The bridge of the Indomitable shook violently. The captain gripped the handrail tightly, his eyes fixed on the two sides locked in combat on the screen.
Bysade piloted his mech with incredible evasive maneuvers, narrowly dodging the black beetles’ lightning-fast tentacle attacks.
Taking advantage of the opening, Cassius roared as he shoved the control stick forward. The high-frequency blade on the mech’s right arm hummed and vibrated, turning into a streak of silver fire that precisely cleaved into the joint of a black beetle’s head carapace.
The shell cracked, and fluorescent green blood splattered everywhere—but more black beetles swarmed in from all directions, like sharks drawn to the scent of blood.
Their razor-sharp appendages scraped against the mech’s armor, screeching with a sound that set teeth on edge!
The rapid-fire cannon on the mech’s left arm roared, driving back the approaching black beetles.
The beetles’ corrosive blood splashed onto the mech’s shoulder armor, raising wisps of white smoke.
Li Hao: “Cassius, get back to the ship!”
Cassius was reluctant, but the silvery-green blood was already flowing down the shoulder armor and into the mech’s interior.
If they didn’t deal with it in time, the mech’s energy core would be corroded.
Cassius turned back: “I’ll switch mechs and come right back!”
The maintenance crew on the Indomitable was already standing by.
Cassius climbed out of his mech and swapped to a standard-issue Falcon-class unit.
The black beetles were the first type of Zerg humanity had ever encountered, so they were relatively familiar with them.
After a grueling struggle, Bysade and the others finally wiped out the black beetle squad.
“Man, oh man—I went through three mechs!” Cassius panted, his head throbbing from overexerting his psychic energy.
Bysade was in slightly better shape, but both his physical stamina and psychic reserves were hanging by a thread.
“Oh no! A Void Devourer—ambush!”
Out of nowhere, a Void Devourer that had slipped in undetected locked its sights on the Indomitable and was about to unleash a Stellar Stream.
Everyone’s hair stood on end as the Indomitable blared a shrill alarm.
“We’re done for!”
That single thought flashed through everyone’s mind.
Once locked on by a Stellar Stream, not only the ship but even their bodies would disintegrate in an instant.
Just as despair set in, two black whips materialized out of thin air—swish—and drove straight into the joint at the back of the Void Devourer’s head carapace.
With a twist of the whips, the creature’s head was severed clean from its body.
The Stellar Stream that had been building up power cut off like someone had flipped a switch, paused briefly, then scattered into specks of light and dissolved back into the void.
If the monitoring instruments hadn’t registered a terrifyingly high Stellar Energy reading, everyone would have doubted whether the Void Devourer had even been there at all.
Because it all happened so fast!
From detection to elimination, the entire process took less than ten minutes.
Everyone’s fear hadn’t even reached its peak before it came crashing straight down.
“Who was that…”
Which big shot had come to their rescue? Was it her?
From a great distance away, in the region with the highest concentration of Stellar Energy, the Gigawhales happily swished their tails.
And among them, Lin Xiaohe’s figure stood out so vividly.
Bysade and the others met her gaze across the void, a thousand words stuck in their throats—none of them came out.
A simple “thank you” felt too light, too flimsy.
Aboard the Indomitable, the captain scratched his head anxiously and shot a helpless look at the deputy commander beside him: “What should we say?”
Lin Xiaohe’s relationship with the Federation was pretty rocky.
But her relationship with the Federation military? It wasn’t good, wasn’t bad—like tangled threads that you couldn’t quite cut cleanly, no matter how hard you tried.
The deputy commander didn’t know what to say either: “How about… just express our gratitude?”
The real problem was, the Indomitable didn’t have any decent gift to offer. It wasn’t like they could just hand over a Federation soldier, right?
Apparently, Lin Xiaohe wasn’t expecting their thanks anyway. “Wesley, hunting time!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
This time, Lin Xiaohe didn’t take action herself.
Twenty Stellar Humans, in pairs, rode their Gigawhales and charged at the Void Devourers.
The Void Devourer’s proudest weapon—the Stellar Stream—was completely useless against the Gigawhales and the Stellar Humans.
Wesley leaped onto a Void Devourer, hefted his spear, and started stabbing away at the critical weak points.
Their pace was a bit slower than Lin Xiaohe’s—it took them about an hour to take down one.
“Slow, my foot!! These are Void Devourers! Back when Marshal Chu brought in outside help, it took them half a day just to kill one!”
The soldiers on the Indomitable were staring so wide-eyed that their eyeballs practically popped out of their sockets.
They crowded against the portholes, their faces squished flat against the glass.
“Holy crap! He’s biting it!! Did you see that? He actually bit the Void Devourer!”
Hiss!
Whoa. What a set of teeth. He actually tore a chunk of meat off!
“Wooo! He swallowed it! Mother of God, can you really eat a Void Devourer raw like that?”
“Don’t even think about it! Remember what happened when someone in the Empire tried eating bug meat?”
And that wasn’t even a Void Devourer—just a tiny little black bug.
The guy who ate it exploded into a puddle of goo.
And someone else who tried drinking Zerg blood got their whole body corroded.
“Whoa!”
“Holy black hole!”
Every time they took down a Void Devourer, a wave of cheers erupted inside the Indomitable.
With all the Void Devourers eliminated, the 4th Division of the 1st Star Ring finally restored communications.
The division commander, overwhelmed with emotion, expressed his gratitude to Lin Xiaohe and her team over the all-channel broadcast.
“Thank you so much—you and your comrades—for lending a hand. The 4th Division will never forget this kindness.”
Lin Xiaohe didn’t reply. She simply turned and left.
The division commander knew all too well how strained her relationship with the Federation was, so he didn’t press further. He simply had the 4th Division’s ships flash their signal lights in a silent salute to Lin Xiaohe.
Over the next stretch of the journey, Wesley kept chuckling to himself.
He laughed so often that Lin Xiaohe finally couldn’t help but ask: “What are you laughing at?”
Wesley patted the Void Devourer carcass being towed by his Gigawhale: “Just thinking about all this delicious food makes me happy.”
Lin Xiaohe: …
They soon entered the 1st Star Ring. Chu Huaizhi already knew they were coming.
After all, ten dead Void Devourers in tow was hardly inconspicuous.
Chu Huaizhi quietly gave Lin Xiaohe the green light, which meant she and her team sailed through the 1st Star Ring without any obstacles and soon picked up Melina.
Wesley pulled Melina into a big hug, his voice choked with emotion: “Hey, Mom—I came to get you, with starlight in tow.”
Melina sniffled, then gently thumped him on the chest: “Mind your image. You’re not a little kid anymore.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Wesley spotted the Star Grain Party badge pinned to Melina’s chest and broke into an exaggerated grin: “Whoa, Mom—didn’t you say…”
Melina flushed with mock anger: “Shut up!”
Her big boy was way too cheeky. Skip one day of discipline, and he’d be climbing the roof.
Wesley winked and made faces at Lin Xiaohe, while bragging to Melina about how they’d caught a dozen or so Void Devourers along the way and helped the 4th Division out of a jam.
Lin Xiaohe extended her hand: “Long time no see, Melina. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”
