Ou Zhanpeng roared, his anger erupting like a sudden volcano.
He had placed his palm on the projection of the cannon, but as he was about to press it, he hesitated at the most inappropriate moment.
Ling Xiao shouted anxiously, "Better to be shattered jade than intact tile, fire!"
Li Keke exclaimed, "Better to stand and live than kneel and die, fire!"
"Better to bite off a few pieces of flesh from the enemy even in death, fire!"
The crowd was enraged, but Ou Zhanpeng struggled fiercely in his heart. His hand felt as if it weighed a thousand pounds, refusing to press down.
It was simple for one person to fight desperately, but the lives of over a thousand people on the Starship depended solely on his decision.
Furthermore, fighting desperately was unrealistic. Of the more than a hundred starships, only sixty to seventy remained. Although not all of them had surrounded them, thirty to forty were still watching menacingly. With such a vast disparity in strength, how could Ou Zhanpeng not hesitate, how could he dare not hesitate?
Although the Starship had once withstood four white ships single-handedly, at that time, there was time to maneuver and the ability to escape instantly by activating a wormhole. This was completely different from the current situation.
It was no exaggeration to say that Ou Zhanpeng had never encountered such a dire predicament in his life!
As if sensing Ou Zhanpeng's indecisiveness, the Black Horn people burst into laughter. Their laughter was like a spoon scraping the bottom of a pot, jarring and unsettling.
"Surrender, and I guarantee your safety!" the Black Horn people promised again.
Ou Zhanpeng laughed mockingly in anger, "Do you think I'd believe you?"
As long as the warship was in their hands, there was some room for maneuver. Once the warship was handed over to the enemy, they would truly be the butcher and the others the meat.
They could neither fight nor surrender, a true dilemma like a ram butting against a hedge – trapped between a rock and a hard place!
At this moment, his mood was extremely complex, but as things had come to this, no amount of regret or anger could help. Ou Zhanpeng forced himself to calm down, while verbally sparring with the Black Horn people to stall for time, he racked his brains, carefully considering how to escape.
It was easy to wage war in anger, but maintaining composure was the most difficult.
However, others did not know what Ou Zhanpeng was thinking; they were all filled with doubts and confusion.
Ling Xiao couldn't help but ask, "Fatty Ou, are we fighting or not?"
The spirit could be roused but not let out. When the enemy surrounded the Starship, the entire ship was incensed, which was the most opportune moment to engage in battle.
Now, after a period of buffer, the minds that were clouded by anger had calmed down, and their thoughts were no longer as simple as before. At this moment, to rush forward and fight desperately, it would be difficult for everyone to be as heroic and decisive as before.
Ou Zhanpeng's gaze was heavy, "We must fight, but there must be a plan for how to fight."
Ling Xiao was taken aback, "It's like this, what kind of plan is still needed?"
Captain Ou, as if not hearing him, continued, "The other party wants the warship, so the possibility of firing directly is very low. This is our opportunity!"
Ling Xiao thought for a while and turned it over several times, but he couldn't understand what opportunity this was.
Ou Zhanpeng finally sorted out his thoughts and suddenly broadcast to all the pirates in the common language, "Everyone, my ship has 4,000 units of gold. From now on, if you maintain neutrality, I'll give you 10 units, and for those willing to stand with me, I'll give 100 units!"
As soon as he said this, there was a sudden silence in the communication.
The Black Horn people laughed heartily, "Humans, do you think such tactics will work? You are too naive!"
"How will you know if you don't try?" Ou Zhanpeng also laughed. "Let me analyze this. Even if we surrender, the warship will fall into the hands of the Black Horn people. No matter how the warship is handled in the end, the Black Horn people will get the lion's share. The Black Horn people eat meat, and you'll at most get a sip of soup, or maybe not even that. Instead of helping the Black Horn people, it's better to help me!"
Pirates were inherently disorganized. Judging by the style of the ships, these pirates were definitely not a unified group. The Black Horn people must have gathered them together not because of their overwhelming prestige, but by luring them with benefits.
If that was the case, then Ou Zhanpeng would give them benefits.
On one side were vague, uncertain benefits, and on the other was a clear stance and gold that could be obtained immediately. Unless they were die-hard loyalists of the Black Horn people, most would be tempted, right?
The Black Horn people's smiles faltered a bit, "Are you seeking death?"
Ou Zhanpeng raised his eyebrows, completely ignoring the enraged Black Horn people. "I'll give the gold first!"
Even though the promise to pay first had been made, the many pirates remained motionless. No one sided with the Starship.
