Chapter 1155 – Fig Leaf

Three days later, Zhao Hai returned to the s.h.i.+p. But what made Cadjo and Desbarres wonder was Margaret being always absent at the same time Zhao Hai was gone. She would make people deliver food to her room and would just stay inside.

When Zhao Hai returned to the command hall, Margaret was also with him. Seeing that Zhao Hai had come back, Cadjo and Desbarres quickly welcomed him. Zhao Hai went to the command hall's main computer and opened the Quicksand Starfield's map and said, "The Zhang Family hid in these spots. They made sure that they were hidden well. Moreover, their s.h.i.+ps don't emit any electromagnetic signals, making it hard to detect them. If we weren't prepared, then we might get too relaxed and fall for their sneak attack."

Cadjo didn't become an expert by doing nothing. He clearly knew that the Zhang Family's positioning was the optimal setup that they could do. It seems like the Zhang Family really wanted to destroy them.

Cadjo nodded and said, "So what do you need us to do next?"

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "We'll deviate from our original route. Although we may still encounter the Zhang Family, I will deal with them, there's no need to worry. The General Manager just needs to encircle these s.h.i.+ps and interfere with their communication systems."

Cadjo nodded and said, "That's not a problem. So when do we make our move?"

Zhao Hai replied, "We'll just go along our usual time frame. After we arrive at the destination, then you do what you need to do. The battle will start immediately. Alright, then I'll start getting busy." Then Zhao Hai's figure vanished from the s.h.i.+p.

Cadjo looked at Desbarres and smiled bitterly as he said, "This kid, he's already giving us commands. Alright, let's start getting busy as well." Then he turned to Margaret and said, "Little Margaret, what have you been doing these days? Why did you decide to head out of your room now?"

Margaret yawned and said, "I came out because I'm starting to get bored. I don't have much to do unlike you old men. I just enjoyed playing games inside my room. Alright then, Uncles, I'm taking my leave." Then she turned around and left Cadjo and Desbarres puzzled.

Desbarres quickly stopped Margaret and said, "Little Margaret, aren't you worried about Zhao Hai? He's going to face a fleet."

Margaret turned towards Desbarres and just smiled as she said, "I'm not worried. There's n.o.body in this world that can kill Brother Hai." Then she waved her hand and returned to her room.

Cadjo and Desbarres looked at Margaret, speechless. They didn't expect Margaret to be this confident in Zhao Hai. What they didn't know was that Margaret spent the last days inside the s.p.a.ce with Zhao Hai. The two had been together all this time.

Zhao Hai went back to the s.p.a.ce with Margaret following behind soon. When he entered the s.p.a.ce, he immediately looked at the huge monitor. This time, everyone wasn't planning on playing any games, they were planning the attack on the Zhang Family's fleet.

The Zhang Family's fleet was now fully being monitored. Zhao Hai even stationed some of the silver needles around the s.h.i.+ps. In this case, there's no way for the fleet to escape.

The only thing left for them to do was to begin to take action. Lizzy looked at the map and said, "The Zhang Family's fleet has 20 s.h.i.+ps and about 40 thousand Mechs. This isn't a small number. Dealing with them wouldn't be easy. I think we should use the Undead to a.s.sault them. Brother Hai, you'll use Liquid Silver to break their s.h.i.+elds so that we can lead the Undead to attack them in close proximity. We'll destroy them in one go."

Zhao Hai agreed to the plan. The Zhang Family didn't bring any Mages or Warriors with their fleet. As long as Zhao Hai breaks their s.h.i.+elds, the Undead could overwhelm them. When the time comes, the s.h.i.+ps would just be sitting ducks waiting for slaughter.

Zhao Hai also recently discovered that the Liquid Silver's needles couldn't touch the other s.h.i.+ps if their s.h.i.+elds were up. Because of this, he wasn't able to see the situation inside each s.h.i.+p. It was only once the s.h.i.+elds were down that the needles could get in close and invade.

Because they were staging an ambush, the Zhang Family's s.h.i.+ps had been pa.s.sive in the past few days. They would only erect their s.h.i.+elds if meteorites came close. This situation provided Zhao Hai opportunities to make some experiments.

Zhao Hai knew that he would encounter more battles.h.i.+ps in the future. Therefore, he needed some time to understand them more. This way, he would know their strengths and weaknesses. And his recent results came out very good.

Actually, when Zhao Hai discovered that he could send Undead into the battles.h.i.+ps, he didn't immediately think about handing the s.h.i.+ps over to the Ashley Family.

But soon, Zhao Hai realized that the more valuable aspects of wars.h.i.+ps were its operators. It wasn't easy to train people that can run a battles.h.i.+p. Once he defeated the Zhang Family's fleet, not only could he get their battles.h.i.+ps, he would also gain Undead operators that could help him run the s.h.i.+p.

In the end, Zhao Hai decided to give the s.h.i.+ps to the Ashley Family. However, the soldiers and operators inside would have to be taken away.

Megan looked at the s.h.i.+ps and said, "We need to keep everyone in the s.h.i.+ps inside. It would be a problem if the Mechs headed out."

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "If those Mechs manage to escape, I'll personally go deal with them. The s.p.a.ce doesn't have enough materials to make a lot of Liquid Silver replicas, we're quite lacking in that aspect. The s.p.a.ce's army is still not enough to contend against a Mech army. I have to deal with the Mechs myself. But as long as we take control of the battles.h.i.+ps and turn the operators into Undead, we'll be able to deal with those Mechs. There's no need to worry much about it."

Megan and the others nodded. Then they discussed other aspects of the attack. Actually, what was left to discuss was very simple. They were only waiting for the right time to make an attack.

After the discussion, Laura turned to Margaret and said, "Margaret, do you want to lead a team?"

When Margaret heard Laura, she couldn't help but stare for a moment. Then she felt cold. She just heard them talk about murder as though it was a game. She wasn't used to it.

When Laura saw Margaret's expression, she immediately knew what she was thinking. Laura smiled and said, "It's fine. I can't even count the number of people Brother Hai killed since his debut. However, all of these people are his enemies. Enemies needed to be destroyed or else they will come after us in the future."

Margaret nodded. She practically grew up in the greenhouse, so she was quite pure. However, she was already prepared for these events when she decided to follow Zhao Hai. This was the real Zhao Hai, and she must adapt in order to follow him.

