Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

“Planet Aoqi will definitely send their forces to hunt us down.” Li Lanfeng who sat on the couch suddenly said.

Everyone focused on Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng calmly continued, “Planet Aoqi lost their top tier domain master because they wanted to a.s.sa.s.sinate the princess. They know that their target is boarding Feiyang and would of course not give up on the a.s.sa.s.sination.

“Also, Aoqi had already thought of taking down Feiyang, but they didn't have any good reasons to attack Feiyang. In the end, after receiving a threat from the Federation, they couldn't help but to let Feiyang leave on time. However, even though the situation played out like this, Aoqi's government would not give up that easily…”

“Since they can't attack out in the open, they will definitely attack from the shadows.” Li Lanfeng raised his head and turned towards Ling Lan. He then continued slowly, “There are many ways they can attack us from the shadows and not let anyone discover their involvement. For them to be not connected to this incident would of course involve intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates.”

Intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates were mostly comprised of criminals and psychopaths that were wanted by all countries. However, some of these pirates were actually secret army forces the governments had secretly created. Some of these pirates were even soldiers in disguise. Even the Federation had a group of intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates that served as their clean-up crew to take out powers or individuals the Federation could not get rid of publicly.

Li Lanfeng's words made the others nod in agreement. Ling Lan continued the discussion, “Lanfeng's right. During the rest of our trip, we will be attacked by at least one group of intergalactic pirates. Actually, from the beginning of the mission, I had already guessed that we would definitely meet up with some intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates during this mission.”

“Why?” Only Li Yingjie was curious why Boss Lan had this thought right from the beginning.

Hearing his question, Li Lanfeng frowned and decisively decided to ignore Li Yingjie. If the family head of the Li family was going to be Li Yingjie, Li Lanfeng believed that the Li family's golden throne will definitely be forcefully overthrown by another elite family.

Compared to Li Lanfeng's disgust towards Li Yingjie, Ling Lan didn't care about the thought process of Li Yingjie. After so many years, Ling Lan already knew Li Yingjie was the idiot son of the Li family. Additionally there was Li s.h.i.+yu, who only focused on his research and didn't care about the wealth and power of the Li family. Inside a super elite family like this with different factions going against one another, two simple minded and stubborn successors were born. Ling Lan was very interested in how the Li family had raised people like them. It should be known that this feat was even harder than raising someone who squandered their wealth.

Ling Lan replied with great patience, “Compared to other means of a.s.sa.s.sination, using intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates is the most effective and easiest way. And it is also the most covert way. You won't be able to determine whether the pirates' intention was just the princess or just robbery… Even if Feiyang becomes s.p.a.ce debris because of an incident like this, the Federation wouldn't be able to find any evidence.The Federation will only be able to acknowledge the reality presented before them. Who knew Feiyang would be this unlucky and encounter intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates?”

“That's insane.” Li Yingjie finally understood and his expression changed instantly.

“Politics have always been dark.” Gulibaduo was only a 20 year old young woman, yet she had become a chess piece for different parties for them to take what each of them wanted. In reality, her life was not in her own hands. In the end, her life would depend on which powers succeeded in achieving their own plans.

After thinking until this point, Ling Lan's expression became cold as ice. If she had returned to being Ling Xiao's daughter, would she also become an existence like Gulibaduo and become a chess piece used by others to attack or win Ling Xiao over?

Ling Lan's mood instantly turned for the worse. Her cold aura seeped out for a second and was then immediately taken back. Although the change was instantaneous, the five around her all clearly felt the aura.

“Boss, did something happen?” Although the five of them all seemed calm on the outside, the muscles hiding under their attire had already tightened up. As long as there was anything that seemed off with the surroundings, they would instantaneously attack it.

Ling Lan shook her head and her aura became calm and mild. She changed the topic and said, “When you guys boarded the s.h.i.+p, did Mu Youyun and the others contact you guys?”

“No. Ever since we returned to the s.h.i.+p on the third day, they didn't contact us,” replied Zhao Jun. After Mu Youyun's team had escorted the princess to Feiyang, they silently left and didn't expose themselves. Zhao Jun knew that Captain Mu Youyun clearly knew who had attacked them.

Ling Lan nodded lightly. Senior Colonel Mu Youyun was definitely an experienced battle team leader. He knew to hide Ling Lan's group's existence.

“All in all, as they didn't contact us, we will go with what we had previously arranged.”

Ling Lan didn't want to have too much contact with Mu Youyun's group. They were after all the royal guards for the princess on the outside and was the focus of attention for the enemies. Ling Lan didn't want her group to be exposed if Mu Youyun's group became exposed. That way, her group wouldn't be in danger.

Ling Lan did indeed want to complete this escort mission. However, if this mission caused her or her teammates to give up their lives… Ling Lan would rather fail the mission. In her eyes, brothers-in-arms and comrades were more important than the mission.

