Chapter 146: Sky Pirates Attack, Susanoo Reappears, This Strike Pierces the Stars (4K)

Chapter 146: Sky Pirates Attack, Susanoo Reappears, This Strike Pierces the Stars (4K)



"A million dragons..."

Subconsciously, Xue Jing looked out the porthole next to him and glanced into the distant sky.

The endless blue sky and white clouds revealed nothing. But according to Xu Blade, beyond his current vision, more than a million dragon species are orbiting the Earth at a distance of 10,000 kilometers in space?

"Just adapting to the space environment 10,000 kilometers away is extremely difficult, let alone the Dragon Mother being protected by a million dragons. It's almost impossible to kill it."

Xu Blade said.

"Over the decades, countries around the world have tried various methods, including overwhelming firepower, covert infiltration, and decapitation strikes. But most weapons and methods are greatly restricted in the space environment."

"Among the million dragons, there are also many dragons with special abilities, and there are all kinds of detection and reconnaissance capabilities. There is no gap for stealth infiltration around the Dragon Mother."

Shan Zhen took over Xu Blade's words and said:

"Actually, it's not really impossible to kill the Dragon Mother. But the price to pay is much higher than the cost of letting it continue to live."

"The cost-effectiveness is too low. It's better to just let it stay in space and eliminate the rampant dragon species from time to time."

"It's just hard on those smaller nations that don't have the power to ward off dragon incursions."

Xue Jing's eyebrows furrowed, "Oh? Do dragons invade the human realm?"

"Of course," said Xu Blade.

"It's just that dragons are very intelligent creatures. In the territories of powerful nations like Zhuxia, the New Cross Church, the Second Arctic Federation, and the New Beiyang Council, the dragons rarely approach the ground because they've suffered losses in the past."

"As for nations with insufficient military deterrence, the dragons are more rampant..."

"Now, at every 'World Federation Conference', there are countries that are plagued by dragon incursions who jointly request the Dragon Mother's extermination..."

...

As Xue Jing chatted with the two in the cabin.

In the clouds, not far from the plane, four figures hovered in mid-air.

Each of them wore rubber suits similar to diving suits, tightly wrapping their bodies from head to toe, with dark tinted goggles covering their eyes.

"Hmm? Is there actually a plane daring to fly at this altitude? Are they asking for death?"

The tall man among the four floating in the air spoke with a puzzled look.

He pointed at the black plane in the distant sky, tearing through the air as it advanced.

The skinny woman floating beside him followed his finger and frowned, "How is that possible?"

The third person, a long-haired man, had a gleam in his eyes as he spoke, "No, look behind it!"

"There's no 'condensation trail cloud', this plane isn't emitting fuel exhaust!"

"It's a Dragon Core plane! I can't believe we'd see a Dragon Core plane here in the outer ring!"

His voice rose in excitement.

It was a Dragon Core plane!

The production of such planes was extremely limited, and it was estimated that there were less than a thousand Dragon Core planes in the world.

Aside from the highly advanced technology required, the raw materials were extremely rare.

Suitable dragon species' core organs, which served as the power source, were priceless and rare items. Even a hundred dragons might not yield a single suitable core.

Moreover, these core organs had a wide range of applications, and crafting planes was not the most cost-effective use.

These reasons led to the rarity of Dragon Core planes.

"What do you say? Should we make a move and hijack it?" The long-haired man immediately proposed.

The skinny woman rolled her eyes, "What are you thinking? Do you think it's some wild plane? Dragon Core planes aren't civilian products. Who knows which major power this plane belongs to!"

The long-haired man retorted, "What's there to be afraid of? Don't we have backing too? If we had this plane, it would be much easier for our gang to operate. This thing doesn't have the problem of mutation rate, it can stay in the air forever!"

The skinny woman shook her head, "No, I disagree. We don't know anything about this plane, how many people are on board, or what their strength is. What if we provoke some monster? It's too late to call for backup now."

"You military otaku, stop dreaming. If you want to fly a plane, wait until we're back in the inner ring and buy yourself a 'simulation pod' experience."

The long-haired man pouted, not wanting to argue further. He turned to the tall man, "Abang, what do you think?"

The tall man named Abang shrugged, "I'll go with whatever Zhong Ge decides."

"The last of the four was a burly man with a sturdy build who appeared to be in his thirties.

