The moment the entrance to Starship 666 opened, the captain and his group of men prepared to defend the ship were faced with a problematic situation.

Outside the ship, two dozen armed aliens were positioned in front of the bridge that connected the ship to the landing platform.

But the most important thing was not the many men waiting for the ship’s crew. Among the pirates were three level 114 Sovereigns, as strong or stronger than the captain of the ship.

As soon as he noticed the presence of these specialists in the group causing trouble at the Scout Base, the captain stopped in front of his spacecraft and felt that the situation there was worse than he had imagined.

‘Shit! The situation on the planet below is worse than I thought!’ He thought to himself.

For a group of pirates to brazenly target Scout Base as they did, there must be formidable backing for them from the nearby planet. Without support from at least one Supreme, such a daring move would never occur.

The seasoned Captain swiftly grasped the gravity of the situation. If he wasn’t cautious, he could find himself in dire straits.

“Captain, be kind and cooperate with us,” urged one of the three level 114 Sovereigns. “Allow my men to board your vessel and conduct a search of your passengers. We are only interested in specific resources and artifacts. We won’t tarnish your company’s reputation too severely.”

“Tsk! It seems I have no choice,” the captain grumbled. His odds of prevailing in a potential confrontation were slim to none, but he wouldn’t risk the continuity of his service. Frankly, he’d prefer being robbed over the potential loss of his crew.

The pirate leader smiled when he heard the captain’s whisper. He motioned for his men to move on while one of his level 114 companions went inside the spaceship, leaving him and another ally outside.

“Where are you going?” One of the two strongest pirates in the area asked.

“Aether Terminal.”

“Wow. That’s far!” One of the two level 114 Sovereigns said.

“May I ask what your goal is? Won’t your group have trouble capturing the Scout Base?” The captain asked curiously.

The second level 114 pirate laughed. “You’re out of luck, Captain. We’ll only be here for two more days before we leave this galaxy… Anyway, I hope your group manages to deliver some of the items we’re looking for.”

The captain asked no more questions. These space pirates could be very violent when they wanted to be.

They were probably working for someone big on the planet below, someone with influence over Scout Base.

It might look like the place had been taken over, but it was very clear to the captain that the base in question had been placed in the hands of this pirate group so that someone could get valuable resources quickly.

Unfortunately, the galactic community has witnessed its fair share of such machinations, with entities operating behind civilizations and governments, orchestrating conflicts and fabricating scenarios to justify the theft or exploitation of resources.

Few have witnessed this as acutely as travelers like the alien captain of the Starship 666. For ordinary civilians on planets like the one linked to Scout Base, discerning the potential involvement of their leaders would prove challenging.

When traversing the universe, one must exercise caution to avoid crossing paths with beings likely orchestrating the takeover of Scout Base.

The captain silently conveyed his warning to his passengers, indicating his stance on the matter.

…

“What should we do? The captain seems to be interested in cooperating with the pirates,” the level 103 robot asked, indicating the defenses the group had put up before the spaceship stopped at the Scout Base.

Minos sensed more going on here than a simple act of daring pirates.

“He wants us to cooperate by delivering whatever the pirates demand…” Minos muttered, trying to figure out what to do.

“The problem is that if we don’t make the situation easier, there’s no telling what might happen.” Ruth thought about it. “What if the pirates kill our captain for not cooperating with groups like ours?”

“That would be terrible for our journey. We could be significantly delayed in our plans.” One of the level 102 Sovereigns commented in a pessimistic tone. “It seems we don’t have much of a choice here,” Minos lamented. “I sense that this is an action of someone powerful nearby, so we can’t risk it. Deactivate the formations.” The group stood still for a moment, but soon, the robot moved to do what its master had ordered.

Unfortunately, they were too weak to rebel against creatures as strong as high-level Sovereigns. Besides, they were in a hurry to get back to the Spiritual World. Something like the death of Starship 666’s crew would honestly be much worse for him than being robbed.

So, less than 10 minutes after their arrival at the Scout Base, a group of alien space pirates stopped in front of Minos’ cabin.

“Reveal the contents of your space storage artifacts!” Shouted a level 109 being, someone who was just an ordinary pirate in this group that was invading the spaceship.

Minos imagined that the level 109 Sovereigns from this place weren’t as strong as those from Zocarro of the same level. But hell, a dozen of them were surrounding their ship right now.

Even if he were confident that he could take on one of them, he would never be able to escape the many others in the vicinity!

He waved his five companions to obey the order, quickly revealing their cultivation resources, coins, crystals, artifacts, and food.

There were a lot of things from the Spiritual World there, as Minos had taken things from his companions who had stayed in Zocarro, but wanted to give their ‘heirlooms’ to families or people important to them.

Besides, there weren’t many things left from Zocarro. After all, the group had used up most of the resources they had obtained on the planet during their stay and departure.

As soon as he saw the items of this group, the level 109 alien made a sound of contempt, sensing how poor these cultivators were.

Nevertheless, he took three items before leaving Minos’ group behind.

Minos and his companions remained silent, not complaining about the contempt of the creature that had just attacked them.

Unfortunately, Minos had lost the special telescope Fah’um of Dunov had left.

The good thing was that it was no longer that important to him, and the other stolen items would not be missed as much by the group. They would rather not have lost the three items, but this loss would not affect their current plans.

“I hope that was enough.” Ruth sighed as Minos grew angry at the situation.

He hated being in such a passive position!

‘I hope this thing helps me get stronger.’ He thought of the mark he had left after absorbing the Incorruptible Heart.

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