Legend Is The Supreme Soldier

by Stayrr

Ye Chong was a denizen of Trash Planet-12. On one fateful day, he discovered a treasure that would forever alter his destiny from a pile of junk – Mu Shang, an unknown machine with artificial intelligence and a lost memory. Together, they venture into the vast galaxy as the isolated “caveman” that was Ye Chong began absorbing all sorts of knowledge and meeting people from all walks

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Legend of the Supreme Soldier #Chapter 257 - The Destiny - Read Legend of the Supreme Soldier Chapter 257 - The Destiny Online - All Page - Novel Next

Chapter 257: The Destiny

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Where are we?"

"Unknown," Mu told Ye Chong who was the first morning bird among the folks thanks to his very best physique. Mu's reply had always been that indifferent.

He took a look at the visuals. His drowsy eyes straightened themselves upon glance. Even an even-tempered person like Ye Chong became odd-tempered for a second because of the scene.

"What… are these?" whispered Ye Chong with his finger pointing at those layers of crimson fluttering in the projection, where the Coxcomb was currently sailing on. The layers were as thick as the bog, sometimes they were as thin as the fog. They could be dense, they could also be diluted as if a space rain had fallen. The nameless misty redness was giving the hologramic detection system a major interruption, where even Mu's built-in detection system had to force its proximity reduced to almost nothing. What about Photon Mode? Ye Chong peeked at the outside through the window, the mode would be a hopeless attempt.

"Matches with the databank: Negative. Component: Unknown," that statement from Mu gave Ye Chong another moment of flinched silence.

"Then how do we know if we are sailing in the right direction?" asked Ye Chong. Unlike the sea, a spaceship must locate its coordination all the time. It was not a journey that could be led by a general direction or they could sail way off the planned course easily, to nowhere… And there were tiny asteroids hovering in the space, reminding the Coxcomb to not take a reckless sail on them.

"I would say, we would have to rely on RnG," said Mu helplessly.

…

Ye Chong was speechless…

The rest of the members woke up very soon after that. The tension, panic and screams Ye Chong was expecting could hardly be seen on them. Zhu Ling just got up and went back to her training room, while Lian Yue, after a nice stretch and a few rubs on his neck, sauntered back to the laboratory after muttering a few words. As for Little Rock… well, he stayed on the ground, as he looked upon the ceiling, dazing off in accordance with his routine.

Why none of them showed concern to our situation now? Wondered Ye Chong really peculiarly.

The Coxcomb travelled in the mystifying zone for the next three days, which he never made a breakthrough within. They were still in the red sea. The zone was rather quiet and nothing had happened just yet, while the supplies of living necessity as well as the batteries were more than sufficient.

The folks had once extracted the strange stream of scarlet to perform analysis, but their research resulted in nothing significant. Their outcome this far, was merely concluding that the scarlet had indeed a negative effect on transmitting signals while altering its viscosity periodically in the space. Whether it could be harmful to human body… they do not have a living subject to test it on, and none of them ever had the courage to experiment themselves.

As the exact coordination remained unknown for the whole time, Mu could not risk to perform a space-jump, so the Coxcomb remained on its unintelligible course.

After two days of tension facing the unknown, Ye Chong too regained his calmness as he withdrew his nervousness and locked back into his heart.

Qiu Man woke up on the third day, whom of course Lian Yue went extremely welcoming upon, although Ye Chong had taught this appeal-loving man that this very lady named Qiu Man was nothing he could lay his hands upon. He better not.

The first thing Qiu Man did was to take a look around. And she immediately understood her situation upon seeing Ye Chong.

"Who are you? What do you want from me? Where am I?" Qiu Man did not lose her grace, as she asked Ye Chong flatly, which was more than alluring to Lian Yue. She's… She's gorgeous! Moaned Lian Yue in his mind, finding Qiu Man to be someone finally able to balance out the masculinity and femininity on the ship, since well… Zhu Ling, the only female among them, depicted hardly any ladylike feature. And Lian Yue felt his heart being struck by something the very first glance he had on the lady. He felt his brain had gone short-circuit.

"The location. We have no idea as well," replied Ye Chong, ignoring the first really silly question he thought. He did not intend to skip the second question though, he wanted something else first, "Your identity?" stated he.

Ye Chong's tone always felt like the wind on a winter day, which was freezing to one's core. Even Lian Yue began sinking into his shirt and scurried from the place.

Qiu Man's heart tightened but being as witty as she was, she knew acting cooperative would be a far better choice, "I am the management of Research Center 79," she said.

Ye Chong's eyes were expressing nothing but coldness, they were not blinking as the stare went on.

And Qiu Man, as feeling pressured, could not help but to spit, "My grandfather is the leader of the intelligence."

Ye Chong withdrew his stare and made a light nod. That explained a lot. No wonder they conducted such outrageous act. He was not sure what exactly the leader of the intelligence did, but obviously it was not some random folks on the street.

"Gao Shichang… Have you heard of Gao Shichang?" asked Ye Chong abruptly.

"Ah!" Qiu Man covered her mouth, as her eyes were inflated with surprise, never expecting this young man inquiring this person. The boy seemed to be just in his twenties, while it had been 20 years since the incident happened. This boy should have nothing to do with the case… or… maybe not, could he be a relative to Gao Shichang? But according to reports, Gao Shichang should have no relative…

Ye Chong's pupils shrunk, his heart raced. There's something wrong from this woman. She must know something!

But Qiu Man's following reaction was not according to his preference, as no matter what he asked, how he asked, she remained in total silence. Sigh… it looks like I'm the wrong person to do the enquiry… I should hand it to the expert. Shang still did this like his bread and butter.

I'll let the expert do the job then. Thought Ye Chong as he got up and walked away.

Lian Yue was very displeasing to Ye Chong, with his disgusting expression stuck upon Qiu Man's gestures for some hours daily. He had to make the man forget about women, there was a way of course - mech-engine research and development, Ye Chong would make great use of those rich information he stole from Donald's research unit.

It felt like an reincarnation of their past on the Coxcomb, where Zhu Ling would spend her days and nights training, Little Rock would be doing nothing as something kept running in his head, while Ye Chong, with his vain partner Lian Yue would be analyzing the information he obtained.

Lian Yue, despite his vanity, was still a genius in engine-development. It took him only three days to fully digest the concept of Donald's designs. And as Ye Chong had predicted, Donald was indeed facing a stuck-up situation in his research.

And both of them spent the whole day figuring out that missing spot on the incomplete blueprint. Ye Chong might have been the layman in this, but he had seen way more advanced engines than Lian Yue, especially with his well educated on the fundamentals, Lian Yue was utterly surprised.

Under Lian Yue's guidance, Ye Chong's engine developing skills were rapidly improving. He had that well-founded primary expertise and vast exposure to actual engines, he just lacked a good teacher to refine what he saw and what he experienced. After a few pointers made by Lian Yue, Ye Chong's understanding exploded as he realized everything was being connected in his head and making better sense.

Lian Yue was astonished as he had been assumed a genius himself and now he saw someone who was pretty much close to what he believed a genius was. And he was excited, certainly.

"Oh my gosh! You must see this darling! Now when we move this, yes, to that circuit, it would trigger this, yes namely the…" Lian Yue was very, very excited, which worn Ye Chong out quickly.

His thinking leapt from one spot to another speedily. Ye Chong the one with lacked advanced knowledge found it difficult to follow, "I mean, sometimes I really hate the choice of components in engine among the designers, you see…" Ye Chong was forced to activate his brain cells on full force in order to understand what the heck this being was trying to convey.

It could not be helped as Lian Yue had always been the lone wolf in the field and he had finally found someone who could join him in his research, how could he not be excited over this?

"How do you think the more densely structured circuits are compared to the light structures?"

"Hey, Ye, you should watch this visual I downloaded before. It's about the history of engine components. Yeah we could have a brief seminar on it." Everyday Lian Yue would haunt Ye Chong to have a discussion on mech engines, which drove the poor indifferent man running away. Nonetheless, it was because of this haunting person, Ye Chong had gained tremendous improvement in this field, as he began being able to follow Lian Yue's conversation after a week or so. With his immense exposure to the variety of engines in mechs he had encountered, sometimes he would make some really bold comments, which were a shocker to Lian Yue.

A month later they had finally produced a blueprint for a new engine, on the basis of Donald's design, with the concepts of the engines Ye Chong had seen on mechs of the three forces incorporated. They were not really that great compared to Donald, they were just completing the giant circle the former had drawn over the years. Everyone could see that.

The new engine was known as "the Destiny", the name was given by Lian Yue. Well, Ye Chong would not mind as usual, he had lots more things to do, as his eyes were glued on the blueprint, wondering in his toasting head on how they were supposed to transform these dots and lines into an actual object.

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Assuming they were truly producing this, based on their calculations, its potential efficiency would be 3 times greater than the Overwing's maximum performance. Of course, that figure was just on paper. It would be rather far-fetched to achieve that since that would impose a ridiculous requirement on the materials.

Still, the capabilities of the Destiny were not something both Ye Chong and Lian Yue had expected, since they were just aiming to design a model which could perform with a similar efficiency as the Overwing but the result was jaw-dropping.

That was theoretically speaking though. What Ye Chong needed to do would be to actually craft it, only the actual object could do the speaking.

First-off, the materials… Like what the heck do we use to produce this? Thought Ye Chong, puzzled as he stood before that gigantic inventory of his, filled with numerous bones of great quality, a collection of uncommon mineralites and even some transmutated energy ores. He had a cabinet of the greatest things one could imagine from the galaxy.

The next fortnight Ye Chong spent on experiments, trying to select the materials to produce the Destiny. He had tested on countless formula and only a fortunate person like him could do experiments on these ultimate rare materials as if the beans and carrots from the supermarket. But Ye Chong picked skeletons in the end.

The bones of Blue Dragon Glider, had a texture of the jades, provided great physical properties while it retained a nimble structure, were one of the best skeletons in Ye Chong's inventory. He had never seen Blue Dragon Glider in his life but Master Ge gave marvelous comments on it in the encyclopedia with high respects. And after evaluating its compatibility with the design, it might not be able to achieve the engine's maximum potential efficiency, but it would be the one with highest compatibility among the other materials.

Nevertheless, Ye Chong included a few key components in alloys since the production of alloys was much more efficient than skeletons. 80% of skeletons and 20% of alloys. To get the very best of the performance, Ye Chong - holding his heart, bidding farewell - took the bucket containing the colorful transmutated energy ores, few splashes were heard and the ores were poured into the melting pot with the alloys. He had consumed half of the energy ores he collected from the planet.

He got to do it, for he was currently in the unknown, which gave him a strong sense of danger. If there was any method for Ye Chong to further increase his offensive forces, he would do it, by hook or by crook. The golden law of survival, the stronger you get, the more likely you will survive.

And there it is! He made it, the Destiny had been born!

He installed it into Han Jia. Okay, he got into the cabin and took a breath. Tapped the button. And the engine taught him what real speed was.

It was too fast!

The Destiny might be unable to achieve that whooping 3 times greater than the Overwing but it still surpassed the Overwing's engine by 1.5 times. Moreover, Hanjia was way lighter than Overwing, so Han Jia's maximum speed could be twice as fast as Overwing's.

Wow, 2 times faster than Overwing's. What kind of speed would that be? Everyone was astounded when Ye Chong was piloting Han Jia in the training room, except Mu. Ye Chong could not imagine, how amazing he would feel if he one day was ever able to make Mu dropped his mechanical jaw as well.

Now you see me.

Now you don't.

A perfect description on Han Jia's new velocity. Zhu Ling on Overwing tried fighting against Ye Chong and only lasted for a good 30 second. Such potent mech, Ye Chong was overconfident, as he imagined himself being fearless even against the ace pilots of the 3 forces.

Oh well. It was good while it lasted, when Mu taught Ye Chong a lesson. He only lasted for 20 minutes under Mu's attack, and it was a hand to hand combat. Ye Chong knew his limits especially Mu was the best at ranged attacks with Recursion and not a hand-to-hand combat. If Mu ever had a duel with him with Recursion, Ye Chong probably could even face a hard time staying up for half a minute.

20 minute survival was still a great record for Ye Chong, since it was the longest in the record of him fighting against Mu.

Imagine if Mu Shang were completed, how powerful would they be? Frightened Ye Chong but he grew confused as well, as once he had asked Mu whether he was the greatest and the reply was Mu could be merely somewhere between the 500th and 600th greatest mechs in the galaxy. Ye Chong did not take Mu's comment by heart, he simply found it fascinating since Mu was pretty much crippled yet he retained within the 600th.

But after their adventure, Ye Chong started to question that statement.

He had encountered the Strongs countless times coming from all kinds of field. The Nirvana pilot, the ace of the Sanctuary, Feng Su for example, and those two advanced mechs of the Freedom Alliance who drove them into this bizarre area in the first place… All of them, disregarding their experience and expertise, were technically not even competent to be Mu Shang's opponents despite Mu Shang's damaged system. If Mu Shang were currently within the 600th, that would mean there were at least 400 to 500 experts they would be encountering above.

But where are they? Those aces Ye Chong had encountered before were already considered as the greatest individuals in the 5 major galaxies.

Mu could not be lying. Ye Chong could confirm that, it was just that Ye Chong was curious of this. Well, screw that, who cares! Even if those Strongs do exist, they were none of my business!

"Greetings, Ye. I hereby present you the outcome of my progress. This lassie does know a lot. Such a memorable experience interrogating the beauty. Jajaja! Never once I would expect this Freedom Alliance having so many interesting stories to tell," stated Shang, with a mesmerized expression.

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Chapter 258: Entangled, the Red Sea I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong took a glance at Qiu Man who appeared to be rather low-spirited for some reason. It was as if Shang had drained every last ounce of her soul through that "interrogation" of his. One might question the homosapien cruelty but Ye Chong had to admit that Shang's special session was clearly effective. Lian Yue, who also had tasted Shang's course before, projected a similar sympathy towards Qiu Man through his watery eyes.

Qiu Man was very well-informed in where she belonged, which turned out to be surprising to Ye Chong, since she seemed to be just his age while the inquiry was about something that happened over 20 years ago. How the hell does she know? Ye Chong almost had his eyes wide open upon hearing the report from Shang.

Based on what had Shang acquired from Qiu Man, apparently her grandfather, Qiu Yuanlie was exactly one of the few very persons behind this. But what he was assigned to turned out to be merely the cleaning after the case. And yes, quite to everyone's shock that Qiu Man's grandfather , being the "cleaner" of the case, was that super Maverick everyone shunned themselves away from the whole time, which justified Qiu Man's persistent silence throughout the session. It also happened to be because of his performance in this case, Qiu Yuanlie was promoted as the leader of the Freedom Alliance's intelligence.

It was a logical promotion, considering how he managed to wipe away everything regarding a public figure on the virtual networking system singlehandedly 20 years ago. And this was not something that even the current Mavericks could have done with technologies today. It was the brightest entry in his life Qiu Yuanlie considered for himself. So the every bit of details related to the case were generously collected in his records, which kept Qiu Man well-informed of her grandfather's glorious act in the past. But certainly she would fear Ye Chong and the others would be taking action against her grandfather, her words could have determined her grandfather's mortality, so she insisted to keep her mouth zipped before.

Gao Shichang was formerly the top mech designer under Prometheus Group. And Freedom Alliance - while being obviously not as established as now - had once infiltrated the group, trying to gain the fond of this amazing talent, to persuade his contribution to the alliance itself. Rather unfortunately, on one occasion, Gao Shichang was made aware of their infiltration, and as much as a strong-willed person he was, he portrayed obstinate resistant towards their offers upon exposure. Gao Shichang was then given further persuasion of all sorts, including threat, bribery, coercion, anything in the bibliography of a gang. Nevertheless, the genius refused to make a move as he ventured into something more strikingly taboo to the alliance. He was involved in a secret project, which eventually became the end of his tale.

Qiu Man claimed to have never seen the projection of Gao Shichang in person. And evidently she also had no idea if Gao Shichang was the papa Ye Chong searched for long. These records were a secret report seemingly. And inside the report, there was one entry which stated that the one who executed Gao Shichang was actually the very best friend of his and that friend also happened to be the second greatest mech designer to Gao Shichang in Prometheus Group.

No doubt, the entry with greatest amount of details was the part where Qiu Yuanlie performed his cleaning on the virtual networking system, listed from the hows to the whys. He had never seen Gao Shichang face-to-face, but naturally he must have seen the projection of this target once at least. He would probably be the only person in the entire galaxy who could tell if Gao Shichang was the papa of Ye Chong, even though that so-called "best friend" of Gao Shichang could do the same as well.

So much hassle Ye Chong had gone through yet so little information he had revealed, while also putting him under greater risk because of what he had done. It was discouraging to Ye Chong.

Qiu Man's information on Gao Shichang seemed to have ended there as well. Well, under Shang's unique interrogating technique, quite a handful amount of information on the inside of the Freedom Alliance was obtained at least, although Ye Chong showed little interest on it. The first thing on his priority after this was to resolve the following issues.

First off… how should Ye Chong "handle" Qiu Man? He could save a significant amount of food if he could eliminate her, but it would feel too cruel to eliminate his own kind and he was not the killing type of person from the beginning anyway. He let Qiu Man off his grip in the end and decided to give her the freedom to move around in the ship, since technically there was no such deepest and darkest secret in the Coxcomb.

And the Coxcomb was still sailing in this boundless-looking sea of scarlet.

Although the mist was thick and sometimes thin, they realized something as they progressed, that the range of density of the mist was increasing noticeably. The density remained fluctuating but it was an enough worrying sight for the folks on the ship. There should be something in the front, but there was no way to tell if that thing was benign or malignant. Shang, knowing it was no longer the right stage for him, switched his place with Mu instead. Once in a blue moon, he proactively gave his microphone away and sank behind the scene.

The mist thickened, yet nothing had happened in the next few days.

Ye Chong had wasted enough time anticipating nothing these few days, so on the next tick of his biological clock, he just got back to his routine mech modification as he laid his hands upon the Guardian as he felt more potential with the new engine installed on the Guardian instead. He was right, the Guardian after the installation of the new engine had made a major improvement in its offenses, but it was not enough and Ye Chong remained unsatisfied. He viewed the massive inventory of his, filled with a range of precious materials which could drive any professional mad on spot, that he felt so precious that it would be a waste if he used them right now. Mu had said those materials would be unable to exert the optimum capacity in here. But he had to use them right away, as aware he was, these materials would determine whether they could make it through this time. Materials could be valuable but the values would be lost the moment the owner was lost.

He went to Mu and grabbed the Do-Kun stone, which its performance on Harmony's lance was utterly memorable. A little mixture of Do-Kun stone in the formation and the lance almost skewed Instructor Hak inside the mech with its superior sharpness.

And now, he had Do-Kun stone and an inventory of uncommon mineralites. He selected a few formula from Mu's databank, which were the results of Mu's impeccable calculation and involved solely the sources Ye Chong currently owned. He tried experimenting them and after wasting a tiny piece of Do-Kun stone he finally obtained the best formula from what he owned. He might probably be the only person who actually used a ultra luxury like Do-Kun stone to perform experiments.

Without further ado, he proceeded with weapon-crafting since it would be a piece of cake having the right formula to follow.

He was making a dagger. Of course, Ye Chong still had that connection with daggers. Those were something he had the most hands-on experience. Almost every transmutated energy ore rolling in the inventory along with the uncommon ores were dumped into the pot and a pair of twin daggers were made, in a length of about 1.5 meters. The effect was imaginably potent.

The body of the dagger exerted a color of pale grey in a lack of glow. The design was seemingly simple too without much adornment, which one could say the kind to be "easily-overlooked". That would be perfect, as long as it stayed potentially overlooked, no one would be aware of what the daggers were capable of, till the daggers got into action. Probably no one other than Ye Chong would invest a full Do-Kun stone on a pair of daggers like these. The value of those mineralites the daggers consumed would be astronomical, even without the inclusion of Do-Kun stone.

Ye Chong was loving his new toy already. The daggers were silent, low-profiled yet formidable, handy. The sharpness of the daggers had also gone beyond everyone's imagination, including Mu. Ye Chong could not find anything that could last under the slashes of his new daggers. And everyone's comment was negative towards the capability of the daggers in the first place, which further convinced Ye Chong how the daggers would be a lovely surprise to the foes in future.

Even if he were to fight against a warship, providing that he was not interrupted by external circumstances, he probably could slice the armor of the ship like slicing puddings.

And the previous pair of daggers became the substitute instead.

The only regret for Ye Chong was how he never managed to utilize the Teardrop. So based on what Mu had told, this thing was a super duper condensed battery. He would love to use it but to extract it Ye Chong would have to use a particular kind of matter, namely the Nonlinear Cobalite, which was non-existent in his inventory or he would have used the Teardrop as his pseudo-perpetual motion provider, since Mu claimed that the energy was so vast that it could last the warship several years, while being able to sustain a mech for decades or even centuries.

That definitely could translate as the dramatic increase of warship and mech's travel. But well, the Teardrop was something so rare that what it could do mostly remained on paper.

Ye Chong had a handful of Teardrops, he could say he had the necessary technique as well but he did not have the cobalite, which directly suggested him to put the Teardrops down and forget about them. The headache-giving lecture from Mu was not for nothing after all. He had practically mastered the technique of Teardrop's energy extraction. And he believed he would be able to extract and install the Teardrops inside the Coxcomb at the first moment he got that very ingredient.

But then… Sigh…

Oh well. Thought Ye Chong as he sank the 3 Teardrops into his bag, while passing the remaining 4 to Mu.

He had consumed countless amount of materials in his bank these few days. He grew so familiar with those uncommon ores that he could tell the names and the properties of the ores at first glance, after almost tearing the metallurgy encyclopedia in Mu's databank.

Seeing how his rich collection had half of it vaporized was giving him slight heartache, although he knew that those were gone for his own consumption.

"Ye, something happened," said Mu through the announcement. Ye Chong sprung from his seat. There had not been anything happening these few days, which was weird. It was quiet, but too quiet. It was a torture of bearing the fear towards the unknown for the past month they travelled, that even Ye Chong felt the stress haunting him.

On the hologramic projection, the red mist wavered like red fluid, which had visibly hindered the Coxcomb's movement.

That was not the crew's attention. Those red strands swimming in the red sea were something bizarre to behold. Nobody knew when these strands started appearing and nobody could tell what they exactly looked like, since sometimes the strands were thin like the hair while being able to look broad like the asteroid belt, taking the length of a solar system occasionally. The number of the strands were frightening, the crew felt like they were sailing on the weeds of the red sea.

The body of the Coxcomb had been entangled by numerous strands, which gave him an appearance of a coated pirate ship. The strands were forceful, something the crew was uncalled for. Under the pull of the strands, the Coxcomb was directed away from his former course.

The strands gathered around the Coxcomb, as they danced along the vibrance of the red sea. Few strands were fine but… gazillion strands turning at the propellants of their ship were horrifying.

!

Ye Chong, with his sharp eyes, noticed the strands broadening gradually.

The Coxcomb felt like a potassium dipped into a red pool. The Coxcomb seemed to be engulfed by the red sea with the strange screeches of pulling, to their horror, the crew discovered the number of red strands had been growing worryingly.

"Oh no…" Whispered Ye Chong, looking at the camera flooded by those peculiar strands. They would soon be entangled into a pupa by the red sea alive if nothing was done. They would be buried alive… These red strands were high in tenacity, with the momentum the Coxcomb was producing, it would be impossible to break through them.

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Chapter 259: Entangled, the Red Sea II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It looks like we have to go for the hard way. Thought Ye Chong, as succumbed to his last resort, gesturing Shang to give a few taps on the panel. Tick! And every part of the Coxcomb's weaponry came forth. Countless laser firing devices rotated into position, while the electromagnetic cannons began charging, along with the Beauty's Secretion which Shang believed to be a very drastic measure in his hand.

They were unsure if these weapons were able to change anything, but doing nothing would surely be an imprisonment to death for everyone!

No time to give a damn anymore!

ZZzzzzzt!

All laser firing units blasted with the bombardment of electromagnetism. The hologram sparked in plain white, even Ye Chong and his folks were stunned by the scene. They saw neither lasers nor electromagnetic waves, they only perceived the brightest blast. Will the unstable crossing of two energy tear the corner of galaxy?! Will an explosion occur?!

…

The expected explosion did not occur, which was a major relief to everyone. They found their attempt to be rather risky, considering how these strange misty structures in crimson was flammable by nature. They might burn a way out, but they could cause an explosion too. Assuming an explosion truly occurred, never the Coxcomb would be able to survive such a supernova-like explosion.

Their eyes set upon the regained vision on the projection, and they staggered.

The strands… they did not decrease, not at all. Did they just dramatically multiply themselves in this brief time window? Holy Fal… No way! How could that be? Firepower this dense could have smashed the toughest warship or mech, these strands should have been powdered into specks!

But judging by what was being projected on the visual, the odd strands remained unharmed. Wait, did that mean… these strands are actually immune to energy-based beams? Speculated Ye Chong in his mind immediately.

Zzt! Zzt! Zzt!

The laser firing devices did not rest as they carried on raiding the space with a shower of beams. Now without the interference of electromagnetic waves, Ye Chong could see it, the scenery that stirred his disbeliefs - the laser beams rained upon the strands, like actual rain landing on a red pool, where ripples were seen, nothing else happened.

Ye Chong flinched, as his speculation had been verified.

His eyes glared upon the visual, with one last hope mustered in him, the Beauty's Secretion, a creation of Ye Chong validated by the few wars he had gotten into. The corrosiveness was great that the secretion could fully corrode the outer layer of a mech very quick after contact, leading to the death of the pilot inside due to the leak of oxygen.

Come on!

His eyes enlarged, staring at that one Beauty's Secretion hovering towards the targets. It moved rather sluggishly because of the delay effect caused by the strands. And contact had been made! The accuracy of the Beauty's Secretion could hardly be guaranteed in an environment like this, but well, there were tons of targets where it could land, so there was not much of need to aim actually.

Beauty's Secretion splattered, Shang's Liquid splashed upon the strand. The corrosiveness was not disappointing, as it began causing few columns of emerald smokes upon the strand with the size of an arm. The strand broke into half!

Ye Chong wanted to raise the corners of his lips, nevertheless, the corners collapsed to a whole new threshold.

The strands multiplied themselves again within that split second. Beauty's Secretion could be that potent to destroy them, but it would be too far-fetched to use it to clear a way out for the Coxcomb. The corrosion was unable to catch up with the multiplication of the red strands. It would feel like a drop of herbicide to the lawn even if he launched all secretions he possessed.

What are these strands? Everyone stumbled upon the visual. Zhu Ling was calm, kind of. Qiu Man was already much paler than she usually was, with the hands pressed on her chests.

"Mu, any idea what this is?" asked Ye Chong quickly.

"Substance unknown. Composition unknown," stated Mu, with the calmness of eternity even before the death.

Ye Chong instantly deployed Han Jia and took a quick leap into the cabin. "Mu, get the gate open, I'll go get some sample."

"Take care."

Before that syllable of concern fell, Han Jia had already zoomed its way to the gate at highest momentum, with a plan in mind.

Sample the red strands, find out the exact composition of these strands, investigate its chemical and physical characteristics and take the necessary action against them, or else we would die here! The Coxcomb had been completely tied to the red sea. Fully immobilized, no chance for him to even consider a back-out.

The rapports between Ye Chong and Mu were great, as the timing of the gate opening was just as right.

Ye Chong flew out of the Coxcomb. That was when he finally had a better look on the red sea, realizing to his horror, of how dense these structures were, as the Coxcomb had been utterly enveloped into something like a red cocoon, a quivering ball of yarn.

Something was strange. Ye Chong discovered as he flew on. Apparently Han Jia was unaffected by the delay effects of the red strands, despite flying boldly through the densest layer. Judging by what happened to the Coxcomb, the red mist should have a noticeably negative effect on warships, or generally any flying object. But… he felt nothing on Han Jia?

He gave a tap and Han Jia accelerated towards the nearest strand at the side, which happened to have a diameter over a meter while wriggling rhythmically. It felt very tender, with partial transparency, a bit rubbery? Han Jia grabbed the strand and withdrew a dagger with the other hand.

SSssslurp.

The red strand was extremely slippery, with a kind of pulling force within. Ye Chong realized as he saw the strand escape the grip of Han Jia. He hurriedly seized the red strand back into his hand.

A slash with his dagger and a lining of the mist was cleared, which recovered shortly after.

And that was the very first debut of this new dagger, cutting red weed. At least it was not disappointing as the red strand was sliced easily. One more slash and Ye Chong had sampled a strand about 2 meters long. This should be enough.

He was going to turn back but…something big was coming to his way.

A giant red pillar of a diameter over 70 kilometers swept over the rhythm of the red mist, as if a gentle breeze of a bloody spring, as towards it swung the Coxcomb which looked like a red yarn ball on Christmas, like the granny's cane on a cleaning day.

Thup.

Ye Chong was in the middle of its way. His vision blacked out as he felt a heavy force dragging his entire body tumbling, the sudden wham caused him to lose control over Han Jia completely. The mech began sinking in the waves of strands, a muffling cry whispered throughout the darkened cabin, "Y…Ye…"

After Ye Chong got back with the time, he realized he had lost the Coxcomb as his sight was flooded with these bizarrely-aggressive strands. He could feel the waves, bouncing him mischiefs as he tried pulling himself away, it almost felt like his limbs were bound by a bunch of wriggling springs.

Oh no. Ye Chong panicked.

Transmission would be nearly impossible to reach Mu as long as he was inside the depth of the sea. The red mist was sticky like a viscous layer of glue, visibility zero, and now with the kind assistance of these red strands, Ye Chong could barely tell his location.

Ye Chong calmed down shortly after, knowing that panic and fear would do him no good at the moment. Rather it would only worsen his situation, now he would need to find out where Mu and the Coxcomb were, since obviously the survivability of being in such environment alone would be subzero.

The red mist brewed and Ye Chong nearly was unable to find where his dagger located his body.

He rebooted Han Jia and piloted it towards the direction of the Coxcomb… by estimation and impression of course… although he remained confused, wondering what had hit him just now. The force could be said as colossal, which was not something a human like him could fight against. If there was not these strands to buffer the inertia, he could not imagine, without the friction of any form like the air, how far he would have been sent.

It's here. It's here?

No it should be… there?

No… I could not find it. I still could not find it. Han Jia was squirming through the waving gaps. Ye Chong had searched most parts of the area but he could not find the Coxcomb at all. The communicator had been dead silence ever since.

Goddammit! This bloody red mist! If it was not the mist, he could have contacted Mu despite the pulling of these strands. Even if he could not, Mu could at least get his coordination!

He carried on searching on a larger scope. Nope, no sight of the Coxcomb… This was getting nowhere. Ye Chong was forced to surrender. Practically, he should have given up way back, as he was in a foreign zone with nearly zero visibility and a waving structure. If he were to attempt marking the strands to identify his direction, it would be like marking the waves of seaweeds as one swam in the sea. It would be pointless.

Mu… Shang…

Ye Chong gave a wry smile. Mu Shang had always been by his side, through thick and thin, sharing joy and grief, then a sudden blow and he was stuck in this strange zone without them. Ye Chong was lost, feeling his heart empty.

Well… I have to at least survive. Bucked up Ye Chong.

Fortunately I retained that habit of bringing supplementary batteries and nutrition capsules with me all the time, or I would be living with non-existent possibility to leave this red sea. I would not want to be starved to dead, at a horrible place like this.

He then picked a direction to travel randomly. He flew straight, he would not bother anymore as all direction would hold the same odds for him.

Han Jia was not hindered by the red sea unexpectedly, there was no delay at all, as if its usual flights in the vacuum. Ye Chong thought it was him overthinking at first, but the reality was there, which was confusing as Mu had once reported that the thickening of red sea had obstructed the movement of the Coxcomb. The overlooked statement kept ringing in his head.

That was not all.

The strands were acting strangely towards Han Jia. They were rather… slippery, so slippery that they felt like completely lubricated as they slipped over Han Jia's body as it moved. No strand had caught Han Jia, not even one.

But Ye Chong could still remember that horrendous scene of seeing how the Coxcomb was melting in the red sea by the grasp of strands like a piece of potassium into the water, as the red strands grew over the body of the Coxcomb at a horrifying speed. The Coxcomb started turning into a yarn ball since then.

Weird! Why would the strands not catch him?

Was it because of the material of Han Jia? Speculated Ye Chong promptly but he was not in any mood for researches, he just wanted to leave this mental-scarring place as soon as possible.

When one were to travel in the boundless space, the helpless loneliness could overwhelm one to one's homicidal thoughts, as one could not help but to wonder on what would be lying ahead, which in the decade one would meet an actual person, to where exactly one would be heading, for how long one would have to travel. It would feel like days… weeks, months… or…

…

Nevertheless, Ye Chong flew on, with Han Jia remained at maximum velocity, as the universal law rang in his head - if you were to fight for the opportunity, you might not get the opportunity; but if you were never to fight for opportunity, you would never get the opportunity.

Although he must admit… traveling in a lubricated area of strands felt rather intriguing, assuming he was not in such endangered situation.

His eyes set upon the waves of red strands. They seemed to be growing again, even though they were not growing as horribly quick as the time he saw back in the Coxcomb, he could discern the growth, they were growing broader. Ye Chong hypothesized that both the red strands and the red sea should share the same matter, it could be a kind of solidification, de-solidification, condensation, vaporizing process like water but … Ye Chong was not really sure on what condition the process would be triggered.

Most of the strands in the red sea were floating with an outrageous diameter, where some hit about a few tens kilometers. That was annoying because Ye Chong could hardly see a thing in the front, at caution he only got to reduce his velocity gradually.

He felt inspired out of sudden as he discovered a way to preserve energy. Han Jia would act like an agile mutated ape, traveling in the woods of reddish vines around, but with way more alien elasticity. Han Jia grabbed the vines and swung to the following, this was a faster approach, more energy-saving too!

He had to save on energy since he could not reckon how far ahead he got to travel before he hit an opening, even though the travel with lower energy cost was sustained on the basis of a larger demand on his piloting.

At least he was a master pilot of some sort. The first two days were a little chaotic though as rushing through the vines would give him constant tension, which would wear him out quickly. Ye Chong was lucky to have a stronger physique than most men so the chaos only lasted for two days before Ye Chong finally adapted himself to the high tension execution.

Of course one could say that a man would have his most potential excavated at the drastic edge of death.

The red sea had lots of strands, much more than the area surrounding the Coxcomb, but the density was much smaller. No doubt, Ye Chong could confirm that something about the Coxcomb must have triggered the red mist there, which led to the aggressiveness. Well, he had yet reached the conclusion on what triggered it.

Twelve hundred and two hundred and seventy three. Counted Ye Chong.

His hands swung along with Han Jia upon the control panel, smoothly like a real mutated ape seesawing throughout the woods.

The travel seemed to be endless, and Ye Chong felt he was collapsing at any second but somehow his expression was depicting a hint of excitement.

And Ye Chong started to see the red mist fading out, the strands were retreating on his way.

Right! That means… I am right! I am going out!

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Chapter 260: Living from the Unknown

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong's sense of direction was right, the mist was in fact fading away as he hovered on. He started noticing the few mysterious regularities within the mist. There seemed to be a cycle… which affected the thickness of the mist. So whenever the red mist began diminishing, the red strands would turn finer and some of them would disintegrate as well. In the midst of the mist in pale scarlet, only the strands thinner than fingers remained. The strands were outstanding as they stood in a sharper crimson than their broader counterpart, like burning flame. The strength of these strands was probably far greater than the normal strands behind. Ye Chong in his Han Jia gave a careful slash to the root and grabbed stalk of them. These were far more reliable than the usual ropes, would be perfect as a lifeline.

On little bit of curiosity, Ye Chong realized he could not even tear the fine strands apart. These were some real physic-defying threads. Well, if they were really "threads" to begin with. Ye Chong was rather intrigued by the composition of these red strands, being eager for exploration in the chemical composition of matters was a typical character setting for an alchemist like himself.

Without the hinderance of the strands, Han Jia started regaining its mobility. Ye Chong was very much avid for a fancy race on Mach 20, but he had to conserve his batteries, as he maintained Han Jia at around Mach 18. Still, Mach 18 was already a speed way different than what Han Jia used to travel at.

The mist was disappearing, as Ye Chong's visibility restored. Han Jia's built-in hologramic detection system had won back Ye Chong's trust since the interference was getting overcome.

It was weird though, that Ye Chong did not see any planet despite his long travels. He technically had barely seen anything else than the red strands and red sea themselves.

In a void so vast and boundless, how could there be only a misty field of red strands? There was nothing else? Really? What is the mist for? Where do they come from? How large the field was exactly? Nobody knew, nobody could tell.

Ye Chong did have that innate curiosity to venture into the unknown, but that did not mean he would compromise his safety and jump into a potential black hole.

He travelled for the following week with the digital clock ticking inside the cabin. It was a relief when he was finally able to escape from the creepy red sea. No message was received. No notification was on his screen. There was no incoming signal as well. There were too many unknowns inside the galaxies, so many taboos they should not fondle with. It would be a miracle if he was able to encounter the Coxcomb by coincidence in a space like this. Ye Chong would not even dare to tell if Mu had successfully escaped the grasp of red mist.

He took a look around, the familiar black airless void in his surrounding. He sighed, in relief.

Till he lifted his head to the front, he stumbled upon the scenery before him.

Asteroid belt… Ye Chong realized the vast deadly red sea was actually wrapped by a far more enormous asteroid belt.

An asteroid belt was nothing new in the record of exploration by humanity. The 5 major galaxies alone would have a handful of places with asteroid belts, which some people would call it "The Zone of Dead Calamity". Humanity today showed little understanding towards the asteroid belts for it contained, as the name stated, the deadliest calamity one could imagine, not only because of the demand of exceptional piloting, but also what lived inside the core of the belt. There was hardly anybody who had hit the depth of the belt.

No one could explain how these belts were formed, while some experts claimed them having the same formation of the ring of a planet from one solar system with the name Saturn, which was not even a good analogy to begin with. The structure of the asteroid belts was not something that was born by an explosion of planet or a byproduct of black hole throwing up, it was an unknown, with unidentified danger lurking within. People could not give a sound statement for the asteroid containment, but they all could illustrate a vivid imagery of the horrendous explosion of asteroid whirlpool as it was something that could devastate probably anything nearby, which stirred up the greatest fear in mankind.

And Ye Chong had experienced it once himself, if it was not Mu who woke up in time, he would have been permanently part of the belt now.

But unlike those he had seen before, the asteroid belt before him was the broadest by far, as the whole red sea was fully surrounded by it.

He took a look afar… there was nothing else. He had to either venture into the belt or get back into the red sea. Wait what? No, don't be silly! Going back to that hellish place? I'd rather walk into that asteroid belt now!

Giving a few commands to Han Jia, Ye Chong advanced cautiously into the asteroid belt.

There were asteroids of all sort of sizes and shapes. There were a few with diameter about a few tens kilometers… some were about the size of his fist. Ye Chong had his attention fully to his surrounding, as he monitored those hovering asteroids around him. Those were the silent most killers one could face in the space. He had to watch and took necessary actions whenever the asteroids moved, even the slightest bit, as the memory came haunting him, reminding him of his horrible experience with the last asteroid whirlpool.

Like hell knows if there would anything funnier here!! I could not take more jokes to my life!

There were asteroids, lots of asteroids, but it was mentally-numbing as well. It was boring yet it was something to train Ye Chong's will. After a few days of traveling in the belt, Ye Chong could already dodge the asteroids on a whim. Han Jia retreated to its below average velocity ever since they stepped into the belt, just to avoid these disorderly madness around.

Fortunately enough, despite the amount of asteroids around him, the detection system was unaffected, as it could still give Ye Chong direction. At least Ye Chong could maintain his direction and not make the wrong turn without noticing.

Ye Chong could feel his brain jamming. Well, anyone would have gone mad traveling in high alert for a few days straight without sleep.

…

… …

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

The alarm wailed.

!

An alarm? Flinched Ye Chong, shaking his head to collect his thoughts, shifting his attention back onto that outdated hologramic detection system. The hologramic system would be far more useful than Ye Chong's naked eyes within the asteroids.

There was… sign… of life?

Ye Chong frowned. No way. Where do I find a lifeform in an environment like this? But… judging by the projection… there seemed to be quite a number of signs…

Did I take a detour back to the Black Coves? Speculated Ye Chong. It made sense since the Black Coves was a base sealed within an asteroid belt like this. The location was flawless, a solid defense with countless deceiving openings for enemies to fall prey upon. It was certainly something the 3 other forces coveted and drooled at, considering how discovery of such place would require a fateful encounter rather than blind effort. Black Coves did not rely on sheer luck anyway, as they invested a tremendous amount of workforces and financial resources on building the base itself, which simply were not something the other 3 forces could have imagined.

So are these Black Covers?

Oh wait, yeah. What I'm thinking?