His face was square-shaped, and he wore a calm expression. A purple, rhombus-shaped crystal was embedded in his spine, visible through the tight-fitting suit he wore.

"That's right, we have Zhong Ge with us!" The long-haired man exclaimed, as if he had found a compelling reason, his eyes lighting up.

"Zhong Ge, what do you think?"

The burly man named Zhong Ge crossed his arms, his right index finger tapping twice on his arm as he concisely replied, "Hijack."

The skinny woman frowned and sighed, "If things go wrong, I'll be the first to run away, and I won't wait for any of you."

The long-haired man laughed, "Don't worry, with Zhong Ge here, hijacking a plane will be a breeze."

...

"By the way, Captain Xu Blade, I noticed in the information you sent me that the pure-blood dragon species in Roaring Waterfall is referred to as a 'Core Creature.' What does that mean?"

Xue Jing asked a question while in the cabin.

"Well..." Xu Blade leaned against the wall, pondered for a moment, and said,

"Just like how creatures in the borderlands possess 'core organs,' each borderland itself also has its 'core.'"

"This 'core' could be a creature, a plant, or something else entirely."

"To explain this, you first need to understand that borderlands have a concept similar to 'life and death.'"

Xue Jing asked with a puzzled expression, "Life and death?"

Xu Blade nodded, "Yes, life and death."

"A borderland with its core intact is 'alive.'"

"A living borderland undergoes constant changes, such as the borderland expansion phenomenon, which causes the borderland area to continuously expand and erode the present-world regions."

"This is also why we need to place 'monitors' in the borderlands; we must constantly observe the borderlands to respond to any sudden changes that may occur... Otherwise, to give an example, the Roaring Waterfall you're heading to may suddenly experience time acceleration or time-skipping phenomena, and the pure-blood dragon species within it may be in its juvenile stage today but could be an adult by tomorrow."

"If we fail to detect an adult pure-blood dragon species in time and it escapes into the present world, invading urban areas... That would be a disastrous catastrophe."

Xue Jing thought for a moment and asked, "What about 'death'? Does a borderland disappear when it dies?"

Xu Blade shook her head, "Once a borderland appears, it never truly vanishes... At least, none have been found to disappear yet."

"The so-called death of a borderland refers to the destruction of its core."

"Once the core is destroyed, the borderland dies, and it will no longer exhibit such sudden and drastic changes..."

Xue Jing raised an eyebrow, "So, if I were to kill that pure-blood dragon species, which is presumably a core creature, the Roaring Waterfall would 'die,' and we wouldn't need the monitors anymore?"

Xu Blade made a sound of acknowledgment, "Indeed..."

"However, I suggest you don't entertain such thoughts."

Xu Blade said gently.

"Pure-blood dragon species... Even in their juvenile stage, they are extremely dangerous, with a threat level of at least 6 or even 7, depending on the abilities of their core organs."

Xue Jing waved his hand dismissively, "Oh, I was just joking. I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing; I don't want to die."

Xu Blade nodded, "It's good that you understand."

Shan Zhen, standing beside them, furrowed his brows, feeling that something was amiss, and was about to say something.

Just then, a broadcast sounded throughout the cabin.

"Captain! The radar shows something rapidly approaching the aircraft!"

"There's a dragon species energy field reaction, and it seems to be... someone with a 'Dragon Wing Implant'!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Blade and Shan Zhen's expressions changed.

"Approaching without warning—the intentions are not friendly." Shan Zhen stroked his chin and spoke.

Xue Jing's eyes narrowed, "Someone with a dragon wing implant... Could it be the Sky Pirates?"

Shan Zhen frowned, "Sky Pirates? There are Sky Pirates in the outer ring, and we happened to run into them? What do they want?"

Xu Blade pondered for a moment and said, "They're probably here to rob us."

Shan Zhen asked, puzzled, "Rob us? But there's nothing valuable on the plane, is there?"

Xu Blade replied calmly, "They're not after the contents of the plane; they're after the plane itself."

As she spoke, she suddenly had a strange thought and gave Xue Jing a peculiar look.

Xue Jing shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, "Captain Xu Blade, why are you looking at me like that?"

Xu Blade wore a strange expression as she said, "It's nothing... I was just thinking that we didn't encounter any Sky Pirates on our way here.

Xue Jing's mouth twitched.

