Yang Ming's Plan

The second spore deployment was handled by Yang Ming himself.

Of course, Kolev didn't look down on "Second Boss Guka" at all; it was purely... Yang Ming didn't take the other party seriously and requested to work alone.

Yang Ming didn't want to become dependent on Kolev, as his future plans could only be accomplished alone.

The deployment went smoothly, and Guka's two ships were successfully infected by the Electronic Spores.

Along with that, this used stealth ship, worth over a million Federal Credits, had completed its main mission for the first half of the plan and was secured by Yang Ming in the Feinan's aft cargo bay hangar.

Tsk, this thing was his now!

Captain Yang Ming, who had "captured" a used stealth ship before the battle even began, felt incredibly pleased and full of confidence for the upcoming plan.

"Captain has arrived on the Bridge!"

Molly Two's voice was as energetic as ever today.

"How's it going, Kolev?"

"Very smooth!" "Very smooth."

Two voices sounded simultaneously, and two Kovevs turned their heads at the same time, raising their left hands in unison.

At first glance, it was hard to tell which was the real Kolev.

The only difference was that the Kolev on the left wore a silver-white helmet and held a champagne flute. The Kolev on the right still had a vacant look in his eyes and held nothing in his hands.

Yang Ming marveled, "It's almost indistinguishable from the real thing! Besides being expensive, this thing is practically flawless."

It was indeed very expensive.

This Bionic Robot cost a staggering two million Federal Credits due to its "Master-Substitute Synchronization" function; in some politically unstable small countries, it was considered a second life by politicians.

Accompanying the robot was a metal cabinet displayed in the corner of the Bridge.

This was an auxiliary device that allowed the Bionic Robot to quickly generate new appearances. It contained expensive bionic materials and could give the robot a new skin within half an hour.

Kolev took off his helmet.

The substitute robot slowly lowered its head, a faint glow appeared on its chest, and it entered standby mode.

"Hanton! Haha! We can open the champagne now!"

Kolev said excitedly, "These two million were worth every penny! I even want to get one for my daughter!"

"Celebrating before the preparations are even half done? My dear First Mate Kolev, don't act more antsy than I am. I'm just a young man, and you're already ancient!"

Yang Ming teased with a smile.

He took off his combat suit jacket and quickly walked to the control panel, skillfully opening the star chart and finding the next marked point.

Orhaifu.

The former location of the black market.

Due to the intimidation from the Guer Alliance's battleships, the black market traders of Orhaifu had already fled.

Orhaifu itself was an edge Administrative Planet of a barren small country, possessing a terrible political environment, a weak industrial system, and a virtually nonexistent space defense.

The Feinan sailed towards a nearby "gravitational blur equilibrium zone," and Yang Ming set the pre-warp jump mode.

Kolev ambled over with a plate of steak, "Hanton, don't you need to rest? Our preparations are sufficient, there's no need to be so tense."

"Isn't this already resting?"

Yang Ming leaned back, and the seat automatically adjusted to a semi-reclined position.

Kolev handed him the steak plate, and Yang Ming popped two pieces into his mouth, chewing heartily.

His mouth was full of rich sauce.

Yang Ming said, "Number Two, give me the detailed information on Orhaifu."

"Yes, Captain."

Kolev remarked, "You really are a workaholic."

A few pages of text and images appeared on the projection screen in front of Yang Ming.

The permanent population of this planet was about 800,000, all living in these two cities.

With the departure of the black market merchants, Gimo, Guka, and Lina had completely relaxed their surveillance of the area.

Yang Ming and Kolev had chosen this location because, behind the two cities, there was a stretch of abandoned city ruins from the war.

It was an excellent ambush point.

Kolev chuckled, "The robots we deployed have been working on the planet's backside for half a month, and these people haven't noticed anything unusual."

Yang Ming recalled the two distinct cities on Orhaifu.

One looked like a district from a wealthy province of the Sherman Empire;

The other looked like a garbage dump on the outskirts of a city.

"Are there any amusements in Orhaifu's residential areas?" Yang Ming asked.

"Plenty of amusements. Pirates often go there to spend money, with high premiums and abundant service industries," Kolev said slowly. "Once we're done with this, we can go relax there too."

