Chapter 141 They Took the Bait

On the borders of the Sea of ​​Stars, a long-range fleet was sailing, consisting of forty ships, with the symbols of the Rock Spirit civilization on their outer armor.

These spaceships were long-range ships specially made by the Rock Spirit civilization. Their appearance was somewhat like mining ships, slightly bloated, and their shipborne weapons were mainly light plasma cannons and cutting particle light guns.

Star system-level civilizations relied solely on their own spaceship technology and could move at most between star systems. Even with the stargates manufactured by advanced civilizations, star system-level civilizations needed to manufacture specific spaceship models to carry out inter-stellar domain voyages. Fuel and energy technology was a key barrier, dividing them into near-voyage ships and long-voyage ships.

For star system-level civilizations, long-range ships were very precious ship types, and the manufacturing difficulty far exceeded that of near-voyage ships.

In order to transport the Evolutionary Totems back from the Black Star Army, which was located in a separate star field, the Rock Spirits sent a long-range fleet. The previous fleet was attacked by the Bloodshed Land organization and was completely destroyed. Now this unit was the second batch. Using the stargate to jump and travel between the stars for a period of time, they finally arrived at the Black Star Army's base to receive a new batch of totems. After a long journey, this long-range fleet finally returned to the Sea of ​​Stars.

In the command room of the leading ship, the Rock Spirit commander solemnly instructed the crew:

"Everyone, be alert. The last long-range fleet was attacked in the border area of ​​the Sea of ​​Stars. We have reached the enemy's range of activity. Report any abnormal reactions from the detection radar to me."

"Understood." The crew in the command room responded, their expressions highly tense.

Civilizations at the Star Cluster level and above were accustomed to long-range voyages, but for the crew of star system-level civilizations, every long-range voyage away from the civilization's jurisdiction represented the unknown and the dangerous. Leaving the country and without the protection of their own civilization's fleet was like entering the deep sea from the near sea, from high-security zones to low-security zones. The deep and dark universe was full of hidden risks.

Law enforcers would not suddenly descend from the sky, and all kinds of interstellar forces were active in it. You would never know how many eyes were staring at them behind the silent wide-area quantum communication channel.

"The next stargate is still eighteen days away from us. We can jump three star systems to leave the border area and enter the outer periphery of the second ring of the star field. The border is the most dangerous. As long as we don't encounter any enemies during this period, we will be basically safe," the commander said.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, a harsh alarm sounded on the spaceship.

His mouth seemed to have been blessed by the gods, and spaceship signals appeared from all directions at the same time, breaking into the enemy's pre-arranged encirclement.

"Again?! Who leaked our whereabouts!"

The commander's expression changed, and he gnashed his teeth. This was too much, only targeting us to fleece.

If it weren't for His Excellency Black Star's help, we would have lost everything this time.

...

The attackers had a total of more than three hundred spaceships, quickly surrounding them and releasing a space bubble that restricted warp, preventing the prey from escaping.

In the main ship of the attackers, a tall crystalline creature floated in front of the huge porthole of the command room. Its appearance was a polygonal crystal, without limbs or facial features, only two light blue tentacles formed by the concretization of telekinesis, gently swaying.

This crystal lifeform was the leader of this group of attackers, named Koronstad, a Calamity Grade Esper, a senior veteran mercenary of the Bloodshed Land organization, and a defector from a crystal creature civilization. He had absorbed a large amount of mental power from his own kind, allowing himself to advance to the Calamity Grade, so he was wanted. He joined the Bloodshed Land organization many years ago and became a senior executive.

The encirclement quickly took shape, and Koronstad vibrated the air with telekinesis to form sound waves, controlling the frequency to speak:

"Release a magnetic pulse radiation wave to eliminate the opponent's shields. The vanguard approaches the enemy and enters the boarding battle. Don't use long-range bombardment to damage the goods. Our goal is to seize the intact Evolutionary Totems."

The Bloodshed Land organization had been watching the Evolutionary Totem intelligence appearing on the black market recently. Not long ago, a high-credit anonymous black market account released an employment to seize the totems, which revealed the whereabouts of this Rock Spirit unit. The Bloodshed Land organization immediately accepted the employment.