Ye Chong could not help but to start giggling, finding he himself being too sensitive. Of course those could never be the Black Covers, the outdated detection system of Han Jia could never detect the advanced models from the Black Coves, hah! Practically most of the detection systems were deemed useless against the models of the 3 forces anyway.

Also, judging by the figurative data generated by the system, these should be organisms, living things. But how would living things survive in harsh conditions like the asteroid belt?

Ye Chong was feeling peculiar about this, yes, he did recognize a few living things that could survive in vacuum with the drastically mutated components of their bodies compared to those habituated on the planets. However, that did not mean Ye Chong would buy the fact that, these particular vacuum-living lifeforms would just so happen to be in the asteroid belt where he was traveling, as the place blatantly shouted "unsuitable for living, stay here if you want to die" to him. And he spotted a few asteroid whirlpools quite frequently along the way. If it was not for his quick-reaction, he would have been inside one of the space blenders.

These circumstances had just proven the fact that this asteroid belt was not as benevolent, benign as it appeared to be. It was a tumor, a malignant instability that could blow up any second. It would be a myth to have living things habituated here.

He looked at the projection again, these lifeforms did not seem to be moving the slightest bit. Ye Chong felt he was unnoticed at the moment, so he grabbed his alertness and slowed down completely. He would not want to butt his head into some territory enforced by some unidentified lifeforms and get attacked by unknown methods.

Everything in the surrounding was unknown to him. So he had to be extremely careful, as every move he made would be taken into account of his survival.

… hmm …

!

What? There's such zone inside the deadliest asteroid belt?

Ye Chong was stupefied.

He saw a sprout of pale lilac, with buds glowing in ghostly azure. The sprout was short, with tiny leaves and well spread over the layer of the area. Almost every rock in the proximity was covered by those sprouts. The stem was slender, bearing a fruit in haunting blue, looked like illuminating the darkness of the specks hovering nearby.

The place was filled with floating purplish rocks at a sight afar, where the blues would twinkle like the stars in the dark.

Ye Chong identified a few unknown organisms playing around the rocks. They were not tall, with a height barely 3 meters, with a pair of hind legs on the ground. Those were some real bulky legs which one would like to look out for. The top limbs were so short that it hardly reached out from their chests, armed with sharp claws that gave off hideous glows. Compared to their overwhelming hind legs, their body was rather feeble, their necks would gracefully wave at all directions along with the dark spikes over their purplish backs.

Most of their kind was busy munching the glowing bulbs on top of the sprouts. There were a few lazier ones taking a silent slumber on the cleared rocks at the side.

Ye Chong was dropping his jaws, as he never expected to see such living thing in harsh environment like this, and to top all that, those living things seemed to have taken a few turns of evolution ahead.

Ye Chong then piloted Han Jia to hide being one of the larger asteroids, since he was not sure if these organisms were naturally benevolent. He imagined that he could be skewed if he were to jump into action and alert the group's dining. Nonetheless, the scenery was still a major shocker to his perception of the world, he would need a good amount of time to digest all these.

He had the necessary patience and nutrition capsules to last him throughout the observation, although it would be marvelous if the fleshes of these animals turned out to be edible. Hunting was one of the skills he probably was born with. Back on Trash Planet, other than the Iron Lizard which stood at the topmost of the food web, there was not any animal he could not hunt.

Moreover, as far as he had observed, these lifeforms seemed to be herbivores, which were known to be gentle by nature. Well, Ye Chong did not want to gamble just yet. The environment just turned more bizarre to his understanding. It would not be surprising if there was any funny addition to the lifeforms' characteristic.

He analyzed the visual of the sprouts in high definition. He could confirm that he had never seen the planet before and it was not registered on Lunatic Guan's encyclopedia.

He carried on observing in the dark. Of course he was enthralled by his latest discovery, since he would have greater likelihood to survive with these animals around.

!

And as expected, there was something new to his Aliendex's entry.

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Chapter 261: Strangeness Everywhere

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

He was now about a kilometer away from those animals, but he soon noticed an opening about 300 meters wide between him and the animals. This empty space had no rocks, nothing.

In outer space, emptiness was expected. However, here in the asteroid region, it was very odd. This empty space was like a boundary that divided the asteroids.

Why would such two very different regions exist in such close proximity? On his side were rocks in abundance, devoid of any signs of life. However, 300 meters further out, it was a haven for life. There were plants and even highly evolved animals.

Ye Chong might not be an expert in evolution, but he could at least understand the basics. In a harsh environment like the asteroid belt, it was plausible to find microorganisms, lichen or even small insects living there. However, large animals like the ones he saw now was pushing the limits of nature's laws.

There was only one possible solution to this dilemma. This 300-meter space of emptiness had divided these two entirely different worlds.

What was the mystery behind this empty space?

As Ye Chong studied the herbivores' movements closely, he suddenly felt like he had a grasp of an idea. But what was it? Ye Chong could not exactly say what he felt. That vague sensation was gone in an instant.

Ye Chong did not panic. He continued studying the herbivores' movements, knowing that he must have noticed something significant to have had that feeling.

He calmed himself down and observed quietly for 10 minutes. After a full 10 minutes, Ye Chong finally understood what he was seeing.

Ye Chong's fingers danced on the controls. Han Jia picked up one of the little rocks floating around nearby and threw it gently towards the other side. Since he was hidden behind a rock, Han Jia threw at an angle upward.

The little rock flew at a constant speed, but when it reached that empty space, its trajectory suddenly shifted. It no longer flew upwards, but began to fall downwards, completing a parabolic trajectory.

"As expected," Ye Chong grew confident of his own suspicions.

Gravity - that was Ye Chong noticed. Beginning from the empty space, there was gravity! No wonder the herbivores' movements bothered him. It was gravity.

Where he was, Ye Chong did not feel even the slightest of any gravitational pull.

This was astonishing. Everything was too astonishing. Ye Chong had never seen anything like it.

However, the universe was large. Anything was possible! He quickly accepted this reality. Mankind's understanding of the universe was so dismal.

It was not for him to figure out the reason for this miracle. Survival should be his priority. No matter the time, survival was the first thing that came to his mind. Besides, given the circumstances, he had no time to think on these matters.

Since there was gravity, why did these rocks not fall into it? Where did this gravity come from?

There were too many questions! However, what did they had to do with him? What he wanted, was to survive. Now, even the search for Mu and Shang was second in his list of priorities. If he could not survive, how could he find Mu and Shang?

As for whether Mu and Shang were still living, Ye Chong dared not even consider the possibilities.

In any case, he must survive! Ye Chong steadied himself, and immediately felt more encouraged.

After some pondering, Ye Chong began to move. While it was risky, he really did not have many options.

Ye Chong took a deep breath, and moved. Han Jia abruptly sprang out from behind the rock, and went full speed straight ahead. This time, Ye Chong did not care to reserve energy, and put the engines on full power.

With Han Jia's speed at full engine capacity, a single kilometer's distance could be covered in the blink of an eye.

Abruptly, Ye Chong felt his whole body sinking downwards, like everything had suddenly turned heavier.

Han Jia also was obviously falling, but Ye Chong was prepared for this. The auxiliary engines tilted, and Han Jia was back on its intended trajectory.

Just as Ye Chong reached the empty space, those herbivores immediately lifted their heads in alarm. Han Jia's appearance had obviously surprised them. The animals panicked and quickly ran away.

Ye Chong finally saw clearly how the animals moved. Their strong hind legs allowed them to jump. They hopped from rock to rock, quick as the wind. In just a few moments, the herd of herbivores disappeared from his sight. They moved almost as fast as mechs.

Ye Chong had no time to appreciate the awe-inspiring strength of those animals, since something was going very wrong now.

The gravity was stronger than on any inhabited planet! The gravitational pull was stronger than Ye Chong expected. As he entered the empty space, Ye Chong felt his body turned even heavier.

It was like being pressed firmly into his seat. His deft hands now felt so sluggish. The abrupt gradient of potential energy made Ye Chong dizzy. Fortunately, his lengthy training kicked in, and he flew the mech without hindrance. Despite the situation, Ye Chong did not lose control of his mech.

Han Jia landed neatly on a floating rock suspended in midair. The mech's massive weight did not even stir the rock as Han Jia stood on it.

Ye Chong quickly recovered from his dizziness. His body felt like lead, so heavy that even moving his finger was a chore. Ye Chong quickly made an estimate of the gravitational field strength, and found that it was probably about five times that of the trash planet.

Even with Ye Chong's physical strength, the strong gravitational field was enough to make movement difficult. Thinking back on how those herbivores leaped, Ye Chong felt embarrassed of himself. If it was him running, he would never be able to match their speed. Those animals were strong.

Ye Chong felt grateful. If he had been careless, those animals would be a big mess to deal with.

Ye Chong did not continue advancing, but stayed where he was and examined his surroundings. With five times the average gravitational force, Han Jia was now less powerful in combat. Han Jia's design was not meant for battle in strong gravity environments like this. With five times the gravitational force, energy consumption would increase steeply. Han Jia would also be unable to reach its maximum speed. Besides, in this environment, Ye Chong felt like he was carrying four times his own body weight, and his hands felt five times heavier than normal. With this, Ye Chong's hands would slow down, and his combat endurance would also decrease.

If he did a high speed Thomas's Spin here, Ye Chong knew that he would suffer grave internal injuries from it. With five times the gravitational force, even sitting was hard.

There was not going around the problem. Ye Chong could only exercise caution and continue on carefully. If anything was amiss, he would run away.

The test results was encouraging for Ye Chong. There was air here, suitable for human respiration. Besides, the air quality was excellent, achieving the highest quality level possible. Even so, Ye Chong was not particularly demanding about air quality. To him, it was enough as along as the air was breathable. On the trash planet, pollution was at a critical level. Staying outdoors for long hours would be damaging to the respiratory tract and lungs.

However, Ye Chong also understood that good air quality also implied that the area was suitable for life. In fact, if it was suitable for humans, it was also suitable for most living organisms.

The air quality results was a relief for Ye Chong. The mech's air recycling system could not run forever, since it consumed energy as well. Since there was breathable air here, it was at least suitable for habitation.

With air, wildlife and the mech's water synthesizer, he already had all the basic necessities to survive.

Even though there was air outside, Ye Chong did not leave his mech. The environment was still largely unfamiliar to him, and it was safer to stay in the mech.

Numerous floating rocks seemed to suspend in the air, as though they were supported by something invisible in this strong-gravity environment. Ye Chong could not understand how this was possible. Moreover, when Han Jia stood on these rocks, they did not move at all.

What was this all about? Ye Chong could not for the life of him understand how these things came to be.

"There's so much in this world that's a mystery," he thought to himself, and quickly moved on.

Ye Chong flew Han Jia carefully, avoiding the rocks in the air as he advanced slowly.

The further he flew, the more he discovered. There were more and more rocks suspended in the air, and there seemed to be no end in sight. Besides the purple fauna that he found earlier on those rocks, there were also a brown, lichen-like vegetation.

In this dark space, many faint blue sparkling dots surrounded the rocks. They seemed to be scattered randomly around the rocks, and brought life to the darkness.

The rocks were all scattered about irregularly. Ye Chong quickly found that flying was not a wise choice. With gravity, evasion during flight was a lot harder.

Fortunately, Ye Chong was adaptable. He quickly found a wonderful alternative - leaping, just like those herbivores. Han Jie leaped from one rock to another. Since the rocks were not too far apart, it was a suitable way of moving forward. The only problem was that Han Jia was a lot larger than those herbivores. This was a hindrance when moving between the rocks.

Besides, Ye Chong found that it was impossible to move the floating rocks vertically, parallel to the gravitational pull. However, it could be moved horizontally, and that was a curiosity to Ye Chong.

Ever since he entered the rest mist, he had encountered so many strange things. Until now, he could not understand any of them. As he continued to meet new and unexplainable phenomena, he learned to accept them quickly. After all, everything was strange around here, so different from what he knew of the world.

While he did not investigate the logic behind the things appearing around him, Ye Chong still studied everything carefully. Learning about his surroundings in unfamiliar territory would greatly increase his chances of survival.

As Ye Chong moved further in, the rocks grew closer together. This made Han Jia's advance even harder. In the end, Ye Chong could only fly upwards.

He flew on for three days. While Han Jia was slowed down in order to avoid the rocks, he still covered a fair distance in these three days. However, Ye Chong noticed grimly that the energy consumed in these three days was equivalent to the energy ordinarily used up in two weeks. If this continued, the energy would quickly run out, and Ye Chong's most effective means of self defense would be gone.

In these three days of flight, Ye Chong encountered a few herds of those herbivores.

The only encouraging thing was that Ye Chong had finally reached the uppermost layer of the asteroid region. This was apparent from the wider expanse of empty space he reached now.

This empty space stretched on for more than 3,000 kilometers.

3,000 kilometers was the limit of Han Jia's scanning system. "I didn't think an asteroid belt will have such a mysterious place," Ye Chong could not help but exclaimed. One can imagine the massive expanse of the asteroid belt.

Ye Chong paused as he studied Han Jia's holographic scans. In the next moment, Han Jia quickly took off.

Since he was at the edge of the asteroid belt, there were no rocks to stop Han Jia, and the mech advanced swiftly.

The rocks were denser further ahead. The rocks below Han Jia grew closer and closer together. Gradually, the rocks below Han Jia formed a solid piece, like a gravelled road. Further still, the rocks were now just flat earth.

According to Han Jia's holographic scans, what laid ahead was a huge continent.

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Chapter 262: Attacked

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong never imagined that he would see a continent here.

How was this possible? Ye Chong had never seen any astronomical body like this. He had travelled far and wide, and the Five Galaxies definitely did not have something like this. Almost all the astronomical bodies in the universe were spherical. This was the first time Ye Chong saw a non-spherical astronomical body.

With Ye Chong's minimal knowledge in astronomy and astrophysics, he could not fully appreciate the magnitude of the problem that this phenomenon commanded. In fact, he was only slightly surprised by his findings. If he were to publish holographic images of this place in the virtual world, it would be an earth-shattering shock to the world. The astronomy community would undergo a huge revolution. However, even if he realized what this place would mean to the world, Ye Chong would probably feel indifferent about it.

This unique astronomical body was like a huge island among the many smaller rocks scattered about the asteroid belt.

As he stepped onto the continent, Ye Chong immediately raised his guard more. There were too many strange things going on here. To survive, he must quickly adapt to his surroundings.

Returning to the Five Galaxies now seemed like an impossible task. Ye Chong was alone, and had almost used up his energy cells. He did not know where he was, not even a set of coordinates for his location that would allow for a warp jump. In any case, Han Jia was not equipped with warp jump technology.

For now, he should focus on surviving. Inside him was a strong will to live. Growing up in a harsh environment like the trash planet made Ye Chong fearless against dangerous environments. Caution would help you live longer, while fear will be the death of you. This was something that Ye Chong realized since he was nine.

It was as though he had returned to his lonely days of struggling on the trash planet. He had only Han Jia for company. Even Mu and Shang were lost to him.

However, what could he do? Ye Chong made a rare expression of elation. Han Jia was far better than Winnie. Besides, he was a lot stronger than before. The only thing that saddened him was that he was separated from Mu and Shang.

Ye Chong quickly gathered himself. Mu's calmness was a strong influence to Ye Chong, and Ye Chong rarely found himself losing his cool.

He looked forward, and saw no end in sight. This was a huge plain. The sparkling faint blue dots covered the vast plain like a thin carpet. The view was splendid, enough to overwhelm any visiting artist.

It was a pity that the only one visiting now was Ye Chong, who had zero interest and insight into the arts.

Ye Chong was as cold as a machine, and mostly ignored the scenery. His eyes were staring straight at Han Jia's holographic screen. Every holographic system would have certain civilian functions. While military holographic scanning systems had more functionalities, it was the civilian type that was more valuable now.

Now was not the time to use the powerful military holographic scanning system, but the all-purpose engineering holographic scanning system.

Ye Chong recalled then that he had an engineering mech. This was the one he bought at Nine Gates of Daylight. It was bought with the insect mech that he used to mine transmutated energy ore on the primary planet.

Engineering mechs were an important type of civilian mech. It could provide a certain level of security for engineers working outdoors, and had specialized engineering scanning systems that were not found in average mechs.

Ye Chong withdrew his engineering mech, but did not push forward. Instead, he made a detailed scan of the continent.

Scanning results indicated that there was a large amount of ore where Ye Chong was now. Unidentified ores made up 40 percent of them. The continent was flat, and its size was beyond the measurement limits of this engineering mech. 98 percent of the plain was covered with vegetation. This was considerably high, even when compared against primary planets that were untouched by humans. Other than the plants with light purple leaves and glowing blue orbs, and that dark brown lichen that Ye Chong had seen earlier, the engineering mech's holographic scans had identified another five additional plant species.

Ye Chong collected specimens of each species, and stored them in the specimen storage device of the engineering mech. He was a capable alchemist, even without his tools. However, the chip that Lunatic Guan gave him had information on many ancient identification tests invented by the Guan family. These tests may be detailed and laborious, but they utilized traditional methods and relied less on modern apparatus.

From that chip, Ye Chong understood more about these plants. As the earliest field that branched out of botany, alchemy knowledge was far more useful and practical to study plants.

With five times the gravitational force acting on him, Ye Chong felt lethargic from his study.

Perhaps due to the strong gravity, the continent was extremely tough, feeling like alloy under his feet. The plants also boasted strong leaves and stems.

Soon, Ye Chong returned into Han Jia. He finally used the rope ladder that he had not used all this while to climb up. With five times the gravitational force, Ye Chong dared not climb up into Han Jia's pilot cabin. At this height, Ye Chong felt as vulnerable as an infant. Every move was difficult. This made him yearned for the easy movements that he could make under normal gravity. However, he quickly dismissed such useless thoughts. The only way now was forward.

There was no choice - he had to adapt! Five times the gravitational force … Ye Chong's expression was calm, but his eyes shone brightly with determination.

He took a deep breath, and Han Jia began marching forward on the plain.

This time, Ye Chong covered 350 kilometers. If it was in outer space, this distance would only take a short while. However, due to energy conservation and safety measures, the flight had took a full three hours for Han Jia.

Fortunately, the journey was smooth. Aside from the three new plant species that Ye Chong discovered, there was nothing interesting. Here were a good many herbivores that Ye Chong had seen earlier. Beside them, Ye Chong did not see any other animals, much less carnivores.

However, Ye Chong did not let down his guard. He knew that while the carnivores remained unseen, they must be here somewhere. Nature was curious this way. Even in a harsh environment like the trash planet, carnivores still sat at the top of the food chain.

Ye Chong found something new again.

Water. There was water here. In fact, ever since he saw the plants, Ye Chong had guessed that there must be water around here. However, when he finally saw it, his heart still jumped with joy.

This was a large river. According to Han Jia's holographic scanning results, the widest part of the river was a good 15 kilometers wide. The river was calm, but Han Jia still managed to calculate the speed of the river flow. The only question was, where did the water come from?

This river divided the continent into two. Ye Chong pondered for a moment, before flying Han Jia across the river.

Just when Ye Chong reached the center of the river, Han Jia's sharp alarm that had been quiet so far began to ring.

Ye Chong groaned.

Ye Chong's reaction did not slow down due to the abnormal gravity.

A 10-meter thick tentacle suddenly rushed out magnificently from the river's surface and came straight for Han Jia.

The attack was sudden, but Ye Chong had enough time to react. Mech pilots often had to make decisions in milliseconds, or they would not stand a chance in modern fast-paced mech battles.

Han Jia quickly unsheathed its two daggers and pulled its hands over the chest in a cross, the two daggers shielding before its chest. It was too late to evade using the main engines, but with slight adjustment of the auxiliary engines, Han Jia's position shifted to face the enormous tentacle.

Ye Chong was shocked deep inside. Such a huge tentacle suggested an enormous creature under the waters. The brown tentacle was covered with curly patterns of green, making it look like a log entwined with seaweed.

Bang!

Han Jia flew straight towards the other side like a baseball off a bat.

The powerful impact left Ye Chong's head spinning. This kind of attack should have been manageable, but with five times the gravitational force, the force on his body was five-fold, and the pain was unbearable. Without Han Jia's hydraulic suspension system, Ye Chong would have been squished into a meat patty.

He felt a long absent feeling of wanting to throw up, and had to breathe deeply a few times to suppress the undesirable urge.

Before Ye Chong could react any further, he suddenly found himself already on the other side, and still flying further. Han Jia was still flying from the momentum of the impact. One could appreciate how strong the attack actually was. Ye Chong quickly steadied Han Jia to avoid a crash landing.

His two daggers were bloodied, a sure sign that the tentacle was injured as well. Ye Chong was confident of the sharpness of his daggers. The attacker must have suffered, probably with a large gaping wound to show.

Suddenly, the center of the river riled up like boiling water.

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Chapter 263: Humans

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Out of the enraged waters emerged an obelisk of a head, a terrifying creature. If not for the three large eyes at the top of this mountain of a creature, Ye Chong would have thought it was the riverbed pushed up by some tectonic shift underneath the waters.

Even the 10-meter tall Han Jia looked tiny compared to the creature. This was the largest animal Ye Chong had ever seen.

The three black eyes were arranged to form a triangle, and they were staring angrily at Ye Chong.

Then came a screech, like the sound of metal brushing against metal. Ye Chong watched the creature calmly. Aside from his slightly pale complexion, a sign of the severity of his injury due to the creature's attack, he looked like his usual self.

Usually, Ye Chong would have been shocked to see such a massive creature. However, he was strangely very calm now, not even perturbed in the slightest. The place was filled with too much strangeness that Ye Chong was getting used to seeing unusual things.

He was already on land. The creature was obviously a marine animal, probably not too difficult to handle. What Ye Chong wanted to avoid the most now were flying beasts. He knew from when he first saw the herbivores that the animals here could move very fast despite the strong gravitational force. It the herbivores were already so impressive, the animals that can fly must be even more so. More importantly, Han Jia's advantage of flying would be for naught. If he had the advantage of flying, Ye Chong would at least have the option of retreating if he could not win against his opponent.

The creature in the river seemed to know that it could not threaten Ye Chong. It did not come closer, but continued to stare angrily at Ye Chong while screeching sharply.

If Ye Chong were to have a bird's eye view of the plain right now, he would seen an extraordinary spectacle. Animals of all kinds were running away from the center that was the huge creature in the river.

Ye Chong took another glance at the creature in the river, and immediately flew away with Han Jia.

He had no intention of fighting with that creature. It was obviously at the top of the local food chain. Besides, Han Jia was not suitable for long range combat, making it difficult to fight against the creature. Just the 10-meter thick tentacle was enough to cause great destruction.

This sudden attack also led Ye Chong to be even more careful. However, to his surprise, he did not encounter any other animals as he flew on. There were a few times when he saw on the holographic screen that some animals very far away from him were running away.

This was curious to Ye Chong. While he could not understand why this happened, the lack of any animals in his way made his journey faster.

After another full day, still nothing happened. The flat plain was slowly beginning to show some contours. Ye Chong even found three mountain ranges that were about a thousand meters above ground level. However, this did not obstruct Han Jia's advance.

It was not just the geography that was changing. Here, the animals came in greater variety, much more than at the plains.

This astronomical body was far larger than Ye Chong had anticipated. Until now, Han Jia still could not detect the edges of this continent.

Suddenly, the holographic scanning system began to ping.

A group of humans in weird clothing were attacking a wild animal that was about 7 meters tall.

Humans? How could there be humans around here? Ye Chong was startled. His surprise quickly turned into uncontained joy. No one would be able to stay composed after experiencing loneliness for so long, and finally finding other members of his own species.

However, why were there humans here?

Ye Chong suppressed his happiness for the moment and studied those people.

There were seven in total, all wearing a light purple shirt, probably woven out of the local vegetation. As an alchemist, Ye Chong had a keen understanding of plants. They were all small framed, probably due to the gravity. However, their movements were agile and quick, even quicker than the herbivores that Ye Chong had seen.

Ye Chong could not help but be surprised at their physical strength. With five times the usual gravitational force, even Ye Chong himself could not manage their speed. However, their weapons were too shabby - they were all using pikes made out of some unknown type of wood.

Were they primitives? Ye Chong was stupefied. His joy was considerably dampened. If these were primitive humans, communication would be a problem.

Ye Chong did not expose himself, but continued to hide behind a rock from afar, watching them.

The wild beast did not seem to be faring well against the primitives, already wounded in a few places. An experienced hunter like Ye Chong could see in an instant that the animal would yield, sooner or later. The wild beast had antlers shaped like tree branches, sharp as knives. Its four thick, hooved feet could stomp down on a person with fatal results. Its tail was long and strangely curled into a bunch, like a woman's hair bun. However, from the holographic screen, Ye Chong could see that the tail could electrocute like an electric eel.

The primitives must know this as well. They attacked faster and harder, hoping to end it soon.

Just when they thought victory was close, the wild beast dimmed eyes suddenly lifted and saw Han Jia. Ye Chong saw its eyes clearly, and was very surprised. Abruptly, the animals' eyes showed horror. The beast let out a growl of hopelessness and began to fight back stronger than before.

This sudden change threw the primitives off, and they struggled to react. They did not expect the animal to suddenly go crazy.

There was a terrifying shriek. It came from a man, injured by the beast's antlers. The strong impact had thrown him far back, blood spilling all over him. However, the animal was absorbed in its violence to care about the attacks coming from the other primitives. It lowered its head and charged, antlers pointing straight ahead while its four hooves thrummed the ground, heading straight towards its fallen victim.

The seven-meter tall beast came charging with terrifying ferocity. It seemed to have decided to kill the man, uncaring of the pike stabbings from the other primitives.

Cries of fear and surprise filled the air.

Ye Chong stayed where he was, frozen, as he continued to stare disbelievingly at those primitives.

Sang Ling bit down on his lips, watching as the reinvolt charged towards Sang Fan. The beast had suddenly gotten into a frenzy, wounding Sang Fan with its antlers. It ignored all their attacks and had escaped from their surrounding formation. Sang Ling dared not hesitate. He tightened his right arm, pike close against his arm, and threw hard. The pike flew straight towards the renvolt's head.

Shunk! The pike embedded itself deep into the reinvolt's rump. "Aaa-oooh!" The reinvolt howled in pain, staggering for while before steadying itself and continued charging towards Sang Fan. The reinvolt's eyes were spitting fire, filled with manic rage.

The primitives quickly aimed with their own pikes. Swish swish swish! The pikes all hit their mark, stabbing deep into the animal's rump. The reinvolt howled painfully again! "Aaa-oooh!" It was filled with anger and despair. The animal ran even faster.

Sang Fan struggled to get up. There was a long, deep gash starting from his upper left shoulder, going down to his chest. Blood was gushing out, and he could see the bones underneath. Sang Fan braced himself against the pain, his face white as a sheet as he watched the reinvolt coming closer and closer.

The reinvolt's antlers shone with a dangerous, chilling glare.

"No …" Sang Ling shouted helplessly.

Ye Chong's eyes widened. His hands swept across Han Jia's controls, light as air.

He understood that word!

Just when everyone thought Sang Fan was dead for certain, a silver figure came from behind Sang Fan and blocked the reinvolt's terrifying antlers.

They only saw a blur of movement.

The reinvolt's hooves stopped moving.

In that abrupt shift from horrified screams to utter silence, no one understood what had happened.

They watched in a daze as the reinvolt howled pitifully and regretfully, then dropped into complete silence. The whole place was silent, and everyone was confused.

When they finally recovered, they found that the reinvolt was pinned to the ground with a huge, silver dagger, and its antlers were sliced through.

The dagger was sharp! Everyone inhaled sharply. Sang Fan finally could not stand it anymore, and sat heavily on the ground.

However, Sang Ling's eyes quickly looked behind Sang Fan. As the clever one, she recovered the quickest.

She could finally see clearly the huge figure standing behind Sang Fan.

"Heavens! Isn't that …" Sang Ling could not believe her eyes.

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Chapter 264: Sang Family Village

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The people marched quickly ahead, one of them carrying the reinvolt over his shoulder. Everyone was quiet, thinking about the massive thing that was flying slowly behind, following them.

It was a mech. Sang Ling recognized it. The Sang Family Village's shrine had seven mechs on display, but they were ancient compared to this mech. In fact, the comparison was not an exaggeration. The seven mechs had been passed down for a few generations, known by every member of the Sang family.

"Mechs really could fly …" Sang Ling took a peek at Han Jia, flying above, her eyes filled with envy. In the legends, mechs could fly, but today she had finally seen it for the first time. The techniques to fly the seven mechs in the shrine had been long lost. They were now only a symbol of the courage and determination of their ancestors.

Sang Ling quickly lost her initial excitement. She began to worry about Sang Fan's injuries. As childhood friends, she and Sang Fan were the most famous pair in the village. Sang Fan and her were both the most capable and outstanding of their generation.

It was this guy's fault! Sang Ling could not help but stared angrily at Han Jia. The dagger had blood from the three-eyed giant squid, it was no wonder that the reinvolt suddenly turned crazy. Just a tiny bit of the three-eyed giant squid's scent could trigger the reinvolt's fear due to its sensitive sense of smell.

However, if the mech had not interfered, Sang Fan would have … Sang Lin shuddered. Besides, the guy had even offered medical supplies. With that offer of assistance, they really could not blame him now. His medicine was truly miraculous. Just by swallowing a tiny pill, Sang Fan's breathing steadied. While he was unconscious now, his situation seemed a lot better.

What a powerful mech! Sang Ling was impressed. The mech had injured a three-eyed giant squid. Before she met this mech, she never thought that anything could ever hurt that giant beast.

Ye Chong sat in the pilot cabin, his face calm. Inside, however, he was not nearly so peaceful.

These primitives spoke the same language as him, and communication was not a problem. Could this be part of the Five Galaxies? That was Ye Chong's first guess. Could the primitives be part of some savage tribe? That thought was quickly dismissed by Ye Chong.

If there was really such a strange place in the Five Galaxies, it would have been discovered.

From the primitives, he learned that they came from a place called the Shang Family Village. The term "village" was unfamiliar to Ye Chong. He imagined it to be some kind of city.

The other party was cautious against Ye Chong, and did not speak much. Ye Chong accepted this easily. If it were him, he would be even more cautious. At first, Ye Chong thought they came from some savage tribe, but they had all recognized mechs. That surprised him very much.

Nevertheless, their clothing and weapons felt very primitive to Ye Chong.

The two parties did not exchange many words. According to the woman in the group, any questions can be directed to the village head.

Village head? What an peculiar title.

Ye Chong quickly noticed something interesting - the group practiced strict discipline. They worked together seamlessly, delegating tasks in reasonable ways. This reminded Ye Chong of an army troop! They were very much like the Sanctuary's standard combat squad.

This made Ye Chong suspect even more that they came from a savage tribal society.

Ye Chong was intrigued by their physique. The seven-meter tall reinvolt was heavy, but the man heaving the prey seemed quite relaxed, and did not fall behind.

Finally, they reached the Sang Family Village. The village was much smaller than Ye Chong imagined. The entire village was surrounded by a six-meter tall fence, probably to ward against animal attacks. However, if a mech were to attack this village, it would only be too easy.

There were no anti air attack measures, no field interference facilities, no long range attack weapons. Ye Chong made a quick assessment of the village. His conclusion was this - if he wanted to escape, they would not be able to stop him. This made Ye Chong feel safer. While they were of the same species, and communication was not an issue, Ye Chong still dared not be careless.

Han Jia's simple scanning system was now quite handy.

There were about 100,000 inhabitants here. Ye Chong shook his head. This city was too small. In the Five Galaxies, any city would be home to at least a few million. Everything here was primitive, the exact image of a savage tribal society.

The return of Sang Ling and others created a slight commotion. Sang Fan's injury had everyone busy. However, he was soon sent to a tiny purple coloured straw hut. Just as the people were about to disperse, they finally noticed Han Jia.

"A mech, it's really a mech …" A villager muttered incoherently.

"It's truly a mech …" Similar utterances were heard in the crowd, all filled with wonder.

Han Jia was now surrounded by a dense crowd.

When Ye Chong came out of Han Jia, the village suddenly fall into a short silence.

When Ye Chong withdrew Han Jia with its dimension keystone, everyone was shocked. The sight of a huge machine suddenly vanishing made quite an impression.

Ye Chong quickly found himself stuck in the middle of the crowd, unable to leave.

"Make way, make way please." A path quickly formed amongst the crowd. In came an old man, supported by Sang Ling, as he slowly approached Ye Chong.

"Cough, cough, young man, how do you do? I'm the village head, Sang De." The village head coughed twice before finally speaking slowly.

Ye Chong was always respectful towards the elderly. He bowed slightly and replied, "Village Head, how do you do? I'm a mech pilot and I've lost my way. I hope to have your assistance."

Sang De nodded, and spoke to his people, "Go back to your own businesses now." The village head was heeded. Everyone left, and only some children were left hiding in a corner, watching them.

"Let's talk at my place," the village head, Sang De motioned for Ye Chong to follow.

Ye Chong and the village head had a pleasant conversation. Ye Chong finally had a rough understanding of the village. Sang Family Village was the only human settlement here. Their ancestors seemed to have come here to avoid some huge disaster elsewhere.

Their tribe had lived here for 500 years. Before that, they came from a galaxy called He Yue.

He Yue Galaxy? Where was that? Could it be an earlier name for one of the Five Galaxies? 500 years ago, the galaxies might be known with different names. However, Ye Chong could not be sure. He had almost zero knowledge of the Five Galaxies' history.

Ye Chong's request to stay was quickly accepted by Sang De. The cunning village head knew that this young man was a capable fighter, and could help defend the village. As for his origin, Sang De did not care for it. If the man wanted to harm the village, then they could not stop him. If that was the case, why not maintain a good relationship with him?

Besides, 500 years had passed, and they knew nothing of the advances of the outside world. Their world was still so primitive. All this while, this had been a concern for every village head. When their first ancestors arrived here with their mechs, they had sacrificed most of their combatants to protect the villagers. All the engineers died. This caused the Sang Family Village to be the way it was today. Moreover, when the backup energy cells were used up, all the mechs became useless. Until today, the problem of powering the mechs was still unsolved, and no one alive knew how to pilot a mech.

Now that they had a visitor from the outside world, and a mech pilot with his own mech at that, the Sang family's 500 years of stagnation finally had a glimmer of hope.

However, Ye Chong was not thinking about these things. The best option for him now would be stay in the village. He did not know how to return to the Five Galaxies, and wondering around aimlessly would be foolish. This place had too many oddities. Besides, the people here had a history going back 500 years, and were familiar with this place. For now at least, he would not have to worry about survival.

Ye Chong followed the young man called Sang Pu. Sang Pu was around his age, reaching 170 meters in heights, a tall stature compared to the rest of the villagers. Sang Pu did not speak much, but seemed to be a man of reputation amongt his peers. He was rumored to be the next village head.

"These are the mechs from our ancestors," Sang Pu explained with reverence towards his ancestors.

Seven mechs with rusty spots all over them were displayed in the shrine. These mechs were all huge, towering at around 20 meters tall, like huge iron men. The thick armor made them look unwieldy, like a metal lump. It was apparent that mechanical techniques were still quite undeveloped back then. One had to use thickened armor to protect the mech pilot in the mech.

A 500-year-old mech was definitely something that Ye Chong was interested in. Since he first heard about these seven mechs, his first request was to pay them a visit. The village head agreed easily. Even the oldest mechs in a mech museum in the Five Galaxies were only about 300 years old. Ye Chong could not help his excitement at these seven 500-year-old mechs!

The mechs' internal structures were crude and simple. There were no hydraulic suspension systems. The circuits were made of metallic wires, and not photon circuits. There was no holographic scanning system, only an ancient radar …

A mech like this was far worse than the most low level Raven mech. However, Ye Chong still felt very excited. In reality, any mech engineer would be interested in these ancient mechs. This opportunity was not to be missed.

These mechs would not be able to inspire Ye Chong with new ideas, but he still crawled into all of them and inspected in detail. In his professional opinion, mechs like these were less than basic. However, for something that was made 500 years ago, one cannot ask for more.

Sang Pu asked, "Are these mechs still functional?" He looked at Ye Chong, hopeful. These seven mechs had been kept here for 500 years. To the people of the Sang Family Village, they should be warriors, not historical relics.

Ye Chong shook his head. "No. They're too rusted. Some of the joints lack maintenance, and cannot be bent anymore. Besides, they use some kind of organic fuel. I'm not familiar with them." In fact, Ye Chong was already quite surprised to find these mechs so well preserved after 500 years.

Ye Chong's reply made Sang Pu feel deeply disappointed. Ye Chong could see those emotions in his eyes. However, Ye Chong was helpless as well.

Ye Chong was also immediately reminded of Han Jia's energy problem. The backup energy cells were almost used up. If he could not find any new and suitable fuel, Han Jia would probably end up being put on display with these mechs here.

Nonetheless, haste would not solve this problem. There would not be any energy cell charging devices here, so the only option left was to find a replacement.

For now, he could only minimize his usage of Han Jia. It was best if he used Han Jia only when desperate.

After all, the people here had lived their lives all this while without mechs. Ye Chong believed that he would be able to defend himself, even without his mech.

It was soon meal time. Sang Pu led Ye Chong to the village head's house. Ye Chong saw the woman from the group that brought him here earlier. Ye Chong nodded to her slightly, and sat beside Sang Pu.

Sang Ling humphed softly, and ignored Ye Chong as she began to eat.

Since the woman did not greet him back, Ye Chong did not press further. Instead, he nodded to Sang De. The village head laughed heartily, "Food is simple here, nothing grand to boast about, I hope you'll like it!"

By now, Ye Chong could tackle these social pleasantries easily. "You're too kind. Please call me Ye."

Sang De laughed again. "Alright, I'll call you Ye, and you can just call me Village Head."

On the plate before Ye Chong was a piece of steak, with some blue berries of some kind on the side. Ye Chong did not recognize the meat, but he knew what the berries were. On the plains on the other side of the river, there were many plants with these blue little berries.

Ye Chong picked up one of them and studied it closely. Unlike when it was on the tip of the plant, it no longer glowed with that faint blue color.

Seeing Ye Chong taking interest in the blue berry, Sang Pu introduced, "This is our main source of food, we call it mayaberry. Go ahead, try it, it's not bad. This steak is from the meat of that reinvolt you killed today. Reinvolt meat is tender and delicious."

Ye Chong threw a mayaberry into his mouth and chewed. A fragrance began to spread in his mouth, with a little sweetness. He ate another one. To Ye Chong, this was far better than on the trash planet. He had never tasted such delicious fruits over there.

The village head and Sang Pu smiled, looking at Ye Chong enjoying his meal. Only Sang Ling still looked cool.

Eyeing the steak on his plate, Ye Chong took out his dagger and made to slice it.

Sang Pu saw the dagger in Ye Chong's hands, and his eyes glowed. He urged, "Ye, can you let me have a look at that weapon of yours?"

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Chapter 265: History

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As he received the dagger, Sang Pu's calm composure gave way to an overwhelming stream of emotions. He flipped the dagger this way and that, studying it closely like a priceless treasure. Sang Ling was also staring intently at the dagger in Sang Pu's hands.

"It's only a dagger, do they need to be so excited?" Ye Chong thought to himself, vexed.

Seeing Ye Chong's confusion, the village head explained, "Hehe, Ye, please forgive us, it's their first time seeing a metal weapon. Pu, let me have a look."

Sang Pu quickly passed the dagger to the village head.

"What fine craftsmanship!" Sang De exclaimed, "It's sharp, tougher and stronger than bitterwood. Pu, get me a bitterwood pike here."

Sang Pu went to a corner of the house, where a few of the pikes Ye Chong had seen earlier leaned against the wall. Sang Pu took two of them, and upon noticing Ye Chong's curiosity, passed one to Ye Chong with a smile.

Ye Chong studied the bitterwood pike in his hands. Each bitterwood pike was around two meters long, its shaft just thick enough to grip. It felt weighty in hand. Ye Chong bent it slightly forcefully, and the bitterwood pike only bent into an arch without breaking as was usually expected. The tip of the pike was ground sharp. The shaft had natural-looking detailed spirals on it.

Ye Chong was quietly impressed. The wood was tough. What interested him more were the rounds of spiraling patterns on the shaft. They seemed to be aerodynamically designed. Once thrown into the air, the pike would spin about itself, not only increasing the impact of the throw but also enabling steadier flight.

Ye Chong had never seen any primitive weapon with such advanced designs. He was deeply interested in them.

The village head took a bitterwood pike from Sang Pu and swinged it lightly. The five-centimeter thick shaft was easily cut in half.

Everyone but Ye Chong gasped, "Whoa!"

"It's just like in the legends!" Sang De gently tested the dagger's edge as he muttered to himself. Everyone else looked at the dagger in his hands, enchanted by the weapon's might.

Ye Chong was even more confused now. Legend? Daggers were quite common, what's the fuss about? In terms of design, the dagger was not particularly laudable. It was shaped exactly like Gu Shaoze's dagger. Gu Shaoze may be a mechanics genius, but he was no weaponsmith. To Ye Chong, the dagger's angle design was horrible, but he had gotten used to it and never thought of replacing it.

