Upon seeing Li Xiao, Gao Wanxin subconsciously glanced toward his adjutant. Seeing that the other party also bore a look of total astonishment, he knew that something must have gone wrong somewhere.

Li Xiao could not possibly appear here without rhyme or reason.

Before Gao Wanxin could figure out the twists and turns within, Li Xiao looked at him across the crowd and probed: “Why are you meeting with Meng Jian in private? Did you report it to the Royal Family?”

Gao Wanxin harbored alertness in his heart while remaining calm and composed on his surface, answering respectfully: “Meng Jian and I have, after all, worked together in the military department for decades. I truly could not bear to see him continue down the wrong path. I did quite a lot of ideological work on him during this period. It was with great difficulty that he finally yielded, which was why we agreed to meet here. I originally intended to report the result to the Royal Family afterward.”

Li Xiao’s expression showed no discernible shift in emotion: “Is that so? I seemed to see him running out injured from a distance just now—did you two agree to come here to pick a fight?”

Gao Wanxin: “I wanted to persuade him to surrender, but the talks broke down. He insisted on walking down a dark path to the very end, so I have nothing left to say either.”

Li Xiao’s gaze swept toward Lin Xu, who was walking diagonally behind Gao Wanxin: “Isn’t this Meng Zai’s adjutant? How come he’s following you?”

Lin Xu’s expression changed slightly, subconsciously hiding the blood-stained military knife in his hand behind his back.

“He has already surrendered under our persuasion. We were just planning to take him back for interrogation.”

Gao Wanxin slightly lowered his eyes to avoid Li Xiao’s scrutinizing gaze, “The most important thing right now is to arrest Meng Jian first. As for other matters, allow me to report them later—”

“Gao Wanxin.”

Li Xiao’s voice went cold, “I trusted you so much, yet even now you refuse to tell me the truth. Is the lesson of the Meng family not enough? Or has your Gao family long become the second Meng family?”

Gao Wanxin raised his eyes to meet Li Xiao’s sharp gaze: “Everything the Gao family and I have done is for the Empire. How can we be mentioned in the same breath as the Meng family?”

Li Xiao pressed harder: “Is it for the Empire, or for the Gao family?”

“Deeply sorry, I do not have time to idle and chat with you right now.”

Gao Wanxin gestured to a group of soldiers, “You guys stay here to protect the Second Prince; the rest follow me to arrest Meng Jian!”

Soldiers: “Yes sir!”

Under Li Xiao’s gaze, Gao Wanxin led his people to leave briskly through another exit.

Reaching the junction of the metal corridor, Gao Wanxin went straight in the direction of the elevator. His adjutant spoke up in confusion: “Sir, that way leads to the dedicated elevator for the parking bay.”

“We are going to the parking bay.”

Gao Wanxin had a dark face, intent to kill surging beneath his eyes, “Issue the order down—lock down the spacecraft’s communication signal, eliminate Li Xiao, and thoroughly search all areas. Absolutely do not let a single person escape.”

The adjutant turned pale with shock.

“To kill… kill the Second Prince? Why so suddenly?!”

“If we don’t kill him now, the ones who die will be us!”

Gao Wanxin stepped into the elevator with a very ugly expression, “He definitely discovered something.”

The adjutant hesitated: “But all evidence related to us has been wiped clean. He should merely be suspicious.”

“The fact that he could enter here silently—does that not explain the problem enough?”

Gao Wanxin watched the jumping numbers on the elevator, Li Xiao’s performance from moments ago floating before his eyes, “It doesn’t matter. Killing him now won’t affect us anymore.”

The situation was already set. The Meng family could not turn things around, and Li Ji was fully capable of handling the post-war mess. Coupled with Yi Yongning assisting him, even if Li Xiao died, it wouldn’t change anything.

The adjutant’s gaze hardened: “Yes sir!”

In the hallway outside the conference hall, Li Xiao watched Gao Wanxin leave without speaking up to stop him. Instead, he followed the leading Beta Captain toward the rest cabin.

On the way, the Beta Captain and a group of his subordinates received the command transmitted through the public frequency, their spirits instantly growing tight and tense.

Feeling the rhythm of these people’s breathing change, Li Xiao asked nonchalantly: “How many years have you been in the military department?”

