In the Ancient Star Desert, somewhere in the Desolate Universe Belt.
An armed fleet was slowly advancing through space. Sorokin stood in the command room of the main ship, gazing at the distant starry sky.
This armed fleet was a mercenary group he secretly cultivated in the Ancient Star Desert. Apart from a few high-ranking members, no one knew that their mastermind was the Infinite Financial Group. For this operation, Sorokin secretly switched the bodies, leaving a body disguised as his own at the consortium headquarters, while his original body quietly slipped out and led the mercenary group to the location of the Soul Flame.
This legion was unaware of the specific purpose of their mission; they were simply following orders from their superiors. To be on the safe side, Sorokin even wore a mask to conceal his identity. At this moment, apart from the legion leader beside him, no one else in the fleet knew that the famous Sorokin was on board.
"The sensation has become much stronger, which means we're getting closer..."
Sorokin observed the star map and, within a certain distance in his straight line of travel, there was only one barren planet. He was fairly certain that the Soul Flame was on this planet.
On the star map, this planet has no name, only a number; it is extremely barren and marked as a planet with no development value.
After the fleet had traveled for a while, and was still quite a distance from the planet, Sorokin ordered the fleet to halt.
"Halt the entire ship and deploy astronomical instruments to observe the surface conditions of that planet from a distance."
"... Observation complete, boss. The planet's surface is normal, desolate, and devoid of anything noteworthy. Further on-site investigation is needed for more details."
"Okay, send one Reconnaissance ship to land on the planet first, and keep the majority hidden and on standby."
Sorokin nodded and gave the order.
Better safe than sorry. He was used to being cautious and worried that the Soul Flame might have a host, so he planned to scout ahead first. Even if it was a desolate planet, he would repeatedly check for potential dangers and dare not expose himself immediately.
The Reconnaissance ship broke away from the main force and sped towards the planet. Sorokin secretly used his powers to possess the captain of the Reconnaissance ship.
After waiting for some time, the Reconnaissance ship finally arrived at the planet, activated various scanning instruments, and began to observe the planet's underground conditions. However, after scanning for a full hour, all the results were normal, and nothing was found.
Sorokin immediately realized the problem and narrowed his eyes.
The sensors indicated that the Soul Flame was located somewhere underground; it was impossible for it not to have been detected unless someone had set up a camouflage device underground, which would prove that there were unknown individuals present.
Even if you can block the scan, you can't hide the actual object.
With a change of heart, Sorokin, possessing the body, drew a rough area on the planet's underground model and ordered the crew to release engineering robots to dig a hole directly to the location of the Soul Flame.
However, just as the engineering robot was released, the Reconnaissance ship suddenly malfunctioned and shut down, plummeting straight to the ground. The crew inside the ship were like people in a shaken can, suffering head injuries and bleeding profusely.
Sorokin restrained his instincts and did not allow the possessed body to reveal its abilities. Just as the Reconnaissance ship was about to crash into the ground, a blue-purple magical portal suddenly appeared below, and the Reconnaissance ship fell into it and disappeared from the planet's surface.
At the same time, the commander of the distant army hurriedly reported to Sorokin's main body:
"Boss, the Reconnaissance ship just lost communication and suddenly disappeared. Should we go check it out?"
"No need, let's back up first."
Sorokin's eyes flickered.
It seems there are indeed enemies near the Soul Flame. He possessed the captain of the Reconnaissance ship, just in case, and now he can use it to observe the enemy situation.
He could multitask, and at this moment, the vision and perception of the possessed body were displayed in his mind.
After the Reconnaissance ship fell into the portal, it seemed to land on a cushioning platform instead of crashing. However, the tremors inside the ship caused everyone to stumble and fall.
Several operators, clutching their bleeding heads, quickly pressed buttons on the control panel, exclaiming in panic:
"Captain, all ship functions have been frozen. We've lost contact with the main force!"
Sorokin feigned panic and whispered, "Everyone, put on your land exploration armor, manually open the hatches, and go outside to see where we are."
Upon receiving the order, the crew members hurriedly changed into armored landing exploration warriors, suppressing their nervousness as they carefully opened the hatches manually.
laugh--
The sound of the pressure valve being adjusted rang out, and the hatch slid open rapidly. Upon seeing the scene outside, everyone froze instantly.
The space resembled an underground helipad, and outside was a large group of fully armored mech warriors, armed with explosive weapons, surrounding the entire Reconnaissance ship, their guns all pointed at the hatch.
What place is this?
Who are you people?
The crew of the Reconnaissance ship were terrified.
The mech warriors outside remained unmoved. The leader coldly ordered, "Disarm immediately, hands up, and come out, or we'll open fire!"
Is this an unfamiliar organization? It must be hiding underground on this planet.
