Chapter 235: Chapter 235: Spiritual Power Discovered
Miles Sherman was still searching when he heard Aaron Xavier’s voice suddenly spike.
"Miles, we’ve got company!" A Starship, practically materializing out of a light-speed jump, appeared in the distance with fighters and Mechas in tow.
Miles Sherman’s expression grew tense as well, but they both quickly realized it was an interstellar military warship.
With a few precise blasts, the enemy Starship—which had been a struggle to fight even with their Mechas—was obliterated in seconds by the specialized military warship.
Specialized Mechas began to inspect the remaining enemy units. Noticing the severe damage to Nathan Lockwood’s Mecha, they dispatched personnel to board the Starship and conduct a medical examination.
With the military Mechas joining the effort, the entire search operation accelerated significantly.
Miles Sherman couldn’t be bothered with anything else. Even if it meant exposing the fact that Zoe Pierce could pilot a Mecha, he could not accept her death.
Fortunately, the situation wasn’t as dire as he feared.
After finding Chase Shaw, they next located Zoe Pierce. Her Mecha had been almost entirely impaled by metal plates.
The search party initially assumed it was one of the terrorists. After all, there were only four Alphas on site, and the locations of their four Mechas had already been confirmed.
So this extra one must be someone else.
To their surprise, Miles Sherman and Aaron Xavier came rushing over like madmen.
They carefully inspected the point of impact where the Mecha had been pierced.
Thankfully, it wasn’t near the Mecha’s core cockpit.
"Miles Sherman?" the Alpha Officer asked, confused.
Miles Sherman pursed his lips. "You can stop searching. This is Zoe Pierce."
He’d never dreamed that Zoe Pierce’s ability to pilot a Mecha would be exposed under circumstances like these.
But right now, saving her was the priority.
He tried to contact Zoe Pierce, but there was still no response. The panic in his heart did not subside in the slightest.
The Alpha Officers watched as the two Mechas belonging to Miles Sherman and Aaron Xavier supported the one they claimed was Zoe Pierce’s and flew toward the rescue team.
The situation was now a little complicated.
"What’s the status of the rescue?" The highest-ranking officer of the operation inquired over the comms.
The Alpha Officer hesitated for a moment before replying, "It has been confirmed that we have successfully rescued students Chase Shaw and Nathan Lockwood. Students Miles Sherman and Aaron Xavier are conscious."
He paused. The voice on the other end pressed, "And what about student Zoe Pierce?"
The young Alpha Officer glanced at the Mechas flying ahead of him and said, hesitantly, "We’ve located a Mecha. Miles Sherman and Aaron Xavier claim the person inside is Zoe Pierce."
Even the battle-hardened commander on the other end fell silent.
After all, nothing in that report sounded like it had anything to do with an Omega.
"Follow them and see what’s happening," he finally ordered.
The Alpha Officer replied immediately, "Yes, sir," and followed.
And so, all the Mechas entered the Starship.
Oxygen filled the rear hangar, the effects of zero gravity vanished, and the rescue medics were already waiting at the bay doors.
As soon as they were cleared to enter, they rushed into the rear hangar.
"Open Zoe’s first! I’m fine... COUGH, COUGH..." Chase Shaw said urgently between sharp coughs.
At this point, Zoe Pierce was the only one who hadn’t regained consciousness.
Everyone began to dismantle her Mecha.
As he worked, the Mecha Maintenance Master commented, "If the quality of this Mecha wasn’t so good, it probably wouldn’t have held together."
Once the cockpit hatch was removed, Zoe Pierce’s form was finally revealed.
But everyone who saw her was completely stunned.
The gossamer dress she hadn’t had time to change out of was now speckled with blood. Her brow was tightly furrowed, her eyes shut fast, and her body was curled up where it was still connected to the Mecha.
A faint membrane of spiritual power also shielded her from the outside world.
The Alpha Officer who had been reporting the situation couldn’t hide his astonishment, staring at Miles Sherman and the others in disbelief.
With this spiritual power membrane in place, no one could directly contact her.
Miles Sherman stood before her, shouting anxiously, "Zoe? Zoe Pierce!"
Zoe Pierce remained unresponsive.
She gave him no response.
Aaron Xavier was shouting too, but it was as if Zoe Pierce couldn’t hear a thing; she remained unresponsive.
Forcibly breaking through with spiritual power would certainly cause some kind of damage to her own.
That wasn’t something Interstellar medicine could treat.
As the others exchanged helpless glances, Nathan Lockwood, who was lying on a stretcher and about to be carried away for an examination, spoke up. "Let me try."
It was as if Miles Sherman and Aaron Xavier were waking from a dream; they suddenly remembered the mark between Nathan Lockwood and Zoe Pierce.
The justification was ready-made. The issue with Zoe Pierce’s glands was on record, and Nathan Lockwood had simply provided pheromones to help.
The medical team carried Nathan Lockwood over. He wasn’t in good shape either; he had multiple fractures, and his forehead was beaded with cold sweat.
But he insisted on being brought before Zoe Pierce’s Mecha. As Nathan Lockwood’s pheromones gradually filled the air, the others present grew uncomfortable—it was, after all, the scent of another Alpha.
All they could do was watch with furrowed brows.
Once his pheromones had completely enveloped Zoe Pierce, he whispered, "Zoe, it’s me."
He reached out to touch her spiritual power membrane. After an initial ripple, the barrier gradually faded, disappearing completely the moment Nathan Lockwood’s hand made contact with her skin. Her spiritual power had abandoned all resistance.
Even though they knew this was all because of the pheromones, a sour feeling still twisted in Miles Sherman’s and Aaron Xavier’s guts as they watched.
Because of the temporary mark, Zoe’s body had instinctively let down its defenses upon sensing Nathan Lockwood’s pheromones.
’It was only because it happened to be him.’
The sour feeling was quickly replaced by concern. Once Zoe Pierce was moved to a stretcher, Miles Sherman and Aaron Xavier also had to get checked out.
While they were being examined, other Alpha Officers were sifting through the wreckage.
"Report, sir! All suspects are deceased."
"All assailant Starships were modified civilian vessels. We’ve confirmed they are all decommissioned models, at least ten years old." This type of decommissioned Starship always had defects, to a greater or lesser extent.
The Alpha Officer could even tell that the cost of the modifications likely exceeded the value of the Starships themselves.
The one saving grace of decommissioned starships, at least for the enemy, is that most of them are sent to Gorbog.
And across all of Interstellar Space, there are at least a hundred Gorbogs.
The search area is too vast; it could span the entirety of Interstellar Space.
The enemy was likely counting on this exact fact when they made their choice.
After all, official military warships are completely regulated. When they are decommissioned, they are typically decades-old models, and all components that could possibly be used for retrofitting are destroyed, leaving behind little more than scrap metal.
This was, just as Jasper Quinn had said, an organized and premeditated murder plot.
The targets of this assassination were Zoe Pierce and her squad.
"The Beta passenger aboard the civilian Starship has also been confirmed dead." The Passenger Police hadn’t expected it. The Beta had boarded the Starship, pulled a hat over his face as if to rest, and died without a sound.
And after cross-referencing, "The target... was not Arthur White."