It can be said that Margaret was a complete idealist in the past. She always lived inside a very safe environment. The most cruel and ruthless situation that she experienced were internal family issues.

But after following Zhao Hai in the past few days, Margaret began to see the true face of the Machine Field. Although the Machine Field was dominated by the three major forces, the smaller influences were bearing grudges against each other and were constantly fighting. One could only kill their enemy if they wanted to improve themselves.

Because of this thought, Margaret agreed to commanding a team of Undead. Since she already accepted Zhao Hai, then she would need to help.

Once they were done with their discussions, Laura changed the monitor's display to the Quicksand Starfield. There were a few green dots seen on the map.

Besides these green dots, there were also red dots seen. These red dots were the Zhang Family's fleet. Zhao Hai saw this situation and said, "Calculate when the General Manager will arrive at the area."

Laura nodded and said, "There's no need to worry about that. It would take a day for the General Manager and the others to enter the area, and another four hours before arriving at the predetermined place. Then it would take another two hours before they could suppress the electronic communications. When the time comes, we can make our move. Brother Hai, you should take a rest. After all, when the time comes you will need to personally act."

Zhao Hai nodded and said, "You take a rest as well. We can leave this area to Cai'er. We don't want you to be exhausted when the battle begins." Laura smiled and said, "Rest a.s.sured, we will do well." Zhao Hai nodded before turning around and entering his room.

Cadjo and Desbarres didn't share the same relaxed mindset. They stayed inside the command hall all the time. They didn't even think about asking for reinforcements from the family in order to help Zhao Hai. They believed that once the family makes a move, the Zhang Family would notice it. And when that time comes, the Zhang Family would also send their own troops, triggering an open war between the two; which was very bad for the Ashley Family.

The Zhang Family were doing everything they can in order to prevent Zhao Hai from partic.i.p.ating in the compet.i.tion. With the realm qualifiers happening in a few days, Cadjo's fleet couldn't afford to be delayed.

Since Zhao Hai was confident enough to eliminate the enemy fleet, what they needed to do now was to send a message back to the family asking for personnel to man the soon to be captured s.h.i.+ps. This would allow them to rush to the Machine Field's capital as soon as possible.

At this point, the Zhang Family and the Ashley Family's contradictions were beginning to reveal itself. Only a piece of fig leaf was keeping everything from blowing up. However, none of the two sides wanted to remove this fig leaf. Once this barrier was punctured, things wouldn't bode well for both groups.

And with this fig leaf, it was impossible for the two sides to fight on a large scale. Since they couldn't fight with huge numbers, they could only resort to small-scale conflicts like this fight between a 20-s.h.i.+p fleet and a 5-s.h.i.+p fleet. The number of s.h.i.+ps involved wasn't large and none of them sent large-sized s.h.i.+ps.

Most importantly, both sides were still official allies. Even if they knew that the other party was responsible for a small conflict, they would still deliberately ignore it. They would take it as a pirate vs army situation. Since battles between those two sides were common, n.o.body would be able to say anything.

Actually, from what Zhao Hai can see, the current farce was disadvantageous to both families. They need to wait until after the Beginner Compet.i.tion ends, then they could have a final showdown.

The ten great experts gave the people from the Machine Field hope. Therefore, high-level figures of the Machine Field regarded this compet.i.tion as crucial. If the two families dared to disturb this event, then the three major powers would certainly take action.

Even if the Ashley Family and the Zhang Family held great power and influence, they would still suffer if they offended the three major powers. After all, the rulers of the Machine Field were still the big three.

With this thought in mind, Cadjo and Desbarres only sent for personnel to operate the captured s.h.i.+ps. They didn't ask for military reinforcements since they already decided to believe in Zhao Hai.

They believed that Zhao Hai's Liquid Silver was something that the G.o.ds had bestowed to the Machine Field. Therefore, they were very confident in Liquid Silver.

The two stared at the computer screen for a while. Then Cadjo turned to Desbarres and said, "Fatty Des, what do we do if Little Hai isn't able to take control of those s.h.i.+ps? When the time comes, we would have to meet head-on."

Desbarres coldly snorted and said, "If we need to fight, then we would do it. We're not afraid of fighting head on. Also, if Little Hai didn't propose this action, wouldn't we still need to fight them? We don't have much choice. We need to believe in Little Hai."

Cadjo sighed and said, "It seems like we can only proceed like this. Let's hope that Little Hai succeeds. If he does, then his ability is already enough to reach the top ten in the 6 Realm Beginner Compet.i.tion."

Desbarres looked at Cadjo and said, "Don't underestimate Little Hai's strength. Do you think beginners from the other realms are able to defeat 20 medium-sized battles.h.i.+ps on their own? If Little Hai succeeds, then he might as well s.n.a.t.c.h the top position."

Cadjo looked at Desbarres and said, "Fatty Des, don't boast too much. We're talking about the Six Realm Beginner Compet.i.tion."

Desbarres rolled his eyes and said, "I know what I said. Or do you want to bet on it?"

Cadjo looked at Desbarres's expression, then he waved his hand and said, "I wouldn’t dare bet against you. I'm not dumb enough to jump into a pit you dug." When he heard this, Desbarres couldn't help but laugh.

Chapter 1156 – Done

Zhao Hai calmly looked at the Ashley Family's fleet through the monitor. They had already arrived at the designated area. However, they were an hour later than what Zhao Hai expected.

Zhao Hai knew that this was because Cadjo and the others were still reluctant about his capabilities. Nevertheless, he didn't say anything nor go see Cadjo. What he needs to do now was to maintain his mysterious capabilities, making Cadjo and the others feel that he was an unreadable character.

Maintaining one's mystery can save you a lot of trouble sometimes. Others would hesitate to take action against you if they had yet to grasp your capabilities.

Zhao Hai was doing this exact thing. He would help the Ashley Family with their matters but he wouldn't reveal everything to them. Besides his family, he wouldn't easily trust anybody else.

Upon seeing Cadjo and the others entering the predetermined area, Zhao Hai s.h.i.+fted his attention towards the Zhang Family's fleet. Because the Zhang Family's fleet had their communications withdrawn, they weren't able to detect the Ashley Family's fleet. They could only rely on the sentries they sent outside for information. However, these sentries had already been dealt with by Zhao Hai. Because of this, the Zhang Family fleet wasn't in any state to fight, which gave Zhao Hai the best opportunity to attack.

Zhao Hai saw that Cadjo was almost prepared to start. However, he wouldn't immediately take action. He would wait until Cadjo and the others began to suppress the enemy's electronic communications.

You ask why Zhao Hai knew that Cadjo's fleet was prepared to take action? Zhao Hai had been inside Cadjo's s.h.i.+p for a long time. At this point, he knew how many c.o.c.kroaches were inside the s.h.i.+p and where they were.

When Cadjo and the others began suppressing the enemy's communication system, Zhao Hai immediately began to move. In a flash, large quant.i.ties of Undead appeared inside the Zhang Family's s.h.i.+ps. However, these Undead weren't controlled by Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai came out of the s.p.a.ce and arrived in front of the Zhang Family fleet.

Just like what Zhao Hai expected, the s.h.i.+p operators couldn't resist the onslaught of the Undead. On the other hand, the mech soldiers were still on standby when the Undead attacked. A lot of them engaged in melee combat with the Undead. Some of these soldiers died while some were able to ride their Mechs and exit the s.h.i.+p.

Zhao Hai calmly looked at these Mechs. Mechs pilots were all elite soldiers. If these people didn't have Mechs, then their strengths would be worse than Mages and Warriors. But as long as they were inside their machines, they would then be able to fight groups of Mages and Warriors. These people started their training earlier than Mages and Warriors. Among the major influences, their status was higher compared to Mages and Warriors of their level.

Being able to exit the s.h.i.+ps in a short period of time was a testament to these Mech pilot's capabilities.

Now that the battles.h.i.+ps were being overrun by Undead, the tall Mechs would be inconvenienced to fight inside. Moreover, it seems like they have guessed that the other battles.h.i.+ps were also under attack. Because of this, they ran out of their s.h.i.+ps to either escape further into the starfield or regroup with the Mechs from the other s.h.i.+ps. It can be said that they made the correct choice.

They were truly elite soldiers. However, it was a pity that they were against Zhao Hai. And there was no chance for Zhao Hai to be polite to them.

The Mechs were still fl.u.s.tered from the surprise attack. And with Zhao Hai killing them one by one, the panic among the pilots was increasing.

But just before the Mechs were about to find their footing, they suddenly saw their s.h.i.+ps starting to open fire. This collapsed the Mech army. They were now aware that there was no way for them to survive this ordeal.

Even if they were able to realize this, the thought came too late. The battle was over very quickly. And just like Zhao Hai expected, the Zhang Family fleet tried to report the situation to the family. But with Cadjo's suppression, their last hope was destroyed.

Twenty battles.h.i.+ps were defeated just like that. The battle was extraordinarily simple. In less than five hours, all s.h.i.+ps were captured and the Mechs were destroyed. Besides the s.h.i.+ps and Mech fragments, not much else was left.

Bloodstains were the only things left inside the s.h.i.+ps. Not a single living person nor dead corpse was seen. Meanwhile, the s.h.i.+ps and the unmanned Mechs were left in fairly perfect condition.

After Zhao Hai swept the battlefield, he glanced at the battles.h.i.+ps before returning to the s.p.a.ce. At this time, Laura and the others had already finished their work.

Seeing Zhao Hai return, Laura immediately said, "Brother Hai, are we done?"

Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned to Margaret and said, "Margaret, we should head back." Margaret's expression wasn't good. She just commanded a team of Undead to slaughter the people inside a s.h.i.+p. Although she was looking at the situation through a monitor, her face was still quite pale.

Zhao Hai looked at Margaret, then he softly comforted, "It's fine, Margaret. Don't forget that they are enemies." Margaret nodded.

Zhao Hai couldn't bear to see her pale expression, so he immediately changed to another topic, "Right, Margaret, how powerful is the jammer that you made? Is it strong enough to stop the flight recorders inside the battles.h.i.+ps?"

Flight recorders were machines used to record what was happening in the s.h.i.+p during an emergency. This machine was connected to the main computer of the s.h.i.+p but was set up independently. It was contained inside a high-strength alloy which cannot be easily destroyed. Sometimes, even if a battles.h.i.+p was destroyed, these flight recorders would still work with no problems.

Although flight recorders and the main computer were connected, flight recorders were independent from the main computer. As long as unauthorized people entered the s.h.i.+p, the flight recorder would immediately start recording everything that happened on the s.h.i.+p.

Zhao Hai knew about these things before he began his attack. This was also where he had some problems. Whether it be the Ashley Family or the Zhang Family, both of them would be able to use these flight recorders to look into what happened, which was very bad for Zhao Hai.

However, this issue was actually solved by Margaret. Besides being a Mage, she was also interested in magic formations inside electronics.

In fact, in the Machine Field, Mages and electronic products have an inseparable relations.h.i.+p. The technology here was different than on Earth. Earth electronics were generally made with a combination of mechanical and electrical engineering. But in the Machine Field, electronics had magic formations mixed in them. Each electronic product in the Machine Field had some sort of magic formation inside. And there was no need to say about the compositions of battles.h.i.+ps and Mechs.

The magic formations inside these Mechs and electronic products weren't just ordinary formations. They were specifically designed for electronics. The main function of these formations were to a.s.sist, not to fight. Because of this, Mages wouldn't normally dabble to deep into these formations. In the Machine Field, there were only a few Mages in each family who researched these formations. The lack of any offensive and defensive capabilities of these formations made most Mages ignore it.

Even Zhao Hai ignored these formations when he started learning Magic Theory. Only when he took note about flight recorders did these formations enter his eyes. If this matter wasn't solved, then there was a risk that his secrets would be revealed.

But at the right moment, Margaret actually offered some help. She made a type of jammer for Zhao Hai to use. The range of this jammer wasn't huge, but its power was quite large. As long as a jammer was inside a s.h.i.+p, then the flight recorder would be as functional as s.p.a.ce junk.

It was through this matter that Zhao Hai began to look into the significance of supporting formations. And after looking into it, he found out that these supporting formations were able to increase the offensive and defensive strength of formation sets.

Zhao Hai asked the question in order to distract Margaret. And he succeeded. Margaret quickly replied, "Brother Hai can rest a.s.sured. There won't be any problems."

Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned to Margaret and said, "That's good. Now, my strength wouldn't be exposed. Let's head out. After you return to the s.p.a.ce, you can study these formations. They might provide great use for us."

Margaret's thoughts immediately s.h.i.+fted to these formations. Her face turned for the better as she nodded repeatedly. Seeing her recover, Zhao Hai couldn't help but smile. Margaret was shaping up to become like Karen and the others.

After sending Margaret back to her room, Zhao Hai also teleported inside Cadjo's s.h.i.+p. Desbarres and Cadjo were eagerly looking at the direction of the Zhang Family's fleet. They want to see when Zhao Hai's fight would begin. However, nothing happened in the distant s.p.a.ce. There weren't any lights nor sounds being captured by the s.h.i.+p. This caused them to be puzzled.

At this time, Zhao Hai suddenly appeared in front of them. Seeing Zhao Hai come back Cadjo quickly asked, "Little Hai, how is it? Do we need to ask for help from the family? If so, then I'll immediately send a message. However, we cannot stay here for long. We need to rush towards the capital." Cadjo thought that Zhao Hai had yet to engage the Zhang Family. Therefore, he said these words.

Zhao Hai looked at Cadjo and smiled faintly as he said, "General Manager, we can leave. I've already dealt with the Zhang Family's fleet. The family can come and collect the s.h.i.+ps."

Cadjo and Desbarres stared. They looked at each other and saw the doubt in each other's eyes. Twenty battles.h.i.+ps were dealt with just like that? How is that possible?

Chapter 1157 – Everpresent Ancient Sand

Zhao Hai looked at Cadjo and Desbarres's expressions, then he smiled and said, "General Manager, Camp Lord, you can rest a.s.sured. I've already taken care of it. If you want, we can go and see the situation. In any case, confirming it wouldn't take too long."

Naturally, Cadjo and Desbarres agreed to visit the site. They directed their fleet to where the Zhang Family's s.h.i.+ps were. And as soon as they arrived, everyone was dumbfounded. Besides a few Mech fragments in s.p.a.ce, everything else in the fleet was completely preserved. It looked like they didn't receive even a point of damage.

If not for the absence of s.h.i.+elds as well as incoming attacks, they might have thought that the Zhang Family were still manning the s.h.i.+ps.

Cadjo and Desbarres turned to Zhao Hai with completely confused expressions. Zhao Hai just smiled at them and said, "Camp Lord, General Manager, do we head inside a s.h.i.+p to take a look?"

The two couldn't help but look at each other. At this time, Margaret, who had already entered the room, smiled and said, "Alright. Let's go and take a look. I want to see how different the Zhang Family's s.h.i.+ps are compared to ours."

Since they didn't have anything to say about the matter, Cadjo and Desbarres just nodded when they heard Margaret. Before long, their s.h.i.+p suspended a bridge to connect towards a Zhang Family battles.h.i.+p.

Entering another s.h.i.+p through a connection bridge required the approval of the s.h.i.+p being boarded. If n.o.body were inside the other s.h.i.+p, then the connection bridge would be useless. Cadjo and Desbarres turned to Zhao Hai and wondered how it worked. If it weren't for Margaret, the two wouldn't have been confident in boarding the s.h.i.+p.

Once they entered the decompression chamber of the other s.h.i.+p, Cadjo and Desbarres couldn't help but stare. This was because those in the decompression chamber weren't human, they were Undead!

There were no living beings in sight, but the two Undead present were wearing the Zhang Family's uniform. When the Undead saw the group arrive, they immediately gave a salute before going to the side.

Zhao Hai didn't care about this as he led the others towards the s.h.i.+p. Once they were inside, Cadjo and Desbarres finally began to believe Zhao Hai. This was because they were able to see bloodstains inside the s.h.i.+p. However, besides the bloodstains, not a single person nor corpse was there.

Zhao Hai looked at the scene, then he smiled and said, "General Manager, Camp Lord, I have turned all of the people in the Zhang Family fleet into Undead. The s.h.i.+ps have been completely preserved. As long as the family arrives, they can have the operators take over the s.h.i.+p and be more familiar with it. With enough practice, they would be able to use these to fight."

Cadjo stared at the battles.h.i.+p, then he laughed all of a sudden. He repeatedly pat Zhao Hai's shoulder and said, "Good, Little Hai, well done. I'll immediately explain the situation to the family. Also, I'll leave a s.h.i.+p behind to guard this area. I'll also leave some operators behind. At the very least, we could erect the s.h.i.+p’s s.h.i.+elds and weapons. It's highly probable for these s.h.i.+ps to be hit by meteorites at any time. If we don't guard them, they might be destroyed."

Desbarres and the others were also laughing with happiness. After they returned to their s.h.i.+p, operators were left behind to staff the captured s.h.i.+ps. Then shortly after that, they continued on with their journey.

Cadjo detailed everything Zhao Hai said in his report to the family. When Thunder read it, he couldn't help but be surprised. He never thought Zhao Hai to move this flawlessly.

But what made him confused was how Zhao Hai was able to enter these s.h.i.+ps silently. Nevertheless, Thunder proved that he was equipped to be a Patriarch. He didn't ask much about the process and instead just sent people to retrieve the s.h.i.+ps.

Naturally, the people who were with Zhao Hai on the fleet knew about his accomplishments. Their admiration towards him was now going through the roof. At the same time, those from the other camps completely removed the dissatisfaction in their hearts. When someone who defeated you only had a bit more strength, then you might feel that the result was unsatisfactory. However, when that person shows overwhelming strength, you couldn't help but just accept it."

Two days after Cadjo's fleet left the Quicksand Starfield, the Ashley Family's operators arrived. They quickly took over the 20 s.h.i.+ps. The Ashley Family basically gained a fortune by doing nothing.

At this moment, Zhao Hai was inside the s.p.a.ce, observing the Quicksand Starfield. Naturally, the scene he was observing wasn't the meteorite field outside the Quicksand Starfield, but instead the wide expanse of desert in the center.

Laura and the others were also looking at the vast desert. After some time, Megan said, "Big Brother Hai, don't you want to take a look at the desert?"

After following beside Zhao Hai for a long time, Megan and the others were already aware of his thoughts. Seeing how Zhao Hai looked at the vast desert, they immediately knew that he wanted to personally see it for himself.

But there was one of them who was still clueless. When Margaret heard Megan, her expression changed as she asked, "Brother Hai, you really want to go there? You shouldn't. It's too dangerous."

