Chapter 1 Three Days Later

Norieus Northern Spaceport. The port hall teemed with people, a sea of heads from different species. Countless travelers stopped here or boarded ships to leave. A plain, unremarkable female Space Human, carrying a backpack, walked slowly.

In fact, another person was hiding under this disguise, the very person Han Xiao and his party were looking for—the teacher who had adopted Ames as a child and guided her to awaken her Esper talent.

His name was Iso, and his ability was prophecy. But even more rare than his precognitive ability was his race.

Iso was born before the Star Sea Era. He was a long-lived species that had lived for an unknown number of years.

Long before Han Xiao came into contact with the teleportation mage, Iso had foreseen that Han Xiao and the others would refuse to participate in his "game." Prophetic ability itself was vague because the future was full of uncertainty and could change at any time. If one couldn't change the future, then precognition was meaningless. Generally speaking, aimless prophecies usually only saw a fog. To activate the ability, there had to be a theme, which was the "trigger," to narrow the possibilities of the future.

More experienced precognitive individuals set more factors to narrow the future. The clues and mischievous arrangements Iso left behind were all layouts he used to narrow down the possibilities.

The future was in a state of superposition, and the "trigger" allowed the future to "collapse." To put it simply, when a person wasn't hungry, they might do all sorts of things, but when they were hungry, one behavior was certain: they would go and eat. Iso deliberately left clues to his whereabouts for this very reason. This way, those who came to search for him would follow the clues he left behind. If a bead rolled in all directions on a flat surface, now the bead would fall into a groove, only moving back and forth, meaning the "future" had changed from a free-response question to a multiple-choice question with limited options. In this way, his prophecy could see the future.

Prophecy couldn't see too far into the future, and it lacked combat power. The ability itself wasn't powerful. What was powerful was the user—a prophet also had to use their brain!

At this moment, Iso had already purchased a seat on a long-distance flight. Even without using his precognitive abilities, he had long seen through Han Xiao's purpose, which was nothing more than stalling for time, waiting for Ames to arrive in Norieus so that he would have nowhere to escape.

"Too naive," Iso thought amusingly. Only a fool wouldn't see through such an obvious intention. After he refused his request, did he think he would foolishly stay on this planet? Wouldn't he leave?

Putting himself in Han Xiao's shoes, if Iso were in Han Xiao's situation, he felt that he would pretend to agree to search for the Crystalline Fire Heart and then stall for time like this, which was at least better than directly refusing… But no matter what Han Xiao chose, the result was the same. In fact, Iso had no intention of staying. Even if Han Xiao pretended to agree, he would still leave.

"If they had agreed to my request, my subsequent arrangements would have gotten them into trouble. They would have been kicked off this planet by the Norieus Consortium. Even if they refused my request and planned to stall for time, Ames wouldn't be able to find me after I left and would vent her anger on this group of half-hearted cadres who 'missed the opportunity,' still making them unlucky."

"From the moment you got the clues I left behind from the intelligence organization, the outcome was already sealed." Under the disguise mask, Iso smiled. "You misused my name, so I'll give you a slight punishment. It's only fair."

"Is that so?"

Suddenly, a voice rang out from behind. With a snap, a hand landed on Iso's shoulder.

Iso's expression changed drastically. His body froze, and he slowly turned around.

He saw a strange man standing behind him. The man peeled off a mask as thin as a cicada's wing from his face, revealing Han Xiao's face.

"Iso Hariken, good morning to you, you son of a b*tch."

Han Xiao grinned.

"How did you know I was here?" Iso was shocked, his eyes flickering with surprise.

He didn't ask why Han Xiao was here—it didn't need explanation. He realized it belatedly and understood immediately. What he was puzzled about was another question.

There were five ports in Norieus. How could the other party accurately find the right one?

He seemed to remember Jenny mentioning that this Black Star was also a precognitive.

"Good question. Let me introduce you." Han Xiao pulled a person from beside him, removed the mask from this person's face, revealing Fording's face, and said with a chuckle, "This is my mascot."

"...You mean you were just trying your luck?"

Iso's face stiffened, then relaxed. As a skilled precognitive, he knew one thing very well: there was never a perfect layout. The most brilliant plans were often broken by accidents. Luck was ethereal and uncertain, but the simplest things were often the most unsolvable.

Han Xiao had a Child of Destiny Card. He understood the precognitive's thinking and knew about the so-called triggers, but this time he didn't use the Child of Destiny Card. It wasn't worth it.

When he refused his request, based on his understanding of Iso, he knew that Iso could easily see through his "intentions." Thus, Iso only had one choice: to avoid the approaching Ames, he could only take a spaceship to leave Norieus. Thus, the possibilities were narrowed. All he needed to do was have everyone spread out and guard the five spaceports, which were Iso's only path.

In this way, Iso was caught in a dilemma. If he didn't leave, he would definitely be found. If he left, he might be found.

Therefore, even if Iso foresaw this possibility, he had to step into this trap—not to mention that because of the lack of a trigger, Iso didn't use his ability.

People who delved into logic often fell into paradoxes that they couldn't see, commonly known as being blind to one's own faults. Iso wanted Han Xiao to act according to his game rules, but Han Xiao turned the tables, turning his interlocking layout into a fair environment where both sides competed for luck. Then, Han Xiao used his rich experience to defeat him—Fording could dominate in any game of luck.

Iso's clumsy disguise could fool the airport's identity verification, but the experienced disguise master, Technician Han, had been prepared for this.

According to normal thinking, after Iso set up his layout, if he left Norieus early, the plan would be unsolvable, meaning he would be in an invincible position. However, Han Xiao had one major advantage, which was that he already knew what kind of personality Iso had in his previous life. This long-lived old monster had experienced too many things, and his personality was bizarre.

Power? Meaningless. He had once been the vice-chairman of a Star Cluster-level civilization.

Wealth? Meaningless. Resources had always been masterless, and wealth was just a false definition.

Beauty? He was long tired of it. The various species he had mated with could circle a star several times.

Power? He had experienced it, using terrifying weapons to wipe out entire planets from the map.

Iso was truly tired of living. This wasn't a derogatory term. It was the literal meaning. His life was only left with a few interests—freedom, curiosity, and excitement!

Thus, he became a treasure hunter who traveled and adventured everywhere, with elusive whereabouts. Only when he was on the edge of danger could he experience the feeling of being alive. Therefore, when setting up a layout, Iso would never stay out of it and would never hide behind the scenes to be sure of victory. He would create a fair situation for his opponents, giving them a chance to taste the fruits of victory. This was a dangerous game for him:

If he won, he was empty.

If he lost, he was happy.

Living too long really made one incomprehensible to ordinary people.

Iso also took off his disguise, revealing his own face of a weathered middle-aged man, and laughed heartily. "It seems my disciple has found a powerful partner."

Han Xiao also laughed along, his surface flawless, but different thoughts floated in his mind.

—He had a murderous intent.

Such a powerful precognitive, even if he wasn't his enemy, who could guarantee that he wouldn't pose a threat to him in the future?

Han Xiao knew Iso's abilities very well. His ability was prophecy, so his combat power was close to zero. As long as he caught this prophet, killing him wouldn't be much harder than killing a chicken.

This was a good opportunity to eliminate a hidden danger. He just needed to tell Ames that he hadn't found her teacher and let Iso "disappear" forever.

So,

Should he kill him before Ames arrived?!

Han Xiao's eyes flickered. As a chaotic individual, in his eyes, no one had to die.

Similarly, no one was unkillable.