Chapter 1 A Request Rejected

Han Xiao closed the panel and drafted a request to the empire, applying for permission to visit the Heteromorph.

Not long after, he received a reply.

"Hmm? They actually rejected my application?"

Han Xiao looked at the virtual screen in surprise, displaying the application document with the empire's approval.

In the lower right corner of the document was a red stamp with the words "Not Approved" in the empire's common language, meaning the application was denied.

"The empire won't let me visit the Heteromorph; what's that supposed to mean?"

Han Xiao frowned, took out the communicator, thought for a moment, and didn't dial Ulan Rier's private line but went through the president's office line instead.

The communicator rang for a while and was quickly answered. As soon as the liaison officer saw that the caller was Black Star, they transferred the line to the chief secretary of the president's office.

"Your Excellency Black Star, what can I do for you?" The chief secretary had a good relationship with Han Xiao and asked directly.

"It's like this. I just submitted an application to visit the Heteromorph, but it wasn't approved and was rejected. Is this Ulan Rier's intention?"

"Ah, Her Excellency the President has been in meetings; it shouldn't be her. I'm not aware of this matter; your application wasn't reported to us."

"Then can you help me check which department handled it?"

"Okay, please wait a moment…"

The chief secretary operated within the internal system for a while, using their authority to retrieve the file, and their tone suddenly became helpless.

"This is a joint decision made by the empire's main AI, 'Ying Hun', and the prison department. I looked at their internal notes. The empire's detention location is top secret, and generally, no one is allowed to visit. And Your Excellency Black Star is even more special; you're actually on their visitation blacklist…"

"Why am I on the blacklist? What did I do?" Han Xiao felt baffled.

The chief secretary said helplessly, "You didn't do anything, but you're currently the only person in the world capable of releasing the Heteromorph. Therefore, until the predetermined five-hundred-year sentence is up, you're not allowed to visit…"

Han Xiao was speechless.

I even helped the empire capture the Heteromorph, and now I'm not even qualified to visit him?

Okay, from the empire's perspective, this approach is quite reasonable. Temporarily, I'm the only one in the universe who can unlock the Space-Time Amber prison. The former captor has become the only potential releaser. In this case, the empire rejecting my visit seems very normal, avoiding the greatest risk.

But… while the empire's approach is correct, Han Xiao inevitably felt a little disheartened emotionally.

He thought the application would be approved smoothly but didn't expect to be blocked at this step.

"Is there no way to make an exception?" Han Xiao frowned.

"The management authority of the Heteromorph prison is very high. If you insist on visiting, you can only ask the president for help. She has the power to forcibly approve your application, but there must be a reasonable reason, otherwise…" the chief secretary said euphemistically.

Hearing this, Han Xiao nodded.

I have a good personal relationship with Ulan Rier, but she can't just open a back door unless I have a legitimate reason.

After a brief conversation, Han Xiao hung up the communicator. Ulan Rier was in a rather important meeting, and he had to wait a while to contact her. He would use this time to think of an excuse.

'I originally wanted to use the excuse of visiting to approach the Heteromorph, but it's not feasible. Without a compelling reason, the empire won't allow me to approach the Heteromorph's prison in any form. Even the prison coordinates are confidential; only specific permissions can view them, and I don't have the authority to inquire…'

Han Xiao clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

The reason for visiting can't convince the empire, and to check on the Heteromorph's condition, I must unlock the amber seal. The best solution is still to fabricate a special reason to make the empire actively allow me to open the amber, minimizing the risk.

If I can't convince them, I'm afraid I'll have to imitate Old Man麦 (Mai), try to infiltrate the empire's database to steal relevant information. Although this move would offend the empire, stealing intelligence is not too egregious, not to the point of a falling out… This can only be a backup plan.

After a while, the chief secretary sent a message saying that the president had finished the meeting. Han Xiao then dialed Ulan Rier's private number, and it was quickly connected.

Ulan Rier's figure appeared on the screen, her face calm, and she directly cut to the chase.

"Black Star, I heard you were looking for me earlier, wanting to visit the Heteromorph. Why?"

Although she hid it well, Han Xiao's observational skills were astonishing. He could tell that Ulan Rier's mental state was a bit fatigued. After thinking about it, he said:

"The Heteromorph has been imprisoned for decades. I want to open the prison once to check the Heteromorph's soul state."

"Is that necessary?" Ulan Rier frowned. "You were the one who suggested we set a five-hundred-year sentence back then. Only a few decades have passed. With the Heteromorph's level, the soul won't be extinguished so quickly. Opening it now would only create more trouble."

"Cough, my level wasn't high enough at the time, and my understanding of the power of that level was limited, so I exaggerated the sentence as much as possible. Five hundred years is just a form of insurance. Now that I've grown to my current level, I've done more research on the Space-Time Amber and discovered that it may not take that long to obliterate a Super-A's soul."

Han Xiao recounted the prepared excuse. He had no evidence to explain his suspicion of Godora, which would only arouse the empire's suspicion, so he simply didn't involve Godora.

Ulan Rier didn't doubt him, but she shook her head, still not agreeing, and said, "I don't think it's necessary. The Heteromorph is too dangerous. I still think imprisoning him for five hundred years is the safest. The empire can afford to wait that long."

