Chapter 56: The Third Preliminary Match (Part 9) (Part 2)
The big white rabbit pricked up its ears instantly as if startled, and its short furry arms froze in mid-air, as if it were a specimen frozen on the surface of a drum.
"Duck--oh...duck!--" the rabbit host muttered. "I didn't expect to 'cut you open' and find a ferocious beast inside... But this image makes me... makes me unable to face the little rubber duck at home for bathing. Oh my god, how am I going to face my little rubber duck when I take a bath tonight..."
"But no matter what! Their hidden muzzle was completely unexpected! It's a double-barreled muzzle, capable of firing from both the front and rear! The barrel is a full light mile wide! And with the help of the energy-disrupting mist... In such a complex lava eruption zone, the colorful display is difficult to avoid!"
"If the colorful ones have become accustomed to assuming the muzzle width of their guns is half a star, it will undoubtedly be difficult to avoid them!"
In the colorful cockpit, Mingyu made a judgment the first second he saw the enemy's artillery fire.
"It's hard to dodge," Mingyu said. "The laser cannon is too wide... They hid it while charging! We're still in the lava eruption zone, so if we have to dodge, the lava column will hit our right wing."
Although he said this, his tone was very relaxed.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's what we've been waiting for." Ming Yu said loudly, "Brother Mu! Try the new barrel?"
Mu Baixing curled the corners of his lips.
"Colorful--! Colorful didn't even dodge!?--Their evasive space was indeed very small! The surrounding lava pillars restricted their range of movement! But they were going to be hit like this?!...?..."
"……sky……"
"What is that! What is that new device installed on the front of the colorful starship!!!"
The silver starship rushed towards the orange-red artillery fire, and the long silver cone at the front suddenly spun.
It was like a rotating lightning rod, attracting the orange-red energy.
Then the front of the gauze that was spreading all over the sky quickly shrank until it became a palm-sized column and suddenly connected with the tip of the cone.
"boom--"
The starship trembled violently, and Mingyu couldn't help but reach out to grip the anchor rod. He smelled the burning smell of the high temperature energy impact, and his eyes were fixed on the porthole at the front of the starship.
The energy-absorbing device he designed worked properly.
The orange-red artillery fire was directed upward, crashing into the energy absorber. The Kanxiu light ore, chosen for the hull of the highly autonomous starship, lived up to its premium material rating, withstanding the most intense initial impact. The energy entered the absorber, passing through speed bumps and the rotation of a series of decelerating axles. The high-speed energy particles, under the layers of interference, struck the absorber's inner wall, significantly reducing their speed. However, the powerful reaction force caused the starship's trajectory to shift.
The world outside the porthole is spinning.
Mu Boxing tightened the starship control lever and increased the engine.
"There's something wrong, Brother LU! --" Red Hair howled, "Our engine doesn't seem to have enough power! --"
The thrust of the engine is not enough to offset the rotation of the starship!
Mu Baixing: "Sit tight."
Mingyu was sitting next to Mu Baixing, watching him push the joystick to the other end.
Since it is impossible to stop the starship from rotating, it is better to use the force to accelerate forward.
Mingyu quickly held the retainer tightly.
Although he knew that the seat's fastenings could never be loosened immediately during the starship's voyage.
The rabbit host's eyes widened: "What...what are you doing?!!!"
"Damn it, Boss--!!!" Even the red, orange, and green-haired people who were with Tiantian and Mu Baixing when they were sailing couldn't help but shout one after another.
The silver starship was like the drill bit of a high-power electric drill at work, turning into a phantom and rushing forward.
The orange-red artillery fire was absorbed by its sharp conical front end, flowed into the pipeline at the rear, and was briefly accumulated after passing through a small energy storage device with limited storage capacity. It was then sprayed out when the functional valve at the muzzle was opened.
It spins and moves forward at a speed that is difficult to catch.
"...What is that??" Duck rushed into the cab, and the big yellow duck made the same sound as the host, "What is this for?! Damn! That's not our mental cannon..."
"I... I remember... the colorful pilot's spiritual power was golden..." the plush rabbit said, unable to understand. "What... what's going on?! The colorful muzzle is emitting... the spiritual power of the Duck Duck Charge Team...?"
"They! They returned the Duck Duck Rush's energy artillery fire almost intact—?!"
