Just two minutes before the pirates and Zuo Jing turned their attention to Chen Ming.

The two fleets had already conducted an emergency communication and confirmed with each other which route they were taking.

Then they discovered that they really knew each other, just as Chen Ming had guessed.

They even have certain relationships with people Chen Ming knows.

This person is Shen Yi who was killed by Chen Ming before.

The captain of the pirate fleet's flagship had once had a relationship with Shen Yi, and it could even be said that the relationship was quite close.

To put it simply, just like the pirate leader who was killed by Chen Ming before, he relied on the information sold by Shen Yi to attack some caravans.

He had happened to meet the captain of the Zuo Jing fleet several times when he was looking for Shen Yi. Although he was not familiar with him, he had an impression of him.

The relationship between the captain of Zuo Jing Fleet and Shen Yi is that they are both under Zuo Jing's command, so it is normal for them to know each other and it is also normal for them to visit each other occasionally when they are active here.

So Captain Zuo Jing also had an impression of the pirate captain.

After both sides did not want to have a direct conflict with the other side, they took the initiative to exchange information in a relatively peaceful manner.

They found the situation a bit special, so they checked the identities more freely.

In the end, they even started a video call.

The captain of the flagship of the Ludzuojing fleet and the captain of the flagship of the pirate fleet each appeared in each other's eyes.

Captain Zuo Jing spoke first: "What a surprise! Since Shen Yi died, we have lost contact with many people. Are you interested in coming back to work?"

The pirate captain laughed dryly and said, "No, I won't. Things have been very tense recently. The Fourteenth Legion has suddenly come here. Something big must be happening. I plan to take a rest after I finish this job. I won't make any moves for the time being."

The pirate captain declined Captain Zuo Jing's invitation.

He became a pirate to make money, not to die.

The previous mission that led to the death of Shen Yi, the Zuojing intelligence dealer, was obviously not a normal money-making mission.

Moreover, he also heard rumors that Shen Yi seemed to be cheating people.

As a result, he now keeps a distance from other people from Zuo Jing, and tries to avoid getting involved with them as much as possible.

"Okay, I won't waste any more words. The two ships next to us are still watching. I just want to ask you a question. What are you doing here?"

Captain Zuo Jing was very disrespectful to the pirate captain, but the pirate captain did not show any dissatisfaction, at least not on his face.

He had just observed Zuo Jing's fleet, and the number of Zuo Jing's fleet was larger than the one he brought.

Although it is hard to say if a real fight would break out, Zuo Jing's reputation made him dare not take the initiative to provoke Zuo Jing's people.

So after thinking about it, the pirate captain chose to state their purpose directly.

"Did you see that Storm? We got the news and followed it all the way here. We were planning to find an opportunity to attack the caravan along the way."

"But I never found an opportunity. I thought there was no way out, but the ship just left as soon as it reached its destination, and it headed for a deserted place like the Dark Cemetery."

"And there is only one frigate and one engineering ship following them, so we definitely can't miss them."

"But if you are also looking for Baoyu, we will leave now and give you this boat directly."

After the pirate captain finished speaking, he immediately ordered the fleet to turn around.

Seeing that the pirate fleet was really about to leave, Captain Zuo Jing quickly said, "Wait."

At this time, Captain Zuo Jing had basically believed the pirate captain's words and determined that their goals were not completely conflicting.

So some ideas gradually emerged in his mind.

He wanted to take this opportunity to bring the pirate captain and his fleet back to Zuo Jing's camp.

Not only because the pirate captain could be considered one of their subordinates before.

Another reason is that their Ludzuojing’s influence in this star field has indeed declined a lot.

Especially after the last planned attack on the space elevator in the Sector Capital.

Not only did the mission fail, but a large number of manpower were lost during the mission, and they were subsequently hit on a large scale by the star domain government.

The government seemed to know exactly where their people were and carried out an irresistible capture operation against them.

This caused their overall strength to weaken significantly, and many places that had already begun to build small branches were basically paralyzed.

So he has been recruiting people recently.

If we could bring back the old staff, especially someone who is still capable like the captain of this pirate fleet, it would definitely be much more convenient than contacting new people again.

However, the pirate captain has clearly refused, so Captain Zuo Jing certainly cannot say it directly, but has to use other methods.

After stopping the pirate fleet from turning around and leaving, Captain Zuo Jing quickly organized his words and said, "Let me put it this way, we are not here for that Storm, and we have no conflict with you."

"We just heard that there was an engineering ship going out, and with the help of the people inside the space station, we found out who rented the engineering ship."

"His name is Wu Ping'an."

