“Just put in more effort and kill it!” Xia Fei’s eyes were scarlet as he fiendishly ordered.
This Armageddon-class was already on the verge of collapse, fire gushing out of it and the occasional explosions coming from within it, proclaiming its imminent doomsday.
Xia Fei was very excited.
He could not help but be excited.
As one of the first people in the alliance to obtain a brand-new and elite heavy-assault cruiser, he was very likely to be the first person in the human-occupied territory to use such a cruiser in battle.
Reality proved that heavy-assault cruisers had an enormous advantage when dealing with a single battleship. Of course, this advantage was based on the fact that his foe was not very familiar with this new model of battleship.
If the Armageddon-class had been fitted with a stasis webifier like the Impaler and was able to keep his ship immobile, it could volley it with its large pulse laser cannons, and Xia Fei’s chances of survival would be grim in that scenario.
If the battleship was equipped with the capture, energy drain, and electronic disruption systems, then while the Impaler might not lose, victory today would not be so easy.
Battleships were of enormous sizes, and the fireworks produced by their explosion were incomparable, lighting up the entire night sky.
Unsatisfied, Xia Fei prepared to destroy the five other warships which had arrived as reinforcements. Alas, when he looked at his radar and prepared to give the order to charge, several temporary wormholes opened up. Upon seeing one of their friendly warships destroyed, these scoundrels actually chose to run away.
Xia Fei lit a cigarette and sat back in the command chair. As he recalled the battle just then, his lips curled up into a smile.
“I still think that you’re being too risky just then. Heavy-assault cruisers can take on battleships, which are two levels higher, but only in theory. How could you just start attacking without even being sure of your chances of winning? It’s a good thing the enemy’s backup ships couldn’t approach in time, or else we would suffer a big loss,” Phantom resentfully said.
Xia Fei blew out a smoke circle before casually remarking, “If you don’t put things into practice, you’ll never know the truth. I was actually planning to run away, but when I saw that the Impaler needed only three volleys to destroy a Tormentor, I changed my mind.
“That sort of fantastical battle is only plausible right now. Once the entire alliance learns of these heavy-assault cruisers and begin researching ways to deal with the heaven-defying T2 elite ships, we’ll have to choose our battles more carefully.”
Xia Fei paused a moment before continuing. “Today, I once more verified the theory that I’ve always been pushing for.”
“What theory?”
“There’s no such thing as the strongest ship or strongest module. The ship is just a platform. The parts that one installs on this platform ultimately decide the function of the ship.”
…
Xia Fei did not spend much time chatting with Phantom. Phantom was an amateur when it came to ships, modules, and machinery, and he found nothing of interest in chatting with an amateur. Moreover, Windchime’s unknown fate still hung heavily in Xia Fei’s heart.
Old Porter was very fond of Windchime. If something really happened to her, the old man might be unable to recover. He was necessary to Quantum Holdings, and anything that happened to him would have far-reaching effects on the expansion plans Xia Fei was planning to carry out.
The ship descended in a sea of fire. The powerful sandstorm had fanned the flames into an even greater frenzy.
Xia Fei wrapped a scarf around his mouth. This was to block the sand, but it was also because he disliked the smell of burning corpses. Everyone would die, but to die without dignity like this made Xia Fei somewhat sad.
In the shattered city, a small number of people began coming out to clean up their pillaged homes. A naked woman sat in a gloomy corner, her head buried in her arms as she wept. Her disheveled hair and filth-covered body told everyone what sort of nightmare she had experienced. An old man looked at his collapsed house and sighed. Bending down, he began to sort through the debris for anything useful.
Turning the corner, Xia Fei saw several people attempting to put out the flames of a burning house. A useless man wailed. “It’s gone; it’s all gone!” His head was buried in his arms. His wife was made of tougher stuff; with a babe wrapped in swaddling cloth as it sucked on her breast, she angrily cursed her good-for-nothing husband and ordered him to stand back up. It was fine as long as they were still alive; a house could be rebuilt while lives lost could not be returned.
A man, who was helping out with the fire, noticed Xia Fei. He used an arm to wipe at the sweat on his forehead, leaving behind a pitch-black stain.
“Have you come to find Miss Windchime?” asked the man once he reached him.
Xia Fei very cautiously nodded.
The man sighed. “I’ve seen you before. You ate quite a lot of chilis at Windchime’s bar. That’s the first time I’ve seen someone eat so many chilis.”
“Is the bar okay?” Xia Fei asked.
The man shook his head. “It’s gone, but Miss Windchime is still around. I’ll take you to her.”
Xia Fei nodded and followed the man out of the city.
The sandstorm’s power was blunted within the city, but as soon as he got out, he found it hard to open his eyes. As Xia Fei followed the man five or six kilometers out into the arid desert, he grew increasingly suspicious.
Windchime was a frail woman, so why had she run off into the boundless desert?
In front of him, he could vaguely make out yellow castles of sand. The locals had made them by mixing sand with a special type of resin, and it was said that they were tougher than steel. They were buildings unique to this planet, but with the increasing desertification of the land, the resin used to build these castles was nowhere to be found. This particular castle, which was in a state of disrepair, had probably been built a long time ago.
“Come on; Miss Windchime is inside.” The man turned to Xia Fei as he spoke aloud.
The sandstorm blew strongly here, and the man needed to shout with all his strength for Xia Fei to hear him.
