Star Hunter.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Shortcut Begins

west Ying was analyzing the tissue sample of Oskuro that she had snatched from the gray cat's mouth when she heard the gray cat's meow and looked over.

A cat tooth lay beside it, while the gray cat circled the knife.

Oscuro had turned to ashes, but the knife he left behind remained intact. The gray cat took a bite, but in a moment of carelessness, broke its own tooth.

The knife that could knock out this cat's teeth was no ordinary knife; it was an extremely special one.

west Ying analyzed the knife and found that one of its main elements was not recorded in west Ying's database.

The material of Xiying itself is also very special, but this knife almost cleaved his entire hand in two. Of course, for Xiying, even if it is cleaved, it can be quickly reconnected.

"Let's keep this knife until Xilin wakes up." Xiying put the knife aside and continued analyzing Oskuro's genetic information.

Osculo's genes are far superior to those of Grade A, and several times stronger than those of Grade A physique. They are somewhat similar to those of Xilin, but the degree of DNA helixation is different from others, and there are far fewer silent genes in his genes.

west Ying analyzed Osculo's genetic sample, then looked at Xi Lin. Xi Lin's wounds were beginning to heal, though the healing process was slow, likely due to the severity of the injury and the stimulant. However, at least his vital signs were relatively stable.

A starship was parked in another location not far from the area assigned to the Vanguard.

Inside a room on the starship, two people were sitting at a table.

One of the younger-looking men was playing with a yo-yo. He rested his chin on his hand and watched the person opposite him flip over and rearrange the cards one by one. He didn't understand them, but it was just something he found interesting.

Suddenly, the person opposite waved their hand, gathering all the laid-out cards together, then pulled out the top card, placed it on the table, and turned it over.

The person playing with the yo-yo saw this, grabbed the yo-yo, paused, and said, "What does this mean?"

He didn't know the meaning of the patterns on the cards, but he had quietly seen this card before, when it appeared. An important figure in the military had died. So, who died this time?

Gada looked at the card and said calmly, "Oscuro."

The yo-yo in the man's hand shattered into pieces.

With a flick of his wrist, he scattered the shards and asked seriously, "Are you serious?"

Gada glanced at him. "When did I ever joke about that?"

The man took a deep breath. "If this is true, firstly, congratulations, you will soon replace Osculo as one of the six hunters."

To maintain balance, a new star-level hunter is needed to fill the gap; the six-star hunters and the four generals of the Heavenly Decree are all indispensable.

  

Gada did not show any joy at the man's words.

The man continued, "Secondly, this is truly good news. The Star Alliance is about to fall into chaos."

As the man spoke, Gada's second card fell to the ground. Gada frowned as he looked at the pattern on the card.

"How could this happen?"

"How could this be?" the man asked curiously when he saw Gada frowning.

Instead of answering the question directly, Gada said to the man, "The shortcut can be opened now."

"Great news! I've been waiting for this for so long!"

When Xilin woke up, it was already night in this part of the planet.

west Ying had already parked the aircraft nearby, but he and Gray Cat stayed by Xi Lin's side to guard it.

Seeing that Xilin had woken up, the gray cat happily came over and rubbed its ears against him, then bent its paw to show Xilin the fallen tooth. "Xilin, that knife knocked out one of my teeth!"

Xilin sat up, looked at the knife Xiying was holding, and said, "This knife is indeed very strange."

As he spoke, Xilin pried open the gray cat's mouth, took a look, and said, "Your new teeth have grown in so quickly?"

"Of course!" the gray cat said smugly.

Xilin rubbed his head. He had recovered somewhat, but it would take some time for him to fully recover, as the knife wound healed very slowly.

"Thanks to your timely arrival, otherwise you would have to worship me in the future."

Once this was mentioned, Gray Cat got excited and told Xilin how he sensed danger in Xilin, how he used his extraordinary senses to determine the direction, and what was happening at the base.

Xilin scratched the gray cat's chin and asked, "How's things at the base now?"

"Fortunately, the starship left not long after," west Ying replied.

"Didn't they say there was a rescue team? Hasn't it shown up yet?" Xilin checked the time; two calendar days had passed since he fell unconscious.

west Ying's eyes flickered. "I just told them you were okay." But she didn't give them the specific coordinates.

No wonder the rescue team didn't see a single person.

"That's good, it saves so many people from knowing what's going on here."

Xilin stood up, put the knife into the scroll-patterned ring, and looked around. Although it was night, the faint light emitted by the aircraft allowed Xilin to see his surroundings clearly.

"You destroyed Oskulo's body, so you didn't see the star map fragments?" Xilin asked.

The gray cat opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue. On the cat's tongue was a ring. The ring had no metallic luster and looked very ordinary, being gray and dull.

"A warp container? It didn't collapse even after all that tinkering with the warp?" Xilin took the ring and flicked the cat ears.

"Am I that stupid?" The gray cat raised its chin smugly.

Xilin thought to himself: You really can't say for sure.

He took the star map out of the ring, leaving the rest untouched, and tossed it to the gray cat: "Keep this ring for your fish cakes, but don't touch the savings cards and materials inside, or you'll be in trouble."

