ca-book Chapter 789 Jedi
Chapter 789 Jedi
Chapter 789 Jedi
Fu Qinghai and Soma Ule discussed for a moment.
Ultimately, it was decided that Fu Qinghai would enter the restaurant alone.
The Bosa people didn't mean that Uller couldn't go in, but rather that if Lieutenant Uller's true identity was recognized in the restaurant, it might cause some conflict.
After all, the Galactic Empire is universally hated.
Fu Qinghai pushed open the restaurant door, and a wave of heat mixed with the smell of food and a noisy cacophony hit him.
Fu Qinghai stood at the entrance and surveyed the restaurant's interior. It was quite crowded with diners. A burly Gamo man was roughly tearing at some kind of charred meat with his hands; two Nemoidians in long robes were talking in hushed tones; and a Bosaan waiter in a greasy apron slammed a dish of suspiciously steaming "stew" onto the table, splattering the broth onto the faded armor of a Rodian bounty hunter nearby.
In the center of the restaurant was a semi-open bar counter similar to a Japanese teppanyaki grill. Fu Qinghai squeezed through the crowded and narrow aisle and pulled out a chair to sit down in front of the bar.
Behind the bar stood a giant insect, as tall as an adult, resembling a praying mantis. Its four slender limbs held a spatula, a shovel, and a spice bottle, and it was nimbly flipping and turning the ingredients on the hot plate with a "whoosh whoosh" sound.
This should be a Krik, like the Geonosis, an insect-like alien race.
"Give me one, uh..."
Fu Qinghai picked up the menu on the table, glanced at it briefly, and randomly chose one of the more expensive options:
"This Moncalamari sashimi."
The giant praying mantis behind the bar put down its shovel and slicing knife, and pulled a black covered bowl the size of a sweet potato from the cabinet under the bar, slamming it onto the table with a "bang".
The black covered bowl had a sealed lid and body. Fu Qinghai picked it up and shook it; the container seemed to contain some kind of liquid. Fu Qinghai twisted and unscrewed the lid, and the instant the lid separated, a sharp "squeak" was heard, and an octopus-like creature suddenly sprang up from the bowl, its eight tentacles revealing a beak filled with sharp, dense teeth, heading straight for Fu Qinghai's face.
"Snapped!"
Fu Qinghai reacted extremely quickly, grabbing the "octopus" in his hand with a wave of his hand. The octopus continued to wriggle and struggle in his palm, with suckers on its tentacles clinging firmly to the skin of his arm, and its sharp beak constantly biting.
The bowl emitted the salty smell of the sea, and the octopus was full of vitality, as if it had just been pulled out of the water.
Fu Qinghai looked up at the Krik chef:
"No dipping sauce?"
The giant praying mantis placed a small dish of sauce on the table.
Fu Qinghai grabbed the octopus, dipped it in some sauce, and put it in his mouth. He could feel the tingling sensation of the suckers pulling on his tongue. The octopus tried to block his trachea with its tentacles. Fu Qinghai bit down, and a burst of salty juice exploded in his mouth.
Fu Qinghai swallowed the food without changing his expression, then took out a small stack of credits from his pocket and slapped them on the bar. The value of these credits far exceeded the price of the sashimi. Fu Qinghai stared at the Krik chef and said softly:
"I'm looking for Zandan."
Upon hearing this, the Krik stopped what it was doing, tilted its head, and turned its triangular head, its two huge yellow compound eyes staring at Fu Qinghai, as if scrutinizing the human in front of it.
"Why are you looking for Zandan?"
The Krik people's complex mouthparts emitted human voices, which sounded like strange sounds produced by several pieces of carapace rubbing against each other.
"You'll know once you call him over."
Fu Qinghai didn't want to explain further.
"I am Zandan."
"It's a deep, guttural voice," the Krikman said.
Fu Qinghai was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this, then looked up and examined the giant, dark red mantis in front of him once more.
Because the other party is not human, and most likely not even a vertebrate, Fu Qinghai has no way of judging whether the other party is lying from body language or facial expressions.
"I have a batch of good goods that I want to sell."
Fu Qinghai slowly took out a small pebble, about the size of a fingernail, from the pocket of his vest and gently placed it on the bar counter.
"They told me to come to the Rust Tongue restaurant in Borgo and find a man named Zaandan who could eat the goods."
The Kreik man extended one of his appendages, picked up the stone from the table, and held it up to his compound eye for a closer look.
"Duoluo Rock is of very high quality."
The Krik examined the rubble and spoke softly, then set down the piece of ore, its compound eyes fixed on Fu Qinghai:
Where did you get this batch of goods from?
