The planet of Titan was perpetually shrouded in thick mist, making it difficult for sunlight to penetrate; the daytime was only marginally brighter than the night. Coupled with the planet's short ten-hour rotation cycle, both day and night were fleeting.

Consequently, while the faint morning sunlight offered some illumination, the sky turned pitch black by noon, forcing everyone to activate their night vision systems just to see clearly.

At the center of the formation, Yang Ying sat rigidly on his motorcycle, glancing left and right occasionally. However, being unfamiliar with the field of vision provided by the night vision system, he soon lost interest.

The Ape-men could appear at any moment, and the approach of battle was imminent. Therefore, Yang Ying dared not continue practicing his mental energy cultivation using fatigue methods; otherwise, he might find his psychic reserves depleted during the fight. He himself had no military training, and his only asset in joining this punitive expedition was his psychic power.

Shortly after noon, the expedition team arrived at a mountain pass situated between two peaks. On the right side, there was a towering cliff face halfway up the mountain, and on the left, a bottomless chasm stared back across at the opposite peak.

While speeding along the pass, Yang Ying was suddenly struck by a pang of dread, just as Master Pang Qian's shout echoed in his ears: "Watch out! Enemy attack!"

Instantly, dozens of laser beams shot from the opposing peak, striking the cliff face ahead, sending shards of ice scattering wildly. A few seconds later...

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted from the front of the path. The eons-old ice layer overhead cracked, sliding down in torrents and completely blocking the road ahead.

The laser fire then shifted toward the rear of the group. After more than a hundred concentrated shots, another deep roar sounded, and the path by which they had arrived was also sealed off.

Next, the laser beams focused directly on the punitive team, trapped on the mountain pass!

"Everyone open fire! Suppress their firepower, and stay low and concealed!" Master Pang Qian bellowed. The entire team immediately dismounted, using their motorcycles as makeshift shields, firing back toward the opposite peak from cover.

Yang Ying did the same. He activated the telescopic system in his visor, magnifying the image of the opposite peak. He saw about thirty Ape-men sheltering behind icy boulders, returning fire. They were clad in protective suits, and their weaponry included not only laser rifles but also laser machine guns, delivering ferocious firepower.

Even a special forces squad of over twenty men, carrying superior armaments, struggled to accurately hit these agile Ape-men. After all, these creatures possessed psychic abilities, allowing them to evade attacks far more easily on the battlefield than ordinary humans.

Yang Ying recalled from the Chronicles of the Psionic Masters that the Ape-men's mental strength was quite coarse; they couldn't perform delicate maneuvers like deflecting laser beams with a lightsaber, but evading a laser beam was entirely possible for them.

Thus, while the expedition team’s fire could keep the Ape-men's heads down, it failed to inflict any real damage.

In the magnified view, Yang Ying also noticed one Ape-man noticeably taller than the rest, whose uniform differed from the others. Judging by the various command gestures it made, it was clearly the leader of the group.

Yang Ying inventoried his gear. His only long-range weapon was a laser pistol. The team had not equipped him with anything else for this sortie, and a pistol at a range exceeding one thousand meters would be completely useless offensively.

So, Yang Ying quietly moved next to Wen Yang, who was positioned two bike lengths away, firing his laser rifle toward the enemy.

"Got a spare rifle? Give me one."

"I'm using mine. None to spare," Wen Yang replied, keeping low as he dodged a beam fired by the Ape-men. He had fired several shots already without a hit, feeling a surge of frustration. Without thinking, he rebuffed Yang Ying's request.

As a special forces soldier, his marksmanship was certainly proven, but the Ape-men were too cunning, and the distance too great; the punitive team had yet to score a confirmed kill.

Wen Yang was the squad leader, possessing some of the best aim on the team. Yang Ying noticed that every laser shot Wen Yang fired came tantalizingly close to hitting its mark, posing a far greater threat to the enemy than the shots from the other team members, making evasion extremely difficult for the Ape-men.

It was, however, only a matter of inches versus yards.

A few seconds later, Yang Ying could watch no longer. Conveniently, the soldier in the adjacent bike spot was wounded by a laser strike and let go of his rifle.

Yang Ying casually snatched the rifle, aimed purely by instinct—or perhaps not at all—and fired toward the opposite peak. An Ape-man had just poked its head out, and it was killed instantly with a headshot, without any time to react.

Immediately, the laser fire from the opposite side ceased.

"Dumb luck!" Wen Yang spat out the three words with indignation.

Yang Ying smiled, conceding that it probably was just luck. The subsequent Ape-men were prepared, and Yang Ying failed to repeat his success.

What about Master Pang Qian?

Yang Ying looked around and saw Master Pang Qian standing near the ice blockage at the front, using a massive ice boulder twice his height as cover, extending both hands toward the pile.

Yang Ying, though thirty meters away, could feel the surging power gathering in those hands!

"Hah!"

Master Pang Qian pushed forward with both hands, and the massive ice pile, easily weighing fifty or sixty tons, was thrust sideways, tumbling into the cliff on the left.

"Get on your bikes!" Master Pang Qian roared. "The slope five hundred meters ahead isn't steep. We'll charge down there, then circle around to the flank of the opposite peak!"

"Understood!" Everyone quickly mounted their bikes. Yang Ying helped the nearby wounded soldier onto his motorcycle, activated the bike's tracking function, and other injured personnel did the same. The punitive team set off again.

Seeing the path cleared, the Ape-men immediately unleashed full firepower, targeting the road ahead, intending to block it once more.

Master Pang Qian extended a hand, drawing the rifle from a soldier beside him into his grasp. He raised it and fired three shots; every one was a headshot, instantly felling three Ape-men.

The enemy apes immediately retreated behind cover, daring not to show their heads again.

Only then did Master Pang Qian mount his motorcycle, taking the rear position to provide escort.

The punitive team descended the gentle slope and flanked around to climb the Ape-men's peak, charging uphill under the torrent of fire raining down from above.

With the advantage of height and a clear field of view, coupled with the closer proximity, the team's casualties began to rise. Master Pang Qian then ordered everyone to seek cover, advancing cautiously step-by-step to minimize losses.

Ultimately, it was Master Pang Qian himself who broke the stalemate. Every shot he fired found its mark; the Ape-men's ranks soon included nearly ten new corpses slain by his hand. Under his immense pressure, their defensive line gradually shrank, and they retreated down the mountain from another direction.

Taking advantage of the disarray during the Ape-men's panicked flight, Yang Ying seized an opportunity to claim another kill, bringing his personal score to three. Among the punitive team, only Wen Yang managed to shoot down one last Ape-man, barely salvaging a sliver of honor in front of Yang Ying.