by <unknown>
The countdown began ticking yet again.
33 seconds, 32 seconds, 31 seconds…
Fengyu Ming had concocted a hundred schemes to hide the most important Cosmos Ring of his. But Li Yao's insidiousness was beyond his expectations, and he was truly caught off guard.
The quickly bouncing red figure was stabbing and burning his eyes like the scary flames of the hell. He felt that he was going to be blinded.
Fengyu Ming wriggled desperately and screamed in a voice resembling a pig which was being butchered, "Senior, I really just brought two Cosmos Rings with me. But there are a large quantity of high-purity crystals and the best medication drugs inside. I will gladly offer all of them to you. But I really just have two Cosmos Rings. Just two!"
Li Yao said suspiciously, "You really just have two Cosmos Rings?"
Fengyu Ming nodded vigorously. "Yes. Just two!"
Li Yao sighed and replied, "Then, today is not your lucky day."
The countdown continued. 28 seconds, 27 seconds, 26 seconds…
Fengyu Ming was dumbfounded like a frozen statue. He was absolutely still for three seconds, but it felt like three days and three nights for him.
Suddenly, the frozen statue exploded. He was cramping like a shrimp on a steel sheet in a sushi restaurant and cried out, "Three! I have three Cosmos Rings! I'm giving them to you right now! Stop it! Stop it now!"
Li Yao eyed him calmly and unresponsively.
The countdown went on. There were only 21 seconds left.
Tears and snot were flooding down Fengyu Ming's face. He held back the agony while the muscles over his body rippled like waves. A moment later, three Cosmos Rings appeared in his palm.
Only one of them was in the shape of a ring. The second one looked like a tiny button, while the third one was secretly hidden in a box of medication drug mixed with dozens of capsules.
Even if Li Yao adjusted the resolution of the crystal camera on his crystal suit to the highest setting, he couldn't tell it was any different from a regular capsule.
If he had searched his captive's body in person, he might have been able to locate the first two Cosmos Rings, but the third one would definitely have been overlooked.
Taking the three Cosmos Rings, Li Yao did not pause the countdown, until there were only last 15 seconds left on the light beam.
"The five additional seconds are a little warning to remind you to stop playing any tricks because my patience is limited.
"Right now, you have fifteen seconds to do the last thing that I ask you to. If everything goes well, I will be gone in three minutes, and you will go back to fight the Great Horn Exo Society.
"But if it doesn't go well, you will take a shower in the crystal reactor, and the worst thing for me is just that my identity might be recognized. However, I don't believe that the rabid dogs of the Great Horn Exo Society are capable of blocking me!"
"Everything is definitely going well!"
After submitting the three Cosmos Rings, Fengyu Ming cowered and trembled as if three sections of his spine had been ripped away.
Li Yao said, "I want the highest clearance on the mainframe crystal processor of your starship. I want to know all the information about the starship, especially the star maps that you have stored.
"Therefore, you will tell me the spiritual password of the highest clearance.
"Not so fast. Let me explain to you how this will be done.
"Firstly, you will tell me the spiritual password, and I will reset the countdown to three minutes.
"In the coming three minutes, I will infiltrate the local Spiritual Nexus of your starship and test the password that you are going to offer me.
"If the password you give me is true, naturally, I will have all clearances and get everything I need in three minutes. Then, I will stop the countdown and leave you alone.
"But if the password is a false one and I fail to get all clearances in three minutes, then your outcome will be the same as before. You die!"
Li Yao finished his speech and moved his finger again.
14 seconds, 13 seconds, 12 seconds…
Fengyu Ming gave up the spiritual password without any hesitation.
The three things that Li Yao demanded had been proposed progressively just in order to fully crush his mental defense line.
Now that he had surrendered the most precious Cosmos Rings, it didn't seem a big deal to concede the clearances of the mainframe crystal processor.
After all, the Great Horn Exo Society was coming at any time. Fengyu Ming presumed that his starship was useless for a 'senior space pirate'.
But he didn't know that it was the highest clearance for the mainframe crystal processor that Li Yao had wanted since the very beginning.
When the countdown stopped at 10 seconds, Fengyu Ming fell over exhaustedly like a saddlebag that had been emptied.
"Senior, I've told you everything you want to know and given you whatever you needed. The Great Horn Exo Society is coming anytime. You should at least give me some time to prepare the defense of my starship," Fengyu Ming said, fatigued, like half-dead fish on a dry riverbed.
But inside his brain, malicious thoughts were spinning over and over, as he was considering how to stir up chaos with the unexpected visitor after the 'senior' left.
Perhaps, he could reveal the existence of such a 'senior' to the Great Horn Exo Society directly? Such a bandit was apparently of much higher value than himself.
Or rather, he should make the best use of his time to take down the town in front of him and hold the countryfolk inside hostage?
While he was absent-minded, he heard the 'senior' talking. "Very well. You have been very cooperative. I believe that the spiritual password you've given me is real. I won't waste my time testing it."
Fengyu Ming was overjoyed. He was grinning merrily in his mind, while he put on an obedient expression and said, "Senior, what about—"
Before he was able to complete his sentence, the words were frozen in his throat like ice blocks.
