Chapter 149 Finals (Part 3)

"Hit the bull's eye!——"

The bright blue high-speed mental cannon hit the sharp inward-bending angle of the conical grid, and the high-speed collision of energy particles once again splashed sparks.

The purple starship continued to sail forward steadily. This tiny force did not seem to cause any trouble to the starship's progress, but the concave and distorted concave shape of the conical grid that deepened inward seemed like a countdown to its imminent fall.

"Hit the bull's eye!" the commentator on the live broadcast platform repeated loudly.

He projected the colorful impact areas of the two attacks on the screen, pointing his cane at the bright red and green points of impact. "Ninety-nine percent of the two attack circles overlap! The curved portion of the conical grid is once again being forced inward! The distortion has reached fifty percent!—"

"When the distortion reaches 100%, the conical grid will break!"

The comment section, which had been so focused on the battle situation that the discussion had slowed down, has regained its vitality.

"With a 50% distortion, that Eggplant Flower still has a chance! Why were we so nervous just now? It was like the Colorful Ones were going to win with just one strike! I didn't even blink and didn't dare type a single word!"

"Of course, if you can repeat the shot once, you can repeat it a second time and a third time! Do you think the colorful ones are just a matter of luck?"

"Will Qiehua use its main gun against LUCE?" the Rabbit commentator shouted excitedly. "No! Qiehua is still dodging!"

"Qiehua obviously doesn't want to hastily use her ultimate move at this moment!"

“That won’t do!”

The two starships returned to their pursuit. Leon looked back repeatedly.

Large clouds of black smoke from the engines filled her mental field of vision, and behind the clouds of black smoke, the silver-white starship followed them steadily. Even during the extremely fast spiral changes, the relative positions of the two starships hardly changed.

They moved one in front of the other, like two fallen leaves spinning downwards in autumn, yet strangely they maintained complete synchronization in speed and direction.

"Bang!"

During the high-speed rotation and descent, another soft sound was heard from the metal structure of the starship.

"The distortion ratio of the conical grid has increased to 70 percent—"

"This is truly the toughest opponent I've ever seen!" Qiehua couldn't help but shout, "It's outrageous enough that the starship designer is also the observer! It's even more outrageous that the observer can fire! How can someone chase so steadily even in a spiral change of direction!"

"Fire the tail gun!" Qiehua shouted. "This close! I wonder if Lucé dares to devour it and detonate it!"

As she shouted, the purple starship's tail moved upward. Its balance shifted, and it suddenly tilted sideways, revealing its honeycomb-shaped array of gun muzzles at the rear.

The muzzle, which had already been fully charged, emitted a brilliant orange-red glow, as if the prey that had been being chased suddenly turned around and bared its fangs.

"Are we going to force Mu Baixing to open fire now?" Bai Rihong hesitated. "It's too fast. Wu Caibianlan is clearly not exhausted at all, so it's not easy to force him to reveal a flaw. We're exposing our entire vitality deployment just like that..."

Qiehua gritted her teeth, "Now it's not about whether they've been forced into a vulnerable position...it's about whether we're finished if we don't fight back!"

"The most troublesome thing is the colorful ones! Both the observer and the pilot can fire. If you can deal with LUCE, there's still Mu Boxing. If you can deal with Mu Boxing, there's still LUCE!"

And there is only one chance for her zero-reset property to be of maximum effect.

"Whatever you do, force at least one of them to defend themselves fully, and then find the right moment to attack!" Lime Lamp said calmly. "A starship's main gun barrel is always the most intimidating. Counterattacking now might not be a good opportunity, but it's not a bad one either."

"Now is the moment when they think they have the initiative. They haven't used their mental resonance or increased their light cannon stats. This is when 'Zero Reset' will be most effective. If we really delay them, it will be much more difficult."

"If they try to hide, we'll look for the next opportunity. If they don't, we'll fire our main guns while they're busy fighting the artillery blockade! Put some pressure on them! Wucaibanlan might even panic!"

"That's right!" Qiehua took a deep breath and pulled the trigger on the gun barrel. "Open the left and right muzzles!"

The left and right side panels of the purple starship moved upwards, revealing a series of circular, forward-facing, honeycomb-shaped scattering muzzles similar to the tail guns.

The beautiful orange-red light casts a bright light on the dark universe.

And that light also dyed the colorful silver-white shell into a warm color.

A warm, yet incredibly dangerous color.

