Chapter 50: Preliminary Round 3 (Part 3)
"A colorful starship... turning in the air...! Mu Boxing's Z-turn is like a stunt!"
"I have to say! Although both starships were jolted violently by the shifting gravity fields of the star map, the exchange of artillery fire made the colorful starships' directional changes undoubtedly appear even more effortless... Logically speaking, because of the interference cannon, even if Luce's devouring mental power could pinpoint Fan Chan's position, Fan Chan's observation skills would clearly be superior!"
"But judging by the situation at the battle scene, Fan Chan didn't seem to be able to capitalize on this advantage at all! Instead, he was gradually being controlled by Wucai Bianlan!"
"Although Fan Chan's overall ranking in the previous rounds is significantly higher than Wu Cai Lan's, this team doesn't seem to be able to gain any advantage over Wu Cai Lan!" Rabbit commentator said excitedly, "Why is this?! Is it the difference in starship performance?! Or is it the pilots' reaction speed?!"
"All of them." Inside the human resources office of the Star Navigation Department, the electronic pen in Sun Nian's hand was recording quickly on the light screen.
"The colorful designer LUCE has once again strengthened the starship's propulsion engine and steering gear." He muttered to himself while adding points to the score column at the back of LUCE's personnel record sheet. The score in the potential column was almost over 100.
He was initially attracted by LUCE's design talent, and his performance exceeded his expectations more and more.
But not all pilots can take advantage of the colorful engines and rudders.
Only a pilot with the highest reaction ability and driving skills can fully utilize the high speed and flexibility of this starship.
LUCE's design and Mu Boxing's capabilities are both indispensable.
Sun Nian looked up at the light screen again.
On the screen, Fan Chan's starship was being pressed by golden laser cannons, gradually approaching a lava vent on the ground from which billowing white smoke rose.
Fan Chan's pilot obviously wanted to leave the dangerous area and changed direction several times, but no matter whether he raised the starship or lowered its altitude, he had to abandon the original path in order to avoid the golden light cannon.
"Are they really that impressive?" the thorny colleague across the table couldn't help but exclaim, "Fan Chan is at least ranked around 200th on the team. How come they've been treated like puppets by Wu Cai Ban Lan?! Has their level dropped drastically?"
"It's not that Fan Chan's level has declined." Sun Nian had listened to him mutter for too long, and after a while, he couldn't help but raise his head and retort, "It's that Wucai Bianlan's ability is very strong."
The thorny colleague scoffed, "If this happens under the scorching sun..."
"If it were Feren piloting this starship," Sun Nian interrupted, "he probably wouldn't be able to fully utilize its capabilities."
The irritated colleague responded, "???!" His eyes widened in shock, ready to curse, "That's ridiculous!" Sun Nian didn't even give him a chance to retort. He continued, "Fei Lun has relied on his 2S mental power and Ming Yan's S-level mental power for too long."
"He's used to being aware of his surroundings early on, knowing everything, and sinking his opponents with a few shells. His piloting skills, on the other hand, haven't been honed, and his reflexes are only average."
He pulled up a screen and shared his recorded data with his irritated colleague: "I reviewed Lieyang's footage. Compared to the Star Navigation Competition data from five years ago, Feren's reaction speed has even decreased. He's starting to rely more on 'carpet-style' sweeps."
A troublesome colleague: "..."
The thorny colleague glanced at the screen to his left. After their victory in the previous round, the Lieyang team had entered the same near-Earth star map as the colorful one. Lieyang's black warship, shrouded in Mingyan's fiery spiritual energy, roared with gunfire, spewing a wide swath of black fire. Unable to see their opponent's position, they scanned the star map inch by inch, searching for their target.
"You're really making a far-fetched argument," the irritating colleague said angrily. "Making miracles out of sheer force is also a way of doing things. There's no saying that relying on brute force or relying on ingenuity is superior to the other."
"That's not what I meant." Sun Nian shook his head.
It's true that great strength can make miracles happen, and he also likes to see powerful crushing.
But Feren, or his observer Mingyan, gradually degenerated from initially using their brains to start starship competitions to habitually relying on brute force to sweep through... This is not a good thing.
In Sun Nian's opinion, Lieyang was wasting his talent.
But his irritating colleague clearly disagreed and already had an unhappy look on his face. Sun Nian didn't argue with him and turned back to the game screen in front of him.
In the game map, two starships have already entered the lava area.
The lava vents on the ground emitted increasingly thick gurgling white smoke, even drowning out the mist from the jammers. Both Fan Chan and Wucai Bianlan knew that the underground lava could erupt at any time and anywhere.
"Damn it! Don't go over there, big brother! I called you brother!" Fan Chan's observer, Wunian Chan, shouted loudly, "Stay away! Stay away——"
"We can't go far!" Three-Year Cicada was already extremely anxious. "Didn't you see how close their artillery fire was? It was whizzing!"
"Then let's confront their artillery fire!" cried the Five-Year Cicada. "Didn't you say their energy cannon wasn't strong enough to hit us?! We can't let them lead us around like this! We have to get out of the lava zone quickly... You see, they're just trying to force us into the fire pit!"
Mu Baixing did not hide his purpose at all, nor was it possible for him to hide his purpose.
The white smoke that spewed up from the ground was undoubtedly warning everyone of the dangers of this area. Anyone who was not a fool could see his intention to trap Fan Chan here.
"Don't dodge when the artillery fire comes this time!" Five-Year Cicada said, "It's been exactly five seconds since our last fully charged cannon fire. The charge is full! Fire! Tear a hole in their energy network..."
