Chapter 47
A military starship crossed the 28th star sector, turned above the 29th star sector, and headed for the 30th star sector.
The entire mecha team did not notice that the figure attached to the bottom of the cabin quietly fell off and sank into the survival barrier of Star Sector No. 29.
For a military commander, such behavior was naturally dishonorable. But Yuan Xu had no other options. Arriving at the monolithic 33rd Legion with only a steward and a driver, he was no different from a lone commander. Like Xi Yue, he faced the problem of no one to trust, and thus no one to rely on.
Yuan Xu was naturally incredibly clever. From the outset, he hadn't considered Xiyue's electronic eye to be anything more than an electronic eye. After all, Xiyue had shamelessly snatched his belt and buckle before... The electronic eye was most likely a special tool for detonating pollution.
With no trusted aides to retrieve such an important item, he had no choice but to go there himself. He used his mecha's camouflage and color-changing capabilities to hide beneath a military starship, avoiding the "sights" arranged by Qiao Mingjin.
He waited at the garrison for the entire morning, and finally got his chance—a level three pollution outbreak occurred in Garbage Star Zone No. 30. No one from the neighboring Miyadai Minoru Corps was willing to deal with the trouble in the Garbage Star Zone, so it was natural for Corps No. 33 to be dispatched.
Because he didn't know whether Qiao Mingjin would plant spies in the No. 29 star zone, Yuan Xu was very cautious. He did not fly directly to the police station, nor did he choose Xipo's residence.
He quietly sank into the ravine at the edge of the star zone... and before his feet even touched the ground, he froze in mid-air.
A boy of about seven or eight years old stood in the ditch, raised his fair little face, and looked at him quietly.
Yuan Xu certainly recognized the boy, Shi Hanyi, one of the children rescued from the kidnappers yesterday. His little face was rare in the garbage star area, fair and delicate.
In addition, there are two points that left a deeper impression on me.
First, he is Shi Liheng's son, and Xiyue did not hide this. After all, as long as Yuan Xu wants to find out, he can find out at any time.
Second, he called Xiyue "Mom" and witnessed Xiyue transforming into the god of pollution.
He remained calm in the face of so many pollutants, with only Xiyue in his eyes, just like a child with congenital mental retardation.
However, at this moment, Yuan Xu knew that he had misjudged the other party. The other party was not stupid at all. His dark eyes were simply unfathomable.
Subconsciously, he didn't even dare to turn off the mecha, and asked condescendingly: "You, are waiting for me here on purpose?"
Shi Hanyi blinked slowly, stretched out his arms and spread out his hands.
Empty palms.
Yuan Xu: "How did you know I would land here? Did you see me?"
The question was posed, but he already knew the answer: Impossible. The distance between here and Xipo's shelter was several kilometers as the crow flies. Even if they saw him, how could such a small child possibly have made it here in just a few minutes?
Moreover, this star region is full of ravines, and even adults dare not walk in unfamiliar deep ravines. If they are not careful, they will get lost.
Shi Hanyi didn't answer him, but stretched out his hand, motionless.
Yuan Xu remembered and controlled the mecha to retract some of the strange gold, and took out the electronic eye from his pocket.
"You want this?"
Shi Han nodded slightly.
"I can give it to you, but you have to tell me how you calculated that I would land here..."
Before Yuan Xu could finish his words, he suddenly fell down, his two mechanical legs slamming heavily on the ground, and he almost fell.
He was horrified to discover that the mecha's flight system had failed due to insufficient supply of his mental energy!
Not only that, all the Qijin wrapped around his body was shrinking back into the mecha box. He concentrated on restarting it, but not only was it useless, but he also felt a needle-like pain deep in his brain!
Just as he was trying his best to resist this strange phenomenon, a little boy who was not even as tall as his waist slowly walked over and took the electronic eye from his hand.
Yuan Xu clenched his fists, pressing them against his bulging forehead, staring at him: "It's you, you suppressed my mental power?"
The little face was very close, the skin was extremely white, the eyes were extremely black, and there was no emotion in the eyes, as calm as an inorganic object.
Rather than one person.
In an instant, Yuan Xu guessed his identity.
At the same time, Shi Hanyi grasped the electronic eye and pressed the remote control screen.
Pollution outbreak.
-
Butler Ai was tidying up the newly arrived fruits and vegetables in the kitchen. This was not the place to talk, so Xi Yue took Zhai Zhengqi to the corridor leading to the study.
The General's Mansion was divided into two areas by a thick, sky-high wall. The area directly opposite the gate on the left was the residential area. After entering the gate, turning right and passing through a metal gate, one reached the office area for the commander-in-chief. This was renovated by Xihai, allowing him to spend more time at home handling official business and looking after his children.
