Chapter 76: Subspace Blockade Trap

It seemed this title could only be used on specific individuals. His expression darkening, Li Yu switched back to the "Wanted" title.

Seeing his foul mood, the group had no idea what had provoked it. Mo Duo and the Hunter exchanged a glance, both completely bewildered.

Early the next morning, a sudden transmission from the Princess of the Night jolted Li Yu to attention.

"Get ready... I am taking you out of here." Her Royal Highness's opening words immediately made Li Yu frown.

"Isn't this too rushed? It has only been two days..." Li Yu expressed his doubts. He had planned to let things simmer for at least four or five days before making a move.

"No," the Princess of the Night replied, shaking her head. "The Star Glory Empire's patience has reached its absolute limit. If we drag this out any longer, I fear there will be unforeseen complications!"

"Are you confident about this?" Li Yu asked, feeling a surge of irritation.

The Princess of the Night did not answer directly. Instead, she declared, "Most of Dark Star's ships have already been lured away. As long as you can make it onto my spaceship, we can leave!"

"We just need a little more time..."

However, Xia En's identity was far too sensitive. Once the Star Glory Empire lost its patience and dropped all pretenses, no one would be able to stop them.

"Alright... I will wait for you here!" Li Yu gritted his teeth. Sometimes, you just had to take the gamble. He couldn't afford to stall any longer.

Hanging up the call, Li Yu stuffed Xia En into the mechanical crate. Although the prince muffled a protest, it was completely useless.

Xia En's face flushed crimson, though no sound escaped his mouth. He couldn't even fathom how humiliating it would be if that woman saw him in this degrading state.

High above the capital of Heavenly Desolation Star, fleets of black flying vehicles materialized out of thin air, scattering across the sprawling city.

Aboard the Dark Star main ship, blaring alarms shattered the silence. The Scarlet Commander stared intently at the massive holographic screen, rapidly firing off a stream of orders.

"Cross-reference the data files! Track down anyone they might be taking with them..."

Boom!

The clinic's front doors were blown wide open, startling everyone inside. As the smoke cleared, three burly figures clad in black armor strode into the room.

They brandished black long spears. Though they appeared to be standard melee weapons, tiny apertures riddled the spearheads, and glowing purple energy pathways pulsed along the shafts.

Strange, intricate patterns etched their armor, and their visors were pitch black. When they spoke, their voices were entirely devoid of emotion. "Come with us."

"Oh, right... sure thing," Li Yu stammered, recovering his wits. He hefted the mechanical crate and, under their heavy-handed "threat," walked out of the clinic.

Meanwhile... aboard the Dark Star main ship...

"Warning, warning. Priority surveillance target detected..."

The Scarlet Commander snapped her head around. On the enlarged holographic screen, crisp footage showed Li Yu and his two companions being escorted onto a black flying vehicle.

Beneath her red helmet, her pupils shrank to pinpricks. A myriad of thoughts raced through her mind, yet her voice remained as icy as ever. "Pull up the data on that clinic."

A flood of information regarding Doctor Yuan filled the screen. Just like all the previous reports, there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

"Keep digging," she ordered vaguely. How were they supposed to dig? What exactly were they looking for? No one on the bridge had a clue.

"Deploy the fleet! Do whatever it takes to intercept those flying vehicles. I want special focus on..." She rattled off a list of targets, deliberately leaving the vehicle carrying Li Yu for the very end.

Based on her recent tactical assessments, the intercepting ship she had assigned to Li Yu's transport was far too distant. It would never arrive in time to stop the flying vehicle before it docked.

'A life for a life,' she murmured internally. Her mind flashed back to the zoomed-in surveillance footage from last time, when Li Yu had been carrying the Hunter on his back.

Though his clothes had been torn to shreds, two distinct letters were still visible on the collar—QQ.

No one knew the truth. No one knew that one of the infamous Scarlet Commanders of Dark Star had once been nothing more than a trafficked slave.

As the swarm of black flying vehicles returned to the nest, the Princess of the Night suppressed her rising excitement and kept her eyes locked on the holographic screen.

Boom!

A crimson ship unleashed a massive beam from its main cannon. The black flying vehicle executed a flawless barrel roll, narrowly evading the blinding blast of energy.

Not far away, other flying vehicles were exploding in mid-air like gruesome fireworks. It was glaringly obvious—the pilot of this particular vehicle was far from ordinary.

"Commander! There's something wrong with one of the flying vehicles!" a sharp-eyed Dark Star marauder reported, having spotted the anomaly.

On the holographic screen, the footage of the flying vehicle's evasive spin played on a continuous loop.

Evading a direct strike from a ship's main cannon at such a marginal distance was a feat completely beyond the capabilities of the other pilots.

The Scarlet Commander knew she couldn't make her leniency too obvious, so she barked, "Where are the nearby ships? Divert all of them to that sector immediately!"

"Your Excellency, it's too late! That flying vehicle has already entered subspace!" an officer reported.

"Go and report this to His Excellency Dark Star," the Scarlet Commander ordered, her tone remaining as frigid as ever.

The moment Li Yu and the others safely boarded the spaceship without a scratch, the Princess of the Night didn't hesitate. "Activate the warp drive! Let's get out of here!" she commanded.

The pitch-black spaceship roared to life. Intricate patterns illuminated across its hull as the engines spewed trails of ink-like thruster flames.

"Your Highness..." Li Yu let out a long sigh of relief. This had gone far smoother than he had dared to hope.

Yet, he couldn't shake a baffling feeling of suspicion. Wasn't that a little too easy? They only had to dodge a single cannon blast?

"We just... walked right onto the ship?" The Hunter looked equally surprised. Even as he relaxed his guard, his paranoia told him that something was very wrong.

"Where is he?" the Princess of the Night asked, her tone laced with urgency.

"Right here." Li Yu patted the mechanical crate and pressed a button on its side.

With a soft hiss, the mechanical crate slowly opened, revealing a huddled human figure curled up inside.

Xia En was thoroughly bound by a rubber rope in an incredibly compromising position, his legs twisted together. A rubber gag was stuffed in his mouth. His face was beet red, and his eyes were squeezed shut in mortification.

"Your Highness... a gift for you," Li Yu said with a wry smile.

The Princess of the Night paused, an unnatural blush creeping across her cheeks. She looked Xia En up and down. The captive prince didn't dare open his eyes to face this absolute social execution.

The Ten-Eyed Giant shifted his gaze over to the crate, his jaw dropping open in shock...

"I am very satisfied... close the crate and send him to my room," the Princess of the Night ordered, looking rather flustered despite her authoritative tone.

Several Black Knights acknowledged the order and stepped forward to carry Xia En away.

However, at that exact moment... a violent tremor rocked the entire spaceship.

Outside, deep within subspace, sapphire-blue metal blocks the size of millstones materialized roughly five hundred meters from the vessel's hull.

The metal blocks split down the middle, exposing gem-like energy cores. These cores radiated pulsing ripples of purple light that linked with the other blue blocks, weaving together into a massive, shimmering purple net that anchored the spaceship firmly in place.

"Your Highness... it's a Subspace Blockade Trap!" the Ten-Eyed Giant reported urgently.

"What?" The Princess of the Night's expression twisted in horror. "Why wasn't this detected earlier?"

"There was signal disruption..." the Ten-Eyed Giant admitted, bowing his head in shame.

Li Yu's heart sank. He knew it. Escaping Heavenly Desolation Star was never going to be that easy...