773: Chapter 773 will be added tomorrow.

"Don't even talk about resisting! If we actually exchange fire, it won't take three seconds. These starships of ours will be blown to smithereens in minutes, turning into floating cosmic dust and trash. We won't have the slightest chance of survival!"

Everyone stared intently at the Pirate Boss, waiting for him to make a decision.

Listening to the panicked cries of his subordinates and watching the Guard Division fleet closing in outside the porthole, the Pirate Boss fell into a complete frenzy. He clutched his hair tightly with both hands and shrieked hysterically at the subordinates beside him, his voice hoarse and violent.

"Think of something! You blockheads, get your brains moving! What should we do now? How on earth can we break through the encirclement!"

His eyes were bloodshot, veins bulged on his forehead, and his whole body trembled incessantly from fear and anxiety. In this desperate moment of no return, the image of the over one thousand compressed planets they had plundered flashed through his mind. His eyes suddenly lit up as he instantly grabbed onto his last life-saving straw.

He immediately suppressed the panic in his heart and grabbed a nearby subordinate. With a frenzied expression and the ruthless determination of someone burning their bridges, he shouted urgently.

"Don't panic! Everyone calm down! We still have a trump card, we still have a way out!"

"We still hold those thousand-plus planets worth trillions. I don't believe the Guard Division would dare to fire on us directly! If they act and accidentally damage a Star Controller, no one will survive!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the panicked subordinates were stunned. They all looked toward the specialized storage bay containing the sealed planets, finally remembering this crucial point.

These planets, shrunk to the size of soccer balls, were not in a natural state. They relied entirely on the Star Controller's super-strong spatial compression technology to compress massive, complete celestial bodies into a mini-form convenient for transport. The controller was the core hub maintaining it all.

Once subjected to external physical attacks or powerful impacts that caused the Star Controller to fail, the compressed planets would break free from their restraints in an instant, immediately restoring their original celestial volume.

If it were just one planet recovering, they might be able to handle it. But they had over a thousand complete planets. If they were released and restored to their original size simultaneously within this narrow Star Domain, the entire surrounding space would endure immeasurable celestial pressure.

The disordered squeezing and clipping collisions of over a thousand planets, combined with powerful celestial impact forces, would directly tear through the spatial wall, triggering a large-scale, high-intensity spatial collapse that would ultimately swallow everything and generate a cosmic black hole of unprecedented scale.

At that time, not only would this group of pirates be torn to pieces, but even the surrounding Guard Division fleet and the entire nearby Star Domain would be completely swallowed by the black hole, turning into cosmic nothingness. No life could escape such a catastrophic disaster.

Realizing this, a wild smile reappeared on the Pirate Boss's previously desperate face. He finally had the confidence to confront the Guard Division.

"Immediately reply to the Guard Division. As long as they grant us passage and let us safely leave this Star Domain, we will return all the planets intact once we reach a safe zone—not a single one missing!"

"Understood, Boss!"

The subordinate did not dare to hesitate and quickly connected to the public communication channel, transmitting the pirate's conditions exactly as they were stated.

Before long, inside the Command Room of the Guard Division's capital ship, the Detachment Commander finished reading the blackmail message. His face was cold as he gave a cold snort, his tone full of disdain and contempt.

"Hmph, a group of desperate pirates actually dares to negotiate terms with our Imperial Guard Division. They truly don't know the heights of the heavens."

The adjutant beside him looked grave and quickly stepped forward to remind him in a low voice.

"Commander, nothing must happen to this batch of planets. These are important celestial materials specially allocated by the Administrative Center. If the celestial bodies go out of control, space collapses, or materials are lost, even if we annihilate this pirate crew, everyone will be held accountable when the blame is assigned later."

The adjutant's words instantly plunged the originally firm Detachment Commander into deep hesitation and conflict.

He understood the pros and cons very clearly.

If the pirates could actually keep their promise and obediently return all the planets after being allowed to leave, then letting them escape for now was undoubtedly the safest choice.

After all, pirates have no roots; there would be plenty of opportunities to surround and capture them in the future. There was no need to force a battle at the massive risk of destroying the entire Star Domain.

But the problem was that the opponents were faithless, ruthless, and cunning Interstellar Pirates.

A pirate's promise was essentially worthless and had no credibility whatsoever.

Once the spatial blockade was actually opened to let them go, this group would definitely flee with the thousand-plus precious planets, escaping the Empire's borders directly into the chaotic, disorderly, and complex unknown outer Star Domains.

At that time, even if they pursued them across borders—even if they caught up—the hidden danger of celestial body instability would remain unresolved. Furthermore, if a series of chain disasters and political accountability were triggered in an unknown Star Domain, the consequences would be even more unthinkable, and no one could bear them.

The Detachment Commander pondered for a moment before giving a heavy order to his adjutant.

"Reply to them: Hand over all planets to us intact immediately, and we can keep our promise to lift the blockade and allow them to safely evacuate this Star Domain."