Many confidential matters were discussed in the office, so a strict security system was in place, especially to prevent eavesdropping. This equipment was difficult to install and dismantle, so the Central Army Corps didn't take it away when they raided the house.
Zhai Zhengqi was obviously aware of this, and after closing the metal door, he spoke much louder.
"If the young lady hadn't asked, I wouldn't have noticed Xiang Jia was missing."
Although Xiang Jia is only a lieutenant, he has been Xiyue's bodyguard for two years and is a familiar face to him.
"That day, the commander came back from the 44th star zone and arranged for me to send a transfer order to Xiang Jia, which I did overnight. It wasn't a big deal, so I didn't pay much attention to it afterwards. It wasn't until the lady asked me to find her that I discovered she hadn't been to the garrison for three consecutive days. Because of the transfer order, the captain of her star team didn't take it seriously. But the problem is, she never came to confirm the transfer order."
According to regulations, after a transfer order is issued, it needs to be confirmed by the person being transferred before it can officially take effect.
The transfer order has been issued, and the notification information has been sent. Regardless of whether Xiang Jiatong agrees or not, he needs to go to the institute for confirmation. Now that he hasn't shown up and hasn't replied to the message, there must be something wrong.
"Did you go to her house?" Xi Yue asked.
"I went there in person. No one was home, everything was still there, and there were no signs of anything unusual."
"Mecha box?"
"Not at home. There were two weapons in the safe, but nothing unusual was found until we broke it open."
Xiyue closed her eyes.
Three days... In other words, Xiang Jia has not returned home since leaving Star Sector No. 29.
That night, despite Xiang Jia's best efforts to suppress her emotions, Xiyue could still see her excitement at the increase in her mental power. Having reached A-level, her combat capabilities should have been even greater, but she had vanished...
"Is it possible that we encountered a high-level contamination area?" Xi Yue opened her eyes and looked at Zhai Zhengqi. "Uncle Zhai, why did you just say that you wanted to ask General Yuan for clarification? Is Xiang Jia's disappearance related to him?"
Zhai Zhengqi is nearly fifty years old. He is a calm old military officer and is very rigorous in his work.
He first denied the possibility of a contaminated area: "In the past week, there has been no pollution above level three in the nearby star regions. With Xiang Jia's strength, even if he accidentally enters a level three contaminated area, he will be able to protect himself. In addition, I have checked the pollution reports of the past few days, and there have been no mecha casualties, and there are no mecha fragments in the contaminated wreckage."
"As for the commander-in-chief," Zhai Zhengqi did not hide his suspicion of Yuan Xu in front of Xi Hai's daughter. "As soon as I suspected Xiang Jia was missing, I informed the commander-in-chief. He denied the disappearance and said Xiang Jia was on vacation."
"Vacation?" Xi Yue sneered coldly, which was exactly the same as what she said to her perfunctorily in the morning.
"I didn't believe it either. I checked the system right away, but couldn't find Xiang Jia's leave application. But Yuan Xu said Xiang Jia had applied to him verbally, and he had agreed verbally!"
Zhai Zhengqi was too lazy to even call him "Coach".
"Then what?"
Zhai Zhengqi paused and sighed deeply, "After all, he is the commander-in-chief of the army, so I can't question him too much. Then I took people to Xiang Jia's residence to look for him. When I brought people back to the station and looked for him again, he was gone. That's why I rushed here... Miss, is he really not back?"
Xiyue thought and shook her head.
Zhai Zhengqi slammed the wall hard: "It's definitely related to him!"
"Uncle Zhai, I remember the Public Security Bureau has the authority to query location information. Can we track Xiang Jia's location on his computer?"
"The garrison has greater authority than the public security station. I tried it the first time, but it didn't work. Either Xiang Jia's computer was forcibly shut down, or she is in a signal-blocking area."
Just as Zhai Zhengqi said, there is only one way left: to ask Yuan Xu clearly.
"I'll call him again!"
"Let me do it." Xiyue said.
-
The computer was vibrating, causing a slight numbness on the back of his hand, but Yuan Xu didn't bother to look at the screen.
His armor had already shed half its body, and of his two hands, only his left arm was still wrapped in Qijin. At the last moment, Qijin reorganized into a flamethrower, forcing back the mutated plants that were enveloping him.
Beads of sweat the size of beans slid across his eyebrows and dripped from his chin.
His willpower was so strong that he actually resisted Shi Hanyi's suppression of his mental power. In Hanyi's eyes, the large flower above his head desperately stretched its stems, trying to break free from the invisible burial.