After receiving Ling Lan's orders, Qi Long and the others continued to live their life as a simple intergalactic tourist. Although Ling Lan said that intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates would attack Feiyang, the week after the discussion, nothing had happened. It was peaceful for the entire week. This peacefulness made Mu Youyun and others believe that Aoqi wanting to a.s.sa.s.sinate the princess was only just a dream they were having.

Of course, they only just thought about it. Four star battle team were comprised of all experienced and capable veterans. They knew that the more peaceful it was, the more likely a huge crisis was about to come. Even those around them, the three teams who were disguised as the intergalactic adventure group and the intergalactic smuggling group, were becoming increasingly worried.

Unfortunately, in the time they all had their guard up, another three days pa.s.sed by peacefully. There were only two hours left until they would enter Balaya's planetary sector. Mu Youyun and the others couldn't help but think that Aoqi was worried about their top level domain expert, thus they had given up on a.s.sa.s.sinating Princess Gulibaduo.

At this time, Ling Lan's group were in their room. Ling Lan was playing chess with Li Lanfeng. Qi Long and Zhao Jun's mood was very tense, but they still could control themselves. Li Yingjie was all jittery and kept looking at the time on his communicator as though he was in a hurry.

“Li Yingjie, stop looking at it. There are still lots of time.” Li Lanfeng didn't even raise his head and reminded Li Yingjie.

“Why? Didn't the Boss say that those intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates would appear in the last two hours?” The reason why Li Yingjie was so excited was all because it had already reached the time Ling Lan had predicted that the s.h.i.+p would be attacked.

“Yes, that's why there are still two hours left,” replied Li Lanfeng calmly.

“You're saying until the very end?” Li Yingjie asked confusedly.

“Yes. The time for them to make a move would be when everyone lets their guard down.” Li Lanfeng placed a black chess piece decisively into Ling Lan's territory. Although that one piece was surrounded, this part of Ling Lan's territory was in disarray. There was enough s.p.a.ce for Li Lanfeng's piece and it had a chance to do something.

“But, we would have reached Balaya's planetary sector by then. Will they not be afraid that they would be surrounded by Balaya's wars.h.i.+ps?” Li Yingjie asked in confusion. Princess Gulibaduo was aboard Feiyang. When Balaya gets word that Feiyang was under attacked, they would definitely send a wars.h.i.+p fleet to come to Feiyang's aid.

“No, the outer ring of Balaya's sector isn't within the real planetary sector of Balaya. In fact, the sectors between each country are a no man's land area. This area could not be determined to be under any country. Thus, these sectors were named fuzzy sectors. If a country's military forces wanted to enter these sectors, there wouldn't be any problems if bordering countries had no disagreement with the idea. However, if one country disagreed, according to the laws of the Intergalactic Human Rights Committee, this issue will be settled in the Intergalactic Supreme Court. Only if the country sending military forces into the sector received the court order for them to pa.s.s through, then they would then be able to enter the chosen sector.” Ling Lan explained in lay-man's terms.

“Didn't the scout academy teach us this?” Lin Zhong-qing suddenly raised his head and asked.

Lin Zhong-qing's words pierced Li Yingjie's heart. His heart almost jumped out of his nostrils. Yet he still snorted coldly as if he didn't care about what Lin Zhong-qing had said, “Back then I was working hard to train my physical skills. Who listens to those lectures…”

“Oh!” Lin Zhong-qing said indifferently. He put his head down once again to organize his luggage. As the logistics personnel, he had to know what items they had at their disposal.

Lin Zhong-qing's indifference made Li Yingjie feel even more awkward. Wasn't Lin Zhong-qing completely shunning him? However, Li Yingjie actually hated those theory lectures.

“We shouldn't rely on Balaya's reinforcements. It's better to depend on ourselves rather than others…”

After Ling Lan spoke, she picked up another white chess piece and put it down right beside Li Lanfeng's black piece. Since her opponent wanted to play randomly, she was going to play randomly as well.

“The group of intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates will probably not be too large if they want to sneak into Balaya's bordering sector without being discovered.” Li Lanfeng stood up, “With the threat of Balaya's military, they wouldn't send a large intergalactic pirate force. If they were discovered on their way to the sector and were to be discovered by other patrolling stars.h.i.+p fleets from other countries, they would suffer unnecessary losses.”

“Then how big is the intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirate group going to be?” Zhao Jun asked. He was very trusting of Li Lanfeng's predictions.

“There will probably be three stars.h.i.+ps,” Li Lanfeng said without hesitation. One s.h.i.+p as the flag s.h.i.+p and two fully equipped vanguard s.h.i.+ps. Small fleet such as these ones could move about without being detected, especially the two smaller vanguard s.h.i.+ps. These s.h.i.+ps were very fast, mobile and was the best type of s.h.i.+p to attack and board other stars.h.i.+ps. Vanguard s.h.i.+ps were also called swarm stars.h.i.+ps. If a flag s.h.i.+p brought enough vanguard s.h.i.+ps, they would be able to use the swarm surround tactic. Even the largest stars.h.i.+p fleets would take a u-turn after seeing the swarm-like vanguard s.h.i.+ps. If those fleets were unlucky, it was possible that they would be destroyed by being surrounded by the swarm-like vanguard s.h.i.+ps.

