vncnus Page 36
Page 36
The Shattered Star Belt is located on the border of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. Immortal-level powerhouses once fought here, which resulted in the destruction of the star and the shattering of many planets.
Because of the battle between the immortal gods, the area of this star system is filled with a large amount of arcane energy, which makes it impossible for ordinary spaceships to enter the star system through the dark universe. They can only enter from the outside.
As for the Thirteen Great Thieves, they were a group of raiders who rose up in the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. They plundered important planets of many low-level universe countries (such as the Silver Blue Universe Country) and were wanted by many forces, accumulating a lot of bounty money.
However, this group of thieves operated very systematically, robbing and running away, and their hideout was very well concealed, so they hadn't been caught. Now, the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance has discovered their hideout and is using it for their one-star mercenary assessment.
The Thirteen Great Thieves are all at the cosmic level, though their specific ranks are not specified. However, none of them are at the domain lord level, a fact guaranteed by the reputation of the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance.
"One hundred to thirteen, the advantage is on my side!" A cosmic-level player was delighted. It seemed that the overall danger level was not high. The main concern was preventing teammates from stealing population, since there were only thirteen targets, which meant that only thirteen people could pass the test.
The reason why the danger level is not high is naturally because as a cosmic-level powerhouse, he has many trump cards to protect his life. Without a certain amount of hatred, he will not easily kill, which is completely different from the stellar-level, who can kill one person and then another.
"They didn't even give us specific strength figures." Some cosmic-level beings realized the problem. Although they were all cosmic-level beings, there was a complete difference between high-level and low-level strength. It was easy for one to fight ten or even a hundred.
"It seems you all understand the assessment mission information." The dark-faced man, a two-star mercenary, looked at the group in front of him and said, "One-star mercenaries are different from those trainee mercenaries. What you are doing this time is not only an assessment mission, but also a mercenary mission. As long as you kill the corresponding targets, you will naturally be able to collect the bounty on them."
Upon hearing the words "bounty," the examinees in the room instantly became restless. It should be noted that due to the pernicious influence of the Thirteen Great Thieves, many forces had placed bounties on them, with even the least notorious thief having a bounty of at least tens of millions of Qianwu coins.
"If I kill just one of them, I can not only pass the one-star assessment mission, but also get a large bounty." Lu Yunhe was also tempted, considering whether he could take all thirteen bandits at once, and then sell the other twelve spots, making a double profit.
In this way, a single mission can rival long-established, cosmic-level assets.
After stirring up the emotions of everyone present, the dark-faced man revealed a bombshell: "Due to the one-star assessment mission, you have another benefit. That is, you can take 10% of the treasures you robbed from the Thirteen Thieves after successfully passing the assessment."
Those who pass the test can take 10% of the treasures they have stolen, the examiner takes 10% of the total resources, and the remaining items are divided equally between the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance and the original owner.
"How can it still be like this!"
Upon learning of this bombshell news, everyone present couldn't contain themselves any longer. They wished they could rush to the Shattered Star Belt and rob the Thirteen Great Thieves of everything. After all, those who could cultivate to the cosmic level rarely had clean hands.
The Thirteen Thieves, as powerful figures of cosmic scale, chose robbery instead of accumulating wealth through legitimate means. Whatever the underlying reason, the apparent motivation was undoubtedly to quickly amass wealth and then purchase resources to enhance their power.
In fact, this kind of behavior is not uncommon in the universe; on the contrary, it is quite common. People become thieves, quickly increase their wealth through plunder, then change their names and go to other universes to purchase resources and improve their strength with the accumulated wealth, starting from scratch.
Of course, the dangers involved are considerable, and various powerful forces will naturally issue warrants for their arrest. If one is not careful, one could end up doing all the work for someone else, leaving behind only the sorrow of having money but losing oneself.
Lu Yunhe even suspected that this behavior seemed to have received some kind of tacit approval, causing some ripples in the universe and making those universe-level beings who only wanted to enjoy life have a desire to improve.
