Chapter 1698: The Hanging Man

Heiye Ming paced back and forth on the bridge of Black Swirl, which looked like a palace in the abyss. As if he did not hear Jin Xinyue’s prediction at all, he calmly replied, “My war experience in the past hundreds of years tells me that, if a plan can secure the greatest victory with the minimal price and shortest amount of time, then something terrible will probably happen to the plan later.”

Jin Xinyue smiled and made a ‘suit yourself’ gesture. “Indeed. This is a wild gamble. Whether or not you would like to take the chances depends on your wisdom.

“Of course, General Ming, you can reject the plan and adopt a more secure strategy. After all, as the cradle and the heartland of the federation, the Heaven’s Origin Sector is too heavily defended. One moment of carelessness, and you may be mired in a swamp of steel and fire.

“If your target is the one of the newly developed worlds such as the Forest Ocean Sector, the Nether World Sector, or the Water Crystal Sector, the Black Wind Fleet will certainly be able to assault, crush, and occupy them easily with your overwhelming power, right?

“However, will it mean anything at all for the Black Wind Fleet to occupy the worlds that are either yet to be developed or full of desolate deserts everywhere?”

Heiye Ming sniffed and said, “After we occupy the barren worlds, we can develop them into logistical bases for the Black Wind Fleet. We can build them up slowly in ten to twenty years. Can the other six sectors do anything?”

“But you do not have ten to twenty years.”

Mysterious flames were burning in Jin Xinyue’s eyes as she said expressionlessly, “Although I am not aware of the situation in the homeland of the Imperium of True Human Beings, you must have a good reason for hiding your fleet behind the brown dwarf near the federation for such a long time without launching an attack.”

Heiye Ming narrowed his eyes. “Are you probing me for where exactly my fleet is anchored?”

Jin Xinyue chuckled and said, “You don’t need to be worried, General Ming. There are too many brown dwarfs near the federation that are yet to be scouted. Also, compared to the vastness of the universe, even the most enormous fleet is but a speck of dust. It is practically impossible for the federation to discover you.

“I just feel that now that our cooperation has reached such a level, we should be more open and sincere to each other on many issues.

“You have discovered the federation for eight years, General Ming. Eight years are more than enough for you to establish a massive space fleet and highly-penetrative communication devices. If you could summon reinforcements from the homeland of the Imperium, you would’ve done it a long time ago!

“I assume that there can only be two reasons you are still holding back. Perhaps, it is because the war between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance is too intense for the Imperium to spare more armies from the frontline to jump to the harsh land at the edge of the cosmos at the cost of astronomical resources just to ‘eliminate a bunch of barbarians’. Or, it is because you do not want anybody else to share the ‘big cake’ with you, and you would like to swallow it on your own.

“Hehe. From Su Changfa, an Immortal Cultivator of the Imperium in the past, and the captives of the claw fleet, we have learned a lot of intelligence about the Imperium. We know the common practices of the expedition armies from the Imperium after they discover a new world. We also know that the Black Wind Fleet’s situation in the Imperium is certainly not the best right now!

“Fine. If you are unwilling to gamble, we can always fight a positional warfare or a war of attrition exactly like regular wars are fought. General Ming, you are free to attack the weakly-defended new worlds of the federation. The Nether World Sector, the Forest Ocean Sector, the Water Crystal Sector, or any other one you want. After it is occupied, you can spend another twenty years building and consolidating it. In the meantime, we will just drain each other. The federation will still have another six Sectors where starships can be produced incessantly. Three… no, five starships on the federation’s side in exchange for one of your starships. That is quite viable, right?

“I would very much like to know what the Black Wind Fleet will have left after such a bloody war of attrition. Also, even if you do occupy the federation in the end, what can you get in the federation?

“Believe me, the federation at that time will have none of the resources you desire left. No crystals, no steel, no Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, nothing! All you will find is hatred!

“Oh, right, I almost forgot. If you are engaged in a fierce battle with the federation for ten to twenty years, it’s unlikely that the homeland of the Imperium will hear nothing about the matter, right?

“Hehe. If I was one of the ambitious nobles and warlords in the homeland of the Imperium, would I reap the fruit of victory after the Black Wind Fleet and the Star Glory Federation both suffer great losses? I would swallow seven new worlds and the remaining force of the Black Wind Fleet. It is truly a tempting thought!”

Heiye Ming hesitated for a long time. His entire body seemed to have been melted with the bridge and turned into something similar to the mainframe crystal processor on the starship. The voice uttered from his throat was devoid of human feelings, too. “Jin Xinyue, you are very smart, but smart people often do not end well.”

“I know.” Jin Xinyue smiled bitterly and opened her hands. “My everything is at stake. The arrow has been placed on the bow and must be shot! The things that I’ve done in secret, including the conversation we’re having right now, cannot be kept confidential for very long! If you abort the operation at the last moment, I will have no choice but to wait to be captured and sentenced as the greatest traitor in the history of the federation!

