Chapter 2568: Your Words Against Mine

　　“Elder Song, the battlefield is in such a mess right now that countless starships from the hundred worlds have been messed up together. It is possible that the spies of the rebels infiltrated some of them. Therefore, misunderstandings can happen. All in all, I will definitely investigate the whole thing and give Marquess Hushan justice and Elder Song an explanation!”

　　Yun Xuefeng said sincerely, “I would also like to ask Elder Song to bear the big picture in mind and remember your loyalty to the Imperium. Don’t do anything that will satisfy your foes and hurt your friends!”

　　“You’d better find out the truth soon and give me an explanation, or I’ll ask the leader of your family for an explanation!”

　　Song Yushi sniffed and said, “If you understand the importance of solidarity, do not let such a thing happen! I’ll give you half a day. If it turns out in the end that you were truly behind the incident, the Song family will withdraw from the battle and ask the Li family and the Dongfang family to do the same. The Yun family can fight on your own!”

　　“Well—”

　　Yun Xuefeng cursed aloud in his heart for a long time, but he did not know whether he should curse Song Yushi, or Li Wuji, or Boss Bai, or himself. His face more tightened than ever, he said in a hurry, “Rest assured, Elder Song, I’ll certainly get to the bottom of it—”

　　Before he finished his sentence, Song Yushi had already cut off the communication, leaving the cold, dark light beam to him.

　　In the next second, his subordinates reported that most of the warships of the Song family in the command chain had left together with the loose warships that they had gathered. They cut off the communication with the flagship, and their whereabouts were unknown!

　　Yun Xuefeng was stunned for a long time. He finally couldn’t help but punch the control panel before him hard and howled, “Song Yushi, just wait for it! Just wait for it!”

　　He rose abruptly and paced back and forth, his every step thudding on the ground like a hammer of ten thousand kilograms. In only half a minute, hundreds of white hair had appeared on his head. Wrinkles deep to the bones appeared on his face, making him look more terrifying than ever.

　　He was about to ask his subordinates to search for Li Wuji’s fleet and the National Protection army when his subordinates reported that “Alloy Virus”, the flagship of the National Protection Army, had been connected to the command chain and reached out to “Landslide”!

　　“Connect him!”

　　Yun Xuefeng shrieked and dashed to the communication dashboard.

　　He had a mouthful of imprecations that he intended to throw on Boss Bai and Li Wuji, but after he saw their looks on the light beam, he was so shocked that all his curses and roars were stuffed in his throat.

　　He saw that the bridge of Alloy Virus was full of smoke and burn marks. Including Boss Bai, most crew members had bandages and medical gelatins on their bodies. Some people were bleeding hard, but they were still working hard to extinguish the fire at the corner with foam tanks, having no time to treat themselves.

　　Boss Bai seemed to have just been dug out of a coal mine. Except for his teeth that were still white, his whole body was as dark as a gorilla, mixed with redness that was the dried blood.

　　Li Wuji, on the other hand, was a hundred times more miserable than Boss Bai. His whole body had been blackened, full of scabs that had been saturated with blood and body tissues. He was soaked in a medical cabin and floating in the middle of the deep green nutrition liquids. The curve nearby that represented his biophysical parameters was rollercoasting, implying that his life was as impossible to predict as a candle in the storm.

　　“Commander Yun, we’ve finally reached out to you! A terrible thing has happened! You must avenge me and Marquess Yongchun!”

　　Boss Bai said in tears, “My ‘Alloy Virus’ followed your instruction and gathered the loose warships to form a temporary fleet immediately after we jumped to the Seven Seas Space Zone. We searched for your coordinates and hoped to approach you.

　　“As it turned out, thanks to Commander Yun’s bliss, although we did not find you, we found Marquess Yongchun’s fleet. We joined our warships and continued the search for the flagship-in-general.

　　“Out of our expectation, we encountered the fleet of Song Changlie, Marquess Hushan. His permission in the ‘Flying Lightning Super Command Chain’ was lower than ours, and he was supposed to obey our command. We tried to persuade him too. Marquess Yongchun and he were both marquesses of the Imperium after all. If he was unwilling to listen to our command, we would not force him to. Our fleets could simply cooperate with and protect each other while we searched for ‘Landslide’ before we reported to you.

　　“However, to our surprise, Song Changlie was so arrogant that he despised Commander Yun, claiming that Commander Yun was just a crying baby and that you were not even qualified to wipe the shoes for Lei Chenghu.

　　“Yes, that’s exactly what he said back then. He also said that the fleet of the Song family would never follow the command of Commander Yun. He was going to search for Song Yushi’s fleet at the edge of the space zone, claiming that Song Yushi was the real commander of the Song family’s fleet. There was no way that they were going to die with Commander Yun!”

　　“Enough!”

　　While he listened, Yun Xuefeng’s face was as red as the color of pig liver. He roared, “What happened later?”

　　“Later—”

　　Boss Bai coughed hard and vomited yet another mouthful of thick black blood. He said, “If Song Changlie was only talking, there was nothing we could’ve done about it. After all, he was Marquess Hushan of the Imperium, and the Song family is best known for their haughtiness.

