Evolution - Chapter 61
Chapter 61
Ji Changqing didn’t ask why He Qingzhi was less affected.
In the game instance where she was the princess of the Zhenbei Royal Residence, she had learned the lengths to which those in power would go to build their own influence.
After all, they weren’t the ones who had to endure the suffering.
She simply lay collapsed on the ground, slowly regulating her breathing to ease the exhaustion from the past two days of frantic running.
He Qingping and the others continued to methodically brief her, also sharing some of their thoughts and suggestions.
After lying there for a while, she sat up and cut He Qingping off. “Alright, I have a general idea now. Let me catch my breath first. Could you please interrogate the prisoner I just brought back and dig up some information? Send a message to the team handling the captives. Tell them to interrogate the space pirates separately, and don’t be too gentle with them!”
“Shouldn’t we be rushing to save them? What are we doing just sitting here?” He Qingzhi was getting anxious. Anyone who had witnessed such a scene and bore the heavy responsibility of calling for help would find every passing second an agony.
Every second that passed meant more people were losing their dignity or their lives in this disaster.
Ji Changqing was silent for a long moment before replying wearily, “If we go now, we’ll be walking right into their trap.”
Rushing in to save them with nothing but passion, without the ability or confidence to succeed, was just offering them their heads on a platter.
Besides, she had a reasonable suspicion that He Qingzhi’s successful escape all the way here was because he was bait, deliberately released by the enemy.
How else could they get these hot-blooded youths to throw their lives away, one after another, if not by showing them the horrific fate of their captured comrades?
Just think, if she and Gu Changge hadn’t had the help of their comrades lying in wait along that long ambush line, they would have been dead long ago.
After running nonstop for two straight days, she was truly exhausted.
She found a quiet corner to be alone, and began to cultivate her body tempering technique while contemplating their next move.
The assessment was already in its fifth day. If someone’s request for rescue went unanswered for more than twenty-four hours, the instructors would notice something was wrong in a few more hours at most.
But for the Imperials to appear so brazenly at a Fourth Military assessment base, they must be relying on something. What could it be?
The planet’s garrison probably held no terror for them, and the only force they might fear would be the Alliance’s expeditionary army. The nearest expeditionary base would likely take more than a day to arrive, even with continuous warp jumps.
Ji Changqing sighed softly.
And that was assuming the instructors noticed something was wrong and could contact the military. A more terrifying thought was, what if the instructors had also been captured…
She shivered, not daring to think any further.
Two hours later, having cultivated and taken a short nap, Ji Changqing reappeared before the group, looking refreshed and energetic.
Gu Changge, He Qingping, and the others all stood up when they saw her.
“Have you all rested? We can’t stay scattered anymore. Gather everyone. Leave twelve hundred people here, split into four teams. Have them hide well in positions where they can support each other. A large number of cadets should be arriving here today and tomorrow. Direct them all to where we’re keeping the captives.” Ji Changqing rolled her neck. “As for the rest, we’ll talk on the way. Let’s head to the captive holding area first.”
The group quickly had lunch and dispatched twelve hundred people to inform the other, unaware cadets about the situation and gather as many of them as possible.
Someone was, of course, responsible for keeping the bound pirate leader in check as they walked.
Ji Changqing organized her thoughts. “The Imperials being here is likely a coincidence.”
She watched the pirate leader’s expression out of the corner of her eye.
“A group of space pirates happened to steal something crucial from them, which is why they tracked them all the way to this planet. What they didn’t expect was that the pirates knew about a particularly secret, undiscovered, abandoned base here.”
Seeing the pirate leader struggling to maintain his composure, Ji Changqing knew her guess was solid.
He Qingping, Gu Changge, and the others let out a subtle sigh of relief.
But then, Ji Changqing’s tone shifted. “They’ve been tracking and searching for the pirates, wanting to get their item back. And now, we have it.”
Gu Changge said thoughtfully, “So we can negotiate?”
He Qingping, already catching on, added, “We’re missing something.”
Gu Changge and the others came to their senses, their expressions showing they understood.
The pirate leader looked completely baffled and cursed them under his breath.
I hate these pretentious bastards. Can’t they just speak plainly? Leaving things half-said… It’s not like they’re in a special profession where being half-hidden is more alluring. This act of yours won’t win you any fans!
Ji Changqing walked over to the pirate leader, who was being dragged along and stumbling, and nudged him lightly in the side with her elbow. “Hey, brother. How about we discuss something?”
The pirate leader glared at her. Who the fuck is your brother! We’re enemies, enemies!
“Don’t be like that, brother,” Ji Changqing said with a cheeky grin. “Is there anything you wish to accomplish? Tell me. Maybe we can make a deal.”
The pirate leader’s heart stirred, but he just spat fiercely and remained silent.
He wanted to see what else Ji Changqing had to say.
But Ji Changqing didn’t play along. Her smile vanished as she said coolly, “I just want you to contact your boss. Or rather, the one your boss is wary of. Of course, it’s fine if you refuse. After all, we have about three hundred of your brothers in our hands. I’m sure one of them will be willing. You should think it over. It’s no surprise when worthless people meet a bad end.”
The pirate leader was so angry he could have coughed up blood.
Who does that? Her mood changes faster than flipping a page. One minute it’s temptation, the next it’s a threat, all in the blink of an eye.
This is even more infuriating than being pursued by someone who suddenly gives up halfway!
Ji Changqing said no more, instead turning over the items they had confiscated from him. After a moment, she picked up a heavily worn pocket watch, opened it, and looked inside. It contained a small, dynamic photo of a little girl whose smile slowly blossomed.