In terms of design, the dagger was far exceeded by the bitterwood pike.

After a long moment, the village head broke his reverie and smile apologetically to Ye Chong. "Ye, please excuse me. I've lived my long life to this day, and this is my first time seeing a metal weapon. It's just as our ancestors described."

First time seeing? Even the most primitive savage tribes would have metal weapons! Besides, from the seven mechs displayed in the shrine, Ye Chong could see that they were at least able to build huge machines like them, the backward metallurgy notwithstanding. How can they not be able to make even a metal dagger?

Ye Chong could not help but asked, "So you have no metal weapons at all?"

Seeing Sang Pu and Sang Ling still in a daze, the village head replied slowly, "None. When our ancestors first escaped to this place, the journey was dangerous. Our population was 1.7 million, but only half a million people arrived here safely."

Sang De continued painfully, "The disaster came without warning, our ancestors had no time to prepare. According to records, mechs were only newly invented, and the Sang Family tribe had the largest mech squad in the He Yue galaxy, with a total of 3,000 mech pilots. Back then, mech pilot was not a common occupation. The tribe leader was under tremendous pressure when he first founded the mech squad. However, most of the people believed that mechs represented the future of technology."

The village head spoke lowly, like narrating an ancient legend. Everyone listened to him intently, and even Ye Chong could not maintain his calm expression.

"Back then, the disaster came unexpectedly, but the tribe leader had prepared well. All our knowledge, from the most basic metallurgy skills to the Sang Family's core technologies were recorded in a chip. This was to prevent these knowledge from being lost forever. They made 300 copies of the chip, which meant that out of the 3,000 mech pilots in the mech squad, one in ten had a chip with them. Everyone thought that, with so many copies of the chip, it should be easy to keep at least a few of them intact. After all, back then, the Sang Family was one of the four most prosperous aristocratic families in the He Yue galaxy. Moreover, the Sang Family's mech squad was the strongest in the entire galaxy. Everyone believed that the precautions would be sufficient. Even in a whole new world, with this knowledge, the Sang Family would thrive again without issues."

Sang De's expression grew even more pained, and his voice trembled as he continued, "However, the unexpected had happened.

"The only exit out of the He Yue galaxy was obstructed back then, so the tribe had to break through this enormous asteroid belt. No one expected to see the terrifying Red Sea."

"Red Sea?" Sang Ling interrupted. This was the first time she had heard of this.

"Yes, the Red Sea," said the village head. "It's a huge expanse of empty space, filled with a thick red mist, stretching out endlessly like the sea. Our ancestors called it the Red Sea."

Ye Chong was shocked. Wasn't that the red mist where he got separated from Mu?

"No one thought that this red mist would be so dangerous. The red mist interfered with the radars, it was impossible to know which direction was which. Many lost their ways in the mist. However, the disaster had only just begun.

"Metal was actually very sensitive to the red mist. When they flew into the middle of the Red Sea, the mist grew thicker. Starships were tangled with numerous mysterious red tendrils. Almost all the mechs were deployed to cut off those tendrils. However, once the mechs exited the starships, the red tendrils would mysteriously appear and bind them up tightly, killing the pilots. The people on the starships watched as the countless red tendrils devoured their mechs."

"So that was it," Ye Chong thought to himself. The red mist would react with metal once it reached a critical density. No wonder Coxcomb was wrapped up tight with the tendrils. It appeared that Han Jia's skeletal parts had allowed him to escape.

Ye Chong could not help but felt anxious about Mu and Shang. Mu and Shang were also made of metal … If only he could get in touch with them right now, then he'd be able to inform them of this peculiarity, then Mu would be able to find a solution. However …

Ye Chong smiled wryly to himself. He breathed in deeply a few times and tried not to think about them.

Ye Chong asked, "How did they escape?"

Sang De explained, "Most escaped using the emergency pods. The pods were not made of metal, to reduce their weight. I have no idea what they're made of. Only about a hundred thousand of them escaped, and only 15 were mech pilots. They were mostly injured beforehand, and so were not deployed to cut off the red tendrils, thus surviving the incident. However, food and water were scarce, and people died along the way. When they finally reached here, the entire Sang Family was only left with about fifty thousand. Only seven mech pilots were left, and none of them had the chip. Besides, without proper medical treatment, they all succumbed to their injuries eventually. And so, we had to start again from the very beginning. Out of the fifty thousand, a few were scientists, but here, where the gravity is stronger, and vicious animals were abundant, we had no protection. In the first month, twenty thousand died of either starvation or illness. The scientists were physically weaker, and they died soon too."

The village head spoked with a sigh, with a saddened voice. Sang Pu and Sang Ling were both surprised. Ye Chong finally understood why this place was so primitive.

"The scientists wrote down everything they knew before they died, but in the end, no one could understand them. With the harsh living conditions, the only ones who survived were the physically stronger combat experts. Without any necessary knowledge foundations, they couldn't understand the knowledge left behind. The scientists had only written down their most forefront intellectual ideas, but did not provide any basic knowledge as a starting point. That is why we are what we are today," Sang De explained helplessly.

Sang Pu and Sang Ling could only listen wordlessly.

Ye Chong nodded in understanding. Indeed, without any foundational knowledge, forefront knowledge would only be lost to the layperson. Such was the nature of high level knowledge.

It was no wonder that the villagers were using such primitive weapons. Given the harsh environment, they still managed to survive and prosper here. Ye Chong could not help but grow even more respectful of them.

Suddenly, Ye Chong thought of his time on the trash planet, the way he struggled alone to survive, and found that he and them were not too different after all!

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Chapter 266: It's a Deal

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Perhaps I can help you make metal weapons," Ye Chong said this casually, but it was like dropping a bomb into the room.

"You mean it?" Even someone as weathered as Sang De could not keep his calm, his eyes shining feverently. Metal weapons might be so common in the outside world, but here it was more than a rarity. With metal weapons, the entire Sang Family tribe could make a quantum leap in strength.

Sang De had been the village head for so many years, and had always tried to find ways to increase their chances of survival. However, no one was able to understand the knowledge their ancestors had left behind. Now that this opportunity presented itself, how could he pass it up?

Was this really a blessing from Heaven to the pitiful, to give the Sang Family this glimmer of hope? Old Sang De put his hands together and muttered a silent prayer.

As for Sang Pu and Sang Ling, they were both shocked. They stared directly at Ye Chong, unable to see how this seemingly ordinary man could make such an offer.

Ye Chong caressed the spiral patterns on the bitterwood pike, as though he did not notice their stares. In fact, Ye Chong was not offering help out of kindness - he had not become so altruistic just yet. This offer was calculatively made, now that his survival depended on the strength of he Sang Family Village. It would be in his interest to make them stronger.

Besides, Ye Chong had other concerns. It would be difficult if he had to find a new source of energy by himself. Wouldn't it be better to let the natives, the inhabitants of the Sang Family Village to help?

Ye Chong also thought of his greatest concern. The Red Sea was triggered by metal, and the chances of Coxcomb escaping was too small. However, Coxcomb had enough food and water to last Zhu Ling, Lian Yue and Little Rock for quite some time. As for Mu and Shang, who did not need to eat, they would only hibernate when they run out of energy. Even so, Coxcomb had enough energy cells to last the mech for a long while - Ye Chong knew better than anyone of Coxcomb's resources.

It was highly probable that Mu, Shang and the rest were still trapped in the Red Sea. If he could build enough skeleton mechs … No, they did not have to be mechs, any machine that could fly in space would be enough. If Ye Chong could search the Red Sea intensively, it would increase his chances of finding Coxcomb.

In any case, he would not leave Mu and Shang behind, of this he was certain. He remembered the time when the stellar flare was coming, and Mu had tried to save him by making that extremely risky warp jump.

The bond between him and the mech was no longer that of a mech pilot and a mech. Ye Chong would sacrifice his life to save them, if it came to it. He knew that they would do the same for him, even if the odds were definitely against them. This was true, even for that usually flippant Shang.

Of course, his plan was difficult to execute, and Ye Chong was not confident of success. Even so, he would do it. If he at least tried, the probability of success would be nonzero; if he did not try, then failure was certain.

This was not the first time Ye Chong had to make such a decision. He knew exactly what he should do.

After a full five minutes, Ye Chong saw that the three of them were still caught up with their thoughts. He spoke up slowly, "Calm yourselves. I haven't surveyed this place, so I don't know if there are suitable metal ores. Besides, I have conditions."

Ye Chong had to thank the elders at the Aurora. If they had not provided Ye Chong with such solid foundation, he would not dare to make such a bold offer. Here, he will find no field dissociation apparatus, no metal purification devices. To process metal in this primitive environment would require the most basic and fundamental understanding of metal smelting. However, all this depended on finding suitable metal ores. If there was no ore, they would only be building a castle in the sky.

Old Sang De answered solemnly, "Whatever conditions you have, Ye, tell us, and we will do our best to fulfill them."

Sang Ling's expression was one of condescension and disgust. She did not think that the man would be such an opportunist. Sang Pu may have felt the same, but his expression betrayed nothing.

Ye Chong acted like he did not see Sang Ling's expression. In fact, he truly did not care. There are no free meals in this world. He had no reason to volunteer in helping him. Besides, Ye Chong did not feel that he was having an unfair advantage in this bargain.

Ye Chong replied plainly, "I need the Sang family to fulfill my three requests. I haven't decided on what they are, I'll let you know when it's time." Ye Chong had wanted to only ask for one request, but for some reason he thought of Shang. If was that b*stard, he would definitely ask for more. Hence, Ye Chong decided in that split second to ask for three requests instead.

"Alright." Old Sang De promised without hesitation.

Ye Chong looked at the village head and said, "Think carefully about this. What I ask from you is dangerous, and will need significant manpower."

Old Sang De gave a significant look at Ye Chong and replied, "The Sang family had waited for 500 years without hope. Now that we finally have a glimmer of hope, the Sang family will not let this opportunity be wasted, no matter the risks."

Ye Chong said nothing, but he was quietly impressed with the old man's determination.

Sang Pu was also watching him with fervent eyes. Ye Chong would not understand their helplessness and anger at having to live such primitive lives. Now that the opportunity presented itself, how could he let it go?

"Alright then, it's a deal," Ye Chong said this plainly, as though it had nothing to do with him.

"Aren't you scared that we'll go back on our word?" Sang Ling could not stand Ye Chong's look and blurted out. The moment the words left her mouth, she instantly regretted them.

Ye Chong said nothing, but his eyes suddenly turned into a chilling stare. A sharp killing intent flashed in his eyes. Go back on their word? If they really did, Ye Chong would make them regret it.

Ye Chong said nothing, but it was as though the room had suddenly been plunged into deep winter. A chilling sense crawled up their spines. The three of them shuddered inside despite themselves. Every younger member of the Sang family had his or her own share of fighting against wild beasts, and was familiar with this killing intent.

This was the first time they had encountered such a fierce killing intent! Even the three-eyed giant squid could not compare with what they were experiencing now!

This killing intent could not be nurtured by just killing a single person. Just how many people had this man killed? Sang Pu could not help taking another glance at the dagger in his hands. The dagger suddenly felt even more chilling to the touch.

They had thought that an angel had designed to visit them, but it was actually the devil himself!

The weathered Old Sang De's expression was unreadable, as he smiled wryly inside. He knew not if he had made the right decision. There was never a happy ending for the man who made a deal with the devil. Who knew just exactly what his deal with this man would mean for the future of the Sang Family?

Even with ten thousand villagers, they were defenseless against his mech. Besides, Han Jia was an advanced level mech. This was the power of technology.

Old Sang De said solemnly, "The Sang Family had always kept our word. In the name of the Sang family ancestors, I promise that the Sang family will do its best to fulfill your requests, dear sir. If we failed to do so, may the Sang Family be damned for all eternity."

Sang Pu and Sang Ling were horrified. Sang Ling's expression was one full of regret. She did not imagine that her careless words had led to the village head vowing in the name of their ancestors. To the Sang Family, vowing in the name of the ancestors was a solemn thing to do. It represented the most sacred and important of vows, never to be broken.

Ye Chong did not share the same sentiment about vows. To him, a vow was not reliable. Only strength was.

"Alright, let's not get ahead of ourselves, at least not until I make your first metal weapon," Ye Chong's casual reply made Sang Ling grit her teeth in anger, but she dared to speak so easily again. Her carelessness had forced Sang De to make that vow, and she regretted that very much.

"If you need any help, sir, all members of the Sang family are at your disposal," the village head spoke up, his expression sincere. If anyone could watch from the side and learn from him, it would be most invaluable. Old Sang De had also began to speak more respectfully to Ye Chong again, calling him "sir", and Ye Chong could not be bothered to correct him.

Ye Chong suddenly picked up the bitterwood pike beside him and asked, "Who designed the spirals on this shaft?" Ye Chong had thought they were natural, but he knew upon touching them that they were carved by hand.

The three of them were surprised by this change of subject, and Sang Pu replied, "It's Sang Fan's work. Is there anything wrong with it?"

"Oh, then he'll be my assistant." Anyone who could design something like this must be quite capable.

Sang Pu looked ill at ease. "He was injured today, probably need some time to rest."

So it was the man who was injured earlier today. Ye Chong said casually, "Then I'll wait for him to get better." He still needed time to be more familiar with this place.

Having a Sang family member as his assistant was also a calculated measure, beneficial in the long run. He could delegate tasks for his assistant to take care of.

WIthout Mu and Shang by his side, Ye Chong was like a child without support. He would have to start experimenting and exploring on his own.

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Chapter 267: Lavagold

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The light emitted from the fruit of Hampered Bask was warm and gentle, like a touch of morning in Spring, illuminating the entire room. It was the first time Ye Chong came across such unusual sprout, that he could not find any entry regarding it on the encyclopedia gifted by Lunatic Guan. Twinkleblue, the light-emitting plant Ye Chong found in the encyclopedia, was rather giving off a gleam of the night sky compared to glisten of Hampered Bask. And so he heard that the Hampered Bask also happened to be the sole lighting plants among the members of Sang family in the village.

The ceiling was fully engulfed by the purplish blue vines, where at the center the Hampered Bask fruit hung like the sleeker chandelier with its petite size of being as large as one's fist while emanating an intriguing fruity aroma. The scent was poking Ye Chong's nose, it was tickling his gourmet sense so much that on several occasions he would rather remain in darkness while his hands approached the ceiling and nearly plucked the glowing fruit to have a taste.

Ye Chong shifted his thoughts back onto the materials before him, which were staring into his eyes with their expressive foreignness. Practically speaking, judging by the materials he had discovered thus far, most of them shouted literally foreign to him. He was not even sure if he could make anything likely to be called a metallic weapon with these materials.

This… mildstone that rested in his palm with heat leaking from its partially transparent body for example, seemed to be commonly used material among the villagers. It was so domestically common that even the steak Ye Chong had before was grilled using it. Its rate of heat emittance was considerably sluggish, so there would never be a problem of overcooking one's food or even one's hand, although the cooking process took much longer than what Ye Chong had experienced in other planets. The villagers seemed to have a practice of storing a certain amount of mildstone in every room to maintain the temperature indoors.

Mildstone was technically something new to Ye Chong's perception.

He gave a grip, then a rub, his fingers rolled the smooth crystallization back and fro. The warmth reminded him of a mini heater.

His approach of metallurgy identified such stone as part of the energy ore category. The basic apparatus on the engineering mech was able to return an amazing figure on the amount of energy imbued within the stone. Ye Chong would love to perform a detailed analysis on its component but he lacked the necessary apparatus to do so. Similarly he could not carry out any meaningful experiment. Only if he was on the Coxcomb, he would have found out a way to utilize the energy.

And there he was, stuck on a virtually remote village without even the fundamental facility to aid his research. As someone who had gotten use on the most avant-garde devices, Ye Chong was not feeling easy of his situation.

"Sir, I'm here," said Sang Fan at the door.

Ye Chong flinched, as he hardly discerned Sang Fan's footsteps till Sang Fan was right by the door.

An expert! Commented Ye Chong in his mind.

Sang Fan was not tall, with a height about 1.65 meters. Most likely due to the effects of strong gravitational force here, all villagers turned out to be dwarfish by nature, where someone who stood 1.7 meter high could be considered as someone with the body of a model. Sang Fan's body was not the hefty kind, it was fit and lean. His eyes were lustrous as they rolled around the room actively.

"Oh, so you're Sang Fan?" asked Ye Chong flatly, even though curiosity was twitching inside him, as his mind was in a shock. Aren't you a quick healer, Sang Fan? Thought Ye Chong. He glanced at Sang Fan, whose body seemingly recovered. If it was not his slightly pale face, no one could tell he was the one who had just received a heavy blow on his life two days ago.

"Yes sir," politely the man replied. "The chief had me under your command." His eyes were large upon being informed that Ye Chong was going to make weapons for the Sang villagers. His eyes went larger when he heard Ye Chong asking him to be the assistant, he almost could feel the next step to heaven.

"You'll be my assistant from today onwards. Learn it properly. Learn with efforts. I could see the talent in you, don't waste it," Ye Chong sounded really like one of those elderlies from Aurora.

"Yes sir!" The formality intensified in his response.

"To begin…" The first task from Ye Chong was to sample all stones and plants around the village.

Sang Fan did not really understand what this craftsman was saying but he did not respond with skepticism as he ran to the chief right away, since this was not a task he could handle by himself.

Towards the task, the old chief also responded with bewilderment. It would be reasonable to sample minerals but… what does he want to do with plant samples? But well, I believe this Ye Chong is somebody who would do things for a reason, not on a whim. My men! The chief waved his hand and called upon all villagers to carry out the task right away.

All villagers from all walks of life were involved. Children, women searched the surroundings while the men would bring a few stones and plants every time they returned from their hunt outskirt.

And within the next few days, the room dedicated for Ye Chong's research had been flooded with all sorts of stones and plants.

On the following days what Master Ye Chong did was having tutorials with his new assistant on categorization of plants and mineralites. Sang Fan was seemingly the intelligent and quick learner. During the process Ye Chong would also brief Sang Fan on any ores he recognized, but whether Sang Fan caught it right away would depend on his own diligence.

Ye Chong first underwent a selection process on the stones, where most of them turned out to be rather worthless in his opinion. And among the stones which he could identify the values, only a handful of them appeared to be in his recollection.

And there was this particular ore which caught most of his attention, namely the Lavagold. It was not a kind of gold, rather it was a kind of alloy precisely speaking, as recorded in Mu's databank. Apparently, Lavagold also exerted excellent physical properties for an alloy. Its composition was not that complicated compared to the others, but it was rare. In no other way than extraction from nature the Lavagold could be acquired. Researchers so far had yet performed a successful formation of Lavagold through artificial means. And its rarity was absolute given the fact that it only appeared in a certain type of environment.

So he was holding this piece of Lavagold ore, where curvy gold lines finely rested over the surface of the tainted pebble like a stream of melted gold lava. That was probably how the ore got its name.

"Would you go and ask your men where they got this?" asked Ye Chong as he pass the Lavagold ore to Sang Fan.

Sang Fan responded with a flinch at first and then his expression looked overjoyed, as he sprinted away. It was the first different response from Ye Chong after hunting and gathering for so long, obviously it would mean…

Wow… that speed. Amazed Ye Chong as he looked the man blasted off to the outside. He could actually run even under such potent gravitational force… Ye Chong was certainly impressed since he had yet gotten used to such tedious environment, the gravity pull was wearing him out. And he thought his body was strong, till he saw villagers like Sang Fan running…

Very soon after, Sang Fan brought the villager who found the piece of gold. The catch was, according to the villager, the place where the piece of gold was found turned out to be a certain distance away from the village. To escort Ye Chong safely, a team of exactly hundred men were sent along under the lead of Sang Pu. And one could imagine how grand it would be if 100 ace fighters escorted a single man in the 5 major galaxies.

Yes, they were indeed the ace fighters. Their steps were firm and their nature was calm. Ace! Total ace! Ye Chong reminisced his encounters with the fighters from all sorts of places before, and they could hardly fill half of the army around him. Several beasts appeared on the way but they did nothing to the army.

Cleaving touch, simple yet brutal! The real combat! The true fighting! Shocked Ye Chong in his mind. The martial arts developed over five centuries after tasting countless ounces of blood and murder, the techniques were simplistic and direct, no fancy movement, no swing, only the sound of bone cracking after a violent slam. And this, would the true brawling technique.

Ironically, the brawling techniques that had been long abandoned in the outside world remained as the essential survival techniques here.

Well, Ye Chong did not shame himself as an outsider when he demonstrated his speed. The army advanced pretty quickly but never once Ye Chong was lagging behind. One may argue that such instance could not prove his speed, but that little tip to the toes he made would change the story, as his body would fling itself to the front - a burst kind of speed, unlike the villagers who were stampeding in tiny quick steps at high frequency.

The standards were there among the villagers. They were trained, Ye Chong could tell from their disciplined marching. Nobody was chattering, there was the sound of stampeding and only the stampeding itself. Ye Chong was not the chatty kind either, so his mouth remained zipped without initiating conversation, as he sank at the centermost position in the team, a protected position where the members of the outermost layer would head out from time to time to perform scouting and observation.

Ye Chong was astonished by the discipline, he was confident that even the so-called soldiers from the 5 galaxies would be wetted by their cold sweats upon seeing the quality of the army here.

The stampeding stopped.

"It was at the lowest point between the two peaks at the front, right when we hunted a Tandem Peeper," pointed one of the villagers at the col.

Sang Pu waved his hand and 4 men sprinted their ways forward. Ye Chong was going to drop his jaws if he were to witness more of the unexpected speed among the villagers.

"They are the reconnoiter, sir," smiled Sang Pu upon seeing Ye Chong's expression. "They are good runners and good fighters too." The recon- what? Reconnoiter? It was the first time Ye Chong heard of such term. Technically anyone who knew their histories well would be able to tell what a term that had appeared in the war history of humanity countless times like reconnoiter was. Ye Chong was a history-illiterate however, so such term meant nothing to his mind, although he could kind of guess what that term with complicating syllable possibly meant judging by what the 4 men were doing.

They did not actually head directly through the entrance of the ridge. Instead, they launched themselves and climbed upon the slopes around the col. And they flung themselves over the mountain agilely. It only took them a few tens seconds before one of the patrols gestured them a proceed to safety.

The 60 villagers at the outer circle disengaged from their team and flooded into the col immediately. "A moment sir." And Sang Pu led Ye Chong and the last 35 villagers into the col only after the place had been confirmed to be safe.

Well, that was probably the best justification for their survivals on this planet. They certainly had the skills. Ye Chong was amazed.

The col was not that spacious, one could grasp every spot inside within one sight. No lava gold was discovered and no happy face was found on Sang Fan.

Ye Chong had not given up just yet, as he requested the villagers to back off.

He then deployed the engineering mech, which scared everybody else upon seeing a giant mech crawling out of nowhere. And as usual, Ye Chong the dexterous climbed right into his cabin without any rope. The difference was, nobody really cared what he was achieving. Climbing high barehanded was nothing new among the Sang villagers.

The villagers remained in awe nevertheless, including Sang Pu the sedate one, as owning a mech was like a fantasy, a wish of the fairytale for all the villagers from Sang.

And Ye Chong hopped off the engineering mech after 30 seconds.

Everyone set their eyes upon Ye Chong, as they wondered the intention of Ye Chong's every move, but one thing for sure - they had faith in this young man.

"There," pointed one corner of the col. "Dig it," Ye Chong instructed.

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Chapter 268: Gravity Bind

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The villagers were identified as the elites for a reason. They were selected obviously for their high efficiency and disciplined obedience. Thought Ye Chong as he glimpsed at the tiny pile of Lavagold ores before him. "Here," said Ye Chong to Sang Pu. "Mark the place down, the Lavagold content here is rich." Sang Pu nodded in comprehension.

Ye Chong immediately sank himself into the world of researches after they had returned to the village. He remembered it clearly, every bit of characteristic of Lavagold, but never once he had been exposed to the actual ore itself, it felt like his expertise going back to square one.

Well, he was fortunate to possess a formidable foundation of his knowledge, for he even was considerably informed of the metallurgical approaches by the ancient, which was something alien to the modernity since nobody really learned exactly how the extraction of metals worked after the invention of Magnetron-based separator. But Ye Chong knew it, and he believed he could extract Lavagold from its ore without the aid of the avant-garde. This was certainly one reward he got from the constant interaction with Aurora back then.

He started reminiscing the theoretical knowledge regarding this, as he tried reorganizing all the available options before him.

Okay, so the only thing Ye Chong needed to do would be to find something that could burn and emit a great amount of heat. His eyes, of course, went upon the mildstone sitting at the corner. The mildstone was clearly the solution because of its immense amount of energy contained, the tricky part was, how would Ye Chong bring out the energy? How would he initiate the reaction?

If I were to find a way to trigger the stone, then…

Ye Chong who held a complete systematic knowledge of the basics recognized the core of every reaction, every equation, laid within Energy itself. The breakthrough would only happen if the solution for the issue of energy activation had been discovered.

Okay, I know where the problem is. Then I should be finding ways to solve it.

And that was when Sang Fan observed his first Frankenstein in the village. Ye Chong spent all day and night in his own research room and had never left the doorstep ever since. The chief sometimes would pay him a visit to check out his progress but he always was treated with ignorance without fail, as the science maniac was too indulged in his experiment. Sang Fan held tremendous respect towards this very young yet talented teacher despite the treatment. Even though the teacher kept muttering denial towards his position as a teacher, he inevitably had already become a teacher in the Sang Fan's mind.

Sang Fan was highly impressed by the vast knowledge and that tenacious curiosity in experimentation of his.

Sang Fan had been checking out those microchips circulated among the villagers for so long, yet he had comprehended so little. His understanding gained over the years was nothing compared to those few words coming from this young teacher.

Ye Chong had removed the processor from the engineering model and lifted it all the way to his room to perform his research. The processor was an impeccable aid to his research as Ye Chong noticed he was making significant progress. The slight disappointment was, despite all that, he had yet to discover the key factor to activate the energy stored within mildstone.

Sighhhh…

Ye Chong took a gaze at the last few samples sitting at the corner. Impatience was heating his breath, knowing the likelihood of the fate of these remaining samples. Only these samples had yet interacted with Lavagold. Assuming they also showed a null reaction as an outcome, the research could be in a stern dead-end. His tired eyes glanced upon Sang Fan who was looking at the processor and silently he left the room. Meanwhile, Sang Fan was exerting strong interests towards the processor ever since the first eye-contact he made with it. Ye Chong had spent two hours to guide him on the application of the processor. Ye Chong had even inserted a few entries of the elementary to provide a walkthrough for Sang Fan.

The chilly air kissed upon the heated cheeks of Ye Chong. It felt refreshing to be at the outside. Ye Chong, feeling relaxed, was stretching his stiffened muscles.

He could feel his bones fossilized after the days and nights he rooted himself by his desk. The research did not pay off sadly. That was annoying.

Ye Chong had a sudden urge of working out for some reason, and so he began swinging his hands, pulling punches.

The irritation clouding his head seemed to have faded away. His punches got faster and he was literally kicking alive. During the process, he began recalling the moment when he saw the few techniques performed by the villagers. It was a shocker he must admit, as it left deep impression in his mind.

Simple. Straightforward. Sedate.

Ye Chong's body was moving in all sorts of position, there was no pattern to his punches and kicks.

Gradually, his techniques seemed to have changed. It was not obvious but he could feel the changes. It was getting… simplified? And getting more fatal, with more twisting, unpredictable angles. The reflexivity of his body being utilized with the muscle manipulation technique exclusive to the Lan family of September, allowed him to perform some really inhuman performances. The angles of his punches were getting odder.

"Great!" One compliment shot through his ears.

The young man flinched as he withdrew all his moves and stood still. His control over his movements was justified through this, for he was able to pull off and pull out the techniques by his will with immediate effect.

"Shame on me," complimented Sang Pu, with his face filled with amazement. "Never would I have expected sir to have such skills. I actually thought outsiders like sir were those with numb limbs and eyes. But wow, the outside world… much stronger than I thought."

Towards the comment, Ye Chong gave a straight, frozen face. Certainly he would be disgruntled over a senseless, stereotypical comment like this, he was too lazy to have a meaningless debate nevertheless.

Sang Pu was smiling, seemingly had guessed what Ye Chong was feeling, he said, "I guess I must be saying something really senseless to sir's perception. But I got to say, that sir must be a powerful figure in the outside world… yes, with those skills."

Ye Chong had no comment.

A moment of awkward silence lapsed, the Sang man mustered his pride, "Our tribe was already one of the 4 great aristocrats in He Yue galaxy way before our ancestors left the place. I absolutely would love to know what the situation in He Yue is looking like currently. But from what I have known, pilots had already appeared back then, so were the practitioners. The martial arts practitioners were still holding dominant forces in the galaxy in spite of the innovative approaches by the pilots. And yeah, Sang style martial arts were something from the high superior. Hmph, the Archipelago was a hideous place and countless men of our tribes lost their lives when we first came. Imagine all it took just to let us stay…" He pounded his chest in vex.

"Over the past 500 years, our tribe had been fighting with the most fearsome beasts as the routine. If you were the weakling, you would never survive. As you can see, everyone of us spend our days either by hunting or by all sorts of training, just to further enhance ourselves. And that includes women and children. We know we could never get an actual help from the surrounding, so we need to build our body, hone our skills. With the help of the gravity field, our generation has become much more competent than our ancestors."

Well, Ye Chong had to admit that Sang Pu was making sense in his words. Human beings were the kind whose most potential would be excavated under such environment. The tedious surrounding had provided the Sang villagers the best practical to train themselves. As far as Ye Chong agreed, the practical, the experience of actual combats would forever be the most effective method to improve vitality and skills. A group of collective ideology accumulating their strength and techniques over the centuries, a generation overcoming the other generation, the gradual dethroning of martial arts over the 5 major galaxies, these men in Archipelago now would no doubt be the prime of fighters.

Nevertheless, it was nothing surprising. Ye Chong knew well in his heart, this was a decade of the pilots, for the pilots, by the pilots. The pilots would be the spotlight, the center of concern. Practitioners were potent in fact, but only in a small scope. Look how fragile they would be when they fought an actual mech, as they would get overthrown, rolling down the staircase to their previous throne.

But the last term was very new to his conception. Gravity field? What exactly was that?

"What is gravity field?" asked Ye Chong.

Sang Pu was stunned for a moment, "Hah!" he chuckled. "It's my mistake sir. I had yet introduced this place formally."

And Ye Chong was all ears. It would be his priority to first understand the surrounding well enough, the basics, at the very least. If it was not the research that haunted him days and nights, he probably would have not forgotten the obvious primary procedure of his space exploration.

"Sir, this piece of land is known as the 'Archipelago'. Back when our ancestors laid their steps here, this very place of our village precisely, they had fully depleted their energy storage, so they could not conduct a proper scouting over the area. But never once we stopped stepping out, as over the time we explored the area, and to our horror, the land was nothing but danger. Not only it was filled with terrifying beasts, but also the fact that under certain condition, at some places, something much more terrifying than the beasts would occur. Gravity field, or strong gravity region some may call it, was one of them, where every region contains different degrees of gravitational forces, they were scattered all over the land like an unforeseeable trap. When you step into one super strong gravity region, you would feel like falling into quicksand, except there would be no way out. And unlike quicksand, a strong gravity region holds no sign, no boundary, no marking with the normal space we live."

And Ye Chong was stupefied towards the introductory chapter of Archipelago, which had utterly flipped over his entire understanding towards the world, the knowledge he had learned. How would that be possible? It was already a miracle to see an actual planet within the asteroid belt, which, contrary to most planets he had seen, was not even a globe technically. He could recognize the difference in planetary shape but would there… at one corner of the galaxy, that a planet this odd exist? Would it be possible to have drastically different degrees of gravitational force over the planet?

Ye Chong's dropping jaws were priceless to Sang Pu, since it was ultra rare to see the indifferent teacher of his to suddenly get so expressive and it was because of his description on his home, "And after much exploration, we realized there could be signs to help us distinguish a strong gravity region and non-strong gravity region. For example, the plants inhabited within the gravity field have noticeable difference than the plants in normal field. Everyone in the Sang village could actually determine if the next step they are lifting would be an invisible quicksand. And we are also able to estimate the strength of the gravity before us," said Sang Pu as he smiled proudly.

"200 years ago, one senior of mine found a way to utilize the gravitational force, which is to perform training there. The stronger the gravity, the more burdened the body would be. Given that he no longer gained significant progress on his training in normal field, he would venture into the gravity field. Well of course, we only allow adults to perform their trainings there. Children whose bodies remain mutable are forbidden to enter the area. They would be allowed to head in only when they achieve adulthood."

Well, if what Sang Pu said was true, the place would be wonderful for training. But Ye Chong had a better idea, it would be great if one were to carry out pilot training there as well!

Like… he could try performing a Thomas's Spin with Mach 5 speed under 500% gravity pull, converting the figures, he would get a fancy quick consecutive trio of Thomas's Spin with a speed of Mach 10 instead! The biggest issue of traveling in mech for a pilot would be the burden to their body overtime, while this would be the core to complete all strategic movements and techniques.

Absolutely, Ye Chong was more than excited to check out this very place mentioned by Sang Pu, the gravity bind that strengthened your physique, the double-edged sword namely the strong gravity region…

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Chapter 269: Discovery

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The Sang family village was surrounded by the mountains, a hideous location for a living one could say, that any man, woman or child would frown upon. The beasts lurking around the corner had been technically wiped out over 500 years under the determined contribution by generations. Ye Chong, under the lead of Sang Pu, arrived by one piece of grassfield just a stone's thrown away from the village.

On the grassfield, an irregularly shaped circle of diameter about a kilometer was formed by the placement of a handful of rocks in different sizes. There were a few young adults carrying out their training there. They appeared to be quite young but the hushes created by the punches and kicks they pulled were not something to be overlooked.

"And sir…" Initiated Sang Pu, pointing at the circle, "This is the strong gravity region I had been telling you about. This encircled area has about 1.3 times the gravity outside. We found it to be perfect for adolescences who had undergone their puberty and possessed a considerable standard of technical achievement. As you can see, these were from the local shrine after completing the training course by their teachers. Once they left the shrine and are declared to be at completion of their course, they would be a warrior, a fighter, or a soldier in the field. And here, it does not matter whether you are a man or a woman, everyone must head to the shrine for combat training. This is what our lives depend on anyway."

Sang Pu was expressing nonchalance in his words, he seemed to be unworried of the issue, although Ye Chong did discern a hint of despair within.

"Sir… your arrival had brought us hope. Your emergence had given all of us hope. I sometimes did envy you and the outsiders, as to you, owning a mech seemed to be something like we did our gravity field training, but to us, owning a mech, is a legend itself. Hah… we don't really have that much to demand. We only hope for a weapon that could adequately support us through the darkest days…" Sang Pu's voice turned more confident, "Hmph, we are indeed, the strongest tribe here. 500 years had passed, we not only have the bravest warriors, occasionally we also have the wisest few men. Ironically, nobody had understood what was written on those chips. The wisest fews eventually spent their entire life, going by the most mundane method via experiments on all kinds of things they could find around their home. And they had found mildstone, they had discovered plants which could be used as a cure, they learned about bringing us lights in the dark with Hampered Bask, still… they could not find any way of the metallurgy. And likewise to their past counterparts, they died, regretfully."

And that was when Sang Pu set his eyes upon Ye Chong, passionately. The gaze lasted for a moment and the Sang burst out laughing, "What am I doing?? I'm just showing you the gravity field, why in the Archipelago I told you these? Mhm, it's alright, these aren't really much related to you, it's just the fate of our tribe. An unchangeable fate."

Ye Chong remained in silence. He was actually at loss of words, the proper words to tell.

"Well!" Bucked up Sang Pu, "Take a careful look at the region."

As requested, Ye Chong took a closer look at the gravity region, which frankly speaking, nothing particularly odd could be perceived, as Ye Chong took a second look and was bewildered by the lack of difference. If it was not that visible structure by the stones, he would not even have his attention on this ordinary piece of land, nor would he ever think that this piece of land turned out to be the strange gravity region the Sang had been talking about.

Ye Chong, looked at Sang Pu with confusion, shaking his head, "Nothing strange?"

"And so we thought back then," smiled Sang Pu. "Strong gravity region was a place of fatality but well, we still discovered it anyway. As mentioned before, take a look at the grasses. Of what difference they had with the grasses outside?"

Ye Chong shifted his attention over the grasses. A moment lapsed and he did observe something different. The grasses within the circle were much shorter than the grasses outside. A run in his schemata and he got it right away.

Sang Pu saw Ye Chong's expression and knew that his teacher had gotten it, the explanation went on however, "Due to the additional gravitation, the plants within the circle would have a certain degree of differences with their outside counterparts. The greater the difference between the gravitation of both sides, the more noticeable the plants between the boundary would look. This region for example, its forces were stronger than the outside, which caused the shorter height of grasses."

"What if there were no plants in the field?" hurriedly Ye Chong asked.

"You let the stone guide you," answered Sang Pu, with impression in his eyes.

And Ye Chong got it. Provided that there was a strong gravity region ahead, the tossed stone would fall with an unnatural curve. Well, that was rather a clever move, simple and practical, without needing the aid of an advanced machine. You only need one piece of rock you could find anywhere. Ye Chong could almost imagine that high and wild the rock would fly when it got tossed by the powerfully built villagers. The foreign zone might have a different level of gravity, but that should not hinder the overall velocity of the rock during the travel.

Such creativity, such genius! Exclaimed Ye Chong in his mind.

The few steps right before the circle were nothing much, the next step into the circle was… lumpy… one could say, as Ye Chong felt himself being pulled into the ground, his body was heavier, like tied with boulders over his limbs. Sang Pu in the meantime, was walking as normal.

The few young adults addressed Sang Pu respectfully upon seeing his arrival. Sang Pu returned with a smile and a tap at one of their shoulders, few compliments and words of encouragement were given then he led Ye Chong to one corner.

Ye Chong tried swinging his limbs. It literally felt like he was in an invisible bondage or something… Man, imagine the warriors who had undergone training like this, the body must be greater than the sun. Ye Chong could imagine the fact that Black Covers would inevitably lose if they were to have a fight with the warriors here, without the mech of course. They would be snapped to death in seconds.

He took a stroll around and realized that there *was* indeed not much of a difference other than the additional weight posed onto his body.

Within the gravity region, other than the purplish grasses that covered the area, there were a few tiny sprouts tinting the area. From a botanist's aspect, Ye Chong hypothesized these being a kind of fungi. The umbrella like structure on top was thick and was adorned with few white spots. Its grayish appearance was easily overlooked, but its size was a savior for it was humongous. Most of the umbrellas were about a diameter of a meter, the stem was extra thick, very contented kind of texture.

Ye Chong realized he had not seen fungi like this in his room before. As the curiosity of a chemist rang in his head, he asked, "What is this called?" His eyes watched the fungi carefully as he went to have a closer look.

"Portabella," concisely Sang Pu responded. "We called it 'Portabella', it might look soft but it's actually very hard, that it felt like you are biting on a piece of leather. It is not edible. Mostly it grows within the gravity region, very reproductive, but they only grow in trios. So you won't see a mushrooming flock of them on the field. We have yet discovered what it could do…"

Ye Chong gave a touch. It did feel really hard. The fleshy appearance was a lie.

His pupils enlarged as he lowered his back and dug that very piece of soil with caution. He gave a stare, and another, his heart raced as his mind went wild.

Could it be…

Wait no. He still needed to confirm his wild belief. Ye Chong sprang from the ground, straightened his back, "Sir? What's… wrong?" asked Sang Pu, as his sharp eyes discerned that unusual expression of Ye Chong.

Ye Chong did not reply. His eyes scurried around. And at the one other corner within the circle nearby, there were other trio of Portabella resting.

A tip to his toes, Ye Chong flung and launched himself like an eagle to the mushrooms. Sang Pu also reacted promptly as he followed his teacher's steps upon understanding what that gaze from his teacher meant.

Sang Pu acted like an explosive beast. It was a simple dash behind his teacher, yet it was speedy, with an indescribable grace.

Ye Chong jumped before the Portabellas and stomped to the ground, lowering himself as he searched through the gaps below.

I knew it! Ye Chong was breathing heavily, to extinguish that bit of flaring excitement, as he picked up that tiny speck of silver particles on interior of Portabella.

The particles were of sizes of green peas, with a dull surface, mixed within the soils. Nobody would have ever noticed their existence without proper observation.

"What are these?" Sang Pu asked, as he looked at the strange specks in Ye Chong's hand.

"This, is what we outsiders called, metal," glanced Ye Chong, he slowly spoke.

Sang Pu was as if struck by lightning, his widened eyes gazed upon the particles. So these are metals of the myths, longed by the Sang? Sang Pu shuddered to his realization.

