Chapter 44: Counterattack, Section 8

The screams still echoed in the cabin as Black Hair rushed toward the control panel like a gust of wind. After a series of rapid keystrokes, the main screen immediately switched to the perspective of the Blood Wolf squad leader.

It was a small room with pitch-black walls, whose material couldn’t be discerned at a glance. There was no lighting in the room; visibility relied entirely on the mech’s own lighting system. The floor and walls were covered with intricate networks of pipes, resembling spiderwebs. A thick layer of dust covered everything, and whenever the mech stepped on it, it would scatter everywhere.

Taking a sharp breath, Black Hair’s expression turned grim. He was all too familiar with this scene. Didn’t he also find the monkey in a similar room back then? Could it be that these leech warships were designed the same way?

At the thought, Black Hair felt a chill run through his body. He had seen the Emperor Moore’s leech fleet with his own eyes. With thousands of them, if each one used a human brain as its core, how many lives would have to be sacrificed? And that was only a fraction of what he had seen.

Sweat dripped down his temples. In just a few seconds, it felt like an entire century had passed. On the screen ahead, the view of the room changed slowly as the mech moved, soon revealing everything to Black Hair.

“Oh, God!”

The moment the image stabilized, everyone let out a terrified gasp. Their eyes were filled with horror, as if they had witnessed the end of the world. Even Black Hair, who had been mentally prepared, was utterly stunned.

On the screen, the room was simple and empty. There were no figures trapped in the walls like he had guessed earlier, like the monkey. Instead, there was only a solitary cylindrical object placed in the center of the room, with countless pipes extending from it. But those weren’t the important things—the important thing was the top of the cylinder.

It was a transparent crystal ball about the size of a basketball, and inside it was a human brain!!!

A human brain that existed on its own, with nothing attached!!!

“Bang!!” Another bottle shattered on the ground. The Blood Wolf warrior who had fled earlier stared at the screen in terror, unable to speak.

But this time, no one blamed him. Even the fierce-looking monkey now seemed like a puppet, with only a blank expression on its face—no other emotions visible.
“Giggle… giggle…” The sound of teeth chattering filled the command cabin. One of the Black Prison researchers could no longer bear such a terrifying scene; terrified beyond measure, he let out a scream and fled. Soon after, sounds of vomiting came from the hallway outside.
In the command cabin, everyone’s face was pale. They exchanged glances, seeing fear in each other’s eyes.
Was this the true face of the Moors’ most powerful warship?
“It’s… matured…” Staring blankly at the scene on the large screen, Blackhair murmured after a long while.
The monkey beside him didn’t hear and asked, “Matured what?”
“The technology,” Blackhair sighed deeply, his eyes filled with desolation. “Last time, they still needed to use full human bodies for experiments. But now, just the brain is enough. The Moor Emperor… he’s truly an amazing man. To have mastered such precise life-support technology.”
“But this technology is being used for war,” the monkey replied after a few words, his thoughts gradually shifting away from the shocking visuals.
“And what do you mean by ‘last time’?”
“Don’t you remember?” Blackhair glanced at the monkey, then nodded. “It’s better you don’t. It was indeed a nightmare.”
Shaking his head, Blackhair ignored the monkey’s puzzled gaze again and walked over to the control panel. Looking up, he said, “Squad leader, cut off the pipelines beneath that pillar and bring the entire pillar back intact.”
“Understood, leader,” came the clear reply over the channel. At the same time, the scene on the large screen started moving again—clearly, the mechs had begun another round of actions.
By this point, much attention wasn’t needed. Blackhair’s earlier actions had completely cut off the energy supply to every Leech warship; taking control was only a matter of time. Everyone believed that even if those warships contained traps set by the Moor Emperor, after all the preparations that had taken place, those traps must have lost their effectiveness.
Indeed, while cutting the pipelines, the squad leader noticed that the cylinder was trying to send out some kind of signal. But this was already part of their plans, so the signal never made it out. During the thorough search that followed, the Blood Wolf warriors found hundreds of self-destruct devices scattered throughout the ship.

