A few dozen seconds ago.
Han Xiao was dragged into a deep and mysterious wormhole by the Sorokin's clone. The moment he entered, countless indescribable and distorted scenes assaulted his perception.
The inside of the wormhole appeared blue but was actually black. After entering, the two were separated by spatial turbulence and could no longer see each other.
Without needing the Sorokin's avatar to control him, the spatial turbulence vortex dragged the two of them along, distorting Han Xiao's senses. Sometimes he felt like he was moving forward, sometimes he felt like he was falling, and occasionally he felt like he was rising, giving him a strange feeling similar to flushing a toilet...
The mech's internal screen displayed an undetectable spacetime coefficient, its thrusters malfunctioned, rendering it unable to move. Its body was firmly held in place, and the surrounding scenery changed rapidly, as if many images flashed by, but upon closer inspection, it turned into a chaotic mess. At the far end of the wormhole, a faint light shone, as if that were the exit.
Just then, the cube-shaped mechanical beacon that Han Xiao had placed in the mecha's groove began to operate. This was the wormhole probe beacon that Han Xiao had obtained from Harofal before fighting the Sorokin's avatar.
Harofal has a deep understanding of wormholes. Because it is necessary to collect various parameters of wormholes, the observation station's data collection team needs to approach wormholes from time to time. Occasionally, someone will be accidentally sucked in. Through experiments, Harofal developed a device that can retrieve people from wormholes. There are two prerequisites: first, one must carry a wormhole probe beacon; second, the wormhole must have been measured before and there must be certain data.
Han Xiao knew all too well how powerful the Sorokin was; even his clones were formidable. Upon seeing an enemy, he knew that a head-on confrontation would likely be unsuccessful. He never became arrogant; his confidence was always growing stronger in his mind.
So after hearing about Harofal's abilities, Han Xiao had a flash of inspiration and decided to use himself as bait to lure the Sorokin's avatar into the wormhole, and then Harofal pull him out. This method obviously had a much higher success rate than rushing in blindly.
Although I may not be able to trust Harofal, I have no choice but to take the gamble. The worst outcome is that I'll end up spending time alone with the Sorokin avatar.
As Mechanic Class, Han Xiao knew very well that those who did scientific research often had a more effective impact than mechanics who were good at combat.
The cause and effect flashed through Han Xiao's mind, and he breathed a sigh of relief, understanding the enemy's plan.
The DarkStar Leader wanted to banish him using wormholes, but conversely, using this Wormhole Zone as a battlefield could also be considered an advantage for him.
Instead, he banished the Sorokin's avatar!
"Thank goodness for Harofal, otherwise this would have been very dangerous."
Han Xiao glanced at Harofal beside him and muttered to himself.
At this moment, the DarkStar Leader, who had been stunned in the distance, came to his senses and, without saying a word, turned and fled, his expression a mixture of shock and anger, his face twisted and ferocious.
He was just basking in the aftermath of the mission's resolution and dreaming of the future when, less than a minute later, his fantasy was ruthlessly shattered by reality. Black Star had escaped from the wormhole, but the Sorokin's avatar hadn't returned, leaving him completely stunned.
The sense of disappointment at failing at the last moment almost made him lose his mind, but the next moment, boundless fear overwhelmed this emotion, making his heart tremble.
Without the help of the Sorokin's avatar, Black Star would have killed me!
The DarkStar Leader dared not linger, fleeing in panic, with only one belief in his mind. "I cannot die now, the hybrid Goddora needs me!"
However, the standby mechanical legion once again fell under Han Xiao's control, following like a nightmare. Millions of mechanical soldiers surged forward like a steel tide. These emotionless, lifeless machines, in the eyes of the DarkStar Leader, seemed to transform into monstrous, evil pure-blooded Goddora. (And the Tu Shu)
With the mechanical legion boosted by Mechanical Force, the battle against a Calamity Grade enemy who was not good at group combat was a foregone conclusion. Han Xiao only needed to rely on the mechanical legion to easily defeat him.
Having lost his Sorokin avatar, the DarkStar Leader had no more trump cards. In order not to alert the enemy, he only brought a small fleet, while the rest of the troops obtained from the Fallen Ark were kept in Krent's hands.
Two Oathkeeper escorted the dying DarkStar Leader to Han Xiao. The effects of spells like Pain Chain had long since dissipated, and Han Xiao, looking radiant, examined the DarkStar Leader.
