CH 40

Chapter 40 Part 1 Spiritual damage

In the northeast of Planet Jiu, a large hole was dug in the northwest corner of a rocky mountain. A bunch of miners with weapons stood at the entrance of the hole. In front of the miner stood a dark black humanoid mech and a tall sentinel jumped from the mech. He had short hair and a ferocious-looking face. This is the space pirate’s leader, Jonassen, the one in the video that Leo played before. With a face full of fierce expression, he said to the thin man who is crossing his arms beside him, “Mitte, what do you want to do now? If we wait any longer, the imperial reinforcements will come soon.”

“What’s the rush?” Mitte’s face looked pale. His hair is slightly long, and it has half-hidden his eyebrows, making him looking very gloomy. “The announcement is just sent. The empire has just conducted a military exercise at the nearest Planet Ba and it ended a few days ago. So, for the next few days, there’s no one there.”

“The nearest empire’s reinforcement is at least 3 hours away from us. The people inside have been surrounded for 3 days and they have no energy to come out. The smoke bomb that I asked you to throw in will make them all unconscious within 10 minutes.” Glancing at the time, Mitte said, “Get your people to tie up everyone in 10 minutes, especially Qian Yao.”

Jonassen glared at Mitte dissatisfiedly, “Why didn’t you give me the smoke bomb earlier? You caused us to waste 3 days here.”

Hearing that, Mitte looked at Jonassen coldly, “Your people took 3 days before finally finding out all spacial jump points for Planet Jiu, you still have the face to say?”

“You!” Jonassen’s chest heaved violently. He took a step closer and glared at Mitte viciously, “Do you believe that I can pinch you to death in the next second?”

Mitte sneered and his eyes looked gloomy, “You can try? We’ll see who will die first?”

Jonassen gripped his fist. Thinking of Mitte’s bizarre methods, he stood on guard. Just then, his terminal vibrated. Pretending to read the notification, he took a step back. But when he saw the content of the message, Jonassen’s face suddenly changed.

“There is movement at the south jump point,” Jonassen glared at Mitte. “Didn’t you say that it should take at least 3 hours for someone to come?”

Mitte sneered, “What are you afraid of? Too sooner they come, the better, lest you have to wait longer for them. The mined ores have been shipped away anyway.”

“Do you know who is here? Leo Arnold!” Jonassen said while sending a message, “I already helped you to rob the mines, and I also posted a video to cover for you. Whatever you want to do next, suit yourselves. I’ll be leaving now. ” Jonassen said that he is about to jump into the mecha, but was stopped by Mitte, “Wait. Are you not curious why I deliberately attracted the reinforcements?”

Jonassen waved his hand, “The result of my curiosity last time is I get caught and sent to jail. Just after I escaped, I have to do things for you. I don’t want to be curious.”

“If there is no effective treatment, you will get into mental confusion in less than 10 days, right?” Although Mitte is asking a question, his tone is a confirmation. He did not wait for Jonassen to answer, and continued, “You have recently made preparation for the moment you fell for mental confusion, and you are worried that the interstellar police could find your track so you didn’t follow Planet Yao’s news?”

“There is a new type of medicine that can restore spiritual power in Planet Yao. It could instantly restore one’s spiritual power without side effects. With the best quality one, even if a Level S sentinel is close to madness, they can be cured by taking 5 pills.”

Jonassen immediately understood what Mitte meant, “You want to change the medicine with the remaining Planet Jiu garrison soldiers?”

Mitte nodded, “I was going to grab the mine ores and leave. But I didn’t expect Qian Yao to be good at defending. It took me that long to settle him but the timing is just right. If I left earlier, I would miss the news about the medicine. It doesn’t matter to me if the soldiers die, so we should exchange them for something beneficial.”

“What do you want me to do?” Jonassen asked.

Mitte pointed his chin toward the mine, “Get your people inside 10 minutes later. Tie the soldiers up, and take them to the east transition point for negotiation.” He paused and explained why he wanted help, “I’m by myself so it’s not very convenient to do all these.”

“You are not by yourself,” Jonassen sarcastically replied. “Aren’t you still carrying a trash with you?”

Mitte’s face instantly darkened, and Jonassen felt a chill down his back. He put away his mecha and said, “I’ll get someone to come over.”

The soldiers under Leo’s command drove a small military aircraft, advancing swiftly to Planet Jiu. Most of them sneaked behind the miners, knocked them out, and then changed into mining suits neatly. Xiào Mu looked at their actions and gave them a thumbs up silently; so handsome!

