The Highest Bounty

“Let them go,” a voice could be heard from afar. Sharp and Gu Ding looked toward the direction. It was a long-bearded old man in a wheelchair. Both Sharp and Gu Ding recognized him, it was Nisoth. “Elder,” Sharp and Emily called out respectfully. The Federal Government had always been polite to the Holy Gospel Tribe because they had helped the Federal Government out of multiple crises.

“Both of you know very well what the consequence would be of not allowing him to leave. You’re just not willing to admit it,” Nisoth looked toward Gu Ding, whose eyes were filled with misery.

Nisoth looked back at Sharp and Emily as he continued, “If a huge massacre occurs on this planet, it won’t be something that Sharp could handle all alone.”

“The Army’s backup will be arriving tomorrow...” Emily was not about to give up just like that.

“I told Howell from the very start not to approve this mission, but he told me that the Army did not expect to capture every single target in this mission. All he wanted was to catch a few who had made a little name for themselves to show some results to the Faye Cosmic Nation. This has been a mistake from the very beginning, but the situation has gotten out of hand under your leadership. If you continue on this path, it will only lead to an irredeemable end. I am here to salvage the situation because I can’t allow this to continue,” Nisoth had predicted this result from the start.

“It would not benefit either of you if this deadlock situation continues. Not only that, according to one of the future possibilities I’ve foreseen, all the Interstellar Pirates here will be annihilated, including Gu Ding’s crew, once the Army’s backup arrives. However, all the Army’s spaceships would end up under the control of some unknown power, which will conduct a psychotic attack on the entire planet. This planet, including all of you and the Army’s backup, will end up accompanying Gu Ding to the realm of death on the same night. No one will make it out alive. Even though I have no idea how Gu Ding achieves this, this ending is concrete.”

Gu Ding could only sneer at this. If he and the rest of his crew were dead, Neptune would definitely go crazy trying to avenge them.

Sharp and Emily looked at Gu Ding disbelievingly when they heard Nisoth’s words.

“I understand, but we won’t be able to explain why we allowed them to leave so easily. We have lost at least one billion Universe Credits in this battle, including the compensation to the families of our fallen soldiers and the destroyed spaceships, as well as the compensation for the business organizations that had made a loss,” Sharp knew the huge financial loss from this mission alone would cause His Highness The Lord and the marshal to break into a rage, much less failing the mission.

“A billion Universe Credits should be doable for you. Am I right, Gu Ding?” Nisoth looked at Gu Ding. Nisoth had, after all, spent more than 10 billion Universe Credits on that staff.

“If I compensate you, would you agree to let everyone here leave safely?” No one else knew that Gu Ding was that rich.

Even the lord of Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation did not make more than two hundred million Universe Credits in annual income. He would have to save everything for at least seven to eight years to have a billion Universe Credits after deducting his spending. Gu Ding had just started being a pirate less than half a year ago, yet he has already amassed so much money. Many were starting to get suspicious of who Gu Ding really was. Nisoth was the only one who knew how Gu Ding got the money, but he was not planning on revealing the truth to anybody.

“As the elder just mentioned, we have no other choice. You can take the Golden Eagle and fly to a nearby planet. Anchor her at the harbor and find yourselves another spaceship. Don’t even think about leaving with the Golden Eagle. That spaceship has been serialized by the Army and we are fully capable of tracking her down. Besides, that is my personal spaceship. I’m only lending it to you. Don’t you dare damage any internal parts...” “Sell the Golden Eagle to me,” Gu Ding’s words once again shocked everyone as their jaws dropped.

Even a Golden Eagle with little to no upgrades was worth at least a billion Universe Credits on the market. Sharp’s spaceship might be showing its years, but it still would not be cheap taking it off Sharp’s hands.

“I’ve checked the information. His spaceship’s model had been retired by the Army thirteen years ago and was manufactured thirty-three years ago. Sharp bought it at half the price ten years ago, which was five hundred million Universe Credits. He had bought it via installment and has owned it for almost ten years. To date, he has only paid less than three hundred million for it. Once he resigns from his post, he would no longer be able to make payment for the subsequent installments. At most, the Army would only refund him half the payment he has made previously. That is why he would probably want to sell that spaceship of his,” Neptune had quickly obtained the information on Golden Eagle.

“Sure, if you want to purchase it, it would be eight hundred million Universe Credits!” For the past few days, Sharp had been contemplating how best to sell the spaceship for at least six hundred million Universe Credits. Now that Gu Ding had expressed interest, he intentionally added two hundred million to the original amount.

Everyone had thought Sharp would decline Gu Ding’s proposal without hesitation, especially those from the Army. They knew Sharp loved the spaceship and it would be impossible for him to sell it. They had never expected Sharp to name a price immediately.

