Chapter 190: Unmanned Drones versus Unmanned Drones
“Do you understand now why I’ve been working so hard to try and open the seventh brain region of every human?” asked Harris.
Xia Fei was shocked, not expecting Harris to have such a motivation behind all his craziness.
Harris breathed a sigh of relief. “The humans may seem incredibly strong, but we are on a slow decline. According to a survey by the Alliance, the number of people with one ability, particularly advanced stage ability users, is on a slow decline. Perhaps in a few years, humans will just be like other sentient lifeforms and won’t even have abilities. By that time, the weak humans may not even be opponents to the insectoids, Na’vi, or the other sentient species.
“This insectoid is an example of someone that had managed to unlock its potential through genetic mutations. They are naturally stronger than humans; if they manage to break through the restriction of the zero-degree mezon to the brain region holding their abilities, the results are unimaginable.”
Based on the human understanding of insectoids, they were a race without abilities. This insectoid might have mutated for some unknown reason and become an insectoid ability user in the process, and this was just one case of it.
Xia Fei said after a few moments of thought, “Other than abilities, humans have technology, too. Without elite warriors we can still rely on advanced weaponry to defeat our enemies. We won’t die so easily.”
Harris let out a bitter laugh. “Perhaps. The ancient human civilization was quite advanced, but in the end, they still died in the hands of a robot army. Humans can only deal with the various dangers in the universe using their strength. Although I’m a scientist, I’ve never believed that science is the solution to all problems.”
It was not Xia Fei’s first time hearing about such an opinion. During his time in the Heaven Execution Training Camp, Battalion Commander Ye Jingshan emphasized the importance of warriors to the human race. Xia Fei had never thought that there could be someone so strong that they did not need any help from technology to deal with powerful wars.h.i.+ps alone.
Legend had it that the best human warrior could destroy planets with their bare hands, but Xia Fei had never seen such a person, so he preferred old man Qin Mang’s perspective, focusing on cultivating oneself without leaving technology behind.
Currently, a majority of the people in the Alliance, including this genius scientist Harris, looked down on technology. There was no greater irony than that.
Xia Fei smiled. “Technology isn’t a cure all, but it still depends on the technological level. Could elite warriors defeat the super wars.h.i.+p we just saw?”
“Of course!” Harris said decisively. “There are plenty of incredible people who don’t show themselves in the Alliance. They can destroy planets without much effort, let alone a giant wars.h.i.+p.”
Xia Fei did not say anything as he returned to the command deck. He did not appreciate Harris’s pa.s.sion toward strength. He felt that, in order to make a stand in this universe, one should crazily chase after knowledge as well as training.
After lighting a cigarette, Xia Fei said to Phantom, “What do you think? I still think that it’s only complete when abilities and incredible technology complement each other; the two are indispensable.”
Phantom pouted. “When I was in training, they inculcated in me that strength is above all, too, but from the time I’ve spent with you, I’m thinking that there’s nothing wrong with relying on technology. It’s probably because humans have no confidence in the development of technology, so they would rather trust themselves.”
Xia Fei nodded. “Have you seen a true pro?”
Phantom laughed. “Of course, my master is a pro.”
“How pro?”
“Very pro.”
Xia Fei rolled his eyes at Phantom as they did not add anything.
“You’ve only just reached Star Domain rank. Next is Star River, then Legendary, and finally Eternal. These rankings aren’t just made up, for people who’ve reached those levels actually exist. That’s why the ranks exist in the first place,” Phantom said in a deep voice.
Xia Fei laughed. “Heh, If we have the chance, I really want to meet your disciples.h.i.+p. You mention them quite a lot, but you never tell me where they are.”
“They don’t see outsiders,” Phantom furrowed his eyebrows as he said in a serious tone.
When the Tomahawk finished its last warp, Xia Fei cheered up and looked ahead. The journey had been shocking thus far; who knew what this third destination would bring?
*Boom!*
Before Tomahawk fully exited the wormhole, Xia Fei heard a deafening sound of cannonfire.
“Fully engage the energy s.h.i.+eld! All weapons on standby!” Xia Fei quickly stood up, walking toward the command deck in a serious manner as he leaned onto it.
Who would have thought that this was a battlefield?!
*Whoos.h.!.+*
The Tomahawk used some extra horsepower to exit the wormhole.
The dark s.p.a.ce was filled with countless s.h.i.+pwrecks. Xia Fie was incredibly familiar with the structures of the wars.h.i.+ps of the Alliance, so he knew immediately that none of the wreckage was produced by humans.
They looked like ma.s.sive black eggs covered in needle-like thorns on the outside like ma.s.sive and round cacti.
Xia Fei did not know which sentient lifeform these s.h.i.+ps belonged to, but he knew they were all enemies!
Anyone who threatened him was an enemy!
In the ocean of wrecks, there were a few s.h.i.+ps the size of busses circling around. Their target was a Tristan-cla.s.s frigate.