The strange gold sometimes retracted into the mecha box, and sometimes spread outward under Yuanxu's control, going back and forth like a thin layer of metal tide, more intense than the crazy surging gray fog around it.
"What... do you want to do?!" Yuan Xu gritted his teeth at the boy floating in the air.
Since the mecha mask cannot be turned on, there is naturally no reconnaissance system. Han Yi's face is covered in layers of gray fog, and only a vague outline can be made out.
The mecha's flight system was unable to start up, and maintaining the gun barrel on the back of his left hand from disappearing was the limit of Yuan Xu's ability.
At this point, he clearly understood that Shi Hanyi was just like Xiyue, and even more powerful than Xiyue. At the very least, Xiyue had never demonstrated her mental suppression abilities in front of him.
Mental suppression... not only was it unheard of, but its degree of horror was far beyond imagination. It could be said that if Han wanted to, he could kill any mecha warrior at the top of the pyramid.
Polluted gases poured in from his seven orifices, making Yuan Xu feel as if he was floating.
This is the initial symptom of infection, and then consciousness will become confused and numb until it disappears.
But a sudden thought made him extremely clear-headed.
"You killed Xi Hai? In this way?"
A blurry figure flashed in his field of vision, and the surging force field pushed him back rapidly, and finally he crashed into the wall.
The mutated moss, covered in spikes, immediately pierced Yuan Xu's back. Several mutant vines, sensing the scent of a living person, swarmed over him. Their spikes were hollow, like dried-up needles, thirsting for fresh blood.
However, the moment they touched the force field, they were thrown in all directions with screams.
Amidst the stinging pain in his back, Yuan Xu suddenly felt his mental pressure lift, as if the invisible mountain pressing down on him had vanished. His mental energy surged into the mecha's armor, and strange gold rapidly flowed out, enveloping his body, which was now exposed to the polluted air.
He breathed a sigh of relief and quickly bit the magnetic straw, using nutrient solution to suppress the infection.
But the physical pressure on his body did not disappear. His torso and limbs were pressed firmly against the wall by the invisible barrier. Yuan Xu was confident that he could break free, but it would be pointless.
If Shi Hanyi really wanted to kill him, he would not have allowed him to recover his mental strength.
He looked at Shi Hanyi, who was two meters away. There was no polluted air between them, and they could see each other's faces clearly.
The boy's calm expression finally changed. He frowned slightly, and his dark eyes revealed his unhappiness.
"It's not me," he said.
It turned out that he was denying killing Xihai.
This question is indeed useful.
Firstly, Yuan Xu did believe that the super S-level Xi Hai died in mysterious circumstances, and it was entirely possible that he was killed by Shi Hanyi, who had the ability to suppress the mind.
Secondly, he had seen with his own eyes that Shi Hanyi stubbornly regarded Xiyue as his mother, and pinning the accusation of murder on him might cause his emotions to fluctuate.
Where there are fluctuations, there are opportunities for counterattack.
Yuan Xu smiled, his voice as nonchalant as ever: "Really? I thought you were clinging to Xiyue because you felt guilty about killing her father."
The pressure on me suddenly intensified.
The child is angry.
But other than that, Shi Hanyi didn't show any other reaction. He frowned, drifted closer, and placed a hand on Yuan Xu's mecha.
"Close your eyes."
Yuan Xu was puzzled and did as he was told after a brief thought.
Shi Hanyi had attacked him, but he had no killing intent. The higher the level of mental strength, the more acute one's perception of emotions like killing intent became.
As Yuan Xu closed his eyelids, a bright spot suddenly appeared in the middle of his dark, reddish vision. It shone like a star for a few moments before rapidly moving, leaving traces of light wherever it passed.
It is depicting something.
Yuan Xu tried to focus his attention, but the stars and the picture suddenly blurred. The harder he looked, the blurrier it became. He reacted and dispersed his attention, and the picture quickly became clear again.
It turned out that the picture was not on his eyelids, but in his mind.
At this moment, the stars slowed down, and a square chessboard appeared in Yuan Xu's mind. The stars slowly returned to the center of the chessboard, extinguished for a few seconds, and then shone again.
The stars transformed into countless clones, like blooming fireworks, falling all over the chessboard.
They are not evenly distributed, some grids are dense, some are empty, and they flicker and disappear at the same frequency.
Yuan Xu was shocked.
One hundred checkerboards... this is a miniature interstellar map!
Then these stars...
Before he could ask, the brightness of the stars began to change, some dimmed, and some became brighter, turning into a glaring word: "Mom".
"Mom will die."
Four words, each word appeared one after another, and finally all the stars returned to their original state.
