Part 2
Ning Yunyi’s group of twenty was surrounded by the Star Pirate leader and his men.
“You twenty, separate yourselves. Spiritual Power users to the left, those without to the right.” Once the Star Pirate leader spoke, the twenty people frowned. But seeing the hostile demeanor of the group, they decided to wait and see, separating as ordered.
Twelve Spiritual Power users went to the left, including three low-level users below A-rank; five without Spiritual Power went to the right.
Thus, in the middle, only Ning Yunyi, Ning Xiao Miao, Young Master Bai, and the Big Cat remained unmoving.
The Star Pirate leader looked at the fattest family in the group. “What? Did you not understand what I said?”
Young Master Bai didn’t dare separate. What if these people attacked immediately? He wouldn’t have time to protect them.
Young Master Bai spoke directly, “You only said twenty people, those with and without Spiritual Power. The Big Cat isn’t a person, so it doesn’t count. But we are a family, so naturally, we stand together.”
The Star Pirate leader’s face darkened. “It seems you plan to be the bird that sticks its neck out.”
Young Master Bai gritted his teeth. “All our family’s assets are in my hands; they don’t touch them usually. I’ll stay, you let them go.”
The Star Pirate leader exchanged looks with his minions and burst out laughing.
One minion pointed to the pile of people tied up in the corner. “You know, those without Spiritual Power and not fat enough… after we squeeze their value dry, they will eventually be ‘let go’.”
Just as those people showed a look of joy, they heard the minion laugh until he bent over. “The so-called ‘letting go’ means opening the airlock and kicking them out one by one. Then… you’ll be free very quickly!”
Free to ascend to the heavens, indeed.
Young Master Bai’s face turned iron-green. “Aren’t you afraid the Federal Military will find out and wipe you out?”
The Star Pirate clutched his chest mockingly. “Wow, I’m so scared. Go ahead, notify them.”
Falling into their hands meant only one path: death. It was just a difference between dying sooner or later.
They weren’t like their peers who insisted on keeping captives alive to mine energy ore. If one escaped, their nest would be exposed sooner or later.
They were different. They specifically chose those who were ‘fat enough,’ wiped them out in one go, and left immediately. One successful heist could feed them for three years. They would then frame it on other pirate groups.
They had done this many times, and it had never gone wrong.
Ning Yunyi watched their brazen laughter expressionlessly and suddenly asked, “You aren’t keeping us to mine energy crystal ores?”
A Star Pirate sneered disdainfully. “We don’t do such troublesome things.”
Ning Yunyi instantly understood. This batch likely wasn’t the rumored group; they were even more ruthless.
Those other guys at least left people alive. These people had no intention of letting them live.
No wonder they confiscated the spaceship too.
Presumably, after disposing of everyone, they would blow up the spaceship as well. It would just look like a travel accident.
The Star Pirate leader looked at the Spiritual Power users who, upon hearing this, looked unwilling to accept their fate and wanted to fight to the death. He sneered, “I advise you not to waste your energy. I know the situation of you people clearly. Our group of pirates totals fifty men. Ten S-ranks, and the remaining forty are all A-ranks. Do you think you have even a sliver of a chance?”
The few A-rank Spiritual Power users who had thoughts of resisting instantly turned pale. They clenched their fists in defeat, knowing the pirate leader was right.
Not only was this the enemy’s territory, but being trapped here, they had nowhere to run even if they wanted to.
The Star Pirate leader looked at these people with satisfaction. Finally, his gaze landed on Ning Yunyi’s group, somewhat surprised. “You guys are quite calm.”
Not only the two adults, but even the child just hugged the redhead tightly without making a sound.
Ning Yunyi seemed oblivious to the leader’s scrutinizing gaze and suddenly shook his head. “I think you’re wrong. Who says we don’t have a chance?”
His words made the Star Pirates roar with laughter. “What did he say? Just based on 10 A-ranks and 1 S-rank? Is he crazy? How do they have a chance?”