"Wow!" the Rabbit commentator exclaimed, "The Eggplant Battleship actually carried so many scattered energy cannons in this final!—"

"The exterior of Qiehua's starship is practically filled with gun barrels! I can imagine that! The interior of this massive starship must have a large number of energy tanks and coolant tanks."

"No wonder there's an additional coolant tank under the main gun barrel and it has to use a conical grid structure..." the young rabbit suddenly realized. "It seems the normal coolant lines are completely occupied by the secondary guns!"

"Let's take a look at the monitoring data of these dense muzzle energies!"

"These scattering cannons aren't connected to Qiehua's mental power, but their strength is astonishing! They're significantly improved energy cannons specifically designed for large-scale fire suppression! Qiehua will use them to blockade Wucaibianlan's firepower!—"

"Such a dense artillery attack! If Wucaihua wants to avoid it, he must keep some distance from Qiehua!"

The sky was filled with orange-red cannon muzzles, like falling meteors about to be launched. The increasingly bright light reflected in Mingyu's dark pupils, illuminating the young man's calm expression.

"You're in a dilemma," xkk scoffed. "If we keep chasing, Qiehua might seize the opportunity and counterattack and kill us. If we give up, everything we've done will be in vain, wasting the starship's fuel, time, and energy. I want to see what Luce chooses!"

"Should we hide?!" The young rabbit was also closely watching the battle, his expression tense. "These energy cannons are incredibly powerful! Lucé's mental shield alone might not be enough to resist them! But if Mu Baixing attacks together, Wucai Bianlan's previous active attack will turn into a passive defense, making it easy for Qiehua to seize the opportunity!"

"When the starship crashes... Dear viewers, don't forget that this finals isn't a virtual online competition like before, but a real voyage through space!"

"The choice between life and death is a huge pressure for all the contestants!"

"It's too dangerous! If I were the colorful ship, I would reduce my speed, give up chasing the eggplant flower, escape safely, and look for another opportunity!"

"Do you want to retreat?" In the starship cockpit, Red Hair held on to his restraints tightly, not daring to disturb Ming Yu and Mu Baixing.

He looked ahead at the artillery fire that almost completely obscured the universe, muttering nervously to himself, reaching out to touch the rescue capsule eject button next to him, "It's okay not to retreat! This thing has been inspected and is working! If something goes wrong, it won't suddenly get stuck and not eject, right?!"

"I've checked it so many times!" Orange Hair said to Red Hair while picking at his eject button. "It's impossible for it to fail at this moment!"

Mingyu was in a very relaxed position sitting in the front observer's seat.

He felt the artillery fire coming from all directions through his mental vision, heard the conversation between Red Hair and Orange Hair on the communicator, and tilted his head thoughtfully, saying comfortingly: "Don't be afraid, nothing will happen. We can't avoid it, but your brother LU can block it!"

His mental strength has advanced from S to 2S. According to the strength of his mental strength before, he might not be able to absorb these energy cannons quickly, but now it is no problem at all.

Qiehua had no idea about this!

"Buzz—"

A bright blue mental shield appeared in response, tightly covering the starship. A second later, it suddenly crashed into the universe, which had completely turned orange-red.

It's like falling into a steel furnace.

The orange-red artillery fire was like flying high-temperature metal, brushing against the bright blue mental shield, leaving behind a series of orange concave marks like ropes, and causing large energy waves to vibrate.

"Blocked it!!" The commentator, Rabbit, jumped up from the live broadcast platform. "Luce actually blocked it with his shield alone! His absorption ability seems to have improved significantly compared to before! Has his mental strength level increased?!"

"I think the Star Tournament officials should organize the players to take another mental power level test! At least so that Rabbit can explain what's really happening on the field and not just become a megaphone that only shouts 'Wow, that's awesome!' —"

"He actually blocked it by himself?!" Qiehua was also extremely surprised, but she didn't have time to think carefully.

Looking at the silver starship behind him that was still chasing him even though it was slightly behind him, Qiehua placed his finger on the fire button again.

"Looks like you still have some energy left? Then fire again!" Qiehua shouted, "Since you're not running! I won't waste time with them! There's a bunch of teams up ahead waiting for us to kill and earn points! I'll give you three out of the five shots!"

The purple starship rushed upwards, and hundreds of gun barrels on the bottom and sides protruded outward, ejecting the disposable energy enhancement devices that had just been used.

