8: Let's go, the Natural Selection is about to take off

“Buzz—!”

A dull hum came from deep within the ship's core, and the entire Natural Selection vibrated violently.

“Warning: Anti-gravity engine activated. The ship will experience severe tremors. All crew members please be advised.”

“Ah!”

Gu Zhixia had just stood up and hadn't even taken a step when she stumbled, lost her balance, and cried out as she fell backward.

She instinctively closed her eyes and fell into a wide, soft seat—the co-pilot's seat she had just sprung from.

Before she could recover from the sudden turn of events, a powerful sense of g-force abruptly hit her.

She opened her eyes in astonishment and, through the huge alloy porthole, saw the sea level, which had been parallel to them, plummeting rapidly!

“We... we really flew up!”

Gu Zhixia held onto the armrest of the seat to barely steady herself. She looked at the rapidly shrinking sea outside, her pretty face, flushed with embarrassment, now filled with undisguised shock.

“Brother Mo! You big meanie! You didn't even call me when you flew the spaceship!”

The cockpit door slid open with a “swish,” and Gu Nianqiu rushed in, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She was wearing a cute lace nightgown, her small face full of the grievance of “you're playing without me.”

“You were sleeping like a little pig, almost drooling. How could I bear to disturb you?” Lin Mo said without looking back, his attention completely focused on the new control interface that had appeared before him.

“I was not!” Nianqiu pouted playfully and ran to Lin Mo in a few steps, unceremoniously pushing him aside, also wanting to touch the control stick that looked so fun.

Gu Zhixia casually pressed her little head back into the seat beside her.

“Stop messing around, sit tight.”

“Flight Module Control Instructions Loaded.”

“Pushing the joystick forward and backward controls the ship's forward and backward movement.”

“Pushing the joystick left and right controls the ship's lateral movement.”

“Pushing the joystick up and down controls the ship's ascent and descent.”

“Rotating the joystick controls the ship's turning.”

“Warning: When the super capacitor charge is below 10%, the system will forcibly execute the landing procedure. Please ensure the landing area is a safe sea level.”

So that's how it is.

Lin Mo gripped the futuristic metal joystick and gently pushed it forward.

“Whoosh—!”

The Natural Selection's engine let out a high-pitched roar, and the massive ship carved a graceful arc in the air, accelerating sharply forward!

The clouds outside were instantly stretched into white lines.

“Wah ah ah ah!”

Gu Nianqiu's screams were full of excitement. Her little face was pressed tightly against the porthole, watching the boundless blue ocean below, her legs kicking excitedly.

Lin Mo pushed the speed directly to its current limit.

“Current flight speed: 45km/h.”

“Sister! Quick! Let's go to the balcony!” Gu Nianqiu pulled up Gu Zhixia, who was still in shock, and rushed to the terrace restaurant on the second floor.

The biting high-altitude sea breeze howled in, making the sisters' hair fly wildly.

Gu Nianqiu spread her arms, facing the strong wind, and let out a string of joyful, bell-like laughter, her skirt rustling in the wind. “This is great! We're flying! We're really flying in the sky!”

Gu Zhixia instinctively reached out to hold down the hem of her jk uniform skirt, which was almost flipping up. The sea breeze brushed her flushed cheeks, bringing a cool sensation. She looked at the vast blue sea far below, then up at the clouds that seemed within reach, feeling a sense of unreality.

All of this was too unreal.

“Sister, do you think we're dreaming?” Nianqiu turned her head and shouted, her eyes remarkably bright.

Gu Zhixia didn't answer, but her sharp phoenix eyes also flickered with a strange light.

“Brother Mo! Look ahead!” Nianqiu suddenly pointed to the distant horizon, “There's a small island there!”

Gu Zhixia also looked in the direction she pointed. With her extraordinary vision, enhanced by her Weapon Master Talent, she clearly saw a lush green island at the junction of sea and sky.

In the cockpit, Lin Mo had already reduced the spaceship's speed and began to circle above the island.

On his system map, the island was marked as a faintly shimmering red dot.

“Resource Point: Goblin Outpost.”

“Let's observe first and see if there are any threats,” Lin Mo's steady voice came through the ship's intercom to the terrace.

“Alrighty!”

Gu Nianqiu leaned over the railing, trying hard to look down, her little face quickly scrunching up. “Huh? There's a bunch of green little dwarves down there! They're so ugly!”

“Those are Goblins,” Gu Zhixia added from the side, her expression becoming serious. “A low-level but highly aggressive communal creature that usually establishes outposts to plunder resources.”

Lin Mo's gaze was fixed on the high-definition image transmitted by the detection system on the main screen.

On the island, seven small, dark-green-skinned Goblins, armed with crude bone clubs, were wandering around without discipline. In the center of the island, there was a simple wooden hut made of poor-quality wood, the interior of which was unclear.

And in the open space in front of the hut, a magnificent treasure chest, glinting with dazzling golden light, was brazenly placed there.

“Seven patrolling outside, the situation inside the wooden hut is unknown,” Lin Mo analyzed calmly. “Our target is that chest.”

Just as the Natural Selection was completing its second circle around the island, a crisp notification sound rang in Lin Mo's mind.

“System notification: Natural Selection has leveled up to LV4, gaining Ship Exchange Points * 10.”

The experience bar was full.

The 3x experience from flying was truly satisfying.

Lin Mo unhesitatingly opened the ship upgrade interface, his gaze directly locking onto the “Weapon Module.”

A row of new options unfolded before him.

“Ship-mounted Machine Gun: Requires 5 Exchange Points to unlock. Attack Power 40, low range, fire rate 5 rounds/second, consumes ammunition.”

“Tracking Missile: Requires 8 Exchange Points to unlock. Attack Power 80, high range, fire rate 2 rounds/second, consumes ammunition, causes secondary damage upon explosion after hitting the target.”

“Energy Beam: Requires 10 Exchange Points to unlock. Attack Power 100, highest range, fire rate 1 round/second, requires manual aiming, consumes power.”

The machine gun's sustained firepower was good, but its range might not be enough. The energy beam had the greatest power, but its fire rate was too slow, and the error tolerance was low.

Tracking Missile, decent damage, good fire rate, and with a lock-on function. Most importantly, it could cause secondary damage from explosions, so the actual damage would definitely be much higher than the 80 points on the panel.

The Energy Beam looked good, but manual aiming was indeed troublesome, and the hit rate on moving targets would be low.

“This is it,” Lin Mo decided.

“'Tracking Missile' module exchanged. Initial missiles * 20 gifted. Subsequent replenishment requires materials.”

Lin Mo's lips curved into a cold arc. He pressed the communication button.

“You two, stand firm. Watch a fireworks show.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he activated the weapon system.

The main screen instantly switched to attack mode. The seven Goblins wandering around, as well as the small wooden hut, were each enclosed in a bright red lock-on box.

The Goblins on the island seemed to sense something. They all raised their ugly heads and let out incoherent roars at the steel behemoth in the sky that was blocking the sunlight.

“Fire.”

Lin Mo softly uttered two words.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The alloy armor on both sides of the Natural Selection's hull silently slid open, revealing two dark launch ports. Several tracking missiles, trailing long white smoke and shimmering with tail flames, whistled down at a tricky angle!

The Goblins screamed in terror, dropped their bone clubs, and scattered.

But it was all too late.

Boom! Boom! Rumble—!

Deafening explosions rang out one after another, and the scorching fire and shockwaves instantly engulfed those green figures.

“Goblin * 11 killed.”

Clearance, preparing to land.