Chapter 85 Betrayal and Escape! Beast Star Arc, End. This arc concludes...
Port Morris, Berth 72.
Pei Qing sat in the driver's seat, somewhat at a loss in the face of a bunch of buttons of all shapes and colors. She swayed left and right, her dark eyes darting around, trying to find some help in the empty driver's seat.
Unfortunately, both Feng Qi and Tulansen were busy inspecting the war preparedness facilities and energy supply, and no one could help her with the operation.
This really worried Pei Qing. She felt like her newly grown arm was about to fall off again, and she was so worried about it.
Although she hadn't learned how to operate a starship, she had good eyesight. Pei Qing pulled a beginner's guide from under her seat and quickly flipped through it.
Three minutes later, she closed the tutorial and confidently pressed the first button, the largest red round button.
Huh? Why isn't it responding? Didn't the tutorial say to press the start button first? Did she press the wrong one? But before Pei Qing could flip through the tutorial again to check if she was right or wrong, the next second, a huge blue flame shot out from the starship's thruster!
With a loud "boom!", the starship ascended rapidly at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye. A minute later, the small starship had reached the upper stratosphere and was about to break through the atmospheric layer on the planet's surface to enter the light stream shuttle.
"Wow! It starts up this fast? That's amazing!" Pei Qing's eyes shone as she looked at the starry sky, watching herself gradually leave the Beast Star and feeling a slight sense of weightlessness.
The vibrations were weakest in the cockpit at the bow of the starship. Although Pei Qing felt some turbulence when it was first started, she didn't pay much attention to it. However, the two people checking the equipment at the stern of the starship were in a much worse situation. To prevent uncontrollable factors from occurring, Feng Qi and the other two did not dare to bring any trusted confidants. There were only the three of them on the entire starship, so they had to do everything themselves, including the routine checks before the starship departed.
Unexpectedly, Pei Qing was so bold that she immediately turned on the starship's maximum power thrusters. The two of them were completely unprepared and not wearing any safety equipment. The moment the starship started, they all overturned and rolled around in the power compartment.
However, Feng Qi quickly managed to resist the weightlessness and turbulence with his powerful mental strength, and pulled Turansen to his feet.
After the starship stabilized, the two went to the cockpit. Turansen was furious when he saw Pei Qing's smiling face. He immediately gave her a hard flick on the forehead. "You! You, Pei Qing! If you can't fly a starship, don't fly it! Are you trying to kill me?! Just crash it and kill me!"
"Everyone has to do things the first time, right? Practice makes perfect. Don't worry, I've read the tutorial, I won't mess up the buttons, hehe." Pei Qing stroked his chin and said with a wicked smile.
"Hmph!" Turansen crossed his arms and turned his head away, refusing to acknowledge her.
Feng Qi walked over and only felt relieved after confirming that the itinerary was correct. She went to the passenger seat and tapped a few times on the screen. "Youdu has already blocked the nearby information devices for fifteen minutes. As for the military, Gu Fei has a plan. What we need to do now is to take advantage of the military's misjudgment and get to the base as quickly as possible."
"A base? What base?" Pei Qing frowned. What was this that she didn't know? Would she be going from one danger's lair to another's?
Feng Qi seemed to see Pei Qing's concerns and smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, it's not the kind of research base we were going to before. The base we're going to is a residence with armed forces that I and Turansen jointly established."
"By the way, speaking of which, you also contributed to the establishment of this base. Do you remember the group of people you rescued before? Most of them voluntarily participated in the construction of the base and lived there, as well as Lin..."
"Feng Qi! Stop reminiscing! Our signal is being blocked!" Turansen grabbed Feng Qi and pointed with a serious expression at the signal source in the corner of the screen.
Only the military could achieve such a large-scale and precise shielding.
The cockpit fell silent. Feng Qi's hands flew across the buttons, and soon a coordinate appeared on the screen.
"Turansen, is there a way to block it in reverse?"
"How long? I'll try."
"It will take at least three minutes."
“Okay.” Turansen didn’t waste any words and removed the concealed operating equipment to begin the trial.
The device kept beeping, and an ominous premonition enveloped everyone.
"How could this be? I clearly succeeded in blocking it once, so why did they find the signal source again so quickly... This is not right." Turansen frowned, his hands never stopping.
“Pei Qing,” Feng Qi suddenly spoke up, “Do you know anyone in the military… to be precise—”
"What time is it! Stop playing games with her!" Turansen interrupted Feng Qi with a loud shout, his hands moving non-stop. "You surnamed Pei! You better think about whether you've slept with anyone in the military!"
"Uh..." Pei Qing thought of the jet-black scale that emitted a woody scent, and the snake-man's untimely disappearance, and weakly said, "Well, I guess you could say that..."
"Damn it! You don't even know your own body properly, yet you dare to sleep with anyone!" Turansen was almost laughing in anger.
“Your mental power is very special,” Feng Qi continued. “Anyone who has had deep contact with you will be affected. By amplifying it through certain methods, you can locate this special signal source.”
So that's how it is. Pei Qing had guessed it before, and Feng Qi's words confirmed her thoughts. No wonder those people were able to find her so quickly. I see.
"Blocking successful! Duration: half a minute!" Turansen wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"The planet ahead is the largest trading post between the Empire and the Federation in the border region. There are many Zerg royal nobles there. The Federation army will not go there rashly, otherwise it may be seen as a provocation and trigger a war. We must speed up and get there. We must not be intercepted by the army in advance!" Feng Qi said, pressing the starship's propulsion button to increase the speed again.
