War Begins

"Two Tenth-Order Gene Body, the strength of the other members is unknown..." A Golden-haired Youth sat in a black leather armchair, his legs casually propped up on the edge of the table, his right index finger lightly tapping the table beside him. "But judging from the videos from a while ago, Gu Ding and Liliath's combat strength is quite average. Even if they have grown stronger recently, they couldn't possibly be powerful enough to resist Tenth-Order Gene Body. There's also a robot member who seems to have never made a move, but its size clearly indicates it's not a combat robot, so it's not a threat."

Inside the room, everyone else remained silent. They knew very well that their boss liked to talk to himself, and disturbing him at this time would have serious consequences.

"Is Glato alright at the emergency center?" Yalo asked casually. He was the captain of the Marauder Pirate Crew, over forty years old, but looked only in his early twenties.

"His sternum was completely shattered, and his internal organs were severely concussed. The doctor said if he had been brought there any later, he would have been beyond saving. He's just passed the critical period and is currently in a deep sleep; we don't know when he'll wake up." The one who answered this question was a burly man named Benqi, whose voice sounded very deep. "Boss, we must avenge this, even if not for Glato. The other Pirate Crew are watching our every move; if we don't act, they'll look down on us. Besides, we just lost to that kid Koude Bulade a few days ago, and even our ship's doctor was kidnapped. We need a victory, and the Gu Ding Team is the perfect target...?"

Yalo felt a headache coming on when he heard Benqi's words.

He was an Eleventh Order gene entity, and with two subordinates who were Tenth-Order Gene Body, the Gu Ding Team seemed like nothing more than easy prey to the other members. But what made him hesitate was the battle with Koude Bulade. It had left him with hidden injuries, his strength dropping to the level of a newly arrived Eleventh Order gene entity. In the past, such a drop in strength due to injury could have been handled discreetly by the ship's doctor; the proud Guding never wanted to show his vulnerability to anyone other than the doctor. But now the doctor was gone, and he chose to lick his wounds alone.

He was a cautious man and didn't want to go to war with any other forces before his strength was fully restored. The high bounty offered by the Gu Ding Team made him feel that the team was likely more powerful than what he had seen in the videos. Especially since the newly emerged member was a peak Tenth-Order Gene Body expert. This made him suspect that the Gu Ding Team might have other Trump Card unknown to outsiders. All of this made him reluctant to choose an opponent with so many unknown factors while he wasn't fully recovered.

Benqi's words weren't wrong; being defeated by Koude Bulade and having the ship's doctor stolen was a disgrace. Now, his own crew was half-dead from the Gu Ding Team. If he chose to cower now, he might be unable to hold his head high among other Pirate Crew for a long time. Not only could he not cower, but he had to engage the Gu Ding Team in battle as soon as possible; that was the best way to salvage the crew's reputation.

After a fierce internal struggle, he finally slammed his fist on the table and made his decision. "Let's go to war with the Gu Ding Team! Everyone, get ready."

Just as Yalo made this decision, Robert had already reforged Gu Ding's Black Iron Armed into Bronze Armed, increasing its power from twice to five times. After obtaining the new weapon, Gu Ding reinjected it into his body; although its grade had increased, the weapon did not need to be re-bound to its master.

After transforming into his armored form, Gu Ding could clearly feel himself becoming stronger.

Meanwhile, Liliath and Elsa had been shopping all day, and apart from Elsa having acquired a stylish wristwatch, Gu Ding had no idea what they had bought.

It was almost dinnertime, Bigge was busy in the kitchen.

Gu Ding returned to the top of the ship's cabin and, before nightfall, continued cultivating the "Sun Sutra." It was his first day on Kema Star. He absorbed light energy almost entirely, and his internal Source Power had become considerably stronger.

Before it got dark, a large group of people surged toward Gu Ding's Golden Eagle at the port.

The leader was a Golden-haired Youth who looked to be in his early twenties. He was slightly thin with long legs. His face was handsome, but the indifference in his eyes made people want to run away.

"Everyone from the Gu Ding Team, come out!" a loud voice shouted at the massive Golden Eagle. "We are the Marauder Pirate Crew! We hereby declare war on the Gu Ding Marauder Pirate Crew Pirate Crew!"

Gu Ding leaped down from the top of the cabin, looking at the large group of people with a puzzled expression. "The Marauder Pirate Crew? Is that the Pirate Crew whose doctor was taken by Koude Bulade?"

Upon hearing Gu Ding's words, Yalo and the many members behind him looked rather grim. Although they had arrived looking furious, their expressions now became quite interesting.