Of course, all of this is hindsight. It has no practical significance. After receiving these reports, Black Hair merely smiled slightly. He believed that with Emperor Moore’s cunning, these self-destruct devices were likely just part of a trap. The Leech Warships must have other secret weapons, which simply hadn’t been activated because their energy supply had been completely cut off. Yet, figuring out exactly where these secret weapons were hidden wouldn’t be possible overnight. Unless the entire warship was disassembled or he used his supernatural abilities again, it would remain a mystery forever.

But to obtain a detailed structural diagram of such a massive warship using mechanical supernatural powers would take a considerable amount of time. Black Hair had no choice but to occupy it first. After all, once all energy supplies were cut off, those seemingly formidable Leech Warships were nothing but piles of iron coffins.

The occupation lasted for five days, finally completing barely by the morning of the sixth day. Large groups of Blood Moons and Dying Suns emerged from those Leech Warships and returned to the fortress, exhausted. As soon as they got off their mechs, many soldiers even collapsed on the ground. The intense occupation work had completely drained their energy.

In such a situation, the aliens who had long been prepared came in handy. These aliens were new recruits recently conscripted by Death Star, possessing extraordinary recovery abilities. Though in small numbers, they were even better at medical duties than many professional military doctors. This also showed that while Black Hair was away, Sulei had already started making use of these aliens. Alien medical personnel were just the beginning; more aliens would surely join the Blood Wolf Warriors in the future.

By dragging several Leech Warships into Death Star’s factories, Black Hair considered the occupation mission complete. After resting for a day, he got back to work. First, he headed to the research base of the Black Prison Gang, located on a desolate planet not far from Death Star.

It was originally a lifeless wasteland, devoid of minerals and unsuitable for habitation. But ever since Sulei assigned it to the Black Prison Gang, everything changed. Powerful wanderers parasitized here, turning the entire planet into their habitat. A large number of plants grew rapidly, and just like Death Star before, this wasteland was transformed into a home suitable for humans. The Black Prison Gang was stationed here separately, guarded by a fleet of over 300 ships, ensuring extreme security. It could be said that unless granted permission, not even Sulei could enter this place.

Of course, Black Hair was the only exception. As the lord of the Thirty-One Star Regions and the sole ruler of the Blood Wolf faction, he possessed absolute authority. Thus, he passed only three checks along the way before being allowed into this planet, which was once abandoned but now renamed Black Prison Planet. Thirty minutes later, he met the leader of the Black Prison faction—the mischievous and adorable leader Madaro—and several elderly men in their sixties who could barely walk.

“Haha, isn’t this the lord? What brings you here? I was planning to visit you in a few days. Who would have thought you’d arrive first? What a coincidence!” It was still his hearty laughter, and still that clunky life-support device that resembled a tin can. Yet Madaro looked in good health. Through the transparent top of the life-support device, Black Hair could even see his smiling face, glowing red.

Smiling slightly, Black Hair stepped forward and gave that tin can-like device a tight hug, showing no sign of disdain despite it being attached to a life-support system. This moved the elderly men around him, and Madaro also appeared touched.

“Hehe, you kid. It’s been so long. Still so straightforward. Slow down—my device is a bit dirty; don’t get it on your clothes.”

“Heh. It doesn’t matter. Leader Madaro, you look good. Seems you’ve been living comfortably these days, huh?” Black Hair shrugged nonchalantly and greeted him casually.

“Not bad,” Madaro chuckled. One of his robotic arms slowly raised, pointing at the elderly men behind him. “By the way, these guys just got out of research. Let me introduce them to you.”

“Nimeda.” A tall, thin old man nodded and spoke slowly.

“Visa.” A short, chubby old man spoke next.

“Tiru…”

“…”

One after another, they introduced themselves. Each old man did so naturally. There was no trace of excitement on their faces, as if Black Hair wasn’t a highly esteemed lord in their eyes at all. But in contrast to their calmness, Black Hair’s expression grew increasingly serious. As he looked at each of them after their introductions, his heart grew heavy.

Nimeda, Visa, Tiru… Weren’t these the proudest and greatest master-level talents among the Black Prison faction? When he first met them, their works had been the only reason that shocked him!!

Why did Madaro introduce them to himself? Have the prisoners of the Dark Prison made some new discovery?