Chapter 110: Besieged
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Just when Xia Fei was about to leave the area, the black star phantom bat awakened!
A terrifying screech was heard throughout the Thanatos-class carrier, a strong mental pressure mixed in it.
Xia Fei felt like countless bugs were crawling underneath his skin, inflicting brain-splitting pain on him.
He was no stranger to this experience. He would undergo excruciating pain every time he cultivated to the next rank via taking Phantom’s medicinal concoction. Xia Fei was already quite familiar with this sensation and knew how to deal with it.
He looked sternly at the capital ship through the porthole, using his ocular cognition from the second stage of the Beast Spirit Codex to try and fight back this intense mental pressure.
Xia Fei’s ocular cognition utilized his eyes to unleash a shock that was similar to mental pressure, whereas the black star phantom bat produced brain waves from a special organ in its brains. Although they were different methods of attacking, they achieved the same goal of deterrence or even the control of others.
His penetrating gaze seemed about to pierce through the massive being on the other side, and everything the eyes could see was the battlefield for ocular cognition.
The two clashing forces generated electric currents as they clashed. The mental strength of the black star phantom bat was like a chopping ax, forcing back Xia Fei’s ocular cognition.
All Xia Fei could do was try to hold on and slow down the speed of the mental pressure. A huge beast spirit fire was above the Thanatos, and this black flame almost enveloped the entire capital ship.
Xia Fei knew that only the most vicious exotic beasts would have black flames like those. This meant its level or its brutality was at shocking levels.
Xia Fei’s ears started ringing, no longer able to hear anything else. Red blood began flowing down his nose, and there was nothing he could do about it.
A killing intent exuded from the black star phantom bat, using its spiritual energy to try and take Xia Fei’s life.
The more this went on, the less Xia Fei should give up. The wormhole was already opened, and he could enter it if he just held on for a few more seconds. By that time, no matter how strong the spiritual energy of the black star phantom bat was, it could not affect Xia Fei who would be thousands of lightyears away.
He struggled to hold off the immense pressure exerted by his opponent using his ocular cognition. The area under his control was decreasing rapidly, and the invisible battle line that marked this mental war being waged by both parties was retreating.
Xia Fei was just like a commander, ordering his men to back off when facing a greater foe as he tried to buy as much time as possible for his retreating men.
This required cautious strategies and quick responses to the enemy’s actions as one misstep could lead to the entire front’s collapse.
After all, his foe was like an armored tank, whereas Xia Fei was a medieval cavalryman wielding a saber; there was evidently a huge difference in strength.
The Anathema-class frigate was traveling at full speed in the direction of the wormhole’s opening even as the surging enemy forces were in pursuit.
Fresh blood came spurting out of Xia Fei’s mouth.
The brave cavalryman finally succumbed to all the bombardment.
However, at this moment, the Anathema-class frigate entered the wormhole.
Xia Fei blacked out and fell unconscious then.
After some unknown time had passed, Xia Fei woke up with his brain ringing as if there were bees buzzing inside his skull.
Xia Fei patted the side of his head and barely managed to sit up. He wiped off the blood from his nose before lighting up and taking a long drag of his cigarette.
Phantom, who was next to Xia Fei, looked at him with a big smile on his face as if they had not just had a close brush with death.
“What are you so happy for? You’re not the one who got hurt, were you?” grumbled Xia Fei angrily.
Phantom squinted as he pointed at him. “There are spots of blood at the corner of your one eye; is your eyesight alright?”
Xia Fei rubbed the corner of his eye with his hand before looking out of the window. Countless stars sparkled in the distance, and everything was totally clear.
“It’s fine, just that my head still kinda hurts,” replied Xia Fei after taking another puff.
Phantom stared at Xia Fei for a long while before excitedly exclaiming, “I thought you weren’t going to make it! However, in the last moment, your seventh brain region kicked in, absorbing all the mental pressure exerted by that black star phantom bat. That was incredible.”
Xia Fei knitted his brows as he struggled to recall what had happened. “Are you saying that my seventh brain region saved me in the last possible moment?”
“That’s right.” Phantom nodded.
Xia Fei took out an ashtray, extinguishing his cigarette before washing his face with cold water in the toilet.
Phantom followed behind Xia Fei suspiciously. “You know, I think this is overall a good thing. If you can continuously hold off incredible metal pressure like that one earlier, there’s a possibility to trigger your second gene evolution.”
Xia Fei, who was gargling water in his mouth, actually swallowed it when he heard that. “Second gene evolution? Are you saying I can acquire a second ability on top of my speed ability?”