“According to the news from the miners, the riots mainly occurred in the northeast, where there is a red silver mine.”

Leo frowned. Red silver is the main material of advanced mechas. It is precious and difficult to collect. Its accompanying ore is flammable and explosive, and it has always been traditionally collected by hand. Where there are red silver mines, thermal weapons cannot be used.

“There is a small starship staying in the east. It is located in the middle of the mountain. There is electromagnetic interference around it and it is impossible to approach it.”

“Team 1, approached the starship from the east. Be careful to hide yourselves. If someone approaches or leaves the starship, catch them.” Leo ordered.

On the main starship, 100 soldiers stayed behind, while the remaining 900 soldiers are scattered around Planet Jiu. They are divided into 9 teams, consist of 100 soldiers per team.

The captain of Team 1 heard the order and immediately conveyed it to his team. Then, everyone in the team gradually approached the area where the small starship is stopping. 10 minutes later, the live feed of Team 1’s captain suddenly flickered in the command room, and the next moment it turned completely black.

“Captain of Team 1, please reply if you hear this.” Leo frowned and contacted the leader of Team 1. However, the opposite side did not react at all, as if they have disappeared.

Xiào Mu’s heart tightened suddenly. The man was fine the moment before, so how could he suddenly break contact?

“Captain of Team 2, reply if you hear this.”

“Major general.” The captain of the second team said briskly.

Leo looked at the live feed from the captain of Team 2 staying in the southeast, and said with a serious voice, “Team 1 found a small starship in the east, and lost contact when trying to approach it. Take someone with you to check the situation, and immediately withdraw if the situation is not right.”

“…Yes.” The captain of Team 2 sounded surprised for a moment, before replying in a deep voice.

5 minutes later, Team 2 captain appeared not far from the place Team 1 captain lost contact. Leo stared at the screen and said, “Stop. Look around and check if there’s anything wrong?”

Team 2 captain cautiously released his 5 senses. When he looked to the right front, he is taken aback and ran forward subconsciously, “I saw the captain of Team 1.”

“Stop!” Leo roared.

The captain is stunned for a moment, then he suddenly grabbed his head like he had a headache. The image of the live feed got disrupted at the same time and then turned black.

“What caused the communication interference?” Xiào Mu recalled the scene before the screen turned black. “The captain from Team 2 seems to be…under a mental attack.”

Xiào Mu used mental attacks twice, and the one being attacked looked similar to Team 2 captain’s expression.

As one of the victims of Xiào Mu’s mental attacks, Leo can relate with his reaction when being attacked. He said, “I agree with you, Planet Jiu may have beings with advanced spiritual power.”

Saying that, Leo sent a message to all other teams, “Everyone, avoid the east. Stabilize the miners everywhere, and react accordingly if the situation is not good.” After the order, he looked at Xiào Mu, “Stay here, I will go to the east.”

“Major General, you can’t take risks.” Wood said hastily.

Leo opened his terminal, and it showed Jonassen’s photos and information, “Jonassen is the head of the infamous Nathan space pirate a year ago. He is mainly active in the galaxies near Plant Yan. He escaped from Planet Yan’s prison more than a month ago.”

“According to the data, the person with the highest spiritual power in the Nathan space pirate group is Jonassen himself, Level A. Team 1 and 2 captains have Level B+ spiritual power. With just Jonassen’s ability, it is impossible for him to cause the captains to lose consciousness immediately… especially when the captain of Team 2 is on guard.”

Wood: “They must have new people joining. Since the situation is unknown, you can’t take any risks.”

Leo sneered, “If even I am in danger, who else in our troop won’t get caught?” He turned and walked out, “I want to see how much this shabby space pirate group can do.”

“Wait!” Xiào Mu shouted when he saw Jonassen’s face suddenly appeared on the screen.

Leo turned around when he heard Xiào Mu’s voice. He saw him pointing at the screen and looked over, then his complexion immediately became extremely ugly.

“Major General Leo, and friends of the Empire, hello everyone.”

Taken aback, Xiào Mu quickly turned on his terminal. The first channel of the Empire Interstellar Live Platform showed the exactly same content as the screen on the command room screen. Jonassen is broadcasting!

Jonassen smiled evilly, “This is Jonassen, currently at Planet Jiu, and this…”

He pinched Qian Yao’s neck with his right hand and dragged him from outside the screen into the screen. Qian Yao’s eyes are closed, and he stayed limp like a ragdoll; unable to fight back. Jonassen seemed to be particularly satisfied and smiled deeper, “This is Qian Yao, the commander of Planet Jiu’s garrison. There are also some garrison soldiers behind me but I don’t think you would want to see their current sorry state.”

