Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 248 - 168: Oasis

Chapter 248: Chapter 168: Oasis

Duan Mingyuan and his companions were treated as esteemed guests, yet even so, the townspeople couldn’t come up with much to entertain them. The best food the residents could offer was bread sticks so hard they could be used as a weapon to injure someone, so tough that only Jiuyue could bite into them.

Bland and tasteless, not delicious at all.

That was Jiuyue’s assessment of the town’s food.

Bread sticks and some dried meat that was so desiccated its ingredients were unrecognizable were the treatment that only the honored guests could enjoy.

Because Duan Mingyuan had brought water.

With water, there was hope, the hope that they could struggle on in this harsh world for a few more days.

The mayor collected most of the water they had exchanged and only gave a small amount to the dehydrated townspeople to temporarily relieve their distress. After these affairs, he returned to Duan Mingyuan and the others.

"We will never forget the great kindness you’ve shown us," he said.

The white-haired old man was brimming with tears, like someone in despair clutching at straws for survival.

In the last nearly half month, they had experienced the transition from hope to despair—the flagship passing by the planet didn’t stay in the town for even a second, heading to the Mechanical Throne without exception.

"What on earth happened to this planet?"

Jiuyue asked, despite being the Evil Spirit Queen, supposedly the spokesperson for the antagonists, but she couldn’t help but feel some compassion upon seeing the condition of the town.

The mayor sighed deeply, filling in the part that wasn’t mentioned in the Chamber of Commerce brief.

After the grand rebellion ended, Mechanical Star enjoyed a period of peace. Executing the rebels and exiling them completely destroyed the local’s will to resist. And after the departure of the Shanqi Commerce Association’s fleet, the nobles of the throne issued a series of harsh policies. They conscripted strong young people from every settlement, using them as cheap labor.

The conscripted youth not only had to do hard labor every day but often went hungry. A slight slack would result in scoldings and beatings. Many died under the cruel lashings.

Despite this, the residents of Mechanical Star endured.

Until one day, an execution ceremony changed everything on the planet.

The criminal was nailed to stakes by her limbs, and her body bore no unscarred place, showing the inhuman torture she had suffered before execution.

The woman was accused of being a traitor to the state, having stolen Mechanical Star’s secret treasure during the turmoil of the great rebellion.

But even undergoing countless tortures every day, the criminal never opened her mouth, never revealing anything about the stolen treasure to the nobles.

However, just as the executioner filled her body with oil and approached her with a torch, the criminal suddenly laughed. Facing all the people who had come to witness the execution, she spoke about the secret treasure.

She claimed to have hidden the treasure somewhere on the planet, claiming she had solved the secret hidden by the treasure. That secret could topple the entire Mechanical Throne, casting those lofty nobles down to the Mortal Realm.

The rebellion was never truly over.

Someday, someone would learn of the treasure she had buried, exploit its secret, and reclaim what rightfully belonged to them.

"If it were only the local residents’ revolt, it would perhaps be extinguished soon," said the elderly mayor, who had also witnessed that execution ceremony.

But those who witnessed that execution were not only people from Mechanical Star but also forces from different civilizations across the cosmos.

More and more people seeking the treasure arrived on the planet, including Cosmic Pirates. The Mechanical Throne’s guards were driven back under the flagship’s artillery fire. In the end, the rulers activated a mechanism called "Golden Hourglass," which destroyed the planet’s surface structure, turning it into a desert unfit for habitation.

Afterward, the rulers and their henchmen hid within the Throne, abandoning this devastated and desolate planet to anyone who tried to lay claim to it.

"I see," said the Third Prince, understanding.

It was their landing location that was an issue, the rulers on Mechanical Star had hidden within their Throne and took the planet’s wealthiest city into hiding with them.

"This town is reaching its limit as well."

The townspeople were not only facing drought, scarcity of resources, and disease but also had to beware of foreign plunderers.

The mayor handed them a map marked with the direction of the Mechanical Throne and said, "If you’re heading to the Mechanical Throne, follow the direction marked on the map. It’s Oasis territory, so your recent crash landing might have alerted them. To avoid unnecessary trouble, please leave as soon as possible."

"Oasis?"

"It’s an organization formed by space pirates and mercenaries on Mechanical Star."

While purporting to rebuild the planet, what they actually engaged in was thuggery.

The residents within the Oasis territory had to regularly provide water and other resources to the organization in exchange for their "protection."

The water traded by these outsiders should last them until the next delivery day.