Mind occupied with other thoughts, the Beta Captain was startled by the sudden question and answered in a hurry: “Including this year, it’s been nine years.”

Li Xiao: “Always in the Fourth Legion?”

The Beta Captain nodded: “Entered the Fourth Legion right after graduating from the military academy.”

Li Xiao: “If Gao Wanxin’s order conflicts with the Royal Family’s order, whose do you listen to?”

The Beta Captain’s pupils shrank, his heart thumping wildly.

Did His Highness notice something?

The moment this thought flashed through his mind, the Beta gritted his teeth, drew his sidearm, and rapidly chambered a round, pointing it at Li Xiao.

Yet just as his finger touched the trigger, an afterimage flashed before his eyes, and a sharp pain radiated from his hand.

Li Xiao’s reaction speed was several times that of an average person. Grabbing the Beta’s wrist, he effortlessly snatched the gun, seizing his neck to control him in front of himself with the gun muzzle pressed against the Beta’s temple.

“It seems you already have an answer.”

The other soldiers moved at the same time, but couldn’t match Li Xiao’s speed. By the time they raised their guns, the Beta had already been controlled.

Extreme panic turned the Beta’s legs to jelly, leaving him dragged along by Li Xiao.

“I was forced!”

Facing over a dozen gun muzzles, Li Xiao backed up while pulling his captive along. Hearing a chaotic mess of footsteps coming from behind, another twenty to thirty soldiers arrived.

“Don’t move!”

The leading Alpha Major raised his gun to point at Li Xiao, his expression tense, “Put the gun down!”

Li Xiao: “The ones who should put their guns down are you guys.”

Seeing the situation, the Alpha Major suddenly pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A bullet struck the Beta Captain right between his eyebrows.

To actually shoot the hostage dead directly—the expressions of all the soldiers present changed drastically.

The Major slightly adjusted his gun muzzle, pulling the trigger continuously toward Li Xiao.

Bang bang bang—!

A barrage of dense gunshots echoed.

Holding the Beta in front of himself as a shield, Li Xiao ducked into the nearest left-hand fork in the corridor.

Taking large strides to follow, the Major shouted loudly to the others: “Orders from above—execute Li Xiao at all costs! Whichever team completes the mission first, all team members will be promoted by two ranks!”

Soldiers: “Yes sir!”

Before Li Xiao had walked more than a few paces, the path ahead in the fork was blocked once again by a team of soldiers who had rushed over, forcing him to come to a halt.

The Major who rushed over said harshly: “You can’t run away anymore!”

Tossing the already dead Beta Captain onto the ground, Li Xiao spoke faintly: “The ones who can’t run away are you.”

Thinking of his superior’s instructions, the Major pulled the trigger continuously at the center of Li Xiao’s forehead.

Hearing the gunshots, others opened fire on Li Xiao as well.

Neither dodging nor weaving, Li Xiao stood completely unharmed amidst the dense hail of gunfire.

The Major quickly noticed something was wrong.

Even if their marksmanship was terrible, it was impossible not to hit a single shot.

“The bullets are suspended in midair!” a soldier cried out in surprise.

The Major’s brow twitched.

Looking closely, one could indeed see numerous small black dots floating a meter away from Li Xiao.

What was going on?!

Was there something there that they couldn’t see?!

The Major fired a shot toward the sensor area of the fire alarm.

The next moment, numerous nozzles extended from the ceiling, and a fine, dense curtain of water descended.

Beneath the water curtain, a transparent protective shield was revealed, safeguarding Li Xiao securely within.

Everyone was shocked.

What on earth was this thing?!

“As long as it can be seen, it can be dealt with.”

Gao Wanxin’s subordinate Major gestured to his men with a dark face, “Bring the rocket launcher over.”

Hearing this, a team of people on the opposite side rapidly retreated to pull back.

“Rare to run into a smart one.”

Li Xiao burst out laughing, “However, the reason you can see it is because I wanted you to see it.”

“The protective shield is morphing!” another soldier exclaimed.

Everyone looked over.

That cylindrical protective shield suddenly gathered toward Li Xiao, presenting a contour similar to a mecha—except scaled down many times compared to a real mecha.

