Chapter 190: Between Pride and Survival

Caught between the pride of a noble and his own life.

Toto made his choice without hesitation.

Noble pride mattered, sure, but life was far more precious.

“Lord Toto, the other side has demanded that we shut down all warship engines and weapon systems, gather everyone on the flight deck, and wait for them to board and take our surrender!”

“Do as they say.”

“Understood… Lord Toto!”

Seated in the captain’s chair, Toto finally let out a long breath.

After all, if they’d gone as far as making such demands, his own life should be safe—at least for now.

As for that so-called noble pride…

To hell with it!!

——

Five hours later.

Toto was taken aboard the Qiongxiao Warstar. Under Ye Lingwei’s arrangements, he appeared remotely in a meeting room.

Several others were already there, waiting.

They were Lin Yu and…

Parlo and Tuoba.

Honestly, ever since the humans had captured him, Toto had been a confused mess.

He’d thought they were Ziyang people, or maybe Xitoris at the very least.

But humans?

No, seriously—who even were these people?

As Ye Lingwei ushered him into the remote meeting and he saw Parlo and Tuoba there, Toto only grew more bewildered.

Though not because those two were present, but because…

The one sitting at the head of the table was a human man, not either of them.

“Parlo, Tuoba, do you know this guy?”

“Of course. He’s the only son of one of the three Grand Dukes of the Salvador Empire. Pretty famous in the Alliance, honestly. But if you ask me, he’s nothing but a spoiled rich kid—totally useless.”

Parlo didn’t even try to hide his contempt for Toto.

To be honest, Tuoba pretty much agreed.

The three Grand Dukes of the Salvador Empire definitely had real power.

Each commanded an entire imperial fleet—no fewer than ten thousand warships apiece.

But as for their eldest sons…

Let’s just say, it’s complicated.

Every one of them had a bad reputation.

So even though Toto had been put in charge of a 50,000-strong force, in reality…

The actual command had always been with the two fleet commanders. Toto was just there for the ride, hoping to rack up some easy war merits.

After all, if they won, most of the credit would go to him as the official commander, right?

That was the draw. Plus, at the start, everyone thought even a pig could lead fifty thousand troops to steamroll the Ziyang Empire and the Xitoris Kingdom.

Otherwise, the various civilizations wouldn’t have fought so fiercely over command rights.

Who would’ve thought…

In the end, they were the ones being steamrolled.

And if the command staff of the two fleets hadn’t been wiped out in those last battles…

He wouldn’t have gotten the chance to be in charge this time, either.

“Tuoba, Parlo—you two traitors! Once the Alliance’s main force arrives, your days are numbered!”

“Oh yeah? And when exactly is the Alliance’s army supposed to get here?”

Parlo asked, almost bored.

“If the front line doesn’t move forward, they should arrive in thirteen years!”

“And what route will they take?”

“Heh, this time the Alliance won’t make the same mistakes. Over a hundred thousand troops will hit the Ziyang Empire first—then take their time mopping up the Xitoris Kingdom!”

……

……

So Parlo and Toto slipped into a question-and-answer routine.

Meanwhile, Lin Yu glanced at Tuoba and exchanged a look.

Basically, Lin Yu was asking, “Is this guy always this dumb?”

To which Tuoba replied with a look that said, “He can be even worse…”

Lin Yu was speechless.

No interrogation necessary—this guy just spilled all their secrets himself.

And that wasn’t all…

“Listen, Parlo, don’t think beating us here means you’re safe!”

“The Alliance has reached deals with both the Pirate League and the Mercenary League. Each will send at least fifty thousand warships to act alongside the Alliance fleet. In exchange, the territory of the Blue-Eye Tribe will be split evenly between the two.”

“So you’ll be facing more than two hundred thousand Class II civilization ships!”

Alright, maybe Toto was getting too caught up in the moment.

This time, Parlo didn’t even have to ask before he volunteered yet more intel.

Still, you had to admit—

This was a huge piece of information, and it actually made Parlo pretty anxious.

After all, it pretty much doubled the enemy’s strength.

As for the regions involved, operations staff had already pulled up a star chart of the Desolate Star Region to review.

Truthfully, the Ziyang Empire and Xitoris Kingdom were just the outer fringe of the Wasteland Alliance.

Naturally, that meant the most contact with non-Wasteland Alliance civilizations.

Truth is…

The entire interior of the Desolate Star Region was practically controlled by the Alliance.

Non-Alliance civilizations could only expand along its outer edges.

If all they wanted was to raid and plunder, fine. But to take on the Wasteland Alliance head-on? Neither the Pirate League nor the Mercenary League had the firepower.

They just didn’t have the muscle for a direct confrontation.

Even if these two went all-out, each could field maybe fifty thousand warships, tops.

What about the Wasteland Alliance?

Their intervention fleet alone could reach over a hundred thousand ships.

And if they really went all in, maybe over two hundred thousand.

So, groups like the Blue-Eye Tribe or the Pirate League could only stick to raiding around the rim. There was no way they could take on a full civilization directly.

Still, even so, you couldn’t deny—they had some power.

If they allied with the Wasteland Alliance, things would get messy.

While Lin Yu was busy studying the star chart, Parlo and Toto’s back-and-forth continued.

And every moment, more juicy details spilled out.

Like—

The Empire had secretly maintained eighty thousand warships behind the scenes.

If the time was right and the joint fleet reached the front, the Salvador Emperor even planned to exploit the other civilizations’ weak moments, unleashing those eighty thousand ships to annex their territories.

Wow. Honestly?

This Emperor was one ambitious guy.

Or—

Behind the Pirate League and the Mercenary League stood several supportive civilizations within the Alliance.

Even the Blue-Eye Tribe was no exception.

This kind of information blew Parlo’s mind.

His teeth ground together, audibly.