Chapter 117: Extortion is Part of the Game
Omar was completely silent.
The other party was likely bluffing, perhaps even lying through and through!
But who would dare risk their life to test it?
Subordinate rebellion is not uncommon in Apollo, or any other interstellar colonization enterprise.
And there really are 10 fighter jets on the moon! If they really started fighting, that wouldn't be a small number.
Damn it!
However, one thing was certain: although the other party spoke harsh words like “controlling the orbit” and “locking into the crosshairs,” they did not launch a preemptive attack.
This indicated that these bumpkins definitely wanted to negotiate terms.
“What exactly do you want? Speak, name your price, I can certainly meet it.”
Believing he had seen through this, Omar quickly regained his confidence.
“This entire star system,” Ye Xing said, “First, immediately notify the reinforcement troops you dispatched earlier to land at the mine and surrender; the wormhole space station must immediately disarm and await our takeover!
“After that—begging your pardon, no matter what damn minister or emperor you are, you will be useless to us. I will send someone to escort you safely out of this star system.
“Additionally, to show your sincerity in cooperation, you must park your private yacht at the designated location in the Desert within 48 hours, Oasis City relative coordinates 1538N, 0729W. Our boss is very fond of that thing, hehehe!”
Hearing this, Omar felt instantly relieved and smiled silently.
That’s all?
A bunch of insects!
The Li Star System is at the end of the navigation route, connected to the outside world by only a single Jump Point.
The wormhole station still contained 30 nuclear warheads. By using these warheads to create a dense space minefield, firmly guarding the wormhole entrance, one could naturally become the local emperor here.
At least some of his foolish subordinates thought so.
Compared to the Star Alliance-controlled space, a single star system was too small; but for small groups of dozens or hundreds of people, it was immense wealth.
This motive did conform to the logic of adventurous rebellion.
It’s just that your scheme is truly childish!
Don’t you understand the importance of resupply?
“Good, that’s a reasonable proposal, I have no reason to refuse,” Omar said to Ye Xing, “The fleet from the wormhole station will arrive at the moon in four days. You can prepare to accept their surrender.”
“Hmm, don’t forget to send your yacht over, within 48 hours!”
“No problem.”
After hanging up the communication, Omar angrily threw down the microphone, the small muscles on his face twitching continuously.
“These useless people! Maggots! You are seeking death! I will flay your skin and hang all of you on the city walls!
He turned to look at his assistant.
“Immediately contact the reinforcement troops and have them change their course to first recapture the undefended moon mine! I want to see how long those fighter jets can “control” the orbit after losing their only supply station!”
Although Apollo space fighters were equipped with simple toilets and seats that could be folded down into beds, the food and water they could carry were very limited. When those rebellious pilots learned that they had lost their rear camp, they had no other choice but to surrender and beg for their lives.
A few minutes later, Lu Yuan, who was playing a game in the Captain’s suite, received a voice communication from Executive Officer Xue, who was on duty on the bridge: “Sir, a strong communication signal from Oasis City was just detected, but its content is encrypted, so it may not be easy to decrypt.”
Good!
“Received. It’s fine, as long as they communicated.”
There were only two true purposes for having Ye Xing say those harsh and false words earlier.
One was to trick Omar into contacting the reinforcement troops again, and by analyzing the communication delay between them, verify the advance speed of this force.
The second was to entice the other party to abandon a direct assault on Li Star and instead attack the moon mine first.
This would buy him more time and would be the first step for the prey to walk into the trap.
As for the other series of demands, if Omar didn't fulfill them, it would be considered normal courage and intelligence; if he agreed, it would be like hitting the jackpot.
Cangyuan Future Technology has never spoken a word of truth from beginning to end, and will never lose.
As expected, four hours and fifty minutes later, the industrial ship detected a brief encrypted signal from the direction of the Apollo wormhole station.
This signal could only come from the Apollo reinforcements.
These reinforcements had already covered half the distance, which was consistent with Omar’s claim of arriving in 4 days.
But the Minister might have told them to speed up, so it looked like he had about two or three days.
Good, very good.
