Chapter 592 Interception

A flash of light streaked past, and Sedum piloted his spaceship to a stop at the edge of an asteroid belt.

He had been chasing for a day, following the route indicated by Sisko to track Han Xiao. He found that the target did not head straight for the depths of the desolate universe belt, but instead made an arc, circling along the edge of the Shattered Star Ring, and his speed was not as fast as his vehicle.

He finally caught up with the target in this asteroid belt. The starmap marked the location given by Sisko, and the target was hidden in this asteroid belt.

"The target has stopped here…" Sedum said with a solemn expression.

Countless asteroids stretched endlessly, like a long dragon floating in the universe. There were large asteroids tens of thousands of meters in length and width, as well as asteroids of only a dozen meters. They densely blocked the view, and Sedum could only slowly scan the asteroid belt with detection devices.

The asteroid belt was so vast that it was a good place to hide, and scanning it was undoubtedly a major project.

However, Sedum had just had this thought when the radar reacted.

"Report! Abnormal energy target detected!"

The view from the porthole immediately widened, and a person could be seen sitting cross-legged on top of a huge spindle-shaped asteroid. His face was hidden under a helmet, and his entire body was wrapped in streamlined silver-black armor. The armor was covered with glowing, faint blue cloud patterns, facing Sedum's spaceship, clearly having discovered him long ago.

Sedum narrowed his eyes, stopped the spaceship in place, and opened the cabin to fly out. Golden-red armor spread from his chest, covering his entire body, forming a set of heavy armor that doubled in size, facing Han Xiao from afar.

"Barn? Is that you?"

Sedum took the initiative to speak, sending a message to Han Xiao with an unfriendly tone.

Han Xiao smiled slightly, "You can continue to call me that."

Hearing this, Sedum couldn't help but snort coldly. "Barn" had an unknown origin, and he had long known that this name was fake. As for the guy's real identity, he didn't ask at the time, and he still didn't know.

But it didn't matter. It wouldn't be too late to catch this guy and interrogate him later.

With this thought, Sedum's eyes flickered, and he had a plan in mind.

Originally, Sisko had only asked him to track him, but since he had caught up, he was not afraid to take action. Maybe he could pry out the information Sisko was hiding from "Barn" before Sisko arrived—why this person was running away, why Sisko was chasing him, he didn't know any of this, and he was eager to figure out the whole story.

"I still have a question…" Sedum said in a deep voice, "You hid in Mciber Star in advance, and your real goal was to attack that group of people, right? But you lurked in my industry and stole blueprints. Aren't you afraid of being exposed?"

In his opinion, "Barn" stayed on Mciber Star in order to kill Ecolin and the others, so he couldn't understand "Barn's" behavior—why was this guy so bold, daring to expose himself under his nose? Wouldn't it be more discreet to stay in a hotel in the city for a while?

"Would you believe me if I said it was all because of luck?"

Han Xiao smiled helplessly. He only wanted to do specialty missions at first, but he discovered the blueprints for the Everlasting Light. Then he only wanted to steal the blueprints, but Oroson came to his door. He only wanted to kill the wanted criminal, but he was caught up in the Evolutionary Cube storm…

Could this be the will of the Great Fording?

"Luck?" Sedum narrowed his eyes, feeling full of doubts. He shook his head, "Forget it, I won't get anything out of you by asking now. Once you fall into my hands, you'll know how to talk."

As soon as he finished speaking, Sedum's machinery force bloomed. The spaceship's belly opened, and golden-red armory boxes shot out like missiles, opening in mid-air. An overwhelming mechanical army quickly completed its formation, hovering behind Sedum.

Looking around, there were as many as two or three million, with models very different from Han Xiao's, more heavy and ferocious.

As an armed mechanic, Sedum mastered more blueprints for war machines. His mechanical army was mainly heavy-duty, with huge volumes. Heavy mechanical soldiers five or six meters tall were everywhere, and there were also thousands of conspicuous giant soldiers, the largest of which was more than a thousand meters tall, larger than many asteroids.

In addition to the various mechanical soldiers, there were also many combat devices, such as floating turret arrays, satellite strike cannons, heavy floating sentries, defensive fortresses, assault pods, and so on, all of which were used in interstellar warfare. They were equivalent to dozens of interstellar combat group armies with both offensive and defensive capabilities, mutually supporting each other.

Sedum ejected a large number of compressed balls, which expanded into huge components and connected to his close-fitting armor, forming a giant soldier hundreds of meters tall. Then he retreated to the center of the army, and many defensive fortresses and floating sentries surrounded him, deploying multiple shields and space stabilization devices to prevent warp ambushes, setting up an impregnable defense.

