At this time, the tracking team sent a communication request to the transport fleet, but the other party did not respond.
The captain immediately turned vigilant. “Something isn’t right. Immediately prepare to report…”
Before he could finish speaking, his brain spun, and his vision turned chaotic. This state only lasted for a second before he regained clarity. But the scene in front of him froze his whole body, and fear erupted from his heart.
He saw that his surroundings had turned into a prison, and his body was firmly fixed in a confinement chamber, unable to move.
He was lost for words.
I was in the command room a second ago. How did I end up here?
Before he could make sense of his situation, his brain spun yet again. His surroundings changed, and he was now situated in a transparent glass room, with a swarm of black beetles next to him.
Looking through the transparent walls, he was terrified to see giants walking outside the room without even looking at them. He could not even see how tall these giants really were.
Everything seemed to have been magnified countless times over in his vision.
“What the hell…” the captain murmured subconsciously, but rather than hearing his voice, he only heard a slight hissing sound.
He paused before lowering his head to look at himself. A chill ran down his spine, and he dared not believe his eyes.
His body had actually turned into that of a black beetle, just like the bugs around him!
In that instant, he seemed to have understood.
It’s not that the world has gotten bigger… I’ve shrunk!
At this moment, a deep-orange jet of flames blazed in the sky, filling the entire glass capsule and turning his thoughts into a blazing white cloud.
Boom!
With just a breath, all the black beetles were burnt to ash.
Wer u
An operator in a white lab coat removed the flamethrower used for the experiment. Taking a look at the residue within the glass capsule, he gave an ‘OK’ signal.
The team leader nodded before saying, “Reporting to the commander. The targets have been eliminated.”
“Hmm.”
In the flagship, the commander nodded as he looked out of the porthole at the scene outside.
Two of the spaceships, No. 2 and 3, had already been reduced to fireworks. Only the commanding spaceship managed to escape and leave the scene.
In this escaped spaceship, all of the members were shells, replaced by a different soul!
“The plan was a success.”
The commander lightly nodded before looking to the side. There was a smoky crystal-colored mirror floating in the air, about fifty centimeters in diameter and only three centimeters thick.
The Soul Swap Twins stood in front of this mirror, their palms submerged inside the surface of the mirror up till their wrists, as though it was being swallowed.
This mirror was the marvelous Universal Treasure named the Soul Swapper!
“It’s done. Stop right now!” the commander bellowed.
Hearing this, the Soul Swap Twins slowly withdrew their palms. The soldiers around them immediately moved forward, taking away the Soul Swapper and placing it in an extremely sophisticated safe, away from the Soul Swap Twins.
Seeing this, the twins glanced around the surrounding mechanical turrets protruding from the walls and ground that were aimed toward them before laughing nonchalantly.
These turrets were safety devices to prevent them from moving. They were remotely and intelligently controlled, since the soul swapper only worked on the souls of living creatures. It was useless against machinery. The commander then retracted his gaze, looking in the direction that the shuttle was fleeing, and whispered, “The Death Warriors prepared in advance have already penetrated the enemy. With our bait, it should be enough to catch the person…”
“A squad in the Thousand Lights Star System was ambushed on their way to track a suspicious fleet. Two of their spaceships were destroyed, and only one of them got out alive…”
At the Black Star Army headquarters in the Shattered Star Ring, Nero whispered after reading the report. He looked up at the several officers in the room, asking, “Everyone, what are your thoughts?”
Mia was decisive. “The situation is obvious. The transport fleet attacked them, so it is likely from the Super Star Cluster Alliance. We should immediately mobilize troops around the incident site to track the target.”
“I feel that this is a little strange. The Super Star Cluster Alliance normally do not make any head-on attacks because their identity will be exposed once they fight. Most of the time, they try to get rid of the tail instead. The reason for their attack is only if the chasing troops were not discovered early, allowing them to accidentally catch up… but once they attack, they will not leave any of them alive. The previous cases were all like this,” Tomar muttered.
He had already been studying magic under Lagi for decades. While his teacher was a salted fish, he still could not resist Tomar’s gifts for magic, so he had slowly worked his way up into one of the officers of the Black Star Army. His relationship with Nero was good, and he was currently in Nero’s team.
“Maybe the surviving spaceship escaped in time. However, the Star Clusters must also have known that the information was leaked, so did they decide not to waste their energy in pursuit?” Mia guessed. “That would make sense.” Tomar did not doubt much as well.
“Let’s ask the survivors for any details first.”
Nero thought about it before ordering his assistant to contact the captain of the surviving spaceship. After a moment, the communication came through, and the captain of the tracking team appeared on the screen.
“Recount your experiences. I want to know the details.”
The eyes of the captain on the screen flashed. He nodded, revealing an expression of lingering fear and anger as he recounted his experience.
