If it weren't for the sudden activation of the S-class mech Spirit Fox at the critical moment, everyone would have already perished in this cosmic ruin. Watching the Dark Night Starship quickly pulverize into a pile of metal debris by the cosmic sandstorm, Ye Qi hurriedly said, "Run! The sandstorm is incredibly fast; if it catches us, we're doomed!"
Xiao Lou immediately increased the speed of the Spirit Fox to its maximum, piloting the agile mech in the opposite direction to escape.
A dark, tornado-like sandstorm followed closely behind. Xiao Lou's expression was grave, his nerves on edge, fearing that Spirit Fox wouldn't be fast enough and would be swallowed by the sandstorm...
return
The S-class mechs are very powerful. Five minutes later, Spirit Fox finally left Sandstorm far behind.
As the sandstorm swept diagonally in another direction and moved further and further away from everyone, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
They exchanged glances, and everyone's foreheads were covered in a layer of cold sweat. Those who were sweating more, such as Ye Qi, had their clothes soaked through.
Ye Qi took a deep breath, his face pale, and said, "This could be considered an extreme escape, right? We were just one second away! I thought we were going to die here."
He paused, then turned to look at Shao Qingge: "By the way, did you just whisper something in my ear?"
Shao Qingge smiled slightly, gently patted his head, and said, "It's nothing, I'll tell you when we get back."
Lu Jiuchuan walked up to the control panel and asked curiously, "Where did this mecha come from?"
Xiao Lou said, "It was left to me by my father." He looked at everyone and said with a guilty conscience, "I'm sorry, I had it turned off before. I just remembered that it can also fly in space."
Yu Hanjiang explained, "Not long after we entered the secret chamber, His Majesty summoned me and gave me a ring. According to him, the ring is a fragment of the Spirit Fox mech's spirit, and once activated, it will become the Spirit Fox's complete form. When he gave me the ring, he also told me to protect Xiao Lou no matter what."
Tang Ci was somewhat surprised: "The S-class mech Spirit Fox? S-class should be the Empire's most powerful mech to date, and you actually have one?"
Lu Jiuchuan pondered, "His Majesty entrusted such a valuable mecha to you. Is he really the villainous boss?"
Xiao Lou was conflicted. If he hadn't been wearing his S-class mecha, everyone would have been dead long ago. His father's concern for him during their previous private meetings didn't seem fake. And his instruction to Yu Hanjiang to protect him at all costs didn't seem insincere either.
He clenched his fist gently to calm himself down before saying, "Although Spirit Fox saved us this time, His Majesty entrusted Spirit Fox to me under the guise of protection, but in reality, it was for surveillance."
Yu Hanjiang chimed in, " His Majesty was fully aware of the infiltration of Gemini Palace on his birthday. That's how we learned that Spirit Fox had actually set up a 360-degree surveillance network throughout Gemini Palace and was reporting the situation to His Majesty. To avoid being monitored by His Majesty during our escape, Spirit Fox was kept switched off the entire time."
Xiao Lou said, "We have checked it carefully. The ring His Majesty gave to Hanjiang is for activating Spirit Fox. We did not find any trackers in the ring. After it is turned off, Spirit Fox will not affect us. That's why we brought it with us this time."
Xiao Lou was truly thankful; if they had left the ring in the palace, everyone would have been doomed. Fortunately, Yu Hanjiang had said, "The ring His Majesty gave me is probably a crucial item; I should keep it with me," and that one thought saved everyone's lives at the critical moment.
Lu Jiuchuan continued, "Do you really think His Majesty is the final boss?"
Xiao Lou said, "He is the initiator of the Noahs Ark Project and the mastermind behind the Gu breeding plan. On the surface, he is indeed the final boss of this secret room, but I can't be completely sure now."
Yu Hanjiang gently put his arm around Xiao Lou's shoulder and said, "Let's talk about everything when we get back to the Empire. We need to find out where the real Chu Huaying is and when she was copied."
Before Lu Jiuchuan could speak, Tang Ci suddenly interrupted him: "Let me see your hands."
He forcefully pulled up Lu Jiuchuan's left hand, opening his palm to reveal the wound from the sharp metal cut, from which blood was still flowing freely, leaving his entire hand a bloody mess. Tang Ci's eyes flashed with heartache, and he quickly hardened his face: "You're injured and still moving around. Sit down, I'll take care of it for you."
Lu Jiuchuan chuckled: "It's just a superficial wound, nothing to worry about."
He had gotten used to getting injured while infiltrating the Hunter Organization, so this injury was nothing to him. But Tang Ci still forced him to sit on the sofa next to him and summoned a healing robot to bandage his wounds.
Lu Jiuchuan entrusted his hand to Tang Ci without a second thought, completely trusting him. He sat on the sofa, stretched out his legs, and looked at Yu Hanjiang, asking, " Do you have any clue where Hua Ying is? How are we supposed to find her in such a vast universe?"
Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou, who frowned slightly and carefully sorted out his thoughts.
After a moment, he analyzed seriously: " The Hua Ying we encountered at the beginning was definitely real. The switch must have happened during the time we logged into Azure Planet to handle the Merfolk Clan side mission, while Hua Ying was left alone on the starship. If I remember correctly, there are hundreds of Space Pirates on the Dark Night Starship. The only explanation for all of them disappearing is that someone controlled the real Hua Ying, had the fake Hua Ying take over the captain's position, transferred all the Space Pirates away, and then used the fake Hua Ying to lure us into a trap."