Ji Changqing sighed and pushed the watch back into the hands of the pirate leader, whose body was stiff and expression had crumbled. “Here, take it.”
The pirate leader opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately closed it again.
But when Ji Changqing came over with his comm device and asked him to unlock it, he silently complied.
Seeing his silence, Ji Changqing remarked without much sincerity, “Judging by your deep-seated hatred for the Empire, I’m guessing most of your crew are from there, right?”
Silence, silence, and more silence.
She didn’t mind. “After all, if it weren’t for such a profound hatred, even space pirates wouldn’t so easily provoke a power like that.”
Profit-driven space pirates, no matter how greedy, are still careful when choosing their targets. Knowing they can’t bite off more than they can chew, or that the losses would outweigh the gains, almost no one would make such a choice without being driven by a burning hatred.
The current outcome made it clear that this operation had been forced through.
And it couldn’t have been at the behest of their boss. Seeing how he took every precaution against that other person, stubbornly removing the storage sphere and placing it in such a location when it would have been safest on the warship.
The men following him were a disorganized mess. If all his subordinates were like that, this pirate crew would have ceased to exist long ago.
Hmm, perhaps there are other schemes at play.
“Let me guess. The one with the deep-seated hatred for this particular group from the Empire is the one your boss is wary of.” She gave a playful smile. “You chose your boss, huh. Your judgment is really poor.”
“He saved my life back then,” the pirate leader replied in a low voice.
“So you sold your life to him?” Ji Changqing opened the pirate’s comm device and slowly scrolled through his contacts. “Then do you remember why you needed him to save your life back then?”
The pirate leader froze, his eyes staring blankly. His head gradually drooped, and he didn’t say a word for a long time.
“How did that person come to hate the Empire so deeply?”
The pirate leader thought for a moment. It wasn’t exactly a secret; everyone in the crew knew.
“He’s a Beta. He was serving in the Imperial military at the time, worked incredibly hard, and earned countless merits. He was even more outstanding than the Alphas of his cohort, which attracted their jealousy and resentment. These people couldn’t find any flaws in him, so they found out he had an Omega younger brother. Those scumbags… they tricked his brother into attending a noble’s hunting party, where they induced his heat to start early. He was then fully marked by a noble.”
His face twisted into an expression that was half-smile, half-sob. “According to Imperial law, it’s a crime for an Omega to go into heat in a public place. If that results in them being fully marked, the person who marks them is considered to have performed a meritorious deed.”
“His brother had been determined to escape the fate of an Omega, who was expected to be dependent on others. All his efforts were destroyed in that one incident. He couldn’t accept this reality, and once he was lucid again, he killed himself.”
Ji Changqing was astounded. For the Empire to have such a bizarre law and still exist—without being crushed by the Alliance—was quite impressive in its own way.
The pirate leader seemed to read her thoughts and sneered rudely, “The Alliance is no saint either. It deliberately allows the Empire to exist to make itself look like a paradise in comparison.”
“The Alliance of today was built on the lives and blood of countless people,” He Qingzhi said coldly. “You served the Empire plenty when you were there. When it wronged you, you turn around and curse the Alliance for not saving you? Where’s your shame?”
That was a harsh retort.
The pirate leader’s face flushed purple, but he couldn’t find a word to say back.
It was true. The ones who had harmed them were from the Empire—or more accurately, certain people from the Empire. No matter how you spun it, the Alliance had done them no wrong.
Right now, Ji Changqing was only focused on gathering intelligence and had no time to listen to them debate the issue for hundreds of rounds. “So he’s a traitor to the Empire now. He must have done something incredible, right?”
The pirate leader seized the chance to escape the awkward topic, speaking with a hint of vicarious pride. “He was on a mission at the time. When he returned, he seemed to calmly accept his brother’s suicide. Then he spent over a year identifying everyone involved in his brother’s death and killed them, one by one.”
He looked regretful. “Unfortunately, he was exposed before he could finish off all those scumbags and had to flee the Empire in a hurry. Our boss owed him a favor, so he lent a hand and got him out. He’s been with the crew ever since.”
“And the noble this time?” Ji Changqing asked tentatively.
The pirate leader snorted. “Why do you think everyone was willing to risk their lives to pull this job with him? It’s because they respect him as a real man! He said he’d kill everyone who caused his brother’s death, and he meant it. The unlucky bastard we just robbed was the one who fully marked his brother all those years ago.”
As he spoke, he grew agitated and subconsciously tried to slap his thigh, but his hand wouldn’t lift—his arms were still tied securely—so he awkwardly lowered it.
Ji Changqing glanced at He Qingping.
As expected, He Qingping did not disappoint her. He smoothly recited the man’s background: “Adonis, former Major in the Imperial Army. His younger brother was Jeff, a firearms genius. Because of Adonis’s outstanding military record, he vouched for Jeff, who was exceptionally admitted to a related major at the Imperial University. Thirty-seven years ago, Jeff was framed, his heat was induced early, and he committed suicide after being fully marked. Thirty-five years ago, Adonis murdered several comrades-in-arms and nobles, then defected.”
He looked at the stunned pirate leader with an innocent expression and smiled faintly. “The incident sparked massive protests in the Empire. Countless Betas and Omegas took to the streets to demonstrate. The immense pressure eventually led the Empire to amend that law.”
Ji Changqing was filled with admiration.
“A man with such loyalty, principles, and ability, and you don’t side with him? Are you blind?”
The pirate leader wanted to retort, feeling indignant.
But then he heard her say cheerfully, “I’d really like to get to know such an outstanding individual. How about you help me make a call to him?”
Even if interstellar communications were blocked, she refused to believe these space pirates didn’t have some way to communicate on-planet.
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