“Engage all drones! Release the medium combat drones!” commanded Xia Fei.
Before any hesitation set in, he realized that Old Porter was piloting a Tristan-cla.s.s frigate!
No matter what, he had to save this frigate from the barrels of these s.h.i.+ps, which were like flies.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
Twenty, medium combat drones appeared from the drone bay and circled the Tomahawk.
“Target all the smaller hostile s.p.a.cecraft! Engage the traction beam; destroy them while I tell them down!”
*Whoosh whoosh whoos.h.!.+*
After receiving Xia Fei’s orders, the unmanned drones started flying toward the small s.p.a.cecraft!
Baring their full a.r.s.enal of weaponry, these combat drones were ready for combat!
Drones were just machines; they had no concept of fear. Even if they were facing the most horrible foes, they would still charge in head-first in an attempt to destroy them!
A small and black s.p.a.cecraft in the distance had spotted the Tomahawk. About a hundred of them charged toward Xia Fei’s location. Because of their smaller size, they were quite fast and agile.
*Pow pow pow!*
The cannons on medium drones started firing. Although the enemies were incredibly nimble, Xia Fei’s Hesper combat drones were not anything to scoff at.
It was as if two angry swarms of wasps were tearing each other apart.
“Fully engage the warp engine! Get close to the Tristan-cla.s.s frigate as fast as possible!” Xia Fei commanded loudly.
Three trails of dazzling blue flames jetted out of the thrusters in the direction of Old Porter. Because of the strong gravity, the unmanned drones could not be too far away from the Tomahawk. They could not just rush ahead to Old Porter’s location to save him, requiring the Tomahawk to get closer.
“D*mn gravity!” Xia Fei yelled as he slammed his fist on the control deck.
As he got closer, Xia Fei finally realized that the Tristan-cla.s.s frigate was on fire!
Since the hull of the s.h.i.+p was metal, it would not burn even if it was under fire. Therefore, it was not difficult to come to the conclusion that Old Porter had been attacked down to the structural layer of his s.h.i.+p!
The structure of a s.h.i.+p was its last layer of defense, with dire consequences if it was destroyed.
“Fully overclock the warp engine! Get them!” Xia Fei had gone completely mad. Just a few seconds ago, he was still thinking about Harris’s words, but after realizing that Old Porter was surrounded, he became the craziest warrior, giving it his all to try and save the elderly mechanic.
This was a supergravity zone, meaning that the s.h.i.+p had to withstand a lot more pressure than normal s.p.a.ce!
Not only was the engine running at full capacity, Xia Fei unexpectedly commanded it to fully overclock the warp engine in an environment like this!
This was basically giving the warp engine a death sentence!
A s.h.i.+p was an interstellar traveler’s best friend; even if the command would result in its death, the Tomahawk still executed the command without question.
The flames coming out of the warp engine widened, releasing lights more dazzling than the best fireworks!
Target was shaking violently as it wrestled with the supergravity.
“Warning! Engines 2 and 3 have overheated and can fail at any time!” urgently reminded the cold female voice of the mainframe.
Engines 2 and 3 were relatively old, so they quickly overheated when they were overclocked.
At this moment, the Tomahawk had just started accelerating and was still a distance away from Old Porter’s wars.h.i.+p.
“Shut up!” Xia Fei gritted his teeth. “Complete overclock! Complete overclock!”
*Boom!*
A deep explosion could be heard from the back of the Tomahawk. “Engine 3 has failed; continue overclocking?”
“Yes!” Xia Fei commanded with no hesitation.
Not far away, Xia Fei’s twenty Hesper unmanned combat drones were battling against enemy s.p.a.ce vessels. As they were greatly outnumbered, he had lost half of his twenty combat drones in the blink of an eye.
“Release Warhammer combat drones!”
*Whoos.h.!.+*
Eleven medium Warhammer combat drones were released from the drone bay, entering the fray in no time at all. Once a combat drone was destroyed, the Tomahawk would release another one immediately. Xia Fei’s s.h.i.+p was one that used drones for its offense, and its greatest feature was having hundreds of combat drones in the drone bay. Once one was destroyed, another one was released to take its place, restoring its combat prowess to what it once was, keeping up the pressure against the enemy.
*Boom!*
Another deep explosion was heard. The second engine could not take the pressure, failing after depressingly struggling for a few more moments.
Xia Fei glanced at the speedometer on the command deck and noticed that the Tomahawk’s speed was decreasing rapidly. At this moment, Xia Fei was still quite ways away from Old Porter’s wars.h.i.+p.
The fire on the Tristan-cla.s.s frigate was growing. Although the defense of those enemy s.h.i.+ps were not nothing to scoff at, there were just too many of them. They were just like black flies, surrounding Old Porter, constantly under relentless a.s.sault.
There was not much time left for Xia Fei.