"I think you should know."
Fu Qinghai revealed a mysterious smile.
"The two planets with the largest reserves of tar in the Milky Way, Mingsaka and Mustafa, are both under the control of the Empire. Mingsaka was at war not long ago, and Mustafa is Vader's personal territory... Where did you get this batch of goods from?"
The Krik man kept turning his triangular head, seemingly using his compound eyes to observe Fu Qinghai from different angles:
"Unless... you yourself are a member of the Empire."
"You knew as soon as I walked in."
Fu Qinghai stirred the remaining seawater in the covered bowl with his finger, showing no surprise at having his identity exposed. He raised his eyes, glanced at the Krik people, and said calmly:
Why ask a question you already know the answer to?
That's right, this is Fu Qinghai's plan.
Soma Uller brought some mineral samples, originally planning to disguise himself as a mineral smuggling gang to make contact with this mysterious downstream party. However, he did not expect that his true identity would be exposed as soon as he arrived at the restaurant entrance.
Fu Qinghai therefore changed his plans at the last minute. Among the many ores brought by Ule, he specially selected a piece of mineral from Mingban and Mustafa—Duoluo Rock—in order to use this as a pretext to solidify his imperial identity.
Mingsaka and Mustafa are different from other mining planets. The Battle of Mingsaka is largely over, but a large number of Imperial troops remain stationed on the surface. Mustafa is Darth Vader's personal domain and is similarly heavily guarded. Ordinary smugglers simply cannot smuggle ore from these two planets.
unless……
Unless the smuggling ring itself is an empire.
Imperial soldiers were secretly trading ore.
This is the illusion that Fu Qinghai wants to create.
Of course, it's not necessarily all an illusion. There might indeed be some Imperial soldiers secretly reselling resources under Imperial control, and even weapons. Fu Qinghai didn't know that, but the message he was conveying to the mysterious ore smuggler, Zandan, was that he and Ule were such Imperial soldiers who could transport large quantities of ore raw materials from planets under the strict control of the Empire.
As for why we should turn the tables on them?
Fu Qinghai knew that the Bosa man at the door, who had seen through Wule's identity, would definitely tip off the restaurant.
Fu Qinghai knew very well that from the moment he entered the restaurant, the owner already knew he was a member of the Empire.
"I can supply in large quantities and in a stable manner."
Fu Qinghai raised his chin arrogantly and looked at the Krek people:
"It all depends on whether you have the capacity to handle it."
The giant praying mantis's two antennae on its head swayed incessantly.
Fu Qinghai guessed that this might mean it was thinking at that moment.
"Hey boss, my fried noodles aren't ready yet!"
A diner in the distance craned his neck and shouted in dissatisfaction.
"You come with me."
Krik handed the shovel to one of his men, wiped his hands with a rag, and turned to speak.
Fu Qinghai got up and left his seat, following the giant praying mantis from the central bar all the way to the restaurant's kitchen.
……
Fu Qinghai followed the Krik man through the crowded and busy kitchen, squeezed past a group of alien chefs preparing food, and arrived at the restaurant's warehouse.
"boom."
Krik closed the door and turned to face Fu Qinghai.
"So where did you get this batch of ore from?"
The giant praying mantis looked down at Fu Qinghai from its high position.
"Akisaka or Mustafa?"
"you guess?"
Fu Qinghai smiled, looking inscrutable.
Are there any other minerals besides travertine?
The Kreeks then raised another question.
"That depends on the extent of our cooperation."
Fu Qinghai's attitude became more controlled as the situation progressed.
"After all, different ores are more difficult to transport out. We have inspection procedures to deal with, and we have connections to maintain with our superiors and subordinates... You don't need to worry about any of that. Just tell me how much money you can offer."
Fu Qinghai showed a slight hint of impatience.
The Kreek's antennae on its head began to sway again.
The giant praying mantis seemed to be deep in thought again.
So far, Fu Qinghai has portrayed the characters very convincingly.
He sensed that the other party was already seriously considering it.
At that moment, the closed iron gate suddenly opened, and a slightly smaller Krik man with a dark black carapace entered the warehouse. He approached and spoke in some incomprehensible foreign language, while the antennae of two giant mantises swayed continuously.
Although Fu Qinghai couldn't understand it.
But he keenly sensed it.
The atmosphere is getting a little strange.
The two Kriks turned to look at Fu Qinghai. Fu Qinghai was not wearing any weapons. Facing the gaze of the four yellow compound eyes, his left hand quietly reached for a long-handled spoon behind him. Seeing that one of the Kriks who had just entered was about to put his arm around his gun belt, Fu Qinghai gripped the spoon handle tightly and lashed it forward.
