Ji Yanran's situation was bad. She had not teleported with the others as expected, and she had been left all alone.
She set out in search of Han Sen but had an unfortunate encounter with crystallizer robots.
Ji Yanran was weak, and only an evolver. For her, dealing with the crystallizer robots would have been nearly impossible. Therefore, all she could do was run.
Eventually, her pace slowed down as she became exhausted. It was at this moment that the robots were able to catch-up and surround her.
Seeing the robots surround her, Ji Yanran's hope for survival was depleted.
The robots raised their hands, each preparing to fire their lasers at Ji Yanran to eliminate her.
But just as she closed her eyes in acceptance of the death she was now to suffer, something big and heavy appeared to crush the robots.
The hulking robots were all shattered in an array of sparks and electrical fires. It was a shocking twist of fate.
But any happiness she may have felt over her salvation soon vanished. Seeing the titan that now stood in front of her, it didn't take long for hope to take its leave once more.
She was unable to deal with the robots, so taking on a giant black beetle was sure to be even more difficult.
Pang! Pang!
A few more robots took to the field. With their arms raised, they fired laser beams at the beetle.
But it was like water spraying the steel hull of a ship. Not a single mark or scrape was left on the shell of the beetle.
Boom!
A horrible light shot out of the beetle's eyes, cutting down the robots in less than a second.
Ji Yanran did not know why the crystallizer machine was attacking its own, but it did not matter. She had accepted the fact she was likely to die there, all alone.
Then, when one leg of the giant beetle pierced the ground directly in front of her, she closed her eyes and thought to herself, "This is all my fault. I pray he can escape this place alive."
Ji Yanran closed her eyes, but the death she expected did not come. After a while, she opened her eyes again.
Ji Yanran believed she might have been dreaming for a second, as Han Sen was there, standing in front of her with a smile.
"Am I dreaming? Or have I died and gone to heaven? Did you not make it out, either?" Ji Yanran lifted her fingers to brush his cheeks.
"Nope. This is just my new aircraft. Want to go for a ride?" Han Sen invited her inside with a cheeky grin.
"Wait a minute; this is your...?" Ji Yanran stared at the giant beetle in utter disbelief.
Han Sen picked her up and took her inside the control room with him.
Boom!
The beetle shot up into the sky, faster than any aircraft they had ever been on.
Han Sen flew around like a jet, blasting any crystallizer robots he came across along the way. As they went, Ji Yanran had to ask, "What is this machine?"
"I found it in a ruin. I can only suspect it was a crystallizer warframe." Han Sen then went on to ask, "Is that a purple crystal core?"
"Yes." Ji Yanran looked happy.
Han Sen fired a light to a purple core down on the grasslands below. In an instant, it was sucked into the beetle.
"Baby, hold on tight. This is going to get a little wild," Han Sen warned her.
Then, the beetle started flying even faster. It spun around and eliminated a few crystallizer guards that were ahead. He zipped left, right, and center, collecting a multitude of purple crystal cores.
When he was done, Han Sen used his holographic map to survey the entire region and track the location of his teammates. Fortunately, none of the others were in any danger.
But they were each traveling at a very slow pace, not wishing to be hasty.
It was most likely due to the fact they had all been split up, and they were each exercising caution by moving slowly but cautiously.
Han Sen paid little mind to this, though. He continued flying on his own, out in search of the purple crystal cores that were their objective.
Unless the beetle attacked first, the guards would not respond to the aircraft. He blended in. So, with no threat, there'd be nothing to slow him down.
He did not want his teammates to see him operate the machine, either. If they did, it'd cause a lot of trouble for him, and the machine would end up being confiscated by the Alliance. Since this all had something to do with his hand, too, there'd be nothing but trouble for Han Sen.
He wouldn't mind Bai Yishan seeing it, but if the others did, the Alliance would most certainly take it away.
As far as the operation was concerned, the only thing Han Sen was unsure about was the purpose of the purple crystal cores. He had no clue what they could be used for.
Before he managed to obtain the black beetle, he'd had no way of hiding some for his own examination. Attempting to swallow a core and smuggle it out that way would've been impossible. He would've been scanned.
But now that he had this beetle, he could collect as many as he wanted and smuggle them out by shrinking down the beetle.
"I'm not greedy, but without this black beetle, I doubt the others will be able to obtain many themselves. It's only fair that I get to keep a few for myself, if it means the bigwigs who ordered this operation also receive far more than they expected to." Han Sen gave himself an excuse that worked.
"Once I've got all the purple cores, I think I'll kill all those shura," Han Sen thought.
"We are cooperating, but we are still enemies. This truce is a farce, and we all know it." Han Sen believed the more he could kill for the Alliance now, the fewer enemies they would have to deal with in the future.
Han Sen would be able to pin their deaths on the crystallizers with ease, and killing them would be swift and painless with the beetle, anyway.