Commissar Gu-Du’s claw-like thumb hovered a fraction of an inch above the remote detonator.
His black silk robes flapped in the frigid draft of the flagship bridge, his yellow teeth bared in a sneer.
“Look at this black jade rune, Tie Canghai!” Gu-Du shrieked, his voice vibrating with venomous delight. “The Heavenly Plunder Bank doesn’t just own your weapons. We own the atmosphere of your home-worlds! We own the artificial fusion suns hanging above your frozen villages! We hold the deeds to your mothers’ breathing air!”
General Tie Canghai stood frozen, the veins in his temple throbbing so hard they threatened to burst.
Behind him, twelve legion captains drew sharp, agonizing breaths.
Their fingers dug into the hilts of their swords until blood seeped from beneath their iron gauntlets.
Down on the roof terrace of the Taichu Welfare Mall, Su Wan adjusted her crystal spectacles, her abacus clicking with blinding speed.
“Chairman, the telemetry from Navigator Xing Yao confirms the full audit details,” Su Wan reported, her voice cold with suppressed anger. “Three thousand years ago, the Northern Frost-Border Worlds suffered a celestial ice cataclysm. The Heavenly Plunder Bank stepped in with emergency disaster relief loans.”
