Anur stood silently outside the thick, silver-alloy gate without saying a word. Behind him was a long, straight corridor with the only light source coming from a mini indicator light every ten meters on both sides of the wall. This gate was the end of the corridor, and looking back from there, there was only a line made by the two red rows of lights extending into the darkness. At the end of it, the two red lines almost connected with each other.

This scene reminded people about words such as ‘secret’ and ‘forbidden land’.

He had been standing here for ten minutes.

Whoosh!

The gate slowly opened and broke the silence.

Light shone from inside, lighting up Anur’s strict, wrinkly face.

A person walked out slowly from the room back facing the light. His front was dark, and his looks could not be seen. He stopped before Anur. The light behind the man stretched out his shadow, covering Anur and extending into a black line on the corridor.

“You can only contribute your power to DarkStar after having my approval, and now it’s time, Ember.”

A faint smile appeared on Anur’s serious face. He reached out his palm and said, “Welcome to Calamity.”

The person extended his arm and shook Anur’s hand. As he looked up, his face became clearer. It was indeed Ember.

It was the day that Ember regained his freedom.

To him, being in solitary confinement was the same as training. There was no need to run around for missions and duties; he just had to do one thing every day—cultivate his potential. After training day after day, he had finally passed the threshold that had stopped countless Supers and entered Grade A. All his senses felt fresh; it was like he had been reborn.

He did not just become stronger; his level of life, world view, and mindset had changed as well. Problems that once felt difficult seemed easy, and enemies that he could not let go no longer mattered.

During his solitary confinement, Black Star, who could counter his Esper power, had always been on his mind. One of the reasons that he had worked this hard to reach Grade A was because he wanted to meet Han Xiao again and wash away his shame.

However, when he really reached the Calamity Grade, this thought suddenly faded. Ember did not bother about Han Xiao anymore. He realized that Anur was right; his level and a Grade B’s level were different. It felt as ridiculous as being offended by a mosquito that had bitten him.

Ember did not look at Han Xiao as his opponent on par with him anymore. Even if this person could counter his Esper power to a certain extent, he was still confident that he could turn Han Xiao into dust within ten seconds.

The difference between Grade A and Grade B was a fissure that could not be crossed.

“Teacher, thank you for your guidance.”

Ember’s tone was respectful. Anur’s experience and teachings had helped him conquer many problems, so he admired this mentor very much.

Anur nodded and wiped away his smile. “The situation is not looking good. Although we are in the dark, Godora has not given up hunting us down. As the next step of the plan is carried out, the war will be on an even larger scale. Our high-end combat powers are the main focus of Godora. Some of them left us. High-end combat powers like you and I are in shortage, so you don’t have time to rest; there’s a mission that needs you.”

With an expressionless face, Ember said indifferently, “This is my destiny. Ever since I opened my eyes, I was already prepared to contribute my power to DarkStar.”

“Okay, follow me.” Anur turned around. “This is your first mission after entering Grade A. I will work together with you in case you can’t control your power. We’re going to Noriosse to kill a traitor…”

…

In the Garton Star System, a galactic pirate spaceship was traveling in space in stealth mode. A chase was happening on the spaceship.

“Stop running!”

Bang!

A light cannon shot on the ground where Sylvia had just dashed past, turning the floor bright red. A large group of galactic pirates were chasing behind with rage on their faces.

Sylvia sprinted with large steps. She was wearing a simple, black battle suit with machinery only covering her joints and important parts. Her body was glowing with a youthful vibrance. Her hair extended to her shoulders and danced in the wind. A machinery ring hung from her right ear, and a mini tactical analysis screen extended before her right eye.

She was not alone. She was pulling an arm of a young boy and escaping together with him. This boy was a pureblood Godoran about the same age as Sylvia, wearing prison garbs. Although he was half a head taller than Sylvia, he was panting heavily. He was an ordinary person.

“Wh—who are you? Why are you saving me?” the boy asked as he was panting.

Sylvia glanced at him and yelled softly, “I’m a mercenary; someone paid money to save you. Stop talking. Save the stamina and run faster.”

The boy was stumbling as he was being dragged. The sound of lasers exploding was chasing tightly behind the two of them. Despite being in such a dangerous situation, this Godoran boy was staring at Sylvia’s delicate, lively profile in a daze.

He was a hostage kidnapped by these galactic pirates. He had a wealthy family—his father was the CEO of a Godora financial group and was very rich—so he had been targeted by the galactic pirates who demanded a ransom. Other than him, those galactic pirates had also kidnapped other hostages and imprisoned them together. Ten minutes earlier, this soft-looking girl who had just been captured and taken aboard the ship as a hostage suddenly turned into a warrior, opening the prison and dragging him out.

As expected, the two of them were chased by these galactic pirates.

Ta, ta, ta!

Suddenly, three galactic pirates turned up from the corner in front of them. Just as they were about to fire at them, the captain of the galactic pirates yelled, “They’re valuable hostages, don’t kill them!”

The three galactic pirates’ actions to pull their trigger paused for an instant. Sylvia quickly pulled out a short alloy stick from her tactical belt. Its exterior cracked open, and more parts extended from within, turning into a long, mechanical sword. The two sides of the blade were emitting yellow light—this was an energy weapon. Its body was engraved with enchantment runes to make it lighter.

