At this moment, Peggy thought that the DarkStar mothership had specifically come just to take him in. For him, the DarkStar had made such a large display. He felt the attention from DarkStar and was moved to tears.

The spaceship approached the connecting channel, and the mother ship captain waited at the channel entrance with other troops. Just as they were about to tear open the door of the spacecraft with their power, Peggy opened the door and walked out. Seeing everyone was a hybrid Godoran, Peggy was filled with excitement.

He had finally found the organization!

With an excited tone, Peggy said, “I’ve been waiting for you for a very long time.”

DarkStar warriors initially had cold expressions, but now, they could not help but looked at each other in bewilderment.

It was the first time that they had seen a target who not only did not resist but also took the initiative to cooperate, looking like he had just returned home. Did this guy not fear death?

“Bold!” The captain nodded in approval before waving. “Seize them!”

DarkStar warriors swarmed in. Peggy was pressed on the ground, all the while thinking that this was DarkStar’s welcome ceremony. He confidently shouted, “Rest assured, don’t have to doubt my loyalty, I absolutely will not resist!”

“Boss, I think they are for real,” one of his men said with a sad face.

Peggy glared and yelled, “Shut up! What do you know? This is a method to test our loyalty!”

The DarkStar warriors cuffing Peggy heard this and sighed. “If everyone could be as cooperative as you, it would save us a lot of trouble.”

The scavengers were taken to prison and tied to a black metal execution column. The captain walked up to them and said coldly, “I need you to answer my questions honestly. Among the Silvers you captured, one of them was carrying what we want, a black bead. Where did that bead go?”

Although Ember had already gotten the ‘answer’, the style of the DarkStar was never to just trust easily. Letting go of the rest easily was not a terrorist organization’s code of conduct.

After Ember reported to the headquarters, this DarkStar spaceship had been on standby in the Fawn Galaxy and immediately jumped to intercept Peggy. Their first goal was Peggy’s spaceship route recorder so that they could search along the route where the Silvers were thrown out. The second was to interrogate Peggy. DarkStar believed that torture could get more information than normal inquiry—pain could make people honest.

Peggy was stunned.

“Didn’t you already ask me?”

“Indeed, I want you to tell us again…” the captain subconsciously replied. Suddenly, he paused, and his expression changed.

Wait a minute!

He thought that Peggy was referring to Ember, but with some thought, it did not make sense. Ember had pretended to be a mercenary, so how did Peggy recognize that Ember was a DarkStar member?

Ember, who was listening from the side, opened his eyes wide in disbelief. “How could I have been exposed? I’m did not reveal any flaws!”

“How did you know the person who asked you belonged to DarkStar!” The captain grabbed Peggy’s neck, slowly adding force. Peggy’s face turned purple, almost suffocating, and he opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Th—the interrogator… clai—claimed to be a Dark—DarkStar agent, cough cough cough!”

Ember frowned. “Captain Sarota, let go. You’re strangling him. Let him finish the whole story.”

Captain Sarota backed off, and Peggy coughed loudly, as if he was going to cough out his lungs.

Eventually, Peggy realized that something was wrong, and with a hoarse voice, he said while shivering, “A mysterious hooded man who claimed to be a DarkStar emissary found me. His target was that black bead as well, so I told him of its whereabouts. I have always admired you, so when he promised to let me join DarkStar as long as I lied to the next group of people that came to ask about the bead, I agreed readily. Not long after, a self-proclaimed mercenary came. I followed the orders that the DarkStar emissary gave me and got rid of him…”

Self-proclaimed mercenary? That’s me! Ember realized. His face became very unpleasant, and his tone turned cold immediately. “So, you lied to me!”

Peggy’s expression changed distinctly. “What? You’re the self-proclaimed mercenary? You guys are the real DarkStar, and that DarkStar emissary was a fake‽”

The expressions on Sarota and Ember’s faces turned very serious.

