His Match Is an Interstellar Monster

Chapter 06: Special Class Sequence

Several hours passed, and the mechanical clock ticked.

After what seemed like an eternity, Landis woke up from his coma, only to find the room empty, with him slumped on the sofa.

The terrible headache that had plagued him was now gone, and his mental state, afflicted by contamination for months, now felt as though it had been washed clean by fresh, clear spring water.

Without thinking, Landis summoned Black Flame. The sleek and obedient black lion sat quietly by his side, its large head nuzzling against his knee, licking his palm in a fawning manner, its dark golden eyes clear and innocent.

It was as though the ferocious beast that had bared its fangs, intending to devour its master the previous night, had never existed. But wait, last night?

In an instant, blurred memories flashed before his eyes like a rapid slideshow, disjointed and fragmented: a rampaging mental entity, fierce struggle, a sweet and intoxicating scent, uncontrollable impulses, and primal urges.

The intermittent frames twisted together, leaving only a vague silhouette etched in his mind.

Oh God, what have I done?!

Landis bolted upright on the sofa, frozen in shock, the military coat draped over him slipping, revealing his bare, scarred chest.

His mental frenzy was like a drunken blackout. He could hardly remember what had actually happened last night.

He had come here to forcibly reclaim his mental entity, but upon seeing Xiao Sa, his tightly controlled rationality shattered, and his primal instincts took over.

As a high-ranking imperial admiral, he had actually tried to forcibly assault a foreign refugee, who was also a severely wounded patient just rescued from space pirates.

Landis's face paled in shame, struggling to face this utterly humiliating reality.

He glared at Black Flame and grabbed the scruff of its neck. "Last night, did I... did I do anything to that guy? Where is he?!"

The black lion tilted its head and gazed at its master, raising its two front paws to make a gesture. Though it couldn't speak, its thoughts were directly transmitted to Landis's mind.

Headache, fragrant scent, pounced, licked, blissful...

As he watched Black Flame reminisce, licking its large nose, Landis's face contorted in pain. Leaning forward, elbows on his knees, he covered his forehead, feeling the headache return.

The surroundings of the sofa were a mess, a gruesome sight, with evidence of intense struggle everywhere, a clear indication of how violent he had been in his uncontrolled state, and how fiercely the man had resisted.

Could I have really taken advantage of him while he was vulnerable...?

Landis, with a cold face, summoned a guard. "Where is the person who was held here yesterday?"

The guard cast a surprised glance around the room. "Didn’t you order us and the other patrol teams to stay away so you could interrogate him alone?"

Landis: "..."

Sure enough, he had taken the chance to escape.

He closed his eyes tightly, and when he reopened them, his usual sternness had returned. "Send men to search every corner of the warship immediately. We must find him. This is outer space, and he’s injured—there’s no way he could have left the warship."

The guard immediately complied and left.

A moment later, Executive Officer Caro hurried over. "Commander, I’ve been searching for you."

Landis buttoned the top button of his collar and rubbed his temples. "What is it?"

Caro, seemingly oblivious to the mess around, said, "We just received orders from military headquarters to accelerate our return to Central Star."

He paused, then added, "It’s reportedly a royal decree."

Landis remained calm. "Understood."

Caro glanced at Black Flame and cautiously asked, "Commander, you don’t seem to need the suppressant today, do you? Uh, what’s that on the back of your neck?"

From his angle, he could clearly see two dark red marks on Landis's neck.

Landis’s eyes flickered, and he instinctively touched the spot on his neck where he had been bitten the previous day, feeling a fiery sting. The lingering memory of the intense sensation rushed back.

Struggling to speak about the "bestial act" he might have committed, he fell silent for a moment before abruptly saying, "Xiao Sa… he escaped yesterday."

Caro was taken aback. "Ah?"

Although he had hoped that Xiao Sa could help with the commander's condition, he hadn't expected this turn of events. In that brief moment, he could imagine a torrent of melodramatic speculations.

Landis said calmly, "I've already ordered a search of the warship. We should find him soon."

Caro hesitated and added, "But we did dock near a supply station for several hours last night. There's a chance that..."

Landis was taken aback, not even having time to speak, when a guard hurried back to report, "Commander, a logistics soldier was found unconscious in a container in the warehouse, and some of the surveillance footage has been tampered with."

"The patrol team did not locate the individual on the warship, but another camera captured a highly suspicious person entering a transport ship. A nearby scanner has also been damaged."

