Chapter 2445: He Can’t Be That Insane, Right?
After hearing that, the space pirates were obliged to drink now. While his words were vulgar, he did have a point. Space pirates were nothing but chamber pots and cleaning cloths for the nobles, who were only giving them the name “National Protection Army” in order to strike the reformists. But thieves were always thieves. Who knew whether or not they would be the next after the reformists were indeed annihilated someday, and they would be kicked away like the filthy, stinky chamber pot?
Therefore, if they could win the support of the powerful persons in the four families, say, Li Wuji who had come to recruit him in person, it would certainly be for the best.
On the other hand, for Li Wuji, if he had a bunch of strong and obedient space pirates at his disposal, it would be quite beneficial for him to expand his influence in the four families and the Council of Elders.
Now that both parties needed each other, they were obviously full of sincerity. Led by Boss Bai, the captains of all the pirate gangs, as well as the lone bandits, raised their wine buckets high and poured the liquids in. The amber-colored wine poured down like a waterfall. Thankfully, as Immortal Cultivators, they were capable of controlling their internal organs and vaporizing the water. Otherwise, their stomachs would’ve been broken when the buckets of wine were filled into them.
But as a result, when the water was vaporized, the nutritional tonics in the wine was diluted faster too, making them drunk even more quickly.
Seeing that the heads of space pirates were all blushing because of drinking, and the atmosphere was rather heated, Li Wuji slightly nodded his head to show satisfaction.
With his mysophobia, he would certainly not drink the same way as those pirates, but since so many people were toasting him at the same time, it would be inappropriate to not do anything. Therefore, he took out his personal cup and drank a cup of wine, which immediately raised a round of cheers. Naturally, Boss Bai’s voice was the loudest and most excited of all.
“In the next—”
Seeing that everybody had chugged a whole bucket of hard liquor, Boss Bai smiled and said, “The battle of Seven Seas is about to come. This is the end of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors but the first battle of the National Protection Army, which will be the beginning of our journey to the top of all the troops in the Imperium. Let’s drink another bucket of wine to celebrate the triumph of the battle in advance!”
Both the space pirates and the regular soldiers were most superstitious before great battles. Many things were best left unsaid, but now that Boss Bai had proposed to “celebrate the triumph in advance”, they naturally had to drink the second bucket of wine.
Otherwise, it would’ve been a curse that they would fail or die in the battle.
Immediately, a lot of soldiers of the Big Bai Pirate Gang carried hundreds of buckets of hard liquor over. After the seals and the covers were removed, it turned out to be translucent ambers and gems inside the buckets. When the heaters were aimed at the ambers and gems and shined on them for a while, they were immediately “unfrozen” into fragrant wine.
Then, a few metal balls that could adjust temperature were thrown into every bucket, setting the temperature of the wine to the best level. It felt like the wine could crawl into their mouths on its own without them drinking as long as they raised their heads.
“Come on, let’s drink up and fight bravely on the battlefield. We are not to humiliate our lord!”
Boss Bai batted the bucket hard and shouted.
He was already staggering, his tongue blurred, and he could barely raise the wine bucket now.
While he was unable to raise the bucket, other people certainly could not follow his example, because Li Wuji and other nobles were watching them coldly!
All the space pirates knew that the dinner was, in fact, a test for them to see if the disobedient space pirates were docile and loyal.
Then, what else could they say? They’d finally found a chance to join the four families. Besides, the Blue Sky Market had been looted by them, meaning that the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors and the reformists hated their guts right now. They had no choice except to be loyal right now. So, just drink it up!
Therefore, the second bucket of wine was poured in.
But this time, many people were drinking obviously more slowly than previously. Their bellies were rising, and they were surrounded in mists, as if they were in the middle of a sauna bath.
After they finally poured the hard liquors with tremendous drugs that were specifically refined for the Immortal Cultivators into their stomachs, the wretched Boss Bai, out of their expectation, exclaimed again, “Everyone, everyone, I was told that our new emperor will ascend to the throne after the rebels of the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors are annihilated. While we are all unrefined folks, since we are ‘National Protection Army’, we certainly cannot forget our loyalty to His Majesty! It is not a tradition to toast only twice. The third bucket of wine is to our future emperor. May the Imperium of True Human Beings thrive and unite the sea of stars!”
All the heads of space pirates looked at each other in bewilderment, feeling a headache.
Although they had committed tremendous murders and other crimes, they barely touched hard liquors, which were essentially powerful aesthetics.
Since they barely drank anything, it was particularly troublesome when they did get drunk. Now that they were drinking such a great quantity of wine, which was also a mix of multiple different kinds of hard liquors, they felt that furious flames were burning their internal organs and flowing into their brains along the veins and nerves, corroding and paralyzing their souls.
