Chapter 158

Chapter 158

The Phantom moved swiftly. Those pursuing had lost their target, the Little Prince, and could no longer continue the pursuit. This naturally relieved much of the pressure on Bai Xiaoyu and his companions.

But Bai Xiaoyu, looking at Little Bai, who was holding hands with the Little Prince through the transparent container wall, asked, "Does Little Bai want to go in and play with Little Breaker?"

Little Bai looked at the Little Prince, then back at Bai Xiaoyu, and suddenly reached out to him.

Bai Xiaoyu picked Little Bai up, and Little Bai immediately wrapped his little arms around his neck, rubbing his face against Bai Xiaoyu's. "Egg Yolk is advancing inside; I’ll guard outside with White Papa."

The advancing Little Prince remained silent.

Seeing the affectionate interaction between the two and feeling left out, the Little Prince didn’t know if he wanted Little Bai to hug Bai Xiaoyu or if he wanted to be hugged by Bai Xiaoyu himself.

Closing his eyes, he decided to ignore it and focus on his advancement.

Seeing that Little Bai had no intention of entering, Bai Xiaoyu, for safety, took out another transparent container filled with the potion, letting Little Bai soak in it before changing him into clean clothes. Then, he used the mental energy from the Silver White Tiger’s tail to envelop both himself and Little Bai.

By then, Bai Xiaoyu’s face had turned quite pale. The intense space jumps had left him defenseless, and his body was reaching its limits. He turned to Bai Qi and said, "We should head back."

The most dangerous place is often the safest, especially since Bai Qi was surely still pursuing. Even though he could no longer detect the Little Prince’s chip, he likely wouldn’t give up easily.

With the chip removed and his tail-extracted mental energy concealing them, there shouldn’t be any major issues.

Thus, Bai Xiaoyu decided to return with the Little Prince in tow. After all, no one would expect him to be harboring two Zerg Princes.

Seeing Bai Qi nod, Bai Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief and, resisting the urge to sleep, sent a message to Hao Qiao, informing him that they couldn’t return until the royal family members departed. In the meantime, they were free to move around. He also instructed him to apply the potion he had left on the heads of the ferocious beast warriors so that others wouldn’t be able to detect them.

After finishing all that, the protective shield on the copilot's side appeared, safeguarding Bai Xiaoyu inside. As Little Bai poked Bai Xiaoyu's face and the protective shield, Bai Qi led them back via a detour.

Meanwhile, upon receiving Bai Xiaoyu's message, Hao Qiao followed his instructions. However, afterward, the Dawn team began to feel bored, drifting through the star system. This feeling was amplified, especially after consuming another nutrient meal, leaving everyone restless.

At that moment, their aircraft detected a massive flying vessel ahead, which, upon investigation, didn't belong to any planet's airliner or transport ship. This immediately perked everyone up.

In situations like this, unless it was a deliberately hidden military secret transport, there was a ninety percent chance it was a group of space pirates.

If it were the former, they would naturally leave it alone, but if it were the latter, then hehehe...

The Dawn team stared at the flying vessel with greedy eyes, waiting for the scouts to send back information.

On the other side, the masked man looked at the chip in his palm. It was evident that the chip had been attacked, but this was half of the Insect Emperor’s brain and possessed self-healing abilities.

Thus, the attack hadn’t completely destroyed the chip.

The masked man looked out into the vast starfield. By now, he could no longer sense any connection to the Zerg Prince. He turned to Teng Lang and asked, "Is there any fluctuation of Insect Crystal ahead?"

Teng Lang tossed the remaining small piece of Insect Crystal into his mouth. "I can’t sense it anymore."

Since they had lost track of their target, and the star system was so vast, finding them now would be impossible.

So, the masked man decided to wait here for Bai Qi to arrive.

He had long known of the existence of this chip, and since Bai Qi had the other half, he would definitely come.

The masked man had already guessed some things and was just waiting to confirm them with Bai Qi.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the masked man to see a familiar mech.

Bai Qi's expression was still painful, with a splitting headache from the half of his brain that had cracked. The pain was intense, but the chip had stopped at a certain position. He had to reach the front and find the chip and the fleeing prince.

He had been traveling non-stop, but then he saw a figure he had encountered once before on planet F105. The fluctuation from the chip was emanating from this person's hand. Bai Qi's brows furrowed deeply.

Before Bai Qi could say anything, the other party opened his palm toward him, revealing a golden-yellow chip. At the same time, the mecha sent a message: "Are you looking for this?"

