These low-level Alphas surged forward, only to be held back by Ji Yeran alone.
Facing the snarling, swarming pirates, Feng Zhixi retreated behind Ji Yeran with practiced ease. Going head-to-head with these hulking Alphas and augmented Betas was not a strength of an Omega like him.
Possessing a keen sense of self-awareness, Feng Zhixi stepped back several paces, giving Ji Yeran ample room to maneuver. Across the crowd, his eyes locked with Blood Eye’s.
Then, the man who had thought victory was within his grasp seemed to realize something. His expression suddenly darkened.
Blood Eye had sensed something was wrong, but it was already too late.
An S-class Alpha facing these bottom-tier thugs was a matter of sheer, one-sided violent suppression. Blood Eye had known this; his true trump card was the weapon system hidden within the control room.
The realization that struck Blood Eye was this: when he had seen enough of the tedious fighting and prepared to activate the weapon system, he found he had lost control over it.
The weapons, previously concealed behind the white wall panels of the control room and aimed at Feng Zhixi’s pair, had all turned their muzzles.
It was obvious who had tampered with them—the weapon manufacturer!
Blood Eye’s venomous gaze turned toward the back of the crowd. The young man standing there with his arms crossed showed not a hint of fear.
Blood Eye lunged to his feet, but it was far too late.
Allowing a master of weapon manufacturing onto his ship and daring to accept the equipment he provided was a fatal mistake. Even though Blood Eye had been careful not to link the devices to the main control computer, only testing the miniature energy shield briefly, the subsequent chain of events was no longer his to decide.
Feng Zhixi watched Blood Eye’s face pale and twisted, raising an eyebrow with leisurely composure. Thanks to Blood Eye, he had already found the star chart.
Furthermore, he had discovered something interesting within the starship’s central control system.
This ship actually had a faint, nebulous connection to the Federal Military.
Meng Jia had never mentioned that Blood Eye was connected to the military. Combined with the sight of the pirates currently being crushed by Ji Yeran, Feng Zhixi realized the secret lay solely with Blood Eye himself.
This man was a nail the Federal Military had quietly driven into the pirate factions.
No, that wasn't right.
Feng Zhixi immediately discarded his first judgment. Blood Eye’s conduct did not fit the military’s style. The most likely scenario was that he had a deal with a high-ranking official, or was a "black hand" kept in the shadows to handle dirty business.
The small emblem hidden in the control system gave him an idea. Feng Zhixi remembered that just before he was sent to the tribunal, he had received an invitation from the mysterious 13th Research Institute of the Federal Military.
In the eyes of the inviter, he—rather than the newly prominent Hill—was the better fit for the military’s most classified weapon R&D department.
They didn't need a star who exposed himself to the Star Net and the public every day. He still remembered what the old man who contacted him personally had said: "I only need people here who are willing to silently protect the Federation."
Unfortunately, he never had the chance to go.
As someone who, in the future, was stripped of his citizenship and exiled to the Death Star for the attempted murder of the Marshal’s wife, Feng Zhixi realized that by returning to the past and stepping out of his closed-off world, he could see many things that had been hidden beneath the surface.
In the future, he had been standing in someone's way.
While Feng Zhixi was piecing things together, Blood Eye, realizing he had been duped, abandoned his subordinates without hesitation and prepared to flee.
However, just as Blood Eye was about to activate the escape passage, Meng Jia, who had been curled up silently in the corner, suddenly leaped up.
He threw himself onto Blood Eye. A beam of light shimmering with an ominous hue flashed, effortlessly piercing through the energy shield on Blood Eye’s body and sinking into his back.
It was a miniature, one-time life-saving weapon Feng Zhixi had given him along with the spatial button. The high-energy beam could penetrate energy shields and was designed to explode directionally inside a human body.
The boy, his face covered in blood, looked up. The ruthlessness in his eyes was not a bit inferior to Blood Eye’s.
Never underestimate anyone who struggles to survive in the chaotic zones of the Triangle Star, no matter how weak, powerless, or lowly as an ant they may seem.
Everything happened too fast. Normally, a thin Beta youth wouldn't have been able to get close to an adult A-class Alpha so easily, but Meng Jia had just taken a bottle of high-grade gene enhancement fluid, and he held a lethal weapon gifted by Feng Zhixi.
When the miniature bomb exploded at Blood Eye’s heart, the man only jolted slightly. He didn't even seem to realize what had happened before the focus in his eyes dissolved into a hollow void.
Meng Jia, having used the last of his strength to accomplish this, felt his vision blur. He fell heavily to the floor alongside Blood Eye’s collapsing body. Blood surged from the corner of his mouth, and his internal organs burned with searing pain.
The moment Blood Eye hit the ground, Feng Zhixi saw a red light flash on the punctured transparent energy shield and heard an ominous "beep" from the control computer. He immediately realized something was wrong.
"Go, now!" Feng Zhixi shouted to Ji Yeran. "Take him with us!"
Sensing the urgency in Feng Zhixi’s voice, Ji Yeran stopped holding back, ruthlessly taking down the remaining pirates who were still putting up a fight.
He stepped forward, hauled the fallen Meng Jia up, and retreated from the control room with Feng Zhixi.
