The Legendary Mechanic

At a certain place in the desolate universe belt, an armed fleet was slowly advancing through the cosmic space. Sorokin stood in the command room of the main ship and looked into the galaxy.

This armed fleet was a mercenary group he had secretly founded in the Ancient Star Desert. Other than a few upper echelons, no one knew that their boss was the Limitless Financial Group. For this mission, Sorokin secretly created a manifestation that looked exactly like him and left it in the consortium's headquarters. He then slipped out, led this mercenary group, and headed to the location of Soul Flame.

This group did not know the exact goal of this trip; they only acted based on orders of the upper echelons. For safety reasons, Sorokin even wore a mask. Other than the leader beside him, no one else in the fleet knew that the renowned Sorokin was on their ship.

"The reaction is getting stronger, meaning I'm getting closer…"

Sorokin looked at the star map. Within a certain distance ahead, there was only one desolate planet. He was basically certain that Soul Flame was on this planet.

On the star map, this planet had no name, only a serial number. It was marked as a poor planet with no value for developing.

After the fleet advanced a while longer and was still quite some distances away from this planet, Sorokin stopped the fleet.

"All ships, stop advancing. Use astronomical observation instruments to observe the surface status of that planet."

"…Observation complete. Boss, everything is normal on the planet surface. It's desolate and has nothing worth paying attention to. The details still require field inspection."

Sorokin nodded and ordered, "Hmm, send out a recon ship to land on the planet first. Everyone else, remain in stealth mode and standby here."

He had a habit of being careful at all times. He was worried that Soul Flame might have a master, so he decided to test it first. Even if it was a desolate planet, he still had to repeatedly confirm there was no hidden danger.

The recon ship deviated from the fleet and quickly flew toward the planet. Sorokin secretly used his ability and possessed the captain of the ship.

A while later, the recon ship finally arrived on the planet. It activated all kinds of scanners and started to investigate the underground. However, after an entire hour, all results came back normal.

Sorokin immediately realized the problem and narrowed his eyes.

According to his senses, Soul Flame was right there, somewhere underground. There was no way it was not discovered unless someone had set up disguise devices underground, which would prove that someone was there.

"Even if the scanning can be avoided, the actual object can't be hidden."

Sorokin's manifestation drew out a rough area on the planet's underground model. He then ordered the crew to stop scanning and send robots to dig into the ground instead. He planned to dig a hole right toward the location of Soul Flame.

However, the moment the robots were dispatched from the ship, the recon ship suddenly became paralyzed. Its engine shut off, and it plummeted from the sky. The crew inside the cabin were bumping into everything around like they were inside a shaking tin can.

Sorokin suppressed his instincts and did not use any ability with his manifestation. When the recon ship was just about to crash onto the ground, a blue-purple magic gate suddenly appeared below it. The recon ship fell right in and disappeared.

At the same time, the mercenary group leader far away in the main ship hastily reported to Sorokin's original body.

"Boss, we've just lost communication with the recon ship. It's suddenly missing. Should we go take a look?"

"No need, move back for now."

Sorokin's eyes flickered.

It looked like there were indeed enemies near Soul Flame. Since he possessed the captain of the recon ship, he could now scout the enemies.

At this point of time, the vision and senses of the manifestation were being transmitted back to his mind.

After the recon ship fell into the magic gate, as if it had fallen onto a certain buffering platform, it did not crash, but the trembling of the cabin made the people inside fall down again.

The crew covered their bleeding heads. They hastily pressed on the operating table and said with panic, "Captain, all functions of the spaceship are frozen. We've lost contact with the others!"

Sorokin's manifestation acted panicked and said, "Go put on the land exploration armor. Open the hatch manually, and take a look at where we are."

As the order was given, the crew quickly changed and became land exploration armored warriors. Suppressing the nervousness in their hearts, they carefully pulled the hatch open.

Whoosh!

The sound of air pressure adjusting appeared as the hatch slipped open. After seeing what was outside, everyone froze.

This was a place that looked like an underground helipad. Outside was a group of mechanical suit warriors holding explosive energy firearms who surrounded the recon ship, aiming all their barrels at the hatch.

"What is this place?"

"Who are you?"

The crew of the ship were shocked.

