149: Chapter 149 Pirate Port

After finishing the intelligence report, Xia Xingchen knew that the road ahead would be long and arduous.

However, Xia Xingchen put aside other thoughts; his primary goal for now was that battle moon, which had to be destroyed first.

The fleet soon sailed to an important node.

This area was composed of a vast belt of broken asteroids.

Legend had it that there used to be a complete planet here, which was later destroyed by an unknown force in an event that no one knew about.

It was not completely annihilated, leaving nothing behind; instead, a massive main wreckage remained, surrounded by countless scattered, fine meteorites.

Later, the Empire had established an outpost here, though its specific purpose had long since been forgotten.

Following the withdrawal of Imperial forces, pirates occupied the abandoned outpost. After countless years of expansion, they finally built a city upon this massive, broken asteroid.

They even constructed simple defensive platforms and a Spaceport, turning this place into a haven for pirates, outlaws, merchants, and xenos.

Xia Xingchen arrived here with Cassandra and Hecuba, the three of them traveling only in a small shuttle.

The purpose of this trip was to meet an informant.

This informant had once entered the battle moon as a human, was familiar with its internal structure, and knew exactly where the battle moon's weaknesses lay.

To blast the battle moon into dust, one had to find the right angle to fire the Nova Cannon and completely erase the entire battle moon from the cosmos.

The shuttle landed on the landing pad. Xia Xingchen looked out through the porthole; this place was less of a landing pad and more of a tattered metal plate.

The pilot carefully maneuvered the shuttle, landing it smoothly on the landing platform at an extremely precise angle.

Once the hatch opened, Xia Xingchen led Cassandra and Hecuba off the shuttle.

To hide their identities, the three of them were all dressed in ordinary Imperial civilian clothing.

Xia Xingchen stepped onto the dilapidated steel plate, his expensive military boots making a crisp sound as they struck the rusted iron.

Just then, a Servitor walked over quickly and opened the collection box on its body.

A cold, synthesized mechanical voice rang out: "Docking fee."

Xia Xingchen looked at the Servitor in front of him and asked: "How much?"

"Five throne gelt, or gold of equivalent value."

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchen gave Cassandra a look.

Cassandra stepped forward, pulled five throne gelt from the pocket of her maid outfit, and placed them into the iron box.

The throne gelt made a crisp sound as they collided, and the Servitor turned and left immediately.

Hecuba looked at the surrounding environment and said with dissatisfaction: "They charge so much, yet they don't even bother to fix up the platform a little."

Listening to Hecuba's complaints, Xia Xingchen looked down at the tattered iron beneath his feet: "Trying to get money out of a pirate's pocket is even harder than killing them."

Xia Xingchen had hit the nail on the head with a single sentence.

The three left the landing pad, and just as they entered the city, they smelled the foul, turbid air.

The city's oxygen was entirely generated and circulated by a massive oxygen machine.

It could be said that this city was no different from an Imperial Hive City.

As long as one had money, one could enjoy everything at the very top; those without money at the bottom could only do dangerous work in the Lower Hive, patching up the city's hull or clearing out monsters in the dark corners of the city, effectively trading their lives for money.

This city had no Middle Hive, only the Lower Hive and the Upper Hive, making the wealth gap exceptionally stark.

Xia Xingchen led the two toward the Upper Hive, but to get to the Upper Hive, they first had to pass through the Lower Hive area below.

Just then, a thin, weak little slave girl hurried forward and reached out her hand.

Xia Xingchen looked at the small, filthy girl before him.

She was trembling all over, her face and body covered in scars of varying depths, clearly left by beatings.

It was clear that many of the guests who came here didn't treat her like a human being at all.

The girl looked up at Xia Xingchen, meeting his eyes.

This poor girl had seen all kinds of people and could tell at a glance that Xia Xingchen was absolutely a superior, his gaze carrying the pressure of someone who controlled everything.

She hurriedly and tremblingly tried to pull back her begging hand, fearing that her dirty hand would offend this lord, and even more afraid that if he were unhappy, he might casually lash out at her with a whip.

Just as the little girl was about to pull her hand back, Xia Xingchen grabbed it.

The girl panicked at the sight and tried desperately to pull her hand back, and Xia Xingchen immediately let go.

The little girl hurriedly turned to leave, but after walking a few steps, she looked back at Xia Xingchen, her eyes full of gratitude and timidity.

She clutched tightly onto the thing in her hand, lowered her head, and walked forward quickly.

Only after watching the girl walk away safely did Xia Xingchen withdraw his gaze.

The moment he had held the girl's hand, Xia Xingchen had quietly slipped an Imperial coin into her palm.

Xia Xingchen didn't know how much this Imperial coin could help the girl, but it was at least better than doing nothing at all.

Of course, it wasn't that Xia Xingchen didn't want to give more, but he understood the principle that "an innocent man commits no crime, but his wealth makes him a target."

The girl simply couldn't protect a large sum of money; giving her too much would only end up harming her.

The three walked to the boundary between the Upper and Lower Hives, and looking up, they saw a large number of heavily armed guards, clearly demarcating heaven from hell.

Everyone had to queue up to pay; only after paying could they go up, and only the wealthy could enter the Upper Hive.

As the three of them walked up, the pirate leader in charge of registration and collection behind the table said only one thing: "Three people, ten throne gelt, or something else of equivalent value."

Clearly, these collectors didn't expect anyone to pull out large amounts of throne gelt, so things of equivalent value would also grant passage.

Just as Cassandra was about to pay, Xia Xingchen pressed her hand, leaned into her ear, and whispered: "Use something else."

Cassandra nodded upon hearing this, took a gold ring inlaid with a ruby out of her pocket, and placed it in front of the pirate official.

The other party immediately adopted a fawning tone: "Respected guests, welcome."