Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 160: Guests Acting as Hosts

"But how do we go? How do we enter the encirclement?" asked Baron Sisse.

"Just pretend you're my captives. I'll take you straight to Maley," suggested Wind Spirit.

"We can. We will be unarmed. Wind Spirit can take a ray pistol and take us over as captives," I agreed.

The three of us moved to the side and had a short discussion to set up a plan. After putting our arms away, we had Wind Spirit escort us over.

"Wind Spirit, protect Canyue and the others. I'll be counting on you," said Dondon before we left.

"Don't worry, Dondon, the abandoned one. I'll do my best to protect them," promised Wind Spirit with a nod.

With all preparations in place, the four of us put on our concealment cloaks and walked to the main road leading toward the barbarian warriors. That way, we wouldn't expose the hidden army when we showed ourselves.

After leaving the hiding spot, we removed our cloaks and strutted on the road, attempting to attract the attention of the barbarian scouts. The mechanical birds in the sky immediately noticed us. About 10 of the birds descended and started scanning us while hovering above us. The results of their scan were then sent back to their command center.

Shortly after, about a dozen mechanical dogs ran out of the encirclement and ran toward us. In less than three minutes, we were surrounded, and the dogs were maintaining an offensive stance. We were acting cautiously. Even though we were unarmed, we still had our morph-capable defensive system protecting our safety.

"What are you looking at? I am an imperial military observer. Tell Maley to send a car to pick me up. I'm getting tired from all the walking," Wind Spirit suddenly demanded from one of the mechanical birds.

'This little girl is imposing wherever she goes. It truly is different to be someone with status and power,' I thought enviously.

The mechanical bird seemed to have sent the message back; shortly after, a wagon pulled by a walking mechanical bird walked out of the encirclement. The wagon reached us quickly, and a burly barbarian warrior leaped off it. Behind the warrior was a female barbarian who looked young and kindly. She was not clad in armor nor was she armed.

"Princess, it's really you! I thought something bad had happened to you!" said the female barbarian joyfully.

"How can this princess fall so easily? Dayu, help me get on the wagon. My legs are so sore," ordered Wind Spirit without a trace of hesitation.

The barbarian called Dayu immediately lifted Wind Spirit with both her hands and placed Wind Spirit onto the wagon's main seat. The three of us watched on with astonishment, not knowing what to do.

"What are you looking at? Get in. This Dayu is my nanny. Maley assigned her as my personal maid," said Wind Spirit.

The three of us climbed onto the wagon and squeezed ourselves onto the narrow seat in the back. Then, the mechanical bird pulled us toward the barbarian encampment.

"I did not expect us to get in so easily." Baron Sisse rejoiced.

"It's all thanks to the imposing status of this princess," bragged Wind Spirit without even looking back at us.

The wagon brought us through layers of the barbarians' defensive lines. I found that not only had they completely surrounded Gunda's army, but they had even built numerous sturdy defensive fortifications. Breaking out was basically impossible. After about 10 minutes, our wagon arrived before a massive tent.

"Canyue, we defeated Maley not long ago. When we meet him later, be smart about how you act. Do not pour oil on fire and further anger him," whispered Master Crystal.

I nodded. I did not believe that I would die under this barbarian's hands. A barbarian warrior opened the wagon door. Dayu leaped off the wagon and carried Wind Spirit toward the tent. The three of us promptly followed behind them.

The tent was guarded by a group of burly warriors. I recognized three of them from the battle earlier, including the big guy who had smashed through the shield formation. All of them were glaring at us furiously.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," I said to Master Crystal.

"Maintain calm and counter every move as it comes," replied Master Crystal.

A barbarian warrior stepped forth and thoroughly searched us. Because we had already disarmed ourselves, the warrior did not discover any dangerous weapons, but he discovered Bulu when he opened my backpack.

"What is this?" questioned the warrior as he showed Bulu to me.

I discovered that Bulu was still sleeping, showing no sign of waking up.

"This is a flexible workout ball. I use it to train my waist every night before sleeping. Look at my body, I'm getting fat," I lied as I pointed at my belly.

"Workout ball?" muttered the guard as he pinched Bulu. When he saw that Bulu was indeed quite flexible, he handed the backpack back to me.

