Gu Ya flew through the Black Star nation as if it were an unpopulated land.
Located in the Southern Hemisphere, it was currently the turn of spring and summer, with little difference between day and night temperatures.
Compared to Xian Xia's year-round unchanging climate and vast Gobi Desert, this place was significantly more pleasing to the eye and more suitable for human habitation.
Vast, lush forests, rolling low mountains, and numerous islands formed by seawater inundating the land were connected by magnificent bridges. Although desolate for thousands of miles, it gave a feeling of a hidden paradise combined with a grand wasteland world.
Piloting a Black Star mecha, Gu Ya continued southward.
At this speed, Ye Ying and the others should have already reached the Black Star's main city.
Just as Gu Ya thought he could rendezvous smoothly with Ye Ying, trouble found him.
He had been flying recklessly through Black Star territory for days, and it was bound to attract enemy attention.
Eighteen Black Star mechas, divided into two squadrons, converged from the east and west, while three mechas blocked the front, forming a three-way encirclement.
The two groups approached, their distance no more than two kilometers, their mecha silhouettes clearly visible to the naked eye.
At this moment, a Black Star pilot from the mecha directly in front of him initiated communication.
"Our unit has no record of your flight mission. Please present your credentials for a routine check."
"Check your grandmother..." Gu Ya muttered, but to avoid attracting attention, he slowly hovered his mecha and sent his mission code to the other party.
As the mecha pilot responsible for communications entered the code, a large display appeared on the screen: "Black Star Headquarters Level-I Classified Mission. Unauthorized to verify. Do not intercept."
The mecha pilot, after reviewing the information, asked in a low voice, "That's not right. If it were a headquarters classified mission, we would have been notified 24 hours in advance, and our flight path would have been cleared. But we received no such mission."
"Indeed..." Gu Ya stared impassively at the screen, while the Black Star mecha pilot's information appeared in the bottom right corner of the display.
Gu Ya said calmly, "If I recall correctly, you belong to the 39th Flight Brigade of the Main City Defense Force. Your mission today is routine patrol, correct?"
"Who exactly are you?" the Black Star mecha pilot asked warily.
Simultaneously, his mecha revealed its weaponry,
and the Black Star mechas scattered around quickly shifted into a pincer formation, surrounding Gu Ya's mecha from all directions.
Defeating these Black Star mechas wouldn't be difficult, but if Gu Ya made a move, it would immediately alert the Black Star Empire.
Gu Ya was sure that his mecha's information had already been sent to the Black Star ground command through remote communication.
Gu Ya had been exposed.
But fortunately, he had a foolproof plan.
"Now take a look at your screens," Gu Ya said indifferently.
A temporary flight mission suddenly appeared on the screens of every Black Star mecha present: "You are hereby ordered to immediately clear airspace up to 570 kilometers from the main city to escort a top-secret mission envoy. Execute immediately!"
After reading this communication, the Black Star mecha pilot said cautiously, "They're not following the rules anymore. Even the supreme leader cannot issue temporary flight orders without authorization. We must search your mecha."
If it were any other mecha pilot, they probably would have let him pass upon seeing the order.
However, Gu Ya had encountered someone overly cautious.
"Delaying the mission means losing your head," Gu Ya said coldly.
"Then get out of your mecha!!"
Ten minutes later, Gu Ya, fuming, calmly leaped out of his mecha, his face grim as he stared at the dozen or so Black Star mecha pilots in front of him.
A burly Black Star man, leading the group, approached Gu Ya. He raised his hand, and his identity was displayed on his communication bracelet.
"You Liang Sankuai, Deputy Captain of the 39th Flight Brigade, is conducting a routine..."
"Enough, I'm in a hurry," Gu Ya said, suppressing his anger.
Just as Gu Ya turned to allow them to board and search his mecha, tens of thousands of nanobots, invisible to the naked eye, flew from Gu Ya's palm and burrowed into the other party's brains.
