Chapter 1 The Beginning

Sensing power spread rapidly in a spherical range, covering an increasingly larger area. Gao De quickly discovered an obscure energy source quietly suspended in front of the fleet, invisible to the naked eye, seemingly using some kind of sensory blocking ability.

The moment the target was discovered, it revealed its form. A figure suddenly appeared in front of the fleet, its entire body covered in black mecha, making its identity impossible to discern.

"Only one person… Hmm? This aura?"

Gao De's expression changed slightly. His ability was very sensitive to energy fluctuations, and he basically had a photographic memory. He realized that the aura of this attacker was not unfamiliar; he had likely met them before.

Because the radar was malfunctioning, he also sensed the surrounding environment and found that the space in this area had been anchored. It was a common trap; spatial abilities such as warp and flash could not be used at all.

Moreover, his sensing power could not continue to spread outward once it reached a certain point, as if a membrane was isolating the outside world.

At this time, the captain also discovered the attacker's figure and quickly responded, shouting to the crew, "Find a way to reconnect to the network and report this to the Empire! Also, immediately remove the smart chip, switch the ship's control mode, and change it to manual control for me! The flagship, retreat immediately!"

As soon as the order was issued, the crew acted quickly. The duty personnel in the control room hurried to the engine room to remove the smart chip, using hardware to cancel all the ship's smart control permissions. This was to prevent the ship from being manipulated by the enemy, and only by switching to manual mode could the paralyzed ship be restarted.

This Imperial fleet was only responsible for transporting Gao De and had only a small squadron. Although the performance of Imperial warships was higher than most models of spacecraft, this team was too small, its combat capabilities were limited, and it was not qualified to fight against Super-A Grades.

Most importantly, communications were cut off, making it impossible to contact the outside world for help. The primary task was to find a way to get the message out, so the captain did not want to fight to the death. These were all cases written in the Imperial Commander's tactical manual.

However, his idea was good, but the communication network was cut off, causing the conventional command system to be paralyzed. His orders could not be immediately transmitted to other posts, and converting to a magic-side emergency command system would take some time... and this time difference became the difference between life and death.

Before this Imperial fleet could take any action, the attacker's figure suddenly bloomed with countless dazzling golden electric arcs. In the electric arcs, black bean-like particles suddenly magnified, turning into an overwhelming mechanical army, instantly filling everyone's vision!

Mech Force · Bionic Nest!

Compressed Ball Reform · Martial Body!

The one who came to attack Gao De was Han Xiao himself!

He deliberately released news to cause the major forces to suspect each other, but all calculations must ultimately come to fruition, which is to solve Gao De with thunderous means, otherwise it would be a waste of effort. If other forces did not act, he could only take matters into his own hands.

Historical experience told him that the more links in a plan, the more unstable factors would increase exponentially. Many conspiracies are not complicated at all, without so many reversals linked one after another, so there is no need to pursue fancy methods. Grasping the main contradiction and hitting the target is the most important.

And now, undercurrents are surging under the surface, and there are more suspected targets, which has achieved the goal of muddying the waters. It is time to move on to the next step and start messing with people.

Based on the Empire's route of action, he calculated the other party's inevitable path, and used the Emperor's mecha to teleport to the front-line stronghold early, quietly arriving here. He found a sparsely populated location and set up an ambush trap.

This area was not only equipped with a space-time blockade device, but also used a large-scale detection obscuring device similar to the World-Veiling Sky Curtain to "seal off" the area. Not only could the inside not detect the outside, but the outside could not see the situation inside. No matter what happened inside, the remote astronomical observation outside could only see a calm picture, and could not even sense the energy fluctuations of the battle, in order to reduce the chances of outsiders discovering clues.

In addition, Han Xiao also deployed magic disturbances, mental wave isolation, prediction shielding, and other devices, basically thinking of every possible means, all to minimize the possibility of leaks. Only a Mechanic could set up such an array.

And these technologies already existed in the universe. Han Xiao used his own improved versions, incorporating some similar blueprints from the Jess technology treasure, which were very cutting-edge and far more effective than conventional products.

Of course, advanced civilization warships have corresponding detection methods for these traps. If it were a normal voyage, the Imperial fleet would be able to discover the anomalies here from a long distance. However, Han Xiao's current virtual range is extremely far. He had already quietly adjusted the intelligence of the Imperial fleet, gaining control of the fleet without anyone knowing, which allowed the other party to be completely unaware, otherwise the Imperial fleet would not have stepped into his trap.

Although Gao De's energy manipulation is powerful, he is also helpless in the virtual realm and can't detect anything. Specialization in a field is key.

