Picking Up An Alpha On Garbage Star - Chapter 45

The fleet arrived at the designated location and dispatched one hundred J-10 unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to scout the area. The unmanned reconnaissance aircraft flew from the main ship towards Dragon Port, traversing the vast universe, and discovered the defensive systems surrounding Dragon Port.

“These pirates are indeed afraid of death. The cost of these defense systems is not low!” Zhuge Yue exclaimed on the public channel. “My Moonlight has been in service for twenty years, it’s getting old. Even the Empire couldn’t provide a new main ship for me. But these interstellar pirates, a bunch of dead rats, actually have the money to build such a large defense system!”

Pang Li responded, “The money of interstellar pirates comes from illegitimate sources. Do you want to earn that kind of money?”

Zhuge Yue stopped lamenting for a second and said, “Forget it then. If I dare to do such inhumane things, I wouldn’t even have the face to meet my ancestors in the afterlife.”

Ye Xiu Ze was absent and couldn’t participate in their discussion.

Lika chimed in, “If their ancestors knew that their descendants were arsonists, murderers, and plunderers, they might regret passing down their bloodline!”

Xie Yu remained silent, letting the three of them argue. He was thinking about the question Zhuge Yue raised: Where did the interstellar pirates get so much money from?

Having dealt with interstellar pirates for so long, Xie Yu couldn’t be completely ignorant about the enemy. These interstellar pirates, the smaller ones, dared to fly directly onto civilian routes and rob civilian ships with just a broken spaceship. These kinds of interstellar pirates were mostly criminals who continued committing crimes after escaping, and when caught, they were usually executed directly.

However, the large-scale interstellar pirates engaged in human trafficking and also dealt with drugs and weapons. But for interstellar pirates to have the ability to acquire main ships was quite strange.

What are main ships? They are major national assets, even if they are low-cost, they still cost tens of billions. Ships like the Dark God and Changyuan are worth hundreds of billions. Behind them is the entire Lite Empire. But what’s behind the interstellar pirates?

Xie Yu remembered that in all the battles he had participated in since joining the army, he had destroyed three main ships of interstellar pirates and more than a dozen military-grade ships. Where did the interstellar pirates get so much money from?

Pei An shifted his gaze from the screen to Xie Yu’s face and gently tugged at the military coat he was wearing. “What are you thinking? You seem lost in thought.”

The public channel was still open, and Pang Li and the others heard it too.

Lika, who was fearless, immediately burst into laughter. “Commander, you’re probably thinking about Pei An, aren’t you?”

Xie Yu said, “Lika, after this battle, why don’t we make an appointment at the training room?”

Lika immediately played dumb. “Huh? Commander, what did you say? I can’t hear you. Is the signal bad?”

Pei An felt embarrassed. “…Lika’s theatrical personality, I don’t know who she inherited it from.”

Xie Yu unilaterally blocked the public channel. He could hear their conversation, but they couldn’t hear him.

“I was just thinking about how the interstellar pirates could have so much money to build armed forces,” Xie Yu frowned. “Even if it’s human trafficking and drug smuggling, they can’t earn that much money. Moreover, interstellar pirates are much more particular about their quality of life than the military.”

You can tell from the canned food confiscated by Lao Geng that the quality of life in the interstellar is really not bad.

“The Lite Empire’s jurisdiction is very vast, and for various reasons, not every planet within the Empire’s territory has been surveyed,” Pei An, who himself had made quite a bit of money in secret, had quite a few insights into ways of making money.

“On those planets far from populated areas and not surveyed by the Empire, there may be huge wealth, just like Starfire Stones. I extract Starfire Stones and package the good ones into precious gemstones to sell to the rich. Each small piece of Starfire Stone can fetch a large sum of money. If put up for auction, the necklace on my neck could fetch a high price of over a billion Lite coins. Just through this avenue, we can earn billions every year,” Xie Yu’s mouth twitched. He was the man who spent millions to buy an uncut Starfire Stone.

He wondered if Pei An was mocking him behind his back.

“On the other hand, I refine Starfire Stones into energy oil. Starfire Stones contain massive amounts of energy, so refining them into energy oil that is almost indistinguishable from the quality of energy oil on the market is another avenue. Due to significant dilution of energy inside Starfire Stones, a large quantity of energy oil can be produced from them. Selling energy oil also brings in billions,” Xie Yu couldn’t help but sigh. “No wonder you were able to repair the Blaze and build four main ships at the same time.”

Pei An was really good at making money.

What’s even scarier is that Starfire Stones shouldn’t be Pei An’s only source of income. A crafty rabbit has three burrows; Pei An couldn’t possibly rely solely on Starfire Stones to make money.

“If interstellar pirates have discovered planets with enormous resources and have developed for decades, having money wouldn’t be surprising. What’s worrying is…” Pei An pursed his lips. “What’s worrying is that there might be someone within the Empire colluding with the interstellar pirates.”

Even a small administrative officer like DS009 colluded with interstellar pirates, allowing them to do as they pleased and bringing pain to countless people and families. If someone colluding with interstellar pirates isn’t just a small administrative officer from a remote star, but a high-ranking official in the central star?

The consequences would be unimaginable.

“No matter the situation, we can only move forward step by step now,” Xie Yu began summarizing the reconnaissance results transmitted by the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

“Based on the results transmitted by the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, the defensive system surrounding Dragon Port mainly consists of ten giant artillery towers, five escort ships, and over a thousand emergency self-destruct devices. Once these emergency self-destruct devices detect an enemy attack, they will explode in a chain reaction. If we can’t safely pass through, it will definitely alert the enemy,” Xie Yu said.

Pei An didn’t think it would be difficult. “Then how do we deal with these emergency self-destruct devices? If we don’t solve this, our people won’t be able to enter and explore the internal situation.”

Xie Yu replied, “The principle of the emergency self-destruct device is similar to that of landmines. We just need someone to disarm them.”

Pei An hadn’t heard the word “landmine” for a long time since he came to the interstellar society. Landmines were commonly used by them to ambush zombies in the past. In the interstellar era, many wars were fought in space, so naturally, landmines were no longer used.

“The bomb disposal team will go and create a breach in the emergency self-destruct devices to allow small ships to pass through smoothly. Pay attention to safety and don’t let the enemy’s artillery towers and escort ships discover you,” Xie Yu ordered.

On the Changyuan, a team of people quickly changed into bomb disposal suits, equipped with oxygen supplies, and prepared the tools for bomb disposal. They boarded small ships and flew towards the enemy’s defense system.

To ensure the safety of these people, the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft temporarily did not return, continuing to monitor the situation on the defensive system side. In case of any movement by the enemy, they could react immediately.

“After creating a passage that can be smoothly traversed, we’ll need to send people to infiltrate Dragon Port and inform the experienced ones to be prepared and ready at any time,” Xie Yu concluded.

The main fleet made progress smoothly, and Pang Li caught up with the spaceship.

“Commander, there aren’t many interstellar pirates on this spaceship, but I dare not tamper with what they are transporting,” Pang Li connected to Xie Yu’s communication channel and opened the video. “Commander, take a look for yourself.”

Pang Li brought the camera close to a metal box sealed with iron. After opening the box, three metal bottles were arranged side by side inside, each with a skull symbol on its body.

“If there are two knives under the skull, it means it belongs to interstellar pirates. But these three bottles don’t have those two knives, only a terrifying skull,” Pei An didn’t realize he had changed his tone.

Interstellar pirates actually researching biochemical weapons in secret? How many of these biochemical weapons are there on this spaceship? Where are they planning to transport them?

Veins bulged on Xie Yu’s forehead. Biochemical weapons were strictly prohibited even in the ancient era of Earth. Anyone researching biochemical weapons was considered a demon to be eradicated by everyone.

Researching biochemical weapons was inhumane, and the power of biochemical weapons was terrifying. Once a vial of biological weapon was released, it was unknown how many people would be tortured to death.

“Notify all personnel who are about to infiltrate Dragon Port. In addition to finding where the interstellar pirates are holding the captives, the mission also includes finding… the place where they are researching and storing biochemical weapons,” Xie Yu ordered.

After fighting for so many years, Xie Yu had never encountered biochemical weapons before.

“Dragon Port has biochemical weapons, and we must avoid them to carry out bombing. Otherwise…” Xie Yu pressed his temple. He was truly refreshing his understanding of the extent to which interstellar pirates could extinguish humanity.

Pei An’s nails almost embedded in his palms. The image of the black skull was still in his mind.

After the apocalypse, some experts speculated that the zombie virus was not naturally occurring in nature but was a result of the research on biological viruses. When this virus got out of control, it became the zombie virus.

Perhaps those researchers didn’t initially intend to destroy the world and drag the entire world into chaos and smoke, but the ultimate result was that the human population was reduced from billions to only tens of millions.

What good thing could come from researching viruses?

Pei An felt dizzy. If it weren’t for Xie Yu paying attention to him, he would have fallen.

“Xie Yu, inform Captain Pang to immediately seal off that spaceship and tow it to a safe area. Until we find a solution, we must ensure that these biochemical weapons do not threaten us,” Xie Yu helped Pei An sit down. Someone brought over a glass of water, and Xie Yu handed it to Pei An. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Pei An took a sip of water and calmed down a bit, pulling himself away from the scenes of decay from his past life.

“You need to report to the military headquarters,” Pei An grabbed Xie Yu’s hand. “The terror of biochemical weapons far exceeds our guns and cannons. We don’t know how many biochemical weapons the interstellar pirates have. The military needs to order a search throughout the entire empire.”

Xie Yu smelled a hint of pheromones from Pei An, telling him that Pei An was afraid of these biochemical weapons. This fear seemed to be engraved in his soul, making Pei An vividly remember this terror.

Has Pei An seen them before?

Xie Yu worried internally. If Pei An had seen them before, he might develop PTSD.

“I’ll immediately relay the message back to the military headquarters. You relax first, or would you like to take a nap?” Xie Yu released a bit of pheromones to soothe Pei An’s mood.

Pei An shook his head. He couldn’t sleep at a time like this. He just said, “Give me your coat, and I’ll stay here.”

Xie Yu didn’t persuade him. He understood that Pei An wanted to keep an eye on things at all times, so he took off his coat and gave it to Pei An to hold. “Don’t worry, I’m here for everything.”