The Madam and the other fourth-ranked Shura had returned but their faces were twisted as though they just ate a mouthful of ash.
"It isn't impossible for a demigod to destroy a natural satellite, but to destroy two and with a single move at that... that's no easy feat."
The burly shura couldn't care less about the mood of the others as he analysed the situation.
Meanwhile, the Madam wasn't in the mood to appreciate the work of the enemy. She took out a device and pressed two buttons.
One to disable the life support of the bunker and the other to blow it up directly.
Even after doing that she wasn't at peace, she immediately yelled into her comms.
"Mobilise all forces, call for reinforcements and secure the perimeter. I don't want the attacker to leave here alive."
Her orders were quite drastic, but she had an unshakable standing as one of the royal advisors for the Queen Shura.
She couldn't believe she was tricked so easily, so naturally she couldn't let that intruder leave in one piece.
...
Bian had already dismantled the bomb and connected the life support system to the Black Cruiser.
His only concern now was with the invisible tether that connected the Black Cruiser to the Bunker.
All the devices used to stabilise the bunker came from the bunker itself and could be easily damaged so Bian had to ensure the tether never broke.
Unfortunately that meant going at a snail's pace for the Black Cruiser. Even then with the constant ink drain, the Altering Brush wouldn't last long enough to drag the ship to a human planet.
As if his dilemma wasn't enough he still had to take multiple detours because the number of shura ships patrolling the area increased exponentially by the hour.
After several days, Bian had to park the ship in a secluded asteroid belt where the patrolling force was minimal.
By releasing the construct attaching the Black Cruiser and the Bunker, he gave the Altering Brush a chance to fill up on ink.
"It's like the further I go, the more the patrollers increase. I haven't been able to progress for two days now."
Bian was quite exasperated with the current situation. Those ships at the border were the first to get into formation and even most of the new ships that were called over stayed at the outermost side.
Slowly, as more ships arrived, they moved towards the center. It was a large use of manpower, but the effects were self-explanatory.
Bian hadn't even spoken to any of the hostages yet, or let them know they were being rescued.
If the worst-case scenario came to pass, he would save the Devon Trio and leave the rest, but such an outcome wasn't one Bian was satisfied with.
It wasn't one he was willing to accept.
While the Altering Brush was refilling, Bian took the chance to go through his commlink, whose signals couldn't be tracked while he was in the Black Cruiser.
"Han Yan has gone back to the sanctuaries, a drop in sales for the Echo Geckos, there's even a message from Professor Min."
"The output of 'that' is simply amazing, have you tried it for living organisms?"
It was a simple message, a coded one at that, but the implications were massive.
Using the Empirical Decree on living things?
It wasn't that Bian hadn't thought of that, it was just too ridiculous to keep in mind.
But now that Professor Min mentioned it, he realised that he really had to unearth more about his power.
Bian also summoned the Bronze Cauldron to check on the life essence of Black Mountain God.
He could only shake his head in disappointment because the outline of the super creature was still vaguely visible, although most of it had become rounded.
Bian unsummoned the cauldron and was planning a way to reach the alliance and leave this wretched territory.
If it was just by himself, he could go full speed. He would probably reach the closest planet in a matter of days.
If it was with the structure, it would take weeks.
But if he was avoiding patrollers every now and again, it might not even be possible.
He couldn't even destroy the ships, because then those Fourth-ranked Shura would know where he was and while he would be okay, the hostages wouldn't.
With all these factors in mind, Bian already came up with three solutions.
Firstly, he could call the alliance for backup, telling them he had all the hostages alive and well, but he needed a lot of manpower to leave the area.
This was a bad idea though, because the tensions that just began to reduce could spark another conflict once the alliance and shura got into a large-scale confrontation.
Secondly, Bian could retreat inwards, avoiding the enclosing patrollers and maybe they would assume he had already escaped.
The pros and cons were not equal.
He would have to avoid them for a long time, months maybe before they came to the conclusion that he had already left.
Plus what if they never came to that conclusion and just kept on pushing. He would be exposed and would be in the heart of enemy territory.
Even if he could escape, the hostages behind him couldn't.
Lastly, Bian could temporarily leave the bunker to cause a commotion elsewhere.
If they think they had him captured, most of the forces would go there to impede his way and the Fourth-ranked Shura would arrive.
With the concentration increasing on one side, it would decrease on the other giving him a chance to escape.
The risks of this plan were also quite high. He would be leaving the bunker defenseless and without a stable life support for an unknown period of time.
Bian didn't want to follow any of these plans, it would even be better if he could carry a bunch of hostages, zoom to the alliance and zoom back, but the failing life support system wouldn't last that long.
...
The Shura weren't having an easier time than Bian. In fact, they were under more pressure.
"The alliance will become suspicious if we all gather here."
"So many territories are only half protected right now."
"The intruder could have already escaped and we're just wasting time here."
Sadly they had to follow orders, regardless of their thoughts.
"A week has passed by and still no sign."
The Madam frowned with the latest status report. She waved her hand to dismiss the personnel and stared intently at the projection of the galaxy.
"There is no way he escaped the perimeter of that I am sure. He must be hiding somewhere, waiting for his opportunity."
Right now the Madam wasn't on that planet anymore, she was on a shura ship near the edge of the galaxy.
If Bian wanted to use the fastest route to return to the alliance, he would pass a straight line through here.
This was actually the path Bian followed a week ago. It could be seen that the Madam was quite experienced and wanted to make up for her blunder last time.
As she patiently waited, one of the many shura ships which were like grains of sand on the projection flickered out.
At the same time, a distress call reached the room she was in, but the Madam was already gone.
Flying towards the disturbance at full speed, she also brought up her device and gave orders.
She wasn't going to fall for the same lure twice, instead she instructed all ships to maintain vigilance while only those nearby the affected ship should move in and investigate.
Just like she speculated, the attack was near where she was waiting, meaning Bian was anxious to get back to the alliance.
By the time she got there, the ship was already in ruin and the culprit was nowhere to be found.
Then another shura ship exploded.
The Madam only smiled coldly.
'His speed has increased, that means...'
"Attention special units, spread out and find the hostage bunker!"
The three plans Bian came up with had also been speculated by this Madam. She wasn't a royal advisor for nothing.
Sure enough, as another shura ship exploded, the special unit forces found the hostage bunker hidden between large debris floating in space.
"I got you!"
The Madam spat out.