Chapter 49: Caught and Rage

Four amethyst-colored hexagon crystals continuously hovered around Xia Fei’s body; their speeds were neither fast nor slow as if they were deliberately protecting Xia Fei.

The crystals were only palm-sized, and the faint amethyst color glowed mysteriously with each edge being as sharp as a honed blade. Anyone who touched it would most definitely be severely injured by the sharp edge.

This was Xiao Yu’s special ability, Amethyst Guard!

Protection Special Abilities were considered marvelous out of all the possible Special Abilities. Not only could these crystals automatically defend against an enemy’s assault, but they could also unleash it to attack the other party. More importantly, Xiao Yu would be able to assign some amethyst crystals to her teammates to assist them.

If a team had a high ranking Protection Ability User, then the team’s combat prowess would undoubtedly increase significantly.

A huge reason why Xiao Haili and Team 13 from the executive department was called the Glorious Thirteen was that they had a powerful Protection Ability User, Queiroz.

Even though Queiroz was lecherous and had a carefree personality, he actually possessed a rare special ability, Quicksand Defense!

Coupled with an outstanding Speed Ability User, Bosingwa, and the Nature Special Ability User Xiao Haili. A top-grade defender, top-grade tracker, and a top-grade assaulter. These three top-grade Ability Users worked together to form the Glorious Thirteen, a prestigious name in Endaro Star Region!

Xiao Haili’s Flame Ability and Bosingwa’s Speed Ability might be replaceable, but no one could substitute Queiroz. It was because people who possessed Protection Special Ability were far and few in-between, and could be described as rare.

Under Xia Fei’s feet was a middle-aged man in his thirties. He had a large beard and a stout figure. His face was fierce, though, his two eyes were currently staring dead straight up to the sky, a look of unwillingness frozen on his face.

He had managed to obtain a token to get into the second round only after risking his life, only to fall into a trap in this barren land; how could he reconcile with that?

Xia Fei used his feet to kick that big burly corpse. He was already long dead, lying on the ground, not reacting.

“That was really dangerous just now. This person’s Special Ability seemed to counter your speed. Had it not been for Xiao Yu’s Amethyst Guard protecting you, I’m afraid you might have had a grim fight on your hands,” Phantom stood by Xia Fei’s side as he commented, “Fortunately, this person isn’t too high ranked. Otherwise, he would be a tough opponent to fight just with the four protection crystals from Xiao Yu.”

Xiao Yu was presently just at the Primary Star Base rank, so all she could do was release 4 amethyst crystals for now.

Xiao Yu was just 12 years old, so it would not be an exaggeration to call her a genius considering she was at her current rank despite her age. Furthermore, she had never consumed any medicine and had completely gotten to her current rank just through her cultivation alone.

Xia Fei did not say a word as he nodded. It was unknown why he was in such a bad mood today. He had been having this indescribable feeling like there was a huge rock pressed against his chest, causing him to feel depressed.

Xia Fei was even momentarily at a loss for what to do while he was fighting with that burly man just now. This had never happened to him before, and this was the first time he couldn’t maintain a high degree of concentration during combat.

It was a good thing that he had Xiao Yu’s amethyst crystal protecting him, so no accident had happened.

Xia Fei was fortunate to have had encountered Xiao Yu. It was precisely because of Xia Fei’s silent protection of Xiao Yu that the two of them had managed to build such a high level of trust.

Protection Special Ability Users would normally never give all their defense to someone else, and would surely leave some for themselves to ensure a means of retreat.

Yet Xiao Yu had assigned all four of her Amethyst Guard crystals to Xia Fei, which meant it was no different from putting her own life on the line, which was not something that could be done without absolute trust.

“Your collaboration with Xiao Yu still lacks a bit of brute force. Flexible assassination incorporating a myriad of variations is your attack style, while Xiao Yu’s special ability is defense orientated, and her attacks are only supplementary. If you could find a teammate with an overwhelmingly herculean attack prowess, I dare guarantee that the three of you would be able to dominate all 100,000 candidates!” Phantom somewhat excitedly said.

Protection Ability Users only came by chance; Phantom was beginning to really like having Xiao Yu around, already involuntarily proposing Xia Fei and Xiao Yu’s future prospects.

*Shing!*

Xia Fei sheathed his Chasing Light by activating the mechanism and salvaged a spatial bracelet from the corpse.

This bracelet was pretty and exquisite. Aside from the embedded piece of black spatial stone, there were also crystals of every color that looked very much like a woman’s jewelry.

Xia Fei gave out a foolish laugh. A gruff and tough man wearing such an elegant spatial bracelet was simply too outrageous; it just did not match up.

Xia Fei lightly brushed the spatial bracelet with his finger as Xia Fei pulled out the token required to get into the second round from inside. After thinking for a moment, Xia Fei placed that token back into the bracelet once more.

This space within the spatial bracelet was rather small in volume, barely just 0.3 cubic meters in size. It appeared to be designed for ladies as well, so there was no reason for him to keep it. That was also why Xia Fei had decided to give it to Xiao Yu since the bracelet suited Xiao Yu’s temperament quite well, delicate and refined.

All of a sudden!

The four amethyst crystals that were drifting around Xia Fei disappeared, as his detector vibrated almost instantly.

