83: The fear of being sniped by an old lady

(Disclaimer: This story does not feature supernatural powers; the main plot focuses on technological warfare.)

(Some parts might contain Easter eggs, tributes, or memes,)

(But they will definitely not become the mainstream.)

..."All fleet firepower deployed."

Dozens of minutes later, near the edge of the small Asteroid Belt that had been fortunately selected.

The fleet Xi Hai brought on this trip, excluding the 30 kalilein ships patrolling the perimeter, had all joined the furious bombardment of the Asteroids.

Countless shells, torpedoes, Missiles, and Pulse Beams rained down as if they were free,

causing innumerable small fragments to be stripped away.

Thank goodness,

although there were many Void Creatures mimicking bugs, they had not yet reached the point of filling the entire Star System—

The Explosive Mining proceeded smoothly; apart from a few smaller, solitary individuals slowly approaching, no large units appeared.

A large quantity of preliminarily processed Minerals was sorted and stored in the Warships' Storage Modules,

The fleet's storage capacity was now two-thirds full.

Standing on the Bridge, Xi Hai looked at the continuously filling resources, immensely satisfied:

He had feasted, and nobody was interfering.

Moreover, when he retreated later, he could directly enter Warp Status from his current position, without even the chance of being ambushed at a choke point.

Hahaha, excellent!

Once he returned this time, he wouldn't have to worry about resources for a while!

It's just, are these bugs a bit too docile?

Is it because they've been out for too long and have started hibernating in various environments?

Xi Hai didn't believe that the Void Creatures, which historically fought the Second Empire that once ruled all humanity for six years, would be this lackluster.

Are these bugs holding back for some big move?

Are they preparing to gather and charge out?

He had a bad feeling—these bugs weren't going to attack the space station he had just captured, were they?

"Object detected approaching rapidly on the Starboard Side!"

"Suspected Projectile!"

"Enemy vessel has locked onto our position!"

Suddenly, dense alarms blared on the Bridge, interrupting Xi Hai's thoughts,

His eyes instantly cleared up:

Good news: they weren't targeting my space station.

Bad news: bu hao! They're coming for me!

Almost simultaneously, massive ripples burst open in mid-air—

They were Plasma Rounds fired from an unknown location!

Naturally, the "storm" beneath Xi Hai's feet was not the only one under attack,

Outside the window, blue Plasma Spheres struck like raindrops,

A lancer couldn't dodge in time and was hit on the Hull,

A large hole was immediately ripped open in the black Armor,

Several blue powered armor suits seemed unable to dodge, were sucked right out of the breach, and thrown into the Cosmos.

Xi Hai saw this scene and silently expressed sympathy and mourning for their misfortune—

In the Cosmos, once Crew Members separate from the Warship, finding them again is harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

The Life Support System of the fully enclosed powered armor could guarantee their survival for a month through internal circulation, but that was useless except for letting them drift in space for an extra month.

Loneliness would make them wish for death.

"Enemy position locked!"

"At the asteroid 34 degrees in the 5 o'clock direction!"

"Numerous cruiser-class units!"

The radar operated rapidly, and the broadcast confirming the enemy's location soon sounded over the channel.

"Adjust status!"

"Unmanned Warships forward! Act as Shield Ships!"

"Display enemy visuals!"

Only when truly encountering this situation did Xi Hai realize that Unmanned Warships were better as cannon fodder for taking hits.

Fortunately, he had brought 20 unmanned Armored FG300s for transporting and collecting the blasted Minerals.

"The attack is coming again!"

No way? That fast?

The fleet hadn't yet recovered from the previous wave of strikes,

And a new wave was already here?

This rate of fire immediately made Xi Hai's scalp tingle.

The fear of having a Large Health Pack in his backpack only to be Head-Locked by an Ultra-Aggressive Old Lady using a Semi-Automatic Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle in the Launch Zone resurfaced from the bottom of his heart—

Overwhelming Plasma Spheres flew in once more.

