Chapter 142 Ambush

Two days ago, DarkStar committed a massacre and happened to see through Paiji’s lies. So they changed their strategy, no longer searching aimlessly in the vast universe. Since the Cipher Pearl was in Longtan, they only needed to lock down the forces that participated in the dock brawl and investigate who picked up the pearl. The screening range was narrowed countless times in an instant.

The mercenaries were the instigators of the dock brawl and received key attention. Sky Ring, Blade Edge, and Purple Gold were all arrested. Only Han Xiao's Black Star had the right to move around outside. Ember hadn't gone so far as to break into prison, so he didn't need to be considered. Han Xiao was directly regarded as the best target.

That's why there was this ambush.

— Capture Black Star, use means to control this small mercenary leader, and make him obediently follow orders. Use his identity to enter and exit the prison and find out if the Cipher Pearl was picked up by other mercenaries.

Originally, the first rule of the "DarkStar Special Operations Agent Action Manual" was "When on field missions, in order to reduce the risk of exposure, try not to use force if you can bribe the target with money," because most of the time the money spent could be recovered. However, in DarkStar's perception, the mysterious force plotting the Cipher Pearl was hiding in Longtan, knew the truth earlier than them, and might have contacted the mercenaries first. After the Paiji deception incident, Ember didn't want to be tricked again and decided to use a crude and simple method, directly using force.

As members of a large violent terrorist organization, they always had a sense of superiority when facing mercenaries, like death gods hiding in the dark. High class, fashionable enough, cold and stern, how stylish. And mercenaries were so earthy, like mud-legged peasants, doing hard labor for money, without beliefs, not even as good as bounty hunters who specialize in hunting down wanted criminals. They were simply losers.

What people in the underworld valued was class! When reporting their backgrounds, the feeling of "I'm from DarkStar" and "I'm a mercenary" was completely different.

The name of DarkStar made countless races fear and dread. In contrast, although the mercenary industry was extremely large, it was a plate of loose sand, of mixed quality, like the difference between pebbles and sandcastles. DarkStar would only take large legions like Sky Ring and Blade Edge seriously, but a mercenary group leader of a small-scale mercenary group of fifty people whose strongest was only Grade B?

Hey, that wasn't a piece of cake.

"Who are you?" Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and deliberately asked.

"Here's a piece of advice, if you want to live longer, put away your curiosity, don't ask about our identity, and don't cause trouble."

Ember said lightly, he thought Han Xiao must be very surprised by the identities of these ambushers.

However, he didn't know that the witness of the slave robbery that night was Han Xiao. He thought this was the first time he met Black Star, maintained profoundness, and used this to put pressure on Black Star. He didn't know that Han Xiao had already figured out the details.

Han Xiao looked around. The walls constructed by Ember formed a cage-like arena. A total of eight DarkStar warriors surrounded him in the middle. In addition to Ember, the other seven were not just there to make up the numbers. The special forces warriors were all Grade B Supers, watching him like tigers eyeing their prey.

Seven opponents of the same level plus Ember of Grade B+, the degree of difficulty was not just 1+1. With the cooperation of various abilities, Han Xiao couldn't guarantee how long he could last, and he was also carrying the burden of Aroshia, the situation was precarious.

Han Xiao tuned the communicator channel of the mech, and could only hear a burst of crackling electric noise. His face darkened slightly.

"Don't waste your efforts, there is a powerful signal jammer set up nearby, no messages can be sent out, you can't call for reinforcements."

Ember's tone was cold, the general meaning was that no one would come to save you even if you shouted yourself hoarse.

"It seems you think you've got me." Han Xiao remained calm and probed, "Anyway, I have nowhere to escape, tell me what you want me to do, maybe there's room for negotiation, I don't want to fight a meaningless battle."

"We want you to inquire about the whereabouts of a black pearl from the mercenaries," Ember said.

Hearing this, Han Xiao's expression remained unchanged, and he quickly analyzed in his mind.

'It seems that DarkStar has probably pried the truth from Paiji's mouth, and probably knows that someone is impersonating their name and is also competing for the Cipher Pearl, but they don't know that that person is me. This attack is not because I was exposed, but because I happened to be one of the targets. This is very important. They don't know the pearl is on me. If I pretend to cooperate and act insincerely, maybe I can escape responsibility.'

He was more concerned about how far DarkStar had dug up. At this time, it seemed that he was just coincidentally taken as a typical mercenary, and the matter of impersonating DarkStar had not been exposed.

It was not impossible to consider compromising with DarkStar. You know, there was a sinister method called infiltrating the enemy. If handing over the Cipher Pearl could exchange for the qualification to join DarkStar, it might also be an option, but the risk was unknown and difficult to measure.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, pretending that he didn't know what the pearl was, and said, "This is just a small matter, I can help, why use force."

Ember took out a small transparent box containing many sand-sized nano-micro-machine insects, injected into the body to control the brain and heart, which could take lives at any time, and said, "After you inject this, we'll talk about cooperation."

"... It seems I have no other choice."

Han Xiao shook his head, and the mech instantly took over his body.

Injecting nano-machines, with life and death controlled by others, he couldn't possibly let others slaughter him. Since that was the case, there was only one way.

Beat them up!

Kaka Kaka.

Electromagnetic guns popped out of the mech's grooves one by one. Current-like vigor burst out, surrounded by thin silk-like lightning. Han Xiao not only held guns in both hands, but the remaining guns were also controlled by vigor, firing in all directions.

Tututu tututu—

In an instant, bullets flew, tracer trajectories crisscrossed like a net, entwined with blue electricity, spreading out with Han Xiao as the center, like blooming deep blue roses!

The battle suddenly broke out!

Han Xiao used a [Sliding Step Barrage], and by the way turned on [Field Control Vision] to increase the rate of fire, activated [Magnetic Vision - Data Stream] to further enhance mechanical affinity, and also used [Mech Force Surge] and [Overload]. Various skills greatly increased his explosiveness. The DarkStar special forces warriors were startled by this firepower and dodged and blocked in various ways.

"Wasting time."

Ember manipulated dust into shields to block the bullets, his face calm. As far as he was concerned, as long as the enemy's grade was lower than his, no matter what the fighting style was, it was just a show. As long as he couldn't be immune to his ability, any enemy could be killed in seconds.

Buzz!

The ability was activated, the sense of touch extended, the field of vision changed. Ember clearly "saw" the atomic structure of Han Xiao's body. Carbon elements were marked and lit up, like rivers spreading throughout the body. He skillfully manipulated these carbon elements - he had done similar things countless times.

However, Han Xiao's body seemed to turn into mountains in a trance. The previously invincible ability actually failed, unable to manipulate even a trace of carbon atoms in his body. The structure was extremely tight and unshakable.

The calmness on Ember's face was shattered in an instant, replaced by astonishment.

"It's you!"

Ember stared at Han Xiao in disbelief.

It turned out that the witness that night, the culprit who caused the operation to fail, was this mercenary leader - Black Star!