"Pirates?" Yu Lian couldn't help but freeze.
Little Gray nodded. "Really vicious pirates."
"Pirates from the Abyss Nebula?" Yu Lian asked again.
"All the really vicious pirates come from the Abyss Nebula," Little Gray answered with a straight face.
Of course, they also came from the Great Spiral Cross and the New World, but that didn't matter anymore.
"What kind of pirates would dare attack the Empire's own territory—and a supply station in the heartland, no less?" The Gray Reef system belonged to the Yashan Sector, which was already within the Empire's Inner Ring. Only a few systems bordered the edge of the Abyss Nebula, which had "penetrated" deep into a stable cluster of stars. Though it was theoretically a border sector, it was also a densely populated core sector.
This vast sector included nearly a hundred planetary administrations and space-city governments under the Chancellor's Office, as well as garrison offices jointly managed by two Grand Marshal's Headquarters. It was also home to the fiefs of three dukes, four marquises, and fourteen earls.
All in all, it was still a pretty lively place.
Though Gray Reef was on the border, it had a manned outpost on duty around the clock and tight surveillance. If it was attacked, within twenty-four hours at most, hundreds of Imperial warships would certainly arrive in the nearby systems in a show of force.
And yet these insignificant pirates had launched an attack—and they were directly assaulting the outpost.
"After all, this is the heartland. The Yashan Sector is generally pretty wealthy," Little Gray explained.
"...So they're being attacked because it's wealthy?"
Little Gray nodded, her face taking on a look of pity. "It might not make much sense at first, but in the end, it's all thanks to you!"
Yu Lian immediately thought of one