Tang Dingyuan snorted. "If you want to accuse me of something, you can always accuse me. If you want to slander me, you can just make up some accusations. Why bother asking me?"
Cui Lingfeng looked at him casually. "We will know very soon whether or not you want to accuse me of something. I wanted to save some dignity for you and ask you to speak for yourself, Brother Dingyuan. But if you insist on resisting … your daughter has been arrested. It will be the same if she speaks for herself."
Tang Dingyuan's pupils constricted violently. Every muscle on his body was tightened, and he bellowed, "Cui Lingfeng, it's fine that you are framing me, but if you dare touch a hair of my daughter, I will not let go of you even if I become a ghost!"
Cui Lingfeng sneered. "Brother Dingyuan, if you really love your daughter so much, you shouldn't have used your daughter's identity and the crystal processor as a cover in the beginning. You asked for it. Why are you pretending to be infuriated?"
"I didn't!"
His daughter's safety finally made Tang Dingyuan completely lose control. His anxiety, desperation, and fury in the past few days were all vented out. He seemed to have been caged in the corner of the prison cell by barriers, and he could only struggle to his feet and roar at his opponent. "Cui Lingfeng, I am the captain of Firefly, and my daughter is a professor of Star Ocean University. Even though you are the Speaker, you are not qualified to arrest and interrogate us in secret! I did not defect. I am not an Immortal Cultivator. This is all your framing. The most shameless framing! "
"You didn't?"
Cui Lingfeng sneered. Suddenly, he glared and raised his voice. "You did! You defected a long time ago! You completely lost faith in our cause and in Firefly a long time ago!
"You are an out-and-out capitulationist and a defeatist! You lost all your loyalty to the Star Ocean Republic a long time ago! You don't believe that we can make a comeback with Firefly. You don't believe that the flag of the Star Ocean Republic can wave at the center of the cosmos again!
"If you had the slightest confidence in the Star Ocean Republic, why would you be in such a hurry to join the Xing Yao Federation? You can surrender to the Xing Yao Federation. Of course, you can surrender to the Imperium of True Human Beings. After all, you have to sell your homeland and your compatriots at a good price. Of course, you have to find the richest buyer!
"Tang Dingyuan, Captain Tang! Do you dare deny that? Do you dare deny that you have completely lost confidence in the Star Ocean Republic? "
His words pierced into Tang Dingyuan's chest like arrows, making Tang Dingyuan's face turn pale. Even his hair and beard that had been bristling seemed to have softened.
Taking a deep breath, Tang Dingyuan said gravely, "I don't deny that I have indeed … lost confidence in the Star Ocean Republic, but that is different from defection!
"You're finally willing to admit it?"
Narrowing his eyes, Cui Lingfeng said, "You admit that you are a cowardly traitor?"
"I'm not a traitor!"
Dragging the invisible shackles, Tang Dingyuan roared like a lion trapped in a trap. "Cui Lingfeng, the members of parliament who sit in parliament all day long are naturally free to talk nonsense like the Star Ocean Republic will never perish regardless of the objective situation. You are deceiving yourselves with your mental victory! But for us, who are commanding the starship on the bridge and are faced with tens of thousands of practical problems every day, watching Firefly decline day by day without being able to do anything about it, spirit, belief, and patriotism are absolutely useless! However firm our faith in the Star Ocean Republic is, it cannot solve the practical problems that are happening to the starship. It cannot conjure up a steamed bun or a screw. It cannot stop us from marching to our doom!
"Face the reality!
"The Star Ocean Republic … has perished a long time ago. It perished a thousand years ago. Firefly, which is drifting in the sea of stars right now, is nothing more than its dead body!
"It is impossible for the dead body to be revived. It will only rot slowly until it turns into a cluster of dust in the cold universe!
"There is nothing we can do now. The Star Ocean Republic is a thing of the past. It is a history from a thousand years ago. If we really want to march back to the center of the cosmos and avenge the Star Ocean Republic, we can only join the Xing Yao Federation and unite the forces of the two civilizations of Cultivators. That is the future that belongs to all Cultivators!"
"Shut up!"
There was no telling whether Cui Lingfeng was acting, or he was showing his true feelings, or maybe it was both, but his face suddenly turned extremely dreadful, as if something that he had been guarding in his heart for his entire life had been smashed into pieces. "You spineless capitulators and traitors, listen up. The Star Ocean Republic is not doomed. As long as we are here, it will never perish! One day, we will march back to the center of the cosmos and make the flag of the republic fly in every corner and every corner of the capital planet again! "
His bloodshot eyes and bristling with fury, however, slightly dazed Tang Dingyuan. Eyeing him carefully, Tang Dingyuan put on a mocking smile. "By 'we', are you referring to you and the representatives who can't tell the difference between food and exercise? What are you going to use to march back to the center of the cosmos? Your spirit and patriotism? "
Taking a deep breath, Cui Lingfeng stared at Tang Dingyuan in disdain. "You are a pure technician who values weapons above all else. Naturally, you don't understand the importance of spirit. All in all, you will join whoever has the best ships and the best cannons. That's all.