“I’m a pacifist,” Jonassen didn’t feel embarrassed to say it blatantly. He looked straight at the screen and continued, “Major General Leo, my request is simple. Use 1,000 high-grade healing pills in exchange for their lives. ” He paused, “Oh, not only them but also your subordinates. 1,000 pills are no more than 20 million star coins. Their lives are much more expensive than this, right? I’m a reasonable person and will give you enough time. 3 hours later, if I don’t get the medicines, I will kill one person after every minute.” There is a bloodthirsty light in his eyes, “I’ll kill the newcomer first.”

The newcomer means the soldiers brought over by Leo.

After Jonassen finished talking, his broadcast disappears and the live feed of each captain returns to the display. Even the breathing sound can be heard in the quiet command room. Leo has never been threatened so blatantly before, and he felt like he is going to explode. He unfastened the top 2 buttons of his uniform and tapped on the screen, “Dare to be so arrogant, see if this Lao tzi don’t kill you?!” He strode out but stopped after 2 steps. Turning to Wood, Leo said, “Make sure Xiào Mu is safe.”

Seeing his furious appearance, Wood quickly saluted him, “Yes, Major General, but you are alone…”

Leo ignored Wood and turned to look at Xiào Mu. His eyes softened as he comforted, “Don’t be afraid, wait for me to come back.”

Xiào Mu’s lips moved, but he didn’t say anything. He doesn’t think he could persuade Leo to stay. As Leo said earlier, with his spiritual power, if he also gets in trouble, the rest of the troop won’t be safe. Xiào Mu’s spiritual power is high enough, but his combat power is too thrashy so he is equally unsafe outside.

Leo’s actions are extremely fast. He released his Ying mecha as soon as he exited the hatch and swiftly disappeared.

Chapter 40 Part 2 Spiritual damage

Jonassen threw Qian Yao aside and looked at the satisfied Mitte, “Don’t forget, 500 pills are mine.”

Mitte coldly replied, “Won’t be any lesser,” he stretched out his hand, “Give it back to me.”

Jonassen took off the small round magnet behind his ear, “This is the anti-interference device? If I give it to you and you use mental interference on me, what can I do?” Saying that, he looked down at the bunch of unconscious army soldiers. Jonassen tsk-ed twice, and his gaze fell on Mitte, “Give me a mental disruptor device. Since we have a cooperative relationship, the stronger I am, the better for you.”

Mitte sneered, “Dream on!” The mental disruptor device is his bargaining chip. If given to Jonassen, he will become useless to Jonassen. No doubt, the first person Jonassen will deal with is him.

Jonassen only said it casually and didn’t expect Mitte to give it to him. Pretending to forget what Mitte asked for, Jonassen put the round magnet behind his ear again.

“I’ll rest for a bit and come back when the time is up.” Jonassen kicked Qian Yao who fell to the ground. “Will he wake up halfway?”

“Get someone tie him up. Then, it wouldn’t matter if he really wakes up.” Mitte didn’t care much and turned back into the small starship. However, his expression turned ugly soon. He caught up with Jonassen, coldly glaring at him, “Where is he?”

“How do I know?” Jonassen rolled his eyes. “Isn’t ‘he’ from the Empire? He probably heard that the Empire army is coming, so he ran away.” Having said that, Jonassen warned, “Don’t make mistakes for that waste.”

Mitte’s complexion changed, and there was no warmth in his eyes, “Shut up! I’m an ordinary person too, would you like to try my ‘trashy’ skill?”

“Don’t,” Jonassen raised his hand. Grabbing Qian Yao’s collar, he walked towards the Nathan Starship docked in the north, while cursing in a low voice, “So many messy things in my hand. It’s not like I like seeking death. That person, other than his face, which part is not a waste?”

Mitte’s face changed several times. He turned on his terminal and stared at the red dot on the map for a moment. Then he went to Jonassen with a cold face.

“Let your subordinates bring him back in good condition,” Mitte directly said his intentions. Before Jonassen could refuse, he added, “If you don’t send someone, I will go personally. If the imperial soldiers come, you will deal with them yourself.”

Hearing that, Jonassen’s expression looked ugly. He only has a small number of people. This time he has lost a lot of people. Without Mitte’s mental disruptor device, he has no chance of winning.

“You stay here, I’ll let someone go,” Jonassen said and contacted his men. “Old Third, go get that waste back.”

