43. An Unshakable (Yet Utterly Treacherous) Alliance

Although it was an alliance of five factions, during their discussions, the aura they exuded varied completely.

Abolbas, the Mujin Star People, and the Ketel Star People firmly held the discourse power, much like the "Permanent Three."

Meanwhile, the Crow Men—who were incapable of growing to giant size—and the Nataku Star People—who possessed a "clear self-awareness"—were unquestionably the "Lower Two."

However, since this factory was territory operated by the Crow Men, their leader possessed an extraordinary composure and showed no timidity when facing several extraterrestrials capable of gigantification.

As for the isolated and weak Nataku Star People...

To borrow a very famous movie line: "Everyone is driving a Rolls-Royce, everyone is driving a Mercedes, and you're driving a Mazda—you have no right to attend this meeting, go back and wait for notification!"

Throughout this conference, he could barely interject, and no one cared about his feelings or opinions.

Yet, after each stated their demands, they discovered no fundamental conflicts among them.

The Mujin Star People wanted to kill Lucia and Zak; the Nataku Star People wanted to kill Maya and her brother.

Just four people—kill them then, they were hardly short of a few slaves.

At this point, the Crow Man subtly suggested that, to solidify their cooperation, they should wait at least until they defeated the Victory Team before handing Zara over on a silver platter.

Though spoken with great respect and courtesy, anyone could tell this was out of fear that the Mujin Star People might renege and leave after killing Zak, thereby shattering this fragile balance.

The Mujin Star People tacitly agreed, also worried about being isolated and hunted down by Abolbas—unaware that Abolbas only possessed combat capability at night.

Only the Ketel Star Person's demands could not be satisfied, because he wanted to slaughter all young humans.

This, of course, could not be permitted.

Abolbas needed strong warriors, while the Crow Men required slaves who could labor.

If the prime-of-life humans were all wiped out, were they expected to drag a bunch of the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled back home?

In the end, the Ketel Star Person had to lower his demands, stating that wiping out one-third of Earth's population would suffice, provided he could personally kill that fellow Qiming to exact his revenge.

Thus, the five factions of extraterrestrials temporarily reached an agreement.

After the meeting adjourned, the leader of the Crow Men privately sought out Abolbas, saying that since they were partners, they should cooperate when equally dividing the humans as slaves later on, and avoid conflict.

Partners... you lower life forms think you're worthy?

Abolbas felt utter disdain in his heart, but put on a perfunctory expression on the surface.

Being capable of gigantification, his life form hierarchy was higher than that of the Crow Men. During his time operating on Earth, he vaguely sensed that something extremely terrifying lay dormant on this planet; once triggered, even he might not escape unscathed.

Right now, he only wanted to capture a few humans and return to fulfill his mission, so as not to have made a wasted trip.

At this moment, a thought stirred in his mind: weren't these extraterrestrials all powerful combat assets in their own right? What a pity that with so many of them, even at night he couldn't subdue them all.

***

Thus, harboring their own hidden agendas and even past grudges, the alliance of extraterrestrials decided to attack the human world tonight to eliminate their living forces.

…………………………

"What, you can't sense him?"

Back in the command room, after Lucia gestured through a series of signs, Qiming understood her meaning.

Probably because Zara had been shrunk down, Lucia could no longer sense him.

Yamanaka showed a look of disappointment: "A wasted trip!"

Moroboshi Dan put on a stern expression to lecture him: "How can saving a life ever be considered a wasted trip?"

At that moment, the door to the command room opened, and Minister Yin—the man who had wanted to assassinate Counselor Kiriyama the other day—walked in aggressively with four subordinates.

Qiming warmly greeted him: "Long time no see, does your face still hurt?"

The rest of the Victory Team were unaware of his grudge with He Zhi's faction, and upon hearing this, they looked somewhat baffled.

Minister Yin's fierce momentum was instantly shattered, and his stiff, cold face couldn't help but twitch slightly.

He took a deep breath to steady his emotions, and then stated the purpose of his visit.

"I heard the Victory Team has a friend from outer space here. We mustn't neglect the guest and damage the friendship between us and cosmic civilization."

He stated his desire to have Lucia transferred over to the Security Department, promising they would host her properly.

Lucia shrank back slightly; the way Minister Yin looked at her made her very uncomfortable, reminding her of the Mujin Star People.

Hearing the word "friendship" stirred Qiming internally. He thought to himself that He Zhi was probably planning to subject Lucia to harsh interrogation, extract the coordinates of the starry skies, and go blow up her planet.

He said indifferently: "Lucia was just rescued by us from vicious extraterrestrials. Right now, she only feels safe staying by our side. Look, aren't we having a rather pleasant chat here?"

Minister Yin offered a few more reasons, but Qiming easily deflected them all.

This back-and-forth exchange left everyone extremely puzzled: why did Minister Yin, a head of security, care so much about Lucia?

Qiming as well—since Lucia couldn't sense Zara's location and they couldn't find the Crow Men's lair, she was essentially irrelevant to this operation anyway. What was wrong with handing her over to Minister Yin's people to look after?

Minister Yin finally dropped all pretense: "Hand the extraterrestrial over to our care, please cooperate. This is the intention of Counselor He Zhi."

Qiming remained unmoved, replying unhurriedly: "The person will not be handed over. This is my intention."

The atmosphere in the command room instantly stiffened to an extreme.

Kishida and Yamanaka had their eyes opened. Minister Yin was always unapproachable, an extreme hawk, and a representative of Counselor He Zhi.

Usually, none of them wanted to deal with him and would walk around him, let alone provoke him proactively.

In their view, this guy was even more terrifying than Deputy Captain Nagi.

And Qiming was now openly engaging in direct confrontation.

Moroboshi Dan, unaware of the inside story, didn't know what to say at this moment. He wondered why Qiming was capable of antagonizing everyone equally and staying at odds with literally everyone.

Was he becoming too bloated after obtaining the power of Ultraman, looking down on ordinary humans? That would not do.

Minister Yin: "You—"

Qiming waved his hand as if shooing away a fly: "Alright, you can scram now that your nonsense is finished. Is your right cheek not stinging enough from last time, and you're hoping to offer your left cheek as well?"

Megumi clearly saw the veins throbbing on Minister Yin's temples.

At this moment, Yamanaka and Kishida felt not a shred of grievance left.

So what if he wasn't respected as a senior? So what if he got beaten up? This guy even dared to curse out Minister Yin; he was truly the role model of their generation!

Even Nagi Saijo, who was usually preoccupied with Mineda Tohru's siblings and indifferent to such matters, looked at Qiming with an extra dose of admiration.

As expected, Qiming was not someone who judged people by status or bootlicked the powerful; he attacked everyone who opposed him with absolute equality.

Ultimately, the lesson from last time kept Minister Yin from starting a direct conflict with Qiming: "Next time, I will bring the official order documents."

Dropping these words, he turned and left, leaving the command room in absolute silence.

Even when Minister Yin brought up Counselor He Zhi, Qiming refused to back down. Did he not consider the consequences of doing so at all?

Kishida: "Team Member Qiming, judging by what you just said... have you and Minister Yin had conflicts before?"

Qiming: "Kicked him once, slapped him once."

Yamanaka was shocked: "How come we've never heard of this?"

Qiming: "He did something shameful and I caught him red-handed, so of course he didn't dare to make a fuss about it."

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Everyone, don't sleep too soundly tomorrow night. The heavy-hitting plot that's been foreshadowed for so long will be staged in tomorrow's update!

Let me ask for monthly votes in advance, hehehehe!