Sang Pu only regained his calmness after a while. His shaking hand took one particle from Ye Chong and exerted his little bit of force, the particle flattened in his grip. His hope sank, the passion went extinguished, "What's the use of metals this soft?"

Ye Chong gave a kick to the Portabella, beside the thumping mushroom, "What's useful is this."

Ye Chong realized how he had been taking the wrong approach the whole time. He had been thinking of how to extract the Lavagold itself from the ore by exerting extremely amount of heat at once. So he had been desperately searching for a factor to trigger the high density of heat within mildstone to perform extraction.

That, was the approach of a metallurgy researcher. But he forgot the fact that he was also an alchemist.

There were already a series of tutorial of alchemy illustrating methods to obtain metals from the ore itself. However, metallic extraction was a much more simplified and convenient methodology, it had gone so common that Ye Chong already forgot the fact that an alchemist approach had ever existed.

Not till the moment he saw metallic particles underneath Portabella, he did not realize such a forgotten fact.

If Lunatic Guan was beside him, he probably would have been smacked on his head. Thought Ye Chong, as he smiled in wry. I had learned so much yet I only remembered this little, I hardly had anything that could be identified as a master of it… Even my martial arts expertise became nothing after I came to Sang family village.

The root of Portabella was so deep into the earth that, it felt like a carrot from the fairytale when both Ye Chong and Sang Pu tried pulling it out.

The remaining young adults stumbled upon the sight, it was certainly astonishing to see both grown men pulling and ravaging a poor stem of mushroom which refused to succumb to their violence and abuse. It stood firmly on the ground. "Hnnnnnng!" Both men were pounding each other, pulling a giant fungus off the ground. The scene was weird, really weird.

The fluttering spores stuck on their bodies, their faces were looking dusty and sweaty.

On the way back to the village, all villagers were grinning upon seeing Sang Pu. The face was beyond their understanding and no way they could look at it with a straight face, including the ladies who were covering their faces, snickering.

His face was covered with some unknown dirts while he was shouldering stem of an unknown plant. It would have not been so impulsive if the person was an ordinary villager. But it was Sang Pu, the candidate for the next village chief, a prestigious figure, the leader of the younger generation. That respect exerted by he himself, through that unchangeable calmness of his, now all eradicated by a stem of mushroom.

Sang Pu was blushing red as the flame, though his expression was grim. At least the blushes were covered by the spores, so nobody really saw how the next chief was feeling embarrassed.

Ye Chong in the meantime was tailing him, his indifference remained, unlike the poor chief.

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Chapter 270: The Cycle of Lavagold

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong was holding a piece of Lavagold plate in his hand. It glowed brilliantly, with ripples of curves over the surface. Imagine the craze that could happen if this piece of Lavagold ever rolled into one market of the 5 major galaxies! Exclaimed Ye Chong in his mind. It was reasonable as a piece of rare mineral would be far more precious than a piece of jewel. So, pieces like the Teardrop, the Do-Kun stone would be obviously something of the other world, with a heavenly price if one were to describe it.

The assistants around were expressing their overwhelmed excitement, as their eyes seemed to have been bewitched by the beauty of the Lavagold, they were intoxicated. And their eyes, when towards Ye Chong, were showing their highest regards and deepest respect.

Yes, you heard it right. There was more than one assistant, as the crew of Ye Chong had expanded from one single man called Sang Fan to a team of 5 members, whom the chief of the village selected from the young generation and all of them were intelligent and adaptive. Certainly Ye Chong knew the intention of the chief - he wanted more men of his to learn, whether they would learn a little bit or none, from this talented teacher of the outside world. Ye Chong would not reject this, considering having more assistants would do him no actual harm.

The 5 men of his team, despite having a rather weak foundation in their studies, possessed a one-of-a-kind diligence. They were the potential, a clay to be sculptured. Yes, one could agree that there would always be a difference in how talented a person would be compared to others, but that did not mean the innate talent could replace acquiring diligence. Though it did not mean Ye Chong would be motivated enough to teach them from the very first page of his textbook, he did not have the interest for that. Glad that Sang Fan was there to do the talking for him.

While they were progressing incredibly slow on metallurgy, they were learning fairly quick on alchemy, it felt somehow as if they were made for alchemy, which was shocking to Ye Chong. So Sang Fan explained, on one occasion when Ye Chong asked, that everyone here was very much exposed to the norm of distinguishing plants. And yes, the Guan's approach of alchemy was a product of the ancient botanical knowledge, and most of Ye Chong's alchemical processes were chiefly related to plants, so no doubt the men were progressing quickly.

And we did it!

Phew…

Ye Chong gave a sigh of relief. Although he had probably been completely isolated from the modernity while being stuck without the tools to perform even the most fundamental process of mineral extraction, he made it anyway, as he extracted the fluid from Portabella and produced a reagent with it to extract the Lavagold from the ore instead. The joy faded away quickly however, as he calmed down, remembering the fact that… he was in a race of time, where Mu Shang would never be able to last for him in all eternity.

I wonder… if Mu Shang were doing fine… Thought Ye Chong, his mind sinking into a fact that seemed to be changing history anytime.

He bucked up and spoke to Sang Fan, "Bring the chief here."

Sang Fan responded agreeably as he set off sprinting excitingly.

The piece of Lavagold flowed from one assistant to another, and every one of them was more than enthralled to see their breakthrough.

Ye Chong was pondering at the side. Yes, they did extract Lavagold successfully but it remained as a problem if they could massively extract and produce these golds. He did inquire Sang Fan on Portabella, the Sang's response was… Portabella was a common fungi indeed but not common enough in numbers, as it only grew within the gravity region. Assuming they had to go with the Lavagold option, the supply of Portabella would be an issue.

Noises poured from the outside suddenly, as a group of people flooded into the place, with the leading one, of course, the chief himself, while Sang Pu and Sang Ling tailed right behind.

"Did you get it sir?" Sang Pu could no longer hold his excitement, his voice was shaking, Sang Ling was also expressing that mesmerization towards Ye Chong.

"Mhm," nodded Ye Chong as he turned his head to the few assistants. And Sang De the really old shifted his sight along with Ye Chong's head and landed upon that piece of glittering precious resting in one of the assistant's hands. The old man's eyes sure were large, as his breathing intensified. The assistant went to the chief and passed him the Lavagold with both hands solemnly.

Loud gasps were heard in the room, along with few waves of whispers.

The old chief reached his trembling hands over that piece of beauty. His hands were so shaky that Ye Chong was worried if the chief, at this rate, would have funeral a week from today.

He had to admit that, the Lavagold was truly a beauty to behold, even for someone who had seen countless jewels and mineralites like Ye Chong, as he could imagine himself bowing before this piece of gorgeous. So it would not be far-fetched to see one man isolated from the world like Sang De the chief dramatically reacting towards Lavagold. But well, Ye Chong was more concerned about its functionality rather than its beauty. Lavagold was limited in number within the 5 major galaxies, and so were the researches about it, even the information in Mu's databank only contained a very vaguely described entry on it. Ye Chong did test out its functionality, briefly, of course. It could never be precisely accurate, but he believed in the excellence of this piece that it would surpass the alloys containing Black Gold.

Ye Chong learned a lot from the extraction process using alchemy's approach this time. Lots of stuffs regarding alchemy suddenly made very much sense to him ever since.

"Sir…" Spoke Sang Ling, "Why does the metal look… a little different than the color of the mechs in shrine?"

"Why must the metal have the same colors as the mech from shrine?" asked Ye Chong, bewildered.

"Because… weren't mechs from the Sanctuary made out of metals too?" The villagers could see Ye Chong slamming himself towards the ground.

Pure ignorance! Oh my Fal galaxy… Ye Chong looked at the breasts of Sang Ling. And one word, an odd terminology from Shang returned to his mind… what was it again? Dumb blonde? Wait, that was discriminative Shang said… Oh. Bimbo. Yeah. I guess it fits her."Brainless with great peaks!" Shang once said, hmmm… wow, first time a word from Shang that made logical sense, Shang actually wasn't talking meaningless crap the whole time…

And out of sudden… he missed the artificial indulgence.

The inappropriate gaze of Ye Chong was sending blushes over her face.

"Well…" And Ye Chong whispered his explanation, "This metal is known as the 'Lavagold'. The mech inside the shrine uses a metal known as the 'Tritanium', an alloy." The team of assistants, including Sang Fan, all took out a handy notebook from their pocket and jotted down the lesson of the day. And everybody else was stupefied by their synchronicity.

"So sir, what exactly is Tritanium? Which one is better? Lavagold or Tritanium?" asked Sang Fan courteously, while the other assistants were listening.

"Find it out yourself. The processor is there." Ye Chong was too lazy to elaborate, "For your information, Tritanium had been a goner since 300 years ago."

The diligence of the 5 young men was a satisfying sight to the chief, he spoke, "All of you shall learn something from your teacher. He is a very talented teacher and every word of his could count, learn even the tiniest bit of it and you would live with it for the rest of your life."

"Yes chief!"

"Yes!" The group hurriedly showed their approval. The little instance resolved that awkward situation of Sang Ling just now.

Sang Pu received the Lavagold from the chief and exerted brute force on it. The piece did not change at all! Not even a mark of his fingerprint! "Great!" Exclaimed Sang Pu and the whispers brewed again among the villagers as they stretched their neck, desperately trying to have a better look at that piece of precious.

"Sir, would it be possible…" Sang Pu's eyes were passionate, "for sir to turn this into a weapon?" The very question got everybody else as they held their respiration simultaneously, the hustle and bustled settled out of the blue.

Right, making a weapon had always been the primary concern of every Sang.

"Well…"

The eyes enlarged, the inhalation was intense.

"It's very likely."

And everyone was hurrahing for the talent.

The old chief was delighted, very delighted, as his voice shook, "G-great… whatever sir did, shall never be forgotten among our tribe. All of us, from one generation to another, shall never disregard the bestow sir made!"

Ye Chong was not taking that compliment happily, since obviously that piece of Lavagold would hardly do something if it was never possible to be massively produced in the first place.

"Hmmm…" Ye Chong spoke to the chief, "I did not expect the supply of Lavagold could be this rich, but I would need more Portabella mushrooms if I were to produce weapons."

"Porta…bella?" asked the chief, certainly he did not get it.

"Yes, Portabella," nodded Ye Chong, "Its fluid would be the main material to extract Lavagold from its ore. But as far as I know, the amount of Portabella was not motivating here."

"Hmmm…" The chief pondered, "Now that is some problem."

"C-chief!" One hoarse voice rang from the crowd, "It's not a problem!" A shriveled looking elderly walked to the front, the strands of beard were giving him some unfriendliness…

Ye Chong's stare was strange so the chief quickly made an introduction, "This is our healer, Sang Ru Bei, also the most knowledgeable man regarding plants."

That pair of little eyes of Sang Ru Bing shone, "I had researched on Portabella mushrooms for some time. They do grow solely within the strong gravity boundary, but cultivating it would not be challenging. We could take a few gravity region as a cultivation for Portabella."

"Fair enough! I'll have you do lead the job! You could take anyone in the village for you. Just make sure the Portabellas are coming!" the chief decisively stated.

"Yes chief," replied Sang Ru Bei politely.

"Sir…" asked the chief, "I wonder would it be possible to make one weapon with the Lavagold now…?"

Ye Chong hesitated a moment… "Hmm, this piece of Lavagold is a bit too small to make a full metallic weapon. I could make it into a few blades for your spear, just tie it on the bitterwoods."

"As you have suggested," responded the chief.

"Now…" Ye Chong turned to his assistants, "Reagent No.1 and No.3, Powdered Emerald and Powdered Zinc."

The assistants began moving. Swiftly they brought the reagents and powdered minerals to their teacher. Although they had yet mastered much on the theoretical part, they had much practical.

Sang Fan quickly placed every utensil on the table for Ye Chong.

The teacher would be actually producing something live! Everyone was interested and nobody was willing to leave, their necks extended, their eyes were glued upon the hands of the master, as they feared missing one moment of the show. They held the breath carefully, fearing their pointless breathing would disrupt the teacher's production.

Blurp… Blurp…

Ye Chong placed the Lavagold into a container and poured the reagents one at a time. Very soon after the solid gold melted into a splash of glittering yellow. It did not mix with the reagent however, it just reacted towards it. It felt like magic in the eyes of the villagers, even though it was merely another day of being an alchemist for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong discarded the reagents, leaving the liquid of Lavagold in the container. He then sprinkled Powdered Emerald thoroughly over the surface, which turned the liquid into a gluey texture, fluffy and tangible. It was another beauty… an adorable beauty… thought Sang Ling as she saw the gold dancing like cotton candy in Ye Chong's hands.

Women could say no to cutesy things.

The other villagers were so amazed that they did not even blink their eyes.

Ye Chong's expression remained unchanged, as he mumbled, "Mold," after 30 seconds.

Sang Fan passed the mold to Ye Chong immediately.

He took the mold and sprinkled the interior with Powdered Zinc, while his other hand lifted a piece of polished wood chip and sliced one piece of Lavagold jelly. He then took a pair of pliers, made out of wood of course, picked the jelly and stuffed it into the mold. A firm press was given and any portion beyond the mold was sliced off by the chip.

3 minutes passed, Ye Chong lifted the mold and gently tilted it over the table.

Klink! A blade fell out of the mold, giving a clear sound on the table. Ye Chong took the blade and wiped the zinc off the surface. The blade was glowing in Lava Gold.

"Done. Now, just give a nice polish on the blade itself."

The villagers were staring at the Lavagold spearhead, blatantly overjoyed but they behaved themselves when they turned their head over Ye Chong, blatantly respectful.

Humans… were always the frightened kind in front of the unknown.

"So…" Ye Chong looked at the remaining jellies, "Have a try too," he said to his assistants, asking them to be a part of the cycle of Lavagold, from solid to liquid, liquid to solid.

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Chapter 271: An Anxious Heart

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Work was progressing fast. Sang Fan and others quickly got proficient at their tasks. Using alchemy to build metal weapons was easy, requiring little effort from the weapon smiths themselves. With Ye Chong's permission, Sang Fan and the team pushed strongly for the other villagers to join in. Now, almost everyone had the skills required.

Cultivation of the gray mushrooms was also going smoothly. Sang Rubei had studied plants for years, and quickly identified the optimal cultivation conditions. They had even found a few areas with suitable strength of gravitational force to cultivate the mushrooms.

The Sang Family Village gave their all in these revolutionary changes. With the exception of the hunting troop, all other young men were sent to mine lavagold ores, while the women learned to cultivate gray mushrooms from Sang Rubei.

The hunting troop were all equipped with new pikes. Lavagold heads were fastened to the bitterwood shafts. The sharpened and polished lavagold head gleamed with a beautiful and deadly luster, envied by the rest of the villagers. However, the thought of having one for each of them soon encouraged them to work much harder. A warrior's love for weapons was like a playboy's love for beautiful women.

The first the new pike tips were used, the hunters returned with glorious fruits of labor. Their first catch was thrice the number of usual hunts. Old Sang De was all smiles looking at the huge pile of dead prey. This proved the incontrovertible power of metal weapons. All the villagers treated Ye Chong with the utmost respect. This was a respect born out of the hope that he had given to them. To receive advice from the man was the dream of every member of the younger generation.

Hence, when Ye Chong asked the village head for more helpers, all the young people except for Sang Ling came to Sang De to volunteer. Even Sang Pu could not help but try it himself, but was lectured by Old Sang De instead.

In the end, Old Sang De chose 10 people, all aged between 13 and 14 years old. These young people were more malleable and receptive to new ideas.

Ye Chong needed help for his current project. He had left the metal weapon forging work to Sang Fan. Now, he was focused on his new research - the mildstone.

It was a race against time. His objective was to save Mu, Shang and the rest. Everything else was meaningless without achieving this.

This d*mned mildstone! Ye Chong still could not figure out how to harvest its potential energy. This was the biggest obstacle for Ye Chong now. Without energy, he could do nothing. Ye Chong knew that the metal weapons would improve the lives of the Shang Family villagers, but they would not help with rescuing Mu, Shang and the rest.

Ye Chong was now considering the idea of using alchemy to harvest the energy within the mildstone.

After all this while, Ye Chong was more knowledgeable in alchemy. He was beginning to learn to think from an alchemist's point of view.

This research was never done before. In the chip left by Lunatic Guan, Ye Chong could find nothing on this mineral. However, reality forced Ye Chong to deal with it head on. He must try everything he could think of.

Ye Chong never liked to express his emotions. In fact, he had done so but Mu, Shang had never discussed about this. He never imagined that Mu and Shang would be separated from him. It came to be that Mu and Shang had become an integral part of his life. When he was first separated from them, he was struck with moments of loss and helplessness, but he quickly found another reason to strive besides surviving - rescuing Mu and Shang.

All this while, Mu and Shang took the role of protectors, while Ye Chong had never done anything for them. Now, they were stuck in the Red Sea, their fates unclear. Ye Chong must rescue them, but not out of so-called gratefulness. It was simply what he had to do.

Alchemy required knowing the material's properties. This was the most basic principle for every field. Alchemy used plants, but all the plants here were new to Ye Chong. He knew less of the plants here than the children of the Sang Family Village, but unlike them, he was also equipped with the skills of a scientist.

To know more about the plants would require continuous experimentation. Usually, Ye Chong would do it all by himself. It would take time, but that way he would understand even more about the plants.

Now, however, Ye Chong lacked time.

Hence, he needed helpers. The villagers here were all very familiar with the native plants, and most suitable for the role. With them, Ye Chong need only explain the experimental procedures, and leave the execution and documentation of results to them. This way, he could speed up the research significantly. Even Sang Fan was called to join in this research project.

No one doubted Ye Chong's research. In fact, they all came, full of reverence, to the laboratory that seemed so sacred to them, even though to Ye Chong, the lab was badly under-equipped and primitive.

They were instilled with knowledge of all kinds of plants from a young age. This was knowledge accumulated over time from the previous generations, sometimes at the cost of their lives. Their understanding allowed them to learn alchemy more easily and quickly, as they picked up the skills for laboratory work. Hence, Ye Chong gave them full control of their own experiments on various plants, only asking that they record all experiment procedures and results. As for Ye Chong, he had to analyze all these results, aside from running his own experiments.

Ye Chong was now slowly getting used to the environment of strong gravity. Even in this hectic situation, Ye Chong did not forget to train himself. Everyone here was a warrior, and Ye Chong did not lack sparring partners. Ye Chong learned quickly, impressing his sparring partners. They all admired how smart he was, to pick up even combat skills so quickly.

Even Ye Chong was surprised at his own improvement. Ye Chong's physical strength had long reached a bottleneck, and the occasional improvements were only in small leaps. Ye Chong had repeatedly thought that he had reached the limits of the human body. Now, however, with the strong gravity environment, he found that his body was also strengthening quickly to keep up. He was finally breaking through this bottleneck. It happened so fast that sometimes Ye Chong would feel imbalanced in his own body. This was why, despite the urgency of his objective, he was still determined to train himself.

As for Ye Chong's helpers, they were all busy, all the time. Ye Chong was almost embarrassed with himself, watching them so focused in their work. There was finally hope for this centuries-old tribe. The sudden burst of energy they showed had surprised Ye Chong

His research progressed quickly. With Sang Rubei in the team, they advanced leaps and bounds. This made Ye Chong realized something - an expert was more useful than a bunch of newbies.

Every day, Ye Chong analyzed the research results, and keyed them into the photon processor in a new database.

Time passed by, but Ye Chong had not found a way to harvest energy from the mildstone. He was growing more anxious by the day, but was helpless at the same time.

In the strong gravity region, Ye Chong trained intensively. The days passed, and he felt more and more pressured. If it were anyone else, he would not be so affected. However, this was Mu and Shang. He was greatly troubled.

As he trained, he grew stronger and stronger. Ye Chong was now a formidable fighter, even for Sang Pu.

Ye Chong swinged and kicked faster and faster. He was anxious deep inside, and could not help but let out a long howl. His voice echoed throughout the lands. The usually crowded strong gravity region was empty, since the villagers had all gone to mine lavagold.

It had been three months since he was separated from Mu and Shang. Harvesting the mildstone's energy, building a skeleton-made flying transport, and teaching the Sang Family villagers to fly them all seemed to be so far away. He thought of Coxcomb, Mu and Shang, trapped in the Red Sea, and felt renewed anxiety.

Everything in the strong gravity region became his victims. Ye Chong punched and kicked, and everything hit crumbled easily. Even the ground, tough as steel, dented in many places.

Before entering Archipelago, Ye Chong could punch through alloy doors with his bare hands. Now, he was stronger than the average Sang Family villager. However, Ye Chong did not feel like he had attained Jie. Lan Yixing's chip had informed him that when a combat expert reached a certain level of skills, he would experienced a bottleneck. Some would never break through this bottleneck, but the ones who did will attain Jie.

Jie experts were the most formidable. They were more knowledgeable in combat techniques than any ordinary combat expert, but most importantly, they had extra extraordinary abilities.

Lan Yixing, for example, was able to control his muscles to a mind bending extent when he attained Jie. These were biologically impossible feats. Besides, his senses were greatly heightened.

All these special features in Jie experts were absent in Ye Chong right now. Ye Chong believed that he must be even stronger than Lan Yixing now, but he still had not attained Jie. However, the chip had said that only a Jie expert can defeat another Jie expert.

"It looks like I'm a weirdo, after all," Ye Chong thought wryly to himself. Fortunately, he did not mind about attaining Jie or not. To him, strength was his priority. If he could defeat a Jie expert, then it did not matter if he was not a Jie expert anyway.

The Sang Family's battle techniques had influenced Ye Chong a lot. Now, Ye Chong's combat style had changed drastically. He had combined the essences of combat from the September Lan family, Black Cove and the Sang family, such that his techniques could be considered an entirely different style altogether.

Bare handed combat was not that important to Ye Chong, not like mech combat. However, he still could not find an energy replacement so far. Ye Chong dared not withdraw Han Jia to train, since the remaining energy must be conserved in cases of emergency.

After venting out his frustration, Ye Chong felt a lot better. He was about to return to his laboratory when he saw someone running to him. Ye Chong squinted, and saw that it was Sang Pu.

Sang Pu was quick. He was by the boundary of the strong gravity region in the blink of an eye, and easily crossed the boundary without stopping.

Seeing Sang Pu in a rush, Ye Chong guessed that he must be here for him.

As expected, when Sang Pu saw Ye Chong, he began urgently, "Sir, please come quick."

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Chapter 272: Nonlinear Cobalite

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong followed Sang Pu to the lavagold mining site. The mining site was crowded, all of them strong, young men. Ye Chong imagined that almost all of the much stronger villagers must have been dispatched here. Beside the mining site was a small hill of lavagold ore, still covered in mud and not yet transported into the village.

The mining site was now a secured site for the Sang Family Village. To prevent wild animal attacks, almost all the villagers were sent here to sweep the area. A security ring was also formed around the perimeter of the mining site, showing just how much the villagers cared about this mining site.

"Sir, this way please." Sang Pu led Ye Chong to one of the dugout holes of the lavagold mining site.

This mining site was now much larger and deeper than when Ye Chong first inspected the area. He could smell the wet earth, hear the metallic clangs from the mining work further away. The villagers did not stop working because of his arrival. They were using very primitive tools, mostly made of everthorn wood. While everthorn was not as resilient as bitterwood, it was much tougher and, considering the lack of other metal instruments, a good choice of material.

Ye Chong approached the mining dugout, and the village miners quickly made way for him.

The dugout was quite deep, and at the bottom was smoke-gray soil. This was odd. Ye Chong remembered clearly that the soil was brown when they first started mining. He had never seen gray soil like this before, and it was quite strange.

Ye Chong said nothing as he leaped straight into the dugout.

He bent down and dug up a handful of the gray soil. It felt heavy and tightly packed.

"We came up to this layer of gray earth today. The layer is too hard. We only managed to dig slightly deeper after a whole afternoon, so I thought you should see it, sir." Sang Pu explained. Ye Chong did not expect there to be such a layer of hard gray soil deep under, mixed in with the lavahold ore. The gray layer was extremely hard. Metal instruments might make work easier, but the villagers only had everthorn wood instruments, which made progress harder and much slower. Besides, the everthorn instruments were already quite worn out, slowing their progress even further.

Ye Chong did not seem to hear Sang Pu, his eyes staring straight at the soil beneath. Ye Chong almost choked himself! He did not hear a word from Sang Pu, his eyes completely focused on the thumb-sized gray crystals mixed together with the gray soil.

He carefully picked out one of the gray crystals and put it on his palm, studying it closely.

It was nonlinear cobalite! He recognized it immediately, and was positively overjoyed by the discovery. This was one of the materials he had been searching for. Nonlinear cobalite was an important material to harvest energy from teardrop mineralite. With this mineral, the teardrop mineralite would be more than just a decoration. A teardrop mineralite powered mech or warship was truly terrifying - that was the conclusion that Ye Chong, Mu and Shang had arrived at after detailed calculations!

However, Ye Chong's mood quickly dampened. While he was indeed searching for nonlinear cobalite, this was not what he needed the most right now. Ye Chong smiled wryly as he casually picked out a few of them. He had only three teardrop mineralites; they would not need so much nonlinear cobalite. Just as he was about to leave, Ye Chong suddenly had an epiphany.

Abruptly, Ye Chong stood up, his eyes widened.

He pulled Sang Pu to him and gave a few instructions before running back to the village. Sang Pu was worried that Ye Chong might come across any danger, and so ordered a few men to follow him back.

Sang Pu watched helplessly at Ye Chong's quickly disappearing figure. The problem before him was still unsolved. It seemed that it was up to him in the end.

Ye Chong ran like the wind, and finally arrived at his laboratory. The helpers stared at his rushed entrance. To them, the man was always calm and collected, to an eerie degree. Many times they wondered if he would have any other expression on his face.

Ye Chong ignored them and went straight to his workbench.

Night fell.

Sang Fan was the second last person to leave the lab, leaving Ye Chong alone. As he left, he quietly closed the laboratory door behind him with deference. Ye Chong was completely engrossed in his experiment, and did not notice Sang Fan's exit.

As he stepped outside the lab, Sang Fan finally felt fatigue overtaking him. The intense work every day left him sleepy by the end of the day. It was dark outside, and aside from the patrols, everyone in the village had slept. During the day, everyone worked long and hard. All the villagers knew that the Sang family was undergoing a transformation, one they had waited for centuries. There was no need for further motivation. Everyone did their part earnestly.

A breeze swept by. The Sang Family Village was like a youth, full of hope for the future as it fell silent at night. Sang Fan finally reached home, and went to bed straight away.

Boom!

There was a loud explosion. The violent explosion woke up the entire village. People began to run towards the explosion site. They were the village's elites, and responded the fastest, running out without even taking off their sleeping gowns. Soon, the entire Sang Family Village came alive, as the villagers lighted up their homes.

All the villagers were shocked. They had never heard such a loud sound before. With their primitive ways, there was never an explosion to begin with. However, none of the villagers showed fear.

Soon, they found the source of the explosion. It was Ye Chong's laboratory!

The villagers got worried. The man was very important to them, the only hope for their future.

Thick, white smoke was coming from the laboratory. The smoke was so thick, it looked solid. Was the lab on fire? Old Sang De was startled. He ran towards the lab, ahead of everyone else despite his age, and shouted, "Pu, put out the fire!"

Sang Pu acknowledged, his expression unchanged, but his eyes betrayed his emotions. He waved, and the villagers around him began to fetch water containers.

Before he reached the lab, Old Sang De ordered, "Cheng, go have a look."

A dark and athletic man beside Old Sang De acknowledged, and made to run into the smoke.

Just then, out came a man from the white smoke. It was night time, but all the villagers knew it was Ye Chong.

Seeing Ye Chong unharmed, Old Sang De was overjoyed. "You alright, sir?"

Ye Chong waved slightly and said, "I'm fine." He was a sorry figure, his clothing covered with holes, with some places burnt into crisps. His hair was all ruffled like a bird's nest, and his face was covered with soot.

The villagers were curious. Just what experiment was he up to, to lead to such a violent ending?

Ye Chong may look pitiful, but his eyes were shining with a rare glint of joy.

He had a breakthrough! He had finally found the solution! He could now harvest the energy from the mildstone. The discovery of the nonlinear cobalite had urged him to consider, if the mineral could be used to harvest energy from teardrop mineralite, could it also be used for the mildstone?

Ye Chong had returned to the lab and began experimenting immediately. His suspicion proved to be true! He had finally found the key to the mildstone problem, but the explosion had occurred since he could not control the energy release well. Fortunately, Ye Chong reacted in that split second and avoided the explosion. Even so, he was still completely covered in soot.

It was only an accident, with no casualties. However, when villagers entered the lab, seeing the mess inside, they found that the solid rock workbench was reduced to rubble, and gasped in surprise! What powerful destruction! Their first impression of this unknown power was mysteriousness and invincibility. They also associated this impression with the man who created this power. Ye Chong could see the villagers looking at him with reverence.

Ye Chong was relieved to find that the photon processor was safely sitting in its corner. This was his most advanced "weapon". Ye Chong's helpers had arrived, and were shocked to see the state of the lab. However, they took a glance at Ye Chong and realized immediately that it was his handiwork, and so began to clean up the lab.

In the coming days, Ye Chong stopped his training routine and worked on the mildstone. Now that he found the key, research progressed smoothly. Sang Fan and others did not know what Ye Chong was doing with the mildstone everyday, but they knew that the tasks assigned to them were important. They must analyze all the native plants and ores, and record the results in the photon processor to build a complete database. While they did not understand the bigger picture that their tasks were leading towards, they still continued to work earnestly, including the elderly Sang Rubei.

The way Ye Chong was, it would only be weirder if he explained his intentions to them.

Every member of the Sang Family Village were put to use, and the military discipline had raised their efficiency. When Ye Chong was done with the most important experiment and left the lab, he was surprised to find that everyone was already equipped with a metal weapon. They were all jubilant and excited, and the atmosphere was a cheerful one. Not only that, even the tools in the women's hands were made of lavagold.

With the exception of Ye Chong, no one knew what an uproar their primitive and simple lavagold tools would cause if they ever made their way to the Five Galaxies!

Ye Chong's expression did not change, but he was moved inside. All of a sudden, he recalled the times when he dug out some useful treasure out of the trash mountains on the trash planet. Back then, he would be so happy and excited from his findings, but as he learned more and more, these treasures became fewer and fewer. Given that he had seen even the rare minerals like the Do Kun stone and the teardrop mineralite, there were not many things left that he could be excited about.

"Sir, the database is about complete!" Sang Fan came to Ye Chong's side and reported.

Ye Chong was surprised. "So soon?" He had expected the work to be dry and time-consuming.

Sang Fan explained, "Grandpa Bei joined us, so we finished faster than expected." Ye Chong realized then. Sang Fan stood at attention, hands at his sides, looking like a completely different person. He was now more mature, only his eyes would sometimes betray his once youthful liveliness.

In theory, he had already found a workable solution. The main experiments were completed, and it was time to build the final product. If the engines worked, then he would be able to build flying machines. He would then be one step closer towards saving Mu and Shang.

"How are they doing now?" Ye Chong wondered to himself, and was for a brief moment, lost in thought.

Sang Fan looked strangely at Ye Chong. Melancholy looked odd on the face of a man who was usually cold and expressionless. "Sir must have his own stories to tell," Sang Fan thought to himself. The world outside must definitely be more interesting than here.

"Where can I find wild animals nearby?" Ye Chong asked abruptly.

Sang Fan broke off his thoughts and answered reflexively, "Turn left from the village exit, and go past two hills. There are plenty there."

"Let's go. Lead the way," Ye Chong spoke crisply.

"Oh, alright," Sang Fan answered almost instinctively. He took a step forward, but quickly realized his own confusion. "Why do you want the animals, sir?" He groaned inwardly. Wild animals were always the Sang family's greatest enemy. In the past five centuries, all members of the Sang family had fought against the beasts. Even though they were all equipped with metal weapons now, it was still not enough to give them a definite advantage.

The man might not know of the ferocity of the wild animals on Archipelago, but Sang Fan would, having grown up here himself. He decided to advise the man against meddling with the animals. However, he was not sure if he would succeed. If the man was determined, then he would have to ask the village head to assign him with guards.

"I need skeletal material," Ye Chong answered succinctly.

"Skeletal material? You mean animal bones?" Sang Fan asked, curious. It was the first time he heard of the bones being referred to this way.

Ye Chong nodded. "Yes."

Sang Fan heaved a sigh of relief, and his expression relaxed. "I see, I know just the place!'

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Chapter 273: Destiny Engine, Simplified

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong followed Sang Fan. They did not leave the village, but headed towards the back instead. Ye Chong had never been here before. His days in the village had been spent on research almost every day, and he had never bothered to study the area. If this was in the past, Ye Chong would see it as a fatal mistake.

Unlike in the Five Galaxies, Ye Chong saw no one idling. All the villagers walked around purposefully.

Sang Fan pointed to a cavern in the mountain ahead and introduced to him, "Right in front is where the bone dumping site is, there's plenty of bones there. Maybe they'll suit your purpose, sir?"

The cavern entrance was not large, probably allowing only two of three mechs to enter side by side. However, for Sang Fan and Ye Chong, it was wide enough.

Once he entered the cavern, Ye Chong stared in shock!

There were mountains of them! Here were truly mountains of skeletons. They reminded Ye Chong of the trash mountains on the trash planet, only now they were mountains of bones.

Sang Fan explained, "The animals we hunted, we eat their meat and take their hide, but the bones are useless. They're too many of them, though, and it's not good to just throw them anywhere we wished, so we chose a place to dump them. Usually, no one comes here, except for the youngsters."

Ye Chong recovered himself by then, and asked, "What for?"

"The bones are strong, and sometimes colorful, making good and lasting ornaments or jewelry. It's been long since people used them to make love tokens, and it has since become tradition. We call them skeleton love tokens. Every young person, man or woman, has to learn how to make them to propose for marriage. The skeleton love token must be made by hand, or it'll not be convincing." Sang Fan quickly added, "Making skeleton love tokens is tough work, relying only on water to shape the bones. The stronger the skeleton used, the better. We didn't have lavagold before, so we'd use rocks to shape the skeletons. A complicated design could take months, and the chances of success in your first try is very low. So, generally speaking, if you don't really love your partner, you wouldn't even try making this skeleton love token."

As Ye Chong listened to Sang Fan, he could almost hear Shang sighing in his head, "These days, no matter where you are, girls are so hard to get!"

Ye Chong suddenly turned to Sang Fan and asked, "Have you ever tried making one?"

Sang Fan immediately blushed, and answered awkwardly, "Ye - Yes."

Ye Chong was amused by his reaction, and asked again, "For whom?"

Sang Fan blushed into an even darker red, and replied very quietly, "Sang Ling."

Ah, no wonder Sang Ling had looked at him apprehensively that time when Sang Fan was injured. She was probably mad that he did not interfere earlier. They were actually a pair. Ye Chong was no longer as obtuse in these matters as he was before.

However, understanding their relationship did not mean approving her reaction. Everyone had their preferred style of doing things. Given the chance, Ye Chong would not change what he did back then.

Ye Chong looked back at the mountains of skeletons, his eyes that were usually calm as ice were now burning fervently. There was probably no skeleton artisan who could stay looking at so many skeletons. Ye Chong certainly could not.

What excited him was not the volume, but the quality of these skeletons. Ye Chong had seen plenty of skeletons himself, and he tell just by looking the properties of these skeletons. Here, in the mountains of skeletons, their quality was enough to blow his mind!

Heavens! What was this place? Ye Chong felt like sighing out loud. There was lavagold, then nonlinear cobalite, and other rare ores. Even the skeletons were all top class. It seemed like the Heavens was trying to compensate for the Sang family's suffering by offering these rarities during their long centuries of suffering.

With strong gravity, skeletons of the native animals were denser than normal, and that was why they had excellent quality. Ye Chong realized this some time later.

After selecting a few suitable skeletons, Ye Chong and Sang Fan returned to the laboratory. Sang Fan was vexed. What would the man need skeletons for? Could it be to make a skeleton love token? The thought was rejected immediately. With his cold temperance, how would he? Besides, based on the size of the skeletons, it seemed even more unlikely.

Back in the lab, Ye Chong first built a few odd-looking tools, all made from lavagold.

What he did next left Sang Fan and the rest of his helpers stunned.

Ye Chong used his handmade tools and began to work on the skeletons. The skeletons began to take on different shapes as Ye Chong worked, all looking odd and unusual. The helpers discussed among themselves, trying to guess what he was up to, but to no avail. However, they all agreed on one thing, which was that he was not making any jewelry at all.

Even so, the man's craftsmanship was enough to make them jealous. The skeletons may look odd after shaping, but they were all intricate and well crafted. They were so interesting that even the village head stopped to have a good look at the incomplete project components when he was visiting. If someone had the master's skills, the skeleton love token he made would definitely …

The youngsters who had not made their own skeleton love tokens decided then that, when the man was finished with his project, they would ask for him to teach them how to carve skeletons. With this skill, the skeleton love tokens they make would be lovely, and the perfect gift to win the hearts of their love interests. For now, however, they dared not interrupt Ye Chong. They waited, interested and expectant of the project that he was working on.

With Ye Chong himself doing the actual work, his impeccable skills were fully displayed. The young men all watched with great reverence and respect.

Ye Chong finally stopped working. Before him were all the skeletal parts he had made, neatly arranged on the workbench.

The moment everyone was waiting for had finally arrived. Knowing that Ye Chong would complete his project today, even the usually indifferent village head, Old Sang De came to have a look himself. Together with him were Sang Pu, Sang Ling and the others. They all watched Ye Chong quietly from the side.

Ye Chong had gone through the designs at least a dozen times, and he checked the skeleton parts until he was finally satisfied. He breathed in deeply a few times, his expression solemn, and began to put the parts together. He picked up the parts quickly, and assembled them easily and accurately. He moved confidently with a sense of familiarity, as though he had practiced more than a few times, in a stunning rhythm of motion.

Everyone in the lab was surprised to no end. They did not know what Ye Chong as up to, but that did not stop them from appreciating the significance of this assembling work. Ye Chong's hands moved gracefully like a magician's, the natural flow touching the hearts of his audience. He was like the perfect image of proficiency and accuracy.

Everyone watched Ye Chong's hands as they moved here and there on the workbench. In the silent room, one could only hear the soft clink of skeleton parts being fitted together. No one blinked. They were all curious - what was the flawless final product that would be born from his pair of hands?

Ding! The final part was assembled in place. Ye Chong looked at his work, satisfied. Considering the lack of more precise instruments, he was at least satisfied with this level of work. While he was already aware of it, the toughness of the skeletons still surprised him. He had worn out at least a few lavagold tools.

Unlike Ye Chong, the other people in the room seemed disappointed. That was because the final product looked terrible. It was made up of skeletons in various colors, shaped like a huge egg. With the exception of a few see-through holes, the surface of the egg was dull and uninteresting.

"Sir, what is this?" Sang Fan voiced out the question in everyone's mind.

"Engine," Ye Chong succinctly.

Confusion showed on everyone's face. The term was too unfamiliar to them.

"It's the core of a mech," said Ye Chong.

His audience realized then. All their confusion was thrown out the window, replaced with great respect. To them, mechs had always represented power, a most formidable and mysterious power! One of the helpers who had wanted to touch the engine quickly pulled his hand back.

Could it be, that the man wanted to build a mech? Some of the smarter ones realized this. If that was the case, then …

Their faces lit up with uncontained joy.

Ye Chong ignored them, however, deep in his own thoughts. The engine was designed based on the Destiny engine model. It was powered by the mildstone, which he recently had a breakthrough with.

Now, it was time for the final test.

Ye Chong opened a flap, and slipped in a square mildstone that he had shaped earlier into an indentation inside the engine. He closed the flap and pressed on the ignition button. The engine began to hiss on the workbench. The holes in the engine blew a steady airstream. Sang Fan and the rest stared in awe.

The engine was running steadily.

Ye Chong's face was calm as ever, but his hands were gripping tightly - success!

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Chapter 274: Sang Family Village - Battle for Survival I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

On the hilltop beside the village stood Old Sang De and some other villagers. They did not look as assured as they usually were. Their faces were white as sheets. Even Ye Chong's expression showed a little worry.

Far away, a black horizon seemed to creep closer and closer towards them. They could all see it, clear as day.

It was a stampede of wild animals, heading their way. It was a magnificent view, such that even Ye Chong, who did not lack experience with grand situations, felt slightly chilled inside. The stampede was made up of all kinds of animals. However, they did not seem bothered with each other, running like their lives depended on it, as though something terrifying was coming after them from behind.

Everything seemed tiny compared to this animal stampede. Nothing could stand in its way.

Rumble! Rumble!

The earth shook. The stampede was loud. No one could remain calm against this adversary.

Ye Chong was the first to recover from his initial shock. He turned to the pale village head, Old Sang De and asked, "What's happening?"