The message was quickly transmitted to the pirate command ship.

Upon hearing the contents, the Pirate Boss immediately showed a face full of mockery. He spat hard on the ground and cursed with a cold laugh.

"Bah! If we hand over the planets, will we still have the right to live? Do they really think I'm a three-year-old child who's easily fooled!"

His eyes were sinister as he immediately instructed his subordinates.

"Reply to them: They must lift the spatial blockade first and let us leave at full speed. This is non-negotiable! If they don't let us through first, there's nothing to talk about!"

The two sides fell into a complete stalemate.

The Guard Division did not trust the pirates, fearing they would take the chance to escape and flee with the planets.

The pirates likewise did not trust the Imperial military, fearing they would be ruthlessly wiped out as soon as they handed over the celestial bodies.

Both sides understood the situation tacitly; neither was willing to take the first step back.

And the calculations in both their hearts were actually identical.

The Guard Division had secretly made up its mind: as soon as the planets were safely recovered and the danger was completely averted, they would immediately block all escape routes and annihilate this group of audacious pirates, leaving no future troubles.

The pirates had also planned long ago: as soon as the fleet successfully escaped and completed a spatial jump out of the Imperial Star Domain, they would turn around and live a life beyond the law with their trillions in wealth, never returning a single planet.

A standoff where both sides harbored ulterior motives and plotted against each other continued quietly in the cold void of space.

...

Meanwhile, inside the Speaker's office on the top floor of the Lipugong Supercluster's supreme Administrative Center.

The heavy office door was tightly shut, and the atmosphere inside was suppressed to the extreme. Cold light reflected off a solemn and tense face.

Speaker Pudel gripped the emergency battle report that had just arrived. His face was as dark as deep space before a storm, and his body radiated a suffocating pressure.

He strode forward, went straight to the Minister of Energy, and without any regard for decorum, pointed at the other man's nose and roared sharply, his voice echoing throughout the office.

"Has your brain been completely hollowed out by interstellar worms?! For celestial materials of such a high secret level and astronomical price—materials related to the future resource layout of the entire Supercluster—you actually only arranged for a common transport formation to escort them? You didn't even assign a regular elite security escort fleet? Do you really think the Administrative Center's trillion star coins in strategic assets are just trash that blew in with the wind to be squandered at will!"

The sharp and angry reprimand made the Minister of Energy tremble. His face turned pale, and he didn't dare to look up, his face full of terror and endless regret as he hurriedly bowed in apology.

"I am sorry, Speaker, it was entirely my dereliction of duty! Recently, the cross-Star Domain transport routes have been busy, and ship scheduling has been exceptionally tight. I took a gamble, thinking the incident's airspace was always within Imperial jurisdiction and that with an official fleet, pirates wouldn't dare to act so recklessly. That's why I took the liberty of simplifying the transport specifications..."

His heart was full of remorse. According to the Empire's explicit interstellar law, trillion-level rare celestial materials like these should have been transported under the highest level of top-secret security standards.

They should have been accompanied by an elite main-force frigate formation for close escort, with layers of spatial alerts, multiple contingency plans, and strict prevention of any accidents.

But it was his own laziness and blind arrogance, ignoring the strict regulations and rashly arranging for a common transport fleet to travel alone, that had led to this catastrophic disaster.

Pudel's chest heaved violently, his anger surging to his head as he growled sharply.

"You fool! What other materials in the entire Administrative Center could be more important than this batch of over a thousand planets? I'm warning you for the last time: you'd better pray the Guard Division can successfully recover all the celestial bodies, and that every single one is intact with all Star Controllers functioning normally! If even the slightest accident occurs, your position as Minister of Energy is over, and you'll be stripped of your uniform!"

The more he spoke, the more furious he became. He stared fixedly at the cowering Minister, his anger so intense he could barely restrain himself from throwing a punch.

The total value of this batch of materials reached trillions of star coins. If they were lost or destroyed, the resulting loss would be enough to shake the financial Foundation of the entire Supercluster.

Not only would the Minister of Energy be unable to escape severe punishment, but even he, the Speaker, would have to bear significant joint leadership responsibility, face accountability from the high-level authorities, and see his status plummet.

Furthermore, the intelligence sent back from the front clearly noted that among this batch of planets, there was also a habitable planet that had naturally evolved and birthed a complete native human civilization.

Although the human group on that planet had not yet been registered and were not formal citizens of the Empire—meaning they could not yet enjoy the protection of imperial law—if they were successfully recovered, incorporated into the Imperial map, and the group brought into the fold, it would be a supreme and dazzling political achievement. It would be enough to solidify his position and promote him to a higher level of power.

Now that the civilized planet had fallen into the hands of pirates, if the celestial body went out of control and the civilization was destroyed, not only would the immense political achievement within his grasp vanish into thin air, but he would also have to bear a massive burden of guilt, face severe public reprimand, and his future political career would be completely terminated.

At the thought of this, the anxiety and anger in Pudel's heart became increasingly difficult to contain.