The moment they cleared the threshold, the control room doors slammed shut, sealing the wailing pirates and Blood Eye’s corpse inside.
"What happened?" Ji Yeran asked.
As Feng Zhixi ran, he manipulated the holographic interface of the smart computer on his wrist. "The ship has a self-destruct system. The trigger is Blood Eye’s death."
Just now, Blood Eye’s heart had been shredded by a miniature bio-bomb right in front of them, activating the system. That madman had been prepared to take everyone down with him at any moment.
"The window is too short; I can't shut it down. We only have three minutes." Feng Zhixi was running out of breath. To think someone would still use such a spiteful, mechanically-triggered device in this day and age!
Hearing Feng Zhixi’s words, the boy slung over Ji Yeran’s shoulder began to struggle. He muttered, "My... my sister. I’m not leaving! I..."
"I know where your sister is. We’re going together," Feng Zhixi said as he ran.
Yet the boy continued to struggle. "No... wait, there are... others..."
Ji Yeran reached out to steady Feng Zhixi, who had nearly tripped while trying to run and hack simultaneously. He asked the boy in a low voice, "What else do you want to do?"
"I want to save... save them." The weak boy spat blood with every word, but his mind was filled with the images of those imprisoned on the ship for the pirates' amusement.
He knew the beautiful red-haired Beta among them; she was the one who had secretly passed him the news that his sister had been taken by Blood Eye.
Hearing this, Ji Yeran stopped. He looked at Feng Zhixi. "I’ll go save them. You—"
Feng Zhixi, who was busy closing off corridor bulkheads, looked up. He met the other man's eyes and said softly, "I can buy you two more minutes at most."
Seeing that Feng Zhixi’s room was just ahead, Ji Yeran set the boy down. He calculated the time in his head and nodded. "Enough. See you in a bit."
"Alright." Feng Zhixi supported the exhausted boy, his gaze lingering on Ji Yeran as the man turned and sprinted away.
As the silver-white metal door opened, Meng Jia immediately saw the girl with long, flaxen hair. At the sight of his safe sister, a sudden surge of infinite strength flooded his body.
"Xiaoxing!" Hearing the familiar voice, Meng Xiaoxing jerked her head up. Her vacant gaze gradually focused on the person at the door. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Was that... her brother?!
When the door opened, Feng Zhixi immediately smelled the excessively cloying, sweet scent inside the room. He frowned.
Meng Jia was only a Beta, so he couldn't quite distinguish the change in Meng Xiaoxing’s state. The girl, who had clearly just been given a suppressant, had somehow fallen back into heat.
*How?*
The scent of an Omega’s pheromones in heat made Feng Zhixi’s head throb. He remained at the door, thrusting a vial into Meng Jia’s hand. "She’s back in heat. This is a suppressant."
Meng Jia froze. Snapping out of his joy, he looked at Feng Zhixi, then at the suppressant, and rushed into the room to inject the medicine into his sister’s arm.
"Time is running out. Move," Feng Zhixi said coldly, ignoring the gratitude in the siblings' eyes as they emerged, supporting each other.
While the three of them—the weak, the sick, and the injured—headed toward the lower decks where the mechs and escape pods were docked, Ji Yeran had reached his destination.
As the metal door slid open, a wave of sweet, decaying air hit him. In the dim light, heavy panting mingled with desperate whimpers. Ji Yeran saw everything clearly.
A red-haired Beta, an Omega in heat, and an Alpha who had already entered a berserk state.
An Alpha driven into a frenzy by an Omega’s pheromones has no reason left. At this moment, the Alpha in the room was a beast with hyper-sensitized senses; he would not tolerate a second Alpha in his territory.
With less than three minutes left, Ji Yeran couldn't afford any delay. He didn't hold back, kicking the male Alpha squarely into the corner.
He grabbed a sheet to cover the Omega and asked the red-haired Beta, "Can you walk?"
The red-haired woman, the broker from the Triangle Star spaceport, nodded. Ignoring her disheveled state, she struggled to her feet.
"Support her. Follow me," Ji Yeran commanded.
"Understood." The red-haired Beta helped the dazed, struggling Omega stand.
At that moment, the Alpha Ji Yeran had kicked into the corner lunged forward again with a roar.
An Alpha in a berserk state feels no pain. He only knew that someone was trying to steal his prey, and anyone who stole his prey had to die!
"You two go first." Having no time to tangle with a mindless Alpha, Ji Yeran ordered them ahead.
As a qualified prison warden, he hadn't intended to kill at first; these people belonged in a proper cell. But there was no time now.
Having made his decision, Ji Yeran ended the man's life with clinical efficiency. As the Alpha died, he reached out a hand in a final, spiteful act, snatching something from his killer’s person and clutching it tightly as he ceased to struggle.
Ji Yeran: "..." He realized this pirate really knew how to pick a target. That spatial button contained his suppressants.
But he didn't have time to pry the button back from a dead man's grip. Ji Yeran thought for a moment; even the future Hill’s pheromones hadn't been able to affect him, so a low-level Omega now shouldn't have any impact either.
With that bit of wishful thinking, Ji Yeran led the two rescued women and sprinted toward the lower decks.
***
