1493 Ambush and s.h.i.+p Hijacking
In the blink of an eye, it was midnight on the nameless planet.
Xia Fan looked around. Everyone was sitting in a circle in an obscured area of the hills. Other than the nonchalant Luo Jiuyi, everyone else was awake, their expressions tense. After all, Xia Fan had drafted a plan far beyond their imagination. They were actually going to seize a Murder Shrine Otter-cla.s.s dreadnought!
The Otter was a twelve-kilometer-long capital s.h.i.+p, and its ma.s.sive body contained between seven to ten thousand crew. Meanwhile, Xia Fan’s group plus Sarah was a total of nine people! The gap in manpower was rather absurd. This was bound to be a difficult battle!
It was almost time to begin the operation. Xia Fan said to Sarah, “Sarah, you have only one mission, to keep a close watch on Anyo. He’s our important hostage, so we need to do our best to take him back alive.”
!!
Sarah met Xia Fan’s gaze and nodded. She was in a rather complicated emotional state, and she had a lot she wanted to say to Xia Fan. However, there were too many people around, so she had yet to find the right opportunity. As a result, she remained quiet.
At this time, Anyo, who had said nothing this whole time, suddenly gave a bitter chuckle. “What does it matter if I return to the Murder Shrine? I’ll still be killed.”
Anyo looked up at the stars with sorrow in his eyes. In a hoa.r.s.e voice, he said, “Going back to the Inner Territories is fine. I’m starting to miss home, and also the two persimmon trees in my yard. Every autumn, the trees would be laden with golden fruits. My little brother and I would bring over a ladder and climb the tree to gather the fruits. When I was little, I was so greedy. I would take the just-plucked fruits, wipe them off on my s.h.i.+rt, and take a big bite…”
There was no greater sorrow than the death of the heart, which was the state Anyo was currently in. He had promised Xia Fan that he would confess everything he knew, but not right now, but only after he was returned safely to the Inner Territories. Thus, Xia Fan not only couldn’t touch Anyo, he had to do everything he could to protect him!
Based on scientific research, a person entered the deepest sleep in the very early morning. Thus, Xia Fan fixed the operation time to four in the morning.
—–
As the night deepened, Xia Fan waved his hand and ordered everyone to follow him down the hill.
Several minutes later, the barren hills were behind them, and before them was a boundless and desolate plain. There was nothing here to offer them cover. All they could do was rush forward at the perfect moment so that they could reach the Otter dreadnought in one go, after which they would swiftly take care of all the crewmembers on the s.h.i.+p.
Everyone crouched down and waited patiently. After a night of observation, Xia Fan had found that the guards outside the dreadnought changed s.h.i.+fts every two hours. At that time, a hoverstair would be released from the lower deck of the s.h.i.+p. That would be their only opportunity to get into the dreadnought.
As the seconds pa.s.sed, everyone began to tense, their pulses quickening. Just as their tension reached maximum, Xia Fan suddenly saw the hoverstair come down from the lower deck, after which forty fully-armored warriors descended from the s.h.i.+p and dispersed, taking up various posts, changing s.h.i.+fts with their comrades who had already been there for two hours.
This was the moment!
Xia Fan swung his hand and then exploded forward with astonis.h.i.+ng speed. His powerful const.i.tution allowed him to reach maximum speed in a single second. At two thousand meters per second, he only needed one minute to cross a hundred and twenty kilometers, moving even faster than a missile!
The selection of time was extremely important. Forty posts were spread across forty different areas, and the warriors needed ten-plus minutes to come down from the hoverstairs and get to their posts. That time was the perfect opportunity to intrude into the capital s.h.i.+p.
The entry method had also been meticulously calculated. Sarah used her flying blade to help everyone get off the ground, with Duan Muheng using his vines to bind everyone tightly together so that no one fell behind just because Xia Fan was too fast.
Xia Fan served as the train with the most horsepower. Although he was alone, he pulled everyone along at lightning speed, charging crazily forward!
Although the capital s.h.i.+p was sixty kilometers away, a vast distance for other people, Xia Fan’s team only needed thirty seconds to cross the distance!
Whoos.h.!.+
There was a black blur, no, a group of black blurs, blasting out from the hills, heading straight for that ma.s.sive capital s.h.i.+p!
But just as Xia Fan charged out, something completely unexpected happened.
Just as they entered the plains, alarms began to blare across the temporary s.p.a.ceport, tearing through the night sky. Countless red warning lights lit up with blinding red lights.
At the same time, the more than one hundred wars.h.i.+ps anch.o.r.ed at the s.p.a.ceport, opened their lowerholds, releasing tens of thousands of warriors!
The situation was dangerous! The sudden alarm and the numerous enemies hidden in the cargo holds meant that this was clearly a trap!
The Murder Shrine had probably guessed that Xia Fan’s group would infiltrate at night, so they had made preparations!
Their plans were laid out exquisitely. When the alarms blared, Xia Fan was already ten-some kilometers into the plains. In front of him were numerous enemies charging out of cargo holds, and behind him, numerous enemies were swiftly forming an encirclement, cutting off their retreat!
“Oh no!”
“These scoundrels! How did they know we would make a sneak attack!?”
Xia Fan’s brothers shouted, but at this key moment, Xia Fan remained calm and focused. Moreover, Xia Fan had noticed something very interesting. Almost all of the anch.o.r.ed wars.h.i.+ps had ambushers, all except the capital s.h.i.+p!
