Chapter 704 Scapegoat
Less than a minute earlier...
Han Xiao was dragged into a dark, creepy wormhole. The moment that he entered, countless indescribable images appeared in his vision.
The side of the wormhole looked blue but was actually black. When the two of them entered, they were separated and could not see each other anymore.
The EsGod doppelganger did not even have to control him. The vortex in the wormhole dragged the two of them along and confused Han Xiao’s senses. Sometimes, he felt he was going forward, sometimes backward, sometimes falling, and sometimes rising. It strangely felt like he was being flushed down the toilet.
The screen inside the mechanical suit displayed that the space coordinates became undetectable, and his thrusters had stopped working. He could not move, and the images around him quickly changed as if many things flashed past him. When he looked closer, it all became black. At the end of the wormhole that was an unknown distance ahead, a tiny light shone as if that was the exit.
At this time, the square-shaped mechanical beacon that Han Xiao placed in the mechanical suit started to operate. This was a Wormhole Probe Beacon that Han Xiao had gotten from Harrofal before the fight with EsGod started.
Harrofal studied wormholes deeply. As they had to collect the various parameters of wormholes, the teams of the observation station had to get close to the wormholes from time to time. Occasionally, someone would get sucked in accidently. Through many experiments, Harrofal had invented a device that could retrieve a person from a wormhole. It had two requirements-first, the person had to carry a Wormhole Probe Beacon on them; second, the wormhole entered had to be one that had been measured before and had data recorded.
Han Xiao knew how strong EsGod was too clearly, even if it was just a doppelganger. As soon as he recognized the enemy, he knew that he would not be a match in a direct battle. He was never arrogant.
Therefore, when Han Xiao heard of this device that Harrofal had, Han Xiao had a flash of insight. He decided to use himself as bait and lure the EsGod doppelganger into the wormhole. Then, Harrofal would pull him out.
Although Harrofal might not be trustworthy, he had no choice but to take the bet. The worst ending would at most be spending a honeymoon with the EsGod doppelganger.
As a Mechanic, Han Xiao knew very well that compared to Mechanics that were good in combat, those in research and development usually had more tricks up their sleeves.
Han Xiao breathed a sigh of relief and figured out the enemies’ plan.
The DarkStar leader wanted to use the wormhole to banish him. However, using this Wormhole Zone as the battlefield ended up being to his advantage.
He had banished the EsGod doppelganger instead!
Han Xiao glanced at Harrofal and murmured, “Luckily, Harrofal was here, or I would have been in great danger.”
This time, the distant DarkStar leader who was petrified finally regained his focus. Without saying a single word, he turned around and started to escape. His expression was twisted and ferocious, filled with shock and rage.
He had just been thinking about the bright future ahead of him now that the mission was completed, yet in less than a minute, his fantasy was shattered mercilessly by the reality. Black Star had escaped from the wormhole, but the EsGod doppelganger did not return. He was completely dumbfounded.
The sudden change in situation almost made him lose his sanity, but the next moment, endless horror drowned that emotion and made his mind shiver.
Without the help of the EsGod doppelganger, Black Star is going to kill me!
The DarkStar leader did not dare to stay for another second. He escaped, only having one thought in his mind... I can’t die now; the hybrid Godorans need me!
However, the mechanical army was activated by Han Xiao once again and chased after him like a nightmare. Millions of mechanical soldiers rushed to him like a wave of metal. In the eyes of the DarkStar leader, these mechanical objects with no life seemed to have become ferocious and evil pureblood Godorans.
A battle between Han Xiao’s mechanical army enhanced by his Mechanical Force and a Calamity Grade that did not excel in fighting masses had absolutely no uncertainty. Han Xiao easily took care of him with just his mechanical army.
Without the EsGod doppelganger, the DarkStar leader had no more trump cards left. In order to not alarm the enemy, he had only brought a tiny fleet. The other troops and battleships that he had received from the Fallen Ark were all stored with Klent.
Two Oathkeepers brought the DarkStar leader, who was on his last breath, before Han Xiao. The effects of Chain of Pain and the other spells had stopped long ago. Healthy and vigorous, Han Xiao sized the DarkStar leader up.
“I thought you had already left the Shattered Star Ring. I didn’t think you would dare come back. You escaped years ago. This time, I finally caught you.”
