A lot of capital is mining minerals in Asteroid Belt. It is really not surprising that a starship appears here.
What's particularly critical is that many starships are Armed Merchant Ship - mining minerals requires force protection, and transport ships must also be protected against robbery.
Rare? It's really not uncommon at all. Minerals are quick to cash out and difficult to trace, so they are the favorite of most capital.
Even now, in Tianrui Star and Asteroid Belt, fighting and killing are commonplace.
However, ordinary small forces no longer dare to easily participate in the fight. Those who dare to get involved are Behemoth.
What small forces can do is contract a mine and earn some hard money.
After Qu Jianlei came to Sky Hook, he deliberately collected information here. Thanks to Xiao Hu's help, he knew a lot.
Space Pirate actually chose this place as his home base. To be honest, he was quite surprised.
He felt that with the strength currently displayed by Space Pirate, it would not be difficult to kill some of the mine protection warships of some large forces.
So, is this darkness under the light again? Qu Jianlei is not sure whether his idea is correct.
But he can be sure that the locations of these Space Pirate jumps are really not very close to Asteroid Belt...
Generally speaking, it is best for starships to jump away from stars, otherwise it may bring uncontrollable risks.
Qu Jianlei has made many interstellar voyages, and the starship he is traveling on has to travel for at least a day and a half before he considers the jump.
Similarly, the end point of the starship jump must not have any stars nearby... it must be at least a day and a half away.
But the end point of their current jump is only half a day's journey from Asteroid Belt.
In other words, Space Pirate is likely to have mastered more advanced or precise transition technology.
Realizing this, Qu Jianlei was really surprised. Can Space Pirate's technological level be better than that of the empire? But technology is really hard to say. Accumulation is the basis, but occasionally variations are allowed.
Half a day later, three starships landed on an asteroid.
This asteroid is not small, with a diameter of more than 500 kilometers.
The astronomical phenomena around asteroids are extremely complex, and there are many ray sources of unknown origin, which can cause cognitive confusion to ordinary people.
After analysis, Qu Jianlei believes that such an environment can be considered to have hallucinogenic capabilities.
The starship passed through the complex celestial phenomena and entered the asteroid. Then it turned out that the natural environment on the asteroid was also very bad.
The weather is cold and cosmic rays are rampant. What's especially critical is that the asteroid doesn't even have an atmosphere.
"It's more than 200 degrees below zero, and it doesn't feel very cold," Qu Jianlei released his perception.
"That's because you're stronger," Xiao Hu replied leisurely, "It's over two hundred degrees below zero. I have to warm it up before I can turn it on."
But to be honest, the asteroid chosen by Space Pirate is quite telling.
The planet's rocks have a high oxygen content, which is enough, and because of the complex celestial phenomena and the mineral Buduo, no one cares about it.
There is a lack of water on the asteroid, but it doesn't matter. There are many awakened people with the water attribute in the Star Thieves.
Of course, compared to the number of Space Pirate, Water Attribute and Awakened One are still a little less, but... can't they be recycled?
Three warships landed in a wide gap, and a gate slowly rose on the stone wall of the gap.
This door is more than a hundred meters high and more than three hundred meters wide, and it rises very quickly.
Looking at the large hydraulic columns on both sides of the door and the diagonal traction cables, Qu Jianlei couldn't help but nod secretly.
Such a grand project is nothing in the empire, but Space Pirate can build it, so it is obviously not a crude settlement.
After entering the gate, there is a cave inside, which is quite spacious and feels a bit like Tianfeng Star Underground City.
Qu Jianlei walked down the gangway with a cane and looked around for a while before a Rank C Warrior came over with two people.
"Are you Tesla? Follow me!"
What's rare is that Space Pirates actually have security checkpoints, and Qu Jianlei's alloy crutches were inspected.
However, Xiao Hu had already invaded the other party's network, and the hollow part of the crutch was not discovered.
Mental Strength of Qu Jianlei can also affect Space Pirate, but they are worried that some judgments are automatically completed through the control system.
So let Xiao Hu take action directly, saving worry and effort.
After passing the security checkpoint, Rank C Warrior handed Qu Jianlei to Scarface, then turned around and left.
Scarface is Modified Warrior, with bumps on his face, which looks very scary.
This person had a deep sense of hostility, and he was also talking about Buduo. He rode away on a battery car with Qu Jianlei.
As he walked, Qu Jianlei found that he still overestimated Space Pirate, and the road became narrower and narrower.
However, being able to walk two or three kilometers means that there are many people living there, so he asked, "How many people are here?"
Scarface replied in a sullen voice, "The difference is Buduo eighty thousand."
Qu Jianlei was secretly stunned when he heard it. The scale of this Space Pirate is not small.
The key is that this Space Pirate is not bad at all. It can dig out such a large Underground City and has enough power for lighting.
At Buduo, Scarface took him to a large courtyard - a courtyard without a sky.