The high-speed artillery fire mixed with the orange-red mental power of Ya Ya Rushing and the pure white light of the colorful Alpha cannon, creating a scene that was unbelievable to everyone.
"How did they do that!" the Rabbit commentator exclaimed. "The cone at the front of their starship is an energy absorber! Oh! Of course! Kanshuu Light Ore can withstand the energy of this shot! But! But...! It's still unbelievable!"
"Oh my god! Oh my god! I've said this so many times! But I can't help but say it again! LUCE! A genius starship designer! If this device can be used in the interstellar fleet... - I wonder if there are leaders from the military and the interstellar aviation department judging whether this is feasible!"
"The colorful pilot! Mu Boxing! He's also taking a different approach—!"
"He spins and accelerates the starship, subtly changing the impact of his fire by changing direction... He's worthy of being Luce's partner, isn't he?! Unbelievable!! Unbelievable! Such exquisite technique!! Oh Duck—our little rubber duck—!"
"The little yellow duck is having a hard time defending itself! The fire accelerated by the double barrels is terrifyingly fast! And their pilots... if they fire at the colorful ones, they'll face counterattacks they can't handle! They're choosing to keep their distance..."
"Yes, yes! Yaya Chongchong continued to run away! Oh! Look at their current posture! It's completely different from just now! They are obviously running away!"
"We can only continue the meal under the cover of the disruptive energy mist... but the colorful ones clearly have no intention of letting them go!"
"Thirty degrees right front!" Mingyu shouted, "Opportunity! Brother Mu!!——"
Mu Baixing suppressed a cough, turned the function valve wheel, and fired again.
In the assault mode, the outer part of the muzzle continues to expand outward, no longer pursuing rapid continuous fire, but only pursuing a high-intensity one-shot kill.
The valve of the small energy storage tank at the end of the mental force absorber opened, and with the last bit of mental force artillery energy left by the opponent, the muzzle of the colorful starship lit up.
The energy cannon, expanding outward in a trapezoidal shape, rushed out in the direction Mingyu pointed, with the intention of flattening everything in front of it in the blink of an eye.
“Ya Ya——!!!!” the rabbit host screamed at the top of his lungs, “Ya Ya, run… Ya Ya’s tail!!——The tail of the Ya Ya battleship was hit! Can they still keep their balance?!!!——Oh…!!! No!! Ya Ya’s rushing starship——they crashed!!!”
"Colorful!! Another win!!!"
*
"Ding—the eighth hour of the competition has ended—the Colorful Team has been confirmed to remain. The next round of competition will be drawn from the turntable—"
Mu Baixing leaned back in the driver's seat, panting, coughed twice, and took advantage of the brief break between the battle teams to close his eyes and rest.
Mingyu rested his hand on his operating helmet, feeling a little hesitant.
Now it's Mingyu's turn to rest.
But if he replaced them with a few people with colorful hair as observers, Mu Baixing would have to bear greater pressure because the exploration equipment was not as sensitive as mental power.
"Stadium 199, Random Star Map 3."
This is the most complicated map of the near-Earth stars No. 3.
Mu Baixing glanced at Mingyu and frowned, "Take it off."
Mingyu held his helmet: "..."
"Just two hours," he said. "Just bear with it..."
"Two hours." Mu Baixing coughed and sneered, "Not even two minutes."
He lifted up the fastener, reached out and pulled out the connecting wire at the end of Mingyu's helmet, and helped him take off the helmet.
Mingyu: “…”
"Wait until the durability of your spiritual domain increases." Mu Baixing rubbed the top of his head soothingly, bent down, and took out the medicine box from Mingyu's pocket.
He frowned and took another handful of medicine, then sat back in the driver's seat. "Once we enter the Star Region Tournament, I'll take you to find useful resources."
Mingyu: “…”
Mingyu looked at his pale profile and the red spot on his lips, and responded muffledly.
Ming Yu: "If I had known earlier, I would have learned how to fly a starship..."
"It's okay, Brother Lu." Red Hair said, "We've encountered many dangerous situations when we were sailing out there. The boss knows his body well!"
"And Brother LU." He raised his head from the instrument screen and turned to Mingyu solemnly, "With you here, the boss has had it a lot easier."
