Chapter 81: Outside Heavenly Desolation Star

As Hel's personal vessel, HMS Silence was constructed using absolutely top-tier materials.

Meanwhile, Dark Star had the secret backing of the Star Glory Empire, so their ships were by no means inferior.

Dark Star's main ship even met the standards of a Legion-class vessel. Otherwise, ordinary attacks would never be able to breach the defenses of HMS Silence.

"Your Highness... what are they doing?" Ten-Eyed Giant asked in confusion. A flowing substance resembling black mist covered HMS Silence. He had activated all defenses to prepare for the impending attack from Dark Star's main ship.

At the center of Dark Star's cross-shaped main ship, a massive Hexagonal Cannon Barrel had long since extended. It was a full fifty meters in diameter and reached hundreds of meters in length.

An Energy Stabilization Device was embedded every ten meters, dividing the entire cannon into dozens of sections.

The energy had already been fully charged. With just a single command, it would be enough to pierce through the defenses of HMS Silence.

And yet... the enemy delayed firing...

Everyone was still immersed in the command Li Yu had issued to Dark Star, their expressions somewhat peculiar.

But to HMS Silence, this was no more than a tickle.

"Is it a Mental Suggestion?" Hel asked, her tone much calmer now.

Li Yu had originally wanted to shout, "Open fire on me..." which would have been incredibly satisfying. Unfortunately, he had reigned himself in at the last moment, realizing there were too many ways to circumvent such a command.

Hearing Hel's words, Li Yu looked up in confusion. "Huh?"

"Was your command just now the result of you planting a Mental Suggestion?" Hel repeated.

It seemed she would have to reevaluate the mental energy projection that had arrived that day. To be able to affect Dark Star with a Mental Suggestion, the other party was likely far beyond the Master level...

But if they had surpassed the Master level... there were probably very few such lifeforms in the entire Star Glory Empire...

Hel fell into deep thought...

Although it was Li Yu's first time hearing the term Mental Suggestion, he could essentially understand it from the literal meaning.

He immediately nodded. "Yeah... that's right..."

He had just been worrying about how to explain himself, and Hel had conveniently handed him an excuse.

Hel gave him a profound look before issuing a command. "Initiate full Warp, get us out of here!"

"Understood!" Countless torrents of data instantly surfaced within Ten-Eyed Giant's pale eyes.

......

Inside the Dark Star ship cabin... Dark Star fixed his eyes on the gradually cracking Subspace Blockade Trap.

"Your Excellency, HMS Silence is about to escape!" Pachis could not help but say.

Dark Star shot him a cold glance. This Mental Suggestion was simply too powerful. Looking back at every detail of the conversation, he still could not sense anything amiss.

"I am unable to order the fleet to attack..."

"You can temporarily transfer Command Authority to me..." Pachis blurted out, quickly adding, "Just a temporary transfer..."

Dark Star narrowed his eyes. Did this fool think he had not considered that method?

The problem was, he knew his own thoughts perfectly well. Any action where the ultimate goal was to attack HMS Silence would simply not be permitted.

However, he did not voice this aloud. After all, being influenced by a Mental Suggestion was already a massive blow to his prestige. This Pachis...

The mole planted by the Star Glory Empire... his intentions were a bit too obvious...

This sort of phenomenon, which resembled a Causality Weapon, could not be bypassed with just a few words.

Glazed Star glanced at him and sneered inwardly...

Receiving no response, a vicious look surfaced on Pachis's face beneath his Armor. Dark Star was secretly controlled by the Star Glory Empire, quite different from normal Marauders.

Among typical Marauders, the leader held absolute dictatorial power. But Dark Star was different; its leader could not just kill him with a single word...

Minute by minute, the time ticked by. The blockade network surrounding HMS Silence completely shattered. With an unstable distortion in the Void, the hull of HMS Silence abruptly vanished from the area.

"Your Excellency... are we still proceeding with the plan?" Glazed Star asked in a low voice.

"There is no need to destroy Heavenly Desolation Star anymore..." Dark Star's eyes flickered. Their original goal had been the destruction of Heavenly Desolation Star, but who could have predicted this sudden drama involving an Imperial Noble and Hel.

Allowing Xia En to leave had likely already incurred the wrath of the Star Glory Empire. If they still blew up Heavenly Desolation Star according to plan...

The Star Glory Empire might just turn a fake show into reality and use the incident as an excuse to eliminate him completely.

"If we don't blow up Heavenly Desolation Star, what about the plan? Without a sufficient reason, the Star Glory Empire doesn't want to draw the hostility of the Interstellar Society," Pachis said, shaking his head.

"A sufficient reason?" Dark Star smiled coldly. "What reason could be more sufficient than an Imperial Noble being abducted?"

Just as Dark Star's main ship departed from the airspace above the Governor's Mansion...

A small squad stealthily infiltrated the Governor's Mansion. They were highly trained and uniformly dressed, slipping into the now completely deserted estate.

They seemed intimately familiar with the layout, advancing layer by layer. Evading all alarms and surveillance, they reached the deepest part of the Governor's Mansion.

"Boss... we are here..." the leader of the squad said, scanning the surrounding metal walls. A pitch-black projection materialized on his Smart Terminal.

"The left wall... distance from the center line, 1.35 meters..." a cold voice replied.

Several people immediately stepped forward, cleared away the obstacles, and fired up an Ion Cutter. Soon, a large hole was carved into the wall.

Within a tiny compartment lay a neatly stacked pile of documents. The squad leader reached in and retrieved them, choosing not to flip through the pages.

"...In this Interstellar Society, the safest method of storage is still physical paper... Bring it back to me," a sigh emanated from the pitch-black screen.

"Understood!"

The squad began their retreat. The wall was restored to its original state, and they withdrew in perfect order, leaving no trace of their presence behind.

Outside Heavenly Desolation Star, the dark starry sky was incomparably silent. As far as the eye could see, stars twinkled brightly. The nearby Heavenly Desolation Star appeared entirely green, a result of its massive vegetation coverage.

An orange-yellow star radiated a searing heat, occasionally churning up surging waves of fire. Its blinding light made it impossible to look at directly.

With an unstable distortion in the Void, a pitch-black spaceship abruptly materialized. A layer of black substance surfaced across the ship's hull, and soon after, it blurred and vanished from sight once again.

Inside the cabin, Li Yu stood by the window, gazing out at the boundless starry sky. Humanity's yearning for the cosmos was an instinct rooted deep within their genes.

From time to time, comets streaked past or crashed into the Asteroid Belt, exploding silently in a dazzling display.

"What a breathtaking view..." Li Yu marveled, elbowing Hunter, who had been keeping his head down the entire time.

"Ah..." Hunter jolted awake in shock. Looking at Li Yu in a daze, he blurted out, "You aren't planning to go surrender to Dark Star, are you?"