The crimson timer in the sky ticked down to its final second.
[1... 0...]
Star-Envoy Varkos’s visor blazed with savage triumph. He raised his nine-foot battle-glaive to give the execution signal to the dreadnought fleet. “Time is up! Fire the orbital battery! Burn them to ash!”
“Ten seconds?” Lin Mo’s voice cut through the howling mountain gale, as calm and unhurried as an auditor stamping an approved invoice. “One second is enough to buy your whole chamber.”
Lin Mo stepped forward and slammed his black-gold Taichu Card against the golden scanner slot of the Star-Road Sovereign Payment Monolith.
SLAP.
The obsidian surface of the card made a crisp, solid contact with the star-crystal.
On the interface screen, Lin Mo did not hesitate for a fraction of a heartbeat. His fingers moved with lightning precision, navigating the ancient interstellar banking menus and selecting the supreme transaction category:
