Somewhere in the Shattered Star Ring, three small battleships with the insignia of the Black Star Corps were patrolling in space. The models of the spaceships were all Flash Class Shuttles, known for their speed.
The responsibility of this team was to track suspicious transport fleets. The Black Star Corps had set up such tracking teams in many Star Systems in the Shattered Star Ring.
In the command room of the leading spaceship, the captain carefully stared at the star map in front of him. The patrol route of the team was marked on it. Once a suspicious fleet was found or a new mission was assigned, it would be displayed on the star map.
"I heard that traces of a suspicious transport fleet were found in the neighboring Star Zone two days ago. The clues are intermittent, and it seems like we lost track of them. Do you think they will run into our area?" an adjutant beside him chatted casually with his colleague.
"It would be great if they really came here. As long as we can track the suspicious fleet, it will be considered a contribution. We have been patrolling here for a few months, and we have yet to carry out a proper mission. If we are unlucky, who knows when we will be able to make a contribution."
The other person's tone was filled with envy.
The patrol mission was boring, and the captain did not stop his subordinates from chatting. He had the same thought in his mind. Although he was only a basic member of the army, he had a hardworking heart. As long as he accumulated enough contributions, he would be able to exchange for the elite training qualification of the army. Investing in himself would be beneficial to his promotion.
Beep beep!
At this time, a red light spot emitting ripples suddenly appeared on the star map, and a notification sounded at the same time. This was a field inspection mission issued by the surveillance department. Usually, it meant that the space buoy had detected a suspicious fleet.
"The mission is here!"
The captain's eyes sparkled. The opportunity had come. He immediately ordered the fleet to change direction and head toward the marked coordinates.
The three spaceships immediately changed direction, and their engines shot out into the depths of the galaxy.
After sailing for a while, the team arrived at the target location. They turned on the detection device, and thirty to forty traces of space folds appeared on the radar.
These were traces left behind by high-speed hyperdrive, and each of them represented a spaceship. These traces would disappear with time, but they had not completely disappeared yet. They extended out and pointed out the direction of these dozens of spaceships.
"A total of forty-one hyperdrive traces. It's a small fleet. Follow the traces and catch up!" the captain said without hesitation.
The team moved forward at full speed, following the traces of the warp jump. After two hours of tracking, a barren asteroid came into view.
The trail ended here, which meant that the target had exited transition mode.
"Reporting, the target's tracks have disappeared. He may be temporarily staying on this planet to collect resources, or he may be hiding behind the planet to ambush. Please give us the next step," the adjutant looked at the radar that had no warning and said.
The captain pondered for two seconds and said, "Ship No. 2, scan the surface of the planet. Ship No. 3, circle to the back of the planet. Ship No. 1, where I am, is on standby. Keep the engine running to ensure that we can evacuate at any time."
"Got it."
The three spaceships immediately split up, and it didn't take long for them to come to a conclusion.
They found a fleet docked somewhere on the planet. The symbol of the force on the outer armor represented a local commercial consortium. At this time, they were collecting underground gas resources, and the scale was exactly the same as the number of warp traces. It was the target of the team.
"Issue a wide-area communication request to check their identity code," the captain said.
The transport fleets of the Supercluster Alliance used all kinds of methods to cross the ocean, and disguising themselves as troops of other organizations was one of the most common methods. If the army's tracking team caught up with a suspicious fleet, they would usually ask to check the other party's identity first. If there was a misunderstanding, they would let them go.
Normally, checking the identity of a transit fleet was the responsibility of the security team. As a private armed organization, the Black Star Corps did not have this authority.
However, fists were power. Now that the Black Star Corps was chasing the transport fleet of the Modo Civilization all over the Star Field, normal organizations would give them face and not ask for trouble. Most of the civilizations in the Shattered Star Ring would not have any opinions and would turn a blind eye to it.
Occasionally, when the tracking team encountered the real deal, the enemy would strike first. This was a risk that could not be avoided. Therefore, the tracking team would usually not fight and would always maintain communication with the intelligence department. This way, even if the tracking team was cut off, they could still send back information and let the surveillance department know that the target was an enemy.
This time, the tracking team sent a communication request to the transport fleet, but there was no response.