Han Xiao tilted his head. The armor plate on his left shoulder slid open and exposed a ring-shaped device emitting a blue light. It vibrated and released a field of air like a bubble and shrouded the three of them, allowing them to speak directly.
The DarkStar leader stayed silent. All life in his eyes was lost, only leaving despair.
The helmet of Mountain Ape folded and retracted back to the ring-shaped armor on Han Xiao’s neck, showing his face. He sized the DarkStar leader up with an interested look.
“Since you can summon EsGod’s doppelganger, it means that you established a relationship with the Fallen Ark, which should’ve happened in these years you’ve been away. Let me think... the fact that you were able to attack me today means you have a very powerful intelligence channel that can lock onto my whereabouts. I did not tell anyone about coming here, nor did I stop at any other planet along the way. This means that the intelligence channel you have started monitoring me before I even left Colton, and they also knew that I would come to this particular wormhole observation station. It seems like they know me quite well...”
Han Xiao scratched his head.
“Hmm, Klent’s people are probably the only ones that like to stalk me this much. They’re the ones that initiated this mission, right?”
The DarkStar leader kept silent with no emotions in his eyes, as if he was submerged in his own world and did not hear what Han Xiao said at all.
Han Xiao pushed the DarkStar leader’s head, but still, he did not react, not even looking at him. His eyes looked like they had no focus, and his eyeballs did not move at all.
“Why aren’t you talking? Do you think imitating an ostrich will work?”
Harrofal could not help but cough softly. “Should I excuse myself?”
“No need, you can be my witness,” Han Xiao replied before turning around to look at the DarkStar leader. He frowned.
Strange, all he did was beat him up. Why did he seem broken?
Han Xiao, however, did not know that the DarkStar leader had lost all hope. He felt that everything had ended now that he was in Black Star’s hands. He did not want to say anything at all.
“Come on, has your mind collapsed just like that?” Han Xiao stared at the DarkStar leader’s eyes and curled his lips. “Your mental resilience is too low, yet you call yourself the leader of a galactic terrorist organization? Even the native leader of a rebel organization in my home has more backbone than you. You’re so weak.”
Han Xiao contemplated for a while. He then called two Phantoms. They shapeshifted and turned into layers of restraints, locking the DarkStar leader in his place. He then took out his juice extractor and extracted a dozen or so Genetic Medicines.
When the DarkStar leader saw the Super-Gene Extractor, emotions finally appeared in his eyes. “So, the Secret Message Bead did end up in your hands.”
“That’s right.” Han Xiao recalled that his first contact with DarkStar was because of the Secret Message Bead mission. “By the way, where is Ember?”
“He’s dead.” The DarkStar leader lowered his head.
“Oh, that’s great.” Han Xiao raised his eyebrows. The Destiny’s Child’s Character Summon Card was right.
About how Ember died, he was not interested at all. In fact, when he saw the EsGod doppelganger, he already roughly knew what had happened.
Capturing the DarkStar leader was a pleasant surprise. Klent was most likely supporting DarkStar, and they were connected to EsGod. This made him feel that he needed to be more cautious and alert.
The DarkStar leader’s use was not only to generate juices; he could give this war criminal to Godora. That should trigger a Legendary Point and Dungeon Creation Rights, representing that the DarkStar organization was completely eliminated.
Godora would heavily promote it, which might be also helpful to the (Bloodline) mission.
However, Han Xiao was not satisfied with just the reward from a Star System civilization. With his current position, Star Cluster Civilizations were the most suitable partners. Since he had discovered DarkStar and Klent’s connection, he felt that he could make something out of it. Purple Crystal would definitely be willing to share this inside information.
The effect that would bring was very obvious —with Klent having a history of funding a terrorist group to disrupt a Star System civilization, it would be more than enough to make the civilizations of the Westwind, Kaya, and Chaida Star Systems more alert toward Klent. This could indirectly cause Purple Crystal’s control in the areas of these three border Star Systems to recover, decreasing the efficiency of the Bloodshed Land.
Furthermore, the Lord of Fallen Ark was notorious throughout the entire universe, known as a brute extremely hated by the three Universal Civilizations. As soon as Klent and EsGod’s relationship was exposed, the pressure they faced would increase drastically. At the very least, the Crimson Dynasty would be unhappy with Klent.