"Foot massages and shaving?"

"No, no, no, as long as Milili isn't involved, we can enjoy any entertainment you can think of."

Kolev blinked, and Yang Ming narrowed his eyes and smiled.

He liked this.

"Alright, next we should talk about the third step of the plan," Kolev said. "I really don't know how you came up with this, to even think of such a trick."

Yang Ming said calmly, "It's just a simple Two Peaches Kill Three Warriors."

"What?"

"Nothing, I made up the term myself," Yang Ming's eyes narrowed slightly. "You should prepare for your fake death."

Kolev cautioned, "You'll need this Bionic Robot later, so be careful when you shoot. Don't hit its Positronic Brain; it can't be repaired if it's broken. Aim for the chest cavity; it's empty there and has a blood pack."

"Don't worry, I care about this thing more than you do. This is my hope for shaking off the Guer Alliance," Yang Ming yawned. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when we reach Orhaifu."

"Remember to take your Gene Stabilizer on time," Kolev reminded him. "If you suddenly go berserk, my old bones can't handle your tantrums."

Yang Ming smiled, adjusted his seat to sleep mode, and soon snoring could be heard.

"Okay, I'll prepare the video needed for step four of the plan."

Kolev licked his finger and hummed a tune as he opened the camera device and speech draft in front of him.

The plan Yang Ming devised was divided into three parts.

The first part was complicated, including preliminary preparations, releasing spores twice, setting up an ambush in Orhaifu, and obtaining the Bionic Robot for the fake death.

--They had already completed more than half of it and were steadily advancing.

The second part was Kolev's treasure.

This was Kolev's favorite part and the main reason he was willing to spend so much money this time.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Kolev cleared his throat and adjusted the video parameters to make himself look like he was in his late forties or early fifties, full of vigor.

"Little brats! Hello everyone!

"Are you surprised to see me now? This is a small program I hid in various ship systems, triggered after my heart stops beating.

"Yes, people always have to plan ahead, especially in our line of work…"

Outside the porthole of the Feinan, the silent galaxy brought the twinkling of billions of years ago.

Accompanied by the old man's gentle, cheerful recitation, the clock hands accelerated forward, pointing to the moment 'Yang Ming's Plan' officially began.

"Still no news from Kolev?"

A haggard Lina stared at the screen in front of her. The continuous lack of sleep had robbed her skin of its usual luster.

Several intelligence officers working nearby shook their heads simultaneously, their identical uniforms giving them a sense of uniformity.

"Sir, this waiting is too passive. Kolev is over seventy years old; he might have retired with his daughter."

"Keep waiting. Finding Kolev is the only way we can find Target Number One."

Lina leaned back on the sofa. The bruise on her forehead from a painful blow a few months ago still ached faintly.

"Don't worry, I'll give you excellent evaluations on your performance reports."

The young people immediately became more motivated.

Suddenly.

"Sir!"

A young man stared intently at the screen and said quickly, "We have a message from intelligence point 362! Kolev's trace has been found!"

"Where?"

Lina shot up from her seat. Her slender body swayed slightly, and she immediately rushed behind the young man, staring intently at the projection screen.

The screen displayed an image.

Kolev, dressed in a crisp suit and with his beard shaved off, wearing sunglasses and a hat, walked with his head down in a bright corridor, his shoulder gently pressed by a large hand.

It was Hanton's hand!

Hanton was dressed similarly to Kolev, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, constantly looking around vigilantly.

Lina almost cheered.

The location shown in the image appeared to be a bank vault area.

Two deferential service staff couldn't help but glance at the young man following the benefactor, their expressions slightly uneasy.

"What are they doing?" Lina asked. "Location! Where are they!"

"Orhaifu planet, at a private bank! My god, they were hiding on Orhaifu!"

"Prepare for Warp Jump immediately!"

Lina shouted loudly, and replies quickly came from all over the Bridge.

When Lina turned around, the surveillance video from the bank had just reached its "climax."

With the help of the service staff, Kolev found his long-term rented safe deposit box.

The two service staff turned away. Kolev turned back to negotiate with Hanton, but Hanton simply stared at him silently.

The two were locked in a stalemate for over ten seconds.

