Chapter 123: Dumbfounded Dark Star

Standing in the distance, Dark Star's heart suddenly stirred. He cast a glance at Li Yu and the others as a bad premonition rose within him.

"Dark Star, there is nothing I can do. Nearly several hundred prisoners have died because of your experiments. The higher-ups have noticed something is wrong, and we really cannot continue."

Papaka said with a troubled expression.

Dark Star's face was incomparably cold as he spoke in a deep voice, "One million Star Coins per prisoner. I haven't paid a single Star Coin less than what was owed."

"Papaka, do you think that just because the Dark Star organization is gone, you can bully me as you please?"

"No... not at all..." Papaka wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, but ended up smearing blood all over his face, looking rather comical.

In reality, that was exactly what he was thinking. Not long ago, he had learned on the Black Hole Network that the Dark Star organization had suddenly been wiped out.

He had been greatly shocked, having no idea what had happened or how Dark Star could be suddenly destroyed.

He carefully searched for information, but the results were all ambiguous rumors.

This made him scoff. The people on the Black Hole Network were only good at bragging.

That was until he saw a fearless individual's live broadcast showing Dark Star's abandoned Main Ship. Only then did certain unwarranted thoughts begin to surface in his mind.

Dark Star looked down at Papaka as if looking at a dead man. "I funded this laboratory, and I was the one who invited Peyton. Papaka, if you want to swallow it all for yourself, shouldn't you weigh whether you have the qualifications to do so?"

Papaka kept wiping his sweat, appearing extremely nervous. Hearing this, he immediately smiled bitterly. "It's not that I insist on shutting down the laboratory."

"The inspectors will be arriving in a few days. I really have no other choice..."

Dark Star's tone was indifferent. "In that case, give me the previous experimental data. Temporarily shutting it down for a few days is acceptable."

"About that..." Papaka hesitated. "If you want the data, I'm afraid you'll have to pay some Star Coins."

"After all, I have many people to feed and superiors to bribe. This laboratory has brought me a lot of trouble."

Hearing this, Dark Star's eyes turned as cold as ice. "Aren't you being a bit too greedy, Papaka?"

"Your Excellency Dark Star, please forgive me. I truly have no other way..."

Papaka kept his attitude very humble, yet his words were extremely firm. Without money, Dark Star could forget about taking anything away.

Without the Dark Star fleet looming outside Taliskar, the fact that he was meeting him in person was already giving him enough face.

"Heh..." Dark Star suddenly sneered, glancing at Li Yu's group and Peyton.

"Peyton... this place is being shut down. Did you know?"

Peyton nodded. "The Prison Warden has already told me."

"Then where do you plan to go?"

"I'll go home... It's been a long time since I've been home," Peyton replied after some thought.

His identity was special. Neither Dark Star nor Papaka dared to do anything to him; touching him would bring massive trouble to their doors.

"Leave as soon as possible..." Dark Star said expressionlessly, then prepared to depart.

Li Yu immediately leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Boss, what happened? Do you need me to go on a killing spree?"

"Heh..." Dark Star sneered coldly, offering no reply.

"Received!" Li Yu nodded and charged straight toward Peyton. "Give me your life!"

Dark Star's pupils shrank. He raised his hand, yanking Li Yu back, and coldly shouted, "What exactly are you doing? If you strike out recklessly again, don't blame me for not holding back!"

He was in an exceptionally bad mood. Papaka's shift in attitude was simply because the warden believed he no longer had the capability to oppose him.

Dark Star hadn't exposed the fact that he was already an A-Tier Lifeform. Papaka's betrayal had ignited a rage within him that only a slaughter could quell.

As the group left, Papaka's demeanor completely changed. He said with disdain, "I don't know what kind of airs he's putting on. The Dark Star fleet is gone, yet he still dares to act so arrogantly in my territory."

Peyton, meanwhile, looked at the Purple Star Ant culture dishes, which were nearly half empty, looking somewhat bewildered.

"What were you experimenting on here?" Li Yu asked.

Dark Star didn't answer him. Gazing at the prison behind them, he said coldly, "You all head back to the spaceship first. I have things to do..."

"Don't even think about running away. Otherwise, you will regret it."

Dark Star warned. Li Yu immediately nodded, saying sincerely, "We definitely wouldn't dare run away..."

The group boarded the spaceship, and Hunter finally couldn't hold back. "You don't seriously want to submit to Dark Star, do you?"

Li Yu snapped back in annoyance, "If you used your hairless head to come up with that answer, you might as well have used your toes to think."

"He has his own plans, so stop asking so many questions," Mo Duo said to Hunter. Her tone wasn't heavy, but it still sent a shiver down Hunter's spine.