Ning Yunyi continued expressionlessly, “Your chance of winning relies entirely on outnumbering us. If we fought one-on-one, none of you are better than me.”
The Star Pirate leader laughed even harder, mocking him. “Haha! Did you hear what he said? He says none of you present can beat him one-on-one! An A-rank says you all can’t beat him.”
The ten S-ranks standing around hefted their large blades, their eyes filled with disdain, as if crushing him would be like crushing an ant.
Young Master Bai’s face was pale. He didn’t understand what Ning Yunyi was doing.
But he chose not to speak up.
Since there was no way out, they might as well gamble.
Ning Yunyi remained sitting with his chin slightly raised, as if he looked down on them. His disdainful gaze swept over the faces of the S-rank users one by one, finally settling into a mocking look.
As if saying: You’re nothing special.
The ten Star Pirates were enraged. Frowning, they stepped forward but were stopped by a look from their leader.
The leader glared at Ning Yunyi. “You have courage, I’ll give you that. But it’s a pity. If you want to stall for time and wait for rescue, don’t waste your breath. However… since you look down on my subordinates so much, later, they will play with you one by one.”
The ten S-ranks rubbed their fists. An A-rank wasn’t even on the same level as them.
Ning Yunyi spoke again, “You aren’t his match either.”
He pointed simultaneously at Young Master Bai.
Young Master Bai was confused, but he couldn’t lose momentum. He immediately raised his chin, adopting a posture that screamed you are all trash.
This time, even the Star Pirate leader’s face looked ugly. He stared gloomily at Ning Yunyi. “Fine. Since you want to stall, I’ll let you stall. How about this: since you and this kid think you’re so tough, compete with my men.”
The group didn’t take Ning Yunyi or Young Master Bai seriously at all, so they naturally had no objections.
Their jamming device was bought at a high price. Not to mention that even if rescue knew, they couldn’t rush here in just a few hours.
Ning Yunyi looked at the ten S-rank pirates. “How about this. We have two people; you have ten. We will do five-on-one matches, ten rounds in total. If our combined wins reach six rounds, you let us all go. Deal?”
Ning Yunyi’s words stunned the people present, igniting a spark of hope for survival as they looked toward the pirates.
The pirates exchanged glances and almost laughed themselves silly. This guy wanted to bet with Star Pirates? Was there something wrong with his brain? Even if the two of them actually won, did he think Star Pirates would honor the agreement?
But seeing the hopeful eyes of the ‘fat sheep,’ the Star Pirate leader was curious to see their despair when their hopes were dashed again.
The leader grinned. “Fine. Since they say so, you guys play along.”
Ning Yunyi gave the group a deep look.
He naturally knew these pirates had no honor. He wasn’t really looking for a win or loss in the competition.
They were just S-ranks; he really didn’t consider them a threat. But externally, he was an A-rank Spiritual Power user.
With so many people present, if he really took out fifty pirates single-handedly, then upon arriving at the First Star, he’d either be forcibly recruited or investigated thoroughly.
Ning Yunyi needed to deal with this group without arousing suspicion, so he could only do it one by one.
At least to outsiders, an S-rank winning against another S-rank wouldn’t be too shocking.
He could easily claim his A-rank status was hiding his true strength, which was actually S-rank.
Ning Yunyi looked at the S-rank pirate who had already stepped forward. He took Ning Xiao Miao and the Big Cat and stepped back, making room for Young Master Bai. “You go first. I’m rooting for you.”
He patted Bai’s shoulder meaningfully.
Young Master Bai took a deep breath. As the only S-rank present on their side, he couldn’t wimp out.
Young Master Bai stepped forward, and the others cleared the center space for them.
The opposing pirate looked down on the weak-looking Young Master Bai. Raising his fist, he channeled his Spiritual Power, intending to smash this pretty boy’s face in with one punch.
Young Master Bai immediately raised his hand to counterattack. He was also an S-rank; he wasn’t afraid.
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