Chapter 1 The Bell Tower Institute

Although this name hadn't been mentioned in a long time, it hadn't faded from Fang Senyan's mind. On the contrary, it had resurfaced countless times, especially during that expedition to the Predator planet, where the mysteries left behind were always suspicious.

Fang Senyan had a premonition that his strange background, the bizarre disappearance of the Gold Mine, and even the good luck that had accompanied him on his adventures were all seemingly scattered and disorganized, but in reality, there was a hidden thread connecting them all!

And the starting point of this thread should be at the Bell Tower Institute!

With this thought in mind, Fang Senyan nodded and said,

"In that case, the Prince will definitely get what he wants."

The Commodore breathed a long sigh of relief. He appeared calm on the surface, but he was secretly worried. He was well aware of the strength of the powerful Vice Admiral in front of him. He could probably kill everyone on this giant ship with a wave of his hand. Angering him was obviously not a good idea.

Not to mention Prince Pombaru, whose influence was expanding like crazy. He was practically guaranteed to be the next royal heir. Being a messenger between these two was thankless. If you did well, it was taken for granted, but if you didn't, you would either be seriously injured or killed, or lose your position. Who the hell would want to deal with such a low-return task?

Seeing Fang Senyan nod, the Captain immediately gave a few instructions. After the Ace Squad members were transported, the steel giant's engine exhaust ports spewed out azure tail flames, two to three kilometers long, propelling the hundreds of thousands of tons of behemoth from slow to fast, gradually disappearing into the starry sea.

Feeling the engine's steady and resolute power, Fang Senyan closed his eyes. He didn't care about things like royalty. Prince Pombaru's invitation was just a ticket to the Bell Tower Institute for him.

As for what the Prince wanted to know, all the details... Fang Senyan's lips curled up slightly. Yes, everyone has their price. However, Prince Pombaru's friendship was too cheap. Fang Senyan didn't care about it. As for what the Prince would do when he was inevitably disappointed, Fang Senyan didn't care about that either, just like Noah C Space had never cared about the Empire plotting against it.

*

After flying through six wormholes and hundreds of thousands of light-years, Fang Senyan finally arrived at the core of the Empire, a place called Flower Rock Star, also known as Central Star!

This planet was discovered in the eighty-seventh year of the interstellar colonization era. Its volume is 745 times that of Earth, and its mass is 95.18 times that of Earth. It is surrounded by colorful cloud belts and guarded by a large number of satellites. Its equatorial radius is approximately 60,330 kilometers.

The most famous thing on this planet is the only place that produces the Stone Creature Flower Rock Beast, one of the "Eight Wonders of the Universe."

Even though the entire Empire spans seven galaxies and rules over more than two hundred and thirty billion planets, the special environment of Flower Rock Star is still unique. This is not only because it has a climate more suitable for humans than Earth—in fact, there are more than three thousand planets with this characteristic within the Empire's territory—but also because of the miraculous Flower Rock Beast.

The Flower Rock Beast resembles granite in appearance. If you put the two together, it is really difficult to distinguish them. It is a huge creature that grows by attaching itself to mountains, and exists in both liquid and solid states. When it is in a solid state, it is usually resting, attached to the surface of the mountain like chewing gum, making it extremely difficult to distinguish. It can often be so large that it covers the entire mountain range.

Usually, people see the Flower Rock Beast in this form, and in this form, the Flower Rock Beast is often in a dormant state. Unless there is mining or road construction that involves blasting mountains, it will not be awakened.

When the Flower Rock Beast turns into a liquid, it is hunting. It wriggles, slowly melting, and then crawls towards another mountain with the slowness and elegance of a snail or slug. Then, it covers the mountain like a layer of film, secreting acid and beginning to digest the captured organic matter. Then, the surface slowly solidifies into a granite-like surface, seamlessly.

Because the Flower Rock Beast moves so slowly, very few animals are caught by it and become its food. It mainly eats insects and plants. For a creature whose daily movement speed does not exceed five kilometers, the only possible threat is its digestive juices, so humans can never become its prey.

However, people love the Flower Rock Beast, not because it is harmless, but because it produces a substance that is extremely important to humans. This substance is called cerumen acid, and it has replaced coffee as the new generation of golden beverage.

