As soon as the words were spoken, the atmosphere suddenly became tense, as if a conflict could erupt at any moment.
The rage in Gorutan's eyes was almost tangible, his energy fluctuations surged, and his Berserk martial aura burned fiercely, radiating immense pressure. The surrounding metal walls vibrated and cracks gradually appeared.
"Want to make a move?"
Han Xiao's eyes flashed with electricity, and his body was wrapped in blue-gold electric snakes that crackled and popped.
After a stalemate of about ten seconds, Gorutan's arrogance suddenly vanished, and the oppressive atmosphere in the room disappeared completely.
His anger quickly subsided, and he spoke calmly:
"Black Star, you've really surprised me. You're tough enough."
Han Xiao crossed his arms and calmly said, "Whether it's hard or not, we'll talk about that later. What's your stance now?"
Gorutan remained expressionless, tapping the head of the Dominion's avatar with his finger, and slowly spoke:
I'll remember what happened today; this isn't over between us.
After saying that, he turned and strode away, leaving the small floating base and flying towards his own fleet.
"Talking tough is one thing, but I thought you'd actually take it personally and come at me." Han Xiao shook his head, walked to the door, and watched as Gorutan led his fleet away in a streak of light, disappearing from sight.
A small war ended with Gorutan's retreat. Han Xiao recalled his mechanical forces and controlled his Dominion clone back to the main ship, where Hila had been waiting for a long time.
As soon as he returned to the command center, Hila came to greet him.
What conditions did you agree to? Or did you force him to back down?
Han Xiao shook his head. "None of that. He left voluntarily."
"Gorutan suffered a loss, can he swallow this insult?" Hila wondered.
"At least on the surface, he didn't lose out. He blew up the Planet Ferry we chose, slowing down our exploration and forcing us to find another planet as our base. And since you killed some of his men, he didn't gain much either. It's a draw."
"This matter can't just be left like this, can it?" Hila frowned.
"Of course not. We've already made enemies with him, Gorutan won't let this go easily."
Hila slowly exhaled and said softly, "It was my fault that the conflict escalated, and that the legion has gained a new enemy. I..."
"Don't blame yourself, I don't blame you, you did exactly what I needed to do."
Han Xiao interrupted her, waving his hand. "Gorutan's provocation is a test. Now that the Legion is powerful, it attracts a lot of attention. Too many people want to test us, and there may be even more forces behind Gorutan. Surrounded by enemies, if we don't take a tough stance and be ruthless, and if we don't make other forces wary, then any Tom, Dick, or Harry will dare to test us. Besides, your strength is far inferior. His challenge to a duel is clearly bullying you. We can't let you suffer a beating for nothing. If you get thoroughly thrashed, the Legion's prestige will still decline."
Hila stared at Han Xiao, her eyes flashing with a strange light, and tilted her head.
"Don't you care if I make you enemies?"
Han Xiao didn't take it to heart. "What I like most about you is your ruthlessness. So what if Gorutan was just testing the waters? Am I supposed to obediently play along and leave after he's done? Remember, he chose to be my enemy, not you. You can't stand firm if you're not ruthless. I sent you to lead the team to the Free Competition Zone, not to be a coward. Don't hold back if anyone gets in your way. Don't wrong yourself."
The Black Star Army's status is now different. It has the largest territory in the Shattered World and is responsible for maintaining order for the Empire here. This status brings both benefits and responsibilities, requiring it to be more assertive.
"... Truth or dare?"
"Of course." Han Xiao smiled and patted Hila on the shoulder.
You're one of my key henchmen; I need you for your intimidation. If I don't protect you, am I supposed to speak for the enemy? That would make me a complete fool.
Originally, Han Xiao only wanted to use Hila's abilities to make the other party suffer a little loss; provoking Gorutan was not part of the plan. But now that things have come to this, he has nothing to fear. Since the other party took the initiative to provoke him, it's only right that he gets hurt.
Hearing Han Xiao's words, Hila's tense expression relaxed slightly. After a pause, she asked, "What did you just say to him?"
"I was just reasoning with him..."
Han Xiao briefly recounted his conversation with Gorutan.
After hearing this, Hila couldn't help but smile, clicking her tongue in amazement, "You're so tough, how come he didn't fight you?"
"I'm at least Peak Beyond Grade A, I still have some prestige," Han Xiao smiled. "Also, the fact that he didn't make a move is partly due to you."
"I?"
"We have two Beyond Grade A on our side, so the situation isn't very favorable for him. Besides, Gorutan isn't at his peak, so he won't have much of an advantage in a fight," Han Xiao said.
If it were a regular Beyond Grade A enemy, Gorutan might not care, but Hila had recently dealt him a heavy blow with [Death God's Harvest], which was very intimidating, causing Gorutan's health to be low and his maximum health to be reduced by about 10%. In this situation, fighting two opponents, one of whom was Black Star, was quite risky.
