This is really not mechanical ascension
Chapter 296 - 162 The Secret Behind the Turmoil_2

Chapter 296: Chapter 162 The Secret Behind the Turmoil_2

Pleading voices rose and fell, but Atom paid them no heed, his entourage behind him with grim expressions, wielding electric batons, ruthlessly jabbing the arms that reached out. As wails rose, they erupted into maniacal laughter.

Soon, Atom found his target in one of the cells, a hideous smile stretching across his face.

This was one of the golden-eyed people, not a race from the Silver Star Cluster, but from a neighboring Star Cluster, a civilization colloquially known as the Judge Civilization, an advanced species.

Though humanoid in form, they lacked two eyes, replaced instead by a single vertical golden pupil.

The person lifted their head. Due to their distinctive facial features, it was difficult to detect any subtle fluctuations in their emotions.

"Eye of Judgment, it’s said that those with sins in their heart can’t hide from the vertical golden pupil," Atom observed carefully, his voice betraying a hint of fear, before he frowned and said,

"Sela’s cargo, disguised as a passenger ship, why would the ruling species of the Judge Civilization appear on that spacecraft?"

"You should be the one in charge," the golden-eyed person spoke up, their tone calm, "You raiders are after money, name your price."

"Heh heh..." Atom shook his head, "Tsk, a master not short of money must conceal an even bigger secret."

The golden-eyed person’s vertical pupil slightly narrowed, conveying a trace of unease.

Atom reached into his bosom, pulling out an item shaped like a vertical golden pupil. The normally composed golden-eyed person suddenly became agitated.

Even trying to lunge forward, but the gene inhibitor on their body left them powerless to resist.

"Tell me, what is this?" Atom manipulated the vertical pupil, noting its exceptionally hard texture, about the size of a palm.

"Found it among your personal belongings, even disguised its appearance, so carefully concealed... it must be something valuable, right?"

The golden-eyed person glared coldly at him, anger seemingly contained in their gaze, but they spoke no further.

"Clearly, there’s a bigger secret. Good, I like secrets, and my boss likes them even more," Atom sneered repeatedly, "I didn’t expect this outing would come with such an unexpected windfall."

Atom put away the vertical golden pupil and then quickly left the cell with his minions, shutting the door behind them.

Outside, one of his henchmen licked his lips and said, "Boss, it’s said that some twisted interstellar Collectors are willing to pay a high price to collect their vertical pupils."

Atom furrowed his brows and retorted, "Idiot, this is a leader of an advanced civilization, of course, it should be offered to the boss first for his enjoyment."

The minion hastily nodded, "Right, right, absolutely..."

As they left the cell block, Atom, kicking a few staggering underlings out of his way, demanded dissatisfiedly, "Have you found that batch of goods yet? All you know is drinking!"

"Boss, we’re still looking," a raider said with difficulty, "You know, we brothers are good at fighting and killing, but asking them to find something is truly a hard task."

"But we’ve been keeping an eye on that group of green-haired algae, we’re waiting for them to find it before we swoop in to snatch it."

Atom’s brows puckered, and his eyes shone with a serpent-like glow. In an instant, everyone in the chamber felt a chill in their bones, the alcohol they had drunk sobering them up considerably as they promptly stood up straight.

"My brother, the Wind Splitter—Ya Ro, has betrayed me. He took the goods and caused me to lose face," Atom scanned the room, "so, I must retrieve this cargo, no matter the cost!"

Atom’s eyes were full of murderous intent as he continued, "And if anyone dares to drag me down, don’t blame me for not considering our brotherhood."

"Yes!" The crowd responded in dispersed unison, and following Atom’s gesture, they dispersed.

The lackey who remained by his side quickly added, "Boss, we found that Ya Ro seemed to have returned to his home planet recently, but he left quickly again, and it looked like he took someone with him."

"No one knows his current whereabouts."

"Returned to his home planet," Atom frowned, "Blue Star Civilization? A primitive civilization can’t shelter him."

He took the intel device from his henchman to check the news, and his expression changed slightly, "Torch has killed a Prince of the Yitelan Royal Family?"