The moment the protective shield finished morphing, along with Li Xiao himself, he completely vanished within the water curtain.

The Major tried firing a few shots toward the spot where Li Xiao had just been standing. The bullets penetrated straight through, hitting the metal wall.

Chills ran down everyone’s backs. Backing up vigilantly, they searched rapidly within the water curtain, yet could see nothing abnormal at all.

“Where is he?!”

“It’s impossible to vanish out of thin air! He must still be here!”

“Search carefully!”

09: 【Learn a bit about Rainy Day Mode. If I let you find us, wouldn’t my years of making combat armor be for nothing?】

A splish-splash sound echoed.

It was the sound of stepping on water.

The Major looked over abruptly. A footprint manifested on the ground five meters away, walking directly toward their side.

“Fall back!” Saying so, the Major hastily fired toward that direction. The next instant, a gust of strong wind sliced through the water curtain and swept horizontally right across his neck.

Staring with wide eyes, the Major fell heavily to the ground, a crimson liquid dripping into the water and diffusing outward.

A group of soldiers panicked, turning around to run.

Very soon, the chaotic shouts vanished, leaving the entire corridor quiet to the point where only the sound of water remained.

Stepping over a ground covered in corpses, Li Xiao glanced at the structural diagram of the spacecraft in his vision and headed toward the nearest elevator, asking Song Jin: “How’s your side?”

An impatient voice came through his ear from Song Jin: “Asking me to cover Meng Jian—are you really not worried I’ll just casually end him?”

Li Xiao: “If you end him, you won’t have new flavors of small cookies.”

Song Jin walked with large strides along a metal catwalk on one side of the parking bay.

He glanced at Meng Jian’s location in his vision and led a group of Gao family troops toward the opposite direction, his fingers flexing a few times to adapt to the sense of restraint from his gloves.

“Gao Wanxin taking action against you—I won the bet.”

Li Xiao: “He merely wants to kill me, but he won’t deal with the Royal Family.”

Song Jin: “Are you sure?”

Li Xiao: “He has no other choice.”

As they were talking, gunshots rang out on the other end of the communication line. Li Xiao instructed: “Be careful.”

Ducking into a corner, Song Jin sneered: “Just these few people—not even enough for me to play with.”

Just as his words landed, sensing movement in the fork on his left, Song Jin dodged by instinct.

With a gunshot, an extra bullet hole appeared right where he had originally been standing.

Missing with one shot, Meng Tu narrowed his eyes to look toward the spot where Song Jin was hiding, suspicion and alarm rising in his heart.

Why was Song Jin here?!

If he was here, had Li Xiao come as well?

Thinking of this possibility, Meng Tu composed himself, rapidly moving toward Song Jin’s direction and firing several shots in succession upon finding the right timing.

Yet when he turned into that corridor, there wasn’t even half a silhouette left.

Meng Tu was somewhat bewildered.

He was very certain Song Jin had run this way, but this speed was far too fast.

Hearing quite a few footsteps coming from two corridors on the right, Meng Tu had no choice but to hurriedly run toward the fork on the left.

Reaching the corner, just as he took a single step out, a faint noise sounded by his ear. Meng Tu pulled back his leg abruptly to dodge, but was still a step too late.

His knee was kicked hard. Before he could stand firm, he took a punch right to the face.

“Hss!”

Meng Tu awkwardly dodged the hand reaching for his neck, rapidly raising his gun to pull the trigger.

Song Jin raised his leg to kick the barrel of the gun, pivoting his body to switch legs and kicking toward Meng Tu’s neck.

With a bang, the bullet flew out from the upward-facing muzzle, hitting the ceiling at an angle.

Unable to adjust the muzzle in time, Meng Tu was forced to fall back once again to dodge Song Jin’s incoming kick.

Song Jin rapidly retracted his leg, kicking away Meng Tu’s sidearm, and switched legs again to sweep toward Meng Tu’s head.

“Ugh!” Meng Tu felt a wave of numbness in his hand, and the next moment his head suffered a heavy impact, slamming into the wall to cause secondary damage. His vision went black, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Song Jin attacked toward Meng Tu’s neck.