They weren't interested in this reward, but to hoard Evolutionary Totems and hand them over to those civilizations in need. This would not only bring them more bounty but also gain the support of backers. Han Xiao used Evolutionary Totems to obtain huge political support, and the Bloodshed Land organization and other forces secretly plundering aimed to share this influence.

Completing the employment wasn't important, hoarding the totems was the main goal, but the Bloodshed Land organization didn't intend to violate the employment. They didn't have to hand over all the totems to the employer. As long as they used damage in battle as an excuse, they could hand over as much as they said, and the rest could be greedily taken for themselves. This was a routine operation for the Bloodshed Land organization.

Because of the plundering incidents in recent months, those purchasing civilizations were careful to keep it secret, so the totem intelligence circulating on the black market was hard to come by. There weren't many transport units whose locations were truly locked, and the main value of this employment was the Rock Spirit's whereabouts that were revealed.

Because the Bloodshed Land organization had robbed the Rock Spirits last time and had a successful example, they trusted this intelligence. After privately finding another large intelligence organization managing the interstellar black market to verify the authenticity of the news, the Bloodshed Land organization acted with peace of mind, ambushing the transport unit's route in advance.

The Bloodshed Land organization's fleet was several times larger than the Rock Spirits', like a pack of wolves surrounding a flock of sheep.

The next moment, circles of invisible pulse radiation were released from the Bloodshed Land organization's fleet, covering the Rock Spirit's fleet. The effect was immediate. The Rock Spirit's shields flickered, like a bad connection, and the protection was greatly reduced.

This kind of pulse radiation was stimulated by a strong magnetic field, which could interfere with and neutralize electromagnetic and ionic shields, but it had no effect on psychic energy shields and dark energy shields. The star system-level civilizations basically used electromagnetic and ionic shields.

The two sides quickly closed the distance, and the Bloodshed Land organization used assault pods with magnetic chains to bite onto the Rock Spirit's spaceships one by one. The assault pods that hit the other side's spaceships released a traction magnetic field, slowly pulling the two ships together to complete boarding.

Images of the boarding troops appeared in Koronstad's command room.

"Report, I have boarded the ship, feeling good, and I am heading to the spaceship's control room, clearing the resistance forces of the target spaceship along the way."

"Very good." Koronstad slowly said, "Speed up the progress, I..."

Before he finished speaking, the images in the command room suddenly went black, stunning everyone.

Immediately afterward, fierce fighting sounds and the screams of the boarding troops came from the communication link.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! There are other troops on the ship!"

"My armor is not listening to me!"

The fighting sound only lasted for a short while before the communication link became silent. All the boarding troops were wiped out.

The people in the command room looked at each other in surprise, and they all looked at Koronstad, waiting for his order.

Koronstad was also suspicious. Just as he was about to speak, the screen in the command room suddenly crackled.

*Zi zi—*

The next moment, a virtual humanoid made up of white noise suddenly appeared on the screen, making a indifferent mechanical sound.

"Following the Master's order, this place is taken over by me."

"You...who are you?"

"Under the Master's command, the Invisible Specter."

As soon as he finished speaking, the people in the room immediately noticed something strange. Ridges of flowing traces appeared on the metal bulkhead, like snakes swimming in the bulkhead.

Many crew members hurriedly moved away from the surrounding bulkheads, huddled together, staring at the bulkheads with panicked expressions.

"What's going o...ah!!"

Before he could finish speaking, the alloy floor under the crowd's feet suddenly deformed. Silently, an iron tree like a cactus grew out of the crowd. Countless metal thorns hung on the bodies, and blood and flesh flew everywhere in an instant!

*Boom!*

Koronstad released his powerful telekinesis and smashed the iron tree.

The broken metal fell to the ground, but it was absorbed by the ground like melting liquid. Immediately afterward, the command room was violently deformed. The metal seemed to have turned into flesh and blood, closing toward the middle, frantically squeezing the space. The entire room seemed to come alive.

Koronstad hurriedly used his telekinesis to smash the porthole and escaped into the universe, only then did he see clearly what had happened.

The entire ship seemed to flow like nanoparticles. The metal was greatly deformed like kneaded plasticine, unrecognizable. The same phenomenon occurred on several spaceships not far away.

Koronstad was shocked.

The Invisible Specter, one of the Apostle Weapons, was a contagious nanomechanical virus that divided like spores, able to parasitize and control metals and machinery. At the same time, it could transform metal into nanoparticles and turn it into a part of itself, thereby constantly increasing its volume.