Yuan Xu was stunned.
Mom...you mean Xiyue?
As soon as the thought came to mind, the stars began to change their light again.
"Don't talk."
"It can hear."
There were no words that could describe Yuan Xu's shock at the moment, and no one understood better than him what "it" referred to.
After so many years, he had hoped that someone else would know about the existence of "it", but he never expected that the first person to mention "it" in front of him would be the God of Pollution - one of them.
Then the stars on the chessboard...
Shi Hanyi seemed to be able to sense what he was thinking, and new fonts appeared.
"Yes."
"Save Mom."
"Kill them."
Afterwards, all the stars went out completely, and then only a small number of stars on the chessboard lit up.
-
"Han Yi?"
"Yes, this is the coach's instruction, you can take a look."
Zhang Wei turned on the computer and showed Xipo the message. The sender was indeed Yuan Xu.
Xiyao tugged at her brother's sleeve and lowered her voice: "Why don't you ask..."
Xipo shook his head: "Go and bring Han Yi here."
It was necessary to send a message to confirm with the elder sister, but the elder sister said that we could only contact each other through "Ji Mingshu"'s light brain, and the contact time was set at every night.
Xiyue waited for a while, but did not receive any reply from her elder sister.
He would have preferred to personally escort Han T to his elder sister, but with members of the Central Army secretly monitoring her, this was too risky and she would surely disapprove. Furthermore, the survival barrier had already been constructed, and he couldn't leave.
Xiyao quickly brought Han Yi over. Before handing him over to Zhang Wei, she was still worried: "Han Yi, why don't you stay with your brothers and sisters?"
Han Yi's answer was just two words: "Mom."
He pulled his hand out from Xiyao's and walked to Zhang Wei.
Xiyao asked Xipo for help: "Brother..."
Xipo didn't move. Of the three siblings, only Xiyao was unaware of Hanyi's extraordinary qualities. The eldest sister must have had her reasons for wanting Hanyi to go to Sector 33.
Zhang Wei's team had arrived to clean up the pollution at the edge of the star region. While the pollution level was high, the pollutants were quite simple: mutated mosses and ferns. They finished their work quickly, then regrouped and, following their commander's orders, returned to retrieve Shi Hanyi.
But no one expected that the coach was in the 29th star zone, and attached to the bottom of the cabin the moment the military starship passed through the survival barrier.
Using the same trick again, Yuan Xu avoided the eyes and ears of the Central Legion and successfully returned to the garrison in Star Sector No. 33.
Zhang Wei quickly took Han Yi and knocked on the office door.
"Coach, the people are here."
Yuan Xu nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. --Anything else?"
Zhang Wei: "I heard that General Zhai has been looking for the head coach. It seems that there is something very important."
"knew."
Seeing Yuan Xu and Han Yi walking out, Zhang Wei hurriedly asked, "Captain, won't you wait for General Zhai?"
"Didn't you check the time?" Yuan Xu tapped his laptop. "It's time to get off work. We can talk tomorrow if you have anything to say."
Zhang Wei frowned.
Because of the incident of saving Miss Xi, his opinion of the new commander had changed. But General Zhai said that Miss Xi was now a servant in the commander's household, and she was so nonchalant when it came to General Zhai's official business...
He is not likable either publicly or privately.
Yuan Xu normally traveled by starship. Ten minutes later, the starship landed at the berth on the top floor of the Admiral's Mansion. Before he even left the cabin, Butler Ai ran up to him, looking worried.
"General, how did you make Miss Xi angry? She's been sitting in the living room all afternoon without saying a word!"
Although she had a smile on her face from beginning to end, it was a smile so cold that it made your teeth chatter.
Yuan Xu paused: "Has anyone been here?"
Butler Ai nodded repeatedly: "General Zhai came, and he didn't see you, so he chatted with Miss Xi for a while."
His face changed as he spoke, and he lowered his voice: "What's the matter, General, you have offended him too? Oh my General, didn't I tell you to get along well with the officers? Now, you have offended Miss Xi's family..."
Yuan Xu only picked up the useful ones and listened to them, and automatically blocked the rest of the nonsense.
The situation was very clear. Xiyue learned about Xiang Jia's disappearance from Zhai Zhengqi.
Tsk, it’s a bit of a headache at this critical juncture.
Sure enough, before he reached the first floor, he heard Xi Yue's voice.
Xi Yue glanced coldly at the stairs and said to the computer: "Yes, he hasn't come back yet. Don't worry, Uncle Zhai, I will notify you as soon as he comes back."
He turned off the communication, stood up and walked towards the metal door of the office area.
