Hao didn’t feel embarrassed at all; he simply felt uneasy under the intense gazes of others. He was even slightly annoyed and, without further ado, pushed his chair back and loudly declared, “Since no one is willing to tell me anything, I’ll just leave first. After all, I’m neither a member of the Anti-Empire Alliance nor the leader of any planet.”
“Cough, cough,” Steve cleared his throat. Without waiting for Hao to actually walk out, he called out, “Please stay, Mr. Yang Hao. Don’t forget that you are now the Great Leader of Saint Bear Star and the chosen plenipotentiary representative of Queen Ming of Raymon Star. Moreover, in these past few months, you’ve become the most dazzling star of the Anti-Empire Alliance.”
Steve’s few words actually stopped Yang Hao in his tracks. He was greatly surprised and quickly swallowed several calming pills before pointing at his own nose in disbelief: “Me? The shining star of the Anti-Empire Alliance?”
“Indeed!” Steve smiled cunningly. Lately, every older man Hao had met had seemed more scheming than the last. “In just these past few months, you’ve killed Wang Tao, the future star of the Wang family; defeated the senior disciple of the Light Saber School; wiped out the Imperial army stationed on Raymon Star; foiled the Empire’s plot to annex Saint Bear Star; and even destroyed the King Swordsmen Corps led by Commander Wang Mu. These are truly remarkable feats. Such accomplishments are rarely seen even in the past decade. I ask you, Mr. Yang Hao, why have you done so much? Aren’t you fighting against the Empire?”
Yang Hao was left speechless by this counter-question. He was truly like a mute swallowing bitter melon—too bitter to express. Every incident Steve mentioned was indeed something Yang Hao had done. But none of them had been voluntary—each was a last resort forced upon him. In short, Yang Hao was a very passive person. He had never planned to resist the Empire, yet his actions had somehow led him in that direction.
Helplessly, Yang Hao puffed up with anger and plopped back into his seat, muttering bitterly, “I never wanted to oppose the Empire. They forced me into it. If I had a choice, who would want to kill people?”
“Exactly,” Steve, who truly looked like a leader, smoothly continued, “If people could live peacefully, no one would resist the Empire. But the Empire’s cruel and oppressive rule, its desire to dominate the universe indefinitely, has made life unbearable for the people of countless planets. That’s why we formed the Anti-Empire Alliance. Take Raymon Star, for example. The Empire loots countless medicinal plants from them every year. Or Saint Bear Star—though supposedly exempt from conscription, the Empire still drafts huge numbers of bear-people to their deaths. And then there’s Angel Star…”
At the mention of Angel Star, Yang Hao instinctively raised his head. He recalled that Shi Mingyuan seemed to have gone to Angel Star, yet he couldn’t find any representative from Angel Star attending the meeting.
“Therefore,” Steve continued, “the Empire’s rule has long lost the people’s support. We’ve been preparing for resistance for decades, and now the perfect opportunity has come. As long as we…
“Wait a second!” Yang Hao abruptly interrupted Steve again. “I still have a question.”
“Please go ahead,” Steve replied, his gaze filled with a fatherly kind of expectation that was downright creepy.
Yang Hao steeled himself and asked, “If you’ve been preparing for decades, why are you still wasting time here instead of attacking Earth? Do you really think holding meetings can defeat the Empire?”
“Hmph!” the prime minister from a planet with an odd name, Luoyuan, let out an odd sound, clearly showing disdain.
“Of course, the Empire is powerful. To oppose it is no easy task. Although we’ve been preparing for decades, today is actually the first official meeting of the Anti-Empire Alliance,” Steve patiently explained.
“Decades of preparation for just one meeting?” Yang Hao didn’t have that kind of patience. He shook his head vigorously. “You’re all so slow. If it were me, I’d already be charging into the Milky Way with my sword. At worst, I’d challenge the Emperor to a one-on-one duel. Who’s afraid of whom?”
“Hmm…” someone narrowed his eyes and looked at Yang Hao slyly.
Yang Hao felt like creepy crawlies were crawling up his back. He quickly lowered his excited tone: “Er… what was I saying again?”
“Please continue,” Steve smiled sweetly.
“No, I’m done,” Yang Hao didn’t even dare to lift his head. Everyone sitting here looked like perverted uncles with a taste for young boys, and Yang Hao was genuinely worried about his own safety.
Indeed, the people in the meeting room were very interested in Yang Hao—but certainly not for his good looks. Steve cleared his throat and spoke for everyone: “Mr. Yang Hao, you’ve said it perfectly. In fact, for these past few decades, the Anti-Empire Alliance has been waiting—for you.”