"Snapped!"
With a crisp, loud bang, the Kree had just pulled out his blaster when the limb holding it was snapped off by a long-handled spoon. Yellow liquid gushed from the broken joint, and the Kree emitted a sharp hiss from its mouth.
The spoon in Fu Qinghai's hand also broke, leaving only a wooden handle. He gripped the handle tightly and swung it forward with force. The broken handle pierced directly into the huge yellow compound eye of the Krik man, which resembled a light bulb, and juice splattered everywhere.
After killing one Kree, Fu Qinghai didn't forget the other Kree. He turned around and pounced on it, grabbing one of its appendages. But unexpectedly, the creature twisted and pulled, breaking its own arm in the process.
A thick, yellow liquid splattered out.
Fu Qinghai held a severed limb in his hand.
The dark red Kree screeched, shoved its companion's corpse toward Fu Qinghai, and began pulling down the surrounding shelves and cabinets. Then it turned and hopped away toward the warehouse exit.
Various odds and ends tumbled to the ground with a clatter. Fu Qinghai sidestepped the overturned corpse and the falling debris, bent down and picked up the explosive pistol that had fallen to the ground. However, he found that the trigger mechanism of the explosive pistol was not suitable for human fingers to pull, so he threw the explosive pistol aside and nimbly stepped over the shelves and cabinets on the ground to chase after it.
Fu Qinghai had just pushed open the kitchen door when a sudden alarm went off in his mind. He abruptly tilted his head, and a red energy beam grazed past his ear. One of the alien chefs in the kitchen had already raised his gun and was firing at him, while the other chefs had also put down their utensils and were looking around for weapons.
Fu Qinghai grabbed a cleaver standing on the cutting board and threw it forward again. The cleaver flew through the narrow and crowded kitchen and "crack," "crack," "crack," split the heads of three chefs in succession. Long strips of blood splattered all over the ceiling instantly, and the three aliens with their heads split open slowly fell down.
The alien chef with the gun was stunned by what he saw, even forgetting to pull the trigger again. Fu Qinghai's strength was so immense that anything in his hands could become a deadly weapon. After throwing the cleaver, his arm remained in a forward position, and his five fingers suddenly clenched inward.
The cleaver, which was spinning rapidly in mid-air, flew out and then returned like a boomerang without slowing down at all. With a "crack," it cleaved the back of the head of the remaining alien chef with a gun from behind, and then flew towards Fu Qinghai, where he finally caught it firmly in his palm.
Fu Qinghai put the cleaver back on the cutting board.
There wasn't a single living person left in the entire kitchen.
Fu Qinghai picked up the E-5 blast rifle that had fallen to the ground, kicked open the kitchen door, and went to the restaurant. He found that the outside was still bustling with noise. The giant praying mantis was nowhere to be seen. The diners were still clinking glasses and enjoying their meals, completely unaware of the fierce battle taking place in the kitchen and warehouse.
Neither of them noticed that the waiter was missing.
"Humph……"
Fu Qinghai lowered his gun and strode towards the restaurant exit. He pushed open the restaurant door and stepped onto the street outside, only to find the entire street deserted. Soma Uller was also gone. However, he saw red flashes constantly appearing behind the alleyway forks and heard the sharp sound unique to explosive weapons.
Fu Qinghai walked to the fork in the alley and, sure enough, saw Lieutenant Ule crouching behind a pile of discarded parts, exchanging fire with two Bosa men on the other side. One of the Bosa men was the same guy who had been sitting at the restaurant entrance earlier.
Fu Qinghai raised his blaster, aimed, and fired. Two Bosa men fell to the ground. Seeing this, Soma Uller also stood up from behind the discarded parts. Fu Qinghai went to the Bosa men's corpses, took out the credits he had given them earlier from their pockets, and put them back in his own pocket.
Ule couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"I spent quite a lot of money at the restaurant."
Fu Qinghai turned to look at Wule and said:
"The Imperial Security Bureau will reimburse me, right?"
What happened to you inside?
Uller looked at him with a serious expression and said:
Why did they suddenly attack me?
"We were almost at the point of reaching an agreement."
Fu Qinghai shook his head and grinned:
"Then they seemed to have suddenly received some news... I guess it was the mole in the base who made a move."
After saying that, he looked at Uller and asked:
"Did you see a giant, dark red praying mantis run out? It should be the 'Zandan' we're looking for."
