Chapter 53: Meeting, Section 7

A decisive battle came to an end in less than two minutes. By the time the black-haired man sent that man flying, fewer than three people were still standing. Facing Ya Zi, who wasn’t particularly large in stature, each of them felt a sense of powerlessness, as if confronting an impenetrable mountain.

“Thud!”
The blood wolf warrior at the front could no longer bear such overwhelming pressure and knelt before the black-haired man. The shiny two-handed great sword in his hands made a crisp sound as it touched the ground before disintegrating into countless floating energy particles, like fireflies in the air.

“Giving up already?” The black-haired man waved his hand and snapped his fingers lightly. His armor emitted a desolate sound as it peeled off like a snake shedding its skin. The space behind him shattered again, and Ya Zi slowly disappeared into it until he was no longer visible.

“Yes, my lord!!” The kneeling warrior replied without hesitation. Although his voice still carried the helplessness of defeat, it wasn’t as disheartened as one might expect.

Seeing this, the monkey beside him nodded slightly and let out a soft sigh.

“It seems the ritual is complete. Not only was it successful, but there were even greater gains…”

“Hm?” Baroka frowned. “What did you say?”

“The remaining warriors, along with the one who was sent flying just now—those are the gains from this ritual. Compared to the others, they are the best and most promising now. Especially that guy’s strike—it transcended ordinary combat, reaching the level of mental combat. His killing intent can even intimidate enemies’ minds directly, just like ours.” The monkey glanced at the warrior who was still struggling to get up, showing a hint of admiration in his eyes.

“Beyond limits.”

“That’s right, beyond limits,” the blood-eyed man beside him nodded as well. “Though I’m reluctant to admit it, that guy already has the combat strength to rival us. With some more training, he’ll surely be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with us.”

“Pretty good guy, isn’t he? At this critical moment, the more such people we have, the better. I never expected that a choice of primal armor would bring forth such a master. By the way, what’s his name?”

“Kakasbi. A Dark Realm warrior from the Five Great Families. Human, thirty years old.” Baroka beside him spoke quickly as if reporting data, then nodded emphatically.
“I’m quite optimistic about him too. If possible, I want him.”
The monkey burst into laughter upon hearing this. “Well, that’s not certain. It depends on what Head decides. That kid rushed right up to Head just now. What would you do if it were you?”
“Well…” Blood Pupil and Baroka paled slightly.
Could Black Hair plan to kill him? Under the charge of murder?
Stop joking… Black Hair wouldn’t do such a stupid thing. In fact, he truly liked that warrior from the bottom of his heart. Aside from his ferocity, the most important thing was…
He obeyed orders.
So, facing the remaining three warriors, Black Hair didn’t say anything more. He simply stared at them for a while before slowly nodding. Then he went straight to the warrior he had flung to the ground, watching him struggle there, falling over and over again.
Actually, Black Hair’s strikes were quite powerful. Although he also restricted his own energy, Ya Zi was after all the strongest weapon, and since he had cast it himself, the palm strike to the opponent’s chest had mobilized pure energy within a one-meter radius, creating astonishing destructive power. If not for the opponent wearing a Primal Energy Armor, that single strike would have been enough to split a Residual Sun in half.
So, it was only natural for that strong man to be in such a state. Watching him still refuse to give up, Black Hair’s voice suddenly turned icy cold.
“Name.”
“K… Kakasbi, my lord.”
“Position.”
“Uh… 31st Mech Squadron of Blood Wolves… subordinate squad leader.”
“Starting today, you will be the first squad leader of Wolf Fang,” Black Hair ordered indifferently, his gaze expressionless.
“Any questions?”
“No… my lord!” Despite the pain, the strong man still managed to lift his upper body and answer loudly. With that reply, he coughed up more blood.
“Your lungs are injured, and your heart vessels are damaged. Go rest. You’ll recover by tomorrow.” After glancing at this stubborn warrior, a rare hint of gentleness appeared in Black Hair’s eyes.
At that moment, Blood Pupil and the others who heard his words were stunned. Baroka scratched his head and turned his gaze to the monkey.
“What is Wolf Fang? I’ve never heard of it before.”

