by <unknown>
While the Beyond Grade As were friends with Sagman and the rest, they were not so close that they would willingly brave hell and high seas for them.
…
A pale blue vortex appeared, and a huge fleet of spaceships slowly appeared from within the vortex, emblazoned with the logo of the dynasty. They slowly left the stargate, leaving behind traces of flames from their tail as they flew, and within them, there was a battleship shaped like a huge dragon.
The light from the stargate illuminated the bodies of the battleships, leaving mottled spots of light and shadow on their angular hulls. They revealed a series of armor cracks and depressions, as well as varying degrees of damage to the outer armor.
Several spaceships from the Black Star Army were suspended near the stargate and slowly faced the heavily armed main flagship of the fleet. The damage suffered by the main flagship was particularly terrible, with a large portion of its armored plates torn out. The holes filled with nano-repair materials showcased the intensity of the battle.
The spaceships docked with the main flagship, and the mechanical structures around their doors locked with each other to complete the link.
Whoosh!
The cabin door slid open, and Han Xiao walked into the flagship. Escorted by the dynasty soldiers, he arrived at the heavily guarded imprisonment zone, where two restraint cabins were placed.
The inner wall of the restraint cabin was made up of an extremely tough alloy, which made it difficult to escape from the inside. The internal structure also automatically adjusted to the prisoner’s body shape before fixing in that position. In the middle layer were devices to provide high voltage and electromagnetic fields to restrain the captive and weaken transmission of energy. Right now, they were holding Sagman and Taylor.
While the restraint cabin could not totally restrict the Beyond Grade As, the duo were suffering from heavy injuries and had no strength to struggle free. Furthermore, Heber and Beyoni were on watch.
Han Xiao went there in person because he wanted to utilize the Spacetime Amber, sealing both parties up.
“Lord.” The Apostle Weapons walked over.
“You did well.” Han Xiao nodded before recalling the mechanical host.
Because he had utilized [Lord’s Descent] on the mechanical host to engage Sagman and Taylor, it had suffered quite a bit of damage and would require some degree of repair.
The duo had nowhere to run and gave it their all. This was especially so for Sagman, as the destruction he wrought while going all out dealt some degree of damage to almost everyone there. He was eventually pinned down by the Beyond Grade A Supers of the dynasty.
Tarrokov’s long distance projection came up and greeted him. “You’ve come. We were waiting.”
“Let them out.” Han Xiao commanded the dynasty soldiers to unlock the restraint cabin, and taking out the Spacetime Amber, he sealed Sagman and Taylor.
“This is a lot safer, with no risk of getting into trouble.” Tarrokov tapped the amber ball in satisfaction.
Ravenlaude could not help but look at Han Xiao. He realized that the Spacetime Amber was effective, and his expression sank in envy.
Tarrokov then commanded the two soldiers to take the amber balls away while he led Han Xiao and the rest to the conference room.
After they had taken their seats, he looked toward Han Xiao. “Her Excellency is extremely pleased with our progress. Upon learning of Black Star’s accomplishments this time round, she arranged a special award.”
Han Xiao nodded. He had spent quite the bit of effort during this pursuit operation and provided a lot of intelligence. After capturing the two, he had received a notification saying that he had obtained 4,500 Dynasty Contribution Points.
It did not end there. Tarrokov had told him in private that his accomplishments would allow the dynasty to be biased toward him when dividing the territory of the Flickering World, allowing him to claim bigger swathes of land.
This emergency was not only neutralized but turned from danger into an opportunity, so the upper echelons had an extremely good impression of Han Xiao.
“The operation has ended, and the spies of the Arcane Church will also be hunted down, but this job will be taken over by the Intelligence Bureau as the dynasty has another task for you,” Tarrokov said. “Next, the dynasty requires all of you to escort the four captives back to the Constellation Corridor, to prevent the Arcane Church from intercepting them along the way.”
Everyone nodded. They had to be cautious and not lose these chips because of their carelessness.
“However, that does not include Black Star and the Tyrant.”
Everyone turned over, and even Han Xiao and Heber looked surprised.
“What do you need us for?” Heber asked in a deep voice.
Tarrokov opened the star map, magnifying it, before stopping at the territory of the Star Pupil Holy Race.
“I need you two to take a portion of the dynasty fleet and head toward the Star Pupil Holy Race.”
“Capture Psyker?” Heber frowned.
“No, you guys are going there to demonstrate dominance and pressure them.” Tarrokov shook his head in response. “Psyker’s situation is different because he is the leader of a civilization, and his camp is based in the Shattered Star Ring. Initially, the dynasty planned to deal with him, but now that we’ve caught Sagman and Taylor, the Ruler cancelled this plan. Just treat it as leaving some face for them.”
“Oh, that’s not too bad,” Maximiler said. “We already have four captives, and Psyker has nowhere to run. If we continue to hammer at them, this might backfire on the dynasty.”
