253: Chapter 249 Special Operations

Song Yang turned a deaf ear to all of this.

He didn't even spare another glance at the cooling corpse on the ground, merely raising his wrist to watch the numbers rapidly scrolling on his smart bracelet.

His rank had entered the top fifty million.

This was what he truly wanted.

In this steel jungle where the strong prey on the weak, rank meant authority, resources, and the ability to survive a little longer than others.

"Beep—"

The bracelet vibrated slightly, and an encrypted message popped up; the sender was The Arena's management AI.

[Song the Madman, since you have participated in a life-and-death duel, you are now qualified to participate in a special operation. Assemble at the Seventh Starport in half a day.

Note: This operation has a 38% mortality rate; rewards and risks coexist.]

Song Yang knew that these were large-scale operations organized irregularly by The Arena, venturing deep into unexplored star systems to find lost civilization artifacts or hunt terrifying cosmic behemoths.

Every operation could make a pauper rich overnight, or leave a powerhouse without even a corpse to bury.

He closed the message and turned toward the contestants' passage.

...

Leaving The Arena, Song Yang didn't linger for a second, heading straight into the underground black market connected to it.

This place was a stark contrast to the glitz and glamour of The Arena.

The passages were narrow and dark, with shops on either side looking like caves carved out of rock walls, hanging all sorts of bizarre signs.

A tall, thin merchant with three eyes was greedily sizing up Song Yang with his largest middle eye.

"Sir, just came off the field? From your aura, you must be a big winner."

"My shop just got the 'Viper Nerve Whip'; it can make your opponents die in ecstasy. Would you like to..."

Song Yang walked past without looking aside, going straight to the shop with the largest storefront in the deepest part of the black market.

There was no sign at the shop's entrance, only a massive mechanical octopus sculpture repurposed from a scrapped spaceship hull.

As soon as he stepped in, the noisy trading sounds inside the shop instantly fell silent.

A portly figure sitting behind the counter looked up; he had a toad-like head, and his two huge eyes rolled slowly to look at Song Yang.

"I want a 'genesis' series incubator, the one with the highest power," Song Yang said, getting straight to the point.

The toad boss grinned, revealing yellow-green teeth and letting out a gurgling laugh:

"'genesis'? Young man, that's no toy. Its daily energy consumption alone is enough to buy a small spaceship."

"Ten million star coins. Let's trade now."

Song Yang stated his price directly and pushed an anonymous card forward.

The toad boss's laughter stopped abruptly, a sharp glint flashing in his huge eyes.

He reached out with a slimy, webbed hand, unhurriedly picked up the crystal card, and swiped it on the counter.

"Beep. Payment confirmed."

"Deal."

He pocketed the crystal card, his attitude instantly becoming respectful. "Give me the address. Within half a cosmic hour, the goods will be delivered.

Genesis-9 model, with thirty years of free maintenance and a 'Larva Cultivation Guide' included."

Song Yang left the coordinates of his manor and turned to leave without another word.

When he returned to the manor, a massive hovering cargo ship was silently parked above it.

A gargantuan object was being towed by an anti-gravity beam, slowly descending and being placed in the room Song Yang had already prepared.

It was a machine resembling a small altar, composed entirely of an unknown silver-white metal, its surface covered in complex and precise energy circuits emitting a faint blue light.

After the installation workers left, Song Yang stood alone before the incubator.

He from his storage space, he carefully took out the Star Beast egg.

He had tried before; even with all his strength, he couldn't leave a single mark on the eggshell.

He gently placed the Star Beast egg into the central groove of the incubator.

"Buzz—"

As energy was injected, the entire machine began to hum deeply.

The patterns on the eggshell seemed to light up, flowing slowly, and the entire room was illuminated by a magnificent golden halo.

On the smart bracelet, Zeus's voice sounded at the right moment.

[High-energy life reaction detected... establishing incubation file... file established successfully.

Based on the energy dissipation rate estimate, the daily basic maintenance cost is approximately five hundred thousand star coins, with an estimated incubation period of one month.]

[Warning: This lifeform's energy level is extremely high. There are unknown risks in incubation; once successful, it may cause danger.]

Song Yang ignored the warning.

He just quietly watched the egg floating in the light, his gaze deep.

Five hundred thousand a day; a month would be nearly fifteen million.

Reborn in the apocalypse, he had long understood that to stand at the top of the food chain, one must dare to place bets that others wouldn't.

This egg was his trump card.

As for the special operation in half a day, it was perfect—time to earn some "formula money" for this Star Beast.

...

Half a day later, at six in the evening.

At the Seventh Starport, a kilometers-long "Leviathan" class transport ship was silently berthed at the core dock.

On the gravity passage leading to the boarding gate, the crowd merged into a surging river of iron.

These people, regardless of race or form, all exuded a common aura—a ferocity settled after being baptized by blood and fire.

Song Yang blended in, his black combat suit making him unremarkable.

He could feel that every life magnetic field around him was like a compressed star, containing power enough to destroy cities.

These people, on their respective planets, were all absolute overlords, gods in the eyes of mortals.

Boarding the ship, the interior space opened up significantly.

Song Yang didn't go to his assigned rest cabin but headed straight for the more open public area.

He needed to listen, to observe.

Intelligence was more important than weapons.

He found a corner to sit in. Not far away, a group of seven or eight burly men was the loudest, sitting together.

Their leader was a one-eyed bald man, his exposed mechanical arm covered in battle-worn scars.

"Have you all heard? The target this time is 'styx crystal ore'! Dammit, on the Central System's black market, a ton of that stuff is enough to trade for a spaceship!"

"Boss, but I heard that planet isn't peaceful."

A man with a scar on his face lowered his voice, appearing somewhat concerned. "The data provided by The Arena only mentioned harsh geological environments."

"Scared of what?!"

The one-eyed brute slammed his hand on the table, making the bottles rattle. "Risk? I've spent my whole life playing with risk!

Even if 80% has to be turned over to The Arena, the remaining 20% is enough for us brothers to live off for a lifetime! When the time comes, we'll each buy a habitable planet and every day..."

Just then, a powerful will swept through the entire cabin.

A man wearing The Arena's uniform with a golden badge pinned to his chest walked in, scanning the room:

"Quiet. All personnel, the ship is about to undergo a space jump. Remember, how much you get to keep in the end depends entirely on yourselves."

"Buzz—"

A violent tremor shook the hull, and the starry sky outside was instantly stretched into countless brilliant lines of light before falling into a deep darkness.

The Leviathan had begun its space jump.

Song Yang closed his eyes; he needed to conserve his energy.

Because he knew that this time, it would definitely be an extremely bloody struggle.