Zhao Hai looked at Margaret, then he smiled and said, "It's fine. Nothing's going to happen to me. I just want to take some sand and send it to the s.p.a.ce to see if it's something useful."

Margaret was still unwilling to let Zhao Hai go. But at this time, Laura said, "Margaret, it's fine. There's no need to worry about Brother Hai. And Brother Hai, you can go, but don't go deep into the sand sea. Just take some sand for the s.p.a.ce and then exit the area."

Zhao Hai nodded, then his body vanished. The next moment, he appeared on the screen. Margaret was looking at him with worry in her eyes.

When Laura and the others saw Margaret's expression, then couldn't help but smile. They weren't worried about Zhao Hai at all. This was because they knew that nothing will happen to him.

Zhao Hai stood on a meteorite just on the outskirts of the sea of sand. Looking at the boundless desert, Zhao Hai couldn't help but sigh inside. This desert was too big. Under the radiance of the nearby stars, it s.h.i.+mmered with seven-colored lights. Such scenery wasn't present inside the s.p.a.ce.

However, Zhao Hai wasn't planning on taking a step towards the vast desert since he didn't want to make Laura and the others worry. Instead, Zhao Hai waved his hand as a spatial rift appeared ten thousand meters in front of him. Before long, the spatial rift began sucking up the nearby sand. But what Zhao Hai didn't expect was the corrosion brought up by these sand particles. As they came in contact with the rift, they actually made it even bigger.

Zhao Hai couldn't help but stare, then he immediately closed the spatial rift. Then at this moment, the s.p.a.ce issued a prompt: "Everpresent Ancient Sand detected. Earth element attribute detected as well as the property to last for a very long time. It can be used to augment a weapon. It has effect stronger than black iron. It also has the ability to corrode materials as well as eliminate spiritual force."

When Zhao Hai heard this prompt, he paused for a moment. He didn't expect the sand to be this formidable. It could actually corrode all things. Moreover, it can eliminate spiritual force. These properties were terrifying.

The ability to corrode might be alright. However, the property to eliminate spiritual force was another thing altogether. Take the Cultivation Realm, for example. Weapons that underwent spirit attachment could be branded using one's spiritual force. Once one was able to brand their spiritual force into a weapon, then that weapon would forever belong to them.

Fortunately, the spiritual force in most weapons could be eliminated once their masters were killed. However, if one killed a descendant of a powerful being, then they would need a substantial amount of spiritual force to remove the branding. Even if a trace of that powerful being's spiritual force was left, it would still be very hard for it to be eliminated. Moreover, the powerful being could use that branding to locate the weapon and kill the thief.

In the Cultivation Realm, murders because of weapons were common. However, not a lot of people dared to kill those with powerful backgrounds. If they did, then they would be tracked down and killed. However, with the everlasting ancient sand, eliminating spiritual force on a weapon would be easier. Even those powerful experts would have no way of tracking their weapons.

Besides weapons, there was also another thing. In the Machine Field, most spatial equipment had no spiritual branding. So if it was lost, it would be very hard to find it. But in the Cultivation Realm, spatial items were like magical artifacts and were branded with spiritual force. If you cannot eliminate the owner's spiritual branding on a spatial equipment, then it would be impossible for you to access its contents.

And if you decide to be forceful in breaking through the spatial equipment, then it might create a spatial disturbance inside and destroy everything. What you need to do was to erase the spiritual branding bit by bit. And this process would take quite a long time.

However, if one uses the everpresent ancient sand, this issue would be easily solved. It can be said that this material would be very useful for robbing the people from the Cultivation Realm.

Zhao Hai entered the s.p.a.ce and immediately examined the sand. The sand was extremely small, much finer than ordinary sand. However, it was very heavy. Zhao Hai felt that the handful of sand he held weighed about ten thousand jin(5 thousand kg). Such weight to volume ratio was too astonis.h.i.+ng.

The sand was golden yellow, bordering the color of gold dust. Because of this beauty, Laura and the others couldn't help but look curiously at it.

After seeing nothing else, Zhao Hai stored the sand as everyone returned to the living room. The image currently displayed on the screen was the situation inside the s.h.i.+p.

Seeing that nothing was out of the norm, Zhao Hai turned to Margaret and said, "Margaret, how far are we from Machine Field Planet?"

Margaret smiled and said, "We're not that far. We should be able to begin seeing s.h.i.+ps from other families in two days."

Chapter 1158 – Uses of Supporting Magic Formations

And just like Margaret said, after two days of travel, the Ashley Family's fleet began seeing the fleets of other families. These fleets weren't huge. At most, there were ten s.h.i.+ps in a fleet.

Zhao Hai was somewhat puzzled by this situation. After asking Margaret, he came to know that each family wouldn't send too many s.h.i.+ps during the realm qualifiers because Machine Field Planet couldn't handle a lot of s.h.i.+ps.

In the Machine Field, there were no less than 10 thousand small and large powers. Imagine if all these groups send large numbers of s.h.i.+ps over. Then how many would fit in the s.p.a.ce around the capital? Therefore, every realm qualifier, it was agreed that each power wouldn't send too many s.h.i.+ps.

Zhao Hai also saw Cadjo and Desbarres beginning to get busy greeting the other fleets. They even made direct communications from others. As for the rest, flas.h.i.+ng their signal lights was enough.

Zhao Hai stayed in the s.p.a.ce for over two days before returning to the s.h.i.+p. He didn't stop his cultivation during this time. His body tempering technique was beginning to get more and more refined. And as his body got stronger and stronger, his spiritual force was also increasing. Although these effects were only appearing slowly, Zhao Hai still kept pus.h.i.+ng on.

Moreover, Zhao Hai began condensing formations once more. But this time, the formations he used were supporting magic formations. Zhao Hai also discovered that the number of supporting formations weren't less than offensive and defensive formations, it was even possible that there were more.

It wasn't easy making new combat formations. This was because there are latent dangers during each testing. However, this danger didn't exist when it came to supporting magic formations. Some of these formations were used to increase the strength of metals. Some were designed to increase a metal's radioactivity, some for increasing its property of transmitting signals, and many more.

Most importantly, there were no dangers in testing these formations. Even if the test failed, two or three things might be destroyed, nothing else. Because of this, there were more supporting formations than offensive and defensive formations.

Zhao Hai didn't know whether he could find any uses for these formations. In any case, he still decided to condense them. Even if they were useless, nothing remarkable would be lost.