Old Sang De did not seem like himself, only muttering incoherently, "How could this be … How could this be …"

Everyone was panicking. Ye Chong could only turn back to look at the stampede as he waited for them to calm down. The stampede was still some distance away. Besides, judging from the direction of movement, the animals would probably pass by the plains in front of the Sang Family Village.

As everyone stood around in shock, Ye Chong sat in a corner as he waited for them to calm down in order to find out what was happening. He could see from their looks that they knew what was happening, but were strongly affected by it.

Ye Chong did not panic, nor did he get too excited. He watched calmly like a third party observer. The ground beneath him shook, and the rumbling sound came like thunder from afar. Ye Chong watched calmly at the animals running for their lives.

'"What's happening?" After a while, Ye Chong asked calmly, pointing towards the stampede. He had heard Old Sang De's breathing becoming calmer.

Old Sang De answered with a trembling voice, "It's the beast stampede … The beast stampede … 10 years … There should be 10 more years …" Old Sang De spoke hopelessly.

Beast stampede? Ye Chong did not understand.

Old Sang De vented his frustration for a while before finally calming down, and began to explain to Ye Chong about the beast stampede.

The beast stampede happens once every 200 years. These wild animals were herded. Archipelago's beast stampede was caused by the migration of a particular species of bird. The steelbat was a bird species that lived in the deepest parts of the Archipelago, and the real king of this world. Their sharp claws and steely beaks and legs could break through the defenses of a scalex, king of the land animals. With the exception of the animals that lived underwater, the steelbats were the nemesis of all other beasts. This supremacy was a result of their ability to fly.

The most terrifying thing about the steelbats was that they always come in swarms, in the hundreds and thousands.

The beast stampede was caused by these steelbats. Every 200 years, the steelbats would migrate. They could group together and fly towards the other side of the Archipelago. Steelbats liked to kill during their migration. Any animals in their way would be killed. With the advantage of flight, they were an uncontrollable killing wave. Hence, about three months before the migration began, the sensitive animals would run desperately to save themselves, hence causing the beast stampede.

Ye Chong was speechless. He never imagined that an animal could be so terrifying. However, he quickly accepted the fact. It was logical that the flying steelbats had the definite upper hand. Besides, with their offensive claws and beaks, it was no wonder that they were at the top of the food chain.

Old Sang De felt hopeless. "I didn't think that the beast stampede this time would happen 10 years earlier. It looks like we'll have to move with the beasts. But we're not prepared this time, we're not …" Everyone looked grim. A large scale migration was not so easy to achieve. No one knew what lay ahead. Without preparation, a long distance migration like this would be disastrous for the villagers.

"We're migrating too?" Ye Chong asked abruptly.

Old Sang De replied helplessly, "Or what? The steelbats always come in huge waves. According to our ancestors, whenever the steelbats come, they would cover the skies. The migration would take an entire month. No one wants to leave here. We don't even know what's ahead of our journey. However, we're defenseless against the steelbats." Old Sang De looked pathetic, and the people around him also wore saddened expressions.

"The beast stampede happens three months before the steelbats migrate, right?" Ye Chong asked suddenly.

"Yes," Old Sang De answered carelessly.

"Three months …" Ye Chong muttered as he made a quick estimation. If they migrate now, no one knew when they would reach safety. His plan to safe Mu and Shang would also be ruined.

"Those d*mned steelbats!" Ye Chong cursed inwardly at the species that he had never even met before.

According to Old Sang De, the steelbats were very formidable. However, Ye Chong believed that no matter how powerful animals were, they were still animals, and could never compete against humans. If they had mechs, they would never be so afraid of the steelbats! In the Five Galaxies, there were even adventurers who specialized in hunting mutants.

"Mechs!" Ye Chong realized then. "That's right, mechs!"

Ye Chong did a quick calculation in his mind, and made his decision.

Ye Chong asked Old Sang De, "The migration this time, how many do you think will survive it?"

The question was the centre of Old Sang De's worries. He replied in a frail voice, "If we're lucky, maybe a third of us. The mayaberries still need another two months to ripen. We don't have enough food." However, he quickly gathered himself and said, "Don't worry, sir, we will ensure your safety. Once we reach our new home, you'll be able to help us thrive again, sir." Old Sang De looked to Ye Chong sincerely.

"I have a plan," Ye Chong said plainly, looking straight back at Old Sang De.

The atmosphere in the Sang Family Village was hectic. Everyone busied themselves with their tasks.

At the bone dumping site, the villagers made a long line, with Sang Ling and Sang Fan at the entrance to organize them. Every villager received some skeletons from Sang Fan, and an animal hide with a picture drawn on it from Sang Ling.

Sang Fan raised his voice and said, "Everyone listen up, once you get your skeletons, carve them based on the drawings that Sang Ling pass to you. You must have received the tools from our good sir. You've all made skeleton love tokens before, so this will not be hard. However, remember, you must follow the drawings exactly when you carve. Once you're done, pass the skeletons to me for inspection. If you ruined your skeletons, come here and find another one yourself. I believe you all know what's happening now. Yesterday, the beast stampede had begun. Right now, what we're doing is for the protection of the Sang Family Village. Everyone, please work as fast as you can. Our survival depends on it. The more skeletons you carve, the better our chances to survive this. Understand?"

"Understood!" The villagers promised in reply.

The 300 most skillful carvers of the village were gathered together. They worked like students, silently and intently. Leading them was the second most influential person in the village, the healer Sang Rubei.

The short, old man looked solemn. He spoke lowly, "Your tasks are key to our plan. The drawing you see before you is your carving objective. Everyone is assigned with only one kind of part. From today onwards, your job is to carve, and only carve. Food will be sent to you. All you need to do is carve and carve. The fate of the village lies in your hands. Let's work hard!"

"Yes." The reply came not too loudly, but in perfect sync.

All the women and children were assigned with other tasks by the village head. "Those in charge of the mayaberries, your tasks remain unchanged. We are two months from harvesting, do not slack in your duties. The village depends on you."

A middle aged woman answered for the rest, "Don't feel sorry, Village Head, we'll be diligent."

Old Sang De nodded, satisfied. He then turned to the younger people around him and said, "Children, it's time for you to contribute to the village, are you afraid to work hard?"

"No!" The innocent, young voices replied in waves, but there was the unmistakable quality of youthful vigor.

"Alright, you're all good children!" Old Sang De look at them warmly, patting one of them on the head in gratefulness. "Now this grandfather here has a mission for you. You see those mildstones? You'll each get a box later. All you have to do is to shape them such that they could fit inside the box. Remember, they must fit exactly."

"Okay," the children answered with determination.

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Chapter 275: Sang Family Village - Battle for Survival I

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

On the hilltop beside the village stood Old Sang De and some other villagers. They did not look as assured as they usually were. Their faces were white as sheets. Even Ye Chong's expression showed a little worry.

Far away, a black horizon seemed to creep closer and closer towards them. They could all see it, clear as day.

It was a stampede of wild animals, heading their way. It was a magnificent view, such that even Ye Chong, who did not lack experience with grand situations, felt slightly chilled inside. The stampede was made up of all kinds of animals. However, they did not seem bothered with each other, running like their lives depended on it, as though something terrifying was coming after them from behind.

Everything seemed tiny compared to this animal stampede. Nothing could stand in its way.

Rumble! Rumble!

The earth shook. The stampede was loud. No one could remain calm against this adversary.

Ye Chong was the first to recover from his initial shock. He turned to the pale village head, Old Sang De and asked, "What's happening?"

Old Sang De did not seem like himself, only muttering incoherently, "How could this be … How could this be …"

Everyone was panicking. Ye Chong could only turn back to look at the stampede as he waited for them to calm down. The stampede was still some distance away. Besides, judging from the direction of movement, the animals would probably pass by the plains in front of the Sang Family Village.

As everyone stood around in shock, Ye Chong sat in a corner as he waited for them to calm down in order to find out what was happening. He could see from their looks that they knew what was happening, but were strongly affected by it.

Ye Chong did not panic, nor did he get too excited. He watched calmly like a third party observer. The ground beneath him shook, and the rumbling sound came like thunder from afar. Ye Chong watched calmly at the animals running for their lives.

'"What's happening?" After a while, Ye Chong asked calmly, pointing towards the stampede. He had heard Old Sang De's breathing becoming calmer.

Old Sang De answered with a trembling voice, "It's the beast stampede … The beast stampede … 10 years … There should be 10 more years …" Old Sang De spoke hopelessly.

Beast stampede? Ye Chong did not understand.

Old Sang De vented his frustration for a while before finally calming down, and began to explain to Ye Chong about the beast stampede.

The beast stampede happens once every 200 years. These wild animals were herded. Archipelago's beast stampede was caused by the migration of a particular species of bird. The steelbat was a bird species that lived in the deepest parts of the Archipelago, and the real king of this world. Their sharp claws and steely beaks and legs could break through the defenses of a scalex, king of the land animals. With the exception of the animals that lived underwater, the steelbats were the nemesis of all other beasts. This supremacy was a result of their ability to fly.

The most terrifying thing about the steelbats was that they always come in swarms, in the hundreds and thousands.

The beast stampede was caused by these steelbats. Every 200 years, the steelbats would migrate. They could group together and fly towards the other side of the Archipelago. Steelbats liked to kill during their migration. Any animals in their way would be killed. With the advantage of flight, they were an uncontrollable killing wave. Hence, about three months before the migration began, the sensitive animals would run desperately to save themselves, hence causing the beast stampede.

Ye Chong was speechless. He never imagined that an animal could be so terrifying. However, he quickly accepted the fact. It was logical that the flying steelbats had the definite upper hand. Besides, with their offensive claws and beaks, it was no wonder that they were at the top of the food chain.

Old Sang De felt hopeless. "I didn't think that the beast stampede this time would happen 10 years earlier. It looks like we'll have to move with the beasts. But we're not prepared this time, we're not …" Everyone looked grim. A large scale migration was not so easy to achieve. No one knew what lay ahead. Without preparation, a long distance migration like this would be disastrous for the villagers.

"We're migrating too?" Ye Chong asked abruptly.

Old Sang De replied helplessly, "Or what? The steelbats always come in huge waves. According to our ancestors, whenever the steelbats come, they would cover the skies. The migration would take an entire month. No one wants to leave here. We don't even know what's ahead of our journey. However, we're defenseless against the steelbats." Old Sang De looked pathetic, and the people around him also wore saddened expressions.

"The beast stampede happens three months before the steelbats migrate, right?" Ye Chong asked suddenly.

"Yes," Old Sang De answered carelessly.

"Three months …" Ye Chong muttered as he made a quick estimation. If they migrate now, no one knew when they would reach safety. His plan to safe Mu and Shang would also be ruined.

"Those d*mned steelbats!" Ye Chong cursed inwardly at the species that he had never even met before.

According to Old Sang De, the steelbats were very formidable. However, Ye Chong believed that no matter how powerful animals were, they were still animals, and could never compete against humans. If they had mechs, they would never be so afraid of the steelbats! In the Five Galaxies, there were even adventurers who specialized in hunting mutants.

"Mechs!" Ye Chong realized then. "That's right, mechs!"

Ye Chong did a quick calculation in his mind, and made his decision.

Ye Chong asked Old Sang De, "The migration this time, how many do you think will survive it?"

The question was the centre of Old Sang De's worries. He replied in a frail voice, "If we're lucky, maybe a third of us. The mayaberries still need another two months to ripen. We don't have enough food." However, he quickly gathered himself and said, "Don't worry, sir, we will ensure your safety. Once we reach our new home, you'll be able to help us thrive again, sir." Old Sang De looked to Ye Chong sincerely.

"I have a plan," Ye Chong said plainly, looking straight back at Old Sang De.

The atmosphere in the Sang Family Village was hectic. Everyone busied themselves with their tasks.

At the bone dumping site, the villagers made a long line, with Sang Ling and Sang Fan at the entrance to organize them. Every villager received some skeletons from Sang Fan, and an animal hide with a picture drawn on it from Sang Ling.

Sang Fan raised his voice and said, "Everyone listen up, once you get your skeletons, carve them based on the drawings that Sang Ling pass to you. You must have received the tools from our good sir. You've all made skeleton love tokens before, so this will not be hard. However, remember, you must follow the drawings exactly when you carve. Once you're done, pass the skeletons to me for inspection. If you ruined your skeletons, come here and find another one yourself. I believe you all know what's happening now. Yesterday, the beast stampede had begun. Right now, what we're doing is for the protection of the Sang Family Village. Everyone, please work as fast as you can. Our survival depends on it. The more skeletons you carve, the better our chances to survive this. Understand?"

"Understood!" The villagers promised in reply.

The 300 most skillful carvers of the village were gathered together. They worked like students, silently and intently. Leading them was the second most influential person in the village, the healer Sang Rubei.

The short, old man looked solemn. He spoke lowly, "Your tasks are key to our plan. The drawing you see before you is your carving objective. Everyone is assigned with only one kind of part. From today onwards, your job is to carve, and only carve. Food will be sent to you. All you need to do is carve and carve. The fate of the village lies in your hands. Let's work hard!"

"Yes." The reply came not too loudly, but in perfect sync.

All the women and children were assigned with other tasks by the village head. "Those in charge of the mayaberries, your tasks remain unchanged. We are two months from harvesting, do not slack in your duties. The village depends on you."

A middle aged woman answered for the rest, "Don't feel sorry, Village Head, we'll be diligent."

Old Sang De nodded, satisfied. He then turned to the younger people around him and said, "Children, it's time for you to contribute to the village, are you afraid to work hard?"

"No!" The innocent, young voices replied in waves, but there was the unmistakable quality of youthful vigor.

"Alright, you're all good children!" Old Sang De look at them warmly, patting one of them on the head in gratefulness. "Now this grandfather here has a mission for you. You see those mildstones? You'll each get a box later. All you have to do is to shape them such that they could fit inside the box. Remember, they must fit exactly."

"Okay," the children answered with determination.

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Chapter 276: Sang Family Village - Battle for Survival II

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong stood in front of the battalion, lead by Sang Pu. This 500-strong battalion consisted of the Sang Family Village's strongest. They were all the cream of the crop. All the lavagold mined by the Sang Family Village had been used up by Ye Chong, converted into the lavagold swords and pikes in their hands. The pikes, made completely of lavagold, looked the same as their bitterwood counterparts. The village head, Sang De was deeply reluctant to use such a large amount of lavagold.

500 villagers stood silently at attention, looking capable and deadly. Ye Chong nodded, satisfied. For someone like him, who had a long history of fighting for his life, he knew that the aura emanating from this battalion could only be the result of a long history of war and killing. Only true veterans would have this aura. Even the strongest mech pilots from the Five Galaxies or the Four Forces would not be like this. It had been too long since their last war!

The villagers here had battled against the wild beasts that were even stronger than mutants every day, due to their primitive technology. Training began since they were young, and they had grown up fighting for their lives. From this, warriors were born. Ye Chong believed that no other soldiers would be so determined as the villagers here were when it came to war.

Ye Chong spoke slowly with a solemn and steely voice, "Our objective is to hunt. 10 days. We only have 10 days left." There was no need for more elaboration with this battalion. He gave the order without further explanation. In 10 days, they should have their first batch of products.

The tension was heavy enough to suffocate.

"Pu, you're in command."

"Yes sir," Sang Pu bowed and took over. Ye Chong withdrew Han Jia, slipped into the pilot cabin and flew off.

Sang Pu looked up at Han Jia in the air, for a moment, jealous of the mech. However, he quickly lowered his gaze to the battalion and waved. "Move out."

The battalion divided into tens of platoons, quickly moving out of the village. The 500-strong battalion moved silently. Ye Chong feasted at the sight of the platoons moving around each other, covering their comrades as they advanced.

The animals outside the village did not notice the Sang Family Village. They were focused on only running. However, some of the wild beasts would still run into the valley in front of the Sang Family Village. Ye Chong's targets were these animals. No one dared to meddle with the larger stampede outside, or they would risk being run over by the massive stampede before the steelbats even arrived.

Every platoon was tasked to hunt one animal. They evaded attacks as they ambushed or lured their prey, or worked with other platoons to hunt the animals down. The animals were quickly killed. Ye Chong was impressed with their efficiency. The villagers battle strategies were also quite the eye-opener.

They reminded him of Black Cove and the Sanctuary.

They fought at close range, like Black Cove mech pilots, but their cooperative strategies bore resemblance to the Sanctuary. However, compared to the Sanctuary, they had no mechs. The instinctive cooperation between the villagers was born out of actual combat experience, and definitely more superior. They were also more experienced and knowledgeable in terms of strategizing.

Soon, the attacks became swifter and deadlier, as the villagers got used to their new weapons.

Ye Chong grew excited as he watched the villagers fight. His fingers moved, and Han Jia swoop down to attack.

The villagers looked up the God-like Han Jia with reverence. What the mech did next impressed even the most elite of the villagers. Was this the true power of a mech?

Han Jia's two one-and-a-half-meter gray daggers were sharp. No animal would be able to stop them. The mech's lithe figure danced purposefully across the sky as the villagers watched in awe. Often, the mech would take down a few wild beasts at a time. The man was as dangerous as the rumors told. The daggers reflected a silvery gleam of death, fatal in its every attack. The animals were all cut or stabbed at vulnerable places, such as the throat or the heart. The villagers shuddered as they watched, thinking, "Thank the Heavens that he's on our side."

The villagers ignored the dead animals, and continued to find other living ones in the valley. The hunt was still on.

Ten days passed. With Ye Chong joining in, and the new weapons they had, the operation was fruitful, yielding more than anyone had anticipated. When Sang Pu arranged for the villagers to move the first day's kills into the village, the villagers were shocked to see the valley covered with animal bodies, some still warm. The valley was thick with the scent of blood.

After the initial shock, everyone was overjoyed. To them, these dead animals were food. With so many animals, it would last them for quite a while.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. The entire Sang Family Village bustled with activity every day like clockwork. Everyone looked tired, with red puffy eyes, but no one gave up on their tasks to rest. Everyone was working hard for the fates of their own, their families, and the village itself. They may not completely understand their tasks, but no one questioned the importance of them, since the tasks came from the honored man himself.

The villagers were hopeless when they first saw the beast stampede. Some even thought it was the end of the world. The honored man, strong and mysterious as he was, however, had brought them hope.

Everyone respected the young man from the bottom of their hearts. The man led the hunting team during the day, and continued to work until the late night.

After 10 days, the first batch of products were finished. Spread before Ye Chong was a bunch of parts, arranged based on their functionalities. Ye Chong's helpers listened to him as he explained.

"This engine model is quite easy to assemble. See this, there's a V-shaped wedge here. And here …" Ye Chong assembled the engine, part by part. Due to the circumstances, he had vastly simplified this Destiny engine model.

This was Ye Chong's plan - through the enormous amount of animal skeletons and available manpower, they would mass produce the simplest full-skeleton mechs and prepare for a battle to protect the Sang Family Village.

The enviable resources here had allowed Ye Chong to even consider this plan. The skeletons were dense and tough, with excellent properties. Ye Chong did not even need to chemically process them. All villagers of age here have had some experience in skeleton carving, and that provided enough manpower to carve the skeleton parts. With skeletons accumulated over centuries in the dumping site, Ye Chong did not need to hunt more animals for raw material.

More importantly, if they could not survive this trial, he would not be able to rescue Mu and Shang in the Red Sea. Ye Chong could only try his best to come up with a solution.

The 10-day hunting spree, with Ye Chong's aid, had resulted in a large amount of meat available for the villagers. The meat was processed and stored. The cave used to store food was almost filled up. With the mayaberries ripening in another two months, the food would be enough to last them for a long time. The 10-day hunt had depleted all of Han Jia's energy cells. However, Ye Chong did not worry about it. He knew that once the steelbats arrived, his mech would not make a significant difference in the final outcome.

When he first saw the storage cavern, Ye Chong had thought of excavating a cave for shelter. Later, Old Sang De had explained to him that the caves he saw in Archipelago were naturally formed. Digging was extremely difficult here. The earth was unusually solid, and it grew steadily harder the deeper one went. Excavating a cave enough to fit a hundred people would take a very long time, even with the lavagold tools they had. Before this, they did not even consider it a possibility.

After seeing the final assembled product, even Ye Chong was not confident of its capabilities.

By Ye Chong's standard, this was not really a mech. Since there was no photon processor, Ye Chong could not build a conventional mech. He was actually inspired by racing mechs, the kind built for speed. From an aerodynamic point of view, the usual mech design was not suitable for high speeds.

Ye Chong's design was based on simple principles. It must be easy to assemble, able to fly, and armed with some offensive capabilities.

Based on these principles, Ye Chong came up with the current design.

The mech's main body was shaped like a water droplet, with four sharp skeleton blades inlaid on its surface, much like four leaves on a water droplet. At the tip of the water-droplet body, was a sharp skeleton spear. This spear was replaceable, and was firmly attached to the body.

There were no photon circuits or the like in this thing. All the parts were connected through the most basic mechanical joints.

While the thing could fly, in theory, Ye Chong doubted its reliability. He looked around him. It seemed that he was the only suitable candidate to test fly this vehicle.

He opened the cabin door. Simple cabin pressurization was not a problem for Ye Chong. Ye Chong was quite satisfied with its hydraulic suspension system. Sang Fan had found a type of liquid by accident, that was quite suited for this purpose.

"At least it's a kind of protection for the pilot," Ye Chong could only console himself so.

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Chapter 277: Sang Family Village - Battle for Survival III

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There was no communication system, no photon processor, no holographic scanning system, no mechanical arm, no nothing. This was such a bare unit. If it was in the Five Galaxies, Ye Chong would be too embarrassed to show it. Now though, he had no choice.

Ye Chong sat in the pilot cabin, studying the primitive control levers, more than vexed. Was this really a control dashboard? What a joke! How can there be a dashboard without a photon processor?

As the designer, Ye Chong was at least familiar with the control levers.

He tried pulling the lever up, and the machine lifted off silently into the air. The Destiny engine was truly powerful, even in its simplified form. The engine was the part that Ye Chong was happiest with. The performance of a simplified Destiny engine powered by mildstone was much better than he anticipated.

"Good Heavens, it can fly?"

"Is this a mech?" Ye Chong's helpers all stared in wonder, discussing amongst themselves. They all looked very excited. Mechs were their biggest dreams. No one had thought that the good sir was actually building a mech!

Swish! The mech flew off swiftly like an arrow.

After the initial confusion, Ye Chong quickly got used to handling the control levers. He maneuvered the mech more confidently and easily. The empty sky allowed him to fly without worry.

All in all, Ye Chong was quite satisfied with this flying machine.

The machine's main strength was its wonderful speed. While he could not exactly measure it, Ye Chong estimated from his experience that it could reach around Mach 15 to Mach 20. This was within the atmosphere. If it was in outer space, Ye Chong believed that it could go even faster.

Another advantage was its ability to change course. The machine was fitted with many auxiliary engines that allowed high motion flexibility in space.

Collision - that was the name Ye Chong had in mind for this flying machine, even if it was not really a mech by any standards. It's main means of offense was the skeleton spear at its tip, and the attack method was by a collision with the enemy. Ye Chong had prepared two types of skeleton spears for the mech. One was the five-meter long spear fitted on his unit right now. At high speeds, its sharp tip could break through very thick barriers. Ye Chong believed that even Han Jia could be penetrated if it was hit. However, the spear broke easily, and was not suitable for prolonged combat.

The other type of spear was only two meters long, with a thicker shaft, and looked more like a rounded stump. While it could not deal as much damage as the former type of spear, it was harder to break, and suitable to use repeatedly. With Collision's speed, Ye Chong believed that any mech would suffer a dent from the attack of this spear. It it was a mech with thinner armour, it might even be reduced to a wreckage.

Aside from the spear, Collision also had its four sharply honed skeleton fins.

It was obvious that Collision's power came from its excellent speed. Without it, the mech would be totally useless. If it was not for the current situation, no one would have built a machine so full of weaknesses. After all, with such a powerful engine, it could be fitted into an actual mech, complete with far superior combat abilities, and not a simple machine like this.

Ye Chong felt helpless in this situation. Given the resources available, building a flying machine was already a huge success. Collision's cabin was specially reinforced, since attack by collision was a typical self-damaging means of attack.

Ye Chong did not have high hopes on Collision. As long as they can fight on even ground with the steelbats, he would be satisfied. It would be foolish to use the mech to battle against another mech. Collision was too fragile for that.

Ye Chong never imagined that this third-grade flying machine that he built out of desperation, the primitive and backward Collision, would leave its deep mark in the upcoming battle, the legendary war that would be told for generations to come!

If the Sang Family Village was like a bonfire, then the birth of Collision was like feeding the rage of the fire.

The good sir's following instructions further stoke their emotions to a higher point.

He personally selected the 500 villagers whom Sang Pu had led into the hunting operation to be the first of them all to learn how to fly Collision. Everyone went crazy! They quickly worked on the skeleton parts, hoping to be the next ones to learn to fly Collision. Everyone realised that the dream they always had was now close within their grasps.

The busiest villagers were Sang Fan and his team. If the 500 villagers were to all learn how to fly Collision, then there must be 500 Collision mechs ready for use. Sang Fan received permission from Ye Chong to expand his assembly team to speed up production. As the crew of skeleton carvers grew more familiar with their tasks, the parts began to arrive faster. Collision's production accelerated every day.

Ye Chong admired the Sang family villagers greatly. They were down-to-earth, hardworking, brave, and disciplined. They were excellent warriors in all respects.

These qualities were apparent from the 500 villagers learning to fly Collision. None of them backed out. They did not fear death, only lack of action. They improved so fast that even Ye Chong was surprised. It was as though they were all talented in flying Collisions. Their hands moved quickly, and they did not suffer any undesirable side effects from flying.

However, Ye Chong quickly realised the reason for this. The villagers were all combat experts. Ye Chong was certain that even a Jie expert from the Five Galaxies would have a hard time facing any of the villagers. The villagers were quick and sensitive, their numerous battles for survival strengthening their determination and mental fortitude. Those were the reasons for their swift improvement.

If it were conventional mechs, they would not have improved so fast. Conventional mechs were far more complicated than Collision. The control dashboard was more convenient for normal mech pilots, allowing them more flexibility in the mech's movements. However, for the uninitiated like the Sang family villagers, primitive control levers were easier to learn.

The only thing they needed to learn with Collision was how to fly it.

Ye Chong taught them everything he knew, and their performance continued to surprise him. For example, when Ye Chong taught them evasive maneuvers, they quickly came up with their own techniques, and most of them were quite effective. They quickly mastered Collision's only way of attacking. It occurred to Ye Chong then that if the mechs from the Five Galaxies were to face these villagers in Collision, it would not be an easy battle.

What impressed Ye Chong the most was their cooperation. Ye Chong was not aware of this, but while the villagers approved of individual strength, then did not subscribe to solo heroism. Here, an individual's strength was too little. Without cooperation, one would live a short life.

The intuition they developed from a long history of fighting together now provided them with a strong advantage. Everyone knew their roles, and what they could do to improve their position. This was intriguing to Ye Chong, since he knew that Collision was not equipped with any communication device.

Time was growing short. The beast stampede continued before the valley in front of the village. The day the steelbats arrived was approaching. However, all the villagers felt confident, as they continued with their tasks.

The second batch of mech pilots to receive training numbered 10,000. Their instructors were the first 500 villagers. Ye Chong handed over the training to Sang Pu, since he noticed that the man was actually an excellent instructor. Sang Pu was more skilled in strategizing and analyzing battles, unlike an amateur like himself.

Everything proceeded as planned. There was Sang Pu for flying instructions, Sang Fan for mech assembly, Sang Rube for engine manufacture, Sang Ling for mech parts, and the village head himself, Sang De for mildstone shaping and mayaberry harvesting. Ye Chong suddenly found himself idle.

He thought of Han Jia with its nearly empty energy cell, and decided that it was time to do something about it. With nonlinear cobalite, Ye Chong planned to insert a teardrop mineralite into Han Jia. He was already very familiar with how to harvest energy from teardrop mineralite, so the modification on Han Jia did not take to long. He was surprised, however, to find that the teardrop mineralite could amplify the power of the Destiny engine.

If Mu and Shang's theory was right, then this teardrop mineralite could last Han Jia for a century.

Ye Chong really wanted to do some research on this mysterious teardrop mineralite, but he only had two pieces with him, and they were too precious to experiment with.

Now that he was in the mood for research, Ye Chong directed his enthusiasm towards mildstone. Ye Chong thought highly of this mildstone as well. While it was not as powerful as teardrop mineralite, it was still the only mineral here that could store enough energy to power their hopes.

Energy was the core of modern science and technology.

Besides, there was another thing about mildstone that Ye Chong noticed. The last time he accidentally caused a mildstone to explode, he remembered the huge destructive power clearly. Milestone could definitely store a huge amount of energy. If all these energy could be released in a short burst, it would be quite destructive.

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Chapter 278: Sang Family Village - Battle for Survival IV

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As far as Ye Chong was concerned, the current pattern of Collision's attack would be too simple to face against the raid. Assuming the description by the chief was true, Ye Chong would not be confident to face the battle.

And the following days, BOOM, passed rather lively at the Sang village, for explosions would come roaring from the sir's research room along with columns of smoke rising to the sky. Boom! There were even times when they witnessed white light bursting from the place. And to their disbelief, at one time the whole research foundation blasted off itself after an explosion, leaving a giant crater on the ground. Boom!

Boom! Boom! Bang! Boom!

The miraculous part uttered by every villager in their bewilderment was, sir, without fail, had always been coming out in one piece. And as time went, the daily explosion scheme had immersed itself in the routine of the villagers effortlessly. To their shocking discovery, the frequency of explosion had been drastically reduced itself over the time, in the end, no explosion had occurred again.

Klink!

Phew…

Ye Chong took a deep breath, as his squinted eyes set upon the crude-looking sphere resting in his hand. It had the size of his fist and yes he made it; it was his latest invention. The craftsmanship of the appearance did not matter, for that was the last thing on his list.

Ye Chong had invested ounces of his effort into the research of mildstone in order to find a way to trigger the explosion. He even moved everything out from his research room, including that hefty processor. And to make sure that he would not become the mortality of his own experiment, he performed every of his experiment only after putting on the Guardian.

But well, even with the superior guard of the Guardian, Ye Chong remained rolling on the ground upon every chemical reaction. The momentum caused by the blow was not something that the human anatomy was designed for. If it was not the Guardian, he would have been counting his negative health points on the way to hell.

At the very least, eventually, finally, the research had been accomplished.

The valley in the outskirts of the village was the only entrance to the Sang Family village. Ye Chong was dragged there by Sang Pu, along with Sang Fan and Sang Ling. And Sang Ling's attitude towards Ye Chong had become much more dignified, which was a little uneasy for Ye Chong.

Ye Chong passed Sang Pu a sphere, "Toss this there," he said while pointing at a slope near the valley.

Sang Pu, although looking bewildered, did not withdraw his swinging arm, instead, his right arm tensed, as he launched that sphere all the way towards the slope at the other side. The force was so strong that one could hear sound of the wind piercing, with a thin lining crossing over the azure.

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion was heard, the landing point of the sphere was engulfed by column of white smoke. Everybody, except for Ye Chong, was stunned by the explosion, as their face flinched with unknown horror.

A giant crater was revealed as the column of white smoke parted away, with a size way larger than the crater Ye Chong made near the research room before.

Gasp! The men and lady breathed in their fear.

"T-t-this… what… is this?" Sang Pu, who tried too hard to act calm, was still clogging on his words. The gigantic crater, as if exerting attraction one-of-a-kind, was taking all of their attention.

Thump! Piles of rocks and earth slid from the top, half of the narrow valley was utterly filled.

"Compression explosives," Ye Chong stated briefly. He was a little disappointed because the blow did not turn out to be as enormous as he presumed. Ye Chong who had seen an array of fireworks in the darkest space had an unimpressed expression of a boy seeing a simple sparkler on the last night of summer. He actually intended to process the compression explosives into some sort of an additional grenade for the village mech. As habitually as he got whenever mech was concerned, he automatically assumed the foes to be always a mech pilot, one from the 4 forces especially.

Missiles had taken up a dark bloody spot of history of humankind ever since war happened centuries ago. But intergalactic war soon dethroned the almighty missiles after humanity shifted into the galaxy. Additionally as hologramic detection system was invented, missiles again, being the slow and outdated weaponry were forced out of the stage immediately. Then the energy-based weaponry came in and took the place, like the heat-ray guns for example.

Ye Chong did not believe that missile-based weaponry was completely obsolete. He himself had once used a similar weaponry, namely the Beauty's Secretion. The outcome of the war had taken a turn for him in the end, even with the most fearsome Black Covers. It was not that the missiles could not cause fatal damages to the target mechs, it was simply that they travelled too slowly in the boundless space and with those advanced detection system in-built with vast scope, most missiles would have been annihilated way before they touched the mech or spaceship.

The only fact that led to Ye Chong's anti-theoretical success was the material itself. Those missiles were solely made out of skeletons, which could go undetected by the system, thus the success of a new silent killer in the dark.

Of course, the concept only remained as a concept, an idea in his mind. Assuming he would really make the compression as a grenade to be launched, he would have to design a kind of miniature engine to help them navigate through the space at considerable distance or it would be hardly anything in the space than a cluster of ornaments to be smashed. Miniature engines were not the hardest part of his plan, the time limitation was however, since every man and woman in the village had been working on the Collision itself.

That was an untick on Ye Chong's checklist. Inability for mass-production equals "out of his consideration". Ye Chong was more concerned on how he should resolve the upcoming problem without losing everything.

"Great, sir!" Shouted Sang Fan excitingly, which toppled Ye Chong's thoughts, "So great! That means we got a new powerful weapon? Compression explosives? Compression explosives! This strength… this marvelous strength… such power!"

"Yeah. Not that marvelous though," said Ye Chong coldly, "It did give a nice firework but it could hardly travel. No engine, no homing feature either. Not really practical."

"Engine? Sir?" Sang Fan could not comprehend, "Why would we need engines sir? Why can't we just toss it?"

Right!

Ye Chong realized something. Sang Fan was right, he did make a mistake. This was never an intergalactic war to begin with! Their enemies were not sheltered in a layer of high quality alloys, they were merely a type of beast rampaging in the woods! With the strength of the Sang, the reachability of the explosives would be more than fearsome!

Ye Chong began visualizing the scene where the villagers launched the grenades over the sky with their strength competent enough for a Jie expert. Horrifying! A tiny piece of rock could already be destructive when it was in the hand of a Jie expert, now replace the rock with an actual bomb, in the hand of the well-trained villagers… Seriously…

Yes! Ye Chong was inspired. Even if the enemies were coming in a mech, the continuous shower lobbed by the villagers would be annihilating at close range!

"Right, sir?" Supported Sang Ling, "Sir please do not forget we had always been guided by rock-tossing daily as we hunt. Everybody knows rock-tossing in the village, who needs to aim anyway?" Sang Ling was right as well. The villagers had been trained to test if there was a gravity region at the front by lobbing a piece of rock. This was their bread and butter, the sole trick for their survival. So everybody must know it well to be able to lob far enough, accurate enough as they pleased.

Hmmm… that means…

Ye Chong got the message quickly, he began mumbling… I seemed to have created a monster for the villagers…

"Sir? Sir!" Sang Pu the silent one suddenly initiated, "Is it possible to block the opening of the valley?"

Ye Chong flinched, "Umm…" He took a glance at the partially blocked valley, "Possible." He nodded.

"Pu, my brother…" Sang Fan who could not get what Sang Pu meant, asked, "Why would we block the opening?"

"This is the only entrance to our village," pointed Sang Pu at the opening. "If we blocked it, that means we only have to look up for our battle. We could have lesser distraction on our guard. Also, I was worried that if it was the Steelbat that caused the beast to attack us, they would join the fight too. It would be nasty, so we block the opening, one less thing to worry."

Ye Chong looked all impressed at Sang Pu. He *is* the candidate to succeed to the village. Thoughtful, careful to details. The other two Sangs were looking impressed as well.

"Sir. Excuse me…" Sang Fan was too a quick thinker, "Is it possible to blow a hole with compression explosive?"

"Well this…" Ye Chong gave a thought, "Great idea but explosion on a certain orbit of direction would require some works. I was not really an expert on this."

The Songs were looking disappointed. It would be wonderful if they could create caves in a split second since with caves they would be able to hide themselves from the Steelbats, which also meant less mortality.

Since the suggestion was not feasible to run at all, they eventually discarded the tempting idea. They were showing immense gratitude towards the inclusion of a new powerful weapon though. They believed they had hit the jackpot as compared to their forebears who had progressed almost nothing over the past 500 years and now they got metallic weaponry, an actual mech and even a highly compressed explosive. The villagers were very much convinced that they would once raise upon the other races again as soon as they survived the crisis this time.

Looking at Sir who was pondering in the meantime, their eyes were overflowed with appreciation and respect. It was this teacher from the mystery, with his vast knowledge unfitting to his youth, that had brought all these gifts, striking the hope of the tribe in their luxuries.

So the villagers received a new task from the teacher - production of compression explosives. Ye Chong was surprised though, that this little bomb actually had taken over Collision, becoming the favorite among the Sangs.

Well, unlike Collision, the explosive was simple to use while being able to dish out significant damage, and the roar it produced was exciting to the ears of the villagers.

The production of Collision was coming to an end as well, fortunately, or the villagers might be procrastinating over their new toy. Collision, the product of the overclocked villagers had become the standard setup at everyone's home. The mechs would flock upon sky, stampeding the ground daily. It was scenic to see about a hundred thousand mechs traveling like a military air force on a normal afternoon. Ye Chong wondered if the sky would remain that scenic if those Steelbats ever came. The scene had reminded him again the power of cooperation, the bond of a group. It was powerful indeed. But… yes, Ye Chong realized one big catch he almost missed - there was no dimensional keystone, where would these hundred thousand mechs go? Certainly they could have landed in their village, however to accommodate mechs of this amount would be far insufficient for a tiny village in the middle of the valleys. Sang Pu eventually picked a plain next to the mountain behind the village. It was spacious enough to accommodate those mechs, looking like the parking place on Christmas Eve.

Still, it would take around 10 minutes of running to travel to the plain from the village. Sighed Ye Chong, realizing that it would be actually a hassle to introduce a super hi-tech way ahead the chronological order of invention. To assure those 10 minutes of safety were assured, Sang Pu succumbed to sending off a giant flock of Collision to scout the area ahead to see if there were a nest of Steelbats.

2 months had lapsed and everyone was given a Collision mech. And there was one instance where Ye Chong ran out of skeletons to produce stuffs, which Sang Pu immediately resolved by calling his men to hunt for more bones. It was a nice opportunity to test out Collision as they piloted the mech to hunt. And that was the first time they realized the fact that, hunting could have been this hassle-free and the beasts could have been this weak, easily conquered.

The beasts had not scurried away from the proximity of the village. Nevertheless, "Darkness" the once fearsome name branded in the mind of the villagers had degraded into a new hunting ground with Collision.

It usually took the villagers a straight impale, a lift with the spear, then skeleton spears would have a few bulky animals skewed tidily on the shaft. The case where Ye Chong worried about the spears breaking had never occurred, which had affirmed the villagers' confidence. And soon, after countless encounters, the villagers discovered a more effective way to eradicate their foes.

They maintained a high velocity and travelled right above the beast. Utilizing the 4 sharp skeleton wings on the body of Collision, the blades danced like the Reaper would slice upon the enemies, that one glide they only took, the Darkness would be immediately cut open, bleeding and having its inside rolling out, tainting the ground with thunderous cry. The beasts were bisected, with a clear cut upon.

As time went, more villagers joined the troop after completing the training. Ye Chong got more skeletons in the inventory. But Sang Pu felt it was yet the time to stop the hunt. The Darkness had convinced him the fact that the hunt would provide the villagers the more valuable loot - experience itself!

An on-hand fight would always be the standard procedure to power up a fighter, especially if the fighter was in a troop to begin with. Since there lacked a kind of communicative device, the villagers had to rely on their sense of war to carry out the right action in correspondence to the situation.

It sounded easy on paper but it was a mess, as they soon realized, a highly frequent mess. It was hard for one to even sort out friends and foes with mechs this many in the sky. They had a conference on it and Sang Ling actually gave a pretty good solution - they would dye the mechs into different colors in accordance with the position of the pilots in the team. Sang Pu would be the supreme leader, thus the bright red tone; after that the blue would follow, it would be black, and then white at the lowest. At both sides of every Collision would have 3 types of Lightstones in different colors embedded, there would be also a plate before each stone, it would be like a signal where the plate could be placed down to block the beam of the stones. Thus, every secondary leaders of the team could give commands by flicking signals. Sang Ling even designed a set of codes using the stones' color as well as the frequency for communication. Ye Chong who was listening at one corner, felt impressed with Sang Ling. "Looks like she was not a bimbo after all. Shang sometimes just likes to exaggerate things…"

The new codes brought up another period of tutorial among the villagers, with each of them having a booklet in the hands while their heads spinning along with their recitation.

