Chapter 96

Ji Fu panted slightly and took out a specially designed light brain that could function in emergency mode, which worked even in the fissures of the star layer.

The star layer fissures were a particularly unique environment, and the light brain with emergency mode could operate under chaotic magnetic fields, meaning it could also function inside the black hole.

**Beep**

As she expected, the light brain started up normally, although its functions were somewhat limited. However, basic mechanical storage was still possible.

She operated her mech and extracted the beast core from the Violent Rock Beast.

All the usable mechanical materials from the alien beast were stored in the light brain.

When she looked up again, she saw a moving sea of giant rocks.

…A tide of alien beasts.

The surging sea of rocks wasn’t a real ocean, but rather a massive horde of powerful alien beasts.

Zhushi issued a series of alarms, and the entire control interface lit up with red lights.

**Alert! Super-strong alien beast tide incoming!**

Each of these frenzied alien beasts scanned by the mech was a star+ level beast.

The three leading ones were super star+, forming a massive wave that, when it attacked, made the entire space seem to tremble violently.

This high-level beast tide was overwhelmingly powerful. Forget individuals—even military teams could easily be torn to pieces by such a savage beast horde.

Ji Fu, however, did not retreat.

Standing on the ground, she held the water blade in her hand, silently watching the frenzied beast horde. The horde formed a dark mass that surged towards her with a tremendous roaring sound that shook the entire space.

Last night, she had run the data through the system multiple times.

The data showed that she, Jin Yin, and Jiang Fangyue had nothing in common.

From the data alone, it was hard to determine what her special innate ability might be.

But when Wei Lan’s innate ability advanced to super star+, she suddenly thought of a possibility.

If the data couldn’t express it, then perhaps it wasn’t a matter of data but something else entirely.

The characteristics of a person, which couldn’t be quantified, were their personality and preferences.

She tried to analyze this.

From the vast information about the two people, she meticulously derived their personalities.

In simple terms, Jin Yin was a combat fanatic, spending her entire life pursuing the ultimate combat, fighting against people and alien beasts, and pushing the combat-style mech to its limits.

Jiang Fangyue, on the other hand, was a research maniac.

He was passionate about various mechanical studies and devoted his life to scientific research.

He once set an incredible record of working behind closed doors for seventeen years straight.

These two people were extremely dedicated in their respective fields.

Ji Fu, however, was different from both of them.

In both research and combat, she had no shortcomings but didn’t reach the level of obsession that the other two had.

She had a high talent for mechanics, which was more evident in her understanding of materials, innovation, and unconventional constructions.

If she had to say, she was quite good at bombing.

But the pinnacle of bombing could only stay at the star level. Beyond that, it wasn’t that it couldn’t be achieved, but the bombing power was too strong.

An ultra-star level explosive, once deployed, could not guarantee that ordinary citizens wouldn’t be caught in it, and the immense destructive power could cause severe environmental damage.

It wasn’t a matter of ability, but of the excessive destructive power in real-world terms.

Once a bombing started, it couldn’t be controlled like a mech.

Unleashing it would result in devastating destruction.

After some contemplation, she compared the personalities of the two people again and came up with an idea.

Jin Yin was unruly, while Jiang Fangyue was meticulous.

The most prominent trait in her personality… was her strong aggressiveness.

This aggressiveness was not innate.

It was a green sprout that burst forth from the oppressive and bullying soil.

So those who oppressed them, she killed. Those who hurt her, she also killed.

The more someone tried to suppress her, the stronger her rebound.

She wasn’t a carefully nurtured flower but a wild weed that grew savagely in the wind and rain.

Weeds survive among thorns because of their strong aggressiveness, cutting down those who encroach on their space.

It was this aggressiveness that had kept her alive until now.

Combining her special innate ability with her personality, she guessed that her innate ability was centered around attack.

And the more she was oppressed, the more she would rebound.

Rebound from the bottom.

Ji Fu lifted her gaze slightly, looking at the dense tide of alien beasts in the distance.

The black hole would no longer be just a black hole, but her arena for nurturing her abilities.

She would grow wildly amidst this overwhelming sense of oppression.

In the midst of the earth-shaking tide of alien beasts, she formed another water blade in her hand, piloted her mech, and charged into the sky-darkening tide of beasts with two water blades infused with golden flames.

Using her special ability in combat would deplete her innate power quickly, but because her ability’s upper limit was extremely high, the rate of consumption and recovery remained within her control.

She stirred up a frenzy, moving at extreme speed through the tide of alien beasts. Wherever she went, the long blade infused with golden flames severed the heads of countless beasts.

Endless combat.

Her long blade shattered and was replaced, then shattered again.

The Zhushi mech she piloted developed numerous cracks from continuous fighting.

Her shoulders, left leg, and back were all seriously injured.