The rest of the Beyond Grade As captured did not have any roots in the Shattered Star Ring, so they could only blame their bad luck. But Psyker could run but not hide since his base was in that area. If the dynasty forcefully tried to drag away a civilization’s leader, this would result in a backfire, and the Arcane Church would also not watch blindly as that happened, or else they would lose the trust of their allies.
The dynasty was originally not afraid of such a consequence, but now that they had new captives, there was no need to poke the hornet’s nest. Thus, they decided to wrap up while the going was good.
Of course, not capturing Psyker did not mean that they would condone his actions. There was still a need to suppress the development of the Star Pupil Holy Race, and if they could even chase this Arcane Church allied force out of the Star Field, that would be best.
The Crimson Dynasty had mobilized millions of battleships to pioneer the Flickering World, and now they were transferring part of its fleet to the Shattered Star Ring. The armed forces available in this Shattered Star Ring long exceed that of the other two universal civilizations, and even if the Federation of Light was the nominal ruling power here, all was useless before strength.
A pity. Han Xiao’s brows furrowed. He felt it a regret not to be able to capture the other party, as he was interested in Psyker’s body structure. However, every time he saw Psyker, he just wanted to poke the guy’s eyes.
However, since he had taken away the national treasure of the Star Pupil Holy Race, both parties were like fire and water. Now that he still had to go over to the other party’s territory and swagger, this attitude seemed to be bordering on arrogance.
Seems like I’d better bring more people, in case I get beaten up…
Chapter 867. Demonstration |
The action plan was finalized. The dynasty troops would split into three sections; Milizaus and his group would take the captives back, Tarrokov would remain to command the fleet, and Han Xiao and Heber would clean up any loose ends by going to the Star Pupil Holy Race together.
Watching the dynasty’s fleet leave, Han Xiao turned to look at Heber on the virtual screen of his spaceship and smiled.
“We’re going to be partners again this time. When we arrive at the Star Pupil Holy Race, I hope you can live up to your namesake and be more tyrannical.”
“Humph.”
; The virtual screen turned dark as Heber cut the connection, not deigning to speak with him. From the porthole, one could see the Bloodshed Land’s troops turn and leave, morphing into rays of light.
Han Xiao clicked his tongue before calling Sylvia.
“Get Herlous to send a fleet to this meeting point. I’ve gotten Phillip to transfer the coordinates over to you.”
“Roger that.”
With this simple conversation over, Han Xiao cut the call. He realized that Sylvia was getting more and more capable, with him practically not needing to worry any longer.
“It feels as though I’m becoming more and more like Ames, turning into a arm-flinging shopkeeper[1]…”
As he played with his communicator, he could not resist bursting into laughter. He realized that if he were to turn into Ames, then Sylvia would become his Jenny.
To think that the heroic Mechanical Lady Knight of his past life had turned into an army affairs officer and head secretary. He did not know which the players would find more attractive, though he knew that Sylvia’s favorability within the players was currently quite high.
This moment, Mad Sky Hunter took the initiative to lean over to Han Xiao, nudging him with its head. Han Xiao’s mouth curled, and he proceeded to stroke the brain portion of Mad Sky Hunter, causing it to let out happy noises as it lowered its head, just like an actual pet getting petted.
Mad Sky Hunter would only behave like this in front of Han Xiao, its creator. As a beast-type Mechanical Life, its mannerisms had deviated a little from the norm. Upon accessing its web records, Han Xiao discovered that other than the combat resources, it had also downloaded dozens of pet videos from the internet. Most likely, it was attempting to learn how to behave like a pet, but its actions coupled with its sleek, glossy demeanor only served to give Han Xiao goosebumps.
If he really did pet it, the feeling he would get from his hands would be just plain weird. However, if he did not pet it, it would seem like he was not showing respect to its hard work.
Silver Flash stood coldly by the side, secretly showing disdain.
Humph, boot-licker!
Thinking about it, Han Xiao dialed Ames, and her elegant face soon appeared in front of his eyes.
“What do you want?”
“I have a mission here, which is to go to the Star Pupil Holy Race to bully Psyker. Are you interested?”
Ames supported her chin with her right hand, and her sleeves dropped down, revealing dazzling white skin. She blinked.
“I’ve realized that you seldom chat with me these days unless you have some business.”
“Are you coming or not?”
“Let me check my schedule.” Ames lifted her eyes, gazing past the screen toward someone by the side. She slowly asked, “Jenny, is there anything on Floating Dragon that I need to do?”
It took a long while before a brittle voice coupled with grinding teeth sounded.
“There is… but have you ever done it?”
Hearing this, Ames directly waved her hand. Han Xiao could not see what happened, but Jenny’s voice seemed to have disappeared. Maybe… she got attacked by Ames’ force field.
“Looks like I’m free. I’ll head over.” Ames looked like she was smiling yet not smiling, as though nothing had happened on her side.
“Sure.” Han Xiao nodded his hand, choosing to ignore whatever had just happened.
“This is the mission assigned by the dynasty, so I believe it won’t be just you.”
“Yeah, Heber is involved this time, together with a few dynasty fleets.”
“Heber is going too?” Ames narrowed her eyes. “Humph, I don’t want to even see him. I’m not going. You can have fun with him.”
