're... Captain Ghost?"
"Correct."
Nie Yun made no attempt to deny it.
"So everything that happened today... was orchestrated by you behind the scenes?"
"Not at all. The ones plotting in secret were all of you. I merely happened to arrive at the right moment and gave things a little push."
Although Gold Dagger had already suspected as much, hearing the confirmation still left him stunned.
After dominating the Shattered Star Region for so many years and painstakingly building his organization, it had all been destroyed by someone who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
And he knew almost nothing about that person.
"So... you—or rather, the force behind you—wanted to eliminate the Gold Coin Pirates? But I don't recall ever offending either you or your organization."
That was what puzzled him the most. He didn't want to die without understanding why.
"Offending us? Of course not. On the contrary, our cooperation has been quite pleasant."
"Then why? Why go to such lengths to target the Gold Coin Pirates?"
"Perhaps you should answer that yourself, Captain Gold Dagger. Why were you so determined to help the Locke Consortium?"
Gold Dagger's pupils contracted sharply.
His heart sank.
He knows?! How is that possible?
Nie Yun casually fed the man's instant facial expression into the micro-expression analysis software he had developed.
A chill immediately ran down his own spine.
So the Gold Coin Pirates really were connected to the Locke Consortium?!
Based on repeated simulations, he had estimated the probability at less than fifty percent.
Yet somehow, he had still drawn the worst possible card.
It now seemed the Gold Coin Pirates had indeed joined forces with either the Dark Temple, the Karon Pirates, or perhaps both, engineering a classic strategy of "watching the fire from the opposite bank"—allowing the Shattered Star Region to descend into chaos while providing cover for the Locke Consortium.
If that was true, then whoever had masterminded all of this wielded influence spanning both the Shattered Star Region and the Locke Consortium.
Looks like I'd really stumbled onto someone terrifying.
...Wait.
Could it actually be that Second Prince?
No, no. That had to be a coincidence. Maybe Gold Locke had simply paid the Gold Coin Pirates an enormous sum. Or perhaps the two families were secretly distant relatives—they both had the surname Jin(Gold), after all...
There were so many possibilities...
Yeah. It couldn't be that. Surely my luck wasn't that bad...
Nie Yun could only console himself.
The whole "Second Prince" story had merely been something he'd invented to intimidate people. He had absolutely no intention of using his newly founded Ghost Pirates to provoke someone of that caliber.
That would be like skipping the beginner stage entirely and challenging one of the Four Emperors with a brand-new Straw Hat crew.
Even if it really is him, I'll pretend I know nothing.
Nie Yun made his decision instantly.
He even began wondering whether he should simply let Gold Dagger go afterward. Better to avoid offending whoever stood behind him any further—it would at least be damage control.
What Nie Yun didn't realize was that while he himself was feeling somewhat uneasy...
...Gold Dagger was even more terrified.
Nie Yun had only been bluffing to determine whether the Gold Coin Pirates were colluding with the Locke Consortium.
But to Gold Dagger's ears...
...it sounded completely different.
The enemy knew classified information concerning the Locke Consortium.
What did that mean?
It meant there had to be a spy planted beside Lord Kloros. Only that could explain how the information had leaked, allowing the enemy to follow the clues and expose the conspiracy.
But how could the Mechanical Race possibly infiltrate someone like Lord Kloros?
There was only one explanation.
Someone inside the Empire had secretly collaborated with the Mechanical Race, supplying them with intelligence.
The Unity of All Things Society.
This was very likely a secret organization made up of both humans and machines.
And a force like that would never be content with merely targeting the Gold Coin Pirates or the Locke Consortium.
Its ambitions had to be far greater.
For example...
...the throne itself.
"You've invited a wolf into the house..."
Gold Dagger burned with anger.
Thinking about it, how could a newly arrived Mechanical Race member have built such a large force so quickly? Not to mention obtaining the Locke Consortium's top-secret intelligence.
What he could never have guessed was that Nie Yun's information had actually come from the other side of a wormhole...
The misunderstanding had grown completely out of control.
The more Gold Dagger thought about it, the more frightened he became.
He had no idea how much the enemy already knew.
Perhaps only part of the plan.
Perhaps the entire operation.
Or perhaps even the prince behind it all.
But one thing he knew for certain—
He absolutely could not allow the enemy to pry any information out of him.
Especially regarding those two survivors.
He could not leave behind any evidence that might implicate His Highness.
"Excellent... truly excellent, Unity of All Things Society."
Gold Dagger laughed bitterly.
Since everything had already been exposed, there was no point hiding anything anymore.
"...Huh?"
Hearing the name of the organization he had completely fabricated...
This time it was Nie Yun's turn to be stunned.
The sensation of suddenly discovering, in the vastness of the universe, that the fake organization he'd invented actually seemed to exist...
...left his mind completely blank.
After several seconds, Nie Yun finally checked the surveillance records from Gold Fang and discovered exactly what had happened.
He couldn't help laughing helplessly.
As a probationary "prospective member," Gold Fang had naturally been under Nie Yun's surveillance all along.
Normally, Nie Yun didn't pay much attention.
Who would have thought that while he wasn't looking, the guy would hand him such an enormous "surprise"?
The organization's reputation had practically skyrocketed overnight.
Maybe making someone with this kind of talent a mere branch leader was wasting his abilities.
Perhaps...
...he should transfer him to the Propaganda Department.
"Ahem... let's leave the other matters for later. Right now I only have one question..."
Nie Yun coughed lightly, preparing to get to the point.
After all, the battle outside was still raging.
"Heh! Give up. You'll get... nothing from me!"
Gold Dagger interrupted him before he could finish.
With a miserable smile, he suddenly bit down hard on one of his molars.
Pop!
A faint cracking sound reached Nie Yun's ears.
Moments later, Gold Dagger slumped lifelessly into his chair, all strength draining from his body.
Black blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Everyone in the room stared at the scene in horror.
No one understood what had just happened.
How had a conversation suddenly turned into suicide by poison?
Then every eye turned toward Nie Yun.
A few casual sentences had forced the mighty Gold Dagger to poison himself?
Just how terrifying was this man?
And how terrifying must the organization behind him be?
Nie Yun looked at Gold Dagger's lifeless body.
After standing there speechless for quite a while, he turned toward the others with an utterly pained expression.
"If I told you... I only wanted to ask him for the system boot password... would you believe me?"
Everyone answered him with the exact same look:
"Do you take us for idiots?"
"Sigh..."
Nie Yun covered his face and let out a long, hopeless sigh.
He swore.
He had genuinely only wanted to ask for the base AI's administrator password.
Somewhere along the way...
...there had apparently been a massive misunderstanding.
Watching the entire scene unfold, the operative codenamed "Guardian Spirit" bit the end of his pen thoughtfully.
A moment later, he wrote a single sentence into his field journal:
"With nothing but his silver tongue, the Captain engaged in a battle of wits, defeating his enemies through words alone. Amid laughter and effortless conversation, the enemy's entire command structure collapsed into ashes, accomplishing the legendary feat—Werewolf Kill!"
TL Note- Werewolf Kill...
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