Super Mothership
“You don't understand! You don't understand how powerful the Woolf Empire is. Even if we manage to escape for a time, the galaxy is vast, but there are few places where we could possibly find shelter.”
The old clan leader shook his head and let out a long sigh.
If there had been even the slightest possibility, wouldn't he have wanted to lead his people out of the Empire's enslavement?
But how could they possibly fight against the Empire? With their own strength? Or with a bunch of pirates?
Even if they escaped Ryan Star, what then?
If only a small number of Ryan people were taken away by pirates, the Locke Consortium might not care at all. They would simply regard it as losing one less leek from their field.
But if the entire clan rebelled, Jinlock would inevitably be furious. With the Locke Consortium's military strength and influence, how could a mere pirate group possibly stand against such a behemoth on its own?
Even escaping the territory of the Locke Consortium would probably be nothing more than a pipe dream.
When he was young, it wasn't as though he had never resisted. But the result had been that his companions lost their lives one after another for the sake of their ideals, while he had eventually become utterly disheartened and could only choose the path he least wanted to take, preserving the last remaining strength of the Ryan people.
“Of course I understand. In fact, I've never understood the Empire's strength as clearly as I do now. They possess hundreds of thousands of warships, populations numbering in the trillions, and more than a thousand star systems. Their power is enough to make anyone despair!”
Spartacus spoke slowly.
During his time with the Ghost Pirates, the amount of information he could obtain was far greater than what was available to isolated Ryan Star.
“But they have enemies too. They have internal conflicts as well. And in this vast universe, there are countless forces capable of threatening the Empire!
I understand your concerns, but you probably don't know that the Locke Consortium is currently being besieged by the five great pirate groups working together. They're already struggling just to take care of themselves.
If we want to escape from here, now is the best opportunity!”
“What?!”
Upon hearing this news, the old clan leader and everyone around him were visibly shaken.
The five great pirate groups were attacking the Locke Consortium?
What exactly was going on?
Could it be… that this was also the work of the Ghost Pirates that Spartacus had mentioned?
Could a mere pirate group really possess such tremendous power?
If that were truly the case, and they possessed such strength, perhaps they really could protect the entire Ryan clan?
“Clan leader, the Ghost Captain has already promised that joining is entirely voluntary. Even after joining, we would only be pirate mercenaries, free to come and go as we please and leave at any time.
But I still have to say this: even you have been sent back here and imprisoned. The Locke Consortium has clearly lost its trust in the Ryan people. If we choose to stay, we'll only face even harsher exploitation and suppression until they squeeze out the very last drop of blood from our Ryan people!
Glorious Ryan people, will we choose to die in silence, or erupt in silence?”
Die in silence, or erupt in silence?
The old clan leader carefully pondered those words, remaining silent for a long time.
After a while, he raised his head and gave Spartacus a deep look.
That phrase clearly wasn't part of the Ryan people's own cultural heritage. Obviously, this young man had been… indoctrinated in order to persuade him.
Moreover, those words had also subtly pointed out the Ryan people's current predicament.
Even if, despite his opposition, only a small number of Ryan people chose to join the pirates as mercenaries, once news of this reached the Locke Consortium, it would probably only deepen their suspicions toward the Ryan people.
Very clever! So you're acting all humble and obedient in front of me while secretly sending people to join the enemy camp behind my back. Are you trying to become a traitor, or are you playing some kind of undercover game?!
If that were the case, the clansmen who remained behind would truly end up caught between both sides…
This was clearly a case of offering courtesy before resorting to force. Put simply, they hadn't given him any real choice at all!
From Spartacus, the old clan leader seemed to catch a glimpse of the terrifying control over the situation possessed by the man standing behind him.
But for the Ryan people, this might not necessarily be a bad thing.
If the person behind all this were an incompetent fool, the old clan leader would actually have to think carefully about whether entrusting the lives and fortunes of the entire clan to him was worthwhile.
Spartacus felt somewhat guilty under the old clan leader's profoundly meaningful gaze and instinctively shrank his neck.
Please don't blame me, Clan Leader. I'm doing this for the good of the Ryan people too. According to the captain, what do you call this again?
That's right! Get on the bus first, then buy the ticket afterward!
……
“He agreed! The clan leader agreed!”
“We can finally escape!”
At the same time, cheers erupted from the various Ryan settlements scattered across the planet.
On the plazas of nearly every settlement, a mecha could be seen using projection equipment to broadcast the conversation between Spartacus and the old clan leader in real time.
That's right.
It was a live broadcast!
And judging from the results, not only was the propaganda effect for the pirate group overwhelmingly successful, but Spartacus himself had gained a wave of new fans.
Nie Yun had ordered the Hammer of Destruction Mecha Corps to directly descend onto the planet for two reasons.
One was to have the Ryan warriors speak from personal experience, increasing their sense of identification and making their words more convincing.
The other was to put on this massive planet-wide live broadcast.
Later, when the old clan leader learned about everything that had happened, he couldn't help cursing inwardly.
What an old fox!
Under these circumstances, whether he agreed or not really wasn't that important.
Young people were always hot-blooded and easily stirred up. Under Spartacus's inflammatory words, quite a considerable number of them would probably be persuaded.
Once the young people had all been lured away, what choice would the remaining elderly and children have?
And on top of that, Spartacus had gained another wave of prestige. Perhaps the goal was precisely to weaken the influence of the clan leader within the clan and strengthen the voice of the “pro-Ghost” faction…
Two birds with one stone!
This was an open strategy. Even though the old clan leader knew exactly what was happening, there was nothing he could say about it.
The Ghost Captain was undoubtedly a meticulous… schemer!
Setting aside the old clan leader's first impression of Nie Yun, the migration operation soon began with the cooperation of the Ryan people.
Huge transport ships began landing one after another, arriving at the various settlements to arrange for everyone to board.
This time, Nie Yun had brought not only 300 warships, but also another 200 cargo ships that had undergone emergency modifications. If they squeezed everyone in, transporting five million Ryan people wouldn't be a problem.
With the Locke Consortium already struggling to take care of itself, and no enemy forces nearby capable of threatening them for the time being, Nie Yun wasn't worried about time.
Not only had he left plenty of time for the migration, he had also allowed each person to bring up to five kilograms of personal supplies.
The migration proceeded in an orderly fashion, with a calm and relaxed pace.
It hardly looked like an escape at all.
Instead, it looked more like a leisurely trip with no particular deadline.
They even saw quite a few mechas venturing deep into dangerous areas infested with underground monsters, knocking here and looking there as though they were conducting some kind of geological survey.
All of this undoubtedly provided tremendous psychological reassurance to the unsettled Ryan people, while also allowing them to experience the strength and confidence of the Ghost Pirates from another perspective.
Not only had they raided the landlord's house, they even had time to light a cigarette and leisurely take a look around the kitchen.
Could someone who wasn't a habitual offender really have nerves like this?
However, what they didn't know was that those mechas that appeared to be merely wandering around aimlessly would, whenever they found a suitable geological environment, poke a hole into the ground with one finger.
Then they would take a fist-sized green seed out of their storage compartment and bury it inside.
After that, they would pour in a bottle of strange, emerald-green liquid, carefully cover it with soil, and restore the surrounding area to its original appearance.
Finally, they would furtively observe their surroundings for a while. Only after confirming that no one had noticed anything would they casually leave the scene.
In the unseen darkness beneath the ground, terrifying seeds from an alien civilization began rapidly taking root and sprouting in this unfamiliar land…
TL Note- New Ally...
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