Her back had been violently slashed by a star-level alien beast, the wound running from the back of Zhushi’s neck down to her waist, creating a huge black crack on the gray-silver mech.

She temporarily covered it with mechanical parts in her hand.

The beast that wounded her was violently torn apart by her mech arm infused with her ability.

Knowing they would enter the black hole, she and Lan brought many high-efficiency, high-strength healing potions with them.

All made by herself.

Even so, her wounds never truly ceased.

No matter how good the potions were, they couldn’t ensure instant recovery. Old wounds were barely treated when new ones appeared, and in this cycle of repeated injuries, she killed alien beasts one after another.

Her Zhushi mech was patched all over, the emergency fixes done in lieu of proper repairs.

The gray-silver mech was scarred, its shell stained with the blood of numerous beasts.

Dark red, bright red, and fresh red intermingled, making the mech’s exterior mottled and weathered.

Time couldn’t be distinguished inside the black hole, so even Ji Fu didn’t know how long or how many beasts she had killed.

She only knew she had developed a mechanical reaction.

Upon seeing an alien beast, she would mercilessly swing her hand and form a water blade to slash.

The long blade in her hand, initially formed from black sea water, gradually turned into a blood-colored long blade.

The blades she now formed came from the blood of the alien beasts surrounding her.

The unending combat exhausted her physically and mentally.

But in contrast to her state, the golden flames soaring amidst the fierce battle became even more brilliant.

The flame, ignited by her ability, started as a golden layer and gradually turned crimson gold.

Now.

Whoosh!

With a light touch, a giant crimson water blade erupted in crimson-golden flames. The golden dragon flame, like clouds, coiled around the long blade.

Ji Fu raised her hand and struck with force.

Buzz——

The long blade tore through the sky, accompanied by a buzzing sound of intense power.

The water blade, enveloped in golden waves, slashed down, and with the overwhelming mechanical force, it shattered the ferocious beast in front of her.

Boom!

The beast was dismembered by the giant blade, its overly mechanical parts dissolving, with only the beast core remaining intact.

In this extreme environment, not only did Ji Fu’s innate ability grow wildly, but her combat skills were also forced to a higher level.

There were too many beasts. She had prepared well in advance, but the light brains she brought were gradually filling up.

In the later stages, she only kept the finest materials and beast cores.

From initially consuming a quarter of her ability to control small bursts of flames, she now precisely wielded the amount needed to cut through a super star+ beast.

Her ability steadily increased under this extreme pressure.

The rate of improvement was almost visible to the naked eye.

Every dozen beasts she killed, her ability surged significantly.

For the first time, she could prompt her ability to recover rapidly without the aid of potions.

Although super star+ was far from the special star level, she steadily progressed in the continuous slaughter.

Breaking through in exhaustion, time and again.

After violently severing another beast’s neck, Zhushi flashed a prompt.

[Mechs approaching]

Ji Fu paused briefly and then looked up to see a pitch-black mech speeding towards her at a rapid pace.

Wherever the mech went, countless alien beasts had their hearts pierced by a black curved blade.

Wei Lan wielded his blade with swift precision, each strike brutal and exact. At extreme speeds, he stabbed and withdrew the blade, toppling a multitude of beasts as he made his way towards her.

Wei Lan’s condition was similar to Ji Fu’s.

After entering the black hole, he too encountered a violent tide of alien beasts.

The difference was that from the beginning, he had been madly killing these beasts, advancing forward.

While slaughtering the beasts, he continuously searched all around for traces of Ji Fu.

Inside the black hole, the scanning range of the mech was limited, so he relied on the mech’s power to push forward, investigating every area for signs of Ji Fu.

From detecting no traces at all to sensing slight mechanical waves, he broke through everything with extreme speed, drawing closer to her.

He had always been like this.

Even back on the Inferno Star, he would overcome any obstacles to reach her side.

No matter the cost, no matter how severe his injuries.

He had only one thought.

And that was to reach her side, to stand beside her, never leaving her in danger alone, never letting her face the darkness alone.

He knew Ji Fu was resilient and wouldn’t be easily buried.

But he still wanted to stay by her side, to be her support, so that in any situation, she would have someone to rely on.

She could trust him completely, giving him her back without hesitation.

They were comrades, the most familiar battle partners, and the closest of people.

With him there, she would never be isolated and helpless.

The pitch-black mech, overcoming all obstacles, quickly reached her side.

Wei Lan’s mech was also heavily damaged, but when he finally stood beside her, his first question was, “Are you okay?”

The alien beasts roared nearby, and another surge of the beast tide was sweeping towards them. Yet Ji Fu smiled and replied, “I’m fine, what about you?”

Wei Lan sighed in relief and said, “I’m fine too.”

