“We don’t have money.”

Before Chi Yao could finish, the Eagle King, squatting on top of the Snake King’s head, said somewhat aggrievedly.

Chi Yao: “…”

The group of Beast Kings was successfully led astray.

One-eyed Snake King: “Are ores okay?”

Tiger King: “Will energy crystals work?”

Seagull King: “Sea… seafood?”

Although he didn’t want them, there was no reason to refuse things delivered to his door.

Chi Yao nodded with a solemn expression. “Acceptable, but not enough.”

The Tiger King roared irritably, “Don’t push it too far, wolf pup!”

The One-eyed Snake King chimed in, “I haven’t settled the score with you for blinding my eye yet!”

“Ores, energy crystals—I have as much of those as I want. What’s so rare about them?” Chi Yao leaned against the car door and scoffed. “Actually, what I want is very simple for you guys.”

The Beast Kings looked at each other and gathered for a small meeting.

In front of the surveillance screen, everyone in the Flying Dragon fleet was dumbfounded.

Why did these Beast Kings look so obedient in front of Chi Yao?

“Does Mr. Chi possess some kind of beast-taming method?” Han Yousheng looked excitedly at Jing Xi. “Can we use this as promotional material?”

Right now, as the country was vigorously reforming the star pirate circle, Flying Dragon could also take the opportunity to ride the wave of popularity and accumulate public support.

The live surveillance footage was shot from the side of the street where Chi Yao was, perfectly capturing his profile.

Jing Xi couldn’t move his gaze away at all.

“If you blow it up too much, it will backfire.”

Han Yousheng rubbed his nose awkwardly. “I was too hasty.”

Actually, no matter how much people praised Chi Yao, Jing Xi never felt it was too much. However, “beast-taming methods” might lead people from the organization to discover the secret within, potentially attracting unnecessary trouble.

At the front line, the Snake King stuck out its head, glaring at Chi Yao with its single remaining eye. “What do you want?”

Chi Yao crossed his arms and said lazily, “Keep an eye out for those people for me. As long as you find something, send it here. Exchange for one photo a day.”

Snake King: “Just that?”

Chi Yao: “If you can recall other things related to them, you can also exchange for photos. If you provide major clues, you can even exchange for short videos.”

The Snake King smacked its lips, already very tempted.

With so many minions under its command, finding something shouldn’t be hard.

The Eagle King flapped its wings, stirring up dust in the air.

“You look different from ordinary wolves. Were you messed with by them too?”

“I have no obligation to answer your question.” Chi Yao opened the car door. “From now on, someone will be waiting here every day. You trade people for photos.”

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Chi Yao watched the group of Beast Kings through the window.

Their IQ was much higher than ordinary beasts, but perhaps limited by their environment, they lacked common sense.

What exactly did those people want to achieve by creating them?

---

At the military headquarters, Li Bo looked at the peaceful social media platforms and swiped a file folder off his desk.

Couldn’t rescue the person, and even lost many others inside. How was he supposed to explain this to the higher-ups?!

His terminal suddenly rang. Li Bo glanced at it, and his face instantly turned pale.

He walked quickly into the small lounge inside his office and locked the door.

“Sir.” Li Bo kept his hands tight against his trouser seams, bowing 90 degrees.

The virtual window displayed a man’s back, backlit and dark. One could only vaguely make out the military uniform he wore and the patterns on his cuffs representing the rank of Admiral.

“I told you to tell him not to act. Why was he captured?”

The man’s tone was calm, but his words sent a chill down Li Bo’s spine.

“I… I conveyed it to him, but he wouldn’t listen at all!” Li Bo’s eyes darted around the floor, his heart pounding wildly. “I don’t know if the chat records between him and me have been deleted, otherwise I—”

“He acted on his own authority?” the man asked.

Bean-sized sweat beads oozed from Li Bo’s forehead and slowly slid down.

“Yes. I’ve been trying to rescue him these past two days.”

The man was silent for a moment, his aged voice slightly low. “If you can’t rescue him, then you go with him.”

The threat was spoken as casually as discussing the weather.