Phantom was incredibly excited. “Yes! Still, before that, you must be able to handle a sufficient amount of mental pressure. From what I just observed, when your seventh brain started absorbing spiritual energy, the cells in your body began working in overdrive—identical to what happened when you gained your speed ability.”
Xia Fei went through an incredibly dangerous process when he activated his seventh brain region. In fact, he almost lost his life because of that, and ninety percent of the time, the result of doing so was death.
“Are you saying that I need to be on the edge of death to see any improvements? I’m already undergoing horrifying pain when I was leveling up, and I almost died to get my ability. What is this logic?” Xia Fei complained.
Phantom laughed. “Heh, but you can’t deny that your strength has grown rapidly after surviving each of these dangers.”
Xia Fei was speechless. Everything Phantom said was true; getting his speed ability was incredibly dangerous, so surviving that left Xia Fei with amazing potential—something that many envied.
‘What you pay is what you get.’ The more dangerous and treacherous the process was, the more shocking the gains would be.
There was no way someone who did nothing but lazed about all day could become a peerless powerhouse; otherwise, experts would be a dime a dozen in the universe.
“If the opportunity comes, I certainly won’t mind having a second ability; I’m willing to work and hurt for it as long as it doesn’t kill me. Has there been anyone who managed to get two abilities?”
“Of course, and not just two abilities! There have been cases where they got more than three. Still, the two abilities usually end up being garbage. Never has anyone acquired two or more abilities that could be considered passable. Still, while others are unable to do it, I think you can. Your seventh brain region is completely opened, after all,” said Phantom seriously as though incredibly confident in Xia Fei.
Xia Fei thought for a bit. “Whatever. We can discuss this later; we should at least seek an expert in this avenue before we act.”
“Makes sense. We should find a genetics expert and look more into it, but you’ve got to prepare yourself to be a lab rat. As far as I can tell, nobody has ever fully opened their seventh brain region.”
Xia Fei muttered under his breath, “Screw that. I’m not going to be a lab rat for anyone!”
The navigational and position systems returned to normal after leaving the black star phantom bat’s area of control. After a few tiny adjustments, Xia Fei saved his current coordinates into the microcomputer.
Xia Fei could simply return to this location once he was capable of defeating the black star phantom and fly away in the Thanatos-class carrier.
A carrier cost over one trillion star coins. In addition, the ownership of capital ships was restricted by the Alliance, so that carrier was something no money could buy; Xia Fei himself would never let such a priceless capital ship aimlessly drift in space. Of course, all this had to wait until Xia Fei could defeat the black star phantom bat.
Although he did not manage to acquire the capital ship at present, he did gain a top of the line hybrid frigate, a priceless Scarlet Training star ring, and the missing parts for Lunar Eclipse. The spoils from this venture were already more than what he hoped for.
His new discovery pertaining to his seventh brain region also got Xia Fei a bit excited, but he had no plans of realizing it as of yet; it was too dangerous, after all.
Xia Fei was forty-three thousand lightyears away from the Red Rock Base, a distance reachable in a single warp. After setting the coordinates, Xia Fei initiated the warp back to the base.
The Anathema-class frigate went through the wormhole, arriving near the Red Rock Base, but Xia Fei’s eyes could not believe what was happening.
A vicious battle was unfolding near Red Rock Base.
In the distance was a fleet led by three battlecruisers, currently besieging Red Rock Base.
The intense artillery fire sounded like crackling thunder before a storm as a dozen or so warships of varying shapes and sizes were bombarding the energy shields of the Red Rock Base.
Meanwhile, the Red Rock Base was entirely on the defensive, a dozen or so heavy artillery poking out on the red rock’s surface as each returned fire to the attacking fleet of warships in the distance. It was quite a dire situation as neither side gave any intention of giving up.
Xia Fei swallowed his spit and yelled, “Activate the energy shields and prepare the charging system. Engines engaged at one hundred percent; leave the battlefield—now!”
The Anathema-class frigate, which had just initiated a long warp, would need to recharge for forty minutes before its next evasive warp. Therefore, all Xia Fei could do was create a safe distance from the battlefield and hope that they would not notice him. He did not want to get mixed up in an odd battle after escaping the jaws of death of the black star phantom bat.
Blue flames came out of the warp engine thrusters, propelling the ship in another direction to escape the battlefield as fast as it could.
A Mittal Burst-class frigate had discovered Xia Fei, leaving the fleet to chase after him. Evidently, it had treated Xia Fei as an enemy, too.
“Prepare the energy-draining device, lock onto the Burst frigate, and activate all weapons!” ordered Xia Fei in a booming voice.
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