Meng Tu turned his body sideways to dodge, grabbing Song Jin’s wrist to twist it back forcefully.

Borrowing his force, Song Jin raised his leg to push off the wall, executing several midair flips to dismantle Meng Tu’s move, turning around to hook the other party’s neck and throw him to the ground.

“Ugh!”

Meng Tu swept his leg to force Song Jin back, a belly full of stifled rage beaten out of him. Rising to his feet, he attacked over again, “Pretty good moves. Too bad you followed Li Xiao.”

“It’s that you’re too much of a waste.”

Song Jin’s attack speed was extremely fast with intense purpose. As long as Meng Tu failed to catch a single move, he could only continuously take a beating.

Song Jin grabbed Meng Tu’s collar to yank him over, driving his knee upward.

“A guy like you can be a Lieutenant General too?”

“Ugh! Cough cough cough…” Meng Tu felt waves of dull pain; at least two of his ribs were likely broken.

Footsteps drew near. Song Jin tilted his head to listen.

Taking the opportunity to break free, Meng Tu took two wobbly steps backward, turned around, and ran.

A group of soldiers charged over from ahead in the hallway, displaying the emblem of the Ninth Legion on their military uniforms.

“Sir!” Seeing the battered and bruised Meng Tu, the leading Alpha Lieutenant Colonel took large strides to meet him, simultaneously raising his gun toward Song Jin’s direction—only to open his eyes wide upon realizing it was Song Jin.

What was going on?!

Song Jin?!

“Kill him!” Clutching his stomach, Meng Tu ran over awkwardly and issued the order to the soldiers.

The metal catwalks above the parking bay were staggered high and low, extending crisscross in every direction.

Several groups of people were rushing toward this area.

Meeting the hostile and unwilling gaze Meng Tu cast over, Song Jin let out a disdainful smile. As the Meng family troops opened fire, he rapidly stepped onto the metal railing to leap up, grabbing the metal crossbar of the upper catwalk to flip up, landing effortlessly.

Meng Tu felt extremely uncomfortable from that smile of his.

That face looking as if “killing you is effortless” made him feel utterly humiliated.

“The people from the Ninth Legion are over there!”

“Found them!”

This wave of Meng family troops successfully attracted the pursuing Gao family troops, and both sides instantly engaged in a fierce slaughter.

Song Jin took the opportunity to slip away, heading toward Meng Jian’s location.

P103 Parking Bay.

Clutching the gunshot wound on his left arm, Meng Jian hid and dodged all the way. Covered by three subordinates, he finally reached the parking bay successfully.

The aircraft they arrived in was parked at K303, but going over now would be walking right into a trap. If Gao Wanxin wanted them dead, he would inevitably set an ambush there.

To leave this spacecraft, they could only think of other ways.

Quite a few fighter jets were parked at P103. While his adjutant went to the control console to activate a fighter jet launch track, Meng Jian felt uneasy and personally contacted the Ninth Legion.

The moment the communication connected, Meng Jian said in exasperation: “An unexpected turn occurred on this side! Immediately send troops over to support!”

Seeing the blood on Meng Jian’s arm, the Beta Colonel receiving the communication had a change of face: “Yes sir!”

After rapidly issuing instructions, Meng Jian saw his adjutant still hadn’t finished. Looking around vigilantly, he urged in a low voice: “Is it ready yet? Hurry up!”

Sweating profusely, the adjutant confirmed the situation as fast as possible, reporting to Meng Jian: “The ones in this area are all restricted by the master control console. Let’s go to P104—there’s a batch there that can be deployed!”

Mainstream models were all controlled by the master control console. Whether fighter jets or mechas, those not under control could basically be confirmed as backup obsolete models.

However, at a time like this, Meng Jian was no longer picky; saving his life was what mattered.

Ninth Legion.

After receiving the order, the Beta Colonel immediately dispatched a fleet to surround the spacecraft, then sent three military spacecraft out from the fleet, preparing to force a docking.

Yet just as the fleet departed, the Beta Colonel received a report from his subordinate.

“The Fourth Legion sent out a fleet to intercept us!”

“The spacecraft is also blocked and cannot force a docking!”

The Beta Colonel slammed his fist onto the console, saying hatefully: “Ram through them for me!”

