Half a day later, the Jin Family's two Kindling Warships reached an agreement and began operating as a formation, cruising outside the mining region.
Sima Zhongda's assault ship, meanwhile, passed identity verification and landed on the mining planet.
Wang Dong knew nothing about the Jin Family fleet joining forces.
To keep himself hidden, the Pond remained silent, concealed within the Asteroid Belt.
But the bait had already been cast. Wang Dong knew the Jin Family's scions all too well, and he could more or less guess what course of action they might take.
He didn't need to figure out the movements of the Jin Family's warships.
He only needed to keep an eye on Wu Haoze.
Within the mining region, if Wu Haoze's caravan ran into trouble, it could always head for the mining planet and seek help from the space fortress and patrol fleet.
That was permitted under the limited mutual-aid obligations between nobles of the Purple Thorn Kingdom.
If the Jin Family warships wanted to attack Wu Haoze's caravan, they would certainly wait until it had traveled some distance away from the mining region.
The mining region belonged to Baron Black Stone Territory, but in practice, it was an exclave.
This remote region was separated from the others by vast stretches of worthless, uninhabited space.
There were still plenty of suitable places along the trade routes to launch an attack.
As for the local powers in the mining region—
Wang Dong certainly wouldn't be as unconcerned as Sima Delang.
In terms of hard power, these local forces—such as the Empty Shark Merchant Association, the Sky Tiger Caravan, and even the Kingfisher Pavilion—might not be able to field a single Kindling Warship.
But you should never underestimate the local powers.
Just look at the bounty Sima Delang had put