"Three seconds?" Mu Baixing asked in the colorful starship.
Ming Yu confirmed with a serious expression, "The lava vent to the left and rear of Fan Chan will erupt in three seconds at most, and the one further to the right will erupt a little later, in about five or six seconds. Their laser cannons are fully charged, and they're probably trying to offset the fire with artillery fire, giving up on dodging and charging straight forward."
Ming Yu paused, "It seems they can see that we are using the acceleration valve which sacrifices the energy gathering and strengthening function."
"But that was two seconds ago—" the young man laughed.
Mu Baixing lifted his finger from the function valve switching gear.
His mental power surged into the starship pipes, appearing bright gold.
It's not just the blessing of the functional valve, but also a short-term increase in mental strength like in the first qualifying match.
The golden and white artillery fire were fired almost simultaneously.
"Oh no!" The moment he saw the colorful artillery fire, Five-Year Cicada realized something was wrong.
...The enemy's current firepower is simply not on the same level as before!!
"No, no—!" he shouted, "Should I hide? Or should I…"
The starship had to descend back to its original altitude, intending to pass by the golden cannon fire from below.
The golden beam of light stretched outward like a flying bird spreading its wings.
The energy of the high-speed collision screamed, and Fan Chan's cockpit was filled with angry curses. The outside of their portholes was almost covered in gold. Under the powerful mental fire, the driver, Sannian Chan, still remembered the observer's warning about the movement of the lava vent on the left, and subconsciously yawed to the right.
"puff--!"
The first stream of lava erupted from the left rear, and the black and red magma shot straight into the sky, like a giant fountain built at great expense.
The driver, Sannian Chan, breathed a sigh of relief, but the observer suddenly straightened up and warned, "Wait...——"
The thick smoke emanating from the surface had become one continuous mass, making it difficult to discern the source of the plume below. Consequently, as the starship passed over the underground vent, the three-year cicada, completely focused on dodging the golden artillery fire and avoiding the nearest vent, didn't realize anything was amiss.
Until the hot and thick magma rose from the bottom of the starship at a speed that was no longer evasive.
The hot and thick magma instantly submerged the brown starship from bottom to top, melting the metal shell of the starship in a flash.
All the instruments in the cockpit made sharp sounds. No matter how hard the Three-Year Cicada pushed the joystick, all the systems in the starship could no longer be controlled.
As the brown starship fell, the silver starship in front of it had already passed over the scorching magma and flew straight up -!
"Team Fan Chan's starship has suffered 99% damage and has been declared a crash."
"Congratulations to Colorful! Winning in Star Map Number Three!"
A gray starport suddenly appeared in the smoke-filled sky.
The silver starship slid into the docking rail and slid inward along the track.
The starship passed through layers of deceleration energy belts, emitting a low hum as it slowed down. Before its speed had completely dropped to zero, the orange and green lottery wheel reappeared on the central light screen in the cockpit.
"Wonderful!" In the live broadcast room, the plush rabbit replayed the distribution of artillery fire around Fan Chan before he crashed, and also played the detailed information of the star map of the No. 3 competition.
"Fan Chan was caught off guard by the sudden change in Wucai Lan's firepower! Although he remembered to avoid the most dangerous lava eruption, he failed to pay attention to the surrounding area further away! Their 'escape' route had obviously been predicted by Wucai Lan!" The rabbit host pointed at the distribution of Mu Boxing's mental power artillery with his drumstick. "It's another example of Luce's design and Mu Boxing's cooperation! As a team formed by the Star Navigation Competition system, Luce and Mu Boxing's running-in seems to be going so smoothly that it's enviable!"
"Let's congratulate Colorful for winning their first battle in less than ten minutes! First point! They're already drawing their next map and opponent—"
"Star Map No. 1! Against the Cookie Crumbs team from the Southeast Star Region. I believe the colorful team won't feel any pressure. After all, Cookie Crumbs is ranked below them, but the Fan Chan they just played against is ranked nearly two hundred places higher than them..."
The rabbit host's job is to lead the audience to watch the exciting game, but the battle between Colorful and Cookie Crumbs is obviously no suspense. So he turns his focus away from the colorful light screen, looking for a more intense battle scene.
Star Map No. 1 depicts a battle scene in the starry sky of a shattered star belt. Complex cosmic energy flows, carrying high-speed stellar fragments, brush against the starship's hull, leaving scratches.
Mingyu's mental power had already extended outward, searching for a safe passage while noticing the location of the enemy starship.
The Cookie Crumbs starship was poorly equipped, and its pilot seemed inexperienced. It was struggling alone in the chaotic starburst belt in the distance. Even before it was attacked, it was already heavily damaged, with several dents of varying sizes etched into its tail by a shattered star.
Mingyu saw how hard they were sailing and said considerately, "Brother Mu, quickly give them a shot so they can escape."
Mu Boxing didn't say anything and blew the starship full of cookie crumbs into fireworks with one shot.
They returned to the starport again for team matching.
The star map drawn this time is still No. 1.
The silver starship emerged from the starport, and Mingyu saw the enemy outside the starship's porthole at a glance.
The opponent's starship was huge, almost filling the entire porthole in front of Mingyu.
It was a massive, black, hexagonal warship. Its symmetrical structure, with sharp corners, gave it an oppressive feeling.
The moment Mingyu saw him, a dazzling sapphire-blue light shone from the center of the black hexahedron. The slender strip of light reflected in Mingyu's pupils, causing him to open his eyes slightly.
A voice suddenly sounded in Mingyu's heart.
"Danger..." His limbs stiffened and he subconsciously issued a warning, "Brother Mu! Run!——"
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