"I thought you had already left the Shattered Star Ring, but I didn't expect you to dare to come back. You escaped a few years ago, but this time I finally caught you."
Han Xiao tilted his head, and the armor on his left shoulder slid open, revealing a ring-shaped device emitting blue light. With a slight tremor, it released a ring of air, like a bubble, that did not dissipate but enveloped the three of them, allowing them to speak directly.
"..."
The DarkStar Leader remained silent, his face ashen, his eyes devoid of any light, filled only with despair and hopelessness.
The Mountain Ape folded up its helmet, retracted the ring armor around its neck, revealing Han Xiao's face as he looked at the DarkStar Leader with great interest.
"You can actually summon Sorokin's avatar. It seems you've gotten involved with the Fallen Ark, probably because of your years on the run. Let me think... Your ability to attack me today means you have a powerful intelligence network that can track my movements. And the fact that I was on a secret mission this time, without stopping at any other planets, proves that your intelligence network was already monitoring me before I left Colton, and even knew I would come to this wormhole observation station. It seems you know me very well..."
Han Xiao scratched his forehead. "Hmm, the only ones who seem to enjoy tailing me this much are probably Krent's people. They must be the ones who orchestrated this operation."
The DarkStar Leader remained silent, his eyes blank, seemingly immersed in his own world, as if he hadn't listened to Han Xiao at all.
Han Xiao nudged the DarkStar Leader's head, but the other didn't react, not even looking at him, as if his eyes were unfocused, his pupils unmoving.
"Why aren't you saying anything? Do you think I'll stop messing with you just because you're burying your head in the sand?"
Hearing this, Harofal coughed and whispered, "Do I need to avoid suspicion?"
"No need, you can be my witness."
Han Xiao gave a casual reply, then turned to look at the DarkStar Leader, his brows furrowing slightly.
Strange, I only beat him up, I didn't do anything else, but it seems like I've ruined him...
Han Xiao was unaware that the DarkStar Leader had lost all hope and fallen into Black Star's hands. He felt that everything was over, and he didn't want to say anything, letting himself be manipulated.
"Seriously? You're already breaking down?" Han Xiao stared at the DarkStar Leader's eyes and curled his lip. "Your mental fortitude is too weak. You call yourself the leader of an interstellar terrorist organization? Even a native leader of a rebel organization back in my hometown has more backbone than you. You're so weak."
Han Xiao thought for a moment, then summoned two Shapeshifter. Nano Transformation into layers of barriers, locking down the DarkStar Leader. He then took out a juicer and extracted more than a dozen tubes of gene serum.
Only upon seeing the Esper Gene Extractor did the DarkStar Leader's eyes flicker. "So the Whispering Bead from back then really did fall into your hands."
"Yes." Han Xiao recalled that his first encounter with DarkStar was because of the Whispering Bead mission. "By the way, where did Ashes go?"
"... He's dead." The DarkStar Leader lowered his head.
"Oh, good that he's dead." Han Xiao raised an eyebrow; it seemed the result of the Child of Destiny character card was correct.
He wasn't interested in how Ashes died; in fact, he already roughly knew what had happened when he saw the Sorokin's avatar.
Capturing the DarkStar Leader was an unexpected bonus of this trip, and Han Xiao felt he had gained a great deal. Krent was most likely the DarkStar's backer, and his connection to the Sorokin made him realize he needed to be even more cautious.
The DarkStar Leader's role is not just to extract juice; he can also hand this war criminal over to Goddora, which should trigger Legend Points and Dungeon Generation rights, signifying the complete annihilation of the DarkStar organization.
Goddora will definitely publicize it extensively, which might even help with the [Bloodline] quest.
However, Han Xiao was not satisfied with the benefits of a galaxy-level civilization. At his current level, a star cluster-level civilization would be a more suitable collaborator. Now that he had discovered the connection between DarkStar and Krent, he felt that he could make a fuss about it, Amethyst would definitely be willing to publicize this inside story.
The benefits are also obvious. Krent has a precedent of funding terrorist organizations to disrupt the civilizations of the galaxy, which is enough to make the civilizations of the West Wind, Kaya, and Chaida systems more vigilant against Krent. This can indirectly restore the Amethyst's control over these three border systems and reduce the effectiveness of its work in the War Realm.
Moreover, the Lord of the Fallen Ark is infamous throughout the universe and is a thug whom the Three Universal Civilizations despise. Once Krent's relationship with the Sorokin is exposed, political pressure will come pouring in, and the Crimson Dynasty may even become dissatisfied with Krent, its newly acquired ally.
