Chapter 86

Employer! Entrust!

These words exploded like a thunderclap, reverberating throughout the meeting room.

The warehouse of the research institute was also managed through a decentralized storage approach.

Storing items in batches helps prevent unexpected incidents.

However, despite these measures, the warehouse that stored Yunchi-4 was one of the key facilities.

It housed premium nutrient solutions, three tubes of at least super-star level talent, and a large stock of Lie Russell and Blue Russell.

Both Lie Russell and Blue Russell are difficult to produce, expensive, and have high failure rates. A rough estimate of the stockpiled quantities in this warehouse indicates losses amounting to tens of billions!

Not to mention the irreplaceable premium nutrient solutions and the super-star level talents with incalculable costs.

What exploded was not just talent but the future of every family present!

Among those present, someone couldn’t contain their anger and slammed the table, “How exactly are you managing things!? The people responsible for protecting the warehouse, and you, Qin Yebai! How will you account for such a massive loss!?”

Zhou Xing’s face was also grim.

The significance of the three tubes of super-star level talent was too great.

The number of super-star level individuals is already extraordinarily low, let alone the fact that using Lie Russell and Blue Russell results in varying degrees of loss.

Very few survive to adulthood to have their talents extracted, and reaching the level of super-star talent requires unimaginable sacrifices.

Yet today, Qin Yebai just opened his mouth and said that Yunchi-4 was lost.

Then the slaughterhouse blew up the warehouse.

This was akin to the slaughterhouse giving everyone a blow from afar.

There were many families present, and very few possessed super-star level talents.

Previously, when incidents happened to the Shen and Si families, it didn’t feel personal, but now, the slaughterhouse had struck their vital artery.

Zhou Xing felt a pain in his liver just thinking about it.

Adding to this was the arrogance displayed by the other side after blowing up the warehouse.

Rationally, they all knew that no matter what, Qin Yebai couldn’t possibly be in collusion with the slaughterhouse, but given the current situation, no one could control their emotions.

If it weren’t for the respect for the main family, Qin Yebai would have been forced to take his own life as an apology.

However, because Fang Yanli was present, they couldn’t directly hold Qin Yebai accountable.

Those who were furious couldn’t even bring up the loss of the three tubes of super-star level talent, which made them feel extremely frustrated.

Zhou Xing’s face was dark and unpleasant as he looked up and sneered, “We are not very clear about the affairs of the research institute. If the executive wants to hold someone accountable, then let’s start with this person in charge.”

In front of everyone, he pointed directly at Qin Yebai.

The face of the secretary behind Qin Yebai changed drastically.

They were all in the same boat, yet Zhou Xing directly pushed Qin Yebai out.

If Qin Yebai really fell into Fang Yanli’s hands, without intervention from the main family, no one could save him.

And once Fang Yanli discovered anything…

The consequences would be unimaginable.

Zhou Xing’s move was truly insidious.

His target wasn’t just Qin Yebai; he was also forcing the main family to intervene and resolve this issue.

Calming this situation was simple: if interests were harmed, someone had to make amends.

Otherwise, would they just let the entire warehouse’s contents be destroyed for nothing?

Fang Yanli’s gaze, piercing through the crowd, landed on Qin Yebai.

Coming from the same aristocratic background, they had been classmates years ago, so he certainly knew Qin Yebai.

However, in his memory, Qin Yebai had a gloomy personality and didn’t like to communicate with others.

He spent most of his time in the laboratory.

During their student days, Qin Yebai’s performance wasn’t outstanding, and he didn’t go to the three major military academies, instead directly entering the research institute.

Fang Yanli didn’t know much about Qin Yebai.

But he remembered that when Qin Yebai was in his teens, his talent was rated as star-level.

This was the entirety of his impression of Qin Yebai.

Until a few years ago, when the Qin family was destroyed, and Yun Chi almost exterminated all the Qin family members.

Only Qin Yebai, who worked on confidential tasks at the research institute, was left.

On the day the Qin family was destroyed, Fang Yanli was at the Fang family in Imperial Star and had met Qin Yebai.

He remembered that Qin Yebai had come to see his grandfather.

After that, he hadn’t seen Qin Yebai again.

He didn’t expect to encounter him here today.