Ames immediately cut the call off.
Han Xiao blinked in surprise, staring at the black screen in confusion.
Does she have that great a misgiving toward Heber, to just go back on her word like that‽
It seemed like he had underestimated how badly Heber failed in his attempt to use an iron-blooded man’s method of courtship.
…
While the Crimson Dynasty was ferrying the four captives back, and their prestige was sweeping across the universe, the Star Pupil Holy Race within the Eternal Night Star System greeted an unexpected visitor.
Psyker held the highest authority here, and the Cabinet of ministers assisted him in managing government affairs. Some of the key personnel were high-levelled officials who held real power. This system obviously had drawbacks, but this was not a problem for Psyker. His strength and prestige granted him the right to speak, and because of his psychic ability, he was able to differentiate between thoughts and emotions, so no one could override him.
During this time, Psyker was not within the government, so the cabinet was in charge of daily matters. However, the two parties did not completely cut off their connection. While Psyker was on the run, he kept monitoring the affairs of his race. It was just that he was not at home, nor was he able to reveal his face openly. However, the public opinion surrounding him recently let many of the citizens in the Star Pupil Holy Race feel trepidation.
In particular, the dynasty catching Sagman and Taylor had attracted the worry of the Star Pupil Holy Race. They were afraid that their leader would also be snatched away and frightened that the Crimson Dynasty would turn toward the Star Pupil Holy Race for revenge.
Filled with all kinds of worries, a minority of people were secretly cursing Psyker.
Were you so free that you had to go and muddy the waters, making it so messy now!
This public opinion had been widely circulated among the Star Pupil Holy Race. A small group of people faced threats to their own security, so they were dissatisfied with their leader, Psyker. As for Psyker’s past credits, it did not make a difference in their judgement because people tended to take things that were given to them for granted. It was a pity that Psyker did not succeed, or else the direction of public opinion would have been the opposite, praising him.
However, the extreme views of the minority would not be able to affect the stability of the civilization. Psyker’s control over his race was not just made up of glue, and even if the future was unknown, the government was still operating.
The cabinet set down instructions to let people preach online that Psyker was in this situation in order to recapture their clan treasure, in order to shape Psyker’s image of taking risks personally for the dignity of their race. This severely suppressed a batch of dissatisfied remarks.
At this moment, in the main hall of the cabinet, many key officials were discussing whether to enter a higher level of wartime emergency, inviting Psyker back and using troops to protect him.
A great number of senior military officials were participating in this meeting, each holding their own opinions and arguing fiercely.
At this moment, one of the officials received an intelligence report and suddenly had a change in expression, slamming the table as he read out the report.
“Border Post 17 has detected a large dynasty fleet with tens of millions of battleships, including Black Star Army and Bloodshed Land troops.
“What‽”
All the members present were shocked and horrified.
Did the worst situation happen, and the dynasty troops had really chosen to kill their way over?
Before they could react, the second report arrived.
“The other party has stopped at the border and did not forcibly intrude. They are now negotiating with the border officer. Black Star and Tyrant are commanding this fleet, and their intentions are unknown.”
The hearts that were in the cabinet members’ throats slowly fell back down. They stared at the officer with grudging eyes.
Could you not speak in such an emotional tone? You nearly scared us to death!
After their shock subsided, everyone’s senses came back online.
“That’s right. With such tens of millions of battleships, it doesn’t seem like they came here to declare war.”
/>
“What’s their intentions? Could it be that they’re going to force us to hand over our leader?”
“This… What do we do then? Won’t we still clash with them that way?”
All the people present had on difficult expressions.
Very quickly, the third report was sent over.
“Black Star and the Tyrant have said that they came over to visit the Star Pupil Holy Race, and they wish to talk to Psyker.”
The cabinet members looked at each other.
With such a mighty army, they’re saying that they’ve come here for a visit. Do they think we’re fools?
The fleet clearly did not come with good intentions.
“If we reject their request, do you think they will wait outside the border, or will they resort to violence?” one of the cabinet members asked.
Everyone simply stared at the person wordlessly.
Do you think that the troops and Beyond Grade As sent out by the dynasty are here for sightseeing? Giving them the cold shoulder is akin to refusing a toast and choosing the forfeit instead. How could they possibly take it lying down?
Brother, how did you get into the cabinet? Did you pull strings?
“This matter is already out of our scope of authority. Report to Leader Psyker and let him decide.”
The cabinet then contacted the escaping Psyker.
Not long after, the communication was linked.
Surveying the scene, Psyker noticed their heavy expressions and asked, “What’s happened?”
“Leader, the Crimson Dynasty has come to pressure us…” One of the officers explained the matter once more.
After he finished, the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone was waiting for his response.
Psyker took a deep breath, closing his eyes. After a while, he slowly opened them.
“Receive them. I’ll rush back right now.”
“But they are targeting you!”
A few of the people had panicked expressions, but they secretly heaved sighs of relief.
If Psyker had chosen to run and not come out to take responsibility for this matter, there would have been no way for them to clear up this mess.