amaotonovel Chapter 1413 Taking the bait, the tray is pulled out.
Chapter 1413 Taking the bait, the tray is pulled out.
The laughter was so intense that his broken metal torso trembled violently, colliding with the restraints and making a jarring clanging noise.
"They're here...they're here...they're really here..."
"Haha, they've arrived just in time... Xiao Ce... you're so naive, so adorable... hahaha..."
"Reinforcements? Hahahaha! Xiao Ce! My good 'ally'! You finally thought of that?!"
Xiao Dingshan abruptly stopped laughing, his remaining eyes burning like will-o'-the-wisps as he stared intently at Xiao Ce's face, which was filled with shock and anger. His voice rose to a shrill crescendo: "That's right! It's my reinforcements! The great Hyena Legion!"
"Orion's Seventh Raider Fleet! They're here! They finally received the signal! Hahaha!"
He was in a state of extreme excitement. All his previous forbearance, pretense, and humiliation were completely torn apart at this moment, leaving only naked malice that had been suppressed for thousands of years and the pleasure of impending revenge.
"A signal? What signal?!"
Xiao Ce roared in shock and anger, "The Star Network Mechanism is in my hands! I shut it down!"
"Idiot! You just turned off that damn guy's crappy speaker!"
Xiao Dingshan's voice was filled with extreme mockery and contempt, as if he were looking at a hopeless fool!
"The Creation Ship! The Creation Base! These are the roots of us hunters!"
He was so excited he almost struggled to his feet from the restraint platform, saying, "I thought they would need a few more years... but I never expected the Seventh Fleet to tear through the space rift and arrive so quickly!"
"Hahaha! Xiao Ce! You're finished! Your planet is finished! What guardians? What star network hubs? They're all trash in front of the Seventh Fleet's 'planetary disintegration cannon'! That damned confinement field? Hmph! Unless 'he' personally controls it, the fleet has plenty of ways to blast it to smithereens!"
Xiao Dingshan became more and more excited as he spoke, a morbid excitement gleaming in his single remaining eye, as if he could already see the planet wailing in the midst of gunfire and humanity struggling under the iron heel of the enemy.
"Xiao Ce!"
He suddenly brought that hideous metallic face close to the energy barrier, almost touching it, his voice carrying a condescending, commanding madness!
"Listen! Now! Immediately! Kneel down right now! Kneel before your great new master!"
"Kneel before me now! Beg for my forgiveness! Beg for my mercy, and in the presence of the fleet commander, to secure for you, for your people, a less painful death! Or, become the lowest of the low, a mine slave!"
He was panting heavily, his metallic chest heaving as he greedily watched every subtle change in Xiao Ce's expression, relishing the other's "despair" demeanor!
"This is your last chance! Kneel down! Kowtow! Beg like a dog! Otherwise, when the fleet arrives, I will have them wipe Mobei City... no, the entire country, completely erase it from the face of the earth! Leave not a single blade of grass!"
"And you, I'll extract your consciousness and stuff it into the lowest-grade cleaning robot, so you'll crawl in excrement for eternity! Hahahaha!"
Inside the prison cell, Xiao Dingshan's hysterical laughter and vicious curses echoed.
His resentment and twisted ambition, suppressed for thousands of years, surged forth like a flood bursting its banks, shattering all the previous false promises about "cooperation" and "a new home."
He was like a madman who had finally broken free of his chains, displaying the darkest fangs of his heart.
However, at the very center of this insane noise storm!
The shock, anger, and panic on Xiao Ce's face receded as quickly as the tide.
His rapid breathing calmed down, and he slowly withdrew his hands from the energy barrier, crossing them over his chest.
His back was ramrod straight, and the fear in his eyes had vanished without a trace, replaced by an unprecedented coldness and...all-knowing calm.
That gaze, calm as a bottomless, icy pool, clearly reflected Xiao Dingshan's metallic face, distorted by ecstasy and malice.
The echoes of their maniacal laughter still reverberated between the walls!
However, Xiao Dingshan quickly and astutely noticed Xiao Ce's sudden and untimely change.
