200: The Price of Greed

"Commander! Look straight ahead!"

The lookout's voice was filled with surprise and greed. "What is that? A Scavenger frigate! It... it seems to have no power! It's just drifting there!"

Following the direction he pointed, a pitch-black warship was floating quietly among the meteorite fragments. Its engine area was deathly silent, and emergency lights flickered erratically, like a dying cub abandoned by the herd.

"Xing Zhan's ship?" Reno narrowed his single eye, the smile at the corner of his mouth growing colder. "He's even abandoning his own cubs now?"

"Iron Head! Take your men up there and check it out!" Reno ordered over the comms. "I want them alive, but dead works too! If there's no one inside, bring the ship back to me!"

"Copy that, Commander!" a blunt but excited voice responded.

A moment later, Iron Head's voice came back through the encrypted channel, his breathing rapid and filled with unbelievable ecstasy.

"Commander! We're rich! We've hit the jackpot!"

"Get to the point!"

"There's not a single soul on the ship! But the cargo bay is full! From start to finish! It's all military supplies! Dammit, even spare high-purity energy packs are piled up here, looking brand new! They ran faster than rabbits!"

"Hahahaha!" Reno's laughter echoed on the bridge. "Did you hear that? This is Xing Zhan cutting off his own arm to survive! He thinks dropping a ship will make him run faster? Foolish!"

"Pass on my orders!" he commanded his adjutant. "Each ship deploy Tractor Beams. Take this great gift Xing Zhan has given us and tow it! Don't leave them a single screw!"

"Commander!" The Chief Engineer, hearing this, ran anxiously from the engine room to the bridge. "Our energy reserves are already steadily dropping due to environmental resistance. Diverting energy now to tow a frigate will seriously affect our range and maneuverability! This..."

"Execute the order!" Reno's gaze swept over him, cold as a meteorite in a graveyard. "Or would you rather I discard you here like trash too?"

The Chief Engineer fell silent instantly, cold sweat dripping from his forehead as he retreated wordlessly.

Not far from the fleet, behind an inconspicuous asteroid, inside a smuggling ship disguised as a meteorite, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

"B-Boss, look at the light screen!" a young crew member named "Little Monkey" pointed at the detector, his voice shaking like a leaf.

The captain, a seasoned veteran who had struck out on his own from Old Knife's crew, was observing the distant scene through an optical periscope. When he saw the ships of the Vast Sea Fleet extending Tractor Beams like a flock of greedy vultures, scrambling for the "abandoned" frigate, his pupils suddenly contracted.

"What are they doing? Towing a Scavenger wreck? Are they crazy?!"

"N-No, something's wrong, Boss." Little Monkey's voice carried a sob. "Look at the surrounding meteorites. Their gravitational trajectories... it's like... like they're closing! It's a pocket! A trap set by that madman Xing Zhan! We have to send a warning!"

"Send a warning?" The captain shoved him aside, his eyes filled with terror. "Do you want that Butcher Xing Zhan to bury us along with them?! Do you think there's no tracking beacon on that wreck? Every ship in the Vast Sea Fleet is now glowing like a sun on Xing Zhan's screen!"

He slammed down a button.

"Shut down all active detection systems! We're slipping out through that gravitational rift! Today, we saw nothing and heard nothing! Understand?!"

"B-But..."

"No buts! If you want to live, shut up!"

Inside the Vast Sea Fleet's communication channel, there was a chaotic mess of "sweet troubles."

"Boom!"

After a dull thud, an embarrassed outburst of cursing followed.

"Dammit! This is Ship No. 3! I can't control it! Someone help me out!"

Reno frowned and barked, "Ship No. 3! What the hell are you doing?!"

Ship No. 3's captain's aggrieved voice came through: "Sorry, Commander! That hunk of metal we're towing is too heavy. We couldn't clear the turn just now, centrifugal force got out of control, and we slammed right into a rock! The shields are almost gone!"

"Useless!" Reno scolded mercilessly. "Can't even fly a ship! Your skills are too crude! Find your own way to keep up!"

He completely failed to realize that this wasn't a technical issue, but the inevitable consequence of his own greedy decision.

Just as the fleet's speed was dragged to its limit by the heavy "spoils," the Radar Officer's cry rang out again.

"Target reappeared! The slaughterer! They... they've entered the Ion Cloud ahead!"

Reno jerked his head up to see a vast nebula ahead, flickering with blue electric arcs like the maw of a giant beast. The slaughterer's faint signal was disappearing into the depths of that "mouth."

His face contorted instantly, the flames of revenge once again overpowering greed.

"Pass on my orders!" he roared. "Ditch the heavy equipment we're towing! Take only energy and ammunition! Proceed light!"

"What?!" A wave of shocked cries came over the channel. "Commander, those are all..."

"I won't say it a second time!" Reno's voice was hoarse and crazed. "All ships, charge into that cloud at full speed! Today, he definitely won't escape!!"

The order was given, and the wrecks and supplies that had been treated like treasures just moments ago were now disgustedly cut loose from the Tractor Beams, left to tumble in the darkness.

The fleet formation, which had been forcibly strained, was completely stretched and torn apart in this sudden acceleration.

"Dammit, all that work for nothing."

In the cockpit of an assault ship, a young helmsman looked at the abandoned spoils and cursed under his breath.

Dissatisfaction, like the static electricity within the Ion Cloud, began to spread silently among the lower ranks of the fleet.