The pirate captain recalled and said, "That name sounds familiar."

"It does sound familiar. Do you remember Shen Yi's time?"

"One of the two people who killed Shen Yi was him."

The pirate captain nodded with some sudden realization and asked, "What about the other one?"

Captain Zuo Jing's mind quickly flashed with the figure in protective clothing who walked out of the exhibition hall, and then his mind was immediately filled with Chen Ming's face and the three words "psychic".

"You don't need to know this now. We just plan to dismantle the ship and kill Wu Ping'an on it."

"For revenge?"

"Almost. Besides, there is a bounty on Wu Pingan among us. I don't know if you have been out recently."

The pirate captain's eyes lit up slightly and he asked, "How much?"

"Ten million."

"So what you just said, wait, is..."

"Yes, there is no conflict of interest between us, and we can definitely cooperate."

"You see those two ships, right? One is the Storm, which is Tachyon Technology's top technology, and the other is the Gladiator, which is obviously also modified by Tachyon Technology, and it's not much worse."

"If either of us go up a spacecraft like this alone, we might suffer losses. But if we work together, the results might be different."

"We don't have many people right now, so the fewer losses we can have, the better."

Captain Zuo Jing hinted at the pirate captain and continued, "Help us destroy that engineering ship. All the spoils will be yours, including the spaceship and Wu Ping'an's bounty."

Captain Zuo Jing saw the pirate captain's concerns.

He knew what Shen Yi had done before, and he also knew what the pirate captain was worried about.

So he added: "You don't have to worry about anything. You know our situation. We are very short of people now."

However, the pirate captain still did not respond, and Captain Zuo Jing had to take out some useful information.

"I can sign an employment agreement with you directly, and you can contact our upper-level people directly, not through a middleman like Shen Yi."

"In addition to the regular maintenance fees every month, there are many other benefits. You should have heard about it from Shen Yi."

The pirate captain was also full of hesitation at this time.

Shen Yi's previous style was indeed not very good, but when he was around, he had never heard that Zuo Jing himself would be harsh on his own people.

Even now, Shen Yi is dead, Zuo Jing immediately came to take revenge on those who killed Shen Yi. It is obvious that he values ​​his own people very much.

So after thinking for a moment, his greed for money ultimately outweighed his fear of danger.

The pirate captain chose to agree.

He actually knew the saying that people die for money and birds die for food, but if he was really willing to give up many opportunities to make money just for the risk of losing his life, then he shouldn't have become a pirate.

The Storm in front of him and the special Fighter, even if he could only get one, it would be enough for him to make a fortune.

Not to mention that both ships were obtained, and there was also Wu Ping'an's bounty.

So after a quick exchange, the pirates and Zuo Jing both relaxed some of their guard against each other.

At the same time, in order to avoid attacking each other due to command issues, they kept their distance and directed their attacks at Chen Ming together.

Although Captain Zuo Jing had just said that he was worried that Chen Ming's ship's counterattack would cause unnecessary damage.

But obviously they didn't take the two frigates seriously.

After all, they have two fleets. Although they are both small fleets, they completely crush Chen Ming in terms of numbers.

So in their opinion, even if the frigate here today is a military one, it will definitely sink here.

The communication between the pirate and Zuo Jing was completed quickly as they approached Chen Ming.

Although Chen Ming did not take any action at this time, he was ready for battle.

In fact, during the two minutes of stalemate between the pirates and Zuo Jing, Chen Ming felt that he could directly order the two ships to withdraw.

After all, the performance of the Fighter Kai and Storm is not comparable to those of the pirates and Zuo Jing's spaceships.

Not to mention that the direction they were coming from was the opposite direction Chen Ming was going.

It's not a problem to just leave while taking advantage of the time just now.

If the pirates and Zuo Jing dare to chase, then Chen Ming will dare to fight back. Once the front line is stretched during the pursuit, Chen Ming's opportunity will come all at once.

The space station's engineering ship may have to be left here.

However, this engineering ship actually only costs more than 10 million.

If Chen Ming accidentally sinks the ship, he can afford the loss with some profit.

If he really wanted to run, no one could stop him.

But Chen Ming didn't want to leave just like that.

Because now is the best time to give Heavy Rain a chance to actually take action.

By the way, Chen Ming also plans to indulge himself now.

Chen Ming had a total of 190 million yuan on hand, and 150 million yuan was used on Heavy Rain.

There was only a little over 10 million left in the account that should have had 40 million left.

The more than 20 million that were not lost were all used on supplies and materials, and these materials were now piled on the mule that Chen Ming had modified but did not sell.

