Chapter 56
Note: Early chapter release, thank you so much Kassilph for the Ko-Fi! Also, we're starting a new arc next chapter! ٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´-
As Mu Cai's words fell, twenty cannonball shots were launched instantly, whistling away in the wind.
The zergs surrounding the queen resorted to their usual strategy. Once more they began to pile up, creating an impenetrable wall of zergs to shield the queen with their bodily sacrifice from this round of assault.
Apparently, they succeeded again.
The direct blast continued to pulverize the Zerg wall, yet again, it didn't harm the queen at all.
However, as these zergs receded like a tide, taking along the shattered zerg corpses blasted to bits, the queen, in the midst of reproducing, suddenly opened her mouth wide. Her two thin forelimbs crazily tried to grasp something.
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Meanwhile, Mu Feng, controlling Vermilion Bird, was battling with the two flying bugs attacking him atop his warship. Above him was the sky-shielding fleet of zergs, grand like moving clouds. He had been combating wave after wave of zergs descending from this fleet for so long that he was almost at his limit.
There was nobody coming to his aid. Because everyone else was dealing with their own emergencies, just like him. They were all struggling to protect themselves.
Beads of sweat the size of beans dripped down Mu Feng's temples, his hair entirely wet under the spiritual sensor. The continuous and seemingly endless struggle was tormenting his body and mind. At first, the communicator, meant for contacting teammates, was filled with everyone's encouragement. Now, it had been silent for a considerable amount of time.
If there were any occasional sounds from the communicator, they were nothing but the irate curses and roars of his teammates, transmitting their anxious emotions.
Under such low morale and a strenuous battlefield, the mecha fighters were still persistently holding on.
However, right when Mu Feng was about to reach his limit, all the zergs suddenly stopped their assault. As if on cue, they started retreating frantically.
The flying bugs hovered in the air, lining up in a long queue, immediately flying outward. The thorny stinging bugs originally stationed on top of the warship jumped down without any hesitation. Those who didn't survive the fall lay there instantly dead, those who did, regardless of any injury, moved in a unified direction. Even the massive nebula overhead began to move, aligning its motion with the flying path of the zergs.
Mu Feng was startled, clueless about what was happening.
Obviously, he wasn't the only one left confused. The communicator buzzed with noisy chatter as his teammates speculated:
"What's going on? Why are they all running away?"
"And they're all heading in the same direction... Wait, isn't that the direction of the Zerg queen's location? Could it be that Mu Cai and his team succeeded?!"
"Not necessarily! If the Zerg queen really died, these zergs shouldn't be this orderly. I guess the queen is seriously injured and calling on them for assistance! We must stop these zergs, we can't let them go there!"
"......"
Amid the clamor, a firm voice cut through the chatter over the communicator: "Mu Cai's mission was a success, the Zerg queen has been critically hit! The battleship is about to launch shells. All mecha fighters are to stop the zerg's retreat and buy time for Mu Cai!"
This voice was Nolan's.
Those standing atop the Star of Dawn were instantly invigorated as if injected with adrenaline. The beacon of victory lay ahead, sweeping the exhaustion and listlessness off every mech fighter. Although their physical strength was waning, their spirits were revived, giving them the incentive to continue the fight.
Nolan stood in the control center, watching the mecha fighters falling like meteors from the top of the battleship, calmly communicating the message from Mu Cai to the control rooms of the other nine battleships.
Without any disagreement, the captains of the other nine battleships cooperated naturally.
And so, among the moving Zerg army on the ground, shells dropped one after another. The zergs that attacked either died or were injured. However, these zergs, whose bodies had been blown apart or whose limbs and heads had been severed, still crawled mechanically towards the direction of the Zerg queen.
There, a war raged on, with fierce fire. Here, twenty-one mecha fighters were throwing their all into resisting.
From the launch of the twenty shells, Mu Cai began controlling Qingluan, rushing towards the Zerg queen under the cover of the artillery fire.
He was piloting the latest mecha, completely psychic-controlled, which was naturally fast. Moreover, Qingluan was custom-designed for him by Master Baze. The machine was light and was specially made to sacrifice the weight of the mech to augment its speed.
With his highly-focused attention, Mu Cai moved like a streak of blue lightning, directly disappearing into the smoke of the artillery fire in the blink of an eye. Relying on the zerg' lack of counting ability and the cover of gunfire, he managed to climb onto the mound-like belly of the Zerg queen. Then, he extended a small cannon designed for close combat from the mechanical arm of his mecha, pressing the end of the cannon against the seemingly thin, yet extremely elastic abdomen.
Mu Cai commanded Qing;uan to open fire.
This small cannon was actually quite similar to a mechanical silo. Still, the barrel of the cannon was wider, and the destructive power of the cannonballs was stronger. Once Mu Cai started firing, the strong recoil hit Qingluan's shoulder, and the mini-cannonballs quickly blasted into the Zerg queen's abdomen.
The Zerg queen opened her big mouth full of sharp teeth and shrieked silently.
Powerful psychic energy fluctuated in Mu Cai's mind as if the opponent had suffered considerable damage. Mu Cai could feel the surrounding zergs growing restless. The rustling noise of zergs moving across the ground accelerated, along with the sound of springtails snapping their jaws, and the sound of stinging zergs scraping their hind legs on the ground all increasing.
They had received the sound emitted by the Zerg queen when she was hurt, causing them to become anxious, and it was very likely that they would soon rush over.
Before being torn into pieces, Mu Cai must kill the queen.
The mound-like abdomen of the Zerg Queen began to struggle clumsily. Mu Cai had no choice but to operate Qingluan to hold himself steady with one hand and continue firing with the other.