Both their mechs were almost unrecognizable, but their eyes met through the battered mech cabins, and they shared a smile.

In the next moment, they activated the mech’s shared mode simultaneously.

The two mechs synchronized in mid-air, unleashing a wild, indiscriminate barrage.

Boom.

Golden projectiles rained down like spring rain, illuminating the world with golden light.

The beast tide that Ji Fu had already slaughtered was further decimated by their combined efforts, wiping out every alien beast in sight.

The battlefield was left in chaos, littered with the remains of alien beasts.

Zhushi and Wujin descended together.

As the mechs touched the ground, Ji Fu finally relaxed.

From the moment they entered the black hole, it had been endless slaughter.

In such a high-intensity battle environment, the mental strain was immense, and by the end, she was almost numb.

After clearing out the frenzied beast tide, they could finally rest for a moment.

However, being inside the black hole, they didn’t know what other risks lay outside, so they didn’t dare to open the mech cabins.

Instead, they stayed inside their mechs, resting and adjusting.

With the mechs in shared mode, Ji Fu could hear everything on Wei Lan’s side, including his shallow breathing.

She drank a nutrient recovery potion and, beside her familiar companion, closed her eyes and fell asleep for a while.

Being able to sleep in such an environment was an exceptional luxury.

Especially a deep sleep without having to be overly vigit Wei Lan, resting peacefully.

Ji Fu slept for just over an hour.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt very well-rested, having snapped out of the endless killing state.

While she slept, Wei Lan hadn’t.

For him, finding her allowed him to truly relax.

He had cleaned up the entire battlefield, standing guard beside Ji Fu.

When she opened her eyes, she heard Wei Lan’s gentle voice, “Awake?”

Ji Fu softly responded.

Wei Lan continued, “There was an abnormal disturbance thirty minutes ago.”

They didn’t know how big the black hole was, but all the alien beasts nearby had been cleared. The noise of killing them and the strong smell of blood could easily attract something big.

Wei Lan combined Zhushi’s detection settings with his mech, significantly enhancing their detection capabilities, allowing them to capture the abnormal movement.

But for some reason, the source of the disturbance hadn’t immediately rushed towards them.

Ji Fu knew why.

She activated the light brain, connecting the two mechs, and began repairs while asking, “In which direction was the disturbance?”

Wei Lan shared the location with her.

After a brief pause, Ji Fu said, “I built a high wall there.”

Specifically, it was a wall made of the alien beast meat she had killed.

This place was too vast, with many types of alien beasts. If they waited for wave after wave of beasts to come to them, it might take years to get out of the black hole.

Alien beasts in this environment, without living people around, could only survive by consuming beast meat.

So Ji Fu had started early on, dismantling the machinery and materials from the alien beasts, keeping all the edible meat.

She used this meat to build a huge meat wall.

The direction Wei Lan had indicated was where she had built the meat wall.

As expected, that thing was likely feasting over there.

Even star-level alien beasts usually had to hunt for their own food.

Imagine an alien beast that had to find food every day suddenly encountering a wall of meat.

Ji Fu had even added flavor-enhancing agents to the meat.

It was like someone preparing a delicious buffet, ready for the taking.

What alien beast could resist such a temptation?

The disturbance they caused had surely alerted the star-level beast, but compared to their two metal husks and their relatively meatless bodies, the juicy and succulent meat wall was clearly more appealing.

However, star-level alpha beasts have very sharp senses.

If Ji Fu had used poison, the beasts would have undoubtedly detected it.

Alien beasts are animals, and to their powerful sense of smell, the complex compounds that might be obscure to humans are crystal clear.

Star-level beasts are also extremely intelligent.

So she only used spices.

Moreover, the meat she chose was the prime parts of the beasts she had killed.

She even lightly roasted the surface of the meat with a mechanical device, giving it a slight charred aroma while keeping the inside raw.

…A truly selected gourmet by Ji Fu.

Beasts living long-term in the black hole would have never seen such a feast.

By now, they were probably feasting to their heart’s content.

This gave Ji Fu time to repair the mechs.

Inside the black hole, they lacked many things, but not top-quality materials.

For the damaged parts of Zhushi and Wujin, she replaced everything with premium materials.

She repaired the most severely damaged parts of the mechs at an extreme speed.

As for the finer details and the entire mech exterior, there was no time to repair or replace those.

Those parts wouldn’t significantly affect combat performance anyway.

After finishing the repairs, Ji Fu poured 200ml of Broken Gilded into the engines of both mechs.

This substance, once in the engines, caused the mechs to cool down completely, making them perform even better than before they had been overused.

After closing the engine hatches, Ji Fu glanced at the sky and softly said, “Let’s go.”

By this time, it had been more than an hour since Wei Lan received the abnormal disturbance alert.

