Chapter 257: Star Alliance Sanctuary! Huge Capital Ship! Bribes Don't Go Empty!

After clarifying the next strategic goal, Li Ang had a clearer understanding of the situation here.

At this time, the accompanying Secretary General Lucy suddenly reminded him: "Boss, Director Francis just sent a message saying that there has been new progress in the research of the Flood virus."

"He asked if you wanted to go to the Biological Experiment Center and see the 2.0 version of the Flood virus in person."

Ever since the Universal Corporation obtained a large number of Flood samples on the surface of the Shield World, it immediately launched a series of research.

Li Ang hopes that researchers in the biotechnology department can improve the Flood virus into an alternative version that is controllable and does not cause infection to the human body.

After all, the main function of the Scorpion Tail Virus is destruction, which is to kill all living things. It cannot infect and control the other party for its own use.

The Flood's highly assimilated infection ability can make up for this shortcoming, allowing the giant enterprise to hope to obtain a virus spore that can control hostile forces!
But what the giant companies can do now is only to reduce the intensity of the Flood's viral infection, but they cannot control it for their own benefit.

“Hopefully there will be some good news from the Biotechnology Department.”

Li Ang said thoughtfully.

If even the Department of Biotechnology cannot control the Flood, then they can only wait until the think tank is opened and look for the information inside to obtain the technology to edit the Flood's genetic program.

Immediately, under Leon's order, the shuttle returned to the Wanjie Base, and soon the two arrived at the Biotechnology Headquarters.

……

At the same time, on the other side of the Halo universe.

Along with a faint blue afterimage rushing out of the vortex, a huge fleet suddenly emerged in the dark deep space of the star field.

That was none other than the Covenant scientific expedition team led by the elite Captain Morami. At this moment, they had successfully sailed out of the jump space and returned to outer space.

Not far from the star field of this elite fleet, there stands a huge steel city. That is the capital of the Star Alliance - the City of Fraternity!
At this moment, tens of thousands of battleships and cruisers were floating and surrounding this huge city of celestial scale. The whole scene looked particularly spectacular.

When the jump was completed and the entire fleet arrived in the star field, Morami ordered the entire team to speed up and continue heading towards the capital of the Star Alliance.

The City of High Charity is quite large, with a diameter of 350 kilometers, and it looks like a giant mushroom.

However, compared with the mothership of the Reaper civilization, High Charity is still much smaller.

In fact, the prototype of High Charity was a Forerunner's dreadnought, but after thousands of years of continuous transformation and assembly by the Covenant, it gradually became its current huge appearance.

It can be said that this is a celestial city built by a group of interstellar garbage men by picking up equipment and garbage. In essence, it is still a giant garbage city.

There is no way around it. After all, the early Star Alliance was not made up of rich second-generation people with huge amounts of money and the support of wealthy fathers. Most of the Star Alliance members were just poor boys who were down and out.

The environment on their home planet is either so bad that magma emerges every day, or the neighbor Wang beats them up every day. A group of street urchins with dreams and a desire to get rich quickly embark on the arduous road of entrepreneurship.

Relying on the relics of the Forerunners for free, the Covenant, who had upgraded their muskets to more powerful ones, plundered along the way, became rich, and gradually became the leading civilization in the Halo universe today.

The development history of this city of fraternity can also represent the status of the Star Alliance, from a small dreadnought to the huge celestial body it is today.

This not only means that the Star Alliance's pie is getting bigger and bigger, but also that the factions and separatism within them are gradually bringing hidden dangers of division to the alliance.

But it is this assembled steel mushroom that, under its dome, is a giant city that can accommodate hundreds of millions of prophets.

The environment in this area is similar to that of the Earth, with gravity, atmospheric pressure, temperature, and air composition all controlled within an appropriate range.

Even humans who come to the City of High Charity can carry out normal activities freely without wearing chemical protective suits or filtering masks.

Obviously, the attributes of the City of Fraternity of the Star Alliance and the Ideal City of the Universal Corporation are the same, both of which are intended to attract and accommodate all species in the universe.

Let them live together in this city!
The San'Shyum, the prophet race, who founded the Star Alliance, were the original shareholders of High Charity. They even helped the ancient humans when they fought with the forerunners for the throne.

Yes, the prophet once had a connection with ancient humans.

Unlike new-generation species and civilizations such as the Jiralhanae and the Jackals, the Prophets are the real "Old Money" in the Halo universe, the old aristocracy of the past.

But after the Forerunners activated the Halo Array, the Prophet, who was destroyed and restarted, had long forgotten his past identity, just like humans have forgotten that they were once ancient humans.

Now that the prophets have learned of the existence of the Forerunners and humans, they have begun to think about usurping the throne. They want to swallow up the remains of the Forerunners and become the overlords of the universe.

To this end, the prophets relied on deception and big promises of dividends from listing to win over a group of capable thugs, and the powerful Star Alliance became the prophets' most powerful weapon.

The prophets hold power and control the members of the Star Alliance with one hand, and with the other hand they excavate the remains and technological points of the Forerunners, uncovering the historical truth of the universe's past and slowly embarking on their own cause of unification.