"Otherwise, we might not have had to wait until the match with Lieyang just now," he said seriously. "If we had faced a team like Chilling or Duck, if we had only relied on reading data from the instruments... the boss would have already forcibly increased his mental power level."
"And we couldn't persuade him either." Orange Hair quickly glanced at Mu Baixing and added, "The boss actually listens to you!"
Mingyu: “…”
Mu Baixing: “…”
Mu Baixing tilted his head. His face was obscured by his helmet, but the orange-haired man seemed to read his expression and quickly shut up and retreated into his seat.
The silver starship suddenly accelerated and rushed into the foggy near-Earth star map.
In the final two hours, no team could rely on luck. The Star Tournament's system prevented any team from seeing their standings, forcing everyone to give their all, even those who had already made it to the finals and were confident of winning the Star Tournament.
The playing field is changing rapidly, and any slackness may lead to unexpected results... What's more, there have been quite a few variables in this competition.
In Star Map 3, a colorful silver starship flew at high speed, passing through the energy interference fog. The energy absorption device at the front of the starship rotated at high speed.
This energy absorption device is like the strongest protective layer of a starship's equipment, gathering all the energy within a light mile into one place.
Mu Baixing rushed towards the source of the other starship's artillery fire, catching his opponent, who had never seen this tactic before, off guard.
The muzzle of the silver starship heated up rapidly due to the continuous energy emission, and the external coating began to melt and peel off.
This steel behemoth hurled itself through the fog, roaring and blasting its opponents to pieces.
In the same star map No. 3, the Ranger Team, the black starship piloted by Mulan, is lurking in the fog, like the most patient feline hunter.
The Ranger's two observers, Vincent and Yang Haoyuan, possess a rare "twin" mental power property. The mental power threads of the two can be completely integrated, and the extension and sensitivity are greatly improved. Even in the interference fog, they can clearly see the opponent's position.
Mulan's mental power has a concealing nature, and with the help of interference fog, she fired artillery fire, so that when the enemy starship was hit, it was unable to identify the direction of the artillery fire.
This star map seems to have been built specifically for them. No team can beat the Rangers in Star Map No. 3.
Even the scorching sun won’t work.
What's more, Lieyang is not in good condition now.
Mingyan's face turned pale.
Ever since he lost to the colorful one in the rotating energy field star map, his mentality has not been stable.
It’s not that they can’t lose, but they shouldn’t lose so badly!
A breath of anger choked in his heart, making Mingyan feel neither up nor down, and very uncomfortable.
And Feren was obviously not in good shape, and even seemed to be firing randomly.
As the only 2S-class ship in the central star field, his mental strength was unrivaled, and therefore he had never felt so helpless.
Being tightly suppressed by the opponent's mental power, unable to raise his head, he felt a sense of despair.
That did not come from any suppression in terms of strategy, technology, or starship design, but simply from the strength of mental power... from the part of strength that could be called talent.
It was the part that Feren was once most proud of.
He always recalled that golden color, and even found it difficult to concentrate in subsequent games, and fought randomly based on his feelings.
It's enough to meet an ordinary team, but if you meet a team like Killer and Eggplant, you will definitely lose.
And the loss was not glorious.
And this time I met a ranger.
Fei Lun had always looked down upon the other party. But he didn't know if it was because of his condition, or because the strength of Mu Lian, Vincent, and Yang Haoyuan had improved...
He also felt pressure from the ranger.
"Damn it!" Feren exclaimed angrily, "This star map is too suitable for Mulan's spiritual power!"
The ranger's movements were excessively agile.
With the help of the twin characteristics of the observer, their starship was suspended in a position that was difficult for Mingyan's mental thread to detect, but they could clearly see Lieyang's movements.
Cui Xiaoduo, the squirrel, had his own dedicated seat, a small one placed next to Mu Lian's driver's seat. He almost held his breath, nervously watching Mu Lian operate the starship to slide forward, avoiding Ming Yan's extended flames and carefully approaching the scorching sun.
The long-range stealth cannon begins charging.
The black mental cannon belonging to Feren was woven into a net. Touching any of the threads would cause their sneak attack to fail. Mu Lian breathed softly and tapped her pale fingers downward.
The firing of the hidden cannon is almost silent.