The captain immediately became alert. "Something's wrong. Prepare to evacuate immediately. Report —"
However, before he could finish, his mind suddenly went blank, and his vision suddenly became chaotic. This state lasted for a moment before he regained his clarity of mind.
However, when he saw the scene in front of him again, his entire body froze, and horror exploded from his heart, instantly destroying his rationality.
He saw that his surroundings had become a prison, and his body was firmly locked in a prison cabin, unable to move.
He was shocked.
I was still in the command room of the shuttle one second ago. How did I suddenly end up here the next?
Before he could understand, his head went dizzy again, and the environment around him changed again. He was actually in a transparent glass room, and beside him was a group of enormous black beetles.
His eyes passed through the transparent walls of the room, and he was instantly terrified. He saw many giants walking around outside the room, and he could not even see the end of them. He could not see how big these giants were.
As far as the eye could see, everything seemed to have become countless times larger.
"What the hell is this …"
The captain muttered to himself subconsciously, but he did not hear his own voice. Instead, there was a slight hissing sound.
He was slightly taken aback, and he looked down at himself. A chill suddenly rushed to his brain, and he was scared out of his wits. He could not believe what he was seeing.
His body had turned into a black beetle, exactly the same as the insects around him!
In an instant, he understood something.
It was not the world that had become bigger, but he had shrunk!
At this moment, an orange-red high-temperature flame fell from the sky, filling the entire glass room, and his mind was frozen in a blazing white.
Boom!
In just a breath, all the black beetles were burned to ashes.
An operator in a white coat moved away the flamethrower used for the experiment, glanced at the residue in the glass box, and made an "OK" gesture to the captain not far away.
The captain nodded and reported to the communication screen. "Commander, the target has been eliminated."
"Mhmm."
In the flagship, the commander of this fleet nodded and turned to look at the scene outside the porthole.
Out of the three shuttles in outer space, two of them had been blown up by their sudden attack and turned into fireworks in space. Only the first shuttle, which was the command ship, was left, and it escaped the scene with a hyperdrive under their deliberate mercy.
As for the escaping spaceship, the souls of all the crew members had changed under their bodies!
"The plan is going well."
The commander nodded lightly and turned to the side. He saw a black crystal mirror floating in midair. It was about fifty centimeters in diameter and less than three centimeters thick.
The Soul Swap Twins were standing in front of the mirror. Their palms were submerged in the mirror up to their wrists. As if they had been swallowed, ripples appeared on the surface of the mirror.
This mirror was a Wonder type Universal Treasure called the Soul Swapper!
"That's enough. Stop!"
The commander yelled.
Hearing this, the Soul Swap Twins slowly retracted their palms. The soldiers around immediately stepped forward and moved the Soul Swapper away, putting it into an extremely intricate safe, far away from the Soul Swap Twins.
Seeing this, the Soul Swap Twins casually glanced at the mechanical cannons that extended out from the surrounding walls and territory and laughed nonchalantly.
These cannons were safety devices to prevent them from doing anything. They were controlled remotely by artificial intelligence, and the Soul Swapper was only effective against the souls of living beings. It was useless against artificial intelligences.
Only then did the commander retract his gaze and look in the direction of the shuttles.
He said in a low voice, "The men of sacrifice prepared in advance have already entered the enemy's territory. With us as bait, it should be enough to lure them out …"
…
"A tracking team in the Thousand Lights Star System was ambushed while tracking a suspicious fleet. Two of their spaceships were destroyed on the spot, and only one managed to escape …"
In the Black Star Corps headquarters in the Shattered Star Ring, Nero finished reading the report and looked up at the officers in the room.
"Everyone, what do you think?"
Mia's tone was decisive. "The situation is very clear. This transport fleet has made a move, so it's basically confirmed that they are from the Supercluster Alliance. Immediately mobilize the troops around the location of the incident to track the target."
"I feel that this is a little strange. The troops of the Supercluster Alliance usually don't take any action because their identities will be exposed the moment they engage in battle. Most of the time, they are thinking of ways to get rid of their pursuers. The reason for the encounter is usually because they did not discover their pursuers and accidentally got caught up. However, since they made a move, they shouldn't have left anyone alive.
