Evacuation

Crock activated another function of the instrument in his hand, and a penetrating beam of light shot out. If there were any secret rooms or safes here, they would be unable to hide from such an inspection.

David watched through the eyes of the Shadow Servant as the instrument in Crock's hand rotated and aimed at the corner where the Shadow Servant was hiding his body, his heart tightening involuntarily.

However, he soon discovered that his worry was unnecessary. Crock turned away from the direction of the Shadow Servant without the slightest pause; it seemed the instrument had not detected the Shadow Servant at all, let alone the person it was enveloping.

After checking once, Crock was disappointed. The place was as clean as it appeared to his eyes.

Yet, his years of mercenary life made him sense that there was something different about this underground gym; someone had been here just a short time ago.

Although he could not see David now, the underground gym carried the scent of sweat from David practicing the Eighteen Forms of Body Technique all day. In such a sealed environment, Crock's experience allowed him to judge how long those scents had been present.

This was also the reason he wanted to find a secret room or some other passage. The person here could not have just vanished into thin air; there must be something he did not know about.

In fact, if David had used his own eyes to observe Crock, even if he had hidden himself perfectly, he would have triggered Crock's attention and been discovered long ago.

This was the intuition possessed by a battle-hardened Armored Warrior, especially in a quiet environment, where such intuition became even more pronounced.

However, the Shadow Servant was a special existence. Its eyes had been watching Crock's every move, yet it did not trigger any of Crock's attention.

Because of the unexpected appearance of Amos, who had been monitoring David, the plans of the Sirius Mercenary Group were disrupted. After receiving orders from Captain Froman, Crock immediately put away his instrument.

As he was about to leave the underground gym, he still scanned the empty room with some reluctance before walking away quickly.

Through the perception of the Shadow Servant, David discovered that the danger was rapidly moving away, and he could not help but let out a long sigh of relief.

At the most dangerous moment, he had discovered another ability of the Shadow Servant, though he did not wish to uncover the Shadow Servant's capabilities in such a way—his heart could not take it.

He did not move his body but instead let the Shadow Servant fly out to first check the situation outside the underground gym to see if anyone was still there.

Outside the underground gym was a corridor illuminated by ceiling lights. The corridor was only five meters long, after which it transitioned from a metal passage into a transparent one built like glass, suspended in mid-air.

Surrounding and beneath the glass corridor was a vegetable cultivation base spanning five levels, with an estimated area of a thousand square meters.

Whether anyone was there was almost immediately obvious. After discovering that no one was around, the Shadow Servant flew upward, passed through the ground, and reached the surface.

Borrowing the Shadow Servant's vision, David saw four mercenaries about to leave, one of whom was carrying a broken corpse on his back—it was the only female mercenary.

As soon as the Shadow Servant appeared, a phantom shadow flew out from the female mercenary's corpse and merged into the Shadow Servant's body.

Then, another phantom shadow flew into the Shadow Servant's body; it had flown out from the broken corpse of Amos, who was lying on the ground.

Although David had been hiding in the underground gym and did not know what had just happened, he could see now that Amos, who had been monitoring him, and the enemies who had invaded the residence had somehow engaged in a battle.

Regarding both sides suffering mutual losses, he only felt glad. What he was most concerned about were the two phantom figures absorbed by the Shadow Servant.

This was the first time he had clearly seen the scene of the Shadow Servant absorbing souls from corpses. Although more people had died at the bookstore last time, by the time he walked out, the Shadow Servant had already finished the absorption process.

As the mercenaries retreated and police patrol vehicles approached, David knew he was finally safe.

Just then, he saw an object on the ground that looked like a notebook. He remembered very clearly that this item had been in the hands of the female mercenary.

David did not know who these people were, but he was certain they were not the same group as those who wanted to kill him; otherwise, they would not have fought with Amos, who was monitoring him.

Perhaps the reason could be found on this item, as it was the only thing these people had left behind.

Although the Shadow Servant could not pick up such a heavy object, it was very easy to hide it.

