Sykes nodded heavily.
“What are we going to do now? Are we not going to take revenge for Befuli?” someone suddenly asked from within the crowd.
Sykes face immediately darkened. He naturally did not wish to provoke Black Star again, but he was truly put in a tight spot at the moment. If he said that he did not want to get revenge on Black Star, would it not make him lose his prestige and leadership abilities?
“I have my own plans.” Helpless, Sykes could only give a vague reply and attempt to change the topic.
Right at that moment, the same individual asked again, “What kind of plan? What exactly will we do?”
You again! Can’t you just shut up!
“Is this something that you have the right to ask?” Sykes expression was ugly as he looked in the direction of the voice. He wanted to see which subordinate of his dared talk back to him.
Seeing their boss flying into a rage, all the space pirates made way to reveal the individual who was talking. The gazes of all the pirates in the room were also drawn over to this individual.
Eh… he seems like a member of the Galaxy Human Race, wearing a black windbreaker, and his looks… eh? Why does he look so familiar?
Sykes glared at this individual with doubt in his eyes. The next moment, the doubt turned into shock, and he let out a loud roar.
“Black Star! What are you doing here‽”
All the space pirates in the surroundings jumped away as though they had seen a ghost, and the area around Han Xiao became empty.
The entire hall became silent and Han Xiao looked at Sykes. Stroking his chin, he said slowly, “You don’t need to be anxious. I am here to make a deal with you.”
“What deal?”
“I want you to pay the price of freedom in exchange for…” Han Xiao snickered. “Your life!”
Buzz! Pa!
Just as he finished his sentence, he equipped the Berserk Ape suit immediately and took out his High Energy Concentrated Particle Cannon. The blast from the cannon broke through from the interior of the spaceship and out into space.
The suction force from the vacuum came like a powerful gust, and the pirates in the spaceship were all sucked out by the frightening suction force and thrown into space. A portion of the weaker Supers froze up immediately with their blood vessels rupturing. The environment of space was fatal to some low-grade Supers.
Only Sykes and a couple of the more powerful pirates were able to stabilize their bodies and resist the suction force. Only those who were at Grade B were able to barely endure the treacherous space climate.
The mechanical suit had its own regulation mechanism, and space did not affect him in the slightest as he floated in space.
Sykes had a face full of fury as his mouth opened like he was roaring. However, the violent gust from air being sucked out of the spaceship completely drowned out his voice.
Without saying another word, Han Xiao sent his fist toward the alloy ground and activated the Power Detonation skill!
Boom!
The shockwave of his punch spread out in all directions with bolts of lightning accompanying it, shattering the alloy floor!
With the shockwave spreading, the destruction of the spaceship hastened, and hole enlarged even further.
Without solid ground beneath their feet, all the pirates apart from Sykes were sucked out. Only Sykes was able to send out a sticky, purplish substance toward the alloy wall to stabilize himself.
This sticky, purplish gel-like substance was Sykes’ Esper ability. This sticky gel was extremely poisonous and corrosive. It was also able to solidify in an instant to take the shape of various things. Furthermore, the purplish gel excreted could be stored for a very long time. Sykes could control the corrosiveness of this purplish gel, and this was where his title of ‘Purple Snake’ came from.
Despite Sykes being an Esper, he had his own armor as well. However, because he was not a Mechanic, the armor could not be compressed into a compressed orb. At this moment, his armor was in his personal storeroom.
While he hated Han Xiao to the core, he knew that the most urgent matter was for him to put on his armor. At the very least, he would be able to move around in space freely with it. He immediately made use of his purplish gel to scale the wall and sprint toward his personal store room.
Hu!
Han Xiao’s thrusters were activated, leaving behind two trials of fire as he rapidly approached Sykes.
Right at that moment, Sykes waved his arm, and a wave of purplish gel shot toward him. As it came into contact with the walls of the spaceship, thick purple smoke was released as the alloy walls melted.
This ability is interesting. Han Xiao’s eyes narrowed, and his arm transformed to reveal a pipe.
The inside of the spaceship had not become a vacuum yet, and air was sucked into his mechanical suit through the nanoparticles. The air that was sucked in was then channeled to the pipe, and a high-pressure air cannon was fired to scatter the wave of purplish gel.
The corrosive gel splattered everywhere, and the entire place became filled with smoke.
Han Xiao sped up further and caught onto one of Sykes’s arms.
Mechanical Force exploded from his entire body, and his thrusters started to shoot flames in the opposite direction. He then grabbed onto Sykes’ arm and got into a throwing posture.
Berserk Throw!
…
“Will the flagship please respond! Please respond! What is the current status?”
The ships of the Purple Snake Space Pirates surrounded the flagship in space.
A few seconds ago, they had all lost contact with the flagship and could not get a response no matter how hard they tried.
Just when the ships were about to board the flagship to check what had gone wrong, the exterior armor of the flagship suddenly exploded, leaving a large hole behind. All the junk items from within the flagship were sucked into space, and many of their comrades were included.
