Chapter 332: Cicada Out of Ecdysis
Translator: flycrane01 Editor: Millman97
The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, which had lost all of its momentum, was still very solid. The joints between each piece of the place armor stuck close to each other. The a.s.sault team tried several times, but they failed to open the crystal suit by force.
Luckily, by the scanning of probe magical equipment, they found that the Exo inside the crystal suit had stable breathing and heart rate; he was just in a coma.
Presumably, the previous high-intensity combats had drained not only the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit but also the Exo, who, like a cracked bow, had been stretched beyond his limit.
Faced with such an opponent who fought until the last moment, Ning Feng sighed in respect.
Since the physical condition of the Exo was not too bad, Ning Feng asked the a.s.sault team to carry him to the workshop where there were delicate tools that could dismantle the crystal suit and dig him out.
In the meantime, the electromagnetic shackles were of course still on. Ning Feng wouldn"t leave out details like that.
Right then—
"Chi!"
A loud shriek burst out from the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
Then, a cl.u.s.ter of black fog as dense and thick as ink flooded into the cabin and swallowed more than half of the a.s.sault team.
The pathway they were in was quite narrow. The a.s.sault team had nowhere to run at all. Even the soldiers furthest away from the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit could do nothing but watch the black fog surge closer like an unstoppable tide.
However, the weird smoke did no damage to them, which only dyed them black. It didn"t have any unusual smell, either.
After a moment, almost a hundred "black men" blinked their eyes in confusion, whose teeth were whiter than ever because of the contrast. They looked at each other in bewilderment, not knowing what was going on.
The scene was transmitted to Ning Feng"s brain by the crystal camera on the soldiers" helmets.
However, one crystal camera after another broke down after being contaminated by the black fog. The number of pictures inside Ning Feng"s brain was continuously reducing.
At the same time, more devastating news was reported by the fire control team.
One of the firefighters had been knocked out and hidden in a tool room inside the maintenance duct. His uniform had been taken off!
Ning Feng was immediately alarmed. He focused his attention on the ventilating duct over his head.
In the beginning, Vulture Li Yao had placed a decoy in the ventilating duct, which had exploded when it approached the c.o.c.kpit and release a lot of flames and smoke.
Therefore, three minutes ago, Ning Feng didn"t pay much attention to several firefighters who went into the ventilating duct to put out the fire.
But right now, after he gathered all the information and calculated all the possibilities crazily, he suddenly realized…
"BOOM!"
The exit of the ventilating duct above the c.o.c.kpit was blown to pieces by large fireball!
A man that was wearing silver firefighter uniform and a closed helmet whose ruby gla.s.s blocked his undistinguishable face jumped down from the exit like a crazy devil and appeared in the middle of the c.o.c.kpit!
Before he reached the ground, dozens of round Thunder-Palms had been tossed away by him, which were rolling to every corner of the c.o.c.kpit.
c.o.c.kpit was the brain for a crystal wars.h.i.+p. Most of the important officers and wars.h.i.+p operators congregated here.
Of course, there were a lot of Cultivators among them. But most of them were admin-type Cultivators. Some of them were creation-type and research-type Cultivators.
There were several battle-type Cultivators as guards here. However, they did have any way to deal with the rolling Thunder-Palms other than to gaze at them in bewilderment.
The Thunder-Palms did not detonate.
But they were already a deadly surprise to the officers on Tide Berserker.
"Si la!"
The firefighter uniform was torn into shreds which were dancing in a storm of terror like thousands of silver b.u.t.terflies.
Li Yao was wearing a tactical vest where another dozens of Thunder-Palms were hanging, with a battle saber in his left hand, a burning axe in his right hand, and a storm bolter on his back. He appeared in front of Ning Feng, as if he had been possessed by a devil.
He glanced around coldly, and then turned his eyes back to Ning Feng.
Li Yao smiled, his sharp teeth glaring. He said, "Had the last wave of Thunder-Palms exploded, more than half of the officers and operators here would"ve been injured and killed instantly. The c.o.c.kpit would"ve been in a mess. The operation panels would"ve been hardly likely to function anymore. Shall we continue?"
Ning Feng gritted his teeth.
The crimson liquid was quickly extracted. The capsule opened slowly. He stood straight and glared at Li Yao with b.l.o.o.d.y eyes as he said coldly,
"I thought this was a sham battle to test the performance of crystal suits."
"Indeed it is."
Li Yao replied, "The fact that the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit could rip open the sh.e.l.l of your crystal wars.h.i.+p against the salvo of twelve Taiyi Lightning Railguns and so many Vicious Bee Armed Shuttles is evident enough of its toughness already.
"However, a moment ago, it played an even more important role.
"If you"ve read my files, you should know that I"ve added a set of detonator magical equipment near the crystal reactor of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit.
"Over the past half month, I"ve made a series of improvement. Not only is the explosion much more powerful now, the detonator can also be remotely controlled or set on a timer.
