23: Return

"Awooo!"

The angry roar of the "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon" came to an abrupt halt.

Its scarlet single eye scrutinized the tiny creature that had suddenly appeared, and an immense pressure forced its entire body to tremble slightly.

Instinctively, it opened its massive maw, and a powerful breath attack tore through the air.

Anything it touched along the way—stray meteorites and the remains of Galaxy Beasts—melted away instantly.

Compared to the previous corrosive rays, its power was several times greater.

If it hit a frigate, even with the Ion Shield at maximum power, it would likely be destroyed in less than a second.

But unfortunately, it was now facing one of the strongest Transcendent in the entire Blackstone Star System.

With just a flick of his finger, the Double A-Class "Annihilation" erupted instantly.

The massive black breath attack vanished instantly, like snow under a scorching sun.

In terror, the "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon" hurriedly curled its body up.

Boom!

The remaining force of "Annihilation" slammed heavily into its silver scales.

Those scales, which had remained unscathed after taking a dozen orbital cannon blasts, couldn't even hold for half a second; they, along with a large swath of flesh beneath them, vanished instantly, leaving a gap dozens of meters long.

But strangely, not a single drop of blood splattered out.

"Awoo...!"

This pain, as if a part of its body had been forcibly gouged out, made the "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon" howl in agony.

This was definitely not an existence it could handle!

It forced itself to whip its tail around and turned to flee.

"I suggest you stay still and behave; that way, you'll suffer a little less."

Qin Mie sneered and pointed a finger again.

In an instant, half of the "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon"'s tail vanished completely.

In fact, if not for the high research value of such a newly evolved Galaxy Beast, he would have already annihilated its head directly.

"Roar...!"

Seeing that escape was hopeless, a fierce glint flashed in the "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon"'s eyes, and it actually charged headlong toward Qin Mie.

"Stubborn fool."

Qin Mie waved his hand, striking out with a palm imbued with the "Force of Annihilation."

But at this moment, the "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon" twisted its body, attempting to use its massive frame to block the attack, while its head snapped toward the starship behind, its maw opening to unleash a dragon's breath.

Clearly, feeling that its death was certain, it wanted to force a sneak attack and take some people down with it.

The people in the command cabin watched this scene without a hint of panic on their faces.

Although this monster had some brains, if it could successfully pull off a sneak attack under the nose of a Double A-Class ability user, that Double A-Class user might as well go find a block of tofu to smash their head into.

As expected.

Qin Mie let out a cold snort, and the invisible energy transformed into an arrow, piercing along its massive body, straight from the severed end of its tail right through to its brain.

"Ugh..."

The "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon" let out a muffled groan, the crimson pupils in its eyes gradually losing focus, and its thick limbs hung down powerlessly.

It floated in the void, devoid of any sign of life.

This powerful Galaxy Beast, which had just evolved to A-Class, had fallen here before it even had a chance to make a name for itself.

Soldiers of "Dark Destruction Legion" quickly entered their Titan II Mech and flew out of the starship, using chains to secure the body of the "Bone-Eroding Sub-Dragon" beneath the main ship.

"So strong."

Having watched the entire process, Zhang Huaiyuan gained a deeper understanding of the capabilities of powerful Transcendent.

A monster capable of withstanding over a dozen orbital cannon blasts had been crushed like an ant after evolving.

"However... that power..."

Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes flickered slightly; according to his ability, when the "Annihilation" power had made contact, it was as if it had simply erased that flesh and blood from existence.

"In that case, the Force of Annihilation is very likely a form of antimatter... Perhaps I can use related knowledge to reverse-engineer the genetic chain map of this Transcendent ability; if so..."

"Zhang Huaiyuan."

"Ah! Commander, what is it?"

A call interrupted his train of thought. He looked up to see An Yu standing before him, though he hadn't noticed when she arrived.

She wasn't wearing her combat suit this time, but had changed into a light green shirt paired with a white skirt, looking fresh and energetic.

"Didn't you say earlier that you wanted some Galaxy Beast corpses for research? This monster, having evolved to A-Class, is quite rare. I had them cut off a portion and store it in Warehouse 072 below."

"Thank you."

Zhang Huaiyuan couldn't help but feel surprised.

He hadn't expected her to remember a casual remark he had made earlier.

"You're welcome, it's what you deserve. Also..."

An Yu took out an exquisitely designed card and smiled faintly: "Uncle Qin has already sent the footage of the A-Class Galaxy Beast to the Traveler Merchant Guild. They promised to provide compensation, which includes an invitation to an internal auction. Here is the list of auction items; see if there is anything you need."

Zhang Huaiyuan subconsciously took the card and glanced at it.

"Item No. 1: A Transcendent revolver modified by Master Lunka in his early years (includes three bullets)."

"Item No. 2: A batch of standard-issue weapons phased out by the Free Star Alliance thirty years ago (in good condition)."

"..."

"Item No. 37: robot remains from an unknown ruin (approximately 65% intact)."

"Commander, what does this 'unknown ruin' refer to? Is it a trial ground left behind by a higher civilization?"

Zhang Huaiyuan's gaze lingered on this line of the list as he asked curiously.

"There are indeed ruins suspected to be from higher civilizations, but once discovered, they are tightly controlled by the Empire and would never circulate out."

An Yu glanced at it and shook her head: "So, items labeled as 'unknown ruins' are most likely things someone stumbled upon. Because they don't know the origin, they just make up some stories to drive up the price."

"So it's just unscrupulous merchants..."

Zhang Huaiyuan nodded in understanding, then added somewhat embarrassedly: "Commander, just looking at the names, I don't know if these things are suitable for me. If possible, could you take me along to see the world when the auction starts?"

"Sure."

Upon hearing this, An Yu hesitated for a moment before speaking:

"The ship happens to be heading toward this branch of the Traveler Merchant Guild, so I'll have someone notify you when it begins."

"Thank you, Commander."

Zhang Huaiyuan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

From the fact that she said "this internal auction qualification can serve as compensation," he knew this probably wasn't an ordinary auction.

The fact that she asked him if he needed anything was already giving him enough face; logically, he shouldn't be thick-skinned enough to ask to go along.

But...

Currently, his learning of most knowledge had reached a bottleneck, and looking at that list, there seemed to be quite a few relatively secret items.

If he could see them in person, even if he didn't buy anything, with his Transcendent abilities, there was a high probability he could secretly learn a lot of cutting-edge knowledge.

Perhaps it could help him break through his current bottleneck.

This was an opportunity he absolutely could not miss!

————

One chapter today. Taking leave to revise the upcoming plot. I reviewed it myself and felt it was a bit too dragging, so I'm spending time today cutting out some unnecessary parts to advance the main storyline as soon as possible~~