“Do you think it’s right for you to buy this for five hundred million, only to sell it to me for eight hundred million?” Gu Ding blinked and stared at Sharp. He continued saying, “Besides, this ship is thirty-three years old and is poorly configured. It was sold for only a billion Universe Credits back then, and it’s not even a first-generation model. There’s no memorabilia value to it at all. It would cost me only a billion Universe Credits to buy myself a new ship, or search for one in the black market that would cost me only six or seven hundred million.”

“How much would you pay for it then?” Sharp went red in the face. He was never good at haggling

“6.5,” Gu Ding stared straight into Sharp’s eyes. He knew this price was within the range Sharp was willing to accept.

“6.7!” Sharp tried to add on a year’s worth of salary onto Gu Ding’s offer even though he was not entirely sure if Gu Ding would agree.

“Deal!” Gu Ding was not in the mood to continue haggling when Liliath was in this condition. Moreover, Liliath had always taken charge when it came to haggling for any purchase they made.

“You should be able to solve the issue of the Army’s serialized mark on your own, right? Also, you need to repaint the ship. If I ever catch wind of you misusing the Army’s logo to deceive or swindle others, I will make sure to hunt you down,” Sharp gave a longing look at the Golden Eagle, which had been with him for decades. The spaceship still bore the Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation’s Army mark.

“Sporting the Army’s logo while entering Border River will bring me nothing but trouble,” Gu Ding had heard long ago that the Border River was filled with a mixed variety of characters, many of whom were not fond of the Army. Some of them would even try to provoke the Army unnecessarily.

The Interstellar Pirates, including Bart, looked worriedly at Gu Ding when they saw him purchase the Golden Eagle. If Gu Ding did not take them away with him, the only thing waiting for them the next morning would be incarceration.

Gu Ding got Neptune to transfer 1.67 billion into a designated account provided by Sharp. After that, he turned toward everyone while waving his hand. “Everyone, get onto the spaceship!”

Robert had gotten a combat robot to carry Biggie onto the spaceship.

Just as Bart was about to board the ship, Sharp suddenly appeared in front of him. “Hey, I think you’ve forgotten something.”

Bart was taken aback, but later unwillingly took Sharp’s sword out of the inventory on his ring, throwing it at Sharp

Sharp stepped aside after getting his sword back.

Nisoth called out to Gu Ding when he saw him turn to leave, “Gu Ding, there is a planet with a large temple within the Border River. Look for a man with holy scriptures tattooed all over his body on that planet. He should be able to help Liliath.”

Gu Ding turned back when he heard Nisoth’s words and bowed slightly at Nisoth. “Thank you very much!”

Neptune started searching for more information upon hearing Nisoth’s suggestion. Very soon, they found the planet Nisoth was referring to. It was called Tampa. They would be able to reach there in about two days with Golden Eagle’s speed.

Gu Ding closed the door to the hatch when they go onto the spaceship. He placed Liliath onto the sofa and retrieved a blood sample from her arm, handing it over to Neptune for analysis. After completing this, he stood up and looked at the hundreds of Interstellar Pirates housed within the ship’s large cabin. “I’ll be taking everyone to the nearest administrative planet. You may go your separate ways there. Judging by the current situation, the safest bet would be to escape into the Border River. I expect the backup Army would continue the hunt for everyone here once they arrive tomorrow.”

The Golden Eagle left the harbor of Great Divinity as quickly as it could.

Sharp felt sad seeing the Golden Eagle leave, but he had also noticed that Nisoth was still there in his wheelchair. He could not help asking, “Elder, why are you still on this planet after so many days?”

Nisoth looked at them both with an upset expression. “I can’t believe you would ask me this question. I’ve been taking part in the auction until the very last day when you sealed up the harbor on the night the auction ended. It was impossible for me to leave. Not only that, but this young lady had also damaged my White Gyrfalcons and I have no idea if it is repairable. I plan to leave with both of you tomorrow and make a visit to the Army’s headquarters.”

“Elder, what do you need from headquarters?” Emily asked carefully. She was worried Nisoth would make a complaint about her to the marshal.

Nisoth replied in feigned anger, “To explain what happened today, of course. What do you think I plan on doing? Complain about both of you brazenly over a spaceship? It’s not something I would do. Even if I did, most Howell would do is reprimand both of you in front of me. He is a complete cheapskate, there would be no chance of him compensating me with a single cent for spaceship repairs.”

Sharp and Emily said nothing in reply, but they were both sniggering in their hearts. ‘Cheapskate is truly the best word to describe the marshal...’