Chapter 97

Bang!

The massive body of the beast crashed to the ground.

Ji Fu’s mech, Zhushi, also fell from midair, Landing with a heavy thud.

Her forehead was drenched in sweat, and she leaned back weakly in her seat, her face exceptionally pale.

While she hadn’t laced the meat with any toxins, she had used a large amount of spices.

In high doses, these spices caused mental fatigue.

This significantly slowed down Huang Tiansusha’s reaction speed.

Additionally, the spices had attracted other beasts. Instinctively, beasts fought over food, which led to the two beasts of lower rank attacking Huang Tiansusha.

Before their arrival, the two beasts had already sustained some injuries in the fight, while Huang Tiansusha remained in top condition.

Even under the effects of fatigue and being entangled with the two beasts, it could still release deadly feathers.

… Its strength was indeed formidable.

Fortunately, the beast did show signs of mental fatigue. Ji Fu used this opportunity to release the small explosive device.

The explosive device itself was incredibly potent, made from various high-grade chemicals and beast cores approaching star-level quality.

If released outside of the black hole, it could likely destroy an entire galaxy in an instant.

She also channeled all her accumulated innate power into the weapon.

The weapon’s explosion sent fragments flying, simultaneously attacking all three beasts.

However, because Huang Tiansusha’s level was much higher than hers, she suffered from the backlash of using her innate power.

Her power was drained in an instant, and she was injured by the recoil.

Her forehead throbbed painfully, and her mech’s control panel showed significant fluctuations in her vital signs.

One more thing about her special ability:

When she uses her attacking abilities against someone or a beast far above her level, she experiences severe backlash, which can be life-threatening.

It’s similar to the recoil effect of using high-level materials with low-level abilities.

Mild cases result in brain and mental damage, while severe cases can be fatal.

Before reaching the star-level in her innate ability, such actions are extremely risky.

Yet Ji Fu still took the chance.

She was indeed eager to acquire star-level materials, but normally, she wouldn’t be so reckless.

Her decision to attack stemmed from her desire to verify her hypothesis.

She wanted to see if her special ability was connected to her personality.

“I’ve got it.” Wei Lan moved quickly, aware of the risk Ji Fu had taken. After killing the two beasts, he wasted no time and immediately extracted their beast cores.

Among the two strange beasts, one already had fine crystals forming on its beast core.

The appearance of these crystals indicated that this beast was nearing the Transcendent Star level.

Once it fully reached the Transcendent Star level, the beast core would completely transform into a crystal.

Wei Lan rushed to Ji Fu’s side, quickly connecting their mechas. Using a special transport method between the mechas, he transferred the two beast cores into Ji Fu’s hands.

Ji Fu’s temples throbbed, and she barely managed to stand, her vision starting to blur.

“Plop.”

Blood dripped onto the back of her hand.

The battle was over, but her vital signs continued to decline.

With a splitting headache, she looked at the two beast cores and chose the lower-grade one.

Using an instrument by her side, she crushed the beast core into powder and added it to the medicinal pool in her mecha’s cockpit, prepared before entering the black hole.

The medicinal liquid in the pool, left from her last advancement, had little to no enhancement effect, even with the addition of the beast core.

Her innate abilities had surged dramatically in the black hole, making simple mixtures ineffective for further advancement.

Ji Fu understood this well, yet she didn’t use the crystallized beast core nor had Wei Lan extract the core from Huang Tiansusha’s beast.

She intended to use a regular healing potion.

After the medicinal liquid fully mixed, Ji Fu submerged her right hand into the pool.

The innate mark touched the liquid, sending waves of pain throughout her body.

She shuddered from the intense pain.

Seeing her vital signs drop further, Wei Lan’s face darkened.

【Warning: Vital signs have dropped below the health threshold】

The mecha’s alarm blared.

Her vital stats continued to fall.

Cold sweat broke out on Ji Fu’s forehead. She leaned on the edge of the medicinal pool, looking up through the excruciating pain.

At that moment, she saw the murky medicinal liquid clear instantly.

On the operation panel before her, the innate ability values, which had hit zero after killing Huang Tiansusha, skyrocketed!

Her state improved along with the rising values.

The unbearable pain gradually eased, and the splitting headache started to dissipate layer by layer.

Along with the diminishing pain, her innate abilities surged.

The values climbed rapidly, surpassing the total growth she had experienced since entering the black hole within just five minutes!

