Chapter 1451: One versus Four!
Xia Fan carefully examined his work on the transmogrified Disaster.
His mind was racing, considering just how he would successfully make it out of the cosmic storm, and escape the ensuing a.s.sault from the enemy once they made it past the storm, pondering how he would deal with the various potential scenarios.
Traveling Buddha placed his arm around Xia Fan’s shoulder and said in a serious voice, “It’s time to go. There are some things that you won’t be able to figure out from just imagining them alone, only by adapting to the circ.u.mstances we face. In any case, no matter what you choose, I’ll just support you.”
Xia Fan was very touched. Traveling Buddha and him had been partners for quite some time, and they were quickly bonding. Though Traveling Buddha had inherent flaws to his personality, there was one aspect of him that Xia Fan was very fond of, and that was his willingness to place trust in him.
!!
As a partner, nothing was more important than trust. For Traveling Buddha to place his fate in Xia Fan’s hands so readily, while Xia Fan felt likewise, was the legendary kind of friends.h.i.+p that transcended life and death!
“Okay, let’s go.”
—
The two boarded the wars.h.i.+p. Xia Fan piloted the Disaster to exit the Avatar’s Dock No. 3, and exited to s.p.a.ce. He gave a final look to the wars.h.i.+p graveyard.
This time, they had plunged into the heart of a cosmic storm, and they had been rewarded immensely for it. At the very least, Xia Fan had learned two things: the first was that the Skywings had been searching for a baby who shared the same name as him, and could very well be himself!
Second, the corpse of his fellow kin Xia Chen had been stolen by the Murder Shrine, and they had to be hiding some secret that could not be divulged to anyone else. From here onward, he would have to do everything in his power to investigate that organization.
Xia Fan slowly pushed the accelerator handle forward, and the speed of the Disaster climbed rapidly, circling about this small secret realm that was approximately three standard solar systems in size.
As their speed continued to increase, the harmonic vibrations from the engine became very severe, and the s.h.i.+p began to shudder violently.
At the end of the day, the Disaster was just a small s.h.i.+p. Now that it had been retrofitted with a propulsion system that went well beyond standard, it was only a given that the s.h.i.+p would shake a great deal.
But the Disaster was still an elite frigate at the end of the day, so its structural frame entirely made from expensive Keller alloy prevented the s.h.i.+p from losing control, even though the pa.s.sengers could feel the jolty and jerky movement.
“Are you ready?” Xia Fan asked Traveling Buddha.
Traveling Buddha was firmly clutching the armrest of his seat and nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m already prepared.”
Without another word, Xia Fan’s smiling face turned serious. Piloting the s.h.i.+p manually, he directed the Disaster toward the cosmic storm.
The rotational thrust generated by the cosmic storm began to take effect. The speed of the Disaster increased rapidly. In the blink of an eye, they reached their maximum speed, nearly matching the rotational impetus of the storm.
That was when Xia Fan began to turn the s.h.i.+p’s direction and charged for the storm’s wall, even as they kept spinning.
Just like when they had first entered the storm, the intense sounds inside the c.o.c.kpit was deafening. The vibrations intensified, but Xia Fan’s arms remained as firm on the pilot controls as ever, his gaze steady.
Entering at a perfect angle, the Disaster’s two fourteen meganewton engines went into overdrive. In an instant, the Disaster abruptly changed the angle of its rotation and began to make a charge straight for the outer wall!
It was as if the wars.h.i.+p rammed into a formless wall. The energy s.h.i.+eld was quickly depleted, and fiery blue flames ejected from the tailend of the s.h.i.+p.
One second. Two seconds. Three!
No words could describe how violently the Disaster shook when it broke through the outer wall of the cosmic storm. It was a battle that had no smoke!
What was different from before was that while the s.h.i.+p’s hull was still that sharp, delta wing shaped, the Disaster’s interior had been transmogrified, and now it possessed an even more insane level of performance!
This was especially true for its energy s.h.i.+eld, which was now a battles.h.i.+p-tier s.h.i.+eld generator! The new generator granted it a huge amount of energy, forming an invisible protective sh.e.l.l over the s.h.i.+p’s hull. Xia Fan could see that the impact of the cosmic wall against his energy s.h.i.+eld was significantly slower than before.
He recalled how when he had first arrived, the wall had needed just three point eight seconds to completely shatter his energy s.h.i.+eld and begin damaging the armored hull.
