CH 77

Chapter 77: His Royal Highness Randall

Andre opened the terminal, looked through the address book to find a number that had never been dialed before, and initiated a communication request.

The callback tone sounded for a while before being picked up.

“Hello?” A cold and gloomy male voice came from the communicator. The background sound was very lively, and it sounded like many people were there.

“Victor.” Andre called out the other party’s name in a flat tone.

The other party was silent for a while before slowly asking, “Who?”

“It’s me.”

The other end suddenly fell silent. Andre knew very well that Victor was restraining the urge to hang up the communication. After all, the relationship between them had never been very harmonious.

After a pause, the noisy background sounds gradually disappeared, leaving only the sound of boots walking heavily on hard ground.

“Hmph, are you still alive?” Victor’s voice contained faint sarcasm and echoed slightly. It seemed that he had moved to a confined space to talk.

“Ah? Has the main planet started to spread news of my death?” Andre’s expression relaxed a little. He heard the real meaning behind Victor’s seemingly mocking words.

“That’s not true, but I’m not blind. The royal family suddenly made such a big move. If you had still been alive, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Royal family? Is there any change in His Majesty’s body…?”

“Yes, His Majesty’s condition suddenly deteriorated and he passed away last night.”

“Heh.” Andre sneered. No wonder the main planet that could be contacted yesterday lost contact today. It seems that someone couldn’t wait. “How’s Randall?”

Victor raised his eyebrows slightly, “Why, don’t you suspect that Randall did it?”

“Heh.” He responded with another sneer.

Victor snorted and compromised, “Well, it’s Brad. He’s already discussing with the council to prepare for the succession ceremony.”

Come to think of it, just now Victor was participating in the parliamentary discussion.

“I don’t care about him. I just want to know- how is Randall?”

“It’s not really clear. When I came here, I got the news that His Royal Highness Randall was overwhelmed and was recovering. His Royal Highness Brad will be in charge of his succession ceremony. If your movements aren’t quicker, I’m afraid His Highness Randall won’t last long.”

Andre’s brows wrinkled tightly. He knew that Victor’s words weren’t alarmist, and Brad’s ambition was already obvious. Andre had been chased by interstellar pirates and his majesty passed away suddenly, and he figured both should be Brad’s handwriting. After all, it would be a pity to let go of such a great opportunity.

“How is my fleet?”

“Your fleet? How would I know?”

“Huh?” Andre’s voice rose slightly.

“I really don’t know! But some of your guards moved. It’s likely that they’re under the control of Brad? After all, there are many people who are willing to see you unlucky…” Victor sneered.

Andre didn’t care about Victor’s mockery of him, after all, they weren’t friends. If it weren’t for the special circumstances, he wouldn’t have called him to begin with.

“I’m on Oaks. Brad will send someone to finish us off. I need a starship and a batch of energy jade.”

“Heh, you say it like it’s so easy. Why should I help you?”

“Are you willing to let Brad be in charge? Then your good days may be over.” Andre asked lightly.

Victor snorted impatiently, “I’ll ask around!”

Andre looked at the hung up communication with a faint smile on his face. He believed that Victor would make the right choice.

Victor was a marquis and a well-known figure among the lords. He hadn’t dealt with Andre very much, and the two had no friendship in private. Andre was too powerful, and as such Victor was specially fostered by the emperor to fight against Andre and would always stand up and oppose anything that Andre supported.

In the eyes of ordinary people, if something really happened to Andre then Victor would probably be the happiest one. They would think that Brad would desperately win him over to get the upper hand and wouldn’t be lenient on him. Instead, Victor became the person most likely to help him.

Victor was different from the lesser lords who were easily attracted by immediate interests. Instead, he was a clever man who had the courage to fight endlessly with Andre in the open, but knew never to step on Andre’s bottom line. He was very clear on the fact that his value was based on the fact that Andre was still there, so he knew how he needed to manipulate the situation.

Brad was ruthless and daring. He had always wanted to restore the monopoly of the political power back to the crown, and he had never done anything to offend the lords. If Andre was really taken down by Brad, then Victor was likely to become the next Andre. Therefore, Victor would not be on Brad’s side whether it was in public or private.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long for Victor to send a communication.

“I contacted a trader. He’s not too far away from Oaks. He’ll come by with a starship to pick you up. There’s a batch of raw material on his starship that you can buy, but you have to pay for it yourself!”

“No problem.” Andre never struggled too much with money matters.