This was a traditional legion-style battle, with the mechanic as the commander sitting in the center, focusing on formation and steady progress, not the fierce style of Han Xiao, who charged forward while focusing fire.

Seeing Sedum summon his legion, Han Xiao's eyes lit up. He scanned the sky-covering Sedum Legion and couldn't help but lick his lips.

"So many heavy machines, it seems to be a legion with a siege style, good stuff." Han Xiao's fingers moved slightly, eager to try.

Millions of mechanical soldiers raised their muzzles and aimed at Han Xiao. Seeing Han Xiao remain unmoved, Sedum frowned slightly.

"You're also a mechanic, where's your legion?" Sedum asked with interest, "Or are you unwilling to suffer and willing to surrender?"

Han Xiao smiled, raised his finger, and pointed behind Sedum.

"Isn't my legion coming?"

Sedum was shocked and suddenly turned around.

Behind his army, streams of light shot from afar, precisely the Black Star Mechanical Legion arriving by warp!

Armory boxes opened one after another, and tens of millions of mechanical soldiers swarmed out. The sky-covering black tide was like an endless swarm of insects, more than three times the number of Sedum's troops!

"How are there more than me?!"

Sedum's face changed drastically, and he was horrified.

He suddenly realized that this unknown "Barn" was probably not the nobody he had guessed, but a big shot from who knows where.

The scale of the mechanical legion also represented the mechanic's financial resources. Maintaining the legion also cost money, and in the entire Shattered Star Ring, there were only a handful of mechanics who could afford such a large-scale mechanical army.

One name after another flashed through his mind, and finally settled on one image.

Sedum suddenly felt a great disturbance in his mind. He turned around abruptly and stared at Han Xiao in disbelief.

"You are… Black Star?!"

"You guessed right, the reward is a green hat." Han Xiao grinned.

With the Evolutionary Cube in hand and about to break through to Beyond Grade A, his characteristics were so obvious that there was no need to disguise Barn's identity.

"Fire!" Sedum's contempt shattered, and he hurriedly ordered to fire. The rear team became the front team to meet the mechanical legion attacking from behind, while the original front team focused fire on Han Xiao.

Millions of light cannons fired at the same time. Faced with such power, Han Xiao didn't want to resist head-on. He grabbed and tore like he was tearing canvas, and a [Strengthened Twisted Void] suddenly changed the space-time stability coefficient around him, creating spatial chaos.

Countless light cannons deviated, and the surrounding asteroid belt suffered. Dense asteroids were penetrated and shattered by the light cannons, turning into powder. Even the huge asteroid under Han Xiao's butt was blown to smithereens.

After a wave of concentrated fire, the area tens of thousands of meters around Han Xiao instantly became a blank area in the asteroid belt, but he was unscathed, covered in a faint blue psionic shield, shimmering with glittering water-like light, and all the stray bullets were blocked.

Seeing the muzzles of a large number of mechanical soldiers under Sedum light up again, wanting to carry out a second wave of concentrated fire, Han Xiao directly escaped into the void dimension.

In the next moment, he appeared in the rear of Sedum's team, as a sharp knife piercing Sedum, who was heavily protected, attacking from both front and back with his mechanical legion.

Surrounded by dense enemy mechanical soldiers, Han Xiao directly activated Apostle Form, his whole body's psionic energy soared, and azure psionic blasts spewed out like they were free, penetrating strings of mechanical soldiers. Every mechanical soldier blocking his path was easily torn into scrap metal by him, breaking through layers of defense like a hot knife through butter.

The Evolutionary Cube greatly increased his main body's combat power, and only a tank-type mechanic like him, who was both tanky and fierce, dared to penetrate so deep into the enemy's ranks.

Suddenly, Han Xiao's eyes went dark, and a giant soldier hundreds of meters tall stood in front of him, covered with spaceship-grade shields and equipped with thousands of ship-borne turrets, firing at him.

The huge mechanical palm slapped down like swatting a fly, crashing down like a mountain.

Han Xiao didn't dodge or avoid, directly raising his hand to hard-block this palm. His size was like the difference between an ant and a ball compared to the giant soldier's palm, but his mech's thrusters spewed out white-hot tail flames at full power, supporting him from being knocked away. Han Xiao inserted his fingers into the giant soldier's palm, hanging on it.

The giant soldier clenched its fist, squeezing Han Xiao in its hand, but in the next moment, countless fine cracks spread along the giant soldier's palm to its entire arm. A faint blue light lit up in the cracks. Before the giant soldier could react, the entire mechanical arm, hundreds of meters long, was blasted into countless fragments by the psionic energy Han Xiao had poured in!