“General Ming, my own life, the continuity of the demon race, and the future of the Star Glory Federation and even the Black Wind Fleet depend on your decision right now. Come on. Please make your decision!”

Jin Xinyue craned her long, fair neck, revealing the bright blue veins, as if she were completely at Heiye Ming’s mercy.

Heiye Ming was quiet for such a long time that he was almost frozen into a statue. There was no telling what kind of thoughts were hidden deep inside his lead gray eyeballs, but he eventually said, “Jin Xinyue, you will certainly become the greatest traitor in the history of the federation, but you will also be a frontier governor of the Imperium of True Human Beings that rules over the Blood Demon Sector, the Forest Ocean Sector, and Boneyard!

“If you prove yourself to be capable enough in resource collection and soldier recruitment after the federation is occupied, when the Black Wind Fleet sets off to return to the center of the cosmos, I will even entrust the seven Sectors here to you. According to your military credits and contribution points, you will even have a chance to be nominated as a marquise of the Imperium!

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“If your ambitions cannot be satisfied by the seven Sectors at the edge of the cosmos, then just return to the center of the cosmos together with us while leading your troops. Believe me. The Black Wind people will certainly reclaim our past glory, and you will also make great accomplishments at the central area of the Imperium!”

Heiye Ming’s promise made every pore on Jin Xinyue’s body open. The air named ‘ambition’ was spurting out uncontrollably, forming a bouncing halo of fire around her. Her voice was shivering as she said, “Thank you for your appreciation, General Ming. I am a grateful person, and I will certainly do my best and die for General Ming, the Black Wind Fleet, and the Imperium of True Human Beings!”

“You will not die,” Heiye Ming remarked. “Now that the Black Wind Fleet is here, only the Imperium’s enemies will die in the most miserable way!”

Jin Xinyue was both excited and thrilled. She suddenly straightened her left arm and clenched her fist, gritting her teeth to roar, “Long live the Imperium!”

Heiye Ming straightened his arm and solemnly echoed, “Long live the Imperium!”

“So…” Licking her dry lips, Jin Xinyue took a deep breath but still asked somewhat anxiously, “The real ‘Dim Moon Plan’ will begin in twenty-four hours?”

“Yes. Twenty-four hours,” Heiye Ming said. “The Black Wind Fleet is not entirely ready, but since you have done so much work on your side, and you risk being discovered by the federation at any moment, we might miss the opportunity altogether if you are caught. The sooner we activate the plan, the better!

“Do not underestimate Guo Chunfeng’s Secret Sword Bureau at all. We must launch a critical strike on the heart of the federation before they realize what is going on!

“In twenty-four hours, the Black Wind Fleet will land in the Heaven’s Origin Sector and finish everything in one battle!

“Go now and make preparations. This is perhaps going to be the longest twenty-four hours in the history of the federation. You must ensure that nothing can possibly go wrong in our plan, Governor Jin… the future marquise in the Imperium!”

Jin Xinyue trembled from the bottom of her heart. “I will. I certainly will.”

Heiye Ming cut off the super remote communication between them. The shadow of the ‘future marquise of the Imperium’ who was shaking in excitement gradually faded away, and the bridge regained its previous coldness and darkness.

Heiye Ming stood in the darkness for a long time, frowning, as if he was considering a very important strategic question.

A moment later, he activated another communication route, triggering another 3D light beam that was so vivid that the scene seemed to be right in front of him.

What appeared on the light beam was a tiny chamber, which was clean, delicate, and quiet.

The interrogation devices in the corner that were finely-made and dustless, however, made the chamber look like some sort of weird operating room.

In the center of the chamber, a man was hung by a thick, iron rope.

The man had been confined tightly by shackles made of super alloys all over his body. The shackles that overlapped each other, together with the plate armor that had been carved with layers of barriers, had essentially nailed him into an upside-down iron coffin. Only his head was still exposed to the air.

But even his head had been locked by a gapless iron mask, making it impossible for him to speak, see, or hear anything.

Vision, hearing, smell, touch, taste… All his senses had been blocked. Only the sense of pain was left and enhanced to ten times what normal people could bear, placing the hanging man at the bottom level of an infinite hell.

Dozens of crystal cables extended from the hanging man and were connected to the crystal processors and the interrogational magical equipment.

The modern interrogational facilities from the Imperium of True Human Beings did not require any physical torture. They could stimulate the nerve endings directly and create pain dozens of times more excruciating than the feeling of being cut apart.

The devices’ precise control over muscles could even make the captive unable to scream or cramp. The captive would be like a piece of dead meat with lingering nerve reactions that was about to be cooked.

It was exactly the case for the hanging man right now.

Heiye Ming made a gesture, hinting for the agent who was controlling the interrogational magical equipment to stop and open the barriers that blocked the hanging man’s eyes.

“Jin Xinyue said exactly what you guessed she would say,” the commander of the Black Wind Fleet said to the hanging man peacefully.