Chapter 63: Inventory

Watching the surrounding objects slowly settle back into place, Curnth finally let out a long sigh of relief. "How should I put this? Should I thank you for sparing my life, or for nearly finishing me off with a potted pothos plant just a moment ago? You know, even aboard Kurken's cruiser, a hundred pirates couldn't manage to pull that off."

"What on earth happened aboard the cruiser?" Tang Xiao asked, frowning. "If that final explosion hadn't damaged the engines and slowed the cruiser down, it wouldn't have been nearly so easy for me to... Oh right! What about the cruiser!?"

He suddenly recalled that after pressing the proton torpedo launch button, he had completely lost consciousness. The only thing he still remembered was that the circuitry for that torpedo launcher had been temporarily hot-wired into the air conditioning switch.

"Heh, don't worry. It's all taken care of. The proton torpedo you launched happened to fly right into the cruiser's auxiliary exhaust port. The explosion cut off the main power supply and destroyed the electronic systems of the engines as well, so the entire cruiser was instantly dead in the water. Thanks to you, Governor, I can't imagine anyone else pulling off a strike with such precision."

"And then?"

"Ha! After that, it got really entertaining. Our fighters surrounded the cruiser, and the Aurek-class freighter was just about to move in for a boarding action when they started falling apart from the inside. Iron-Jaw Kurken wanted to fight to the bitter end, but his chief mate disagreed and wanted to surrender, so the two factions had a civil war right then and there. By the time our marines boarded, they were still fighting among themselves, and then it was just an easy cleanup for the rest."

"What about Kurken?"

"Captured. He's already been sent back to the planet Dawn, just waiting for you to wake up so we can hold a public trial. The cruiser has also been towed back to the mothership, and the engineering department is figuring out how to repair the warship. It should become an active combat asset for us in a few months."

Tang Xiao was still lying on the hospital bed, turning his head slightly with a smile as he asked, "You still haven't told me what you did aboard the cruiser."

Curnth waved a hand dismissively and said very casually, "I figured out that there were already deep internal rifts among them. Kurken's pirate gang hasn't been doing well lately, and that Hammerhead-class cruiser is simply too old—its speed isn't great, and even when they managed to trap some merchant ships, the targets always managed to slip away in the end. So, I incited a few people to mutiny, leading them to attack the hyperdrive compartment..."

He chuckled at his own recollection. "Though those guys were a bunch of cowards. The moment fighting broke out, a single reprimand from Kurken over the broadcast channel had them scurrying right back into line. So I had no choice but to run for my life. They sent over a hundred people to hunt me down, but I hid in the ventilation ducts, took out a few of them, and then had the good fortune to stumble into the hangar bay."

Tang Xiao's smile gradually faded. Although Curnth made it sound trivial, Tang Xiao could easily imagine just how harrowing and heart-pounding that process must have been!

"And then, as luck would have it, there was a starfighter undergoing maintenance in the hangar bay, with its proton torpedo launcher detached and left right beside it, still loaded with a single torpedo. So I sneaked over, messed around with the wiring blindly, and the proton torpedo actually fired! Hahahaha!" Curnth laughed heartily as he spoke. "Back then, hahaha, did you see the expressions on those pirates' faces? Hahahaha... Kurken started cursing directly over the intercom, and I think he even executed a few people. Then the broadcasting system turned into a shouting match, and the whole gang tore into each other from the inside... Hahahaha!"

Tang Xiao said with a serious expression, "You fired a proton torpedo inside a warship? Have you lost your mind? You must have known that doing something like that meant you could easily have died in there! Why didn't you just take an escape pod and get out?"

"It's fine, I'm used to that sort of thing. They couldn't take me down."

"You are a legend of the Fourth Civilization, one of our guiding banners. I would rather let that cruiser get away than ever put your safety at risk!"

The smile slowly faded from Curnth's face. He turned his head as well, locking eyes with Tang Xiao, and said slowly, "We've always been dancing on the edge of a blade, haven't we? There are a lot of things you haven't told us, but I can see it: this universe is countless times more dangerous than we ever imagined, isn't it?"

Tang Xiao sighed, turning his gaze back up to the ceiling, and murmured softly, "I had a dream, and I saw many things... about the future of this galaxy. I... truly lack the confidence to survive a war of that magnitude."

"So, that is my answer as well, Governor. No... my friend," Curnth said with a smile.

...

Tang Xiao's condition was primarily caused by the overuse of the Force, and after resting in the infirmary for half a day, he was already back on his feet.

Curnth's injuries were not severe either, consisting mostly of burns and superficial wounds. Although, under normal circumstances, such injuries would have required several days to heal, the engineering team managed to find several medical droids and a few Bacta tanks in the medical bay of that Hammerhead-class cruiser.

A Bacta tank is a medical chamber widely used throughout the Galactic Republic. By submerging a patient in a specially formulated liquid, it rapidly stimulates cellular division and allows wounds to heal at an accelerated rate.

Consequently, the engineering crew hauled those medical droids and Bacta tanks into the mothership. After soaking in the tank for just a few hours, Curnth made a swift and complete recovery.

When Tang Xiao returned to the bridge of the mothership, he found Clement taking inventory of the spoils of war from the battle. Seeing him approach, Clement immediately stood at attention and saluted.

On the other side, the members of the general staff, led by Qi Jian and Kars Vorton, also snapped to attention in a crisp salute. They used this gesture to express their heartfelt respect and admiration for Tang Xiao.

Throughout this battle, everyone—including Tang Xiao, Curnth, Yuri, Vitaly, Judith, and Qi Jian—had contributed their utmost strength and wisdom to the Fourth Civilization.

Most importantly, during the conflict, Tang Xiao had clearly and powerfully communicated a single message to everyone: *I am with you, and I will live and die with you.* Furthermore, Tang Xiao had successfully accomplished what no one else could.

For a supreme leader, there is no greater morale booster than this.

Clement stepped forward to report to Tang Xiao, "Governor, the spoils of war have been tallied."

"Go ahead," Tang Xiao nodded.

"The greatest prize is naturally that Hammerhead-class cruiser. It is 315 meters long, armed with two medium turbolaser cannons as primary weapons, four dual turbolaser cannons as secondary weapons, and eight point-defense cannons, six of which were added later on. Right now, the warship's propulsion system has sustained heavy damage and presents significant repair challenges. The engineering department's plan is to completely refit the propulsion systems using our own proprietary technology, which is expected to take about three months to complete, though it will require an additional fifty workers in the engineering department," Clement reported.