It was as effective as the way Sang Ling mentioned it, as the villagers were not only highly experienced, their rapports were great too. They needed no sophisticated language, a few blinks of different colors would be more than enough to tell them what their teammates planned to do.

Even Sang Pu the more demanding one was showing satisfaction on his current troop. Ye Chong? Well, he was losing his head over the codes. He seriously could not imagine how a massive troop could communicate without a standard communicative device but a mere set of blinking lights, especially when the villagers had actually no issue using the code while being able to have a much more coordinated expedition.

Every villager was feeling exhilarated of their improvement. The harvest of Twinkleblues marked also the end of their last concern. The Sangs, with their blood surged from the war itself, were looking forward to this war, the battle of survival with the Steelbats.

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Chapter 279: Sang Family Village - Battle for Survival V

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Here they come!" Announced the returning Collision from the woods, which stirred a storm among the villagers as they set their feet running.

15 Collisions were sent off as a scouting team to check out if the Steelbats were approaching in reality. And there were actually 10 similar teams taking shifts to scout the surrounding daily.

"Team Four, follow up. Now!"

"Team Eight, carry out according to plans!"

The crowd disintegrated into countless afterimages of silhouettes. The Sangs sure had some rapid feet. It almost felt like a crowd of Jie experts piloting their mechs over one peak and another. It was epic, truly epic.

This would be the most major operation the Sangs had ever launched. The first batch of Collisions took flight in a number of 5000 and the sky right above the Sang village was fully enveloped by them. Other than elderly or children who could hardly harm a fly, all villagers including the women armed themselves with weapons and started moving.

Right at the heart of the valley there parked countless Collisions. The valley where the village located was not that spacious to begin with, but it would be too risky to park them at the plain as the Steelbats might have raided the place before the battle happened. So after a moment of discussion, they gave up their former setting and cramped themselves. Sang De, the chief said that the Steelbats would arrive with darkness engulfing the world, with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The sky would only have one color by then, the color of Steelbats - dark, darker than black.

So, united we stand, stronger we grow. Thought Ye Chong.

Apart from a safe house for the elderly and children, the remaining housing area had been transformed into the parking ground for the mechs. One could see every single shelter had at least one mech landed on it, while some were even installed with a strange kind of hook to hang those mechs. Now, while it would sound a little insane to have a mech parked on a foundation made out of twigs and leaves, it would be a different story if the mech was made out of pure skeletons, which were much, much lighter. Of course, as far as logic would apply, nobody would park their moving alloys on their wooden home, that would devastate the shelter immediately. To ensure safety though, reinforcement had been carried out on every pillar of the houses, especially the safe house for the weak, that was much, much sturdier.

There were also mechs parked on the slope. The villagers had never exited the cabin ever since, for they would spend the following days eating, battling, sleeping in the mech itself. It was those times which one would call the "emergency period" or "evacuation time".

The only entrance to the village had been completely swamped by the debris from the explosion Sang Pu caused at both sides of the mountain using compression explosives. As planned, their remaining concern would only be the above, nothing on the ground. The mountain had become their walls of defense from technically everything on the ground.

The Steelbats were extremely bloodthirsty during their migration, they would not halt their flight for food however. They would peck, but would not ground themselves and hunt, they would instead keep advancing, in other words, the Sang villagers would be declared as succeeded the operation if they could last till the Steelbats flew away completely.

Everyone was pumped in their position, anticipating the arrival of the flying devil. Sang Tie was one of the thrilled warriors. It was one major role he got being at the frontmost line, which every villager was acting envy upon. No one would go and argue for the placement though, as they all recognized the strength of Sang Tie, who stood easily the top 100 fighters in the village. Moreover, the most highly respected man, the teacher was giving recognition towards his piloting skill as well. That would be a solid evidence since the teacher hardly demonstrated his recognition towards things. So his popularity among the ladies was well-justified.

Sang Tie could reminisced the very scene when the teacher complimented his performance that day. It was, he strongly believed, the happiest few seconds of his life. The teacher, sir, was the idol highly regarded by all younger folks in the village, including he himself. Never once he would dream of gliding into the air, and there sir was, zooming into the air as if a rock he tossed. The most respectable figure in the village was no longer the chief, but the teacher, the young yet resourceful teacher.

Okay, no time for that. He bucked up and looked upon the sky, the war was just around the corner. He did not panic however, since he, like every other man and woman in their position did, believed that they would succeed as long as the teacher stood by their side. He was the leader of a rescue team of the frontline. The team was mainly consisted of the experts of the tribe, in which most of them was the students specially chosen by the teacher himself for the first flying course he conducted, including Sang Tie.

A "course" it was called yet the teacher had only taught the piloting procedure once. Only the first batch of students to the course was the actual students of the great teacher. And of course these students, a vast 500 of them were calling it an achievement and were proud of it.

The rescue team was formerly led by Sang Pu, who was then raised to the position of the highest commander. So in return, Sang Tie took over.

Another chosen one by the teacher himself! Why must it be him that always get different treatment! The men seemed to be mutating into a real green-eyed monster soon. The chosen one himself was very proud of his placement though, that he even made up his mind to not shame his teacher by accomplishing this mission flawlessly.

5000 mechs ascended into the sky, spiraling speedily to their respective position. Sang Tie began flicking his signals, the two beams flickered : S-T-A-Y. R-E-A-D-Y. And 500 mechs silently hovered in position behind him. They were body and soul ready. Sang Tie knew his duty well. The team he led was called a rescue team for a reason. He was there to rescue, the support to the war. If the situation was crumbling, his teammates were losing, they would have to launch themselves into the war field, to buy time for the other mechs standby on the ground.

Sang Tie lifted his eyes, seeing teacher piloting that strong and outstanding mech in the midst of the warring troop. It was unique, it was different. A sense of respect rose as the morning sun in him. He swore, feeling pumped, it would be an honor to fight alongside sir, that he would die, with glory and no regret.

Sang Tie was technically wrong of what he presumed. His great teacher, Ye Chong did not really intend to join the first wave. The reason he flew into the sky was merely for spectating purpose. He wanted to see what that horrifying beast of the myth actually looked. Sang Pu, the commander was right next to his teacher, with similar reason that he wanted to have a direct observation on this migration phenomena that only would occur once every 200 years.

And there they saw, a lump of darkness approaching.

It was brutally horrifying! If the namely Darkness formed by the beast was a whirlpool, then these Steelbats would be a real abyssal darkness that would engulf the sun completely. People were shocked. Some villagers zoned out for the first few seconds. The formation was disrupted for a quick while. D-O-W-N. O-N-E-O-O. Sang Pu gave a quick order to descend all units by a hundred meters. This move was to cover the team within the height of the mountains.

Sang Pu and Han Jia remained at the upper. Since Ye Chong was equipped with real technology, the hologramic detection system, he was the first among all men who discerned the actual appearance of Steelbats.

Steelbats had no feathers, the wings were two thin layer of membranes which spread as wide as 10 meters. Those pairs of legs looked so brawny that it could probably shatter a rock piece with a kick. The claws were sharper than the swords, the beak would pierce an iron wall. Ye Chong who had been hunting mutated lifeforms ever since birth could imagine the potential threats these nasty avifaunas would impose on humanity. Those claws and beak alone could murder even the most fearsome beast on ground.

Steelbats were dark, dark as the coals; their eyes were red, scarlet as the blood diamonds. A petrifying fear they were as they soared through the darkening sky at an alarming velocity. It almost felt as if they had teleported over few hundreds meters after they had just spread their wings.

The lump of darkness came like a prelude to the storm, they were approaching, with constant cries of eagerly hunger as their membrane-wings flapped in threatening waves. The air had already started to smell intense as they approached, while those sounds they made as they travelled were as if one punch on one's torso after another.

The Sang villagers were not ordinary folks, they had been trained, and they had been trained enough to face the arrival of their nemesis. They might be argued to be inexperienced fighting against humanity, but they were truly the rival against the wildest nature. They adjusted themselves to the menacing debut of the Steelbats as they got into their battle stance on their mechs again.

Sang Pu, with Ye Chong, landed quickly. They did not leave their mechs however. No other thing could withstand the raid of the homicidal birds on migration than the mechs made out of alloys, not even those houses with their structures remastered. Likewise to the villagers, they also hid within the mechs, for they had spent the last few days living with the mechs, as if a connection had been built soul to soul. The mechs which seemed to be the most novice in Ye Chong's eyes turned out to be the most formidable stronghold to the villagers. The mechs could be novice, still Ye Chong had that little confidence in them since they were at least made out of the finest skeletons he could find around the place. They could be the toughest tortoise at the very least. Furthermore, Collision was named Collision as it used collision as the main form of attack, so maxing out defense would equal to maxing out the offense as well. Ye Chong even added a few more layers to the surface, technically any physical strike would do no harm to the surface.

Now that explains a lot, why the villagers were relying on their mechs than houses.

And this time, they would be fighting against the lord, the topmost animal in the entire food web of Archipelago, the ruler of the ecosystem, Steelbats. The fight would be for their home, for their other halves, for the next generation, for they themselves! They held no other choice than joining the fierce competition itself. Unlike the residents of the 5 major galaxies, these villagers were strong, probably stronger than anyone else.

Kiak! Kiak kiak kiak!

The leading Steelbat seemed to have gotten a sniff of blood - a sign of living things around.

Kiak! Kiak kiak kiak! Kiak Kiak! Kiak kiak kiak! Kiak!

A piercing cry that Ye Chong had never heard before roared throughout the sky.

Shush!

The leading Steelbat brought one large batch of its compatriots and raided the valley!

The sky darkened.

The people looked upon the clouded sky. The first collision happened seconds later.

G-O. All commanding mechs flashed the same signals simultaneously.

3000 mechs quickly disengaged from the 5000 army as they formed a long slinking chain. S-P-E-E-D! O-O-O! They then accelerated in circle and performed a rather perfect turn, like a slithering serpent rose upon its prey.

The army actually initiated the attack!

Spear up! Piercing spike!

Splash… Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!

Fleshes fell off to gravity, there was a rain of blood, as the insides of Steelbats tumbled. The skeleton spears of Collision even penetrated the entire body of Steelbat directly upon contact. Their body size easily turned out to be a giant bullseye to be impaled, as some of their compatriots were instantly bisected. Their abdomens ruptured, like the explosion of a water balloon, dark red fluid splashed all over Collisions.

The conservation of momentum was the game winner this time, as the Collision retained its acceleration and smashed upon its enemies. A perfect strike! Or maybe not… Thought the spectators who were hardly smiling on the ground, as their eyes reflected the deflated, deformed mechs which some of them fell miserably.

The Steelbats were carnivores for a reason as a number of them would raid upon one single Collision. They raised their claws, they charged with their beaks, and in the matter of split seconds, the Collision splintered. The specks were grounded by gravity, as well as the pilots, the sacrificed who went flattened on the ground.

The 3000 armed forces did not hold their attack, as they zoomed all the way up with their spikes. They no longer were able to distinguish directions as they had been swarmed upon by the aggressed Steelbats. The pilots tried their best to make a turnabout but they failed, for they could be smashed into pieces by the Steelbats from the back and the front if they blanked out for once. They sped up, they sped up more, to the front, striving to break through the darkness formed by the Steelbats, hoping for that silver lining of the sky to come.

It was a brief simple collision but the danger was more than what one could get in one's entire life.

Sang Huo, one of the villagers whose mind no longer contained a thing than brutality, remained one order constantly rung in his head, "Charge. Charge! Charge!!! Hit everything!"

He kept charging, he pulled the lever all the way up as he felt the momentum dragging bit and bit of his sanity away, seeing his allies being crushed into specks, hearing the sound of crumbles and clashes on top of his mech. Within blinking of eyes, he was the last one standing, as engulfed by the whirlpool of Steelbats.

Blood boiled even in his veins, as he was cornered; his eyes reddened, his breathe deepened, a storm of fire raided his soul, burning that last bit of his sanity. "Ah!!!" He rampaged.

His hands were pulling the handles madly, the speed had been maximized! The Steelbats lost sight of their target out of sudden, as the skeleton spear pierced the iron skin of the membranes. The Steelbat blocking the way was smashed into a splat of blood right after. The 4 skeleton wings at the body of Collision sliced through the air in sharp whistles. Momentum had broken through the conservation, the energy packed in that blow built up by the speed could easily cut into the bones, would be possible to slice things into half effortlessly.

Sang Huo's success undoubtedly had caused the will of all other men to burn to the highest height, as their mechs accelerated along, pushing the blade further into the dark clouds.

There were mechs being crashed into pieces as they pushed along. The claws and beaks of the Steelbats were threatening to the flesh but not against the skeleton Collision, which would only fracture at constant attacks. Steelbats were heavy as the steel, they felt coming like a wrecking ball when they smacked themselves onto Collision. If it did not work once, they would do it twice. There were even two to four Steelbats aiming the same mech together, which explained why there were casualties constantly. The villagers were seriously outnumbered, it was as if they had been tossed into a pool of dark toxic, slowly corroding their senses away.

How many Steelbats had he exactly killed? Sang Huo had already lost count, he was no longer in the mind for triviality like that. The same order echoed in his mind, CHARGE! FASTER! Fearlessly he advanced forward, he had hunted enough Steelbats for his entire life, he was more than happy to die if he had to now. He thought back those days being put under the threat of Steelbats, where one of them was more than enough to take his entire tribe out and now there he was, slicing through Steelbats like his daily skew by the bonfire.

The lump of darkness lingered and Sang Huo had his mind all focus at the shining gap between the Steelbats, which would be his key to victory. The lack of sense of direction was not his concern, the fact that he might have been caged by the Steelbats was not his concern, what stayed as his concern was merely that lining that would lead him to success. Sang Huo adjusted his position gradually by making minuscule turns.

The turns were a savior to his life though, since they caused the Steelbats to miss him while being actually wounded by the skeleton blades on Sang Huo's Collision.

If there were cameras connected to the Virtual World, the forum should be exploding now. Anyone from the 5 major galaxies would have been stupefied upon seeing this. Not even the intensive virtual Neurotraining stimulation could be as frightening as this. A minimum scope of turns, those were what the expert of the experts would be doing as those would wear a man out completely within a brief moment, and those could murder the pilot by bursting the capillaries.

Whatever the Collisions had performed during the war were considered the most hideous, tedious, challenging, fatal movements any pilot of the 5 major galaxies would shun themselves away from, which some of them would even address as the "impossible to do". The Sangs were the only exception to the limitation of human anatomy due to their familiarized exposure to gravity regions as well as continuous systematic military training.

And with those, they actually had transformed the Collision, which Ye Chong assumed to be too primitive and obsolete by today's technological standard, into a monstrous devastation. It was shocking when Ye Chong saw how passionate the villagers were, still remaining in gravity region for training even the last night before daybreak.

For the Collision, the vitality lies within the flight itself. The way it would deal damage, the way it could cause destruction, were both about airborne movement. To master flying it would require both maturity in skills and physique, which were never issues to the Sangs, as they wielded the strength of Jie expert, the speed like Jie expert, the sensibility of space of Jie expert, the rich experience of war like Jie expert. The simplistic control of the colliding technological stone age was perfect for them and in no time they piloted the machinery their own way. They would sting, like the Lavagold to your skin, if you would dare compete their bulkiness.

Sang Huo sought that very weak point to make the next breakthrough. Within the limited space, it was solely depended on his instinct. Experience would not do the trick, only the sense would.

Now!

Zooooom! Hush…

Sang Huo's world brightened up, as he suddenly got back into the fine blue sky he grew up seeing. Overjoyed he was, I did it? I did it! I really did it!

He would not be satisfied by this little triumph however, as he maintained his course, carried on ascending, he believed his brothers and sisters at the queue behind would also love to see the same sky as his.

A glance downwards, the lump of darkness rumbled and grumbled, engulfing his entire home. He could neither tell the whereabouts of his leader, nor the safety of the villagers. Steelbats, they were everywhere.

Kiiiaaaaaaaak! Kiak! Kiak! Kiak!

The Steelbats cried outrageously, their flappy wings hissed excitingly. The cloud of darkness moved on to the east with the wind, a long column it was, with a portion still lingering on top of the village.

It was purely horrid, even for a man like Sang Huo with an iron will. Nightmarish scenery it scorched as, in the mind of Sang Huo, probably would tail him for the rest of his life. But he bucked up, as fully aware of his demise in this war, those haunting dreams would be buried together. He was one of those 3000 men who feared no death and desired the once again glory of their tribe, they were ready to sacrifice. So, Sang Huo would only concern what the war would achieve in the end.

The sky of Sang Family Village had become an absolute slaughterhouse. 3000 mechs fired themselves into the air and smashed the first wave of Steelbats. After an analysis, both Ye Chong and Sang Pu concluded that the first wave of Steelbats was the worst they would face. So as long as the villagers survived Wave One, assuming what the chief stated about a total darkness for the village being true, the Steelbats, as losing the necessary space to accelerate in aggression, would actually be too crowded to return resistance, they would be a flying target.

The good news was, the 3000 mechs successfully shattered the first wave. The cost, on the other hand, was miserable, as the men were completely engulfed by the flocks of aggressive carnivores in no time, whose mechs were mostly crushed before breakthrough even happened, while the surviving mechs would be very unlikely to come back in one piece.

The 3000 souls and machineries did not go to a waste however. The frontline commanders got their intention fairly quick, as the frontline seized this golden opportunity, sending their 2000 mechs to the top atmosphere next to squash these Steelbats in the cage they created themselves. The Steelbats outside carried on joining the cramped party, and they could barely lift their claw to give a scratch.

The 2000 mechs occupied the space quickly, they then broke into little flocks, few hundreds of them began soaring around, like a combat order. The speeding Collisions soon caused invisible slice attacks, like the blade of a blending machine, which the Steelbats would be completely dissected upon contact. The aids were also waiting for further command at the lower atmosphere.

Steelbats were harmless without their speed. There were a few managed to squeeze themselves out of the web, their fate was cruel however, as a handful of compression explosives tossed by experts shall await. Boom! Splash! The flying beast would become falling rain.

The villagers on the ground were feeling underwhelmed though, as there were hardly time where the Steelbats actually escaped their grip. So most of the villagers armed themselves with weapons made out of Lavagold, eagerly waiting for the falling Steelbats from the sky to give those nasty animals the final cut.

The spawn rate of Steelbats was too great. It felt like an endless war.

Hush… Hush… Zoom! A queue of mechs forced out of the lump! And the escaped had spotted Sang Huo's mech at the topmost atmosphere as they sped towards him. The lump of darkness continued tumbling below them. There were also a tiny few of lone bats but those showed ignorance towards Sang Huo and his escaped brothers.

Sang Huo estimated… out of 3000 mechs, only 200 mates or so had survived. It was heart wrenching. He could feel the grief choking his breath. And they were actually armed and seated in a mech, imagine without the teacher's help, the tribe would have been a goner.

Well, at least we have survivors.

The lump of darkness was covering almost everything that could sign him direction. Sang Huo seriously was no longer able to find the location of his village.

They could still survive even if they had to live in the mech for the following days, as long as the Steelbats would continue ignoring them. They were supplied with food, made out of Twinkleblue extraction by Dr. Sang Ru Bei which Ye Chong once complimented to be as powerful as the nutrition capsules outside.

Sang Huo first flew forward, the remaining followed him on the runaway at a loss of idea, as they flew on in their own formation.

The Steelbats in their giant flock retained their aggression, as if on steroids, and every following wave was the most impulsive from them, that Sang Tie and his mates of the Explosives Team would have to tame those flies with compression explosives.

The Sang's territory was guarded, no doubt, but the mortality rate carried on rolling, so as the visiting Steelbats. It was a long fight, that it would take more than 10,000 words to write even as summary.

It had been more than 20 days, the migration still continued, and Ye Chong felt his iron nerves would snap at any second, while Sang Pu was also dispirited. The Steelbats were ever-aggressive, they seemed to have tossed their biological clock away the moment they left their nest. The Sangs were on shift, and every shift was a consuming trip, as they flew up and down, getting so worn out that they could sleep the moment the fresh breeze of the outside hit their eyelids.

Like seriously, which pilot would have a battle more than 2 hours? Which author would write a war scene on a single chapter that seems to last forever? It would drive people mad! Under such tension, such density, such aggression of enemies!

The mortality rate was rolling faster when shift happened. Sang Pu felt his heart aching at first, but fortunately as people got used to the constantly irritating process of going ups and downs, no-tension to tension, back and fro, the mortality rate slowed down.

Throughout the 20 days of high density training, the Sang villagers had transformed as they had grasped the Collision utterly. They knew the machinery so well like the back of their hands, and Ye Chong was fascinated by their self-learned capabilities.

Speaking of Ye Chong, being the dark knight, of course he would not be the spectator the whole time!

Han Jia's blades were slicing through the approaching Steelbats silently. It had always been a sudden fall of a few Steelbats to the ground, and the villagers who were planning to charge upon the birds - to their horror - realized one giant cut right on the neck.

"Ming my child, look. Sir is a slaughter-man. One painless slice and it's done. Sir is the real expert, sighs, when would we get to this standard?" Sighed one villager.

"Don't worry, you will. IN, YOUR, DREAM. I mean… we call him 'Sir' for a reason. He's a superlative figure, whom little folks like you and me could ever imitate. But well, I guess Pu and Tie those big boys could have some hope." The other villager was such a bitter tongue.

"Right… Pu and Tie were indeed the best in our village. But I personally think Fan would be the greatest of them all, since you know, he's the student of Sir himself. He learned how to make mechs with Sir, you could see his achievement very much sooner. Sighs, why am I not the chosen one back then?" The villager was feeling upset.

"I have to agree. This boney mech was sure something, even the lord of all beasts, those disgusting Steelbats could not stand against it. If it wasn't Sir, I guess the Sang would no longer exist. The Steelbats… man, they are the demon…"

"I know right…," sympathetically the villager approved the bitter-tongued.

Ye Chong was certainly more experienced than the villagers, also on a different style too. Unlike the Collisions which sped to roll, Ye Chong would only need consecutive quick blinks to assassinate his targets.

But the war had slowly changed him. A hand-on-hand battle was still the best strategy to improvise. He had enough with fancy, flashy moves against these primitives, his movements had grown simplified, his sensibility of space and strength, like to Sangs, had also improved. He also gained one precious ability - the sense of timing, which was often neglected by the people outside, including himself in the past.

He would be facing countless strikes every minute, he always was fighting a one against millions, and those were the reason he got to pick the timing. Ever since that realization, his output efficiency doubled. Sensibility of timing was a tricky thing to master, as not only difficult to word, but also difficult to comprehend, but Ye Chong did it, coincidentally on this occasion.

A technique truly exclusive to Ye Chong.

And he had also learned the power of group cooperation. He had been the lone ranger, the Solo-man, he thought he would suffice but then he witnessed what the Sangs were capable of once they got into group. So an urge to learn about that kindled inside him.

He wished to learn that and without much time longer he actually did it… at minimum output though. He still lacked that essential rapport with the villagers, which was a headache to begin with. Moreover, the villagers had been treasuring so much that he would be enveloped at the very inside. He did voice his thoughts but the words never got through. And he even got his kill stolen, at one time, finally one escaped Steelbat, he zapped towards it, going to raise his blades. And… hundreds of Collision shredded the beast.

It was as if a shout from the villagers - We Shall Protect You Sir! Touching but also… well…

On the 23rd day, yes, finally the density of the darkness decreased, everything was pumped again. The day before this, the villagers had actually started losing patience, wondering when the hell the epilogue would happen for once. It was so discouraging that if it was not their discipline, they might have tossed their spears and gone underground for the following generations perhaps.

Ye Chong was calling it a miracle, that they could last this long.

It was ending at least.

Ironically, the following wave was so intense that as if the Steelbats, after their diminishing appearance, were shouting out to the villagers, "Just Kidding!"

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Chapter 280: Hai Lian

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hai Lian took a glance at the Gigada, a smug glee rose upon his lips. The Gigada seemed to be utterly exhausted and probably in only a matter of 5 minutes, it would be dead, right in his hand. Piloting "Moonlight" his loving steed, he performed a few sets of standard dodging moves in leisure. The movement of Moonlight was graceful and light, as it constantly fired dazzling gleam from its V-type Beam Shooter, making one hole after another on the body of Gigada.

The body of Gigada was full of pores, as moving slower over the time it was, its greenish eyes were expressing deepest grief.

Zzzt! One final beam hit right between its eyes accurately. Thump! The gigantic insect rolled over its body and passed away. The greenish eyes took one last glance at the sky as they lost the glow after.

Sigh! Shook Hai Lian, only if I have a Recursion, knocking out this thing would never take this long. I do believe in my marksmanship but a Recursion was something I might get… in my dream that is. Furthermore, there has hardly been an actual Recursion in the market, no joke, it's super rare!

The Recursion had always been the weaponry exclusive to the Xue Lai clan, which annually only a limited number of them would be flowed to the market - truly a thing with demand yet without supply. No one would have access to it even armed with ample cash and points, other than the Aristocrats themselves. And well, I am just an ordinary folk of nowhere, I should stop thinking about it. Hah! Serves me right that I actually refused to join the Aristocrats myself. Teased Hai Lian, he felt like hurling more insults on himself.

Well, the man was still proud of his achievement as he beamed at the dead Gigada on the ground. He knew, there was not many of them who was able to pilot their way into the calamitous asteroid belt while being able to hunt down an actual Gigada alive. The Gigada could go for a fortune in the market, hah! This was more than enough for a better, more advanced mech! Overjoyed Hai Lian was, for he got a valuable loot. The Gigada was a nasty challenge to handle, not because of its defense or whatsoever, rather it was its murdering offenses and speed, which could take out pilots quickly. Moreover its environment was the deadliest asteroid belt of history of humankind so not many pilots could be as out-of-their-mind as Hai Lian to come here.

Hai Lian had been here for literally three years and the current spot he slaughtered a Gigada was the deepest he could have ventured at the moment. He dared not to go deeper with his equipments. He hoped that after getting a better mech, he would have the capability to get into the next unknown. His curiosity was rising.

Being a freelance hunter over the course of 3 years, Hai Lian was actually quite well-known in his circle but he was the low-profiled kind of person so not many people would witness him in action. Still, a handful of Aristocrats found him, they even handed over a formal invitation to their alliance, which every of them was given a polite decline without fail.

He adored the freedom, his spirit was for the adventure. Yes, certainly his life would improve dramatically once he laid his thumb on the contract with one of the Aristocrats but he would have to give his freedom away as he lived under the whim of the others, which was unbearably horrifying as he thought in the wild now.

Moonlight bowed down, was going to pick up the Gigada's body. It was then…

Hsssssssssssssk!

A strange cry was heard.

A never-before-heard strange cry was discerned. Was it a new kind of beast I have never met before? Alarmed Hai Lian, knowing the fact that every beast in the asteroid belt survived for a reason and for that reason he had drained half of his stamina of the day to kill a Gigada. Moonlight was hitting red as well, he would be doomed if another beast arrived!

The cry seemed to be coming from the depth of the belt.

Hsssssssssssssssk!

An unknown beast deep inside the asteroid belt, crying in a language he wished not to comprehend, his mind was urging him to turn back, run and run fast!

He took a quick glance at the screen. Wait, what? There was nothing on the screen? Impossible! I know my Moonlight was not that advanced of a model! But it is at least a mid-tier model! The detection system is all stable and impeccable! It would not be disturbed by most waves and it had been giving accurate reading the whole time! But, b-b-but, why?!

Hsssssssssssssssssssk!

The cry was getting louder, it felt like something was slicing through the air.

Okay, there has to be something! Judged Hai Lian right away, although his sight was convincing him otherwise. The screen was empty, emptier than ever. No, no no… Fear crawled upon every inch of his skin. Okay! He got it, he knew what to do, he gave a tap on the screen and switched to Photon detection mode.

Hssssssssssk!

He went dumbfounded upon seeing the visual.

What in the solar system is this?

In the boundless sky, countless monsters gleaming in a variety of colors were heading towards him at a horrifying rate. Their bodies were narrow and long, as their bodies seemed to be installed with 4 strange blades? Those were supposed to be wings but the fact that they were well-polished convinced Hai Lian enough to call them blades. There was a spear at the top?

So what animal is this?

Chill ran down to his spines upon seeing the dense lump of monsters approaching.

He was too stunned to run, the beasts were too fast. He recognized the speed of Moonlight even though its performance was a little subpar on the other aspects. At least Moonlight could travel faster than most mid-tiers mech, which was the main reason why he got the bravery to venture into the asteroid belt. But, Moonlight was hardly speedy in front of these beasts.

I'm done. I just am. Hai Lian's face was colorlessly grey.

The beasts were as barbaric as they appeared to be. The scary part was, these beasts actually knew humane tactics in war!

Good bye, cruel world. He closed his eyes, awaiting his death. He would not buy the story that there would be any civilized entity in the murdering asteroid belt, especially when experience taught him that, those which stayed deeper in the belt would be the more brutal.

…

… …

He waited since forever yet the immense pain, the deadly shriek did not occur, not at all.

In tension he slowly opened his eyes. The scene before him was going beyond his understanding. The strange beasts surrounded him but there was not any attack from them. Knowing that he was surely a done-for, he actually calmed down and took a closer look at these monsters.

The surrounding monsters suddenly rearranged themselves, opening up a way where by then the commander - Hai Lian presumed - came into the scene. Wait what? Hai Lian could feel his eyeballs popping out in disbelief. Did he see a mech flying into the scene?

It's a mech? A MECH? The leader of these beasts was a mech? He thought he was bright enough to understand all situation, but he no longer felt his brain working by then.

"You have been captured." The cold voice rang, which feared Hai Lian to the corner.

And that… was how Hai Lian became the captured of these beasts. Confused, Hai Lian watched on, his heart skipped a beat upon seeing a man coming out of these monsters. Okay, that is enough intergalactic travel today. He had seen enough strange things, he seriously hoped to call it a day now. He could imagine him getting a heart attack if this carried on for the next few days.

So, the bloody-sounded tale of human coming out of a beast's body was actually the army of the Sang villagers, and Ye Chong.

The migration attack from the Steelbats had been successfully overcome, although the last few waves for the past 5 days were manic from the Steelbats themselves, which were consuming. Even Ye Chong had to jump into action with his Han Jia. The compression explosives were extremely helpful either as the remaining Sangs on the ground were able to blow up a hole in the lump of darkness without even the need to aim, they just had to make sure there was not any of their ally nearby.

The battle for survival that lasted for almost 30 days had come to an end. Report had also arrived, stating mortality of 5000 men, with the first day having the most of them, the 3000 men in the first wave of attack especially. The villagers were joyful at first, then tears began streaming down everyone's cheek. That was a major loss to the village. Fortunately, Sang Huo and his 300 men who made it back safely had brought a happy surprise to everyone.

Sang Huo and his men had once travelled deep into the Archipelago. The area which was once habituated by the Steelbats had been deserted, and they discovered a rich source of mildstone as well as Lavagold. The villagers raised their brows upon hearing the report since both milestone and Lavagold had both become important resources for their living. The chief immediately sent an order to find a spot where the villagers could reside with defense.

The additional surprise was the fact that they found out a large number of caves, which also happened to be interconnected too! By a glance, the caves should be sufficient to accommodate easily over few hundred thousands of residents. It was a happy news indeed as having a shelter within the hollows would be safer in a dangerous place like Archipelago. The Steelbats would fail to nail them if they ever returned again!

They had a discussion. In the end, the chief decided to perform a migration.

Ye Chong followed the Sang and arrived by the cave and it appeared to be a house of treasure! Minerals were everywhere, which tons of them were new to Ye Chong! The Steelbats had been residing here for years, as justified by the scattered remnants of their ancestors. The soil was enriched by their feces, perfect for Twinkleblue plantation. And there were also a few gravity regions nearby, where the villagers could culture more Portabella!

The Sangs felt highly optimistic of their future. With Collision and Compression Explosives, plus a strategically located home, they would be safe, safer than ever.

Moreover, the next migration of the Steelbats would be a matter of two centuries later. The beast stampede was a headache though for it seemed to have wiped out every beast nearby. So they would face a major shortage of meat in considerable amount of time. At least they had a plantation of Twinkleblues now, so they would not actually starve badly. With Collisions they could reach hunting grounds farther than before.

After the hustles and bustles of migration, the Sang Family Village had once again regained its tranquility.

During this period Ye Chong had actually achieved a few things - he had improved compression explosives, where they blew harder than before; he also enhanced the efficiency of utilization of mildstone's energy in the Destiny: Simplified version; he made miniature engines out of skeletons to create an actual compression missile, which travelled far and hit great, though it lacked a lock-on system, the accuracy was a little bit goofy. Nevertheless, Ye Chong did make use of this weakness in the end, he decided to design it into a more area-of-effect kind of explosive. He modified Collisions and added cartridge to launch the missiles.

The skeletal resources were adored by Ye Chong the artisan, that he even once planned to make a new Han Jia out of them. Sadly Han Jia was a complexity compared to Collision, without advanced apparatuses Ye Chong could hardly make a move.

Ye Chong headed to the chief and mentioned his first request upon completion of these improvements. And without hesitation, the old chief gave Ye Chong 5000 men as requested, of those who happened to be the greatest fighters. Most of them volunteered themselves though, like Sang Pu, Sang Ling, Sang Tie, Sang Huo and Sang Fan, then the apprentices of Ye Chong. Lastly Ye Chong only picked Sang Fan and 6 other apprentices nonetheless. And the large pack of the others was ordered to remain in the village.

5000 Collisions supplied with sufficient mildstone and food commenced their adventure under the leadership of Ye Chong. Ye Chong could not judge what had happened to Mu Shang and the other members but this would be what he could do the most…

The Collisions zoomed into the Red Sea and performed a careful search. As expected, the red strands were doing nothing to the skeleton mechs, which were smooth-sailing without worry. Ye Chong was astonished by the fact that the Sangs possessed a great sense of direction in this, that would really explain their capability to cope with the tension in the cage of the Steelbats back then, they needed no tool to tell them where they were heading.

They searched the Red Sea, but they could not find any sign of the Coxcomb. There was also nothing that could be associated with Mu Shang. Ye Chong, the indifferent one, was literally feeling demotivated.

The Collisions were the perfect transportation to conquer the Red Sea, as not only they were unaffected by the delay effects, their blades were also able to cut through the strands easily, which eventually Ye Chong had a huge chunk of red strand collection in his inventory.

Ye Chong and the men travelled from one end to another. Ye Chong was venturing into this unexplored zone. With Collisions the Sangs now possessed the ability of long-distance migration. The Archipelago was frankly not the best spot for the expansion of their tribe. It would be great if they could discover a better place to live, that their tribe would once again strengthen back to their glory.

Ye Chong was feeling down. Mu Shang remained undiscovered. He sighed as he could do nothing else than holding up the search for the moment. Since he lacked a path to return, his only option would be to live with the Sangs. Ye Chong was certainly glad to be able to help the Sangs with what he knew. He was growing on the tribe, it would a big fat lie if he claimed to have no feeling for them after what they had gone through together. He too hoped that the Sangs would live better.

Well, unexpectedly, before the search at the belt was done, they met Hai Lian.

And everybody knew what it would mean if a mech appeared here.

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Chapter 281: He Yue Galaxy

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hai Lian was very annoyed indeed. Man I sure have tough luck. I thought I was lucky enough to have hunted a Gigada for money and now I am a slave under some unknown tribe's capture. Bravo, Hai Lian, you saved the day.

But he must admit, he nearly dropped his jaws upon seeing the mech of the leader.

Skeleton mech? Am I seeing things? Is that really a skeleton mech? Oh my gosh… I actually witness the legendary mech with my own eyes. Yes, some may argue that skeleton mech isn't really the strongest, but I am convinced the fact that the mech represents the top of a certain field, a master craftsmanship. As far as I know, almost every aristocrat who came to me mentioned about their research on skeleton mechs, though I have yet heard any successful attempt from them.

So who exactly are these people? Hai Lian was shocked, he could imagine and he swore that, if this information was leaked to the outside world, it would send fire to all the medias of the entire galaxy.

These flying "objects" were looking odd to Hai Lian on the other hand, although his instinct told him to not look down upon them. As a freelancing hunter he had been talking to the beasts with his fist, so he was rather familiar with the skeletons. These flying objects must be formidable in some way as he had heard about stories of a person massively purchasing skeletons in the market back then, and as far as he eavesdropped, these materials seemed to be used for production of skeleton parts.

And at the black market of Nine Gates, there was a batch of skeleton parts quietly flowed into the market once. Almost every piece of them was astronomically priced. That was the first time an actual piece of skeleton part appeared in the eyes of humanity, different from its theoretical debut back then. Even though those were merely skeleton accessories, they had once again rekindled the interests of humanity towards skeleton crafts, which led to an inflation at the market. Hai Lian probably benefited from it the most. As a hunter he had a storage of skeletons, he could feel that happiness of his wallet exploding, the figure on his identity card ticking endlessly back then.

A few pieces of accessories were enough to stir up a rampage in the market. Now, imagine they saw a complete skeleton mech in front of them. I wonder how they would react? Maybe like the thrashing during the time when Galacly Gaga appeared. Hai Lian was pretty looking forward to it.

Of course such thought was merely a whim rolling in his head. He would never word it. He expected himself to express full respect towards this very leader of the strange tribe., especially when he could feel pierced by the leader's cold gaze. The leader's brows laid flat like his tone. It was a fear to overcome for him to lay his eyes upon the leader.

These were some horrible barbarians. It must be the hidden troops trained by one of the aristocrats! I could tell from every gesture they made, okay, I am getting scared. I started to lose track of the happening, I could not really tell which aristocrat could own such major troops, other than the greatest three - Xue Lai clan, the Ye family, the Xi Feng Tribe, but it would not make sense! None of those aristocrats possess a skeleton mech!

And there were skeleton flying objects. 5000 of them! Such a budget! Seriously no other aristocrat could invest such a fortune. The colors though… those were contradicting my assumption. As far as I know, the Xue Lai clan adores the color white, whereas the Ye family prefers the color black and the Xi Feng tribe has a thing for green. Those colors also happen to be the representation of the three aristocrats, which they would use to paint their mechs. But these skeleton flying objects were a mess! They do not have a standard color, it felt like I was caught by a group of underperforming troops or something! There are all sorts of colors, and some of them are even painted in patches of green and red, like a poorly done reskined mech from the wet market. Yet… their behaviors were showing otherwise. They are solemn and stern, with convincing discipline. Anyone with eyes could tell they had undergone a long period of military training.

Those eyes though, were very frightening to my sense. They were still, like too still, forceful which sometimes a glare of their shrunken pupils would make my heart run cold. Archipelago is known to be the most tedious place for humanity yet these men… these Sang villagers I heard? They survived from the slaughters from generation to generation. I also heard they had a severe war with Steelbats days ago, I know those Steelbats, they were terrifying, how in the Archipelago they handled the uncontrolled avifauna?

Ye Chong and the tribe were not really aware of this so-called frightening stares and aura, it probably was a lingering fearsomeness because of the war back then. But it was enough to give a mind crush to Hai Lian.

Okay, obviously, Hai Lian, these men were not the kind civilized one you would have expected. Yikes! Those stares! Stop it!

In reality, it was all Hai Lian's imagination. The entire tribe surrounded him as he was the first new outsider after the teacher's arrival. No doubt they would be all alarmed and curious.

Hey! Hey! What do you want to do with me? Where do you want me to go?

Hai Lian was called to the side by Ye Chong.

"What exactly is this place?" asked Ye Chong.

Dammit you Archipelagoose! Quit playing games with me! If you want to tease your enemy, do it properly! I had never felt so insulted in my entire life! Do you think I'm a fool? If there was anybody in the galaxy who claimed to be unaware of the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, I would be piloting my mech and - with pleasure - crashed my head right into that fella! You Archipelagoose! Try playing games with me again and you- "This place, sir, is known as the Calamitous Asteroid Belt." Stated Hai Lian with wholehearted courtesy.

It was not the first day Hai Lian went on his little adventure, he would never show his true dissatisfaction to an enemy with fearsome appearance.

Ye Chong was finding the name pretty foreign. He tried searching the term in his mind - nope, no result. "So what galaxy are we in exactly?" asked he again.

I said stop playing games with me! Ughhhh! There's a reason I call you an Archipelagoose you twerp! I swear I am going to- "This, sir, is known as the He Yue galaxy."

"He Yue… what?" Flinched Ye Chong, the name rang a bell. But… He Yue galaxy was not from any of the 5 major galaxies…

"Mister, did you just mention He Yue galaxy? We are in He Yue galaxy?" Sang Pu, alarmed, asked frantically, which was intriguing to Ye Chong as Sang Pu had been all calm and steady till this statement toppled his rationality.

"Duh! Where else? The Blackhole?" responded Hai Lian, on a leak of his temper. Well, you love games, don't you? Just carry on messing with my mind, come on. Wait, what did I just say? Oh no… dear Hai Lian, you know that your life was still in their hands, don't you?

"He Yue galaxy? He Yue galaxy…," muttered Sang Pu, "Oh my lord, is this true? We had actually found our root a long time ago?" The villagers were stupefied.