If nothing unexpected happens, the prophet who strikes first will most likely be able to rely on his early advantages to slowly snowball into an absolute crushing force, exterminate human civilization, and successfully seize power and usurp the throne.

This script is definitely the "Halo" version of Sima Yi, who usurped the Cao family's big villa and forcibly replaced it with his own property title!
However, the arrival of global giants has disrupted all this trend.

At this moment, inside a CCS-class cruiser, Jack Wells was observing the scene outside through the holographic screen.

Looking at the City of Brotherly Love not far away, Jack couldn't help but sigh: "Although the iron mushroom is a little small, there are really enough fleets around it."

"The Covenant's naval power is almost catching up with ours!"

After hearing Jack's speech, Li De beside him also nodded and affirmed: "Indeed."

"With the naval forces currently deployed in Universe 004, it is really a bit overwhelmed by this fleet."

"Even if we combine all the Sojourner Dreadnoughts, it's still not that easy to win. Even if we win, it's a pyrrhic victory."

Through the holographic screen on the center console, Li De saw the marked CSO-class super-heavy aircraft carrier, which will also be the Long Night in service of the world giant!

When he learned that there were as many as two hundred Long Night ships near the City of Fraternity, Li De felt somewhat surprised and shocked in his heart.

You know, giant companies have only built less than ten of these behemoth-level super aircraft carriers, but the Covenant owns more than a hundred CSO-class aircraft carriers!
Although as early as three months ago, Reed and Jack learned about the situation of the Covenant's battleships from the intelligence information revealed by Morami.

But when they saw nearly two hundred CSO aircraft carriers with a length of more than 30,000 meters and tens of thousands of cruisers, battleships and destroyers forming a dense warship array.

Li De still felt a strong tingling sensation on his scalp!
He couldn't imagine what a tragic scene it would be if the Universal Corporation really went to war with the Star Alliance.

"Unless we bring out the Moon of War, we won't know how many casualties will occur if we want to defeat the main naval fleet of the Star Alliance head-on!"

Li De couldn't help but exclaimed, although the giant enterprise could indeed defeat the main force of the Star Alliance head-on, Leon would never easily move out a giant battleship like the War Moon.

The reason is simple.

For the alien civilizations in the 003 "Edge of Tomorrow" universe, the War Moon is the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads!

Once the Moon of War is lost, the world trade circle of Universe 003 will also be affected, and the loss will outweigh the gain.

That's why Li Ang tried every means to divide the Star Alliance and win over a group of forces for his own use. Otherwise, it would be difficult for him to take down the solid Star Alliance.

After all, in order to guarantee the logistics and resource expenditures of the Halo universe, 30% of the production areas of the entire Universe Corporation are providing blood transfusions here.

This is already the limit of what a giant company can achieve.

Whether it is building a naval fleet, a front-line base, or an industrial production area, it requires a large amount of logistical resources and personnel.

Other universes also need to develop, guard against other civilized species, and establish new trade circle systems. These territories are destined to consume a lot of defense costs.

Therefore, it is impossible for Le Ang to bet all his resources on the 004 Universe. Otherwise, if a fire breaks out in the backyard, he will be blocked at both ends or even suffer a total collapse!
Therefore, the tasks of the two special envoys, Li De and David, are very important, as they determine whether the strategic layout set by Li Ang can be successful.

"Two supervisors."

At this time, Captain Morami, with his trusted confidant Wadami, came to Reed and spoke in fluent human language:

"That's the capital of the Star Alliance, a mobile space city, the City of High Charity." "Although it seems a bit too bloated, the speed of this mobile city can reach up to 70% of the sub-light speed, and jump navigation is no problem."

Morami's words seemed to be reminding Li De intentionally or unintentionally that the Universal Corporation had better take down the Star Alliance in one go, otherwise the Prophet and his gang of old guys would just drive away in their "RV".

After that, Morami controlled the holographic screen panel and issued an order to the helmsman to anchor, allowing the fleet to approach the port near the City of High Charity.

"Captain Morami, I'm going to trouble you next. I hope you can complete this task well."

Li De once again emphasized to the other party the importance of this mission.

"Don't worry, this operation concerns the future of our tribe. I will handle it with caution."

Morami is of course very concerned about this matter. After all, he is hoping to get a position in a giant company based on his performance this time.

If you want to change jobs successfully, you must first show your loyalty and demonstrate your own value, otherwise you will still be a small-time character.

"that is it!"

Seeing that Morami knew what was going on, Li De nodded slightly.

Soon, Reed and Jack turned and left the bridge, and Wadami promptly reminded Captain Morami:
"Commander-in-chief, the customs fleet is approaching our ship and is now checking our situation."

As soon as the voice fell, the communicator beside him also gave the news in time: "Report to the captain, the commander of the 19th formation of the Star Alliance Customs has sent us a communication request."

After hearing the news reported by everyone, Morami nodded and responded: "Accept the request."

Morami had some impression of a member of the customs of the 19th Squadron. He was Zatan Garr, who belonged to the Jackal camp and was an out-and-out corrupt official.

