59: Completed the mission without any danger

When outside, Lin Chen (Copy Body) was the captain, and the Sanbao Clone only needed to follow his commands.

The four of them discussed matters together, always prioritizing the main body's interests, while their own safety was secondary.

The four first headed to the academy's logistics department to collect the free small battleship; otherwise, relying on their own speed, the mission objective would be long past its prime by the time they arrived.

Entering and exiting the academy was convenient; there was no need to go through the main gate. They could directly teleport to the public transfer array closest to the academy, then use the transfer array to quickly reach the starfield near their destination, and finally take the small battleship to the destination.

The four carried Lin Chen's soul aura and the auxiliary identity cards Lin Chen had issued for them, so they passed through without any problems.

The Sixth Academy was very tolerant and respectful of Copy Bodys, treating them the same as the students' main bodies.

The main body and the Copy Body were originally one. If the main body was strong, the Copy Body was also strong. In the future, when the students grew up, the Copy Body would also be a Human Race mighty figure, so respecting the Copy Body was not a problem at all.

"Space, it truly makes one uncomfortable."

"It feels like being in a cesspit, and one where maggots could crawl out at any moment."

"That's an excellent analogy."

After three transfers and five hours, the four finally arrived in the starfield near the mission planet. The rest of the journey would require them to travel on their own.

Flying out of the planet's atmosphere, the four immediately sensed the difference between space and inside the planet.

Any planet occupied by the Human Race was permeated by the Human Fire, making it very suitable for Human Race survival, and preventing the influx of cosmic malice.

People from anywhere, upon reaching various parts of the Human Race Territory, would not experience acclimatization issues or discomfort with the environment.

Space, on the other hand, was a true alien realm. Even space very close to a planet gave an uncomfortable feeling, and staying there for too long would lead to acclimatization issues.

This was still within the starfield actually occupied by the Human Race. If it were space outside the Human Race Territory, that would be a truly malevolent place, with ubiquitous malice constantly eroding any living being that entered it.

The four stood in space, and after a while, they adapted to the environment. That uncomfortable feeling was blocked by the Qi Luck Soul Garment and the Cognitive Barrier, forming a self-contained isolated field.

The small battleship was indeed fast, covering a few light-years in just two hours.

"We've reached the mission destination. Activate Spiritual Stealth. We'll enter quietly, no shooting."

Putting away the small battleship, the four activated the Spiritual Stealth Technique, which had already reached the fifth stage. They instantly became ethereal, their presence so low that even the world would ignore their existence.

At the same time, at the Star Pirate Group's lair.

"Boss, my right eyelid keeps twitching. According to the Heavenly Demon Race's saying, a left eye twitch means wealth, a right eye twitch means disaster. Is something going to happen? Should we run?"

"..."

The Star Pirate Group's boss, the eighth-tier lifeform Egudus, looked at his subordinate with an urge to kill him.

They weren't the Heavenly Demon Race; what did left eye twitch for wealth, right eye twitch for disaster, mean to them? It didn't apply.

"We definitely need to run, but our battleship isn't repaired yet. It'll take a few more months. You don't want to be exposed directly to space, do you?"

"Alright, but we still need to strengthen our vigilance, in case the Heavenly Demons attack and we don't even know it."

"That's fine. Once we grow stronger, I'll let you be the new pirate group boss."

"Yes, Boss."

Nielguagua left excitedly, assigning a large number of patrol tasks to his subordinates, wanting to perform well. As for the bad feeling he had just had, he threw it to the back of his mind, as if it didn't exist.

Actually, his feeling was not wrong. His boss didn't listen to him simply because they were affected by the Spiritual Stealth Technique's cognitive interference. Otherwise, with his innate crisis perception, he wouldn't have so easily overlooked the problem.

"Found it. The star pirates' battleship is hidden beneath the planet's South Pole ice cap. It seems to be severely damaged, and the star pirates are collecting resources from within the planet to repair it."

The Essence Clone found the Star Pirate Group's battleship lair, while the other three also found scattered Star Pirate Group members mining resources.

"You first infiltrate the star pirate battleship to investigate its specific personnel composition and power structure. The three of us will spread out among the Star Pirate Group members across the planet, mark them, and when the battle begins, eliminate them precisely."

Lin Chen (Copy Body) gave the Essence Clone the order. The four communicated with each other, all understanding their respective tasks.

Half an hour later, the four converged above the planet's South Pole.

The Essence Clone shared the intelligence he had gathered on the target.

The Drifter Star Pirate Group currently had 35,866 surviving members. Their racial composition was complex, all being minor cosmic races not among the Myriad Races.

Among them, five individuals had reached eighth-tier strength: Star Pirate Group Boss Egudus, Deputy Nielguagua, Battleship Captain Huoyuange, Logistics Officer Lalvis, and Battle Group Commander Wood.

There were over three hundred seventh-tier individuals. Those below seventh-tier did not need detailed statistics; they were all cannon fodder against them.

"Did you detect any connection between the star pirates and the Evil God?"