And only Ye Chong recalled by then, the ancestor of the Sang tribe once migrated from He Yue galaxy to Archipelago. All these while he had been assuming the He Yue galaxy being an old name of one galaxy of the current 5 major galaxies. But now this man's statement seemed to be telling otherwise. So there was actually another galaxy than the 5 major galaxies?

Hai Lian stared at these men, confused. Their expression seemed to be joyful but not really at the same time… they did not seem to be acting though. Are they really not from He Yue? I clearly heard that mature man mentioning about He Yue being their root… so … maybe…

"How far is He Yue from the 5 major galaxies?" Ye Chong was more concerned on this.

"Five what? What Five major galaxies?" Hai Lian was looking at Ye Chong in bewilderment.

Aha! My hypothesis was right! I knew it! These men are not from He Yue at all! But assuming they really were from He Yue, probably they are some hidden elite troops trained by the aristocrat, who ventured into the Calamitous Asteroid Belt and disguised their transportation with camouflage. They should be on some kind of top secret mission, oh no, and I actually butted in. To keep the mission as a secret, they would have to kill me!!!

Luckily, Hai Lian, they were not from He Yue. Phew, I could finally flex my muscles. But frankly speaking, I am really curious of their origin. Man, I'm such a chicken at this, I could not even lift my mouth and ask. I guess, for now I should be as cooperative as possible.

Sang Pu was truly the successor to the leader, he regained his thoughts quickly and began inquiring more details of He Yue. He was more sensible in this than Ye Chong.

Of course Hai Lian was fully cooperative, answering those inquiries without hesitation.

Apparently, He Yue galaxy did not have its own government. It was currently torn between forces. It was complicated as not only there were numerous forces but also a vast number of freelancing hunting pilots joining and forming different forces at the same time, truly chaotic. And among them, the three great aristocrats were most outstanding - Xue Lai clan, Ye family, Xi Feng tribe, with their advancement in technologies as well as great battle capabilities. The catch was, these aristocrats, other than being in their respective region, were not as influential as the people outside would imagine.

Sang Pu was all ears, and he asked a few questions from time to time.

"Thank you very much," sighed Hai Lian in a relief upon hearing the loving phrase. His wit suggested the fact that these men indeed lacked even the basic understanding of He Yue galaxy. They surely would need a guide.

Well that sounds like my safety charm! Sigh! Goodbye freedom, Hai Lian, you are eventually a bird trapped in the cage. It's easy to say no right in the face of those pampered Aristocrats, but these are the barbarians, they would grind me for dinner if I dare to even shake my head!

In his galaxy, the outside world, none of those forces would suppress the freelancing pilots. In He Yue certainly, the greatest force consisted of the freelancing pilots like Hai Lian, since they easily outnumbered the 3 Aristocrats, which justified the fact that Hai Lian was still standing there under captive despite all the snobbish "No" he rubbed on the faces of those Aristocrats.

But obviously these barbarians would never understand the fact that I'm an endangered species. Hai Lian you would be an ignorant bull if you would die simply because of a "No".

Sang Pu then asked his men to lead Hai Lian to somewhere else after the interrogation.

"So, what do we do next? Should we migrate again? Ask all our brothers and sisters to go back to our root?" They then had a discussion.

"Sir, how do you see?" asked Sang Pu, with his expression as passionate as the folks by his side. It had to be the greatest wish for the Sangs to return to He Yue galaxy, especially when it was near.

"We could think about that later. We have no idea how the place here looks," declined Ye Chong. "Bringing everyone out could become an issue easily. We should scout the place first, then we build a base, we would consider about the migration after all the conditions had been met. Well, for now you could go back and spread the happy news to everybody at least."

Ye Chong might not be the most charismatic leader yet, but his decision-making was more mature than before.

"True, sir!" His idea was approved by everybody. Their tribe had been staying in the Archipelago for generations, they had hardly seen the outside world, and only Ye Chong had the actual societal experience, so, one would of course listen to the experienced.

"Go! Go and tell them we found home!" Sang Pu sent 10 men to spread the words.

Ye Chong began pondering, as he confirmed the fact that there were indeed more galaxies beyond the 5 major galaxies, judging from the words of Hai Lian. A complete zone of foreignness…

Ye Chong began wondering if Mu Shang might happen to be there with the Coxcomb. He discarded the idea quickly however, as he realized the probability was too measly for that to happen. The figure would further decrease assuming he would go on a search boldly at this foreign world.

Only if they were lost in the 5 major galaxies. Ye Chong would be sure of what to do. He just had to log into the Virtual World and let Mu discover and trace his energy signal.

Will I see Mu Shang again?? Sighed Ye Chong in his mind.

But first, I have better things to do. I should at least ensure my survival to even be able to meet them again. I knew nothing else than the hand-on-hand, I got to learn.

I start to miss Shang's overindulgence, at least Shang's superior knowledge and diabolic nature would be close to my capabilities. The others… well they needed my help more… Helplessly Ye Chong took the flag of leadership, since that seemed to be the most probable move to make for now.

Luckily we got a tour guide.

"Bring Hai Lian."

"Yes sir."

Ye Chong called Hai Lian to the front and mentioned his request.

As expected! Thought Hai Lian, not like I have any choice though. So the free-unfree hunter accepted the request without much hesitation.

Ye Chong, suddenly had Shang's voice echoed in his mind, "Remember, Ye, whenever the enemies agreed to your need, you should return the favor. Fair trade is fair. It's a principle of life." Well then…

"Since you have accepted our request, similarly, as a fair trade, we would pay you with a price accordingly. So, tell us, what do you wish for?" The principle of life is the very basic law of human interaction, emphasized Shang. Even though Ye Chong could not guarantee to when and what extend he would abide by that principle, he would at least try learning it, since he was in fact the one sitting on the throne leading the people at the moment.

Sang Pu and his men were looking at Sir oddly, as they believed the so-called price was unnecessary at all, since any resource in Archipelago would be as precious as a living necessity, plus Hai Lian had technically been enslaved by them, whatever he had performed should be unwaged.

An inexperienced beast leading a group of incomprehensible beasts - the best summary it was for Ye Chong's current team perhaps.

A joyful twist in Hai Lian's show. It looked like his script did not end just there, since there was no need for a fill-in-the-blank promise in this scene! Such a charismatic man! Complimented Hai Lian. But well, the hunter's mind schemed faster than the wind, as he said, "Thank you sir for your greatest kindness, however it would be more helpful if I could know what the lord could offer at his convenience…"

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Chapter 282: A Terrified Hai Lian

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong blinked. He was caught off guard. As it was, everyone on his side had no money at all, not even a single zuan. Nonetheless, Ye Chong was not embarrassed over it. He never really thought highly of money, and being penniless was absolutely normal for him. Ye Chong replied, "Hmm, we have no money. But, if you're interested in that, we'll need time to pay you." Mu and Shang had told him before, that almost everyone would be interested in money.

Hai Lian looked at the man before him, and felt like he could not understand him at all. He had just told him that they were broke without any embarrassment, like he was only talking about the weather.

Hai Lian spoke more respectfully, "I'm not too keen on money. If possible, please give me a full-skeleton mech, and I'll be most grateful." Someone as weathered as Hai Lian would know not to offer too low a price, so that there was room for negotiation.

A full-skeleton mech. Ye Chong quietly sighed in relief. To him, it was not too difficult. Ye Chong nodded. "Alright then. However, we didn't bring any extra full-skeleton mechs. For a new full-skeleton mech, we'll need some time to deliver." It would take time, whether it was building a new one from scratch, or getting one from the Sang Family Village.

"No problem," Hai Lian answered quickly, afraid that Ye Chong might take back his word. Heavens, he never thought Ye Chong would actually agree to it. To him, a full-skeleton mech would more than satisfy him, and now the man had actually agreed without hesitation. He could almost jump with joy.

He would risk his life for a full-skeleton mech, much less waiting for awhile. Besides, the other man seemed honest enough. More importantly, he understood his position in this negotiation.

The thought of having a full-skeleton mech was euphoric. Hai Lian almost fainted with joy. What's in a full-skeleton mech? If someone were to offer a full-skeleton mech as a reward when hiring a freelance mech pilot, Hai Lian was sure that many would jump at the offer. An excellent mech to a mech pilot was like a finely honed sword to a swordsman, or a beauty to a playboy; besides, this was a full-skeleton mech!

The turn from downright miserable to absolute joy was like a dream to Hai Lian. He could feel himself enveloped in a dreamy sensation of happiness. Fortunately, the full-skeleton mech was only promised to him. If they were to present him with a full-skeleton mech there and then, Hai Lian thought he would probably faint on the spot.

"Since you've agreed, then let's talk about how to make things work between us." Ye Chong's voice broke Hai Lian's reverie. Hai Lian finally came to, and remembered then that the mech would come at a price.

"Just let me know what I can do for you, sir!" With the full-skeleton mech as price, Hai Lian submitted unreservedly to provide his services.

Ye Chong continued evenly, "Hmm, we're not asking for much, other than that you work as a reliable guide for us. On the other hand, don't try to look into our background, and don't tell anyone about us. Any action on your part must go through my approval. Oh, right, and another thing, I'll leave the matter of our identification documents to you."

Hai Lian nodded as he listened. The job was not too difficult, reasonable even. Sang Pu and the rest listened on the side as well. The outside world was too unfamiliar to them.

Ye Chong took a glance at the villagers and continued, "What we have to do now is to stay low, our safety is top priority. All your plans must be based on this." He then turned to look at Sang Pu and the others and said, "The same goes for all of you."

"Yes sir," Sang Pu and the rest bowed, answering in unison.

Hai Lian looked respectfully at Ye Chong. He could not understand how a young man like him could command such respect from these people. Hai Lian himself was impressed by the discipline that this group had demonstrated. He was sure that, with the exception of the three main aristocratic families, no one in the He Yue galaxy could come close to this attitude.

Ye Chong took a casual glance at Hai Lian and said, "Since we have an agreement, I hope you'll do your part. If you turn back on the deal, you should know the consequences to that, I'm sure."

Hai Lian could feel cold sweat rolling down along his back, down to the tip of his spine. There was a deep chill spreading from the depths of his heart. Ye Chong's casual sentence came out like a blizzard.

Hai Lian quickly replied, "Don't worry, sir, I will do my best." He was moaning regretfully on the inside. The full-skeleton mech will not come easy, indeed.

Sang Pu, Sang Fan and the others quickly passed the word from Ye Chong to the rest. The Sang family members were all used to hunting, and had lived under the laws of nature. No one understood better than Ye Chong what disaster they would cause once they stepped into human society, since he had done it before himself.

Looking back at those days, he would not have survived without Mu and Shang. His own journey was not all stars and glory, but littered with a good many deadly battles.

Human society was too complicated. He was still continually vexed by it. Once, he would leave such problems for Mu and Shang to worry about; now, it was up to him to solve their predicament. Moreover, it was not just him now, but a whole 5,000 Sang family villagers. He must take every step with the utmost care.

While Ye Chong was not familiar with this kind of problem, he was at least able to calculate the best solution, out of influence from Mu. The order he just gave was based on his considerations of the situation at hand.

The only ones in the world whom Ye Chong would sacrifice so much for would be Mu and Shang, but this did not mean that Ye Chong would act irresponsibly. He would do his best to protect the 5,000 Sang family members, even if he would not die for them.

Ye Chong asked, "Are you familiar with this place?"

Hai Lian nodded. "Yes, I've been around for years."

"Are there many visitors?" Ye Chong asked.

Hai Lian shook his head. "Not many. The wild animals here are nasty things, plus the land is difficult to travel. Aside from independent hunters, and mech pilots here for actual combat training, no one really comes here."

Ye Chong was satisfied with that, since it greatly reduced the probability of the Sang family members being found out. Having 5,000 people suddenly visiting a city would have been big news, much less when they all looked vicious as h*ll.

"Is there any hidden place around here, big enough to fit 5,000 people?" Ye Chong asked.

5,000 people … Hai Lian was shocked. He thought there would only be around two to three thousand, but now … Keeping himself composed, he pondered over the question for a moment before replying, "Hmm, there's a valley nearby, very much hidden, and spacious. I think it should be big enough for 5,000 people. It's just that there are many wild beasts there, very vicious ones. I've only been there once, and nearly lost my life." Hai Lian spoke of his experience at the valley with lingering fear.

Wild beasts? Ye Chong believed that no animal would be more vicious than the ones at Archipelago. Animals that lived with such strong gravity would be so much more dangerous than the animals here.

"Gather them up," Ye Chong spoke with a plain but undefiable voice. He was beginning to accept and play the role of a leader. He was the perfect case study of a leader made, not born.

Sang Ling bowed, and did as commanded.

The Sang tribe was efficient. Even without communication devices, they still managed to work with such efficiency.

The 5,000-strong battalion stood in formation with a silent, imposing manner.

"There's a valley nearby. We'll have to clear the area of wild beasts. Sang Pu will lead the operation." Ye Chong had no idea how to give orders, and only spoke in his usual way.

"Yes sir," All 5,000 of them answered.

Hai Lian was pale, watching the events unfolding before him. Ye Chong's seemingly unleaderly order had transformed the 5,000 people into formidable warriors. If those 5,000 people were like a sword in its sheath earlier, then Ye Chong's order seemed to have unsheathed the sword.

The 5,000 strong formation did not move, and everyone's expression was still as sombre as before, but now, one could feel the strong, deadly aura from them. Hai Lian had never seen anything like it, and was hence pale from fear.

"As expected, they're killers," Hai Lian thought to himself. A friend once told him that this steady but deadly aura would only come from people who had have survived countless battles to the death. However, He Yue had never seen war for years. Why would there be veteran soldiers here? And why would there be 5,000 of them?

Where did they come from? That was the main question for Hai Lian. However, he was also well aware of the situation, and would not risk his life for the answer.

Under Hai Lian's guidance, Ye Chong and the rest quickly found the valley.

However, what happened next shocked Hai Lian once again, till his face was drained of blood.

This … This was a massacre! Heavens, who were these people? He had nearly lost his life here, but now the beasts were killed so easily that he was having a hard time to even breathe, taking in the spectacle.

He had seen so-called infamous mech pilot squads working, but they were like child's play compared to what he was seeing now. He dared not record it, though. If he did, he was sure that their performance would cause an uproar in the world, and the cooperation they demonstrated would be a welcome addition into the curriculum for mech pilot group strategies as a case study.

That odd-shaped flying machine was packed with such destructive powers that Hai Lian himself could freeze in fear. The valley was scattered with blood everywhere. He could hear the animals howling in fear and pain. Their savage methods were enough to make even someone as weathered as him to squirm.

Even the Ye family, known for their savage ways in this galaxy, could not compare to this battalion. The Ye family preferred close range combat, but not in the crude and brute force methods of these people, crashing into their enemies without style.

However, the way they worked with each other was intriguing in a way that Hai Lian could not exactly describe. It was like watching a huge, bearded man swinging his two large iron hammers around as he yelled barbarically, but all the while moving gracefully like a dancer. The contrast was mind bending.

The clearing operation went swiftly. Only 500 people were involved, but their astonishing efficiency would satisfy even the most unyielding critics.

Hai Lian stared at the animal bodies scattered around the area. They could all be sold for money! If all these people decided to start working as freelance hunters, then the other hunters should just choose another line of work.

Ye Chong walked to one of the bodies, took out his dagger and slit open the flesh. He inspected the animal's skeleton, and shook his head. If it were before he entered Archipelago, he would have thought these skeletons were excellent. However, now that Archipelago had raised the bar, he could no longer be satisfied with these skeletons. They were too inferior compared to those from the Archipelago.

Archipelago skeletons were still the best!

Ye Chong's familiar movements and his ease around the bodies made Hai Lian understand that the young man, so respected by the battalion, must have had his own share of a bloody past.

Ye Chong had no idea how to set camp or secure the perimeter, so he left all the work to Sang Pu.

On a deserted plain on Soundfall, a group was advancing swiftly, fast like a falling star.

This was Ye Chong and his people. Once the battalion was settled, and instructions were given, Ye Chong led a team himself to survey the planet known as Soundfall. Together with him was Sang Fan and a few others. Sang Pu was left at base to handle any unexpected situations. Ye Chong's order were for them to stay hidden; if they were spotted, leave no witnesses alive. The order made Hai Lian felt a chill reaching deep to his bones.

Ye Chong took eight people with him. Together with himself and Hai Lian, they made up a group of 10. The eight included Sang Fan and Sang Ling, and the rest were all elites like Sang Huo and Sang Tie.

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Chapter 283: Entering the City

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

With the exception of Ye Chong and Hai Lian, the rest of them had no dimension keystones for their mechs. Full-skeleton mechs were too much of an attention grabber, and if they entered the city with those mechs, they would be noticed the moment they arrived. Ye Chong knew this from his experience at the Nine Gates of Daylight.

The person left behind to defend the base was Sang Mu. Sang Mu was a socially awkward figure, but in fact he had a quick mind, a typical strategist. He was an excellent fighter, and ruthless enough to be make some of the villagers wary of him. Ye Chong's instructions to him were to protect the mechs, and retaliate where necessary. If their safety was compromised, they were to escape immediately. To Ye Chong, survival was of the utmost importance.

The rest of them were heading towards the nearest city.

Hai Lian was shocked. He never imagined that this lean young guy would be so strong. When he was carried by Sang Tie, the wind blowing in his face made it hard to breathe. He could barely open his eyes as the man ran like the wind. His mind was in circles, and he could not even form a coherent thought!

The eight people advanced in battle formation, surrounding Ye Chong in the center. Soundfall had considerably weaker gravity than at Archipelago. On the other hand, Sang Tie and others were already quite fast on Archipelago. Hence, they moved so fast it was like they were running on engines.

Ye Chong believed that even a Jie expert specializing in running would not be able to outrun them.

With the exception of Ye Chong and Hai Lian, the rest of them wore enthusiastic expressions. They had never experienced weak gravity like this. Every Sang tribe member yearned for greater power, speed and strength. Their heightened abilities here were unprecedented, so it was only natural that they felt so excited.

Mechs flew past them from above occasionally. There came in all sorts of designs, be it humanoid or animal shaped. Sang Fan and the rest watched with awe, new to the outside world. Even so, they remained in formation and did not slow down.

Their speed was getting a little too conspicuous, as some mechs would hover over them for a while before continuing on their journeys. Soon, Ye Chong realized the issue, and asked for them to slow down. However, even then, they were still running faster than normal.

The city's silhouette came to view in the distance.

After Hai Lian was put down, he took nearly three minutes to recover himself. He then took a look and found the city in view, and was flabbergasted. He turned back to see the group, and found that they did not look strained or even tired at all. Even Sang Tie, who was carrying him, was breathing quite evenly.

Hai Lian gulped heavily, his fear of the group now refreshed. What astonishing stamina! They had actually arrived here on foot! He could not help but think, also, that if they were to go at "it", they could probably go on for days … He felt a little jealous

No one said anything. The group stayed in battle formation, wearing serious expressions.

However, Hai Lian quickly broke off his lewd thoughts, since he saw Ye Chong looking at him.

Hai Lian quickly spoke up, "That's the city called Foundation, I've been there a few times. The city's under the power of the Kuri tribe. Please beware, the women of the tribe cannot be touched, or there will be trouble."

"The Kuri tribe?" Sang Fan asked. Of all the younger Sang tribe members, only Sang Pu and Sang Fan could behave naturally in front of Ye Chong. Even Sang Ling would become behave more carefully around Ye Chong in later days.

Hai Lian said, "Yes. The Kuri tribe is more conservative. Aside from weapons like mechs, they're quite opposed to technology. They worship nature, and pray to a mythical goddess they call the Divine Lady. So, if any Kuri tribe member makes a vow in the name of the Divine Lady, you can rest assured they mean it."

Everyone seemed interested in this.

Hai Lian noticed that he had everyone's attention, and continued happily, "The Kuri tribe may not be a huge tribe, with primitive technology, but seldom do people meddle with them. They're weapon enthusiasts, investing much of their efforts in weapons technology, which is above average. Besides, the tribe members are all able and eager to fight, so people usually leave them alone."

These people listening to him were actually his employers, and the ones who will give him his full-skeleton mech, so Hai Lian reminded them, "However, the Kuri tribe is not exactly ruling the place diligently. As long as you leave them alone, they wouldn't care what you do in Foundation city. As a result, Foundation is actually in quite a social mess. You'll see fights anywhere, anytime, so please be careful."

As they heard that there would be fights in the city, everyone instantly raised their guard. Hai Lian quickly soothed them. "Relax, everyone. I believe that no one in Foundation would dare to mess with us." The residents of Foundation were all weathered fighters, and would probably recognize that this group was not one to be messed with.

As they approached Foundation, the mechs in the sky grew numerous, and so did the pedestrians. Most of them walked steadily with hardened eyes. Their clothing looked weathered, and their faces even more so. Ye Chong was curious about this. In the Five Galaxies, the people on the streets all walked casually, their faces an unhealthy pallor, more like sick people compared to the people here.

"Who are they?" Ye Chong asked, pointing at them.

Hai Lian took a glance, and replied, "They're combat experts."

"Combat experts?" Ye Chong was surprised. Combat experts were rare in the Five Galaxies, a forgotten line of work. Most of them only practiced in their own dojos. Here, however, Ye Chong had seen dozens of them walking around. Could combat experts actually be common in this place?

"Yes, they're combat experts who've gone through ascetic training. Most combat experts who reached a certain level of skill would leave their homes for ascetic training to improve their skills and harden their resolve. These people you see are combat experts visiting here to train themselves. A combat expert who had completed his or her ascetic training is well respected here, and is usually very strong," Hai Lian explained. However, he was immediately reminded of how crazily strong these people are. Now that was true strength.

Ye Chong grew curious. "Why are combat experts still popular here? Shouldn't mech pilots be more mainstream?"

Hai Lian explained evenly, "Mech piloting is indeed the popular choice, but without a strong body, it's almost impossible to improve your piloting skills beyond an intermediate level. Besides, what's a better to way to train yourself physically than going into combat training? Also, many mech pilots still die in the hands of combat experts these days!"

Ye Chong nodded in agreement. For someone as skilled in mech piloting as him, he knew that advanced piloting skills would require more stringent demands on the mech pilot's physical condition. Even a single change in direction, when done in half the time, would increase the demand on the pilot's physical abilities by more than half. Ye Chong had killed more than a few mech pilots outside his mech, thus he understood that mech pilots outside their mechs were usually weak and vulnerable.

"Here, everyone learns to fight from their childhood. Since children's bodies haven't fully matured, mech pilot training is not suitable for them. Besides, learning to fight not only helps to strengthen them physically, but it can also toughen their minds. Their instructors are combat experts. Many mech pilots would eventually head outside to train themselves as well." Hai Lian added, "Mental strength is more important than skills."

"That makes sense," Ye Chong agreed. This mindset seemed to be better than the popular mindset in the Five Galaxies. Hence, the mech pilots here must be stronger than those from the Five Galaxies.

The city was surrounded by all sorts of fauna. The wide stretch of blooming flowers was an eye-opener. One could even see some beautiful ladies among the flowers, tending to them.

Hai Lian whispered, "These woman are from the Kuri tribe. They like to take care of the plants. Please don't damage any of the plants, or we'll be in deep trouble. The Kuri tribe women can be very troublesome."

Ye Chong nodded in understanding. The view was beautiful, with all kinds of flowering plants and trees neatly arranged in a refreshing manner. Outside the foliage areas were many parking spaces. The mechs in the air would land here, and the mech pilot would hop out of the pilot cabin, withdraw their mechs, and walk into the city.

Ye Chong found that most of the mech pilots here did not use rope ladders, but made their way down to the ground by themselves. As expected, the mech pilots here were mostly combat trained. They all looked like tough characters, completely unlike the superficial mech pilots in the Five Galaxies.

Sang Fan and the rest were tense. They had never seen so many strangers before. The way they held themselves got the attention of the people around them. Hai Lian groaned inside and asked them to relax themselves, to no avail.

Ye Chong said nothing. He understood that their habits could not be overcome so soon. He handled himself worse in the past. However, he also knew that they were standing out too much, which made it easier to get them into trouble. Fortunately, they were all strictly disciplined, and would not attack first without his order.

When a standard combat squad in battle formation entered the scene, its members all looking serious and deadly, it was hard to blend in the background. No one dared to stay within 20 meters of them. Even the Kuri tribe women tending to the plants stood up, and gave them odd looks.

In fact, just as Hai Lian predicted, their group stood out too much. Hai Lian saw a few mech pilot squads directing meaningful looks at them. However, with the deadly aura coming from them, no one dared to come and greet the newcomers.

The deadly aura coming from their group was too strong. Hai Lian did not know that the Sang family villagers had just fought a war, and were still fresh from that experience.

The people around them gossiped in low whispers.

"Let's go." Ye Chong did not want to be stared at like some creature. Besides, their wary glances made him uncomfortable.

Inside the city, Ye Chong felt like he had returned to civilization. This was not a wasteland like the Archipelago. He could see traces of technology everywhere. The wide street was filled with pedestrians bustling about, unlike in the cities where Ye Chong had visited before. In any city in the Five Galaxies, pedestrians were usually rarely seen on the road. The sky was the main road of transport. Conventional transportation was replaced with mechs. Here in the city, however, there were no mechs flying above them.

The street was lined with shops, and the holographic advertisements on display threw Ye Chong into a daze. He was reminded of Mu and Shang, and then Bai Linan, and the days gone past. Now, however, he did not know where Mu and Shang were, or how Bai Linan was doing. Truly, life unfolds in unexpected ways.

However, Ye Chong quickly focused and mocked himself, "Since when am I so sentimental?"

Sang Fan and the group had never seen these high tech holographic advertisements before, and they all gaped at them.

"Bumpkins," someone laughed at them. The people around them were all looking at them condescendingly.

Hai Lian stopped in his tracks. These onlookers must have a death wish, to mess with the group he was with. And now … He felt deeply troubled.

However, after a long moment, Ye Chong and the others did not respond at all.

Hai Lian did not know that Sang Fan and the others did not even know what a bumpkin was. As for Ye Chong, he was well aware of the insult, but equally uninterested in such meaningless fights. Thus, he ignored the comment.

As Hai Lian had informed him, most of the stores here sell mechs, weaponry and such. The next most popular goods were mech parts and the like. Ye Chong even found a few stores specialized in less conventional or traditional weapons. This intrigued him a lot. In the Five Galaxies, stores like these were almost unheard of. Traditional weapons were more like artworks there. However, since there were many combat experts in the city, Ye Chong realized that it was only reasonable to see those stores here. As a combat expert himself, he knew that there were combat experts who specialized in these unconventional weapons.

Ye Chong asked Hai Lian abruptly, "Where can I buy dimension keystones?" He now needed a large amount of dimension keystones. Without them, Sang Fan and the rest would not be able to take Collision with them. If they found themselves in trouble, they would be more at risk without their mechs.

Hai Lian quickly answered, "All the stores selling mech parts will have them, but …" He seemed unable to continue further.

"But what?" Ye Chong looked strangely at Hai Lian.

"Dimension keystones are not cheap, do you have enough money?" Hai Lian looked carefully at Ye Chong.

Ye Chong realized his predicament then.

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Chapter 284: The Three Aristocratic Families

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ever since he escaped the trash planet, Ye Chong had never worried about money. This was firstly due to his shallow understanding of currency, and secondly, Mu and Shang had always dealt with this issue for him.

Now, the first problem he faced was actually about money. He knew next to nothing about ways to make more money. If it was just him alone, he would have acted with less worries; however, with so many with him, it was just not feasible to use more extreme methods.

Ye Chong turned to Sang Fan and asked, "Any lavagold weapons?"

Sang Fan immediately responded, "Only a lavagold dagger."

"Hand it over." Ye Chong reached out his hand, and Sang Fan quickly released the dagger secured on his thigh and placed it in Ye Chong's hand. Sang Fan's dagger was made by him, the sheathe made out of tough steelbat skin, simple and practical.

Hai Lian looked at the inconspicuous weapon with interest. Lavahold dagger? What a curious name.

Ye Chong took the dagger and headed towards one of the traditional weapons stores. The others quickly adjusted their formation accordingly, keeping Ye Chong at the center as he walked towards the store.

The discipline showed by the small group gathered a few interested glances, some of them with fear.

As Ye Chong entered the traditional weapons store, the storekeeper noticed the large group and greeted them warmly, anticipating good business.

The storekeeper smiled widely at Ye Chong as he said, "How can I help you, sir? Please have a look around, if you see anything of interest, feel free to give them a try. If you need any special weapons, our store offers custom build services. Our main weapons craftsmith is Duo Lanmen, with the title Strange. He's well suited for making more unique weapons."

Hai Lian could not help but be surprised. He never imagined that a small store like this would have a weapons craftsmith with the Strange title. A weapons craftsmith with a title was much coveted by any powerful organization. The title denoted the specialization in their work. Duo Lanmen, for example, with the title Strange, would be specialized in unique weapons.

Hai Lian's surprise pleased the storekeeper. Duo Lanmen was his store's main star. He would make the same introduction to every new customer, and their look of surprise was something he enjoyed very much.

However, seeing the rest of the group unmoved, the storekeeper guessed that they must have been seasoned veterans who would not be impressed by the normal things he had on display. On the other hand, he also knew that this kind of customers were usually the ones who would spend more. Perhaps he had a huge opportunity here. Just when he was about to show them the best products from his store, the leader spoke.

"Do you buy weapons here?" The calm voice came from Ye Chong.

The storekeeper paused. They were not here to purchase anything. He was heavily disappointed, but kept the smile on his face as he said, "Of course we do, what would you be selling, sir? Please give me a moment, for your reassurance, all authentication and valuation in this store is carried out by the weapons craftsmith Duo Lanmen himself. Will this be agreeable to you?"

The group seemed dodgy to him. Best if he let Duo Lanmen to inspect whatever they had to sell, since no one would actually doubt the decision of a weapons craftsmith with a title.

Ye Chong nodded and said, "Alright." He then turned his attention to the weapons on display in the store.

They were all unpopular or traditional weapons, and came in all types and shapes. It was definitely an eye-opener for him. Sang Fan and the rest were even more impressed. However, even in this store, they still kept their vigilance, with their formation unbroken. Their lives in Archipelago had taught them to never let their guard down.

A while later, a middle-aged man came out from a deeper part of the store. He was simply dressed and looked gaunt, with a thin face. However, his eyes sparkled with life, and his hands were broad and powerful, covered with calluses.

The storekeeper introduced, "This is the craftsmith, Duo Lanmen. Old Duo, this customer wants to sell a weapon, please have a look."

Duo Lanmen nodded, and turned to Ye Chong. "Oh, what would you like to sell, young man?"

Ye Chong nodded in greeting and pulled out the lavagold dagger in his hand. "This one."

Duo Lanmen took the dagger, but did not unsheathe it immediately. Instead, he studied the sheath closely, and after a long moment, asked in confusion, "What is this sheath made of, I wonder?"

Ye Chong replied, "The skin of a kind of bird, called steelbat."

Duo Lanmen rubbed the sheath with his right hand and praised, "Tough but resilient, dark and practical. Excellent." The storekeeper immediately felt much happier. Just by the dagger's sheath made of animal hide that Duo Lanmen had never even seen before, the weapon was gold. Old Duo had high standards, and would rarely compliment.

Duo Lanmen suddenly unsheathed the dagger, with a flash of gold from the lavagold blade.

"Lavagold!" Duo Lanmen's astonished declaration came in a trembling voice.

Lavagold's beauty was apparent no matter where it was. The dagger was entirely covered in gold, shining like molten gold.

"What a pity …" Duo Lanmen muttered expressively.

"What?" The storekeeper could not help but ask, and everyone directed their attention to Duo Lanmen.

Duo Lanmen explained plainly, "I don't know which prodigal son did this, such a waste of material. The dagger's design is unremarkable, entirely unsuited to be made with lavagold. More importantly, he'd used so much lavagold to make such an uninteresting dagger. What a prodigal son, what a truly wasteful heir! This is impossible, if that man is my student, hmph …" Duo Lanmen grew angrier as he spoke. The storekeeper quickly took the lavagold dagger from him, the precious weapon.

Sang Fan was now blushing like a cherry, but Duo Lanmen and the storekeeper did not notice him. The rest of the Sang family members looked at Sang Fan helplessly, while Sang Ling hid a smile behind her hands. For the moment, Sang Fan was in an incredibly awkward position.

Ye Chong asked, "Then how much do you think this dagger is worth, sir?"

Duo Lanmen replied, "At least 30 thousand credits."

The storekeeper was startled, and nearly dropped the dagger. "Old Duo, you think it's worth 30 thousand credits?" The storekeeper was troubled. Even Hai Lian was speechless, gaping at the value. How could a dagger be worth 30 thousand credits? Heavens, what was this lavagold, to be worth so much?

"Yes. 30 thousand credits is for the lavagold and the dagger's sheath. The dagger itself is worthless," Duo Lanmen explained in all seriousness.

From their reactions, Ye Chong thought that the price was appropriate. However, he had no idea what 30 thousand credits were actually worth.

"Alright, 30 thousand credits then," Ye Chong said.

As they exited the weapons store, Hai Lian thought he was still in a dream. That dagger had been sold for 30 thousand credits! Had the world gone mad? He was now feeling a little distracted, like in a dream. In that short exchange, he had suddenly added 30 thousand credits to his account. Ye Chong and the rest had no cards, so the 30 thousand credits were all added into his card.

"How much is 30 thousand credits?" Ye Chong suddenly turned to ask him.

"How much is 30 thousand credits?" Hai Lian answered reflexively, "30 thousand credits is the price of my Moonlight." Hai Lian had always worked hard, and alone. As a freelance hunter, his income was not much. It took a few years for him to save enough to buy Moonlight. Now that he saw a mere dagger sold at 30 thousand credits, how could he still remain calm?

Ye Chong noticed Hai Lian's mood, and knew that he was not fit to answer anything clearly. He turned to the rest and asked, "Any of you have lavagold weapons too?"

The rest shook their heads. Most of the lavagold weapons were left behind in the Sang Family Village, since they needed to fly Collision. It seemed that selling lavagold was not an option.

With the money they have, Ye Chong and the group entered a mech parts store. Sang Mu was still guarding the mechs. If he could first solve the problem of dimension keystones for at least this group, then they would be safer when facing any danger.

In the mech parts store, Ye Chong noted at the prices of the mech parts and realized that the 30 thousand credits were actually not worth a lot. A brainwave controlled dimension keystone cost at least two thousand credits, and could go up to 10 thousand credits.

The group was stunned.

"Why are they so expensive?" Sang Ling gasped. Women were more naturally inclined to be sensitive to prices. The rest of them nodded in agreement.

Hai Lian had recovered himself then, and gave them an odd look as he replied plainly, "Of course they are. Are mechs never expensive? How can you compare a mech with a traditional weapon?"

His explanation made sense to the group. To them, mechs were the pinnacle of technological achievement. How could they not be expensive?

Ye Chong heard nothing from the conversation. His attention was completely focused on a mech part displayed on the holographic screen before him.

Ye Chong's eyes widened. How was this possible? He nearly gasped out loud, unable to maintain his calm. The products listed on the holographic screen and the mech parts on display were too unreal for him to accept.

Nanowave guns, black gold alloy shields, Greenwood engines … These mech equipments were common here, and not too expensive.

Nanowave guns were standard weaponry for the MPA; black gold alloy shields were unique to Black Cove; Greenwood engines were only used by the Sanctuary. The top class mechs from the Five Galaxies were common goods around here.

What in the universe was He Yue galaxy? Why would they have goods from the Three Forces? Could the Three Forces actually have originated from this place?

On the other hand, Ye Chong also saw many mech parts found only in Mu's and Shang's database archives. All this while, Ye Chong had thought of the mech's database as a collection of the most advanced technology in the world. His battle experience with Black Cove, MPA and the Sanctuary had suggested as much. However, Ye Chong found that he could buy their weapons here, if only at an expensive price. With money, he could buy anything. Some of the weapons were enough to make Ye Chong jealous.

Ye Chong quickly scrolled through the introductions for these mech parts on the holographic screen.

The nanowave guns were built by the Xue Lai clan; the black gold alloy shield by the Ye family; the Greenwood engine by the Xi Feng tribe.

"Xue Lai Clan, Ye Family, Xi Feng Tribe …" Ye Chong muttered to himself. Weren't they the Three Aristocratic Families, as Hai Lian had told him? What was their relationship with the Three Forces?

Now that he thought of it, he was now enemies with the Three Forces. If they were related to the Three Aristocratic Families, then the chances of him having a peaceful conversation with the aristocrats would be nil. Ye Chong smiled wryly to himself. It seemed that he had just p*ssed off all three Aristocratic Families of the He Yue galaxy.

However, Ye Chong quickly calmed himself. So what if it was the aristocrats? Ye Chong was not afraid of them. After the initial shock, he regained his composure. The current Ye Chong was much stronger than ever before. Running away was no longer his only option against powerful adversaries.

The only thing that vexed him now was the problem of laying low, staying away from the Three Aristocratic Families at least for awhile. With their current numbers, they could only escape back to Archipelago if they were found out.

It was fortunate that they had Archipelago as a retreat point. As long as he stayed vigilant, even the combined effort of the Three Aristocratic Families would not bring him down so easily. Besides, Ye Chong was confident of the Sang family members. With their strength and readiness for war, as long as he armed them well, they would at least stand a chance.

For now, though, they were definitely not a match for the Three Aristocratic Families. They held no advantage at all.

Ye Chong asked Hai Lian suddenly, "How is the intel network of the Three Aristocratic Families? Do they have power in Foundation?"

Hai Lian was caught off guard, but replied, "The Three Aristocratic Families? Of course they're good. No one could compete with them in terms of intel! They have people in every city, including Foundation city. Are you looking for the one of the aristocrats?"

Ye Chong was startled by his words, and quickly said to Hai Lian, "Buy eight brainwave-controlled dimension keystones, and use the remaining credits to buy paint, of any color. Quick!" While he was not exactly familiar with the intel network of the Three Aristocratic Families, he was however familiar with the intel network of the Three Forces. The Three Aristocratic Families would not fare worse! With his group standing out so much, surely they would be identified soon.

Seeing Ye Chong so nervous, the group knew that something must have happened. Sang Fan and the rest quickly raised their guard. The air around them chilled instantly, enough to scatter the other customers away from them. Some customers even quietly left the store.

Hai Lian did not dawdle, since he saw Sang Tie's eyes fixed on his throat. He could feel a chill down his spine. He made the purchase at record time, pushing down his reluctance on spending so much credits in such a short time.

The automatic vendor system soon delivered the goods to the group.

"We leave the city now," Ye Chong announced coldly, and led the group out of the store.

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Chapter 285: What a Small World

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The group that had just entered the city from the flower path had left a deep impression in Luo Xing. This was an elite group, he was certain of it. He could also see that they were all excellent combat experts by the way they took their steps, and the looks in their eyes. Most staggering of all was their deadly aura, one born from a long history of fighting for one's life, something impossible to fake. All the while they were here, they remained perfectly in formation, a demonstration of good coordination.

If it were only a single person, Luo Xing would have thought he was seeing a combat expert. However, this was a group of nine; or rather, a group of eight. His subordinate had identified one of them as Hai Lian, a freelance hunter. Hai Lian was a familiar character to him. As Foundation city's resident officer, he was at least familiar with the local talents. Hai Lian was admirably capable, someone he wanted to have in his team, but the man had rejected his offers repeatedly.

To think that Hai Lian was now together with this group! Just who were these people? Luo Xing was interested to know.

If they were a group of strong combat experts, he would have immediately invited them to join his clan. The Xu Lan clan had always appreciated good talent. However, the group's coordination skills had shocked him. In his opinion, even the best elite groups in the clan would not be able to top their level of coordination.

These were not combat experts. They were a group of highly trained warriors. Luo Xing knew the difference between the former and latter.

Normal people would not be able to acquire these skills. This was a mysterious force, unknown to him, emerging in the city. He Yue galaxy, where the Three Aristocratic Families had ruled over for years, was now suddenly facing an unknown power. What would happen to the He Yue galaxy? How could he not be worried?

He had already sent a recording of the group back to the clan. He believed that someone in the clan must know something about them. He was waiting for further instructions. As for the group, he already had subordinates keeping an eye on them.

Beep beep beep. The comms device on his desk pinged.

Luo Xing was immediately agitated. The clan had always used encrypted text to relay instructions, and had never used his comms device. It seemed that this was a big one.

He breathed deeply twice to calm himself. Then, he tried his best to project a calm exterior as he answered the call.

A woman in white appeared on the comms device's holographic screen. Her outfit was white as snow, and her long hair reached her shoulders. Her face was cold as ice, her skin white as snow, and smooth as glass. An aquiline nose and cherry lips adorned her enchanting profile. However, her sharp eyes looked like they could pierce through a person's soul, that none could stare straight into them.