The situation suddenly complicated. There seemed to be another mysterious force that had their eyes on the Secret Message Bead, and they had even used DarkStar’s name to trick people. They must be tired of living! They were directly provoking DarkStar! Once they found the culprits, they would make them beg for death!

The problem was… what was the mysterious force’s identity? Why did they know about the Secret Message Bead? Was their target the products inside the bead or to destroy DarkStar’s plan? Were they money driven, or were they DarkStar’s enemies?

Ember was confident that he did not expose anything, so he was baffled. Which part went wrong and exposed him?

He had thought of himself as a hunter, but in the shadows, there was a pair of eyes staring at them, hiding deeper than DarkStar, making his hair stand on end.

More mysteries arose, and things were getting tricky and complicated.

The first thought was a traitor in the organization, or how else would they know so much confidential intel?

“What about the real whereabouts of the bead?”

“I—I don’t know. I did not throw it into the outer space but took it with me. However, it was lost during the battle on Floating Dragon Island…”

Ember had a freezing cold look. That imposter mysterious force wanted to mislead DarkStar. If they did not want to deliberately kill Peggy, they would have really fallen for it!

Thinking back carefully about that mysterious force’s methods, it was secretive yet bold. They knew clearly that they were competing with DarkStar, but still they dared to pose as DarkStar, which meant that they had guessed their thought of keeping things confidential, grasped the psychology of all parties, and finally mislead both Peggy and DarkStar, toying with them between their fingers. And they had almost succeeded. This careful and precise way of thinking made Ember uncontrollably afraid.

They came only a little bit late!

“Since it was not thrown into outer space, it will be a simple matter. Go and thoroughly investigate all the forces involved in the scrimmage,” Sarota ordered, “with any means necessary. Pry open their mouths. There is bound to be a party that picked up the Secret Message Bead. It’s impossible to not have any witnesses.”

“Some Wanted Criminals have left Floating Dragon, and they need to be intercepted by the mother ship.” Anger of having been toyed with was stacking up in Ember’s mind, and his tone was very cold. “Leave the people still on Floating Dragon to me.”

“During the search for the whereabouts of the Secret Message Bead, inquire about intel on that mysterious force at the same time,” Sarota added.

“I know.” Ember frowned. Although he agreed, he really did not have much clue about the mysterious force.

“Wha—what about me?”

Peggy did not have the same confidence that he had moments ago. He was panicking, but he felt that he had given them the intel and helped DarkStar to find out more about the hidden enemy, which should have been considered a contribution.

Sarota glanced at him then gestured. The surrounding DarkStar warriors all raised their light energy rifles and aiming at the column. All the scavengers were frightened—they struggled and hastily begged for mercy.

“Don’t kill me. It’s just a misunderstanding, I didn’t mean to deceive you! DarkStar is my idol. I have always wanted to fight for the cause of the hybrids. Please let me join you.” Peggy was trembling as he exclaimed.

“You really want to dedicate yourself to DarkStar?” Sarota’s eyes flashed.

“Yes, DarkStar is my faith! I would do anything for you.” Peggy hurriedly revealed his heart and expressed his loyalty.

“Well, for us, you being dead is more useful than being alive. DarkStar appreciates your contribution,” Sarota sneered.

The murder was the biggest purpose of the DarkStar for this trip. The fewer outsiders in the world that knew about the whereabouts of the Secret Message Bead, the better.

Hum!

Bright lights burst from the energy rifles, melting wounds in the scavengers one after another. The screams burst from the captives’ mouths before quickly weakening as they lost their breath.

The laser expanded in Peggy’s eyes, and his line of sight became all white. He opened his eyes wide and roared, “No!”

The dense wounds were all over his body. Peggy’s head fell limply to the side with his eyes wide open. He had died with so many regrets.

He had thought that his dreams of joining the DarkStar was going to come true, but never had he expected that he would eventually die at the hands of DarkStar.