Chapter 100: Battle at the Interstellar Dock (II)

Chapter 100: Battle at the Interstellar Dock (II)

Picking up where the last chapter left off — having dealt with the crocodile-headed merchant, I made my way to the interstellar dock’s scheduling room, hoping to finally learn what these people were after.

The interstellar dock’s scheduling room was the ship-control office for the entire dock. Naturally, it had been the container soldiers’ first target.

Inside, a refined-looking man from Tengshe Star sat directing operations.

He looked up as I approached and said stiffly, “What are you doing back here? Get to your post. The captain’s almost here. If anything goes wrong, you’ll answer for it.”

“The garrison’s main force is closing in,” I said, “and fighters are on the way too. I need to know how we’re responding.”

“Have you lost your mind?” he snapped. “Isn’t the bomb already in place? Once they arrive, we pull out. Let them all get buried here.”

I put on a look of urgency. “That’s exactly why I came. The bomb might be compromised. I saw someone strange heading that way — not one of ours. I tried to stop him and lost. That’s why I came straight to you.”

That got his attention at last. He stood and looked outside.

Following his gaze, I pointed toward a wrecked ship sitting in the dock’s repair zone. “He’s already inside. Why don’t the two of us go take a look?”

The refined man nodded, muttering, “Troublesome,” then called out to the rest of the scheduling room, “I’m going to check this myself. Guide the captain’s ship in — the moment he lands, we all pull out.”

Then he grabbed me and we left together.

Not knowing where the bomb had actually been placed, I couldn’t afford to walk ahead of him. He, meanwhile, kept urging me faster, insisting time was nearly gone and nothing could go wrong now, of all moments.

I dragged my feet on purpose, muttering that the man I’d seen was dangerously strong — giving myself every excuse to stay a step behind him.

Sure enough, he cursed me for being useless, then shot off at high speed toward the wrecked ship in the repair zone.

By then, the garrison’s vanguard had already arrived and engaged the soldiers in open combat.

The refined man didn’t spare it a glance. He hauled me along, and together we flew straight into the wreck.

Outside, the battle raged. Inside, the silence was almost unnerving.

I pointed deeper into the ship. “That’s probably where the bomb is.”

He let go of me and shot forward at speed. I stayed close behind until the two of us landed near the ship’s nuclear reactor core. Only then did he turn and ask, “Where is he?”

I let my expression go strange and unfamiliar, and smiled.

“You really don’t suspect me at all?”

Only then did he whip around, staring at me in shock. “You? Where’s E Suoluo?”

“Do you even need to ask,” I said. “Why don’t you just tell me what exactly you people are trying to do? Just to destroy HD Star’s transit dock?”

“Who are you?” he demanded. “E Suoluo told me he’d spotted someone suspicious in the restaurant. So that was you. But you don’t look like HD Star. You’re not from Yaomei Star either. You don’t even look like you’re from Cassiopeia. So why are you here?”

“I’m the one asking questions right now,” I said. “Though we could always trade. You tell me, I’ll tell you. Fair enough? If you refuse, I’ll simply wreck your plan myself. I already know where that bomb is. I can throw it straight into open space.”

He studied me for a long moment, clearly weighing whether he could actually take me down. Then he said, “Friend — we don’t have to be enemies. HD Star’s been making military moves lately, and this dock is central to whatever they’re planning. Tengshe Star and HD Star are sworn enemies. Before war breaks out, we have to cripple their infrastructure first.”

“Aren’t you worried this counts as an act of war on its own?” I said. “Detonate that thing, and it’s as good as Tengshe Star declaring war outright. Are you prepared for that?”

“None of the soldiers deployed here belong to…