He was afraid of waiting too long, losing momentum after the initial push, and becoming exhausted after the third.
His good employees were still in high spirits!
At the moon mine, the employees began post-battle work as requested by the Executive Officer.
The players used the cranes inside the facility to first hoist out the valuable Hydrogen-3 fuel tanks and roughly installed them directly onto the back of the aerospace plane, intending for this “night heron” to carry them back to the industrial ship.
There was no atmosphere on the moon’s surface, so aerodynamic design wasn’t a concern, and with very low gravity, this plan was perfectly fine, aside from being unappealing.
As for the cargo hold, it was used to transport the even more precious zero element, the mine laborers, and a few players to prevent the laborers from having any ulterior motives.
The aerospace plane would make one round trip per day, and was expected to bring back all the prisoners of war and players by the second day.
At the same time, the players, under Jubian’s leadership, would complete the scanning of the entire facility, archiving all technical blueprints, and thoroughly mastering the extraction and purification of Nitrogen-3.
Lao Yu, Anton, and all the other laborers were arranged to live in one of the industrial ship’s dormitories.
Out of humanitarian considerations, they were allowed to use the cafeteria and recreation room, guarded by humanoid security robots from the ship during that time.
The Engineer players were already on standby, and after receiving the Helium-3 fuel and zero element, they immediately began researching how to load them into the corresponding reactors.
After the laborers had settled down and eaten, Lu Yuan had Caoyuan bring Lao Yu and Anton to his Captain’s quarters.
In order to quickly get information about the Star Alliance and zero element.
At this moment, a very important thing happened.
As soon as the two entered the Captain’s quarters, Lu Yuan saw a long-awaited system prompt.
【Acquired “Star Alliance Language” automatic translation software, installed in tactical helmet】
Oh—
It seemed that the system would only issue the corresponding language pack when he was in close proximity to someone speaking a certain language.
Players could not do it for him.
“Please have a seat, gentlemen,” he gestured to the sofa opposite the desk, “This isn’t an interrogation, so there’s no need to be formal.”
“Thank you—”
Lao Yu and Anton, one old and one young, bowed in thanks and quickly sat down obediently.
Lu Yuan: “We are currently planning to revive human civilization and are interested in inviting you to join; however, before officially joining, we need to have a general understanding of your skills and cognitive levels. This is also to assess the degree of human civilization’s regression after the apocalypse, and it is our standard routine procedure.”
Lao Yu and Anton looked at each other.
Haha…
Reviving human civilization—no one in the Star Alliance would dare to say such a thing.
They had already learned from the assault team that these people claimed to be “employees of Cangyuan Future Technology,” but no one paid much attention to it.
Cangyuan, they really dare to lie!
In the Star Alliance, there were countless forces claiming to possess the legacy or legitimate succession rights of the former civilization, and countless swindlers.
However, Lao Yu also noticed that the ship they were currently on, even among the first-tier forces of the Star Alliance, was considered large, which was enough to indicate the other party’s formidable hard power, which should not be underestimated.
Moreover, the design of this ship was different from the warships or civilian ships in the Star Alliance. There was no apparent shortage of materials or space, and it exuded grandeur everywhere; even the activity room for entertainment and leisure was spacious.
This point was particularly noteworthy, as it was a clear manifestation of the builder’s extreme abundance of materials and highly developed economy, indicating great wealth… Could it be that they truly came from before the apocalypse?
“Thank you for your kindness!” Lao Yu suppressed his thoughts and stood up, “But we actually have our own careers. Joining your side is certainly a very beautiful prospect, but I just don’t know if we can still do what we like during that time—”
“Yes, as long as it doesn’t harm the common interests of everyone,” Lu Yuan said, “Don’t misunderstand, I only provide necessary funds and some technical assistance. You need to be responsible for your own work environment and safety, regularly pay me dividends, and report your results and next plans.”
In short, they were outsourced temporary workers.
A formal contract position at Cangyuan was not something just any Tom, Dick, or Harry could easily obtain.
Of course, from another perspective, this was to prevent these people from gaining too deep an understanding of Cangyuan’s current true strength, which would be disadvantageous to him.