The man in the lead, dressed in a suit and tie, bowed slightly to You Mo-nian: "Sir."
You Mo-nian looked at him: "Secretary Xie, what are you here for?"
Secretary Xie had a respectful look on his face: "The president sent me here to take full charge of the case of Meng Xi-cong."
You Mo-nian was silent for a moment and then said in a deep voice: "Please convey to the president that I will handle this matter properly. There's no need for you to trouble yourself, Secretary Xie."
Secretary Xie looked at You Mo-nian and then at Su Mi. You Mo-nian frowned: "Speak your mind."
Secretary Xie let out a light sigh: "Mo-nian, you're really... as fearless as a newborn calf facing a tiger."
You Mo-nian's face darkened and he was about to speak when Secretary Xie preempted him: "Sir, this is the president's official order. Please don't make it difficult for me. There's a special vehicle outside to take you to board the interstellar special train. The president is waiting for you in Sky City."
You Mo-nian's face froze completely. Secretary Xie, however, no longer looked at him but turned to look at Su Mi: "Who is this?"
You Mo-nian said with a cold face: "She's my friend and has nothing to do with this case. Let her go."
"Yes."
Perhaps because Secretary Xie didn't really want to offend You Mo-nian, the guards didn't make things difficult for Su Mi. She was safely escorted out of the mayor's mansion. She looked up again at the threat in the sky.
Judging by their size, they seemed to have grown a bit larger, indicating that the threat was getting closer.
She had thought about the ways Meng Xi-cong might escape, such as collaborating from within and without, bribing people to get through, or even sending a mercenary force directly into Hope City to snatch him.
But it turned out to be completely different from what she had understood.
There was no compromise, nor was there the concept of "escaping". Instead, in the blink of an eye, troops were at the city gates. Judging from You Mo-nian's tone, in the end, they were going to extort something from the Alliance.
She even suspected that it wasn't You Mo-nian who had seen through and captured Meng Xi-cong at all, but that the mercenaries had deliberately provoked the Alliance.
What was the purpose?
Thinking of this, she thrust her hands into the pockets of her coat, raised the collar, and walked into the crowd.
Inside the mayor's mansion.
As the first secretary of the Alliance president, Secretary Xie had always been quite tactful in handling affairs. After sending the young master into the special train, he secretly entered that underground cell.
Although he had heard of Meng Xi-cong's great name long ago, he was still a bit surprised when he saw him in person today.
In the crude cage, two men were sitting on the ground, looking as serene as if they were on vacation. The taller one was naturally Meng Xi-cong. There was no trace of the expected fierceness and rudeness. Only his cold, noble face and bearing were evident. No wonder he could impersonate Shang Zheng for so long without being detected.
Secretary Xie just broke out in a cold sweat – he understood that the powerful troops in the sky were not just for rescue. Why had the mercenaries shown up? Why had they come?
After introducing himself somewhat nervously, the other party still had a faint look on his face. Secretary Xie even apologized for "accidentally" capturing the mercenary commander. Only then did the young assistant standing behind Meng Xi-cong state the conditions.
"We plan to settle in the Eternal Galaxy." His tone was as if he were talking about a cheap loaf of bread. "So give us the Free City."
"This..."
"You can continue to maintain Alliance rule, Alliance laws, and a permanent army." He said. "It will still be Alliance territory, as long as it doesn't interfere with our business."
"I need to report to the president."
"Please do as you like."
"Also, may I ask, why the Eternal Galaxy? Why the Free City?" Secretary Xie couldn't figure it out. He had heard that the planets occupied by the mercenaries were rich in resources. Why had they gone to such great lengths to occupy this planet?
At this time, the mercenary commander, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke.
"I like this galaxy." Meng Xi-cong said calmly. "And the Free Planet has the largest molybdenum mine reserve within a hundred light-years."
"But if the molybdenum mine is given to you, how will the Alliance's spaceships replenish their energy?" Secretary Xie gritted his teeth. So it was for the ore.
He had overlooked the fact that Meng Xi-cong had only ranked the mine second.
"You can buy from us." Meng Xi-cong said. "In fact, the Free City is already under our control. But we don't like to take by force."
This was clearly taking by force!
Secretary Xie left the cell feeling depressed, as if he were the one in prison. When he reported the conversation verbatim to the president, the highest ruler of the Alliance on the other end of the phone was silent.
"He said he liked the Eternal Galaxy?" You Lin-ju's voice was cold. "These bandits are blatantly blackmailing. Tell them that I won't accept any conditions. If they don't retreat, I'll kill Meng Xi-cong."
With this resolute attitude, Secretary Xie didn't go to Meng Xi-cong. He had the military contact the mercenary spaceships in space directly and secretly conveyed the president's threat.
However, the leaders of the mercenaries quickly sent a reply, and the content completely followed the强势 style of the commander.
"Kill him." They said. "If you kill the commander, all of us will be promoted one rank on the spot. Very good, very good. But the mercenaries never accept threats. If the commander is even slightly injured, we will use nuclear bombs to destroy Hope Planet. What? You have more nuclear bombs? It doesn't matter. We only need to blow up one Hope Planet."
Half an hour later, the president finally let out a sigh and conveyed the latest instructions to Secretary Xie: "You can give them the Free City and allow them to station troops. But if the Zerg launch a war, I want them to give priority to accepting our employment. Also, in public, they must admit that the mercenaries are loyal to humanity."