With the inspection done, we entered the tent. I immediately noticed Maley, who was seated on a massive chair.

"Princess Wind, I'm glad to see you're fine," said Maley while standing up, completely ignoring the three of us.

"You guys actually abandoned me back there and didn't retreat with me! The empire will hear of this!" scolded Wind Spirit furiously.

"It was a big misunderstanding. At the time, we believed you had perished. When we scanned your corpseI mean bodyamong the archers, we found no signs of life. Only then did we leave," Maley hurriedly explained.

'This guy is blatantly lying. They had probably escaped without searching. The tranquilizers won't remove one's signs of life,' I thought.

"Even if I were dead, you can't just leave my corpse to the enemy! You barbarians really need to be taught a lesson! You think you can conquer the universe after we provide you with a tiny bit of military strength?" Wind Spirit continued arguing.

"I would not dare. Princess, no matter how brave I am, I wouldn't dare. I'll still be counting on you to take care of our weak community," said Maley with a smiling face.

I was somewhat relieved to see the strong grip Wind Spirit had over Maley. From how oppressive she was behaving, with her protection, Maley probably wouldn't dare to do anything to us. Only after Maley was done coaxing Wind Spirit did he raise his head and look at us with disregard.

"Men, kill these three," ordered Maley with an uncaring tone.

Six burly warriors responded loudly and rushed into the tent to take us out.

"Hold! There is a reason you need to keep us alive!" I roared before looking at Wind Spirit.

Wind Spirit was in the middle of happily eating a large piece of bread given to her by her nanny, so she wasn't even paying any attention to us. Instead, the surrounding barbarians were the ones who were looking at us coldly.

"Many of the barbarian warriors are still alive from the earlier battle with the ambush. We had attacked with tranquilizers. There are a lot of survivors," I added.

Maley blanked out upon hearing my words.

"What did you do to the unconscious soldiers?" questioned one of them loudly.

"They are being treated well. The Wargod soldiers are looking after them. They will be able to return soon," I hurriedly replied.

"Drag them out and kill them," ordered Maley coldly.

We grew anxious.

"Chief Maley, you might not care much for what Canyue is offering, but I have something you need," Master Crystal suddenly said.

Maley waved his hand, stopping the warriors in their steps.

'I reckon Maley is more concerned about Master Crystal since he looks related to Wind Spirit,' I thought.

"From your appearance, you must be from the princess's race. Out of respect for the princess, I'll give you one more chance to speak," said Maley, confirming my guess.

"Don't worry about me. Do whatever you want, Chief," said Wind Spirit, who was actually adding salt to the wound.

Surprisingly, Maley ignored Wind Spirit and continued staring at Master Crystal.

"I heard that your soldiers were cloned with the help of the Sacred Wing race. Is that true?" asked Master Crystal.

"Yes. You're quite well-informed, Master. You look like someone who has been in the empire for a very long time. You must know the Sacred Wing race well," said Maley.

"I wouldn't say I know them well, but I am indeed familiar with many of their tricks. Since ancient times, the Sacred Wing race has been known for their ability to produce controlled armies. Any army they produce will be fully submissive to them. These soldiers of yours are probably not really yours, am I right?" Master Crystal mentioned something crucial.

Maley trembled slightly. Evidently, that was truly his sore spot.

"Continue," Maley said coldly.

"When I arrived, I had observed the outer encirclement and the blockade at the main road. All of them are unfamiliar warriors. They must be clones. Some of the ones around this tent are those we had seen during the ambush. Clearly, you don't fully trust those clones either, Chief," said Master Crystal, whose tone was becoming more and more confident.

"They are all barbarians, so they are all my people. Trust is naturally not an issue. My army has just returned from a big battle, so they need rest. It is only natural that I have the well-rested clones do the heavy lifting. We will be able to better defeat our enemies that way," replied Maley confidently.

"No, not at all. You might not be aware of this, but you and your actual people are in grave danger, Chief," said Master Crystal as he shook his head.

"What danger? Explain," said Maley as he took a seat. He was somewhat surprised to see how solemn Master Crystal was.

Initially, Wind Spirit was ignoring the conversation while she ate, but at this point, she also stopped eating. Although she still had her back to us, she was clearly paying attention now.