Darkness, it was the darkness of eternal silence.
When Ding Meng opened his eyes, his surroundings were still pitch black. He quickly realized that he was still trapped in the mini escape pod.
"Little Rascal!
Little Ai! "Ding Meng called out softly.
"We're here!" Little Rascal immediately responded.
Ding Meng asked, "Where are we now?"
Little Rascal immediately activated the event recorder, and a large amount of information immediately poured into Ding Meng's brain. Very soon, a series of thrilling images flashed before Ding Meng's eyes.
In the outer space of Planet Extreme Flame, Xin Jie was frantically dodging the hail of bullets with the remaining half of the Conqueror. The starship quickly turned into a stream of light and entered the space-time rift.
In the wormhole, countless cosmic storms formed by chaos were constantly destroying the starship. First, the steel plates on the surface of the starship kept shattering and falling off. Then, the starship slowly caught on fire. The alarm in the command center had been raised to the limit, but the automatic push program had been activated.
The starship did not completely complete the preset route. Instead, it left the wormhole halfway and re-entered the three-dimensional space, dragging a long tail behind it as it fell.
The entire escape pod had been pushed to the curved mirror engine, and the Cortex Prime system automatically activated the space transmission array, transporting the eight mini escape pods one by one. These eight 'test tubes' that looked similar to the induction pods carried Ding Meng, Xin Jie, Qu Xiaoqing, Xing Yi, Jun Ling, Lu Qing, Su Lingyue, and Liang Yi.
Xin Jie's setting was to transport the eight people separately before the starship exploded. The general direction of the teleportation was the Norse Empire's frontline Fertile Chalk Star System, but in reality, due to the lack of energy, it was impossible for the teleportation to be so precise. Therefore, the eight people were teleported randomly. As for whether they could survive or not, it was all up to luck.
Ding Meng saw her escape capsule drifting in the dark universe until it encountered a black, square-shaped spaceship. The spaceship quickly sent an aircraft to drag the escape capsule up, and the event recorder's content ended there.
Ding Meng frowned and said, "The Steel Mane Empire's spaceship?"
He had seen the starship of the Steel Mane Empire in the Rainbow System, and it was of this ancient style.
Xin Jie had also told him about the Steel Mane Empire. This was a race that had settled in the outer sector of the Pan God System two years ago. They had formed an alliance with the Frogman Kingdom and posed a great threat to the Norse Empire.
"Are we at the periphery of Pan Shen System?"
Ding Meng's heart sank. The Steel Mane Empire was also hostile to the human world. It was not easy for them to escape the tiger's den, but now they were in the wolf's den.
"Yes!" Xiao Ai immediately sent the information about the Steel Mane Empire to Ding Meng.
Suddenly, a bright light shone in front of his eyes. After sleeping for a long time, Ding Meng was still not used to the sudden bright light. When he opened his eyes, he found that the escape pod had been opened, and he saw two extremely tall savages staring at him.
The shape of the Steel Mane Empire was similar to that of humans, but they were generally very tall. Even the young Steel Mane Empire was about 1.7 meters tall, and adults were usually more than 2.5 meters tall. The stronger they were, the bigger their body would be.
There were two obvious differences between the Steel Mane Empire and humans. One was their skin. The body of the Steel Mane Empire was very special. They mostly ate metal as food. The rarer the metal, the more precious it was. It was also very helpful for their growth. Therefore, the skin of the Steel Mane Empire was similar to the hardened skin, tempered skin, and alloy skin of the Body Hardening System. It was abnormally hard and invulnerable.
Another characteristic was that they had a lot of hair, thick, and long. The hair of an ordinary Steel Mane Empire warrior was one meter long. This kind of alloy hair not only allowed them to adapt to all kinds of harsh environments in the universe, but also had various miraculous effects in life and battle.
Hair represented the status and strength of a Steel Mane Man. Ordinary people had grey or brown hair, with a small number having orange or yellow hair. True warriors had red hair, elites had blood red hair, elders had blue hair, warlords had dark blue hair, and the royal family had purple hair. Among them, black was the most important color. Different colors represented different social classes.
The Steel Mane Empire warriors also absorbed Origin Energy, but most of them cultivated biochemistry. They had amazing self-healing abilities and endurance, and the Steel Mane Empire warriors were born with great strength, which was far superior to humans.
However, the two Steel Mane Empire warriors in front of him were only 2.5 meters tall and had brown hair. Obviously, they were not soldiers of the war zone. They were probably civilians.
However, the two commoners did not hold back at all. They reached out and pulled Ding Meng to the ground at the same time. Due to the battle on Planet Extreme Flame, Ding Meng's vitality had been greatly damaged, and he had not been treated in time. He was still very weak.
Of the ten origin points in his body, only one was barely operating. The other nine were all extinguished and shrouded in black fog. This was because the confinement energy of the demon race had not been dispelled. It still needed to be reconstructed and purified. This was a very long process.