However, Zhao Hai didn't expect the result he would get. After these supporting formations were condensed and a.n.a.lyzed, it actually elevated the quality of Zhao Hai's formation sets. Now Zhao Hai can use his spiritual force to support 3000-layer formations sets. These formations sets had a lot of supportive formations inside. After these supportive formations were added, not only was the strength of these formations preserved, the spiritual force needed to operate them also reduced by a lot. This was a very good news for Zhao Hai.

There was no need to mention his 5-layer and 10-layer formations. Their power increased by several folds while also reducing the time needed to cast them.

Zhao Hai didn't expect these supporting formations to have this effect. But more surprised than Zhao Hai was Margaret. In the Machine Field, people always believed that supporting and combat magic formations were different. The two cannot be combined, otherwise the power of formation sets would drop.

But after seeing Zhao Hai's formation sets, Margaret's thoughts were changed. This event made Margaret more curious, she wanted to understand what was happening.

Margaret knew that if supporting formations and combat formations could really be united and have this effect, then it would be a huge boost for the Machine Field's Mages. This will cause Magic Theory to obtain a huge qualitative leap forward.

This didn't mean that n.o.body in the Machine Field tried to combine supporting and combat formations together. However, n.o.body had succeeded before. After seeing what just happened, Margaret knew that the issue was with how the two were combined.

There were simply too many supporting and combat formations in the Machine Field. Combining combat formations together was already hard, so there was no need to say what would happen if supporting formations were added to the mix. The more factors there were in a combination, the more complex the results would become. Finding a suitable combination for a formation set was easier said than done.

The Machine Field failed to combine combat and supporting formations because they had yet to find success. After carrying out experiments, they weren't able to find an appropriate combination to make into a useful set. Because of this, the might of the resulting formation set was reduced, causing the current misconception.

But with the s.p.a.ce's scanner, things like finding a suitable combination was made much easier. Because of this, the effect of supporting formations was seen.

At this point, in Margaret's eyes, Liquid Silver was no longer the most valuable item in Zhao Hai's hands. Instead, it should be the Universal Scanner. If people came to know about this G.o.dly device, then they would certainly find means to s.n.a.t.c.h it. The uses of the scanner far surpa.s.ses Liquid Silver.

Liquid Silver was a formidable weapon, enough to shake the current state of the realm. But in the end, Liquid Silver was just that, a weapon. Moreover, the spiritual force needed by Liquid Silver was enormous. Not anyone could use it.

On the other hand, the Universal Scanner would calculate differently according to different people. It was the most formidable device for making magic formation sets.

Imagine if a family had their hands on a universal scanner. All of their formations would be combined to form more powerful formations.

Powerful Experts were certainly important to families. However, a comprehensive increase is strength was something that they needed more.

While Zhao Hai was being busy, they finally arrived at Machine Field Planet. When they reached the planet, Zhao Hai and Margaret quickly went to the command hall. They wanted to take a look at the Machine Field's capital.

Machine Field Planet was the realm's center, its capital. This was where the three major powers stationed themselves. They even have their fleet stationed in its outer s.p.a.ce bases.

From outer s.p.a.ce, Machine Field Planet had three colors – green, blue, and silver! The green part was the forest, the blue part was the oceans, while the silver part were the buildings built on the surface.

Almost all of the buildings in the Machine Field Planet were made of metal. This place was the most developed area in the entire realm. All of the talented natives were also here, at Machine Field University.

The Machine Field University was an inst.i.tution studying all sorts of fields. There were departments for Magic, Martial Arts, Magic Formations, Magic Formation Sets, Mechs, Battles.h.i.+ps, Military Command, and other fields. All of the realm's best teachers were also hired by the university, making it the best learning and research environment in the realm. Majority of the Machine Field's Patriarchs were graduates from this inst.i.tution.

Besides the university, Machine Field Planet also had the most special place in the realm, Leng Wuyeng's Tomb!

Leng Wuyeng held a very special status in the Machine Field. It could even be said that the Machine Field would not exist without him. Therefore, every year on Leng Wuyeng's day of pa.s.sing, plenty of people would come here to pay homage. This has become a tradition in the Machine Field.

Looking at the beautiful planet, Zhao Hai couldn't help but feel somewhat excited. This place was an amalgamation of the realm's talents. He would be lying if he said he wasn't thrilled.

Cadjo looked at the planet, then he looked at Zhao Hai. Seeing Zhao Hai's calm expression as well as the burst of fighting intent in his eye, he couldn't help but smile and said, "While we wait for the qualifiers to start, I'll be taking you to visit people who had made friends with our Ashley Family. We'll also visit Bishop G.o.de from the Dark Church. You can explore the place when the compet.i.tion ends. But before that, we can't have you aimlessly wander the planet."

All the family's representatives nodded. At this time, the s.h.i.+p's captain received confirmation for their dock. Before long, the s.h.i.+p was anch.o.r.ed on a dock with a platform.

Once the s.h.i.+p has stopped, Cadjo brought Zhao Hai and the others out of the s.h.i.+p. This dock wasn't an outer s.p.a.ce base. Instead it was a place where outsider s.h.i.+ps could dock their s.h.i.+ps. It was designed roughly the same as outer s.p.a.ce bases.

When Cadjo and the others got down from the s.h.i.+p, a person wearing Dark Mage Robes immediately walked over and said, "General Manager, Camp Lord Desbarres, welcome. The vehicles have already been prepared."

Cadjo smiled faintly and said, "Luke, you're too courteous. Little Hai, let me introduce you. This is Luke, he's a family director stationed in Machine Field Planet. Luke, this is Bone Symbol Camp's Zhao Hai, the champion of the family's qualifier."

Luke looked at Zhao Hai, his eyes shone as he nodded said, "Zhao Hai, I've heard about you. The family's new genius. I'll be eyeing you in the realm qualifiers."

Zhao Hai was also observing Luke. The man was about 1.8 meters tall. His hair was very neatly combed. His robe was also carefully organized that one couldn't see a single crease on it. One could see from this point that he was a very old-fas.h.i.+oned man.

Zhao Hai quickly returned the greeting, "I wouldn't disappoint Director Luke."

Luke nodded, then he turned to Cadjo and said, "Everything has been arranged. As for the s.h.i.+p's staff, somebody else is in charge of taking care of them." Then he led the group to a nearby small s.h.i.+p.