The conical energy-focusing device that was burned into a charred black color drifted in all directions and dispersed into the universe, leaving a series of closely adjacent charred holes on the outer shell of the silver starship.

At the same time, a new batch of energy-focusing heads rose from the secondary gun barrels of the Eggplant Starship. Coolant was quickly injected into the barrels, evaporating in the high temperature and taking away the heat in the secondary gun barrels.

"Due to the artillery fire, the relative stillness between Wucaibanlan and Qiehua was broken!" Rabbit explained very quickly, "Mu Baixing seems to be trying to find a dynamic balance point again, but Qiehua... Qiehua is still there!"

In less than a second, the temperature of the eggplant cannon barrel returned to normal due to the large amount of coolant. The same terrifying orange-red color emanated from the black barrel from the inside out.

"And more!—" Rabbit shouted, "With such a high-intensity energy cannon, Eggplant Flower can fire another one in just one second—! They are determined to beat Colorful into a panic—"

Sweat dripped from Mingyu's forehead. The silver-white starship continued to follow closely behind Qiehua's warship. Mu Baixing said nothing and lowered the muzzle sight.

Mingyu did not make major changes to the appearance of the battleship.

The battleship's towering bridge is surrounded by observation ports for launching the observer's mental power, and on the center line are rows of strip-shaped shield launch ports.

The high-speed mental force cannon that Mingyu had just used was hung under the starship. Closely connected to it on the left and right were two attack muzzles with extremely wide diameters and switchable function valves installed.

The two attacking gun muzzles undoubtedly belonged to Mu Baixing. As the man operated, a golden light flashed deep in the muzzles, ready to counterattack at any time.

Qiehua: "Did you see the layout of all their gun barrels? Those two flashing ones below are the main gun barrels operated by Mu Boxing?!"

"Right!" Observer Leon confirmed. "Raise your altitude! Don't let their main gun barrels find the right angle for firing! The positions of all the gun barrels are marked on the screen for you! The three at the bottom, the side rings, and the ring on the bridge. Be careful!"

"No problem! Watching!" Qiehua shouted, "All secondary guns, fire! If you show us another flaw to Wucaihua, I lose!——"

Large amounts of orange-red artillery fire came towards them, like a series of continuous torrential rain.

Mingyu was breathing rapidly due to the physical exhaustion and the pain caused by the energy collision, but he accepted the attack from the eggplant flower.

"After the next wave of artillery blockade, the starship's flight posture will be changed by external forces, and it will no longer be able to aim at the weak points of the curved conical fence, and it will not be able to shoot for the time being." He narrowed his eyes slightly to see clearly ahead.

Mingyu's mental field of vision has been filled with Qiehua's artillery fire.

Qiehua's third shot was almost fully charged, but the aftermath of the previous two shots had yet to dissipate. The bright blue mental shield was covered in scattered orange energy from the beam, nearly completely obscuring it.

Through the orange color, Mingyu saw in the sight that the conical fence of the Eggplant Battleship had been bent to 90% and was about to break and was shaking rapidly.

That was a sign that dynamic stillness was about to collapse.

"Alert thirty degrees ahead to prevent the engine from overloading and exploding when passing through the artillery blockade," the young man said quickly. "Twenty star miles ahead is the tranquil bend of the Star Sea Energy River. At least five teams have chosen to cross the river from the tranquil star belt closest to the center of the bend. Three more minutes of sailing and we'll be within sight of most of the crossing starships."

This vast river of energy was one of the reasons the Star Navigation Competition had chosen this very spot for the finals. It stretched across the entire sea of ​​stars like a natural moat. Its roaring, high-energy currents could easily pierce the hulls of any starship.

It seemed to block all the teams, preventing them from crossing and reaching the finish line.

However, at the river bend where Mingyu and his team were heading towards, three small celestial bodies like beads and countless broken celestial bodies around them were embedded in the energy river. Through the gravitational pull between them, a narrow and mild energy zone was left nearby for starships to pass through.

Like a bridge across a river.

The star fragments surrounding this passage were too dense, making it very easy to shoot down a starship crossing it. Although the energy here was milder than other places, it was also mild to a limited extent: almost every starship that passed through the bridge still had large areas of deep and light scorch on its hull.

Still, it's a great place to cross the river.

It's also a good place to strike the enemy.

If a fleet managed to cross the river first and launch a harassing attack with long-range artillery near the river mouth, the warships behind would have to deal with star-shattering attacks, laser cannons, and be careful not to exceed the range of the bridge and fall into the river... they would be somewhat caught in a dilemma.

