LSDWTWHA chapter 38

Chapter 37

“Ha, you’ve killed them all, so what’s there to negotiate?” The pilot of the Meteor ship scoffed disdainfully, completely ignoring the wrecked starship before him that was barely able to move.

He looked over the damaged starship, failing to recognize it as a top-tier game vessel, the Silver Dragon. After all, its signature side wings and sleek tail fins were completely destroyed, and the beautiful silver coating was burned into a dull gray-black. The metal surface was riddled with holes, as if it could fall apart at any moment, and it could only move with the help of backup power.

No matter how you looked at it, it was just a pile of scrap metal.

Originally, he had intended to mercifully send this scrap metal and the centipede shield bug to their demise with a single cannon shot, but he didn’t expect the junk to escape at the last moment.

“Then you owe me ten thousand star coins.” Su Su thought for a moment. The killed insect race couldn’t come back to life. The fuel he had now was not enough to hunt another centipede shield bug. However, since the mission reward for the centipede shield bug was ten thousand, the other party compensating him with ten thousand star coins would suffice for his losses.

The Silver Dragon was seriously damaged and would require nearly a complete reset to repair. And the cost of resetting a top-tier starship was close to ten thousand.

The pilot of the Meteor ship seemed to find this ludicrous: “The bounty for taking down a centipede shield bug is only ten thousand. Are you saying you want to take it all just for your words?”

“Besides, creatures on the map don’t belong to anyone. I just got here and saw it flying my way, so I launched a shot. You say you hit it first? What proof do you have? Where are your teammates? There’s no way you single-handedly took down the centipede shield bug.”

“It was me alone.” Su Su insisted with confidence, raising his voice: “Pay up, or I won’t be polite!”

In the back, Qi Hanyi closed his eyes in despair, not surprised to hear the mocking laughter coming from the other side.

Several pilots from the same team, hearing this, burst out laughing and turned on their microphones.

“Ha ha ha, he claims he did it all by himself. I’m dying of laughter. Who do you think you are? The rank one player, Transform Complexity into Simplicity?”

“Someone actually says they won’t be polite to our Heavenly Sky Guild? You’ve only been in the game for a few days and don’t even recognize the name of the number one guild?”

“Hey, it’s probably some clueless little brat trying to act tough. Don’t waste your time on him.”

“Kid, this isn’t your kindergarten. Acting tough comes with a price.”

“We won’t bully little kids. You admit your mistake nicely, and we’ll let you go. Otherwise, not just the centipede shield bug, even that broken starship of yours will be taken care of.”

Though underestimated by the other party, Su Su remained undaunted. His weak exterior could mislead their judgment, making them complacent and increasing his chances of winning.

This was something he learned in the ocean.

“What are you planning to do?” Qi Hanyi suddenly spoke up.

There were two paths before him. The first was to admit defeat and silently remember the names of the opposing players and, when prepared, seek revenge.

The second was to confront them directly, but Su Su was currently in bad shape, and if things went wrong, it could lead to a mutual destruction.

Without hesitation, Su Su scratched off the first option. In the ocean, he had already backed down multiple times to save himself. But here, in this game, when piloting a starship, he didn’t want to admit defeat.

He didn’t want to lose; he didn’t even want mutual destruction with these people.

He wanted to win.

“These people need ten starships to dare come and hunt the centipede shield bug; their strength surely isn’t as good as mine, but my starship is severely damaged and has almost lost its attack capabilities,” Su Su analyzed the situation.

His tone rose: “So now, I need to hijack a starship.”

Qi Hanyi’s eyes brightened: “How are you planning to hijack it?”

“I haven’t thought it through yet.” But Su Su was already eyeing which starship to take: “That turret is A-class, but it’s too heavy, so I don’t want it. The four C-class small starships in front have enough agility but lack ammo, so they won’t do either. Those five B-class starships…”

Su Su slowly looked over. There were two auxiliary output starships, Ice Blast and Flow Flame, two control starships, Empty Prison, and a special defensive starship, Fang Tooth.

Su Su knew these starships well and had studied each for a long time in the official shop. He liked them; even low-tier starships could have uniquely excellent performance and clever design.

For instance, Fang Tooth, unlike ordinary long-range defense starships, had a more proactive defense and also good controlling abilities.

Its tough exterior and excellent resistance meant that it wasn’t easily damaged in collisions. Instead, it could extend two long hooks resembling fangs from the front, securely attaching the enemy starship to itself.

Such a special capability made it well-suited for battles against centipede shield bugs. The small starships would disrupt enemy attacks while Fang Tooth, being more agile, could collide and use its hooks to slow the opponent down. Then, Empty Prison would reinforce the control while Ice Blast further slowed it down. Finally, heavy artillery would bombard, assisted by Flow Flame’s continuous burning, easily taking down a centipede shield bug.

“I’m going to hijack Fang Tooth,” Su Su made his choice.

A very wise choice, Qi Hanyi thought to himself.

Not because Su Su couldn’t win with Empty Prison, Ice Blast, or Flow Flame, but because hijacking Fang Tooth was the easiest to accomplish.

When the opposing hooks secured both starships, neither side would have the opportunity to escape first, giving them ample time to take control of the enemy’s starship and withstand a wave of concentrated fire from other starships.

“I also need you to help me control the Silver Dragon starship.” Su Su turned to Qi Hanyi.

To hijack the starship, he needed to leave the cockpit and, at the moment Fang Tooth secured them, while wearing the starship’s escape mech, sneak into the enemy’s starship and compete for control.

“You’re going to hijack? What are your chances?” Qi Hanyi asked.

“Thirty percent,” Su Su admitted honestly: “I’m not very familiar with mech operations.”

To be precise, he had only touched one once and found it less interesting than piloting a starship, so he never touched one again.