It can definitely support a battle that completely ignores consumption.

Currently, the pirates and Zuo Jing fleet facing the two Yuhuis have a total of five destroyers and eighteen escort ships.

Moreover, all these destroyers are Mule-class, which are easy-to-use, sturdy and "cheap" armed merchant ships.

After all, the Mule-class is a very versatile ship and is very popular in many caravans.

So for pirates, the cheapness is indisputable.

Although its combat effectiveness is not as good as other destroyers, destroyers are still quite effective against ordinary frigates.

The frigates under the destroyers are a mixed bag.

In addition to two of Zuo Jing's iconic Dram-class fuel transport ships that were converted into suicide ships.

The fleet is basically filled with ships like the Sentinel and the Cerberus, with at most two Far Traveler-class ships, which are also common among escort-class armed merchant ships.

Although the overall number of the two fleets is acceptable, all of these ships have undergone rough modifications and the quality cannot be guaranteed at all.

It can only be said that no matter how valuable a spaceship is, its value will be greatly reduced if it falls into the hands of pirates, and the situation of Zuo Jing is similar.

So even though the current situation is two to twenty-three.

But Chen Ming still has to say that the advantage lies with me.

"Be prepared to fight, no matter the cost."

"yes."

"yes."

Gamma B immediately responded to Chen Ming. He knew Chen Ming's ability and also knew what Chen Ming meant by "regardless of cost".

Gamma Z might not be used to it yet, or its computing power might be limited. In any case, it was a little slow in replying to Chen Ming.

Chen Ming didn't care, and said to Gamma Z who didn't know his situation, "Gamma Z, activate the Terminator core directly."

"I have experience driving in heavy rain, and now I should..."

Chen Ming interrupted it directly and said: "I know, but you have to listen to me now. This is an order."

"……yes."

Chen Ming's mandatory request was something Gamma Z could not refuse.

Soon, two fighter planes with dark red tail flames flew out from the Storm-class ship that was approaching the Pirates and Zuojing Combined Fleet, and rushed towards the enemy faster than the Storm.

After approaching to a suitable distance, a red light suddenly lit up on the fighter plane, which was extremely dazzling in the dark space environment.

The engines of the two Terminator fighters were overloaded to the extreme, and their top-level maneuverability allowed them to dodge the point defense fire coverage in front of the fleet like nimble butterflies and swifts.

After getting close to a certain distance.

Anti-fighter swarm missiles were fired densely from two Mule-class ships in the pirate fleet.

The infrared guidance device on the missile can easily lock onto the Terminator fighter, which is now extremely dazzling even to the naked eye.

However, in front of the Terminator fighter, these swarm missiles are meaningless.

All swarm missiles that were able to hit directly were destroyed by the fighter's built-in PD point defense lasers, which were also overloaded to the extreme.

All the swarm missiles that brushed past the Terminator fighter had no chance of catching up with the fighter.

In the blink of an eye, the two fighters had passed through the blockade of the swarm missiles and were almost right in the face of the pirate fleet.

The two small weapons, which have relatively poor performance, can even create ripples on the shield under the overload amplification.

One of the fighter planes was like a red meteor. At the moment when it was about to hit the shield of the pirate mule head-on, it drew an arc close to a right angle outside the shield, bypassed the shield and hit the side of the ship.

The fighter plane, which was only a few meters long, smashed into the 120-meter-long mule, but it burst into a red flame that even the mule itself could not produce.

The entire energy system, which was already overflowing with radiation energy due to overload, exploded with such force in the case of active self-destruction that it blew through the Mule-class ship's hull directly from left to right.

Even the aftermath of the explosion instantly destroyed the Mule-class's shield, which was unable to block it.

But it doesn't matter anymore.

Because the moment the Mule-class ship's hull was pierced, flames had already appeared everywhere on the hull.

The spacecraft was instantly engulfed in a sea of ​​fire and turned into ashes in a devastating explosion in the blink of an eye.

Another Terminator fighter also bypassed the Mule-class shield and rushed directly into the fleet.

However, it did not choose to ram another mule, but instead rushed out of the pirate fleet through the gap and rushed into the Zuojing fleet, which was keeping a close distance from the pirate fleet.

It accurately hit the only two Dram-class fuel transport ships behind the Zuojing fleet.

Zuo Jing's fleet maintained a relatively tight formation.

This formation now became their death warrant.

The explosion of a Dram-class ship could cause damage in an area of ​​several hundred meters in diameter.

The explosion of the Dram-class ship hit by the Terminator fighter could affect a Mule and three escort ships of the Zuojing fleet.

Furthermore, one of the escorts happened to be another Dram-class.

