Chapter 83: They’re All Enemies

“Brother Nine, so far we’ve captured 145 escape pods. Inside 22 of them were energy weapons. Third Bro tossed them out, telling us to keep them safe for a future celebration. The rest are all hostages.” Another report came through. The pirate warship’s communication system was functioning fine.

“Since Third Bro ordered it, just set them aside for him!” The warship commander, Brother Nine, was well aware of Third Bro’s habit of secretly grabbing nice things, but Third Bro often shared too.

“Brother Nine, what about the hostages we caught?” the voice on the communicator asked.

“First, check their data, run facial recognition, then lock them up with collars.” The warship commander instructed.

“Understood!” The pirate warship continued to capture escape pods trying to flee.

When the escape pods detached from the transport ship, they collected data on the ship’s current status. Upon ejection, they immediately moved away from the ship’s dangerous spinning zone.

The front section of the pirate warship was severely damaged from a collision. The hostages were being watched by several pirate mechs when some other pirates came over to compare the transport ship’s data to verify the identities of the people aboard.

“I may not know who the traitor on the transport ship is, but I know for sure everyone on this warship is a pirate,” thought an ordinary-looking young man waiting among the crowd. He smiled slightly as he watched four mechs and over a dozen pirates guard them.

Yang Bo waited a few more minutes. He saw a pirate rush to the pirate leader. The leader immediately stood up, his energy suit glowing as he instantaneously moved over a hundred meters.

“Amazing!” Even Yang Bo was shocked by the sight. The pirate leader’s superpower was incredibly strong. Yang almost couldn’t track the guy’s movement, but thanks to his dynamic vision, he confirmed that this guy was likely an A or A+ level superhuman.

The pirate leader walked ahead down a passage. Behind him were two pirates in energy suits along with a mech. They hurried down the passage, though it was unclear where they were headed.

“Could it be they noticed the mechs on the ship disappeared?” Yang Bo mused, daring to speculate.

“What will they do next? Will they withdraw completely? Or in their rage, destroy the transport ship?”

“Maybe I’ll pretend to be captured and get sent to their pirate ship first, then ransack their place?” A bold notion popped into Yang Bo’s mind, surprising even himself, though he felt it might be a viable strategy.

“I wonder what those collars on the hostages’ necks are for. Can I control them?”

“And what about the guy controlling Crack Void? Did he really disappear?”

“Wait a minute. Could that guy be on the pirate warship?” Yang Bo suddenly had a realization. The person controlling Crack Void could have planned all this to prevent the pirates from blowing up the transport ship.

If you wanted to stop the pirate warship from blowing up the transport ship, the safest method would be… sabotaging the pirate warship itself?

“And if I get onto their warship, another advantage is that I won’t have to worry about who the traitor is!” Yang Bo figured that this might be the plan of the guy controlling Crack Void, who perhaps feigned weakness in the first place.

“Rescuing those hostages is out of the question. They’re wearing collars, and if the pirates have countermeasures, I might end up killing them instead. Better to target weaker pirates for now.” Yang Bo turned away, deciding that weakening the pirates’ forces was the best solution.

And it’s certainly not about leveling up my skills or anything!

“By the way, the last time I killed those five guys in energy suits, did I get any skills out of it?” Yang Bo suddenly recalled. It seemed like after blowing them up with a laser cannon, he didn’t gain any abilities. After some thought, he noticed his warship repair skills had improved.

“These people… they have the skills for warship repairs. Is it so hard to find a proper job? Working as a cleaner for a month earns me tens of thousands.” Yang Bo felt a bit regretful for them.

“If the pirate leader retreats, maybe I’ll follow him to their warship, tinker around and show them who’s boss. Anyway, I’ve got a mech and metallic skin, so I can survive in space!” Yang Bo left, preparing to search for those pirates. They were all spread out in the cargo bay.

The pirate leader made his way outside the warship. A mech connected with the pirate warship, and after hearing what the ship’s commander said, the pirate leader’s face turned pitch black with anger.

“Boss, be careful. We’ve detected a lot of scattered debris. Most of it seems to be pieces of our mechs. The guy controlling Crack Void likely attacked us. Please get back soon,” the commander’s voice came from the pirate warship.

“I got it. Make sure to intercept the escape pods. Capture every last one. We took money from the Anti-Government Fighters this time. If we don’t deliver enough heads to them, those mad dogs will stop at nothing. This screw-up is on me. I shouldn’t have dealt with them.” The pirate leader had no one to complain to. What he thought was a simple raid turned into a mess.

Someone had even provided thorough intel, and with a traitor’s help, how could they fail? They were preparing to sell this bunch off, just like all the other times. By now, the prisoners would normally already be dead.

The Silver Moon Pirates had a decent standing among pirates, but they were still just pirates. The Anti-Government Fighters, though, dared to take on government warships.

Compared to the Anti-Government Fighters, pirates were nothing but trash.

Offending the Anti-Government Fighters would be a death sentence for the Silver Moon Pirates. Just one bounty placed on them, and they’d be done for in pirate circles.

“Boss, don’t worry. We’re intercepting people here. We’ve cross-checked their data and put them in custody.” The commander’s words brought some comfort to the pirate leader.

“You two, guard this spot. Activate the mechs’ laser cannon systems. When our people arrive, they’ll communicate with you via radio first.” Leaving two mechs on the transport ship’s surface, the pirate leader hurried back with two others.

The pirate leader was in agony. The mechs detected on the warship were definitely their own. How many squads had been ambushed?

The pirate leader was now full of regret. Those squads, scattered across the transport ship, could be anywhere. The cargo bay alone had thousands of compartments.

Yang Bo navigated the maintenance tunnels in his energy suit. Not long after, he noticed something off. Some cargo bays were indicating loss of pressure.

“These dogs have been damaging cargo holds one by one?” Yang Bo checked the pressure gauge. It was the most rudimentary hydraulic system. Modern ships still used these systems as areas with magnetic interference would otherwise render light or wireless systems useless.

Examining the broken Cargo Bay, Yang Bo maneuvered his mech to rush toward the area. For sure, they’d continue sabotaging other cargo bays one by one.