The Highest Bounty - Chapter 148:

Chapter 148: Destroy Every Interstellar Pirates’ Spaceship!

Interstellar Mercenaries operate the same way as Interstellar Pirates, both were nomadic organizations. Every crew had a different number of people that ranged from one person to more than ten thousand crew members. To put it simply, they were both organizations that operated with money as motivation, and they accepted almost any jobs that came their way. That was why it was common for Interstellar Mercenaries to be hired by the Federal Government.

There were times when it was not convenient for the Federal Government to take action for certain missions and they would resort to anonymously hiring mercenaries to finish the job. This alliance has resulted in a complicated relationship between the Federal Government and the mercenaries.

There were usually two ways for Interstellar Mercenaries to obtain a job.

The first was to get a job via the Mercenary Alliance’s site. The Mercenary Alliance would take a commission that ranged from 1% to 10%. In return, the alliance would conduct point accumulations for the mercenary crew. The mercenaries were categorized into ten grades, from one star to ten stars. The lower the grade, the higher the commission paid to the alliance. A one-star Mercenary Alliance member would need to pay 10% commission, two-star was 9%, and so on, with ten stars being 1%.

The second way was by getting a middleman to make the necessary arrangements by getting in touch with the mercenary crew suitable for the job. In this situation, there would be no need to go through the Mercenary Alliance’s site and they would not take any commissions.

If the middleman chooses the first way to contact the mercenary and announce the job on the Mercenary Alliance’s site, the middleman would be allowed to state the terms upon accepting the job. Mercenary crews who were unqualified for the job would be able to view it, but to them, the mission would just that, viewable, as they would not be able to accept the job. The automated system would run through the selection and recruit crews that match the terms before they were able to accept the job.

Of course, the middleman would also be able to set the number of crews who can accept the job. There was a setting for one crew and a setting for multiple crews or even an unlimited number of crews. If they had only made a setting to accept one crew, the mission would become a read-only status once the first crew accepts the job, and other crews would not be able to take it up. If it was set to accept multiple crews, a competition would occur between the few crews who had accepted the job. This was because only the crew that had accomplished the mission would be able to collect the mission payment.

Neptune had easily overridden the planet’s signal masking and connected to the Interstellar Mercenary Alliance’s site.

There was a hugely visible mission box on the upper-right corner of the site, which Neptune had clicked on.

“How should we write this?” Neptune asked.

Gu Ding placed his hand under his chin in deep thought. “Let’s put this down as the headline: Destroy all three of the Federation Army’s Baby Dragon Interceptors!”

“Location: Outside the ozone layer of the Great Divinity, right above the interstellar harbor.”

“Number of crews for mission: Unlimited.”

“Terms for accepting mission: Any crew with the capability of destroying Baby Dragon Interceptors!”

“Duration for completed mission: Within two days, the sooner the better.”

…

“How much should we put down for the mission payment?” Gu Ding suddenly realized he had to double-check the number of credits he had.

Neptune reported a shocking number, “We still have more than 3.5 billion Universe Credits. This situation is a bit of an emergency, it’s best to set a higher payment. This system has been set up to place the highest offer at the top of the list until it gets pushed down by a higher offer. The top of the list currently is an offer of 2.3 billion Universe Credits, which had been updated three days ago. This is a very high payment in Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation.”

“Then let’s put it down for 3 billion Universe Credits, 1 billion for each Interceptor!” Gu Ding immediately decided.

The system updated the list automatically when they submitted the mission.

The headline for the mission had attracted plenty of viewers.

“Who were the ones that submitted this mission ‘Destroy all three of the Federation Army’s Baby Dragon Interceptors!’? Such arrogance! Are they trying to openly challenge the Federal Government?” An Interstellar Mercenary had clicked into the system’s listing of mission headlines by accident.

“If it’s listed there, it means that the payment must be really high. Click on that mission and let’s have a look!” The crew’s leader was having a relaxing cup of coffee when he came over upon hearing the news.

“Terms for accepting mission: Any crew with the capability of destroying Baby Dragon Interceptors!”

“Duration for completed mission: Within two days, the sooner the better.”

…

“Mission payment: 3 billion Universe Credits, 1 billion for each Interceptor.”

Larwell stared at the huge ‘Accept’ button below the listed mission and drank the steaming hot coffee from his cup in a single gulp. He turned toward the spaceship pilot. “Can we get to Great Divinity in two days?”

The pilot nodded. “If we head there right now with full speed, we should be able to make it. Although, do we really want to accept this mission, boss? This would mean going against the Federal Government.”

“Our crew is on the wanted list, aren’t we? What do we have to lose with destroying a Federal Government Interceptor? Besides, we have three chances in this mission. All we need to do is destroy one Interceptor and we’ll have a billion Universe Credits in our pockets. There are going to be many crews taking up this job, but all we need is to make sure we get one Interceptor. 1 billion Universe Credits. If we finish this job, I’ll give everyone ten days off!” Larwell thought this was worth the trouble.

“Boss, this is a great decision,” the young man who was looking at the listing clicked on the button to accept the mission at the promise of ten days off.

“I’ll start the spaceship’s engine. Let’s gather in the spaceship’s cabin in ten minutes,” the pilot, who was lying on the sofa lazily, suddenly got up and jogged toward the door.

Many other strong mercenary crews had noticed Gu Ding’s listed mission besides Larwell’s crew.

There were even some mercenary crews with insider’s information who knew very clearly about what was going on in Great Divinity.

“A bunch of Interstellar Pirates are probably trapped in Great Divinity. The signal from the planet should have been masked. How did this mission manage to get listed?” Someone questioned.

“There are two possibilities. One, the mission did not come from Great Divinity. Two, the person who listed this might be that newcomer pirate, Gu Ding, who has been making quite a name for himself. Hacking through a signal masking is something he has done before. He must be planning for a quick escape by enlisting help to destroy all three Baby Dragons. There is more than a 90% chance that this mission had been listed by Gu Ding. That young man is not only bold, it looks like he has quite a fortune.”

“In that case, should we accept the mission, boss?”

“Of course, we are. There are 3 billion Universe Credits and it wouldn’t be too bad even if we get 1 billion. Wouldn’t this just cost us a few Energy Crystal rocks? This mission is just too easy. Two days would be more than enough for us to get there. Let’s go!” A big bearded man blew a smoke ring as he removed a cigar from his lips.

Gu Ding’s mission had become a hot topic among the Interstellar Mercenaries in less than half an hour.

It had led to many crews who matched the terms stated to immediately accept the mission without thinking and rush toward Great Divinity.

Of course, such big news would not elude the Army’s ears.

“Marshal, a mission has just been listed on the Mercenary Alliance’s site…” A young man said as he projected an image of the site.

Howell, who was white-haired with a matching beard, immediately knew what was going on when he read the mission headline. “That brat, Gu Ding, is really audacious. Looks like Sharp and the others are in big trouble. Send this webpage over to Sharp and the others. We’ll wait for their decision on this.”

“Shouldn’t we send backup immediately? If all three of the Interceptors are destroyed, won’t there be higher chances of those Interstellar Pirates making their escape with Gu Ding around?” The young man expressed his concern.

“I’d like to send backup as well, but Sharp has contributed so much to the Army. If I gave the order to send backup, it would be equivalent to me telling him that I don’t believe in his capabilities. I can’t do something that would humiliate him, it would not be a compassionate move. Just send him the webpage. If he decides to call for backup, we’ll send it over to him. If he decides not to get backup and lets the mission fail, then he would have already made his mind up about accepting failure. Let’s leave it to him to decide,” Howell shook his head.

“Go on with it. Let me know the moment he replies.”

Sharp was in a drowsy state on Great Divinity when he had received the news from the Army headquarters. There was not a single word in the message. Only a screenshot of the Mercenary Alliance’s mission listing could be seen.

Sharp broke out in a cold sweat upon seeing the screenshot.

He knew no one else but Gu Ding could have submitted that mission, but he had not expected Gu Ding to act so quickly. When he had announced his decision to get back up in front of the camera surveillance on purpose, he wanted Gu Ding to know that they had no way of escaping. No matter what they did, they could not last long. He had not anticipated that Gu Ding would come up with a winning move.

Getting those Interceptors to retreat was not a choice. Gu Ding would realize it immediately. With Gu Ding’s capability, he would definitely sneak into the harbor and get his spaceship back. It would not be difficult for him to disable both the harbor’s Sky System and the armor-piercing cannon’s control system before making his escape from this planet.

The Interceptors were the only guarantee to keep Gu Ding and his crew on this planet. Without them, the chances of Gu Ding and his crew escaping were very high.

Sharp knew that this night raid might not be masterminded by Gu Ding, but he was definitely one of the people behind it. Without Gu Ding, those locked up Interstellar Pirates would not have been released. Without Biggie from Gu Ding’s crew, he would have been able to stop this tragedy from happening.

At that moment, there was an anxious knock on Sharp’s room door. “Sharp, did you see the screenshot sent over by headquarters?”

Outside stood Emily, who did not manage to go to sleep. She was lying on a chair at the harbor entrance, thinking about how to resolve the current crisis when she received the screenshot. She had not expected another crisis to appear.

Sharp opened the door. “I know about it. Looks like we don’t need to wait till morning. I’ll write the report to request backup now.”

Emily frowned slightly. “The backup from the Army will not be able to arrive within two days, will they? Even the fastest spaceship would take at least three days to reach here from headquarters. Gu Ding must have anticipated the timing and plans to make his escape before backup arrives.”

“There’s nothing much we can do. Do you have a better plan?” Sharp knew very well what Gu Ding was planning, but he had no solution to this.

Emily already had a plan in hand. “I thought about something before receiving the news to keep them on this planet slightly longer. Let’s just destroy all the spaceships belonging to the Interstellar Pirates! Even though we would need to return all battle spoils to the Army’s storage in accordance with Army regulations and exchange them for funding through the storage personnel, but this is for the sake of completing the mission. We can put aside the issue of funding for now.”

Sharp nodded after a moment of silence. “Let’s do it. Destroy all the Interstellar Pirates’ spaceships in front of everyone first thing tomorrow!”