Perhaps that was because the Murder Shrine hadn’t imagined, even in its wildest dreams, that Xia Fan would target the capital s.h.i.+p. Located in the center of the s.p.a.ceport, the giant capital s.h.i.+p did nothing. All that happened was that the guards who were switching out charged in Xia Fan’s direction after they heard the alarm.
All or nothing! Xia Fan roared to himself, at the same time pressing the Immortal Wine injector on his right arm. The device Xia Fan had personally made had a red b.u.t.ton. If that b.u.t.ton was pressed, the device would inject ten drops of Immortal Wine. It was a frightening quant.i.ty that could make Xia Fan go completely crazy! It was a move he had reserved for a battle to the death with a powerful foe!
Clack!
The needle pierced into Xia Fan’s vein, and then a frenzied energy, the Immortal Wine brewed with Yggdragon blood, flowed into his veins!
“Brothers, hold fast!” Xia Fan shouted, his voice already hoa.r.s.e, his eyes as red as blood! His muscles began to swell like those of a beast!
Faster!
FASTER!
STILL FASTER!
Among all the martial arts of the world, only speed was without flaw!
Since they were surrounded anyway, Xia Fan decided to go crazy, taking a big bet!
Rumble!
The enemies began to attack, a dazzling barrage of abilities flying toward Xia Fan. They were still rather far away, so close-range abilities couldn’t reach their team yet. Thus, the enemy had used long-range attacks.
Xia Fan didn’t know what his current speed was, but he didn’t care. The large amount of Yggdragon blood had pushed Xia Fan’s speed to the limit of the limit! Whether it was ice arrows, lightning strikes, or fire tornadoes, they couldn’t hit Xia Fan. All kinds of terrifying attacks brushed past him harmlessly.
The usually relaxed Traveling Buddha started to get scared, but it was impossible for them to counterattack. That was because Xia Fan was traveling so fast that they were on the verge of breaking.
An immense force pressed down on their bodies, squeezing their chests and making their bones groan. The weaker Anyo threw up mouthful after mouthful of blood. There was no need to wait for the enemy attacks, for Xia Fan was about to drag Anyo to death!
This was the terrifying Speed type!
The Speed ability could lead to a transcendent transformation of the body. One’s bones, cells, and muscles would evolve to adapt to the faster speed until the Speed ability stood at the peak of all special abilities!
“What’s going on!?”
“He’s this fast? Is this guy even human!?”
“Oh G.o.d! They’re trying to hijack the capital s.h.i.+p!”
“These crazy scoundrels! Stop them! Hurry and stop them!”
The Murder Shrine’s warriors were hurled away by Xia Fan’s speed, even as they cried out in alarm.
One second!
Two seconds!
Three seconds!
After activating berserk mode, Xia Fan charged out of the encirclement, carving a b.l.o.o.d.y path! Before the circle could close, he brought his team up to the capital s.h.i.+p’s hoverstair!
And then with a leap, they all boarded the s.h.i.+p!
Plus.h.!.+ The warrior operating the stairs was beheaded with one swing from Xia Fan’s blade. The head immediately flew up and then slammed into the ground, turning into paste.
Looking back, Xia Fan saw a black flood of enemies down below. Laughing savagely, he said, “Traveling Buddha! Thousand Ink! Hold this place! Bring up the stairs and don’t let anyone in!”
“Understood!” Thousand Ink and Traveling Buddha replied in unison. One had numerous combat beasts, while the other had the Battle Buddha’s Golden Light. In this narrow pa.s.sageway, they could definitely hold off a more numerous foe!
“Everyone else, follow me to the command center!”
Whoos.h.!.+
Leaving Thousand Ink and Traveling Buddha behind, Xia Fan started accelerating again. They were in the midsection of the dreadnought, and they needed to cross six kilometers of corridors to get to the command deck. He had already crossed sixty kilometers of plains, so that distance was nothing!
A few seconds later, Xia Fan brought everyone into the command center. They had run into quite a few enemies on the way. Not expecting Xia Fan to make a grab at the capital s.h.i.+p, they had been completely unprepared, and had been slaughtered in the halls.
Bang!
Xia Fan kicked open the door to the command deck and found that there weren’t many people there. There were ten-some technicians, and the highest officer was a bearded first officer.
“Kill them all!” Xia Fan ordered.
Jin Yu and Luo Jiuyi immediately charged out, swinging their weapons. The technicians had little combat ability and screamed as they were turned into corpses on the deck.
As Jin Yu and Luo Jiuyi led the attack, Nan Jing and Feng Feng stood guard at the door to the command deck, intercepting any enemies. Meanwhile, Xia Fan used his astonis.h.i.+ng speed to quickly take control of the s.h.i.+p.
Normally, an Otter-cla.s.s s.h.i.+p couldn’t be controlled by a single person and required a team of specialists working together.
But Xia Fan had speed! His speed was great, and his movements were proficient, his fingers blurring across complicated control panels as he started the engines, cut off communications, opened the energy circuits, and activated the catalyzers…
Although Xia Fan was one person, he was doing the work of several dozen people!
By the time Jin Yu and the others had finished killing the crew, the capital s.h.i.+p’s ma.s.sive body was trembling, and then its thirty-six energy thrusters blazed with blue flame, pus.h.i.+ng the giant s.h.i.+p slowly upward.
“The wars.h.i.+p’s activation is done!” Xia Fan shouted. “Jin Yu, take command!”
“No problem!” Jin Yu jumped excitedly behind the control panel. Meanwhile, Xia Fan seemed about to leave, striding toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Luo Jiuyi asked curiously.
Without turning his head, Xia Fan calmly replied, “The enemies left on the s.h.i.+p might try to damage the engines and prevent us from leaving. I need to kill them all!”