Chapter 391

Peaceful?

After putting on her helmet, NuoWa glanced at the silent city through her visor screen, involuntarily frowning slightly; her cold expression gained a hint of confusion.

Although she and the Dark Crow Guard have not directly engaged any traitors in substantive combat since passing through the vortex space gate, she can sense that the galaxy, under the influence of chaotic forces, has fallen into a foul, utterly corrupt state of violence and chaos.

However, since they arrived at the Nostromo star system, especially after landing on Nostromo II, they could actually sense tranquility…

This is somewhat strange.

Because the actual ruler of the dark star region is Conrad Kez, and at the same time he is the OriginalBody of the Midnight Lord traitor legion.

Based on the available data, the Midnight Lord is an extremely efficient, adept at covert special operations force, but simultaneously adopts extreme suppression and killing policies as an Astate legion.

And the OriginalBody leading this brutal bunch is even more called the "Midnight Ghost", a monster with pale skin, and also the spokesperson of fearful tyranny.

Yet being governed by such an OriginalBody and such a legion, the people living here actually possess feelings of safety and happiness, which truly astonishes NuoWa beyond measure.

Indeed, it needs careful investigation.

Thus she restrained her somewhat exuberant curiosity, leapt forward, and jumped straight down from a cliff nearly thirty meters high; then, as the tips of her feet touched the ground, she smoothly performed a forward roll, dissipating all force.

After completing that jump, NuoWa swiftly moved through the forest with light, silent steps.

During this time, patrol craft would occasionally fly overhead, continuously monitoring the wilderness-like outskirts; thanks to the latest HES model's Optical Camouflage and Spiritual Shielding, NuoWa could remain in a "Ghost" state, and as long as she didn't do anything overly reckless, she need not worry about being discovered.

Soon, NuoWa passed through the dense forest and arrived at an open, highly modernized industrial zone.

From here on, it was no longer deserted; inside the factories were workers approved for night shifts in compliance with curfew regulations, and the streets between the factory areas had patrolling soldiers and Midnight Lords.

Therefore, NuoWa could no longer act recklessly; she chose to jump onto the factory roof and continue inward along the street's edge toward the city center.

While staying vigilant of her surroundings, she also glanced at the mini‑radar in the upper‑right corner of her mask screen, which showed that more than twenty of her Ghost operatives had already, together with her, "encircled" the entire city.

Everything went smoothly.

Seeing this, NuoWa refocused all her energy on stealth.

She came to the end of the industrial zone, half‑crouched on the edge of a factory roof, patiently observing and recording the intervals of the patrol units.

Once she had discerned the pattern, NuoWa took advantage of a Midnight Lord squad passing through the intersection and disappearing from sight; she then rose, stepped back to the center of the factory roof, took a running start, and, combining the HES power boost with her own qualities, made a powerful leap that traced a perfect arc over the intersection.

After "flying" nearly forty meters and just before she would have slammed head‑on into the right‑hand wall of a massive structure, NuoWa spread her palms and then aimed them at the wall.

Contact.

Adhesion.

At this moment, NuoWa was like the "superhero" beloved by youngsters in the comics published by the main universe—having gained certain animal abilities through an accidental mutation, she could now leap over eaves and run along walls in the steel‑and‑concrete urban jungle.

However, NuoWa is no "mutant" or "variant" person; in fact, she swiftly climbed to the central plaza of the massive structure by using the bionic entomology technology of the HES gloves and fingertips.

Planting her feet firmly, NuoWa could sense via Spiritual Energy that this seemed to be a … residential apartment?

She had thought the inhabitants of the Human Empire all lived in deep sewers, in shacks, or simply slept on garbage heaps; however, the dark star region seemed, through alternative high pressure, to have maintained an alternative but peaceful order.

Next, NuoWa proceeded through the central plaza into the apartment interior, finding the hallways and corridors clean and bright, without the imagined darkness, dampness, or dried blood stains in the corners.

This place is virtually identical to the metropolitan apartments of the main universe sixty or seventy years ago; furthermore, the surveillance cameras installed here, compared to those in the main universe, are only more, not less, indicating that everything is under the Midnight Lord's "watch".

NuoWa uploaded all the information, discoveries, and conjectures to the stealth flagship's Kelakesi, then went to the end of the corridor, aimed her gaze at the room on the right‑hand side, performed a pulse scan, and the result showed a two‑bedroom, one‑living‑room layout, with a family of three sitting on the living‑room sofa.