Ling Xiao's chest pounded, his heart about to jump out of his mouth. "Will it work? Did we give too little?"
"Little? I don't think it's little at all," Ou Zhanpeng said confidently. "An entire planet hasn't sold for 4,000 units, do you think 10 units or 100 units is little?"
Ling Xiao immediately fell silent.
It was a joke. Even 0.1 unit was over 170 kilograms of gold. Anyone who thought it was little was an idiot!
"Hahaha, do you see? Your tactics are useless!"
Useless?
Ou Zhanpeng smiled more and more happily. "My view is the opposite of yours. Everyone just needs a leader... By the way, thank you for the gold you gave me, otherwise I wouldn't have thought of this method."
Ling Xiao secretly praised him. This wasn't just about money. It was about using gold to divide an originally unified alliance, a different kind of application for disintegrating the enemy.
Over 6,000 tons of gold was equivalent to 4 trillion yuan, which was a lot, but compared to the Starship, what was 4 trillion?
Money could be earned again, but if the Starship was lost, humanity's future would be lost!
"I don't believe the Black Horn people aren't afraid of other pirates stabbing them in the back!" Ou Zhanpeng said hatefully.
Although no one had come forward yet, pirates lived with their heads on their belts every day, for what else but profit?
The Black Horn people knew this too. Even though they spoke well, their true thoughts were uncertain. At this moment, they might already be suspicious of all the other pirates.
"The 10 units for neutrality remain unchanged, and for those helping me, 200 units!" Seeing that the effect was not obvious, Ou Zhanpeng doubled the reward. "First come, first served, while supplies last!"
Everyone gets a share, but no one is motivated. Only by introducing a competitive mechanism can the waters be stirred more turbulently!
He didn't know that at this time, the Black Horn people, while exchanging words with the Starship, were actively contacting other pirates, promising all sorts of benefits to stabilize their morale.
Ling Xiao thought this was an opportunity and secretly urged, "Let's fight!"
Ou Zhanpeng gently shook his head, "It's not time yet."
The Starship was still surrounded by pirates. Regardless of whether they were tempted or not, once the Starship made any move, the undecided pirates might instinctively open fire.
At that time, the situation that had been hard-won would revert to its previous state.
Ling Xiao was anxious, "We can't wait any longer!"
Ou Zhanpeng's spirit suddenly lifted, "Here they come!"
Who's coming?
Ling Xiao turned his head in astonishment, twisting his neck with such force that it made a crisp sound. In the projection in the center of the cabin, a swarm of pitch-black flying vehicles was released from the Black Horn warship. They were like a group of annoying flies, charging towards the Starship in a chaotic manner.
Ou Zhanpeng roared loudly in the common language, "Fight the Black Horn, share the gold—"
Amidst the roar, he slammed his palm down.
The Black Horn fighter jets, which were flying towards the Starship, suddenly turned from black to red, like monkeys thrown into a furnace by Taishang Laojun, radiating extreme heat from the inside out.
In just a moment, all the fighter jets were permeated with high heat, turning intensely red and hot like burnt charcoal. The Black Horn people inside were burned into a pile of inorganic matter by the high heat before they could even cry out.
Then, the fighter jets exploded one after another.
This scene stunned the pirates. Was this spaceship so formidable?
They had never seen such strange weapons and couldn't figure out what methods were used to achieve such peculiar effects.
Little did they know, this was a unique weapon of the Starship that could rapidly heat a region of space in a very short time. Anything within the effective range would rise to thousands of degrees in a very short time. Ou Zhanpeng named this weapon the Thermal Fusion Ray. Kuai Shu Ge.
However, according to Gong Yiding's research, this was not a ray at all, but a direct heating of a designated area of space, possibly using dark energy, or vacuum energy, or more likely, some form of energy unknown to humans.
Except for its short range, it had almost no drawbacks; it was simply miraculous.
A few pirate ships were probably on the side of the Black Horn people, or perhaps they opened fire instinctively. In any case, several beams hit the Starship and were deflected by the shields.
The Black Horn people almost went mad, shouting frantically, "Don't fire, don't fire, don't damage the spaceship—"
But no matter how desperately they shouted, they couldn't change the fact that the pirates had already opened fire.
Ou Zhanpeng gritted his teeth and slammed his palm down again.
The clear silhouettes of two opposing pirate ships suddenly blurred. The hulls cracked and disintegrated at a visible speed. Within a few breaths, the warships, which were in good condition, turned into a pile of useless debris like clay sculptures or wooden carvings.