“By the way, I just heard that Brad received a sum of money from the financial side. Where do you think he’ll spend the money?” Victor said gleefully.

Andre narrowed his eyes slightly, “Make your trader move faster. Also, protect Randall.”

“Yeah, you think?” Victor finished speaking, and he ended the communication.

Where else could Brad’s money be spent? It must be intended to go towards the interstellar pirates, asking them to finish what they started…

“Notice, everyone be ready to fight at all times. Be prepared for unanticipated enemy attack.” Andre said to his subordinates.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

*********

Sure enough, within a few hours three starships and a large number of mechas appeared on the camp’s radar.

Andre and his subordinates were ready for battle. Andre had deliberately informed Lin Luo and Xing Mo and told them to hide in the camp not to go out, so as not to be accidentally injured.

Surprisingly, including Andre only three people went out to play this time.

Andre directly ate the three or four kilograms of green hibiscus jade that Lin Luo had bet on before, as well as the red jade. The abundant wood and fire energies made his skin color very strange. His two subordinates also ate two different colors of jade.

“Andre, what’s the attribute of your power?” Lin Luo couldn’t help but asked curiously after seeing that Andre and his subordinates were able to absorb the elemental energy of two different attributes.

“I have no attributes.” Andre didn’t hide from Lin Luo.

Andre’s race was very special. Their bodies were like energy converters, capable of transforming the absorbed natural elemental energies of different attributes into a force that could be manipulated freely.

Andre was the most special member of their group. His so-called non-attribute was actually more like a full attribute in that he was able to absorb the energy of any attribute. As long as there was a steady stream of jade, he could exert near infinite combat power. It’s just that they needed to be equipped with mechas able to maximize their combat effectiveness.

His subordinates didn’t have his abilities, and usually could only control elemental energy with single or dual attributes. For example, Raymond had a single fire attribute. The two subordinates who were going out to play with Andre this time were the only people there who could control dual attributes.

In the previous duel with interstellar pirates, if they hadn’t had only two mechas on their starship then Andre alone would have been enough to defeat the interstellar pirates and escape.

Although Andre’s attack power was strong and equivalent to having almost unlimited combat power, the consumption of jade was too great and was simply burning money. Once the jade was exhausted, so was the combat power.

No wonder Andre was so rich and was constantly expanding his trade channels. When in the Empire, Andre always liked to buy jade. It turned out it was for this reason…

Compared with the abilities of Andre and his people, Lin Luo felt that the abilities of Xing Mo and himself were more sustainable.

As soon as the battle started, the three people entered their mechas and rushed towards the attacking interstellar pirates.

The pirates probably didn’t expect Andre and the others to face their force, especially as they wanted to fight them with only three mechas. By the time they thought of attacking Andre and the others who had rushed in front of them, it was too late…

Andre’s goal was clear. He aimed to attack the pirate’s starships first. After all, the heavy weapons that were loaded on the starship were more lethal.

Andre used a ball of ability-produced fire to destroy the engine of a starship. The other two mechas also launched attacks on the other two starships. Although these starships had energy shields as protection, they were vulnerable to powerful elemental attacks.

“Damn! Hit them for Lao Zi! A reward of 1 million credits per kill!” Nelson also led the team personally this time. He was sitting in the black mecha, and his eyes were red with anger. This business was really the biggest loss he had ever done. In order to kill this man named Andre, he didn’t even know yat how many starships and mechas had been damaged or lost, and he almost emptied his family! If it weren’t for the amount of money the employer gave him along with the promise of a resource star after the job was done, he really didn’t want to come and fight this guy again at all!

===========Author’s Notes===========

The author has something to say:

===========Little Theater===========

[Crazy Moshang’s Little Theater]

Xing Mo: According to the routine, we have to help Andre quell the civil strife, appease the people, and take control, and then we have an extra brother, no, we are allies.

Lin Xiao Luo: A bunch of fake aristocrats who eat jade with so good mouths and eat jade as if they eat crunchy snacks. Are they really fighting madmen? You have money and don’t cherish it, but I feel sorry for such beautiful jades.

Xing Xiao Mo: wife-to-be, your adjectives are so boring, but it’s terrible to think about. Senior! Seek protection!

Yin Ye: Heh, now I know you’re mine.

Lin Xiao Luo: I feel like I am in a cult→_→

Yin Ye: Little cute, come and hug to see if you are fat.

Lin Xiao Luo: Well, no~ No, this is also a cult!

(The theaterman: What am I doing? Sleepy? Stimulated? No, I’m just crazy (ー`·ー))