As soon as the mechanical troops appeared, they opened fire on the paralyzed Imperial fleet without hesitation.

Endless light shone in the darkness. The next moment, a rain of light like a torrential downpour pierced through the formation of the Imperial fleet!

The shield arrays of the Imperial warships froze, as if exposed to a hail of bullets. Beams of light pierced through the hulls, and the thick outer armor twisted and tore. Ships exploded in the blink of an eye, turning into strings of fireworks!

Buzz!

However, at this moment, deep blue psionic barriers suddenly appeared, protecting the remaining spacecraft. The mechanical legion's firepower quickly shattered the barriers one by one, but it also delayed them for a moment.

In that short moment, the thrusters of these spacecraft suddenly spewed out raging tail flames, accelerating instantly and narrowly escaping the frontal attack range of the rain of light before it reached them.

Inside the flagship, Gao De's eyes shone with light, his palms formed into claws, and a ball of light floated in his palm, emitting thousands of light threads.

At that critical moment just now, he activated his ability, creating psionic barriers to block some of the firepower, and using his ability to trigger the energy furnaces of the remaining warships, bypassing the heavy permissions of the spacecraft's controls and directly forcibly activating the thrusters.

After a round of strikes, this fleet had already suffered heavy casualties, leaving only seven or eight ships left.

"That was close..."

Gao De's expression was solemn, and his nerves were tense.

The moment he acted, he sensed the energy level that the other party unleashed, which definitely reached the level of a peak Super-A Grade, and was a strong one among them.

There were only a few Mechanics of this level in the universe. No matter who it was, he could not deal with them in his current state... Of course, the most likely was that old thing, Manison!

"Can't get entangled in battle, go!"

Gao De glanced at the shocked and angry captain and activated his ability again, pushing the surviving spacecraft quickly toward the outside of the sealed area.

He knew that these crew members could not help, not that he wanted to save people, but that his flying speed was not as fast as the warships, and he needed to use the ships to escape.

Only by breaking away from the space-time locking area and escaping the other party's shielding trap range could he find a way to transmit the message to the outside world.

But at this moment, a palpitation suddenly surged into his heart. Gao De's intuition felt a strong threat, and he immediately crashed through the bulkhead and escaped the spacecraft.

Whoosh!

In the next moment, five extremely condensed red rays shot out from Han Xiao's fingertips, easily penetrating layers of psionic barriers, and then swept horizontally, instantly cutting the surviving warships into countless pieces, with smooth, mirror-like surfaces.

The next second, the spacecraft's energy core exploded, and crimson energy expanded from the inside out, immediately exploding into fireworks and engulfing all the spacecraft fragments.

The fleet was wiped out in an instant, leaving only Gao De floating in the battlefield.

"What powerful energy rays. They seem to have amazing penetration against all energy-form shields. If I had been hit just now, I would have been injured..."

Gao De was secretly apprehensive, he was just a little short of being hit by the red rays just now.

He looked up and saw that Han Xiao's black mecha was covered with red energy circuits, densely packed like blood vessels, all connected to his fingertips. As the five red rays were fired, these energy circuits dimmed, seemingly entering cooldown.

Seeing the attack miss, Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.

"This anti-neutron fission cutting line is silent. If it were a normal newborn Super-A Grade, they should have been hit. He deserves to have inherited a portion of the mental strength of the past, predicting the threat."

After these years of research, Han Xiao had created more than just the "Emperor" as a universe treasure-level mecha. This set of black mecha was originally a golden blueprint from the Jess technology treasure. Han Xiao integrated some modern new technologies into it and finally successfully improved it, taking a new name, "Black King · Ranged Armament."

And this is just one of the products in the same series. There are also three variants: "Melee Armament", "Legion Armament", and "Defense Armament", each specializing in different abilities, collectively known as the "Black King Sequence", all of which are golden quality armor!

Han Xiao did not hesitate and quickly chased after him, Gao De turned around and ran.

Unfortunately, without a spacecraft, his physical flying speed was far inferior to the mechanical troops, and he was immediately surrounded by layers of mechanical troops, falling into a bitter battle.

As soon as they exchanged blows, Han Xiao realized that Gao De's ability was too advantageous. Not only was his resistance to energy attacks terrifyingly high, but he could also absorb the enemy's attack energy in battle, making his mana recovery efficiency amazing. It was equivalent to having infinite mana as soon as he entered the Super-A Grade level, which was extremely abnormal!

The superiority of the ability itself was fully revealed. He was simply a chosen one. Relying on the advantages of his ability, Gao De struggled to resist the mechanical legion's offensive, and for a while, he showed no signs of suffering.

