Debt?
And collateral issues too?
Jia Yan’s head was starting to hurt.
Speaking of it, the odds of this being a legitimate matter are quite high, but from the Insect Queen’s Power’s standpoint, it’s absolutely impossible to help that enemy force repay its debts. After all, they fought tooth and nail to seize this planet—only to find there’s a creditor behind it. You’d have to be an idiot to help your enemy pay off their loans.
This kind of thing is a real headache, making it hard to reach a decision.
Situations like this are actually quite common in debtor–creditor relationships, and many are the sorts of cases even judges find difficult to resolve.
Fortunately, in interstellar space, it’s still a place where fists do the talking; when something’s hard to decide, you settle it with your fists.
"So, Your Excellency, what you’re saying is you don’t intend to pay? Fine by us. Then we won’t be providing you with an interstellar route. The party that owes us is that other force—you can go get their Star Chart. I imagine they still have the route map from not long ago; with that, you might very well get through your upcoming voyage safe and sound."
Cold light flickered in Jia Yan’s eyes.
At this moment, he was already half inclined to give up doing business with the other side and forget about purchasing that so-called Super Energy.
Clients this rotten are unlikely to be decent merchants. Rather than negotiating with him, it’d be better to find some other caravan from that faction—maybe track down someone who’s at least reasonable.
"Not giving it? Heh. Mister Jia Yan, surely you’re not under the illusion that just because the Insect Queen’s Power scored a minor win over two border forces, you’re already very formidable? You should know that here in the Central Starfield of the Milky Way, those two forces are nothing but small fry."
That mud-like Strong One’s eyes gleamed as he spoke, his words already carrying a faint note of threat.
As for this time’s Starry Sky route map, of course they could go to the enemy of the Insect Queen’s Power to get a Star Chart. They’d just lost this Commercial Star, so the route map they had from before should still be safe.
The problem is, this caravan’s goal is the future: if the Insect Queen’s Power keeps holding this Commercial Star, then they’ll have to pay every single time they come through, and that becomes a big problem.
Half a month for a round trip—twenty-four trips in a year. Each fee doesn’t look like much, the annual total isn’t astronomical either, but what about ten years? A hundred years?
Hence he started to threaten.
"Of course I know that the Central Starfield of the Milky Way is a place overflowing with Strong Ones and powerful forces. But knowing you’re powerful doesn’t mean our force came here to grovel. We came here with our own ideals and ambitions. So we will not abandon our interests, and we will not bow our heads under brute force."
Jia Yan gave a slight cold laugh.
Indeed, his words represented not only himself, but everyone under the Insect Queen.
Even if the Black sheep were standing here, he wouldn’t contradict this statement.
The Insect Queen’s Power came to the Central Starfield of the Milky Way so that everyone’s future path could lead to greater strength. They did not come to the Central Starfield of the Milky Way to seek discomfort, to invite bullying. If that were the case, they might as well go back to their own territory and be kings there.
"Hahaha, very good. What a fine ’we will not bow our heads under brute force.’ Mister Jia Yan, are your words enough to represent your force’s stance?"
"I believe they are."
"Excellent. We’ll pay up this time. But don’t assume that just because we lower our heads now, we’ll keep doing so. Mister Jia Yan, I expect it won’t be long before formal diplomatic envoys arrive. You just wait."
The thing a caravan fears most is wasted time. Since this relatively high-ranked figure, Jia Yan, had flatly rejected their demand, they really had no other option but to accept his terms and hand over the required funds.
But there’s no way this ends here. Judging from this Star River initial order existence’s attitude, their Commerce Association clearly isn’t the sort that likes to let things slide.
"Just as expected: the weaker a force is, the more it scrambles over petty gains. Otherwise, they can’t get by. Primitive capital has to be accumulated this way."
Jia Yan shook his head and dropped the idea of trading with this faction’s caravan.
In fact, if the deal had gone through, they’d have basically earned back most of the money spent on this trip’s routes—and possibly more.
But Jia Yan didn’t want to do business with a face like that.
Besides, if he really did negotiate, once they realized there were angles to exploit on his side and also things they wanted from him, they’d open their lion’s mouth wide, maybe even try to push him into abusing his Power for personal gain, doing things against basic ethics.
That kind of thing, Jia Yan would never do, so he simply chose not to bring it up at all.
"Farewell."
Jia Yan nodded coolly and left along with that Stellar-level existence.
"Uh... Mister Jia Yan, weren’t you here specifically to negotiate a deal with them?"
"Forget it. There’s nothing to discuss with a caravan like that. Go back and dig up what you can on them—see where their other caravans are operating lately. I’ll go over and see if there’s an opening."
Jia Yan tossed a question to the Stellar-level being.
"Understood, I’ll look into it."
A Stellar-level creature would, of course, never refuse such a trivial request from Jia Yan.
And next, Jia Yan directly took up station Above the Star on the Commercial Star.
This is the deterrent Power of a Star River Middle Stage existence.
Generally speaking, in the Central Milky Way Region, the Strong Ones roaming around outside doing business are usually River Among the Stars Early Stage. Only truly terrifyingly powerful forces will dispatch Star River Middle Stage beings as ordinary situated practitioners—otherwise, there are hardly any exceptions.
Meanwhile, the Star River Middle Stage are mostly like Jia Yan: stationed as guardians of key planets, bases, or Energy Source Lands.
As for Territory Masters, they’re usually the leaders of powerful forces, at the very least the leading figures.
Star River high-rank?
Well, yes, High-rank Galaxy Level beings do exist. It’s just that those existences hardly seem to manage day-to-day affairs. Each one is basically a Divine Dragon—seen only in glimpses, never in entirety. Even for the forces that supposedly belong to them, almost no one actually knows.
So when Jia Yan goes out to seek another caravan of that Commerce Association, he’s typically going to encounter another Star River initial order existence. In terms of the larger picture, he’ll still have suppressive leverage.
Over the next few days, Jia Yan came to the Commercial Star again.
Out on the Commercial Star’s ocean, he lay floating there—his figure far too enormous to enter cities or squeeze into narrow corners for inspection like some ordinary big shot.
In the distance, some cruise ships and the like already didn’t dare approach.
These oil tankers or whatever had already learned the hard way what it means to face the awe of a Strong One. Last time, they circled around Jia Yan’s feet, and with just a slight movement of his Brainwave Power—really just a shift—those tankers overturned, everyone ending up in the drink like soaked chickens.
Afterward, people had gone around spreading "popular science" about how a Super Powerhouses is a great existence ordinary creatures can’t just offend.
So, unlike last time, things were different now.
Even though they were still pointing fingers from afar, at least their gazes held more fear than a sense of watching a monkey show.
Jia Yan had no time to bother with the pointing of these weaklings.
By his side, Respect Level existences came and went, passing on information to him with extreme deference.
For example, which forces on this planet were trying to stir up trouble again, hoping the Lord could lend a hand.
Or how that Stellar-level existence was handling some matter, and whether the Lord had any differing opinion.
Jia Yan listened; there was no need for him to personally intervene in many of these things. But since he was physically present, if they didn’t report to the situated practitioner, wouldn’t that be disrespectful?
So he listened—and he actually did deal with a few minor issues.
For instance, when certain forces seemed off, Jia Yan would confirm their location and identify their key figures. Then, without even moving, he’d send out a single burst of Brainwave Power. On the far side of the planet, a faint explosion would be heard—and the main leader of that force would already be dead.