Images in his sights quickly changed. When Han Xiao regained focus, he was already hovering above an enormous planet.
Looking down from outer space, this planet was vast and emerald green in general. Bright cities spread across the surface of the planet. It looked like a rather prosperous civilization.
Through the satellite technology, Han Xiao could roughly judge that this civilization was still at the surface civilization stage with both technology and magic systems, attempting to develop toward becoming a galactic civilization.
The lights on the surface flickered quickly like it was fast forwarded. Countless days seemed to have passed in seconds. At this time, the fast forwarding suddenly stopped and returned to normal as if a certain destination was reached.
The next moment, a sudden change occurred on the planet below him. He saw that in a city area on the surface, the ground suddenly started trembling violently. Then, an enormous seven-fingered palm appeared from the ground.
An enormous titan-like giant used its wide back to break through the ground covering its head and stood up like a colossal pillar, bringing up large portions of the ground. It was like someone had grabbed a tablecloth at the middle; the buildings on the ground fell and shattered like the plates on a table.
Crawling out of the ground, the thousands-of-meters-tall body of this gray giant finally appeared. Just the aftershock of it breaking out of the ground destroyed more than half of this city.
He walked toward the mountains, causing chain earthquakes with every step. As if absorbed by some kind of power, countless stones crawled up his body from his feet, condensing and forming layers of black protective carapaces like armor.
Very soon, the combat jets of this civilization arrived at the scene and fired nonstop at this giant. Countless explosions erupted on its body, causing close to no damage at all. This giant casually swung his arm, creating massive shockwaves, crushing the fighter jets into pieces of waste metal that turned into fireworks.
At the same time, Han Xiao saw that similar situations occurred the same time at more than a dozen other locations. Lives walked out one after another from underground, all with different appearances. There were giants, gigantic beasts, and some that were difficult to describe. Some appeared deep in the mountains, some in the desert, and some in the sea. It was like they had all awakened simultaneously.
An Ancient God awakening-type disaster? Han Xiao thought.
This was a rare kind of disaster. The term ‘Ancient God’ was a general name for powerful individual beings. It did not have to be a life form. Even mechanical life forms were counted. Simply put, this type of disaster was when a certain powerful individual that had been sleeping in a planet for countless years suddenly awakened due to some reason, causing destruction to the civilization that had developed.
There were mainly two causes for this. One was that the ‘Ancient Gods’ landed on this planet many years ago and entered a sleeping state. They were aliens. Another was that the ‘Ancient Gods’ were the native lives of this planet. The latter would usually have some connections to the religions on the planet.
If Han Xiao was to plant Apostle Weapons the size of Giant King Kong on a planet and set for it to awaken millions of years later, should a civilization develop on this planet, it would also be considered an ‘Ancient God awakening’.
The footage did not stop while Han Xiao was pondering. The time sped up once again for a while, showing that the civilization used all kinds of modern weapons but did not have any effects at all. Even mushroom clouds could not kill these Ancient Gods.
They seemed to have different supernatural powers. Other than fighting back, they would not attack the civilizations’ troops deliberately. Instead, they would continuously use their powers to trigger changes to the planet’s environment, causing disasters such as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, plate drifts, magnetic field shifts, global temperature increase, and so on, seemingly attempting to build a planet that was suitable for themselves. However, such drastic environmental changes were fatal to this civilization. Hence, there was no chance of coexistence. They had no choice but to keep attacking these ‘Ancient Gods’, hoping to stop them.
During which, more ‘Ancient Gods’ awakened. They seemed to be the true ancient masters of this planet. The population of this civilization plummeted. They gave up one city after another, shifting toward the land with the fewest ‘Ancient Gods’. They called it the ‘Final Land’.
This time, however, an opportunity suddenly appeared.
As they knew ‘Ancient Gods’ were awakening from underground, this civilization went all out to dig into the ground, hoping to capture an individual that had yet to awaken. In the end, they actually really found one close to ten thousand meters below the Final Land. However, this individual had died. It was just that its body did not rot or shrink.
This civilization was overjoyed. They formed research teams hoping to find the weakness of ‘Ancient Gods’. However, the more they studied and researched, the more hopeless they got. All evidence proved that with their current weapons, there was absolutely no chance of killing the Ancient Gods.
In Han Xiao’s eyes, these Ancient Gods were at the Calamity Grade. They seemed to be of a rare race. Due to their extraordinary Racial Talent and enormous body, they were stronger than usual Calamity Grades, mainly tougher and tankier. It would not be difficult for a Calamity Grade to wipe out a surface civilization, and to this civilization, this many special Calamity Grade lives far exceeded what they could deal with.
In despair, someone had a flash of insight and made a suggestion—since their current weapons were ineffective, they could find a way to modify this Ancient God corpse and make it into a weapon to fight the other Ancient Gods.
Left with no other choice, hardly anyone in the civilization objected to this idea; they could only give it a try. However, their opinions split on the topic of controlling method. Ordinary remote control would not suit high-intensity battles. The tremendous load of nervous connection required at least thousands of pilots, which would undoubtedly reduce its mobility, and their artificial intelligence technology was not advanced enough.