The chain reaction caused by the explosion caused another Dram-class ship to immediately follow in the footsteps of its companion.

The two escort ships and one Mule that happened to be within the combined explosion range of the two Dram-class ships also exploded directly.

The formation on the left side was in chaos.

Chen Ming, at the cost of only two fighter planes, had two Mules-class, two Drams and two other frigates destroyed.

In addition, there were other spacecraft nearby that were affected by the debris of the explosion.

This directly reduced the combat effectiveness of the pirates and Zuo Jing's fleet by more than a quarter.

This result made Chen Ming's tension and excitement, which had been going on in his heart since just now, gradually turned into excitement.

After all, this was a fighter jet that he had spent more than 100 million to buy. If the results were not satisfactory, it would be a loss.

Fortunately, when Chen Ming saw the results, he knew that the 150 million was well worth it.

However, the next moment Chen Ming realized a problem.

I felt a chill in my heart.

Suddenly I felt a little regretful.

Because two Mule-class ships were blown up in the blink of an eye, it was equivalent to Chen Ming himself losing 200 million.

These garbage mules that have been roughly modified by the pirates and Zuo Jing himself may only be worth 20 or 30 million to them.

But for Chen Ming, it would only cost a few million in materials to repair it, and he could then sell the boat for nearly 100 million yuan.

It's almost as big as an ordinary Hammerhead.

Chen Ming had noticed before that the prices of some spaceships were outrageous, such as the Mule.

He had checked the market prices of some spaceships before. The general price of a new mule is over 100 million, while the price of a second-hand one is generally around 70 million.

The Mule-class units equipped with militarized systems, even if they are second-hand and only have escort-level militarized systems installed, are worth around 100 million yuan.

Just like the one Chen Ming sold before.

And the one equipped with a destroyer-level militarized system will only be more expensive, even more expensive than the hammer head that Chen Ming has seen.

The reason is actually quite simple.

When Chen Ming checked the prices of various spacecraft before, he also checked the prices of civilian models of other combat ships.

Although there are not many civilian models of combat ships, Chen Ming couldn't bear to see these castrated ones.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about the hammer head.

The military hammer head has four medium-sized load-bearing points, six small load-bearing points, and four missile mounting points, two of which can carry medium-sized missiles.

Although the Hammerhead was designed for mass production and sacrificed a lot of performance, it still has what a military destroyer should have.

However, the castrated version of the hammer head only has two medium-sized load-bearing points and two small load-bearing points plus a small missile mounting point.

The armor was almost cut in half, and the engine used was a castrated version of a destroyer engine that was almost as effective as a frigate-class engine.

There must be some fool who would buy this.

But the mule is different.

Although it is a civilian spacecraft, the Mule is a Mule-class armed merchant ship.

All designs are based on the level of destroyers and also meet certain combat requirements.

Although it cannot compare with a real military combat ship, at least there is not such a big difference between a military combat ship and a civilian castrated combat ship.

It only requires a certain degree of modification, and the effect will definitely be much better than spending money to buy a castrated version of a combat ship.

The price of such a spacecraft that can be legally purchased, legally used, and relatively legally modified will naturally rise.

Therefore, the reason why the Mule-class has an even more exaggerated price than the Hammerhead is not because the Hammerhead is cheap, but because the Mule is too expensive.

No one dares to touch a normal military hammer head, but the cost-effectiveness of the castrated civilian hammer head or other combat ships can be said to be a mess.

The mule class naturally came to the top.

Of course, all this assumes that the mule is a normal mule.

Unlike the mules obtained by pirates, which have been modified extremely crudely and unreliably in order to quickly convert them into combat power, they cannot be sold at any price.

Because of Chen Ming's lack of ability, the cost of repairs might be even more expensive than the selling price.

Only if someone like Chen Ming has the ability to restore the mule to its original state and preserve the militarized subsystem is it worth acquiring and repairing them.

So now that two ships have been blown up, it is all Chen Ming’s own money that is lost.

Of course, it hurts.

When it comes time to take action, Chen Ming will definitely show no mercy.

Otherwise, if Gamma B and Gamma Z were lost, Chen Ming would be truly heartbroken.

Of course, in this situation where the crushing situation has almost occurred in an instant, he will definitely choose some methods that can better preserve the spoils.

Chen Ming asked Gamma Z to postpone the release of the Terminator drones.

Let it keep a distance from the pirates and Zuo Jing's fleet first.

Wait for Chen Ming to select a suitable target again.

Chen Ming's new target, of course, is to start with the cheapest ships in the enemy fleet.

(End of this chapter)