"I saw it, and I was about to chase after it when I was stopped by two of its Bosa servants over there."
Uller pointed in one direction and said.
The two ran quickly along the alley. Fu Qinghai's Lyman's Ear had already heard armed men rushing towards them, and he could hear their conversations. Clearly, the firefight had alerted the Starport's administrators. Fu Qinghai didn't know how Ule ultimately planned to handle the situation, but he wasn't worried. He was confident he could fight his way out.
Fu Qinghai tore off one of the Krik's arms, and thick, yellow fluid dripped from the wound. Based on these marks on the ground, Fu Qinghai and Ule kept close behind the creature.
That giant mantis must have been quite powerful in Port Borgo. During their chase, alien gunmen kept trying to ambush them from the shadows. They hid on rooftops, in alleyways, behind windows, and even in sewers, but every time they peeked out, Fu Qinghai would shoot them down with one precise shot each. His marksmanship was as ridiculous as if he were cheating.
"Indeed, the man who captured a frigate."
Realizing that Qingshan's formidable fighting prowess was indeed well-deserved, Soma Uller became even more confident, thinking that bringing him along this time was definitely the right choice. One man with a gun took out all the gunmen along the way, he was simply invincible and unstoppable, one man was worth an entire reinforced platoon of assault teams.
Following the yellow slime on the ground, the two plunged into a wide-open space. All around them were mountains of spaceship wreckage, along with several cranes and shredders—heavy construction machinery. Not far ahead of them, the dark red-shelled Kree, clutching a severed limb, stood alone, seemingly waiting for them.
Fu Qinghai raised his blaster and aimed at one of the giant mantis's legs, pulling the trigger to prevent it from escaping. The red beam flashed by, but just before it hit, it was deflected by a green beam of light that suddenly flew from the side. The blast beam bounced off and disappeared into the dark night sky.
Fu Qinghai and Wule both felt a chill run down their spines.
The green beam of light fell to the ground with a "thud," then seemed to be attracted by some invisible force, automatically flying back in the direction it came from, and was grasped by a slender hand with sharp, pointed nails on its delicate, white fingers.
Fu Qinghai narrowed his eyes slightly.
Ule's expression changed drastically.
A word simultaneously came to mind for both of them:
Jedi Knights!?
A mysterious figure, draped in a long brown robe and wearing a wide hood, slowly emerged from behind the crane.
She held a lightsaber in one hand, and with the other hand she lifted her hood to reveal a face covered with fine green scales on both sides of her cheeks. The protrusions on her brow bones formed two ridges extending backward. Her exquisitely braided black, slightly curly hair was combed back. She had light green skin, deep purple eyes, and stared indifferently at Fu Qinghai and Soma Uller in the distance.
At the same time, a figure slowly emerged from behind the shredder on the other side. It was a very beautiful woman. Her black vest and tight pants outlined her lithe and sexy tall figure. She had dark blue hair and rose-red skin, and a faint smile on her face. She held a blaster pistol in one hand and a lightsaber in the other.
A purple-red lightsaber with a very rare color.
Jedi Knights... or two at that?
Lieutenant Uller suddenly felt a sense of despair.
This is not a situation she can handle.
It's not even within the scope of the Imperial Security Bureau's operations.
This situation must be handled by the Imperial Inquisition.
"That's enough, your investigation ends here."
The green-skinned alien woman spoke calmly:
"Lieutenant Soma Parivish Uller."
She even revealed Ule's full name and military rank.
Who exactly is the mole within the base?
Both Fu Qinghai and Wule were thinking about it.
Two women, wielding lightsabers, slowly approached.
"Don't come over here!"
Uller suddenly raised a signal transmitter.
She held a small cylinder tightly in her palm, and a small red light at the top of the cylinder flashed rhythmically.
"As soon as I press this button, the Star Destroyer 'The Accuser' will arrive here within ten minutes and utterly destroy everything in this pirate port. None of you will be leaving!"
Soma Uller warned sternly.
Upon hearing this, the two women from different races immediately stopped in their tracks.
Is a Star Destroyer really coming to our aid?
Fu Qinghai had some doubts.
Ule took a deep breath to calm his nerves, glanced at the two foreign women, and said in a deep voice:
"Let us both get out of here, I promise... uh!"
Before Lieutenant Uller could finish speaking, a sudden, sharp pain shot through the back of his head, and he fainted as his vision went black.
Fu Qinghai raised one hand in mid-air, his gaze calm as he watched Lieutenant Wule collapse to the ground in front of him.
The two women from different races stared blankly at the scene.
What's going on here?
…………
(End of this chapter)