Chapter 158 Kimmen Star, Black Star No. 1 Base, Logistics Department

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

In the endless military factory, various production lines operated tirelessly. Countless robotic arms assembled mechanical parts into various pieces of equipment, while scattered mechanics walked between the assembly lines, making adjustments as needed.

At the top of the factory was the main control room, which overlooked the entire factory. On the alloy table near the control room window, stacks of mechanical blueprints were scattered, being flipped through by a large hand.

Leonard sat at the table, his back straight, sitting formally as he examined the blueprints with a serious expression.

At this moment, the door to the main control room was pushed open with a bang, and Sylvia trotted in, her face full of joy.

"Hey, I have good news!"

Leonard reluctantly moved his gaze from the blueprints and looked at Sylvia, saying solemnly, "Senior Apprentice Sister, please speak."

Sylvia was used to Leonard's meticulous personality and had learned to selectively ignore it. She raised her hand, and a flickering cluster of machina force was confined within her delicate palm.

"Hehe, I've reached Grade B, aren't I amazing?" Sylvia said excitedly, looking smug.

"So amazing," Leonard said expressionlessly, with a flat tone. He even raised his hand to clap a few times.

Seeing this, Sylvia felt as if she had been doused with a bucket of cold water, a little embarrassed. She felt like she was showing off her axe in front of Lu Ban (showing off one's skill before an expert), and that her achievement might be insignificant in the eyes of the Calamity Grade Leonard.

But she couldn't help but share her joy. Han Xiao had taken a large group of veterans out to fight, and the only person she was close to was Leonard, who was stationed in the logistics department. She often asked Leonard for advice, and although Leonard was nominally her junior apprentice brother, he was actually Han Xiao's teaching assistant.

Sylvia couldn't suppress her excitement at crossing the threshold into Grade B. After a moment of embarrassment, she perked up again, her face full of longing. She couldn't help but say, "Master will be very happy when he hears this news. He has always had high hopes for me..."

She didn't say the rest of the sentence—most importantly, Han Xiao had promised her that as long as she became a Grade B Esper, she would focus on practical combat in the future and wouldn't have to do homework every day.

Freedom at last!!

I, Sylvia, am happy!

After being happy for a while, Sylvia realized that Leonard hadn't said anything. She looked up and saw that although Leonard was facing her, his eyes were secretly glancing sideways at the blueprints on the table, seemingly mesmerized.

*How can you be distracted while chatting? Am I that boring to talk to...?* Sylvia thought bitterly, snapping her fingers loudly and feigning anger, "Stop looking, I'm talking to you!"

Leonard turned his gaze back, his expression serious as if nothing had happened. "Yes, you're right."

*Wow, you're being so perfunctory...* Sylvia gritted her teeth, took a breath, calmed herself down, took out her communicator, and said:

"By the way, Master has caused another big sensation recently. Look, people all over the Star Field are discussing him on various platforms, saying that he is the most likely person to become the next Beyond Grade A expert in the Shattered Star Ring. Tsk tsk, I really didn't expect Master to be so powerful. If he really becomes a powerhouse at the level of Dragon Emperor, maybe we, as his disciples..."

After a pause, Sylvia suddenly realized that Leonard hadn't responded again. She looked up again and saw that Leonard's gaze had drifted to the blueprints on the table again.

"Why are you still sneaking peeks?!"

Sylvia was filled with embarrassment and anger, her chest heaving violently. She snapped her fingers even harder.

*Is the attraction of a beautiful woman really inferior to boring blueprints?*

"No, I was listening to you."

Leonard coughed, took the communicator from Sylvia's hand, glanced at the news on it, and his face became serious again. He muttered to himself, "Black Star... Beyond Grade A seed..."

Seeing Leonard lost in thought, Sylvia's anger dissipated instantly, and a look of triumph appeared on her delicate and beautiful face.

As Han Xiao's secretary, she knew that Leonard's contract was almost up. For the sake of the Black Star Army, she felt it was necessary to keep Leonard here.

Based on her understanding of Leonard, his desire for learning even exceeded his physiological desires. Sylvia felt that the best way was to constantly remind him that his teacher was getting stronger and stronger, to make him aware of his teacher's excellence, so that there would be a chance for Leonard to choose to stay and follow Black Star to learn and work for the army.

Although Sylvia didn't really want Leonard to share her teacher, for the sake of the army... she decided to reluctantly give up what she cherished.

"Beyond Grade A... Beyond Grade A..."

Leonard murmured to himself, usually with a serious face, but at this time he rarely showed a worried expression.

"Maybe Black Star can completely solve this matter..."

"What?" Sylvia didn't understand.

"...Nothing."

Leonard came back to his senses and regained his seriousness.

...

At the same time, the training camp at Black Star No. 1 Base.