Recently, the evidence Fang Yanli had been investigating subtly pointed towards the research institute.

Involving confidential departments made investigation and evidence collection difficult.

This was his first time seeing the research institute’s person in charge in a high-level alliance meeting.

His gaze was as sharp as a knife, scrutinizing Qin Yebai.

A natural super-star level talent can make one’s scalp tingle even without using a mech.

Fang Yanli didn’t have a deep impression of Qin Yebai, so he had no idea that his existence was Qin Yebai’s constant nightmare.

Qin Yebai’s own talent wasn’t high.

As a child, his test results were only S-level.

At that time, the Qin family was already a major player in the Swine Plan.

Qin Yebai’s talent wasn’t high, but his test results were quite promising.

He had the highest tolerance level among his peers.

Tolerance refers to the ability to withstand the effects of talent.

The higher the tolerance, the more likely one could become a super-strong individual through talent plundering.

So far, among all the young members of the aristocratic alliance, only one person had the same tolerance level as Qin Yebai.

Others had either average tolerance, requiring small frequent injections, or had low ceilings, reaching only star-level or super-star level even after using talent drugs.

Only Qin Yebai had the traits suitable for an artificial super-star level.

Originally, according to his growth trajectory, the super-star level mech left by his predecessors, Jixie, should have been his.

But who could have imagined that Fang Yanli, initially deemed talentless, would suddenly manifest a talent?

And it was a once-in-a-millennium ascending type.

No one knew how much Qin Yebai suffered.

He frantically absorbed top-tier talent from swine, enduring extreme pain with his high tolerance, reaching star-level.

During his painful dormancy, Fang Yanli ascended from D-level to super-star level in just fifteen years.

When Fang Yanli became a super-star, Qin Yebai smashed everything in the laboratory.

He madly retrieved the research institute’s usage records.

Trying to find even a shred of evidence that Fang Yanli had used talent drugs.

But there was nothing.

From beginning to end, there was nothing.

Everything Qin Yebai desperately sought, Fang Yanli easily obtained without any effort.

This person took everything that should have been his.

In the end, he was asked to assist Fang Yanli.

Before the age of 25, Qin Yebai was trained as a mech warrior.

After 25, because Fang Yanli became a super-star level mech warrior first, the main family told him to switch to a mech engineer.

The main family said, “Yanli needs a mech engineer by his side.”

A super-star level mech engineer was also extremely significant to the entire alliance.

But in Qin Yebai’s eyes, no matter how powerful a mech engineer was, they were just supporting Fang Yanli.

He despised it, but he had no choice.

The only consolation was that after absorbing the talent of at least 20 people, his talent had reached super-star+, just one step away from super-star level.

The emergence of the super-star swine Yun Chi allowed him to ascend to super-star level.

Qin Yebai looked up, his gaze heavy as he stared at Fang Yanli. There was something the main family had said that was true:

The mech engineer is the foundation of everything.

After ascending to super-star level, their positions should indeed be reversed.

The meeting room was very quiet, with Qin Yebai facing the anger and sarcasm of these people.

He sneered, lazily leaning back on the sofa.

“Submit to an investigation? The Supreme Office probably doesn’t have that authority.” Under countless gazes, Qin Yebai raised his eyelids.

Under the bright fluorescent lights, his eyes carried a mysterious smile: “I am a super-star level mech engineer.”

A deathly silence filled the room.

The aristocratic representatives present changed their expressions upon hearing these words.

Before this, most of the people here only knew that Qin Yebai was highly trusted by the main family and had extremely high talent.

But no one knew he was actually super-star level.

They knew the talent extracted from Yun Chi was super-star level, but using super-star level talent doesn’t necessarily mean one can ascend to super-star level.

The probability is extremely low.

However, every aristocrat, and everyone involved in this plan, dreamed of creating a god.

They already controlled most of the world’s resources and wealth, but it was never enough.

Above power, there is more power, and a super-star level existence represents the peak.

So, upon hearing the words “super-star level,” many in the room began to breathe heavily.

According to the unspoken rules of the alliance, super-star level individuals indeed enjoy special privileges.

The world’s highest talent, and a mech engineer at that.

Even Zhou Xing, who had spoken earlier, changed his expression.