Secretary Xie saw Meng Xi-cong, who had been waiting for a long time, again and found that he wasn't the least bit flustered. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and said: "Your president is quite a smart man. Deal. Give you three months to relocate the civilians. Once the time is up, the mercenaries will take over the planet."
Secretary Xie respectfully sent the most formidable prisoner in history out of the prison. Watching him board a Cheetah and ascend into the sky, and seeing the eight space fortresses jump and disappear simultaneously, Secretary Xie let out a sigh of relief and went back to report to the president.
That night, fifteen light-years outside the Eternal Galaxy.
The eight space fortresses were lined up in a fan shape, floating quietly. Inside each space fortress, the mercenaries in black uniforms were gathering together, gambling and playing games in groups of three or five.
The few female mercenaries, naturally, had their independent cabin doors tightly closed at this time, indulging in the utmost pleasure with the strongest and most handsome mercenaries.
On the main ship in the middle, Meng Xi-cong was sitting in the commander's resting cabin, drinking hot tea.
In front of him were the captains of various warships, all looking pleased. One of them said: "As expected of the commander. After lurking for half a year, without using a single soldier or a single weapon, you've obtained a planet."
Meng Xi-cong put down his tea cup and said calmly: "I went to be the director of public security not for today. And are you so sure that we've got the better end of the deal this time?"
Everyone was puzzled, but he didn't explain further. Instead, he turned to ask Mu Xiting: "Where's Lian Duo?"
Mu Xiting smiled: "He's figured it out. He thinks he was set up by us and is locked in his room, refusing to come out."
Meng Xi-cong also smiled: "When he calms down, let him take a warship. He's played around for so long. It's time for him to lead some troops."
After discussing the plan for stationing troops on the Free Star, they dispersed. Only the main ship remained, and the others drove their space fortresses away. The next three months would be their time to relax and have fun to their hearts' content.
At this time, Mu Xiting said: "Li Xi-zhong is back."
"Um." Meng Xi-cong didn't even look up. "Let the little cat come to accompany me tonight."
Mu Xiting was slightly startled when he heard this.
Having followed Meng Xi-cong for many years, there had never been a woman by his side. Even when he had forced himself on Su Mi that day, Mu Xiting thought it was only natural – it was punishment.
It was rumored that Meng Xi-cong had risen from being a down-and-out mercenary to the chief commander, gathering all the exiled troops within three thousand light-years under his command. The difficulty of this process could be imagined. And the occasional comment by the boss that "Su Mi is like him back then" also made Mu Xiting understand it as the boss's cultivation of her.
But today, the boss said he wanted the little cat to accompany him.
"She didn't come back with Li Xi-zhong." Mu Xiting said.
Meng Xi-cong finally looked up at him.
"Do we need to go and get her back?"
Meng Xi-cong said quietly: "No. Since she wants freedom so much, let her have it for a few months."
"Should I call some women over?"
"No."
Amid the revelry of the mercenaries, the human territory remained calm and peaceful.
Since the day the agreement was reached, the map of the Human Alliance hadn't changed. The five major planets remained unified, and the space defense was still deployed steadily.
Just one month later, there was exciting news for all of humanity – the always powerful mercenaries had surrendered to the Alliance. The Alliance president gladly accepted and lent them the Free City to station troops. With the military strength of the mercenaries, the power of the Human Alliance increased significantly.
The original government and army of the Free City quietly withdrew from the Free Planet one morning. The wealthy citizens paid the fees and followed the army to leave, while the other citizens were left where they were.
Shang Zheng, the former director of public security on Hope Planet, was promoted to mayor of the Free Planet. Along with his military police team under his command, they were all taken to the Free City and transformed into the local garrison.
During the recent outbreak of the insect epidemic, a total of 134 infected people were detected throughout the Alliance. All of them were the sources of infection brought back by the people who returned from the Windsor Satellite to various planets that day. Eventually, all the infected people were secretly executed. The Zerg compensated with a huge amount of gold and even transferred the mining rights of the mineral deposits on their two satellites to humanity. This compensation made the human side ecstatic, and the friendship between humanity and the Zerg became more stable and peaceful after this event.
When Su Mi read these news on the War Phoenix, she was horrified.
After all, she just let out a sigh, put down the newspaper, put on her spacesuit, and walked towards the deck.
"Little wild cat." The order of the new captain of the air force came through the earpiece. "Take these new recruits out for a spin."
"Yes." She looked at the several new air force recruits behind her. "Follow me."
She piloted a Cheetah, hovering in space, quietly watching the fighter jets of the several new recruits staggering and struggling to navigate in space. Her thoughts, however, wandered far away.
She had chosen to come back here.
She didn't hate him, nor was she afraid of him. She even thought of him occasionally, remembering that day when he held her in the severely polluted nuclear radiation, his face ashen and haggard like a ghost, forcefully making her survive.
But reason told her that he wasn't a good person, that it was too dangerous around him, and that she should never have any connection with him.
Her goal was Earth. She must find it, find her parents, find her home.
There was also another thought that she didn't want to admit but that had always been lurking in her heart, driving her to leave –
Even if she would see Meng Xi-cong again, even if she couldn't ultimately escape his grasp, she hoped that she would exist as an equal, with a free will.
And not as his pet, his concubine, or an insignificant item of his.