Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 264 - 183: The Bet

Chapter 264: Chapter 183: The Bet

Mechanical Star had come to life, at least it seemed so from the surface.

When the dawn’s early light descended upon this planet once more, the inhabitants of Mechanical Star left their small towns, having lost count of how long it had been since they last saw lakes and forests. Some, overcome with excitement, shed their clothes and leapt into the lake. Only when the chilly water passed over their necks did they finally confirm that this was not a dream.

Thus, a new problem arose.

Why had the "Cocoon" stopped its transformation?

Who had prevented the planet from heading towards destruction?

Everyone was searching for the answer to this question, including the Shanqi Commerce Association.

They finally found Duan Mingyuan at the Mechanical Royal Court, but they were told he was resting. When they tried to enter to check on him, they were driven back by a fierce-looking Fox Demon.

The intelligence coming out of the Royal Court placed the Chamber of Commerce before a difficult choice; they didn’t know whether to consider this a piece of good news.

They believed that the rest mentioned by the Fox Demon likely meant "weakness." Although they had no way of knowing what means Duan Mingyuan had used, stopping a planet from transforming into a "Cocoon," despite the unimaginable exhaustion that even a Transcender would face, meant that Duan Mingyuan was probably in a state of unprecedented weakness.

They would probably never again have such a perfect opportunity to eliminate the "Great Demon King."

Although the Fox Demon looked fierce, it wasn’t something they couldn’t handle.

This gave rise to a brand-new plan—if they could eliminate Duan Mingyuan in his most vulnerable state, they could also take credit for stopping the "Cocoon" transformation of Mechanical Star, which would strongly bolster the public opinion support for the merger of the Chamber and the company.

As of this morning, that credit remained unclaimed.

The only question was just how weak the Transcender had become and how much combat power he retained under such extreme weakness.

This was a gamble.

If they won the bet, the victor would take everything.

Fame, power, and hope, and no one would pose a threat to the Shan Clan anymore.

The Shan Clan are natural gamblers; not a single Shan Clan person would want to miss such a grand gamble. However, before taking any action, they intended to minimize the risk of failure or, in other words, shift that risk onto others.

So, on this dawn, everyone at the Gear Hotel was awakened by a thunderous roar.

They saw a crack appearing in the sky above them, and it was a dark, massive shadow that tore through the heavens. When they spotted the ominous skull emblem, their faces instantly changed.

The Cosmic Pirates had arrived.

First, the Flesh Curse and a "Cocooning" planet, and without having had a chance to catch their breath, they now faced the most infamous force in the entire cosmos.

The moment the Cosmic Pirates appeared over the city, they greeted all the board members staying at the Gear Hotel—with a micro tactical nuke.

The security personnel activated the Gear Hotel’s defense system immediately. Although the defense system prevented the hotel from being instantly destroyed, the blast’s aftermath and the spreading heatwave caused a great number of casualties in an instant.

"These bastards!"

Earth Wolf Twelve gritted his teeth, unable to believe the Chamber would truly tear off its mask and incite the pirates active on the surface of Mechanical Star to attack the Mechanical Throne.

He knew all too well that Oasis was an institution supported by the Chamber in the background, officially Cosmic Adventurers but in reality a group of insatiable bandits, legally plundering Mechanical Star.

This building housed board members from the Sixteen Star Summit, each of whom held pivotal influence on their respective planets. If they united to expose the actions of the Shanqi Commerce Association, it would surely generate a significant impact on public opinion. The moment the Cosmic Pirates recklessly threw a micro tactical nuke at the Gear Hotel, Earth Wolf Twelve understood the Chamber’s intentions.

He never intended to let any councilors leave Mechanical Star alive.

They should have died from the Flesh Curse, but now it was the Cosmic Pirates.

The hotel resounded with piercing screams, which buzzed incessantly in Earth Wolf Twelve’s head.

Yet, to them, the situation was completely one-sided; these cosmic pirates did not need to deploy ground troops, just a few more tactical nukes would be enough to shatter the defenses of the Gear Hotel, and at that point, everyone inside the hotel would be doomed.

What was worse, the Queen of Mechanical Star had died, leaving the defense system inside "Mirage" utterly unmanned.

Earth Wolf Twelve glared at the flagship that obscured the sky and deeply felt the limits to an interstellar cowboy’s abilities.

When he had defected from the company, he hadn’t been made a permanent member yet, so the committee hadn’t equipped him with the means to penetrate the flagship’s armor; now, all his modifications were custom-made on neutral planets using his own salary and rewards from completed contracts.

He did not trust the Chamber of Commerce’s technology. To allow them to modify his body would be like handing his life over entirely to them.

Just like now, if he were using technology from the Chamber of Commerce, the higher-ups could simply press a button and completely neutralize him.

Earth Wolf Twelve located the delegation from Blue Star amidst the crowd. The young man before him was said to be a prince from Blue Star, and he made his intentions clear, "Have you ever heard of boarding combat?"

"...I’ve heard of it."

Not long ago, the Third Prince had learned some bad news from Jiuyue—Mingyuan, his teacher, was sleeping very deeply, so much so that even the explosion of a micro tactical nuke hadn’t managed to wake him, likely due to the enormous exertion in preventing the "Cocoon" from forming.

In other words, until Teacher Mingyuan woke up, they would have to figure out how to deal with the cosmic pirates themselves.

"Then that’s perfect. I need to borrow your flying vehicle to get close to their spaceship. As long as you can get me there safely, I can find a way to take them down," Earth Wolf Twelve said, laying out his plan. It was highly risky, yet it was the only feasible option they had.

In a situation where their firepower was overwhelmingly outmatched, hunkering down in defense often led to a dead end.

"The teacher did leave some life energy on the Ranger as a precaution," the Third Prince mentioned.

Only...

The disparity in their realms was simply too vast.

With his cultivation at the Foundation Establishment Stage, could he truly shake the mighty being above who wielded tactical nukes like weapons?

.........

Meanwhile, Duan Mingyuan found himself returning to the same place again.

He was in a sterile white space, standing right in the center, surrounded by doors in every direction.

He had tried going through all the doors, but behind each one lay the same room, with identical doors.

Regrettably, he hadn’t encountered Jiuyue in the dreamland; he was accompanied only by several featureless dummies.

However, just a moment ago, something unusual had occurred in this space—the ground had violently shaken a few times, as if someone from the outside had jostled the space he was in.

It seemed to be a puzzle left for him by Mechanical Star or perhaps a form of retribution he faced after stopping the "Cocoon" from forming.

Only the person who solved the puzzle could leave this space.

After the trembling stopped for a moment, the space underwent a new change—the blank faces of the dummies grew eyes and mouths, revealing malicious grins.

"All the people you saved will die."

The dummy taunted, "And you will never be able to leave this place."