Right in front of his violently shrinking pupils, the facial cover of the senior was being gradually opened!
Fengyu Ming's heart was palpitating so hard that he felt like choking.
He was well aware that unveiling the true face to someone else was definitely not a signal of friendliness among space pirates, but a confident declaration that—
Everyone who saw the face would be killed!
He wants to kill me? Why? What good is there in killing me? Fengyu Ming was held by desperation and bewilderment.
The next second, when he saw Li Yao's face, which was apparently too young for an old space pirate, a spark suddenly burst out his heart and spread to every part of his body. He started shaking beyond his control.
"It seems that you've realized it. I'm not a space pirate. Every word I said just now was a lie."
Li Yao eyes were as deep and dark as ink. He drew close and stared Fengyu Ming in the eyes, enjoying the panic and confusion there, as he said, one word after another, "Your sorry life has ten seconds left."
He gently removed his finger. The countdown of the last ten seconds started.
Chapter 453: Great Horn Exo Society! |
Ten seconds.
Fengyu Ming was struggling like a fish on the chopping block. His fractured bones protruded out of his skin, soaking his body in blood, unbearable to look at.
He cried desperately at the top of his voice, "No! You can't kill me! I can give you whatever you want! Everything you want!"
Nine seconds. Eight seconds.
"I know the coordinates of several treasuries. I have discovered the residences of ancient Cultivators on two planets. I also know three top confidential smuggling routes. I can tell you all of them, as long as you set me free!"
Seven seconds, six seconds.
"Who are you? Who are you exactly? There is no grudge between us. Why do you have to kill me? Why?"
Five seconds. Four seconds. Three seconds.
"Just
for those ninety ordinary people? You are crazy. You are a rabid dog, too! My father won't let go of you. Storm Prison won't let you get away with this! All the gangs on Spider Den will not let go of you!"
Two seconds, one second, zero.
The countdown reached zero and made a clicking sound before it suddenly bloomed into thousands of glamorous redness which blinked like fireworks and vanished very soon.
"NOOO! NOOO! NOOO!"
Fengyu Ming had totally gone crazy. He was rolling on the ground and uttering vague screams.
The rune arrays of the wind class hiding in the depths of the fuel transmission tube were provided with sufficient energy. They roared a dull sound and continued to rise.
As a result, a gradually-increasing attraction force came from inside the tube and pulled in Fengyu Ming together with his broken crystal suit.
Like a pig which was about to be sent into a mincer, Fengyu Ming struggled desperately. His right arm, which was his only working limb, clutched the wall of the tube, producing screeching noises, and left five clear traces of fingers. But it didn't help, and he continued to be dragged deeper and deeper.
His screams became higher and higher as he was further swallowed into the tube.
Before he was fully devoured by darkness, he looked at Li Yao one last time.
Misery, desperation, hatred, rage… His countenance was so complicated that it was indescribable.
Li Yao stared back calmly, his eyelids absolutely still.
At the turn of the tube, Fengyu Ming made his last struggle.
The only result was that the immense attraction force dragged his flesh, bones, and internal organs out of his body through his wounds.
Fengyu Ming's scream even dwarfed the roars of the four fully-functioning wind-class rune arrays.
After several seconds of stalemate, he might couldn't hold on any longer. After a plump, his entire body was drawn to the end of the fuel transmission tube and fell into the burning crystal reactor.
The crystal reactor shook violently. Vague, intermittent moans seemed to be echoing inside it. But everything went peaceful again ten seconds later.
Li Yao checked the time.
Right now, only five minutes and thirty-two seconds had passed since he had hauled Fengyu Ming to the engine compartment.
His telepathic thoughts already sensed that a lot of crystal suits were crowding toward where he was and breaking through the blocked pathways at any cost.
Li Yao closed his facial cover. His face was replaced by three crimson crystal cameras in a triangular distribution, and he disappeared into the black smoke in the corner of the engine compartment.
Three minutes later, with an earsplitting explosion, the path to the engine compartment was finally cleared.
A bunch of space pirates immediately flooded in.
"Master Ming! Master Ming!"
"This is—"
The space pirates didn't discover any traces of Fengyu Ming after a futile search. But they noticed that countless pieces of small magical equipment had been stuck to the walls, the floor, and the ceiling of the engine compartment, which were blinking with a vague brightness now that their triggering rune arrays had been activated. It was as if the unrested souls murdered by the space pirates had opened their eyes again and were staring at their killers coldly.
Furious flames burst out of the engine compartment. An explosion ten times more intense than the previous ones crushed the rear part of the starship with the tentacles of fire like a rampant animal.
The starship lost most of its momentum. Not only did it stop moving forward and start spinning, its spiritual shield exploded like soap bubbles under the burning sunlight. Even the internal lights of the starship had stopped functioning correctly.
Countless cabins fell into darkness one by one.
Although the cockpit had its own spiritual energy source, it was also caught in a cluster of dim fluorescence.
Li Yao crouched on the top of the cockpit and blended in with the darkness nearby like a lurking bat.
