Chapter 140: Hidden Hands and Greater Gains

“So, the Tuoba Clan has finally decided to make a move?”

Inside the conference room.

Lin Yu, Mu Qingxue, and several top ranking officials from both the administrative and military sides were all present.

This time, the meeting was called at short notice.

The purpose was to discuss how best to handle the current situation with the Xitoris Kingdom.

“That’s right. That’s why he came to me, wanting to urgently purchase more warships—up to five thousand in total. He wants both the outstanding and new orders delivered faster, and he’s even willing to pay five times the original price. That includes the previous orders yet to be fully fulfilled.”

Bilodis, the Human Federation’s Consul General on Tianyuan IV, joined the meeting via holographic interface.

Her words drew sharp, startled breaths from more than a few people.

Five times the price? Even for those earlier orders still pending delivery?

Are they out of their minds?

But Lin Yu just smiled.

“Looks like Tuoba’s really desperate. Qingxue, what’s your take?”

“Business walking right up to our door—there’s no reason to turn that down. As for speeding up delivery… Even one day faster is still an acceleration, isn’t it?”

“Makes sense!”

Hearing Mu Qingxue’s take, Lin Yu nodded in full agreement.

Everyone else just stared in disbelief, totally at a loss over what the couple was up to.

“You really don’t get it, do you?”

“You need to answer one question first: what does the Federation actually need?”

“Is it just about making five times the profit?”

“No, you’ve got it wrong. What’s truly important is figuring out how to use the Xitoris Kingdom’s civil strife to maximize the Federation’s benefit.”

“If we only rush military gear to Tuoba and let him crush the King’s Army, all we get is a fivefold profit on military sales. But what if the war drags on, and the border clans led by Tuoba are pushed to the brink?”

Lin Yu’s words left the room deep in thought.

If the war drags out and the border clans led by Tuoba start to crumble—what then?

Panic would follow. No matter what the Federation demanded, they’d agree without hesitation.

A chilling realization swept through.

At that moment, everyone finally started to understand what Lin Yu was getting at.

Then Mu Qingxue spoke up as well.

“Bilodis, agree to all of Tuoba’s requests. But—say we need a higher deposit for expedited delivery. Have them pay fifty percent upfront, and make them top off the earlier orders to the same ratio.”

“But be clear—they need to understand that the Federation isn’t exactly next door. The earliest we can start delivering is three years from now.”

“And after those three years, you can always come up with more reasons to delay. For example…”

“Yeah, say we got ambushed by interstellar pirates in transit, or the warship factories got hit by a massive solar storm and are rushing repairs. You could even claim the Federation suddenly got pulled into major wars with other Tier-3 civilizations.”

“Just remember—within the next ten years, we won’t be sending Tuoba major shipments. If we give him anything, it’ll be a small batch ‘scraped together’ from other civilizations, strictly for the sake of a good relationship. And even then, give just enough for them to barely hold on, at best.”

“As for when regular shipments resume? That depends on when he finally can’t take it anymore and comes begging to us.”

A hush fell over the room.

Ruthless—absolutely ruthless!

That was the unfiltered thought running through everyone’s mind.

It was clear now—this married couple’s sights were set far beyond mere profit.

They were aiming for something much bigger…

When the Xitoris Kingdom’s civil war ends, the Federation will own several new star systems within the Wasteland Constellation’s core.

But no one guessed just how ambitious Lin Yu and Mu Qingxue really were.

A decade from now, if they haven’t claimed at least a third of the enemy’s territory, this whole scheme would have been a waste.

A few systems?

Not even close. Ten star systems at least—that’s the real goal.

Once the timing’s right, the Federation will put the deal to Tuoba.

“Want to win?”

“Want to become King of the Xitoris Kingdom?”

“No problem. The Federation can provide total military support—all you have to do is sign an agreement.”

An agreement…

To cede one third of the kingdom’s territory to the Federation after the war.

That’s it!

Sign, and you become king of the Xitoris Kingdom. Refuse…

And your clan will vanish from history.

——

After the meeting, Bilodis met with Tuoba to inform him the Federation had accepted his new order and would give his shipments priority.

But the deposit would now need to be increased from ten percent to fifty percent.

Tuoba didn’t object.

He needed to pay sooner or later—putting up more now wasn’t an issue.

After all, would a Tier-3 civilization really try to skip out on a payment?

He immediately mobilized the entirety of Tianyuan IV, launching a frenzy of resource extraction, especially for Helium-3.

Beyond his own family’s trade fleet, he called upon a huge number of civilian ships to transport wave after wave of supplies to Alpha Centauri.

Once all preparations were set, he readied himself to receive over seven hundred warships from the Third Legion.

Holding command of 1,200 Seawolf-class general-purpose warships, he felt no pressure whatsoever.

Finally…

Half a year flew by in the blink of an eye.

The Third Legion’s fleet, arriving from Tianyuan III, reached Tianyuan IV.

Several warships exited the ocean current at once.

But in moments, the Kingdom’s soldiers were stunned.

Because…

Their radar picked up over a thousand warships arranged in a hemispherical formation encircling the ocean current’s exit dozens of thousands of kilometers away.

And those ships had already opened fire.

Countless slugs launched from railguns, crossing in relentless waves from every direction.

There was nowhere to hide—they could only grit their teeth and return fire.

Meanwhile, as more and more Third Legion warships emerged from the current, they were forced to join the fight as soon as they appeared.

Together with those already in place, they tried to form a beachhead and fight back.

A few minutes later—

Because Tuoba’s slugs traveled faster, his shots arrived first.

They immediately took out more than ten of the thirty or so Third Legion warships that had already exited.

Then more waves followed—second, third, nonstop, pounding the warships that had left the current and inflicting devastating losses.

But as time wore on, the railguns’ impact started to fade.

Because the enemy ships had all bunched up at the current’s exit, and the destroyed ships piled up right there as well.

Since they were knocked out by railguns, most wrecks remained largely intact.

Naturally, these hulks formed a debris barrier outside the current, blocking most of the incoming shells.

So…

The railguns’ destructive effect dropped off steadily.

But from Tuoba’s perspective, he’d already achieved his aim—eliminating more than 150 enemy warships with almost no losses.

It was a flawless opening strike.

Even if the enemy hid behind that mountain of wreckage until all their ships arrived, so what?

In a straight-up fight, with 1,200 Seawolf-class warships under his command, Tuoba could easily wipe out their five hundred remaining ships.

The outcome of this battle…

Had been decided from the very beginning.