"What are we looking for, Brother Gu?" Qiji asked curiously.
He could tell Gu Ya wasn't here to fight enemies or have fun. But Qiji also saw that Gu Ya didn't like to answer questions casually. He would do things mysteriously and achieve unexpected results.
"A person," Gu Ya responded directly for the first time.
Qiji couldn't help but ask again, "Uh, bad guy or good guy?"
"There are no good or bad people in this world," Gu Ya said. "Only those driven by profit and desire."
"There are!" Qiji stated firmly. "Black Stars are all bad guys!"
"What about Bai Zhan·Hen and Fei Hong·Shu Rou then?" Gu Ya retorted coldly.
"Uh..." Qiji was speechless, not knowing what to say.
Gu Ya continued, "Profit and desire can control people. As long as you can control these two things, you can control people."
Qiji retorted, "So Brother Gu Ya is actually controlling me?"
Gu Ya didn't want to deceive Qiji, so he said, "No, we are cooperating."
"I don't quite understand..."
"It's alright, you'll understand many things as time goes by."
Chatting as they walked, the two soon arrived before a giant disc-shaped gate. Above the gate, it was written in Black Star script: 【Safety Haven】.
"Burning daylight," Gu Ya commented calmly. But there was no other way to go.
"Qiji, you stay here. I'll go in and scout. Remember, if you encounter danger, immediately enter the solitary space and wait for me to rescue you," Gu Ya reminded him calmly, summoning a spatial rift and stepping into it.
Qiji looked back at the long corridor, sighed softly, and began fiddling with his exoskeleton armor. "This armor is amazing, so many functions."
Looking up into the depths of the corridor, important information such as temperature, humidity, and heart rate appeared on the panel in his field of view. As his gaze swept across, analyses of various objects appeared. It even included the voltage of the holographic light strips, rock types, and gas content. When Qiji looked down at his hand armor, a three-dimensional deconstruction of the hand armor appeared. The human eye scanning system locked onto his gaze, clicked open the analysis panel, and soon a very detailed analysis of the hand armor appeared.
"Hmm, very convenient!" Qiji exclaimed, looking up excitedly. Suddenly, he saw a tall humanoid dark silhouette standing not far in front of him!
"What? When did it get here?" Qiji startled, reflexively assuming a defensive posture, crossing his arms to protect his head and activating the combat functions of his exoskeleton armor.
But this tall Black Star figure remained unmoved, standing quietly in place. Its two red eyes on its head were exceptionally bright and eerie under the illumination of the cyan light strips. Seeing the other party motionless, Qiji also dared not move, remaining vigilant to prevent a sudden attack.
As minutes ticked by, Qiji found it increasingly unbearable and gradually relaxed. Seeing that the figure still hadn't moved, Qiji simply lowered his hands and stretched a little.
Just then, a spatial rift opened, and Gu Ya emerged from the solitary space, saying in a low voice, "It's safe inside, let's go."
Qiji was about to agree but then noticed the tall dark silhouette in front of him had disappeared! A sense of crisis shot through his body, and Qiji abruptly pushed Gu Ya away. Suddenly, a massive dark object descended from the ceiling and cleaved down with a heavy blade, shattering the exoskeleton armor on Qiji's chest! By the time Gu Ya could see the situation clearly, Qiji was lying motionless on the ground.
Gu Ya cursed, pulled Qiji's body, and jumped into the solitary space.
"Is something wrong?"
"No... nothing. The armor is thick!" Qiji gasped.
"Let's complete the mission first." Gu Ya reopened the solitary space, and the two of them emerged. Shortly after appearing, before they could get far, a large hole was blasted through the thick disc-shaped gate behind them! The massive dark object rushed in rapidly, charging towards Gu Ya.
"Idiot..." The solitary space unfolded instantly. But the thing directly tore through its body, coming through the periphery of the spatial rift! It seemed they wouldn't be able to leave without dealing with this thing. Gu Ya quickly turned, spread his arms, and lunged forward. As he charged, four additional arms materialized from his exoskeleton armor. Scorching flames erupted from one of the arms, and the torrent of fire impacted the giant creature, scattering outwards. The monster, still wreathed in flames, did not slow down.
Suddenly, a giant metal block descended from the sky, blocking the giant creature's path. But the metal block was quickly cleaved by the creature. Just as the giant creature passed through the metal block, hundreds of micro-explosive missiles shot forward, bombarding the creature's body. Following this, Gu Ya summoned hundreds of metal needles with miniature thrusters attached to their tails, all of which plunged into the creature's body. Ten thousand volts of high-pressure electricity were instantly released from the metal rods!