This is the maintenance department of Space Pirate. Scarface gave him another access card, saying that you will follow me from now on.
Qu Jianlei was assigned to a quadruple room, but it did have a separate bathroom.
There were originally two people in the four-person room, an old man and a middle-aged man, both ordinary people.
The middle-aged man was cold and indifferent, but the old man was relatively enthusiastic, especially after he knew that Tesla was Modified Warrior.
What's wrong with a lame leg? Modified Warrior is still stronger than ordinary people.
Qu Jianlei is not as cold as he was on the starship, chatting with the old man all the time.
Ultimately, he was more interested in the situation of Space Pirate, but he didn't want to waste too much time.
When the old man learned that the other party was brought from the starship, he actually took the initiative to comfort him because he was also a captured maintenance engineer.
But his evaluation of the empire was very poor, and he thought about many bad things. Instead, he felt that Space Pirate was more humane.
Qu Jianlei couldn't stand listening anymore, "I just came, tell me about the situation here."
The old man is quite enthusiastic and is willing to popularize science for new colleagues.
The number of Space Pirate is almost less than 80,000, but less than half of them are Space Pirate's family members.
In other words, there are about 50,000 Space Pirate people in total.
It is said that this is not a weak force. If placed on Blue Star, it is enough to subvert the political power of a small and medium-sized country.
But the old man doesn't think this Space Pirate is very strong, mainly because the empire is too big.
Qu Jianlei Think about it, this is the reason.
For example, Blue Star and Wagner Group have a large number of people, and they are all desperadoes, but in the friction between big powers, what does it matter? Therefore, the scale of this Space Pirate is quite satisfactory at best, more than the previous ones and more than the lower ones.
Then the old man said that in this group of Space Pirate teams, there are at least four Rank As and more than ten Rank Bs.
Calculating this, Rank A and Rank B in the Space Pirate team have a much higher probability of success than the Empire? From a probability perspective, it is correct. Without a population of 100,000, it is almost impossible for a Rank A to be born.
But Qu Jianlei doesn't think so. Who is Space Pirate? That's a bunch of extremely vicious gangsters!
Wanting to be a successful gangster is not easy. You have to be ruthless, not stupid, and have Diandian luck.
There is a saying in Shenzhou that most of the criminals in prison are smarter than ordinary people.
If you are not that smart, you will generally not be able to commit too many crimes.
As for luck, that is even more important. There is a very strong survivor bias in doing Space Pirate.
Space Pirate, who was not strong enough and especially unlucky, would have died long ago.
So he asked again, "With such a large scale, is there no supreme protection?"
"Of course we have the Supreme One," the old man replied matter-of-factly, "Otherwise how could we sustain such a big scene?"
At this moment, the middle-aged man spoke coldly, "If you don't want to die, don't talk about this topic."
Qu Jianlei snorted upon hearing this, "I have to figure this out before I can develop a sense of belonging, right?"
His time is precious, so why bother talking to these people?
"A sense of belonging..." The middle-aged man looked at him lightly and said nothing.
But the old man shook his head, "Forget it, let's not talk about it... This person came here on his own initiative and has a good relationship with the superiors."
Take the initiative to seek refuge with Space Pirate? Qu Jianlei looked at the middle-aged man strangely. Was he Space Pirate's eyes and ears in the maintenance department?
Then there are some things you shouldn't ask about, "I'm new here, can I go out for a walk in the yard?"
The old man Diandian said, "I can walk, but my legs... forget it, I'll walk around with you."
This is basically a lonely stronghold in space. Even if Space Pirates are worried about the newcomers, they are not worried about them escaping.
The maintenance department was still very busy. On the next day, Qu Jianlei was sent to check the ventilation system.
His work efficiency was recognized by Space Pirate, and when he returned to the yard, Scarface's attitude became more friendly.
In the blink of an eye, Qu Jianlei stayed in Space Pirate's lair for five days. Because he was dedicated to his work, no one paid attention to his comings and goings.
Through careful perception and the cooperation of Xiao Hu, he figured out the general situation here.
Space Pirate There is indeed a supreme being. He is not very clear about his name. This person is not currently in the lair.
Qu Jianlei Originally wanted to wait for this person to come back before taking action here. After all, the Supreme Being should have more good things in him.
But on the sixth day, while he was repairing a mine car, he received a short notice asking him to repair a circulating water pump.
This water pump is very close to the energy power center and is specifically designed to cool the power center.
This is your chance! It was fitting that his identity disappeared silently.
For such a large lair, the power center cannot be made small. Not to mention the tight defense, there are still two systems.
But this couldn't help Xiao Hu. When Qu Jianlei was repairing the water pump, it output a series of error instructions.
"The tide has started and it's expected to be Fire Explosion in twenty seconds."
In the control room of the power center, piercing alarms kept ringing.
Space Pirate's three on-duty staff were ashen-faced as they entered various instructions quickly, "Oops, the equipment is moving too slowly!"
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