"Yes, it happened on Jingnan Star, and Ya Ro had not left at that time," the henchman supplied.

"This Li Ming?" Atom flipped through the information, expecting someone special, but shook his head. "Just a D-grade life form."

"It seems to be his junior fellow apprentice." The subordinate explained, their channels of information, having passed through countless hands, were mostly very fuzzy.

Atom’s eyes flickered, "Pay close attention to the Land of Stars. If he wants to lay low, the Land of Stars is the only place."

As for this Li Ming, Atom didn’t pay much mind to him; after all, he was merely a D-grade life form.

...

Li Ming and Ya Ro disembarked from the spaceship; their location in the Thunderstorm Zone was dangerous and easily discoverable, so the two could only disembark early.

Ya Ro buried most of the spaceship into the ground, which barely served as concealment.

Li Ming watched speechlessly; Ya Ro was quite nervous. He initially wanted to wear his Combat Armor, but Li Ming dissuaded him. There were quite a few acquaintances of his among the raider fleet who would recognize him at a glance.

"We are still some distance from where I hid the goods." Ya Ro took out a worn Mimic Mask from his bosom, which looked rather old and even had a yellowish tinge.

"This Mimic Mask of yours..." Li Ming’s mouth twitched slightly. Having been accustomed to better days, he felt somewhat uncomfortable seeing such straitened circumstances all of a sudden.

"Don’t underestimate my Mimic Mask," Ya Ro immediately emphasized, saying, "This is advanced stuff. It covers the whole head, changes hair color, cheeks, skin tone, everything; it didn’t come cheap."

He carefully attached the Mimic Mask to his face, and with a series of operations, the gel-like film rapidly expanded on his face until it enveloped his entire head.

Li Ming raised an eyebrow slightly. Aside from that, Ya Ro seemed to have quite a few items for concealment and escape on him.

"Er..." Ya Ro looked at Li Ming proudly, then his expression froze slightly, revealing some hesitation. Finally, he gritted his teeth, took off the mask, and handed it to Li Ming: "Never mind, you use it."

Li Ming’s gaze swept over the greasy dirt and the unknown solidified substance on the inner corner of the mask.

"Forget it, I have my own." Li Ming shook his head, also producing a Mimic Mask from his bosom, which was decidedly more exquisite compared to Ya Ro’s.

"You have one too?" Ya Ro was slightly stunned but not too surprised. He shook his head, "Yours can’t be better than mine. You can’t find this kind of advanced stuff in the Jingnan civilization..."

He didn’t finish his sentence and stopped as he saw Li Ming’s Mimic Mask also envelop his head. It even conformed to his pupils and covered features like ears and other external characteristics.

It even extended to his shoulders, making them appear a bit longer and altering his physique slightly. Although it was only this small detail, it was enough to fool most body data scanning devices.

Shortly after, Li Ming had completely become another person, clearing his throat twice, even his voice had changed significantly.

A C-grade Mimic Mask, its effect was already quite powerful.

"Damn, a Mimic Mask that covers vital signs," Ya Ro cried out, then quickly lowered his voice, "Where did you get such an incredible thing?"

It was much stronger than the one he wore on his face.

"My teacher gave it to me," Li Ming casually fabricated.

Ya Ro looked envious, "The old guy is really good to you."

"Think of a name, can’t use our real names," Ya Ro said familiarly, "Call me Mad Lion."

Li Ming was silent, pondering, "Call me Azure Dragon," he thought of something on the spot.

"Azure Dragon..." Ya Ro repeated, nodding, "I suggest we travel light. If we can sneak past, we’ll take as much as we can. It won’t be a wasted trip."

Ya Ro had more experience than Li Ming, and finally, he managed to act somewhat like an elder brother.

Li Ming neither agreed nor disagreed. He pulled out a can of spray from somewhere and spritzed some on both Ya Ro and himself.

"What’s this?" Ya Ro sniffed but couldn’t detect any smell.

"It’s for erasing scents," Li Ming said with a smile.