"Suspecting them of being terrorists? Routine inspection? What nonsense," the lieutenant was thoroughly unimpressed with Marier's conduct.

Yang Ying glanced at Marier: "Guarding the port shouldn't require searching every incoming vessel. We've just docked, and the bomb blast was nowhere near Bos; how could terrorists possibly be on our ship? Moreover, the moment we opened the hatch, they rushed forward to board my yacht—they definitely have an agenda."

Marier felt Yang Ying's gaze seemed to pierce straight into his core, leaving no secrets hidden. Cold sweat immediately broke out again.

At this moment, Yang Ying noticed several of the soldiers under Marier’s command looked flustered and visibly uneasy, which was highly suspicious.

"You few," Yang Ying pointed at them. "You must know something."

"No, no. I don't know anything."

Those soldiers vehemently denied it, not letting slip a single word.

The red-haired lieutenant also sensed something amiss. He knew that pressing further would certainly yield insider information, but he also understood he was Marier's subordinate. Even though he disliked Marier's character, exposing a superior was a severe taboo, so he turned a blind eye, pretending he saw nothing.

"Your rank is lower than Marier's, so it seems you can't make the final decision for him. What about your battalion commander? He should be a Major, right?"

Yang Ying never expected the red-haired lieutenant to help outsiders suppress his own colleague, no matter how deep the rift between the two might be. Such a thing was unlikely to happen.

The red-haired lieutenant considered Yang Ying's words. Ultimately, this issue required a superior officer to resolve. He took out his communicator: "Major Ed, we have an incident here that requires your presence."

Marier, lying on the ground, might have suffered internal bleeding from Bresse's heavy punch. His mind was already clouded, bordering on delirium, his eyelids half-open, entering a state akin to sleepwalking.

The red-haired lieutenant frowned upon seeing Marier: "Send Marier to the hospital first. If he dies here, you will be in serious trouble. I will take his place as your hostage."

He adopted a posture of concern for Yang Ying and his group, trying to persuade Yang Ying to release Marier. If the Vice Commander's nephew died right in front of him, he too would face immense trouble; at the very least, he wouldn't be able to remain in the Bos Guard Corps.

Yang Ying felt a headache coming on seeing Marier's state, but Katerina whispered in his ear: "He's not in mortal danger right now. Given the general medical standards in the Asteroid Belt, he can still be saved in two or three hours."

The red-haired lieutenant overheard this. He glanced at Katerina, surprised that this beautiful woman behind Yang Ying possessed knowledge of medicine.

When it came to medical matters, Yang Ying placed immense trust in Katerina, who came from a medical corps background. He told the red-haired lieutenant: "You heard her. Waiting a little longer won't hurt. Let Major Ed come sort out the problem, and then we can release him."

"Suit yourself," the red-haired lieutenant slowly articulated those three words, then remained silent, staring ahead.

The two sides remained locked in a standoff for a while longer. Then, a gray-haired middle-aged officer wearing the rank insignia of a Major, accompanied by a squad of soldiers, rushed over—evidently Major Ed.

"What is going on? Isn't that Marier? Can someone tell me what happened?" Major Ed shouted as soon as he saw Marier being held hostage.

The red-haired lieutenant naturally stepped forward to explain the sequence of events to Major Ed.

"What? Something like that happened?"

Major Ed was clearly astonished by Marier's unilateral "routine inspection" and was equally indignant that Yang Ying's party had assaulted one of his men. He appraised Yang Ying and the others with a cold glare: "Now that I am here, you can release Marier. I will personally give you an accounting for everything here. We are in public view; I will not go back on my word."

The reason it was "public view" was that the standoff location was on a sky-bridge, which jutted out from the port into space, resembling a corridor of glass made from highly durable transparent synthetic material on both sides.

Passengers on other sky-bridges, as well as travelers near the observation windows facing space in the port, noticed the confrontation between the two groups. Sensing potential excitement, they flocked to the entrance of the sky-bridge, pointing and murmuring at both parties.

The onlookers now numbered over fifty people; calling it a public spectacle was hardly an exaggeration.

Since the Bos Guard Corps personnel were the hosts, offending them unnecessarily would surely lead to resentment, potentially causing unwanted disturbances during the upcoming meeting. It seemed wiser to accept the advantage they had gained and withdraw gracefully.

Yang Ying nodded to Bresse. Bresse tossed the uranium rifle he was holding onto a nearby console.

Several soldiers behind Major Ed rushed to Marier's side, helping him up, and carried him away for medical attention.

The red-haired lieutenant then whispered a few words into Major Ed's ear.

Yang Ying channeled his psychic energy into his ears and instantly heard the lieutenant describing the suspicious behavior of Marier's subordinates to Major Ed, guessing that the matter was probably not suitable for discussion in public.

"Come with me to the Port Command Center. It's not a good place to talk here."

Major Ed, taking the red-haired lieutenant's advice, immediately sought to escape the highly public location, making no further mention of the "accounting" he had previously promised.

The sky-bridge was long. Because the onlookers were wary of getting involved, they kept a respectful distance from Yang Ying's group, able to see but not hear. Otherwise, they would likely have immediately booed Major Ed for going back on his word.

"Major, do you take me for a lump of clay, to be molded however you please?"

Yang Ying knew that the evasive manner of Marier's subordinates suggested they had something to hide, but he had no desire to follow them to the Port Command Center. Once there, Major Ed would have far fewer concerns, and perhaps the Vice Commander uncle of Marier could simply issue an order, and Major Ed might attack him right there in the command center.

Major Ed gave a contemptuous laugh and was about to speak when Yang Ying cut him off.

"You should resolve the issue right here! Do not go back on your word!"

Yang Ying infused a trace of psychic energy into this sentence to influence Major Ed's thoughts.

This was a common Charm technique used by psychics, capable of making an ordinary person believe whatever the psychic said.

Yang Ying was merely a beginner with this technique; the success rate was not high. If the target were a resolute soldier, the success rate would be even lower.

But fortunately, the mercenaries in the Asteroid Belt were primarily motivated by money and did not place much value on willpower; they were far easier to handle than regular military personnel. Furthermore, Yang Ying's demand—that Major Ed not renege—was not an unreasonable request, so the subconscious resistance from Ed was relatively small.

Thus, Yang Ying succeeded in influencing Major Ed.

Call for monthly ticket support!