Chapter 1 Aftermath of the Battle

Last time they parted, Ashes tasted defeat at Han Xiao’s hands. He had seen many mechanics, but Black Star was the first oddity who didn’t need machines and directly exhausted the enemy with his body. Moreover, he seemed to be the nemesis of his own Esper ability. Ashes had pondered how to target Han Xiao and had some clues, waiting to meet again and wash away his shame.

Now that he had finally intercepted Han Xiao, seeing the ball car turn around and run, Ashes immediately activated his Esper ability.

Buzz—

The surrounding rock walls seemed to squirm with life, and a large number of gray-black particles涌ed out, like spreading black clouds, entangling the ball car and turning into various forms, either thorns or blades, scraping streaks of sparks on the high-speed rotating armor of the ball car, which was very dazzling in the dark underground.

The underground space was narrow and winding, and the ball car directly smashed the rock wall, rumbling and ramming, like a mole drilling out a passage. Ashes and the others chased behind, but the ball car was very fast, and even the agility of a Grade B super was not low, they were gradually left behind.

"Calling the search team, move with my position. There is an important target here, riding some kind of spherical mechanical vehicle, which is very fast. I will try to slow it down."

Although Ashes really wanted to fight Han Xiao, the long-term training made him focus on the mission. The floating fleet searching in the nearby area received the news and approached Han Xiao and the others from all directions, detouring.

The range of his Esper ability was limited, and the ball car was about to leave his sight. Ashes’s stamina turned into fuel to stimulate his Esper ability, and the ground in front of the ball car suddenly bulged, turning into jagged rocks and terrain obstacles.

Bang bang bang bang!!

The ball car rolled over, smashing the wolf-tooth-like stone pillars one by one. The thick armor shell was not damaged, but the speed inevitably decreased. The spherical arc surface inside the cockpit was all screens, displaying the outside scene. Being in the driver’s seat allowed a fully immersive observation of 360 degrees up, down, left, and right. Han Xiao quickly tapped the operation panel to activate other functions of the ball car.

The sound of mechanical components moving rang out. The front, rear, left, and right armor of the ball car suddenly opened, and a mechanical limb slid out, supporting the ground and exploding with power, making the ball car jump up like a flea, leaping over the dangerous terrain in one fell swoop. Immediately afterwards, four rhombus-shaped anti-gravity thruster nozzles suddenly appeared at the bottom of the ball car, allowing the ball car to glide for hundreds of meters before landing lightly, and then jump up again, so it hopped forward, unaffected by the terrain at all, and Ashes was left further and further behind.

"Tsk, the search team will definitely surround us. We have to find a way to get rid of the enemy. Fortunately, there is a rift valley nearby that we can..."

As he was talking, Han Xiao suddenly noticed something strange and suddenly turned his head to look at the people in the other seats. Veins popped up on everyone's faces, as if they were struggling hard, unable to move in their seats.

"Stop, or they're dead."

In the distance, Ashes stretched out his hand remotely, with a cold expression. He had no way to deal with Han Xiao, but as for the others in the ball car, he could launch his Esper ability against the internal life forms through the armor.

Han Xiao frowned slightly. This was exactly what he was most worried about. He could ignore the two players; he wouldn’t even bat an eye if they died a hundred times. But Melos, Aroshia, and the others were different and represented his weakness in facing Ashes. It was impossible to stop; Han Xiao would not hesitate on this point, but he was worried that something might happen to these two characters he had finally managed to trick into joining.

"Don't...don't mind us. He won't kill people. Don't...don't let us cause the entire team to...be destroyed!"

Melos's stamina flickered, resisting the control of the Esper ability. He struggled to speak intermittently, his expression ferocious, each word as difficult as if it were squeezed out from between his teeth. During their time together, he had a certain understanding of Han Xiao and knew very well that Han Xiao would not be indecisive and could make decisive choices while ignoring threats, so he didn’t need to worry. His opening his mouth was to let Han Xiao not have any psychological burden.

"Hold on, there is a rift valley ahead. Flying down will get rid of the enemy." Han Xiao nodded, without any nonsense, and accelerated.

Seeing that the ball car was about to leave the range of his Esper ability, Ashes's eyes turned cold, and he clenched his palm fiercely.

The higher-ups did not allow killing, but as long as they were left with a breath, it didn't matter what state they were beaten into.

"Ugh—"

Melos gasped, his roar muffled in his throat. He saw that his left palm had a clear deformation, gradually turning into dust and sand, sprinkled on the ground. There was no blood, no bloody smell, and the decomposition continued to spread along the palm towards the shoulder!

"Ashes..." A trace of coldness flashed in Han Xiao’s eyes, but he had no time to check Melos’s injuries. The immediate priority was to leave Ashes’s Esper ability range so that the losses would not continue to expand.

Aroshia’s body overflowed with sand mist, and she was decomposing. She looked down at her body, a trace of confusion flashing in her eyes.

Most normal life forms would be curious about their destination after death, but life only came once, and the day of getting the answer also meant saying goodbye to the world. Aroshia, however, had countless opportunities to try. Death was not mysterious or unknown to her; she could see her own "ending," which was rebirth. Having personally experienced it countless times, she knew that she could not die, but rebirth also meant refreshing her memories. She had no memories after death, nor could she remember her previous experiences of survival. She could not help but think of Han Xiao’s words.

