This is really not mechanical ascension
Chapter 300 - 164: Goods in Hand_2

Chapter 300: Chapter 164: Goods in Hand_2

Li Ming expertly pulled out the smart terminal, preparing to first acquire advanced permissions for the spacecraft.

Ya Ro’s story had some holes, and Li Ming believed the other party wasn’t aiming to harm him but must have other reasons. To avoid any surprises, he wanted to understand clearly.

The lights on the ship flickered non-stop. Li Ming began to absorb metal energy. The density of the Star Magnetic Alloy metal energy wasn’t very high, especially compared to the star core.

This also meant that he needed more time to completely digest these materials.

Time ticked by, and two hours later, Duke Bai Ye got off a ground-based, small flying vehicle, his brow furrowed, with corpses laid out on the ground.

Neil quickly approached to report, "Your Grace, the fourth squad has been wiped out. However, we couldn’t find Colonel Sermo’s body."

"Moreover, the colonel’s armor has gone offline, making it impossible to determine his location."

Duke Bai Ye’s expression remained unchanged. It was precisely because the Major had not returned that the temporary command center became suspicious. After reporting to him, he sent people to confirm.

"We found the body of the great axe—Lu Ka. He was a Class C life form," Neil added.

Duke Bai Ye’s expression changed slightly. He quickly moved forward and found the body cut into several pieces, the edges of the wounds charred. This type of injury gave him an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.

"According to the colonel’s report, he was ambushed. It should have been two against one, yet he didn’t mention killing one," Duke Bai Ye’s eyes flickered.

"The body wasn’t taken away but left here. I recall raiders usually freeze the corpses of their dead comrades to extract every last bit of value."

"There’s a problem," Duke Bai Ye faintly realized something as he scanned around. The earlier report about "Sermo" was probably fake. "There’s a third party on this planet," he demanded the map of this area.

Startled by the words, Neil quickly fetched the smart terminal. Duke Bai Ye immediately saw a dark area not far from here.

"What is this place?"

"It’s a supermagnetic thunderstorm zone; electronic systems in it will encounter severe interference," Neil explained. "The colonel was responsible for searching this area. After being ambushed, he reported to headquarters that the area was clear of suspicion."

"Clear of suspicion? I suspect it’s right here!" Duke Bai Ye’s eyes flashed, his voice grave, "Get everyone here, and conduct a thorough search of this area!"

"Wait!" He stopped Neil again, adding, "Not all, take half of each squad, leave five Class C life forms, bring three over."

"Understood!"

Duke Bai Ye looked toward the dark storm, his gaze deep.

...

Soon, three more hours had passed. Ya Ro had been highly tense, and at this moment, was somewhat fatigued as he stared at the location of the spacecraft.

"Little brother, what on earth are you doing?"

He was anxious internally. Their disguise wouldn’t fool anyone for long. It was fine on the raiders’ side since they were lax with rules.

But it was different for the Sela people. The colonel’s delay in returning would definitely raise concerns. A slight investigation at the scene would reveal something amiss.

Several times he had thought about checking on what Li Ming was doing, but recalling the previous close call that had almost gotten him killed, he suppressed the urge.

"You guys go over there..." Amid the roaring sounds of the raging storm, a faint human voice came through, and Ya Ro’s face instantly changed.

Cautiously edging closer to the rim of the cave, he looked down to see several fully armed Sela people inching along the floor of the nearby canyon.

They kept a careful distance so that each could see the others, ready to alert at the first sign of trouble.

"Shit, they really came!" Ya Ro cursed himself for jinxing it, growing increasingly agitated,

The only advantage now was that in the Thunderstorm Zone, electronics were disrupted.

Even if discovered right away, it would take some time to relay the message back.

This was their only chance, to make a break for it, pull along Li Ming, and maybe, with his unique ability to navigate blindly, they might have a chance to escape.

Ya Ro composed himself, his gaze gradually sharpening, his right hand silently drawing a black dagger from his lower leg, the blade humming as it vibrated rapidly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, several muffled noises rang out, and Ya Ro was taken aback, only to see several Sela people staggering and falling down.

"Who!" The shout echoed and gradually faded into the storm.

"Ha, didn’t expect these Sela people to have some skills." A familiar tone sounded as several raiders jumped down from above, expertly taking portable items like firearms from the bodies.

"The boss is really impressive, even the Sela people’s covert troop movements were detected by him, scooping up easy profits." Several guys grinned, looking towards the direction of the spaceship, having clearly noticed it.

Ya Ro cursed them as fools internally.

Sure enough, several ice pillars shot out from the storm, piercing through the heads of several men accurately, their arrogant smiles freezing on their faces as they fell.

Even before the person arrived, a chilling coldness spread, with Duke Bai Ye’s figure flickering in and out of visibility within the black sandstorm.

At that moment, his pupils had turned white, white particles floated around his mouth and nose, ice spread under his feet, and fully armed Sela soldiers followed him.

"Duke, the spaceship is indeed here," Neil pointed excitedly at the spaceship not far away.

Duke Bai Ye’s face showed little excitement as he looked down at the bodies of the raiders, while a grating laughter came from the other side.

"Haha, thanks for leading the way, Your Grace." Ya Ro was startled and crawled in the cave, daring not to make any move.

Atom, accompanied by a large number of raiders, approached from the other side, his eyes gloomy.

The spaceship was in the middle of both groups, and immediately it was a tense standoff, with dark muzzles pointed at each other.

Duke Bai Ye spoke with a cold expression, "I underestimated you."

"Haha..." Atom modestly said, "We raiders don’t have as many sophisticated devices as you do."

"So, I only stick to one principle, leave the professional tasks to the professionals. We only know how to fight, so all we need to do is keep an eye on you, and any movement, as long as we follow, can’t be wrong."

Duke Bai Ye snorted coldly, but then heard Atom say, "According to the raiders’ rules, Your Grace of Sela, if we encounter something valuable, those who are capable swallow it alone, those who aren’t share it half and half."

"So, how about half each?" Atom proposed.

Although they were numerically superior, they lacked the professional competence of the Sela people, and fighting was not a good choice.

"Nonsense!" Neil shouted in a deep voice, "This cargo was originally ours, the Sela Civilization’s."

"What child is this?" Atom’s gaze fell on Neil, his snake-like eyes instantly chilling Neil to the bone.

Duke Bai Ye was noncommittal and instead asked, "The man under you named Ya Ro, why did he suddenly betray?"

Ya Ro’s heart skipped a beat.

Atom grinned without humor, "Your Grace, why suddenly bring this up?"

Duke Bai Ye spoke indifferently, "I am just curious, if that man had not betrayed, this cargo should have already fallen into your hands."

He was not very interested in finding the cargo, it was merely an excuse, he was more curious about the matters related to Li Ming.

"Hmm..." Atom snorted coldly, his expression gloomy, "Who knows what got into that fool’s head."

"You don’t know?" Bai Ye scoffed, "You are an Advanced Life Form, and yet when someone under you makes such a big mess, you don’t even know the reason?"

"Tell me the real reason, and we’ll split the cargo half and half."

Atom frowned, seemingly hesitating, then scoffed coldly, "It’s not a big deal. That Ya Ro, is from the Interstellar Alliance’s rapid response department of interstellar raiders."

"Hm?" Bai Ye looked intrigued, "Anti-raiding department?"

"Yes," Atom felt somewhat embarrassed, annoyed, he said: "Who knew you hid the goods in a travel spaceship, we were planning a massacre after grabbing the goods, he got a bout of conscience, so he betrayed us."