Han Xiao had anticipated that the president might say this, so he wasn't surprised at all. He explained, "The experiment is just one of the goals. Actually, I also have lingering concerns. Having grown to this day, I understand how strong this level of power is. Looking back, I find that the Heteromorph's capture was too smooth, very suspicious. From my understanding of the Heteromorph, he may have left himself a backup plan and escaped using soul transfer. I'm worried there's a trap, so I want to open the prison to check."

Ulan Rier's eyes flickered, but she still didn't quite believe it.

"Evidence?"

Han Xiao pretended to be serious and said, "This is just a guess, which is why I need to verify it. But if you insist on a witness, you can ask Sword God Fú. When we surrounded and killed the Heteromorph, she sensed the Heteromorph's strange mental fluctuations. I suspect there was a problem hidden inside."

Godora is a rising star whom the empire places great hope in. Involving him in the conversation would not be a wise choice, so Han Xiao's remarks mainly targeted the Heteromorph.

Hearing this, Ulan Rier finally took it seriously and immediately instructed the chief secretary to contact Sword God Fú.

Sword God Fú quickly came online and gave a positive answer. Only about thirty years had passed, so she naturally remembered what she had seen at the time.

Seeing this, Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. This evidence didn't really prove anything. Everyone treated it as the Heteromorph's futile struggle, but now that it was being used by him, it increased the persuasiveness… If it weren't for this episode, it would be difficult to convince the president now.

After receiving the reply, Ulan Rier fell silent, seemingly analyzing the pros and cons. After a while, she looked up and stared straight into Han Xiao's eyes, saying in a deep voice:

"Black Star, if the Heteromorph regains freedom, can you guarantee you can capture him?"

"What I could do then, I can still do now."

Han Xiao smiled.

Now that he didn't have the Super-Godly Tranquilizer character card, losing a big trump card, but after decades of growth, he was completely different. Even if he guessed wrong, it was just a matter of capturing him again.

Moreover, others didn't know that the character card was just a one-time skill and would only think that he still had this kind of method.

Ulan Rier pondered for a long time and finally nodded.

"Okay, I approve! Since your suspicion is reasonable, open the prison to check on the Heteromorph's condition and ensure that what we captured isn't just an empty shell!"

…

More than ten days later.

Constellation Corridor, within the territory of the Crimson Dynasty, a certain top-secret military restricted area.

A huge cubic mechanical building was suspended in the starry sky. Its exterior was an interstellar armed fortress built as a megastructure project, with a surface covered with armor and shields strong enough to withstand fleet bombardments—this place was the space prison where the Heteromorph was imprisoned.

At this moment, densely packed dynasty fleets surrounded the prison, each warship extending its muzzle, with all kinds of weapons in a ready-to-fire state.

And not far from the prison, a black figure was suspended, it was Han Xiao. He opened the Secondary Dimensional Army Camp and was massively summoning the army, forming a second encirclement, surrounding the prison.

Godora was still on his way in the Shattered Star Ring. Han Xiao raced against the clock and directly used the Emperor to teleport his main body to the dynasty's branch within the territory, took an empire fleet that came to pick him up, and spent about ten days to arrive at this military restricted area.

Han Xiao summoned countless mechanical troops and finally closed the gate of the Secondary Dimensional Army Camp, speaking in the communication channel:

"I'm ready. Activate all Space-Time Locking devices immediately and open the core of the prison."

"Received." A serious voice of the fleet commander sounded in the channel.

The next moment, invisible waves bloomed with the fleet as the center. This space instantly "tightened", and the space-time coefficient of the area became extremely stable, basically invalidating all space-related abilities.

Immediately afterward, the space prison bloomed like a flower bud, and the structural layers unfolded layer by layer, revealing the pistil. The core was the egg-shaped cabin storing the Heteromorph's Space-Time Amber, which was firmly locked and fitted by the mechanical structure of the prison.

As the prison opened, the egg-shaped cabin released the locked mode, and the independent power system began to operate. The thrusters ejected tail flames, carrying the cabin slowly flying out.

Han Xiao reached out, and a Mech Force arc dragged the ten-meter-long egg-shaped cabin to his front, reaching out to open the hatch.

A familiar face that had not been seen for many years jumped into view, it was the Heteromorph who had been imprisoned in the Space-Time Amber for decades. He still maintained the appearance when he was frozen, and his expression and movements were all frozen at the last moment of freedom.

"All units in position! Ready to fire at any time!"

The fleet commander's dignified voice sounded in the communication channel.

Decades had passed, and the shadow left by the Heteromorph had not completely faded in people's hearts.

"Now it's time to verify the guess…"

Han Xiao stared at the Heteromorph's eyes, took a deep breath of dark energy, and turned his hand to take out the core of the Space-Time Amber, stabbing it over.

Pop—A crisp sound as if the Space-Time Amber was shattered echoed in his ears.

The cage imprisoning the Heteromorph was lifted, but his body did not move, just floating in the weightless vacuum environment, right in front of Han Xiao.

"Is it already an empty shell…"

Han Xiao took out a suction cup-shaped device and stuck it to the Heteromorph. This was an instrument used to detect the state of the soul.

Although mechanists were not good at the spiritual domain, at his level, creating a device purely to detect whether the target had a soul was not a problem.

The suction cup was about to stick to the Heteromorph's body, but at the next moment, Han Xiao felt his wrist tighten as if someone had suddenly grabbed it, stopping in mid-air.

Han Xiao suddenly looked up, meeting the Heteromorph's re-animated eyes.

At the same instant, a meaningful mental message entered Han Xiao's mind.

"I said, we'll meet again sooner or later…"