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The sparring session turned into a battle from the very beginning, and it was a battle between equals—at least, that was how it appeared on the surface.

Gallen's mastery of the warhammer back in his prime was far superior to David's, but this instructional exercise made it difficult for him to use any lethal techniques. At the same time, David's responses were almost flawless; unless Gallen resorted to brute force, it would be very difficult to defeat David in a short amount of time.

After three minutes of fighting, the look of admiration in Gallen's eyes grew more intense. However, he suddenly remembered the original purpose of the sparring session, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. The warhammer in his hand suddenly struck David's warhammer with double the speed.

David felt a numbness in his hand. Although he tried his best to hold onto his weapon, the strike contained a continuous, flowing force that left him without any ability to resist, and the warhammer flew out of his hand.

Gallen casually tossed his own warhammer, striking the one David had dropped. The two warhammers collided in mid-air before landing silently on the ground, stuck together.

This time, it was David's turn to be shocked. To what degree must one's control over a warhammer reach to achieve such a feat of weightless precision?

"Not bad, David. Your learning ability is extremely strong. If you keep practicing like this, you will become an outstanding Armored Warrior!" Gallen praised. In reality, he had already tried his best to hold back his compliments.

This wasn't just a strong learning ability; it was a monstrous one.

"Uncle Gallen, I will work hard!" David nodded earnestly.

He wouldn't let himself get arrogant. Only he knew that although his spirit had reached 3.0 and his learning speed was indeed impressive, he would never have reached this level on his own.

The only reason he could do this was because he had fused with the corresponding Knowledge Light Orbs.

If Gallen were to teach him something else right now, like the spear, he would be completely useless.

Seeing David's attitude, Gallen felt very gratified. Geniuses were rare, but David's humble and steady attitude was even rarer, which would allow David to go much further in the future.

In a basement, four mercenaries from the Sirius Mercenary Group were sitting on the floor. They had been hiding in this basement for several days. Although they wanted to leave, the recent security measures in Peilan City made them afraid to even step outside.

Interceptor Drones could be seen patrolling in groups in the sky from time to time, which meant that Panshi Planet had tightened its blockade over the airspace of Peilan City.

"Should we find a smuggler and pay more credits to get out of here?" Ed suggested.

"The best way right now is to have no contact with the outside world. Who knows if a smuggler would sell us out?" Fisher, who was sitting to the side, disagreed.

"But we can't go on like this forever. Who knows when the blockade will end!" Ed said helplessly.

"Crock, what do you think we should do?" Captain Froman asked Crock, who had been silent the whole time.

"Captain, I have a bad feeling. We should leave immediately!" Crock said in a deep voice.

His words made the other mercenaries tense up. Although Crock spoke little, he had an innate, keen sense for danger. It was this ability that had helped the group escape from danger many times.

No one would dare ignore Crock's words, including Captain Froman.

"Prepare yourselves. Grab your gear and we'll change locations immediately," Captain Froman decided with a wave of his hand.

Just as everyone was packing their things, Captain Froman's Identity Bracelet suddenly received a message.

This made him extremely curious. Not many people knew his Identity Bracelet; who would be contacting him at a time like this?

He opened the Identity Bracelet and looked at the message, his face changing drastically.

"Captain, what's wrong?" Ed asked upon seeing the look on Froman's face.

"The Sirius Warship we left in space and all the mercenaries on board are finished!" Captain Froman said through gritted teeth.

"What?" Ed and Fisher stood up abruptly, shouting in shock.

"Captain, where did the message come from?" Crock, who was the most composed, asked.

"I don't know. It's an anonymous message, but it stated the location of the Sirius Warship, so it shouldn't be wrong!" Captain Froman replied, his eyes filled with unwillingness.

The Sirius Mercenary Group was his life's work and his hope for the future.

He had been constantly accumulating wealth for the sake of having a chance to advance.