Was he going to be abandoned?!

Li Bo’s head buzzed.

Chen Bingfeng had already been exposed. If they traced him through the chat records, it would inevitably affect the Officer further.

If he couldn’t cut off this line, he would be dragged down with him.

“I will definitely rescue him!” Li Bo bowed, a fierce look in his eyes.

Even if he couldn’t rescue him, he had to find a way to destroy Chen Bingfeng’s terminal.

The terminal rang suddenly, startling Li Bo. Seeing it was the number from the 820 garrison base, he picked it up cautiously.

Another virtual window popped up in mid-air. A female Beta wearing a garrison uniform was sitting on a toilet in a bathroom, looking around vigilantly. She lowered her voice and said, “Sir, the Beast Kings are back!”

Li Bo paused. “Didn’t they say Flying Dragon won?”

Female Beta: “Actually, the beast herd retreated on their own, so they thought they won.”

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in Li Bo’s eyes.

“Send me their detailed coordinates!”

Female Beta: “Yes!”

Hanging up the call, Li Bo looked at the military-uniformed man in the other window.

“The beast tide is back. I’ll have them find an opportunity to sneak into the warship.”

Flying Dragon’s defense system was very comprehensive; invading it during peacetime was impossible, but during wartime, the probability could increase by 10%.

Li Bo thought it was impossible, but didn’t expect the opportunity to come so quickly.

The man walked to the floor-to-ceiling window with his hands behind his back.

“It would be best if they could be killed.”

Li Bo’s heart skipped a beat. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if “they” referred to the mutated beasts or Flying Dragon.

“Pay attention to Chi Yao’s movements.” The man looked at the scenery outside the window, his half-lowered eyelids hiding the emotions within. “Before they die, don’t touch him.”

Li Bo’s eyes flickered, finally understanding who “they” were.

“Yes!”

The man said faintly, “Don’t disappoint me again. Otherwise, what I can give, I can also take back.”

Li Bo’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his uniform collar soaked with sweat.

“Yes, mission will be accomplished!”

After the other side hung up, Li Bo collapsed into his chair, unable to recover for a long time.

“Chi Yao!”

He smashed his fist on the armrest and quickly dialed a number.

An unshaven middle-aged male Beta appeared on the screen. This was Shao Daozi (White Spirit), the most capable hacker in the Beluga Constellation.

In this era where artificial intelligence was popularized, to be able to beat AI and run rampant in the cyber world required real skills; otherwise, one couldn’t survive.

Li Bo: “I want to delete some things. Name your price.”

Shao Daozi glanced at his uniform, then at him, his eyes glowing red.

Major General! This was a living God of Wealth!

Shao Daozi: “No problem! You can delete whatever you want!”

Li Bo reported Chen Bingfeng’s terminal ID to him.

“Must be deleted within today!”

If he could use the Ghosts to rescue Chen Bingfeng, he absolutely wouldn’t seek a hacker.

No one knew if these cyber hooligans who mixed in both the black and white worlds would privately withhold confidential information and sell people out.

Shao Daozi made an “OK” gesture and said confidently, “Half an hour is enough!”

Li Bo hung up the call and sent a deposit.

In a dark room, as soon as the money arrived, Shao Daozi began attempting to hack into Chen Bingfeng’s terminal.

The terminal defense systems of military personnel were much higher than ordinary people’s, and those of general-level officers were thousands of times higher.

Ordinary hackers wouldn’t dare take this kind of order.

But he was different.

Shao Daozi: “Who told me to want money over life, hehehe—”

The door opened, and another person walked in.

“Got work?”

As the person approached, the light from the screen illuminated his face. It was the intelligence head Jing Xi had previously paid 2 million to find someone.

Shao Daozi didn’t turn his head. “Big order! Bigger than your last one!”

“Don’t mention that!” The intelligence head’s eyes moistened as he spoke. “Didn’t leave me a single cent, too fucking ruthless!”

“Eh? This terminal has been hacked before.”

Hearing Shao Daozi say this, the intelligence head leaned over.

Upon seeing one of the IDs clearly, he fell off his chair in fright.