In the end, this civilization decided to carry out multiple plans at the same time, one of which was to invent a device to swap souls, allowing their souls to exit their weak bodies and enter the corpse of this Ancient God to control it. This way, they would be able to use the abilities of this Ancient God to its fullest with a chance of obtaining its supernatural power.
“This is… Ultraman‽”
Han Xiao’s mouth contorted slightly.
At this time, his sights suddenly zoomed in. He came to an enormous lab. The corpse of the Ancient God was hung up. Layers of scaffolding covered its body to modify it and plant all kinds of mechanical weapons.
On the ground were teams of soldiers wearing white clothes. A mechanical plug was planted in the backs of their heads. Cables extended from them and connected them to an enormous device hovering midair.
This enormous device hovered in front of the Ancient God corpse’s head. Its launch port was a black crystal mirror that was pointed at between the brows of the corpse.
Ka-cha!
Han Xiao saw the lab personnel push the handle on the control table. The next moment, he heard people falling to the ground. All the white-clothed soldiers fell down to the floor. Dim clusters of light entered the device through the cables. Right after that, an eerie black light shot out from the crystal mirror and entered the Ancient God from between its brows.
Time passed minute by minute, but the Ancient God corpse did not show any response. Disappointment and frustration appeared on many researchers’ faces.
Suddenly, the entire underground lab trembled. Cracks appeared on the walls. More than a dozen enormous tentacles shattered the walls, and between the rolling soil, a gigantic silhouette approached. It was one of the Ancient Gods that had a semi-plant body. It looked like a combination of Venus Flytrap and an octopus, swimming through the ground like it was a swimming pool.
However, at this instant, the Ancient God corpse suddenly opened its eyes.
Han Xiao’s sights flashed and returned to the office on the spaceship. The illusion from [Bold Explorer] stopped abruptly.
He processed what he had seen.
“There’s quite a lot of information…”
If he had seen correctly, that enormous device was the initial form of the Soul Swapper, and the crystal mirror was the Soul Swapper that was in his hands. God only knew what mutation it had undergone in the long years for it to become a Space Wonder.
Han Xiao recalled the appearance of the race of that civilization and searched in the database, but he did not find any matches. Even the Spacetime Research Council, which focused on collecting information on lost civilizations, had no records.
“Looks like this is a civilization and race that has yet to be discovered. It might be in the unexplored universe, or it could be an even more ancient lost civilization. Could it have existed in the same era as the civilization that created the Domino Virus? I wonder what happened to this civilization next.”
Han Xiao was quite curious. Sadly, the cooldown for [Bold Explorer] was fourteen days.
According to the illusion shown, the plan to use the Soul Swapper to control the Ancient God corpse seemed to have worked. The souls of these soldiers should have merged into one. The corpse did not rot, but the soul had disappeared long ago, so there was not much resistance. The shell successfully accepted the new soul…
“Hmm‽”
At this instant, a flash of insight exploded in Han Xiao’s mind like a lightning bolt.
After Hila’s interrogation of the Soul Swap Twins and the tests Feidin had been carrying out, he had a brief understanding of the functions of the Soul Swapper. He knew that this thing could swap souls and ignore the body’s rejection to a very large extent. This meant that if the target was a shell that had no soul, he could easily ‘revive’ it.
This meant that…
Han Xiao took out the Spacetime Amber, his eyes glowing.
He suddenly realized that the functions of these two things seemed to fit perfectly!
He could use the Soul Swapper in a very special way!
“Black Star, what are you laughing about? Why is your laughter so…” Feidin stopped and did not say the word ‘perverted’.
“Ahem!” Han Xiao quickly coughed. “I’ve thought of something good.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing, none of your business.” Han Xiao lifted the Soul Swapper in his hands. “I’ll be taking this to do some experiments. I’ll return it to you afterward.”
“No problem.” Feidin hesitated for a moment before saying, “Actually, there’s one thing I’d like to ask you to help with. As you know, although Psychics can shift their souls, the risk is extremely high, which is why Chen Xing has been living in my body. Now that there’s this Universal Treasure, there won’t be any risks anymore, so I plan to get her out.”
“For what? Doesn’t mental reproduction feel great?”
“You say it as if you’ve tried.” Feidin was speechless.
Han Xiao scratched his nose, shifted the topic, and said, “So, you want me to find a body for Chen Xing?”
“Not just that…” Feidin said a little bit awkwardly. “She said she doesn’t want to use a second hand good someone else has already used, so she hopes to custom-make a body for which she can choose the shape and looks.”
“I can’t do that.” Han Xiao waved and rejected the request. “I’m just an ordinary Mechanic. Building machinery isn’t a problem, but creating humans isn’t my thing. Do you think I’m a god?”
“Can’t you use biological muscles, nanotechnology nerves, and so on to create a bionic human?”
“I can indeed, but that’ll require a chip. The consciousness staffed in it is in Virtual Soul format. It’s not compatible with the soul of a Psychic.”
“What about imitating the structure of a brain without using a chip?”