That icy gaze, like an invisible icicle, instantly pierced through his frenzied joy. His laughter abruptly ceased, like a duck being choked.
"you..."
The ecstasy on Xiao Dingshan's face froze instantly. The excitement in his one eye was as if it had been doused with ice water, quickly replaced by surprise, confusion, and a rapidly spreading fear from the depths of his soul.
That fear was even stronger than when he faced the threat of the Star Network Hub being unsealed!
He stared intently into Xiao Ce's deep, calm eyes, his voice trembling with uncertainty for the first time: "You...your expression just now...was it an act? No...impossible! You..."
Seeing that the questioning hadn't finished, Xiao Ce turned to Xiao Dingshan and said, "What are you pretending for? Aren't I asking you? Are those your people?"
Seeing Xiao Ce's expression, Xiao Dingshan's worry lessened considerably, replaced by excitement...
"Hahahaha!"
Xiao Dingshan burst into an even more ferocious laugh!
This time, the laughter was filled with contempt and a twisted sense of superiority: "Xiao Ce! Are you playing dumb, or are you really that stupid?! Wasn't I clear enough just now? The Orion Seventh Plundering Fleet! They're mine! No, they're the masters behind our Creation Council! They've come! To reap this juicy fruit!"
His metallic chest heaved violently, the energy lines flickered red uneasily at the damaged points, and his single eye shot out a cruel yet excited light, as if he had finally found an outlet to vent his resentment of thousands of years!
"You're still asking if he's one of my people? Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! But since you want to know more clearly, considering you're about to become a prisoner or cosmic dust, I'll take pity on you and tell you the real story of this planet and that damned 'him'!"
Xiao Dingshan's voice suddenly rose, carrying a fervent fervor as if he were revealing a shocking secret:
"You think that 'he' is some kind of bullshit guardian? You think we're innocent victims who've stumbled into a trap? Bullshit! It's all bullshit! What I told you before was nothing but fragments of the truth, and carefully distorted fragments at that!"
His only remaining right eye was fixed intently on Xiao Ce, as if trying to etch every word that followed into the other's soul:
"That 'him,' the 'Stardust Remnant' you regard as your savior, when he first arrived on this planet, he was just as wretched as you! No, even worse! His wrecked ark was in ruins, crashing in this desolate land then called 'Dragon Land,' exhausted and on the verge of death! It was your arrogant and foolish founding emperor of the 'Dragon Kingdom,' who has long since vanished into the dust of history, who saved him! He dragged him from the wreckage and, using the most primitive herbs and witchcraft, actually brought him back to life! Hahaha, isn't that ironic?"
Xiao Dingshan's metallic face twisted into a malicious smile, as if the Dragon Emperor's act of kindness was the most ridiculous joke he had ever heard.
"After recovering, that 'he' quickly discovered that the 'star marrow' surging deep within the planet's ley lines was the true core of the 'psychic tide,' a crystallization of energy so pure it was maddening!"
"He knew what this thing would mean for this fragile planet if it were exposed: annihilation! So, he hypocritically chose silence, not telling his savior. Using the resources and cover provided by the Dragon Kingdom's royal family, he secretly collected a small amount of star marrow, repaired the core power of his wrecked ship, and then... he ran away! Like a coward, he abandoned his benefactor, abandoned this planet containing an astonishing treasure, and fled into deep space without looking back!"
Xiao Dingshan's tone was full of extreme sarcasm and jealousy.
"What a pity! He didn't get away cleanly enough!"
"The faint energy trail left by his ship as it broke through the galactic gravitational well, and the stellar marrow radiation fluctuations that he couldn't completely shield when he hastily repaired the engines..."
Like a firefly in the dark, it was captured by the most sensitive deep-space probe on our 'Genesis'!
Space hunters excel at tracking down the slightest clues to wealth! Following the 'breadcrumbs' he left behind, we easily pinpointed this blue, inconspicuous 'wilderness' planet on the edge of the star map!
His single eye gleamed with a greedy red light, as if he had returned to the moment thousands of years ago when he discovered the treasure:
"When we arrived, we saw that primitive yet vibrant world, and felt the vast, ocean-like energy of star marrow deep within the earth..."