Ji Fu’s vision gradually cleared.

She watched the numbers rise continuously until they settled at an enormous, nearly incalculable value.

【Vital signs normal】

As her innate values soared, her condition stabilized.

“Ji Fu?” Wei Lan called softly, noticing her recovering vital signs.

“I’m fine,” Ji Fu replied quietly.

Not only fine but confirming her hypothesis.

Her special innate abilities were indeed linked to her personality. Even without full recovery, as long as she was alive and had a strong will to survive, her abilities would surge upon receiving treatment.

This explained why she sensed an innate fluctuation after the first Blue Russell injection.

Ji Fu looked at the golden mark on her wrist.

It wasn’t Blue Russell that activated her remaining abilities but her strong life force suppressing the Fierce Russell, creating a tiny opening.

This tiny opening allowed her to escape the highest security prison.

It was her intense will to survive that repeatedly pulled her back from the brink of death.

Hope born from pressure, allowing for high resilience in extreme danger.

Using her special abilities to simultaneously wound three high-level beasts greatly boosted her innate growth.

Ji Fu roughly estimated that before ambushing the three beasts, her abilities had slowly grown to the edge of Transcendent Star+ and approaching Transcendent Star level.

After forcibly controlling and attracting the three beasts, her abilities directly crossed the threshold, reaching near Transcendent Star level.

However…

She watched the rapidly rising abilities finally settle at an extreme value.

She was still one step away from the Transcendent Star level.

This small step could be a minor numerical change or a higher magnitude breakthrough.

The range was vast.

A short distance could be an insurmountable gap.

Special abilities were indeed difficult to fully restore.

The recent explosive attack had already pushed her to the limit.

“Did you advance?” Wei Lan asked softly, seeing her stats return to the healthy range.

“No,” Ji Fu replied quietly.

Just one step away.

Finding a Transcendent Star-level beast like Huang Tiansusha within the black hole might offer a breakthrough.

But.

Ji Fu looked up at the suddenly shaking sky.

The sky here was a crimson expanse, like an inverted sea of fire, making it hard to distinguish day from night.

After Huang Tiansusha’s death, a rift had appeared in the sky.

Just now, she had been teetering on the brink of death, and Lan Russell had been closely monitoring her condition. Because of this, they hadn’t noticed that the rift in the sky had silently expanded right before their eyes.

By now, it had torn open half the sky.

The crimson faded away, revealing an endless blackness outside, which seemed to resemble the surface layer of a black hole.

After killing Huang Tian, they hadn’t moved forward or done anything else.

They hadn’t encountered the trample that Jin Yin mentioned in their report either.

But judging by the current situation, it seemed they were about to be ejected from the black hole.

Ji Fu paused, realizing their understanding of the black hole was far too limited and full of uncertainties.

It now appeared that the black hole had a certain cycle of swallowing things, and once it reached the limit, even if they hadn’t found a way to exit, they would be expelled.

However, this variable remained unpredictable.

Although there was no day or night inside, the mecha’s system was functioning normally, recording the passage of time.

It had been only twelve days since they were drawn into the black hole.

Ji Fu remembered that Jin Yin had stayed inside the black hole for seventeen days.

The old man had spent seven or eight years inside.

The three instances showed no consistent pattern, varying randomly.

This matched the characteristic of black holes, which caused irregular disasters with no set schedule.

But the time they had been given was too short.

In these twelve days, their greatest gain was the Huang Tian beast.

Huang Tian was a top-level beast that had invaded the surface during ancient times, so it was recorded in the database. Its entire body, including its feathers, was a treasure.

With limited time, Ji Fu couldn’t inspect everything thoroughly and could only collect all usable materials from the three beasts as quickly as possible.

Before they arrived, these three beasts had fought several rounds.

Some materials were damaged, but the highly mechanized parts remained intact.

The beasts knew those parts were tough and avoided them, biting only the softer areas.

As they finished gathering everything, the crimson sky completely faded away.

Amid the surrounding rumbling, Ji Fu synchronized the two mechas and said softly, “This is happening much sooner than anticipated.”

The lack of patterns and random variables were beyond human control.

With such a short time frame, their gains were very limited.

Both she and Lan Russell had improved their abilities; hers, due to her special talent, had grown to near Transcendent Star level, while Lan Russell’s had reached the level of Super Star+ and was approaching Transcendent Star level.

Buzz!

The pitch-black sky suddenly exhibited a violent suction force, similar to when the black hole first appeared.