"Boom!" A shell struck the stern of the starship with pinpoint accuracy, causing the ship to shake violently and nearly capsize. Feng Qi quickly regained his footing, his face extremely grim. The army had discovered their intentions!
Due to the damage to the energy zone and insufficient energy, the starship could only fly shakily. Soon, dozens of red dots appeared on the screen, indicating that they were surrounded by the Federation army.
"Buzz—" The enemy starship forcibly linked with their starship, and a face that Pei Qing recognized appeared on the screen. However, it didn't seem that familiar.
After all, she was always familiar with that scaly face and those dark golden vertical pupils that held both innocence and bestiality, not with the calm and collected brown eyes and the face that showed no trace of bestiality before her.
Oh, still wearing a proper military uniform, his hair tied up and hanging obediently behind his head, his posture upright. Really, he's changed completely. Pei Qing narrowed her eyes, a mocking smile curving her lips.
Before the other party could speak, Pei Qing stepped forward, greeted them casually with a smile on her face, but there was no smile in her eyes, "Long time no see, General Nolan."
Hearing these cold words, a crack appeared in Nolan's calm expression. He had never heard such an unfamiliar tone before. His heart felt like it was being gripped by an invisible hand, a sharp, aching pain sweeping through his entire body. Nolan took a deep breath, pressing his left hand firmly on the control panel, trying his best to calm himself.
"Federal Class S fugitive Pei Qing, surrender immediately. Do not even think about escaping. If you surrender voluntarily, you may be granted lenient treatment." Nolan's icy voice rang out.
Turansen sneered without any politeness, "Pah! He's really the old man's most loyal dog!"
Pei Qing tilted her head, her face showing no sign of the tension of impending arrest. She chuckled softly, her gentle voice like several sharp knives piercing Nolan's heart, "What an ungrateful traitor, repaying kindness with enmity! I should have just strangled you back then, to prevent future troubles."
"I really didn't expect that the person who would stop me in the end would be you."
"Little Black, ah, no, it's Admiral Nolan."
Nolan instinctively wanted to explain, but just as he opened his lips, he suddenly remembered that the Marshal was not far away, and finally his lips slowly closed.
"I'll explain when we get to the capital planet. She'll understand, right?" Nolan thought. Unwilling to face that cold expression any longer, he shut down the screen and ordered the pursuit missiles to be launched.
He will definitely explain things properly when she comes back to him; they have plenty of time together.
While Pei Qing and Nolan were talking, Turanson activated the reverse shield again. The time limit was still only thirty seconds, but that was enough. They maneuvered the starship shakily and stealthily to a small gap, and deployed a single-person escape pod to the stern hatch.
Pei Qing knew she absolutely couldn't be caught at this critical moment, otherwise all their efforts would be in vain. Under the cover of Feng Qi and the other man, she successfully boarded the escape ship, waiting for the chaos to allow her to escape.
With a deafening roar, the tracking missile struck the midsection of the starship, also impacting the escape ship, which was dented at the top.
"Hiss, his father is really ruthless..." Pei Qing muttered to himself, but his hands moved quickly, taking advantage of the ship's violent shaking to break out of the encirclement.
The escape hull was small and had low drag. She accelerated to her maximum speed in an instant. Due to the signal jamming, the surrounding warships did not have time to intercept her and watched helplessly as a blue light slipped away through the gap.
The nearby warships reacted quickly, turning around to give chase, but unexpectedly, the dilapidated starship surrounded in the middle rammed into the warships in a suicidal act!
The moment the starships collided, a tremendous sound was heard, and blinding flames swept across hundreds of kilometers!
Pei Qing frantically maneuvered the escape hull, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a warship hot on her heels. A quick scan confirmed it was indeed that bastard Nolan! He really knew her well! If she didn't get revenge, she'd wipe out the entire balance in his account! Pei Qing gritted her teeth, cursed under her breath, and quickened her pace.
As they drew ever closer to the border between the Zerg and humans in the Ninth Sector, Pei Qing's hope surged. She turned to see that bastard still daring to follow them! Wasn't he afraid of starting a war?! He was incredibly audacious!
"I'll do it." A faint voice sounded from the side, somewhat familiar. Pei Qing's mental sea suddenly stirred, and a chubby little chameleon appeared.
"!"
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Author's Note: [Pity][Pity][Pity] I'm back! Please leave comments, my darlings! [Cheer up][Cheer up][Cheer up] I swear on my knees for the previous writer's block and hiatus! [Pity][Pity]
There's so much I want to say, but I feel there are some things I should say only after the story is finished. I'll punish myself with three chapters for this long hiatus (just kidding).
When I was writing this story, I didn't think too much about it. The main plot outline was all sorted out gradually later, so there will be many plot points with unclear logic because these plot points were not supposed to appear. You should understand what I mean by combining the titles of the first few chapters, hahaha.
But as I wrote, the repeated chapter breaks eroded my initial enthusiasm, wearing it down in the numerous ellipses, misspellings, homophones, and so on.
Initially, I just wanted to write stories I loved, and it would be wonderful if they were well-received by others in the process. Most importantly, I seriously underestimated the power of medium-length and long-form stories, and I never imagined this project would drag on for so long (bitter smile).
The main story is expected to conclude around chapter 20 (there will be random bonus chapters at that time). In the remaining 20 chapters, I will further weaken the logical relationships in the plot and increase elements such as emotions (the kind that everyone likes). So please forgive any plot holes or other issues that may appear (kneeling).
Finally! Thank you again for your love and for pointing out the errors, but there are some chapters with typos that are really impossible to correct (it's painful). In future works, I will be stricter with myself and try my best to reduce or eliminate typos as much as possible!
Enough said, gotta get to meet the word count!
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