"Isn’t this just hooliganism?" Jiuyue scolded, the small-time thugs on Blue Star also collected protection money like this.

But the mayor’s warning ultimately came a bit too late.

The disturbance outside made his face turn pale as he quickly said, "Hide quickly, I’ll deal with them!"

"It’s no use, the Ranger is just parked outside the town."

The Third Prince said.

Luckily, with the rampant activity of space pirates recently, they had prepared to deal with space pirates before they had even set off. "Mr. Mingyuan, Miss September, let’s go meet the space pirates."

The two main combatants from the Ranger were both present, which was as reassuring as it gets.

The pirates were highly efficient; no sooner had the trio stepped out of the mayor’s mansion than a group of mechanized troops clad in Exoskeleton Armor completely surrounded them. In addition to their armor and kinetic firearms, they also boasted high-quality equipment such as drones and combat robots.

"Are you here for the summit?"

The leader spoke teasingly, "It seems the Chamber of Commerce didn’t give you accurate enough navigational markers, resulting in your crash-landing in this godforsaken place. But you must have heard from the townsfolk, this is the territory of Oasis. Since you happened to pass by, it’s only fair to leave a toll."

"What price?"

The Third Prince asked.

"Money, water, weapons, and women."

The last remark was directed at Jiuyue, accompanied by his licking of his lips; it had been a long time since they had indulged in flesh in this wretched place.

"Mr. Mingyuan, let me handle this, they’ve singled me out!"

Far from being panicked, Jiuyue was instead excited.

The situation was just like a scene from a novel—new to the place and targeted by the local thugs.

It was hard to come across such thrilling excitement on Blue Star.

Having received an affirmative look from Duan Mingyuan, Jiuyue walked straight towards the pirates. The pirates seemed to sense something amiss as well, and all aimed their weapons at Jiuyue at the same time.

"Tch, is there a combatant on that shabby flying vehicle?"

Jiuyue, who appeared slender and unarmed, looked regretful. To be prudent, he ordered, "Take action, eliminate the combatant."

Suddenly, gunshots filled the air.

The leader clutched his chest, where he had just been hit by a bullet fired from behind him.

The Exoskeleton Armor that should have offered protection had failed, and the kinetic bullet left a huge hole in his body; no matter how he tried, he couldn’t stop the bleeding with his hands.

In shock and rage, he turned to see who had taken the cold shot at him, only to face a ground littered with severed limbs.

What on earth had just happened?

The view behind him was beyond his comprehension; with his years of wartime experience, he deduced that these men died from crossfire, their deaths so gruesome it was as if they had been through a localized war.

The war machines brought by his troop had self-ignited and exploded.

The woman in front of him seemed to have done nothing, merely standing there watching them.

When the leader looked at her again, she even gave a friendly wave goodbye.

Jiuyue finally found the opportunity to deliver a line she had seen in a comic book, modified with her personal touch, "If you want to take my head, you’ll have to bring your fleet over."

Having spoken, she turned to Duan Mingyuan with high spirits, "How was that, Mr. Mingyuan? Isn’t that line cool?"

In her excitement, she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

These thieves were merely the dregs of the dregs, and after dealing with Long Branch for so long, she had almost forgotten what it was like to dispatch flunkies.

Within the Barrier, every bullet they fired claimed the lives of their own teammates or themselves.

However, the mayor had turned ashen and, in terror, dropped to the ground with a "thud."

The outsiders were powerful; maybe even the Cosmic Pirates were no match for them, but they wouldn’t stay in this small town forever.

Once they left, the Cosmic Pirates would surely take their frustrations out on the townspeople.

They were ruthless devils; if the usual tribute was short, they would randomly select townspeople and explode their heads in front of everyone.

He must find a way to relocate everyone, as it was their only chance for survival.

But the desert stretched out endlessly outside the town, how could their steps outpace the pirates’ superior equipment?

"Thud—"

The Oasis squad’s leader, along with the mayor, lay on the ground, the reason being excessive blood loss.

His face pressed into the scorching sand, darkness threatened to envelop him.

In the midst of fading consciousness, he heard footsteps approaching him.

They belonged to the mysterious woman’s companion.

The leader’s last sight was of the man standing in front of a damaged combat robot, which was being repaired in a manner incomprehensible to him.

Then he was flipped over, and the man took the emblem from his Exoskeleton Armor.

It was their military tag.

The military tag was handed to the combat robot, along with a poster that seemed to feature the man’s portrait.

"Hand this over to your boss."

That was the last voice the leader heard.

—"Please do me the favor of never returning to this town again."