210: The prey's counterattack and the Titan's carcass

Inside the power compartment, the low-frequency hum from the gravity generator sounded like the gasps of a dying behemoth.

Conventional lighting had long since been cut; only a few backup emergency lights flickered on their last legs, casting intermittent, crimson patches of light. The darkness was as thick as physical pitch, swallowing countless intricate cooling pipes.

"Screeeech—"

A grating friction sound shattered the dead silence.

Reno was bare-chested. His thick, pitch-black mechanical arm wasn't retracted; instead, it looked like a heavy instrument of torture. His five fingers were slightly splayed, and his alloy claws were intentionally dragged across the grated floor.

As he walked, bursts of dazzling sparks erupted in the darkness, momentarily illuminating his scarred and hideous face.

"Come out, little mouse."

Reno's voice echoed in the cavernous compartment, filled with undisguised wildness and provocation. He didn't creep along the walls like a trained soldier; instead, he strode boldly down the center of the main corridor, turning himself into a moving target.

"Weren't you acting pretty arrogant outside just now? Why is it that once you're in the cage, you're afraid to make a sound?"

He stopped, his mechanical eye spinning frantically as it scanned for heat signatures. However, the area was filled with overheated steam pipes, resulting in a chaotic mess of red and white noise on the thermal imager.

Three meters above his head, on a ventilation duct shrouded in shadow.

The assassin disguised as a maintenance worker was hanging upside down like a gecko. He was covered in the Black Water Conglomerate's top-tier optical camouflage, and even his respiratory heat was sealed by a specialized protective suit.

Through the sickly green vision of his night-vision goggles, the assassin watched the lumbering brute below, a contemptuous sneer curling his lips.

This was the fleet Commander of Hanhai Trade?

A boor who only knew how to use brute force.

The assassin silently released his magnetic suction gloves, his body gliding down like a falling leaf. He adjusted his posture in mid-air, gripping his high-frequency vibration dagger in a reverse hold, aiming directly for the gap in the vertebrae at the back of Reno's neck.

That was the most fragile connection point of the human body. As long as the nerves were severed, this bear would turn into a pile of limp meat.

Closer.

Three meters. Two meters. One meter.

Reno seemed to still be shouting at the air, completely oblivious to the god of death descending over his head.

A flash of cruel satisfaction crossed the assassin's eyes. With a flick of his wrist, the dagger turned into an invisible fang, stabbing down fiercely.

"Ding!"

Instead of the expected muffled sound of a blade entering flesh, a crisp metallic clang rang out.

The assassin felt as if his wrist had struck a diamond plate. The massive recoil numbed his hand, and the dagger nearly flew from his grip.

Beneath that seemingly rough human skin, a layer of fine, honeycomb-like pale gold light patterns emerged.

That was the subcutaneous cuticle reinforcement Eve had performed on Reno, utilizing high-dimensional biotechnology combined with gene samples from the 'Rock Guard' race.

"Got you."

Reno, who had his back turned, suddenly let out a low, sinister laugh.

This wasn't dullness at all; it was bait.

Reno's mechanical arm, which had been dragging on the floor, whipped back with a terrifying speed that completely defied inertia. The air was instantly torn apart, letting out a shrill sonic boom.

The assassin was struck with horror. Instincts honed over years on the edge of life and death saved him. He forcibly twisted his waist in mid-air and used his exoskeleton to blast a jet of air, shifting his body half a meter to the side.

"Boom!"

The mechanical claws grazed the tip of the assassin's nose and slammed into a main cooling pipe half a meter in diameter.

The hard alloy pipe was as fragile as a piece of fried dough under that grip, instantly crushed and torn open. High-pressure steam erupted, mixing with sparks to turn the surroundings into a white-hot purgatory.

"Quick reactions."

Reno shook off the debris from his mechanical arm and turned around, his single eye locking onto the assassin who had landed in the shadows nearby.

"But this place is only so big. How many times can you dodge?"

The assassin didn't speak. He looked at the easily crushed metal pipe, the contempt in his eyes finally turning into gravity.

That level of output... it definitely wasn't a product of a low-dimensional civilization. That was a terrifying torque that only the main cannon servo systems of high-dimensional warships possessed.

This big guy was a monster... Bridge Command Center.

Warning red boxes popped up frantically on the holographic screen like snowflakes, and the piercing alarm was almost enough to burst eardrums.

"Port thruster thrust imbalance! Law turbulence is tearing at the armor plating!"

"Shield generator overloaded to 120%, estimated collapse in thirty seconds!"

The entire vengeance shook violently, like a small skiff tossing in a hurricane. Every metal plate let out an overburdened groan.

Eve sat at the main control console, her hands moving across the virtual keyboard in a blur. Her silver hair moved without wind, and the data stream in her eyes was so fast it blurred into a sheet of white light.

"This is the path K gave us?"

Eve gritted her teeth while frantically rewriting the attitude control algorithms. "This isn't a shipping lane at all! This is a gap in a gravitational collapse zone! If we deviate by even 0.01 degrees, we'll be torn to shreds by the gravitational waves on both sides!"

On the screen, the green safe route was like a frantically writhing snake, weaving through countless red zones representing death.

This was a "suicide route" that only madmen and desperados would dare to take.

"It's precisely because it's a dead end that the Alliance fleet won't dare to follow us in."

Chen Feng sat firmly in the Commander's chair, his hands gripping the armrests tightly as his body swayed with the ship's jolts, but his voice remained terrifyingly calm.

"Since K could give us this map, it means someone has made it through."

He looked up, his gaze passing through the holographic projection to the chaotic and distorted starry sky ahead.

"Eve, forget the shields. Divert all energy to the engines."

"But if we hit an asteroid..."

