Starting from the Planetary Governor

Chapter 1279: Chapter 725: Sleepless and Uneasy

The Infinite Corps not sensing that the Dark Spirit Race was targeting them is somewhat inaccurate.

They simply didn’t have concrete evidence, just some suspicion, and weren’t too sure.

After all, isn’t plundering a common thing done by the Dark Spirit Race?

Those attacked were not solely the merchants of the Infinite Starfield; there were other merchant ships as well, and the attacks didn’t always happen within the Infinite Starfield or even its surroundings. Some were hit right as they set sail.

Is this definitely targeting them?

Of course, after a long period of time, they eventually realized.

No matter what the Dark Spirit Race’s goal was, at least the end result showed that the Infinite Starfield suffered greatly and their development was heavily affected.

Although not completely cut off from the outside world, external trade required enormous effort and a significant deployment of forces for escort missions.

The efficiency of trade and transport depends on safety.

With circumstances this unstable and the risk of plundering, it means that many profit-driven, loss-intolerant, risk-averse convoys would abandon the idea of doing business with the Infinite Corps.

And those who do succeed in doing business must invest more in security measures.

More escort fleets were necessary, and sometimes the Infinite Corps had to frequently intervene personally for protection.

This undoubtedly reduced efficiency and increased trade costs.

The development of the Infinite Starfield suffered certain setbacks.

Of course, relying solely on this strategy to inflict substantial damage on the Infinite Starfield would certainly not be sufficient.

But no worries, this is just one of many strategies.

Zelnos arriving at the previously unexplored Spiderweb Domain was also because the Alliance started doing business with the Infinite Starfield there.

It seemed large in scale, and stable connections would be established in the future.

How could that be allowed?

Thus, the disruptive warfare of the Dark Spirit Race naturally stretched to the Spiderweb Domain.

Yet, what was unexpected was the Alliance’s reaction speed… it was a bit too fast.

Zelnos was an experienced plundering captain; he had robbed many human forces in his life, including some so-called ’great powers.’

Whenever they succeeded, they usually had ample time to quickly retreat thanks to the high convenience and secrecy provided by the Veil Spirit Gate.

Then, thanks to the highly camouflaging infiltrators, they continued to gather intelligence in human society. Once the storm blew over, they’d strike again.

However, what he didn’t expect was that the infiltrators were captured so quickly!

Upon confirming the loss of contact with the infiltrators, he quickly made a judgment.

Logically, his kind should be tight-lipped and not afraid of severe torture.

Given humans’ limited methods compared to the combinations of drugs, surgeries, and the dual torment of body and soul his kind uses, it was a mere drizzle. Indeed, unless taken to a certain extent, they would even take these pains as pleasure.

They weren’t afraid of death; if they died, they would simply return to Comoros and be resurrected by the family-supported Blood灵人, albeit weakened for a while.

In this case, being caught wasn’t a big fear, right?

Zelnos’s subordinates thought the same, intending to continue the routine of transporting supplies and captives into the Veil Spirit Gate, to the privateer port in Comoros, or even hold ceremonies to temporarily expand the Veil Spirit Gate to fit a few starships.

However, Zelnos ordered a halt to the operation.

He instructed everyone to expedite the process, bringing as many supplies as possible, then conduct a massive execution of captives to extract soul energy to maintain an enlarged Veil Spirit Gate, allowing privateer ships to pass quickly.

The Veil Spirit Gate’s normal state was a primary gate with a diameter of several tens of meters, not connecting Comoros and the Real Universe when inactive.

A regular activation connects the two sides, allowing people and goods to move freely.

Temporarily inputting significant amounts of pained souls could temporarily expand the gate, allowing starships to pass— but one had to be quick, as soul depletion would cause the gate to shrink gradually until it was no longer passable.

The Dark Spirit Race’s ships were, in design, made to be slender to facilitate passing through the limited-size Veil Spirit Gate; they even had some technologies that could slightly expand the gate when passing through it. Moreover, the shape could morph following the starship’s exterior, not necessarily pure circular, greatly enhancing their ships’ passability.

Human vessels, of course, had no special design for this aspect. Therefore, opening the gate to fit a human ship of the same specifications into the gate as spoils took more time, requiring the meticulous slaughter of individuals to create enough fear and pain as fuel.

But there was no time for that now.

Under normal circumstances, infiltrators wouldn’t reveal anything, but given how fast they were captured, it seemed these humans had mastered some special method to quickly identify and locate infiltrators.

If they had such technology, could they have some way to quickly extract information from infiltrators?

He felt it was very possible.

You can’t gamble on such matters.

He pressured his subordinates to abandon everything and swiftly kill, expand the Veil Spirit Gate rapidly enough to allow them to board ships and escape.

But even so, the Alliance Fleet arrived before they completed their work.

Zelnos’s expression remained unchanged. He informed all subordinates that they were progressing well, the faster massacre procedure was underway, and the gate would soon open wide enough, ordering part of the team to harass and hold off the human ships.

Under pressure, several privateer ships were ordered out, then he turned and fled with the rest, sealing the Veil Spirit Gate behind him.

The materials left outside, the men and ships not returned were abandoned. It also severed the possibility of humans pursuing them through the Veil Spirit Gate.

Such decisiveness.

…

After achieving victory, Du Shiliang was still somewhat disgruntled.

The ships plundered were recovered, but half of the goods were missing, 80% of the personnel were dead, and the survivors suffered severe mental trauma.

Most crucially, those damned Black-skinned pirates escaped!

While four privateer ships remained, they were clearly left as sacrificial pawns, not enough to fill the gap, while the main forces of the Blacks escaped right under his nose. Fresh chapters posted on Nove1Fire.net

The only remaining Veil Spirit Gate consisted of a sixty-meter-diameter arch made of silver-gray metal material.

According to the Judges, it was a beacon for the Veil Spirit Gate in the Real Universe. Once destroyed, the Dark Spirit Race couldn’t open it again— unless they slipped into the Real Universe and rebuilt it.

Upon hearing this news, Du Shiliang breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The retrieved ships, goods, and personnel were handed over to Wang Jiarong; relevant reports would be submitted to the Alliance Government, Military Affairs Department, and copied to all relevant parties.

At least this could be accounted for.

But then he began to worry: Who knows how many Veil Spirit Gates the Dark Spirit Race had established throughout the Spiderweb Domain? Or where exactly they were?

With it not thoroughly cleaned, it was hard to rest easy.