Abyss Solo

Chapter 136: 082 Win-win = win twice

3 a.m. on Ilando Star.

Drifting in space, the fleet, where Gudun Mah had barely fallen asleep, was disturbed by the secret communication from his trusted confidant.

“Karmi,” Gudun Mah cursed in a raspy voice, “if this isn’t an emergency, I’ll make it one for you! I’m already facing enough trouble!”

“My, my lord… Lord Yang Ming he…”

Gudun Mah immediately became vigilant.

His hip was beginning to ache faintly again.

“What happened? Speak in detail.”

“I’m not sure,” Karmi trembled as he spoke, “I can’t say whether I’ve suffered a loss or gained a profit. I just lost all my cash, everything, including the private funds I hid abroad, and somehow, Lord Yang Ming found it all… but I got assets worth twice as much…”

Gudun Mah swore, “Did a dog eat your logic? Start from the beginning!”

“It was like this,” Karmi exhaled lightly, “it’s about yesterday when I reported to you. The Third Prince had arranged for someone to target Lord Yang Ming, but then Lord Yang Ming turned around and taught that syndicate a lesson. At dusk last night, Lord Yang Ming met with the leadership of that syndicate, and I was the middleman…”

Karmi recounted everything he witnessed in detail.

Yang Ming, who killed without blinking;

The sudden appearance of elite Guard Army units;

And those few syndicate higher-ups who wet their pants.

“Lord Yang Ming made them pay for their lives and accurately identified each of their assets. Within half an hour, he severed their cash flow; even their offshore accounts were drained.

“They worked hard for over a decade and became paupers in half an hour. Lord Yang Ming must have had them in his sights for a while.

“Then, Lord Yang Ming came to me, offering to sell all their properties, real estate, anything that could be sold at half price.

“I thought to myself, I could make some quick money and agreed, quickly gathered a large amount of cash… Lord Yang Ming even said dirty money was acceptable, so I pulled out most of my cash flow… you know, my Lord, the establishments I run have quite a bit of money that can’t see the light of day, just like the management of this syndicate…”

Gudun Mah pondered for a few moments, “Yang Ming wants money?”

“My Lord, who doesn’t need money?”

Karmi trembled as he spoke.

“I initially thought, making tens of millions of New Federation Coins overnight, Lord Yang Ming would stop, especially since most of it was dirty money, and he’d need time to process it. Who knew… at dawn, Lord Yang Ming found me again… he wiped out three large gangs in one sweep, cleaned up several malignant tumors around the outskirts of Ilando City, and even asked if I could take some of the illicit businesses… he even offered a forty percent discount, I couldn’t refuse…”

Gudun Mah rubbed his temples, “So, Karmi, you came to me just to flaunt how Yang Ming doubled your worth overnight?”

“No,” Karmi cleared his throat, “could you lend me some funds? I want to swallow more; Lord Yang Ming is giving me too much.”

“Screw off!”

Gudun Mah angrily shouted, his gaunt face full of rage, as he threw the encrypted communicator onto the bed.

A few minutes later, Gudun Mah dialed Karmi’s number.

“How much is your funding shortfall?”

“About sixty million… New Federation Coins…”

“I want half of the assets,” Gudun Mah said calmly, “I’ll take it from you at fifty-five percent of the market price.”

“But, my Lord, although we are quite familiar and I’ve long benefited from your care, why not go directly to Lord Yang Ming?”

Gudun Mah’s voice was stern, “Are you negotiating terms with me?”

“No, no, I understand,” Karmi hurriedly said, “everything I have is yours. I will send my accountant to you right away.”

“Hmph!”

Gudun Mah snorted coldly.

He quietly sat on the bed, pondering the deeper implications behind this event.

Was Yang Ming suddenly targeting local syndicates? Was he trying to dismantle the Third Prince’s influence? These syndicates had deep ties with those ministers and nobles and had long been hotbeds of espionage activity.

Local thugs had their value.

What did this signify?

Gudun Mah’s thoughts continued to extend forward, but one thing he was certain about.

How could Yang Ming possibly be short on money?

…

Damn it.

After all this, still a pauper!

4:30 a.m.

Yang Ming gazed at the account interface projected before him, sometimes grinning, sometimes sorrowful.

In the manipulation of Lyu, the funds were quickly laundered through the Second Prince’s transnational corporation and pooled into his dedicated black market bank account.

Unfortunately, these funds were to be used for purchasing the Planet Transformation System.

The Wind Empire was not short of billionaires with assets of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of Federation Coins. As a wealthy family, the Wind royal family frequently appeared in the top fifty of the Galaxy’s rich list.

But for Yang Ming, earning a nine-figure sum in one night’s hard work really did have a rare sense of accomplishment.

“Boss! We’re rich!”

The accountant Lyu, wearing a professional skirt suit, excitedly shouted from the front passenger seat.

“Rich for what? All this has to go to Kolev,” Yang Ming grumbled with a face full of gloom, “I’ll even have to take out some private money to give tonight’s participating team members a bonus!”

“Okay, boss, where are we going next?” Lyu asked eagerly, “Go buy a high-fidelity maid robot?”

“To find Edwan.”

Yang Ming slightly curled his lips.

“Tonight’s action needed a legitimate name. It’s also a great opportunity to build Edwan’s reputation. To become Crown Prince, one can’t just have the support of nobles; public opinion is very important too.”

