Yang Ying was startled. "He came alone. Did he say anything?" Robin shook his head. "He was alone, and said nothing." "I understand. Just tell him to come to the base to find me." Yang Ying closed the communication, frowning deeply. David was a spy for the Baiyuan Cult planted within the Nian Neng Temple. This conclusion had been confirmed back when Yang Ying was at Mount Wudang. However, this fact was only known to a select few within the base; Robin was unaware of it. It was fortunate, too, for with the keen senses of a Nian Neng Master, any abnormality in Robin’s demeanor in his presence would have been instantly detected. What was his purpose in coming here?

Yang Ying opened his communicator and connected to Kalia. "Robin just told me that the Nian Neng Master, David, is at the Gray Port office and wants to see me." "David?" Kalia’s face mirrored his surprise. "Commander, you intend to meet him?" "Since he has come, of course, I must see him. But he came alone, without any guards, so we must be cautious. I told him to come to the base because I intend to use the strongest measures to resolve this situation once and for all. It's a six-hour journey from Gray Port to the base. Immediately instruct all units to be on standby. I will convene a staff meeting to discuss tactics. During this time, you must consolidate all the critical secrets within the base. After the meeting concludes, I will recall these exposed assets into my Palm Interstellar."

Closing the communicator, Yang Ying immediately directed his consciousness to the Floating Continent. David’s solo arrival, with his intentions still unknown, suggested he might have been sent specifically by the Baiyuan Cult to deal with Yang Ying.

Yang Ying had recently lit the second lamp on the second level a few days prior, bringing his Nian power intensity to two thousand. Of this, seventeen hundred was contributed by the Zerg. At present, the Zerg hatcheries on the Floating Continent exceeded fifty, capable of providing fifty worker drones daily, equating to fifty points of Nian power intensity.

The Zerg structures were fully developed, and the evolution of all their unit types had been initiated. However, since they were still within the solar system, the Human race remained the primary direction of development. The existing Human troops were sufficient for current needs; whatever the Zerg units could do, the Human units could also achieve. The Zerg served no immediate practical purpose, and their exposure risked unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, of the existing seventeen hundred Zerg units, almost all were worker drones. The other unit types could evolve but had not been deeply developed, maintaining only one or a handful of each, kept in formation only in case of need. However, the Mother unit required significant time to mature—a full month—so there were none yet.

Yang Ying’s two thousand points of Nian power, while seeming like significant progress, was still far behind that of a true Nian Neng Master. He had once compared the data he possessed regarding the Nian Neng Temple with the unit of Nian power intensity used by the Palm Interstellar. The analysis concluded that to become a Nian Neng Master, one’s Nian power needed to reach at least five thousand; to become a Grandmaster, at least fifty thousand!

Although David originated from the Baiyuan Cult, holding the status of a Nian Neng Master meant his Nian power intensity could range anywhere from five thousand to fifty thousand. If it was below ten thousand, it would be manageable. But exceeding ten thousand, a master of that caliber would possess resistance even against the mental control of a Dark Executor; at the very least, escape would not be an impossibility.

There was no precedent for a Nian Neng Master engaging in direct combat with an Executor before. Caution was paramount, no matter how diligently they prepared. Therefore, the plan needed meticulous formulation to minimize the possibility of failure or David’s escape should they win.

Three hours later, Yang Ying returned to the real world. Stepping out of the command room, Kalia had already gathered everything in the base related to classified information, piling it all in the central plaza on the first level.

Yang Ying extended his hand, and the mountains of data chips, components, and machinery vanished. He could now control the manifestation of the golden light at will; to conceal things, he could suppress the light instantly. The golden light itself was not the key to entering or exiting the Palm Interstellar.

He then recalled several structures originating from the Palm Interstellar, along with the non-combat research personnel who returned to the Floating Continent with them. Finally, only the camouflage production lines and combat units remained in the base!

Having secured all the items that could not be exposed, Yang Ying returned to the command room to regulate his mind and body, awaiting David’s arrival. He had resolved that he would control David, even if it meant abandoning the entire base. Losing one base was recoverable; a second could be built. But the Baiyuan Cult was a deep-seated threat, a matter of life and death!

Three more hours passed. A spindle-shaped transport ship, common in the asteroid belt, arrived at the base and docked in the hangar. The ramp lowered, and a handsome, fair-haired, blue-eyed man in his thirties stepped out—it was David himself.

The escort was a Marine in power armor, appearing as a hulking figure, about two meters tall, suggesting brute strength and power. Yet, standing beside David, this presence was almost nullified. David’s presence seemed like a radiant core, illuminating the surroundings, drawing every eye instantly.

Upon seeing him on the holographic screen, Yang Ying’s hair stood on end. This phenomenon indicated David’s Nian power intensity was exceptionally high. Apart from Grandmaster Pang Qian, David was the person Yang Ying had ever encountered possessing the strongest Nian power! "Thirty thousand? No, perhaps more—maybe forty thousand." Yang Ying continuously calculated David’s strength in his mind, but the disparity was so vast that he could not accurately gauge the level of David’s power.

David in the image suddenly lifted his head, his gaze locking with Yang Ying’s. Simultaneously, David's voice resonated in Yang Ying's ear: "Mr. Yang Ying, long time no see. You’ve become a formidable mercenary commander now. Truly commendable!" "David’s mind-link! I was discovered just by looking through the monitor? His sixth sense is indeed sharp. Worthy of being a Nian Neng Master." Yang Ying knew that even after lighting the second lamp on the second tower, he was still far short of David's strength.

"Mr. David, likewise, it has been a long time. May I ask the purpose of your visit today?" Yang Ying returned the query using a mind-link. "It's nothing much, really. I need a small favor from your mercenary group, and surely Commander Yang Ying won't turn me away at the door?" David spoke casually as he walked, his pace deceptively slow yet swift, easily outpacing the Marine escort, heading straight for Yang Ying’s command room.

However, the Marine escort seemed oblivious. He continued moving at his original pace, his gaze fixed on the empty space beside him, acting as if David had vanished from sight. Not just him, but other Marines, Firebats, Medics, and Ghosts—fifty or sixty in total—saw David walk past them casually, yet they acted as if they saw nothing, their focus fixed on the empty spot next to the guiding Marine.

Yang Ying tensed instantly, preparing for action, though his expression remained unperturbed. In just a few steps, David arrived at the command room. He smiled at Yang Ying. "Greetings, Commander Yang Ying. Although this is our first face-to-face meeting, I have long heard of your great reputation. Your feat in saving three hundred thousand citizens during the Titan’s Light incident truly commands my admiration." As the words faded, piercing white light shot from his eyes, directed at Yang Ying.

David struck the moment they met! Yang Ying had already conducted preliminary investigations into the Baiyuan Cult. After the Taiji Temple encounter, his intelligence file was quite complete. At a glance, he recognized the white light as the precursor to a brainwashing technique!