The universe is extremely vast. Even if one possesses extraordinary power, without a sufficiently large force, it is difficult to make a significant impact in interstellar society, and many things will be difficult to accomplish.
The Black Star Army is now the most powerful warlord organization in the Galaxy, with manpower, money, cannons, and ships. As soon as Han Xiao issued his supreme order, the Black Star Army's personnel left in the Shattered Star Ring immediately obeyed and began to search extensively for star systems. They blocked various transportation hubs while searching for Iso's whereabouts. The troops on Floating Dragon Island were also almost entirely mobilized.
Such a commotion could not be kept secret and quickly attracted the attention of the interstellar community. A quick investigation revealed that an elder of the Dragon Emperor had gone missing. The Black Star Army's actions in searching for him indirectly affected twenty or thirty star systems, demonstrating their considerable influence.
Such a large-scale search affected the operation of some public facilities, and some interstellar citizens complained. However, with the Black Star Army's reputation in place, the local civilization didn't care, and naturally, no ordinary citizen dared to take it seriously.
In addition to sending troops to search everywhere, the Black Star Army also issued a bounty for the book * Iso *, spreading it through local media channels to mobilize the public.
Providing any genuine clues about Iso will earn you a hefty reward, such as eyewitness reports or transit records. If you can capture Iso alive and hand him over to the Legion, you will receive a staggering 135 million Enas, a sum that a normal interstellar citizen could never spend in several lifetimes, and an astronomical figure even for some small and medium-sized armed organizations.
As the saying goes, a great reward will surely attract brave men. Some small and medium-sized organizations spontaneously joined the search team, and a large number of idle mercenaries also set out with great enthusiasm. Even some space pirates and scavengers were secretly searching, hoping to get the reward and go out on their own. Meanwhile, the interstellar citizens of the Shattered Star Ring were also on their guard.
In an instant, Iso became a coveted prize in the eyes of countless forces in the Shattered Star Ring, attracting the attention of numerous people.
Back then, Han Xiao was outnumbered and outmatched, and his capture of Iso was mainly due to Fording's luck. But now, decades later, his army has grown into a behemoth, and he no longer needs to play hide-and-seek with Iso like before. As long as he spreads out his forces, he can make it impossible for Aesop to move an inch.
Even with his powerful prophetic abilities, Iso could only operate stealthily, like a rat in a gutter, in the face of a situation where everyone was his enemy, and dared not expose himself to ordinary people.
Of course, these arrangements are just the foundation. Han Xiao's core search and capture method is Lodi's prophecy, combined with the luck of Ames, Fording, Nero, and Harrison, as well as his own virtual technology, to continuously determine the coordinates of Iso's possible destinations on the star map and carry out targeted searches.
A dark red sandstorm obscured the sky, seemingly endless, like a red curtain covering the entire planet.
Through the sandstorm with extremely low visibility, all that could be seen was a lone figure in heavy protective gear walking across the desolate red desert. The swirling dust and gale-force winds struck him like heavy hammers, making muffled thuds.
After walking for several hours, suddenly, a streak of fire, like a shooting star, pierced through the sandstorm and hurtled towards the figure. The figure stopped and looked up, and saw a small spaceship getting closer and closer reflected on the alloy visor of the protective suit.
call--
The spaceship slowly landed in front of the figure, releasing an aerodynamic field with a diameter of fifty meters, isolating the surrounding sandstorm and creating a clean area.
The hatch opened with a whoosh, and the figure stepped onto the spaceship without hesitation. He shook off the sand and gravel covering his body before removing his heavy protective helmet, revealing an aged face—it was Iso.
"Are you the ones who came to pick me up?" Iso patted his helmet and looked up to ask.
"Yes, we'll now take care of getting you out of the Shattered Star Ring." The captain approached and replied, "Don't worry, we're professionals, absolutely reliable."
Iso hummed in agreement and said, "The single-person space capsule that brought me here hasn't been destroyed yet. You guys might as well blow it up while you're at it. Otherwise, if it falls into Black Star's hands, it'll just be a medium for prophecy. Don't leave any clues like that."
Because of the Black Star Army's blockade of the Shattered Star Ring, he was now finding it difficult to move. He finally managed to find a space capsule to land on this desolate planet and waited there for quite some time before this rescue ship arrived.
"No problem." The captain nodded.
The spaceship took off and arrived at a desert not far away, where it discovered a metal space capsule half-buried in the desert.
Bang! Bang!
The ship's cannon fired two blast beams, shattering the space capsule. The fire raged for only a moment before being extinguished by the gale, leaving only charred and broken metal fragments scattered on the ground, which were gradually buried by the sandstorm.