It's the same case. "
He had learned magic from Lagi for decades. Although his teacher was a salted fish, his talent was just too good. He had also become an upper echelon officer and had a good relationship with Nero. He could be considered one of Nero's subordinates.
"Maybe the surviving spaceship escaped in time, and the troops of the Supercluster Alliance knew that the information would definitely be leaked. Thus, they did not want to waste time chasing and would rather use the time to escape," Mia guessed.
"That makes sense as well." Tomar didn't suspect anything.
"Let's ask the survivors about the specific situation first."
Nero thought for a while and instructed his assistant to contact the captain of the surviving spaceship. After a while, the communication screen was connected, and the person on the screen was the captain of the tracking team.
"Tell me everything that happened to you. I want to know all the details."
The eyes of the captain on the screen flashed, and he nodded. He then revealed an expression of lingering fear and anger as he recounted his experience.
The soul under this body had already been replaced by a death warrior prepared by the Modo Civilization. The effect of the Soul Swapper was not simply to transfer the souls of the two bodies. The soul that was' possessed 'could also inherit most of the memories of the target. After all, the brain of the body was also a memory storage device, just like a library.
However, this memory would not naturally merge with the new soul. Instead, it would need to be slowly sorted out and read. Furthermore, there would be some missing parts. Normally, the older the memory, the easier it was to be lost. The more recent the memory, on the other hand, was basically complete.
Different souls and bodies would reject each other. Some Psychics or Espers could also do things like reincarnation and possession, but the success rate was extremely low. Fu Ding and Chen Xing were examples.
The Soul Swapper could greatly increase the success rate of soul transfer. Under normal circumstances, the success rate would be close to one hundred percent. However, it would be affected by the strength of the target and the strength of the user. At the same time, using the Soul Swapper to complete the soul transfer would greatly reduce the rejection between the body and the soul, and there would not be too strong of a rejection.
Soul transfer was only one of the functions of the Soul Swapper. This thing was extremely mysterious, and it had other functions.
After listening to the report, Nero gave a few words of encouragement and was about to end the communication.
At this moment, the eyes of the 'survivor' flashed, and he pretended to be angry.
"We are now the closest troop to the enemy. I hope to continue this mission and pursue them to avenge my comrades!"
"… Sure."
This request was reasonable, and Nero had no reason to reject it.
He hung up the communication, and Tomar spoke again.
"Nero, since the target knows that their whereabouts have been exposed, they will definitely change their plans. They will no longer head to the transportation route and will escape separately. I suggest we use the second plan."
This was not the first time that such a situation had happened. If the transportation team was exposed, they would basically be abandoned. Even if they continued to follow them, they would not be able to find the secret stronghold of the Supercluster Alliance.
"That's right." Nero turned to Aesop and said with an embarrassed tone, "This … Your Excellency Aesop, I will have to trouble you again."
"It's fine." Aesop waved his hand and did not mind.
The so-called second plan was to borrow Aesop's ability to head to the location of the incident and use the relevant clues as a medium to make a prophecy. He would be able to foresee many future possibilities and obtain more clues.
In order to obtain a clearer prophecy, he would need more mediums. This method was very effective. Aesop had not only stayed in the headquarters for the past few months but had also conducted many field investigations under heavy protection. Using this method, he had found many targets for the Black Star Corps.
Nero nodded and said loudly, "There's no time to delay.
Prepare the spaceship immediately and send Your Excellency Aesop and the guards to the location of the incident. "
…
On the other side …
In a certain Star Field, on a certain planet, in a certain base …
Manison stood in front of a virtual screen with his hands behind his back. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the content on the screen.
This was a secret intelligence report from the Primeval Star River base camp. It came from the spy he had planted in the Modo Civilization many years ago.
There was only a short message written on it.
The Soul Swap Twins have been transferred out of the base. The Soul Swapper has been taken away from the warehouse by the army. Destination unknown!
"Soul Swapper, huh … If I'm not wrong, the Modo Civilization is using this Universal Treasure to deal with him. Maybe I can …"
Manison muttered to himself, an inexplicable light flashing in his eyes.
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