Chapter 2440: Heroes Are Also Valued!
“Boss Bai, heroes are always valued. I know that you are the most distinguished space pirate who only rose to fame miraculously recently! Ambushing the Red Purple Planet, resisting the Flowing Wind Fleet, destroying the Hundred Consecutive Stars, merging the Ghost Eye Pirate Gang… Your classic cases can almost be written into a textbook of space pirates for other people to read and learn. Hahahaha!”
Zuo Tianying feigned a smile while he threw out the costless adulations. “The Blue Sky Market is always the most reliable base for all the space pirates. Many of them have been praising you when they maintain their starships or sell goods in my place, claiming that you are very likely to be a great hero who unites all the space pirates in the entire Imperium for the first time in the past thousand years as the future ‘King of Pirates’! I always feel that my heart is pounding when they tell me about your magnificent stories, and it has been my wish to make friends with such a heroic person!”
“Hehehehe, the future king of pirates…”
Boss Bai finally put down the juice cup that he had been drinking from. Veins were protruding on his ferret face like blooming man-eating flowers. He grabbed a handful of luscious grapes from the desk and stuffed them into his mouth, with the juice splashing everywhere. Then, he hissed with a voice that seemed to have been rusted, “Are you suggesting that Boss Bai is not the king of pirates right now?”
“Of course you are. You are the well-deserved king of pirates right now!”
Zuo Tianying was almost laughing out loud. This Boss Bai was more arrogant and ignorant than he had thought. He truly wondered where the bumpkin came from exactly.
The territory of the Imperium was too vast, and there were too many unparalleled heroes and bandits. Even though Boss Bai had been invincible in the past few years and gathered a fairly-large team, he was not deeply-rooted at all. There were still a couple of pirate gangs of the same size to his, if not larger. Right now, three of them had been summoned to the Blue Sky Market.
If you wanted to be the king of pirates, you’d better ask the bosses of those pirate gangs and see if they agreed!
Well, the bosses of those pirate gangs would probably agree because space pirates were never interested in the useless titles. They all understood the logic that the tall trees caught wind first and that the more famous they were, the sooner they would die. Only the idiotic boys like Boss Bai who had just started the business would be passionate to be “king of pirates”!
Other people would never hesitate to offer the hat to him and push him to the frontstage to get killed!
While sneering and mocking secretly in his heart, Zuo Tianying spoke with such sincerity as if he were truly considering for Boss Bai. “However, Boss Bai, we are all poor folks who struggle to make a living in the treacherous sea of stars. I used to be a space pirate, and I understand the sufferings of space pirates too well. This business is a dead end. Even if you become the king of pirates, so what? When the army of the Imperium comes at you on a large scale, wouldn’t you still be fleeing in a panic like mice that have encountered a cat?
“Those who steal a pendant will be killed, and those who steal a country will be knighted. Why don’t you consider the longer term and… seize the entire Imperium together with us?”
“Seize the entire Imperium?”
Boss Bai bit the grapes while making loud noises quickly. Very soon, all that was left in his hands was a bare stem. He narrowed his eyes, with coldness beaming out, while he observed Zuo Tianying up and down for a long time. Then he said in a half smile, “Go on. How is the Imperium going to be seized?”
Zuo Tianying felt more or less creeped out being stared at by him. Spitting in his heart, he calmed himself down and unfolded a 3D map of the Imperium of True Human Beings. He said while pointing at the map, “Boss Bai, since you’ve been dealing with the Imperium’s army for a long time, you must know the situation of the Imperium very well, which is like a turbulent tornado with drastic changes on a daily basis. The Imperium is entirely different from half a year or even three months ago!
“In the newly-recovered area, the expedition army of the Imperium are seething in impatience. The young, bottom-level officers are very dissatisfied with the conservativeness and hesitation of the four Kurfürst families. They are so disappointed that they are even getting out of control. Ever since the news that the Astounding Thunder Fleet has changed their banner, many young officers in the expedition fleets have been thinking to follow the example of ‘God of War’ Lei Chenghu, transforming themselves into a new, glorious army that defends the interests of the Imperium instead of a certain family!
“In the capital, the reformists have completely got rid of the last bit of strength of the old nobles. The corrupt, murky Council of Elders of the past has been demolished and replaced by the ‘Reform Committee of the Council of Elders’. The queen has been elected as the First Member of the committee and the acting highest ruler of the Imperium.
“The Reform Committee of the Council of Elders has been ruling and operating well in the entire Empyreal Terminus Sector, which means that a brand-new government has blossomed and fruited at the heart of the Imperium!