"Just entering the Super-A Grade level, and he already possesses this level of combat power. If he is given time, who else will be able to restrain this guy?"

Seeing this, Han Xiao could not help but marvel at Gao De's talent, and at the same time, he was even more certain of the idea of eliminating the hidden danger as soon as possible.

With a flash of his figure, he personally broke into the encirclement, rapidly approaching the opponent, deflecting the energy rays that Gao De fired in haste along the way, successfully closing in, and without saying a word, delivered a heavy axe kick from top to bottom.

Gao De's expression changed, and he quickly raised his hand to block.

Thud!

The majestic force slammed down. Even though he used energy to protect himself, his body could not bear the weight, and tendons broke one after another, bones cracked one after another, and severe pain flooded him like a tide.

"I didn't expect to be flanked by a Mechanic. If my grade were a little higher, I wouldn't let you come back..."

Gao De gritted his teeth and endured the pain, wanting to retreat, but found that his arm seemed to be stuck to Han Xiao's leg armor, and he couldn't pull it away.

He hurriedly looked over and saw black nanoparticles spreading out at the point of contact, quickly covering his arm and spreading towards his whole body.

"Not good!"

Gao De's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly mobilized his energy, wanting to break free, but at this moment, his brain suddenly vibrated violently, and his spirit was dragged into a vast world constructed by data streams, losing control of his body.

Before he could react, a towering figure suddenly appeared and slapped his spiritual body into the ground.

This move is... Virtual Soul!

Gao De remembered this vividly, gritting his teeth and asking:

"Manison! Is that you?!"

Han Xiao turned a deaf ear and attacked head-on.

In the virtual realm, Gao De's spiritual body had no power to fight back and was beaten up. Fortunately, his mental strength far exceeded that of a newborn Super-A Grade, and he quickly broke free.

Gao De's consciousness returned to his body, and before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he found that his whole body was wrapped in machinery, as if he was wearing a layer of mecha.

"You..."

Before he could start to break free, he saw Han Xiao snap his fingers.

Swish!

In the next moment, Gao De's figure disappeared without a trace. The Emperor's mecha took him through the space-time anchor and teleported away.

"Execute the second plan."

Han Xiao immediately turned his head and ordered the mechanical legion to carpet bomb the area, clearing all traces that the fleet might have left behind, and folding and compressing the mechanical troops batch by batch, returning them to his main unit.

He had prepared several plans. If he could quickly solve Gao De here, that would of course be the best, but if Gao De had the ability to resist, he would find a way to change the battlefield.

Although he had set up multiple traps, the fourth phase area of ​​the Shattered Star Ring was too lively after all, with many uncertainties. He didn't want to delay here for too long, lest he be discovered.

So Han Xiao made a second preparation. Last time when he traveled with Klossius, he recorded multiple deep-level sub-dimensions along the way. When he was waiting for Gao De in the main universe, he was not waiting in vain. He took the time to choose a stable dimension that no one had ever visited, placed several sets of the Emperor's "Throne", and left mechanical troops behind to transform that dimension into a larger sealed area.

Arriving in the deep world of the sub-dimension, this completely cut off all of Gao De's retreats, leaving him with no way to escape!

Han Xiao quickly dealt with the loose ends, cleared the traces, and recalled the troops. Then, he changed into another Emperor armor and instantly teleported away.

With a flash of vision, he arrived at a new place.

Here, there was pale earth, a barren wasteland, without any life. It was like a black-and-white world, and only outsiders possessed color.

In the mid-air, another mechanical troop ambushed in this sub-dimension was besieging Gao De, preventing him from escaping.

Seeing Han Xiao appear, Gao De suddenly turned his head and looked over, his eyes full of astonishment.

The Emperor's teleportation function was already one of Han Xiao's trademarks. After being hit, he finally knew the identity of the attacker, and he felt unbelievable!

Gao De struggled to resist the mechanical troops' siege while staring closely at Han Xiao, his tone filled with shock and incomprehension.

"Black Star! It's you! What do you mean by this?!"

He couldn't understand why the one attacking him was Black Star.

Aren't we supposed to be buddies now?

Aren't you supposed to be enthusiastic about getting to know me?

Why are you dealing with me?!

Confirming that Gao De was trapped, Han Xiao finally spoke his first sentence, his tone calm.

"Stop pretending, I know who you really are... Different God, do you really think you can sever the past and be reborn?"

As soon as he finished speaking.

Gao De's pupils instantly shrunk to pinpoints, his mind in chaos!

Impossible!

I did it seamlessly, how could he possibly know!!