If she lost the memories of her last life, even if she regained life, would she still be herself? Would this be another form of death?

"So, I can die..." Aroshia murmured to herself, and suddenly, a trace of panic broke out in her heart.

The moment this thought appeared, a change occurred in her body.

Buzz!!

The feeling of being controlled suddenly disappeared. Aroshia found that she could move, and the world in front of her had changed. Her vision seemed to emit light on its own, and many wandering lights swam in the air like small fish. Her perception of the environment was completely different from before. She had a thought, and she found that she was floating. At this time, she saw the surprised eyes of the people next to her.

"What happened to me..."

Aroshia looked down at her body, which was no longer a material entity but a semi-illusory luminous body, flashing a faint golden-blue light, with light particles floating around. Her senses were no longer limbs, arms, and facial features; it was as if she had no form restrictions. She had a thought, and she suddenly turned into a ball of light.

"This, this is..." Maple Moon was surprised.

"Energy life." Han Xiao glanced at it hastily, shocked in his heart. Aroshia’s performance at this time was a characteristic of an energy life. The material composition had changed, so she would no longer be controlled by Ashes. He did not have time to think about the reason. An idea floated into his mind, and he said, "Try to contact the energy core."

Aroshia did so. The light sphere extended a thin tentacle, passed through the wall of the cockpit, and touched the operating energy core. The light particles in her body entered the core along the tentacle.

Zzzzz—

A series of electrical sounds rang out, and electric sparks burst out from the engine. The power of the ball car suddenly increased sharply, turning into an overload state!

The thruster ejected, and the speed increased sharply. The ball car jumped into the rift valley ahead, finally leaving the range of the Esper ability. Melos's decomposition process stopped at his left shoulder. He was covered in sweat, clutching his empty left shoulder, with a painful expression. Apart from him, the Volga brothers had some injuries, but Ashes’s main target was Melos, who had the strongest resistance, so their condition was still good, and they were not disabled.

Ashes and the others stopped at the edge of the rift valley, watching the ball car extend its balancing wings and fly away at high speed.

The same goal, the second failure. Ashes shouted into the communicator, "Has the search team arrived? The target has disappeared. Track them immediately."

However, the reply was beyond his expectations.

"One minute ago, the mothership issued a new order, abandoning this mission. All members immediately return to the mothership and evacuate immediately!" The tone on the other side was anxious.

Ashes’s pupils shrank, in disbelief.

How could it be a retreat order?!

DarkStar attached great importance to the Cipher Disk, and at this time, they were not far from success. If it were not for some accident, it would be impossible to give up halfway, and this accident must be beyond the scope that the mothership could handle!

The order could not be violated. Even if Ashes was very unwilling, he could only watch Han Xiao and the others escape, his face livid. He suddenly turned and left.

What exactly happened in the sky?!

...

Fifteen minutes ago.

"This is the Shattered Star Ring Express News. I am front-line reporter Brimurna, broadcasting to you the battle near Planet 122 in the fourth star zone of the Feywen Star System."

A news spacecraft stopped not far from the battlefield, rushing over after hearing the news, broadcasting live on the scene.

Brimurna was the reporter hosting this live broadcast. The program was broadcast live on the Shattered Star Ring current affairs channel. The current affairs channel broadcast events that occurred in various regions, facing audiences throughout the star field. Countless star systems, star zones, and citizens and forces were paying attention to this news.

"As we all know, Planet Feywen-122 is located at the border between the Holy Stone Civilization and the Black Raven Civilization. In this sensitive area, a special battle has broken out. As you can see, the two sides of the battle are DarkStar and mercenaries. According to insiders, the battle has lasted for nearly two days. The cause was that DarkStar wanted to capture some mercenaries, and these mercenaries happened to belong to the famous mercenary corps of Sky Ring, Edge, and Purple Gold, so the conflict broke out. The current situation is that the armies of Holy Stone and Black Raven are monitoring from the side, DarkStar and the mercenaries are in a stalemate, and on the planet, the mercenaries being tracked are still unbelievably escaping."

"According to news from this station, the Godoran civilization far away in the Garton Star System is organizing a forced march. DarkStar itself is a violent organization that opposes Godora, and the two sides are hostile. Because DarkStar rarely appears and their whereabouts are erratic, it is difficult for Godora to track them. But now, DarkStar has publicly appeared, and Godora is preparing to seize the opportunity..."

Brimurna was broadcasting seriously. At this moment, a huge object appeared on the edge of the screen and flew towards the battlefield.

"Wait, the situation seems to have changed. A new party has appeared. That is...uh, Longtan Floating Island?!"

She widened her eyes in surprise.

In various parts of the Shattered Star Ring, countless viewers watching the program were invigorated. Longtan was the territory of [Dragon Emperor] Ames. A person’s name casts a shadow of a tree. Almost no one in the Shattered Star Ring did not know it.

Everyone was curious, why did Longtan come?

Brimurna paused, thinking of a reasonable explanation.

"Just now, this station verified Longtan’s route and happened to arrive in the fourth star zone of the Feywen Star System. It seems that it just happened to pass by here. The fleets of Holy Stone and Black Raven are surrounding the battlefield. I believe that after negotiations, Longtan will detour. This unexpected factor should not affect the situation..."

Before she could finish her words, Longtan crashed straight into the Holy Stone fleet on the edge of the battlefield, showing no intention of detouring at all.