There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

To fire the laser weapon, the Star Gate’s entire power supply was cut for a second. This was to activate the large-scale weapon, the Stellar Laser.

The weapon itself was located at the heart of a star; the Star Gate’s power disruption was merely the trigger. Its immense power was drawn from the star itself, condensing its might into a single beam of light that would obliterate everything in its path.

This was the only physical method known to the Federation for completely annihilating a Void Spirit. The extremely high-density Energy had the power to defy the laws of physics, causing a Void Spirit’s structure to break down completely.

The beam could penetrate a small planet. It was the strongest Power that could be marshaled near the Star Gate—humanity’s legend of invincibility.

But today, the legend of invincibility was defeated.

The *Long Range* was clearly hit by the Stellar Laser’s blast, but it remained completely unaffected.

It flew effortlessly toward the nearest Void Point. Then, while still under the Stellar Laser’s assault, it sauntered into the Void Point and vanished to some unknown, distant corner of the universe.

Unable to believe the Stellar Laser had failed, the military immediately used surrounding surveillance to reconstruct the event. They were left frozen in place by the unbelievable scene that unfolded.

"What did we just see?" a military colonel exclaimed, clutching his head.

"I don’t believe it. I absolutely refuse to believe it! Is that even human?!"

In the reconstructed footage, they saw a crewmember walk to the ship’s stern, enduring the blast from its engines, and hold out a hand toward the oncoming Stellar Laser.

The brilliant, destructive laser crashed into his palm. That dazzling light was the sneer of the Death God, yet it failed to push past his hand by even an inch.

The full two-and-a-half-minute blast from the Stellar Laser dissipated in his palm, leaving him completely unscathed.

At that moment, even the most ignorant observer would understand: this person was a Superpower User.

Moreover, a terrifyingly powerful Superpower User.

To have the strength to resist a Stellar Laser meant that the individual possessed Power on par with the Stellar Laser itself.

Within the Federation, that made them an undisputed Level 5 Superpower User—a terrifying being capable of destroying a planet in the blink of an eye.

After a brief silence, someone quickly began pulling up information on the *Long Range*. They soon discovered it was a transport ship bound for the prison on Azure Star.

Upon learning that the ship’s true purpose was transporting Superpower Users, one of the top military brass was silent for a moment before saying slowly, "I think we have reason to believe some of the Superpower Users have woken up."

"Yes, they’ve likely already taken control of the captain and crew. According to our records, the ship underwent maintenance here at the Athena Star Gate, but no anomalies were detected."

"A Data Manipulator, huh. They’ve got quite a variety of them."

"One Superpower User took the Spirit Detective... They blocked our communications, so we didn’t notice. The whole thing was fast and clean. This was an organized, premeditated abduction. It’s highly likely the Spirit Detective has defected."

"Incredible operational capability. I suspect these Superpower Users were never really captured. They let themselves be taken, just waiting for a chance to start an insurrection."

"Yes. And they’re heading to Azure Star, so we have reason to suspect the Spirit Detective has remembered something."

Based on the discussion among these officials, Duan Fei and his companions had unknowingly been branded a massive organization of Superpower Users, poised to raise the flag of rebellion in the dark expanse of the universe.

A terrifying Level 5 Superpower User was their escort. A despicable Data Manipulator was providing cover for their criminal activities. An untold army of Superpower Users was lying in wait, ready to strike. The *Long Range* had become a massive den of criminals, ready to spread the madness and chaos of Superpower Users throughout the galaxy.

The more the officials thought about it, the more terrified they became.

A communications officer couldn’t help but stand up, only to hear the Governor’s sharp rebuke: "What do you think you’re doing!"

"To notify the next Star Gate. To tell them to raise their alert level."

"Are you insane?! If you tell them to raise their alert level now, they’ll know we’re the ones who let a rebel army ship full of Superpower Users get away! And that we lost the Spirit Detective! Do you have any idea what that means?! It means we’ll all be sent to prison and used as tools to appease the Void Spirits’ wrath! If you don’t want to be executed on the spot, you’ll sit your ass back down!"

"...Understood."

Straightening his cap, the Governor—the supreme military and political commander of the Athena Star Gate—looked at those around him and spoke in a hushed tone. "Communications officer, turn off the recorders in this room. And delete all previous records."

"But, sir... that’s a capital offense. If we’re found out..."

"It was the Data Manipulator’s doing. Understand?"

"...Understood."

Once he confirmed the recording was off, the Governor leaned back in his chair and addressed everyone. "Now, I need to make one thing perfectly clear. Absolutely no one can know that we lost the Spirit Detective. And absolutely no one can know that we let those Superpower Users go. Therefore, our best option is to remain silent."

The crowd fell silent, each person mentally running the calculations. They all came to the same conclusion.

Reporting this would be a catastrophic mistake. Not reporting it would allow them to blame everything on the Superpower Users.

As for the inevitable investigation, they could flood the prosecutors with enough useless information to keep them busy for half a year. After that, with a bit of political maneuvering, a major incident would be reduced to a minor one, and a minor one would be swept under the rug.

Having reached this understanding, everyone in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief. Then, as if on cue, they began to applaud.

They thanked the wise Governor, who, with his unparalleled wisdom, had protected them all, allowing them to keep both their positions and their heads.

And so, an incident that could have shaken the very foundations of the Federation’s rule was covered up by a group of bureaucrats, who simply allowed their quarry to continue wandering free, heading for their destination.

The people aboard the *Long Range*, however, were unaware of any of this.

They didn’t know they had been let off the hook so easily; they all still believed they were being hunted by the military.

But aside from Hancock, no one else seemed to think it was a big deal.

’Getting hunted by the military? What’s the big deal?’

According to the last update announcement, long-form dungeons were still a very new concept. You could tell just by looking at the dungeon hints on the firewall.

’A dungeon full of question marks—how could it not be new?’

This kind of dungeon was extremely difficult, and hard to complete. The fact that they had survived a day and gathered some intel was already an exceptional performance. Every extra second they stayed alive was a win.

But Hancock didn’t see it that way.

He had been certain he was going to die under the beam of the Stellar Laser, but somehow, he had survived.

But he hadn’t even had a few seconds to be happy about it before he realized he was now a wanted fugitive, and the dread came flooding back.

At this point, he’d almost feel better if someone just came and put him out of his misery with a knife.

But this constant, whiplash-inducing vacillation between life and death... he really couldn’t take it anymore.

Therefore, when the *Long Range* arrived at the next small Star Gate and began to undergo maintenance, Hancock made a decision any sane person would make.

He ran!

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