The DarkStar warriors all looked at Ash, as if asking "What should we do?"

Ash stared at Han Xiao, caught in a dilemma. First, the time they had spent here had already exceeded expectations. They had initially thought they could take down Han Xiao quickly, but they hadn't expected him to be hiding such troublesome abilities. Second, they didn't know how strong Han Xiao's regenerative ability was, or how many times he could recover.

Ash believed that Han Xiao definitely had a limit, but the question was how long would it take to force it out? Han Xiao's resilience was far beyond the average mechanic. They had seriously injured him once, but their strength and stamina were limited. The DarkStar warriors were breathing slightly faster, their chests rising and falling rapidly. The continuous high-intensity attacks had fatigued them, and they couldn't maintain their peak condition.

Retreat or continue? Ash hesitated. At this moment, he suddenly saw Han Xiao raise his head to look at the dome that formed the cage walls, his expression becoming playful.

Before anyone could react, violent explosions rang out outside the cage, and the walls vibrated and quickly developed cracks.

Boom!!

The ceiling suddenly shattered, and the light from searchlights poured in. Several aircraft hovered above, with ship-mounted laser cannons aimed at the DarkStar group.

"Drop your weapons immediately and surrender!" Melos shouted through a loudspeaker.

The DarkStar warriors' expressions changed.

"Damn it, the guards are here! The ambush was only a few minutes long. We checked the area before and there were no patrols nearby. Did a guard team just happen to come along? He's really lucky!"

From the start of the ambush to the end of the battle, it had actually been less than ten minutes. With the enhanced speed and reaction of transcendents, they could complete more and more actions every second. The flow of time during combat seemed to slow down in their perception, with each second slowed down by several or dozens of times. The evenly matched opponents could grasp every detail, and the fight was fierce, but to ordinary people, they could only see overlapping afterimages and flashing lights, a dazzling spectacle.

"It's not a matter of luck. The people on the aircraft are all Black Star's subordinates. He must have called for backup!"

"How did he break through the signal interference?!" One person said in disbelief.

Ash stared at Han Xiao and said in a deep voice, "I admit, I underestimated you this time, Black Star. I've remembered your name. Retreat!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the cage suddenly collapsed, turning into black dust that billowed into the air, interfering with sensors and vision.

At this moment, Ash took out a metal tube, twisted both ends, and activated the device. A blue light point appeared in the center, emitting a halo that enveloped a three-meter radius. The DarkStar warriors quickly stepped into the blue light area. Then, Ash twisted the metal tube again, and the blue light point suddenly shrank, turning into a flash of light. The people and dust in the area disappeared without a trace.

The graphite dissipated, and Han Xiao wiped the dust from his face. He came to the spot where Ash and the others had disappeared, crouched down, and brushed away the dust on the ground, revealing a circular pattern.

"A directional short-range teleportation trigger. It should be a combination of spatial magic and quantum teleportation technology. It hardly leaves any warp traces, so we can't track them." Han Xiao shook his head, feeling somewhat helpless. DarkStar's technology was very advanced in comparison, and he had no way to deal with it now.

The aircraft searched for a while, but found nothing. They had no choice but to land, and Han Xiao casually settled the players' missions.

The reinforcements forced Ash back, foiling DarkStar's plan to kidnap and control him. However, Han Xiao wasn't happy. Ash's failure would definitely attract DarkStar's attention to him. He had displayed a lot of abilities, so he couldn't continue to keep a low profile.

With the first attack, there was likely to be a second. Han Xiao didn't have enough power to deal with such a large organization at this time, and even his mercenary group's business would be difficult. Tracing back to the source, it was only because this hiring mission happened to coincide with DarkStar's conspiracy. He was also helpless. As long as he went to rescue the Silver Spirits, whether or not the Cipher Pearl was obtained, it would attract DarkStar's attention. In the beginning, he didn't know that this matter had DarkStar's shadow. There was no turning back now. At least he now understood DarkStar's goal and had obtained the key Cipher Pearl. He had the initiative in his hands. Although he had repelled Ash, he had also successfully concealed the truth that he knew, and was still hiding in the shadows.

"I still shouldn't hand the Cipher Pearl back to DarkStar. The risk is too great. DarkStar's methods are ruthless, and exposing too much would put me in danger," Han Xiao thought to himself.

"Are you okay?" Melos walked up behind him and asked with concern.

Han Xiao waved his hand. "I wasn't injured. You guys came just in time."

This time, the players had taken the initiative to request reinforcements. Melos had been skeptical, but now he was sure that Han Xiao had some kind of telepathic connection with these direct subordinates.

"Who are these enemies? Why did they ambush you?"

"They're the thugs who attacked the slave market. I recognized one of them. They may be trying to get revenge on me." Han Xiao said casually, then turned to Aroshia and helped her up.

