LSDWTWHA chapter 88

Chapter 87

Three days have passed since the insect race launched a surprise attack on the space station. Admiral Qi Hanyi’s team finally located the concealed queen bug near a region of spatial turbulence, about 1,200 star distances away from the space station.

Blocking the queen bug were 12 male insect guards, all graded SSS, the largest group of male bugs they had ever encountered, among them were four males they had never seen before, with undetermined abilities.

Qi Hanyi’s raid team consisted of twenty starships, all classified as SS except for the Bai Ze, and a thousand mechs, of which thirty-five were SSS and the rest were also SS. This was already the highest configuration for a surprise attack by the expeditionary force.

However, facing the opposing team, their manpower still seemed somewhat insufficient.

If it were only this, things would not be too bad, but the true weight in the hearts of all the raiders was Qi Hanyi’s condition. As the pilot of the Bai Ze and the backbone of the entire team, with Qi Hanyi unable to use her mental force, her strength could be exerted at less than thirty percent. If she forced herself to use mental force, she might not last more than a few minutes before falling into a complete coma.

The attacking insect race seemed aware of Qi Hanyi’s poor condition and focused their attacks on her.

“Since the opponent likes to fixate on me, let the Bai Ze be the bait to draw their fire. The remaining starships will split into three routes, spreading out to find opportunities to attack the queen bug. Each starship will leave ten mechs for auxiliary attacks; the rest will spread out to the periphery, responsible for restraining the low-level insects coming to assist. Don’t let them enter the battlefield and disrupt the combat.” Through the communication window in the cockpit, Qi Hanyi’s orders quickly reached the other starships.

The well-trained expeditionary force operated like a finely tuned machine, each acting according to orders.

After closing communication with the other starships, Qi Hanyi instructed the members inside her own ship, “All of you follow the deployed mechs and leave the Bai Ze.”

“Admiral, you…” Jian Cheng suddenly raised his head upon hearing this.

“The offensive from those male bugs is not reliant on mental force, and I might not last much longer. So, when I can’t hold on anymore, I will use mental force to take as many bugs with me as possible. Once I lose consciousness, the Bai Ze will automatically enter the highest defense mode, stalling the remaining attackers. If things go well, after we kill the queen, have the co-pilot return to retrieve the Bai Ze and take it back. If things don’t go well, I will guard the Bai Ze to the last moment along with it.”

“Best wishes for your victory.” Qi Hanyi spoke calmly, just as she did whenever she issued orders during battle.

Jian Cheng felt a tightness in his throat, and a hint of bitterness welled up in his eyes. A few years older than Qi Hanyi, he considered her a junior. Over the years, he had watched her grow, fight, and lead them through countless challenges, winning victory after victory against the insect race.

Qi Hanyi always liked to say before every decisive battle: “Best wishes for your victory.” But, in truth, everyone’s confidence in victory came from her planning and strength; as long as she was there, and the Bai Ze was still there, everyone had no doubts about winning.

But now she was leaving.

“Admiral, take care.” Jian Cheng lowered his head, not wanting his emotions to affect the others.

After everyone gradually left the starship, Qi Hanyi remained in the empty cockpit, looking out the window towards the direction of the planet. At 1,200 star distances away, she could no longer see the outline of the planet, but she knew her home was there, and her little shark was there too.

Qi Hanyi controlled the joystick, accelerating the starship to meet the onslaught of the male bugs.

In the vast starry sky, a silver shark that seemed inebriated clumsily twisted its body in the air.

Su Su piloted his starship out from the launch pad. After a day of orbital flight, the starship broke free from the planetary orbit and began autonomous flight. Su Su connected his mental force to the starship’s piloting system, controlling its movements.

Since there was no communication signal from the space station, Su Su could not receive star area navigation and had to rely on the starship’s built-in map and his own observational judgment to determine their position.

Admiral Qi Hanyi’s warning was not wrong; real starships were very different from those in the game. The sensitivity of mental perception, speed of control responses, and operation delays were all altered. Even though they used mental force to control, it still required long-term adaptive training to pilot the starship effectively without memorizing cumbersome operational steps.

Unfortunately, reality did not give Su Su that much time to adapt.