As if they were watching TV?

NuoWa then activated the listening function, fully confirming her speculation.

It turned out the family had just finished enjoying a decent, filling dinner; the father and son cleared the table, washed the dishes, and then together with the mother watched a comedy‑type film.

The monitored content was filled with laughter and discussion, its atmosphere warm and harmonious.

NuoWa could sense a hint of worry and fear deep in the family's hearts, but at this moment pleasure, happiness, and the positive emotion of looking forward to tomorrow's life prevailed.

Moreover, she detected no influence of Chaos Power, meaning that this family, or even Nostromo II, and indeed the entire dark star region's inhabitants, are unaware of other dimensions, let alone the existence of evil gods and demons.

A traitor OriginalBody actually conceals Chaos from its jurisdiction??

Furthermore, the patrol soldiers and Midnight Lords' physiques show no obvious mutation or distortion, leading NuoWa to wonder whether Conrad Kez has refused to believe in Chaos from the very beginning.

She had just reported this conjecture when, not long after, the communication brought Kelakesi's reply: "NuoWa, I need you and your subordinates to go to the palace‑style building at the city's center, infiltrate it, try to locate Conrad Kez, and lock onto his position."

"All right, leave it to me." NuoWa accepted the task without hesitation.

"Also, be sure to stay safe." Finally, Kelakesi couldn't help worrying a bit about his "own" sister.

"Don't worry." NuoWa replied in a low voice.

Although she often joked with Kelakesi, Robert, and other OriginalBody elder brothers, saying things like "I'm not bluffing, I can't even beat or outrun them?" and so on, in reality NuoWa still had a clear sense of her own limits.

She understood the gap between herself and an OriginalBody; even if Conrad Kez were inferior to those OriginalBody elder brothers, she would not be so arrogant as to truly dare to duel or assassinate him.

After ending the brief conversation, NuoWa also ended her "peeping" at that family of three, immediately retraced her steps back to the plaza, crossed between the massive structures, and wandered throughout the city.

In about half an hour, NuoWa had already arrived at the outskirts of the capital palace.

The mini‑radar on her mask screen likewise showed that her subordinates had likewise reached their optimal positions, all waiting for her command.

NuoWa did not rush; instead, she first scanned the surroundings.

One could see that this palace's scale was far inferior to that of the Shensheng Tala imperial palace, the two being vastly different; moreover, the palace's style is relatively simple, essentially lacking any lavish decoration.

Or, aside from the central Gothic‑style palace occupying about seventy hectares, with walls of black, dark blue, and blood red and numerous stained‑glass windows, this area looks more like a large military base.

All mortal soldiers and Midnight Lords were either resting according to convention or patrolling around the palace.

Moreover, numerous large‑caliber ground‑to‑air and ground‑to‑orbit artillery systems were deployed here, protecting the entire capital palace area as "tight as a drum", "watertight".

At the same time, NuoWa also tried to sense whether Conrad Kez was present here; the feedback returned was "none", possibly because he is not on this planet, or perhaps he is deliberately concealing "his" spiritual energy signature.

After a moment's thought.

"Action." NuoWa issued the command again, for regardless of which possibility, she needed to infiltrate the palace on Kelakesi's behalf to find out the truth.

"Yes." The Ghost operatives all responded in lowered voices.

Looking down from the sky.

NuoWa and the Ghost operatives were like so many phantoms, silently slipping over the wall, moving through the heavily guarded camp, and quite smoothly entering the palace from multiple angles.

Not long after…

Activate pulse scan.

Then activate dynamic detection.

Moving with silent steps, NuoWa traversed a spacious corridor on the easternmost fourth layer of the palace, with open stained-glass windows on her right and a series of empty rooms on her left.

What was most terrifying was that the breeze blew in through the open windows, also stirring the white gauze curtains hanging beside them.

Rising…

Falling…

The gauze curtain fluttered rhythmically.

Just then, a door seemed to sway from the breeze, emitting a creepy "squeak~!" sound.

"Clang!"

"!"

Hearing the loud commotion, the concealed NuoWa quickly turned and aimed her sniper blast arrow at the source.