A super-star level mech engineer could easily strangle them.

The main family had really kept this hidden well.

Actually, not everyone in the alliance was completely unaware of Qin Yebai’s ascension to super-star level.

The chief commander beside Zhou Xing knew.

He had never mentioned it, also due to the main family’s arrangements.

He didn’t expect Qin Yebai to reveal it himself.

The atmosphere was almost solidified.

Zhou Xing couldn’t help but think about the mech used by Bai Yeming in the joint exam.

They all knew Bai Yeming was arranged in the empire by Qin Yebai and understood their relationship.

So, it’s likely that the mech Bai Yeming used was the legendary Huansheng.

The information from the heavenly ranking was vague, and Huansheng had never publicly appeared.

The Zhou family and a few other families had sent people to investigate this mech, but much of the mech’s information was classified, and comprehensive evaluations still rated it as super-star+.

However, later on, the decision to stop investigating Huansheng was made by the family head.

…So, it seems his dear brother might have known about Qin Yebai’s super-star level ascension long ago.

That’s why he was so eager to obtain Yun Chi-4?

After figuring this out, Zhou Xing’s face darkened.

The others present also had complex emotions.

Under the glaring lights of the meeting room, Fang Yanli looked up, staring directly at Qin Yebai, and asked him: “So what?”

With these words, the entire meeting room fell into a deathly silence.

Qin Yebai’s expression faded.

Fang Yanli’s face was cold as he stared at him: “Super-star level doesn’t mean a privileged class, you have no right to refuse an investigation.”

“Of course, you can resist.” He said expressionlessly: “I can also proceed with your arrest.”

Everyone present felt a sense of suffocation upon hearing these words.

Resistance was an option, but they’d have to consider if Jixie, the mech Fang Yanli wielded for nearly ten years, would agree.

In the entire alliance, no opponent had appeared for it.

The feeling of being perpetually suppressed overwhelmed Qin Yebai once again.

Countless eyes fell on him, the newly ascended super-star.

After a moment of silence, Qin Yebai suddenly laughed.

Emotions surged in his eyes, but his demeanor remained relaxed. He slightly raised his eyelids, meeting Fang Yanli’s gaze.

“The executive is right, you can indeed arrest me now.”

He paused, then added with a faint smile: “But I think, compared to me, you have more important matters to attend to.”

“For example—” Qin Yebai stood up, expressionless: “Arresting the interstellar number one criminal, Yun Chi, who has suddenly come back to life.”

In the joint exam venue.

Ji Fu had received the specific location where Zhou Xingyu was resting and recuperating from Tan Xi. She piloted her mech, rushing towards the asteroid in the No. 2 exam area.

Before reaching her destination, Zhushi had already issued a warning.

“Warning! A super mech is approaching.”

Ji Fu paused. It seemed the other party had also discovered her.

They were closing in on her position at extreme speed.

From a distance, the panoramic view of her mech displayed the familiar ice-blue mech.

In just over twenty days, she had created Zhushi, and the other party had also repaired their mech.

Ji Fu looked at the mech, oppressive under the sunlight, her gaze fixed on the super-star level mech’s core and engine.

The current stats of this mech were still ahead of Zhushi.

After all, it was close to a super-star level mech, much stronger than her purely super-star+ one.

Ji Fu’s innate talent was only super-star level.

In terms of both talent and mech, she was far behind the person in front of her.

Meeting at this moment, she was at a complete disadvantage.

However, Ji Fu did not intend to retreat.

The two mechs faced off in the quiet expanse of outer space.

Ji Fu’s Zhushi was the first to launch an attack.

The iridescent gray-silver mech in front of her instantly vanished.

Bai Yeming’s expression darkened as he looked up at the mech’s prompt.

“Strobe attack, frequency 7.5hz, trajectory shifting!”

Unlike Fang Yuan, who was previously helpless, Bai Yeming’s high-level mech could directly capture Zhushi’s movements.

Bai Yeming’s mech operated quickly, mapping out Zhushi’s movement trajectory at extreme speed.

The ice-blue mech raised its hand, causing the surrounding pressure to surge and an intense electrical buzzing sound to emanate from its extreme mechanical power.

With a loud punch, it struck to the right.

Crack!