“Sure, I can do that, but I can’t say what side effects it’ll have.”
“What then?” Feidin felt a little defeated. “It’s not like we can kill a young and pretty female just to find her a body.”
“From the way I see it, you can find a pet first and transfer your wife into that temporarily. Isn’t that nice…”
“She said you’re becoming more and more perverted.” Feidin narrowed his eyes. “And I agree.”
“What are you guys thinking about?” Han Xiao rolled his eyes. You’re one to talk.
Feidin shook his head and said seriously, “I’ve already split off the parasite soul inside Aesop’s body. He’s recovered.”
“Oh ho, tell him to come and see me then. Let me see how he’s doing.”
“He’s already outside the door.”
Feidin signaled. The door was pushed open, and Aesop walked in. When he saw Han Xiao, he smiled bitterly.
Han Xiao sized Aesop up and said, “Old man, any side effects?”
“Nope, I feel normal now.”
Aesop sat down. He had a complicated expression on his face as he sighed and said, “Black Star, thank you for this. If not for you, Ames would definitely have been heavily affected.”
“Don’t say that. You wouldn’t have been targeted if it wasn’t for me.” Han Xiao shook his head.
“Alas, I’ve lived long enough. It doesn’t matter if I die or not. I just don’t want my death to affect Ames. I know her temper, she’d definitely do something she’ll regret under a fit of rage.”
Well, you got that right… Han Xiao thought.
“What are you planning to do now? Although you didn’t plan for this, Ames will be more cautious now. Even if you want to leave, you won’t be able to easily.”
“What else can I do but stay?” Aesop smiled bitterly. Originally, he had come to an agreement with Black Star that he would be leaving to travel around after this mission was complete, but clearly, that was not going to happen.
If Black Star did not notify Ames, he would not have been in such a troubling situation. But Black Star had saved him, so he, of course, had no reason to blame him.
Han Xiao caressed his chin and suddenly said, “Actually, I have an idea that’ll satisfy both sides.”
“Oh?” Aesop’s eyes gleamed as he said with anticipation, “Tell me about it.”
“It’s simple really. The Soul Swapper is in my hands now. I can swap your soul into someone strong, and then you’ll be able to follow others around for adventures. Although you can’t control the body, it’s better than rotting at home. Plus, your safety will be guaranteed.”
Aesop’s eyes gleamed. He was tempted.
“This is a good idea… then what about my body?”
“Easy, I can use the Spacetime Amber to store it… but I suggest you temporarily lend it to someone else, and I happen to have a candidate for that.
“Who?” Han Xiao pointed at Feidin, chuckled, and said, “You enter Feidin’s body, and Chen Xing will borrow your body. Isn’t that a perfect plan?”
Hearing this, the both of them felt a chill down their spine.
Thinking of his adorable wife becoming an old man, Feidin wanted to vomit.
Thinking of the fact that Feidin had a habit of fornicating in the mind, Aesop subconsciously tightened his legs.
“I’d rather die!” the two of them said simultaneously.
…
It was the day for another plenary meeting at the Beyond Grade A Association headquarters. The remote projections of various Beyond Grade As arrived at the venue outside the conference room, gathered in groups, chattered, and waited for the meeting to begin.
“Have you heard? Black Star fought the Mechanic Emperor again not long ago. He even won this time,” Sun Hunter said, floating in midair.
“We’re not living in a cave. Of course we’ve heard.” Kant tutted with his arm crossed. “Remember the fight we watched a few months ago? Black Star could only fight on par with the Mechanic Emperor at most back then. So little time has passed, and now he can already defeat Manison head-on, scary.”
“Hehe, Manison lost big time. Feels good.” A neutral Mechanic was laughing joyfully.
Kasuyi shook his head. “I know the Mechanic Emperor’s strength very well. To think that he still lost after using so many trump cards. It’s really unbelievable. I’ve seen the recording. Black Star seems to have learned some kind of new ability that happens to severely counter the Mechanic Emperor.”
Sierron snorted. “He just got lucky.”
“I personally object to your evaluation of his luck. You’re questioning my expertise,” Secret Master said with an expressionless face.
Sierron did not know how to respond to that.
“Speaking of which, I don’t know if I’m wrong, but the last Beyond Grade A weapons that the Mechanic Emperor took out at the end, aren’t they the three guys we know?” Milizaus asked hesitantly.
Once he said that, the entire place became silent for a moment. Everyone had a strange expression on their face.
To these senior Beyond Grade As, they knew who the Mechanic Emperor had defeated before, and some even knew them personally.
Seeing someone they were close to in the past getting modified by the Mechanic Emperor, they did not feel happy.
Although modifying living individuals was not forbidden, it was improper in the Beyond Grade A circle. Everyone had great powers. Once anyone was found to use something like this, all the Beyond Grade As would become cautious around that person due to fear of becoming their prey.
“I saw that Black Star captured two of them in the recordings. When he’s here later, we can ask him.” Kant shrugged.
At this time, another remote projection appeared not far away, and everyone looked over.
“Yo, speak of the devil.”