“Outside of the capital, in the territory of the four Kurfürst families, the reign of the old nobles is hanging by a thread. Student movements and strikes are breaking out nonstop. Too many people have been suppressed pitifully! But despite the suppression, the fury of the people has been completely ignited and is flooding like magma. There is no stopping it at all!
“At the peripheral worlds of the Imperium where we are living, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors is also actively contacting the great heroes like Boss Bai, planning to rise up and cooperate with the expedition army in the frontline, the Reform Committee of the Council of Elders in the capital, and the people and the low-level Immortal Cultivators who have had enough of everything in the territory of the old nobles!
“As long as the four parties work together, we will certainly sweep across the feeble fortresses of the old nobles destructively and renew the entire Imperium with the wrath of the people!
“Boss Bai, the trend of reform is unstoppable. Those who go with it, thrive; those who go against it, die! Join our greatest cause with your fleet as well as the seven affiliating pirate gangs who receive your protection and command. It’s now or never!”
His face bushing, Zuo Tianying persuaded the man passionately.
Boss Bai, however, simply looked at the map casually and sucked the last juice on the stem before he said, “It means declaring war on the four Kurfürst families, doesn’t it? The risk of this deal is rather high.”
Zuo Tianying smiled cunningly and blinked his eyes. “Other people may be intimidated by the risk, but for Boss Bai, have you ever been scared of the four Kurfürst families? During the battle of Blue Star City, you were bold enough to loot the coalition auction of the four Kurfürst families. Not only were all the extraordinary treasures in the auction plundered by you, but even the nobles who participated in the auction were also captured. Then, you evaded the hunting of the four Kurfürst families for thirty-seven times in the next three months, forcing the enemy to pay the ransom in order to get the hostages back. If you are bold enough to make such an astonishing deal, how can you not have the courage to declare war on the four Kurfürst families?”
It was both a secret exaltation and an indirect reminder for Boss Bai—What you did in Blue Star City was too outrageous and blatant. You were already the thorns in the flesh for the old nobles after the smack on the faces of the four Kurfürst families. Did you have a second choice other than jumping on the tank of the reformists?
As he expected, when the “glorious feat” was mentioned, Boss Bai hooted like an owl and nodded his head gloatingly. “That’s right, that’s right. The universe is large, but there are few businesses that Boss Bai does not dare to do. However, a businessman is not scared of risks, only returns that are not abundant enough. Tell me about it, what will I gain if I stand on the side of the reformists, and what about my Big Bai Pirate Gang as well as the youngsters who make a living with me?”
Zuo Tianying coughed and took out a jade chip from his Cosmos Ring rather mysteriously.
Although it was a “jade chip”, it was in the color of dark red and had been produced in the shape of a small scepter.
Holding it in both hands and delivering it to Boss Bai respectfully, he said, “Please take a look, Boss Bai, this is a warrant just issued by the Reform Committee of the Council of Elders. You have been nominated as the highest commander of the garrison of the Hundred Phoenixes Sector. You have also been accoladed as a ‘vice admiral’ of the army and an honorable ‘viscount’.
“As for the fleets under your command, including the affiliating pirate gangs who have joined you, they will all be enlisted into the garrison of the Hundred Phoenixes Sector as the regular army of the Imperium. They are entitled to all the privileges of the army and will have sufficient supplies and monetary support. After the soldiers die, there will be high compensations too.”
“Hundred Phoenixes Sector?”
Boss Bai touched the jade chip affectionately but pretended to hesitate. “Vice admiral? Viscount?”
“The Hundred Phoenixes Sector is one of the new worlds that have just been won from the Covenant Alliance. It is a resourceful place and full of hope, enough for anyone to realize their dream.”
Zuo Tianying said unhurriedly, “However, since we are on the same side, I will not lie to Boss Bai. You will naturally never report for duty in the Hundred Phoenixes Sector. This is just a title. Only when you have the title will it be appropriate to offer you the corresponding privileges!
“All in all, let’s leave the empty stuff behind and talk about the more concrete things. As long as you accept the warrant, you will turn from a space pirate that everybody spits on into a regular army that is legitimate and backed by the entire Imperium!”
“Huh?”
Boss Bai laughed and craned his rat-like head over. He looked peaceful and delighted, but there was a certain infinite horror and coldness in his voice. “Why, Deacon Zuo, do you feel that it is a shame to be a space pirate, and everybody should spit on them?”
Zuo Tianying was more or less stunned. Highly uncomfortable under Boss Bai’s eyes, he struggled to reply, “That-That is not what I meant. Being a space pirate is certainly not bad, except… except that it may be inconvenient now and then. If you can be a general of the government army, why would you be a space pirate?”
“It does make sense.”
Boss Bai suddenly retreated his aggressive eyes and grinned, as if it were not a big deal. “However, is the warrant presented by the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors reliable or not?”