“Don’t move!”

Shao Daozi glanced at him with disdain. “Bro, what are you doing?”

Intelligence Head: “Stop quickly, return the order!”

Shao Daozi: “Huh? But we already collected the deposit.”

“Return the deposit too! This is the ID that fucked me over last time!” The intelligence head muttered to himself. “We must be targeted. Don’t take orders for now; let’s go back to our hometown to raise pigs.”

Shao Daozi: “…”

You raise them if you want.

---

Li Bo waited anxiously.

If the hacker successfully deleted the chat messages, then as long as he took advantage of Flying Dragon dealing with the beast herd to let the Ghosts sneak into the Flying Dragon warship and kill Chen Bingfeng, he would be safe.

Compared to bringing the terminal out, the difficulty was much simpler.

His terminal suddenly rang. He clicked it open with trembling hands.

It showed a record of incoming funds and a message.

[Sorry, ability limited, can’t take this order.]

“Fuck!”

Li Bo smashed his fist on the armrest.

At the 820 garrison base, the Beta female hung up the video call and came out of the bathroom stall. She washed her hands and opened the door to leave.

Since the beast tide struck, their garrison had been in a very awkward state.

Even if the garrison couldn’t be the main attacking force, they could at least play a key role in rescue and rear support.

But Flying Dragon never asked anything of them from start to finish. The front line didn’t need their help, and they weren’t the main force for rear rescue either. One legion had taken over everything in the war.

Walking through the long corridor, she saw two programmers chatting while holding water cups.

The Beta female took a detour and quietly went to the control center.

Here, one could query the specific locations of various Flying Dragon units, making it convenient for the garrison to understand the situation and provide support at any time.

With no one around, she walked in easily.

But just as she prepared to close the door, a hand suddenly appeared on it.

The woman was startled and quickly reached for the pistol at her lower back.

The door slowly pulled open in front of her. Seeing the face of the person in front, the woman’s pupils shrank.

“What, not welcoming me?” Chi Yao smiled. “Rarely do women dislike my face.”

The woman’s face was pale. She gripped her pistol tightly and retreated calmly.

“This is the garrison base. Non-military personnel are prohibited from entering.”

Chi Yao walked in unhurriedly and closed the door behind him.

“Major General Jing asked me to come.”

The woman’s eyes swept over the closed door. Extreme panic spread throughout her body; she used all her strength to keep her chin from trembling too much.

“Impossible. Why would Major General Jing look for me?”

Chi Yao approached step by step.

“He said someone leaked legion intelligence to outsiders and asked me to come see who has such guts.”

The woman’s mind exploded with a buzz. Nervousness prevented her from thinking, and a sentence blurted out.

“He is not an outsider!”

After speaking, her pupils constricted.

Chi Yao ignored her panic, his gaze sweeping over the surveillance equipment.

“The garrison can’t help anyway, so what’s the point of sharing locations? Hei-ge, delete all data, cut off intelligence sharing.”

[Xiao Hei: Done.]

The more he acted like this, the more scared the woman became.

Taking advantage of the moment Chi Yao looked at the screen, the woman quickly raised her gun, her trembling finger unable to even pull the trigger.

Just as she pressed down a little, a white light flashed before her eyes. She felt a forceful push, and when she stood firm, only the handle of the gun remained in her hand.

Chi Yao withdrew his hand and moved his fingers; the steel claws moved with his actions.

“I’m not used to people pointing guns at me.”

Startled, the woman stumbled and ran towards the door. She managed to reach the door, but couldn’t open it no matter what.

In her panic, she saw out of the corner of her eye that Chi Yao sat down in front of the surveillance console, seemingly having no intention of dealing with her.

Her throat dry, she took a deep breath and pressed the alarm on her terminal.

If she did nothing, she wouldn’t survive either.

Chi Yao rested his chin on his hand and waited.

On the way back from the front line, he suddenly heard Hei-ge detect Li Bo contacting the garrison, so he detoured over.

[Who is the other ID Li Bo contacted? Still haven’t found out?] Chi Yao asked in his mind.

[Xiao Hei: Looking, don’t rush.]