Sylvia moved very quickly. She lowered her shoulder and bashed onto the galactic pirate’s stomach. Her battle suit provided her with enough strength to make the muscular galactic pirate stagger. Before the galactic pirate could react, Sylvia pressed onto his gun, pointed at his friend beside him, and helped him pull the trigger.

Boom!

The light cannon penetrated the head of the person beside him.

This galactic pirate was furious. Just as he was about to kick Sylvia away, he suddenly felt a pain in his knees and lost strength in his legs. He kneeled down on the floor, looked down, and realized that his knees had been slashed open and were covered in blood. Before he could scream, Sylvia held the sword with both her hands and stabbed it into his eyes. The blade penetrated through and came out the back of his head.

Two months had passed. With the Great Mechanic Han’s guidance, Sylvia had slowly realized her potential and was already Grade D. Wearing the machinery weapons that Han Xiao had built for her, she could now deal with galactic pirate groups that mostly consisted of ordinary people.

As the third galactic pirate saw this, he could not be bothered with the captain’s orders and fired immediately. Sylvia hastily tilted her head before he fired and barely dodged the laser. She quickly pulled up the alloy sword from the dead galactic pirate, turned around, and sliced through the muzzle. She then recalled what Han Xiao had taught her regarding how to quickly shatter the enemies’ combat ability, so she raised up her leg and kicked the third galactic pirate between his legs!

Bang!

The face of this galactic pirate turned purple as he kneeled down, grabbing his crotch. His forehead knocked onto the ground, and he curled up into a twitching shrimp.

The Godoran boy shivered and felt his member aching as well.

This battle ended very shortly, but the pursuers caught up somewhat because of it. Sylvia did not have the time to finish the kill; she grabbed the boy’s arm again and started sprinting.

“Quickly, go!”

The galactic pirate group had many members. As the chase dragged on, the movement area of Sylvia gradually became smaller. Finally, she was stopped in a corner. Close to a hundred galactic pirates surrounded them and glanced at Sylvia with vicious intentions.

The boy was very afraid and held Sylvia’s shoulder tightly. Sylvia, whose face was grave, stood in front of the boy and kept adjusting the direction that her sword was pointing in.

“You have nowhere to run, little girl.” The captain of the galactic pirate group walked out of the crowd with a cold smile on his face. “I didn’t expect one of our hostages to be a Super and even cause a commotion on my ship. Did you think saving this boy would be so easy? Where do you think you can run to on my ship?”

Sweat rolled down the side of Sylvia’s head as she gripped the alloy sword tighter. Most of those galactic pirates were ordinary people, but there were quite a few Supers. The captain standing before her was indeed a Grade C Super, someone whom she did not stand a chance against.

“Tell me, who are you?”

“A mercenary,” Sylvia said with a low voice, but she still sounded young and innocent.

When the galactic pirates heard that, they looked at each other and started laughing out loud.

“Hahahaha… This kid is a mercenary‽”

Anger appeared on Sylvia’s face. “I just killed three of your members.”

They laughed even louder.

The galactic pirate captain laughed ruthlessly, and his face turned ferocious. “Little girl, do you think you can be a mercenary by killing three ordinary people? You have no idea what strength is.”

Sylvia bit her lips and acted tough. “I have friends; they won’t forgive you.”

“What kind of mercenary group would want a kid like you? The boy scouts? Ha, I will kill all of your friends that come,” the galactic pirate captain sneered. “And for you… although you’re a little too young, you’re quite pretty. I guess a mercenary group won’t be able to pay a high ransom, so you can use your body to pay for it…”

The eyes of all the galactic pirates sparkled as they laughed loudly. They sized Sylvia’s face and body up pitilessly.

“Don’t do this…” Sylvia immediately became nervous.

The boy’s face changed dramatically. Suddenly, he found the courage from somewhere and stepped before Sylvia. Just as he was about to speak while shivering, the galactic pirates started loudly discussing.

“I want her leg. Its texture is the best!”

“Then I want her butt. I like fats!”

“Ears are crispy. It’s best to cut them off and eat them raw.”

Sylvia froze. She could not control the panic in her heart and yelled, “Hey, is this what you mean by paying with my body‽”

The galactic pirate heard that and was confused.

“Of course, we meant eating you, what else?”

Sylvia was puzzled, mumbling, “Why do I suddenly not really want to kill all of them?”

Beep beep beep!

This time, a sound came out of Sylvia’s wrist. The people looked over, and Sylvia gave a proud smile, the earlier panic having completely disappeared. She had been stalling for time.

She waved her wrist and said in a playful tone, “This is a GPS.”

Just as she finished her words…

Boom!

A thunderous noise exploded beside them, and the ship shook violently. The galactic pirates almost all fell onto the ground. They hastily looked in the direction where the loud noise had come from.

A hole had been blasted through the tunnel dozens of meters away, filling it with dust and fog.

A few people appeared in the fog and stepped onto this spaceship.

The foremost person walked out of the fog first. He was wearing a black windbreaker, his hands were behind his back, and his eyes were flickering with a deep light that looked like the starry sky. A natural pressure emanated from his body that sent shivers down the galactic pirates’ spines.

This feeling became stronger as the man walked closer. He stared at the galactic pirate captain, and the galactic pirate captain’s legs felt soft like he was being stared at by a monster that was about to devour him.

Actually, Han Xiao only looked at him casually. The pressure came from his far superior level.

“I heard you have a problem with my mercenary group?”