We simply couldn't believe our luck! Exploration? Trade? To hell with it! This was an unclaimed treasure trove! And so, with our overwhelming technological superiority, we easily conquered the then-most powerful nation, the Dragon Kingdom, and other civilizations, enslaving all visible intelligent life on this planet!
Let them become our mining slaves, extracting star marrow from the planet! Those were truly wonderful times... the entire planet would be our mines and ranches!
Xiao Dingshan's voice trembled with excitement, immersed in the memories of the bloody conquest.
However, the good times didn't last long.
That coward who ran away—he!—has somehow gathered a so-called "army of justice" in some corner of the universe and actually returned to fight his way back!
Xiao Dingshan's tone suddenly turned extremely venomous: "A fierce interstellar war is about to break out in the outer space and atmosphere of your planet!"
The wreckage of the starship crashed to the earth like a mountain, energy beams plundering the plains and turning them into scorched earth.
That "he" and his ragtag army, like mad dogs, are trying to reclaim "their" planet? Ha, how laughable! For those lowly mining slaves?
Even more ridiculous! They just want to take back the Star Essence!
"The war lasted a long time, and both sides suffered heavy losses."
That "he" was indeed quite capable. In the end, he took advantage of our momentary carelessness and detonated a special spatial singularity bomb!
That wasn't to destroy us, but to... imprison us!
"Xiao Dingshan said with deep hatred, "He used his own serious injuries and near death as a price to activate that damned force field!"
They've locked our Creation and all our remaining combat units firmly in a cage on the outskirts of this star system! We have powerful starships and weapons, yet we're like insects trapped in amber, unable to move!
"He understands the principle that 'a common man is innocent, but possessing a treasure is a crime'!"
Xiao Dingshan said through gritted teeth, "He was seriously injured and on the verge of death. He knew he couldn't hold on for long, and he also knew that his ragtag army was not capable of holding out for long."
Therefore, he brought with him the advanced equipment: main cannons, shield generators, backup engines...
Everything that might attract even stronger covetousness was hidden in every corner of the planet, leaving only that star network hub!
A 'beacon' that continuously sends distress signals back to his home planet!
He hopes his fellow citizens will receive the signal and come to 'protect' the planet and his 'legacy'!
"And what about us?"
Xiao Dingshan let out a piercing laugh like an owl: "We're trapped too! But we, the Creation Council, are not to be trifled with! Although our spaceship cores are imprisoned, we have miraculously restored some of the functions of the deep space communication array!"
Although the power is weak and the transmission range is limited, we have been continuously sending out encrypted distress signals belonging to our Star Hunter network! This has been going on for years without interruption!
His gaze was like a poisoned dagger, piercing Xiao Ce:
"This is the real reason I asked you to shut down the Star Network Hub before! Xiao Ce!"
It's not that I'm afraid of some extraterrestrial civilization discovering us, it's that I'm afraid 'his' reinforcements will find this place first!
If we are found and rescued by our own people first, thanks to our familiarity with the planet and the stellar marrow energy reserves accumulated over thousands of years, plus the timely arrival of the fleet...
We can then completely control this place! Erasure all traces left by 'him'! Seize the Star Essence! And you…”
Xiao Dingshan declared his victory, his metal torso creaking with excitement, his single remaining eye flashing with an almost manic light:
"And now! Xiao Ce! Did you hear that? The Seventh Fleet! They received it! They've torn through space! They arrived first!"
"I won! We, the Star Hunters, won! You turned off 'his' beacon with your own hands; he's utterly defeated! This planet, this endless star marrow, and the fate of you ants... are now in our hands! Hahaha! I won!!!"
Inside the cell, only Xiao Dingshan's hysterical laughter echoed and pounded against the alloy walls, like a death knell for the end of the world. He could almost see the fleet descending, the cannons raining down, the star marrow being continuously mined and transported away, and Xiao Ce and all of humanity crawling and howling at his feet.
Xiao Ce looked at what Xiao Dingshan said; of course, not everything he said could be the truth.
But it's clear we're already very close to the truth...
Ninety percent of what these people said is probably true...