bookbashuk Chapter 80 Flying... It Flyed Out
Chapter 80 Flying... It Flyed Out
Chapter 80 Flying... It Flyed Out
Zhongchao, outside the restricted area of the Ninth District.
Inside the Helios Group's temporary command post, several mercenary captains responsible for guarding the blockade line were playing cards together.
The table was piled high with crumpled Imperial coins and several bottles of cheap Amasec.
"A pair of Ks"
"don't want."
"I'm telling you, when are we finally going to pay salaries? It's been half a month already."
A captain with a full beard complained, slamming his cards onto the table.
"If you don't pay me soon, I'm taking my brothers and leaving. Whoever wants to guard this wretched place can guard it."
"I heard that the finance department is falsifying the accounts. Saul and those old guys are trying to pin all the losses on Zeman."
The other captain shuffled the cards casually.
"Anyway, it's none of our business. Our job is just to stay here and keep watch, making sure no one gets in."
"Boom—"
—
Suddenly, the wine bottle on the table jumped up.
Immediately afterwards, the ground began to shake violently.
It wasn't the slight tremor you feel when a heavy truck passes by; it was more like a terrifying force emanating from deep within the earth's crust, capable of tearing rocks apart.
"earthquake?!"
The group's expressions changed, and before they could even regain their footing, an even more violent tremor struck.
"Snap—!!!"
A large crack appeared in the ceiling of the command post, and dust and gravel fell down.
The ground outside made a teeth-grinding tearing sound.
The once smooth concrete plaza in District 9 now looked as if it had been violently shoved from below by an invisible giant hand, with the center bulging high and spiderweb-like cracks appearing around it.
"Run! The ground is collapsing!"
The mercenaries, not even bothering to take the money, scrambled out of the tent.
They hadn't run far when they witnessed a scene they would never forget.
In the center of District 9, where the entrance to District D used to be, the ground suddenly exploded.
It wasn't an ordinary explosion, but rather like a volcanic eruption.
Millions of tons of soil, rocks, and the engineering machinery that Helios hadn't had time to remove were all thrown into the sky.
Amidst the dust and rubble, a huge, pitch-black "drill" that shimmered with a blue glow emerged from the ground.
No, that's not a drill!
That's the bow of the ship—it's fucking there!
The bow of the Xinbang was adorned with a ram several meters thick made of refined gold!
It was topped with a semi-transparent force field shield that was visible to the naked eye; it was a void shield operating at full power.
All the rocks, steel bars, and concrete that hit the shield were either bounced off or shattered by that distorted spatial force.
This three-kilometer-long starship, like a giant whale leaping out of the water, with an unstoppable momentum, forcefully broke through hundreds of meters of earth's strata and soared into the sky.
"Holy shit—holy crap—"
The bearded captain gaped, dropping his cigarette to the ground.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
"The boat——is the boat!"
"It flew out! It flew out from underground!!"
The main engine of the Shinbang is spewing out a plasma tail flame that stretches for thousands of meters.
The brilliant blue flames tore through the night sky of the hive city, and the resulting high temperature instantly ignited the surrounding air, burning everything on the ground into glass.
A tremendous roar followed, making everyone's eardrums ache, and even shattering windows several kilometers away.
"Zzz—Zzz!"
With a sickening metallic creak, the New Bond was completely freed from its ground restraints.
Covered in mud and pebbles, and still glowing with the light of its shield, it soared straight into the sky with an extremely domineering posture.
Upper Nest, Helios Headquarters.
Saul was sitting in his office, holding a recent financial statement, his brow furrowed.
Suddenly, the entire spire shook.
The water glass on the table overturned, spilling water all over the floor.
"What happened? Was it an earthquake?"
Saul stood up and walked to the French windows.
He saw it; in the direction of Zhongchao, a huge column of smoke shot into the sky.
At the top of the column of smoke, a colossal black object was rising rapidly.
That silhouette, that physique.
Thor knew it all too well.
That was the merchant ronin starship he had dreamed of digging out, but could never manage to!
"No—impossible—"
Saul's hand trembled as he pressed it against the glass, his old face filled with terror and despair.
"How could it fly?!"
"Who's driving that?! Isn't that machine spirit insane?!"
"Quickly! Contact the group's air defense forces and shoot it down! We can't let it get away!"
Thor turned and rushed toward the communications station, shouting frantically.
But he knew in his heart that it was all too late.
The ship has started up and is already airborne.
With the few anti-aircraft missiles Helios had, he couldn't possibly stop a starship of this caliber.
Unless—unless the Mechanics are willing to use orbital defense lasers.
The Temple of the Mechanics, casting towers.
Sigma-7 was also watching this scene, its electronic eyes flashing red data streams.
"Subspace engine reaction detected, Void Shield reaction detected."
"Target: Merchant Ronin-class armed transport ship."
Status: Forced takeoff.