"Yes, Captain!"

After receiving instructions from the commander, the communicator immediately connected the signal to the central console and amplified it so that Morami could see it clearly.

Immediately, the pitch-black holographic screen displayed the interior of a CSO aircraft carrier and the appearance of a jackal captain.

"Is that you? Captain Morami, why did you come to the Sanctuary instead of doing your scientific research work in the Shield World? You'd better give me a suitable reason."

"Otherwise, hmph! I will charge you with desertion without permission and destroy all of you here!"

The holy land that Zatan mentioned is the City of Fraternity.

According to the internal rules of the Star Alliance, any fleet unit that accepts orders to work outside must obtain permission from the Prophet's Council before returning to the Sanctuary.

"Zatan, it seems that you are doing well with the Jiralhanae. You dare to be so arrogant in front of me. What's the matter? Did those idiots make you rich?"

Morami mocked Zatan unabashedly, but the other party just smiled shamelessly and didn't care about Morami's sarcasm at all.

"I just robbed a planetary tribe not long ago and captured three million slaves and countless treasures. I really made a fortune."

"And there are special forces to block foreign fleets like you who come back without permission. How much treasure should you give me in order to pass through smoothly?"

Zatan bribed Morami without any psychological burden. The treasure he was talking about was naturally not ordinary paper money, but precious metals in the universe, or rare mineral resources.

Scarcity makes things valuable, and even the interstellar organization, the Star Covenant, is no exception. Metals like gold can circulate freely within the Star Covenant.

As for people like Zatan who work in customs, once they ask for money, there is basically no money they cannot get. Even a passing fleet can be robbed of treasure by them.

Unless it is a special envoy sent by the prophet.

"You are still so greedy, Zatan. Aren't you afraid that the prophet will find you to answer for your crime?"

Morami smiled helplessly.

However, Zatan just had a look of being a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water. Their tribe was looting on orders, and the resources they looted were not to be given as tribute to the prophet, so there was nothing to be afraid of!

"Hurry up and tell the truth, why are you running back?"

Zatan continued to question.

Seeing that Zatan was unmoved, Morami continued, "Let me tell you the truth. Something happened in the Shield World Miracle. There are good news and bad news."

"I must report what's happening over there to the prophet immediately. You'd better get out of my way immediately and don't delay my important business."

Morami warned Zatan in a serious tone that the scientific expedition mission regarding the Forerunner miracles was still quite important within the Covenant.

Zatan naturally understood the seriousness of the situation.

"Haha, it seems that you have made some achievements in the Shield World. Is there any good stuff or news you can share with us?"

"Since we are all friends, friends should help each other. This is not too much to ask, right?"

Adhering to the principle of not giving away bribes in vain, Zatan still caught Morami and demanded benefits, even though he could not use cannons to bombard Morami's scientific expedition team.

But it is still possible to take bribes!
No money? OK!

Then send people to search the place from inside to outside. It may take ten days or half a month. That is also the normal work process.

If you are in a bad mood, then take this opportunity to block it for another half a month.

Even if he reported it to the prophet, what would happen? The worst that could happen was that he would drink three cups as punishment. Next time he saw Morami, Zatan could continue to block him!

If you want to enter the City of Brotherly Love quickly and report your work progress, you have to pay money and give benefits first.

Facing Zatan, the shameless old corrupt official, Morami just chuckled, as if he was already accustomed to such situations.

"Okay, since you treat me as a friend, I will do what friends should do."

"As a result of the assessment of the Shield World this time, we found a lot of good things there, but we also lost some troops, such as the Jiralhanae and the people from your jackal tribe, all of whom died."

"Unfortunately, I had to accept the resources they seized with great difficulty. What do you think..."

Originally, the fact that all the soldiers from the Jiralhanae and Jackal tribes were killed was a very suspicious thing, but Morami's last sentence obscured the importance of this matter.

As expected, when he heard that all the soldiers of the Jackal Tribe were killed, Zatan subconsciously thought that it was the Morami, an elite tribe, who were seeking revenge.

But when it heard the following sentence, the anger in its heart instantly subsided. Wasn’t the meaning of this sentence obvious enough!
Ownerless things belong to whoever sees them.

"Captain Morami, you don't need to say more. Since it is the legacy of the Jiralhanae and the Jackal tribe, I should be the one to take it over reluctantly."

"I will send a transport boat over to take over the items. Once the inspection is complete, you can go where you need to go. I will ensure that you have no problems."

Zatan said calmly that although it was a bit greedy, it was not like taking the money and not doing the job, so it should release those who should be released.

Who would feel bad about money?

"Okay, I'll trouble you then."

Morami chuckled. It turned out that money makes the world go round. The supplies it prepared this time were actually some precious metals or something.

Some of the rare minerals are precious metals and rare ores pulled over from the world trade circle of the 003 "Edge of Tomorrow" universe.

You can't find it in the Halo universe!
Therefore, Morami firmly believed that this "little gift" prepared in advance was enough to allow his fleet to pass smoothly.

(End of this chapter)