Upon the conclusion of the tense discussion, Grand Admiral Alexander opened a small virtual conference room. Inside, besides himself, were the commanders of the four major mercenary corps.

A long table dominated the center of the meeting room. Alexander sat on one side, while Yang Ying and the other three mercenary leaders occupied the opposite side.

"In the end, it still required persuasion, though this was somewhat expected," Alexander said, clapping his hands. A beam of light swept across the table in front of Yang Ying and the others, and four documents materialized above the surface.

Each mercenary leader, including Yang Ying, found a document hovering before them—each consisting of a single sheet of virtual paper listing several items.

Since the sheets were virtual projections, they could not be physically picked up, but they could be manipulated with certain controls, one of the features of the virtual meeting equipment.

"These four documents contain the new terms proposed by the Ministry of Defense. Should you agree to form the rear guard unit, you will enjoy the additional compensation detailed above," Alexander stated calmly.

Saint Ladis glanced over the document and instantly memorized and absorbed all the terms. A look of surprise crossed his face as he addressed Alexander, "It seems, General, that you had already decided to keep us for the rear guard before this meeting even began."

Yang Ying chimed in, "A single message from here to the Ministry of Defense takes nearly half an hour round trip. I presume General, you already sought authorization from the Ministry before the meeting started?"

Alexander nodded. "Indeed. Under the current circumstances, keeping forces behind is unavoidable. The rear guard needs sufficient strength to withstand the main assault of two half-Ancient Legion fleets for three hours. The Twelfth Fleet alone cannot achieve this, which is why I need your mercenary strength."

He gestured toward the documents before them. "These conditions are what I secured for each of you from the Ministry. The terms differ for everyone. Fortunately, the bureaucrats at the Ministry understood the gravity of the situation and didn't delay, giving me definite replies. However, these are the absolute limits of what they could offer. If you wish to haggle further, I can only apologize."

Yang Ying glanced left and right, trying to see what was written on the other files, but saw only blank space. Clearly, the documents were encrypted, allowing each person to view only their own.

Yang Ying pressed a button on the armrest, and the document vanished from the desk surface, reappearing directly in front of him.

He read it from beginning to end, immediately becoming serious. If his mental power wasn't strong enough to control every organ in his body, his heart rate would surely have accelerated.

It was a material manifest. The first item listed was two newly constructed space cities!

It was well known that space cities were always scarce resources, as each one was a veritable cornucopia. An industrial city could mine resources from the Asteroid Belt; an energy city could harvest solar power from Mercury's orbit to create energy locks; and there were others, such as foliage cities, tourism cities, agricultural cities, and various other specialized urban centers—none of which would operate at a loss.

Trann Corporation was currently planning to bid for a new industrial space city to station troops and expand production. A proprietary space city could conceal many traces. However, the bidding for every new space city was a commercial war akin to actual combat, with many behind-the-scenes manipulators interfering. Trann Corporation was gathering intelligence, preparing to compete with—or even fight—those manipulators.

Yang Ying never expected space cities to be offered so easily.

The two cities provided in the document were one industrial city and one energy city. For Yang Ying, this pairing was perfect. The industrial city could produce weaponry and equipment needed by Terrans, while the energy city could manufacture energy locks, which could be utilized by both Human and Divine races.

Apart from the two space cities, the rest of the material list detailed supporting infrastructure and preferential immigration policies—things Yang Ying had no need for.

After finishing, Yang Ying looked toward the others, hoping to glean some insight from their expressions.

Old Locke's face was flushed crimson, clearly extremely excited. Although Yang Ying couldn't see the contents of his file, judging by that expression alone, he would undoubtedly lead the Nine Dragons Mercenary Corps in the rear guard action.

As for Saint Ladis and Royde, both wore expressions of deep contemplation, betraying no personal emotion. When they noticed Yang Ying looking, they both gave a polite nod.

Yang Ying returned the nod before shifting his gaze back. Saint Ladis was on good terms with him, so his participation in the action was unsurprising. Royde, however, had just sent men to assassinate Blade but showed no change in demeanor, maintaining a friendly expression—a feat that deeply impressed Yang Ying.

"Well?" Grand Admiral Alexander asked, seeing that everyone had finished reading the documents. Yang Ying detected an undercurrent of confidence in his tone, suggesting he was certain the four sets of terms would be accepted.

Old Locke spoke first. "I see your sincerity in this document. I hope this collaboration will be fruitful!"