Yuan Xu curled his lips: "Uncle Ai, is the contract really signed? Why do I feel that she is not a servant but a master?"
"Isn't he the master?" Butler Ai said, there is no servant in this world who earns tens of millions a month.
He gently pushed Yuan Xu and said, "General, you must remember to speak kindly. Just comfort him as you can. A harmonious family brings prosperity!"
"?"
Yuan Xu gave him an indescribable look and walked downstairs.
As soon as the metal door closed, he spoke before Xiyue: "I didn't deliberately hide Xiang Jia's affairs. You are also aware of the current situation. We are both being watched by Qiao Mingjin, and it is inconvenient for us to move."
"So you just abandoned Xiang Jia?"
Unlike Zhai Zhengqi, Xi Yue did not think that Yuan Xu was the mastermind behind Xiang Jia's disappearance. Otherwise, he would not have had to take the initiative to transfer Xiang Jia to the 29th star zone.
The fact was just as she guessed. Yuan Xu discovered that Xiang Jia was missing, but he just chose to stand by and watch.
Yuan Xu put on a face of injustice again: "If you want to save someone, you have to find out where they went first, right? If I hadn't racked my brains and secretly investigated, would you have known that Xiang Jia's disappearance was related to the kidnapping case?"
"Kidnapping? What do you mean?"
"I found Xiang Jia's access record in the garrison system. The time was three nights ago, the day she returned from Sector 44. What do you think she checked in the system?"
"If you have to fart, do it now."
"Topographic map of Sector 40, branch map of Corps 40, and... the military exploits of Major General Ma Liu, ruler of Sector 40."
The optical computer system was a large one, but different sectors and identities had different access permissions. Even Yuan Xu couldn't find the internal details of Sector 40. The information he mentioned, aside from the topographical maps, was only partial intelligence recorded by Legion 33.
The question is, why did Xiang Jia inquire about so much intelligence on Star Sector No. 40?
Although Major General Ma Liu was the nominal ruler of Sector 40, this sector fell under the jurisdiction of Legion 42, so the troops under his command were called "corps" of a lower order. The commander of Legion 42 was Miyadai Toshi...
No, according to Yuan Xu, Xiang Jia started investigating the 40th star zone that night, and he might not have known that Gong Daimin came to the 29th star zone to arrest people the next day.
Kidnapping...
Xiyue suddenly remembered the thieves’ evacuation route, which was a turn in the 40th star zone!
No wonder Yuan Xu said that Xiang Jia’s disappearance was related to the kidnapping case. The kidnapper had accomplices in the 42nd Legion, and Xiang Jia went there to track down the accomplices!
"In fact, all the senior officers under Gong Daimin are suspects. Sector 40 may just be Xiang Jia's first stop. However, she only checked this sector in the system, which means she was lucky to guess the first stop correctly. The accomplice of the kidnappers should be Ma Liu."
"I recognize this name. He's one of the creditors." Xi Yue narrowed her eyes. "Are there any more definitive clues proving that Ma Liu captured Xiang Jia?"
"Yes." Yuan Xu used his optical computer to project a screen with a screenshot from a forum. "Someone said there was a mecha war in Sector 40, smashing the French windows in Major General Ma's house, but there was no pollution. It's a pity that this enthusiastic netizen didn't have time to take a picture."
But according to the time of posting, it coincides with the time when Xiang Jia disappeared.
"Now that we have all the clues, why don't we save them?"
"Not to mention that Qiao Mingjin is watching you, preventing you from taking any action. Even if the 33rd Regiment intervenes, what's the excuse? Can you pin the crime of kidnapping and thieves on Ma Liu based on these indirect clues? Don't forget, he's an officer of the 42nd Regiment and Gong Daimin's confidant."
Xi Yue: "Doesn't Qiao Mingjin represent the central government? We can use him."
Yuan Xu nodded. "Using clues from the kidnapping case to target the Central Army Corps is a good idea, and I've considered it. But think about it carefully. What will happen if Qiao Mingjin takes the investigation team to Sector 40?"
Even if Xiang Jia was still alive, Ma Liu would kill her and destroy her body immediately.
In the final analysis, there was only one way to save Xiang Jia, which was to bypass Qiao Mingjin's spies and directly attack the 40th star zone. However, Xiyue alone could hardly take the first step.
Unless Yuan Xu is willing to help.
But Yuan Xu had concealed the disappearance until now, and his attitude was already very clear: "I have already said that you should deal with your creditors yourself."
Xi Yue said coldly: "I just need you to take me there."
Yuan Xu spread his hands: "I have more important things to deal with. Otherwise, how about you wait for me all night?"
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