The leader of the mechanical suit warriors outside coldly replied, "Disarm yourselves immediately, put your hands up, and walk out, or we'll fire!"

This is an unknown organization? They should have been hiding in the underground of this planet.

Sorokin did not see any organization's symbols on the mechanical suits of these people. He immediately acted nervous and cowardly. He yelled at the crew to throw away their weapons and led them out with his hands in the air.

Very soon, they were captured and imprisoned separately. Sorokin's manifestation was alone in an interrogation room.

After quite a while, the room door was finally pushed open. A mechanical suit warrior who was clearly there to interrogate him walked in, still wearing the helmet. It sat opposite and said, "I ask, and you answer, or you die. Understood?"

Sorokin's manifestation acted scared and nodded.

"I just searched your logs and found you belong to a mercenary group. Tell me, why have you come here?"

"I-I don't know. I'm just following orders."

Sorokin's manifestation deliberately stuttered, but he was secretly relieved.

Through checking the logs and interrogating the crew, this unknown organization definitely knew that the rest of the mercenary group was there too. Luckily, out of caution, he had kept the rest of the fleet quite far away and ordered them to back away even further when the recon ship lost contact.

The interrogator asked many more questions. Sorokin's manifestation's answers had both truths and lies, keeping to the amount of information this captain should know while shivering.

He had been acting across multiple lives, so he was already a top tier expert and a competitive candidate at the Oscars, so he did not cause any suspicion.

After a while, the interrogator was done asking questions and was about to stand up and leave the room.

At this time, Sorokin's manifestation's eyes suddenly lit up. Through his eyes, Sorokin's manifestation dashed into the interrogator's body and tried to possess it.

He had to know more about this unknown organization, so possessing one of them was clearly the best choice.

Sorokin activated his ability in the blink of an eye with no signs at all. It was extremely well hidden. At such a close distance, this interrogator who was not even a Calamity Grade, of course, was defenseless. His body was instantly taken over.

Right after Sorokin took over the body, before he could feel glad, he shockingly discovered a bright flame in the mind of this body.

"Soul Flame's seal‽"

The moment this interrogator's mind was occupied by an outsider's consciousness. As if it sensed something, this flame suddenly became volatile like it was about to turn into a sea of fire the next second and torch the mind of this body.

Sorokin's expression changed. In an instant, he adjusted his soul frequency, made a series of complex adjustments, and shrouded this flame with his soul energy.

The next moment, this flame slowly calmed down but still did not look fully stable, as if it could erupt any time.

Seeing this, Sorokin was relieved.

He knew all too well about the effects of Soul Flame. It could plant this type of surveillance seal on others to prevent them from leaking certain secrets or getting their memories searched. Once triggered, the seal would instantly burn all related memories. The master of Soul Flame would also sense it.

This was effective against most people, even Beyond Grade As, but not Sorokin.

He had once been the master of Soul Flame, so he already knew everything there was to know about its abilities. With the specialness of his Esper Ability, he could temporarily dodge the Soul Flame's seal. He was one of the extremely few who could infiltrate the Holy Accord in the universe.

Although he successfully made the Soul Flame seal misjudge him and did not erupt instantly, he knew that he would only be able to deceive the seal for a certain amount of time. If he retrieved his soul energy in this manifestation, the seal would erupt right away, and Soul Flame's current master would notice.

Also, he did not dare to read the memories of this body. Soul Flame sealed the related memories like a chain of traps. Once triggered, he would no longer be able to deceive the Soul Flame seal and would be exposed instantly.

"That was close. Don't tell me every member of this mysterious organization has the Soul Flame seal…"

Sorokin was on alert. He was surprised.

This meant that the master of Soul Flame should be the leader of this unknown organization, an upper echelon at the very least.

Using this method to make sure all its members did not leak the secrets… what kind of huge secret needed this degree of caution? What did this organization do?

While he controlled the new manifestation to leave the room, he pondered in his mind. Although he could not read this body's memories, he could observe the situation of this organization with it.

As soon as he walked out of the interrogation room, someone approached him. Following the rule of 'the more said, the more mistakes made', he handed over the interrogation report without saying a word. Seeing that no one gave him further orders, he left the area on his own.

He walked around for some time and very quickly realized that this organization's base was very huge and had a lot of members, but there was no organization's symbol anywhere.