“It’s strange you’ve heard of it.” The monkey chuckled. He pointed at Baroka, then at himself. “Starting today, I’m afraid both of us will be part of this unit. Langya… Have you forgotten how we’re called outside?”
“Langya is this original power armor squad,” Xue Tong continued. Then he glared fiercely at Baroka. “Slow-witted idiot.”
“Idiot? Me?” Baroka pointed at his nose, looking confused. “Do I look like one?”
“Not like one—exactly one,” Xue Tong and the monkey replied together.
A battle thus came to an end. Langya was born from this battle. Yet no one could predict what would become of this unit. Not even Hei Fa, the one who initiated it, had any idea. Every long journey eventually reaches an end, and three days later, they finally arrived at their destination.
A small, unremarkable exit in the virtual corridor.
“This must be the end, right?” Hei Fa stared at the tiny exit, his expression complex. This was an adventurous mission. He knew nothing about the future. Though the exit was right in front of him, he couldn’t make up his mind. He didn’t know whether the world beyond the corridor would be a vast starry sky or a maze of traps.
Beside him, the monkey and the others weren’t in any hurry. They simply waited quietly for Hei Fa’s final decision. In the fleet behind them, all the Snake Teeth units were ready for action. With just one order, they could detach at any time. So they were very confident.
The worst that could happen was the same as last time, right? Seeing these guys so relaxed, Hei Fa finally felt anger surge within him.
“No need to send scouts first as planned. All warships, detach from the corridor at the same time.”
“No scouting? Are you joking? Boss! What if it’s really a trap?” The monkey was shocked and spoke urgently.
“Because it’s unnecessary.” Hei Fa’s gaze turned colder. An idea suddenly popped into his mind. “If the enemy was prepared in advance, then this corridor must already be under their control. Staying here isn’t safe. And if it’s not a trap, then there’s no need to detach repeatedly. That would waste a lot of time.”
“Understood.” Hearing Hei Fa’s explanation, the monkey finally grasped the logic. Without further delay, he issued the order to detach from the corridor.

Instantly, intense white light burst from the hulls of all the warships, with rings of light appearing as if out of nowhere around them. The next moment, the familiar starry sky was before their eyes. Yet in this sky, there was nothing at all. Yes, absolutely nothing—no enemies as expected, not even any stars. Everything around was pitch black; without the reflection of starlight, the universe resembled a bottle of ink, and they were like fish in that ink. “What’s going on? Damn it, did that coordinate just throw us here?” Monkey was utterly astonished upon seeing the outside. In fact, not only him but everyone else would react the same way. After all, in their understanding, they likely had never seen such a sky before. No, it could no longer be called a sky—it was simply an empty universe. Nothing at all. This was no trivial matter. In the ancient era of cosmic exploration, the lack of star references was enough to cause any fleet to get lost in the vast universe. And now, even with complete star charts and ultra-powerful scanners capable of scanning vast areas of space, such a sky remained a terrifying threat to fleets, because no one knew what lay hidden beneath it. There used to be a legend that every point of normal space had a corresponding point in anti-space, with stars in normal space having their counterparts in anti-space. So if a space truly contained nothing, it could only mean one thing: the corresponding anti-space must be undergoing some extraordinary changes. Could it be the same here? Staring at the empty universe, Black Hair frowned. After some thought, he finally spoke slowly, “Keep the fleet in place and send out scouts. We need to search a large area. It seems the enemy has thrown us a small challenge.” “Understood,” Monkey nodded firmly, his eyes gleaming with interest. Soon, all the virtual puppets opened their hatches, and countless scouts flew out like mosquitoes, heading into the distant universe. At the same time, Li Feng activated full-power scanning.