“Me?” Yang Hao was completely baffled.
“Exactly,” Steve confirmed with a firm pat on the table. “Under the Empire’s brutal rule, countless people have wanted to resist. But the Empire is too powerful. No one dared to step forward and lead the resistance. That’s why we’ve been waiting for someone chosen by fate—the one destined to lead the rebellion against the Empire.”
A series of burning gazes focused intensely on Yang Hao’s face. Despite his thick skin, he felt his face heating up. He was already thinking about sneaking away.
But under the watchful eyes of everyone present, how could he possibly escape? Yang Hao’s eyes darted around, and he suddenly burst into loud laughter, “Fine! Fine! Since everyone feels that way, I’ll go ahead and fight the Empire. I’ll head straight to the Milky Way now.” With that, he turned and used his Flying Flower Shadow Technique to dart toward the exit, shouting behind him, “See you in the Milky Way! Let’s see who kills the Emperor first…”
Yang Hao called this move “Cicada Shedding Its Shell.” Let them go crazy—he’d just agree and escape while he still could.
Unfortunately, Yang Hao wasn’t the only clever one here. Before he could even find the exit, a dark figure suddenly appeared in front of him. It was Lei, the captain of some unit, who had already blocked his path with a particle gun in hand. Lei’s name sounded elegant, but his face and body were covered with terrifying scars.
Startled by the gun’s dark barrel, Yang Hao wasn’t really afraid of the particle beam, but the killing intent and bloodlust radiating from Lei’s body made his heart race with fear. It was clear that among all the people present, Lei was the only one who had truly been engaged in secret battles against the Empire all along.
“Leaving so soon?” Steve, the smiling tiger, didn’t seem to care that his face might crack from smiling too hard. “We haven’t finished talking yet.”
“What’s there left to talk about?” Yang Hao retorted. “You’re all against the Empire anyway. Just send your army to the Milky Way and kill them all. As for me, I’ll fly ahead and sell my vitality pills. Once the Imperial soldiers are weakened, we can attack from within and outside. You won’t even need to thank me…”
“That’s not enough,” Steve shook his head like a rattle drum. “Far from enough. I went to great lengths to bring you here—not just to sell vitality pills.”
“Bring me here?” Yang Hao’s heart flared with anger at that word, but a quiet whisper from Hun Yuan Zi suddenly made him feel like he’d been drenched in icy water, instantly sobering him up. He stared at Steve in shock and cautiously asked, “You don’t mean you want me to join the Alliance too? That I should join the Anti-Empire Alliance?”
Yang Hao’s concerns were probably hard for others here to understand. In the eyes of everyone else, Yang Hao had already become a shining star of the resistance. In just a few months, he had caused the Empire unprecedented losses, severely damaging the Ten Sword Schools, the Imperial Senate, and even the Privy Council. Such achievements were beyond what the entire Anti-Empire Alliance could have accomplished together. So in their eyes, Yang Hao was already a pillar of the Alliance, and they couldn’t understand why he was so worried.
But only Yang Hao and Hun Yuan Zi truly knew the bitterness in his heart. Yang Hao had never been someone with grand ambitions. His original dream was simply to travel the universe with the beautiful women he loved, preferably doing nothing while money rained from the sky.
But fate had other plans. A series of events had pushed Yang Hao into experiences he never wanted. In life-or-death battles, he had defeated one Imperial expert after another. He had become the Great Leader of Saint Bear Star, which others might see as glorious, but which had taken him far from his original desires. What Yang Hao wanted most now was not to join some mysterious Anti-Empire Alliance but to find Shi Mingyuan as soon as possible, resign from being a leader, and then fly off into the stars in his spaceship.
Precisely because of this plan, Yang Hao was highly wary of Steve and the others. The way he looked at them now was practically filled with murderous intent, ready to fight if they dared to say yes.
Whether or not Steve was frightened, he hesitated for a moment before actually replying, “No, we’re not asking you to join the Anti-Empire Alliance.”
“Good, good,” Yang Hao felt a great weight lifted from his chest. “That’s fine. We can talk about anything else. We’re all friends here.” He slapped his forehead, proudly thinking of something clever, “Oh! Could it be that you’ve heard of my Dan Ding brand vitality pills and want to place an order? No problem! I can give you a ten percent discount.”
At the mention of his vitality pills, Yang Hao became full of energy. He not only praised them enthusiastically and launched into an advertisement but also pulled out several new varieties he had recently developed, offering them around for everyone to try.
This made Queen Ming somewhat uneasy. She was one of the few beautiful women in the room. If all the men swallowed those vitality pills, wouldn’t she end up being the one to suffer the consequences?
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