The cockpit was in a mess. Although operators of the starship were mostly at the Refinement Stage and Building Foundation Stage, they were all research-type Cultivators whose main jobs were to maneuver the starship instead of participating in head-on battles.
With the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Li Yao was confident that he could take all of them down within one minute.
Li Yao was gazing at the center of the cockpit.
Surrounded by a world of darkness, a mainframe crystal processor that looked like a giant tree was standing in the middle of the cockpit, colorful and glittering.
Thick crystal wires extended in various directions like branches and vines, reaching every corner of the starship through the tubes on the ceiling.
It was what Li Yao desired most right now.
More precisely, it was the crystal chips of the mainframe crystal processor he was after.
They must've stored a lot of star maps of the Flying Star Sector, perhaps even including the secret routes and the temporary supply locations that were not known by the authorities.
For the space pirates, it was their biggest reliance to avoid the hunting of the Cultivation sects and raise chaos in the sea of stars.
In Star Lord Temple, the official star map was too shabby. It only marked several major star zones and star fortresses roughly, with a precision far from enough to guide a sailing starship.
If he could steal a secret star map from a seasoned space pirate, Sparkle's range of activity would be greatly expanded, and it would be able to travel in the Flying Star Sector by itself without worrying about getting lost!
Staring at the space pirates below him who were running here and there like headless flies, Li Yao sneered and jumped down!
The blood saber was unsheathed. The sharp claw shined. The Triple-headed Six-barrel Vulcan Machine Guns rumbled like thunder. Li Yao swept through the cockpit like a storm and destroyed everything that he saw.
…
In the depths of the space, a starship bordering on collapse was voyaging stubbornly.
The starship was not just brimming with holes, it was more like a pile of garbage picked up from an ancient battleground and assembled carelessly, after which several immense power rune arrays were stuffed on the back of the garbage without much thought. The engine of the starship was spewing giant crimson fireballs one after another as if it were farting.
Despite its poor condition, the starship was rushing forward in dirty smoke, unconcerned that it could break down any second.
Every starship had a certain style when it was manufactured.
Some of them were elegant, some mysterious; some were aggressive, some simple.
The style of this particular starship was so distinctive that it cast enough visual impressiveness for people to know the word to describe the starship even though it had been damaged to this degree.
The starship was refined in the style of 'fury'!
Anyone who saw the starship would inevitably mistake it for an angry bull.
It seemed safe to infer that the pilot of such a starship must have a pair of angry eyes and two fuming fists!
On two sides of the head of the starship, two great horns almost a hundred meters long stuck out like two sharp bull horns. Illuminated by the dim starlight, they were emitting dark-gold brightness. Rounds of blood stripes were carved on the horns, with complicated runes in between.
There was no telling whether the two giant horns were decorative or a piece of powerful magical equipment themselves.
However, one of the horns had been broken off in the middle with pale fractures. The other horn was also dinted with a lot of bruises, like a battle saber that was full of cracks.
Below the two giant horns, in the center of the cockpit that looked like a crimson sole eye, a middle-aged muscled man over two meters tall was sitting in the captain's seat.
He seemed to have just been pulled out from a trash can. His face was dirty, and his grey
coat was full of fractures, holes, corrosion, and dried blood stains.
His eyelids were sticky with gunk, as if he hadn't shut his eyes for ten days and ten nights. Even his pupils looked dreary. But there were two deep dimples on his haggard face, making him appear to be grinning even when his lips were closed, if they were ever closed at all.
"Finally, I've got you filthy sons of bit*hes!"
When Storm Prison's starship reappeared on the top right corner of the radar light beam, a series of data and information poured down like a waterfall, and two clusters of gold brightness beamed out of the giant man's grey eyes.
"Brothers!"
The messy muscled man jumped up from the captain's seat. It was only then that one could notice that below the grey coat were red-and-green beach shorts!
However, the guy seemed to be totally fine with it. He bellowed, his saliva spraying everywhere, "We've been chasing these bastards for more than two months. Finally, they have been pressed to the bed with their trousers torn away. We can do whatever we want right now!
"I know that we are running out of supplies and strength; I know that many of us have been seriously injured and their capability greatly lost.
"But I also know that everybody has been waiting too long for this day, just to tear those human-skinned scumbags to shreds!
"We will be engaged in ten minutes. Prepare for battle!
"Our spiritual energy has been drained. Our turrets have died, too. But these are just unimportant details that we shouldn't worry about.
"Tell those scumbags with your swords, sabers, teeth, and fists—
"that the Great Horn Exo Society has come again!"
The messy muscled man roared and yelled. Bright green flames were flowing around his body and eventually consolidated into a crystal suit the same color. The most eye-catching part about the crystal suit was the giant dent on its right shoulder.
After putting on the heavy crystal suit, the messy muscled man looked like an infuriated rhino!
Five light beams were floating in front him, displaying the scenes in the assault cabin of the starship.
Almost a hundred sturdy, barbaric men were bellowing together with him, producing earthshaking thunders so appalling that one might be suspicious that the starship would be torn open by the soundwaves in the very next second.
