The spatial vortex formed by the Void Storm twisted everything in the galaxy into a chaotic mess.

No one could truly witness its rampage, for those who saw it could not possibly survive.

The one in ten thousand who was lucky enough, at the very instant the Void Storm materialized, leaped out of the galaxy with the Bean Sprout Mecha at unparalleled speed.

Ziye wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. When she lowered her hand, she found herself in an entirely unfamiliar sea of stars—an edge galaxy, dense with nebulae and strewn with countless asteroids.

She calmed her trembling heart and said, "Doudou, I'm sorry, I should have listened to you just now."

Those people were never open to negotiation.

They were simply looking for an opportunity to destroy her!

The shameless Interstellar Federation!

Now, those people had paid the price of one hundred and fifty super-nuclear missiles; the entire galaxy had been reduced to nothingness.

It was terrifying enough to make one’s legs give way.

Little Bean Sprout, for once, didn't look down on her, replying noncommittally, "Stealth bombers must attack from within 2000 meters. From the moment you started negotiating until they dropped their bombs, less than two minutes passed. At a stealth bomber's cruising speed of 250 meters per second, how could this Void Storm have been created if we hadn't been prepared in advance?"

Negotiation or not, the outcome would have been the same—the Interstellar Federation would be the one dead.

Ziye blinked. "Not bad, your intelligence seems to have ascended several levels now that you're a mecha."

"Arghhh! How dare you mock my intellect!" The Bean Sprout Mecha rolled about furiously in the sea of stars. Ziye, sitting in the cockpit, felt dizzy, as if her internal organs had been displaced.

The shock absorption system in this seat is unscientific!

Ziye thought with frustration. To prevent the pilot from falling when the mecha tips over, shouldn't the pilot’s seat be set to maintain a complete upright position?

The moment her thoughts closed, the pilot's seat whooshed from an inverted position back to normal, so fast that Ziye felt her head nearly detach from her body.

Ziye reached up to wipe away cold sweat.

She had forgotten this thing was controlled by thought.

Little Bean Sprout cackled, and countless ribbon-like tendrils wrapped around her from behind, binding Ziye tightly to the seat. "Roll around with your great master!!!"

This time Ziye had experience. She stabilized herself and let it tumble wildly, calmly remarking, "Tentacle monster."

Little Bean Sprout was so frustrated that all its ribbon-like nerves stood straight up.

Just then, Ziye sensed something wrong. "Doudou, why are you getting smaller?"

"Ah, you noticed." Little Bean Sprout stopped rolling, its ribbon nerves drooping pitifully. It said mournfully, "I ran too slowly just now; my energy was swept away by the Void Storm."

Sitting in the cockpit, she couldn't feel the difference for a moment, but on the display screen, its body had drastically shrunk from a gigantic mecha to a vessel only half its original size.

The vessel was visibly shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Ziye was horrified. "You not only shrank, you transformed?"

Little Bean Sprout happily shook its ribbon nerves, and a pair of wings sprouted from the sides of the vessel. In the sea of stars, it looked like a great roc. It flapped its wings proudly, saying, "I'm still made of Renwei Alloy; I can change my form at will."

Ziye stared, dumbfounded, for a long time, then plopped down. "Great god, please accept my knee!"

"Hahahaha!" Little Bean Sprout erupted in a hearty laugh, but before it finished, it suddenly shrieked, "Ahhh, I'm done for! The energy can't sustain it! It's all because I was rolling around too happily just now—"

Ziye immediately used her thoughts to take control and activated the energy recharge system.

Little Bean Sprout wailed, "It's useless! The mecha doesn't have an energy recharge system, and even if it did, it can't recharge!"

Ziye urged, "Then where can we find energy-replenishing medicine?"

Little Bean Sprout cried itself blind. "Void Storms, planetary collisions, wormhole explosions..."

Ziye: ...

Little Bean Sprout sobbed, "Ziye little idiot, even if you have no energy, you have to keep me, okay? I don't want to be abandoned!"

Ziye rubbed her forehead. "I will definitely keep you, but that's not the priority right now."

Little Bean Sprout insisted, "This is the priority. You have to take me and my son, otherwise one day I might wake up and not see my son, and I won't let you pilot me anymore."

Ziye had no choice but to agree again.

The mecha had shrunk down to the size of a zeppelin. The arrogant pair of gilded wings from before were now just tiny nubs, thinly pasted against the body, like a newborn chick.

Little Bean Sprout’s voice also gradually weakened. "I've made a backup of the data you need and transferred it to you. Ziye little idiot, you must not abandon your great master!"

Ziye wanted to reach out and comfortingly touch its body, but since she was inside its structure, she couldn't perform the action.

As if sensing her thoughts, it obligingly extended a ribbon nerve toward her. She gently grasped the nerve, and immediately felt a wave of intense dizziness. This time, she was prepared. In the instant of vertigo, she activated the mecha within her spatial device, and the Divine Crow Mecha deployed around her, standing tall in the starlit void.

And Little Bean Sprout was gone.

Ziye exclaimed in surprise, "Doudou, where are you?"

She opened the display screen, locking onto the nearby area, but Little Bean Sprout’s shadow was completely nowhere to be found.

Ziye irritably smacked her forehead. Suddenly, a faint sound reached her ear. "Foolish, I'm in your ear..." The voice cut off before it finished speaking.

Ziye reached up to touch her right ear. On her earlobe, a small, gilded earring had materialized, resting lightly against her skin. She tried to pry it off, but it wouldn't budge.

For some reason, tears streamed down Ziye’s face.

Little Bean Sprout had exhausted all its energy protecting her and entered dormancy.

What should she do?

The next second, Ziye wiped away her tears. No matter what, first, she had to go to Bicycle Planet and bring Douzai back!

Bobo had just experienced the most terrifying day of his life.

On this day, he kidnapped his good friend to trade for his power and glory;

On this day, he was beaten into a pulp by a girl who looked relatively weak, and his ribs still ached terribly;

On this day, he witnessed the most fearsome battle in the sea of stars, where a gigantic mecha, whose appearance was inexplicable, unilaterally slaughtered what he considered the Interstellar Federation’s finest fleet, leaving them utterly defenseless.

On this day, just as his destroyer cruiser passed through the galaxy's star gate, the gate vanished behind him!

On this day, while the giant mecha was bombing the battle fleet, his destroyer, which he had ordered to flee early, became the sole survivor of that galaxy.

He found the nearest space station to dock and repair his cruiser. Bobo collapsed onto the floor in despair. Before he could even close his eyes, he saw even more devastating news on the station's display screen.

Ilia, the legitimate eldest daughter of the Fia family, stood alongside the Supreme Commander of the Interstellar Federation, Karu, announcing "delightful" news: their engagement ceremony would take place next month on the 5th in the auditorium of Space Station Ninety-Nine, the Federation Headquarters.

Ilia was about to become his stepmother!

-RS