Chapter 1 The Imprisoned

Goya, Fasserleni, and Pert's teams were all locked up in Longtan Prison. They contacted their respective legion commanders, paid the compensation, and waited for the legion's high-level executives to personally come and apologize and take them away. They couldn't leave before that.

Imprisoned, they had no way of knowing what was happening outside. Everyone stayed for several days, bored. Besides chatting and joking, there was nothing else to do. The most discussed topic was naturally Han Xiao.

"I wonder if Black Star rescued the Silver Spirits," Pert muttered to himself.

"I doubt it. Although Black Star has become Emer's subordinate, what kind of say does he have? It's impossible to save people." Fasserleni was pessimistic, shaking his head. "It's not his fault either. Even if it were me, I wouldn't be able to do anything in this situation. Besides, now that he's joined Longtan, who knows if he'll still be a mercenary."

"Since we entrusted Black Star, we should believe him," Goya frowned.

Fasserleni said helplessly, "I also want to believe him. After all, he's the last hope, but what can he do?"

"...I don't know," Goya sighed softly.

The morale of the mercenaries was low. Even if they wanted to believe in Han Xiao, their reason told them that this mission had basically failed.

...

"You're looking for Emer? She's not here. She left the day before yesterday." Jenny flipped through the files without looking up.

"Where did she go?" Han Xiao was surprised. Emer had been living in Longtan for many years and almost never ran around.

"She said she was in a bad mood and went out to find someone to fight." Jenny said calmly, with a businesslike, cold tone, pushing up the data access glasses on the bridge of her nose. "The message you delivered made her unhappy."

Han Xiao's eyelids twitched. With Emer's level, who else could she fight? It must be the other three Super-A Grades in the Shattered Star Ring… Hopefully, there won't be any interstellar news about some uninhabited planet exploding inexplicably in a few days.

He originally wanted to fool Emer into releasing the Silver Spirits, but unfortunately, she wasn't there. He could only wait for her to come back. Han Xiao didn't want to go back on his word while she was away from home. The risk was too great, and it wasn't necessary. The Longtan camp had many benefits for him. The head housekeeper, Jenny, was very capable and not as easy to fool as Emer. Han Xiao didn't have the idea of convincing her.

Jenny said, "With Emer absent, Longtan enters management procedures. I am the highest commander. Weishand strengthens the guard force, and Hale maintains the gravity core. Everything is done in accordance with the rules and in an orderly manner. You'd better not have other thoughts and don't do anything you'll regret."

Han Xiao's eyes flickered. He heard Jenny's warning. He had only joined a few days ago. Although the other colleagues didn't exclude him, Jenny had been secretly monitoring Black Star's people. This was the duty of the head housekeeper, wiping up the mess for all of Emer's decisions. Jenny's words were to warn Han Xiao not to have any ulterior motives.

Smiling, Han Xiao ignored Jenny's warning, greeted her, and left the office. He returned to the logistics department and learned of his new job. Supervisor Hale was stationed with half of the people near the power core of the floating island, and the remaining logistics personnel were on standby at the headquarters, handling daily maintenance work. Han Xiao was part of the remaining group.

Because half of the manpower was gone, the workload suddenly increased, and everyone was assigned tasks and was very busy. Han the Great Technician used all his time to handle the maintenance of various conventional devices and aircrafts, and had no time to do anything else for the time being.

...

A few days later, at the slave market.

Hollard initiated communication and contacted Han Xiao, asking, "Has your employer decided to pay?"

"Not yet." Han Xiao was repairing a drilling machine nearby, answering while working.

"Hmph, don't waste my time. You tell them that I'll wait for them for the last three days, otherwise I'll sell them to other buyers."

Hollard's tone was impatient. After speaking, he hung up the communication directly, picked up the cup on the table, and took a sip of psychedelic drink, his eyes changing.

"If the Silver Spirits are unwilling to pay, the masked man from a few days ago is the second highest bidder…"

Ash was his backup plan in his eyes, a spare tire. He was sitting tight on the fishing platform, and he could make a huge profit no matter what. Thinking of the huge wealth about to be obtained, Hollard was complacent, his heart full of excitement and anticipation. He drank the drink in the cup in one gulp and hummed a out-of-tune little tune from his hometown.

At the same time, pairs of eyes were hidden in the shadows, staring at the slave market.

Today was the day DarkStar had chosen to take action. Ash had formulated a plan, not a high-profile frontal attack, but a sneak in to quietly take away the slaves, striving not to cause a huge disturbance. They didn't know that Emer had left, so they acted cautiously. Ash's Esper potential was A+, but he was still in his training period, and his actual tier was B+, far from his peak. Facing Emer, who could kill him with a flick of her hand, even if Ash was filled with coldness and arrogance in his bones, he had to be cautious.

The manpower following the DarkStar task force also included several groups of space pirates. Ash had disguised himself in the past few days and secretly found these teammates, promising to share the benefits of the slaves equally. In addition, by revealing part of the plan, it was easy to lure these little pirates. This move was to confuse the public, cover up DarkStar's true intentions, and if they were exposed, they could also attract firepower for them and create chaos.

"Is the energy cut off?" Ash asked into the communicator.

"I bypassed the main intelligent system of Longtan Floating Island and am implanting interference equipment. It will be completed in about two minutes. It will cut off the energy supply to the block where the slave market is located, causing a temporary power outage. The monitoring will be interrupted and become a blind spot. The system will not detect the intrusion, it will only trigger a fault self-check. The virus I implanted can block the system self-check for seventeen minutes. No alarm will be triggered during this period, which is enough for your actions."

