Chapter 56: Destiny, Section 7

Waiting is undoubtedly an unpleasant thing. But waiting with anticipation is another matter.

Emperor Moore had had a fairly good time lately. He had witnessed the power of the Grizzly Bears firsthand, plus the deadly tactics of the Eternal Star Region. Emperor Moore no longer had much to worry about. All he had to do was wait. He believed that before long, the long-awaited good news would reach him. Then, he would lead his army straight to Death Star. After obtaining the Stone of Light and Darkness, he would use Death Star as a base to devour the entire human society.

It wasn’t a small plan. But in Emperor Moore’s eyes, it wasn’t much at all. Although the Moore Empire had been drained of much of its strength by continuous rebellions, and its colonies and vassal tribes were growing restless, even a thin camel was still bigger than a horse. Emperor Moore still had the power to assemble tens of thousands of Moore warships at any time. With such strength, he could easily make a comeback. Devouring the entire human society would be a piece of cake. In fact, if it weren’t for his fear of the Black-Haired man’s counterattack, he would have already brought that region where humans lived under imperial rule.

Black-Haired man… still the Black-Haired man.
In any case, he had to see him disappear before he could feel at ease.

Unbeknownst to him, Emperor Moore’s plans had already become intertwined with this ordinary human.

What he didn’t know was that at this very moment, this ordinary human he was concerned about was approaching him at lightning speed. His goal was simple: to take his head!

On a secret orbit shrouded in dazzling light, a fleet operated quietly. Sitting in the captain’s seat of the Windstorm, the Black-Haired man fiddled with a small sphere in his hand, remaining silent for a long time.

Actually, he had already caught up with Emperor Moore. It was this sphere in his hand that had delayed things, causing him to enter orbit several days later than expected.

That was seven nights ago. Just as the Black-Haired man’s fleet was about to enter orbit, it suddenly received a message. The message came from Death Star, sent by the Black Prison Gang. When opened, the gaunt face of Cobra appeared on the screen. Upon seeing the Black-Haired man, he was visibly shaken and immediately asked him to wait for a while. He had something to give him.

Due to the tight schedule, the Black-Haired man initially wanted to refuse such a request. But in the end, he agreed. Then, he received this gift from the Black Prison Gang on Death Star: a small sphere.

It exudes a metallic luster throughout, reflecting a soft glow under the cabin lights. It seems unremarkable. But one thing surprised everyone: it was constantly spinning on its own. Yes, spinning, just like a planet in orbit. Even when held in the hand, the small sphere never stopped spinning. It hovered in the black-haired person’s palm like a ghost. As it spun, the black-haired person could even sense the extremely subtle energy changes in the surrounding environment caused by it—very similar to gravity and magnetic fields. Could this be a planet scaled down countless times? A planet the size of a palm?? I remember when this thing was first obtained, many people guessed that. But only the black-haired person knew those guesses were wrong. This sphere actually had only one true name: Time Stasis Device. This was the result of the Black Prison Group’s painstaking research after obtaining the Stone of Light and Darkness—a powerful machine capable of stopping time. It possessed terrifying power, far beyond its simple appearance. From the Cobra’s description, its power surpassed any weapon ever created, even far exceeding black hole cannons. Once activated, a radius of tens of thousands of meters around the sphere’s coordinates would enter a state of time stasis. All molecular motion would cease. Aside from the owner of the sphere, nothing else would move. Its miraculous effects were beyond human imagination, and it could maintain this state for up to fifteen seconds—a truly astonishing duration. Fifteen seconds of absolute stillness—just thinking about it is terrifying. After all, this was completely different from ordinary weapons; nothing could defend against it, because its target wasn’t the enemy but time, one of the fundamental rules of the universe! Of course, such a terrifying machine required an astonishingly large amount of energy. After calculations, the Black Prison Group realized that even the total energy of a Death Star wouldn’t be enough to power it for those fifteen seconds. To make it portable, they came up with a clever solution. They used the Death Star’s unique subspace technology to create a huge warehouse in a spatial layer, directly connected to the sphere. The sphere’s constant spinning actually served to continuously absorb energy from the surroundings. All that energy was stored in the subspace warehouse, ready to be used whenever needed in the future.