Ding Meng looked around. This rescue hall was rather retro, and the area was very small. There were black steel plates, black corridors, and black ceilings. There was a rancid smell everywhere, and even the light source was not the energy-saving crystal board, but a normal searchlight. It could be seen that the technology of this spaceship was rather backward.
Little Rascal said, "This should be a civilian spaceship."
Ding Meng nodded. He had also noticed that the two Steel Mane Empire warriors were not wearing any combat equipment. They stood in front of him like two clumsy ostriches. Interestingly, the Steel Mane Empire warriors only had four fingers.
One of the Steel Mane Empire warriors picked Ding Meng up like a chicken and walked deeper into the corridor.
Ding Meng did not resist. He could tell that these two people were not a threat to him. Even if there was only half of the Origin Points left in his body, the power they produced was not something an ordinary person could resist.
After going around and around for about ten minutes, Ding Meng guessed that they should have arrived at the cockpit of the spaceship. This hall really made Ding Meng and Little Rascal feel a sense of familiarity. The underground experiment hall of the Black Gold Base was like this. The control panels of various sizes were all made of metal, and they were densely packed with instruments and buttons. However, there was a screen, but unfortunately, there was no main control panel.
The starship technology of the Steel Mane Empire was indeed very outdated.
There were other Steel Mane Empire warriors in the hall. One of them was very conspicuous. He was more than three meters tall and had yellow hair. He should be quite strong among ordinary people, but he looked a little old. According to the standards of the Steel Mane Empire, this person should be more than a hundred years old.
Of course, if a person who was a hundred years old was only this strong, Ding Meng thought that no one on this spaceship was a match for him.
Xiao Ai suddenly said, "Ding Meng, if you want to take this spaceship, I don't think it's a good idea."
Ding Meng asked, "Why?"
Xiao Ai said, "We just hacked into the system and read the database. We found that this spaceship is a small commercial transport ship from the border of the Steel Mane Empire, and it's a private spaceship. The reason they flew to this area is because the Conqueror Starship exploded. They came here to salvage some wreckage and sell it. They want to try their luck and see if they can make a fortune. The old man in front of you is called Todge, the owner of this spaceship. However, this spaceship is too lousy. It doesn't even have a weapon system. Space jump and whatnot, don't even think about it …"
"Understood!" Ding Meng nodded.
At this time, the Steel Mane Empire warrior threw Ding Meng on the ground and looked up at Todge. "Sir, we've checked it. It's indeed an escape pod with the logo of the Norse Empire on it. This little monkey is hiding inside."
Todge did not seem to be interested in Ding Meng. He did not even look at him and asked, "What type of escape pod is it?"
The Steel Mane Empire warrior said apologetically, "I'm sorry, sir. We've never seen that type of escape pod before, but one thing is for sure. It should belong to the military of the Norse Empire."
As he spoke, he handed over the crystal photo. Todge took it and looked at it carefully. He had a good eye. "This material is at least made of 256 yuan super alloy …"
The other Steel Mane Empire warriors were overjoyed when they heard this. 256 yuan super alloy was not inferior to dragon liver or phoenix marrow for them. After their bodies were strengthened, it would not be a problem for them to break through to a new level.
Ding Meng's eyelids drooped. It would be strange if they could eat it. Todge's eyes were not sharp enough. Other than 256 yuan super alloy, there was also nano-chromium porcelain and nano-titanium. Otherwise, how could it withstand the cosmic storm in the four-dimensional space?
Judging from the characteristics of these Steel Mane Empire warriors, civilians would not be able to absorb these expensive metals. Even if they forcefully swallowed them, it would do more harm than good.
Although Todge did not have a good eye, he was still smart. "This escape pod cannot be moved."
"Why?" The others were puzzled.
Todge had a thoughtful look on his face. "The military starship of the Norse Empire exploded in this area. They might have escaped from outer space. The warzone overseer will definitely pay attention to this."
Everyone immediately understood. Once the warzone overseer noticed this, he would definitely ask them to hand over the item. If it was related to military secrets, they would be in big trouble.
The Steel Mane Men were disappointed. It would be a pity to give the escape pod to their superiors if they could neither eat nor use it.
Todge then said meaningfully, "But the warzone overseer is not here yet. We can use this time to return and sell this to the black market. We should be able to make a lot of money. At least this trip will not be in vain."
The Steel Mane Empire warriors' eyes lit up. This was a great idea. They would let the black market merchants deal with this problem.
"What about this human monkey?" someone asked. "Should we kill him?"
Ding Meng was about to activate the Origin when Todge shook his head. "Don't do anything stupid. He's a human after all. He's worth some money. Contact a human trafficker and sell him to Old Sam."
Hearing this, Ding Meng smiled bitterly. Was there a human trafficker in the Steel Mane Empire?
Little Rascal was also amused. "Ding Meng, it seems like this is not the first time you've been sold as a slave."
Ding Meng smiled. "I was just worried that we would not be able to land. Now, let's go and see the human traffickers of the Steel Mane Empire."