Chapter 138: Chapter 137: City Lord? Lord?

The Alliance’s Chief Justice was in the middle of processing documents when he suddenly received a classified communication. After opening it, he was left absolutely dumbfounded. The existence of the Green Demon Star was no secret among the higher-ups. However, the planet involved far too much—complex internal organizations, agencies, and even foreign powers. The Alliance’s judicial system basically had no jurisdiction there and lacked any concrete evidence.

Two hours later, the Alliance Council, the Alliance Ministry of Justice, and the Alliance Military formally met with Yang Bo.

"First of all, on behalf of the Green Demon Star, I acknowledge the Alliance’s jurisdiction. In fact, centuries ago, the Green Demon Star already belonged to the Alliance," Yang Bo said first. This was, after all, the truth.

The Alliance representatives nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

"We have substantial evidence of the Ash Organization colluding with the Crimson Federation. As long as we are granted independent autonomy, we will hand over all evidence of their crimes to the Alliance Ministry of Justice," Yang Bo continued.

"Thank you!" The officials from the Alliance Ministry of Justice were thrilled. It was incredibly difficult to catch a gray-area group like the Ash Organization red-handed, especially since they often hired top-tier lawyers to exonerate themselves.

"Our demands are simple," Yang Bo said. "Our planet will adopt self-governance. We, the leaders, will be allowed to build cities and set up shops on the surface. We welcome major Alliance companies to invest and conduct research here, though, of course, this must be done under the supervision of the Alliance’s judicial organs.

"Furthermore, we demand that the taxes collected by the Alliance on this planet be prioritized for the construction of a Planet Fleet. The recent Pirate attack is the perfect example of why this is necessary."

The bigwigs in the Military Department all grinned from ear to ear. Even though they were all Genetic Evolvers, one only had to use a little brainpower to figure out how much tax revenue would be generated once the Green Demon Star was truly developed.

"To protect the interests of the native residents, we demand that the Alliance refrain from encroaching on our territory and from conscripting our residents for foreign wars.

"Of course, we can also choose not to leave the planet and simply live out our lives here. Every one of us Mutant leaders must be granted a territory. Within our territories, we will abide by Alliance laws, but the Alliance must also respect our planet’s customs."

Having said his piece, Yang Bo looked at the others to gauge their reactions.

The Speaker of the Council spoke up. "Please remain calm, sir. We will give you an answer within three days."

"Of course. In three days, we will also have over a thousand more people in our hands. They are all researchers from research bases established on the planet by the Alliance, other nations’ agencies, or various organizations. Plus, there is a massive amount of data!" Yang Bo deliberately trailed off at this point.

Upon hearing the word "data," some council members felt a massive headache coming on, while others secretly rejoiced. These materials were all highly classified. If the Green Demon Star became independent, this data would definitely be sent to the Council, and everyone would get a piece of the pie.

"The Green Demon Star is a planet under our Alliance’s rule, although for various reasons over the last few centuries, the Alliance’s political power has not been exercised.

"This time, the demands of the Green Demon Star’s residents comply with the Alliance’s judicial procedures!" the Chief Justice announced unhurriedly.

"Thank you, sir."

The communication then cut off. Yang Bo and the others escorted the captives from the Four Seas Company and the Ash Organization back to the Underground World.

On the Alliance’s side, the first to suffer was the Four Seas Company. Based on the video recordings, the Ministry of Justice directly locked down all of the Four Seas Company’s access privileges before moving in to confiscate their data and arrest their personnel. The crackdown happened so suddenly that the Four Seas Company had no warning whatsoever.

A general manager of the Four Seas Company was riding in his high-end Anti-Gravity hovercar when the vehicle suddenly came to a halt and popped its doors open. The general manager was rather puzzled, as he hadn’t reached his destination yet. Suddenly, a voice rang out from outside. "Come out with your hands up! You are surrounded. Please do not make any dangerous moves, or we will use lethal force."

The Four Seas Company general manager stepped out in a daze, only to find himself surrounded by police drones. Human officers were inspecting the perimeter, and one was marching over with a pair of handcuffs.

"Officers, what is..." The general manager raised his hands and spoke hurriedly.

"Sir, please remain silent. You are now implicated in a felony. Anything you say will be recorded as testimony and presented to the judge," the police officer immediately warned.

The reason the Ministry of Justice took such risky action at this juncture was actually to pressure the Council. The underlying message was clear: if they were not given a share of the future profits, the Council’s people would not have it easy.

The Alliance’s judicial organs were independent. Although the Council could theoretically amend the law, doing so was extremely difficult. Moreover, the Chief Justice held a lifelong tenure. By now, the Alliance’s development had been completely monopolized behind the scenes by various major families and factions, forming a relatively balanced society. Regardless of how many internal factions the Ministry of Justice had, whenever external interests were involved, they always presented a united front. Besides, the factions within the Ministry of Justice had some degree of connection with the factions in the Council.

At any rate, the underlying relational structure between the Military Department, the Ministry of Justice, and the Council was far too complex for the average person to comprehend. However, the Ministry of Justice also had its own interests to protect. After all, only when the Ministry of Justice secured sufficient benefits could its various internal factions reap their own rewards. Even if a single family had two branches—one in the judicial system and one in the Council—and were considered a single entity, they still competed against one another.

"So, we’re all going to be Lords now?" Upon returning to the Underworld, Third Huang and the others were practically vibrating with excitement.

They all looked toward Yang Bo, who nodded. "Theoretically, yes. City Lords, Lords."

"Haha, this is fantastic!"

"Absolutely fantastic!"

"What about all those supplies in the Ash Organization’s warehouse?" Third Huang and the others asked as they looked at Yang Bo. Even though the Mutants had strength in numbers, they were deeply wary of Yang Bo. Forcibly boarding an enemy Spaceship and wreaking such havoc inside was not something ordinary people could achieve.

"I’ll first go and return the Biological Mecha to the organization, then come right back." Yang Bo had nearly forgotten about the warehouse. He definitely wanted to take some top-tier loot back with him; it was just a pity that a Mecha’s storage compartment was so small.

"Alright, we’ll wait for you." Third Huang and the others were ecstatic. Who knew how many treasures were hidden inside the Ash Organization’s warehouse? Unfortunately, their group hadn’t been able to open it and didn’t dare to force it open. It was clearly under the control of Yang Bo’s people.

Yang Bo had originally planned to go grind for experience points. Once the immediate situation settled down, a large-scale search and rescue operation for the residents would definitely commence. Even though that might take two or three months, he needed to find a spot to lie low in advance so that others could "find" him.

"This godforsaken place is great for leveling up Skills, but it’s terrible for living. There’s zero entertainment, and the women aren’t even pretty," Yang Bo grumbled inwardly. Besides, he wasn’t a Mutant anyway. He just wondered if he’d still be able to play Mecha games once he got back.

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