“Oh, alright, really not getting a high-fidelity maid robot?”

“The domestic robot we have at home now is quite good,” Yang Ming said against his conscience, “with a kind of mechanical sexiness.”

Lyu sulked quietly beside him.

…

Edwan often felt that he couldn’t keep up with Yang Ming’s pace at all.

By all accounts, such a substantial operation, involving the safety of tens of thousands of citizens in Ilando City, would at least require half a month of planning, task assignment, and picking reliable operatives, followed by a swift assault.

But Yang Ming just decided to do it on the spur of the moment and completed it in one night.

Edwan only had to make two phone calls, and his transnational corporation received tens of millions in benefits.

Meanwhile, Yang Ming found him, urging him to quickly contact the media and record a morning news broadcast script.

Edwan rushed to finish the recording and handed it to the Royal Television Station, and two minutes later, it aired as the headline on the morning news.

On TV, ‘another’ Edwan spoke solemnly:

“In recent years, a new band of black forces has emerged on the city’s edges, absorbing massive amounts of foreign funds. With unjust means, they have harmed the citizens’ centers and minds, disrupted normal market order, casting a shadow over Ilando Star’s nighttime security.

“The safety of citizens’ lives is always the top concern of the Wind royal family.

“Just last night, our long-prepared sweep plan was officially executed: multi-point operations, deep layout, mobilizing elite troops, and with the cooperation of various district law departments, we swiftly eliminated a few leeches sucking on the fabric of society…”

The news showed a group of gang leaders being escorted into police cars.

Edwan turned off the TV with a raised hand, and a maid stepped forward to retrieve the remote control.

“Ming, how did you…”

Edwan paused mid-sentence.

He heard the faint snoring from Yang Ming’s nose.

Yang Ming lay slumped on the sofa, arms wrapped around himself, fast asleep with a hint of fatigue between his brows.

Edwan chuckled silently.

A few maids quietly brought in a screen, and the gleaming silvery-white floor tiles dimmed, with a starry sky appearing on the ceiling.

Edwan didn’t return to the bedroom to rest. Instead, he drank a cup of a refreshing hot beverage and energetically went behind the desk to continue reviewing what seemed like an endless pile of documents.

While Yang Ming slept, his old partner had already packed for a journey, taking the household robot carrying Lyu’s consciousness, leaving the villa at the corner of the chemical plant.

Kolev officially claimed he needed to return to Cas Federation to attend an old friend’s funeral.

In reality, Kolev would disguise his identity several times, return to familiar territory, and seek out his old black market partners to get a second-hand Planet Transformation System.

The sole purpose of a Planet Transformation System was planetary environment modification, which typically required hundreds or thousands of years for any minor changes, making it a long-term investment only pursued by strong nations.

Pirates, however, valued only the early stages of planetary transformation projects for their capability of constructing complete bases.

Who wouldn’t want a secure headquarters?

At the villa entrance, a driverless taxi hovered gently.

Kolev turned to take a last look at the makeshift villa and muttered quietly:

“At the quickest, it will take me a month to return. That guy surely won’t clean up.”

On the side, the household robot spoke softly, “I assure you, your nephew will stay in hotels for the month. You need not worry, as that noble lady will take meticulous care of him.”

“True, he’s just fallen in love.”

Kolev sighed lightly, bowing his head to get into the taxi. The lightweight housekeeping robot sat in the passenger seat, engaging in machine-to-machine interaction with the autonomous driving system.

At the entrance of the chemical plant, a hovercar slowly passed by.

Lyu turned and looked over, an electronic eye showing a hint of suspicion.

She detected no suspicious signals.

Yet she felt something was amiss.

‘I should update my counterintelligence toolkit,’ Lyu thought.

Kolev asked, “With you coming with me, what about my nephew?”

“Don’t worry,” Lyu softly replied, “this is merely a small observation window I’ve opened.”

Kolev didn’t quite understand but didn’t inquire further.

Did this mean Lyu had a sort of doppelgänger?

In the hovercar that had just driven by, the driver lightly tapped the steering wheel, inputting lines of information into the black box on the passenger seat.

[Boss, confirmed the merchant Haton has left the chemical plant. His previously purchased starship ticket is accurate; he should be heading back to Cas Federation for an old friend’s funeral.]

This information was dismantled into faint light pulse signals, hidden within the vast Ilando Star network, transmitted like any ordinary message to the information relay satellite in synchronous orbit, sent to the hyperspace communication station near the directional jump trajectory, with a delay of a few Galactic seconds, finally reaching the surroundings of the Fifth Administrative Star.

On the Fifth Administrative Star, the fallen city that had become the rebel base camp, atop a certain skyscraper, was a bustling operations command center.

Lulian sat with his legs crossed, sipping the first cup of morning coffee and pondering over the information frame that popped up before him.

“No need to waste effort on this old man, simply keep a close watch on Yang Ming.”

Lulian spoke with indifference.

“We need to let the Second Prince understand what kind of price comes with siding with the Sherman Empire. Yang Ming is friends with Edwan, right?”

His assistant beside him lightly shrugged.

New Federation’s senior agent and the Wind Empire’s Torch Plan head, Mr. Lulian, let a triumphant smile bloom at the corners of his lips.

He had to erase the shame of having retreated in disarray from Ilando Star earlier!