Just like hiding David's body, the Shadow Servant flew onto the item and enveloped it.

"Quick, notify reinforcements!" A police officer saw the corpses on the ground, the rapid-fire machine gun still clattering on top of the vehicle, and the battle traces that looked like an explosion site, and immediately shouted.

This officer naturally saw that the battle traces here involved Armored Warriors, which had exceeded the authority he could manage.

One minute later, a larger police transport aircraft appeared. Four Armored Warriors wearing Exoskeleton Armor jumped down from it, and the remaining police officers began to seal off the scene.

Through the Shadow Servant's vision, David clearly saw the most powerful combat force in his memory: Armored Warriors. Only Armored Warriors wearing Exoskeleton Armor were in the strongest state of an Armored Warrior.

Since the appearance of the first suit of armor, the Interstellar Federation had undergone ten thousand years of reform to finalize the ultimate form of the current Exoskeleton Armor.

From the initial bulky mechs and robots controlled entirely by artificial intelligence to the Exoskeleton Armor controlled by Armored Warriors, these changes were all brought about by the emergence of the Zerg.

Those original designs lost their effectiveness in front of the Zerg. Only the Exoskeleton Armor, which fully utilized and amplified the power of the Armored Warrior themselves, eventually dominated the ground battlefield.

The speed and combat style of the Zerg determined the combat style of the Armored Warriors. Only sufficient speed could allow one to maneuver around the Zerg, and only weapons capable of piercing the Zerg's carapace could inflict damage upon them.

Armored Warriors used weapons of Grade 1 quality or higher. If materials of this quality were made into bullets for thermal weapons to consume, while they could cause damage to the Zerg, the value of the bullets consumed would be enough to bankrupt any organization.

Because the value of these consumed Grade 1 or higher bullets would be far higher than the value of killing the Zerg. This was related to the tenacious vitality of the Zerg; the wounds caused by kinetic bullets were too small to achieve a lethal effect.

Unless it was a battle where value was ignored, one would rarely see the large-scale use of Grade 1 or higher quality bullets.

Of course, there were exceptions, and that was the special existence among Armored Warriors: the Sniper Armored Warrior. The existence of the Sniper Armored Warrior was to utilize the attack power of quality bullets to the greatest extent, while reducing the consumption of quality bullets through accurate attacks on vital points.

The four Armored Warriors who appeared now—the one holding a shield was a Defense Armored Warrior, the one holding twin swords was an Assault Armored Warrior, and the two holding heavy axes were Assault/Breach Armored Warriors. This was a standard Armored Warrior combat squad.

As soon as Officer Bob's patrol vehicle stopped, he jumped directly from the vehicle, which was still two meters off the ground, and sprinted toward David's residence.

"David, it's great that you're okay!" When he reached the front door, he happened to see David just coming out of the basement, and his heart relaxed instantly as he spoke.

"Officer Bob, thank you for coming in time!" David naturally would not reveal his hidden means and only expressed his gratitude.

"David, don't worry, we will definitely find the murderer!" Officer Bob promised David.

In fact, even if he didn't say it, this matter would be taken seriously by the government.

Although David was only a high school senior, he was the son of the National Scholar Hans. Attempting to kill the child of someone with the title of National Scholar had already touched the government's bottom line.

National Scholar represents heroes who have returned from the War Star, heroes who have rendered great meritorious service.

Almost every veteran who has returned from the War Star will strike back at anyone who offends a National Scholar with everything they have.

In fact, in every department within the Interstellar Federation, veterans who have returned from the War Star are the backbone, and Panshi Planet is no exception.

David's predecessor had always underestimated the influence of a National Scholar, and even David, who had obtained his predecessor's memories, was not clear on this point.

"Officer Bob, is it possible not to notify my father?" David asked softly, not wanting to disturb the rest of his father, Hans.

"David, it is impossible for Deputy Director Hans not to know about this; the impact of this matter is too great!" Officer Bob said, shaking his head with a bitter smile.