Chapter 168: Ready to Defect at Any Moment

He recognized this man. The reason their Black Skull Star Pirate crew’s ship was destroyed, sucked into a black hole, and ended up stranded on this godforsaken exile planet—all of it was because of him.

Back then, the Black Skull ship had just finished a big heist and was retreating, passing through a desolate starfield outside the Empire. They happened to stumble upon two warships locked in a fierce battle.

The latest warships in the galaxy, the most advanced mechas, were fighting to the death in that starfield.

The energy cannons twisted the air, the nebula trembled, nearby asteroids shifted and froze in place. As soon as their ship entered the area, their escape route was cut off—they were trapped, unable to move.

Mu Tong knew they were just collateral damage.

He strictly ordered his crew to keep the ship still, to be extra cautious and avoid drawing attention from the two battling warships.

Luckily, the two sides were so caught up in their fight that they didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with them.

Finally, the smaller warship began to falter, clearly on the verge of defeat. Mu Tong was thrilled, thinking this was his chance to slip away with the ship. But just then, a completely ordinary-looking mecha burst out from the small warship. With a single sweep of its mechanical arm, space itself twisted again.

Stars shifted, energy exploded, and a black hole formed. The mighty warship and mechas on the other side were torn apart into their most basic components, floating as useless space junk in the void.

From the dozen or so disassembled mechas drifted out a dozen babies, tangled in combat suits, flailing their tiny limbs.

Mu Tong was shocked. This—this power, time reversal! That was the unique ability of the Imperial royal heirs!

At the same time, the ordinary-looking mecha that had unleashed this power seemed unable to withstand the energy. The mecha began to crack, and with a bang, its pilot was exposed.

Just before their own ship was swallowed by the black hole, in that split-second crisis, Mu Tong caught a clear glimpse of that face—silver hair, silver eyes, stunningly beautiful and cold. Even women would be left breathless by those looks.

The eye and hair color didn’t match now, but the face was unmistakable.

Even if he couldn’t be sure they were the same person, Mu Tong couldn’t help but be on high alert, his heart still pounding with fear.

Sensing the gaze, Wu Xingyu glanced in his direction. Mu Tong was so startled that his hair stood on end, and he quickly looked away, feigning indifference.

This time, there was no luck involved in the fight. Wu Xingyu didn’t team up with Yun Qimu either, instead carving out his own battlefield. He turned the hulking brutes into jumping little dwarfs, then tapped their tiny heads with a short sword.

One after another, people fainted from fright.

Yun Qimu’s allies cheered at the sight, while the enemy side was nearly scared out of their wits.

The local natives from the eight tribes—Black Tiger, Red Fox, and the rest—looked like they’d seen a ghost.

What the hell kind of cheat ability was this? Turning people into little kids—how are you supposed to fight that?

Mu Tong was even more terrified. It was him, it had to be the same man who destroyed the warships and mechas and triggered the black hole.

No way. If it really is him, even if Blackbeard’s numbers doubled, they wouldn’t stand a chance against a few swings of his sword.

Mu Tong gritted his teeth, wiped his sweat, and grabbed Jason, who was about to charge in, signaling him to shut up when Jason looked at him in confusion.

On the other side, Yun Qimu’s battlefield was just as chilling.

She stood there, petite and delicate, with an innocent smile on her lips, looking like an easy target.

But in reality, none of the fierce, weapon-wielding men could get close to her. Within a ten-meter radius, everyone who tried to approach stopped in their tracks. It was as if they’d been turned into puppets, faces twisted in panic as they raised their weapons—not against her, but against their own allies.

The principle was actually quite simple: Yun Qimu used her mental power to control their central nervous systems, cutting off the connection between their nerves and brains, then linking those nerves to herself. She took over, issuing commands in place of their brains.

She made their nerves control their muscles, forcing them to attack each other. Naturally, chaos and slaughter broke out among them.

Compared to Wu Xingyu’s method of knocking out little dwarfs with a single tap, Yun Qimu’s mind-controlled carnage was far more visually shocking—and much bloodier.

Everyone nearby turned pale, eyes wide with terror, not daring to charge in recklessly.

The eight major tribes were scared out of their wits by these two monsters, their morale plummeting.

The Earth Village people, on the other hand, were the opposite—their morale soared, and they fought with even more vigor.

Lai San, who had defected to Earth Village, puffed out his chest with pride.

He felt his decision to join Earth Village was absolutely right.

The smartest choice of his life.

He held up the sharp iron sword he’d just forged yesterday, grinning smugly at a few familiar faces ahead—Big Bear, who had muscles but no guts, and Wang Da, who used to be Blackbeard’s right-hand man and Lai San’s rival for the top spot.

Standing beside them were the clever Little Liu and a few others from the Black Tiger tribe.

They all stared at Lai San’s big iron sword, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Lai San, where’d you get so lucky? That sword looks crazy sharp. Be careful you don’t skewer us like kebabs,” Wang Da said, poking the blade with his finger and shivering at the chill. Damn, this kid’s moving up in the world—this sword looks way better than the energy sabers the star pirates gave us.

Lai San frowned and snapped, “Be serious! We’re on opposing sides now. I’m not the old Lai San from Black Tiger tribe anymore—I’m Lai San from Earth Village.”

“Oh, oh.” Wang Da and the others didn’t mind, nodding casually, but their eyes stayed glued to the sword.

Little Liu, ever the sneak, looked over curiously. “Brother Lai San, did you really join Earth Village?”

“Of course.”

Lai San glanced around at the chaos, which hadn’t yet reached their corner.

He lifted his chin, ready to show off in front of these old friends who used to look down on him.

“I’m now a proud villager, working hard to build a beautiful Earth Village!”

Little Liu, full of envy, asked, “Is it true what the chief said—that you can pick red fruit whenever you want in Earth Village, and there’s delicious meat to eat?”

Lai San replied, “You bet! I’ve been eating barbecue and picking fruit every day—I’m almost sick of it. I’m even saving up spirit coins to buy a house. Our houses in Earth Village are a thousand, ten thousand times better than those in Black Tiger tribe, and there’s water you can use whenever you want.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! I want to eat meat and drink clean water too.” Little Liu’s eyes sparkled. As a poor kid who’d gnaw a bone a thousand times, just a bite of meat was enough to make him defect in a heartbeat.

He looked at Lai San expectantly. “So what does it take to join Earth Village? Do you think someone like me could get in?”"