He had a natural sense of fear toward Mo Duo, stemming from a few experiences where he had lost his memories. He muttered a few words but didn't dare say anything else.

"What nonsense are you spouting? Hurry up and take off your armor. Claptrap, take control of the spaceship and lift off..." Li Yu ordered.

They all took off their armor. Instantly, swarms of purple ants poured out of Li Yu's Titan Colonization Armor, startling everyone.

"What... what is this!?" Mo Duo's eyes widened. She hadn't experienced such a massive emotional fluctuation in a long time. She couldn't help but move closer to Li Yu, somewhat panicked.

"Purple Star Ants... they're very useful..." Li Yu comforted her. "Let them crawl onto your skin with their tiny appendages, and use their sharp mandibles to..."

"Stop talking..." Mo Duo glared fiercely at Li Yu. He was doing this on purpose, wasn't he? Why was he describing it in such detail?

"Hurry up..." Mo Duo shut her eyes tight, completely unwilling to look at those Purple Star Ants.

As soon as the Purple Star Ants hit the ground, they followed a specific scent and crawled toward the group. Some of the ants even headed toward the corners of the spaceship.

This made Li Yu's heart sink. 'That insidious bastard really did hide some dirty tricks on the spaceship.'

Under their astonished gazes, piece after piece of a Pink Jelly-Like Substance was entirely devoured by the Purple Star Ants.

.........

Dark Star slowly floated in midair. He looked down at the prison blocks below. The surveillance cameras had spotted him long ago, and Papaka was looking at Dark Star through his Smart Terminal in confusion.

"What does he want to do? Make a move?" Papaka sneered, issuing several commands on his Smart Terminal.

Immediately, a large number of Flying Vehicles began to lift off, and the weapons deployed on Taliskar's planetary orbit locked onto Dark Star.

As a prison planet holding criminals from several star systems, Taliskar naturally possessed its own Weapon System, and its firepower was by no means weak.

Massive dual cannon barrels began to charge, the orbital defense cannons fully deployed, and laser targeting devices locked onto Dark Star.

Dark Star could clearly feel the impending danger, but he paid it no mind. He looked down at everything below with a calm expression.

"Brother Dark Star, why haven't you left yet? I'm quite busy over here, so I won't see you off personally."

Papaka's voice rang out from one of the Flying Vehicles.

"I have a gift to give you..." Dark Star raised his hands and tightly shut his eyes...

Papaka felt a bit puzzled, wondering what kind of crazy fit Dark Star was throwing.

Rumble—

The earth trembled ceaselessly. Papaka was confused, still unaware of what was happening.

From the spaceship, Li Yu and the others saw it clearly. All across the planet of Taliskar, Pink Jelly-Like Substance surged out, wrapping around massive metal prison blocks and pulling them straight out of the earth.

"Look... what's in the sky?" A criminal looked up at the heavens, his eyes wide.

Dozens of metal prison blocks, each comparable to a hundred-meter-tall mountain, were now encased in the Pink Jelly-Like Substance and suspended in the sky.

Papaka stared with wide eyes, utterly bewildered, muttering under his breath, "How is this possible... how is this possible..."

An A-Tier Lifeform. This was something only an A-Tier Lifeform could accomplish.

The massive metal prison blocks, wrapped in jelly, orbited around Dark Star in a peculiar trajectory.

"Is this an A-Tier Lifeform?" Gore gaped, finding it hard to imagine that a single biological entity could pull off such a feat.

"So... a single A-Tier Lifeform can resist an entire fleet by themselves," Hunter said with a sigh.

"It's not over yet..." Li Yu said deeply.

They watched as the metal prison blocks encased in the Pink Jelly-Like Substance slowly began to melt.

As if scorched by high-temperature flames, the metal prison blocks slowly liquefied. Molten iron dripped down mixed with blood, just like Star Speech who had once died inside.

"No!"

Papaka wailed. If the entirety of Taliskar's prison blocks were destroyed, his career as the Prison Warden would be completely over. It was far too massive a responsibility for him to shoulder.

No emotion could be seen on Dark Star's face. "No one can betray me, and no one can take what belongs to me."

Li Yu couldn't help but nod, a hint of admiration appearing in his eyes. "Not bad, I really like how much of a badass Dark Star is acting right now."

"If he weren't an enemy, I'd want to take him in as a subordinate."

Hunter couldn't help but feel speechless. "You still care about that? So what if he's an enemy? If you want to recruit him, just recruit him."

"Well said..." Li Yu nodded. "Next time we have a problem, we'll just call him over to help."