The remarks caused Mitte to glance at Jonassen coldly but he shared the position of the red dot with Old Third anyway. Jonassen is worried that the situation would change and refused to let Mitte leave, so he dragged Mitte with him into the Nathan starship. Suddenly, Mitte’s terminal shook frantically, he raised his hand and walked out with a calm face. Jonassen followed Mitte out and watched the surveillance video from his terminal. A black mecha activated their sensor and is moving fast around the mine, seeming to want to find a place to breakthrough. Surprised and shocked, Jonassen blurted, “Leo Arnold’s Ying mecha?! He actually came in person!”

Mitte sneered, “So what?” He unceremoniously turned on the mental disruptor device and adjusted it to the highest level. At the same time, the surveillance video showed that Ying has stopped moving suddenly. The next moment, the surveillance video flashed and turned black.

“What happened?” Mitte was stunned.

“Anti-interference, your surveillance has been disrupted,” Jonassen looked around warily, “He is a Level S sentinel. Could it be your disruptor is useless to him?”

“Impossible,” Mitte said with certainty. “You should be clear about that since you have tried it yourself. Even if one doesn’t go into a coma immediately, he will at least suffer severe injuries.”

“Just injuries are not enough,” Jonassen took out a dagger and dragged Qian Yao out. “Just in case, if he comes, I will start a broadcast. Let’s see if he dares to ignore Qian Yao’s life in front of the empire.”

Mitte looked at Jonassen contemptuously, “What are you afraid of? No one here dared to use thermal weapons and Leo’s spirit is severely damaged. You can’t even beat him like this?”

The question makes Jonassen glare at Mite, “Even if a Level S sentinel is injured, you can’t underestimate him. If you can make him unconscious right away, I won’t have to be so cautious,” he said bluntly, “I will leave if the situation is not right.”

Mitte sneered, “You can just start the broadcast now and let others see how cowardly you are.”

Jonassen remained unmoved, “If I don’t cherish my life, I am long dead.”

Suddenly, a huge black panther leaped up to the mid-level platform. The surrounding guards exclaimed and got knocked out one after another. Jonassen’s expression changed. He pressed his dagger to Qian Yao’s neck and moved back in the direction of the Nathan Starship. At the same time, he opened the live broadcast and said with a grin, “Major General Leo, I’m currently broadcast live to the Empire. Do you want me to kill him?”

Leo sat in his mecha with a pale face. The sudden strong mental disturbance made him felt like his head is about to explode so he immediately established a spiritual barrier to make him feel better. The mental disturbance continued and his spiritual power is declining rapidly, but Leo did not retreat and decided to end the fight quickly. He felt that the closer he is to the mid-levels, the greater the intensity of interference, which means the source of interference is nearby. Such steady and continuous interference caused Leo’s expression to become more serious. He realized that this does not come from a person with high spiritual power, but a weapon to attack spiritual power.

“Jonassen,” Leo’s voice came from the tall mecha, with a metallic coldness, “Go to hell!”

As soon as the voice fell, Jonassen’s head suddenly felt severe pain. Screaming, he fell on his back and let go of the dagger. At this moment, a huge black panther lunged at him like a phantom. The pain in his head is fleeting, and his rich combat experience made Jonassen react reflexively. He rolled to the right and avoided the killing blow. Releasing his humanoid mecha, Jonassen jumped onto the cockpit. However, at the moment he entered his mecha, his back was severely clawed by the panther. That hit almost sent Jonassen shooting into the cockpit, spitting out a large mouthful of blood.

[Warning! Master, your spiritual power is seriously insufficient. Please get it treated.]

Ying’s mechanical voice radiated from the seat, and Leo’s forehead is filled with cold sweat. He had just launched a mental attack on Jonassen, which greatly consumed his spiritual power. His spiritual filaments lost the protection of the barrier and got attacked by the mental disruptor. Although it only happened for a moment, it was excruciatingly painful. Leo took out the high-grade healing pill given to him by Xiào Mu and his expression softened. After eating the pill, his complexion looked better.

Jonassen did not counterattack, instead activated the acceleration mode and ran to the Nathan Starship quickly. Leo snorted and followed closely. Within 2 seconds, he caught up with the humanoid mecha. Jonassen gritted his teeth fiercely, showing a fierce expression on his face. Knowing that it is impossible to escape, he turned to face the enemy head-on. Jonassen has been relying on his good judgment and has always avoided opponents who are stronger than him, so as not to fall into disadvantages. In fact, his strength is not bad at all. He has the foundation of Level AA, plus rich experience in fighting after being a space pirate. His strength is not weaker than a normal Level AA+ sentinel.