If the military finds out that we were the ones who killed Oskulo, we'll definitely be kept under close surveillance.

The gray cat's eyes narrowed with laughter. "Okay."

"Let's go back to base. west Ying, come on, lend a hand."

west Ying helped Xi Lin onto the aircraft; Xi Lin was still a little unsteady on his feet. The gray cat walked ahead, its tail held high.

However, before boarding the aircraft, the three of them simultaneously looked up.

"Who's coming?" The gray cat tilted its head back and twitched its ears.

"Whoever it is, it's not someone from the Sixth Fleet," Xilin said.

west Ying's eyes flickered. "There's an incoming signal requesting a call."

"Connected."

The call connected, and Gada's voice came through.

"How are you feeling?" Gada asked with a smile.

Looking at Gada's image, Xilin sighed, "As a hunter, never give your prey too much time to prepare, and don't let them know too much about you, or you'll suffer a humiliating defeat."

It wasn't Xilin who knew Oscuro well, but Gada. If Gada hadn't told Xilin so many of Oscuro's habits, Xilin wouldn't have been able to escape from Gada's blade, let alone kill Oscuro.

The call ended after only one sentence; Gada simply wanted to tell Sirin that they had arrived.

"Looks like we won't be able to go back this time. west Ying, can you contact the base?"

"There's an issue; the connection's down." west Ying glanced at the sky. "Something outside is causing signal interference. Should we hack in?"

"Forget it, since Gada is coming like this, he must be feeling confident. Let's see how things go."

Although he hadn't had much contact with Gada, Xilin was certain that even if Xiying and Greycat teamed up to hack into the interference system, it wouldn't be that easy.

After the aircraft landed, Gada emerged, followed by two other people. One of them, Sirin recognized—it was the invisible man. The other Sirin didn't know.

The "god of death" person.

They seemed to know each other quite well; I never expected that Gada and "Death" would have such a good relationship.

Gada tossed something to Xilin. Xilin caught it and saw it was a fragment of a star map, but it wasn't the type Xilin was looking for; it was probably the kind Long was looking for.

"Keep your promise."

"Are we going to open the 'shortcut' now?" Xilin asked.

Gada nodded.

This means that the remaining fragments are all in their hands.

Seeing the other party's attitude, Xilin knew that the other party was not prepared to let him contact the Sixth Fleet.

"No doubt about it," Gada said, seemingly knowing what Xilin was thinking. "I've already contacted Jifeng, and you'll see him soon. Since it's a collaboration, we should show our sincerity."

After witnessing Oskuro's abilities, Xilin gained confidence in Jifeng, feeling more emboldened with the backing of a star-level hunter.

"Can I contact the group leader?" Xilin asked.

"No, but whatever you want to say, I can."

"Alright, tell the commander to bring Sigma over with him."

"Sigma? I don't know who you're talking about, but this request can be granted."

Gada glanced at the person playing with a yo-yo next to him, who gave him a "you can't do anything about it" look and turned back to the aircraft.

Not long after, the man came out and said, "The message has been delivered." Then he went back to playing with his yo-yo.

When Jifeng arrived, it was already broad daylight in this area.

Jifeng brought five people, all of whom were core members of the home team.

When they learned that Xilin and Gray Cat had killed Oskuro, the main team members behind Jifeng looked at Xilin as if they had seen a ghost. However, Jifeng just smiled and said, "With Oskuro's personality, this was bound to happen sooner or later. But Gada, congratulations on becoming one of the Star-level members."

It seems everyone sees it very clearly.

However, the way Ji Feng looked at Xi Lin made Xi Lin feel uneasy, and it suddenly reminded Xi Lin of Old Master Mo Heng.

When Sigma was brought here by Jifeng and the others, it remained silent. This was the first time it had come out in so many years, and it only came out because of Jifeng's words, "for the sake of a shortcut."

However, Sigma's silence broke when he met Xilin and Gray Cat. He started chatting with Gray Cat in a mechanical language that the others couldn't understand at all.

Knowing that what Jifeng said was true, Sigma was so happy that the blue light on his face turned into a large wavy line.

Xilin took out three star map fragments, while the guy named Xinzhao who played with a yo-yo in "Death" took out two star map fragments.

The five star map fragments attracted each other strongly as soon as they were taken out. After the five star map fragments merged into one, a complete star map image appeared. However, there was only an image, no target point appeared, and it was impossible to tell which star sector this was.

A key appears on the star map, labeled "Shortcut".

The spinning key finally pointed to Sigma, who was excitedly glowing blue light.

"Without the 'key,' you can't know the exact location of the target," Gada said.

No one expected the key to point to Sigma. They just assumed it was pointing in that direction.

As soon as Gada finished speaking, a beam of light emanated from Sigma's body, which was a star map projection. The two star map projections merged together.

The star map is complete. And one of the planets is flashing; that's the target point.

"This map..." Ji Feng frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "It seems to be in the area surrounding our group."

"That's right," Xin Zhao said. "Juno just searched this star map, and it is indeed the area surrounding your Vanguard."