If they were to activate their strength, they could naturally resolve the alcohol with their Cultivation.
However, how could they sit cross-legged and press out the alcohol right in front of Boss Bai and Li Wuji?
Many people were already seeing colorful stripes or even stars before their eyes.
Now that Boss Bai announced a third round of toasts, they all cursed in their hearts that the pretentious boy was too boring.
But now that Boss Bai had said that it was for the “future emperor”, there was no excuse for them to avoid drinking now. They had already toasted for Li Wuji with a bucket of wine. If they were to refuse to toast His Majesty, not just Boss Bai, even Li Wuji would not agree.
When the toast was for Li Wuji, you drank it, but when it was for the future His Majesty, you refused to drink. Then, was this a “National Protection Army” or Li Wuji’s private troop?
Li Wuji certainly knew better than leaving such a weakness for other people to criticize him.
Hardly had Boss Bai concluded his sentence when Li Wuji strode forward and raised his cup, not caring if the space pirates at the dinner were hesitant. “Exactly. The reformists and the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors are just ants trying to shake a tree in front of the might of His Majesty. When His Majesty ascends to the throne, the iron army of the Imperium will immediately crumble over all the heinous rebels! Come on, everyone, here’s to His Majesty and the Imperium!”
He was holding a cup, but what the soldiers of the Big Bai Pirate Gang carried over this time were buckets that were even larger than the previous two rounds.
It was also perfectly reasonable. His Majesty was apparently much higher than a Marquess Yongchun. Naturally, the buckets of wine to toast His Majesty should be larger than those for the Marquess Yongchun.
The competition within the four Kurfürst families was also very intense. It was always the most sensitive period when a new emperor claimed the crown. One moment of carelessness, and even the smallest mistake could become other people’s weapons.
Even though they had lost the capital, they hadn’t lost their great tradition of inner fights.
One of the reasons why Li Wuji did not want to socialize with the rude space pirates more than he needed to was that their lack of manners would add to his trouble. But out of his expectation, what Boss Bai did was rather flawless. He couldn’t help but nod his head in approval.
The heads of the space pirates, however, looked awful. Some of the cautious thieves even grew wary.
To be honest, it was not unusual to attack the enemy under the excuse of meetings or dinners.
But things were different this time.
The battle between the four families and the reformists was fierce. The space pirates, which were large in number, were an important leverage and would tip the scales whichever side they were to join.
They might get removed when they were not needed anymore, but that time had not come yet. So, Li Wuji should be recruiting them sincerely.
Boss Bai, as the “mastermind”, had pissed off the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors with the attack on the Blue Sky Market. He certainly had no reason to betray Li Wuji and the four families and swallow them at such an absolutely inappropriate timing.
Even though Boss Bai had expanded a lot, they had twenty-nine pirate gangs gathered here, and Li Wuji’s regular army was also observing coldly. One Big Bai Pirate Gang was no match for them from any perspective.
However insane Boss Bai was, he couldn’t be hoping to swallow twenty-nine pirate gangs as well as a fleet of the Kurfürsten on his own, could he?
All the heads of space pirates thought again and again, only to find no suspicious points. So, they believed that the Bai-surnamed boy was only showing off now that things had gotten his way, and it was best to just wait and watch.
Raising their necks, they poured the third bucket of wine into their stomachs, before they all cheered, “We appreciate the lord and His Majesty!”
“Long live His Majesty, long live the Imperium!”
Boss Bai also held the bucket and drank it hard.
But he was too drunk to keep the bucket in his arms. So, he simply tossed it to the ground into pieces, with the wine splashing like blood. “We are all life-and-death brothers after the three buckets of wine! Whoever is disloyal to the Imperium or to his brothers shall be torn into shreds that will turn into rats mauling and biting each other, experiencing the pain more miserable than hell!”
He was completely drunk and began to talk nonsense.
“Commander Bai, this is enough.”
Looking at him coldly, Li Wuji said.
“No, it’s… it’s not enough.”
Boss Bai waved his hands uncontrollably and said, “Hahahaha. Today is the happiest day of my life. Can you imagine that…”
He almost waved his hands that were stained with wine to Li Wuji’s face. Immediately coming back to himself, he was covered in a cold sweat.
Li Wuji stepped back, his eyebrows almost rising, as he glared at him angrily. “Commander Bai, this is truly enough. I think the atmosphere is heated enough, and other people have shown enough respect for you as their commander.”
“Yes, of course.”
His lips shivering and his face reddened, Boss Bai said, while the odor of wine spurted out of his mouth, “I’m just too happy and want to serve my lord too much.”