Many onlookers who heard Gu Ding's words felt that Gu Ding sarcasm was perfectly timed.

"You should be fighting Koude Bulade's Judicator Pirate Crew, why are you targeting us?" Gu Ding had only been away for a short while because of the armed matters, and had spent the entire day cultivating on the ship's roof, so he was unaware of what had happened.

"Your team members nearly killed our Glato, and they're still unconscious in the emergency room. Don't tell me you, as the captain, didn't know about this. Liliath and the others returned to the ship half an hour ago?" the loud-voiced man shouted at Gu Ding.

Just then, the hatch of the Golden Eagle opened, and Liliath's voice came through, "I had Elsa beat him up, but hey, you loud-voiced old man, why don't you tell me why we beat him up in the first place?"

Liliath turned to Yalo, the obvious captain of the opposing Pirate Crew, and said, "Your members stopped Elsa and me, two underage girls, at the market, trying to kidnap us and then exchange us for the Golden Eagle from Gu Ding. Why didn't any of you speak up about such a despicable tactic? As for that Bald Head guy, he was no match for us, so he deserved to be beaten up. Besides, I called an ambulance for him and gave him Cellular Repair Agent. I think we've done more than enough."

"Regardless of the circumstances, you beat Glato up like that, and as the captain, I can't just stand by and do nothing to get justice for my crew. As for whether Glato was right or wrong, that should be judged and handled internally by our team, not by an outsider. You've already taken action, so there's no point in saying anything more; just bear the consequences." Yalo's voice was relatively calm.

"Are you sure you want to start a war?" Gu Ding asked Yalo calmly.

Yalo found it strange; he didn't see any fear in Gu Ding's eyes. On the contrary, he felt that Gu Ding seemed to be vaguely expecting something. A sense of unease rose in his heart, but he chose to suppress it and gave an affirmative answer, "I'm very sure!"

Suddenly, the people behind Yalo moved, grabbed their weapons, and swarmed towards Gu Ding Team.

On Gu Ding Team's side, Liliath calmly put on the metal hat and hypnotized Bigge. Robert, on the other hand, threw out all twenty-odd combat robots at once. He left two to guard Liliath, and the rest went into battle.

These combat robots, with their basic Combat Strength at the Eighth Order Gene Body and programmed with the first eight levels of Limitless Body Technique, could even fight against Ninth-Order Gene Body. Entering the crowd was like wolves among sheep. A cacophony of howls and screams filled the air.

Bigge was intercepted by a burly man from the opposing team named Benqi, who was also a Tenth-Order Gene Body expert. Benqi was nearly 2.5 meters tall and extremely muscular. Such a physique would be very eye-catching among ordinary people, but in front of Bigge, he clearly looked a size smaller.

Benqi seemed very unhappy about the fact that his opponent was a size bigger than him. He used to always look down on others, but now he had to look up at his opponent, which made him very unhappy.

Elsa was stopped by a woman Annie, whose physique rivaled Benqi's, though her body was more of a mass of fat than muscle, a horizontally developed mass. Standing nearly two meters tall, she resembled a thick wall. Her arms, without exaggeration, were thicker than Elsa's two thighs combined.

What's most baffling is that, in this combat setting, she was wearing an extremely thin pink dress. Every time a breeze blew, the hem of her dress would flutter, and she would immediately and shyly press it down with her hands. In fact, people could basically see through the pink dress that her underwear was white, so there was no need for the dress to be blown up by the wind at all. This kind of grotesque "scenery" is generally not something most people can appreciate.

Yalo was somewhat surprised to see that Gu Ding hadn't joined the battle. He had initially thought Gu Ding would avoid a direct confrontation, but now it seemed Gu Ding had made a different choice. He stood motionless, his gaze calm and unwavering as he looked at Yalo opposite him.

While surprised, Yalo also became somewhat wary. Gu Ding's reaction was clearly abnormal; it wasn't the attitude of a weakling towards a strongman. He narrowed his eyes slightly and began to carefully examine the other party, trying to discern some clues from the details, but to no avail.

"You really shouldn't have chosen to start a war..." Gu Ding suddenly spoke up, "Even more so, you shouldn't have chosen to start a war before your injuries had healed..."

P. S.: Sorry, I can only update twice today. There's been construction upstairs, and the drill has been running non-stop since around 9 AM. Every time I type a sentence, the drill bit screechs several times, making it really hard to concentrate. If it's like this tomorrow, I'll just have to start writing...