Chapter 30: The Crazy Stone, Section 3

It was undeniable. If carrying out a secret mission, Ashen Soil was indeed the best helper. With his cover, Kurokami and the others had an incredibly smooth journey—there were no battles along the way, not even a chance to encounter the Rockmen. They arrived at the pre-determined coordinates effortlessly.
The smooth progress felt almost like a dream. Even after reaching the target location, Blood-Pupil could hardly believe it.
“Amazing… truly amazing…”
“Yes, we didn’t realize it when we were trapped. It’s so great having this ability to help us. Damn, see that Rockman who just took off? From such close range, they still didn’t detect us.”
“Nonsense. If they could detect us, would it still be called Mirage? I heard this ability is invincible. Truly remarkable.”
The pirates chatted among themselves, and their voices reached Kurokami’s cabin. Hearing this, the little creature’s chin lifted high, its proud expression evident.
It wasn’t surprising. Although the Toutu clan had once been famous for their Mirage ability in the past, they were mostly infamous. Who would want to associate with them? And precisely because their Mirage ability was so overwhelming and invincible, even their own kin were cautious around each other. While mutual suspicion was inevitable, praise and compliments were utterly absent. Now, the pirates’ remarks greatly inflated the little creature’s vanity, causing it to chew on the negative energy crystals even faster. Its little eyes shone brightly, like lit bulbs, full of energy.
Seeing its expression, Kurokami smiled.
To be honest, he had been somewhat uneasy about having this little creature join them. After all, unlike ordinary pirates, as a leader, he had to consider more factors. Adding a being skilled in illusions to Death Star, he couldn’t predict the consequences.
As the little creature itself said, the Toutu clan was a race that loved to trick others, and their ability was the indistinguishable Mirage—a time bomb that could explode at any moment. The danger was self-evident. If one day the little creature got drunk or had a whim, it wouldn’t be strange if it turned Death Star upside down.

It’s relative. If used properly, the capabilities of this little thing are incredibly useful. Just like now—amidst such a fierce battlefield, they managed to reach the target location right under the noses of both sides without anyone noticing. On Earth, wouldn’t that be a miracle of infiltration behind enemy lines? Does that mean that no matter how powerful the enemy’s army is, getting their leader’s head is merely a piece of cake?

It’s like a sharp double-edged sword; it depends on whether the user can control it. But it’s clear now that the black-haired man has had a good start.

“Boom!!”

A thunderous explosion interrupted everyone’s chatter. Under everyone’s gaze, a sphere of intensely fluctuating energy descended from the sky and crashed heavily onto the ground not far from the canyon. The surging energy shot upward like a fountain, followed by massive destruction. The terrifying force shook the ground, causing the hard surface to ripple as if it were water. Driven by such immense energy, a new crater formed quickly.

Seeing this, everyone was shocked. They then realized one of the Fatal Mirage’s fatal weaknesses: its defensive vulnerability. No matter how realistic the illusions it created, they were still just illusions. Thinking about what would have happened if that energy sphere had hit them directly instead of the ground…

All the pirates shuddered, too afraid to think any further…

“Leader, let’s start. We can’t stay here—it’s too dangerous,” came the voice with blood-red eyes through the communicator, along with the agreement of other pirates.

“Mm,” the black-haired man nodded calmly. The Right Hand of the Killing Emperor waved. “Begin the invasion as planned. Ashen Dust, maintain cover.”

“Understood,” they replied in unison.

After an hour of trekking, they found themselves in a valley within a vast mountain range. The surroundings were nothing but cold rocks. The Gray Dust Canyon Mirage was connected to this valley. According to their observations, this was one of the busiest areas for Rock Warriors to take off.

It was also a gamble. Since the planet was so huge, searching for a Light and Dark Stone the size of a millstone was like looking for a needle in a haystack. So the black-haired man could only choose the areas where Rock Warriors appeared most frequently to find a breakthrough. And this place was precisely his carefully selected target.

