Chapter 261
“...What’s going on?”
It wasn’t until a while later that Lin En’s mental fluctuations pulled Ye Bai back from her daze. She suddenly snapped to attention, and after a moment, realized that the other person was talking about their mission.
Ye Bai frowned slightly and glanced at the mission terminal.
The task had been completed, and they had reached the designated checkpoint, but no one from the Star Alliance had shown up to settle the mission.
It’s important to note that in the Chaotic Star Sea, technology didn’t involve the concept of ‘traveling’—it was all about micro-wormholes. So what was happening here?
There was also no possibility of a sudden mission failure, as the two departing ships were not on the path of the gamma-ray burst. They could still observe the flight path, and after destroying Teda Star, the gamma-ray burst had just finished releasing its energy and had completely dissipated, causing no harm whatsoever.
“Senior, do you know what’s going on? What should we do now?” Lin En, aware that she was a novice tasker, immediately looked to Ye Bai, adhering to the principle of asking the expert when in doubt.
‘...How would I know what’s going on?’
Seeing this, Ye Bai’s eyes twitched slightly, and she couldn’t help but think that when it came to experience in the Chaotic Star Sea, Lin En might actually be more knowledgeable than her...
But on the surface, she could only respond, “Let’s wait a bit longer.”
“Understood!”
The two waited in silence for a while longer, but even after nearly ten minutes had passed since the mission settlement time, no one appeared.
The mission status was complete, but it was stuck at the final settlement stage. This situation felt very much like a program bug, but given the technology of the Star Alliance scattered throughout the Chaotic Star Sea and Lin En’s apparent experience, it was clear that something unusual was happening behind this mission.
Ye Bai’s brow furrowed as she pondered where the problem lay: Was it the Star Alliance? The mission itself? Or perhaps... related to that third tasker who had accepted the mission just before it was about to close but had never shown up?
While she was deep in thought, suddenly, Ye Bai felt the jade terminal vibrate with four continuous messages:
[Assessing...]
[User star level meets the criteria]
[Temporary free exchange zone activated]
[Micro-wormhole activating, countdown 10, 9, 8, 7...]
A series of messages left Ye Bai stunned. The moment she focused on the terminal, she saw that the mission that had been stuck in the settlement phase had been pushed back, and a new mission had been automatically accepted without her input.
[Emergency Mission]
Mission Content: Eliminate the target at all costs (Coordinates 89.89.455-89.89.955).
Target: B to A-level mentalists
Mission Reward: Highest-level Star Alliance technology for elimination, plus an additional 10,000 Star Points.
“Senior... I’ve automatically accepted an emergency mission.” Lin En spoke up beside her, sharing the information with Ye Bai.
She had also automatically activated the wormhole and received free weapons, but perhaps due to her personal strength, Lin En’s mission content was not to eliminate but to track or delay until reinforcements arrived, with a reward of mid-level Star Alliance technology and an additional 4,000 points.
Automatically accepted missions, a temporary free exchange zone, and the phrase “at all costs”... Who was the target of the Star Alliance’s pursuit? And what was the reason for the hunt?
[...3, 2, 1.]
Just as she was filled with questions, the micro-wormhole was already prepared.
In this uncertain situation, Ye Bai certainly didn’t plan to enter, but everything was so sudden. The micro-wormhole generated this time was not the usual kind; it was more like a direct collapse of the space they were in.
Even as Ye Bai struggled with all her might, it was like someone suddenly sinking into quicksand—she was irresistibly pulled down with the collapsing space.
---
Chapter 178
The space-time suddenly collapsed, not at all like the micro-wormholes used in the past where one could choose to enter. The transmission method of this emergency mission was just as abrupt and clearly forced.
In the midst of the suddenly folding space, Ye Bai’s first reaction was to struggle. However, even though her mental strength and physical condition had greatly improved, allowing her to challenge A-level mentalists, she was still a B-level. She hadn’t completed the true critical transformation to become an A-level capable of manipulating space with mental power. Otherwise, after completing the wormhole task, she wouldn’t have felt so confused and powerless in the face of the sudden flood of information.
But this struggle left Lin En, who was also caught in the wormhole, utterly defenseless, while Ye Bai was momentarily delayed, resulting in a slight deviation in their positioning.
Everything happened in an instant. When the space stabilized again, Ye Bai found herself alone in another expanse of space, with Lin En nowhere in sight.
Realizing this, Ye Bai quickly confirmed her current coordinates.
She was not far from the star system where Teda Star was located, just in the nearest neighboring system. One of the ships carrying Teda people was expected to pass by in a little over a hundred days, but in the face of Star Alliance technology, that was just a blink of an eye.
“Senior, where are you? I’m at coordinates…”
The next moment, Ye Bai received a message from Lin En, indicating that she was about forty to fifty kilometers away, suggesting a slight positional deviation during the transmission. However, they hadn’t strayed from the coordinates provided for the emergency mission.
As Ye Bai arrived in this star region, the mission coordinates became more detailed and were continuously changing, indicating that the target was moving rapidly.
Seeing this, Ye Bai’s brow furrowed tighter, her expression grave.
This emergency mission clearly held great importance for the Star Alliance. Whether it was the forced acceptance or the forced transmission, the Star Alliance’s attitude showed a complete disregard for the taskers’ wishes.
Moreover, it wasn’t just her, an A-level mentalist in assessment; even C-level Lin En had been forcibly transmitted here, along with generous rewards, indicating that the Star Alliance was more than willing to use the lives of nearby taskers to delay the target’s escape.
Just as Ye Bai felt extremely dissatisfied with this situation, the jade terminal sent another series of urgent notifications:
[Target detected! Target detected! Proceed to eliminate immediately!]
[Coordinates: 89.89.571...]
Along with this alert came a virtual 3D star map, similar to the one seen when the wormhole was closed. The map covered a specific area, within which a red target point was moving in a particular direction.
Coincidentally, the trajectory of the target’s current movement was very close to Ye Bai’s position. If she moved now, their paths would form an angle, and it was likely they would cross paths.
The deviation caused by that moment of struggle had unexpectedly brought Ye Bai closer to the target.
At the same time, as if sensing that Ye Bai hadn’t moved immediately, the terminal sent another series of messages:
[All terminal functions disabled, exchange zone for combat technology temporarily free.]
[Proceed to eliminate the target immediately! At all costs!]
[Proceed to eliminate...!]
The last phrase kept repeating like a spam message. Ye Bai scanned the terminal; the mission area, trading area, and communication functions had all disappeared, leaving only the exchange zone for various combat-related technologies. Even the micro-wormhole function was gone.
It seemed the Star Alliance was truly in a hurry...
In contemplation, Ye Bai’s gaze flickered, and then her figure vanished from her spot, rapidly moving toward the target’s location.
As she approached the target, the incessant notifications from the jade terminal finally quieted down.
---
More than ten minutes later, Ye Bai’s trajectory finally intersected with that of the target.
From a distance of several thousand meters, Ye Bai used her mental power to ‘see’ the target—a ship that was invisible without the use of mental power or more advanced technological means, an ‘invisible ship.’
Ye Bai reached out and made a grasping motion, releasing her mental power toward the path ahead of that ship.
“Boom...”
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