The logic circuits of Sigma-7 are calculating at breakneck speed.
This was clearly a serious violation of regulations.
They took off without any prior notice or flight path application, and even after causing such massive ground damage.
According to Imperial law and the doctrines of the Mechanicus, this could be considered a terrorist attack, an absolute act of heresy, and must be shot down!
"Fire! Fire immediately!"
Sigma-7 roared angrily, its finger slamming down on the launch button for the orbital defense laser array.
With a simple press, several megawatt-level lasers would descend from the sky, slicing the spaceship, which hadn't yet fully accelerated, in two.
however.
The devastating beam of light that was expected did not appear.
On the control panel, a series of glaring red error codes instantly lit up.
"Beep—! Beep—!"
Error: Array offline.
[Error: Capacitor is unloaded.]
[Error: Fire control servo skull is in sleep mode.]
Last system maintenance: 137 years ago.
'
'
Sigma-7's hand froze in mid-air, its logic core nearly overloading from anger.
"Damn it! These lazy organic remnants!"
Grass!
He then remembered that the orbital defense system of Furnace No. 7 had been abandoned for more than a century!
Since the last defeat of the Greenskins pirates, the system has been shut down due to insufficient funding and lack of maintenance.
Awakening this sleeping behemoth is not as simple as pressing a button.
There is an urgent need to repair aging circuits, inject high-energy plasma fuel into dried-out capacitors, and wake up those fire control machines that are sleeping soundly in their coffins, and reconfigure parameters and calibrate the system.
Sigma-7 rapidly calculates the required processes and time.
[Emergency Deployment Protocol Initiated —]
[Estimated minimum travel time: 3 hours.]
Three hours?!
Sigma-7 stared at the spaceship on the screen, which was about to disappear into the clouds, and wished he could smash the control panel.
Three hours? What kind of interstellar joke is this?!
The daylily buds are all cold!
Just as he was preparing to issue a forceful order regardless of the consequences, even if it meant blowing up the entire system, he was about to open fire.
He suddenly read a very special code in the ship's identification signal.
It was a string of sacred codes that could only be found in the most confidential files.
"Is that—a signal from the remnants of the Golden Age?"
The Sigma-7 froze again.
Anger was instantly replaced by greed and caution.
If there really were fragments of the Golden Age on that ship, wouldn't he become a sinner for destroying sacred artifacts if he shot it down?
Moreover, the Great Sage Coul is nearby!
"call----"
The exhaust fan emitted a heavy roar as Sigma-7 forced its logic core to cool down.
Fortunately.
Judging from its flight path, it's clearly heading towards low Earth orbit, but we don't know what it's going to do there.
Since we can't play now anyway, we might as well use these three hours to do something else.
"Three hours—let it bounce around for another three hours."
Sigma-7 issued the order: "Reboot the defense array at full power. All Guardians of the Faith, enter Level 1 combat readiness."
"Lock onto it first. As long as it dares to leave near-Earth orbit, my cannon will be in position."
"At that time, whether it lives or dies will be up to me."
Bridge of the USS Shinbang.
The violent shaking forced Andy to grip the handrail tightly.
Despite the presence of inertial dampers, this violent takeoff method still caused the ship's structure to groan in pain.
"Warning! Port side armor has detached!"
"Warning! Attitude adjustment nozzle #3 is clogged!"
"Warning! Shield capacity has dropped to 40%!"
Xiao Liu's voice remained calm as she processed tens of thousands of alarm messages in milliseconds.
"Course correction in progress, 15 seconds from orbital dock."
"Prepare to shut down the engine."
Andy watched as the enormous metal ring—the orbital dock—approached closer and closer in the image.
Inside the dock, the antigravity generator was operating at full power, creating a huge force field funnel invisible to the naked eye.
"Make sure you catch it!"
Andy silently recited it in his mind.
"They're inside!"
With a report from Xiao Liu.
The massive hull of the New Bang glided precisely into the embrace of the orbital dock.
"Buzz—!!"
The anti-gravity field acts on the ship's hull instantly.
The enormous inertia was gently counteracted, and the ship's speed dropped from several Mach to zero in just a few seconds.
It's like a baseball flying at high speed being caught steadily by a huge, soft glove.
"Snap! Snap!"
The heavy robotic arms in the dock immediately closed, locking the ship firmly in place.
The vacuum field shield activated, enveloping the entire ship.
"Capture successful," Xiao Liu reported. "We're safe for now."
Andy let out a long sigh and threw himself into the conductor's chair.
At this moment, through the observation window of the bridge, one can see the hazy planet below.
There is now a huge, black-smoking crater at the location of Zhongchao, like a scar on the planet.
And they finally left the ground.
But this is only the first step.
The real challenge is just beginning.
"Everyone," Andy said, connecting the communicator, "we only have three hours."
"We have to get off this damn track in three hours, or the Mechanicus' fire control radar will be coming!"
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