"No buts," Chen Feng interrupted her, his gaze sharp as a knife. "Since we're walking a tightrope, then run. The faster we go, the less likely we are to fall."

"...Madmen. You're all madmen."

Eve cursed under her breath, but her hands didn't hesitate. She slammed the control lever down, pushing the energy output valve to the limit.

"Then let's be crazy together!"

...Inside the power compartment, the battle had reached a fever pitch.

Steam filled the air, and red lights flashed.

Reno was like an untiring bulldozer, frantically pursuing the agile figure. Every punch he threw left a shocking crater in the compartment walls.

The assassin moved swiftly among the pipes, using the complex terrain to evade Reno's attacks. His dagger occasionally left white marks on Reno's body, but he was unable to inflict a fatal wound.

Damn it! This monster's skin is too thick!

Moreover, as time passed, the assassin discovered to his horror that Reno's speed was actually increasing.

That mechanical arm seemed to be adapting to his rhythm; every attack angle was more cunning than the last, and the space he blocked off grew larger and larger.

He couldn't delay any longer.

The assassin glanced at the terminal on his wrist. The ship was traversing the turbulence zone at full speed, and the violent vibrations had nearly caused him to lose his footing several times.

If this continued, even if he wasn't killed by this monster, he would be caught in the ship's disintegration.

A flash of frantic resolve appeared in the assassin's eyes.

If he couldn't complete the mission, they would go down together.

He suddenly pulled his last high-explosive thermal fusion grenade from his waist. He didn't throw it at Reno; instead, he turned and rushed toward the core control valve of the power reactor.

If he blew that up, the entire ship would instantly become a firework in space.

"You dare!"

Reno roared, the alloy floor beneath his feet exploding as he shot forward like a cannonball.

But the distance was too great.

The assassin had already reached the control valve, his finger hooked into the detonator ring.

"Die, you bastard!"

The assassin sneered, about to pull the ring.

Just then, a sudden change occurred.

The originally smooth metal wall beside the assassin suddenly rippled like liquid.

Without any warning, a pair of pitch-black arms, seemingly made of pitch, shot out from the wall.

It was Shadow.

Although her left shoulder was seriously injured and she couldn't sustain a long fight, she had been lurking nearby using her mimicry ability, waiting for this fatal strike.

Those black arms were as fast as lightning, instantly pinning the assassin's arms and neck, slamming him against the wall next to the control valve.

"What..."

The assassin's pupils shrank as he struggled desperately. But he felt as if he had been cast in cement; the black substance was rapidly hardening, locking all his joints.

"Nice work, Shadow!"

Reno's figure was already looming over him.

A massive shadow blotted out the red light of the emergency lamps, completely swallowing the assassin.

That massive mechanical hand, radiating a dark red glow, clamped onto the assassin's head with a whistling wind.

Fingers tightened.

"Crackle, crackle..."

The assassin's helmet let out an overburdened cracking sound.

"Don't... I'm Blackwater..."

The assassin tried to beg for mercy in terror, his voice becoming distorted and shrill as his skull was compressed.

"Too much talk."

Reno coldly spat out three words.

The hydraulic system within the mechanical arm erupted.

*Splat!*

It was like crushing a ripe tomato.

Blood and brains mixed with helmet fragments, exploding into a ghastly flower in the power compartment. The headless corpse twitched twice and then went completely limp.

Reno let go, allowing the corpse to slide down. He glanced at the pale Shadow, who had separated from the wall, and grinned, baring his white teeth.

"Thanks."

Shadow held her bleeding left shoulder and shook her head weakly, her body becoming blurred once more... "We're out!"

On the bridge, Eve let out a cheer of relief.

With a grating sound of twisting metal, the vengeance finally broke free from the shackles of the last gravitational turbulence.

The frantically dancing auroras and distorted star lines outside the window vanished instantly.

The view suddenly opened up.

Chen Feng stood up from the Commander's chair and walked to the massive observation window.

The sight before them plunged the entire bridge into a deathly silence.

There was no brilliant galaxy, nor was there a dark void.

At the end of their vision, a massive, dark-red planet hung quietly.

It didn't look like a planet; it looked more like a dead, rotting heart. The planet's surface was covered in massive, vein-like mountain ranges, and dark red dust clouds flowed slowly through the atmosphere, exuding a suffocating sense of oppression.

That was the location of the Titan Fortress.

But that wasn't the most unsettling part.

In the planet's outer orbit, countless massive wrecks were floating.

Chen Feng narrowed his eyes, letting his visual system zoom in.

When he saw the true nature of those wrecks, even with his composure, his pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly.

Those weren't the wrecks of ships.

Those were massive, long-dried biological corpses.

Some were like giant whales several kilometers long, their skeletons exposed and covered in frost; others were like multi-legged arthropods with shattered carapaces, floating in the vacuum like broken islands.

They just floated quietly on the outskirts of the Titan Fortress, as if they were a ring of stars made of corpses, silently telling of the tragic war that had once occurred here.

"This place..."

Reno had just walked onto the bridge, the smell of blood still clinging to him, when he was awestruck by the sight.

"Is this a graveyard?"

Chen Feng looked at the dead planet and the giant corpses floating like ghosts around it, a strong premonition rising in his heart.

That so-called Titan Project was probably even more insane and dangerous than K had described.

"Stay alert."

Chen Feng's voice broke the silence, sounding exceptionally clear in the deathly quiet bridge.

"We've arrived."

The fleet slowly sailed into that ring of corpses. The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet, with only the faint hum of the engines. This deathly silence was more hair-raising than the fierce battle from moments ago.

It was as if on that dark red planet, an invisible pair of eyes was coldly watching these reckless intruders.