After all, compared to some resource planets, those cosmic-level planets that live on life-bearing planets are easier to bully.
To put this in perspective, a ninth-tier Stellar Warrior slave is only worth 50 billion Black Dragon Coins, while a first-tier Universe-level powerhouse slave is worth at least tens of millions of Universe Coins, which is at least tens of trillions of Black Dragon Coins. (One Universe Coin = 3000 Qianwu Coins, 1 Qianwu Coin = 1000 Black Dragon Coins)
Seeing that everyone's emotions had been stirred up, the dark-faced man smiled slightly: "Due to the special nature of the mission, everyone must travel to the assessment site on a spaceship belonging to the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance. During this time, communication with the outside world is not allowed, so as to prevent anyone from alerting the target and causing the entire assessment mission to fail."
Upon hearing the word "failure," the dark-faced man's aura, characteristic of a domain lord, combined with his domain, instantly suppressed the crowd and restored order.
"What a low level of cultivation! I'd guess it's only around the fourth or fifth level!"
Lu Yunhe sensed the domain emanating from the dark-faced man and concluded that he was merely an ordinary Domain Lord, and probably hadn't even grasped the fundamental laws. After all, given the general nature of humanity, it usually takes at least the eighth or ninth level of the Domain realm to even touch upon the fluctuations of the fundamental laws.
Under the command of the dark-faced man, everyone quickly adjusted their mindset, boarded the Space Mercenary Alliance's spaceship, and headed towards their target.
Because the target is too far away, even the spaceship of the Space Mercenary Alliance will take some time to fly there.
Inside the spaceship, hundreds of cosmic-level powerhouses gathered in small groups. After a while, they calmed down, and the two tempting benefits mentioned by the dark-faced man instantly raised the danger level of the entire mission by a notch.
The benefits contained in this assessment mission are enough to tempt even a cosmic-level powerhouse, and might even lead them to pay the price of death.
"Hey bro, interested in teaming up? Even if we fail, the losers can give the loot to the winners beforehand and still get a share." Someone wanted to invite Lu Yunhe to team up, but he refused outright.
"Whether it's the bounty or the looted treasures, I want it all!" Lu Yunhe thought to himself, as he was currently very short of money.
After all, he had already comprehended the fundamental laws, yet he was still using a third-tier curved blade disc. However, a fourth-tier Force weapon was worth hundreds of billions of Qianwu coins, while a fifth-tier Force weapon also started at tens of billions of cosmic coins, not to mention cultivation resources, virtual universe fees…
Soon, the cosmic-level beings on the spaceship gathered in twos and threes, while some chose to go it alone.
Chapter 59 Shattered Star Belt
The spaceship carrying the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance was flying at high speed through the dark universe, while the cosmic-level examiners inside were quietly adjusting their mindset and preparing for the next action.
Several days later, the spaceship slowly came to a stop, then left the dark universe and returned to the original universe. Through the external simulation, a star system emitting cosmic aurora and containing a large number of asteroids and countless meteorites was located there.
"The spaceship can only reach here through the dark universe. What happens next is up to you," said the dark-faced man in charge of the assessment. He then opened the hatch and let everyone out.
Hundreds of cosmic-level powerhouses stood outside the spaceship out of thin air. Powerhouses who have reached this level can travel between star systems on their own, although it may take a little longer.
“I am a member of the Black Dragon Society. Listen to me, everyone. The Thirteen Bandits are numerous, and they are fighting on their home turf. We…” A member of the Black Dragon Society from the Black Dragon Mountain Empire began to speak, but before he could finish, someone took out a spaceship from his storage space and rushed towards the Shattered Star Belt.
We're all cosmic-level beings, who cares what faction you belong to? If a faction were truly powerful, they wouldn't be participating in the one-star mercenary assessment with us, much less wasting time talking to us here.
"hehe!"