And unlike the first wave, which was purely area saturation,

He could tell that this wave of attack was aimed at focusing fire on the "storm" beneath his feet!

"Shield Drones deploy rapidly!"

"Starboard Maneuvering Engines full power! Emergency Evasion!"

A powerful thrust came from the right, and Xi Hai barely managed to stand steady by bracing himself with his powered armor.

At this moment, the enemy's figures were fully revealed:

They were a dozen massive bugs,

Their upper bodies were long, cylindrical straight tubes, and behind them were thick, short, dense tentacles—just like a group of Orthocones.

That's right, these things were products imitated by the Void Creatures' collective consciousness after a slight study of the weapon systems on the Warships they had parasitized.

At the same time, they were a little surprise prepared for the Defense Force trapped in the Base on Planet Four.

The dense blue spheres flew into view in the blink of an eye.

Although the emergency brake did allow the "storm" to avoid some attacks, a large number of Plasma Rounds still hit the Shields formed by the drones, creating countless ripples like water waves.

Soon, the drone's Shield Generation Device began to overheat and cool down,

The Shields in mid-air dimmed and gradually disappeared, allowing several Plasma Spheres to slam heavily onto the "storm"'s Front Armor—

However, under the effect of the Nanliang Compensation Armor, these Plasma Spheres, which clearly belonged to the category of Energy Attacks, dispersed the moment they contacted the Warship, causing no significant damage to the Hull.

But the vibration on the Bridge was definitely not small—Xi Hai, who had just managed to stand steady, finally fell.

By facing this round of focused fire, the storm undoubtedly bought time for the other Warships to adjust.

The fleet was now basically ready.

The Fire Control System had finished aiming.

The 20 Armored FG300s acting as Shield Ships pushed forward between the fleet and the Shelling Bugs (the name Xi Hai had just thought of).

Several Shield Drones carried by the CAS066 flew to the very front, ready to deploy Shields at any moment.

Looking at the creatures whose upper bodies were lighting up blue again on the screen, Xi Hai, who had just gotten up, felt extremely annoyed.

Still want to fight?

If you're so enthusiastic, then don't leave!

He grabbed the microphone next to him, switched to the fleet channel, and shouted:

"Attention all! Full Salvo!"

As soon as the order was given, the entire fleet reacted immediately:

Burning points of death lit up in mid-air, flying towards the group of Shelling Bugs—those were countless Missiles, torpedoes, and shells;

The storm's Bow Main Gun also finished locking on, and a bright, thick stream of ion beams rushed out of the muzzle, instantly illuminating half the fleet.

"Confirmed annihilation!"

The storm's main gun was the first to hit the Shelling Bugs.

The thick, long beam swept across, turning everything it touched into a speed bump and knocking it away.

Dense Kinetic Strikes followed closely behind.

Those fragile Biomass Armors exploded into a mess just by being grazed.

"Looks like they're just glass cannons."

On the screen, watching the Shelling Bugs suffer heavy losses and begin to scatter and flee,

Xi Hai wondered,

Did these bugs create a bunch of such awesome stuff just to put on a big show for him?

He instinctively felt something was wrong.

The resources weren't fully stocked, but they were barely sufficient.

Running into this kind of trouble, Xi Hai couldn't afford to keep Mining.

Just like Ururu will definitely refresh on the Bridge when you have a Large Health Pack in your bag,

Xi Hai instinctively felt that with so much stuff in his Warehouse,

if he didn't retreat soon, many more strange bugs would definitely pop out to attack him.

"Organize inventory!"

"Prepare for Withdrawal..."

However, just as he began to issue the order to retreat,

The Radar Operator's voice sounded again—

"Large number of objects rapidly approaching on the Starboard Side!"

"Suspected Projectiles and torpedoes!"

"Estimated time of contact: nine seconds!"

Well, now he couldn't leave again.