Under the strong suction, Ji Fu and Lan Russell simultaneously shut down their mecha control panels.

In the weightlessness induced by the gravity, Ji Fu was still calculating the materials in her hands.

They had obtained only one set of materials from a Transcendent Star-level beast, but they had materials from seven beasts approaching that level.

If they could find another Transcendent Star-level beast core upon exiting, these materials would be enough to create two Transcendent Star-level mechas.

However, the prerequisite for making mechas was her advancement to Transcendent Star level.

And… sufficient time.

She feared that those outside wouldn’t give them any more chances.

The next moment, everything spun wildly.

The hurricane-like suction violently dragged Ji Fu and Lan Russell out.

The tearing and buzzing sounds swirled around them, and even inside the mecha, they felt immense pressure.

When this intense pressure suddenly vanished from her body.

Ji Fu immediately opened her eyes, and the control panel of her mecha lit up completely.

Simultaneously, alarms blared throughout the base.

【Alert! Escapees detected!】

Twelve days.

Qin Yebai had quickly understood Ji Fu’s plan after the black hole closed.

The black hole was perilous, and Ji Fu’s actions seemed akin to seeking death.

But Qin Yebai hadn’t forgotten that under the effects of Lie Russell and Lan Russell, she had restored her talents. Comparing that to this situation, wasn’t it quite possible for her to walk out of the black hole alive?

Thus, he couldn’t afford any negligence.

He had even relocated all operations to this area, to intercept these two immediately upon their exit.

Even if they survived, they would undoubtedly be injured.

Qin Yebai didn’t want to make the same mistake twice and was determined not to give Ji Fu any chance to escape again.

As the alarm sounded, the Transcendent Star-level mecha Ximing launched at an extreme speed that seemed to tear through space.

While the time spent in the black hole was unpredictable, those ejected from it would always reappear near the point where the black hole had initially swallowed them.

There might be some deviation, but it was all within Ximing’s detection range.

The mecha roared, and Qin Yebai locked onto the two battered mechas.

From the exterior, both Zhushi and Wujin were covered in cracks and thick beast blood, vastly different from their previous gleaming silver-grey and black exteriors.

Qin Yebai’s expression was cold. It seemed these two had had a tough time in the black hole.

He didn’t hesitate, immediately activating the explosive lightwave he hadn’t had a chance to release before. It streaked through the vast outer space, a dazzling lightwave capable of illuminating the entire world, crashing down towards Ji Fu.

The lightwave’s path emitted a sizzling noise.

It was as if a brilliant galaxy had been torn open in outer space, the tail end still flickering, while the light wave slashed down towards Ji Fu’s head.

At this extreme distance, the control cockpit of Zhushi buzzed loudly from the hurricane stirred up by the light wave.

The cockpit ceiling seemed to melt from the approaching light wave.

Ji Fu’s vision filled with endless white light.

Qin Yebai’s attack was aimed to kill.

During the past twelve days, he had multiple clashes with Fang Yanli. Since Ji Fu hadn’t truly appeared, both sides held back.

Now, Ji Fu had emerged.

If he couldn’t kill her quickly, the situation would change once Fang Yanli arrived.

When Zhushi appeared, Ximing provided detailed data on Ji Fu. The mecha was the same, her talent seemed to have improved, but not to the Transcendent Star level.

Given this, Qin Yebai didn’t consider the possibility of Ji Fu putting up any resistance.

As the explosive light wave descended, he felt a sense of relief, as if everything was finally being resolved.

However, in that brief moment of breath.

Ji Fu’s battered Zhushi, at the moment Qin Yebai closed in, brought its two mecha hands together, then forcefully pulled apart, producing a blood-red longsword.

The sword was tempered with golden dragon flames.

This sizzling golden flame coiled around the sword as Ji Fu swung it with all her might.

Boom!!!

The strike produced a crimson-golden dragon-shaped light wave.

The golden dragon roared, colliding with Qin Yebai’s white light.

Since Zhushi was only a Super Star+ mecha, the dragon was torn apart by the white light under the impact.

The white light wave continued to fall imperiously.

At the same time, Lan Russell fired three black bombardment cannons.

They weren’t fired simultaneously; one followed closely behind the other.

Only the first shot was a quasi-Transcendent Star level cannon made in the black hole; the other two were just regular Super Star+ cannons.

But after the first explosion, the subsequent two followed in quick succession.