"Very good," Ash nodded.

For this operation, DarkStar provided high-tech equipment support. The team was divided into two groups. The other group cut off the area's power supply and disguised it as a malfunction. Although it would cause some noise, it would not trigger an alarm. Ash led one group and took action in the meantime.

Two minutes later, the lights in this block flickered twice and went out. Darkness replaced the light, and a burst of commotion echoed through the streets.

Ash closed his eyes, entered Esper vision, sensed the dormant carbon atoms around him, and the things he had buried in the slave market a few days in advance. With a flick of his finger, he activated his Esper ability.

Inside the slave market, the stones in the corners of the walls suddenly cracked, and small metal balls fell out, spraying a colorless, potent anesthetic gas, quickly filling the entire building. The principle was nerve paralysis, and the anesthesia was designed to avoid causing casualties as much as possible.

Thump, thump...

One by one, the staff members fell down, passed out, and Hollard was taken aback by the power outage. Before he could get up, he was knocked out by the anesthetic gas and fell to the ground unconscious.

Ash's Esper ability could control carbon atoms to a certain extent, gathering, separating, changing molecular chains to transform the state of matter, and so on. Many natural substances contain carbon elements. With his current strength, controlling a few stones was easy.

Under the cover of darkness, a group of people broke into the slave market. It was silent inside. The distribution of carbon elements was like glowing handwriting, outlining the terrain. Ash instantly found the underground prison and confirmed that the targets were there.

Because the energy was cut off, all the access control in the slave market failed. Ash led his people to the underground smoothly, opened the doors of the prison cells one by one, and all the slaves walked out in a daze, thinking they had regained their freedom, and were all grateful.

"Are you here to save us?" The Silver Spirit captives were released, their faces full of surprise, thinking they were mercenaries who had come to rescue them.

However, they soon realized that they had just escaped from the tiger's den, only to enter the wolf's lair.

The DarkStar members all wore masks to cover their faces. Ash said to the other excited pirates, "As agreed, I only want the Silver Spirits. You can divide the other slaves among yourselves."

At this moment, a group of thugs stood out and said with a fierce look, "This is not fair. The Silver Spirits are the most valuable. Why should we give them to you…"

Before Ash could finish speaking, he directly attacked. The faces of these thugs suddenly twisted, full of pain, their mouths wide open, but even the ability to scream was deprived. Starting from their skin, their flesh and blood turned into black carbonized powder, and their bodies quickly collapsed.

"Does anyone else have any objections?" Ash said in a cold tone.

Everyone's expressions changed, and they fell silent. The greed that had been about to burst forth was dispelled by this scene, and they obediently divided the other slaves, not daring to covet the Silver Spirits.

"We got them. Let's leave here first and interrogate them in a safe place." The DarkStar people ignored the other lingering accomplices and left in a hurry.

A few minutes ago, when the energy was just cut off, the logistics department received a report of the malfunction. According to the location of the logistics personnel, the intelligent program assigned the manual inspection task to Han Xiao.

"Emergency mission?" Han Xiao was repairing a drilling machine nearby. When he received the notice, he immediately put down his work and rushed to the block where the slave market was located.

There were no lights around, and it was dim. Han Xiao turned on the induction radar of his mecha, suddenly stopped, and found that the picture inside the slave market was blurred, which was obviously the reaction of radar interference.

"Something's wrong." Han Xiao's face changed slightly. Realizing that something had happened, he immediately activated the jet device and rushed to the slave market. As soon as he entered the door, he smelled the stimulating anesthetic gas.

[You have inhaled potent nerve paralyzing anesthetic gas, conducting resistance judgment…]

[Your Endurance exceeds 100 points, you are immune to anesthesia.]

[Your Endurance exceeds 150 points, you are immune to the sluggish state.]

It was silent inside. He turned on night vision and saw the staff members unconscious on the ground, and was immediately shocked.

What's going on! Was this place robbed? Who is so bold!

Han Xiao was suspicious.

At this moment, hurried footsteps sounded on the stairs. Ash's people led a group of Silver Spirits back to the ground and saw Han Xiao standing at the door at a glance. They secretly cried out in their hearts, "We've been discovered!"

However, when Han Xiao saw that the Silver Spirits had been rescued, he was even more confused.

Who the hell did my job for me?!

Did the employer hire another group of mercenaries? Are we enemies or friends?! Whose side are you on!

Han Xiao couldn't figure out the other party's identity for a while. Before he could ask, Ash brazenly attacked, manipulating the carbon atoms in Han Xiao's body, repeating the same trick, to decompose this intruder into fly ash.

Buzz!

The Esper ability directly bypassed the mecha and acted on Han Xiao's body.

[You have been attacked by Ash's Carbon Atom Decomposition, you have suffered 1146 points of True damage…]

[You have been attacked by Ash's Carbon Atom Decomposition, you have suffered 988 points of True damage…]

[Your talent Sturdy Body has been activated! You are immune to all True damage!]

Through the panel view, Han Xiao saw a series of "-0" damage values pop up on his body!

Completely unharmed!!

Ash's expression under the mask changed drastically. He could sense the carbon atoms in Han Xiao's body, but he couldn't manipulate the carbon elements in Han Xiao's body like he did with others. In his perception, the molecular structure of Han Xiao's body suddenly solidified, as strong as a rock, and he couldn't change it in the slightest!

"It seems they are enemies!"

Han Xiao's face suddenly turned cold. The mecha quickly covered his entire body. [Garitan's Wrath] unfolded, entering battle mode. Without saying a word, he fired a shot directly!