"That's what I was about to say. The star pirates are suspected of having a connection with an Evil God's Kin, codenamed 753. They can summon a projection of the Evil God's Kin when necessary, not a projection of the Evil God itself."

"According to the scale of this Star Pirate Group, they can at most summon a projection of an eighth-tier peak Kin. Even if the entire Star Pirate Group is sacrificed, they cannot summon a ninth-tier Kin projection."

Having confirmed that there were no ninth-tier enemies, the four were simply going to slaughter them. Moreover, they wouldn't give the Star Pirate Group a chance to summon an Evil God's Kin projection.

When doing missions, it was best to avoid getting involved with Evil Gods. If an Evil God capriciously glanced over, they would be toast.

Before the battle, the four first set up an eighth-tier confinement array covering the entire planet, to prevent the enemies from escaping.

With the confinement array formed, the four remained in Spiritual Stealth mode.

(From now on, Lin Chen refers to the Copy Body, and the Sanbao Clone will still be referred to as the Copy Body.)

Lin Chen constructed a Mirror Space. The Essence Clone boldly struck, directly pulling the five eighth-tier enemies into the Mirror Space, severing their connection with their subordinates, and forming a separate battlefield.

The Qi Clone, through Mirror Strike, precisely cleared the one or two tens of thousands of scattered star pirate members across the planet.

The Gods Avatar infiltrated the star pirate battleship, eliminating the star pirate members on guard and repairing the battleship.

The four had clear divisions of labor and acted swiftly.

Large numbers of star pirates died silently, and the remaining ones fell into panic.

The enemy had not appeared, yet their own people were dying by the hundreds, and their boss hadn't come to save them. They knew it was over.

Some star pirates gave up resisting, waiting for death in place, while others racked their brains to escape, hoping for a miracle.

A miracle was destined not to happen. Half a minute later, over thirty thousand star pirates were all dead.

After the Qi Clone and the Gods Avatar confirmed there were no omissions, they entered the Mirror Space to support Lin Chen and the Essence Clone.

At this time, in the Mirror Space, only one of the five enemies remained; the other four had all been slain.

Egudus had hidden his strength; he was not an eighth-tier mid-stage, but an eighth-tier late-stage, which made him more resilient.

"Heavenly Demons!"

Upon seeing two more "Heavenly Demons" enter the field, Egudus fell into complete despair. Just fighting one "Heavenly Demon" required his full strength. Now there were four equally strong "Heavenly Demons" in the field; there was no way he could survive.

"Even if I die, I'll take one down with me!"

The maddened Egudus began to sacrifice his own soul and flesh, summoning the Great One he believed in.

"Do you take us for decorations!"

How could Lin Chen let the enemy succeed in sacrificing himself?

"Abyss—Mirror!"

A powerful opening move, an extreme strike, instantly obliterating Egudus's soul, forcibly interrupting the sacrifice, and closing the projection channel that had just opened a crack.

"Heavenly Demons, I remember you."

The moment the projection channel closed, the entity on the other side left a harsh warning.

"Heh, so what if you remember? Next time we meet, I will certainly slay you."

Anyone can talk tough.

After eliminating all the star pirate members, it was time for the pleasant task of cleaning up the battlefield and inventorying the spoils.

Lin Chen was responsible for salvaging the star pirates' battleship. It was a high-tier battleship, somewhat damaged and old, but selling it to a recycling company could still fetch one to two trillion federal currency.

The academy's missions were all high-value tasks that had been screened. Aside from academic credits, all other gains were the students' personal property.

The Essence Clone was responsible for salvaging the star pirate corpses, cutting out valuable materials.

Alien corpses were resources for the Human Race.

The Qi Clone was setting up a refining array to refine three widely used resources—Essence of Blood, Essence of Qi, and Essence of Soul—from the star pirate corpses.

In terms of resource recycling and utilization, the Human Race was only weaker than a few races like the Zerg, Undead, and Machines.

The Gods Avatar was responsible for the cleanup, using the Human Fire to clear information residues on the battlefield, and finally planting the Human Fire to gradually transform this planet and the nearby space.

The reason the Human Race was called Heavenly Demons was simply because they loved to farm too much.

Any human, upon reaching a new area, would plant the Human Fire before leaving, similar to checking in. The ultimate goal was to transform that area into one suitable for Human Race survival.

The first standard for a place suitable for Human Race survival was that it could be cultivated to grow food suitable for human consumption.

This was still considered normal, as there were many unclaimed lands in space, and whoever occupied them owned them.

What truly infuriated other races was that Human Fire would occasionally appear in their ancestral lands and occupied territories.

They couldn't extinguish the Human Fire, only use energy counteraction to suppress its expansion.

Many minor races hated the Human Race simply because their race had to expend vast resources to curb the Human Fire's erosion.

Once control over the Human Fire was relaxed, the race would be engulfed by the Human Fire, eventually turning into Heavenly Demon Kin.

And those who could plant the Human Fire in the ancestral lands of the Myriad Races were mostly from the Sixth Academy; only the 'Sixth' would be so suicidal and yet not die.