While waiting for people, he was really bored. Thinking of the hacker rejecting Li Bo, he swiped open his terminal, edited a message, and sent it out.

To be able to find his ID through Xiao Hei required some skill.

The Shao Daozi brothers were running away overnight, sitting in the space station trembling as they waited for the spaceship.

Their terminals suddenly vibrated, startling both brothers.

“B-B-Bro, he… he’s here!”

The intelligence head leaned over to look and almost cried.

[Well done.]

Just two words (in Chinese), but the brothers were almost scared to death.

Shao Daozi cried with a mournful face, “Bro, what does he mean? Is he mocking us?”

The intelligence head thought for a moment and replied on his behalf.

[Big Boss, won’t dare next time QuQ. On the way back to hometown to raise pigs, please let us go.]

Seeing this message, Chi Yao raised an eyebrow.

[Consider raising them somewhere else?]

Seeing this message, the brothers felt completely doomed.

Big Boss was going to lock them up just like that?

Locking them up was one thing, but raising pigs too?!

Shao Daozi broke down.

“Wuaaaah— Bro, I’m only nineteen, haven’t even married a wife yet. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with pigs!”

Intelligence Head: “…”

---

At the garrison base, there was finally movement outside the door.

Chi Yao sent the information of these two people to Jing Xi, asking for his opinion.

After all, 0520 was bought by Jing Xi.

The door that the woman couldn’t open no matter what just now was suddenly easily opened.

The group of people outside froze. The next moment, they saw Chi Yao sitting inside looking over.

Even though the murky pheromones were restrained, Chi Yao could still smell them.

These people were all failed subjects.

Chi Yao: “Hei-ge, lockdown.”

As soon as the words fell, all doors and windows in the control center were forcibly closed.

Facing the gun muzzles pointed by that group, Chi Yao stood up unhurriedly—

Five minutes later, the door on one side of the corridor opened. Chi Yao walked out, leaving a floor full of fallen soldiers behind him.

Before he could go downstairs, he was stopped by the garrison blocking the way.

“This is the garrison base! Not a place where just anyone can come and go!”

Chi Yao sneered. “Garrison base? I thought it was some kind of nursing home.”

The Beta who spoke turned beet red.

“I don’t care who you are. Violating base rules means dealing with it according to regulations!”

Just as he was speaking, a troop came up the stairs.

The garrison soldiers saluted immediately upon seeing it was Flying Dragon.

The leading Second Lieutenant ignored them and nodded to Chi Yao. “Mr. Chi, the Commander sent me to assist you.”

Chi Yao: “That group inside is involved in endangering national security. Take them back for separate detention and await the Major General’s instructions.”

Second Lieutenant: “Understood.”

The garrison soldiers looked dumbfounded.

Flying Dragon’s Second Lieutenant was actually obeying Chi Yao’s orders?!

He was a star pirate!

Leaving Flying Dragon’s people to clean up, Chi Yao sped back to the warship.

Once Chi Yao left, the garrison Beta who spoke earlier couldn’t hold back and went to find the Second Lieutenant.

“You obeyed a star pirate’s arrangements. Not only did you not pursue the star pirate for trespassing on the garrison base, but you also detained the garrison for no reason. Isn’t that inappropriate?!”

“I obeyed Major General Jing’s orders.”

The Second Lieutenant glanced at him, hands behind his back, looking impatient. “Besides, what about star pirates? You, a Sergeant First Class, might not have contributed as much to the country as Mr. Chi. What right do you have to say such things?”

The Beta couldn’t believe it. “I am a soldier! He is a star pirate!”

The Second Lieutenant looked sarcastic. “I only know that star pirates are running around working hard to protect the people on this land, while you ‘soldiers’ are drinking tea and slacking off in the office.”

The Beta choked and fled with an ugly expression.

Back on the warship, when Chi Yao entered the command cabin, Jing Xi was talking to Yan Kai. Beside him, Tie Xiong sat calmly, blinking a pair of innocent eyes, his face full of the words “I tried hard, but I don’t understand.”

Chi Yao: “…”