An oppressive silence fell over the area, and the guard suddenly felt a chill down his back, his scalp tingling.

The fact that a prisoner had successfully escaped from the Third Legion's warship would be a massive embarrassment if word got out. The guards on duty the previous night would face severe consequences for their negligence.

Landis pressed his thin lips together but said nothing more, only giving a cold nod. "I see."

The guard, feeling greatly relieved, quickly departed.

Landis’s icy blue eyes locked onto Caro. "I need you to send someone back to the planet where we last docked. You must find the man named Xiao Sa. As soon as you find him, report back to me."

Caro, seeing Landis’s expression, didn’t dare ask what had happened between them.

The planet was enormous, and the man didn’t even possess a formal identity. How could they possibly find him? If the man were smart enough to board another ship, they’d be looking for a needle in a cosmic haystack...

Caro offered a bitter smile to himself but, maintaining the professionalism of a good subordinate, still nodded. "Yes, Commander."

※※※

The Dawn Empire was divided into four main regions: East, West, South, and North. The planet where Xiao Sa landed was called Zhiyang Star, a lower-class planet on the edge of the northern region.

The planet was extremely hot, with more than half the year experiencing scorching summers. The planet’s rulers had invested heavily in constructing a temperature-controlled dome, completely separating the central district from the chaotic outskirts, creating two distinct worlds.

The central district was where the rich and nobility lived, clean, orderly, and pleasantly cool all year round. By contrast, the other areas were sweltering and teeming with a diverse mix of people.

Xiao Sa successfully escaped the warship, left the spaceport, and climbed onto a large truck to slip into the neighborhood as dawn broke.

Lorin District was notorious for gang activity, with street fights a daily occurrence and more thugs than civilians.

Xiao Sa was still in the Third Legion’s logistics soldier uniform. The material was fine and flexible, excellent for heat insulation, and conformed to his body, accentuating his broad shoulders and narrow waist.

Despite covering the emblem on his arm, Xiao Sa’s demeanor stood out starkly among the district’s residents.

The sun in the star sea region was pale and began to blaze by nine in the morning.

Xiao Sa strolled down the street, quietly observing this unfamiliar society, its alien script, and its strange inhabitants.

He looked up and squinted at the white-gold star overhead, feeling a persistent sense of strangeness. The color of the sun here was different from that of his home planet.

The people were strange too.

Xiao Sa instinctively touched his lips, where the spot bitten by the depraved blonde officer was healing, leaving a slight tingling sensation.

Which Alpha hasn’t dreamed as a child about the first romantic kiss with their destined Omega?

Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that at the age of 24, before meeting his own Omega, he would suffer a major setback—a real Waterloo in life…

Come to think of it, the other person wasn’t an Omega, nor a Beta. Being bitten by him shouldn't cause any major harm, right? It shouldn’t be considered a marking.

Xiao Sa shook his head, pushing aside these trivial thoughts. His immediate priority was to find a place to stay. He had to break through the language barrier and figure out his food and lodging situation.

The technological advancements in the star sea region weren’t too different from his former homeland. However, in the slums, devices like light-brain terminals were unaffordable for most poor people.

Lost in thought, he walked into an empty alleyway. Despite the footsteps behind him being deliberately lightened, they were still too loud for someone as sharp-sensed as an Alpha.

"Hey, kid, this is our 'Ross Guild' territory. Do you understand the rules of the street? Hand over anything valuable on you!"

"?" Xiao Sa lazily turned his head, casting a nonchalant glance at the shady-looking thugs behind him.

Though he didn’t understand what they were saying, it couldn’t be anything good.

Judging by their skinny arms and legs, their combined strength wouldn’t stand a chance against his punch. Concerned for their well-being, Xiao Sa ignored them and continued walking.

"Hey! Little bastard! You dare to run?!" His look of utter disdain immediately enraged the thugs.

A clear, shrill whistle sounded. From nowhere, over a dozen people emerged, most of them holding electric batons with blue-violet arcs crackling at the tips.

With both the front and back routes blocked, Xiao Sa exhaled lightly, shook his head, and lifted his long leg clad in a pure black high-top military boot. He casually stepped onto the step of a garbage bin nearby and pointed a finger downward.

"Want me to send you on your way?"

In that moment, the universal gesture of mockery transcended the language barrier.

The gang members were instantly furious. The Ross Guild had bullied their way through this area for years—how dare this stranger insult them? Armed with their weapons, they charged at Xiao Sa menacingly—

Fifteen minutes later.