Borek put down the communicator that was broadcasting the news, his face uncertain. He picked up a wine glass and wanted to take a sip of smoke wine to calm his nerves, but found that the hand holding the wine was trembling slightly.

He was a remnant of DarkStar. After DarkStar's leader disappeared, he remembered his mission and believed that the leader would return. So he joined the Black Star Army and went undercover, hoping that one day he could become an important pawn of the leader. Now he was working as a training instructor at the base.

In the past few years, Borek had been working diligently, not daring to do anything out of line, carefully disguising his identity, afraid of being suspected. His trust in the DarkStar leader was his motivation to persevere.

However, seeing the news of Han Xiao becoming a Beyond Grade A seed, Borek found that his belief was wavering.

He couldn't help but wonder... Leader, is he really Black Star's opponent? Can he really complete the revenge?

*It's probably a death sentence!*

Then he would be staying in the Black Star Army as a spy, and might push the leader into the fire pit.

Borek was in a bad mood. Black Star's overwhelming power made him feel despair, and he could hardly muster the will to resist.

He secretly made up his mind that if the leader ever returned and contacted him, he would definitely advise the leader not to deal with Black Star—this was even harder than dealing with Godora!

...

In a certain Star Field, on a war-torn civilization planet.

The surface was burning with endless flames and black mist, the land was broken, cities were destroyed, and living beings were suffering.

The fleet that had completed the invasion retracted its cannons, slowly ascended, and left the atmosphere, leaving behind a near-destroyed surface civilization planet.

This invasion fleet had as many as three thousand warships, a considerable size.

However, not far from the planet, there was a huge fleet a thousand times larger, with dense arrays of warships that seemed to stretch to the end of the Star Field. The three thousand warships were just a small detachment of this huge fleet.

A fleet of this size could even directly confront a Star Cluster-level civilization.

The three thousand warships merged with the main force with their spoils, like a drop of water merging into the sea.

The saucer-shaped warship leading the team separated from the group, gradually penetrated into the array of the main force, and came to the central area of the huge fleet.

The center of the fleet was a planet-level super-large mothership. In comparison, the saucer-shaped spacecraft was like a pebble, while this super-large mothership was like a small mountain.

The exterior armor of the mothership was painted with a conspicuous logo—a gray hooded figure.

The saucer entered the port of the mothership, drove through a long passage, stopped in the hangar, and completed the docking.

Chi—

The saucer's hatch opened, and the DarkStar Leader stepped out, his eyes cold. He turned back and waved, signaling his subordinates to take dozens of weak captives and follow him.

After walking for a while, they came to a huge alloy door. The cyclops guard next to the door saw the dozens of captives behind the DarkStar Leader and grinned.

"You're quick. Go in, he's waiting for you."

With that, the alloy door slowly opened. The DarkStar Leader steadied himself and led the people in. His eyes suddenly lit up, and noise and heat surged towards him.

The room was a huge palace, where a banquet was being held, with countless tables filled with delicacies and fine wines from various races. The place was teeming with people. Countless creatures of different races were eating meat and drinking wine, letting out wild roars and laughter. There were also dancers of different races walking through the crowd, being roughly pulled into their arms and fondled from time to time.

The DarkStar Leader even saw people in the corner hugging dancers, pounding against the wall, making low roars and lewd laughter that blended into the chaotic noise.

The atmosphere was filled with chaos. Even though the DarkStar Leader had lived here for several years, he couldn't help but frown at this moment, unaccustomed to this stimulating scene.

A drunken orc stumbled over. The DarkStar Leader pushed him away by his shoulders and strode toward the center of the palace, where there was a scarlet throne, carved into the shape of some kind of bizarre creature, like an unknown ancient god worshiped by some branches of the Void Faith.

A gaunt humanoid creature wearing a tattered hood was sitting on the throne. Except for his cheeks, his entire body was wrapped tightly, and he didn't make any sound. He was currently looking down, his face obscured by the hood.

The DarkStar Leader came to the throne, ignoring the surrounding chaos and noise. He pointed to the dozens of captives who were frightened by the scene and said in a deep voice, "Your Excellency, I have brought Espers."

As soon as he finished speaking, the creature on the throne shuddered, as if waking up from a slumber. It slowly raised its head, revealing its appearance under the hood...

Under the hood was a vortex of black mist, with a red flickering light at the center of the vortex.

The faceless creature made a sound in some unknown way, its voice rough and hoarse. "Well... done."

As he spoke, he suddenly twisted his neck. The black mist under the hood suddenly disappeared, turning into the face of a mixed-race human, with no special features, just plain ugly.

The hooded man stood up, walked down the throne, and walked toward the dozens of captives. The DarkStar Leader knew better than to get in the way.

He stopped in front of the first captive, stared at the captive's terrified eyes, grinned, and reached out to grab the captive's neck.