Aroshia shook her head, indicating that she wasn't injured.

Han Xiao thought for a moment and said, "Your body contains a high energy reaction, but you don't know how to use it."

He had just seen the scene of Aroshia firing a gun, only to be instantly suppressed by Ash, barely helping at all. If Aroshia had combat ability when they were ambushed, he wouldn't have had to fight alone.

Han Xiao wasn't an irresponsible person. He couldn't just abandon her after completing the mission. Since he had taken Aroshia away, he could only let her join the mercenary group. He didn't need a burden. Aroshia herself had a lot of potential and was worth cultivating. Letting her become a transcendent would at least keep her from being a burden and could also provide some assistance.

"My body contains energy?" Aroshia lowered her head and pressed her hand to her heart. "Really?"

"You definitely have the talent of a transcendent. How about this, I can teach you how to unleash your potential and become a transcendent. That way, you won't waste your talent," Han Xiao said.

"You want me to learn transcendent knowledge?"

Han Xiao shrugged. "Although I don't know who you were before, since you have amnesia, then learn again. Maybe you were a very strong transcendent to begin with, and your progress might be rapid."

Aroshia said slowly, "There's something I haven't told you. I seem to be some kind of cosmic wonder. You can't take me away."

Han Xiao was stunned.

"They said I won't truly die. After death, I'll be reborn, but I'll return to my initial amnesiac state, losing the memories of this existence. I remember that this time I've been 'alive' for three years, sold five times, and every six days, I'll definitely return to that prison cell, no matter how far away, it's just a matter of an instant. No one can take me away." She took the initiative to explain her special nature.

The earliest scene in Aroshia's memory was the moment she opened her eyes in the prison cell. Her background was a mystery, her existence was a mystery, and her previous memories were completely blank. However, this "life" of hers had lasted for three years, and she had these three years of short-term memory. She had long noticed her own special nature, but her life form was very peculiar. She didn't have much material desire or mental need, didn't need to eat, had little curiosity, and had a sense of resignation.

Although her knowledge of the world was a blank sheet of paper, she wasn't like a simple child, but possessed strong thinking abilities.

Holleran had concealed something. Han Xiao didn't know Aroshia's secret, and he immediately understood that Holleran was promoting her in order to make money in a cycle, and he was speechless.

Han Xiao asked in surprise, "You can't control this ability?"

Aroshia shook her head. "Uncontrollable."

Hearing this, Han Xiao's interest grew even stronger. Aroshia had self-awareness, but she was trapped in a prison cell by a mysterious force, and this wasn't her will. If this was a cosmic wonder, then it could lead to a question—was Aroshia the wonder itself?

Was it possible that she was originally an independent individual, not part of the wonder, and that she had become a wonder by chance? In other words, Aroshia's amnesia, peculiar life form, and almost desireless thinking might all have been granted by the wonder. Then what exactly was this wonder? Did it not have a material entity, but was some kind of invisible energy?

Unfortunately, even if this question had an answer, the person answering it wouldn't be Aroshia. Perhaps the truth was in the part of her memory that she had lost. At this time, Han Xiao's biggest concern was that Aroshia couldn't be taken away by him.

"Is there no solution?"

"I don't know." Aroshia shook her head and reminded him, "There are three hours left until the sixth day."

The mission required him to rescue her from the slave market and keep her for six days. Only then did Han Xiao realize the difficulty, but since it was a mission, there must be a way to complete it.

There should be clues in that prison cell.

Han Xiao instructed everyone to patrol and look for enemies—although he didn't hold out much hope. Then he called for the spare Teng Snake mech and restored his armed state. Then, he accompanied Aroshia to the ruins of the slave market…

At the same time.

The DarkStar team appeared in another corner of Longtan, their expressions dejected.

The ambush had been too hasty. They had acted rashly with only a half-baked understanding of Black Star's information. They had assumed that their strength and technology gave them an overwhelming advantage, and therefore underestimated the enemy.

Arrogance was the cause of their failure.

Ash's face was ashen. It was the first time he had failed when dealing with a target weaker than him. He was very concerned about this failure, and it left a knot in his heart, making him very uncomfortable.

Opening the communicator to report the results, Ash endured his displeasure and stiffly repeated the failure. The DarkStar high-level members were very surprised. Their surprise and disappointment struck another blow to Ash's pride.

His resume had always been perfect, but now it had a stain.

"Sarota has intercepted all the criminals, and there are no clues. Only the mercenary is left. There's an eighty percent chance that the Cipher Pearl is in the mercenary's hands."

"Then should I continue to look for an opportunity to deal with Black Star?"

"You've failed once. Don't take any more risks. You should withdraw," the high-level member sighed.

The veins on the back of Ash's hand bulged.

"…Yes!"