Chapter 1 The Clockwork Heart Institute!

Though the name had not been uttered in a long time, it hadn't faded from Fang Senyan's mind. It had, in fact, been on his mind countless times, especially after the Iron-Blooded Planet expedition, where the various mysteries left behind had always been suspicious.

Fang Senyan had a premonition that his bizarre background, the strange disappearance of the gold mine, and even the good fortune that had accompanied him on his adventures... these seemingly scattered things were actually connected by an undercurrent!

And the origin of this undercurrent should be at the Clockwork Heart Institute!

With this in mind, Fang Senyan nodded and said,

"In that case, the Prince will definitely get what he wants."

The Brigadier General breathed a sigh of relief. He appeared calm, but his heart was pounding. He knew the strength of the powerful Vice-Admiral before him very well, probably capable of killing everyone on this giant ship with a wave of his hand. Enraging him was definitely not a good thing.

Not to mention Prince Pombaru. With the insane expansion of his power, he was practically a shoo-in as the next imperial heir. Acting as a messenger between these two was a thankless task. If you did well, it was taken for granted, but if you didn't, you'd either be seriously injured or killed, or lose your position. Who the hell would want to deal with something with such a shockingly low cost-performance ratio?

Seeing Fang Senyan nod, the captain immediately gave a few instructions. After the Ace Squad members were transported, the engine outlets of the steel giant ship spewed out azure tail flames, two to three kilometers long, propelling the hundreds of thousands of tons of behemoth from slow to fast, gradually disappearing into the sea of stars.

Feeling the engine's steady and resolute thrust, Fang Senyan closed his eyes. Things like royalty were completely beneath his notice. Prince Pombaru's invitation was just a ticket to enter the Clockwork Heart Institute.

As for what the Prince wanted to know, and all the details... Fang Senyan's lips curled up slightly. Yes, everyone has their price. But, Prince Pombaru's friendship was too cheap. Fang Senyan didn't care about him, let alone what reaction the surely disappointed Prince would have. It was like how Noah C had never cared that the Empire would plot against it.

*

After flying through six wormholes and hundreds of thousands of light-years, Fang Senyan finally arrived at the heart of the Empire, a place called Flower Rock Star, also known as Central Star!

This planet was discovered in the eighty-seventh year of the Interstellar Colonization Era. Its volume was 745 times that of Earth, and its mass was 95.18 times that of Earth. It was surrounded by colorful cloud belts and guarded by a large number of satellites, with an equatorial radius of approximately 60,330 kilometers.

The most famous thing on this planet was the unique source of the Stone Beast Flora, hailed as one of the "Eight Wonders of the Universe."

Even though the entire Empire spanned seven galaxies and ruled over more than two hundred and thirty billion planets, the special environment of Flower Rock Star remained unique. This was not only because it had a climate even more suitable for humans than Earth – in fact, there were at least three thousand planets within the Empire with that characteristic – but also because of the miraculous Stone Beast Flora.

The appearance of the Stone Beast Flora was similar to granite, and it was truly difficult to distinguish the two when placed together. It was a massive creature that grew attached to mountains, existing in both liquid and solid states. In its solid state, it was usually resting, attached to the surface of the mountain like rubber candy, extremely difficult to distinguish, and often large enough to cover an entire mountain range.

Usually, people saw the Stone Beast Flora in this form, and in this form, it was often in a dormant state. Unless there was mountain-splitting behavior such as mining or road construction, it would not be awakened.

When the Stone Beast Flora turned into a liquid, it was hunting time. It wriggled, slowly melting, and then crawled towards another mountain with the slowness and elegance of a snail or slug, then covered the mountain like a film, secreting acid to digest the captured organic matter. Then the surface would slowly solidify into a granite-like surface, seamlessly.

Because of the slow movement speed of the Stone Beast Flora, very few animals were caught by it and became its food. It mainly ate insects and plants. For a creature whose daily movement speed did not exceed five kilometers and whose only possible threat was its digestive juices, humans could never become its prey.

But people loved the Stone Beast Flora, not because it was harmless, but because it produced a substance that was extremely important to humans, a substance called cerumen acid, which had replaced coffee as the new golden beverage.