The next moment, the captive shriveled up, turning into a dry corpse, but not dying. His eyes widened as he fell to the ground, even losing the strength to speak, as if he had been drained.

"Not bad."

The hooded man licked his lips, as if savoring the taste. Then he did the same, turning all the captives into dry husks, then sat back on the throne and looked at the DarkStar Leader, a satisfied expression on his face.

"You are very good. I like it."

"It is my honor to serve you." The DarkStar Leader lowered his head respectfully. "According to the terms of our agreement, for every Esper I bring that satisfies you, you will..."

The hooded man waved his hand and interrupted the DarkStar Leader. "I know. I will give you a new fleet. Oh, I have some news here that you might be interested in."

With that, the hooded man shook his hand, and a communicator popped out of his palm and landed in the DarkStar Leader's hand.

The DarkStar Leader opened it and took a look, and his face suddenly changed. What was being played on it was the recent rumors about Han Xiao.

"He seems to be the reason you fled the Shattered Star Ring." The hooded man smiled meaningfully. "He seems to be able to become a Beyond Grade A."

The DarkStar Leader's face was ugly. He took a deep breath and slowly said, "Thank you for the information."

"You're welcome."

The hooded man smiled, his tone quite amiable, then waved his hand and said, "You can go. It's rare to have such a good environment, don't disturb my sleep."

"Yes." The DarkStar Leader nodded, turned around and left with his men, ignoring the dozens of drained captives. Anyway, the chef would come and cook them later.

Walking out of the palace, the alloy door slowly closed. The DarkStar Leader turned back and glanced at it. Through the closing door, he saw the hooded man lowering his head, falling into a sweet dream in the chaotic, noisy, and crazy environment.

*What a madman.*

The DarkStar Leader clenched his fist, a deep fear and dread flashing in his eyes.

The backer behind the scenes had arranged for him to leave the Shattered Star Ring and seek refuge under this hooded man. This man was the master of this huge fleet, and also a terrifying Beyond Grade A, trying to synthesize the abilities on the *Extremely High-Risk Esper Restriction Treaty* list.

As agreed, the DarkStar Leader had offered Ash to the hooded man. He still remembered Ash's incredulous and shocked expression when he realized he had been betrayed.

However, any resistance was futile. The hooded man was very satisfied with this sacrifice, so he signed an agreement with the DarkStar Leader—he could provide the fleet, but the DarkStar Leader had to come up with Espers that satisfied him in exchange.

So the DarkStar Leader changed his name and stayed temporarily, fighting everywhere, destroying one surface civilization after another, and scouring for Espers with interesting abilities. Over the years, he had exchanged them for a large number of warships and manpower.

Originally, the DarkStar Leader wanted to continue to accumulate power, but Han Xiao's soaring combat power made him feel pressured.

Judging from this trend, Black Star seemed to really have a chance to become a Beyond Grade A. By that time, it would be useless for him to go back—if the Garton Star System had a Beyond Grade A stationed there, no one could stir up any trouble. DarkStar would no longer have a chance to make a comeback.

*I must go back as soon as possible, or it will be too late.*

The DarkStar Leader secretly made a decision. It just so happened that Black Star was at war, so he could fish in troubled waters.

Moreover, the DarkStar Leader didn't dare to stay here any longer. In just a few years, he had been deeply affected by the chaos here, and he couldn't imagine whether he would become just as crazy if he continued to stay here.

This huge fleet was itself a Beyond Grade A force, migrating everywhere, with no fixed abode. The hooded man was the leader of this force. He was the most notorious madman and thug among all the Beyond Grade A experts in the universe!

This place sheltered wanted criminals who were desperate in every Star Field, and was a sanctuary for all evildoers.

This place was... [Fallen Ark]!

...

Aurora was also following Han Xiao on the expedition, staying in the fleet and slacking off with Han Xiao.

In the unlit room, Aurora hugged her knees, sat in the corner, and silently stared at the darkness in front of her, lost in thought.

At this moment, particles of light were born out of thin air, forming a glowing figure that illuminated the room. It was Risda.

"It's you," Aurora said expressionlessly.

Risda's body shook and made a sound.

"That's great. If Black Star becomes a Beyond Grade A, he can fight against the Mechanic Empire. Our people have hope of being saved."

"Oh," Aurora said without much feeling.

"However, Black Star may not be willing to deal with the Mechanic Empire. You and I must persuade him. He is our greatest hope at the moment," Risda said.

Aurora was silent for a long time, then suddenly asked:

"...He might die in battle, right?"

"Anything is possible. Nothing is absolute." Risda shook his head, avoiding the topic. "Remember my words."

After speaking, Risda's figure disappeared, and the room returned to darkness.

Aurora buried her chin between her knees, staring blankly into space.

...

At this time, Rocky was still driving his ship on the way here.