After everyone entered the s.h.i.+p, it immediately took off and flew towards the planet. From what Zhao Hai saw, Machine Field Planet was much more prosperous than Dark Demon Planet. There were a lot of other small s.h.i.+ps shuttling back and forth in the planet's atmosphere. It was a very busy scene.

The s.h.i.+p quickly entered the planet's atmosphere. Before long, the s.h.i.+p stopped in front of a building. This building wasn't very high, at least thirty floors. With the buildings surrounding it having more than 100 floors, it appeared on the shorter side. On this large building was a huge emblem. Upon looking at it, Zhao Hai identified that the insignia belonged to the Ashley Family.

After the s.h.i.+p stopped, Luke quickly led everyone down. Along the way, Luke was seen whispering things into Cadjo's ear. Luke was quite casual with Cadjo. Neither one of them exuded authority over the other. One could see from this point that Cadjo trusted Luke very much.

Luke led everyone into the building. Then after everyone were a.s.signed their own room, Luke invited Cadjo and Desbarres to his room.

Not long after the three met, a robot arrived outside Zhao Hai's room and knocked on the door. When Zhao Hai opened the door, the robot immediately said, "Mister Zhao Hai, Director Luke is asking for your presence. Please come with me." Zhao Hai didn't say anything. He just closed the door and then followed the robot to Luke's room.

When Zhao Hai entered Luke's room, he couldn't help but stare. He expected everyone to be here. Instead, the only other people inside were Cadjo and Desbarres. n.o.body else was here, not even Margaret.

Although Zhao Hai paused for a moment, he immediately recovered. He didn't say anything and just gave the three a salute and then sat down.

After Zhao Hai sat down, Cadjo said, "Little Hai, we invited you over to let Luke introduce you to Machine Field Planet's situation. This is to prepare you for the future. At the same time, we also want to tell you about an order from the family."

Zhao Hai stared, but he still nodded and asked, "What order did the family give?"

Cadjo's eyes flashed a cold light, then he said, "The Patriarch wants you to cripple Sun Fei!"

Zhao Hai wasn't surprised, he nodded and said, "Alright, the moment I face Sun Fei, I will immediately cripple his cultivation. The General Manager doesn't need to worry about this. Even if the family didn't give me this order, I will still cripple him to lessen the Zhang Family's benefits."

Luke was somewhat surprised at Zhao Hai's response. He didn't expect Zhao Hai to accept the order this easily. One must know that Fire Saint Sun Fei wasn't someone that could easily be dealt with. He was known as a rare talent in the Zhang Family. Moreover, his t.i.tle wasn't just nonsense. His fire element magic was indeed more powerful than most. Average people wouldn't even think of winning against him. So why was Zhao Hai talking about this matter as though it was as simple as brewing tea?

But what surprised Luke more were Cadjo and Desbarres's responses. They didn't think that Zhao Hai was saying something strange, they wore normal expressions when they heard Zhao Hai.

Cadjo nodded and said, "Try to not head out in the next few days. Now that only a few people know about your true strength, people will want to understand you better. If someone provokes you outside, make sure to endure."

Zhao Hai just nodded and didn't say anything.

Chapter 1159 – Visit

Desbarres sneered and said, "If they really want to test Little Hai's strength, then he might as well show them. Let Little Hai go out and challenge those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. I can still remember what they did in the past."

Cadjo smiled and said, "All these years, we're always at the receiving end of their bullying. It's good to expel some bad air."

When Luke saw how confident Cadjo and Desbarres were, he couldn't help but get curious. He looked at the two and asked, "Is Little Hai really that strong?" Cadjo smiled and said, "If you face Little Hai, then even you might not survive. Alright, Little Hai, you can head back first and study the materials we gave you." Zhao Hai nodded before he turned around and left.

Seeing Zhao Hai leave, Luke looked at Cadjo and Desbarres and said, "You really are that confident in Zhao Hai huh? Anyway, you two really showed off this time. You defeated 20 s.h.i.+ps of the Zhang Family. You even managed to leave them intact. The Young Master is very happy. I'm sure he will reward you when you return."

Cadjo and Desbarres looked at each other and smiled, then Cadjo said, "You say we defeated 20 Zhang Family battles.h.i.+ps? What if we tell you that they were defeated by Little Hai alone? Will you believe me?"

When Luke heard Cadjo, he couldn't help but stare, then he exclaimed, "He did that? Are you telling the truth? Don't you lie to me."

Cadjo rolled his eyes and said, "Bah. Luke I'm telling you this because Zhao Hai's relations.h.i.+p with Miss Margaret is doing well. It wouldn't be long before he becomes a powerhouse of our Ashley Family. Do you really think that we will falsely give him merit?"

Luke muttered, "So the kid is really a hero huh. It seems like its time for us to hold our heads up high." One must say that Luke had been feeling suffocated all these years. It wasn't only the Ashley Family who had a building in the Machine Field Planet. The other families also opened branches here.

If the relations.h.i.+p between two families were good, then they would lend each other a hand. However, if two families were at odds with each other, then it's normal for them to compete.

In the Machine Field Planet, people wouldn't act unreasonably. After all, this planet was where the three major powers did their work. Moreover, this was where Leng Wuyeng was buried. If they dared to disturb the peace, then the three major powers definitely wouldn't let them off.

However, things like discouraging talks couldn't be avoided. In the past few years, the Ashley Family has been getting bad results in the realm qualifiers. Naturally, this gave the Ashley Family's enemies an opportunity to take shots at them. The amount of negative words that Luke had received all this time was enough to kill a human being.

Because of this, Luke had always been hoping for the family to produce a powerful expert. This way, the Ashley Family could turn the tables and allow Luke to breathe out some foul air. And now that Zhao Hai was here, Luke couldn't help but be happy.

While the three were talking to each other, a knock was suddenly heard, then a voice came in, "Director, Zhang Family's Young Master Mingyue is here. He wants to see Miss Margaret."

When he heard this, Luke immediately opened the door. He looked at his a.s.sistant and said, "What?" The a.s.sistant replied, "Director, the Zhang Family's Young Master brought people over to pay Miss Margaret a visit. They're currently in the guest room."

Luke knitted his brows. Then he waved his hand and said, "Alright, I'll go down soon." The man responded before turning around and leaving.

