LSDWTWHA chapter 55

Chapter 54

Su Su was almost completely defenseless as he was swallowed by the silk-worm-like creature.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to resist; when he was ensnared by the threads, he had already activated his close-combat energy blade, but the energy of the blade was devoured by the threads as if it had fallen into the ocean.

Before he could react, he was sucked into the deep maw of the creature.

His vision narrowed and turned black. However, Su Su felt the temperature inside the starship begin to rise rapidly, the low-temperature alarm stopped, and the cabin temperature returned to normal.

Yet, the starship began a new round of alarms.

【The starship’s hull is being compressed, causing deformation. Current deformation level: 5%.】

Deformation is also a very dangerous damage for a starship; once it exceeds twenty percent, it will affect weight and balance, causing the starship to become uncontrollable. If it goes beyond forty percent, some functional compartments, including landing gear and turrets, may be severely damaged due to the compression and rendered unusable. If it surpasses sixty percent, it risks damaging the main circuits and paralyzing the ship.

If it really came to that, the pilot could only lie back and wait for death.

Su Su bit his lip, appearing somewhat distressed.

【Heart suddenly stopped!】

【Ahhhh, he’s been eaten.】

【I can’t bear to watch anymore, please let me know when he gets eliminated.】

【How the hell can he fight all these grim reapers?】

【Of course, it’s impossible to fight. This wasn’t the path he should have chosen; others had warned him about the difficulty, and he insisted on coming, so he needs to be prepared to be tortured.】

【Anyway, up until now, the performance of the white-scaled shark has already made me feel it’s the best choice without regrets.】

【So strong, is this the power of an SS-level insectoid? If this is just a game, how brutal must real warfare be?】

【Feeling sorry for the expedition forces.】

In the military conference room, the pilots did not expect that Su Su’s performance would even promote the expedition forces. Seeing the barrage filled with sympathy, their long-held feelings of being misunderstood dissipated significantly.

“There’s really nothing to feel sorry about; the expedition forces have high salaries and good benefits, even death compensation is top-notch,” joked an old pilot.

“You’re right; I cried and begged to join back then. In these years, it was tough, but I never regretted it,” another person chimed in.

“However, the white-scaled shark is likely to be eliminated; the belly of that silk-worm creature can truly be described as ‘no return’,” someone redirected the topic back to the competition.

The atmosphere lightened instantly, and someone self-deprecatingly laughed, “Yeah, I was once swallowed by it, and the deep shadow still lingers in my heart.”

As the threads bound to the starship began to self-dissolve inside the silk-worm creature, the deformation of the starship accelerated, reaching 8% in the blink of an eye.

But Su Su did not rush to attack; instead, he turned on the lights to observe his surroundings. In the dim light, he could see that he was in a narrow passageway, and at the end of the passage, there was some flickering light. He was pushed closer to that light by the writhing tissues around him.

As he got closer, Su Su realized that it was the spot where threads were produced. The thin membrane on the left was covered with undigested food, while on the right, new threads were continuously being expelled, moving towards the back within the body.

Su Su cautiously fired a round towards one of the membranes; as soon as the projectile got close, it was wrapped and covered by the membrane, suspended just like the undigested food.

Su Su then attempted to attack in other directions and discovered that inside the worm’s body, there were membranes protecting every area, seemingly capable of absorbing energy, to the extent that even the sharpest energy blade couldn’t pierce it.

Good thing, Su Su thought, it seems this worm’s talent is related to energy absorption.

He allowed the worm to completely suspend his starship with these membranes. An appendage like a tentacle slithered into the membrane, its suction cups adhering to the starship’s surface.

Deformation halted, and a new warning sounded.

【Warning, the starship’s energy is slowly draining. The surface structure is being decomposed.】

Ignoring the warning, Su Su watched the energy-absorbing appendage and silently opened his shark-like teeth.

The appendage, like the membranes, could absorb all forms of energy attacks but was somewhat helpless against physical attacks.

At the moment the appendage approached, Su Su activated the starship, dashing forward and biting down on the appendage. Once bitten, the appendage instinctively retracted in pain, and Su Su followed the retreating appendage, breaking free from the membrane’s grasp.