It is lunchtime in the empire at this time, but no one is eating. All of them are staring at their terminal, watching the battle between the panther mecha and the humanoid mecha in the live broadcast without blinking. This is purely hand-to-hand combat, and no one uses thermal weapons.

“Major General Leo, bombarded him with particle cannon!”

“Are you a fool? Look at where they are. This is clearly the ores associated with the red silver mine.”

“I also recognized it. If a particle cannon is used and high temperature is generated in an instant, this mountain will definitely explode and Major General Leo will die with the opponent!”

In order to avoid the mental interference, Leo kept the spiritual barrier on. Although his spiritual power has recovered nearly by a quarter, it gets consumed extremely fast, so Leo is very cautious with his usage. He didn’t use spiritual power to connect with Ying but manually piloted the mecha instead. His hands on the control panels were like phantoms, and the panther mecha moved quickly and sharply under his control. With a ‘bang’, the humanoid mecha fell heavily to the ground. The panther mecha didn’t give the enemy time to breathe and stomped on it fiercely. Then, a laser sword rolled up from its tail and plunged into the humanoid mecha’s heart area.

“Oh my God, if the laser sword went through and stabbed on the ground, the place will explode!”

However, there is no explosion. Leo managed to control his action accurately. After damaging the cockpit, he retrieved the weapon. Jumping out of his mecha, he dragged the bloody Jonassen out of the cockpit, “Who gave you the right to crazy, and you dare to threaten Lao tzi?!”

“Wow, Major General Leo exploded!” The barrage went crazy.

“Has anyone noticed that Major General Leo’s face is very pale?”

Jonassen opened his eyes and looked at Leo unwillingly, “How did you avoid the mental interference?” Then, noticing that Leo’s hands are shaking slightly, Jonassen suddenly grinned, “It turns out that your spiritual state is injured. It seems that you won’t be able to hold on for long.”

“Hahaha, urgh…” Jonassen got choked with laughter, “It’s worth it, exchanging my life for yours. Too bad I won’t be here to see you getting crazy and die from mental confusion!”

Leo kicked Jonassen into the air. Without the chance to say anything, Jonassen died straight away. Leo wiped his hands, and muttered with a despising tone, “Trash.”

After that, Leo turned back and prepared to get on the mecha. The tingling sensation from his head made him dizzy slightly. He rubbed his forehead and continued to move. Suddenly, he stopped and turned his head to look to the right. A small white starship gradually disappeared from sight, and at the same time, the mental interference disappeared. Leo’s complexion changed and he immediately sent a report to the military, “The white starship fled and it carried a weapon that could attack spiritual power. Track its tracks closely, and paying attention to safety.”

Next, Leo jumped onto Ying and drove the mecha away.

“Major General Leo’s spiritual power is damaged? It looks dangerous!”

“Wow! No, are there any kind people who could continue the broadcast?”

“Major General Leo won’t have any trouble, right?”

Everyone on the live broadcast screen is full of worries.

Ren sat in the office with an ugly face after watching the broadcast. Combined with the expression on Leo’s face, Ren can’t help worrying that his spiritual power is seriously damaged. He ordered the whole army to track down the small white starship. After a moment of thought, he contacted Xiào Mu.

Xiào Mu is currently persuading Wood in the starship command room, “Please let me out. Leo is in a very bad state. If he encounters any riot army in the middle of returning, it is very dangerous.”

Wood had a complicated look as well, “It’s a warzone outside, it’s dangerous for you to go out.” He promised the major general that he would never let Xiào Mu get into trouble.

10 minutes ago, a large-scale cargo starship suddenly appeared at the jump point not far from them. When that ship encountered Team 10 that was left behind as backup, it immediately started attacking them. At this moment, a battle is going on outside.

Xiào Mu contacted Ren again to explain the situation. Ren gave up his original idea and said solemnly, “Let the nearest team pick him up, don’t go out. Believe in Leo. If something happens to you, no one can help him.”

Xiào Mu relayed Ren’s meaning to Wood, and Wood contacted the captain of Team 3 and asked him to get Leo.

Leo jumped down the mountain platform and found the unconscious captains and their team members. He is about to contact Wood to ask him to escort Xiào Mu over. Then, he heard a cry not far away. Next, Leo saw a thin figure being apprehended by a bald head guy. Seeing that, Leo’s expression suddenly changed, “Xiào Mu!”