Before the other spaceships could react, a large hole was also created at the bottom of the spaceship over a thousand meters away from the main hall. Broken metal bits and a human figure were sent flying out of the hole. That human figure was their boss, Sykes!
Sykes had been sent flying through half the flagship with a single Berserk Throw from Han Xiao!
Chapter 598 - Man vs. Fleet
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It had all happened so quickly and so suddenly that the galactic pirates inside the pillaging ships around were stunned for a moment. When their boss Sykes were rolling in the vacuum space, only then did they realize that this was an attack.
“Quick! Help boss!”
“The enemy should be in the main ship. Surround it and don’t let him get away!”
As the galactic pirates yelled at each other, two pillaging ships closed in on Sykes, and the rest of the pillaging ships quickly formed a surrounding formation.
Through the porthole, Han Xiao saw the pillaging ships turn around and aim their cannons at him. Unworried, he smiled and contacted Phillip in his helmet.
“Phillip, assist me in virtual hacking.”
“Order confirmed. Switching to virtual sights, hum…”
The tactical screen inside the helmet showed the hacking interface with a complex data stream. Green beams of light shot out from the chest of the mechanical suit and formed a virtual control panel. Han Xiao quickly typed the code.
The first one that he was going to hack was the Purple Snake Space Pirates’ main ship that he was on.
_____________________
You have used [Virtual Intrusion] on Purple Snake Battleship.
Beginning to crack firewall (Level 2).
Undergoing level 1 authentication… Authentication passed!
Undergoing level 2 authentication… Authentication passed!
Intrusion successful! You have obtained the operational authority of Purple Snake!
Authority Level: Highest
Data has been sampled!
Backup generation complete!
+10% Success Rate, +25% Speed when hacking machinery controlled by the same artificial intelligence.
Your authority has been blocked by the other party’s artificial intelligence, undergoing authentication… Authentication successful!
You have successfully retained your privileges!
Time till next authentication: 140 seconds
_____________________
The artificial intelligence used by the galactic pirate spaceship was clearly way worse than DarkStar’s—their firewall was only level two. Han Xiao was already Calamity Grade, and his virtual hacking ability was also largely enhanced. Hacking a galactic pirate spaceship was a piece of cake, and he immediately obtained the highest authority level.
The higher the authority level obtained on the first intrusion, the lower the difficulty of hacking, and vice versa. This meant that the artificial intelligence of Purple Snake Space Pirates was no match at all.
The model of Purple Snake appeared on the control panel; all the modules were usable. Han Xiao clicked on the shield module.
“Activate shield with full power output.”
The next moment, an oval-shaped light blue electromagnetic shield shrouded the entire spaceship.
Dong! Dong!
Outside the porthole, the tens of pillaging ships started firing immediately after seeing the shield activated. Cannons exploded on the shield nonstop, and the inside of the spaceship was trembling.
“The shield can last a few minutes, so there’s more than enough time.”
Without any worry or panic, Han Xiao started to hack the other targets.
He did not throw Sykes out just because he wanted to but to obtain control of this main ship and defend against the focus fire from the galactic pirates.
Sykes was one of the weaker ones in the Calamity Grade, so Han Xiao had a very high chance of winning if it was a duel. However, this was not a duel.
He was facing an entire galactic pirate fleet!
Han Xiao’s initial plan was to snatch an advantageous location and make use of his ability as a Virtual Mechanic!
Not far away, Sykes was still floating in space. Although he could move by using energy, he was not a Pugilist, and his Esper ability did not enhance his movement speed.
As soon as he turned, he saw two pillaging ships piloted by his subordinates approaching that were clearly there to fetch him. Sykes’ eyes gleamed, he used his energy and approached them.
Only at this moment did Sykes have the time to think of what to do next.
He initially did not want to become Han Xiao’s foe, but now that Han Xiao had approached him, this could no longer be resolved peacefully. They were enemies!
Sykes was boiling, clenching his teeth. The fact that Han Xiao had come alone made him feel like Han Xiao did not take Purple Snake Space Pirates seriously at all.
Since that was the case, he would get rid of Black Star immediately without caring about anything else!
Murderous intent appeared in Sykes’s mind.
The two pillaging ships finally drew close, so Sykes stopped his train of thought and prepared to wait for his subordinates to open the hatch for him.
Suddenly, something unexpected happened!
The two pillaging ships fired light cannons one after another, toward Sykes. His vision instantly became filled with white as a sense of burning quickly approached.
Sykes’s expression changed drastically!
Inside the under fire Purple Snake, two more virtual models of pillaging ships appeared on Han Xiao’s control panel. He had noticed the spaceships heading toward Sykes long ago, so he had first obtained authority over them. He did not want Sykes to end up in another ship.
His fingers danced on the control panel so quickly they left blurry silhouettes behind—his typing speed was astounding, and the artificial intelligence of the pillaging ship was no match. The pillaging ships became Han Xiao’s one after another. Fewer and fewer attacks were aimed at the main ship. Instead, the pillaging ships controlled by Han Xiao started firing at the other galactic pirates. The galactic pirates were in a panic.
A Calamity Grade Virtual Mechanic could easily deal with an entire galactic pirate fleet alone!