After completing this task, the spaceship turned around and climbed, shooting into space and leaving a slowly dissipating trail of flame.
At the same time, Manison, far away in the Ancient Star Desert, received a simultaneous message and opened a monitoring screen, which showed Iso inside the spaceship.
"Finally, we've picked them up..."
Manison stared at the screen, his eyes flickering slightly.
To maintain secrecy, the ship that went to pick up Iso concealed its organization's markings. In reality, it belonged to an organization called "Mild Armed Transport Group," one of the secret forces that Manison had planted in the Shattered Star Ring.
Not long ago, the Modo Civilization officially brought him into their plan, revealing some intelligence and asking for his help.
The Modo Civilization had no other choice. The Black Star Army's blockade was too strong, making it difficult for them to move around in the Shattered Star Ring and impossible to smuggle Iso out secretly. They were almost discovered several times, so they decided to borrow the Mechanic Emperor's forces to take over the "delivery."
"Modo must have used the Soul-Switching Device to influence Iso, causing him to run away willingly, wanting to die."
Manison stroked his beard and pondered.
The information provided by the Modo Civilization naturally concealed the existence of the Soul-Switching Device, only stating that Iso was controlled using some kind of mental manipulation method, without elaborating. However, they were unaware that Manison already possessed information about the Soul-Switching Device, and a comparison made it clear what trick Iso had fallen for.
Manison had no intention of obstructing Modo's operational plan; in fact, he planned to cooperate fully.
Iso was once a member of the Ancient Ones, but he left the organization long ago. The Ancient Ones are mainly composed of long-lived beings, and Beyond Grade A beings are only the dominant ones. Not all members are Beyond Grade A beings. There are many extraordinary individuals like Iso who have weak combat power but possess special abilities.
Although Manison knew Iso, they weren't close, and he wouldn't mind sending Iso to his death.
In this respect, he and Modo shared the same interests. By using Iso's death to scheme against Black Star, there was a chance that he would be forced to violate the Peace Treaty of the advanced civilizations. In this way, the reputation of Black Star and the Book Star would be greatly damaged, and the great image that the Three Universal Civilizations had created for him would collapse. This was exactly what Manison wanted to see, so he was willing to cooperate.
However, this was merely icing on the cake; Manison's primary objective was still the Soul-Switching Device.
"Iso is currently in my hands. He must have had contact with the Soul-Switching Device within a certain range. By tracking his movements, we can roughly define the search area. By comparing records, we can find the secret fleet of the Modo Civilization that transported the Soul-Switching Device... The one currently controlling Iso's body should be someone from the Modo Civilization. Perhaps we can use hypnosis to question them."
Manison's mind raced.
He was unaware that the Soul-Switching Twins had already fled. In his mind, the Soul-Switching Device should be being transported back by the Modo Civilization forces, and the search direction had gone astray.
Some time after the ship carrying Iso left, another fleet visited the dark red, barren planet, its outer armor engraved with the Black Star emblem.
In the main ship's command center, Han Xiao, Ames, Fording, and others gathered together. This fleet was the very force personally led by Han Xiao.
"Yes, this is the planet. It matches the prophecy exactly, and it's also one of the locations chosen by Fording, Harrison, and the others that overlapped in their search."
Han Xiao looked down at the planet's surface.
Lodi's predictions were sometimes accurate and sometimes not, but they were generally crucial pieces of information. Fording and other lucky individuals, who possessed High-Level Lucky Halo, randomly selected some coordinates in various search areas at Han Xiao's request, Han Xiao focused on investigating the overlapping parts.
Although no clues have been obtained yet, Han Xiao remains confident in this method.
What he didn't know was that he had almost caught Iso several times, just a hair's breadth away. This method was indeed very effective; in a sense, luck was the only truly unsolvable factor.
"Detection this planet for me, and report any unusual activity."
With a wave of his hand, Han Xiao sent the spaceships away from the formation and into orbit around the planet, using various detection devices to Detection it from every angle.
One by one, normal Detection results were displayed on the screen in front of Han Xiao, and there seemed to be nothing unusual. However, after a while, a spaceship suddenly transmitted back some encouraging information.
"Reporting to the Legion Commander, we have detected extremely faint high-energy radiation in a desert area. The sources are quite dispersed, buried several meters underground. Should we begin excavation?"
"Dig!"
The surveillance footage quickly switched to the warship's perspective, showing the hull's traction device stirring up sand and sucking out pieces of charred metal fragments, which looked like destroyed mechanical parts.