Bai Qi stared at the chip, completely disbelieving that it had been extracted. "How did this end up in your hands? Where is the original owner of this chip?"

The masked man said, "It was obviously left here. I didn’t see any original owner, but the aura of the previous owner is still very familiar. Could it be that you captured the Zerg Prince and implanted this chip into his brain?"

Bai Qi denied it. "I don’t know what you’re talking about, but this chip is mine. Please return it to me."

The masked man had already guessed the rough situation, and his gaze turned cold. Teng Lang suddenly became serious, baring his teeth slightly at Bai Qi and forming his hands into claws, as if he was about to attack at any second.

But when he glanced at the chip in his hand and thought about the other half still inside Bai Qi's brain, his expression softened.

He pushed the chip over with his mental energy and turned to leave.

Bai Qi caught the chip and said, "Wait, you haven’t told me about the original owner of the chip."

The masked man paused in his step. "You’d better not bring this up. Consider this a debt of favor that I’m not killing you now. I’ll find you when I need something."

Bai Qi felt a chill down his spine. Only after the masked man left, with the fierce-looking youth glaring at him, did he focus on the chip in his hand.

The chip had cracks, clearly damaged. No wonder he had felt such intense pain earlier.

He quickly probed it with his mental energy, only to find that the mental energy he had left inside had been destroyed. Now the chip was like it had been formatted, all previous traces wiped clean. He had no way of knowing what had happened to the chip while it was in the escaping Zerg Prince.

This meant all his previous efforts had been in vain.

Bai Qi punched the mecha in frustration but didn’t stay there any longer. He began to search the area for any nearby flight vehicles, unwilling to give up.

When Bai Xiaoyu woke up, he had already returned to the breeding facility. The Phantom could directly reach the breeding facility without restrictions, landing on the rooftop.

He opened his eyes to see Little Bai’s face close to his own. Unable to resist, he pinched Little Bai’s cheek, then picked him up. Bai Shiyi descended, carrying a spherical container with the Zerg Prince inside.

It was early morning, around three or four o'clock. Outside, it was pitch dark, with no visibility. They were with two cubs and didn’t even use any lights.

As soon as they exited the flight vehicle, Bai Xiaoyu felt as if something was watching them. He paused, sensing something amiss, and looked in a certain direction, speaking softly, "Big Black, is that you?"

Bai Shiyi was startled but sensed nothing. But thinking about it, it was normal that he couldn’t detect anything. After all, the other party’s stealth skills were top-notch, leaving no sound or trace of presence.

He turned his attention back to Bai Xiaoyu’s position. How had Breeder Bai detected the Marshal?

Bai Xiaoyu explained that Big Black’s grievances and resentment were almost palpable, making it hard not to notice.

Holding Little Bai in one arm, he reached out with the other hand and felt around. Though he couldn’t feel anything in front of him, Big Black had already silently nestled into his hand.

Bai Xiaoyu stroked the smooth surface of the egg, explaining, "Big Black, I didn’t want to leave you behind, but you had just fallen asleep, and the situation was urgent, so I had to leave in a hurry. I’m back now. Let’s head back."

Only after Bai Xiaoyu’s explanation did Bai Shiyi sense Big Black’s presence in the darkness after it deactivated its hidden state.

He quickly carried the spherical container and walked ahead. As they entered the stairwell, the Big Black egg gradually became visible in the light.

After returning, Bai Shiyi soon left.

Bai Xiaoyu placed the spherical container containing the Zerg Prince in their room. By this time, Little Bai was also feeling sleepy. He tugged at Bai Xiaoyu’s hand, saying, "White Papa, I want to sleep with Egg Yolk."

Bai Xiaoyu nodded, opened the container, and let Little Bai inside. Soon, the two cubs were nestled together, sleeping inside the spherical container.

As Bai Xiaoyu walked out, the Big Black egg began to bounce and sway in front of him.

He reached out to touch Big Black, "Big Black, can I use my spiritual energy to take a look inside, alright?"

Big Black bounced and nodded. Soon, Bai Xiaoyu began to probe inside with his spiritual energy. The tiger's body inside the egg had fully developed, but some internal issues remained. Moreover, Big Black was severely injured, affecting its essence.

Bai Xiaoyu thought about it. Now, all they needed was the final 800-year-old Xisui grass to be refined. By then, Big Black would be almost fully recovered.

However, he currently only had this one Xisui grass in hand, and there was only a single plant of the other auxiliary herbs, all of which were given by the Plant People back then.