He knew that Xu Blade wasn't suspecting him of colluding with the sky pirates. Instead, she was hinting at his 'trouble-magnet' body.

"Seriously, why don't you officially join our Sixth Agency? You're just too suited for this line of work." Xu Blade couldn't help but say.

Shan Zhen sighed in exasperation from the side. "Big brother, big sister, can we stop chatting so leisurely, especially now that we're in a crisis?"

Xu Blade thought for a moment, then walked to the wall, took the walkie-talkie hanging on it, and calmly said, "Xiao Jing, stop the plane and open the cabin door."

After hanging up the walkie-talkie, she turned to Shan Zhen and Xue Jing and said, "You two don't have flight abilities, and you're too restricted by the high-altitude environment. Stay in the cabin while I go out and talk to the sky pirates. Hopefully, we can resolve this with words, or else..."

Shan Zhen nodded and began rummaging through a large backpack on the nearby seat, pulling out a sniper rifle of unknown model but clearly large caliber.

"Don't worry, Captain. I understand," Shan Zhen assured her.

The plane gradually came to a halt, hovering in mid-air as the inset cabin door slid open with a creak. The strong winds at an altitude of 10,000 meters immediately rushed into the cabin, blowing Xue Jing's hair back and causing even the skin on his face to flutter uncontrollably.

Xu Blade leaped out of the cabin door.

Shan Zhen raised his hand to shield his eyes from the wind and was about to go close the cabin door when Xue Jing suddenly stopped him.

"What's wrong?" Shan Zhen asked in confusion.

Xue Jing smiled and said, "I think they're not here to negotiate. I'll go help as well."

It was hard to hear clearly over the howling wind, so Shan Zhen shouted, "What? No matter how powerful you are, you're still just a martial artist. In this high-altitude environment, one wrong step and you'll be in free fall. How can you help?"

"I'll give you a gun, and we can just shoot from inside the cabin," Shan Zhen suggested.

Xue Jing shook his head. "I've already graduated from being just a martial artist."

Shan Zhen couldn't hear clearly over the wind and shouted, "Huh? What did you say?"

But there was no response.

Xue Jing had already grabbed the edge of the door, flipped himself up, and nimbly climbed onto the back of the plane.

...

Xu Blade stood in mid-air, floating beside the plane, watching the four figures rapidly approaching them.

Even though the four had seen the plane stop and someone come out, they showed no signs of slowing down.

Seeing this, Xu Blade immediately understood that they had no intention of negotiating.

She drew out two blades from her left thigh and right waist, holding them in a reverse grip.

"This is troublesome. One of them is quite formidable," Xu Blade frowned, thinking to herself.

Those who constantly walk the line between life and death develop an intuition and a sense of danger far superior to ordinary people.

At that moment, every nerve in her body was screaming at her that among the four sky pirates, the burly man flying at the front was extremely dangerous.

"Our strength is insufficient right now... Although Xue Jing is powerful, this environment will likely hinder him from fully utilizing his abilities," she thought to herself.

"If things really turn sour... we might have to abandon this dragon core plane and settle the score later."

As the four sky pirates rapidly closed in, the distance between the two parties shortened.

"Ha! They only sent out one person to negotiate! We've really hit the jackpot this time!" the long-haired man exclaimed excitedly.

"They're so weak; we've definitely caught them off guard!"

"Woman, do you have anything else to say?" the skinny woman sneered, preparing to speak, but then she noticed a figure appearing on the back of the plane.

"What's that?" she asked, puzzled.

Before they could react, a black aura began to emerge from the figure on the plane.

The black aura ignited, transforming into a semi-transparent black shadow.

The shadow coiled around the figure, shifting and gathering to form a skeletal structure.

Soon, flesh and muscle covered the skeleton, forming a robust body clad in ornate black armor.

Finally, a giant with only the upper half of its body appeared, clad in semi-transparent black armor.

The giant wore a full-face helmet, revealing only a pair of hollow white eyes.

Then, the giant drew its bow.

"Swoosh—"

A massive black arrow, like a falling star, was released from the bow. It tore through the air, leaving a slowly expanding white trail in its wake.

Before anyone could react, the arrow pierced through the long-haired man's abdomen, slicing him in half.

In his dying moments, the only thought that flashed through the long-haired man's mind was:

—This strike pierces the stars.

...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end