The soul in this body had already been replaced by a Death Warrior prepared by the Modo Civilization. The effect of the Soul Swapper was not simply just transferring the souls of the two bodies but also allowing the invading soul to inherit most of the target’s memories. This was because the brain of the body was still present, just like a library.
However, this memory would not naturally merge with the new soul. It needed to be sorted and read slowly, and there would naturally be parts missing. Generally speaking, the older memories would be more easily forgotten, while the most recent memories would remain complete.
There usually existed some sort of exclusivity to prevent different souls and physical bodies from merging. Methods like reincarnating in a new shell and seizing souls could also be done by some Espers or Psychics, such as Feidin or Chen Xing, but with lower success rates.
The Soul Swapper would greatly increase the success rate of the transfer of souls, bringing it close to a hundred percent under normal circumstances. However, this was affected by the strength of the target and the strength of the user. At the same time, using the Soul Swapper to complete the soul transfer would greatly reduce the chances of rejection of the body and soul.
The soul transfer was only one of the functions of the Soul Swapper. This mysterious thing had many other functions.
After listening to the report, Nero gave a few words of encouragement and prepared to end the conversation.
At this moment, the ‘survivor’ suddenly put on an angered and sad expression as he shouted, “We’re now the nearest unit to the enemy. I hope to be able to continue this mission, continue pursuing the troops to avenge my friends!”
“Sure.”
This request was reasonable, and Nero had no reason to refuse. Hanging up the communication, Tomar spoke out again.
“Nero, now that the target knows that he has been exposed, he’ll definitely change his plan. Instead of going to the transportation line, he will escape separately. I suggest using the second plan.”
This sort of scenar
io was not the first. The moment their transport forces were exposed, they would be treated as abandoned children. Even if they continued to track them, they would not be able to discover the secret stronghold of the Super Star Cluster Alliance.
“That’s right.” Nero turned over to look at Aesop. He said in embarrassment, ‘This… Your Excellency Aesop, we’ll have to trouble you once again.”
“No problem.” Aesop waved his hands, as though it was nothing.
The so-called second plan was to borrow Aesop’s ability to let him go to the location of the incident, using the relevant clues as a medium to make on-the-spot predictions, seeing the multiple possibilities and grasping more clues.
In order to obtain a clearer prediction, more information was needed. This method was effective, so over the past few months, Aesop had not just stayed in the headquarters but also conducted many field visits under heavy protection. This method had allowed the Black Star Army to discover many targets.
Nero nodded and loudly declared, “Let’s not delay further. Prepare the spaceship immediately and take His Excellency Aesop to the location.”
In a certain Star Field, on a certain planet, at a certain base, Manison stood in front of a virtual screen with his hands behind his back, staring at the contents of the screen.
This was the secret information from the Primeval Star River base camp, coming from the spy he had planted in the Modo Civilization many years ago.
Only a brief message was written.
The Soul Swap Twins were transferred from the base, and the Soul Swapper was taken from the warehouse by the army. The destination was unknown.
“Soul Swapper… If I my guess is correct, the Modo Civilization must intend to use this Universal Treasure to deal with him. Maybe I can…” Manison muttered to himself, an inexplicable light in his eyes.
Chapter 1158 - Parasitism and Sudden Change
A few days later, in the Thousand Lights Star System of the Shattered Star Ring, a Black Star Army armed fleet flew out of the stargate. There were thousands of battleships of various models. In the middle of it was a very large, conspicuous flagship.
Inside the command room, the Calamity Grade officer nodded at Aesop and said, “Your Excellency Aesop, we’re here.”
“Quickly get to work then.” Aesop nodded calmly with hands behind his back.
Usually, Nero would arrange at least two Calamity Grade Supers as Aesop’s bodyguards, at least a thousand battleships, and Black Star’s mechanical army and Lord’s Avatar. When in danger, Black Star would be able to arrive at any moment. He was very well protected.
“The tracking team nearby have all been called here to search the area. They have yet to find anything for the time being. Let’s go take a look at where it happened.” “Sure.” Aesop had no objection.
The fleet advanced quickly through Star Zones, soon arriving at the planet where the battle happened.
The ground location where this Super Star Cluster Alliance transportation fleet once stopped was already occupied by the army warriors who arrived a few days ago and guarded as the crime scene.
A small ship carried Aesop and was launched out from the bottom of the flagship, crossing the cordon that the army had deployed at the exterior atmosphere of this planet.
When the hatch opened, Aesop stepped onto the ground in a light protection suit, surrounded by a group of bodyguards. There were dim depressions on the ground in front of them, clearly the marks left by a battleship stopping and taking off. Aesop quickly walked to it, squatted down, and closely observed these marks while occasionally touching them with his hands. After he walked around the entire crime scene, he finally stopped and closed his eyes as if he was meditating
This process lasted for about two minutes before Aesop opened his eyes and clapped. “I saw some transportation spaceships sailing through the universe. The organization symbol on them has already changed to something else. This Super Star Cluster Alliance fleet should’ve changed into different disguises and gone in separate directions. I’ll draw out these organization symbols for you later, so you can search the fleets of these organizations in the nearby area.”