"Qiehua and Wucailan are approaching the river crossing!" The rabbit commentator immediately spotted the special spot ahead of them. "Let's take a look here... there's a real fight going on at the river crossing!"

"Not only that, the Ranger and the Slayer who had just chosen to travel in the opposite direction of the colorful Eggplant Flower suddenly turned around and reached the river mouth."

"I guess the Ranger's twin observers discovered this location and thought it would be a great place for the Ranger to showcase his abilities and escape the Slayer..."

"But for Qiehua and Wucaibanlan, this place is a bit dangerous! The battle between the two starships is too intense. What if someone behind us is going to shoot back... Wucaibanlan seems to have the same idea as me!"

"Faced with the second round of orange artillery blockade, the colorful ones are completely unable to maintain their dynamic balance! They've changed their minds and seem to be trying to avoid the river bend!"

In the universe, the silver starship glided through a small angle, its wings slightly folded inward, and it adjusted its direction to glide sideways.

In the Eggplant Starship, Leon's eyes lit up and he shouted, "This is the angle! It's perfect for us to fire!"

"Look at the main gun barrels below the colorful ones! They're facing the wrong direction, and their evasive path is blocked by our artillery fire, so they can't dodge quickly..."

"Our main gun's charge has reached 100%—" The operating screen in front of Qiehua flashed.

Her long hair, once neatly tied back, had become somewhat tangled after the intense battle. Qiehua casually brushed the loose strands away from her ear and breathed softly.

"I want to fire." She has never been one to think beforehand, and her finger tapped down lightly on the main gun fire button.

A beautiful and mysterious deep purple light then lit up from the thick main gun barrel hanging below the starship.

Like the oldest, most beautiful, and priceless amethyst gemstone stored in a museum's exhibition hall, the hexagonal cannon barrel suddenly blazed with light, forming a line outward, piercing through the lingering orange-yellow energy cannon fragments and striking the silver-white starship that suddenly changed direction behind it.

Mu Baixing slightly curled the corners of his lips.

In such a fierce battle, there are various external factors interfering.

The perilous situation at the energy river crossing ahead, the engines of both starships nearly catching fire from the intense heat, the dynamic equilibrium seemingly impossible to maintain, and a feint, after struggling to hold on, to conform to the Qiehua Team's assumptions...

In the ever-changing battle situation, Qiehua was completely unable to recognize a natural feint.

Can't make correct judgments.

"They're firing," Mingyu said quickly, "Main gun rotate left fifty. Lower guns rotate upward sixty-five!"

Under Mu Boxing's operation, the two wide gun barrels below the silver starship rose upwards, and the bridge above twisted to the left according to the young man's words.

In the center of the bridge, at the center of the observer's mental power ring, a silver-white shell was lifted up, revealing a quadrilateral fiery red 2S-level burning energy crystal embedded in it, and the hollow diamond-shaped ring holes surrounding it.

Eggplant flower: “…”

Rabbit explained: "..."

All the audience: "..."

"...Wait." The rabbit commentator rubbed his eyes. "What does this mean... Does it mean that the colorful ship unexpectedly installed an extra hidden gun barrel on the bridge?"

A startling dark golden light flowed from the hollow diamond-shaped ring. This hidden cannon barrel had already been fully charged.

At the same time, on the schematic diagram of the starships of both sides that the commentator Rabbit had already displayed on the light screen, a new energy bar popped out from the position of the colorful starship bridge.

The barrel energy monitoring system of the Star Navigation Competition is working.

The Star Tournament's detection system was installed on the starship. It had obviously sensed the colorful hidden gun muzzle long ago, but it had only just now been revealed to the audience as a surprise.

The show was brought to its fullest effect.

Rabbit explained: "..."

Audience: “…”

"I still say the same thing." After a long silence, the rabbit commentator wiped his face. "I hope that the Star Navigation Competition's system, whether it's to surprise the audience, maintain suspense, or for some other reason... at least notify me, the commentator, first..."

"But no matter what! Team Qiehua should be the most devastated right now! - Because for the hidden gun muzzles on the bridge, this firing position is exactly the perfect place to intercept Qiehua's attack..."

"Here it comes!! Mu Baixing's mental cannon!——"

Golden waves surged up in the dark universe.

The three cannon barrels controlled by Mu Boxing fired out at the same time, colliding with the bright purple.