Looking closely, it was the door that had made the "squeak" sound; the breeze had finally moved it, causing a sudden slam that produced the overly violent door noise just heard.

"Exhale… inhale…"

Upon discovering the cause, NuoWa's breathing involuntarily grew heavier.

Normally, she wouldn't feel tense at all; in past missions, enemies never required her full effort—just a thought, a single release of Spiritual Energy, was enough to settle them.

Now, NuoWa had no choice but to heighten her vigilance.

Even though Spiritual Perception told her everything was safe and there were no threats around, why did she constantly feel a chill down her spine, as if a pair of eyes were staring at her from behind?

Thus, between Spiritual Perception and her sixth sense, she chose the sixth sense, convinced that Conrad Kezi was inside this capital palace!

"Kelakesi!" Upon opening the comm, NuoWa immediately called for help: "Teleport to me! Quick! Conrad Kezi is right beside me!"

"Roar~!!"

"!!!"

Before NuoWa's words even finished, she heard the tearing sound of claws swinging down beside her.

"Buzz!!"

However, NuoWa's maintained Spiritual Energy barrier and HES's defensive stance helped her block this attack.

"Bang!!"

Even so, she could not withstand this immeasurable tonnage of force, and her body was flung away.

"Boom!"—the uncontrolled NuoWa slammed into the right wall, collapsing it, and tumbled through the air several times.

Finally, with another "boom," NuoWa actually blasted a shallow pit into the ground, and she lay sprawled at its center.

"Buzz~—mmm~—!"

The sudden fight naturally triggered a loud alarm, and the entire capital palace quickly mobilized; surely it wouldn't be long before defensive forces surrounded the area.

"Thud! Thud!"

Before that, the attacker who had assaulted NuoWa had already leapt out of the palace, his armored body landing via free fall on the ground, then he trudged heavily toward the pit.

This time, he finally got a clear look at the assailant's appearance.

His armor was deep blue, with details resembling human skeletal structure, adorned with human skull ornaments; his massive build and towering height marked him as an OriginalBody—the OriginalBody of the Midnight Lord, Conrad Kezi.

For some reason, aside from a one‑meter height difference, Kezi's appearance bore a striking resemblance to Sui Bian's sixth son, Kelakesi.

He likewise had flowing black hair, fair skin, a handsome face, and his weapons were a pair of flashing electric claws; only Kezi's deep eyes were far more gloomy and hostile than Kelakesi's.

Moreover, Kezi's eyeballs were threaded with red blood vessels, clearly indicating that this OriginalBody who had chosen to betray the Empire and his imperial father was mentally abnormal.

When he reached the edge of the pit, he happened to see HES functioning normally; the concealed NuoWa had already risen from a crouch, shaken her slightly dizzy head, drawn her short sword with her right hand, and swung fiercely at him…

"Whoosh!!"

Accompanied by a sharp whistle, a arc of blue‑green Spiritual Energy shot straight at the stationary Kezi.

Fortunately, as an OriginalBody, Kezi reacted with extreme speed, dodging the instant NuoWa swung her short sword.

However, the Spiritual Energy arc would not cease its destruction just because it lost Kezi as a target.

"Boom——! Boom——!"

The Spiritual Energy blast tore open the palace walls, then surged sideways inside, ripping apart everything within.

"Whoosh……Boom!!!"

Finally, when this Spiritual Energy surge reached the palace's center, it could no longer hold back and released, leaving only blue‑green light between heaven and earth, like a tactical nuclear blast.

"Exhale!!!" The shockwave swept the surroundings.

After vision cleared, the aftershocks faded, and the dust settled, one could see that the palace, spanning seventy hectares, had been obliterated by NuoWa's Spiritual Energy arc.

Fortunately, when NuoWa was attacked by Kezi, she had ordered all agents to withdraw from the palace; otherwise, her subordinates would have been mistakenly killed by the Spiritual Energy arc.

Furthermore, there was no longer a need for NuoWa to duel Kezi alone, because Kelakesi and two hundred shadows had completed their teleport.

The shadows operated in four‑person teams, dispersed throughout the capital palace area, while Kelakesi faced Conrad Kezi head‑on, shielding his "little sister" behind him.

However……

Kezi actually dropped his lightning claws, spread his arms without any defense, and presented to Kelakesi a look of "ready to be slaughtered"?!

(End of chapter)