"After I got out of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and knocked out a soldier, I stuffed him inside the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit and set a timer to detonate the crystal suit in five minutes.
"Of course, this is only a sham battle, and I was not using real bombs. Therefore, your a.s.sault team has only been blackened. That"s all.
"If this were a real battle, I believe your a.s.sault team would"ve been annihilated already.
"At least the elites in it. The battle-type Cultivators would"ve suffered most.
"By my estimation, out of precaution, you must"ve asked the strongest experts to surround the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, didn"t you?
"If you don"t believe me, you and everyone in the command center can study the detonator magical equipment I refined together and check whether or not the explosion that it triggers is powerful enough to demolish a few hundred soldiers nearby."
Ning Feng was speechless for a long time, before he opened his mouth again with a hoa.r.s.e voice.
"The two shadows of you were your first decoy. They were also in charge of igniting the fire, so that the fire control team would be deployed. As long as you were in firefighter"s clothing, no one would bother to look at you even if you"re openly moving about inside a ventilating duct.
"The Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit was your second decoy. You lured the a.s.sault team to the Heaven Splitters with your crystal suit which you then triggered and crushed the entire a.s.sault team.
"When everyone"s attention was focused on the authentic Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit near the Heaven Splitters, you crawled through the ventilating duct to the c.o.c.kpit without raising any suspicions.
"But there is one point that I don"t understand.
"Why were you so certain that the c.o.c.kpit would not be guarded? What would you have done if I had stationed dozens of Electric Whip Teethed Vipers and soldiers from the a.s.sault team here?"
"It was not very likely. After all, the crystal chamber below the Heaven Splitters is too important, and you couldn"t bear the consequences if it was occupied by me. Therefore, you definitely would send most of your soldiers there."
Li Yao continued, "It wouldn"t matter whether or not the c.o.c.kpit was heavily guarded.
"Most of the Cultivators on board should"ve been killed by the self-explosion of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit already. How many soldiers can you spare to protect the c.o.c.kpit?
"But let"s say you are well protected by the guards and I have no opportunity to a.s.sa.s.sinate you. At least I can activate all the Thunder-Palms I have, which will lead to major chaos and blow many officers and operators here up. The controls systems of the wars.h.i.+p would be wrecked. It"s unlikely that your wars.h.i.+p would still function normally.
"Then, I would run away while everything was messy.
"Without my crystal suit, I"m still a battle-type Cultivator at the high level of the Refinement Stage. I don"t think ordinary marines can stop me when everything is in disarray.
"Then, I would sneak into the survival cabin and launch a lifeboat, pretending that I"d fled out of the wars.h.i.+p.
"After that, I would sneak into the med bay.
"While I was flying the Vicious Bee Armed Shuttle to Tide Berserker, I saw that two crystal suits were being sucked into your wars.h.i.+p by anti-gravity mystic colors. One of them was not seriously damaged. I a.s.sume that you captured him alive.
"So, I would search the med bay for the uninjured Exo and rescue him.
"That way, two saboteurs will sabotage your wars.h.i.+p together.
"By any luck, we"d even be able to find his crystal suit which was stored by you. I believe that in such chaos, you wouldn"t have many soldiers to keep an eye on his crystal suit.
"After that, I would make an unexpected return again.
"This time, not at the c.o.c.kpit, but at the Heaven Splitters.
"As long as I occupied the crystal chamber of the Heaven Splitters, I would have, in effect, taken over the entire wars.h.i.+p.
"Of course, there are always unantic.i.p.ated changes. The plans can be adjusted according to the actual situation at any moment.
"The c.o.c.kpit, the crystal chamber of the Heaven Splitters, the engine compartment, and even the anti-gravity system are all my targets.
"If I had no other choice, I could destroy the anti-gravity system of your wars.h.i.+p and force it to land so that I can run away. Without the fire support of your wars.h.i.+p in the sky, I don"t think that your soldiers and beast puppets are capable enough of hunting a Cultivator at the high level of the Refinement Stage in a jungle.
"All in all, the one thing that worried me most was your a.s.sault team.
"Therefore, my top priority is not to destroy the c.o.c.kpit, nor the Heaven Splitters, nor the engine compartment, but to try everything I can to eliminate your a.s.sault team.
"As long as the a.s.sault team is eliminated, I"d be able to take the initiative of the battle, and I would be much more comfortable regardless of whether I decide to persist on fighting or simply run away.
"The plans that I proposed just now are not just wild imaginations. The success rate is at least 50%.
"So, I think the sham battle should be concluded now. Do you concur?"
All the officers and operators in the c.o.c.kpit were speechless.
The command center of the Fifth Fleet was mired in an indescribable silence, too.
Ning Feng seemed to have thought of something, but his reb.u.t.tal was overruled by himself before he opened his mouth. He crashed down like an empty bag and sighed, before muttering unwillingly, "I concur."