This was especially so in the late stages of the Mechanic class, when at this level, their combat capability was extraordinary, able to adapt to both duels and team fights.
The situation changed completely. A few people realized that things were going south and immediately escaped with their ships. There was no such word as ‘loyalty’ in the galactic pirates’ dictionary.
The battle lasted more than ten minutes. The cannon fire gradually lessened. Other than the spaceships that escaped or were destroyed, all the other spaceships were now controlled by Han Xiao.
Han Xiao walked through the captured ships one by one and carried out the remaining work—dealing with the galactic pirates inside. Some stronger ones were not killed, including the Grade B officers of the galactic pirate group. They were all tied and thrown into the Purple Snake. As for the hole in the ship, it had already been repaired by maintenance robots.
Capturing Sykes was not much trouble—Han Xiao used many ships and focused their fired on him. Although the power of the cannons of those spaceships was thousands of miles away from the DarkStar main cannon, they had the quantity to make up for it. Sykes had a huge mobility problem in space, so it was very difficult for him to dodge. He was basically a live target. It was brutal, and even Han Xiao did not have the heart to watch it.
After making sure that Sykes was almost done for, only then did Han Xiao control the spaceship to drag Sykes back to Purple Snake. He then threw him aside with the other galactic pirates.
“Bo—Boss…”
All the captured galactic pirates looked at the burnt, almost dead Sykes. They could not help but feel terrified.
Grade As rarely became galactic pirates. The unity of the Purple Snake Space Pirates came from how strong Sykes was—he made his subordinates feel very confident.
However, Sykes had easily been defeated, so his strong image in their mind had shattered.
The more they admired Sykes before, the more they were afraid of Han Xiao now.
“Some escaped, but they were all unimportant minions.”
Han Xiao stood in front of them as he took off his Berserk Ape. All living galactic pirates were before him, so there was no need to hack anything anymore. The spaceship was in his hands.
Taking account of the spaceships that had escaped, he had seized twenty-four spaceships. Although most of them were cheap pillaging ships, there was the main ship that was a Grade Crow battleship, so it was not a bad return.
Sykes was heavily injured; his limbs were all locked by electromagnetic cuffs. He lay sideways on the floor and glared at Han Xiao with hatred and rage.
“Don’t look at me like that. You messed with someone, so you should have been prepared for this.” Han Xiao shrugged.
Sykes chortled with despair, speechless.
“Calamity Grade Supers should be able to last longer,” Han Xiao murmured.
He was not going to go easy on a captive. With bright eyes, he took out the Super-Gene Extractor and approached Sykes step by step.
Seeing Han Xiao’s passionate eyes, Sykes suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He then recalled Befuli’s terrifying state, and his expression instantly changed. Trying to be tough, he yelled, “Don’t come closer! I will kill you! I will kill you for sure! Don’t! Don—”
Han Xiao ignored it all and plunged the Super-Gene Extractor right into Sykes’ veins, extracting his Super-Gene. The product was three tubes of dark red Ability Potions, thick as blood.
Sykes felt a sense of weakness coming directly from his bones. The little energy he had left was gone. The Esper power that he was so used to using could not be sensed anymore. It was like he had suddenly lost his body’s senses, and he panicked.
This time, H
an Xiao took out a fresh new Ability Potion and gulped it down.
Sykes’ entire body trembled. Looking at Han Xiao gobbling his blood, he was submerged in horror. His eyes widened, and his lips shivered.
Not just him, all the other captive galactic pirates saw this and felt terrified and uneasy.
_____________________
You have received [Character Summon Card – Sykes (Temporary)]
[Character Summon Card – Sykes (Temporary)]: Purple Poison – Tide
Release a large amount of liquid poison, spreading out in all directions from the user. This acidic poison causes continuous damage every five seconds. The poison will not disappear after being released. It can be used to form acidic terrain or reused.
Damage: 580 – 920
This Character Summon Card will expire in 15 days.
_____________________
Skills had many abilities. The abilities extracted by the Ability Potion were random, but they were all different ways to use the Esper power.
This was the type of Esper ability that could produce physical materials. Although it was comparatively weak in battle, the produced materials would not disappear, so there were many more ways to use it.
The destructive power of this Esper ability is actually really high. As long as he has enough time, he can make enough poisonous liquid to cover an entire land or even an entire planet, making it lifeless…
The way Han Xiao looked at Sykes changed. It was like he was looking at a biochemical weapon, with slight disappointment.
You have such a strong Esper ability, but you chose to be a galactic pirate‽
Not long after, Ability Potions were made from all the captive galactic pirates. Han Xiao checked all the abilities then imprisoned everyone. Sykes received special treatment from him.
The Purple Snake Space Pirates have finally been dealt with. That cost me more than half a month…
Han Xiao looked on the forums. Other than Planet Sunil, the other players’ first mission had mostly been completed. Most of them were successful, with a few of them triggered new events, but most of them had returned to Base No.1 to receive new missions. While doing so, they also updated their equipment and brought Han Xiao another wave of profit. Everything was on the right path.
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 366