Not long after, one of the spacecraft transmitted back battle reports.

“Another spacecraft has successfully forced a docking! Looking at the model, it’s not military!”

The Beta Colonel and a group of field-grade officers stood in front of the monitoring console watching for a long time, yet failed to see any spacecraft whatsoever.

“Nothing shows on the radar—at which location?”

The other end of the public frequency: “Diagonally below the spacecraft! It suddenly popped out! The Fourth Legion didn’t stop it either—not sure if they didn’t see it as well!”

The Beta Colonel had a grave expression.

What stealth technology did this spacecraft use to not even be scannable by military radar?

An exclamation came from the other end of the public frequency: “Saw the logo—it’s the Raven!”

Holy crap!

The officers cursed.

Very soon, relevant surveillance footage appeared on the monitoring console.

“Isn’t this that spacecraft model produced by Factory 799?”

“As expected, it’s the armaments snatched from the commander’s hands!”

“The stealth capability of this spacecraft is actually this strong? How come we never heard of it before?”

“The Raven belongs to Second Prince’s people—there’s no good news with them going in.”

Listening to them discuss, the Beta Major said hatefully: “Mecha force prepare! Even if we have to pry open the hatch of that spacecraft, we must rescue the three commanders back!”

The response from the person in charge of the mecha force came through the public frequency.

“Received!”

Outside the spacecraft.

The Ninth Legion dispatched a massive number of mechas toward the spacecraft where Meng Jian was located.

The Fourth Legion dispatched mechas right behind them to stop the Ninth Legion’s support.

Both sides engaged in a frontal clash around the spacecraft.

Inside the spacecraft.

Meng Tu had the subordinates brought over stall the Gao family troops while he rapidly headed toward the location sent by Meng Jian. Both sides converged at the P104 parking bay.

“What on earth happened?!”

Seeing his old father’s injury, anger surged violently within Meng Tu, “How did you guys talk? Why did our own people start fighting among ourselves first?”

“What ‘own people’?! They’re enemies!”

Meng Jian’s eye sockets turned red with rage, “Ah Zai was killed by Lin Xu! Lin Xu is Gao Wanxin’s mole!”

“What?!”

Meng Tu’s ears buzzed.

Meng Jian’s chest heaved violently, gritting his back teeth: “Leave here first, and plan for subsequent matters slowly. Even if I die, I’ll drag Gao Wanxin down to hell together!”

“This way!”

The adjutant walked ahead of them leading the way, “Right up ahead, about three hundred meters left.”

“Going where?”

A slightly rough voice suddenly echoed in the spacious area. Meng Jian and his group’s hearts skipped a beat, looking over at the same time.

Jiang Chi was wearing a military uniform, standing on the lowest metal catwalk with a special forces team.

Seeing him, the Meng father and son looked as if they had seen a ghost, their eyes wide and their expressions hideous to the extreme.

Jiang Chi looked down at them coldly: “So anxious—do you want me to give you a ride?”

“Jiang Chi…?” Meng Tu’s pupils underwent an earthquake, numerous memory fragments floating before his eyes in an instant.

Comparisons were inevitable among peers—the same went for him and Jiang Chi. From their time as military cadets to joining the military department, their levels had always been neck and neck, repeatedly brought up and discussed by others, until Jiang Chi joined the special forces and this situation eased somewhat.

“What on earth is going on?!”

Hiding behind a pillar, Meng Jian looked at Meng Tu and roared in fury, “Didn’t I tell you to kill him back then?! Even you betrayed me?!”

Meng Tu was dazed, unable to answer for a moment.

“I’m quite curious as to why you didn’t just kill me outright as well.”

Jiang Chi looked at Meng Tu, his gaze bearing quite a bit of hatred, “Washing my memories repeatedly over a dozen times, and even using my younger brother’s life to threaten me—did I offend you in the past?”

Returning to his senses, Meng Tu looked at Jiang Chi over there with a dark face, saying in a low voice to Meng Jian: “Father, I’ll stall him—you go first.”

Meng Jian: “If we go, we go together!”

Meng Tu: “Hurry!”

Meng Jian: “It’s not your turn to order your old man around!”

“Alright, spare me the affectionate father and filial son act.”