Countless parts were blown away by the shock wave, smashing the surrounding mechanical soldiers askew.

With the blessing of the [Energy Enhancement Aura (Fashion)], the energy's light and shadow effects appeared very dense and dazzling—although it had no practical effect, it looked cool.

After taking down this giant soldier blocking the way, Han Xiao's legs bounced, changing from static to dynamic, accelerating instantly, smashing the machinery along the way, heading straight for Sedum sitting in the center. The light cannons chasing behind him were intertwined into a grid.

"Too fierce." Sedum was covered in sweat, hurriedly mobilizing more rear troops to intercept Han Xiao.

At this moment, on the other side, the Black Star Mechanical Legion finally engaged Sedum's troops in close combat.

The two sides were clearly distinct, Han Xiao's mechanical legion was black, and Sedum's troops were red. At this time, the black tide-like black side turned into a comb-like formation, and dense comb teeth stabbed fiercely into the red side's army formation, stirring up the red side's formation and gradually dyeing it black, becoming red and black.

Immediately afterwards, the main force of the black side pressed down like overwhelming mountains and seas, pushing the red side's formation to move, and the two sides crashed into the asteroid belt not far away. The formations of both sides were divided, and the scene suddenly turned into a melee.

Tens of millions of light cannons lit up every moment, crisscrossing, causing the area of the asteroid belt to shrink rapidly. This space in the universe seemed to be illuminated by dazzling light cannons.

Hundreds of mechanical beasts hung on a giant soldier, frantically tearing at the heavy external armor. The defensive turrets on the surface of the giant soldier continued to fire, blasting the mechanical beasts into pieces.

An assault squad pierced through a group of scattered mechanical soldiers, and then was wiped out by the concentrated fire coming from the surrounding area.

A large group of mechanical soldiers fiercely exchanged fire on an asteroid. At this time, a giant soldier descended, pressed down with both hands, and crushed a large number of mechanical soldiers and the asteroid together.

A dozen Black Star mechanical soldiers propelled at full power, pushing the wreckage of a giant soldier, sweeping away a large group of enemies…

Millions of mechanical soldiers were killed every second, turning into metal debris floating in the universe.

While charging forward, Han Xiao didn't forget virtual intrusion. More and more Sedum's troops suddenly turned against him.

A giant soldier had just smashed a Black Star mechanical unit, but suddenly turned back and punched, smashing the head of another giant soldier next to him.

The troops that came to intercept Han Xiao turned into vanguards helping him clear the way. Han Xiao was originally charging alone, but now he had thousands of traitors guarding him.

Sedum was flustered and could only keep retreating. Relying on the legion, he could still fight, maybe he could escape by sacrificing a part of his forces, but once Black Star got close, it would be all over.

The traditional legion style was not afraid of charging. If an ordinary mechanic used Han Xiao's tactics, it would be suicide. However, Sedum didn't think he had the ability to break through Black Star's defense. With so many precedents in the Shattered Star Ring, who didn't know the horror of the "Undying Body"? He didn't want to become the next negative example.

…

The two legions fought fiercely in the asteroid belt for a long time, and the entire asteroid belt was beaten into dust.

After holding on for so long, Sedum finally had nowhere to retreat and was caught up by Han Xiao from behind, and he was pressed down by him.

The defensive measures around him were torn apart by Han Xiao's rampage, and the surrounding troops were tightly entangled by the Black Star Mechanical Legion. Sedum's only reliance was the giant soldier he personally controlled, and he braced himself to deal with Han Xiao.

Both of them had the ability to transform into apostles. Psionic energy collided again and again, splashing out jade-like blue energy fragments, spreading out like shock waves. Every punch Han Xiao threw would smash a large piece of the giant soldier's external armor. Sedum was beaten and flew everywhere, unable to resist.

In terms of legion size, Han Xiao had more subordinates. In terms of main body strength, Han Xiao's combat power was fiercer, and the Evolutionary Cube had also increased a lot of his attributes, making the gap even bigger. The situation was a one-sided absolute crush. Han Xiao chased Sedum and beat him up, causing him to lose his armor and weapons.

The external armor of the giant soldier was torn open, Han Xiao rushed into the giant soldier's body, grabbed Sedum's main body, used the throwing ability of the Mountain Ape mech, and threw him out of the giant soldier, leaving a trail of parts fragments along the way.

In the next moment, Han Xiao accelerated instantly to catch up with the rolling Sedum, his whole body entangled with machinery force, adding [Gene Liberation], [Legendary Combat Skills], [Overload], [Machinery Force Overload], [Lethal Critical Strike] and other explosive abilities, and punched out!

Bang!

