In Debt, but Now a Captain

A few minutes later.

Yang Ming turned his back to Milili and closed the metal door, looking a little disheveled.

He suddenly began to question his life choices.

Milili was an advocate of asexual love. She promoted using sensory-sharing devices to communicate directly from neuron to neuron... Well, that was her choice.

What else could Yang Ming do? All he could do was express his understanding and offer encouragement—gently encouraging her to be herself like an elder, while trying to come across as progressive and trendy.

Rays of light intertwined beside him, forming Molly's image. She was chuckling nonstop.

"You knew all along?" Yang Ming glared at Molly.

"Yes, Master Hanton." Molly pushed up her glasses. "Milili likes cutting-edge science, but she's gone a little overboard. Perhaps you could use your masculine charm to change her preferences, Molly thinks."

"Come on, Molly. We should respect other people's interests."

Yang Ming put his hands behind his head and headed for his room.

Molly immediately followed.

Because of the limited placement of the projection devices, her image flickered between blurry and bright.

"Master Hanton, are you sure you don't want to try seducing Milili? She's a young woman, and her hormones are already responding to you in a specific way. As I understand it, if you pique her interest, enter into a relationship with her, and are sufficiently assertive, she'll probably end up submitting to you."

"Molly, you used the word 'submit.'"

Yang Ming turned around and stared at Molly.

"The weak submit to the strong. That's the basic pattern I've observed in human society," Molly said.

"Your observations are limited and lacking in nuance," Yang Ming explained seriously. "Friends and partners should respect each other. It's enemies and subordinates who need to be conquered."

"Is that a form of hypocrisy?" Molly asked.

"Why would it be hypocrisy?"

"Conquest is what gives you pleasure. It makes your brain release more dopamine. That's what Master Kolev told me."

Yang Ming smiled. "Can you understand friendship, responsibility, and sacrifice? If you look at it purely from a biological perspective, the specific hormones parents have for their child have already faded by the time the child is three or four. Yet they put up with their young one's noise, protect them, and help them. Why?"

"Perhaps I need to observe and think more," Molly said thoughtfully.

"That's right, Molly." Yang Ming smiled. "You've never been out in the wider world. Human society is incredibly complex. When enough individuals come together, they form a network. And when each individual is extremely complex, the amount of information that network produces in a single second could blow your hard drive."

Molly fell silent for a few seconds.

"Fine," she said. "I won't try to do things beyond my abilities. I'm just a talkative smart housekeeper... The old master is waiting for you in the hangar. He already knows you and Milili were alone together."

"Why, you little snitch," Yang Ming cursed.

"Kolev is my first master, and you're my third. Their commands have different priority levels to Molly."

Molly stressed:

"This isn't betrayal. It's a difference in priority."

Yang Ming calmly turned toward the hangar, though his thoughts were still a little unsettled.

Ah, Milili, the girl who gives her uncle a headache.

In Milili's room.

She rested a hand against her forehead and stared at the two helmets for a while.

"Ugh, I think I messed up... He didn't seem to be very receptive to this approach?"

Milili muttered, "But everyone has the freedom to choose for themselves. What's wrong with that?"

She flopped onto the sofa and stared blankly at the few cakes that were still warm. Then she sighed despondently and lay there without moving for a long time.

Like a beautiful salted fish that had lost all its dreams.

In a corner of the hangar, Yang Ming watched the pincer-shaped warship ahead. No matter how he looked at it, it was a behemoth—not the light vessel its classification claimed it was.

"What did you two talk about just now?"

Kolev leaned over beside him and whispered.

"Just a little something."

Yang Ming looked at Kolev guiltily.

Kolev toyed with an electronic component in his hand and sighed, looking down.

"She has the right to make her own choices. I shouldn't interfere. But you know, Hanton, she's my only family. I can't help being overprotective."

"Nothing happened between us," Yang Ming explained. "And you should pay more attention to her mental health."

"Don't bother comforting this old man. If I were a young woman, I'd fall for you too." Kolev's smile was full of bitterness.

Yang Ming didn't know what to say, so he could only nod.

Did Star Widow need his care and affection?

Yang Ming thought that if things kept going this way, he was more likely to end up living off her.

Milili had already shown an impressive grasp of the bigger picture and a real talent for leading in battle.

"Let's talk business," Yang Ming said. "Tell me about your revenge plan. It's almost been three months."

Kolev's expression turned serious again. "I'm planning to get in touch with one of my trusted men. He used to rank just below Gimo in the pirate group, and he's ambitious. His name is Guka."

"Then what?"

Yang Ming frowned. "I can't really trust this Guka. In fact, I don't trust anyone in your Black Dragon Pirate Group—not anyone besides the pirates here, who can't contact the outside world."

"I don't trust him either. I don't trust any of them now," Kolev said. "But that doesn't stop us from coming up with a plan. There's something you need to understand: Black Dragon is my life's work, and I want to save as many of the ships as possible."

Yang Ming shook his head. "They've already betrayed you—even if they betrayed Milili directly. I don't think you should try to win Black Dragon back. You should destroy it, eliminate the threat, and then help Milili build a new pirate group."

Kolev clasped his hands behind his back, his aged face full of thought.

"I know, Hanton," Kolev said. "You're always perceptive and sharp. You're right. But people get confused sometimes. I spent most of my life fighting for Black Dragon. I don't want to..."

"Listen, First Mate!"

Yang Ming's voice rose, his gaze piercing.