Putting aside the external pressure on Krent, there's also the possibility of harem intrigue—their ally, the Tyrant Heber, might not necessarily enjoy sharing a husband with Sorokin.
Of course, it's also possible that I'm wrong, and that Krent isn't actually the mastermind behind DarkStar...
But it doesn't matter.
With the DarkStar Leader in my hands, if I say you're the mastermind, then you are the mastermind!
Han Xiao was determined to give Krent a treat—another pot!
After putting away all the potions, Han Xiao flipped his hand, and a compressed ball popped out of the mecha's pipes. With a slight Mechanical Force, the compressed ball unfolded layer by layer, quickly transforming into a single-person flying vehicle, about ten meters long and quite small in size.
The small standard spaceship they were originally traveling in was destroyed. Although they could leave using the Mountain Ape's flight mode, it was inconvenient to take prisoners with them, so they had to take out a single-person spacecraft and leave the Wormhole Zone first.
"Professor Harofal, let me send you to the nearest planet first."
"Alright."
Han Xiao put away the mechanical legion, took the two people onto the spaceship, asked Harofal to help guard the DarkStar Leader, and then took the pilot's seat.
Just then, Han Xiao seemed to remember something and asked a question.
"By the way, where does the wormhole I just fell into lead? The Sorokin avatar didn't escape; where will it be teleported to?"
Harofal shook his head. "The other end of that wormhole isn't fixed. We've measured the data; it's changing every moment. I don't know where that guy will fall... But statistically speaking, it's more likely he'll fall into an Unexplored Universe, since that wormhole is huge and the energy fluctuations are very intense."
"Is that so...?" Han Xiao scratched the back of his head.
The Sorokin's avatar has an energy limit and will dissipate on its own after a while. As long as he doesn't fall into a busy area, he's safe.
The aircraft emitted a ghostly blue trail of flame from its tail, slowly accelerated, and gradually transformed into a streak of light, disappearing into the Wormhole Zone.
Somewhere in the Unexplored Universe.
A wormhole was spinning silently when suddenly, a figure flew out of it, shrouded in black mist—it was the avatar of the Sorokin.
Steadying himself, the Sorokin's avatar stood guard at the entrance of the wormhole, waiting anxiously for a long time, but his companion Black Star did not come to join him.
The red light on the face of the Sorokin's avatar shone brightly, faintly radiating resentment at being stood up.
There is a mental connection between the clone and the original body. The original body can see the clone's actions, and can both control the clone and act as an observer. The Sorokin has always preferred to be an observer, letting the clone act on its own and making its own Choice. To him, it's like watching a first-person movie.
Because of this ability, he enjoys exploring wormholes and leaves the fate of his clones to destiny.
During this attack on Black Star, the Sorokin remained an observer, letting his clone handle the situation. He didn't really care about Krent's request. Seeing that Black Star didn't seem to have been affected, the Sorokin became curious and remembered this person. He then put the mission out of his mind and wondered where his clone had been thrown by the wormhole this time.
The Sorokin's clone looked around, randomly chose a direction, and began a series of long-distance teleportations.
The teleportation consumed very little energy, but it lasted for a long time, causing a significant loss of energy within the clone. The red light dimmed, and it was only then that the Sorokin clone saw a planet.
A strange planet.
Looking out into the distance, the planet's surface is a vibrant green, teeming with life, seemingly untouched by human intervention. Yet, the Sorokin's avatar's probing abilities reveal countless highly intelligent life forms inhabiting the surface.
The most unique feature is that the surface of this planet is covered with thick vine-like roots that extend outward into the atmosphere and into outer space, with the ends of these roots connecting to stable wormholes.
The Sorokin's avatar looked closely and suddenly realized that it seemed to be looking at things backwards.
It's not that roots grew from the planet reaching to the heavens, but rather that these roots extended from wormholes in the outer space of the planet, connecting to the planet's surface. This means that these roots did not grow from the ground, but from wormholes, and the surface is the end of these roots.
Various colored rays of light emerged from the tips of the roots on the Earth's surface, flowing along the roots into the wormhole, as if these roots were nutrient conduits, absorbing the planet's energy.
Witnessing this scene through his clone, in an unknown distance, in the grand hall of the Fallen Ark, the hooded Sorokin on the Throne opened his eyes.
"Interesting."