Han Xiao guessed that this was the reason for Gorutan's withdrawal. Although martial artists are stubborn, they can also assess the situation. When faced with a clearly unfavorable environment, temporary withdrawal is the best policy.
He didn't want to force Gorutan to stay. Peak Beyond Grade A martial artist with incredible speed and agility, he himself was just a Dominion clone and couldn't hold him back. At the same time, he was also known as a big meatball, so Gorutan's first target would definitely be Hila. And Hila's [Instant Death Immunity] was still on cooldown, making the fight even more dangerous.
They both had their reservations, and couldn't do anything about each other.
After a pause, Han Xiao said, "Gorutan will always come back, so you still need to be careful. There's a high possibility that he's targeting you."
"Perhaps we can take the initiative." Hila's ideas are always very resolute.
"Take the initiative? We'll see."
Han Xiao shook his head. It wasn't impossible, but he needed to be more certain of success.
Players in version 4.0 have finally logged in, and can finally get back on track to leveling up quickly, with their levels rising again after a long period of stagnation.
With his current strength, dealing with Gorutan wouldn't be so easy. He hoped to complete one or even two advancements before resolving this matter, which would give him a better chance of success.
Making an enemy of Gorutan was not part of the plan. Han Xiao had kept a low profile for decades, leading the outside world to believe that he had also reached a bottleneck. Once he clashed with Peak Beyond Grade A, he would inevitably have to reveal his current strength, and that old bastard Manison would probably jump out and run wild again.
'I still need to complete the advancement to level 320 first; that's the most important thing right now,' Han Xiao thought to himself.
If he's not mistaken, the worst-case scenario could have very serious ripple effects...
We must improve our strength to cope!
After the conversation ended, the Dominion's avatar fell back into slumber, Hila returned to her post.
Planet Ferry was already reduced to ashes, so she commanded her fleet to establish a base on another nearby planet.
Meanwhile, Gorutan's fleet is returning to its base planet.
Gorutan leaned back on his tall throne, holding up an enormous cup that matched his size, and gulped down a local tribe's specialty spirit.
A dozen or so female descendants of varying heights surrounded him. Some used medical tools to treat his wounds, some used scissors to trim the body hair around his wounds, and the rest massaged the muscles in various parts of his body.
"Father, are you feeling well?"
"Push harder."
Gorutan wiped his lips, tossed the empty cup aside, and looked down at the Calamity Grade officers below the steps, coldly asking, "Has the casualty report come out yet?"
"It's out. Please take a look." A descendant of a Calamity Grade being stepped forward and handed over a communication terminal.
Gorutan glanced at the virtual screen and couldn't help but snort angrily, "They actually killed five of my Calamity Grade! I'll kill Hila sooner or later! And that bastard Black Star, daring to be so tough! If I hadn't been injured and not at my peak, I would have definitely destroyed his Dominion avatar!"
Seeing Gorutan's anger, no one dared to speak, as if walking on thin ice.
"Don't think I'm afraid of Black Star. He's not in a position to force me to back down. I blew up Planet Ferry, slowing down their progress, which means I've accomplished what Sorokin asked me to do," Gorutan sneered.
He chose to temporarily avoid Han Xiao's sharp edge for three reasons: first, he was not in good condition; second, he had allies and there was no need for him to confront Black Star alone; and third, after calming down, he remembered his original goal, which was to help others test the waters.
So there's a better way to get revenge. He remembered Sorokin saying that the Glory and the Arcane had plans to kill Hila, so they could use someone else to do it instead of doing it themselves.
Then, Gorutan changed the subject, saying in a deep voice, "A group of people died, so let's raise another batch of mixed-race offspring in the family."
"Do you want to go back and plant the seeds yourself?"
"Use what's in stock," Gorutan said with a wave of his hand.
His headquarters is constantly producing pregnant women, since mating and reproduction are too inefficient. The headquarters' cryopreservation facility stores a large amount of Beyond Grade A deoxyribose belonging to Gorutan, which has extremely strong vitality and adaptability. They generally use artificial methods to produce offspring on a large scale, supplemented by compounds such as growth hormones to accelerate fetal maturation.
After so many years of hybridization experiments, he had accumulated a variety of hybrid combinations that could produce superior offspring. He knew which species to pair with to produce offspring with special talents. Therefore, in his base camp, he stockpiled many females of superior races as a culture medium for offspring.
As for the origins of these people... as high-ranking Beyond Grade A individuals, they naturally wouldn't waste time dating so many people. Some were there voluntarily, while others might not have been—those who control the Interstellar Black Market are not clean individuals.
Just then, Gorutan coughed twice out of the blue.
"Father, your injuries..." an official said with concern.