"The Black Dragon Pirate Group isn't your private property. When you decided to treat it like an inheritance to pass down as your personal possession, what happened later was inevitable. It's a collective. You're the leader, but you're not the whole pack! What we need to do now—or what you should do if you want to help your daughter—is eliminate this threat. The pirate group you once led has become your family's enemy!"

Kolev rested a hand on the edge of the table and sat down.

A trace of uncertainty showed in his cloudy eyes.

Yang Ming looked at the old man and felt a little soft-hearted.

"I may have been a little harsh, but I stand by what I said."

"I understand," Kolev said with a bitter smile. "But those people, the ones I trained myself... I still feel like I have to find a way to take back at least three or four ships and rebuild my authority among them."

Yang Ming sighed inwardly and spoke gently. "I know what you're capable of, Kolev. Without you, the Black Dragon Pirate Group is just a second-rate pirate group. Tell me your plan, and I'll help as much as I can. For the sake of this ship."

"I want to use Guka to oppose Gimo," Kolev said. "Guka's ship has the second most firepower after Gimo's. He's currently Black Dragon's deputy group leader, and the two of them have serious disagreements. But I know there are only three things he's interested in right now."

"Three things?"

"My influence, my wealth, and my beautiful daughter."

Yang Ming's expression was hard to describe. "Is this Guka another fan of no-contact love?"

"What?" Kolev looked confused.

"Never mind." Yang Ming asked, "So what's your plan?"

Kolev made a gesture, and rays of light intertwined, forming a projection screen in front of him.

Molly had long since become adept at doing this.

The screen showed two men from the waist up: Gimo and Guka, Kolev's former right-hand men.

"The key to winning is whether we can incite a war between Guka and Gimo. My current goal is to take the ships belonging to the other factions. Guka is patient, ruthless, vicious, and greedy. What he wants most right now is probably my wealth, so if he captures me, he won't kill me right away."

Yang Ming frowned deeply. "You're planning to use yourself as bait."

"Exactly," Kolev said. "I'm going to put myself on the scales. It's the only way to break the balance between them."

Yang Ming studied the information on the screen, then slowly sat on the edge of the workbench. His strong, warm-looking muscles gleamed faintly in the light.

"Since I accepted your payment, I'll help carry out the plan. Should I stay by your side and protect you?"

"No, no. You're Plan Two."

"Hm?"

Kolev raised an eyebrow. "I came up with this plan after carefully considering the situation. I need an outside force that can threaten both of them. You're that force."

Yang Ming grew interested. "Tell me the details."

"My thinking is simple."

Kolev's spirits lifted, and his eyes shone as he spoke.

"First, I'll find a way to fall into Guka's hands, then openly back him. Guka and Gimo have planted spies in each other's camps. I'll wait for them to face off and meet, then draw their attention to each other and find a way to make them fight.

"That's my part.

"When a dispute breaks out... if it happens on the ground, there's nothing to worry about. You can take them out easily, right, Hanton?"

"I'll need to know their exact strength, their weapons and firepower, and what kind of weapons they have," Yang Ming said seriously.

"I'll give you all of that... But that's the easiest scenario. The pirates will be on their guard. I expect the confrontation will most likely happen between their ships."

Kolev continued, "Once the two sides start fighting, you'll need to board Gimo's ship. Don't hold back for my sake. You can blow up the whole ship, and you can kill Gimo in front of everyone. At this stage, you need to show them who's in charge. Then I'll be able to turn the tables on Guka."

Yang Ming thought it over carefully.

Kolev reminded him, "Your payment for this is that you can buy the ship for one million Federal Credit. My pirate base will be your resupply port from now on, forever."

Yang Ming said ruefully, "Your plan sounds like it can work, but it really comes down to four words: 'Play it by ear.'"

"Hahaha! That's right!"

Kolev laughed for a while.

"You could be in danger, Kolev," Yang Ming reminded him.

"That possibility has been hanging over me for more than forty years, Hanton. That's just what being a pirate is like."

"Since you insist..." Yang Ming shrugged. "I'm willing to take the risk with you. After all, you're giving me an incredible discount."

Kolev smiled with relief and stood up.

"Come with me, First Mate. I had Molly create a second AI with the same specifications. It's the main control system for your ship now. But because of the onboard computer's limited capacity, she can't be as lifelike as Molly."

Yang Ming was delighted. "So Molly's nagging will be limited? That couldn't be better."

Molly's voice came from beside them. "Should I take that as a sign that you dislike me?"

"Without a doubt," Yang Ming replied without hesitation.

Molly gave a huff. "That means there's a very good chance I'll be popular with the general public."

A housekeeping robot drove over in the Sightseeing Car, carrying Yang Ming and Kolev toward the pincer-shaped ship's boarding entrance.

Kolev took a glass slab the size of a phone from the robot.

"This is the ship's authentication key. I've already entered your biometric information. I collected it from your hair follicles over the past few days—don't worry, I destroyed all the biological samples. I have no interest in bio-modification.

"This is an IOU. You need to sign it."

Yang Ming read the short statement carefully.

[Hereby owe Kolev one million Federal Credit, to be repaid within three years. Overdue payment will accrue interest at the same rate as a standard commercial loan from the Federal Central Bank.]

Then, solemnly... he signed Hanton's name.

"This is really just a formality. I can't go against my principles as a pirate. Now, Captain Hanton, you need to name your ship and your auxiliary system."

Yang Ming thought for a moment, then casually typed a line in Imperial.

Ship name: Flying Henan Person.

Main control system name: Molly Two.

Yang Ming calmly tapped the confirm button, then laughed at his own joke.

What a terrible pun.