“That’s great. That’s extremely helpful. The great prophet Aesop never disappoints. Your efficiency is amazing, and receiving your help is our great honor,” the fleet commander said, clearly having learned how to bootlick from Hadavy.
“Just a small matter.” Aesop waved. “However, this is not enough. If you guys can seize one of their battleships or capture their men, I will be able to obtain more accurate leads and search for their original destination.”
“Don’t worry. With the intelligence you’ve provided, catching them is just a matter of time. Unfortunately, we’ll have to trouble you to stay in this area a short while longer. We’ll need you when we seize the enemy ship.”
“Hmm, that’s no big deal. I happen to want to take a walk outside too.”
Aesop did not mind and wrote down what he had seen in the prophecy, all the organization symbols of the enemy’s disguises. The fleet commander immediately gave the order and sent this information to all the tracking teams.
The group of them returned to the fleet and was about to depart for the army base of this area and standby when the fleet commander suddenly received a message. He looked down at the communicator, and his eyes gleamed.
“Your Excellency Aesop, you’re such a lucky star! I’ve only just sent out the crucial information you provided, and there’s a tracking team that’s already found the target. They happened to be resting at a city planet and discovered the suspicious transport spaceship that matched your prophecy. Plus, that ship is alone.”
“That’s surprisingly quick.” Aesop smiled. “Looks like we’re still in luck. This team that discovered the enemy did a good job.”
“Let me take a look… Oh, the one we’ve discovered is the only surviving spaceship from before. I remember they were searching everywhere for these guys. Now they’ve finally got their revenge.” The fleet commander smiled. “I told them to standby and keep an eye on the enemy spaceship, to wait for us to arrive and not scare them away.”
The fleet departed immediately and hurried all along the way, reaching the destination very soon.
A light purple and bright silver planet hovered in space outside the porthole. The surface of it was filled with colorful galactic cities
This was a rather prosperous colonial planet. It belonged to the ruler of the Thousand Lights Star System, the Light Rune Civilization.
The Black Star Army would not do whatever they wished without restraint when they were in city planets that belonged to a civilization like this one. The main reason was that there was no need to. Most of the civilizations in the Shattered Star Ring had a good relationship with the Black Star Army, so the army would not offend them for no reason.
“The tracking team is still surveilling the enemy spaceship. They’re not moving. What do you think?” the fleet commander said.
“Did they see any of their crew?” Aesop asked. “The tracking team has already requested to look at the surveillance footage from the officials and shared it with us. According to the surveillance, that suspicious spaceship sent a total of forty-three crew members out. They seemed to be purchasing daily supplies and all returned to the ship not long ago… We’ve come just in time. Any later and they might have departed.”
“Okay! We must seize this transport ship,” Aesop said slowly. “Inform the officials to work with us, evacuate the locals, and lock down their departure path so that they can’t take off.”
The Black Star Army members had a lot of privileges in the Shattered Star Ring. Even if it was just a middle to low-level army member, as long as their identity checked out, they would be able to request official support from the various civilizations if they were on their planet. This was all thanks to the connections Han Xiao had built. It was part of the faction privileges. The fleet arrived around the dock very quickly and formed an encirclement, while some Su
pers entered the dock with assistance from the officials, closing in on the target hangar.
Aesop and the fleet commander waited in the flagship in the outer atmosphere and monitored the operation remotely.
On the screen, the Super team charged into the hangar. Very soon, sounds of intense crossfire erupted from within, and flashes of energy cannon attacks flickered inside the hangar, leaving burn marks on the silver alloy walls.
The sound of the battle lasted for about a few minutes. The report from the operatives at the frontline came.
“Report, we only have three team members suffering from light injury, no casualties. The enemy ship contained a total of 271 crew members, who resisted, hiding in the battleship. We killed 209 targets, and the rest saw that there was no way out and ended their own lives. We were not able to capture anyone alive.”
“Shame, I was hoping to interrogate them.” The fleet commander shook his head. “Never mind, these low-level crew members probably don’t know much either. Seizing their transport ship is enough. Your Excellency Aesop, please.” Aesop nodded. He landed on the dock with his guards and came to the hangar where the battle happened.
He looked at the seized transport ship. Its exterior appearance was almost undamaged. There were only some burn marks on its exterior armor.
He stepped forward, pressed his hand on the bottom of the spaceship’s armor, closed his eyes, and activated his ability.
At the same time, in a rented temporary stronghold in a galactic city not far from this airport, the Soul Swap Twins were using the Soul Swapper hovering in front of them. Dozens of Modo Supers surrounded and aimed their weapons at them. There were also quite a number of portable cannons around.
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