Normally, the pile of meat Ji Fu left shouldn’t have lasted this long.

Unless…

Ji Fu raised an eyebrow slightly.

Before leaving, she had placed a mechanical fan there.

She adjusted the fan to blow in the direction opposite from her.

Two machines—one for roasting, one for fanning.

Could this setup not tempt a star-level beast?

It seemed the temptation was indeed great.

They piloted their mechs, speeding for tens of kilometers, when they heard a thunderous roar from afar.

【Beep Beep Beep】Both mechs issued an extreme danger alert.

【High-Risk Warning】

The control panels flashed, and a high-risk warning popped up.

Even from a great distance, Ji Fu magnified the mech’s vision.

What she saw was three massive alien beasts locked in a fierce battle.

…That line of roasted meat had directly attracted three beasts fighting for it.

The meat wall had been mostly devoured, with only a little left.

These three creatures had clearly started fighting over the remaining meat, leading to this situation.

The star-level beast among them was a red and white beast, being besieged by the other two, which were also nearly star-level.

This star-level beast had red and white feathers and silver-white eyes. When it sensed the disturbance, it immediately threw three feathers at Ji Fu and Wei Lan.

This beast, the fiercest among them, was fighting two others. Yet, it still had the strength to launch feathers at Ji Fu and Wei Lan, showing an unimaginable level of ferocity.

【Star-level beast, Phoenix Sky Killer】

Zhushi displayed a prompt.

In just a breath, the three feathers it launched were already upon them, sparking intensely as they approached, turning the entire sky red.

When they crashed down, it was like meteors striking a planet.

A blaze erupted all around, engulfing their mechs.

The feathers tore through space, creating a violent roar.

They fell like giant arcs of light from the sky, aiming right at their heads.

And this was only the first feather.

Two more feathers followed closely behind.

As the feathers approached, the temperature soared. Ji Fu, inside her mech cabin, felt like she was being roasted by intense flames.

Beside her, Wei Lan released a surrounding quantum barrage before the feathers hit.

Unlike regular projectiles, these were black.

These were made from materials nearly star-level, hastily crafted by Ji Fu.

Though crudely made due to time constraints, Ji Fu had a knack for explosive devices, and their power was exceptional.

Once launched, the projectiles tore apart a large section of space.

As the feathers and the black-red collision fused, it created a space-rending explosion.

When the black and red clashed, it tore open a rift.

The magnetic field within the entire space fell into complete chaos.

In this chaotic environment, Ji Fu launched a tiny bomb.

The bomb was indeed very small, only the size of her palm, and it appeared quite minuscule in front of the star-level beast and their two mechs.

Due to its small size, the bomb was inconspicuous amidst the countless fragments torn apart by the spatial distortion and explosions.

It exploded along with the debris, falling from the sky towards the three alien beasts.

The three beasts, still entangled in their fight, were all affected by Wei Lan’s bombardment and the magnetic field disruptions caused by the feathers, halting their battle.

At this moment, the star-level beast, Huang Tiansusha, suddenly erupted, spreading its wings and releasing all its feathers towards Ji Fu.

It was in this instant.

Ji Fu, piloting her mech, stood at the maximum distance from which she could control the bomb. She linked her innate ability with the bomb, her energy instantly drained, and a golden dragon appeared on the tiny bomb.

The dragon spewed flames towards the two almost-star-level beasts surrounding Huang Tiansusha.

These two beasts were slightly lower in rank than Huang Tiansusha but were on the verge of breaking through to the star level. Their combined force was immense, allowing them to fight Huang Tiansusha for so long.

The two beasts roared loudly in attack—one violently smashing the bomb, while the other exhaled dense ice mist to extinguish the rising flames.

However, they didn’t expect the golden flames to suddenly change direction. The small bomb swerved in mid-air.

The bomb’s trajectory twisted sharply, accelerating between the two beasts, causing their attacks to collide with each other.

A thunderous explosion ensued.

Amidst the deafening roar, the golden flames detonated the bomb.

Boom!

The golden light exploded like mountains and seas, unleashing countless golden fragments. These fragments, like shattered mirrors, pierced into the flesh of the three beasts simultaneously.

“Pfft!” Ji Fu spat out a mouthful of blood.

Using her innate ability so intensely caused her temples to throb with excruciating pain, as if thousands of beasts were gnawing at her brain.

Meanwhile, Wei Lan, who had vanished amidst the explosions, sped towards the two beasts at breakneck speed, using a near-star-level long sword to violently pierce through their skulls!

Crack, snap.

The long sword plunged into their throats with a loud crash.

As the two beasts died instantly, Ji Fu launched another mini bomb. This bomb was even smaller.

When Huang Tiansusha turned, trying to strike Wei Lan while being covered in shards, the bomb pierced its throat.

Bang!

One hit, one kill.