They charged with vigor and now lie peacefully, their eyes even clearer.

Xiao Sa wiped the sweat from his forehead and, panting, directed the thugs to squat around the trash bin.

The thoroughly beaten thugs, hands clasped on their heads, didn’t dare to speak. They stared at the trash bin as if participating in some bizarre ritual.

Xiao Sa didn’t hesitate. Since he was penniless, he went through what the group had pooled together and picked the cleanest-looking wallet to slip into his pocket.

He also acquired a discontinued model of a light-brain device as a "welcoming gift," along with a blank account without an ID.

He nodded in satisfaction. "Just what I needed. There are still good people in the world."

The small-time leader, forced to offer the 'welcoming gift,' looked on the verge of tears. "As long as you're happy..."

The sun was rising higher, and the air became increasingly stifling. Perhaps due to the recent intense physical exertion and his empty stomach, Xiao Sa began to feel a sense of emptiness in his body, his heart rate quickening, his palms sweaty from the heat.

By the time he finished a hearty meal and looked for a suitable place to stay, the sun had reached its zenith.

The scorching sunlight poured relentlessly, making the surrounding air feel sticky. The sunrays on his skin produced a faint, continuous stinging sensation.

"What's happening?" Xiao Sa gradually sensed something was wrong.

He looked up, squinting at the sky. The massive sun resembled a blinding white-hot disk, with a faint yellow halo around it. In his vision, it took on a strange, fog-like appearance, appearing like tongues of flame.

"Strange, this feeling..."

Just as Xiao Sa was about to find some shade to rest, he was suddenly hit by a strong wave of heart palpitations.

"Thud-thud-thud—" His heart rate had become alarmingly fast. Xiao Sa’s expression changed slightly as he wiped his sweaty forehead. His limbs felt weak and drained from the inside out.

How could this happen? With his physical condition, how could he suffer from heatstroke after just half a day in the sun?

However, he faintly sensed that the sunlight here was particularly uncomfortable for him, as if his body was rejecting something in it.

Since his shipwreck and capture by space pirates, he had stayed inside the ship. As an "alien," this was the first time his body had been exposed to the sunlight of this unfamiliar star system.

Earlier, when his people decided to leave their home planet for an interstellar journey, they had considered the harmful radiation from unknown stars. Unfortunately, the protective gear had likely been reduced to cosmic dust by interstellar storms.

Without time to think, Xiao Sa's mind gradually became clouded, and his feet felt as heavy as if lead had been poured into them. His heart pounded as if it might leap out of his chest, and the needle-like pain across his body grew increasingly intense.

With his vision blurred, he barely managed to find what looked like the entrance to a hospital. He collapsed just outside the door...

※※※

Far away, on the Central Star.

The Dawn Empire's imperial palace complex stood on the capital's central axis. The Central Mind, Haino, which had assisted the empire's rule for hundreds of years, had its terminal located in the secret control room beneath the palace.

A massive Central Mind processing terminal stood at the center of the control room, surrounded by several enormous holographic projections. A specially designed transparent glass wall enclosed an oval biological mind.

Inside the core energy chamber, a brilliant purple diamond-shaped gem was set.

Unseen by anyone, a tiny segment of code in the most concealed area of the Central Mind, Haino—a segment that had remained inactive for centuries—suddenly flashed through a stream of data.

"Activate Special Sequence Mission—"

"Initiate Special Sequence Target Search, connecting all ports within range..."

"Potential targets within search range: 3208... 1321... 89..."

The disordered data stream slowly formed a pair of eyes made of characters, which blinked quite vividly.

"First Sequence key target identified. Security Level: Special."

※※※

Xiao Sa woke up three days later, lying on a hospital bed.

At that moment, he was puzzled as a psychic strength test report was handed to him by a nurse.

On the test report, in the psychic strength grade section, a large "C" was marked, indicating an inability to manifest a psychic entity. It was specially noted in red: "individual with disabilities."

"Sir, I understand this is difficult, but please stay strong."

The surrounding medical staff and patients looked at him sympathetically. Such a young and handsome fellow—it's such a pity for someone so young and talented to be disabled.

Xiao Sa: "???" Why are they looking at me like that?

Frowning, he manipulated the outdated mind computer on his wrist, searching for a reliable translation.

The main interface of the mind computer lit up with a common AI greeting, but it was in a language he recognized—

"Hello, I am Haino. Welcome home! ^O^"