It has a unique taste and a certain addictiveness, about twice that of tobacco. But, most importantly, it has been verified to be very beneficial to the human body. It has been proven that people who take cerumen acid for a long time are basically immune to cancer, and their immunity is four to five times that of normal people (referring to future humans). And the effect of fresh (produced within 24 hours) cerumen acid is the best, three times that of preparing drinks.

Therefore, since the Flower Rock Beast cannot be cultivated on any other planet or environment, the population of Central Star has exploded at a geometric rate. Later, after only fifty years, Flower Rock Star quickly became the economic center of the entire Empire. Ten years later, with the arrival of the Empire's Emperor, Flower Rock Star became the political center. More than 3.7 billion people were forcibly expelled from this planet that could give people health, and among these 3.7 billion people was the grandfather of the leader of the "rebel army" who is now in full swing.

Um, finally, it is worth mentioning that cerumen acid is actually just the excrement of the Flower Rock Beast... This is not surprising, it is just that the laws of nature are strictly enforced.

Just as leafcutter ants love to eat the sweet feces of aphids and will take on the responsibility of protecting aphids, ambergris is just the feces that are about to form in the intestines of sperm whales, civet coffee is made from the feces of cats, and as for virgin boy eggs, humans have long had the habit of pursuing results without asking about their origins.

*

Feeling the slight change in gravity from the seat, Fang Senyan and others stood up and couldn't help but stretch their muscles. This boring journey was finally over. Without even looking, Fang Senyan's countless tendrils of thought had already grasped everything around him. This was a secret military base, hidden in the mountains and looking particularly out of place. There was no welcoming crowd as expected on the tarmac, but instead heavily armed soldiers stood ready. In addition, there were at least eleven light cannons and thirty-seven battle vehicles around the base whose energy had been filled, emitting a slight rumble.

The giant ship slowly landed on the airfield, and then an officer walked into Fang Senyan's room, reached out and made a gesture of invitation. Fang Senyan and his party didn't care and followed the person out, then began to take the elevator, slowly descending towards the tarmac.

When the elevator slid to the fuselage, the exit doors naturally opened slowly. It stands to reason that anyone who saw a large number of heavily armed soldiers standing ready, with their gun muzzles pointed at them, would inevitably be in a panic.

However, Fang Senyan, who had already known all of this, had also discussed countermeasures with his teammates. Even before these soldiers could react, Zi, Aziz, and Ronnie acted simultaneously!

All the soldiers who were pointing their guns at them had their tactical helmets and hair turned to ashes by the Force Barrier, but no one was injured. The triggers that the soldiers' fingers were pulling on quietly snapped, falling to the ground with a crackling sound, but the fingers were unharmed.

As for the light cannons aimed at Fang Senyan and the others, six of them were emitting frustrated black smoke, not knowing when. These six light cannons were the most powerful, and without these six light cannons, Fang Senyan and the others could rely on the warship to maneuver, instead of directly destroying the warship.

Before reaching the Executor realm, Zi and the others could not have done such precise things. It was like a skilled butcher dissecting an ox. Although no one was injured, this terrifying control had completely destroyed the morale of the soldiers in front of them.

However, the hangar door opposite them quietly slid open again, and at least twelve warriors wearing giant exoskeleton armor strode out. These exoskeleton armors looked more sophisticated, and were surrounded by electric light. The weapons they were equipped with were even more amazing: pressurized laser turrets, laser cannons, ion cannons, and a traction beam array, not missing a single one. And the strong shell could even withstand a blast from a warship's cannon!

Unfortunately, Aldaris released a psychic storm, and the twelve warriors immediately fell to the ground, convulsing and vomiting like patients having an epileptic seizure. These expensive armors, which cost as much as three Pacific-class warships, were not damaged in the slightest, but they had been completely disabled.

No matter how powerful a weapon is, without an operator, it is just a pile of scrap metal. Aldaris' psychic storm directly affects the mind, and the material on the surface of the armor has no resistance to it at all. However, if Aldaris could reach Fang Senyan's Arbiter realm, he might be able to go a step further and directly control the minds of these soldiers for his own use.

Fang Senyan looked around, as if looking at a pile of messy puppets, and smiled:

"Daring to act improperly towards a Vice Admiral of the Empire, according to any constitution, is punishable by shooting. If there are any more demeaning tactics, feel free to use them. But this time, I don't guarantee I'll hold back."