193: Chapter 193 The Information Provided by Karl

"What news?" Marquis Karl's expression changed slightly.

"The other party wants you to go over in person, otherwise they will blow up our planet." The voice of the person in charge of the external spaceship was somewhat raspy.

"What! Blow up the planet?!" Marquis Karl's face turned livid. He realized that the other party was aggressive and was ninety-nine percent likely an enemy!

"Do we have the strength to resist?" he said, somewhat unwilling to give in.

"Marquis, we can't resist. The other party has ten class-c spaceships, while we only have ten class-d spaceships. They aren't even in the same league," the external spaceship official said bitterly.

"Fine! I understand!" Karl let out a sigh.

In this situation, he couldn't muster even a hint of a desire to resist.

Next, he dialed the communication line to the Empire's core and reported the situation truthfully.

Unfortunately, distant water cannot quench a nearby thirst; the Empire's reinforcements simply wouldn't arrive in time.

"The other party has set a time limit of half an hour," the external spaceship official added.

"Mhm, understood." Marquis Karl nodded.

Next, he arranged his affairs with the utmost speed and then took a class-d spaceship to outer space.

Inside the kongming, Su Fan quietly watched the small spaceship flying toward them.

"Red Queen, send a few kunpeng no. 2 spaceships over to pick up this official from the Canglan Empire," Su Fan instructed.

"Yes! Master!"

Two kunpeng no. 2 spaceships flew out from the cargo bay of the kongming mothership, stopping only when they reached the side of the other spaceship.

"Red Queen, send them a message telling him to board our ship," Su Fan continued to instruct.

Following that, Marquis Karl boarded the kunpeng no. 2.

Su Fan did not let him board the kongming mothership because the Canglan Empire was a Level 4 Civilization. A high-ranking official with a noble title couldn't possibly have gone without being injected with level 4 gene optimization fluid.

If he were to go on a rampage inside the kongming and damage the kongming mothership, the loss would outweigh the gain.

After Karl entered a kunpeng no. 2, Su Fan had a robot take him to the captain's quarters, where the Androids of himself and the Great Elder were located.

Inside the captain's quarters of the kunpeng no. 2.

Karl entered with some trepidation and found two people who looked very similar to the people of the Canglan Empire, with only differences in skin tone and some details, sitting there quietly watching him.

"Greetings, I am Marquis Karl of the Canglan Empire. May I ask which civilization you come from?" Karl's tone was relatively polite. Since the other party wanted to communicate, there was still room for maneuver.

"Hello, Marquis Karl," Su Fan said with a smile. "You don't need to know which civilization we come from. You only need to obediently answer the questions I ask."

"If your answers satisfy me, I will let you go back alive."

"If you hide anything or provide false information..." At this point, Su Fan paused, and his tone turned cold.

"Not only will you die, but the planet behind you will be buried with you!"

Karl's face changed, but a man under another's eaves must bow his head.

He wasn't particularly afraid of death, but his wife, children, and elders were all on the planet behind him.

"My Lord, please ask. This worthless life of mine is of no value, I only ask that you spare the people of my home planet," Karl said in a low voice.

He actually didn't have much loyalty to the Canglan Empire. Even being an official was for himself and his family.

Sacrificing himself for the Canglan Empire was something he could just barely manage.

But if he were asked to have his entire family sacrifice themselves for the Empire, he simply could not comply!

"First, tell me about the military strength of the Canglan Empire," Su Fan said after a moment's thought.

Hearing this, Karl hesitated, but thinking of his wife and children, he finally sighed and said in a low voice:

"Over a hundred years ago, the Canglan Empire possessed 110,000 class-c spaceships, but since the war began, the number of the Empire's ships has been steadily decreasing."

"Now, there are only a bit more than 30,000 class-c spaceships."

"However, because the fighting on the Black Dragon Empire's side is intense, 20,000 spaceships have been sent to the Black Dragon Empire as reinforcements."

Su Fan nodded. This matched the intelligence they had gathered over the years.

"Tell me about the defensive deployment of the core region," he continued to ask.

"The core region has been built by the Empire into an iron fortress," Karl glanced at Su Fan.

"Although there are only 10,000 spaceships guarding it, all the major planets near the Imperial Star have massive weapon systems built on them."

"Never mind ten class-c spaceships—even 10,000 or 20,000 class-c spaceships couldn't hope to break through the defense network of the core region!" Karl's tone carried a hidden meaning.

Su Fan smiled. How could he not hear it? Karl was talking about them—they only had ten class-c spaceships, which was nothing to the Canglan Empire.

"Are there defensive deployments in the Second Ring and Third Ring?" Su Fan pressed.

"There are none in the Second Ring and Third Ring. This kind of comprehensive defense system is too difficult to build and extremely material-intensive."

"Moreover, the Second Ring and Third Ring are too large. The cost to achieve full coverage with a comprehensive defense system would be too high, and there aren't enough precious materials."

Karl sighed, but in his heart he thought: 'If the Third Ring had that stuff, you'd be finished long ago, instead of standing here talking shit to me.'

"What is the name of the supreme leader of your Canglan Empire?" Su Fan asked.

"We all call him Great Emperor Cangyang," Karl replied.

"How many wives and children does he have?"

"Ah?" Karl was stunned, but still answered honestly: "13,582 consorts and 62 princes."

"Over ten thousand wives and only 62 children?" Su Fan was somewhat surprised.

"Great Emperor Cangyang's lineage is thin; it is not easy for them to conceive," Karl replied.

"Where are these princes now?"

Karl hesitated for a moment. "I know this, but if I tell you, you must spare my wife and children."

"Fine! As long as your answer satisfies me, I will definitely spare them!" Su Fan said with a smile.

Next, Karl provided the specific planets and coordinates for Great Emperor Cangyang's 62 children.

For a Level 4 lifeform, remembering these things was very simple.

Among the 62 children, 50 had already been enfeoffed as kings and given territories in the Second Ring area, while 12 children still lived on the Imperial Star.

Su Fan nodded in satisfaction, then asked Karl a few more questions before letting him leave the kunpeng no. 2.

When Karl left the kunpeng no. 2 and piloted his own spaceship toward Planet Karl, Su Fan ordered to fire, directly blowing up Karl's spaceship!

The people of Planet Karl would be spared for now, but Karl himself could not be let go!

"Let's go!" Inside the kongming mothership, Su Fan said expressionlessly.

"Red Queen, integrate and compare the information about the Canglan Empire collected by the other ships."

"Yes! Master!"

The ten spaceships soared into the sky, flying toward other planets.

There were many people on Planet Karl, and even more in the Canglan Empire. If the war was won, how to deal with these people of the Canglan Empire was also a question worth considering.

He couldn't just kill them all, could he?

If he really did that, Su Fan couldn't guarantee that his mental state wouldn't suffer!

...