For the sake of this hope of advancement, he could do anything. He had led the mercenary group to commit many disgraceful acts, doing all sorts of gray and black business, simply because he refused to accept his lot in life.

Now that the Sirius Mercenary Group had been destroyed, he had lost his hope for advancement, and his heart felt like cold ash.

"What do we do now?" Ed asked, looking at Captain Froman.

Although the Sirius Mercenary Group was gone, they, the core members, were still alive. Besides, leaving Peilan City and Panshi Planet was the most important thing right now.

"The message says we have already been discovered. The authorities will likely move at noon, deploying at least eight Armored Warriors along with a large number of aerial drones, plus the city defenses. We have no way to escape!" Captain Froman didn't answer his question, but instead revealed an even worse situation.

"No way to escape? Then we might as well fight to the death!" A fierce light flashed in Fisher's eyes as he spoke in a low voice.

"Right, let's fight. We're in the middle of a city. If the four of us are prepared, it won't be easy to capture us!" Ed also nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. Prepare your armor. We will charge directly into that residence from before, capture David as a hostage, and use him as leverage to force them to let us leave!" Captain Froman decided to fight for a way out.

Crock hesitated; he didn't want to trouble David again, but he knew this was their only path to survival. After struggling with himself for a moment, he made up his mind.

Although this safe house looked no different from an ordinary residence, there was actually a secret passage in the basement that connected to the underground pipe network.

The four mercenaries wore their Black Diamond Exoskeleton Armor and entered the underground pipe network through the secret passage. Of course, there were sensors at every junction of the underground network, so they couldn't travel long distances.

However, the four mercenaries didn't intend to travel very far. All they needed was to reach a Cargo Hovercar parked a hundred meters away from the safe house.

This was one of the escape routes they had prepared long ago. As mercenaries, they always set up multiple backup plans at every location.

The cover plate under the Cargo Hovercar was opened, which happened to connect to an exit of the underground pipe network. The four mercenaries then entered the Cargo Hovercar from the exit.

The mercenaries' exoskeleton armor was two-meter-tall Black Diamond Exoskeleton Armor. The all-black armor shell was infused with the shells of Level 2 Zerg, while the vital areas on the chest and head were made of the same material used for Level 1 Weapons, which ensured the safety of the exoskeleton armor's users.

The core of the Exoskeleton Armor is the Enhancement Converter powered by Krypton Crystal, which can amplify the user's strength output tenfold.

This means that an Armored Warrior like Captain Froman, who possesses two thousand kilograms of raw strength, can unleash twenty thousand kilograms of force once boosted by the Exoskeleton Armor.

With such power combined with a Level 1 Weapon, one could easily wreak devastating destruction within the city.

Of course, Peilan City has a City Defense System, along with drones in the sky and Armored Warriors guarding the city; under the surveillance of Skynet, few Armored Warriors would dare to cause destruction within the city limits.

If he hadn't been backed into a corner, Captain Froman would never have taken this step; it could be said that even if he managed to escape successfully, he would forever carry the title of a wanted criminal, constantly wary of being betrayed.

At the same time, the hatred he felt toward David was the reason he made this decision.

If it weren't for David, his Sirius Mercenary Group would never have been destroyed.

Using the Cargo Hovercar as cover, the four mercenaries could easily launch a surprise attack on David, capture him before Skynet detected them, and use him as leverage to escape.

He believed that the safety of a National Scholar's child was far more important than the lives of four mercenaries, at least on the surface.

The Cargo Hovercar headed toward Lanka Street, where David was located, without attracting anyone's attention.

The people monitoring the Safe House never expected that the four mercenaries they were watching would suddenly take action.

Furthermore, their arrangements had been completely leaked to the four mercenaries; a hidden hand was manipulating the development of events from the shadows.

Thanks to "Tom2017" for the 2000 Qidian coin tip!! Thanks to "Yuchen Xiaoke'ai" for the 100 Qidian coin tip!! Thanks to "Yangwang Jia Tiankong" for the 1000 Qidian coin tip!!