"You are Luo Xing?" Her crisp voice rang like an icy bell, chilling the heart of its listener.

Luo Xing replied respectfully, "I am." H*ll, it was Lady Xue herself. It looked like the group represented a significant power indeed.

Lady Xue nodded approvingly. "Hmm, well done. It seems that our training is not wasted on you. Your vigilance is commendable, the clan will remember your service this time."

Luo Xing was overjoyed inside, but he tried to keep his expression as still as possible.

"Luo Xing!" Lady Xue suddenly spoke commandingly.

Luo Xing sobered, and answered solemnly, "Yes."

"The Clan Leader's orders are to capture them, at all costs." Lady Xue ordered with a cold and stern voice.

"Yes, my lady!" Luo Xing bowed to receive his orders without hesitation.

Lady Xue softened a little and said, "You may use all your subordinates for this operation. The entire Soundfall planet's forces of the clan are also at your disposal. If you need more men, the espionage division is also ready to assist. The clan has informed the relevant personnel about this operation."

Luo Xing was surprised. He did not expect the group to be so important. Rarely did orders come directly from the Clan Leader, and now the entire clan's forces on Soundfall were his to command. Even the scarcely deployed espionage division was available for him. Who were those people? He was shocked, but curious. It seemed that this operation would not be easy. The espionage division was important to the clan, having been concealed from outsiders for decades. Once its members were exposed, there was no turning back. To think that the Clan Leader would consider using them this time! This meant that the Clan Leader was ready to use all the clan's available resources on Soundfall to capture this group. The clan's forces on the planet might all be exposed just for this operation.

Luo Xing gulped. This might be an operation too large for him to take on. The Clan Leader's orders to spare no resources left him nervous. F*ck, he might just die in this operation. For some reason, Luo Xing had an ill premonition.

Lady Xue looked at Luo Xing and said, "There are some other details for this operation. Firstly, the man protected in the center must be captured alive. Try your best to capture the rest alive, but if it's not possible, do what is necessary. Secondly, I believe that the Ye family and the Xi Feng tribe must have received intel on the group as well. They will make their move. Your second mission is to make sure that the man is not captured by any of them. Remember, this is more important than the Clan Leader's order. It's best if we can obey the Clan Leader's orders, but if you can't, better to let him escape than allow the other two families to get him, understand? If it's impossible to even let him escape, then, you know what to do." Lady Xue directed a meaningful glance at Luo Xing.

Luo Xing could feel cold sweat drenching his back.

"Of course, the Clan Leader knows that your forces are limited. Our combatants from the nearest three plants have been ordered to gather at Soundfall. On the other hand, all members of the clan's Ten Pillars, excluding me and Lian, are heading your way. However, due to the distance, they'll only reach you in five days' time."

Luo Xing was already speechless from shock. Eight members from the Ten Pillars were coming to Soundfall. The scale of this operation was unlike any that was carried out in decades. However, if they would only arrive after five days, how could they be able to help? Luo Xing smiled wryly despite himself.

Lady Xue noticed his expression and said, "While five days is too long, this is the fastest they can manage. Fortunately, the other two families do not have any trump card mech pilots of their own on Soundfall. You're a smart man, work hard, and once the operation is over, the Clan Leader will make an exception and welcome you as a member of the clan."

The call ended, and Luo Xing was left feeling lost. He never thought that the clan would place such great importance on the group. No, it was the man they wanted. The Clan Leader made it clear that the man must be captured alive, while the others were not so important. However, Lady Xue's last words were greatly encouraging. To be welcomed as a member of the clan was a great honor. It was very difficult to be accepted into the clan. Some of his seniors had worked hard for decades, and never managed to become one.

Just then, his comms device beeped again.

"Sir, the group is leaving the city." His subordinate reported urgently from the holographic screen. Luo Xing awoke from his dazed moment, and chastised himself for being distracted. If seemed that he was really perturbed by the scale of the operation.

"Stop them," Luo Xing ordered in a low voice. "Send out all our combat experts and stop them. Remember, capture them alive."

"Sir yes sir, you just wait for the good news." His subordinate sounded excited. It had been awhile since his men were stationed in the city, and they had never seen any action so far, their days spent mostly in boredom. It was only natural that they were excited for this operation. He had 30 over combat experts under his command. They had all gone through ascetic training, and he was confident of their abilities.

Suddenly, the comms device on his wrist beeped again. When he saw who was calling him, Luo Xing felt a sudden apprehension.

"Sir, the Ye Family and the Xi Feng Tribe mech pilots are gathering. No details yet." The low voice sounded nervous.

D*mned, so they had begun moving as well. Luo Xing cursed the mech pilots from the two families.

Ye Chong and company raced along the street towards the city's entrance. Ye Chong looked grim. He had fought against the Three Forces before, and was familiar with their capabilities. He was sure that they were found out by now.

Ye Chong never imagined that the Three Aristocratic Families of the He Yue galaxy and the Three Forces would be related to each other. They must now quickly head back to Sang Mu and the rest, so that they at least have mechs to defend themselves. Then, they must retreat as soon as possible to the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. With 5,000 Collision mechs piloted by the Sang tribe members, even the combined forces from the Three Aristocratic Families would not take them lightly.

Ye Chong's reaction had disturbed the rest in the group. They all looked ready to kill, scaring off anyone standing in their way. The group ran with all they had, no longer hiding their true abilities. Poor Hai Lian had to be carried by Sang Tie again, for fear of delaying them.

Ye Chong's eyes suddenly widened.

"Leaving so soon, ladies and gentlemen? Hehe, why not stay a few more days, try out our Xue Lai Clan's special anchovy dish before you go." The leader hailed. The surrounding spectators heard that it was the Xua Lan Clan, and quickly moved out of the way. A few bolder souls stayed back to watch. These people were curious. The Xue Lai Clan had always been discreet, and seldom acted so openly. Who were these people, to evoke such a reaction from the Xue Lai Clan?

Ye Chong ignored them. To him, words were wasted in this kind of situation.

Seeing Ye Chong ignoring the taunt, the others followed suit. Only Hai Lian, still carried by Sang Tie, was growing very pale. To offend the Three Aristocratic Families in the He Yue galaxy was the equivalent of a death wish! His life was over, he was sure. He thought of the power wielded by the Three Aristocratic Families, and wanted to die there and then.

Seeing Ye Chong and company not slowing down in the least, the leader turned grim. "Will you not accept our hospitality?"

"Attack. Leave no one alive." Ye Chong's plain voice struck a chord of fear.

Sang Tie and the rest immediately sped up, leaving only an afterimage in their wake.

The combat experts of the Xue Lai clan did not expect that the group would really attack them, and panicked as a result.

The Sang tribe members were crude in their mech piloting skills, but they were shockingly competent in combat. 500 years of fighting for their survival had honed their techniques and enriched their combat experiences. Archipelago's strong gravitational force and the strong gravity regions allowed to them to reach beyond the known limits of the human body.

Moreover, they fought with excellent coordination. Now, the Sang family, one of the Four Aristocratic Families from a time long past, finally demonstrated their strength before the world for the first time in 500 years.

Be it physical strength, speed, endurance, or skills, or even coordination, both sides were at entirely different levels.

This was a one-sided massacre. Their ruthless attitude, forced by Archipelago's harsh environment, was finally shown to the world. Ye Chong had no need to tell them not to leave anyone alive. It was in their nature.

Ye Chong moved as fiercely accurate as before, often targeting the weak spots such as the throat, killing with a single move without wasting any effort. The rest of them did not have an understanding of the human body like Ye Chong did. It did not really matter, in the end. Even alloy metal would break under their force, much less the human body, made of flesh and blood.

Sang Tie and company killed in a bloody way. Often, limbs were broken, or skulls crushed. The observers around them nearly vomited. Even Sang Ling attacked without mercy, and the people could only watch with cold fear.

It was like wolves attacking a flock of sheep. There were no stylish moves, only breathtakingly fast movements, simple and accurate. In just half a minute, the ground was covered with corpses and pools of blood. In that half a minute, one could only hear the dull thumps of punches, cracks of bones breaking, the hiss of blood flowing out of the victims, and the terrifying shrieks coming from the combat experts of the Xue Lai clan. The mysterious group had remained silent throughout as they went on their killing spree.

The spectators around were all sporting an unhealthy pallor. They quickly retreated, afraid to get further involved.

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Chapter 286: A Surging Undercurrent

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The group was terrifying! The spectators were deeply troubled by their cold, indifferent expressions that did not change as they killed, like they were not actually executing a massacre, but doing something mundane and routine. Even butchers would not be so emotionless.

The residents here were all capable of combat at some level. They had all decided that Ye Chong's group members had demonstrated incredible strength, strong enough to qualify them as Jie experts! Only Jie experts could be so strong.

Nine Jie experts!

This was unthinkable! No one would believe that nine Jie experts were fighting together without seeing it for themselves. Jie experts were the strongest in the hierarchy of combat expertise, the pinnacle of achievement in the ancient art of combat. Generations of combat experts thought of the Jie experts as shrouded in mystery.

There were not many Jie experts in He Yue galaxy. You can count them all with your fingers. They were mostly enlisted by larger organizations, often responsible of combat instruction for the organization's inner disciples. They rarely showed themselves outside, only taking on the occasional role of bodyguard. Even the Ye family, with the most number of Jie experts, had only five of them.

Now, they were nine Jie experts on the streets! Just where did they come from?

Ye Chong did not look back at the corpses, since he knew that no one would survive their attack. He said, "Let's go," and the group vanished before the spectators's eyes.

That was too creepy! They moved eerily fast. If anyone still had their doubts about the group's strength as Jie experts, they were quickly disillusioned.

The scent of blood filled the air. One could hear some witnesses vomiting beyond the scene.

Up in the air of Foundation city, another form of battle was taking place.

300 mechs, made up of forces from three different sides, were at a stalemate in the skies. The tension was thick enough to cut through with a knife. None of the mechs dared to make any movements. Their strengths were almost equal to one another. If any side attacked first, the other two sides might just cooperate and finish off the instigating side.

This disquieting scenario was a conundrum for the leaders on all three sides. However, none of them dared to make a move, for fear of suffering the fatal threat from the combined forces of the other two sides.

Luo Xing was growing more and more anxious. While he knew from Lady Xue that the other two families would make their move, he did not expect them to act so quickly. Under the circumstances, he had no choice but to stay where he was.

He could only pray that the combat experts under him would do the job. It should not be a problem, with 36 against nine. He was familiar with all the combat experts. They had all completed their ascetic training, and a few of them were even successors to some ancient combat techniques. All in all, these 36 combat experts were a formidable force in Foundation city.

It had decades since the last time the Three Aristocratic Families had openly faced-off one another. Foundation city was now in a critical state. Every mech pilot with a mech had slipped into their mechs right away. Given the situation, only a mech could protect them. In just 10 minutes, the sky above Foundation city was filled with mechs.

The surrounding spectators watched in horror at the 300 mechs confronting each other. If the three sides really started a battle, the city would suffer. The more insightful ones began to wonder it this was a herald of darker times to come. Once the Three Aristocratic Families started warring against one another openly, the He Yue galaxy would probably be plunged into a prolonged state of chaos.

No one knew the cause of this confrontation.

Just then, a large fleet of mechs were coming their way, with more than a thousand mechs. However, the people relaxed at the sight of this fleet. The battle would probably not come to be. The fleet came from the real ruler of the city, the Kuri tribe.

At last, the confrontation ended under the mediation of the Kuri tribe.

When Luo Xing saw his 36 men, his already agitated heart skipped a beat, and his face paled.

Nine Jie experts had killed in their merciless ways. Hundreds of mechs from the Three Aristocratic Families had nearly started a war. Kuri tribe's interference had stopped that. Tension in Foundation city was rising. These news spread like wildfire across the entire He Yue galaxy. Even Hai Lian's obscure reputation grew to a household name.

There were nine Jie experts. The number was hard to swallow. One could hear discussions everywhere about how nine Jie experts had seemingly appeared out of thin air, and killed 36 combat experts who had completed their ascetic training. More notably, these 36 combat experts were enlisted by the Xue Lan clan.

Who were these nine Jie experts? Why would they kill the 36 combat experts? How were they related to the Xue Lan clan? Rumours were abound.

Everyone was waiting for the nine Jie experts to make their next move. Jie experts were like mythical characters to the average person, enough to hook their curiosity.

However, the nine Jie experts and Hai Lian had vanished into thin air. The term "vanish" was never more appropriately used. They had disappeared without a trace. In fact, when the nine Jie experts started killing, they received unprecedented attention. All the major forces had ordered their spies in every city on Soundfall planet to look for the group. Even cities on planets around Soundfall received the same orders.

However, the group seemed to have vanished without a single trace.

The public's attention was quickly diverted to the Three Aristocratic Families. The scale of their forces deployed for the group did not escape the public eye. Members of the Xue Lai clan's Ten Pillars were sent to Soundfall. The Ye family's elites had arrived on Soundfall. Xi Feng tribe's trump cards were arriving on Soundfall. The list went on and on. All attention was on Soundfall.

An undercurrent was surging on Soundfall planet.

Ye Chong had no time to consider these matters. His side was overwhelmingly disadvantaged. Any direct confrontation would be fatal to them. The group was heading as fast as they could to where Sang Mu was. Ye Chong did not care to cover their tracks any longer as they ran with all they had. He had never run like this without holding back for a long time. The rest of group noticed, and picked up their pace. However, they were not used to depending on mechs to travel, like Ye Chong. The Sang family had their own ways of running; compared to Ye Chong, they were managing more easily. After 500 years of continuous improvements, their skills were more efficient and effective.

The group's bloody methods had left the witnesses stunned. No one had dared to follow them.

They quickly reached where Sang Mu was.

"Take your mechs. Tie, pass Hai Lian to me. We're returning to Sang Pu the rest as soon as possible."

"Ok, here," Sang Tie passed Hai Lian from his hands to Ye Chong's. Poor Hai Lian, being manhandled from one person to another. He was a full adult, but was carried by Sang Tie and Ye Chong as though he weighed like nothing.

Ye Chong withdrew Han Jia and threw Hai Lian into the pilot cabin, then entering the cabin himself. The pilot cabin was not large, and now it was packed with just two people inside.

Hai Lian finally recovered his senses. When he saw Ye Chong coming into the pilot cabin, he quickly grew horrified. "Don't … Don't …" Could he be thinking of … Even for someone who had his share of debauchery like Hai Lian, he never thought that he would be on the receiving end …

Ye Chong took a glance at Hai Lian, not understand, but he had no time to think on it further. His hands were on the controls dashboard, and Han Jia was up in the sky the next moment. Inside Han Jia, Ye Chong finally heaved a sigh of relief. With him piloting Han Jia, he would at least stand a chance in battle.

Ye Chong thought Hai Lian's mech was too slow, so he brought Hai Lian into the pilot cabin with him instead. He never thought that this decision had led to the illusion of the group vanishing into thin air.

Be it Ye Chong's Han Jia or the group's Collision mechs, they were all full-skeleton mechs. Full-skeleton mechs had excellent anti-detection properties that allowed them to safely evade the tight surveillance on Soundfall. The group had even crossed paths with a few flotilla of starships along the way, but none of them were aware of their existence.

Han Jia's holographic scanning system was so simply that it was practically useless. Collision was even more primitive, that it did not have a holographic scanning system; only a small observing window was installed. It was nearly impossible for them to notice that they were pursued, if there ever were. On the other hand, the starships were all used to relying on holographic scanning systems that they never thought of using the ancient way of optical scanning!

However, Collision mechs had absolutely brilliant speed.

Once they reached where the base, Hai Lian finally realised how fast the odd-shaped mechs were, and that he had actually slowed down the group last time. He was quite jealous of them. His had prided on Moonlight for its speed, but compared to these odd-shaped mechs, Moonlight seemed to crawl like a snail.

No mech pilot would not yearn for a mech that can fly faster, much less a speed-type mech pilot like Hai Lian, who relied more on speed than anything.

Once back to the base, everyone instantly felt relieved.

However, the immediate problem presented itself - where should they go next?

Should they return to Archipelago? That was the last resort. The truth was, if they went back just like this, they would only feel dissatisfied, be it Ye Chong or the Sang family members. Since the Three Aristocratic Families and the Three Forces were closely related, there must be some way to travel between the He Yue galaxy and the Five Galaxies. However, from the fact that even Hai Lian had not heard of the Five Galaxies, this travelling route must be controlled by the Three Aristocratic Families, unbeknownst to outsiders. Ye Chong did the maths in his mind.

Mu and Shang were still somewhere out there. If they had reached the Five Galaxies, Ye Chong was sure that he would find them soon enough. He had sayed with the mech for so long, and had many shared memories in the Five Galaxies. With Mu's meticulous nature, he would definitely keep watch of the places where they had been together. Once he reached one of those places, he would be able to get in touch with them.

The He Yue galaxy, however, was too unfamiliar to him. Connecting to Mu and Shang would be a difficult task.

The group gathered around.

Ye Chong asked, "Where in the He Yue galaxy is the influence of the Three Aristocratic Families weakest?"

"Where is the influence of the Three Aristocratic Families weakest? Let me think." Hai Lian knitted his brows together in deep thought. He knew that they had made enemies with the Xue Lan clan after that previous battle. It was too late for him to back out. Besides, from Ye Chong's words, it seemed that the other two families were also involved. The only choice left for him would be to follow Ye Chong and his group to save his own hide.

Everyone looked to the frowning Hai Lian. None of them asked Ye Chong about his story with the Three Aristocratic Families. The man had become the leader of the Sang tribe in spirit. As for the Three Aristocratic Families or whatever, they were not scared at all. 500 years ago, the Sang family was one of the Four Aristocratic Families. They too had aristocratic blood flowing in their veins. Besides, they believed that as long as the good sir was with them, the Sang family would be restored to its former glory one day.

"Oh, right, I've thought of a place," Hai Lian said, excited. "Gray Valley, let's go to Gray Valley."

"Gray Valley?" Ye Chong repeated the name as a question.

"Yes, Gray Valey." Hai Lian seemed unusually certain of it, and quickly explained, "Gray Valley is not an actual valley, but a region on the other side of the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. It comprises of 124 planets. Originally, the place was inhabited by some primitive tribes, but one day, some of the freelance pilots who felt distasteful against the aristocrats escaped to that place. Soon, the population grew, consisting of people who did not like the aristocrats. They offered a helping hand to the local tribes, and gradually gained their acceptance. As more and more people grew tired of the aristocrats, the population in Gray Valley increased. They rebelled against the aristocrats. Then, Gray Valley barred any aristocrats from entering. If any mech pilot was found to be from an aristocratic family, they would be hunted down until the ends of the world. This reaction comes naturally to the area's inhabitants. Any Gray Valley resident would do it."

"So there's a place like that," Ye Chong mused to himself.

"The aristocrats tried to take over Gray Valley before, but their forces were met with unprecedented resistance. The united fleet of all the aristocratic families were annihilated. Since then, the people knew that the aristocrats were not invincible."

Hai Lian's mind wandered as he narrated the story. Stories about rebelling against power were always moving.

"However, Gray Valley is a dangerous place. No large organization could survive there. The largest body you'll see is a small organization, like a mech squad. Fights are common, and the weak die fast. Mech pilots who enter the place are all the ones who are confident of their own abilities. Someone once said that the strongest mech pilots do not come from the Three Aristocratic Families, but from Gray Valley.

"It's also the largest black market in the galaxy. In order to maintain stable trading activity, no one is allowed to attack trading fleets. That's one of the Three Death Precepts."

"The Three Death Precepts?" Sang Fan asked, curious.

"That's right. Anyone who violates the Three Death Precepts will be hunted down by all the Gray Valley residents. The first Precept is to not be an aristocrat, the second is to never harm local residents, and the third is to never attack trading fleets. Gray Valley residents can and will kill anyone who violates any of the Three Death Precepts, and they'll even be heavily rewarded for it."

"Interesting," Sang Pu commented casually, a flicker of excitement quickly disappearing from his eyes.

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Chapter 287: Random Motley Crew

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There were many routes to reach Gray Valley from where Ye Chong and the Sang tribe were now. However, all of them required the group to travel through a large part of the He Yue galaxy. This was extremely dangerous for Ye Chong and the rest. While full-skeleton mechs had anti-detection properties, the probability of being discovered if they followed any of these routes was higher than 80 percent. Besides, without Mu and Shang, it was impossible for Ye Chong to discreetly bribe their way through without leaving a trace.

Hence, Ye Chong chose another route. They would fly parallel to the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. It was equivalent to making a big roundabout along the asteroid belt. While the distance was longer, they would be inside the asteroid belt throughout the journey, which made it less likely for the Three Aristocratic Families to find them.

According to Hai Lian, there were no large outposts in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Most of the people there were freelance pilots, and the occasional small mech pilot squad there to hunt for wild beasts. Besides, Ye Chong's route would take them deep into the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, where people visited. Even Hai Lian, a long resident of the area, would never have travelled to such a deep part of the asteroid belt.

Ye Chong's plan was accepted without disputes. Before the battalion took off, Ye Chong ordered for all the mechs to be painted. The skeleton material was too unique to be overlooked. If they flew the full-skeleton mechs without concealing the skeleton texture, it would only be too easy to get into trouble.

He Yue galaxy's paint material was of a more high quality than the ones Chong had used in the Five Galaxies. It adhered well to the surface, did not peel easily, and the colours were bright and shiny. Ye Chong did not care what colour they used. That day, the Sang tribe members seemed to have been inspired overnight to become artists. Everyone painted their mechs with vigorous enthusiasm, laughing as they went about producing their very own 3D art. Sang Ling's mech, for example, looked beautiful. It had a bright sun, shining over many of the Archipelago's wild beasts. Her painting was lifelike and exotic. Compared to Sang Ling, however, the rest of them were not as successful. Most of their mechs were covered with patches of random colours. Together, the 5,000 mechs were an eyesore. They looked a random motley crew of inferior mechs. They looked so miserable that Hai Lian could die of shame.

Ye Chong painted his mech in a brownish dark gray. The advantage was that his mech might be mistaken for an asteroid from afar. He was far too fond of ambushing strategies to give it up.

Ye Chong even sent a few men back to the Sang Family Village to inform them of the current situation, and asked that they do not send anyone out in the short term. To the Sang Family Village, now was the time to rest and heal, and not go out wandering. The people he sent to the village also took with them a schematics diagram by Ye Chong. This was a goods transport flying vessel that he designed recently. It was modified from Collision. It had a large body, and flew slowly. However, it was suitable for transporting goods, something that the Sang tribe needed at the moment.

More importantly, the goods transport vessel was made completely of skeletons, and can travel safely through the Red Sea.

After everything was settled, the battalion set off for Gray Valley. It was a pity that they did not have a starship, or they would be able to do a warp jump and save travelling time.

Ye Chong was now deeply troubled. For the moment, they had no money at all. Nothing. Ye Chong suddenly found that this money problem that he had never worried about was now his main concern.

He needed money for a starship, or a dimension keystone, or a comms device …

Ye Chong was poor as a pauper. If he was not together with this large battalion, he would have just robbed some rich household. However, now that they needed to lay low, with the Three Aristocratic Families onto them like mad, robbing was out of the question.

In fact, it was not only Ye Chong who was poor. The rest of the Sang tribe members had no money too. They looked at the eight people who followed Ye Chong into the city, using their dimension keystones to magically withdraw their mechs, and were so very jealous. Once they found out that this magical device could be bought with money, all of them became obsessed with this thing called "money".

They even suggested robbing that mech parts store. They even formed a detailed and complete action plan, but were disappointed when the good sir rejected it. Hai Lian was frustrated, since the plan had actually won the approval of everyone else before it was presented to Ye Chong.

Were these people pirates? Hai Lian felt that he himself, not entirely angelic in his behaviour, looked pure and innocent compared to them.

However, once he saw Ye Chong rejecting their plan decisively, he was slightly relieved. It seemed that the leader still had a good heart. However, Ye Chong's next comment was like a blow to his head, "The time isn't right. Plan's too crude. Rejected."

After that, Hai Lian watched stupidly at Sang Pu and the rest as they discussed on ways to improve their robbing operation.

On the other hand, Hai Lian was also annoyed that the holographic scanning system and comms device on his Moonlight were removed and reinstalled onto Sang Pu's Collision. Moonlight's photon processor was also moved to Sang Fan's mech. Looking at the almost bare Moonlight, Hai Lian could feel his heart bleeding in pain. Besides, he could not fly Moonlight himself, but had to sit in with Sang Tie, that savage man. Sang Tie had a strong body odour that threatened to kill off his sense of smell. Just when did the guy last shower? Hai Lian wanted to cry.

"What a bunch of savages!" Again and again, he cursed the Sang tribe members in his heart.

Soon, however, Ye Chong gave the order to move out. 5,000 Collision mechs began to advance based on the designated trajectory.

Hai Lian found it odd that the savages seemed to know the Calamitous Asteroid Belt well. They easily evaded the asteroids time and again. The difficult journey that he expected was surprisingly going on smoothly.

He did not know, of course, that their demonstrated ease was because they had gone through for worse territories.

The only thing that made the Sang tribe members uncomfortable was the fact that there were more wild animals here than in Archipelago. While the animals here were weaker than their Archipelago counterparts, they were still quite a handful. Many dead animals were left in their wake as they continued the designated trajectory.

The entire battalion's combat power was shocking to Hai Lian. If all those wild animals were sold to the right traders, the market price for those animals would plummet to a historical low.

"These are all money …" Hai Lian was pained at the missed opportunity. However, looking at the indifferent expressions of the Sang tribe members, he hesitated. What would happen if they know that the animals could be sold for money? In the end, he kept his mouth shut. Getting to Gray Valley was their top priority right now. If the battalion lost control at this point, it would be disastrous.

The way he saw it, the entire battalion was made of up uninitiated savages, with the exception of that half-civilized leader. Fortunately, these savages demonstrated commendable discipline, and obeyed their leader without question.

Still, after so many days of flight, he began to realise some interesting and surprising details about the members that formed this battalion, people that he called savages.

The Calamitous Asteroid Belt was an irregular territory, but the entire battalion had advanced without slowing down. As he sat beside Sang Tie throughout, he could see Sang Tie's every move as the man maneuvered his mech. The truth was, this was his first time seeing such a primitive control lever. However, this primitive control lever, controlled by these savages, could fly the mechs with incredible precision and flexibility.

On the surface, the flying machine was as simple and primitive as anything could possibly be. However, after sitting in one for so many days, Hai Lian felt like he would probably punch anyone who dared to say that.

This flying machine was anything but primitive! It could fly up to Mach 20. What mech model could do that? Besides, it could fly on for a few weeks without the need to replenish its energy supply. Where can anyone find a mech like that in the market? With a holographic scanning system, a comms device and some long range weapons, the flying machine would be formidable. Besides, these mech parts would all be found in the market readily and in all kinds. With money, they could be installed instantly.

As for these people, Hai Lian was embarrassed that he had thought of them as savages.

Without comms devices in their flying machines, they could not communicate with each other. Even so, they had maintained formation for weeks. The flight was long and boring, a test of one's mental fortitude, much less when they could not speak with each other. If it was Hai Lian, he would probably go crazy. However, none of these people had complained.

These people obeyed their orders without question. They were determined warriors, with excellent combat intuition and coordination. They were undeniably the best soldiers one could find.

Often Hai Lian compared them with himself, and felt all the more self-conscious.

These people had demonstrated admirable flying skills. The space around them was scattered with floating rocks, but they had never slowed down. None of them were injured so far. Besides, despite the long journey, they did not look tired at all.

Hai Lian discovered new things about these so-called savages every day, and his attitude towards them changed in response.

Since Sang Pu's mech now had a holographic scanning system, he was in charge of scouting their trajectory ahead.

The journey was uneventful so far. The place was deserted, and they had not met a single mech up till now.

"Oh, you see mechs?" Ye Chong asked, curious. With a comms device, Sang Pu could now communicate with him easily.

Sang Pu replied steadily, "Yes, 62 of them. But they're surrounded by wild beasts. It doesn't look good."

"62 mechs …" Ye Chong wondered, but quickly replied, "Have they seen you?"

"No. We were careful, they did not notice us," Sang Pu said.

Ye Chong thought about it, and asked, "How long can they last?"

"About 20 minutes." Sang Pu's reply was concise.

"Alright, let's surround them first. Wait for further orders." Ye Chong gave the orders. He had to see the mechs for himself.

"Yes sir," Sang Pu replied. Immediately, the signal lights on both sides of Sang Pu's mech blinked rhythmically, passing down Ye Chong's orders.

Silently, the entire battalion split up into hundreds of smaller squads, like a river branching out into countless smaller streams, flowing between the floating rocks. Everyone was excited. These days, they were only flying and flying. The squad ahead of the main battalion, responsible for clearing the wild animals fared better, but they did their work too efficiently. The rest of the battalion did not see so much as an animal hair throughout the flight. Now that there were orders coming, how could they not be excited? Even their movements turned sharper.

"Hah, action, finally." Hai Lian nearly jumped at Sang Tie's loud voice.

"Action?" Hai Lian asked, still blurry from his sleep.

"Hehe, after all these days of d*mn waiting, there's finally some action." Sang Tie rubbed his hands together, his eyes positively shining with enthusiasm. However, Hai Lian could not see past the ferocity that was also present in him. He shuddered, no longer in the mood for sleep.

The signal lights continued blinking, and the mech squads flew to their positions in an orderly manner. In just a short moment, they had the 62 mechs surrounded, including the beasts around them.

The situation was now in his control, so Ye Chong began to study the mechs and the wild beasts.

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Chapter 288: The Papatte Squad

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Aw man! Exclaimed Old Chief Guo in his mind, as he seriously never thought he would have such a terrible day in his life before meeting these… these unknown beasts. There was a wide range of beasts lurking in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, while they struck strong impression of being the most fearsome biological entities in the minds of the people outside. That might have been the case the whole time, but humanity had recorded most of these barbaric creatures - specifically those in the outer belt - in detail. With that in mind, Guo the Old Chief had been preparing himself ever since he was informed of his task venturing into the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, including careful inquiries on every single entry of the creatures habituated there. He thought he had been cautious enough, since this did not only concerned his survival, but also his brothers'.

And there he was, having bewilderment looking at the beasts, which none of them appeared to be in the entries he possessed. The beast was tedious at its appearance, with the two canines flashing at the corners of its mouth, and the long dripping salivation wetting the ground dark green, while at its abdomen 6 pieces of thin blades went on a fan-dancing. The entire body was fully coated with carapace, glowing in a metallic emerald, convincingly sturdy. The hexapod waved its feeble arthropod legs, the spikes over the legs were sending chills to the witness's spines.

By common sense, any unidentified creature would be far more dangerous than the known creatures, well since to get the creature identified, one must be able to first survive from it and head back to share the words, which meant… Guo and his gang were in a zone unfrequented by humanity.

These creatures were as entangling as they seemed to be. They were hunters and the preys - being the brothers of Guo - had been hunted a few. Guo the Old Chief, the one with a strong mind was also starting to surrender to the fact that this might be the last expedition of his. Such creature was fast, really fast, that their mechs failed to get rid of it by speed. The creatures were also intelligent, they were able to dodge most of the energy beams Guo had fired.

They also travelled in groups. One could imagine the drained face of Guo when thousands of them swarmed upon his mech - it felt like the darkest day of his life, filled with green monstrosity.

What have fate prepared for me in the end? Probably death… Flinched Guo the Chief. He did not shame the death, rather he shamed himself for his inability to protect his brothers. "I shouldn't have taken that request…," muttered the chief in regrets. He was requested to acquire a kind of plant namely the "Rippling Orchid". He was filled in with nothing else than the high definition hologramic visual of the said plant, while also given the estimated location of it. Guo the Chief would never ever take this stupid task in the first place if it was not for the handsome reward and the poverty of his group.

But sadly, I *am* a hobo, so is my group. Thought Guo, feeling bitter about how the Papatte Squad he ran was merely a group of eighty pitiful pilots being average they were as a free spirit who never desired to join the Aristocrats. The reason why they fluttered together was because they presumed it would be an easier hunt in groups. Unfortunately, their presumption, similar to their experience, was novice, as the squad did worse yearly. The best part was, most members were simple-minded, no one had the required leadership to keep the squad running. It was getting harder.

Pilot isn't an easy job alright? Sighed the chief. The market was too competitive, those major squads were naturally way better than tiny weeny squads like his, whether concerning reputation, service quality or capabilities. It was a little bit easier in the past for those major squads only would take on the requests befitting to their organization dimensions, but well, as much as abundance of human resources, those once-in-a-blue-moon major operations no longer sufficed the demand of their squad members. So they began reaching those simple requests from the folks, and of course the tiny weeny squads, like the Papatte, were given a strike again.

When was the last time Papatte Squad got an actual request? Guo the Chief could hardly remember with that atrocious memories of his, as his soulless eyes gazed upon the disorderly, to-be-disbanded squad. And there was this particular request untouched by the other squads, he thought it would be a great fortune to make as he seized support from everybody else in his squad, accepted that request with determination. Although they would be handsomely rewarded, the requests were often associated with alarming tasks, nobody sane would have taken those requests, which resulted them lingering on the billboard for years, since… rewards were priced and life was always priceless.

Now, that one insane person, that one snapped leader called Guo the Old Chief had taken the request. He was in a hobo squad after all, assuming he would survive this time, the money could last for few years in his squad. Damn you these filthy wealthy men! Cursed Guo. Why must we gamble our life for a pot of plant to be viewed by them on a fancy tea party?!

"Sir, what do you think these pests want from us?" muttered Francis Jr. through the communication channel, as he gulped, in his shaking voice.

"Yeah, Francis Jr. has a point, these pests have been only surrounding us, do you think they want to have a dance with us?" Huang the Balloon Head had been exposed to the dead-or-alives countless times, he made a joke, a poor one though, that exposed his bit of restlessness in him.

"I have no idea. Be calm, watch," said the chief.

The mechs they piloted were looking obsolete but one would be convinced the fact that they had been taken great care by their owners, a loving care in fact, the maintenance was well-done and they moved with immense rapports too.

Well, still a little shabby compared to the Sangs though, those were the real extreme. Commented Ye Chong in his thoughts.

There scattered numerous remnants of mechs, which some of them were raging in sparks. And one could see the pool of blood tainting the body. Obviously they had a conflict, a really bad one. I had seen such beast back in Archipelago. The Sangs called them the Seraphods*. Though I never expected that I would see them in action, at a place like this…

Swarm, surround but no strike. The Seraphods seemed to favor the more sadistic approach in hunting their preys. Ye Chong was surprised over the happening but he was not really the spectating kind, as he began planning, making sure that he had seized all factors under control. "Go." He launched his command of attacking these emerald monsters.

Hsssssk!

Sang Pu did not hesitate and made his move along with the other pumped Sangs upon receiving the command.

Hssssssssssssssssssssssssk!!!

The ear-piercing hush was becoming ear-rupturing. A flawless collaboration of the Sangs this time, as 500 of them broke into 50 teams and accelerated themselves to the maximum, the afterimages impaled the animating ball in hideous green.

The beasts had noticed them, but failed to react in time. Boom! They were done.

All beasts were helpless under the mighty Collisions.

Funny thing was the Sangs did not even bother to take on any of the beasts particularly. The movement they made was merely a fling over the sky, forming a deadly net of their afterimages intersecting, as the 4 blades on each Collision sliced through the armors of Seraphods.

Hnnnnnnnnnnnngggggg! Aiiiiiiikkksssss!

The beasts cried painfully, in grief they begged for mercy. The Sangs did not intend to give the beasts the mercy they begged, as the Sangs launched themselves into the deadly web again, crossing over the greenish weak beasts. It was a dense crossing but none of the Sangs was having issue of crashing into each other. Clearly they were well-trained, they were pretty good at piloting.

A rain of blood tinted the area, with inner fleshes flying over the broken limbs.

…

…?

The men of the Papatte Squad were having a short-circuit in their mind. The sudden massive strike of the unknown happened so fast that It felt like a sudden slam on the keys during a concerto.

Hnnng…

Two waves of attack by the Sangs and none of those beasts could stand up. Most of them lay on the ground, half-dead with pathetic cries. Nobody would sympathize them. In front of the law of nature, the sympathy of humanity was so foolish to be conducted. The third wave happened and the cries softened, soon silence raided the place.

"The heck had just happened?" Balloon Head was confused.

Blarrghh! Blargh! Ugh!

There was a sound coming from the channel. Francis Jr. was throwing up as the brutality of the scene was too intense for his comprehension. It was too impulsive… a second ago those beasts were still swarming over their mechs and now the beasts were dead on the ground, so dead they could bleed a river. Okay I don't know who launched the attack but this is kind of cruel. Thought Francis Jr.

Practically speaking, the Sangs were not as cruel as Francis Jr. thought. This was an act of their habit, the result of their lesson over the generations fighting with the beasts as on a few painful occasions the Sangs learned how the beasts would turn more ferocious as they were harmed, so the last blow to take their life was always necessary .

The remaining 4000 Sangs were grumbling in curses at the back. "When we finally got an operation!"

"Then it's done, in 4 seconds!" They had been so eager to have an actual fight but the only opportunity had vanished right before them. If the Collisions were supplied with communicative facility, one could already imagine the waves of angry commentaries flooding the channel.

"When do we have the chance again? HUH!" Poor Hai Lian, as the voice of Sang Tie slammed right onto his ears. Hai Lian could almost hear the echoes right inside himself.

Are they… the pirates? Or the Aristocrats? Speculated Guo but he could not tell.

Pirates? No way. The pirates never wielded such capabilities, if they ever did, the entire He Yue galaxy would have been plunged! The secret team of the Aristocrats? This would be more likely… but they don't seem to have a fixed color code. These greens and reds are reminding me of a circus rather than a group of trained military force of a particular aristocratic family. Sorry to say but these people look really like a bunch of scrappy troops, even scrappier than my own squad too… I don't think those Aristocrats would fancy such mischievous approach in training their men. The Aristocrats are too busy being condescending to people, they do not have time for this.

And I must say, the flying objects were really weird. Thought Guo the chief. He was right as he immediately recognized the pros of the Collision, though he was getting shocked after one aftershock and another, not because of the mech but because of the required skills to pilot it.

"All of you have been our captives." A young voice rang. The squad was stupefied.

Captives? I could not think of any other group that would use such terminology than the pirates. Are they really pirates?! Deduced Guo in disbelief. Pirates don't serve for the people! They serve for the money! Are these pirates blind? Can't they tell we can't even spare a penny to their cruise?

Well, we don't have anything to offer, take whatever you want - if there's whatever that is. Thought Guo, getting calm.

The Collisions were exerting pressure to their security, as the squad hopped off their cabin obediently.

"Hmm," muttered Ye Chong.

The leader of the pirates was surprisingly younger than I thought. This is literally a child! But wait, I am not going to take it lightly. He is a child yet he's already leading a giant group of pirates. That is convincing enough that he is something. The other members are mainly teenagers and young adults too… Sighs… even child labor got common among the pirates. Thought Guo the Chief, getting sentimental.

Guo was showing full cooperation in his conversation with Ye Chong, knowing his fate of being captured.

Ye Chong, upon seeing these men, were merely having an idea of needing a local who was extremely familiar with He Yue and Papatte happened to be there. Hai Lian and Ye Chong had gone to Foundation city and probably they had been exposed. That was unfavored. It would be hard to even run the routine tasks in the galaxy given that they lacked the locals to help them.

Ye Chong did not have tremendous experience with society but he was thinking thoroughly, all thanks to Mu's education. One would use one's thinking assuming experience could not help.

"We are Papatte, merely a tiny group of pilots, sir."

Upon mentioning "group of pilots", Ye Chong's eyes lustered.

That would be a way.

"Hai Lian…," whispered Ye Chong, "would it be too eye-catching if there was a pilot squad of 5000?"

"Not exactly, sir. It would be a medium-sized group. A squad of 5000 isn't something given that we are in an age where hundred thousands of pilots travelled together in a squad," replied Hai Lian. "There are tons of major squads out there, like Chaniat, that group is expanded, so greatly that they have their own office at almost all planets in He Yue. Not even the Aristocrats would want to mess with them, they are one of the major forces here."

"Very well." And in one order, the Papatte Squad got their first new 5000 members, with Guo remained on his throne, although he was very much aware that the throne was no longer his.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," replied Guo, as threatened by the cold gaze of the blades.

It was not that bad though, he knew what he was there for. He was an adornment, a cover for the pirates. Well it would be easier in that case. "Here you go, sir," he said as he handed over the last few pennies in their box. His hands were shaking, not because of a heavy heart parting with them, rather it. was because he finally got to pass this accursed economy of Papatte to someone else. Of course he would have handed this puzzling, tiring and pointless errand to lead the team! He would be too dumb if he still seized that broken flag of Papatte! Finally, he got a chance to slack off. He did not have any ambition, he just wanted to live in leisure.

Let the big men do their big job…

Thought Guo, his expression looking sentimental, while his heart being overjoyed.

And Ye Chong could already feel his headache.

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