Chapter 115: Admiral Yan, Are We Safe?
“Spatial fissure.” That name, more terrifying than any taboo, darkened Yan Gui Xing’s face another shade.
He knew all too well the terror of spatial fissures. Not long ago, Admiral Desimo of the Second Legion and his young partner had fallen into one and ended up on the Point of No Return.
Desimo had been lucky enough to fall in with his mecha and had turned the Point of No Return upside down.
But Yan Gui Xing? All he had was a civilian spaceship full of ordinary people and a body full of injuries.
If he fell into the Point of No Return, given his history of massacring the Hunter’s Guild there, the vicious thugs on that planet would skin him alive and eat him raw.
And let’s not forget, his luck was currently terrible. Falling into the Point of No Return in this dimension would be bad enough, but at least he could try to survive until Achi brought the legion to rescue him.
If he were unlucky enough to fall into another dimension… well, then no one could help him.
Yan Gui Xing’s palms were sweating, clammy and uncomfortable.
In just a few breaths, he made a decision. “Achi,” he said in a low voice, “I’m going full speed to the next star sector. You guys get over there as fast as you can to support us.”
Achi knew Yan Gui Xing’s personality—once he made a decision, there was no changing his mind.
His eyes wavered, but he stood at attention, saluted, and shouted, “Yes, Admiral!”
The massive object hidden in the sea of stars was pitch black, almost blending in with the ink-blue universe.
The dark red images on its sides looked like two giant red eyes, glowing with an ominous light.
Inside the dark gray captain’s quarters, over a dozen “people” wearing gray robes with hoods were working methodically at their stations, revealing only scaly hands.
A “man” about 2.5 meters tall, wearing a dark gray military uniform and sporting a pair of folded, metallic gray bone wings on his back, stood with his hands clasped behind his back in front of a giant screen.
Beside him stood another figure, also in a gray uniform and black boots.
This one was taller than the “man,” but incredibly thin, with a slight hunchback and no bone wings. Instead, two long, soft tentacles, like butterfly antennae, hung down from his sides.
He had a face that was almost human, except for his sickly gray skin and eerie green slit pupils.
“General Yao, those guys from the Senluo Pirate Group said it’s just a passing passenger ship with no value. Is it really worth attacking?”
The “man” named Yao turned to look at the tall, thin “man.” The exposed half of his face was chiseled, with deep-set eyes and a high nose bridge, possessing an exotic handsomeness.
But his skin was two shades paler than the one speaking, a sickly gray-white. His eyes were blood-red slit pupils, eerie and unsettling. Even more disturbing were his teeth.
When his thin lips curled into a chilling smile, they revealed a row of sharp, white shark teeth.
These two—no, the beings on this starship—were not human at all. They were the rogue Zerg who refused to return even after the Zerg Queen surrendered.
“Of course,” Yao said. “We’re going to use the people on that passenger ship as hostages to force the Imperial military to hand over Yan Gui Xing and avenge His Highness.”
The tall, thin Zerg asked worriedly, “General Yao, do you think the Imperial military will care about the lives of these civilians?”
Yao sneered. “Imperials are the biggest hypocrites. Those nobles will do everything they can to rescue them for the sake of their reputation and approval ratings.”
“One Yan Gui Xing for a ship full of lives. They’ll know what to choose.” Yao’s voice was somewhat feminine, and when mixed with his laughter, it sent chills down one’s spine.
“If they don’t want to choose, then we’ll torture and kill a few hostages in front of the entire Empire. Public opinion will force them to make a choice that satisfies us.”
The tall, thin Zerg lowered his eyes and smiled. “With you here, we will definitely be able to avenge His Highness.”
Yao’s expression suddenly turned dark and vicious, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light. He gritted his teeth and said, “It was the Queen’s stupidity and cowardice that forced His Highness to use a suicide tactic to save most of the soldiers. But Yan Gui Xing still got away!”
“This time… this time, I will catch Yan Gui Xing! I will kill him! I will avenge His Highness!”
A white streak of light shot through the brilliant sea of stars, dragging a residual shadow behind it like a falling meteor due to its sheer speed.
This meteor wove through the dense cluster of celestial bodies as nimbly as a fish, followed by two massive behemoths.
The starship with the dark red eyes relied on its massive size to smash through the star field, shattering many celestial bodies in its path.
This was tough on the smaller starship following it.
It was a patchwork vessel cobbled together from several decommissioned starships. Its retrofitted shields were only as tough as a private spaceship’s, nowhere near the quality of a standard starship.
It didn’t dare smash into celestial bodies recklessly for fear of depleting its shields.
But it was still three times the size of a standard civilian spaceship and lacked the agility to navigate the star field effectively.
It had to dodge celestial bodies, provide cover fire for the Zerg starship attacking the passenger ship, and try to keep up at maximum speed.
As a result, it fell far behind.
The situation on the leading spaceship wasn’t as optimistic as it looked.