Real starship piloting required extremely precise mental control; otherwise, he would end up like he was now, being able to move, but the flying direction and distance were less controllable. This was already an improvement from when Su Su first used the simulator, where he crashed the simulated starship three times while recklessly navigating the asteroid belt.

After a difficult struggle with the starship, Su Su finally brought it near the space station.

This place looked vastly different from the game’s scenery, with several damaged buildings indicating that a fierce battle had once occurred here. Chaotic space debris floated everywhere, suggesting that the inhabitants had evacuated in a hurry.

A few low-level bugs, the highest being S grade while the rest were below A grade, spotted Su Su’s starship and immediately swarmed towards him.

Even though Su Su had mastered the corresponding piloting skills in the simulation pod, his first real battle was still a flustered affair; several attacks missed due to improper adjustments in the starship’s posture, angle of attack, and timing, resulting in him taking quite a bit of damage from the enemies.

Fortunately, the Silver Shark had superior performance, so the low-grade bugs’ attacks did not cause too much harm, giving Su Su some margin for error.

Real combat was the most effective way for one to grow, and Su Su already had astonishing natural talent in piloting starships. By the time he dealt with the few bugs that had approached him, he had started to handle the starship with increasing deftness.

Continuing in the forward direction, Su Su noticed a rustling noise coming from behind him. It sounded like something was crawling.

The starship was only occupied by him, so there shouldn’t have been anything else. Even if something really did invade, there ought to be some kind of alert.

As Su Su pondered, the sound grew closer, and he could hear something cutting through the air swiftly approaching his head. He undid his restraints and grabbed a particle gun equipped for starship pilots, twisting his body with a surge of strength and aiming at the source of the sound before pulling the trigger.

This particle gun was meant for starship pilots’ self-defense, naturally much more powerful than the one Yan Bai used earlier. The particle beam, carrying a scorching airflow, surged forward and instantly raised the temperature in the cockpit.

“Thud!” The sound of a soft object being pierced echoed as Su Su supported himself on the floor, leveraging to turn around.

Right above him, something resembling a shelled snail was opening its mouth, revealing a mass of red-violet flesh spikes within.

Su Su’s spine chilled; if he hadn’t heard the noise earlier and dodged, his head might have already been swallowed by this hideous creature.

How could an insect race invade the interior of the starship? Why didn’t the alarm go off? Questions flooded into his mind one after another.

But the pressing matter was to deal with the bug right in front of him and to check if any others of its kind had infiltrated the starship.

Observing the injuries caused by the particle gun, the bug appeared to have been burned, with charred edges.

The attacked bug crawled around the pilot’s seat toward Su Su, its mouth wide open, ready to consume him.

Seeing this, Su Su felt reassured; this bug’s level should be low, moving slowly with single attack methods. Its only talent likely went into infiltration and ambush, and it wasn’t a significant threat. A single particle gun could deal with it.

After firing a few more shots and confirming that the creature no longer showed any signs of life, Su Su located the cleanup button on the control panel, instructing the robot responsible for cleaning to dispose of the bug’s body, breaking it down into particles for re-dispersal.

After that, Su Su activated enhanced scanning and conducted two scans of the starship’s interior, confirming that no other bugs had infiltrated, before continuing to pilot the starship.

Su Su was nearing a supply station close to the space station. From a distance, he could see starships and mechs efficiently constructing defenses, while closer in, engineering ships were busily building temporary fortifications.

Su Su’s spirit lifted as he continued towards the supply point, preparing to gather information. If Qi Hanyi had yet to depart, it would be perfect to stay here.

As soon as Su Su’s starship entered communication range, he received a communication request from the guarding starship: “Which team’s starship are you? Why are you out here all alone?”

“I’m not part of any team,” Su Su lied without hesitation. “I’m here on a special mission.”

He didn’t mention his mermaid identity. Although the Emperor had personally confirmed it just days prior, allowing him to participate in starship training like a human and become a pilot, revealing it now might raise unnecessary suspicions and defenses.

Su Su displayed the Silver Shark’s insignia: “I want to see Admiral Qi.”

“Silver Shark! Wait, you must be that mermaid, right? The one who’s Admiral Qi’s partner, named… Su Su?”