Sorokin's manifestation did not dare ask anyone, so he could only walk around randomly. However, this body's authorization level seemed to be very low. Many areas were not accessible, especially the direction where he sensed Soul Flame was. It was in a forbidden area, which base-level personnel were not allowed to enter.

"This won't work. I won't find any valuable information, and I'll be exposed sooner or later… Looks like I need a push," Sorokin murmured.

From the way he looked at it, this mysterious organization was very serious about secrecy. Once exposed, it would very likely shift its location. Therefore, he planned to let the mercenary group attack this planet to force this organization to display its strength and start to migrate. Then, he would have more chances to discover the secrets of this organization and the identity of Soul Flame's master.

As for the possible casualties of the mercenary group, he did not care at all. They were sacrificial chess pieces to begin with.

Having thought of that, Sorokin's original body immediately said to the mercenary group leader, "Pass my order, send seventy percent of the fleet to bombard that planet. The remaining thirty percent, back away with me."

"Understood."

The leader gave the orders right away.

A portion of the armed fleet advanced right away, entering attack range after quite a while. They then activated all kinds of ranged weapons immediately. Enormous missiles were shot out and flew toward the target, dragging tails of flames behind.

Buzz!

Suddenly, a light-blue magic barrier shrouded the entire planet and stopped all the attacks. The missiles turned into fireworks in cosmic space.

Before the fleet made the next move, all the battleships that were sent to attack the planet lost control and started attacking each other like they were being controlled by someone else.

At the same time, a ring of fire as bright as the sun expanded from the planet like an illusion, quickly penetrating all the battleships.

The next moment, more than ninety percent of the crew's souls were incinerated, and they died right on the spot.

The armed fleet sent to attack the planet completely lost the ability to fight in less than a minute!

At this time, a hole suddenly opened up on the surface of the planet like the tracks of an airport. Spaceships with no symbols flew out and seized all the remaining battleships.

"This quickly?" Sorokin's expression turned grave.

He knew that the mercenary group would be no match, but he did not expect them to be annihilated so quickly.

However, though the battle was short, he still gained some shocking information.

Mage, Virtual Mechanic, and the master of Soul Flame… This organization has at least three Beyond Grade As!

Sorokin was intimidated.

This organization is way too unfathomable. Luckily, I was cautious enough. If I charged right in like a Pugilist…

Good thing I'm a coward!

Having thought of that, he immediately told the remaining fleet to back away at full speed.

At the same time, Sorokin's manifestation in the Holy Accord organization also received an emergency migration order.

In the underground base, members of the organization moved supplies, destroyed buildings, and activated spaceships quickly.

Sorokin's manifestation was also summoned by his boss. He quickly rushed over, did his job at the dock, and observed the surroundings.

Shortly after, he sensed that the location of Soul Flame was rapidly approaching.

Very soon, rapid footsteps came from a tunnel, along with many voices. To his shock, some of the voices sounded familiar.

"Odd, what was with that fleet? Why did they suddenly attack us?"

"Were they here for us? Did they discover us?"

"No way, they're way too ill equipped to have the guts to fight us. It seems to be a fleet that passed by and discovered our base…"

"Are we that unlucky? Did you not wash your face this morning?"

The voices got closer. Very soon, a group of people walked out the passage, complaining while walking toward the spaceship at the dock.

Sensing that the master of Soul Flame was in this group, Sorokin subconsciously turned and glanced at them.

With this one look, his mind went completely blank!

'King of War' Pangon, 'Mage God' Beiger, 'Violet Queen' Lady Lust… They were all Primordial Ones who were in the same generation as him. Even Beiger, who killed him, was there!

Didn't they die long ago‽

Why are they here, alive‽

While Sorokin's thoughts were going wild, the energy he used to suppress the Soul Flame seal also became unstable.

The next moment, the seal broke through the suppression and erupted, instantly incinerating the soul of this manifestation.

"Hmm‽"

Oathkeeper, who was leading the way at the front of the revived Primordial Ones, instantly turned around and saw the manifestation that collapsed to the floor.

"Someone just triggered the Soul Flame seal…"

Uncontrollably excitement appeared in Oathkeeper's eyes.

Could it be… the legendary spy has appeared?

Ha! It's been so many years I almost thought you really didn't exist!

You've finally shown yourself!