Lu Jiuchuan asked in confusion, " Hua Ying has been in our team for so long, and she's quite alert. She also mentioned that when she first entered the secret room, Hunter got her drunk, but she managed to kill him and take the captain's position. How could she be controlled?"
Xiao Lou said, "It's possible that someone tampered with her food. They should have free access to the food storage on the starship. If they put a drug in the food Chu Huaying eats every day, she would indeed be unable to defend herself."
Yu Hanjiang, who had been frowning in thought, suddenly said upon hearing this, "Uncle Qin?"
Xiao Lou also thought of this person and said, "Back then, when we interrogated all the Space Pirates and asked them about things from more than 20 years ago, only this person's eyes darted around."
Yu Hanjiang said, "I sensed something was wrong with him at the time, so I had Hua Ying interrogate him a few more times. Sure enough, he confessed everything, telling everyone about the connection between Space Pirate and Zerg Planet. Most of what he said was true, and we also found this in our subsequent leads."
That's been confirmed. However, there's one thing that, upon closer reflection now, seems a bit off.
Xiao Lou said, "Was it what he said at the end, that what happened back then was too terrible, and that he hasn't dared to land on Zerg Planet all these years? If he had known that Hua Ying would go to Zerg Planet, he would definitely have stopped her."
Shao Qingge raised an eyebrow: "That sounds like hindsight, like someone saying, 'If I had known you were going to do something, I would have stopped you...' It's actually useless."
Ye Qi also sensed something was wrong, scratching his head and saying, "We lingered in Hilt No Mans Land for so long and even patrolled Zerg Planet. As the mechanic of the Dark Night Starship, he should have seen us by now, but he didn't stop us. In other words, he pretended to be looking out for us, but actually just watched us enter Zerg Planet without saying a word?"
Yu Hanjiang whispered, "He's the Hunter. Why wouldn't he enjoy watching us die?"
Everyone: "......"
Thinking about it that way, he's right. He knows the dangers of Zerg Planet, and he's probably secretly laughing to himself as everyone logs onto Zerg Planet. Why would he speak up to warn them?
As for his feigned anguish during Chu Huaying's interrogation, saying things like, "If I had known you were going, I would have stopped you," no one paid much attention to such polite words at the time. Xiao and Yu were busy analyzing Space Pirate, minerals, and the Noahs Ark Project, and overlooked this detail. Now it seems that he had actually given himself away long ago.
Xiao Lou stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "I know! Hua Ying was most likely taken to Zerg Planet!"
The teammates were all stunned when they heard this.
Ye Qi asked blankly, "Is this related to the Zerg?"
Xiao Lou nodded: "We overlooked a crucial point. When Ninth Brother was in danger in Hilt No Mans Land, it was Xiao Lou No. 5 who saved you when he happened to be passing by. His singing voice, as well as the appearance of Ninth Brother and Mr. Tang's clones in the Merfolk Clan, all prove this. But the strange thing is, why would Xiao Lou No. 5, as the prince of the Merfolk Clan, 'pass by' Zerg Planet?!"
The Merfolk Clan is located in the deep sea of Azure Planet, while the Zerg are in the distant Hilt No Mans Land.
A prince from the ocean, just happened to pass through the territory of the Zerg? How does that make sense?
Yu Hanjiang speculated, "It seems we've only dealt with a minor boss so far. That Xiao Lou No. 5 mermaid prince's sudden visit to Zerg Planet might be because he reached some kind of agreement with the Zerg Queen —for example, to work together on a cloning project?"
Xiao Lou continued, "So, back then, Xiao Lou No. 5 used this condition as a bargaining chip, and the furious Zerg Queen, seeing an opportunity for profit, agreed to let Ninth Brother and his group go. Otherwise, she had already threatened to kill the entire Arrow Legion, so why would she suddenly release them?"
Tang Ci thought about it carefully and said, "That makes sense. This explains the cause and effect. The Mermaid Prince visited Zerg Planet, wanting to research the clone project with the Zerg, such as extracting more Zerg genes to give clone version 3.0 the Zerg's climbing, jumping, and other abilities. And he saved me and Ninth Brother to clone our genes to lure you into a trap and wipe out our entire team?"
Lu Jiuchuan said with a headache, "So, Zerg Planet might be hiding another clone lab?!"
Ye Qi was dumbfounded: "So, Uncle Qin has also joined forces with the Zerg?"
Xiao Lou said, "Uncle Qin watched Hua Ying grow up since she was a child. For him, taking a single hair from Hua Ying is very easy. Perhaps, when we landed on Zerg Planet, he secretly gave Hua Ying's genes to the Zerg. Then the Zerg quickly cloned a Chu Hua Ying and used the fake Chu Hua Ying to lure us to the Dark Night Starship, destroy the starship system, and drain the starship's energy so that we would perish in interstellar space."
The teammates looked at each other in bewilderment.
There's a fake Liu Qiao on Merfolk Clan and a fake Hua Ying on Starship. This whole situation is really exhausting.
Xiao Lou opened the contract book, glanced at the name on it, and said, " Hua Ying is still alive. We have to find a way to save her!"