"That Hila's power is very strong, with a high explosive force; she actually managed to injure me." Gorutan frowned. "I didn't feel anything during the fight, but now my body feels a bit strange."
As he spoke, Gorutan closed his eyes and examined his body directly at the cellular level. Among the five superpower systems, martial artists have the highest level of control over their bodies.
After a moment of silence, Gorutan suddenly opened his eyes, horrified, and stood up abruptly, flinging all the female offspring who were clinging to him away.
"Damn it, her power can weaken cell regeneration and Tu Shu activity!!"
Gorutan's expression twisted in rage; he was absolutely furious!
He had never been this angry, not even when a whole host of elite descendants died at Hila's hands!
Cellular vitality is related to the number of cell divisions, and this property is very subtle, even for Beyond Grade A, it is not easy to detect. Only now has he realized that he has shortened his lifespan!
Not only lifespan, but also fertility is closely related to cellular vitality. One's own fertility may be affected, as a decline in the vitality of deoxyribonucleic acid can lead to a decrease in the quality of offspring!
Boom!
In a fit of rage, his aura exploded, and the oppressive force forced all his descendants to the ground, trembling in fear.
"This insidious ability..." Gorutan's forehead veins throbbed, his killing intent towards Hila overflowing like a flood.
He never imagined that this operation would shorten his lifespan.
Huge loss!!
Gorutan's chest heaved violently, his breathing heavy and labored, and he almost had the urge to turn back and fight back.
"Father, Father..."
At this moment, several of the weaker descendants were slammed against the wall by the surging martial energy and hurriedly cried for help. Seeing this, Gorutan barely suppressed his anger and calmed down the Berserk martial energy.
"Get out, all of you!"
Upon hearing this, the many cadres present hurriedly rushed out of the room, each knowing that they should not linger in front of their father when he was in a rage.
Gorutan was left alone in the room. He sat on the throne for a while, then picked up the communicator and dialed Sorokin.
After three rings, the communication was connected, Sorokin appeared, smiling as he spoke.
"Your Excellency, Beast Ancestor, how is the situation?"
Gorutan stared at him coldly for a long while before slowly speaking, "The matter is resolved. I blew up Planet Ferry and completed my test on Hila. For this, I lost many of my descendants and was thoroughly angered by Black Star."
"Excellent! Your Beast Ancestor is indeed very reliable. I will compensate you for any losses. So, how did the test go?"
"Hila's power is extremely dangerous, possessing terrifying explosive force..."
Gorutan recounted his findings during the battle, then paused, and said in a deep voice:
"Her superpower has another terrifying characteristic: once it hits a living organism, it can reduce the vitality of its cells and shorten the target's lifespan. This discovery cost me dearly!"
Sorokin was taken aback, his smile vanished, and his expression turned serious.
Are you serious?
"I shouldn't have told you. I should have waited for the Glory or the Arcane to make their move, let them discover their lifespans had been shortened, and then blamed it on your faulty intelligence," Gorutan said coldly.
"... I understand." Sorokin squinted.
"I hope you will tell the people of Glory and the Arcane truthfully not to try anything funny, otherwise even if I am a shareholder of the Infinite Financial Group, I will still beat you up!" Gorutan's eyes were icy cold.
"Don't worry, I have integrity in this regard." Sorokin nodded seriously and hung up the communication.
Goru Tan casually tossed aside the communicator, his expression indifferent, his eyes flashing with a chilling light.
If the Glory and the Arcane were to learn that Hila's powers have the characteristic of shortening lifespan, two scenarios might occur.
First, out of fear, they abandoned their plans targeting her.
Secondly, out of fear, we absolutely cannot let her live.
Based on his understanding of Glory and Arcane, there's a 99% chance it's the latter.
If Hila possessed such abilities, the Glory and the Arcane would not have allowed her to grow.
In her past life, Hila belonged to the chaotic evil camp, not much different from the Sorokin, and had no obvious power affiliation. Therefore, most people were unwilling to provoke such a crazy and violent woman, and no one wanted to shorten their lifespan for no reason.
Now the situation is completely different. Hila is a member of the Black Star Army, a poisonous thorn with a master, no longer chaotic evil. This thorn will only pierce the enemy.
This results in all forces and powerful individuals on the opposite side of the Black Star Army feeling a strong threat.
When it comes to targeting top-tier combat power, Hila is like a terrifying, slow-acting poison, casting a shadow of life-shortening effects over every enemy, making it impossible for anyone to willingly sacrifice their life!
No one wants the opposing camp to have such a dangerous figure, let alone see her continue to grow stronger.
Some extremely dangerous superpowers are inherently sinful in their very existence and must be eradicated as soon as possible!
Gorutan was certain that once the news got out, most Beyond Grade A would not want to see this ability continue to exist in the universe!
It will further strengthen the resolve of Glory and Arcane to kill!