Luke looked at Cadjo and Desabaress and asked, "What do you think?" Luke knew about the dirty matters regarding the Zhang Family. Therefore, he asked the two for their opinion.

Cadjo sneered and said, "Let's inform Miss Margaret about this first. I want to see what she has to say." Luke nodded, "Alright, you wait here while I go see her." However, Cadjo and Desbarres stood up and said, "Let's go together." Then the three walked over to Margaret's room.

Just after Cadjo knocked on the door, Margaret's voice was heard, "Yes?" Cadjo said, "Little Margaret, it's me."

Margaret opened the door and was shocked. She didn't expect Cadjo and the others would look for her. She looked at the three and asked, "Uncle, what's the problem?"

Cadjo replied, "Young Miss, Mingyue is here. He wants to see you. What do you think?"

Margaret's expression sank, then she coldly said, "Mingyue wanted to see me? And why should I meet him? Our engagement has already been broken."

Cadjo nodded and said, "Alright, I understand." Then he turned around and went towards the elevator. He will go meet the Zhang Family's Young Master.

When Margaret saw the three of them leave, she didn't immediately go back to her room. Instead, she went to Zhao Hai's room. She thought that it would be best to tell Zhao Hai about this. After all, she was once engaged to the Zhang Family. She didn't want Zhao Hai to misunderstand. Although she hasn't seen Zhang Mingyue for a long time, she didn't have any feelings towards him.

Margaret knocked on Zhao Hai's door. Before long, Zhao Hai's voice was heard, "Come in."

Margaret pushed the door open and saw Zhao Hai sitting beside the table reading the materials Cadjo gave him. These materials were information regarding the various partic.i.p.ants in the realm qualifiers. Naturally, it was impossible to list all of the partic.i.p.ants. Cadjo made sure to sort them out and leave only those with substantial strength. However, the list still had several thousand people.

Zhao Hai looked at Margaret and said, "Margaret, why are you here? Come take a seat."

Margaret looked at Zhao Hai and said, "Brother Hai, Mingyue came. He said he wants to see me. But since I don't want to meet the Zhang Family, I had Uncle Cadjo see him."

Zhao Hai said, "Zhang Mingyue? Who's that? Ah, its that Third Young Master from the Zhang Family, the one you were engaged to. Why is he here? Doesn't he know about the current state between the Zhang Family and Ashley Family?"

Margaret replied, "I don't know. Even I don't understand. I haven't even met him that many times. His visit here is somewhat strange."

Zhao Hai wrinkled his brows. Then he suddenly smiled and said, "Interesting, very interesting. I think this Mingyue didn't come to see you, he wants to challenge me. Hehe. It seems like the Zhang Family is unwilling to give up."

When Margaret heard this, she couldn't help but feel relieved, then she looked at Zhao Hai and asked, "Brother Hai, what do we do now?"

Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, "This MIngyue didn't bring Sun Fei. Instead, he wants his family's experts to cripple me, reducing the risk to Sun Fei. Let's head inside the s.p.a.ce." Margaret nodded and the two went to the s.p.a.ce.

Upon entering the s.p.a.ce, the two saw Laura and the others in front of the monitor. On the screen was the confrontation between Cadjo and another party.

The other party only had ten people in it. Leading them was a young man. This young man was wearing a fire red mage robe. He had a delicate and pretty appearance, as well as a masterful bearing. However, arrogance could be clearly seen on his face. His two eyes were cold making everyone he looked at feel uncomfortable.

Behind him were five Warriors and four Mages. The five Warriors looked much older than the young man, with the youngest looking at least 30-years old. All of them carried a sword and seems to share the preference for two-handed swords. Their swords were longer than what seems comfortable and was also wider than normal swords. The sword cross also looked very imposing, which made them look magnificent.

As for the four Mages, they were also wearing fire red mage robes. Just like the Warriors, they were older than the young man. They also held red magic staffs on their hands. Although one couldn't see what the staffs were made of, it was clear that they were advanced-level goods.

Zhang Mingyue stood up when he saw Cadjo and said, "Cadjo, don't give me that smiling face of yours. I want to see my fiance. This isn't something you can budge into."

Cadjo was smiling, however his eyes began to narrow down. Those familiar with him would know that he was close to losing his temper. But Cadjo still chuckled and said, "Young Master, you must be joking. Your fiance isn't here. My family has already renounced our arrangement with the Zhang Family's Patriarch. Is the Young Master unaware of this?"

Zhang Mingyue coldly snorted and said, "So you're saying that my engagement has been broken? Who gave you such power? Did this Young Master agree to it?"

Cadjo just smiled when he replied, "Young Master Mingyue misunderstands. I didn't renounce your engagement, the Ashley Family's Patriarch and the Zhang Family's Patriarch agreed to it. Does the Young Master not know this? Or you just don't agree with your family head's decision?"

Zhang Mingyue expression changed. He knew that he would need to think about his next words. Otherwise, his father wouldn't let him off. Although they were father and son, in the face of the family's matters, paternal love was useless.

Zhang Mingyue sneered and said, "Of course I know about the decision. However, we've been in a good relations.h.i.+p all these years. I just want to see Margaret. Am I demanding too much?"

Cadjo smiled and said, "So this is what Young Master meant. However, I'll have to apologize. Our Young Miss is not here. She just left and I don't know when she'll be back. I'll have to ask the Young Master to return another time."

Zhang Mingyue's expression changed. He knew for certain that Cadjo was deceiving him. However, he didn't have the means to push through. If he decided to force himself in, then Cadjo might make a move. If this matter reaches outside, then the Zhang Family would face consequences. After all, this was Machine Field Planet, not the Zhang Family's domain.

Zhang Mingyue also had talent for cultivation. After years of cultivation, he managed to reach level 6. However, he still fell short compared to the cunning of Cadjo. With Cadjo here, Mingyue was left not knowing what to do.

At this time, a Mage behind Mingyue stepped forward and said," I have seen General Manager Cadjo. Since Miss Margaret left, then we'll have to let this matter go. However, the Young Master is also here to meet the Ashley Family's new genius, his name is Zhao Hai right? We heard that he's quite strong. Although he just ascended months ago, he's already able to win your family qualifiers. When our Patriarch heard about this, he couldn't help but feel happy. Because of this, he prepared a gift specifically for Zhao Hai. He wants us to personally hand it over. I don't know if General Manager Cadjo will allow us to see him?"