Grand Admiral Alexander gave a slight nod. "Good. Commander Locke agrees. And you three?" He looked toward Yang Ying and the remaining two.

A smile gradually spread across Royde's thoughtful face. "This is in service to humanity; our Caesar Mercenary Corps is duty-bound."

A flicker of curiosity arose in Yang Ying’s mind. Royde, being part of the senior management of the Caesar family, had witnessed things unimaginable to ordinary men. Two space cities would be a minor consideration for the massive Caesar Group. What terms could possibly tempt Royde?

"Excellent!" Grand Admiral Alexander nodded as another accepted, then turned his gaze to Saint Ladis.

Saint Ladis sighed. "The contents of this document are truly too difficult for me to refuse. So be it."

"Thank you, Sir Saint Knight," Grand Admiral Alexander’s eyes shone with sudden joy. The Holy Order was the foremost of the super mercenary corps, and Saint Ladis was a master of Transcendent Attainment. His involvement would clearly allow the rear guard to hold out significantly longer.

Finally, Alexander turned his gaze to Yang Ying. "Before Commander Yang makes his decision, there is one matter I must clarify. The terms listed in this document are for hiring the full strength of the Trann Mercenary Corps, not just the three heavy cruisers your contingent has brought." He paused. "That is to say, if your side cannot contribute the power of a super mercenary corps to the rear guard, we can only offer the remuneration for hiring a large-scale mercenary group."

"Is that so?" Yang Ying calculated rapidly in his mind before replying, "Agreed! I accept your demand to fight with the strength of a super mercenary corps. Of course, our intelligence support will remain as consistent as ever."

Alexander smiled broadly. "That is excellent news."

Several hours later, the combined fleet was escorting ten space cities through space.

On the bridge of the Vanguard.

"Sir, we are approaching the Asteroid Belt. In about fifty-five minutes, we should see the debris field," Howard reported.

Yang Ying nodded, looking out the viewport without speaking.

Half a minute later, Howard suddenly asked, "Sir, are we really going to commit our full strength to the rear guard, fighting side-by-side with the Twelfth Fleet and the other mercenary groups?"

Yang Ying smiled faintly. "Howard, what I promised Grand Admiral Alexander was to fight the battle with the strength of a super mercenary corps. Do you recall how we proved we possessed that strength?"

"Our combat record, of course!" Howard immediately replied.

"Precisely," Yang Ying nodded. "Combat record! The record is what matters most. Where our main forces are located is irrelevant. What we need to do is demonstrate our capability, not simply place our might right in front of them."

"Sir, do you have a strategy for achieving this?" Howard asked respectfully.

"I have the basic framework. I'll outline it, and you help me analyze if there are any flaws."

Next, Yang Ying explained his ideas to Howard. "If we do this..." Howard began helping Yang Ying refine the plan, and the two discussed until the strategy became more robust.

"Captain! Sir! Detecting a massive amount of warship radar signatures! It's the Ancient Legion fleet!" a staff officer shouted.

"Bring it up on the main screen!" Howard commanded calmly.

The main screen instantly displayed an image. Behind the combined fleet, where there had only been the main force of the Gan Empire fleet—perhaps only one-tenth of its strength—now appeared a dense swarm of warship signatures, closing rapidly on the Gan Empire fleet from behind.

"Signal confirmed, those are Ancient Legion warships!" the staff officer continued reporting.

"That's obvious. The time has finally come," Howard stated, seated steadily in the command chair, his voice even steadier as he called out, "Prepare to meet the enemy!"

"Yes!" everyone on the bridge replied loudly.

Then, another staff officer reported loudly, "Captain! Sir! Commander Alexander is sending orders: separate the support fleet!"

"Comply," Howard tersed.

At that moment, the combined fleet was split into two parts by the order: the Tenth Fleet, the four super mercenary corps, and the fleets of over twenty large mercenary groups broke away from the main formation.

In terms of numbers, the ships belonging to the mercenary contingents within the combined fleet were roughly equal to, or slightly more than, the Second Fleet. However, their quality was entirely different—they were all outdated, older warships.

Thus, even though Alexander had increased the bounty, he still could not retain some of the larger mercenary groups. For those groups, participating in such a battle was severely overestimating their capabilities. Their opponent was the battle-hardened elite of the Ancient Legion, and retreating with the space cities seemed far safer.

Consequently, they followed the main body of the combined fleet, escorting the ten space cities further away.