If he were piloting the starship himself, he could create an unexpected opportunity to enter and gain some odds. But Su Su didn’t expect his teammate to do the same. Considering that he might fly several hundred or thousands of meters in a mech to get into the enemy’s landing bay, having a thirty percent chance was already an optimistic estimate.

But he had no choice; this was already the best outcome he could think of in a short time.

“You control the starship, and I’ll operate the mech.” Qi Hanyi pushed Su Su back into the pilot seat.

He spoke in a habitual commanding tone: “Just follow your plan, I’ll handle the rest.”

He walked towards where the mech was parked. He knew he shouldn’t help Su Su hijack the starship, as it would break his own lie and increase the risk of identity exposure, yet he still stood up.

He didn’t want Su Su to lose.

“Oh.” Su Su shook his dorsal fin and instinctively agreed. But then he thought, Qi Hanyi was good at piloting the mech, but could he manage the Fang Tooth when it came to supporting him?

But just as he was about to refuse, Qi Hanyi had already walked away.

Watching Qi Hanyi leave, Su Su wondered: What was this reflex to agree without thinking about it?

In the brief moment of their conversation, the ten starships of the Heavenly Sky Guild had already taken the initiative.

Empty Prison surrounded Su Su’s starship left and right, energy beams forming long hooks in the air, reaching towards Su Su’s ship.

Flow Flame sprayed a wall of fire, blocking Su Su’s path ahead.

Fang Tooth charged from behind towards Su Su’s starship.

Just above him was the firepower blockade line of the Meteor ship, and below him, an Ice Blast was aiming.

The remaining four small starships circled around, blocking all retreat routes for Su Su.

As the damaged starship was about to be reduced to scrap in the siege, the pilot of the Meteor ship maliciously taunted: “Aren’t you capable of taking on a centipede shield bug one-on-one? Come on, show us how you do it!”

The severely damaged Silver Dragon moved. At the moment the other side spoke, it sped toward the Fang Tooth charging at it.

“I say, you’re not just planning to die by crashing into us, are you?” sneered Fang Tooth’s pilot. “That won’t do; I’m not done playing yet.”

Su Su ignored the other side’s words. His gaze was incredibly focused. He was now out of ammo, and his energy was almost depleted. The only thing he could rely on was the impact of the enemy starship. His target was to create a hole at the location of the enemy starship’s landing gear to facilitate his teammate’s infiltration later.

In Su Su’s heart, his teammate was just an ordinary player with average skills, yet he was willing to go crazy with him to hijack a starship. He had to do his best to create the best conditions for their success.

The landing gear had only a circular hatch a few dozen meters wide; being a door, this part of any starship couldn’t be made too sturdy. A strong impact was enough to destroy it.

However, accurately hitting a hatch of about ten meters on a starship over a thousand meters long was no simple feat.

The two starships came closer rapidly. Su Su carefully followed every tiny movement of the opponent, adjusting the starship’s trajectory. They were getting close; he could even see the paint on the opposing starship.

The words “Heavenly Sky” danced prominently in gold across most of the starship’s surface, almost like a silent provocation.

And the landing gear was right in the middle of the word “Sky”.

Su Su input a command: Show Dragon Horn.

This was an Easter egg feature of the Silver Dragon. A beautiful silver horn could protrude from the top of the starship, serving no real purpose, merely a badge of identity for Silver Dragon players.

The starship executed the command, and the silver horn extended from the head.

“What is this…” The pilot of Fang Tooth was somewhat surprised, realizing that this wreck was the top-tier starship Silver Dragon? How did it end up like this? Where are its wings and tail fins? I didn’t even recognize it!

A player capable of piloting the Silver Dragon would likely be a heavy spender, even if not a skilled player. Fang Tooth’s pilot regretted it; although he was in the top guild, he was just a bottom player with mediocre skills. He liked to flaunt his guild’s name in public but didn’t intend to provoke players stronger than himself.

Such as this player piloting the Silver Dragon, he looked like someone not quite sane. What if getting killed by him led to a grudge and someone sent to hunt him down?

The pilot of Fang Tooth glared angrily at the approaching silver horn, thinking: This Silver Dragon starship is worth tens of millions of star coins, equivalent to hundreds of thousands in real currency. Would they really bother competing over a mere ten thousand star coins?

And again: The rich guy should have shown off that horn earlier; even if we didn’t intend to pay, at least we shouldn’t have fought.

Both starships crashed together heavily. Contrary to Fang Tooth’s expectations, the Silver Dragon held up well, showing only slight deformation. Compared to its previous damage, it hardly counted as a loss.

Fang Tooth itself was durable; it hardly felt the impact.

The pilot of Fang Tooth was already pondering withdrawal, preparing to discuss a truce with his team, when a warning suddenly blared in the cockpit.

Warning: Landing gear has been damaged; it can no longer be used.

Only then did he realize that the opponent’s dragon horn had precisely embedded itself in the position of his landing gear, breaking through the original hatch.

Coincidence?

It must be a coincidence.

The pilot of Fang Tooth thought. After all, if it was a deliberate crash, it would be as challenging as piloting a vehicle at a thousand kilometers per hour, sticking a needle at its front to accurately nail a fly in mid-air.

Was a human even capable of such a maneuver?

But he also felt uneasy, not daring to let the other side continue their actions. So, he inputted a command, planning to pierce the Silver Dragon with his fangs, to gain some control over it.

The moment the fangs extended, Su Su’s Silver Dragon retracted its horn, stretched its tail, and flipped up into the air.

At the same time, he opened the landing gear.

“Now!” Su Su signaled Qi Hanyi waiting inside the landing bay. In the instant the two landing bays drew near, Qi Hanyi maneuvered the mech, leaping into the enemy starship.