Chapter 1297
Chapter 1297 - 1283: Betrayal
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9 min read
"Sea Fighter" Liu Yiqi always felt that life was an adventure, but in this journey, there were always a few crucial turning points...
"...I won’t regret seizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, just like I never regretted boarding the ship in the first place."
Liu Yiqi had a pure Easterner name because he grew up in a nurture home in the Eastern Country in his early years.
Nurture homes are a new-age concept, somewhat similar to orphanages, but with a much lower threshold.
The reason for this was the astonishing birth rate of the indigenous Long Hand Clan, combined with the world’s lack of stable "safety facilities," resulting in newborns often exceeding the carrying capacity of families and even towns.
In such an environment, being wild was the norm, and abandonment was quite common... In some cities, there were large-scale "nurture homes."
This wasn’t pure charity. Due to the abnormal growth rate of the new generation of the Long Hand Clan, it wouldn’t take many years before they became reliable labor forces.
With little investment, nurture homes could reap relatively loyal and reliable reserves of power; today, many local backbone members of large powers originated from their dedicated nurture homes.
"Fate doesn’t give everyone many chances, and I will not miss any, just like back in the nurture home when I was the first to choose to become a professional..."
Each family’s nurture home was equivalent to their own "country," naturally involving many legal and illegal things.
The most common were "professionally trained youngsters" and the mortality rate of failed advancements... In the Chaos Times, for some people, the death of a child was merely one less mouth to feed, and the practice of Liu’s nurture home seeking "volunteers" was already one of the more conscientious ones.
Perhaps, the deep impression of his first life-risking success...
"...I don’t regret joining the Rebirth Commerce at all. Back then, I was indeed full of fervor, and the Rebirth Commerce was the most suitable organization for me at that time because they were genuinely good to us internally..."
To this day, he still didn’t regret the choice he made eight years ago to join the Rebirth Commerce. It was not only the best decision for his youthful desire "to do something" but also provided him with resources and connections for his development up to this day.
"...But now, we are faced with another choice. Currently, at least more than ten medium-sized Churches are following us, and the Chamber of Commerce no longer holds hope. In such a situation, we are just making another choice, a choice anyone with a brain would know how to make..."
Liu Yiqi was confident that even ten years later, he wouldn’t regret today’s decision.
People his age who were masters at the Decree-level, and with extensive practical combat experience as Sailor Captains, were valuable assets in most organizations, and the Rebirth Commerce was no longer suitable for him... or so he believed.
In fact, even before this event, he had already been secretly contacting several Churches and had submitted his applications.
After all, in his eyes, the Rebirth Club... was too unpragmatic!
"...Ladies and gentlemen, ’doing good deeds’ is an Easterner’s philosophy. We have accumulated so much goodness over the years; other Churches at our level should be enjoying the life of masters now. This is an opportunity..."
The Rebirth Commerce didn’t prioritize profit-making as its foremost goal, often engaging in rescue and charity operations, lacking exorbitant profits and opportunistic plunder, naturally falling short of some other powers’ offerings.
Some of the management were aware of this and had always allowed free entry and departure...
"Yes, we are just taking what we are owed. Compassion funds... the word is severance pay!"
"Yeah, Boss Guan is indeed a nice guy, but with this kind of operation, we can’t get rich..."
Watching the sailors and mercenaries below get excited, Liu Yiqi nodded in satisfaction.
Everything else was false. When he brought out the "new employer’s wages doubled" and "completion bonus of a house for everyone," everything went smoothly.
"But those officers..."
"Even if the officers don’t show up, we do not have enough people to control the entire ship."
The atmosphere suddenly cooled.
No matter how many promises the new employer made, some things were unavoidable, like the reality that most sailors did not intend to betray, or the fact that the betrayers lacked the ability to deal with Advanced Combat Power.
Being able to orchestrate such an extent of collusion on a small scale was the result of Liu Yiqi’s many years of accumulation.
"No need for control! We just need to stop this ship, whether it’s shutting down the engine or punching holes in the hull..."
If possible, Liu Yiqi didn’t really want to damage the ship, since, after all, according to the new boss’s promise, this would be his future ride.
"Move out..."
The plan was quickly laid out, simple and crude, aimed at stopping the ship and best shutting down its defense system, or if really necessary, internal explosion and scuttling were also acceptable outcomes.
But soon, only screams were transmitted back through the communicator.
"It’s the Wolfman Squad, how could they be on the ship!"