Hunter rolled his eyes, ignoring Li Yu's blatant boasting, and sighed, "I didn't expect we'd be able to escape from Dark Star's grasp this time."

Li Yu didn't have much of a reaction. There were many ways to drive Dark Star away, and it was nice that they hadn't burned through any trump cards this time. They had even managed to freeload an opportunity to summon Dark Star in the future.

Overall, it could only be described as a false alarm.

"Claptrap... let's get out of here. We won't keep His Excellency Dark Star company while he's showing off."

The spaceship entered a Warp state and departed from Taliskar's outer space.

Dark Star descended from midair. Not a single one of the deployed weapons dared to fire. Papaka had been scared out of his wits—an A-Tier Lifeform, that was an A-Tier Lifeform!

By the time Papaka scrambled and crawled out to greet Dark Star once again, he was already drowned in immeasurable regret.

"Notify that spaceship to come down... take away what needs to be taken..." Dark Star landed slowly, his tone peaceful, as if he hadn't just unleashed absolute carnage.

"You... don't have any objections, do you?"

Papaka nodded hastily, naturally not daring to voice any objections. At the same time, a surge of resentment welled up inside him. 'Since you're already an A-Tier Lifeform, why pretend?'

'Showing your true strength from the start would have been better for everyone.'

However, after receiving a message a moment later, Papaka spoke up with some hesitation, "Your Excellency Dark Star. That spaceship warped away three minutes ago?"

"What did you say?" Dark Star's expression changed abruptly, his eyes locking dead onto Papaka.

"They truly left. We can't find any trace of them," Papaka forced himself to explain.

"Very well... they really aren't afraid of death..." Dark Star's face darkened completely. He closed his eyes, but a moment later, they snapped open again, filled with utter shock and confusion. "I can't find them... how is that possible!?"

............

"...And that's how it went. Thanks to my brilliant intellect, we once again escaped Dark Star's demonic clutches," Li Yu told Glazed Star through the screen.

"The main responsibility lies with me this time. I had no idea Dark Star was actually this insidious..." Gore blamed himself.

Li Yu ignored Gore, instead looking at Glazed Star. "Can you tell me why Dark Star values you so highly? Are you really just a simple undercover agent?"

Glazed Star fell silent for a moment, clearly looking a bit hesitant.

"If you don't want to say it, forget it," Li Yu said, retreating in order to advance. "Dark Star already knows we are heading to the Heavenly Desolation Star, so we'll have to drop your father off on a different Life Planet."

A wave of guilt immediately washed over Glazed Star. After all, Li Yu was essentially working for her for free, and had almost been caught by Dark Star in the process.

"I really am just an undercover agent, but the department I infiltrated is quite special," Glazed Star said through gritted teeth.

"Oh?" Li Yu didn't press the matter, simply waiting for Glazed Star to continue.

Glazed Star had previously mentioned that the department she infiltrated was special, but she hadn't gone into detail.

"I am in the Imperial Research Institute..."

"Impossible!" The moment Glazed Star spoke, Hunter cut her off. He said with absolute certainty, "The Imperial Research Institute is one of the most core divisions of the Star Glory Empire. There is no way you could have infiltrated it."

Li Yu glanced at Hunter without saying a word, simply looking at Glazed Star.

Glazed Star shook her head. "I have no reason to lie to you. I really am in the Imperial Research Institute. It was purely an accident that I was able to get in, which is exactly why Dark Star values me so much."

Hunter wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Li Yu. He confirmed a coordinate with Glazed Star, preparing to drop Gore off there.

"If it's in the Imperial Research Institute, then it really does make sense..." Hunter pondered. Although he had been somewhat shocked at first.

But thinking about it carefully, a command at the level of transferring Titan Relic Items was not something an ordinary person could forge.

"What exactly kind of place is the Imperial Research Institute?" Li Yu finally asked, and Gore also leaned in to listen.

Hunter carefully explained, "The Imperial Research Institute is one of the most core divisions of the Star Glory Empire. They are responsible for everything from the innovation of weapons and equipment to the inspection of Titan Ruins... and a whole series of other tasks."

"They possess exceedingly high authority and can mobilize ninety percent of the resources within the Star Glory Empire."

At the same time, he was a bit puzzled. "Logically speaking, it should have been impossible for her to get in. Every single member undergoes a strict background check."

The group turned their gazes toward Gore, wanting to see if this esteemed father knew anything.

Gore let out a bitter smile and shook his head. "I don't know either. We haven't seen each other in a very long time."

"He is hiding something..." Mo Duo whispered into Li Yu's ear.

Li Yu nodded calmly, not paying it much mind. It was just a secret—everyone had those.