One of the attendants secretly pressed the alarm button on his watch.

Just then, Kolev opened the safe deposit box and took out a handbag from inside. As he lifted the handbag and placed it on the ground, Kolev's hand suddenly reached inside the safe deposit box.

He pulled out a Laser Pistol and turned to shoot at Hanton!

Hanton's reaction speed was almost superhuman!

He quickly dodged the fatal blow before Kolev could fire. While Kolev was still unable to react, Hanton slammed him against the safe deposit box, easily disarmed him of the Laser Gun, and snatched the safe deposit box from Kolev's hands.

The bank's alarm blared.

Hanton cursed a few words in the Empire's language in a low voice, grabbed the slender Kolev and the handbag, and quickly rushed out of the safe deposit box area.

Seeing this, Lina's breathing became somewhat rapid.

They had a falling out!

Because of Kolev's wealth?

"Sir, please sit down! Fasten your seatbelt!"

"Quick, move it!"

Lina quickly settled into her seat, her gaze never leaving the video.

"How old is this footage?"

"An hour ago. It took us some time to get the bank's internal video, it was all encrypted... Oh, and there's follow-up news!"

The young intelligence officer shouted in an excited voice:

"Fifty minutes ago, Target Number One held Kolev hostage and confronted the local police. Both sides opened fire. Kolev was wounded, but Target Number One escaped with the injured Kolev."

"Half an hour ago, they escaped the main urban area and headed for the desert region in a skycraft."

"Fifteen minutes ago... they're taking off! Sir! A hundred-meter-class Pirate ship is leaving the Orhaifu planet at full speed! They're trying to escape again! The Orhaifu patrol ships don't dare to intercept them!"

Vrooom--

The battleship began its Warp Jump.

A faint afterimage appeared before Lina's eyes.

These ten-plus seconds of waiting felt incredibly long!

Space returned to normal, and the massive warship appeared in a brand new Star Domain. The projection of Orhaifu planet hung on the main projection screen in the Bridge.

"Search for the target vessel!" the Captain roared, seeking to assert his presence.

"Locked on! It's a Pirate ship modified from a light gunship, identified as a merchant fleet escort! The target is attempting to break free from the planet's gravitational influence and enter Warp Jump range!"

"Intercept it before it makes its Warp Jump!"

Lina's voice was clear of hesitation this time: "Charge the main cannons! Capture its Warp Jump data!"

"Main cannons are charging!"

"It's too late, sir! It's going to force a jump!"

Swish!

Lina seemed to hear the sound from the screen. The pincer-shaped ship disappeared from her sight once again.

But soon, her frozen expression became animated again.

"We've captured its jump coordinates! It's a short-range Warp Jump! Very crude technology, we can pursue it!"

"Chase it quickly!"

Lina's knuckles turned slightly white as she clenched her fists.

Inside the Feinan, which had just completed its Warp Jump.

Yang Ming and Kolev exchanged a glance and a slight smile appeared on both their faces.

Kolev said, "I'll lead them on a chase. The flight path is already set. You hurry and get the substitute into the cabinet to work on the exterior. We need to get back before Gimo and the others reach Orhaifu!"

"The First Mate can't command his Captain."

Yang Ming pushed away his chair and ran towards the robot whose core had been shot through.

He effortlessly stripped off its outer shell, revealing its silver-white skeleton, and placed it in the metal cabinet.

Yang Ming skillfully adjusted the mechanical cosmetic surgery device, selected a preset sample, and chose to adjust the limb skeleton sample.

As he pressed the activation button, Yang Ming felt a flicker of anticipation in his heart.

After all, this thing also carried his path forward.

"Did those five pirate ships receive the video?" Yang Ming asked.

"Don't worry," Kolev chuckled, "they should be waiting in front of the ship system's reboot interface right now, waiting for those ancient systems to finish restarting. It's been four years, and they can't even afford to update their ship's operating system."

Yang Ming smiled faintly.

He remembered the computer lab at his hometown school when he was a student.

Meanwhile, at the Pirate base in the Asteroid Belt, inside a pirate ship docked in the shipyard.

Seven or eight pirates on duty on the Bridge stared blankly at the projection screen in front of them.

Their ship... seemed to have blue-screened.