Not mentioning the pressure that Klent would receive externally, there was also a chance for things to happen internally—their ally Heber the Tyrant might not like sharing his spouse with EsGod.
Of course, he might be wrong, and Klent might not be the mastermind behind DarkStar.
But it did not matter.
The DarkStar leader is in my hands. If I say you’re the mastermind, you are!
Han Xiao was firm on sending this gift to Klent.
Putting away all the medicines, Han Xiao flipped his palm, and a compressed orb shot out from the tubes inside the mechanical suit. Activated with a little bit of Mechanical Force, this compressed orb quickly expanded into a single person aircraft about ten meters long. It was very small.
The small standard spaceship that he had originally taken was destroyed. Although he could use the Mountain Ape’s Traveling Mode to leave, it was not convenient when he had a captive with him. He could only take out a single person aircraft and leave the Wormhole Zone first.
“Profession Harrofal, let me take you to the nearest planet.”
“Sure.”
Han Xiao retrieved his mechanical army, and the two of them entered the spaceship. He told Harrofal to help monitor the DarkStar leader while he sat in the pilot seat.
At this time, Han Xiao seemed to have recalled something
“By the way, where does the wormhole I just entered lead to? The EsGod doppelganger did not escape, where would he get teleported to?”
Harrofal shook his head. “The other side of that wormhole isn’t stable. We’ve measured the data, and the other side of that wormhole changes constantly, so I don’t know where that guy went. However, based on probability, there’s a bigger chance that he will have arrived in an unexplored region. After all, that wormhole is huge, and its energy turbulence is very violent.”
“I see...”
The EsGod doppelganger had limited energy, so it would disappear on its own after some time. As long as he did not come out in any densely populated area, it would be safe.
A dark blue flame shot out from the end of the aircraft. It slowly accelerated and gradually turned into a stream of light, disappearing from the Wormhole Zone.
In some unexplored region of the universe, a wormhole was slowly spinning. Suddenly, a silhouette flew out from the wormhole covered in black fog. It was EsGod’s doppelganger.
Stabilizing his body, the EsGod doppelganger waited outside the wormhole. After waiting for quite a while, he still did not see his little friend Black Star come over and meet him.
The red dot of light on the face of the EsGod doppelganger shone brightly, giving off a sense of hatred.
The main body had a mental connection with the doppelgangers. The main body could see the doppelganger’s actions and could either control the doppelgangers or just watch. EsGod always liked to be the observer and let his doppelgangers do the work. Seeing doppelgangers make their own choices was like watching a first-person movie.
Because he had this ability, he liked to enter wormholes for the fun of it and let fate decide what happened to the doppelganger.
This time, attacking Black Star, the original body of EsGod was still just watching as the doppelganger acted out of his own will. He did not really take Klent’s request seriously. As he saw that Black Star seemed to have escaped, he was a little curious and remembered this person. He then forgot about the mission and looked at where his doppelganger had landed.
The EsGod doppelganger looked left and right before choosing a random direction and starting continuous long-distance teleports.
The energy consumption of teleporting was low, but the energy inside his body still decreased quite a lot after it went on for a very long time. The red dot of light became dim. This time, the EsGod doppelganger finally saw a planet.
A strange planet.
Looking at it from afar, the planet surface was covered in green and was very lively, as if there were no tracks of any manual modification. Yet, the EsGod doppelganger’s detection ability sensed countless highly intelligent lives living on the planet surface.
The most special part of this was that there were thick, long roots growing on the surface of this planet that extended all the way to outside the atmosphere and into outer space. The ends of these roots then reached into a stable wormhole.
The EsGod doppelganger focused on it and suddenly realized that he was looking at it upside down.
These enormous roots did not grow out from the planet but extended out from the wormhole and connected to the planet surface This meant that these roots did not grow from the ground but inside the wormhole. The planet was the end of these roots.
Lights of all sorts of colors appeared at the end of these roots and entered the wormhole as if these roots were nutrient pipes sucking the energy of this planet.
Having seen this through the doppelganger, inside the Fallen Ark’s hall, the hooded man on the throne, EsGod, opened his eyes.
“Interesting.”