"And Salvation Army officers, they are waiting for us..."
The plan, barely initiated, was already going awry.
Unanticipated "combat powers" kept appearing and made it extremely difficult for the rebels to proceed.
Was this a coincidence? The combat power that should have been patrolling outside suddenly showing up on deck...
𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
"As expected, there were preparations in place..."
However, Liu Yiqi, staking everything on the line once more, was not at all panicked.
He hadn’t really counted on these second-rate sailors and low-class mercenaries... They were just cannon fodder to distract attention for the instigator Sailor Captain of this mutiny.
"It’s about time..."
On the lowest deck and in the engine room, he had his own people.
According to the plan, the uprising was meant to draw the guards’ and fighters’ attention, allowing the insiders to successfully detonate the prepared explosives. That was his real objective.
Yes, from the very beginning, he never expected to capture the ship.
Even though his new employer had promised it would be one of his rewards, Liu Yiqi always believed he had survived until today because he was daring but not greedy, knowing the limits of his abilities...
The sudden explosion below deck made him laugh.
He moved towards his real goal, the deck that had become unguarded amidst the chaos.
How many people knew that the "sunken ship" was just a smokescreen for his true objective?
"Heh, this is the most valuable treasure..."
He kicked the dark meteorite; it took contacts with seven powers to ascertain from their investigations what the real treasure was.
Compared to this meteorite, perhaps the entire Chamber of Commerce was nothing... at least that’s what His Excellency who made the promises to him had said.
"As expected, it won’t be that easy, huh..."
Two figures appeared on deck, a Panda-man gulping down alcohol, squinting and yawning.
The temporary acting Captain, however, pushed his glasses up, seemingly indifferent as he gazed at the sea.
"Indeed, this meteorite is the source of trouble, isn’t it?"
Seeing his speculation turn into reality, Xue En took another sip of his drink, pondering why that was the case.
There were more powerful individuals on the ships behind them, and he wondered if it was worth it just for this one meteorite...
"It seems you still look down on me..."
To Sailor Captain Liu, the disdainful nonchalance displayed by these two interceptors was utterly unacceptable mockery.
"...but you’ve still fallen into my trap! Did you think I wouldn’t guess you’d be watching me, that you’d try to stop me? Haha, I’ve been waiting for this moment..."
Although he was trapped, Liu Yiqi suddenly laughed, unable to contain his mirth—he had waited too long for this day.
"...The ones caught in a trap are you!"
As he threw out several stones, they shone brightly and turned into a series of short-range teleportation gates.
One, two... ten!
Ten short-range teleportation gates stood between them, pairs of eyes peering through to assess the situation on site.
"I know you’re strong, but can you deal with a few Rule-level? Can you handle three Rule-level Excellencies and another who’s just shy of that level? Haha, you’ve already lost by allowing the riot to proceed unfettered, for they had an overwhelming difference in strength, merely in need of an opportunity, a reason for the ship to be destroyed in chaos..."
The laughing Liu Yiqi took pleasure in watching the two high-level executives on the opposite side become watchful.
The former Sailor Captain, guffawing, was venting his long-suppressed emotions and "explaining" to himself... I am not a traitor, just a wise man biding his time!
"Haha, you dare to stop me? This is your death time; how else could I be at ease without getting rid of you..."
Indeed, there was a fearsome aura coming from the other side of the teleportation gates.
Perhaps the threat was no empty bluster; perhaps the real ones caught in the trap were the high-ranking executives of the Rebirth Commerce.
One by one, dangerous figures began emerging as if to step through the teleportation gates...
Suddenly, one of the teleportation gates went out.
Another gate, more directly, just exploded.
Yet another teleportation gate malfunctioned.
What was happening? What could be interfering with the teleportation? But the coordinates were on the large ship right behind them, there should be no reason for failure!
Liu Yiqi’s face was filled with shock and disbelief, then an even more incredible scene unfolded.
A significant portion of the ships that had been following along suddenly changed course!
"Sorry, the signal is unstable..."
This time a voice "apologized," followed by more explosions from the other side of the gates.
As more and more teleportation gates were directly destroyed, and the only things left behind on site were insincere apologies and the sound of explosions, the betrayer was completely flabbergasted.
"You, you’ve betrayed me! You, you’ve deceived me again!"
The betrayer’s face was full of despair as he accused others of betraying him.
But the Panda-man rubbed his head, having no clue what had just happened.
— End of Chapter 1297 —