The colorless but powerful mental artillery fire brushed past the edge of the red flames, passed through the gaps between the black artillery fire, and hit the lifting engine of the Lieyang battleship, creating a violent explosion.
On the simplest Star Map 2, the top-ranked Killer team from the previous matches and the second-placed Eggplant team met on a narrow road, both engaging in a straightforward, direct duel. Neither side sought victory, only a quick conclusion to the battle, avoiding wasting time with their rivals. Win or lose, their sole aim was to quickly destroy the opposing team's warships, or be destroyed by them.
On the Starshattered Belt map No. 1, the Yellow Duck battleship, having just been defeated by the colorful galaxy, once again unleashed its array of guns, blasting the enemy and the shattered star in front of it into ash...
It was a long, yet quick two hours.
When the end-of-game signal sounded, every star map was ablaze with flames of war.
A reminder sounded with a slight ding.
Mingyu immediately turned his head and looked at the system prompt screen in the center of the cockpit.
An explosion was happening outside the porthole. The tail of the enemy warship was destroyed by Mu Baixing's artillery fire. The fragments hit the porthole outside the cockpit, creating a terrible dent right in front of Mingyu.
The high-grade metal glass on the porthole showed spider-web-like cracks, but Mingyu didn't want to pay any attention to the poor piece of glass.
He saw the final result of the third qualifying match.
"Colorful Team, Confrontation Wheel Score Ranking: 153rd."
"Congratulations to the Colorful Team for advancing to the Star Region Tournament!"
"Please select the Star Region Competition zone based on the star regions your team members are from..."
Before Mingyu could finish reading the detailed instructions below, the red-haired man next to him yelled, opened his binder and jumped up, saying, "We advanced!"
"Boss! --Brother LU--! Orange, Green, Blue, Purple--"
“Ohh ...
Zimao rushed into the cockpit from the back of the starship and, together with his brothers, pounced on Mingyu, who stood up first.
"Brother LU is awesome! — Incredible! — Boss, Brother LU, take me flying —!"
Mu Boxing also unfastened the fastener.
He looked at Mingyu through their colorful fur, but did not speak. He just slightly raised the corners of his lips and nodded.
Mingyu was stunned and pulled away the red-haired man's arm. Before he could say anything, a slender figure in black combat uniform disappeared in front of him.
Mu Baixing was the first to log off.
Mingyu: “……!”
There was silence in the cockpit for a moment.
"The boss must have gone to get his medicine." Red Hair turned his head to look at the empty driver's seat and said quickly, "I'll go down and take a look too!"
"I'll go take a look too!" Blue-haired, green-haired, and orange-haired people followed suit and logged off.
Mingyu stood in the cockpit, which had suddenly become much emptier. He was stunned for a moment, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
He pulled out the operating panel and was about to log off, but when he turned around, he was surprised to see Zimao still standing there.
Mingyu: "...Xiao Zi?" He was startled by the figure behind him and took a step back, wondering, "Why haven't you logged off yet... Do you need me for something?"
Zimao shook his head, then quickly nodded.
He was more thoughtful and shy than the other brothers. He explained in a low voice, "Brother LU...don't be angry. They didn't mean to ignore you. It's just that, the boss's health isn't that good..."
Red Hair had said this to him before.
"Although it's not that bad." Zimao quickly explained, "But we... well, we were rescued by the boss from the previous boss. The previous captain of the exploration team looked down on non-awakened humans and treated us like animals. Back then, we brothers had a hard time... We are all very grateful to the boss... well..."
He met Mingyu's gaze and was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to continue explaining.
But Mingyu understood.
"Because I think Brother Mu is very important, I get very nervous even if he has only a minor illness."
Besides, coughing up blood is not a trivial matter at all.
Zimao nodded continuously after Mingyu said what he wanted to say.
"I don't feel left out." Mingyu laughed.
"I just think... I'm worried about Brother Mu." Mingyu lowered his voice, "I also like being with you guys."
"It would be nice if I could still be at your exploration team base after I log off."
At least he could confirm Mu Boxing's current physical condition with his own eyes.
Zimao shook his head seriously: "Not now."
"We're very poor right now, and the environment in the outer harbor is also poor." He said, "Brother LU, wait a minute. The boss said he needs to save some money... When we have money, we'll go to a better Sky City planet to live on and build a large base, and then we'll invite you to come and play!"
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