Soon, Mu Cai saw the results of his actions.
The queen's soft belly skin split open, first oozing a foul-smelling pale yellow fluid, then clumps of eggs burst out one after another.
By this time, the smoke from the shells had dispersed, and the zergs, compelled by the queen's mental influence, swarmed over. Just as Mu Cai was about to dodge, he saw a silver-white mech descending from the sky. The towering mech made a few movements and flung aside some of the smaller zergs that had rushed to the front.
Soon after, the other nineteen mecha fighters also arrived, positioning themselves in front of Qingluan, encircling Mu Cai to protect him from the oncoming zergs.
The voice of Claire echoed in the communicator, the urgency in his deep, panting breath was evident: "Cai Cai, are you hurt?"
Claire had excellent physical fitness, and this short distance move wouldn't drain him much. The rapid panting now was most likely due to his worry for Mu Cai.
A smile spread across Mu Cai's face at Claire's concern and his heart warmed. "I'm fine," he said.
After saying that, he turned to the communicator and said solemnly, "I must ensure the death of the Zerg queen, and may not be able to pay attention to the surrounding situation. Please, I need everyone to help!"
A chorus of "Received" quickly echoed through the communicator in response.
Mu Cai concentrated on controlling Qingluan to continue the attack on the queen.
Three hundred years ago, the severely injured Zerg queen escaped, leading to the Zerg's invasion of the Kotal planet. Therefore, it now was crucial to kill the Zerg queen on the spot to eliminate future threats.
With this thought, Mu Cai quickened his manipulation of the Qingluan. The intense fire from the small cannon in Qing Luan's hand tore open a huge gash in the Zerg queen's abdomen.
The zergs around were getting more frantic. Tens of thousands of zergs, much larger than humans, surrounded them like an encroaching army.
They used their hardest body parts as weapons, desperately trying to tear the human who was causing chaos on the Queen's body into pieces.
The rhythm of zerg attacks was as dense as a rainstorm. With only twenty mecha fighters to stall the onslaught, they were having a hard time. Moreover, a swarm of zergs was rapidly approaching from a distance, looking like a dark cloud. Their situation was precarious.
Aware of their plight, Mu Cai intensified his attacks on the queen.
Once the Zerg queen was thoroughly killed, these zergs would lose their command and direction, guaranteeing their team's safety!
Mu Cai did not stop even after exhausting all the artillery that Qingluan carried. He put away the heated cannon, and controlling Qingluan, he thrust a sharp blade out from her mechanical arm into the large rift he had created in the queen's abdomen, stirring inside frantically.
One had to admit, the life force of the Zerg queen was astonishing. Even after Mu Cai had ripped a hole big enough to contain an adult male in her abdomen, she was still struggling on the verge of death.
However, as the blade of the Qingluan stirred, cutting through her internal organs and nerves, the Zerg queen's struggle grew weaker and weaker, until she finally lay motionless.
The zergs that had previously been swarming and attacking madly suddenly became as motionless as players disconnected from a game. They even started to scamper around like headless flies.
The Zerg fleet that was moving towards them also halted.
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Everything that followed became much easier.
Exhausted, Mu Cai deactivated his mecha mode. The other nineteen mecha fighters disembarked from the Zerg queen's body, starting to reap the zergs on the field with the reinforcements that arrived.
But Claire, controlling Bai Ze, turned around, cradled Mu Cai from the corpse of the Zerg queen, and gently put him down on a cleaner spot.
There was silence on the communicator. The silver mecha stood silently, black cockpit like a pair of deep, black eyes, gazing at him silently.
An idea struck Mu Cai, and he was about to speak, when suddenly, an icy mechanical voice came from within his mind:
"[Plot points complete, energy field about to end. Please prepare, Host, for immediate exit from the energy field.]"
Mu Cai's pupils shrunk.
Why was it happening so quickly this time?! In the last world, the system had given him several months to gradually withdraw!
They had just achieved victory, and he hadn't had time to take a good look at Claire or properly say goodbye!
At this moment, Claire's gentle and deep voice suddenly came through the communication device: "What's wrong, Cai Cai? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
Claire's attentiveness was still present, carefully observing him even now.
With nowhere to vent his intense emotions, a somewhat crazy thought popped into Mu Cai's mind.
He raised his head and commanded with a burning gaze: "Claire, instantly deactivate your mecha state. I want to see you."
Claire was taken aback.
Since joining the battlefield, Cai Cai seemed to be very proactive. Was it because the battlefield environment caused people's mental states to change? They were in extreme conditions, facing death at any moment. Was it precisely because of this that Cai Cai didn't want to lose himself and became so proactive?
Simply thinking of this possibility made his heart start to pound.
Claire didn’t know what Mu Cai was up to. Initially, his intention was merely to get Mu Cai to a safe and clean spot before going to support the other teammates. But he would definitely adhere to any requests made by Cai Cai.
Claire deactivated his mecha state.
As soon as he landed, he felt a soft body collide into his arms. Immediately afterwards, a soft sensation touched his lips, followed by a pair of slender arms circling around his neck, holding him tightly.
The kiss was brief and shy, revealing the person's inexperience in his arms.
A beautiful, ethereal voice floated to Claire's ear - it was probably the most enchanting sound he had ever heard: "Claire, I like you."
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Author's Note:
Congratulations to Cai Cai in this chapter for earning the title of "Human Pesticide"! =w=
Claire: Pesticide? Cai Cai indeed has the ability to eliminate quite a number of my "bugs" (?﹃?)
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