Of course, the vanguard s.h.i.+ps had their weaknesses. These s.h.i.+ps were most afraid of mechas. Although vanguard s.h.i.+ps were agile and moved quickly, they still couldn't compare to the speed and mobility of mechas. Once the number of mechas becomes more than what they could handle and surrounds them, the outcome of these vanguard s.h.i.+ps wouldn't be too good. Thus, if these s.h.i.+ps saw an intergalactic carrier, these vanguard s.h.i.+ps would not dare to attack them.

It was similar to a bigger fish eating a smaller fish, and a smaller fish eating krills. It was just that in galactic warfare, it was the exact opposite. Vanguard s.h.i.+ps were afraid of encountering mechas because mechas were much smaller. Mechas may not be able to do too much damage to large stars.h.i.+ps, but they would be able to damage vanguard s.h.i.+ps. Once the number of mechas pa.s.sed the amount vanguards s.h.i.+ps they could defend against, these mechas would then be able to completely destroy the vanguard s.h.i.+ps.

However, mechas were completely ineffective against huge stars.h.i.+ps. Mechas didn't have strong weaponry and artillery, and cold weapons were not large enough to do any significant damage. It was impossible for mechas to do any damage to large stars.h.i.+ps. Even if it was to create a hole on the stars.h.i.+p, it was possible that the weapons on a mecha wouldn't be able to do anything. However, something that was completely impossible for mechas, was not necessarily impossible for vanguard s.h.i.+ps. Although vanguard s.h.i.+ps were small in size, the power of their artillery was incomparable to the ones on mechas. If there was enough vanguard s.h.i.+ps and their main cannons attacked continuously, large stars.h.i.+ps wouldn't be able to defend against such attacks. This was why the swarm surround tactic was used widely in many intergalactic battles.

Although large stars.h.i.+ps could not defend against the swarm surround tactic, they were considered the best weapons against the slow mothers.h.i.+ps. Mothers.h.i.+ps were afraid of large stars.h.i.+ps the most. Even if a mothers.h.i.+p sent out all the mechas it contained, it wouldn't be enough to go against large stars.h.i.+ps…

Thus, in an intergalactic fleet, there would always be more than one type of stars.h.i.+p. If the different types of stars.h.i.+ps were mixed together, the fleet would not have any obvious flaws in its defense and offense.

Of course, the theory mentioned above only applied to the levels under ace mechas. If there were enough ace mechas, this theory would be questioned. This was also why ace mechas were the kings of the battlefield. Not to mention mechas above the ace-level… Those mechas were not allowed to appear in battlefields.

Vanguard s.h.i.+ps were the best choice for going against a large cruise stars.h.i.+p like Feiyang. If the intergalactic s.p.a.ce pirates really wanted to hijack the cruise s.h.i.+p, there wouldn't be only just a small group. However, one stars.h.i.+p's strength was insignificant. If two more stars.h.i.+ps joined in on the attack, Feiyang would be in trouble. Thus, Li Lanfeng determined that the enemy would send one flags.h.i.+p and two vanguard s.h.i.+ps.

Ling Lan nodded in agreement, “It's probably as you say.”

“Boss, do you think they will have ace mechas?” Li Yingjie said excitedly. Ever since he advanced to ace-level, he only competed with allies or trained with comrades. This was the first time he was going to fight for real. Li Yingjie felt his heart beat faster and faster.

“Definitely, 100%.” Ling Lan stood up. Everyone also stood up in unplanned unison. This was the powerful presence of a captain.

“Are we getting ready?” Qi Long began to pump his fists.

Ling Lan looked at the time on her communicator and calmly said, “If my guess is correct, the intergalactic pirates will be here right now.”

After she finished speaking, they heard Feiyang's alarm go off.

“Attention all pa.s.sengers. Attention all pa.s.sengers. We have encountered intergalactic pirates”

“Once again, a reminder to everyone, the battle will commence immediately. All pa.s.sengers please remain calm and do not panic. Pa.s.sengers who are still the recreation areas please immediately return to your rooms…”

“Boss, could it be that you jinxed it?” Li Yingjie looked at Ling Lan with an odd look as Ling Lan left the room first. He didn't think that right after Ling Lan said that pirates were going to come, the pirates actually came…

“Bam!” His head was slapped by Lin Zhong-qing, “What nonsense are you spouting? This is called a premonition.”

Seeing Lin Zhong-qing, who slapped his head, following behind Ling Lan, Li Yingjie grimaced as he rubbed his head. He murmured, “I knew that I wouldn't get any status or benefits after joining Lingtian. Even the punk that I had bullied before is now bullying me…”