Chapter 266 - 265: Hand Hurts

A purple Mecha hovered one meter above the ground.

Gu Qi climbed inside.

Xi Yu, thinking he was too slow, gave him a kick to help him in.

Xi Yu sat back down in the cockpit.

Sheng Yue’s Mecha announced: "Requesting flight path."

Ling Yanzhi clicked his tongue. "Don’t bother requesting. We’re going straight back."

Sheng Yue’s fingers paused. He hadn’t meant to make the request. It was just his Mecha, which, much like its master, had an instinct for following procedure.

Several Mechas activated their Soul Beast Covers and shot into the sky.

When they reached an altitude of about seven thousand meters, they saw several large fighter jets flying in the air.

Their objective was clear, heading straight for the space station and Goose Sea. It wasn’t until the Mechas appeared nearby that the jets urgently converged, rapidly closing in to surround them.

Sheng Yue froze, his blue eyes flickering.

Ling Yanzhi narrowed his eyes.

Xi Yu blankly checked the Mecha’s external soul power shield.

’At their Level, it should be very difficult for anyone to detect them.’

Realizing the problem wasn’t on his end, Xi Yu’s mind raced. "They have a Level 3S Awakener, too."

They were being surrounded not because they were seen, but because someone was directing the ambush from the shadows.

And that person had to be a Level 3S Awakener who could see the fluctuations in their Soul Power.

The swarm of fighter jets circled, a dark, oppressive mass in the sky.

Their shadows completely enveloped the Mechas of Jian Yu and the others.

A cold voice boomed from the loudspeaker of the fighter jet directly in front of them.

"Your heinous actions have been fully recorded by surveillance equipment, and several eyewitnesses are willing to testify."

"No matter who you are, on the territory of Emperor Wolf Star, anyone who obstructs a soldier from performing their duty through violence or threats will be convicted according to the law and sent to the Slave Market for re-education!"

"You pack of villainous stowaways, cease your pointless struggles immediately and come with us for inspection!"

Jian Yu held one of Ling Yanzhi’s hands, channeling Green Mist into him.

In her other hand, she held a Third Rank Beast Crystal, absorbing it to ensure her depleted energy was restored as quickly as possible.

Ling Yanzhi tickled her palm. "Your hands are a little cold. Put on your gloves."

"Oh." Jian Yu pursed her lips. "Can we win?"

Ling Yanzhi smiled. "I’ll keep you safe."

Jian Yu tensed up.

’He can only keep *her* safe.’

’That must mean they might not be able to win.’

Xi Yu had an Alliance enforcement permit, which allowed him to travel to major planets and participate in investigations.

He also wouldn’t be held responsible for any killings he committed.

So, Xi Yu decisively revealed his Mecha.

Although Ling Yanzhi thought it was a useless move, he still clicked his tongue and, playing along with Xi Yu’s posturing, deactivated his Soul Beast Cover to reveal his Mecha’s true form.

Sheng Yue followed suit. His brow was tightly furrowed, Gu Qi’s words echoing in his mind: ’If I’m going to die, I’ll die on my own territory.’

BOOM!

Several special projectile cannons fired with precision, blasting toward the three Mechas.

Yang Zhang climbed onto Xi Yu’s head, its tentacles waving wildly. Its round eyes lost their usual dazed cuteness, replaced by a deep, profound look.

"Are they blind?"

The master’s Mecha has appeared in major war films over the past decade, been featured in countless major news stories, and was custom-built for them by the Alliance, bearing a unique insignia!

Yang Zhang’s tone was chilling. "How dare they pretend not to see it."

A few tentacles shot out of the Mecha’s window, wrapped around a fighter jet that had just fired, and hurled it away with all their might.

The first attempt went smoothly.

Yang Zhang happily tried to do it again, only to have one of its tentacles blasted away by a cannon shot.

It wasn’t severed.

Yang Zhang gathered its tentacles, four of them clutching the injured one. "It’s burnt, Master, WAAAH."

Xi Yu’s nose caught a whiff of a fragrant aroma—the smell of grilled meat.

At the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his arm.

He swallowed hard and connected to Ling Yanzhi and Sheng Yue’s Mecha channel. "Don’t use your Soul Beasts’ physical bodies."