Sorokin didn't see any faction insignia on the group's mechs. A thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately feigned nervousness and fear of death, loudly ordering his crew to throw down their weapons. He then led the group out with their hands raised.
Soon, the crew was captured and separated into different cells, while Sorokin's possessed body was placed in a separate interrogation room.
After waiting for a while, the door was finally pushed open, and a mecha warrior, also faceless, walked in and sat opposite. He was clearly there for interrogation, and his words were concise:
"I ask, you answer, or you die, understand?"
Sorokin nodded, feigning fear.
"I just checked your flight logs and found that you belong to a mercenary group. Tell me, why are you here?"
"I... I don't know either, I was just following orders."
Sorokin, possessing the body, deliberately stammered in response, secretly relieved.
By checking the navigation log and interrogating the crew, this unknown organization must have known that the main force of the mercenary group had also arrived. Fortunately, out of caution, they kept the main force at a considerable distance and ordered a retreat as soon as the Reconnaissance ship sank. This measure was effective, preventing the unfamiliar organization from obtaining accurate information.
The interrogator asked many more questions, Sorokin's body language was a mix of truth and falsehood, generally maintaining the level of information a captain should know, while he pretended to tremble.
He's been acting for most of his life and is very skilled at it. He's also a strong contender for the Best Actor award, so he didn't arouse any suspicion from his opponent.
After a while, the interrogator finished asking questions and was about to stand up and leave the room.
At that very moment, Sorokin's possessed body, its eyes gleaming with a sharp light, used its vision as a springboard to suddenly surge into the interrogator's body, attempting to possess him.
He needed to find out the details of this unknown organization, so having an insider as his host body was naturally the best choice.
Sorokin activated his ability almost without warning, extremely stealthily. At such close range, the interrogator, whose strength was not even at the Calamity Grade, was naturally completely unprepared and was instantly taken over control of his body.
Having just taken over the body, Sorokin hadn't even had time to rejoice when he suddenly discovered a flame as brilliant as the starry sky within the body's brain.
"The Soul Flame Seal?!"
The moment the interrogator's brain was occupied by the foreign spiritual entity, the flame seemed to sense something and suddenly leaped up, as if it would turn into a sea of fire in the next moment and directly burn the body's brain.
Sorokin's expression changed, and in an instant, he adjusted his soul frequency and performed a series of complex operations, casting a mental energy shield over the flame.
The flame then slowly subsided, but sparks occasionally flew out, as if it might erupt at any moment.
Seeing this, Sorokin breathed a sigh of relief.
He knew the effects of the Soul Flame all too well. It could be used to set up such a surveillance seal on others to prevent the leakage of certain secrets or the plundering of their memories. Once triggered, it would immediately burn all related memories, and the host of the Soul Flame would sense it.
This method works for the vast majority of people, even those at the Beyond Grade A, but it doesn't include Sorokin.
He was once the host of the Soul Flame, and had already thoroughly studied the mechanisms of various abilities. Moreover, his soul seed still retained spiritual perception. Combined with the characteristics of his own abilities, he was able to temporarily evade the Soul Flame's restrictions, meaning he was one of the very few people in the universe capable of infiltrating the Sanctum.
After some maneuvering, he successfully misled the Soul Flame Restriction, preventing it from erupting immediately. However, Sorokin knew that he was not the true host and could only deceive the restriction for a period of time. If he withdrew his possessing mental power, the restriction would lose its suppression and immediately erupt, being discovered by the current host.
Similarly, he dared not access the body's memories, because the Soul Flame sealed off the relevant memories, like setting up a series of traps. Once triggered again, he would no longer be able to deceive the Soul Flame's restrictions and would be immediately exposed.
"That was close. Could it be that every member of this mysterious organization has Soul Flame seal on them...?"
Sorokin became wary and secretly astonished.
So, the host of the Soul Flame must be the leader of this unfamiliar organization, or at the very least, a high-ranking member.
To use such a method to ensure that all members of the organization do not leak secrets... what kind of major secret could require such a large-scale operation? What exactly does this organization do?
As he controlled the new body to leave the room, he secretly planned in his mind that although he couldn't read the memories, he could use the body's convenience to observe the organization's situation.
As soon as he stepped out of the interrogation room, someone came to hand over the Sorokin. Adhering to the principle that the more he said, the more mistakes he would make, he silently handed over the interrogation report. Seeing that no one gave him any orders, he left the area on his own.
After wandering around for a while, he quickly discovered that the organization's base was very large and had a considerable number of members, but there were no signs of authority anywhere.
Sorokin, possessing this body, dared not ask anyone for fear of giving himself away, and could only wander around aimlessly. However, the body's access permissions seemed to be very low, and he couldn't go to many areas, especially the location where the Soul Flame was sensed, which was in a restricted area that did not allow entry to low-level personnel.