The unexpected, violent punch directly hit the flickering Zhushi.

The heavy punch landed on Zhushi’s gray-silver shell, sparking a large burst of flames.

“Heavy punch impact, mech defense damaged, current damage level: 37%”

Despite completely detecting her movement trajectory, the opponent’s violent punch still couldn’t penetrate her mech’s defenses.

Ji Fu slightly smiled, satisfied with the customized shell of Zhushi.

“What is that?”

“Did I just imagine it… When Bai Yeming attacked Ji Fu, her mech’s shell seemed to flow like water.”

“Yes, it was like a watery flow.”

The super-star level mech engineer at the examination site suddenly stood up in surprise: “It’s the Dwarf Liquid Core.”

When Ji Fu’s mech appeared today, everyone could see it was made of Dwarf Liquid Core.

But more important than the material used was that she managed to retain its properties during construction.

As her opponent, Bai Yeming felt it most deeply.

Under his mech’s heavy blow, it felt like hitting water.

His eyes darkened.

In the next moment, the cannons on both shoulders of the ice-blue mech synchronized, and a powerful golden fish missile tore through space, directly targeting Ji Fu’s Zhushi.

The missile sped towards her.

Ji Fu stepped back, entering strobe traversal.

But these golden fish missiles had unique materials, and upon her entering strobe, they split and exploded mid-air.

“Beep beep beep” Zhushi issued an urgent warning.

“Strobe broken”

The two fish missiles violently exploded, directly breaking Ji Fu’s strobe traversal!

The viewers were stunned.

“This strength is ridiculous, right? Could the heavenly rankings be wrong? Impossible!”

“Otherwise, how could the fifth beat the third so badly?”

They already knew how terrifying Ji Fu’s mech was when she eliminated Fang Yuan before.

But now, facing this Tahe, why was it still so tough?

The scene was bizarre, even the chief examiner frowned.

With the strobe broken, Zhushi’s speed dropped by at least 50%.

And as Ji Fu emerged from the strobe, she was met with Bai Yeming’s torrent of heavy punches.

The overwhelming punches rained down on Zhushi.

The heavy blows triggered a red alert on Zhushi.

“Warning! Defense system damaged by 58%”

“Warning! Defense system collapsed”

This mech wasn’t truly super-star level, it just had a super-star level core.

In real combat, it could only manage this much.

Under Bai Yeming’s heavy punches, Zhushi’s defense was shattered, relying on the Dwarf Liquid Core’s properties to hold together.

But even so, Zhushi’s shell bore the marks of the heavy punches.

In such a passive situation, Ji Fu still didn’t engage her mech’s berserk mode.

The control panel in front of her was all red, yet Ji Fu remained calm.

Only as Bai Yeming’s second round of furious punches descended:

“Generated impact punch trajectory”

In the silent outer space, Zhushi’s red eyes suddenly lit up.

In that moment, the mech’s eyes glowed as if infused with a soul.

Two arcs of light slid across the mech’s body, the red suddenly surged, engulfing the blue arcs.

On the mech’s shell, a red-hot layer formed.

At that moment, Ji Fu, mid-air, caught Bai Yeming’s violent punch.

The part of Bai Yeming’s mech that made contact began to burn fiercely.

“Strong burn attack”

He paused for a moment.

In that moment, Zhushi’s thunderous strike hit his shoulders.

The impact erupted in explosive flames.

In terms of pure combat strength, Ji Fu and Zhushi were no match for Bai Yeming.

So Ji Fu took an unconventional approach.

What Bai Yeming relied on was this over-spec mech.

As a mech engineer, she knew mech structures best.

Let’s see how a mech engineer fights.

The talent value in the lower right corner of Ji Fu’s interface emptied as she raised her hand.

She raised her hand, forming a blade with her fingers.

Unlike her previous mechs like the Moon Devourer, this mech was not equipped with any weapons.

Because the mech itself was a weapon.

The gray-silver mech shell flowed like water, transforming into a water blade.

At the moment of her violent slash, the water blade cut from Bai Yeming’s right shoulder, where the fish missile launcher was, down to the mech’s chest engine.

Crack, scrape.

Amidst the explosive sparks, Bai Yeming’s mech was directly split open with a crack.

