Chapter 131: The Hometown That Can’t Be Returned To

This hall connects to five passages. The pirates entered one, and from another passage, a group of people emerged wearing energy suits. Yang Bo spotted some familiar faces.

“Huh, it’s actually people from the Biological Mecha Factory?” Yang Bo was surprised to see the people from the Mech Factory.

Following the pirates into the passage, they walked another twenty meters. The passage curved, and at the exit stood a towering turret. It was fully enclosed, suggesting that it was operated internally, with the turret aimed at the entrance.

Behind the turret, Yang Bo saw many mechs and the bald Pirate Leader. Together, there were over 200 pirates and more than 30 mechs, though they were mostly seventh and eighth generation models. Nevertheless, it was quite a formidable force.

Yang Bo found it a bit frustrating. If these turrets were manually controlled, it would be a big problem. If they were automated, it wouldn’t be as bad.

Additionally, the doors and such here were mostly mechanical. Yang Bo wandered around, noting that the living conditions here were quite good, even better than his quarters on the warship.

“Three months. Just three more months until we can leave this hellhole. Not a single woman around.” The bald Pirate Leader grumbled.

It was like a hall here. The pirates sat around with drinks, making it seem almost like a café.

“We have a meeting with the Mutant leaders tomorrow. What are we going to do?” One-Eyed Pirate asked as he sat down.

“The Grey Ash Organization is trying to get us entangled with the Mutant leaders. You’ll see tomorrow, we’ll settle this together.” The bald Leader shook his head as he spoke.

One-Eyed Pirate nodded. “We suffered huge losses this time. We’ve lost our life’s savings.”

“The Grey Ash Organization can provide warships, even the modified Sea Wolf-class models, but the price won’t be cheap.” The bald Leader continued.

Hearing this, Yang Bo was even more surprised. What kind of organization was this? They even had warships? Although he hadn’t seen what the Sea Wolf-class warship looked like, it was akin to someone on Earth asking you, “Hey, wanna buy a brand new missile destroyer?”

What would you think? He’s a scammer, right?

But these pirates were obviously serious. Yang Bo figured there must be someone powerful backing them, probably a nation.

“The Grey Ash Organization supposedly has strong ties with the Crimson Federation. It’s not surprising they could get their hands on warships. Now we just have to see how they’ll act.” One-Eyed Pirate said, taking a large gulp of water.

“Sigh.”

“I find it strange. How did a Jin Gang-class main warship fleet suddenly show up?”

“Yeah, I think it might be the work of the Grey Ash Organization.”

“Oh?”

“Think about it. We’ve been looting indiscriminately all along, and the Ashes Alliance has always wanted us to only target Alliance ships.”

“We’ve lost so much this time. Even if the Grey Ash Organization compensates us with new warships, we’ll still have to cover the difference, right? Won’t that force us to do as they say?”

“Makes sense. Damn intel traders!”

“There’s no way around it. The Grey Ash Organization has powerful intelligence capabilities. Plus, they might even heavily damage the Mutants this time. I suspect that tribes aligned with the Grey Ash Organization will suffer minimal losses.”

“Not to mention, with this three-month timeframe, they can suppress other institutions, companies, and the Mutants’ output…”

Yang Bo listened to all of this and had already come up with a way to handle the Tiger-Faced King.

Yang Bo followed the others back out. The pirate quarters were exclusively for pirates. He decided to check out the other passages later. First, he needed to make contact with the Tiger-Faced King. Doing things alone wasn’t practical.

“Little brother, have you made up your mind?” The Tiger-Faced King asked eagerly as he saw Yang Bo.

Yang Bo sighed. “I have some information, but I’m not sure how accurate it is.”

“What kind of information?”

“The Grey Ash Organization is intentionally doing this. The two pirate leaders have never fully obeyed the organization. Some of your own people don’t have close ties with them either.”

“Didn’t some of the tribes among you suffer minimal losses this time? That’s because they received advance warning. But you? You’re just the fools left in the dark. If luck hadn’t been on your side, how many of your tribe do you think would still be alive?” Yang Bo looked at the Tiger-Faced King and shook his head.

The Tiger-Faced King felt a bit suspicious, but it was true that he’d been lucky this time. Just look at his neighbor, who suffered heavy losses and was eventually killed by an unfamiliar mech.

Wait, unfamiliar mech? Damn… the Grey Ash Organization has plenty of mechs…

“You’ll be meeting the pirates soon. By then, you’ll know if I’m telling the truth. I’m leaving now.” Yang Bo said before walking away.

As the Tiger-Faced King walked back, he felt a chill down his spine. General Black Blade had fallen, meaning someone might be watching his every move. Who on this planet had that kind of power? The Grey Ash Organization.

“Old Third Huang, the Grey Ash Organization wants us to prepare for tomorrow’s negotiations with the pirates,” a Mutant leader suddenly entered and said.

“Huh!” The Tiger-Faced King jumped. That guy had just mentioned it, and now it was happening.

“What’s up with you?” The Mutant leader had a head full of white hair and fox-like ears.

“Do you think the Grey Ash Organization has been keeping an eye on our tribe?”

“Definitely. Last time I got a large piece of attribute Energy Stone, the Grey Ash Organization knew about it shortly after. Someone in the tribe is definitely tipping them off.” The other man sat down heavily, speaking as he did.

The Tiger-Faced King asked again, “Lame Liu, did you lose much this time?”

“Of course! I lost more than 40 Biological Mechs. Those were all elites!”

“And stop calling me ‘Lame Liu.’ Just because I got crippled in my first fight with the Mutants doesn’t mean I want to be reminded of it all the time. It’s been over a hundred years.” The other man replied testily.

Old Third Huang nodded, a bit melancholy. “We had over 500 people back then. Now we’re down to less than 30. Sigh.”

“Do you have any family still alive?” Lame Liu suddenly fell silent before asking.

“The last message I got was sixty years ago. It said I had two grandsons.”

“Tsk tsk, according to the Empire’s laws, with our current situation, I’m afraid our families…”

“Lame Liu, have you ever thought about going back?”

“Are you kidding? We were prisoners back then, condemned to death. We’ve been dead on paper for over a hundred years. Do you really think anyone would recognize me like this? I’d probably scare my own descendants.” Lame Liu shook his head with a bitter smile.

“I might have an opportunity.” The Tiger-Faced King hesitated before he spoke.

Pfft! Lame Liu spat out the water he was drinking, right in the Tiger-Faced King’s face.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Heh, me? An A-grade Mutant? Sick?” The truth was, the Tiger-Faced King had his own agenda. Yang Bo’s plan was risky, but what if it worked? If they managed to self-govern, he could communicate with the Alliance and Empire, and at the very least, get information about his family, right? Many times, the Tiger-Faced King had dreamed of his family, his hometown. The longer it went on, the deeper this feeling became.”