Lu Yunhe chuckled twice and took out the Black Dragon spaceship, heading towards the Shattered Star Belt. It was a pity there were people watching; otherwise, he would have simply flown in his Ultraman form, which would be much faster than this spaceship.
Once he reached the cosmic level, even the C-class Black Dragon spaceship was somewhat unworthy of his status.
Subsequently, a large number of people rushed into the Shattered Star Zone, which made the Black Dragon Society member's face darken, completely different from the usual situation.
Normally, when there's no conflict of interest, people are willing to give the Black Dragon Society face. But in this situation, forget it. Those who are quick get what they want, while those who are slow end up with nothing.
Meanwhile, the thirteen bandits in the Shattered Star Belt, having just plundered a life-bearing planet and seized a large amount of resources and a group of stellar-level slaves, were also holding a loot-sharing meeting.
After looting and returning to the asteroid belt, the thirteen bandits went back to their respective asteroids and communicated through a virtual cosmic network. Since they were a group of people from all over the country, no one could truly trust anyone else; aside from group operations, they were mostly independent.
"It's a pity this time. The owner of that inhabited planet would rather self-destruct than become a slave. He can only take some resources and star-level slaves with him." In the virtual conference room he had set up, the shirtless burly man sitting at the end spoke first.
"Hmph, it's all because you insisted on fighting him one-on-one, giving him the opportunity to commit suicide," the gloomy-faced man sitting third from the right retorted unhappily.
They've all become interstellar bandits, and they're still playing the fair duel game game? If they want to duel, why not just go to the Giant Axe Arena? Everyone's risking their lives for money; a single cosmic-level slave is worth dozens of inhabited planets!
"Alright, since it's a fait accompli, there's no need for further discussion. However, Thirteen was indeed wrong this time, so he'll take half the loot as compensation." The person at the head of the conference table, who was also the leader of the many thieves, Huang Mo, spoke up.
Even a makeshift organization of wanted criminals needs a leader to keep things in check. Otherwise, they'll start fighting among themselves before they even begin their operation.
"understand!"
After Huang Mo spoke, the two who were arguing stopped. After all, one side was indeed in the wrong, and it was also because Huang Mo's personal strength was indeed powerful. All twelve of them had been defeated before.
“This raid didn’t yield much. Next time, we need to discuss a richer target.” The leader, Huang Mo, began to choose the next target, but before he could finish speaking, an alarm sounded in the conference room.
"Alarm! Alarm! Enemy has entered the warning range."
After choosing the asteroid belt as their base, they jointly purchased several planetary warning systems specifically for detecting intruders. As for why they didn't sell planetary defense systems, it was naturally because they didn't want to spend the money; they weren't planning to do this for life, and having a foothold was good enough.
"Which faction is it?!" someone asked anxiously.
But the cunning ones have already gone offline. Could the people who discovered their headquarters be just ordinary people? They must be confident to dare to directly invade their territory.
After logging off, the thirteen bandits, who had originally planned to choose their next plundering location, immediately prepared to abscond with the loot.
"How did they come so fast!" Huang Mo, the leader of the Thirteen Great Thieves, was also very upset. He hadn't even finished off his underlings yet, and suddenly they came knocking on his door.
Yes, as the leader of the Thirteen Thieves, Huang Mo's ultimate target was actually the other twelve. Otherwise, why would he take on the thankless task of being their leader? He was simply thinking of taking all the wealth for himself when he stopped.
Coincidentally, apart from a very few who lacked the strength, the other thirteen thieves thought the same thing: robbing those resource planets was nowhere near as fast as directly robbing their own teammates.
Of course, in this situation, they wouldn't attack their teammates for some money; they all hoped their teammates could buy them some time so they could escape.
Just after the Thirteen Thieves discovered the intruders, hundreds of examinees also approached the Shattered Star Belt at varying speeds.
As Lu Yunhe approached the Shattered Star Belt, he realized he had misunderstood something. The difficulty of this mission was probably not killing the target, but finding it.
