Abyss Solo
Chapter 386 - 180 Valkyrie Striving to Develop_2

Chapter 386: 180 Valkyrie Striving to Develop_2

blinked.

That interesting old butler, could he really have just been reformatted?

"Yes, boss, I’ll do it right away."

Lyu replied softly, and brought up a small projection screen on Yang Ming’s watch.

"There’s an emergency on this side, boss, it’s the Molly Miss Mining Group."

Yang Ming immediately tensed up, his brain becoming abnormally excited.

"Did you find the Valkyrie?"

"We only found traces of it, using mining drones to conduct subterranean exploration. There should be results in about half an hour."

Yang Ming turned his head towards 026, "Bring the car over."

"Okay, boss," 026 turned and ran towards the parking lot.

Yang Ming said, "Send everything to me, detail by detail."

"Okay, boss," Lyu sighed slightly, "Based on current calculations, this situation is not good news for you."

Yang Ming: ...

What’s going on?

...

Half an hour later, inside the hover car traveling along the empty riverside road.

Yang Ming looked at the detection report sent back by Lyu, and he was...

Numb.

Completely numb.

The origin of the matter had to start with the initial intention behind the founding of the Molly Miss Mining Group.

Last time, the Valkyrie took a leisurely outing, ignorant of the world’s dangers, triggering the Hell-Level instance "Wrath of the Empire," and got chased and beaten by Sherman special forces.

Sherman’s special forces had always wanted to capture the Valkyrie, but in the end, they had no choice but to use a gunship.

They originally thought the Valkyrie would be melted with one blast, but to their astonishment, the abnormal Valkyrie survived and was captured by the Sherman Imperial Special Forces.

Having learned from the Valkyrie seizing their ship, the special forces took extreme measures, and after the Valkyrie was unable to escape, she dissolved herself, leaving behind a heap of dead cells.

Yang Ming also learned of the Valkyrie’s contingency plan after she dissolved.

She had left some cellular tissue hidden on the original planet where she first appeared and used some inexplicable means to recover most of the energy from that body.

—At that time, Yang Ming also seized a tenth of the odd energy, greatly improving his own strength.

Following the adage "strike when the enemy is at a disadvantage," Yang Ming instructed Lyu to purchase several mining ships to search the Constant Star System where the Valkyrie originally appeared.

The Valkyrie was currently incapable of jumping to other star systems, so Yang Ming and Lyu determined she was most likely hiding in that system.

As time passed with no trace of the Valkyrie, those mining ships continuously found several valuable mineral veins, allowing the Molly Miss Mining Group to rapidly develop into a rising star in the industry.

Of course, that wasn’t important.

What mattered was that as the group expanded, they had more ships and gradually extended the search into other Star Domains.

Yet they still never found any trace of the Valkyrie.

Lyu even organized a Valkyrie alert network using the mining ships, to notify Yang Ming in the New Federation or Wind when the Valkyrie was found.

Until today.

This mining group finally proved its worth when a high-tech Detection Ship discovered something unusual.

"At first, the captain noticed an anomaly on a mineral vein at the outer edge of the mantle layer," Lyu quietly explained,

"This composite mineral contains several rare elements, which are used in the construction of curvature engines, hence their significant value.

"Similarly, according to Sherman Empire’s latest ’Insect Clue Summary,’ such occurrences would be prioritized as hidden Insect Swarms consuming these minerals, including elements that the queen requires for evolution. Extracting enough elements would necessitate processing massive amounts of raw ore, potentially causing this kind of fault.

"But at this time, the biological detectors showed no reaction. Even the equipment we produced, based on Miss Hera’s research, showed no response.

"The captain deployed unmanned detection devices and a highly efficient ground probe, capturing these images."

On the projection screen, the ground probe burrowed through the underground maze, where insect corpses lay everywhere.

This was a swarm believed to have evolved to the Third Rank, with some Second Rank adult insects present; most of the insect corpses were intact, as if they had simply ended their lives silently, while a small portion looked miserable, having had limbs torn off.

Yang Ming felt a chill in his hands and feet.

He understood what the bad news Lyu mentioned was.

The Valkyrie had decimated this swarm.

Her power must have grown once again.

"How did she know?"

Yang Ming frowned in thought, "Lyu, estimate when this fight occurred."

"We need to collect samples of insect corpses to determine that," Lyu said slowly, "From the state of the damaged corpses, it happened at least half a month ago."

Yang Ming raised his hand to rub his forehead.

"How did the Valkyrie know that killing insects could enhance her power?"

"Could she also sense our side?"

"But that’s so far away... no, the Battle of Zubin Star took place inside the Empire’s domain, and it’s possible the Valkyrie happened to encounter the Insect Race..."

Silent, Yang Ming continued watching the video footage.

This planet was outside of their original exploration range; how had the Valkyrie crossed star systems and escaped his detection?

Could she now jump between star systems?

Ancient God Life Forms supposedly couldn’t jump.

But then again, the humanoid Ancient God Life Form was already a major breakthrough, so some other abilities weren’t impossible.

Yang Ming suddenly felt a pang in his heart.

"Stop playing around, let’s go back. Bring my Vaglu General Battleship here, only the battleship could offer me a little comfort," sighed Yang Ming, "Prepare the ship immediately, if necessary, dismantle the stern of a 500-meter Star Patrol Ship to make a full-combat ship."

"Okay, boss, I’ll get on it right away."

While driving, 026 whispered, "Boss, is our vacation over?"

"Do you still want to go home?" Yang Ming asked considerately.

"No, Lyu handled the surveillance for me, so I can check in on their life anytime," 026 giggled, "I feel safer around you, boss."

Yang Ming’s mouth twitched slightly.

The Valkyrie had already entered her hunting phase!

There wasn’t the slightest sense of safety to speak of right now.

Lyu popped up again to inquire, "Boss, how do we handle this insect spot we discovered?"

Yang Ming thought for a moment, "Report it normally, let the Sherman Empire take this seriously, and reward the captain and crew, but be cautious about not drawing attention to our group."

"Yes, boss, utilizing the Sherman Empire’s special forces against the Valkyrie is certainly a wise move."

"I’m even considering becoming a junior officer in the Imperial Special Forces now."

Lyu laughed, "The special forces recruitment screening must be rigorous, we don’t recommend taking that risk."

Yang Ming waved a hand dismissively, too tired to even complain.

With the Valkyrie unchecked, he had no right to slack off.

...

"Mm hum hum~"

After a busy day, the merchant ’Old Haddon’ soaked his feet in a basin of hot water, letting out a soft sigh.

Next to him, a mechanical technician squatted down and began massaging Kolev’s feet, with such gentle movements that it brought a satisfied smile to Kolev’s face.

Now this was life.

Not just having wealth, but the importance lay in having prestige and garnering respect and admiration wherever you went.

He would say that deciding to leave his retirement estate to explore with Yang Ming was the most sensible decision he made in his later years.

Kolev activated the display on the technician’s head, checking on Molly’s secret report, his lips curling into a charming smile.

Hmm? A new email?

A public email at that?

Kolev was a bit puzzled, casually opening the cross-regional mail.

A picture popped up, showing a robot picking up a laser pistol and aiming it at its own forehead, seemingly about to pull the trigger.

Below the picture was a line of dark red text.

[Master, do you regret leaving us behind?]

Kolev frowned slightly.

What was this about? A prank? Or a new form of intimidation?

Kolev nonchalantly deleted the email.

He didn’t notice that in front of him, the camera representing the robot technician’s eyes flickered slightly.