Jiang Chi had a disgusted expression that couldn’t bear to look, “Every single one of you counts—you all have to come with me today.”

Meng Tu raised his gun and pulled the trigger toward that side: “Go!”

Taking advantage of Jiang Chi and his team dodging the bullets, the adjutant pulled Meng Jian and ran: “Sir, hurry!”

Amidst the hail of bullets, Meng Jian glanced at Meng Tu, gritted his teeth, turned around, and followed.

Jiang Chi raised his chin at his subordinates: “You guys go pursue Meng Jian; leave this place to me.”

Special forces soldiers: “Yes sir!”

Meng Tu wanted to chase over to block them, but was cut off by a person swinging down from the catwalk.

Landing a flying kick that missed, Jiang Chi jumped onto the ground, looking at Meng Tu whose face was gloomy five steps away: “It’s been fifteen years. Today, let’s settle the old accounts from back then properly.”

Meng Tu: “I kindly spared your life—what more do you want?”

“Oho, ‘kindly’?”

Jiang Chi was amused, “So to put it this way, should I treat you to a meal to repay your favor of not killing me back then?”

“Save the meal.”

Meng Tu turned around to pursue Meng Jian.

Jiang Chi blocked his path in two or three steps: “It’s fine that you harmed me, but you even dragged my younger brother into it, nearly ruining his whole life. A scumbag like you dying ten thousand times wouldn’t be enough!”

Trading moves back and forth, the two engaged in a fight.

Evading the special forces, Meng Jian took a detour to escape to P104. Losing another two subordinates on the way, only he and his adjutant remained.

After activating the launch track, the adjutant led Meng Jian into the cockpit of a fighter jet.

Anxiously waiting for Meng Tu, Meng Jian sat as if on pins and needles, unable to calm down at all.

The more he thought, the angrier he grew, swiping open his terminal to send a communication request to Zheng Kang’an.

Yet after sending it four or five times in a row, every prompt indicated the other party was not in a signal area and could not be connected.

“What on earth is Zheng Kang’an doing?!” Meng Jian slammed his fist onto the armrest, “Are there any new developments at the Tianjiang Constellation border?”

Currently starting up the fighter jet’s piloting system, the adjutant answered upon hearing the question: “Haven’t had time to look yet, but General Zheng has already successfully converged with the main force. At this hour, he should have already taken action.”

Meng Jian was deeply uneasy, wanting to get intelligence regarding the Zifu Constellation side quickly.

With Gao Wanxin rebelling, the situation in Nanming Constellation was completely different; he urgently needed Zheng Kang’an’s support.

As long as they could hold their ground, dragging it out for a few years didn’t mean there was no chance of winning—the prerequisite being that they had to leave this place smoothly.

To save time, the adjutant started the fighter jet first; once Meng Tu arrived, they could leave immediately.

Just as he pressed the start button, a slightly raspy young boy’s voice sounded in the cockpit.

【Please insert coin.】

Adjutant: “…? Insert coin?”

Thinking he made an operational error, the adjutant rapidly restarted it once more.

【Please insert coin.】

“…What does that mean? What coin to insert?” The adjutant repeatedly confirmed the operations, but just couldn’t figure out which step went wrong.

Meng Jian was already annoyed, and hearing the words “Please insert coin” repeatedly in his ear made him increasingly frantic. Slamming his fist onto the control console: “Trash piece of junk! If it can’t start, hurry up and swap for another one!”

【Ding~ Starting up—】

The adjutant’s eyes lit up: “You still have the ways, Sir. Hitting an obsolete machine works better than anything.”

Before Meng Jian could fully catch his breath, the fighter jet suddenly began rocking violently back and forth. If not for being strapped in by the safety harness, Meng Jian could have been tossed across the control console to roll several laps from the force.

【What is daddy’s daddy called… daddy’s daddy is called Grandpa!】

Adjutant: “…”

Meng Jian: “…”

【What is daddy’s great-grandpa called… daddy’s great-grandpa is called 09!】

Strange recitation coupled with playful background music—if not for being wildly shaken inside a fighter jet, it wouldn’t be very unpleasant to hear.