’These cannons seem to be specially designed for High-level Awakeners like us.’

They weren’t just highly destructive to Mechas; they also inflicted serious injuries on the Awakeners themselves.

BOOM.

Another cannon shot slammed into them.

The Mecha shook violently, and a wave of Dizziness washed over Jian Yu.

Gu Qi clapped a hand over his mouth. He was powerless, but he didn’t want to scream and distract the others.

He had absolute faith in Sheng Yue and the others.

’But, dear God, I’m going to be sick.’

The roar of explosions burst through the Mecha channel.

Ling Yanzhi’s fingertips flew across the control console.

The purple-black soul shield churning around Jian Yu instantly expanded.

The shield, shimmering with patterns of Soul Power, tightly enveloped the Mecha.

The continuous cannon fire exploded against the shield’s surface, sending out ripples but failing to create even a single crack.

An astonished roar came over the comms. "Impossible! Those are Armor-Piercing Cannons specially developed for them!"

They had thought they had either underestimated Ling Yanzhi’s abilities or miscalculated his group’s condition.

They sent in one wave to test the waters and a second wave for an all-out assault, assuming that after a grueling battle, their targets would have used up at least half their energy and be easy pickings.

They were running low on shells, and each shot cost one billion Emperor Wolf Star Coins. They couldn’t afford to waste them.

The target of the attack shifted rapidly. All the fighter jets’ cannons swiveled in unison to aim at Sheng Yue.

Several high-explosive shells, trailing deep blue flames, screamed through the air.

Sheng Yue was fast enough to dodge with ease. But when he noticed the soul mist around Ling Yanzhi’s Mecha, his expression flickered for a moment. He gritted his teeth and took the full brunt of the impact.

His energy began to deplete at a visible rate.

Without the support of his spiritual power and Soul Power, the Mecha’s evasion speed dropped significantly.

Yin Jiu stared hopefully at Ling Yanzhi’s Mecha, its spirits low.

Sheng Yue had no time to comfort it, maneuvering his Mecha to find a place to land.

Thinking victory was within their grasp, the fighter jets ignored the pincer attack from Ling Yanzhi and Xi Yu, risking their own destruction to focus all their firepower on Sheng Yue.

’Capture one if you can.’

The Mecha continued its descent.

Flying at low altitude.

Jian Yu opened the Mecha’s window.

Warned by Ling Yanzhi, Sheng Yue pulled open his Mecha’s door.

A dense, purple-black mist swept across the battlefield and seeped in through the Mecha’s open door.

The stinging pain in his soul domain subsided. Sheng Yue could clearly feel that his Soul Power, which had been down to just one-fifth of its capacity, was now being pushed to its absolute limit.

His attack range expanded, his Attack Power intensified, his speed doubled...

It wasn’t just Sheng Yue; Ling Yanzhi and Xi Yu felt the change as well.

Normally, with their current energy levels, they shouldn’t have been able to unleash their ultimate moves.

But now, under Jian Yu’s enhancement, a colossal Energy Blade rapidly coalesced in the air. Twice its usual size, it let out a piercing shriek as it swept through the fighter jets, knocking them from the sky.

BOOM!

The sound was like a nuclear explosion.

The fighter jets tumbled out of control, plummeting one after another to the ground and kicking up a sky-full of dust and smoke.

The pilots inside the cockpits were knocked unconscious by the massive shockwave.

When the smoke cleared, only a few battered fighter jets remained in the sky, hovering unstably with crooked wings.

Cockpit doors burst open, and several High-level Awakeners in special combat suits bailed out, making a desperate escape.

One of them landed on a distant pile of rubble and took off his shattered helmet, revealing a sinister face.

He stared fixedly in Jian Yu’s direction, his eyes filled with disbelief and venomous hatred.

Sheng Yue recognized the man’s face and frowned slightly. "To think a distinguished Imperial Admiral would stoop to ambushing his own comrades."

"Why are you wasting your breath on him, Ayue?" Ling Yanzhi cracked his knuckles, and his figure shot forward.

Xi Yu didn’t want to move. His eyes darted around, and he sidled up to Jian Yu, holding up his arm. "Babe, my hand hurts."