Boom—

The massive light wave collision obliterated everything in the vicinity.

The resulting shockwave tore through space, exploding two nearby asteroids.

An unceasing hum filled the surroundings.

In the residual shockwaves, Ji Fu and Lan Russell raised their blades to strike.

The crimson longsword and the jet-black short blade spun, creating phantasmal shadows as they slashed at Qin Yebai with thunderous mechanical power.

Despite their speed, Qin Yebai was faster.

Ximing moved at extreme speed, dodging the dual strikes. The mecha traversed the red and black light shadows, moving at a blur.

Simultaneously, he activated Ximing’s surrounding turret.

Three turrets fired nine explosive fish missiles in unison.

These Transcendent Star level missiles were similar to those used by Bai Yemeng in the joint exam.

The difference was these missiles were smaller, with higher explosive and penetration power.

Seven of the nine missiles targeted Ji Fu.

The missiles’ tails resembled fish tails, homing in on all her lethal points with violent force.

Ji Fu swung her crimson longsword, unleashing several golden explosive flames.

The dragon’s roar echoed through half the starry sky.

The erupting dragon burst in mid-air, resembling a golden flower.

The exploding flower intercepted five fish missiles, binding with them as the golden flames shattered into countless fragments.

The two remaining missiles, unstoppable, headed for Ji Fu’s right shoulder and chest.

In the missile blast, Ji Fu pulled to the side with a savage maneuver, narrowly avoiding the missile aimed at her chest.

But the one aimed at her right shoulder was unavoidable.

The missile’s force easily pierced her right shoulder, causing a severe injury.

Bang!

Ji Fu’s right shoulder was penetrated by the missile. Just before the missile exploded, Zhushi was covered in blue arc light as the last bit of Black Sea Water stored inside detonated.

It blocked the missile explosion, combining with Lan Russell’s slashing light wave, to crush towards Qin Yebai.

As the Black Sea Water appeared, Qin Yebai’s face darkened.

Even facing death, Ji Fu used this method to remind him that his talent was stolen from others.

So what?

Qin Yebai opened his weapon box, releasing burning flames.

Ordinary flames couldn’t consume the Black Sea Water.

But he was Transcendent Star level, and his mecha was also Transcendent Star level.

Did they really think he would be as easily defeated by the Black Sea Water as Zhou Xingyu?

As the burning flames appeared, the surrounding temperature soared.

The flames penetrated the Black Sea Water screen while Ximing extended its arm, ignoring Lan Russell’s critical strike.

The mecha arm pierced Ji Fu’s missile-riddled right shoulder.

Crack.

In intense pain, Zhushi’s panel flashed red.

Alarms blared throughout the cockpit.

Ji Fu’s right arm dropped; under such violent penetration, she could barely lift it.

Yet, in this dire situation.

She raised her eyes, staring at the approaching Qin Yebai.

She drank a high-efficiency recovery nutrient and placed her limp right hand into the nearby medicine pool.

Before being ejected from the black hole, the last thing she did was crush the crystallized beast core and put it into the medicine pool.

The moment her right hand touched the medicinal pool, intense pain spread throughout her body.

Her originally clear eyes became bloodshot.

Her body shook violently, trembling all over.

Meanwhile, the person in front of her had withdrawn his hand from her shoulder blade, intending to strike again.

Bang!!!

Beside her, Lan Russell violently slashed at his mecha arm.

The force was so great that it broke the mechanical blade Lan Russell was using into two pieces.

At the same time, Ximing issued a prompt.

“Warning! Mecha talent on the left is surging.”

For so long, people had heard of talent declining, but never of it surging.

On his left was Lan Russell.

More astonishingly…

“Warning! Mecha talent in front is advancing!”

“Warning! Mecha talent in front is advancing!”

…

The alarms rang out three times in succession.

Qin Yebai incredulously lifted his head, looking at Ji Fu in front of him.

Talent advancing!?

Her talent advanced while she was grievously injured and on the brink of death?

If he wasn’t controlling Ximing, the Transcendent Star-level mecha he painstakingly created, Qin Yebai would have doubted his ears at that moment.

In the opposite mecha cockpit, Ji Fu slightly raised her head.

Her gaze fell on the opposite cockpit.

Qin Yebai, who had stolen others’ talents to advance his own, could never have imagined in his life.

He had helped her complete the final step of her talent’s complete advancement.