Although Lu Yunhe's realm has an impressive-sounding name, his actual strength is quite limited. A full-force attack could only destroy a large meteorite. How should one put this kind of strength when facing a space on the scale of a star system...?
The other examinees also noticed the problem. After a brief silence, they each chose some targets with traces of a base and rushed towards them.
Fortunately, although the asteroid belt contains a vast number of asteroids and meteorites, the Thirteen Thieves wouldn't establish a base on every single one. With the help of probes, they were able to eliminate a large number of targets and narrow down the search as much as possible.
Hundreds of cosmic-level powerhouses were placed into the enormous asteroid belt, and they were like a drop of water merging into the ocean, not even causing a ripple.
After Lu Yunhe and the other examinees entered the asteroid belt, the chief examiner from the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance ordered his men to leave the spaceship and surround the perimeter of the asteroid belt to prevent the targets from escaping. After all, he also had a share of the abundant resources within the asteroid belt, so he naturally had to be careful.
"Although there are many, hundreds of cosmic-level individuals, they are scattered throughout the entire star rift belt..." The dark-faced examiner looked at the map of the examinees' locations but did not make any evaluation, after all, he had also come from this background.
Chapter 60 An unexpected surprise
"A base has been found!"
Using the detectors carried by the intelligent optical brain, Lu Yunhe quickly discovered a huge meteorite that appeared to be part of the base and immediately changed the direction of the Black Dragon spaceship.
Soon, an asteroid with a diameter of over 100 kilometers appeared in front of the Black Dragon.
"Let's start with a laser cannon shot!"
As a Class C spaceship, the Black Dragon naturally carries some powerful weapons, the most typical of which is the laser cannon, a single shot of which is enough to kill a sixth-order stellar being.
After charging up for a while, a laser cannon shot directly at the asteroid in front of it, shattering the base on the asteroid's surface.
"Looks like it's fake!"
Lu Yunhe was somewhat disappointed. Seeing that the laser cannons had fired without any protective shields deploying, it was clear that this was a fake base. Otherwise, if they had spent any money, they wouldn't have left without even an energy shield.
Realizing it was just a smokescreen, Lu Yunhe was about to turn his ship around and leave when a group of stellar-level squads suddenly emerged from the damaged base on the asteroid's surface. The captain was even at the seventh rank of the stellar class, while the rest were only at the first or second rank.
"A stellar-level slave?!"
Lu Yunhe noticed the slave chips in the minds of these stellar-level humans, which meant they had been ordered to desperately delay these intruders and buy time for their masters to escape.
It has to be said that the enslavement ability in the world of Swallowed Star is really abnormal. Once enslaved, they not only do not feel that there is a problem, but also wholeheartedly consider the master's interests, which is even stronger than other gods.
Even if the Lord of the Universe were to reverse time and space, he could not overcome this restriction of enslavement.
Clearly, the priority of the ability to enslave far exceeds the original rules of the universe's operation, and it is unknown whether it is part of the supreme law.
Upon realizing that the only obstacle blocking him was a group of slaves, Lu Yunhe's desire to attack instantly faded. The power of the divine tree clone within him was mobilized, and a pair of tomoe Rinnegan appeared in his eyes.
"Control them and throw them all into the auxiliary space!"
As the group of slaves approached the Black Dragon spaceship, Lu Yunhe instantly used illusion magic to briefly cover their minds and control them.
"My lord, the seventh of the Thirteen Great Thieves, Black Eyes, is in this base!" a slave controlled by illusion magic blurted out.
"?"
Lu Yunhe blinked, as if he had been pleasantly surprised. He had been kind-hearted and didn't want to kill anyone, but he ended up learning from the slaves that the target was among them.
"I've searched high and low without finding it, but it's right here without any effort!" Lu Yunhe instantly wanted to recite a poem, and said to the leading stellar-level slave, "If what you say is true, I will find a way to help you solve the slave chip problem!"
"what happened?"