You Liang Sankuai mumbled, "Strange, yesterday I encountered a few people on a temporary classified mission, and today I've met another."
Gu Ya listened silently, thinking it must have been Ye Ying and the others.
It was likely Ning Yu's doing that allowed them to pass safely.
One of the Black Star pilots said, "They don't even use Black Star nationals for classified missions anymore. I wonder what the higher-ups are thinking."
"Yeah... three with Xian Xia faces, one from the Great Palm State, and an Yadaya mixed-blood."
Due to the effects of Yong Meng, their brain nerves relaxed, and they felt a sense of contentment, beginning to chat amongst themselves.
This was also Gu Ya's plan, attempting to extract some intelligence from these people.
"I like that tall girl, so tall and fair. She must be a handful," one man mused lewdly.
Gu Ya listened intently; they were likely talking about Yoda.
"You know nothing. That Yadaya mixed-blood is truly beautiful. If my wife were like her, why would I still be a mecha pilot? I'd go back home, buy some land, and have a wife, kids, and a warm hearth."
"Hahaha! Look at you lusting after her!"
"Such a beautiful woman, it's hard not to fantasize! If I could really marry that woman, I'd have her every day, hah-hah-huh—!"
The moment before, this man was talking animatedly, but the next second, his expression froze. His head was split in half from his mouth, and the upper skull fell to the ground with a splat.
The man's body remained standing.
The bloody flesh and bone were cooked, appearing black and red, emitting a strong burnt smell.
Yet, the men in front of him acted as if nothing had happened, still laughing and chatting amongst themselves,
as if the horrifying scene before them didn't exist.
Gu Ya flicked the scorched flesh and blood from his lightsword, his heart still burning with anger, and he said fiercely, "You've got some nerve to say such things. You deserve to die a horrible death."
After speaking, Gu Ya placed his hand on the shoulder of the male corpse. The next moment, time and space began to condense in his palm.
The male corpse spun, emitting a chilling sound of cracking bone and flesh, and was quickly sucked into the vortex of time and space in Gu Ya's palm, disappearing without a trace.
"Hahaha! He can even whistle! And he whistles so badly!" The men who had been chatting burst into laughter!
Gu Ya asked coldly, "What else did you do?"
The men in front of him chattered about what happened yesterday.
After listening, Gu Ya understood.
As he had surmised, Ye Ying and the others had indeed passed through this area. After being checked and cleared, they were allowed to proceed to the Black Star main city.
These individuals had kept their hands clean and hadn't molested Ye Ying and the others, which put Gu Ya's mind at ease.
However, the insult of his mecha being intercepted and his mecha being searched could not go unpunished.
"How dare you touch my mecha..."
After the Black Star mecha pilots finished their inspection, Gu Ya was allowed to proceed.
But Gu Ya didn't leave immediately. Instead, he hovered his mecha in the air and released over a dozen miniature communication-jamming mechas to lie in ambush around the area, waiting for the show to begin.
As the inspecting Black Star mechas gradually lifted off, they suddenly froze in place, completely motionless.
Soon, one of the mechas drew a massive gun from its back and, without a word, fired at a friendly mecha.
Following this, more and more Black Star mechas began to engage in combat with each other.
With the help of Yong Meng, Gu Ya didn't need to act personally to make his enemies fight amongst themselves, which brought him considerable pleasure.
After a few minutes, only a handful of Black Star mechas remained engaged in combat in the sky.
Gu Ya estimated that it was about time and turned his mecha to leave.
At this moment, a uniquely shaped mecha, resembling a flying squirrel, suddenly attacked from the sky.
It plunged into the aerial battlefield like a sharp sword, darting through each Black Star mecha. In just over ten seconds, it severed the weapons of all the engaged Black Star mechas.
A man speaking with a Black Star dialect roared, "Who gave you the order to attack!"
Suddenly, he spotted Gu Ya's distinctive mecha at the periphery of the battlefield, and coldly asked, "Who are you?"