"This won't do. We're not finding any valuable intelligence, and my infiltration will be exposed sooner or later... It seems we have to resort to external forces."
Sorokin's heart skipped a beat.
In his view, this mysterious organization is very secretive, and once exposed, there is a high probability that it will relocate. This would allow the nearby mercenary group to launch a large-scale attack on the planet, forcing the organization to demonstrate its strength and begin its relocation. At that time, there would be more opportunities to discover the organization's secrets and the identity of the Soul Flame's host.
He didn't care at all about the potential casualties among the mercenary group; they were just pawns that could be sacrificed anyway.
Thinking of this, Sorokin's true form immediately turned to the legion leader and said:
"Pass on my order: send 70% of the troops to bombard that planet, and the remaining 30% will continue the retreat with me."
"Clear."
The corps leader immediately gave the order.
A portion of the armed fleet immediately advanced, and after a while, it entered the strike zone. Without saying a word, it activated various long-range weapons, and one after another, giant, diamond-shaped missiles, trailing plumes of flame, roared out and headed straight for the target.
Buzz--
Suddenly, a pale blue magical barrier enveloped the entire planet, blocking all the artillery fire and causing it to explode into plumes of smoke in outer space.
Before the fleet could take any further action, all the warships that went to attack the planet went out of control, as if they were being manipulated by someone else, and began to kill each other.
At the same time, a dazzling ring of fire, as brilliant as the starry sky, suddenly spread outwards from the planet in all directions, like a phantom, rapidly piercing through the fleet.
The next moment, over 90% of the fleet's crew had their souls burned away, instantly dying on the spot.
The armed fleet that went to attack was completely rendered combat in less than a minute!
Suddenly, holes appeared on the planet's surface, like spaceport tracks, and unmarked spaceships emerged, capturing all the remaining warships in outer space.
"It was destroyed so quickly?" Sorokin's face darkened as he sailed aboard the flagship.
He knew the mercenary group was cannon fodder, but he didn't expect them to be wiped out so quickly.
Although the battle was brief, he did not come away empty-handed. In the short time it took to exchange fire, he witnessed a terrifying fighting force that almost made him gasp in horror.
"A mage, a virtual mechanic, and a host of the Soul Flame... this organization has at least three Beyond Grade A!"
Sorokin's expression shifted between anger and unease, still shaken by the experience.
This organization is too unfathomable. Fortunately, I was cautious and chose to test the waters. If I Reckless charged in like a naive martial artist, I probably would have been caught off guard.
Luckily, I'm a coward!
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but order the remaining fleet to retreat at full speed, trying to create as much distance as possible.
At the same time, Sorokin had infiltrated the Sanctum Organization's possession, also received an urgent order to transfer.
In the planet's underground base, members of various organizations are efficiently moving supplies, destroying the base, and starting up spaceships.
Sorokin, possessed by his body, was also summoned by his superior and rushed over. He went to work at the dock while looking around.
Not long after, the location of the Soul Flame was sensed to be rapidly approaching.
Soon, a series of footsteps echoed from a passageway, accompanied by increasingly close chatter. He found the voices of several people to be somewhat familiar.
"Strange, what was with that fleet just now? Why did they suddenly attack us?"
"Are they coming for us? Have they discovered us?"
"No way, with such a small armed force, they wouldn't be so overconfident as to try and deal with us. It seems like a passing fleet discovered our base..."
"How can you be this unlucky? Didn't you wash your face this morning?!"
The sound grew closer, and soon a group of people emerged from the passageway, complaining as they walked towards the spaceship docked at the pier.
The host of the Soul Flame, as indicated by the sensor, was among this group of people, and Sorokin subconsciously turned his head to take a look.
"!!!"
With just one glance, his mind completely collapsed!
King of War Pangon, God of Magic Baigel, Purple Emperor Mysterious Lady... they were all the First Ones of his era, including Baigel, his own enemy who killed him!
Weren't they already dead?!
How could it possibly be alive and well in this place?!
As Sorokin's emotions fluctuated, his mental strength, which was suppressing the restriction on the Soul Flame attached to his body, also wavered, resulting in a lapse.
The next moment, the restriction broke through the suppression and suddenly erupted, instantly burning the soul possessing the body to ashes.
"Um?!"
The Oathkeeper was leading the way for a group of the First Ones survivors, immediately sensed something, turned around abruptly, and saw the possessed body lying on the ground.
"Someone just triggered the restrictions of the Soul Flame..."
An uncontrollable surge of excitement suddenly flashed in the eyes of the Oathkeeper.
Could it be... that the legendary mole has appeared?
Hey kid! All these years, I thought you really didn't exist!
You've finally shown your weakness!