Meng Jian felt as if all his internal organs were going out of place and his neck was about to be snapped from the shaking, roaring in a lost voice out of rage: “Quickly make it stop! Quickly stop—!”

Fumbling through operations in panic, the adjutant found it completely useless.

“No, it can’t be stopped!”

Meng Jian: “Open the hatch!”

The adjutant tried, but it didn’t work at all.

If this continued, they would both be shaken to pieces.

Drawing his military knife, the adjutant jammed it into a certain spot at the edge of the hatch, pounding and prying forcefully, finally prying open a gap.

By the time the two jumped off the fighter jet, half their lives were already gone.

Meng Jian sat collapsed on the ground with a pale face, unable to even stand up.

This place could not be stayed in for long. After recovering slightly, the adjutant helped Meng Jian up, a flurry of footsteps sounding by their ears.

“To jump off halfway through a free kiddie ride—you really don’t know how to enjoy yourselves.”

Hearing this voice laced with laziness and laughter, Meng Jian looked over vigilantly.

When he clearly saw Wei Feng’s face, Meng Jian’s pupils shrank, his expression completely stunned.

“Wei Feng?!”

When he appeared on the screen in Zone 1 of N001 previously, Meng Jian thought it was either AI synthesis or someone else impersonating him.

Yet that tall Alpha not far away was identical to the data in terms of looks, demeanor, and physique.

Thinking of a certain possibility, Meng Jian’s face turned ghastly.

“You were cultivated by Gao Wanxin?!”

“No, it was you.”

Dressed in a loose leather jacket, Wei Feng played with a large-caliber handgun between his fingers, looking at Meng Jian with an expression bearing an indescribable kind of doting affection—just like an elder toward a junior.

“Impossible! Those lumps of flesh could never grow into full bodies!” Meng Jian barked.

“You father and son researched for decades, yet still know nothing about my body.”

Wei Feng sat casually on the railing, speaking with a beaming smile, “I should say thank you. If you weren’t so insatibly greedy, so shameless as to use my tissue for research, I wouldn’t have returned here again.”

“It was you guys who welcomed me back from below.”

The smile at the corners of Wei Feng’s lips deepened, “To be able to see the world decades later is truly a marvelous experience. That kid Meng Shan looked like a bear himself, but his son turns out to be quite capable.”

Listening to him chat as if idling time away, Meng Jian nevertheless felt a chill seep into his bones, so cold he shivered uncontrollably.

This person was extremely dangerous.

He had to escape from here quickly.

With a deathly pale face, Meng Jian took a step backward, turned around, and ran.

Yet the moment he turned around, his footsteps came to a sudden halt.

Three meters ahead, Song Jin leaned against a pillar with folded arms, looking at him faintly.

“Still want to run?”

Song Jin spoke lazily, “I don’t mind either way, but I’m afraid an old frame like yours won’t be able to handle it.”

Wei Feng: “Even an old ancestor over a hundred years old like me is fine—how could a seventy-something kid like him not be able to play?”

Song Jin: “Not everyone is like you, able to switch to a new body and start over.”

Meng Jian’s scalp went tight, his face distorted with fright.

Impossible!

The feed was incomplete cloning; it couldn’t grow into a full body!

Even if it grew, that would be another person—how could it possibly recall the original Wei Feng?!

Spacecraft Cockpit.

A group of soldiers searched frantically for Li Xiao’s whereabouts across various surveillance screens.

“Nothing, can’t find him!”

“Look closer, look closer!”

“No means no! He vanished on the spot!”

“How could a person vanish out of thin air?! The hatch to the spacecraft’s parking bay has never been opened; he’s still here!”

“Have the AI help us search!”

“Searched long ago, it can’t find him either!”

Gao Wanxin reached the lowest parking bay from the elevator and boarded an aircraft.

“How is the progress?”

Listening to the report in the public frequency, the adjutant said with some anxiety: “The Second Prince seems to have brought some weapon capable of stealth. Our AI cannot detect it, and they are still searching for him.”

“Which means you lost track of Li Xiao?” Gao Wanxin’s tone could not suppress his irritability.

The adjutant answered cautiously: “Yes.”

Gao Wanxin fell silent for a moment: “Issue the notification down—all personnel evacuate, detonate the spacecraft—”