Previously, he had also sent people to search for auxiliary herbs of both 300 and 800-year-old Xisui grass. While the 300-year-old ones were still available, the 800-year-old ones were much rarer.

At that time, he was restricted by his own physique and thought that even refining the 300-year-old Xisui grass would take some time, but now his tail had emerged.

Now, he felt that with the auxiliary herbs for the 800-year-old Xisui grass found, he would soon be able to refine it.

As Bai Xiaoyu brought Big Black back to the room, he saw the awakened little White Tiger jump onto his shoulder and rub its face against his. On the bed, there was a little golden tiger sleeping on its back, its belly up, snoring softly. Bai Xiaoyu's lips curled into a slight smile.

This little one must have been exhausted after playing with the little tiger all day.

Just then, Bai Xiaoyu suddenly received a message from Hao Qiao. They had been wandering in the star system and had a "friendly exchange" with some peers, gaining quite a few valuable items.

Looking at the words "friendly exchange," and then at the images of the space pirates stripped to their undergarments, bruised and battered, Bai Xiaoyu couldn't help but laugh.

However, when he saw the loot, his eyes lit up.

There were rows of boxes containing herbs.

His sharp eyes quickly spotted some highly aged herbs, including a 100-year-old herb.

Hao Qiao, seeing Bai Xiaoyu's expression, thought for a moment and said, "I asked these space pirates. They infiltrated the outer regions of the Z star system this time and stole these herbs."

Bai Xiaoyu said, "Z star system, isn't that the Plant People's domain? It's said that there's a black hole there, and without a Plant Person to guide you, it's impossible to enter, right?"

Hao Qiao replied, "Exactly. But somehow, these people managed to infiltrate the outer regions of the Z star system. It seems someone was clearing the path for them, smuggling herbs out. When we investigated these space pirates, we found that they were likely hired mercenaries under the Huang Family, secretly acting as space pirates and probably raiding many planets for treasures."

Bai Xiaoyu frowned after hearing this. Looking at these herbs, if they were indeed from the Plant People's domain, he happened to have the contact information of the parents of the cubs who were basking in the sun at that time, including the leading Plant Person who came to pick up the cubs.

Since these herbs belonged to them, he might as well contact them and ask.

So he discussed this with Hao Qiao, who said that since these herbs were of no use to them and they had no alchemists, they were naturally going to give them to their boss. Whatever the boss decided was fine with them.

Bai Xiaoyu immediately made a decision. Looking at the time, it was almost 7 in the morning. It was said that the Plant People rose early and waited for the sun before it came out.

Now was the perfect time to contact them.

The call request was answered almost immediately. Bai Xiaoyu, looking at the towering tree, was silent for a moment as he saw the branches and leaves visibly waving to greet him.

Bai Xiaoyu quickly realized and greeted back, then immediately sent the photos of the herbs.

Seeing them, the tree seemed to shake its branches excitedly, "These are the herbs that were just transported out of our star system, but they were stolen! We couldn't catch up, and now they're with you, right?"

But realizing that Bai Xiaoyu couldn't understand its body language, it was about to shift back to human form when Bai Xiaoyu replied, "They're with my people. You can come to take them back whenever you need, or I can send them back to you."

By now, Bai Xiaoyu's tail had emerged, naturally understanding what the other was trying to convey.

The tree shook its branches again, "No need. These herbs were meant to be given to you. Those space pirates stole them and conveniently delivered them to you."

The tree continued to rustle its leaves, "By the way, if you need any herbs soon, you can let us know. Also, the treasure-like soil is somewhat scarce. Even though everyone takes turns basking in the sun, it's still not sufficient. Do you have any more of it?"

Bai Xiaoyu thought about how not long ago, he had refined three small pieces of Xirang, which were colorless and odorless. He nodded, "I have three pieces. Can I request specific years and types of herbs in exchange for these pieces?"

At this moment, all the plants with pricked ears pulled their roots out of the soil and hopped over to him, a group of flowers, grass, and trees dancing while folding their branches.

It looked like a chaotic, almost demonic dance, but Bai Xiaoyu knew that they were nodding excitedly, all shouting that it could be done.

Bai Xiaoyu: "Good, I'll sort it out and send you the list of herbs I require. We'll check if you have them. If not, I'll figure out another solution..."

Upon hearing this, the flowers, grass, and trees became excited again, some even breaking off their own limbs.

Bai Xiaoyu was nearly taken aback by their behavior.

However, the plants confidently assured him that they certainly had it. If not, even if they had to sacrifice their limbs, they would supply it.

Bai Xiaoyu: "..."