The fist pierced through the armor, hitting Sedum's abdomen hard. The organs were like drum surfaces, and a muffled thunder-like sound was produced, only conducted in the body, shaking Sedum's eardrums.

Having taken this punch with multiple critical hits + true damage, Sedum, a squishy mechanic, instantly faltered and entered a dizzy state.

Before Sedum, whose abdomen had been hit hard, could bend over like a shrimp, his chin was suddenly pinched by a large hand, which crushed his helmet and began to tighten his fingers around his skull.

"Don't, don't—" Sedum's head was splitting, his face was full of horror, and he hurriedly begged for mercy, but he couldn't make a sound in the vacuum.

Han Xiao tilted his head, and an air bubble popped out of his shoulder, wrapping the two of them. Then he opened his mask and asked, "You've lost, don't want to die, right?"

"Don't kill me!"

Sedum hurriedly shouted. He was not stupid and would not use the Mechanic Empire's name as a talisman. The Mechanic Empire was far away, and even if he died, they would not come to help him from so far away. Moreover, the Black Star in front of him was not easily frightened. Bringing out his backers would only anger the other party and backfire.

It was right to be a coward!

"Then stop your troops." Han Xiao nudged his mouth. At this time, Sedum's mechanical troops were still fighting with his mechanical legion.

With his life in someone else's hands, Sedum dared not mess around and hurriedly controlled his troops to stop.

The two mechanical legions quickly stopped fighting and confronted each other from afar.

Han Xiao nodded in satisfaction and smiled: "Now give me the authority to control your troops."

Sedum's face changed and he gritted his teeth.

His heart was bleeding. These millions of troops were his savings accumulated over a long time. Giving up the authority was equivalent to giving the troops to Black Star.

"You don't want to?" Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. "I can still seize your troops even if I kill you. The only difference is that it takes a little more time. If you want to die generously, I don't mind. After killing you, I can go and take over your Mciber Star. Tsk, tsk, your 100 years of operation will end up in my pocket. Do you want this result?"

"Don't, don't say it, the authority is yours." Sedum's face was pale, and he was on the verge of tears. He had to endure the pain and reluctantly transferred the authority of the mechanical troops.

At the moment when the authority was lifted, Sedum's heart ached violently and he was extremely sad and indignant—this was not just being cheated on, but also having to help the other person cheat on himself!

"Don't be so angry. If you keep your life, are you afraid you won't earn it back?"

Han Xiao was overjoyed, released Sedum, and asked Phillip to count how many troops he had seized this time. As long as he rewrote a set of authority, this troop would be his.

Then Han Xiao took out a large pile of electromagnetic shackles and firmly controlled Sedum.

He didn't plan to kill Sedum. No matter what, he was still under the Mechanic Empire. Since he couldn't eliminate the root cause, he wouldn't kill him. After all, Sedum had attacked first, and grabbing a wave of resources was just a small conflict. Even if Sedum reported it… what was the Mechanic Empire's status? Where would they care about such trivial matters? But killing someone was different, and Han Xiao didn't want the Mechanic Empire to pay attention to him at this time.

But he couldn't let Sedum go now.

Sedum heaved a sigh of relief in addition to his resentment. He was afraid that Han Xiao would kill him after getting the authority, but now it seemed that he had saved his life.

"I have some things to interrogate you. If you cooperate, you can suffer less…" Han Xiao grabbed him in his hand, "By the way, explain that this is not a personal grudge."

Sedum's eyes flashed and his attitude was obedient. "I will cooperate."

Seeing that Han Xiao didn't kill him, Sedum gradually regained his composure. He was obedient on the surface, but in fact he was quite dissatisfied in his heart.

If he had fought Black Star at the Mciber Star base, he felt that he might not have lost.

But thinking about this was meaningless. Sedum's only hope now was Sisko, who was on his way.

As long as Sisko descended, he would be saved. A Beyond Grade A dealing with a Calamity Grade was an absolute crush, and Black Star was definitely not his opponent.

Sedum didn't know about the existence of the Evolutionary Cube. In his opinion, Han Xiao might not know that Sisko was chasing him.

So before that, he planned to stabilize Han Xiao and not resist.

Han Xiao glanced at Sedum and knew Sedum's thoughts like the back of his hand, nothing more than treating Sisko as a savior, expecting a Beyond Grade A to come and rescue him on auspicious clouds.

That's good too, saving his energy.

"With this mechanical troop, I have more chips to deal with Sisko. Now the experience has reached level 239… Sure enough, the promotion was the right decision," Han Xiao thought to himself.

————

(Today's word count is okay. I don't know why, but every time winter comes, I feel like the days pass quickly, as if time has been stolen)