Through observation, Kurokami realized this was the place where the Rock People took off most frequently. In the past hour alone, at least 20% of the Rock People who launched into space to fight were from here!
What does this imply? It means that even if this isn’t the most important location for the Rock People on this planet, it’s at least a large base. And a base must have passages connecting to other important facilities. This is exactly the opportunity Kurokami wanted. But first, they had to find a way in—silently, without being detected by the Rock People.
With Hui Tu’s help, meeting the second condition wasn’t difficult. The problem was the first: how could they find a way into the Rock People’s base?
It sounded simple, but it was extremely hard in practice. The valley they were in seemed like a dead end—surrounded by hard, cold rocks, with nothing unusual to be seen in the gray haze. Coupled with the complex terrain typical of mountainous areas, without guidance from someone who knew the way, they might search for a month without finding anything.
So Kurokami and his group could only resort to a brute-force method: wait.
Clearly, they waited successfully. Just after the energy balls struck the ground, a large crack silently appeared in one of the valley walls. Hundreds of Rock People they had just seen rushed out. They quickly got organized, picked up their giant axes, and with long streams of exhaust behind them, soared into the sky. The whole process was so fast and silent, as if they were well-trained soldiers. The wall also returned to its original state silently after they left. Even if someone observed closely, they wouldn’t notice anything unusual.
“It’s still an illusion!” Xue Tong muttered. “There’s also camouflage here. Leader, it seems we’re on the right track.”
“Mm,” Kurokami replied softly, a glint in his eyes. He turned to the small creature beside him. “So, Hui Tu, are you confident?”
“No problem,” the small creature said proudly, lifting its chin. It threw another negative energy crystal into its mouth and chewed it loudly, then placed its hands on its forehead. After a moment, it pointed in a certain direction.
“There, 5,000 meters away. Go straight.”

“Go straight!? Are you kidding me?” Blood-Pupil glanced in the direction the little creature had indicated and was immediately stunned. In that direction lay a smooth cliff, seamlessly integrated with the surrounding environment. The rocks on its surface emitted a cold glow, clearly extremely hard. How could the little creature ask them to go straight there? Wasn’t that asking them to crash into the wall?

But Black-Hair interrupted his protest. With a flicker of movement, the Killing Emperor was the first to dash forward. Soon after, Black-Hair gave a cold order: “Be quiet. Follow the instructions. Blood-Pupil, you and I will go first.”

“R-Right…” Although reluctant, Blood-Pupil had no choice but to obey. His blood-red figure shot forward, quickly matching Black-Hair’s pace.

The mechs moved at incredible speed. In an instant, they reached the cliff. Without hesitation, Black-Hair charged straight at the hard rock wall. The engines behind the Killing Emperor emitted long streams of exhaust while even increasing their speed!! Seeing this, Blood-Pupil, though skeptical, had no choice but to push the control levers as well.

Hundred meters…
Ten meters…
Approaching…
Arrived…

The cliff wall rushed toward them at high speed. At the moment of impact, Blood-Pupil shut his eyes tightly. But the violent collision he had imagined never happened. Then he felt the control levers in his hands grow heavier. The mechs’ movement became difficult. When he opened his eyes, he found that he and the others had arrived in a strange place—a passage.

A very spacious passage, over thirty meters high, wide enough for the largest mechs to pass through. Something was installed on the walls on both sides, emitting a faint glow. They were now at the end of this passage. Behind them was another wall emitting the same glow. If it weren’t for having just passed through it, Blood-Pupil wouldn’t have believed it was an exit.

But though the passage was spacious, it was an extremely harsh environment for Black-Hair and the others.

Because the entire passage was filled with a very sticky liquid! Like glue, it was transparent but severely restricted the mechs’ movement. Moving through such a passage was nothing short of torture for Black-Hair and the others! And the reason for this predicament was actually quite simple—the mechs of Black-Hair and the others were not well-adapted!

“Damn it! How could it be a water environment? Our mechs don’t have any adaptation devices for this!!” Looking at the strange and even somewhat beautiful passage ahead, Blood Pup was utterly stunned.