So, the time-stop device in Black Hair’s hands is still just a half-finished product. Until the energy in the subspace is replenished, it remains nothing more than a decoration and cannot be used in actual combat. However, Black Hair isn’t worried about this. After all, the sphere keeps spinning endlessly, and so does its energy absorption process. Eventually, it will gain enough energy. By then, this time-stop device, along with the black hole cannon and Snake Fang, will become powerful assets in Black Hair’s arsenal. For this reason, having the fleet wait a few more days isn’t a big deal at all.

The environment inside the tunnel was very quiet. Black Hair’s fleet moved silently through it. The massive virtual puppets resembled sharks in the sea, exuding a chilling sense of murderous intent amidst the silence. Most of the crew members had entered hibernation. Only the members of Wolf Fang could move around as usual thanks to their innate power armor.

Through the porthole, Black Hair saw the dazzling surroundings and couldn’t help but smile slightly. Now, his confidence was even greater. With the time-stop device, it was as if he had an invincibility card in hand. No matter how terrifying the enemy, they could no longer stop him. Fifteen seconds of complete stillness was enough for Black Hair to tear any enemy to pieces.

In such a mood, Black Hair heard footsteps coming from outside the cabin.

“Is it Monkey?” Black Hair didn’t turn around but spoke as if he could predict the answer.

“Swish…” The cabin door opened, and indeed, it was Monkey. Hearing Black Hair identify him without even looking back, he was slightly stunned.

“How did you know?”

“Hehe.” Black Hair was in high spirits and laughed naturally. “Your footsteps gave you away. Everyone has a different habitual walking rhythm. It’s not complicated.”

“Footsteps?” Monkey lowered his head and looked at his own feet, then laughed. “That’s true. But only you would still pay attention to something like that.”

“Oh?” Black Hair raised an eyebrow. “So, by your tone, you’re a bit nervous?”

“Yes, yes…” Monkey nodded repeatedly, walked over to Black Hair, and sat down casually, looking rather listless.

“It would be a lie to say I’m not nervous. Boss, I’m about to meet Emperor Moore. This is a crucial battle. Yet we still don’t know what he’s prepared. Tell me, how can I not be nervous?”

“Pfft…” Black Hair laughed. He reached out and patted the monkey on the head. “Then you’ve fought a lot before too, and experienced countless life-or-death battles—how come you’ve never been nervous?”
“That’s different!” The monkey shook its head frantically to avoid Black Hair’s “clutching hand,” arguing urgently. “Before, we faced just ordinary guys. No matter how strong they were, I wasn’t afraid. But this is different—this is the Emperor of Moore. The one who once toyed with me at will. Just thinking about being used as a test subject on Moore’s giant ship makes me shiver.”
“…” Hearing this, Black Hair fell silent. After thinking for a while, he finally sighed lightly. “Monkey, I’m sorry for putting you through this.”
The cabin fell utterly quiet. The monkey clearly didn’t expect Black Hair to say such things suddenly and was stunned. But soon, he became excited.
“Boss, I’m not complaining about you at all. In fact, I’m very grateful to you. If not for you, I would have long turned into a zombie. Well, this is fate—never thought we’d have another chance to meet as brothers in this strange universe. Actually, I should be satisfied with that. What does it matter if I die tomorrow?”
“Monkey…” Black Hair’s eyes grew moist.
What is brotherhood? This is what brotherhood is. No matter how many years pass, what remains most vivid in memory is always that bond of loyalty. Though the monkey spoke little, his words carried a sense of unwavering gratitude. Even a tough warrior like Black Hair couldn’t help but recall the glorious days they fought together. A surge of passionate emotion welled up from deep within, leaving him speechless.
In the cabin, the two men sat quietly, as if they had suddenly turned into statues.
After a long while, Black Hair slowly shook his head, waking from his memories. Glancing at the monkey right beside him, a faint smile appeared on his face.
“We’ve been here, we’ve tried hard—that’s enough. Monkey, it’s been a long time since we fought side by side. This time, let’s stand together again.”
“Mm.” The monkey nodded firmly and stood up.
“Then I’ll go prepare the Primal Power Armor right away. Time is getting tighter. I need to take this opportunity to get as familiar with it as possible so I won’t be disappointed on the battlefield. I’m sure Blood Pupil and the others think the same—I haven’t seen them leave the mech bay these past few days.”
“Okay, I’ll go there too in a bit. Let’s study it together.” Black Hair nodded with a smile, watching the monkey leave.

Just then, a tiny dot suddenly appeared on the large screen in front of him and quickly grew larger…