At maximum speed, the ship’s stabilization systems had completely failed, and the entire vessel was shaking violently.
The passengers in the cabin, who had been restless after the purser’s announcement and the forced restraints by the service robots, quieted down due to the violent turbulence.
After all, in a life-or-death situation, no one really wanted to die.
They just wanted to reach the next jump point as quickly as possible and leave this godforsaken star sector.
Following the service robots’ instructions, they assumed crash positions.
Their eyes were squeezed shut, either sobbing quietly or praying that the captain could save them.
The captain, in whom they placed their hopes, was currently sitting in the seat next to Mu Mu, gripping the armrests tightly with both hands, eyes closed, muttering prayers to Bodhisattvas and God.
The only person standing in the entire captain’s quarters was Yan Gui Xing.
He stood straight before the control console, his eyes fixed on the large screen, his hands flying across the keys.
In this maximum speed mode, the spaceship’s autopilot had long since disengaged, requiring manual piloting.
This was supposed to be the captain’s job, with Yan Gui Xing overseeing the bigger picture.
But the captain had turned into a jelly-legged mess, unable to even stand straight, let alone pilot the ship.
It was fortunate that Yan Gui Xing had worked his way up from the bottom and knew how to pilot everything from aircraft and spaceships to starships and mechas.
If it had been someone who didn’t know how to pilot a spaceship, they would have been wiped out by the Zerg long ago.
[Warning! Spaceship under attack. Shield integrity at 35%. Please repair immediately.]
As the spaceship shook violently, the large screen flashed a blinding red light, and the mechanical female voice announced the bad news in a cold, detached tone, oblivious to anyone’s feelings.
It felt like a giant sword hung by a thread over the heads of the four people in the captain’s quarters. With every announcement from the mechanical voice, the sword dropped a little lower.
When the shield integrity reached zero, the sword would fall, crushing them all to death.
Yan Gui Xing was so tense his muscles were rigid.
His partially healed wounds split open, warm blood trickling down his skin, itching as if bugs were crawling over him.
Cold sweat seeped from his forehead and face at some point, stinging his eyes as it ran into them.
He didn’t dare raise a hand to wipe it away, terrified that a single second of delay would cost Mu Mu his life.
Yan Gui Xing’s mind raced, calculating the distance to the jump point and the remaining laser cannon charges before pressing the red button to fire.
He knew that against the Zerg starship’s shields, these outdated laser cannons were like throwing eggs at a rock.
Aside from wasting ammo, they wouldn’t even cause 1% damage.
So Yan Gui Xing didn’t aim for the starship. Instead, he targeted the massive celestial bodies nearest to it, hoping to create obstacles.
Although not the most effective method, it worked well enough to maintain the distance between the spaceship and the starship until they neared the jump point.
[Arrived at jump point. Initiate spatial jump?]
This time, the cold mechanical female voice finally brought good news.
The oppressive, deathly silence in the captain’s quarters lifted slightly.
Mu Mu, who had been covering his face with both hands and holding his breath for fear of distracting Yan Gui Xing, lowered his hands, revealing his flushed face as he let out a long breath.
The captain and purser wept with relief.
If they hadn’t been afraid of startling Yan Gui Xing, they would have jumped up and cheered.
Only Yan Gui Xing, tense as a drawn bow, didn’t relax upon reaching the jump point.
Instead, he grew even more serious, radiating a chilling, murderous aura.
He was the only one present who knew that reaching the next star sector didn’t mean safety; it meant even greater danger.
That sector lacked the dense clusters of celestial bodies needed to form a star sea for cover.
It was more open, suitable for direct confrontation.
There, a spaceship facing a starship was a death sentence.
Although the road ahead was perilous, with wolves and tigers behind them, the situation wasn’t optimistic either way.
Yan Gui Xing gritted his teeth and selected “Yes.”
The spatial jump took only a minute. During that minute, it felt as if they were in a vacuum—dark, silent, and empty.
Aside from one’s own breathing and heartbeat, no sound could be heard, and nothing could be perceived.
It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but because it was so short, it was usually negligible.
But this time, Yan Gui Xing counted every second in his mind.
When he reached 60, and his vision suddenly brightened, he unhesitatingly pressed the prominent red button.
The spaceship’s laser cannons fired one after another at the jump point’s device. Brilliant ice-blue lights flashed in succession, like a grand fireworks display.
It took only half a minute to empty the laser cannons.
Yan Gui Xing didn’t even stay to see the result. Once he confirmed the four cannons were empty, he piloted the spaceship forward at maximum speed.
An explosion occurred at the jump point, the red flames illuminating the sparse star sector.
The captain now understood Yan Gui Xing’s intention in destroying the jump point.
He licked his dry lips, looked hopefully at Yan Gui Xing, and whispered, “Admiral Yan, are we safe?”
[Author’s Note]: The Zerg here are a little different from other Zerg novels. You can think of them as bugs that have gained sentience but retained their insectoid appearance.
Recommended Reads