However, the crack was quite limited; the super-star level engine remained intact, directly withstanding the forceful slash.

Bai Yeming immediately raised his hand, clamping down on Ji Fu’s slashing right hand, intending to tear off the mech arm.

But before he could violently rip it apart, a sharp pain erupted from his right shoulder.

The pain came suddenly and fiercely, causing Bai Yeming’s vision to darken.

He looked up sharply to see blazing flames emanating from Ji Fu’s hand.

“What is this…?”

Polar Night Fire.

It was the most explosive attack method of the Polar Night Twin-headed Snake.

But when the Polar Night Twin-headed Snake sprayed this fire before, it only deformed the mech’s shell and didn’t cause such horrific damage.

Ji Fu’s fire was so powerful because of the crack she had created.

That crack was at the mech’s circuitry connection point.

Ji Fu had meticulously calculated the size, depth, and connection point of the crack.

Ensuring that the Polar Night Fire would burn fiercely inside his mech!

Sure enough.

A second after the intense pain appeared, the fire surged through his entire body.

“Mech anomaly detected, initiating regeneration mode”

The reason this mech was called Regeneration was because it had self-repair capabilities during combat.

Once the regeneration mode was activated, the burning pain subsided slightly.

The mech’s circuitry was covered with an ice-blue coolant, forcibly extinguishing the invading Polar Night Fire.

With the burning pain subsiding, Bai Yeming immediately went berserk.

Sweat still on his forehead, he raised his hand without any reservations.

“Destruction mode activated”

Ice-blue light waves surged from both sides of the mech. The instant these light waves were released, space twisted and tore apart, and amidst the endless roar, only the violently pouring light waves could be seen.

The light waves bombarded like water, and the residual waves hit a nearby shattered asteroid.

The asteroid was directly blasted into fragments, disintegrated by the explosive light waves.

The light waves twisted and surged fiercely towards Ji Fu.

She neither dodged nor evaded.

Zhushi’s panel flashed wildly, and amidst the pervasive red light, a prompt appeared.

“Melting Point, 1700%”

The light wave’s bombardment continued.

Zhushi did not shatter under the intense bombardment.

But the entire mech was on the verge of collapse.

The gray-silver shell was unknowingly covered with deep blue arcs of light.

Under the onslaught of light waves, this layer of arc light solidified on the mech’s surface, crazily absorbing the light waves.

However, the light wave’s attack power was too strong, far exceeding the absorption limit.

Under the intense impact, Zhushi’s mech shell developed cracks.

Like flowers blooming on ice, fragile yet exuding a strong sense of beauty.

“Warning! Melting point has reached the limit”

“Warning! Mech is about to explode”

Absorbing too much light wave had pushed Ji Fu’s Zhushi to the brink of self-destruction.

“Explosion progress 37%, 59%…98%”

All the viewers in the live broadcast were stunned by this scene.

“Is she going to self-destruct?”

“This mech can’t hold on and is about to explode, why hasn’t she been eliminated yet???”

In the scene, Ji Fu glanced at her badge.

The badge she was wearing was scorching hot, like a ball of fire burning at her waist.

The elimination mechanism of the badge had a numerical limit as well.

And now, her mech was just 2% away from exploding, and she was only 1% away from being eliminated.

At that moment.

The overwhelming light waves from Bai Yeming abruptly halted.

Ji Fu paused, then chuckled lightly: “Indeed, approaching super-star level, but always only approaching.”

Under countless gazes, she calmly said, “And a thief will always be a thief.”

She raised her hand and pressed a button.

Click.

With the button pressed, the overwhelming ice-blue light waves, ten times stronger than before, violently erupted.

The surging light waves, like greedy, crazed seawater, instantly engulfed Bai Yeming.

The explosive light waves directly pierced through the entire mech in front, except for the engine!

And after the violent light waves subsided, Zhushi, which had halted the self-destruction process, went berserk under Ji Fu’s control.

She traversed the pitch-black outer space, and after the light waves ceased, she struck from behind Bai Yeming with a heavy punch.

Boom!!!

The massive punch shattered the cockpit, the head of Bai Yeming’s mech, into pieces.

Unable to penetrate the super-star level engine, she instead obliterated the mech’s head.