Chapter Forty-Eight

“Yes!” Ye Chong replied in a firm, ringing voice.

Johansen’s tone was cold. “Oh? So, you want to meddle in this?”

The black mask on his face gleamed ominously.

Ye Chong shook his head.

Johansen was taken aback, clearly surprised. His tone softened. “Oh? Then what is it you want?”

Ye Chong hesitated for a moment. Lacking social skills, he decided to be blunt. “I wish to learn combat techniques from you.”

Johansen was stunned, then overjoyed. He had been wondering how to bring this young man before Instructor Hack, and never imagined the boy would walk right up to him. Though delighted, Johansen forced himself to remain calm. “Then you’ll have to pass a test. If you’re willing, come with me.” Without another word, he hoisted the burly bodyguard from the ground and, with a tap of his toe, shot off at tremendous speed.

Ye Chong followed close behind, without a moment’s hesitation.

The bodyguard, weighing some one or two hundred kilograms, seemed weightless in Johansen’s grasp. The longer Ye Chong kept up the pursuit, the more uneasy he felt. He was already running at his top speed, yet he still couldn’t gain on the man in the black mask—the distance between them remained unchanged. What frustrated Ye Chong even more was that Johansen was carrying a person weighing over a hundred kilos, yet was still slightly faster. The more Ye Chong thought about it, the heavier his heart grew.

After all, speed had always been Ye Chong’s point of pride. Back when he piloted the Winnie, he was already exceptionally fast. Later, during Mu’s physical training, his speed had improved more than any other aspect, and he had grown to love the thrill it brought him. Yet now, his greatest strength had been handily surpassed—it was impossible not to feel dejected.

Little did he know, Johansen’s own mind was in turmoil as well.

Within Black Horn, Johansen was among the fastest of his peers—not the very fastest, but certainly renowned among the elite. Speed was his forte, his ace in the hole. Yet this unassuming youth was keeping pace with him stride for stride. While it looked like Johansen was at a disadvantage, carrying a man in his hand, he knew full well that the burden affected him far less than outsiders would think. Even empty-handed, he wouldn’t be much faster.

Moreover, Johansen’s sharp eye could see that the boy had plenty of room for growth. He clearly lacked formal training and relied solely on the explosive power of his legs. If his flaws were corrected, his speed could increase by another ten percent—at which point, Ye Chong would surely be faster than Johansen himself. If Hack learned that Johansen had brought in such a gifted student, the old man’s obnoxious mustache might just fall off from laughter.

Thinking that he might soon lose his title as F Group’s best filled Johansen with a twinge of jealousy. Still, the addition of such a strong member could change the fortunes of their group—maybe, just maybe, F Group’s situation would improve at last. The thought lifted his spirits considerably.

The two raced forward, each lost in their own thoughts.

Johansen twisted and turned through corridor after corridor, and Ye Chong quickly lost all sense of direction, forced simply to follow the man in the black mask. Johansen entered a docking bay and turned to Ye Chong. “You have a mecha?”

Ye Chong nodded. “I do.”

“Good. Follow me, then—pilot your mecha.” With that, the man in black summoned a jet-black mecha, identical to the ones Ye Chong had seen clearing debris from the flight path earlier. Ye Chong hastily summoned his own.

Before departing, Ye Chong remembered to notify Bai Li Nan that he had something to take care of and told him to stay put for now. Bai Li Nan, busy with who-knew-what, was delighted at the prospect of being left behind and agreed enthusiastically.

Johansen’s mecha plunged into the asteroid belt beside Zilanfu, and Ye Chong quickly followed suit, steering his own machine into the swirling rubble.

Ye Chong had long dreamed of piloting his mecha through an asteroid belt, and now that wish was coming true far sooner than expected. Johansen moved at a leisurely pace, weaving through the tumbling rocks with effortless grace, his every maneuver smooth and unhurried. In contrast, Ye Chong was having a rough time of it. He had assumed that if he could pilot a starship through an asteroid belt, a mecha would pose no problem. Reality proved otherwise. The mecha’s agility far surpassed that of a ship—almost too much so. Here, the asteroids were denser and faster than before. Ye Chong was repeatedly battered by flying debris, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. Only the advanced hydraulic cushioning system of his high-end mecha spared him from being smashed into the control console. The once-mighty, heroic form of his Golden Mailang was soon battered beyond recognition.

Johansen wasn’t flying particularly fast; he was clearly waiting for Ye Chong to catch up.

Stumbling and veering through the Elma region, Ye Chong followed the masked veteran for nearly eight hours. Staring blankly at the endless field of rocks, he despaired—how much farther could this possibly go?

Johansen, for his part, maintained the same unhurried, measured pace as at the start. Ye Chong’s condition had improved significantly; while he was still occasionally struck by asteroids hurtling from every direction, he was no longer as helpless as he’d been at the beginning.

It was also painfully clear that all manner of electronic sensors were useless in this environment—Ye Chong had to rely entirely on his own eyes to take in his surroundings.

After another eight hours, the pair finally emerged from the asteroid belt. Ye Chong breathed a long sigh of relief.

Johansen pressed on, Ye Chong in tow. Now clear of the asteroids, their speed increased dramatically. After about two and a half hours, a black base appeared in the distance. Brightly lit inside, it stood out starkly against the void. The base was roughly ten times the size of Zilanfu, evidently a converted asteroid.

Johansen offered no introductions, simply flying ahead in silence. Ye Chong had no choice but to keep up.

As they drew closer, Ye Chong saw that the entire base was covered by an energy shield, with numerous satellites deployed in the surrounding space. The massive electromagnetic cannons mounted on these satellites sent a chill down his spine. With such weaponry, any asteroid under twenty kilometers in diameter would be pulverized—or, at the very least, have its trajectory radically altered.

Ye Chong followed the masked man into a return shaft. As they neared, he caught sight of the fifteen-meter-thick protective plating. Ye Chong was staggered—if he remembered correctly, even a palm-sized piece of this material fetched a fortune, and yet here, the entire base was shielded with it. Even someone as oblivious to money as Ye Chong was left utterly speechless.

The masked man motioned for Ye Chong to follow, pulling him out of his stupor.

Inside the base, the masked man tossed the burly bodyguard out of his cockpit, where someone else took him away to an uncertain fate. Ye Chong, for his part, felt no curiosity about that.

The masked man gestured for Ye Chong to remain in his mecha, piloting it through the base.

They stopped before a massive black door, which opened automatically. Together, the two mechas glided silently inside.