“What?!” Su Su hadn’t expected his lie to be exposed in less than a second.

“Don’t be nervous; I’m from the expeditionary force, stationed here to assist with defense.” The person seemed even more excited than Su Su: “We in the expeditionary force have all heard of you. I’ve watched your matches. You actually managed to pilot a real starship; I didn’t even realize you were a newbie when I saw you coming in!”

Su Su didn’t want to chat and directly inquired about the information he wanted: “What happened at the space station? Why has communication with the ground been cut off?”

“Ah, it’s all thanks to the morph bugs. Oh, that’s a newly discovered insect race, ranging from E to B level. Don’t let the low levels fool you; their numbers are immense. They can temporarily assimilate with surrounding objects and then slowly peel away from another direction. A large group of morph bugs invaded the starship and space station this way. Fortunately, those bugs aren’t particularly strong, and no substantial casualties occurred, but the space station was severely damaged during the battle, with its control, communication, and defense systems all collapsing. We couldn’t communicate with the ground and couldn’t check how many bugs were hidden over there, so we decided to temporarily relocate to the supply point. The communication station is still undergoing repairs, and the defense shield has been activated; those bugs are afraid of fire and high temperatures, so they can’t get in now.”

After finishing his explanation in one breath, the guard asked about Su Su’s situation: “By the way, why are you piloting a starship here at this time?”

Su Su responded: “I’m looking for Qi Hanyi. She’s not feeling well right now, and I can help her. It’s urgent. Do you know where she is?”

“Ah, the Admiral is sick?” As a lower-level pilot, the other person seemed unaware of Qi Hanyi’s condition and appeared somewhat surprised, but didn’t think anything serious, saying, “The Admiral set out on the day of the incident; calculating the time, she should have found the queen bug by now. I wouldn’t know exactly where it is; the queen could be hiding anywhere, but the Admiral always finds a way. Given her efficiency, she should win back in a few days. I’ll report to the space station commander, and you can wait here for the Admiral to return.”

“No need, I’ll go find her directly. Thank you for the information.” Su Su already obtained the information he wanted and was ready to leave.

“But you’re still a newbie, right? Are you really going to go by yourself? Does your starship have a co-pilot? This distance isn’t something you can quickly cover, and you might encounter battles at any moment; it’s too dangerous…” The guard tried to persuade him, but Su Su had already hung up the communication.

The guard watched helplessly as Su Su piloted the Silver Shark further and further away, finally disappearing from sight.

“Hey! Going over like this? Isn’t that courting death?” The guard was anxious but could only report the situation to the space station’s commander without taking any other action.

At this time, Su Su piloted the starship steadily, having long since discarded the clumsiness of his earlier attempts. He pushed the starship to maximum speed, the silver shark darting through the void like a released arrow.

The Silver Shark possessed its own cloaking system, yet Su Su opted to boldly reveal himself, drawing the bugs to attack him. From their incoming directions and paths, he gauged the queen’s location.

The price of being attention-grabbing was the continuous appearance of bugs attacking.

The young pilot rapidly grew through frequent battles, overcoming life-and-death crises, and creating miracles time after time.

Su Su never thought about the danger, nor did he care about death; he only focused on one thing: to survive, find Qi Hanyi, and then bring her home.

Alone without a co-pilot, he couldn’t rest during the long piloting sessions. Once the starship left orbit, he had to maintain a high concentration of mental force. Only when he truly couldn’t hold on any longer did he seek a relatively safe spot to activate the cloaking mode and take a short nap.

After enduring twenty-eight continuous hours of travel and numerous battles, Su Su finally arrived at the battlefield where Qi Hanyi was located.

By this time, the Silver Shark was battered and bruised, no longer resembling its form before takeoff, while Su Su had become increasingly adept, transforming from a novice to a skilled pilot.

His sharp maneuvers and prepared judgments, however, seemed to contrast sharply with his appearance—his eyes sunken, face pale, looking as if he could collapse at any moment.

Finally, after enduring near-collapse and torment, Su Su spotted it—far away in the cosmos, a glimmer like starlight illuminating the darkness around it. It was the Bai Ze; he had found it—his star.