"Report: The radiation source has been located and data analysis is underway... Analysis complete. This appears to be the wreckage of a spacecraft, destroyed by a high-energy naval cannon. The molecules were affected by the energy, leaving behind some high-energy radiation, which is gradually decaying. In a few days, the residual high-energy radiation will completely disappear."
"Looks like we're not too late." Han Xiao's eyes lit up.
If we had arrived a few days later, the energy radiation would have dissipated, and the debris would not have been detectable.
Now that we have this thing, it can not only serve as the medium for Lodi's prophecies, but also as the trigger for the [Bold Explorer], one to see into the future, the other to look back into the past, working together.
Soon, the pile of space capsule debris was delivered to Han Xiao and his group.
Han Xiao picked up a fragment, examined the burn marks on it, and pondered:
"It doesn't seem like an attack; it's more like deliberate destruction. They probably didn't want to leave us any clues... What a pity, he failed at the last minute, and we were lucky."
Clenching his fingers and holding the fragment in his palm, Han Xiao boldly activated [Bold Explorer].
Ripples spread across my vision, and the scene before me instantly transformed.
He saw a spacecraft fall from the sky and crash onto the planet's surface. The hatch opened, and a figure wearing a full-body protective suit stepped out and slowly walked away.
Although he couldn't see the man's face, he was pretty sure it was Iso.
Time seemed to shorten; before long, a spaceship suddenly appeared above the space capsule, firing two explosive beams that blasted the space capsule into pieces. The scene abruptly ended there, and Han Xiao shuddered slightly before his vision returned to normal.
The footage is brief, but it reveals quite a few clues.
"This is indeed the space capsule left behind by Iso. Later, a clue about a destroyed spaceship suddenly appeared, indicating that it was there to pick him up..."
Han Xiao recalled the appearance of the spaceship in the video. It was not a general-purpose model, but a high-speed spaceship known for its jump speed. It was expensive and not everyone could afford it.
"Phillip!"
"Coming, Master, please give your orders."
"Search for every individual and organization in the Shattered Star Ring that possesses a Light-class shuttle, leave no stone unturned, and specifically mark organizations with outposts in the vicinity of this area."
"Huh?" Phillip blinked his big eyes, looking pitiful. "That's a massive amount of data, it takes up a huge portion of computing power."
Han Xiao glared at him, "Then why aren't you hurrying up?"
Phillip sniffed, looked aggrieved, pulled a progress bar from his pants, stood it upright beside him, then conjured up a large box full of papers, jumped inside and started rummaging through them, while the progress bar began to move.
After a while, the progress bar finally reached the top. Phillip's head popped out of the box, spitting out a mouthful of paper scraps. He clutched a glowing piece of paper in his hand, his chubby cheeks puffed out, and he huffed, "Hmph! Found it! Take it, take it!"
"You're just all flashy."
Han Xiao rolled his eyes, switched to the Quantum Network Vision, and accepted the search results.
A massive data stream surged into his brain like a tsunami, but Han Xiao's brain capacity and computing power formed a dam, easily blocking the impact of the data stream without any discomfort, and he quickly browsed through it.
"A total of 37,031 matching cases... Hmm, let me see who they are."
Han Xiao quickly sifted through the information in his mind, reviewing it in less than two seconds and memorizing it all. Only a virtual mechanic could use such a "clumsy method" to lock onto suspicious objects... As long as you have the ability to filter the entire ocean, finding a needle in a haystack is not difficult at all.
The vast majority of the data was worthless, but one organization that was highlighted caught Han Xiao's attention.
"Mild Armed Transport Group... that name seems vaguely familiar."
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and searched his memory palace for a while, and relevant memories immediately flooded his mind.
"... I remember now! This organization seems to be one of the affiliated forces of the Mechanic Emperor that was exposed in my previous life."
Han Xiao's expression turned serious.
Although it hasn't been officially confirmed, his intuition tells him that the people who took Iso away must be this organization.
Doesn't this mean that old bastard Manison was also involved in this?
Han Xiao didn't plan to question the Mechanic Emperor; it would be pointless, as they would certainly deny it.
Various thoughts flashed through his mind. Han Xiao turned to look at everyone and said in a deep voice:
"Have someone keep an eye on the Mild Armed Transport Group... no, monitor all the organizations I'm about to mention. I need to know their latest movements, but don't alert them. Stay close, and don't close the net without my orders!"
He had always known what forces the Mechanic Emperor had secretly planted in the Shattered Star Ring. He originally didn't want to alert them, but now that the Mechanic Emperor seemed to be involved, Han Xiao decided to take measures to keep a close watch on all of the Mechanic Emperor's affiliated forces in the Shattered Star Ring!