At the Black Market, this encirclement and suppression drew countless eyes.
Hidden within the Black Market, innumerable gazes silently watched the battle unfolding in the starry sky.
This was a fight between Stardust Mutant Creature Manipulators and a Stardust Mutant Plant Manipulator.
The two most powerful human professions would unleash their greatest combat strength in this life-or-death struggle.
Any single piece of information gleaned from watching this battle could be sold for a price in the billions.
Even the Empire had dispatched four or five reconnaissance ships, striving to record this epic confrontation from every possible angle.
The universe seemed frozen in that moment. Battle could erupt at any second.
Suddenly, the Black Domain churned.
One after another, whale songs rose and fell, echoing from the depths of the Black Domain. They pierced through the steel defenses of the warships, hammering at everyone’s hearts.
Then, within the Black Domain, moving mountain ranges shimmering with starlight appeared.
They could not be seen on the display screens, but they were visible to the naked eye.
“It’s a pod of Titan Whales!”
They swam slowly through the nebulae. Their massive, streamlined bodies shimmered with patterns of ethereal blue light. Every flick of their tails stirred the brilliant Stardust around them.
Their movements radiated a sense of joyful excitement. “Xiaohe, Lin Xiaohe, we’ve come!”
Lin Xiaohe practiced the specialized mental training method for baby Titan Whales. She could glean much more information from the whales’ simple songs.
“Xiaohe, how did you get so big?”
“The Elder asked me to check — did you bring the Spicy Crayfish you promised?”
“Xiaohe, are bad guys bullying you? Come on, come on, let’s all gang up and fight them!”
There were always a few baby Titan Whales with uniquely mischievous personalities trying to stir up trouble.
On all the warships, alarm sirens let out unprecedented, bizarre shrieks — a mix of high-frequency whines and low-frequency hums!
The Empire’s reconnaissance ships silently retreated several hundred miles. “Isn’t Lin Xiaohe a Stardust Mutant Plant Manipulator? How can she be on such good terms with Stardust-Mutated Titan Whales?”
If the intelligence was correct, they should be mortal enemies!
Andrei wasn’t surprised by this. Mutated plants and mutated creatures were not human; you couldn’t apply fixed human logic to guess their actions.
However, the Titan Whales joining in would add an uncontrollable factor to the battle.
His mind was racing, but he never imagined Lin Xiaohe’s next decision would render all his calculations pointless.
Lin Xiaohe spoke: “Thunderbolt, Ewan, Wesley, lead the fleet and follow the Titan Whales into the Black Domain.”
The Black Domain?!
Wasn’t that a forbidden zone for human life?
So, Lin Xiaohe’s target had always been the Black Domain!
“Alright! We’ll wait for you inside the Black Domain.”
“Party Leader, wipe out the Security Department!”
Lin Xiaohe then used her mental power to communicate with the Titan Whales again, hoping they could escort the ships.
The Titan Whales vied with each other to agree. Those few mischievous baby Titan Whales were still unwilling to give up: “Xiaohe, do you really not need our help? I’m super capable.”
Lin Xiaohe was deeply moved, yet she firmly refused.
Past experiences had taught her one lesson.
Mountains you lean on can crumble. People you rely on can leave. Only your own strength is true strength.
Was the military strong enough? She had risen to the rank of Captain, yet wasn’t she still bullied whenever someone felt like it?
Was Central Military Academy impressive enough? She was the Student Council President of the Agriculture Department, yet wasn’t she still detained by the Security Department on a whim?
This time, if she won relying on the Titan Whales’ power, the Federation and the Security Department would never truly submit.
Only by beating them so badly it hurt, by beating them into submission, would they obediently back down and stay quiet.
“If you’re interested, you can watch from the sidelines.” Lin Xiaohe reached out her hand. Two long whips crackled as they intertwined, instantly forming a massive sword.
Andrei was slightly stunned. Soon, he understood Lin Xiaohe’s meaning, and a trace of displeasure rose in his heart.
“Hmph, who do you think you’re looking down on? I admit, you’re a genius. But geniuses need time to grow. The first lesson in growing up: don’t be too arrogant!”
The Special Operations Unit members attacked in unison. The Stardust-mutated jellyfish that had filled all the shipping lanes began merging together — pfft, pfft, pfft — fusing into a single enormous mother entity.
This mother entity looked like a malformed jellyfish cobbled together from shattered star debris and glowing cysts. It slowly unfurled its umbrella cap, which spanned several kilometers in diameter and was composed of countless luminous flagella and crystalline spines. Within its interior churned a viscous darkness that devoured all light.
This was the ultimate combination technique of the Stardust-mutated jellyfish!
Energy vortexes swarmed out of the mother entity, moving at terrifying speed. Trailing long, luminous tails, they surged towards Lin Xiaohe from all directions like a deadly meteor shower.
They slammed hard against the yellow protective barrier.
Lin Xiaohe watched until the fleet had successfully joined up with the Titan Whales, then finally withdrew her gaze.
She lowered her eyes, looking coldly at the energy vortexes clinging to her shield, greedily sucking at its energy.
At the points of contact, blinding, unstable arcs of light erupted, along with a grating sizzling noise that set teeth on edge.
The massive shadow of the mother entity slowly loomed closer. At the center of the darkness churning beneath its cap was a colossal energy vortex, spinning and condensing without pause, emitting a gravitational fluctuation of pure destruction that even warped the light around it.
Inside the starship, Andrei curled his lips into a smug smile. “As one side wanes, the other waxes. The Stardust-mutated jellyfish absorb the enemy’s energy and feed it back to the mother entity. The mother entity can use this energy to launch devastating attacks, and also generate even more energy vortexes.”
No fewer than a hundred, if not dozens, of Stardust Mutant Creature Manipulators had fallen to this technique.
Every Stardust Mutant Creature Manipulator consumed would become nourishment for the mutated jellyfish’s growth.
Those watching the battle quietly stared at Lin Xiaohe. She just stood there, motionless, allowing the energy vortexes to feast on her shield’s energy.
What on earth was she thinking?
Lin Xiaohe waited until the dark vortex within the mother entity had grown to nearly half the mother entity’s size before letting out a soft laugh. “Had your fill?”
Hm?
Andrei’s instincts screamed that something was wrong. He tried to identify the possible danger in his mind, but couldn’t figure out how Lin Xiaohe could turn the situation around.
Lin Xiaohe didn’t keep him waiting long. “Three, two, one!”
Suddenly, within the dark center of the mother entity, countless dense red specks appeared. Looking closely, one could see they were exactly thumb-sized tomatoes.
At Lin Xiaohe’s command, all the tomatoes exploded simultaneously.
The immense destructive power gave the mutated jellyfish no time to react before it was blasted into a cloud of Stardust, spreading across the border zone.
Sharp alarms blared throughout the Black Market. Every planet hurriedly activated its S-class protective shields.
The Empire’s reconnaissance ships retreated towards the Empire as if fleeing for their lives.
Andrei’s head burst into a mist of blood. No one aboard the Special Operations Unit’s ship survived.
Lin Xiaohe let out a cold laugh and walked to the edge of the Black Domain.
She slowly turned around. Raising the massive black sword in her hand, she drew a heavy, sweeping slash right along the edge of the Black Domain!
The Stardust surged and rolled, as if pushed by a colossal force, compressing into a wall of Stardust.
Upon that Stardust wall, green vines formed a warning, written in bold, slashing strokes:
Let This Be the Boundary — Those Who Enter Uninvited Shall Die!