Then, he accelerated fiercely, rushing into the thread-laden assembly line. Following the direction of the threads, he moved backward. Su Su tangled around the threads a few times, using the threads’ protection to resist the damage from deformation caused by the writhing.

Before long, the deep passage reached an end, and Su Su found himself at the entrance of the silk-extraction maw.

The maw was too small, only capable of accommodating one strand; the starship could not exit.

Su Su had no choice but to keep biting, forcing a larger opening in the creature’s maw before squeezing out.

Covered in thick coils of silk, Su Su charged straight into an area of bubbles.

The bubbles burst, and the slime corroded the silk, granting Su Su his freedom.

But after all this effort, his starship had already sustained significant damage, while of the four male insects, only the silk-worm had been slightly injured; the other three remained unscathed and were lying in wait.

The spectators, including the pilots in the conference room, mostly thought at this moment:

He actually got out?

But this must be about over.

To survive this long under the siege of four male insects is already quite commendable.

It’s likely that with the next wave of attacks, he will be eliminated.

However, Su Su did not think so. He felt that his chances were quite high.

Dealing with one insectoid had its way, while dealing with a group of insectoids had another.

These male insects were high-level, with large attack ranges and high damage. Moreover, they were tough-skinned and could resist various damage. At first glance, it seemed like there was no way to deal with them, but upon closer analysis, they weren’t without weaknesses.

The threads of the silk-worm could absorb energy; while the slime exuded by the golden ring bug decomposed the bubbles, it could also absorb the slime to offset damage to the starship.

The black thorn spear bug specialized in stealth and physical damage, and because its speed was too fast, it was hard to dodge. Each black thorn’s power was comparable to that of a heavy artillery shell, a collision would be fatal. However, among the four male insects, its attack was arguably the easiest for Su Su to avoid.

If one thing about Su Su’s starship could compare to the capabilities of an SS-level starship, speed and agility would surely be on that list.

For Su Su, the trickiest was the seemingly gentle and harmless ice butterfly, which wouldn’t even take the initiative to attack.

The ice butterfly lingered near the queen insect, clearly its low temperature did not affect the queen; perhaps the cold it emitted was absorbed as energy by the queen.

But for the nearby starship, that low temperature could indeed be deadly.

Getting close, the temperature control system of the starship began to malfunction, and even the pilot could be directly frozen to death.

To resist this temperature, he still needed the threads. But the threads would limit mobility, requiring the bubbles to help dissolve them, and the best way to pop the bubbles was to use those black thorns.

In an instant, Su Su had already formed a plan in his mind.

If he did not have enough ability to kill the four male insects, he was willing to let three of them become his helpers, to take on the remaining one together.

With a plan in mind, all he had left to do was lure the monsters. Su Su first approached the black thorn spear bug, confirming that its black thorns would constantly pursue him before turning around to circle around the bubble area, successfully dragging over a series of round, transparent tails, and then, finally, wrapping himself up cocoon-like.

The silk-worm looked at the starship cocooned like a dumpling and was not eager to open its mouth, having just had its appendage bitten off and injuring its silk-extraction maw, it was still feeling the pain.

So, Su Su leisurely dragged the threads, floating in the air.

Seeing this, the black thorn bug thought it was a good opportunity, aiming its black thorns straight at him.

Su Su had already adjusted his angle; the black thorn pierced the starship, but due to the protection of the threads, it was also entangled and slowed down, its attacking power significantly diminished, and instead pushed him into the ice butterfly’s attack range.

The temperature began to drop, but this time, with the protection of the threads, the degree of cooling was still within the range the starship could maintain.

50 star distances, 40 star distances, 30 star distances. Su Su could even see the fuzz on the queen insect’s body.

Too close, it was as if he were standing at the foot of a mountain, looking up at the entire peak, his view completely blocked by the queen insect.

In such a vast space, accurately locating an energy stone the size of a starship was already a formidable challenge.

As he approached the queen insect, the attacking male insects grew even fiercer in their attempts to protect the queen.

Bubbles surged towards Su Su, and black thorns rained down like arrows.

They carefully avoided the queen insect and attacked Su Su from parallel angles. This led to their attacks being more likely to collide with each other.