Xia Fei quickly retrieved the detector and took a look.

He was immediately shocked!

He saw seven glowing dots advancing from the east, and at the same time, two were leaving toward the west!

The seven from the east must be candidates that were passing by, while one of the two glowing dots going west must be Xiao Yu!

Xia Fei only used 0.01 second to think all this as he promptly dashed westward with his 370m/s speed, his maximum speed!

“Xiao Yu has been kidnapped?!” Xia Fei could feel his heart shudder as his scalp went numb!

When passing by that patch of vegetation where Xiao Yu was hiding, Xia Fei took a quick glance over and saw only the tall grass sway with the wind, and Xiao Yu was nowhere to be seen!

“Damn!” Xia Fei cursed in his anger, his two eyes turning bloodshot in that instant, as his face twisted into a hideous rage!

“Those guys must have found us early on, and while those coming from the east drew my attention, someone else must have capitalized on the opportunity to take Xiao Yu as a hostage,” Xia Fei was getting angrier as he thought about it. To actually make a move on a little girl, these people were loathsome! Absolutely abominable!

The person who kidnapped Xiao Yu was very fast!

He had already disappeared off the area of Xia Fei’s detector in just a few seconds. Given that the detectors covered an area of over 50km, did that not mean this person had already achieved a speed of several thousand meters per second?

Someone with such a speed could very easily kill Xia Fei, so why would he bother taking Xiao Yu as a hostage and not attack Xia Fei immediately?

Xia Fei was terribly upset. If this person could reach such speeds, it would indeed be his nightmare!

He was deducing every possible scenario as quickly as his mind could allow as he continued running non-stop, his speed already breaking past his own limit, almost nearing 400m/s!

The faster he ran, the greater his energy depleted. After approximately 5 minutes, Xia Fei’s two legs became like jelly as he collapsed onto the sandy soil.

His right fist pounded the ground with great intensity, causing the sand to fly from the impact!

Xia Fei was unwilling to resign to this! He couldn’t reconcile over the fact that Xiao Yu had actually been kidnapped by someone else so easily!

“ARGHH!!!” Xia Fei angrily bellowed to the sky, he felt as if all his anger were pressing against his chest, like an explosive package with a lit fuse, ready to burst out in a majestic explosion of rage!

Xia Fei used his fist to beat his own head several times before forcing himself to calm down.

‘No, I can’t panic. I need to analyze this from the very beginning to avoid missing out any possible point of suspicion,’ Xia Fei kept admonishing himself in his mind.

His muscles were still trembling, but Xia Fei’s brain had already regained lucidity.

“Xiao Yu must still be alive because the detector can only pick up humans who are still alive. Who would kidnap Xiao Yu? It made no sense! There’s just no reason at all! If it was done just to snatch a token, they would most likely have simply killed off Xiao Yu, so why would they bother snatching her away? Why exactly would anyone want to do that? Who could it be?!?”

*Whoosh!*

Xia Fei got up from the ground with a leaping start as he headed back in the direction he came from.

At the moment, the only hope he had was dealing with those seven men who were working together with that person who had kidnapped Xiao Yu. Even though there was but a slim chance for that to be true, Xia Fei refused to give up as long as there was even a sliver of chance!

The anger and rage that had built up in his chest needed catharsis.

He needed fresh blood to vent!

…

Endaro Star Region, Adjudicator Union’s Headquarters!

The yellow communicator on President Robert’s desk suddenly sounded; its ring was exceptionally piercing.

Robert put down the book in his hand as deep creases formed on his forehead.

This particular communicator was an emergency call through a secret communication line. It would not ring for no reason aside from an important emergency.

His finger reached out to accept the call, as a display screen projected promptly.

On display was the Chief Control Officer for this Crisis grade assessment, Sean.

…

Even though Xiao Haili was the one in charge of the assessment, he was still young, so there were plenty of Union core secrets he was still unaware of. That was why Robert had personally assigned his trusted aide Sean to be the Chief Control Officer in charge of monitoring the overall situation and the confidential reports.

Sean looked terrible, gloomily reporting, “There’s twelve. The oldest was 17 years old, while the youngest hasn’t even hit 12 yet.”

Robert was jolted to a start, “When did this happen?”

“Approximately 10 minutes ago, 12 candidates vanished at the same time. According to my calculations, the other party must have utilized a stealth warship to avoid the defensive cordon the 5th Fleet had set up, landing on Earth to kidnap all these candidates before absconding,” Sean said.

Robert leaned his body back and reclined his chair with one hand massaging his forehead as he muttered to himself, “Stealth warship. They have even managed to get hold of a stealth warship. Just who are these people?”

“President, they’ve struck too quickly this time. We were completely unable to take any countermeasures, and they were also very well aware of their targets’ positions, picking only all those candidates who are young and possess top-grade Special Abilities. This is too strange; just where did they get their information from? And how could they locate the position of all these candidates so quickly? I suspect…” Sean’s voice came to an abrupt stop as if he hesitated to finish his sentence.

“What do you suspect?” Robert asked.

“I suspect there’s a mole in the Union,” Sean whispered. Considering the severity of such a statement, Sean had to be careful.

Robert’s two eyes widened as he slammed his own desk with his hand, solemnly stating, “This matter must be kept strictly confidential. I’ll be arriving shortly.”