Xilin's pupils contracted. Juno?! The creator of "El"?!

Gada laughed and said, "That makes things easier. I was wondering what to do if this happened in the territory of other powers."

"Haha, I'm going back! I'm going to find my master!"

Sigma was spinning around happily, attracting the attention of everyone from "Death." They asked Sigma some questions. Sigma only gave brief answers, without providing any details.

However, at this point, no one cares about the details that Sigma knows.

After recording the star map, Xilin followed Jifeng onto the spacecraft. Gada also boarded Jifeng's spacecraft. The rest of "Death" returned to the starship in their spacecraft.

On the aircraft, Jifeng chatted with Xilin about the situation when they killed Oskuro. He was very satisfied with Xilin's performance, and his eyes were even more like Mo Heng's.

Meanwhile, Xilin also learned from Jifeng that the people who attacked the Sixth Fleet base were from "Mist," and that the base had not suffered much damage or casualties.

"After Oscuro's death, there will definitely be a chaotic war within the Covenant. Those who have been suppressed by Oscuro will definitely take action once their shackles are broken, especially after the 'shortcut' incident. Everyone must prepare for this chaotic war."

Jifeng's words were directed at Xilin, as Xilin was essentially making the decisions regarding the Sixth Fleet. Shorten's influence had gradually diminished compared to Xilin's, and many in the main team believed that Xilin had long since replaced Shorten.

Jifeng's attitude also shows their high regard for Xilin. If Xilin hadn't been unwilling to be promoted directly to the home team, he would have been promoted long ago.

Since the location marked on the star map was not far away, the group arrived quickly.

The target planet was a rather inconspicuous, small planet with a D-class habitability. Even Jifeng and Gada obediently put on their protective suits.

Sigma and the gray cat ran ahead, drawing envious glances from the crowd.

This is the advantage of being non-human.

Without anyone needing to specifically investigate or analyze, Gray Cat and Sigma quickly found the location.

There was an entrance there. After entering through the entrance, everyone realized that the entire planet was a machine, a machine capable of creating space jump points.

Sigma was the one who turned on this instrument, and he also knew some of the instructions, which were stored in his memory long ago.

Knowing he would soon be able to go home to find his master, whom he hadn't seen for many years, Sigma was indeed very excited, but at the same time, he felt a sense of regret. Before encountering the people of the Sixth Squadron, Sigma wouldn't have had these thoughts, but now Sigma was a little reluctant to leave. Perhaps this is what humans call "contradictory emotions."

While Sigma was busy, Jifeng, Gada, and a few of the "Death Gods" asked about the "shortcut".

They all had the same plan: to verify the jump point first, and only after confirming that it was safe would they arrange for personnel to enter. They needed to be well prepared for this.

"Are you sure this jump point is bidirectional?" Extreme Edge asked Sigma.

Sigma was too busy to reply. "Of course, otherwise how did I get through it all?"

The fact that Sigma did not belong to the Covenant had already been told to everyone before. Jifeng just felt that something was wrong. It wasn't that the jump point was wrong, but he had a premonition that things wouldn't develop as he imagined.

Ji Feng glanced at Gada. He knew a thing or two about Gada's abilities, but Gada was just looking down, seemingly lost in thought.

Xilin stayed not far away with Gray Cat and Xiying; they no longer needed to do anything. To some extent, if Xilin hadn't possessed the Star Chart Fragment, and if Jifeng and Gada hadn't been somewhat protective of him, the "Grim Reaper" wouldn't have allowed him to stay here; they would have likely already seized the Star Chart Fragment.

"Xilin, can this so-called 'shortcut' really get you to places outside the Star Alliance's star system?" Gray Cat asked.

"Probably." Xilin hadn't seen it before, so he couldn't be sure.

The gray cat licked its lips. "I hope the other end of the 'shortcut' will be a world with plenty of food and not so many crazy scientists."

Xilin scratched the gray cat's chin silently. Every system has its own way of existing, and the complexity of each system is not singular. Just like the Star Alliance, some places are peaceful and beautiful, some are plagued by war, some are prosperous, and some are desolate. It's all uncertain. But Xilin was mostly curious about the place that could create Sigma, and at the same time, Xilin also had an idea.

For many years, Shirin has been investigating the Fukukihara family in Ueki, but has never found a clue. She wonders if there will be any leads on the other side of the "shortcut".

"Ah, all done!" Sigma shouted.

Everyone was invigorated upon hearing this.

"Let's check the stability of this node first," Sigma said.

Before long, the communicators of Jifeng, Gada, and Xinzhao all rang.

Jifeng opened the communicator, and the person on the other end excitedly said, "Captain, a spacetime vortex has appeared outside!"

"Let's go out and take a look." Sigma led the way, running ahead.

Since Sigma had gone out, the people inside followed him out.

However, a strange feeling suddenly arose in Xilin's heart.

When everyone went outside, the spacetime vortex in the air, which had no atmosphere, was very clear and seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.

"This is the 'shortcut'!" Gray Cat exclaimed, looking at Xilin.

This sight startled the gray cat so much that its fur stood on end.