As Zhong Yun followed the two figures out the door, his heart suddenly gave a sharp lurch, struck by a nameless sense of foreboding. He was exceptionally sensitive to killing intent now, and what he felt rising from the room behind them was a potent surge of it.

He acted instantly, overriding the security system via the decoder to gain full access to Sector Four, locking the door behind him and severing all internal communications.

He glanced back at the sealed metal door. Stay put, he thought. I’ll let you out once I’ve retrieved what belongs to me.

The two ahead noticed nothing of the sudden disturbance and began contacting all engineers back at the base.

Inside the room, the moment the words were spoken, the boss of the Ketong family sprang from his seat, transforming into a streak of blue light rushing towards the door. “Open the door!” His voice boomed like thunder, his presence awe-inspiring.

But the massive door remained unresponsive. This shocked the boss, who was rocketing forward at high speed, right towards the metal barrier. If he struck the door—a meter-thick slab of ultra-hardened metal—the consequences would be dire.

Ten centimeters from the door, his body froze abruptly, as if a fired bullet had suddenly stopped mid-flight, transforming instantaneously from high velocity to absolute stillness. Such a phenomenon, seemingly defying inertia, demonstrated the sheer magnitude of his power.

A dark weight settled in the boss’s mind. He backed away slightly and spoke in a deep voice, “Open the door.”

Still, the metal door gave no reaction. He knew the door possessed an automatic recognition system that sensed an individual’s identity and opened automatically if criteria were met.

Beyond the automatic recognition, there was also a voice command system, which was even faster for authentication.

Given his status, he should have enjoyed unimpeded passage throughout the entire base. To find himself locked out of his own room today was deeply unsettling.

“What is going on?” The other four in the room were stunned. From the boss shouting about a spy to his launch toward the door had taken barely a second, yet every seasoned figure present immediately grasped the gravity of the situation.

“Contact Central Control System,” the boss commanded, his shock controlled.

No response.

“Use the backup communication system.”

Still nothing.

The boss’s face turned exceedingly grim. His suspicion was clearly correct: a spy had infiltrated the base and seized control of its entire operational system.

He breathed a sigh of relief that no powerful weaponry had been installed in the room, otherwise, the leaders of the Ketong family would have been wiped out in one fell swoop. How had they slipped in unnoticed? The base’s security system was supposedly the most cutting-edge in the entire Mins Kingdom. How had they cracked the control system so quickly? The primary optical computer for Sector Four had been purchased from the Free Star. Countless questions flooded his mind, but being a man who had weathered countless storms, he quickly regained his composure. A faint, transparent blue light bloomed around his hands.

“You think a single door can hold me? Dream on.” He pushed out both hands, and a pale blue radiance shot toward the door.

Zhong Yun trailed the two men, calculating the time in his head. The door wouldn't hold them for long; he had to reach the ship and secure his access codes before they broke out, or he would be in grave danger.

It’s a pity there’s no weapon system in that room, he mused, I could have taken them all out at once. With the Ketong leadership decapitated, it would have been easier to fish in troubled waters.

The two men finally gathered the necessary personnel, and a column of over a hundred people marched toward the entrance site. Zhong Yun melted into the crowd, intending to slip in stealthily.

The guards in the corridor snapped to attention and saluted the two leaders, allowing them unimpeded passage to the entrance.

Through some trickery performed by the pair, the large group approached the entry point without triggering any alarms.

Zhong Yun let out a quiet breath of relief as he meticulously observed the actions of the two leaders. They approached the door leading into the main corridor, each pulling out a small, black, triangular object. When the two objects were fitted together, they were inserted into a small indentation on the door.

Then, the two men entered passcodes sequentially, and the large door slowly ground open. Propelled by a slow-moving conveyor belt, they proceeded into the corridor toward another large door.

The next person followed them inside, pulling out another, even smaller item. After combining these and inputting a code, the inner door also opened.

Zhong Yun looked at that final door, his breathing growing shallow. After so many trials, he had finally arrived. Once inside and in possession of the ship’s clearance, he could go home.

They waved toward the people waiting outside. The first two individuals walked inside, carried by the conveyor belt toward the interior gate.

Zhong Yun suppressed his excitement, his eyes fixed, not missing a single micro-movement made by the pair.

The second pair followed them in. Zhong Yun eased his breathing and slipped in behind them, floating rather than stepping, his feet never touching the ground.

No alarm sounded.

As the exit door loomed closer, Zhong Yun advanced alongside the two men, forcing down the urge to simply blast through at maximum speed.