At the same time, in the Rock Spirit's fleet, a black tide spread out. The mechanical troops were densely packed. With the mechanical strength of the Quantum Undistant Transmission Channel, this group of mechanical soldiers destroyed the Bloodshed Land organization's spaceships like cutting weeds.

Seeing the Black Star Army logo on the mechanical soldiers, Koronstad immediately understood and was horrified.

"Black Star?!"

Realizing the enemy's identity, Koronstad was instantly in despair and lost the motivation to resist.

The Invisible Specter led a remote mechanical force to escort the Rock Spirit fleet. With Han Xiao's current ability, even without the Master's Advent, a remote mechanical force of 100,000 was enough to easily solve hundreds of Bloodshed Land organization's warships.

There was no suspense in the battle, and all the enemies became prisoners.

Koronstad had nowhere to escape. Even if he was a Calamity Grade, he had no power to fight back in front of the current mechanical force. He was quickly subdued and put on a device that suppressed his mental power.

Without telekinesis, with his body structure, he would need someone to help him turn over.

After the battle, Han Xiao's consciousness descended into a intact Bloodshed Land organization's spaceship through the quantum network channel, shaking his head and smiling.

"These guys really took the bait."

"Master, I have not failed in my mission."

The ground of the command room deformed, and the metal condensed into a human figure, kneeling on one knee. It was the Invisible Specter. His body was nanoparticles, and his appearance was ever-changing.

"You've worked hard." Han Xiao encouraged him and said, "Let me do the rest."

He blinked his eyes, and his consciousness followed the spaceship's quantum network link, invading the Bloodshed Land organization's internal database in reverse. He traveled quickly between the quantum networks, jumping from one quantum network server to another in an instant. Physical distance lost its meaning in front of him.

A Super-A Grade Virtual Mechanic personally took action, and the Bloodshed Land organization's intelligent firewall was useless. In Han Xiao's eyes, there were loopholes everywhere.

...

Not long after, Han Xiao, who was far away in the Black Star Army's headquarters, opened his eyes, and the dazzling mechanical power flowing in his eyes slowly calmed down, and he smiled slightly.

"Found it."

"Master, what should we do with the remaining prisoners?" the Invisible Specter asked.

"They're all bad people, kill them all... Oh, right, except for that crystal creature, bring him back to me, I'll see if I can squeeze his juice... uh, crystal powder."

Han Xiao casually replied, then exited the quantum network vision and picked out the whereabouts of three Bloodshed Land organization's high-level executives and sent them to the Red Empire officials in charge of totem affairs.

The whereabouts of the Bloodshed Land organization's high-level executives were erratic and quite mysterious, but once he locked on to them, it would be difficult to get rid of the tracking.

If this task was done by players, the steps would be very complicated, and they would need to find clues everywhere, but for him, it was very simple. As long as he grabbed a thread, he could pull out all the information.

After delivering the information, the interface immediately reacted and prompted that the mission was completed.

[【Strike】 Completed]

[You gained 15 million experience, 1,000 points of Red Empire Contribution Points, Random Reward x1]

Before long, the Empire liaison quickly gave a reply.

"Thank you for your information, Your Excellency Black Star."

"It's just a small matter, what do you plan to do with these three high-level executives?"

"Haha, Your Excellency Black Star is asking the obvious."

"That's true. Getting people's whereabouts in this way doesn't seem like a good way to communicate." Han Xiao rolled his eyes. "How about this, let me deal with one of them."

"We are on the same front. Since you are interested, the Empire doesn't mind."

"Okay, that's settled."

After hanging up the communication, Han Xiao sent the target's information to Rothell.

Rothell joined the legion a year and a half ago and had nothing to do most of the time. After all, the legion didn't have any assassination work for him. This was a work opportunity.

Han Xiao planned to let Rothell show off his skills so that his assassination skills wouldn't become rusty.

Moreover, after a year and a half of observation and guidance, he felt that Rothell was competent to establish an assassin mutual aid society outside alone and could be trusted. This plan could be put on the agenda.

"I'll leave immediately."

The communicator received Rothell's reply, which was concise.

He didn't care why he was assassinating the target. After a year and a half of getting along, he had quite a bit of trust in Han Xiao, and his perception of the legion was getting better and better.