　　“However, not only was the guy running himself, but he was also encouraging the starships that Marquess Yongchun and I just gathered to join him and escape with him!”

　　“What?!”

　　Yun Xuefeng’s eyes popped out as he shouted, “That’s completely unacceptable!”

　　“If I may inform Commander Yun, if it were the fleet of my own or Marquess Yongchun’s, they would never have flinched because we had been teaching them to return Commander Yun’s favors and to serve the country loyally.”

　　With a bitter face, Boss Bai said, “But at that time, what we commanded was only part of our own warships, and most of them were the troops of the warlords from the peripheral worlds.

　　“The private troops of the warlords did not have a strong fighting will in the first place. Many of them had been secretly in contact with the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors. In the first place, they were thinking to preserve their strength and claim the benefits later. Marquess Yongchun and I went through a lot of trouble to regroup them, but they were still sloppy, loose troops that could not stand instigation.

　　“Song Changlie spoke to those starships openly through the public channels that if they continued to follow me and Marquess Yongchun, they would certainly be asked to attack the Seven Seas Grand Market after we found Commander Yun. It would be a life-and-death battle when they fought the desperate, ferocious dogs. In the meantime, in order to eliminate the losses of your own people, Commander Yun—Commander Yun would certainly place the starships of the local forces at the vanguard. So, the odds that they were killed were 99%.

　　“Therefore, they might as well go with Marquess Hushan and lay low at the edge of the space zone for now, leaving the other dummies to fight and bleed hard. After the troops were all exhausted and the situation was clear, they could then make a decision unhurriedly.

　　“After he said that, most of the commanders of the starships under Marquess Yongchun and me somewhat wavered and were thinking to leave with him. How could Marquess Yongchun and I support Commander Yun to accomplish your success if we had no subordinates?

　　“I did not know that Marquess Hushan could’ve been so shameless. Even a prodigal space pirate like me knew that defending the Imperium was defending my own interests. Why were the Immortal Cultivators of the Song family so selfish and shortsighted? Aya, too shameless! I was infuriated… too infuriated, and I…”

　　“And you swallowed Song Changlie’s fleet and even killed him?”

　　Narrowing his eyes, Yun Xuefeng asked coldly.

　　“Huh, how did you know, Commander Yun?”

　　Dumbfounded, Boss Bai lost his calmness and exclaimed.

　　“Huh…”

　　Frowning, Yun Xuefeng asked, “Bai Xingjian, just tell me the truth honestly. Who attacked first, your ‘Alloy Virus’ or Song Changlie’s ‘Tiger Roar’?”

　　“About that…”

　　Boss Bai lowered his head, somewhat in embarrassment, and said, “If we examine who attacked first, it might have been me, but I was only meaning to intimidate Marquess Hushan and force him to retreat. Then, we could just go our separate ways. How could I have been bold enough to challenge the experts of the Song family? Wouldn’t that have been suicide? Therefore, most of my attacks were aimed at the vacuum instead of Tiger Roar.

　　“However, Marquess Hushan was so brutal that Tiger Roar’s first barrage hit my Alloy Virus precisely.”

　　Yun Xuefeng was not convinced. “Do you have any proof?”

　　Boss Bai looked at the messy bridge and said with a bitter smile, “Our mainframe crystal processors were all hit. The data are in a mess. For now, nothing can be retrieved. However, as long as Commander Yun supports Marquess Yongchun and I, we will certainly be able to ‘find’ some proof in half a day.”

　　Yun Xuefeng naturally understood what Boss Bai meant perfectly. Thinking for a moment, he asked again, “Then, explain to me honestly how you knocked down ‘Tiger Roar’. How could it have been possible with your combat ability?”

　　“Marquess Yongchun and I probably benefited from Commander Yun’s unbelievable luck.”

　　Boss Bai said solemnly, “Supposedly, my ‘Alloy Virus’ was just a ragged, rapid attack ship that was absolutely no match for ‘Tiger Roar’. However, during the barrages of the two parties, one round of my attacks hit the arsenal or the fuel cabin of ‘Tiger Roar’ precisely, raising a serial explosion that shed a light of hope for Marquess Yongchun and I.

　　“Please don’t blame us for being too brutal, Commander Yun. At that time, most of the loose warships were vacillating and even vaguely more inclined to Marquess Hushan. If we hadn’t crossed the line and knocked down ‘Tiger Roar’ completely, it would’ve been Marquess Yongchun and I who were killed after those starships openly joined Marquess Hushan.

　　“In order to bring more troops to Commander Yun, we could only set an example for everybody else by knocking Tiger Roar down when it had a serial explosion. Naturally, Tiger Roar’s counterattack before its death was rather remarkable too. Marquess Yongchun’s flagship is now on the verge of total-loss, and my Alloy Virus has been reduced to such conditions too.

　　“I truly dare not think what miserable outcome it would’ve been if Marquess Yongchun and I had hesitated a while longer. Perhaps we would never be able to reach out to ‘Landslide’ or continue to serve Commander Yun!”