It had a peculiar taste and a certain addictiveness, about twice that of tobacco. But, most importantly, it had been proven to have great benefits for the human body. It had been proven that people who took cerumen acid for a long time were basically immune to cancer, and their immunity was four to five times that of normal people (referring to future humans). Fresh (produced within 24 hours) cerumen acid had the best effect, three times that of prepared potions.

So, given that the Stone Beast Flora could not be cultivated in any other planet or environment, it was only natural that the population of Central Star exploded at a geometric rate. Later, after only fifty years, Flower Rock Star quickly became the economic center of the entire Empire. Ten years later, with the arrival of the Imperial Emperor, Flower Rock Star became the political center. Over thirty-seven billion people were forcibly evicted from this planet that could give people health, and among these thirty-seven billion people was the grandfather of the leader of the "rebellion" who was in full swing at this time.

Oh, one last thing worth mentioning is that cerumen acid is actually just the excrement of the Stone Beast Flora... But this is nothing strange, it is just the laws of nature being strictly enforced.

Just as leaf-cutter ants love to eat the sweet feces of aphids and will take on the responsibility of protecting the aphids, ambergris is just the feces about to form in the intestines of sperm whales, and the raw material for civet coffee is just the feces of cats. As for virgin boy eggs, humans have long had the habit of pursuing results without asking about origins.

*

Feeling the slight changes in gravity from the seat, Fang Senyan and others stood up and couldn't help but stretch their muscles. This tedious journey was finally over. Without even looking, Fang Senyan's myriad sensory tentacles already understood everything around him. This was a secret military base, particularly unconventional hidden in the mountains. There was no welcoming crowd as expected on the tarmac, but armed soldiers waiting in full battle readiness. In addition, there were at least eleven light cannons and thirty-seven tank energy vehicles around the base that were fully loaded, emitting a slight roar.

The giant ship slowly descended on the airport, and then, an officer walked into Fang Senyan's room, extended his hand in an inviting gesture. Fang Senyan and his group were not surprised, and followed this person out, and then began to take the elevator, slowly descending to the tarmac.

When the elevator slid to the fuselage, the entrance door naturally opened slowly. It stands to reason that anyone at this time seeing a large number of heavily armed soldiers waiting, and being pointed at by cannons, would inevitably be flustered.

However, Fang Senyan, who had already known all this, had discussed countermeasures with his teammates. Even before these soldiers could react, Zi, Aziz, and Ronnie attacked at the same time!!

The tactical helmets and hair of all the soldiers who pointed their guns at them were all turned into ashes by the Force Barrier, but no one was injured. The triggers that the soldiers' fingers were pulling were quietly broken, and fell to the ground with a crackling sound, but the fingers were safe and sound.

As for the light cannons aimed at Fang Senyan and the others, six of them suddenly emitted frustrated black smoke at some point. The power of these six light cannons was the greatest, and without these six light cannons, Fang Senyan and the others could rely on the warship to maneuver instead of directly destroying the warship.

Before reaching the Executor realm, Zi and the others could not have done such precise things. It was like Butcher Ding dismembering an ox. Although no one was injured, this terrifying control had completely destroyed the fighting spirit of the soldiers in front of them.

However, the door of the opposite hangar quietly slid open again, and at least twelve warriors wearing giant exoskeletal armor strode out. These exoskeletal armors looked more sophisticated, and were surrounded by electric lights. The weapons they were equipped with were even more amazing: pressurized laser turrets, laser cannons, ion cannons, and a traction beam array were all present. The powerful shell could even withstand a direct hit from a naval gun!

Unfortunately, Aldaris released a psychic storm, and these twelve warriors immediately fell to the ground, convulsing and vomiting like patients having an epileptic seizure. These expensive armors, costing as much as three Pacific-class battleships, were not damaged in the slightest, but they had been completely scrapped.

No matter how powerful a weapon is, without an operator, it is just a pile of scrap metal. Aldaris's psychic storm directly affected the mind, and the material of the armor surface was completely defenseless against it. However, if Aldaris could reach Fang Senyan's Arbitrator realm, he might be able to go a step further and directly control the minds of these soldiers for his own use.

Fang Senyan looked around, as if looking at a pile of messy puppets, and smiled:

"Daring to act improperly towards an Imperial Vice-Admiral, according to any constitution, is punishable by execution. If there are any more tests of strength, feel free to use them. But this time, I don't guarantee I'll hold back."