Just as Su Su had expected, the black thorns burst the bubbles, with slime drenching the starship, dissolving the threads, causing the temperature to plummet. The starship’s temperature control system was rendered inoperable, and frost quickly formed on Su Su’s brow.

It was too cold. Fortunately, the escape pod had adjusted its position in advance, allowing direct access from the cockpit.

Shivering, Su Su squeezed into the escape pod. At the same time, he commanded the starship to launch the escape pod, issuing a self-destruct order.

The starship self-destructed, laden with fuel and ammunition, and the massive heat from the explosion countered some of the cold. It also caused some damage to the queen insect’s abdomen.

But such damage was merely a light scratch to the oversized queen insect; at most, it would just break the skin.

The escape pod shot straight towards the queen’s body, unnoticed by the male insects due to the massive explosion caused by the starship’s self-destruction.

Even if they did notice, they would likely not care, after all, it was just an escape pod—what threat could an escape pod pose?

However, Su Su’s escape pod was different from others; it wasn’t merely for escape. It could be considered a mini starship, packing a punch similar to that of a basic E-class starship. Its advantage was its small size like an escape pod, but the downside was that it could only hold one lightweight projectile; anything more would not fit.

Su Su piloted the escape pod, using the queen’s skin as a scrape, penetrating into her body.

Inside the massive tissue fluid, the small escape pod was virtually immobile. There were no alarms, but Su Su knew the escape pod was being decomposed. The energy gained from burning fuel did not propel the escape pod; instead, it turned into nutrients absorbed by the opponent.

But Su Su was waiting for this moment.

He closed his eyes, focusing his mental force and connecting with the starship; at this moment, the intensity reached a terrifying level. He could hear no sound, see no image, and perceive no smells—his senses disappeared, and he felt as if he was the starship itself.

The starship’s detectors flashed dimly in the darkness, and amidst the pitch-black, Su Su sensed what he was looking for.

A subtle energy flow. Like a stream, it wound forward with a clear target, leading straight to the sea of blue energy.

He “saw” it; it was the heart of the queen insect.

The head of the escape pod slowly extended a slender cannon. Su Su loaded the only projectile stored within the escape pod.

That special projectile capable of detonating energy crystals followed a straight path, piercing through the layered tissues of the queen insect’s body, rushing towards the unseen ahead.

A grand explosion tore the huge body of the queen insect to pieces.

Chaotic energy turned into a vortex, swirling and attempting to consume everything in the path.

The surrounding space began to distort, deform, shudder, and tear apart, signaling the end of everything.

【Killed?】

【He did it!】

【This actually works?】

【How did he know to head in that direction?】

The barrage was filled with surprise and confusion. Meanwhile, the pilots in the conference room were even more shocked.

Whether it was Su Su utilizing the skills of several male insects to mutually restrain and offset or using self-destruction to counter the freezing while breaking through the queen insect’s physical barriers, or employing the escape pod as a weapon to deliver the final shot—these were tactics they had never considered.

They had numbers, and their starships were high-level enough to inflict damage on the male insects. But Su Su’s starship was low-level; a simple attack from a male insect or even one of his own mistakes could lead to his demise in this battle.

Yet, he seemed completely unfazed. Behind his seemingly outlandish maneuvers were meticulous calculations, ultimately achieving what was almost an impossible kill.

But what surprised them most was: “How did he just find the energy core?”

“It seems to be with mental force perception.”

“Can mental force perception achieve this level? That position is still several star distances away from the heart.”

“It can,” Qi Hanyi said confidently. He knew Su Su’s talent in mental force was terrifyingly high: “What others can’t do, he can.”

No wonder. The pilots looked at each other, wondering where their leader had found such a treasure. His talent was shocking, with boldness and cleverness—no wonder he was so closely watched.

If it were them, they would have probably put a bag over his head and carried him off to the expedition forces by now.

Su Su pushed the speed of the escape pod to the maximum, escaping back along the path before the cataclysmic energy completely engulfed the area.

Before he could escape from the queen insect’s body, a notification indicating the end of the game suddenly popped up.

Su Su momentarily dazed, recollected that he was playing a game—he had just become so immersed in it that he had even thought he was really fighting against the insectoids on the battlefield.