14: Not a person of today?

"Hello."

The other party sent a brief greeting.

White Shark was confused. What was this about?

He wasn't sure of the attitude on the other end of the mic, so he mimicked them and replied,

"Hello everyone."

On the other side, Xi Hai, who had just landed, nodded at the returned greeting.

Hmm, they can communicate.

After thinking for a moment, he asked,

"Please clarify your intention for destroying our engineering ship."

White Shark got a headache upon hearing this.

Thinking back to yesterday's events, wasn't it your engineering ship that fired first?

They were forced to retaliate, do you know what retaliation means?

But now the other side had an absolute advantage in firepower.

He had no choice but to come up with a diplomatic response.

Now, he could only pray that the other party was truly only here because of that mining ship, and not using it as an excuse to attack them.

Flee?

The other side had already surrounded them, and he didn't know if or how many people were injured by the shaking just now.

Fight?

His warships weren't much more advanced than Del's; at most, he had a few other models of G-2 "Wild Wolf" and a few civilian modified ships with added torpedo launchers.

Besides, he had only expanded his fleet this month. Most of the people only had the most basic 'employee' and 'employer' relationship with him. How many of them would fight to the death for him?

Wait, torpedoes?

Didn't Del and his crew have two torpedoes stored with him?

White Shark quickly pulled Baili Ying aside and instructed her,

"You take some people to move the two torpedoes from the cargo hold to the launch racks."

"Then continue to stand by."

"Prepare for the worst."

Upon hearing White Shark's arrangements, Baili Ying's pupils instantly dilated, then returned to normal in less than a second.

She immediately turned and ran out.

She didn't forget to say, feigning ease,

"Understood,"

"I'll split my luck with you; you have to survive."

"It's a deal. If you die, I'll really dance on your grave!"

After watching Baili Ying leave, White Shark sat down and began to compose a message.

----

"After your warship entered our alert zone, it repeatedly ignored our inquiries and expulsion communications,"

"and actively fired upon our personnel when they went to intercept."

"Our side was forced to retaliate."

Xi Hai looked at the message sent by the other side, which also included a video.

Inside, a moving warship suddenly exploded into fireworks, and the culprit was indeed his X8.

Then came the scene of the X8 being focused fired by more than ten enemy warships.

After watching it, Xi Hai only felt a huge 'what the f***' in his heart.

So, he was the bad guy?

Also, the enemy warships were really weak, they could be instantly destroyed by an engineering ship.

According to some popular web novels from his previous life, as the bad guy, shouldn't he refute them with 'nonsense' and then directly kill them to silence them?

As soon as this thought emerged, Xi Hai was startled by himself.

After all, in his previous life, he was a well-educated person. Even if he couldn't reach the realm of a gentleman, he would never be such a villain!

Let's first offer compensation.

Let's see their reaction.

If the other party, seeing him as potentially good, tries to extort a sum,

not only refusing to acknowledge, but also pushing their luck... then he could also let them know what it means to hold the moral high ground.

Those who speak falsely and argue, act wrongly and deceitfully, and repay kindness with enmity, will not escape the punishment of a gentleman.

He would send them on their way then.

So—

"We apologize. Due to our oversight, our unmanned mining vessel mistakenly entered your controlled area, leading to a firefight."

"We will compensate for the losses caused by this action."

"Please disarm and open the Starport to guide some of our warships into port."

Outpost, Central Control Room.

White Shark looked at the message before him, which made him question life itself.

To say the other side was unreasonable, they proactively offered compensation.

But to say they had no ulterior motives, he believed that even less.

The words "disarm and open the Starport" were practically hitting him in the face with their calculations.

He bit the bullet and tried to reply,

"The misunderstanding has been resolved. Our side will bear our own losses. If there are no other important matters, your side may leave on your own."

The other side repeated the content above as if they hadn't seen it.

Alright, he felt that the other side had seen it.

Because he saw several dark green warships already adjusting their positions.

This is bad. White Shark felt his super brain warning him that if he didn't agree to the other side soon, they would use their super power on him.

Alright, it was confirmed now, this suddenly appearing fleet had ill intentions.

He dared not gamble whether the building beneath his feet would remain so durable.

To fight or to surrender?

White Shark gave a bitter smile. Was there any point in thinking about this again now?

The courage he had just managed to gather had almost been worn away by the other side's appeasement policy.

Moreover, he wasn't the only one in this small outpost.

After swiping a few times on the control panel, he replied,

"Received."

"Our weapon systems have been shut down."

"Now, I will guide you into port."

Then, he opened his personal terminal, Baili Ying's contact interface.

After thinking for a moment, he sent a message:

"Stay in your room, preferably don't open the door for anyone, just pretend you don't exist."

As soon as he sent it, White Shark adjusted his personal terminal to do not disturb mode.

Thirty minutes later—

White Shark, who had completed the guidance mission, rushed to the Starport's entrance hall.

His adjutant, Gunt, had already been in contact with the other side for a short while.

Upon entering the hall, the first thing that caught his eye were the dark green powered armor suits, Marine Corps members spread throughout the hall on alert.

Seeing White Shark arrive, Gunt quickly jogged over and reported in a low voice,

"The one standing at the very front is Mr. Speer, he is in charge of security here."

"Their Commander is on the warship that just docked."

"They should be on the docking gangway now."

After listening to Gunt's report, White Shark nodded and walked quickly towards the gangway.

—

"This is it."

Xi Hai walked onto the gangway, tossing a disk-like object in his hand.

This was the connector given by night lamp. As long as it was inserted into the central control computer, the collection of this outpost would be complete.

"Hello, sir, I am the... person in charge here. My name is White Shark."

As soon as he stepped off the gangway, a person beside him bowed to Xi Hai, almost startling him.

Coming back to his senses, Xi Hai looked at the person and quietly asked night lamp in his mind,

"night lamp, analyze his micro-expressions."

"Primary emotions are fear, sincerity, worry."

Everything happened within a second. Xi Hai quickly reached out and held his shoulder, saying,

"Mr. White Shark, you don't have to be so formal."

"We express our deepest apologies for the previous misunderstanding."

"Our purpose in coming to this outpost is mainly because it is suspected to be a product of the fourth era."

"We are here for archaeological research."

Archaeology?

This word stirred up a storm in White Shark's heart:

As far as he knew, in this era, besides the United University located in the core star systems of the Order Alliance,

which other organization would engage in archaeology!

Wasn't this the favorite pastime of the Voyager Federation from the previous era?

Could it be... combining that with the suddenly appearing warships, a terrifying thought appeared in White Shark's mind: Could they... not be people from this era?