Xia Fei nodded but said nothing; instead, he secretly took out the Lifeseeker Tri-dagger, keeping it concealed in his palm.
Pushing open the door, the man warmly called Xia Fei over. “Little brother, hurry and get in. The sandstorm outside is too strong. There’s water in here that you can use to wash your face.”
Just like all the buildings built by the locals, the doors and windows were double-layered to keep out the sand. Yellow dust had covered the windows, casting the room into darkness.
Xia Fei frowned and suddenly charged inside!
*Whoosh!* The sharp edge of the dagger swept across the necks of the gunmen hiding in the shadows.
The Lifeseeker Tri-dagger moved up as Xia Fei pressed its edge on the man’s neck. The man had just been about to give Xia Fei water to wash his face, but the shabby metal basin had instead struck the ground with a *clank*. Accompanying it were the thuds of bodies hitting the ground.
The man was dumbfounded. Xia Fei had taken less than a second to kill these people. This sort of superhuman strength was far beyond his abilities to handle. His face turned ashen, sweat drenching his forehead.
“Who are you? What happened to Windchime?” Xia Fei coldly asked, his eyes flashing. He had no reason to treat people who had tried to ambush him kindly.
…
Around another three hundred kilometers into the desert was a canyon. Xia Fei carried the man as if he were a little chicken as he looked down the canyon.
“Windchime is down there?”
“Yes, Windchime and the rebel army are hiding in this canyon, but I don’t know their exact location.”
*Crack!*
With a light twist of his palm, Xia Fei snapped the man’s arm; upon which, the man fainted from the pain.
*Pak pak!*
With two heavy slaps, Xia Fei brutally awakened the man.
“Tell me the truth.”
“Seventy kilometers to the south is Windchime’s base. There are venomous snakes here. You absolutely shouldn’t go down.”
“There we go.”
*Whoosh!*
He disappeared once more. Seventy kilometers was just a light stroll to Xia Fei, and he arrived almost instantly.
With the man’s directions, Xia Fei made his way down the twisting road into the canyon. Things were much calmer at the bottom of the canyon, with the biting winds blowing overhead.
Caves had been dug out of the sides of the canyon, appearing very old.
“They used to mine Shire Ore here. Windchime and her group are hiding in these mine shafts. These shafts are all connected, so Mister Lorenzo can’t flush them out even though he wants to.” The man hurriedly divulged what he knew, fearing that Xia Fei would be unhappy and give him another slap.
He had barely spoken when Xia Fei gave him another firm slap, striking him dumb.
“There’s no need to call that Lo-whatever, who’s chasing Windchime, ‘mister’.” Xia Fei viciously spat.
Xia Fei was a speed ability user and also had very sharp senses and observation abilities. Thus, it had not taken long for him to notice that there was someone hiding in a cave and watching him.
“I’m Xia Fei. I’ve come to find Windchime. Please inform her as quickly as possible!”
Xia Fei shouted at the cave and then sat himself on a rock and lit a cigarette.
He threw his captive to the ground so hard that the man saw stars.
It was not long before he heard clear and bright laughter in the distance. “Xia Fei, why are you here?”
Xia Fei followed the voice and saw Old Porter’s close female friend, Windchime. She was dressed in a combat attire, had a Cortez Model 4 lasergun at her hip, and had a military knife sheathed into her leather boot. She had a rather valiant and heroic bearing.
…
The hot and spicy chili meal once more ignited Xia Fei’s appetite. Windchime smiled on the side as she watched. Farther off were a group of strong-looking men holding a variety of weapons. They were a motley band of soldiers.
“Miss Windchime, when did you suddenly become part of the rebel army?” Xia Fei asked as he put out his cigarette.
Windchime passed over a napkin so that he could clean his face, and then she chuckled. “I’ve always been. The last time you came, I was already planning on overthrowing Lorenzo’s regime. With the Death Tri-region embroiled in a free-for-all, the situation is getting worse and worse, more and more complicated. This is our chance.”
Lorenzo was a local tyrant in the Black Abyss, and this planet belonged to him. From what Windchime had said, the man was an absolute tyrant who had committed all kinds of misdeeds, making life extremely hard for the common folk.
“Porter… Is he doing well?” Windchime hesitated a moment before asking.
Xia Fei replied, “He’s okay. He’s thrown himself into work, hardly giving himself any time to eat. It’s probably because thinking about a certain person makes his heart ache too much, so he doesn’t dare to give himself any free time.”
Windchime grimaced, and then she silently lowered her head, a hint of shame and remorse on her face.
“Come with me to the Alliance. At least, there’s no war there, and life will be quieter,” Xia Fei sincerely said.
Windchime shook her head. “Look at that. All these brothers are depending on me, and all the people here are looking forward to the day where they get free. How could I abandon them?”
Xia Fei smiled, but just when he was about to make his prepared argument to persuade Windchime into coming with him, a man wearing a golden necklace walked over and mysteriously said, “Miss Windchime, the time has come. We must set out now.”
“Miss Windchime, why don’t you talk later. If we can get the Gilded Greenface beast, we’ll have the money to buy the guns and ammo to take down Lorenzo’s base,” a man with a large beard quipped.
The man with a necklace rolled his eyes, seemingly annoyed by his comrade’s bluntness.
Xia Fei froze, then he swiftly asked, “Is that Gilded Greenface beast the one that can use the elements of ice and fire?”
