The Almighty Ring

“Something wrong with Braveheart?” Jiang Fei exclaimed.

“That is correct. And as of now, I am without Energy Crystals to even initiate repairs,” said Akatziris straightforwardly. She was confident that Jiang Fei had already fallen into her ploy.

Rebuilding Braveheart was started by Akatziris and was aided by Jiang Fei. Right now, she had all the right to ask for help. From where Jiang Fei stood in this situation, he needed Braveheart to be completed in order for him to seize the ship and become its captain.

Akatziris, through information smuggled from 0542 and 0543, knew all about Jiang Fei’s plan. That was why she had all the confidence she needed to ask for Energy Crystals. If she were to be blatant, she would have just said, if you want the ship, give me Energy Crystals.

Be it as it may, the message was properly received by Jiang Fei. Even though it was not voiced out verbally, Jiang Fei was being forced to surrender Energy Crystals to Akatziris to finish Braveheart’s construction. Even though finishing the ship without Jiang Fei’s help would only be a matter of time, there was a threat that both Jiang Fei and Akatziris knew well about; the other faction of the Unknowns. If the construction was delayed, either the enemy would seize the incomplete ship or destroy it when they arrive at the moon base.

“I want to check the ship,” said Jiang Fei abruptly. Even if Akatziris was telling the truth and something happened to the ship, Jiang Fei would not 100% trust everything that came out of Akatziris’ mouth.

“Sure! By all means,” Akatziris replied in a heartbeat. This time, she was telling the truth. There had been an explosion in the hangar and the ship had been damaged. That was all there was to it.

“Arrange the transport,” Jiang Fei demanded. A vile feeling rose in his chest, like vomit that he could not fully expel.

“That’s why I had invited you over instead of personally coming down at first. Sheesh.” Akatziris snorted. Her eyes glowed with a faint blue light. She was in communication with personnel on the moon base to arrange the transport.

Half a minute later, Akatziris nudged Jiang Fei, who was talking with Ariel. “We are ready now.”

“Mhm,” Jiang Fei acknowledged her before he turned to Ariel once more.

“Ariel, disable the signal disruptor here,” said Jiang Fei. With the disruptor in operation, no one was going to be teleported out of the base.

“O Dragon God, please do me a favor and inform Isabella and Sylphy. Tell them that I will be back soon,” said Jiang Fei before he left with Akatziris. For this trip, Jiang Fei decided to take Ariel and Nina with him. He needed someone to inform Isabella and Sylphy. Who better to tell the news than Straz, the person they all loathed and distrusted. If anything were to happen to Jiang Fei, Straz could be held accounted for.

“Leader?” Straz nodded at Jiang Fei but turned to Akatziris to seek her approval. Any command that was not given by Akatziris needed to be sanctioned by her.

Akatziris merely nodded, granting Straz the permission he needed to do Jiang Fei’s bidding.

Pillars of light gushed down from the heavens and enveloped all those that were heading to the moon base. A second after, they were teleported there. With a hovercraft Akatziris summoned over, everyone sat on it to be ferried to the hangar bay.

“What the hell happened here? Were you attacked?!” Jiang Fei exclaimed when he saw the extent of the damage on the hangar. Half of the gigantic hangar was covered in spots of soot. Scratch marks, dents, even pieces of a broken hull were all over the place.

Unlike humans, Android operated simply by prioritizing functionality instead of aesthetics. After the accident, repairs of the hangar were completely abandoned. For them, soot marks and dents were left unattended as fixing or cleaning them would only be a waste of resources. Having them cleaned and fixed would not increase their work efficiency.

“Attack? This is but an accident in the hangar. If we were attacked, the ship would have been destroyed. I would not have sought for your help if it happened,” Akatziris nonchalantly brushed it off. The ship’s hull was current under repair and almost one third of the damaged hull had been repaired. The rest was unfinished due to the lack of Energy Crystals. They could not continue without Jiang Fei giving them more Energy Crystals.

Jiang Fei made his way straight to the command bridge instead of checking the hangar bay. Soot spots and dents could be easily planted. He could only check through the ship’s logs to know whether they were genuine.

“0543, check the surveillance logs. I want to know if they had been tampered with,” said Jiang Fei. At the same time, Ariel was paying her full attention for any signs of communication between 0543 and Akatziris.

“Why are you so tense?” Akatziris came to Ariel and teased her. 0543 might have smuggled many data packs to Akatziris before but this time, she had not needed 0543’s help. To be fair, the accident was real and there was no need for her to do any sleight of hand. The surveillance tapes had not been tampered with.

Ariel did not care for what Akatziris said. Her attention was not focused on her but on the surroundings between 0543 and Akatziris. If there were any communication between them, Ariel would know about it.

Nina, albeit not having electromagnetic powers, was focusing on the general surroundings. She would react immediately if something were to threaten Jiang Fei or Ariel.

Twenty minutes after Jiang Fei had gone through all the related surveillance logs, he had reached the conclusion that the accident was indeed real. He nodded ever so slightly to signal Ariel that nothing was out of the ordinary. Only then when Jiang Fei had verified the truth could he breathe normally.

“Alright. How many Energy Crystals do you need?” Jiang Fei cut to the chase. 0543 was asked to calculate the estimate value as she had seen the ship’s blueprint. Calculating the cost would only take a few seconds.

“I need 250,000,000,” Akatziris said without batting an eye. Based on 0543’s estimated calculations, they only needed around half of that. The b*tch had actually dared to demand double the amount!

“I’m definitely not going to give you that much for I too have plans of my own. I’m only going to give you 100,000,000. Make up for the rest yourself,” said Jiang Fei. That number was not picked at random. It was the amount of crystals that Akatziris could use to repair and build Braveheart till completion. At that state, Jiang Fei could seize control of it and revive 0541, but it was not enough to actually start the ship.

“What if we join your forces for the next raid?” Akatziris promptly offered her help to join forces for the next assault on the Unknowns’ base.

“Don’t even think about it,” Jiang Fei wholeheartedly rejected. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. He would not be betrayed again after the first incident.