"However, let me tell you something. Do not underestimate the power of spirit. Every human being should have some spirit! A thousand years ago, if it weren't for the spirit that you despise and our love and loyalty for the Star Ocean Republic, how could our ancestors have fought their way out of the siege and escaped from the clutches of the Imperium time and time again and persisted to this day even when eighty percent of our population and combat ability had been lost?
"As the commander of a warship, you should know better than me that, under normal circumstances, a troop will collapse after losing twenty percent of its combat ability at most!
"But we didn't. We did not collapse. Instead, we walked all the way to this day. When the entire universe was swallowed by the Imperium and the Holy League, the Star Ocean Republic was still fighting!"
"I refuse to call what we are doing right now a 'battle'," Tang Dingyuan said coldly. "Just think about how we were when we encountered the claw fleet of the Imperium last time. We were even more miserable than stray dogs who were hiding everywhere! If we want a real 'battle', we have to join the Xing Yao Federation and integrate our forces. Only then will we have a slim chance of marching back to the center of the cosmos!
"You are asking me if I have lost confidence in the Star Ocean Republic? Yes! I never hide my thoughts. I believe that the Star Ocean Republic is hopeless and dead a long time ago!
"But you are asking me if I am a traitor? I am not! I love the Star Ocean Republic, too. I am willing to inherit the spirit of the Star Ocean Republic, too. I also hope that the Star Ocean Republic can be reborn with a new name, a new appearance, and a new attitude!
"The Star Ocean Republic is the supreme country of the civilization of mankind that inherited the spirit of the Star Ocean Imperium. If the Star Ocean Imperium is called the 'first Cultivation civilization' where mankind dominated the sea of stars, the Star Ocean Republic will be the 'second Cultivation civilization'. Today, a thousand years later, the Xing Yao Federation is more than qualified to be the 'third Cultivation civilization'. It will inherit the spirit of the Star Ocean Imperium and the Star Ocean Republic. It will take over the destiny that all the Cultivators failed to accomplish in the past ten thousand years and sweep the universe with a powerful civilization of Cultivators again!
"This is all I have in mind. I am not surrendering to the Xing Yao Federation. Instead, I am injecting the spirit of the Star Ocean Republic, which I love and swear to protect, into the Xing Yao Federation so that we can create a stronger, brighter country of Cultivators with a limitless future on the dead body of the Star Ocean Republic!"
Tang Dingyuan's voice, which had been as cold as hail at the beginning, turned into thunderous roars mixed with flames in the end.
Cui Lingfeng seemed to have not foreseen that he would say such a thing. For a moment, there was shock and confusion all over his face.
"Judging from your appearance right now, if it weren't for your superb acting skills, I would've been more or less convinced that you are not playing any tricks in secret."
Tang Dingyuan sat back and was deep in thought. While pondering, he mumbled, "Then, it will be terrible. The two of us, the Speaker of the government-in-exile and the captain of Firefly, have been set up at the same time …"
Cui Lingfeng frowned. "What did you say?"
Tang Dingyuan glanced at him and sneered. "Speaker Cui, I believe in your love and loyalty for the Star Ocean Republic for now. However, the 'we' that you mentioned might not necessarily be the same. Not every member of parliament is prepared to live in exile for another thousand years with fanatical loyalty like you!
"For most of the members of parliament, what they care about is nothing more than the tiny bit of power and position in their hands, which can help them get a spacious cabin and some synthetic food that is slightly more delicious.
"As long as there is a chance, the members of parliament will not mind selling their loyalty and their 'spirit'. Just like you said, if they can be sold to the Federation, they can also be sold to the Imperium!"
Narrowing his eyes, Cui Lingfeng asked, one word after another, "What do you mean? Explain yourself."
"Do you really think that all the members of parliament are willing to sail to the end of the universe under the name of the 'Star Ocean Republic' like you?"
Tang Dingyuan said calmly. "Yes. That is indeed what they have shown in parliament. They are all honorable and loyal to the Imperium. But that is only because the name 'Star Ocean Republic' has not been sold at a good price in their eyes. Do you want to know how many members of parliament have come to me in private and told me that they were not against joining the Xing Yao Federation but did not have the courage to say it out loud because of your tyranny and persecution?"
Cui Lingfeng stared at Tang Dingyuan without saying anything.
Tang Dingyuan was unperturbed, not backing off at all.
"Brother Dingyuan, let's call it a day," Cui Lingfeng said slowly.
"I have other business to attend to. I'll take my leave now."
"You should hurry up."
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