He kept repeating internally: Calm down. Don't rush. Be steady…

Soon, they had traversed half of the thirty-meter-long corridor. Just as Zhong Yun thought he would slip through safely, a shrill, piercing alarm suddenly erupted, seemingly shaking the entire base.

Zhong Yun was startled, watching the large door ahead begin to shut. He shot forward with every ounce of speed he possessed.

He was fast, but someone was faster. A faint, almost invisible shadow zipped toward the door, startling Zhong Yun, who couldn't comprehend where this shadow had originated.

Comprehension could wait; the immediate priority was reaching the ship's interior. Zhong Yun flew forward at the fastest speed he had ever attained, but he was still a step too slow. The door was closing rapidly; when he was five meters away, only a sliver of an opening remained.

A blinding orange luminescence suddenly flared, accompanied by a wild, hoarse cry: “Open for me!” A fierce, scorching airflow surged through the corridor.

Simultaneously, Zhong Yun roared, “Break!” The massive Yuan energy within his body spun at high velocity, accelerating until it shot out along his arms and erupted forth.

For a moment, streams of yellow and purple energy clashed violently in the narrow corridor. The two engineers caught between the forces, who hadn't even had time to react, were crushed into grotesque shapes without a sound.

Two forces of unparalleled power slammed into the door simultaneously.

There was a deafening KRA-KOOM, a sound like two hundred high-speed trains impacting a mountainside.

The entire door buckled inward, creating a massive dent that aligned perfectly with the remaining crack, forming an opening just wide enough for a person to squeeze through. Zhong Yun, suppressing the turbulent energy surging within him, forced his body through the gap.

The moment he was inside, he tumbled several times on the floor before floating up again.

“Who are you?” The two men who had entered earlier were already pale with terror. They knew precisely how sturdy that door was—metal capable of resisting eight thousand units of energy. Without a large-scale particle cannon, inflicting any damage seemed impossible.

Today, it had been destroyed by sheer human force. Had they not witnessed it, they would never have believed it. Were these men even human?

“Hahahaha…” A familiar, maniacal, and hoarse burst of laughter echoed. “Old Six, Old Nine, you don’t even recognize my voice?”

“Second Brother, Second Brother?” Both men cried out in disbelief, their faces ashen, mirroring the severely wounded middle-aged man who had brought Zhong Yun in. If their earlier reaction was fear, this was profound, deep-seated terror.

“Thirty years. A full thirty years. I have finally returned here, to the greatest legacy of the Ketong family: the Mother Body.” A faint silhouette shimmered in the air above.

Hiding in a corner, Zhong Yun watched everything coldly. It turned out there was another person here who had infiltrated using invisibility equipment, just like him. And this person was the mastermind behind the current uprising on Ketong Star.

This individual was indeed tremendously capable, managing to evade so many people and slip into Sector Four without a sound.

The thought spurred one of the guards, Old Nine, to force composure and ask, “Second Brother, how did you get in?”

“How did I get in?” The voice of the Second Brother dripped with mockery. “Did you think I hadn’t improved at all in these thirty years? If I didn’t have certainty, would I dare storm the heart of the Ketong family like this?”

“Second Brother was always a heaven-sent genius, and now he is unmatched,” Old Six and Old Nine said, their smiles brittle.

“Old Six, Old Nine, I won’t hide it from you: I have only one goal. As long as you don’t block my path, I won’t harm you. After all, I am still a descendant of the Ketong family; I won't let the Ketong family decline.”

Suddenly, a head materialized in the air, appearing no older than thirty, significantly younger than Old Six and Old Nine.

“Think carefully about how you can best preserve the core strength of the Ketong family.”

Old Six and Old Nine exchanged glances and remained silent. Indeed, regardless of the outcome between the boss and the Second Brother, they, as powerful elders holding vast resources, would retain their value. There was no need to get involved.

Seeing their expressions, the Second Brother felt confident in his assessment. Their choice was not surprising given the Ketong family's traditions.

Regardless of who vied for the position of family head, the powerful figures holding major influence within the clan always remained neutral. This ensured that even the fiercest struggle for leadership would not deplete the family’s fundamental strength.

The Ketong family had learned a painful lesson in this regard. It was only after that incident that the once supreme Ketong family began its decline.

Having achieved his immediate objective, the Second Brother’s eyes flickered, and he suddenly spoke, “Friend, thank you for your help just now.”

P: There is one more chapter (To be continued. To know what happens next, please visit .**.m for more chapters.)