Resurrection Empire

Chapter 1315 - 499: Clash

Grue Augustus realized that he had made a blunder and hurriedly contacted his father again.

This time, the originally confident Sosgate also felt at a loss, sinking into confusion, and then gave up struggling. He just instructed his inept younger son to act as he saw fit, stay the full duration there, gather as many people as possible, and then calmly accept failure.

After disconnecting the communication, Sosgate rubbed his temples, his mind full of chaotic thoughts, unable to sort them out.

It was a precedent hard to find even after scouring the Empire’s history books, and he had encountered it.

He couldn’t tell what kind of spell Ren Zhong had cast on those people, making these frog-in-the-well-like commoners utterly devoted to him.

But there was another possibility: in the long history of the Mechanical Empire, it was extremely rare for an Earl to serve as the person in charge of a Tracer colonization.

Not entirely unheard of, but certainly rare, usually only involving some high nobles who were already Earls seeking to broaden their life experiences with a trip done on a whim.

As for someone like Ren Zhong, who was originally a lowly colonist but suddenly rose to prominence, rapidly ascending three levels to become an Earl just before returning home, that was even more of a rarity, like a needle in a haystack.

"Perhaps becoming a subject of an Earl is indeed a huge attraction for these lowly commoners who have never seen the world, especially since this Earl is their fellow townsman. Even though Grue has revealed the truth, these people still hold onto unfounded expectations?"

Sosgate mused to himself.

At this moment, he couldn’t help but feel a bit of regret.

Had he known, he should not have agreed so readily when the trusted aide of the Nanxiang Marquis contacted him, making his stance so clear. Now he was finding it hard to deal with. The methods of this Earl of Source Star with shallow roots seemed far stronger than imagined.

With a slightly conflicted mindset, Sosgate attempted to contact the steward of Nanxiang’s Earldom, intending to probe Liu An’s stance through this person.

Unfortunately, the other side informed him that the Nanxiang Marquis had already entered cryogenic sleep as planned, not intending to waste his precious and limited life on such a trivial matter.

Subsequent actions against the Earl of Source Star would be fully handled by the Special Service Bureau under Nanxiang’s Earldom, which was led by him.

They would fully implement the Nanxiang Marquis’s will, allowing no wavering.

In Liu An’s long life, he had indeed encountered similar situations more than once.

But the loyal hounds of the Earl Mansion were always able to solve problems for the Nanxiang Marquis.

This time was no different.

The opponent’s attitude was so resolute that Sosgate did not dare venture a probe and had to assure them everything was under control, letting them rest easy.

After hanging up, Sosgate sighed deeply.

He knew very well, once an arrow is shot, there is no turning back.

As time ticked by, Ren Zhong’s shuttle ship finally reached the outer atmosphere of South Nine b.

On the surface of this blue planet swirled numerous flying devices of varying sizes.

Some even exceeded a thousand kilometers in diameter, orbiting along distant trajectories.

The intersecting orbits and the distances between these artificial flying devices were controlled with precision, sufficient to maintain gravitational balance.

Originally, Ren Zhong thought he would face difficulties with landing. Unexpectedly, upon receiving his landing request, a rapid starship immediately detached from a nearby large space station and approached him quickly, establishing a data link with him.

The personnel on this multifunction starship were very respectful, saying: "Welcome, Earl. I am Di Baolun, a First Level officer of the Foreign Affairs Section of the Southern Nine Star System’s Military and Political Department. Please set your starship to automatic follow mode. I will guide you to the Viscount Mansion."

Clearly, this Di Baolun held a position in the Southern Nine’s Military and Political Department, but he was not a direct descendant of the Augustus family.

Perhaps he didn’t know that the Augustus family had chosen sides, intending to oppose Ren Zhong, hence he showed the proper respect due to an Earl.

Ren Zhong was polite and replied, "Thank you, much appreciated, please."

Di Baolun, sitting inside the multifunction starship, was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this polite address.

In his not-so-short life, it was his first direct interaction with an Imperial Earl.

Let alone an Earl, he had never even conversed with a Viscount.

He never anticipated that an Earl would show no airs and say "much appreciated" to someone who had merely performed a small task of guiding the way.