The next moment, two heavy shredders appeared on either side of the giant creature! The engines roared to life instantly, and thousands of sharp gears began to spin, firmly gripping the giant creature between them. The roar of engines, the grinding of shredders, and the sound of the creature's body being torn apart echoed through the empty corridor.
Just as Gu Ya thought the crisis was resolved, one of the shredders suddenly changed direction and lunged towards Gu Ya!
"It's not dead!" Gu Ya immediately pushed Qiji into the solitary space. The next moment, the shredder crushed Gu Ya's body. The giant creature discarded the shredder aside and looked back at where it had passed. Gu Ya's body had been torn into countless pieces, each contorted beyond recognition.
The giant creature muttered, "Intruder eliminated, crisis averted." As the words faded, a spatial rift opened above the creature's head. Gu Ya leaped down, his legs wrapping around the creature's head, and with four hands wielding four light swords, he plunged them straight into the creature's body!
Just as Gu Ya thought he was about to kill it, the creature's outer shell suddenly softened, and four fleshy tendrils protruded, engulfing the searing light swords! With a slight exertion, the tendrils forcibly snapped the light swords and swallowed them into its body. Soon, the creature's hands, all five fingers, began to glow, transforming into light swords. The creature suddenly raised its hands, swung them over its head, and gripped with immense force! Gu Ya's body and the creature's own head were crushed into pulp!
Retaining his consciousness within his head, Gu Ya reformed his body. A monster with high defense, immense strength, and intelligence was something Gu Ya had never encountered before. Furthermore, Gu Ya's attempts at "Code Manipulation" and "Yong Meng" had been completely useless against it. This creature seemed to have been created precisely to exploit Gu Ya's weaknesses. The monster's head rapidly regrew, its maw opened, spewing a turbid gas. It swung its hands and charged forward!
Suddenly, a spatial rift opened between Gu Ya and the monster. A miniature mech suddenly burst out, flames erupting from its entire body. It tightly clasped the giant creature's thick waist with both hands and lifted it with all its might!
"Brother Gu!" Qiji shouted. Gu Ya leaped up, two spatial rifts opening at the creature's neck and waist! Using the spatial rifts, Gu Ya intended to completely sever the indestructible monster. To his astonishment, the spatial rifts did not cut the monster but passed through the bodies of the giant creature and the miniature mech without causing any substantial damage.
The creature's hands grabbed furiously, shredding the miniature mech, revealing Qiji inside the cockpit! Qiji immediately maneuvered the mech to retreat, creating distance. Suddenly, an old man in a wheelchair slowly moved in front of the giant creature. The giant creature and Qiji simultaneously stopped, watching this sudden turn of events.
"As promised, this is the only time I'll help you," the Grand Tutor said calmly, instantly activating his mental domain technology. The giant creature's movements instantly froze, its glowing red eyes dimming instantly.
"Qiji! Get out of the way!!" Gu Ya roared from behind. Qiji quickly maneuvered the mech to the side to dodge. A miniature explosive divine cannon materialized on Gu Ya's right shoulder, targeting the giant creature, and began to charge! However, the Grand Tutor's mental domain could not restrain the giant creature for long. Soon, the creature's eyes began to glow red again, and with a swift swipe of its large hand, it swatted the Grand Tutor away! Then it reached for Qiji.
Just then, "Boom—!" The miniature explosive divine cannon struck true, its intense high-energy compressed energy piercing directly through the creature's body! It shot towards the depths of the corridor. Gu Ya slightly raised his shoulder, and the giant energy laser swept upwards, bisecting the creature's head! Instantly retracting the giant cannon, Gu Ya flew forward, summoning the solitary space and clamping it down from above! As the solitary space engulfed the giant creature, Gu Ya crushed the switch with one hand, completely trapping the giant creature within the spatial rift.
"Did you get it?" Qiji asked breathlessly and unsteadily. Gu Ya nodded calmly, "Got it!"
"Cough... help... help me..." The Grand Tutor lay in the distance, extremely weak.
"You won't die!" Gu Ya conjured a functional nutrient solution to replenish the remaining brain of the Grand Tutor, preventing his complete demise. He also conjured a new body to replace the残躯.
"Old man, I'm not too unlucky," the Grand Tutor murmured.
"Sleep..." Gu Ya said coldly.
"You! Bastard! You promised to help me this once and then let me go..." Before the Grand Tutor could finish, Gu Ya dragged him into the world of consciousness, putting him to sleep.
After storing the Grand Tutor in the solitary space, Gu Ya and Qiji ran towards the depths of the corridor.