Amid the explosive surge of talent, Ji Fu withdrew her right hand from the medicinal pool.

A crimson-gold light emerged on the inside of her right hand.

It was… a soaring golden dragon.

The injury on her right arm wasn’t fully healed, but the aftereffects of her Transcendent Star-level advancement directly restored her overall condition.

In the midst of the blaring alarms, Ji Fu activated Zhushi’s bombardment turret for the first time.

The turret was positioned on Zhushi’s chest, directly facing Qin Yebai.

When the turret lit up, Qin Yebai’s expression changed slightly as he quickly retreated.

But just as he was retreating, Ji Fu fired a bombardment cannon.

The cannon didn’t pursue Qin Yebai; instead, it ignited in golden explosive flames.

As the golden flames surged, Qin Yebai suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.

But before he could react, the cannon exploded.

With the missile’s detonation came a blinding golden light.

In the blazing gold light, Qin Yebai heard a roaring dragon’s cry.

Looking up, he saw golden fragments falling like a torrential rain, engulfing him.

Those golden fragments smashed down on him with a loud bang.

Qin Yebai activated his Transcendent Star-level quantum shield, trying to enclose himself within its protection.

Unexpectedly, the golden fragments sliced through the shield.

The fragments tore the shield apart, causing it to shatter with a loud crack. Subsequently, countless fragments fell.

Qin Yebai fired back with his bombardment cannon, but the fragments still cut him.

At the moment of being cut, he felt an intense pain.

The pain originated from his forehead, as if countless threads were pulling, slicing him open.

It felt like a beast gnawing at his brain.

As the excruciating pain surged, Ximing’s control panel suddenly turned entirely red.

“Warning! Talent unstable!”

The high-pressure red alert box, like a demon in the night, suddenly jumped out, gnawing at Qin Yebai.

Qin Yebai lifted his head in pain.

Talent… unstable!

He was a Transcendent Star-level; how could his talent be unstable!?

His mind was being torn apart; his reason snapped, and he looked incredulously at the scene before him.

What appeared in front of him, besides the repeated alerts, was… Ji Fu and the crimson sword in her hand.

In the boundless universe, Ji Fu held the long sword in her left hand.

Her left hand wasn’t as nimble as her right, but due to using both hands to wield the sword for a long time, she could still use it normally.

The long sword lightly swept through outer space, then burst into flames, like it was bathed in golden fire.

Holding the sword with red-gold flames, Ji Fu raised her eyes to Qin Yebai.

“Surprised, aren’t you? After stealing so many people’s talents, how could a Transcendent Star-level talent drop?”

She lightly flicked the blade, speaking coldly, “Because some things, when stolen, will always be stolen.”

“How you stole it, is how you’ll have to return it!”

She raised her sword and struck, unleashing a crimson-gold explosive wave.

Buzz—

The light wave cut through everything.

This time, with his mind being torn apart and his talent unstable, even controlling his Transcendent Star-level mecha, Qin Yebai couldn’t dodge the explosive wave.

Buzz!

The Super Star+ explosive wave couldn’t penetrate the Transcendent Star-level mecha.

But where the light wave struck, everything was scorched black.

Along with it was Qin Yebai’s drastically dropping talent.

“Talent dropped to: Super Star+”

In the intense pain that seemed to tear his life apart, he lifted his head, hearing the news of his talent’s fall.

Qin Yebai’s eyes were bloodshot, and he roared in anger, “How can this be!? Why!?”

This was his talent!

Why was it falling?

He was Transcendent Star-level!

Once reaching Transcendent Star-level, a mecha pilot’s talent should never fall!

Before his talent stabilized, he had even undergone tests, and every single one confirmed perfectly that he was indeed at the Transcendent Star level.

But now, he was being told that Ji Fu, with a single broken sword, had cut down his talent?

What kind of joke was this!?

In his disbelief, Ji Fu raised her sword again and slashed horizontally.

Boom!!!

Another space-rending golden dragon wave.

“Talent dropped to: Super Star level”

Ji Fu had slashed twice in total, each slash dropping his talent by a level.

In the midst of Qin Yebai’s collapsing gaze, she grasped the sword hilt once more. “Why are you in such a hurry? This is just the beginning.”

Raising the sword, she struck again.

“Talent dropped to: Star+ level”

She intended to slice off every bit of talent Qin Yebai had stolen, one cut at a time.

This way, he would truly understand what it felt like to have one’s talent stripped away.