The pirates inside naturally couldn't escape and were all turned into indistinguishable blood and pulp!
This was another close-defense weapon on the Starship, named Spatial Shockwave.
Like the Thermal Fusion Ray, this thing had nothing to do with waves, but it could indeed cause violent oscillations in a region of space. If the duration was long enough, it could even cleave all molecules within the affected range into atoms.
This time, not only were the pirates startled, but even Ou Zhanpeng was stunned by the effect of the shockwave. If he had known this thing was so powerful, why would he have bothered talking nonsense with the Black Horn people? It would have been much more satisfying to just shock them to death!
The pirates present finally came to their senses. Those farther away left immediately without a word.
When walking the rivers and lakes, safety comes first. Although the Starship's promise was very tempting, who knew if this extremely powerful warship would go back on its word after dealing with the Black Horn people? It was safer to leave early.
Those pirate ships that were caught in the middle were different. Their wormholes were blocked by the Black Horn people's methods, so they couldn't leave.
With the Black Horn people on one side and the Starship on the other, several groups of quick-reacting pirates immediately sided with Ou Zhanpeng, turning their cannons to fire at the Black Horn people.
With a leader, there were followers. More pirates joined the barrage against the Black Horn people.
Ou Zhanpeng's smile was so wide his mouth couldn't close. Although he already knew he had been overly cautious and realized he didn't need to be so careful, it still made him very happy that these pirates showed their stance at the most critical moment.
So, he slammed his palm down for the third time. The Shear Cannon immediately launched an attack.
But this time, it wasn't a long-range shot, nor was it just one shot. Instead, it locked onto the Black Horn warship and fired repeatedly.
Invisible blades instantly hit the enemy ship, first cutting into the enemy ship, then continuously cutting at intervals of one meter, like a skilled chef slicing the Black Horn warship into slices.
The Black Horn warship's shields were like decorations, completely useless.
However, the Black Horn warship was too large. Although the Shear Cannon was powerful, it couldn't penetrate the enemy ship, only leaving neat cut marks on the hull.
The cut marks not only existed on the surface but also penetrated deep into the enemy ship. Wherever the invisible blade passed, everything was sliced without question.
This repeated cutting method also had a specific tactical term: Whirlwind Shear Cannon!
Simply put, Whirlshear Cannon.
A group of pirates was amazed, unable to comprehend how such a strange weapon could exist in the world.
But thinking about it carefully, since it could slice the black ship with one shot, it naturally could slice the Black Horn warship layer by layer with multiple shots.
The pirates didn't care if it was useful or not. All those who couldn't leave joined the ranks of beating the fallen dog, firing at the Black Horn warship with all their might.
The effect was secondary; the key was to express their attitude through actions and strive for a sliver of hope.
Their firepower did cause a strong reaction from the shields, and they couldn't penetrate it for a while!
It wasn't that the pirates weren't trying hard, but the Black Horn people were never easy to deal with. Even the Starship's Shear Cannon couldn't completely slice through it. It was not strange that the pirates were unable to achieve any results.
The Black Horn people thought they had picked on a soft target, but instead, they had kicked an iron plate and released a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
All of this happened in a very short period. The Black Horn people immediately realized that the situation was not good and wanted to escape, but the Starship gave them no chance. With several vertical cuts, the front half of the Black ship was forcibly cut off.
There was no fire or explosion, but the Black Horn warship was indeed crippled.
Let alone flying away from danger by opening a wormhole, even ordinary flight was impossible.
The Black Horn people were also quite straightforward. Realizing there was no escape, they immediately sent out a surrender signal, willing to redeem their lives with the remaining gold on board.
The firepower from the pirate ships immediately decreased significantly.
It wasn't that they weren't putting in enough effort, but pirates were accustomed to plundering and had no need to kill targets that had already surrendered.
The Starship was different. Ou Zhanpeng completely disregarded whether the Black Horn people surrendered or not. He slammed his palms down several times, using the Shear Cannon to cut horizontally and vertically until the rear half of the enemy ship was completely dismembered before stopping.
If someone does not offend me, I will not offend them. If someone offends me, I will surely eliminate them!
With the Black Horn warship completely dealt with, the Starship's image was established. At least among the pirate groups, there should no longer be anyone who was blind.
The pirates who witnessed this scene were indeed terrified. When they discovered that the spatial blockade had been lifted, they immediately wanted to leave.
Unexpectedly, Ou Zhanpeng did not allow it. Instead, he issued a notice that surprised everyone: "Collect your gold before you leave!"