Chapter 47: Time Sealing – Section 7

The order determining Cobra’s fate was issued on the third day. Just as all the victims had received proper treatment and recovery had largely progressed, this order descended upon the members of Black Prison like thunder, shocking everyone. As Black Hair had anticipated, most were dissatisfied with him appointing this young man from Black Prison as the leader. Yet many also expressed approval, especially several highly respected senior designers.

“Well, the kid is not bad. With him taking on this responsibility, we old folks should have it much easier, right?” Designer Nemedia nodded repeatedly as he slowly shared his opinion.

“The kid is capable and fierce—better than that old bastard Madaro,” said Master Visa.

“Madaro is gone? When? How come I didn’t know? Fine, I have research to do today. Do whatever you want. As for who becomes the leader, it’s none of my business,” were Master Tiru’s exact words.

With the opinions of these senior designers from Black Prison, the previously loud voices of dissatisfaction immediately faded away, replaced by unified agreement. Everyone continued with their research when it was time to work and slept soundly when it was time to rest. Death Star regained its usual tranquility. It seemed no one wanted to comment anymore on Cobra becoming the new leader of Black Prison’s people.

This was exactly what Black Hair had wanted to see.
Just as he had planned, it made sense to bring up Cobra as the temporary leader.

Firstly, although young in age, this man was already an elder in Black Prison—his name had appeared among the first group of mad scientists captured there. Thus, in terms of connections, he was top-tier. Even Designer Nemedia was mostly his friend.

Secondly, his youth might not reassure many people. But precisely because of that, he could easily gain the support of the young people who made up the core of Blood Wolves. Compared to most candidates, this was definitely an advantage.

Lastly, and most importantly, was his loyalty.

Speaking of which, ever since those madmen were freed from the Black Prison, Kurokami has had little contact with them. He simply adopted a laissez-faire attitude, providing them with ample material needs in exchange for their help. Kurokami has always harbored resentment over this, but there was little he could do. The reason the madmen of the Black Prison were rejected and imprisoned by human society was largely due to their uncontrollability. If they could be easily controlled, they would have long been taken in by various faction leaders—how could they possibly be kept in that filthy and ugly place?

However, now that Cobra becomes the new leader, this situation will improve greatly. It’s not that the previous leader, Madaro, wasn’t good enough; rather, this young man is more malleable than the others in the Black Prison. Having come into contact with the most powerful forces in human society at a young age, and having received repeated help from Baroka due to his family connections, Cobra will undoubtedly side more with Kurokami. His only flaw is his somewhat cruel nature, but this is a quality necessary for any leader and isn’t really a drawback.

With that, making Cobra the new leader of the Black Prison is now a certainty. What remains is the tense final stage of implementation. The target: Black Prison Planet.

This accident nearly brought about a devastating blow to this important planet. The scale of the explosion and its destructive power were even comparable to those of a fleet’s synchronized fire. The entire planet’s surface was lifted by massive shockwaves, its geological structure severely damaged, and all surface buildings completely destroyed. The planet’s surface was in complete chaos, with ruins everywhere. Even with the full efforts of the Blood Wolf rescue team, the raging fires burned for three days. By the time the flames died down, the entire planet had become a dead world.

The ecosystem originally transformed by the Wanderers group was gone. The entire planet was covered in melted metal, turning into a strange, silver-glowing sphere. The destruction of its atmosphere left the planet exposed to space, allowing its surface to be seen with the naked eye.

At this point, Black Prison Planet could almost be considered dead. Such terrifying destruction—had it been caused by any human lord—would never be attempted to be saved, as it would require enormous resources with little return. With that time and effort, it would be better to create a new planet instead.

But Black Hair didn’t think so. In fact, the day after the fire was extinguished, he issued orders to fully rebuild Black Prison Planet. All resources, from large artificial cities to tiny screws, were to be supplied by the Blood Wolf faction. For this purpose, Black Hair even resorted to using the strategic reserves of the Twin Stars.

Many people didn’t understand this order. Koko, the leader of Twin Stars Commerce, even went to see Black Hair in person to complain about her dwindling warehouses. But Black Hair remained unmoved, giving only a simple reason: Black Prison Planet was the home of the Black Prison people. Even though it had been destroyed, as their ally, he felt obligated to help them rebuild their home. He had no reason to stand by idly.

These words once again caused a huge stir. Almost all Black Prison people cheered at Black Hair’s generosity. The bars on Death Star were packed all night long. Bartenders were astonished to find many disheveled but extremely wealthy patrons in their bars. These patrons clearly didn’t understand the situation, but they all shared one thing: they spent money recklessly. They only drank expensive drinks and cried while drinking. When they got excited, they would suddenly stand up and shout, “Long live the lord!”

Seeing such reactions, all opposition voices disappeared. Koko even looked at Black Hair with admiration, as if she had discovered an unprecedented diamond. And whenever Suri brought dinner to Black Hair every day, she would also offer a sweet smile, seemingly extremely proud of his actions.

Of course, no one knew that once, when only Black Hair and Monkey were together, the leader of the Blood Wolves touched his nose and said, “Anyway, Black Prison Planet was built with my money. Building another planet also costs my money. It’s all using my wealth—why not be a good person? Winning people’s hearts is actually simple sometimes.”

Hearing this, Monkey remained silent for a long time before giving Black Hair a thumbs up. The two exchanged glances for a moment before starting to laugh wickedly together…

But aside from this, Black Hair actually left out one more thing—he mentioned that there were many secrets surrounding the accident on Black Prison Planet. This reconstruction was the key to uncovering those secrets. Even if the secrets couldn’t be solved, at least the wealth that the Black Prison people had left on Black Prison Planet for so long needed to be retrieved. It couldn’t be buried deep underground uselessly.

Speaking of these secrets, Black Hair still remembered his last meeting with Cobra.

It was the day before he decided to support Cobra as the new leader of Black Prison. The reclusive young man found Black Hair and, right in Black Hair’s room, got straight to the point.
“I know you’re going to support me, so I thank you. But this time, I just want to tell you one thing—about the accident last time.”
It turned out that before the accident, Cobra had already recovered. He got up from his sickbed and joined in the research on the Light and Dark Stone. He was also at the scene that day, so he witnessed the entire accident from start to finish. According to him, right before the accident, they were working on a new plan for the Light and Dark Stone, aiming to find out why the virtual universe had stopped functioning the previous day. For this purpose, Madaro had made thorough preparations, keeping all the experimental steps that were suspected the day before and planning to repeat them.
The plan went smoothly. But no matter how hard they tried, the virtual universe inside the Light and Dark Stone continued to function as usual. This situation was disheartening, and many people relaxed their vigilance. But then, something changed.
Cobra remembered clearly. He had just turned around to pour himself some coffee to stay alert when suddenly, the entire space slowed down. The air became like solid rubber, requiring him to exert several times more effort to move. In panic, he turned around abruptly. But what used to be an easy action was now incredibly difficult; it took him five seconds to see what was happening behind him.
The once ordinary Light and Dark Stone had completely changed. A massive amount of light radiated from its tiny pores—red, purple, green, yellow. Almost all colors visible to the naked eye were present. At its peak, Cobra even saw black light.
Under such light, everyone in the room seemed frozen, their movements as slow as if in slow motion. But one person was unaffected—Leader Madaro.
Cobra remembered clearly that he was the one closest to the Light and Dark Stone and the only one who touched it. He quickly activated his self-protection system, and a white liquid burst out from the containers everyone carried, enveloping them. Before the liquid sealed off the entire space, the last thing Cobra saw was Madaro waving and smiling at them.
It felt like a farewell at the time…