This time, the energy s.h.i.+eld still had sixty-two percent left after four seconds had pa.s.sed!
Every second seemed like an eternity. Xia Fan and Traveling Buddha were gritting their teeth in trepidation as they kept their eyes trained ahead.
Finally, after almost ten seconds of the storm’s a.s.sault, the Disaster escaped the eye of the storm. According to the data displayed, the a.s.sault from the cosmic storm was weakening, while less than four percent of the energy s.h.i.+eld remained. The s.h.i.+p’s new armor plating was beginning to turn red, but it did not burn and fall off like last time.
They had succeeded. The transmogrified Disaster was far more powerful in every sense, allowing a small frigate that was merely ninety-two meters in length to traverse through a cosmic storm!
Traveling Buddha felt that it was really worth it to have lost the guest cabin, kitchen, and only subsisted on nutrition paste, in exchange for this!
After all, the transmogrified Disaster had kept his and Xia Fan’s lives intact!
As the Disaster was coming out from the storm, and the energy s.h.i.+eld was slowly recovering, Xia Fan immediately activated the radar array with a loud snap.
After Xia Fan completed his transmogrification, the radar was no longer just a single system, but a distribution of several radar systems distributed into an array that could make a high-powered sweep of the surrounding area.
The retrofitted radar took up quite a bit of s.p.a.ce on the Disaster, but it was worth it. To a wars.h.i.+p, the radar was its eyes!
Xia Fan had suffered from his radar system not being powerful enough before. Due to the interference of the cosmic storm, by the time Xia Fan had detected the presence of the fleet from the Murder Shrine closing in on him, the enemy was practically in their face and there was nowhere else he could flee to.
Had his radar been more powerful, he could have detected the enemy much earlier and relied on the Disaster’s speed to flee the fight. He would not have needed to take the huge risk and head straight into the eye of the cosmic storm.
That was why Xia Fan had the kitchen and dining area done away with, using the s.p.a.ce to install six high-powered radar systems! He had each radar pointed in different directions: front, back, left, right, up and down. That way he had no blindspots, and the directed scans were even more powerful.
With a whoosh of cosmic ga.s.ses parting, the Disaster finally made it out of the storm, and though the s.h.i.+p’s hull was burned red hot, it was still functioning excellently.
It was a critical moment. Xia Fan had not hesitated to push the engines into overdrive, reaching its maximum speed to swoop out into s.p.a.ce. The moment the wormhole warp system was ready, Xia Fan would activate it and leave this dangerous place.
Nonetheless, the radar array’s display gave Xia fan quite a shock.
The main fleet of the Murder Shrine seem to have left, but he noted there were three signatures within range of his radar, consisting of a cruiser, a destroyer, and a frigate. They formed a small detainment team that was waiting for Xia Fan.
Murder Shrine!
Xia Fan could feel rage well up in his chest. They were the ones who had stolen Xia Chen’s remains, and nearly caused him to die with his s.h.i.+p. If he had the chance, why would he not teach them a harsh lesson?
The two smaller wars.h.i.+ps had discovered the Disaster as well, and began to accelerate in Xia Fan’s direction. As for that larger cruiser, it was much slower in comparison, but it nevertheless pushed forward as best as it could.
*Whoosh*
Xia Fan pulled the accelerator down and piloted the s.h.i.+p at the same time.
From afar, it looked like the Disaster was moving like a drunkard, swaying unsteadily around as it moved. At the same time, the blue flames coming out from the stern of the s.h.i.+p reduced, almost as if its thrust had diminished because it had just been blasted out of the storm.
The two smaller interceptor wars.h.i.+ps noticed what was happening and instantly grew excited. They overloaded their drive systems and chased after Xia Fan at even faster speeds.
Traveling Buddha understood what Xia Fan was planning and did not say a word, not wis.h.i.+ng to interfere with Xia Fan’s decision-making.
In any wars.h.i.+p, the captain held the absolute authority. Whether they chose to fight or flee, everything landed on the captain’s say-so. What the crew under a captain feared the most was indecisiveness.
A crafty trap was slowly forming right now.
With the support of the cruiser as their main firepower, the two interceptors gave chase recklessly. Xia Fan maintained the Disaster at a clever speed, allowing the enemy interceptors to give chase, while still maintaining a fixed distance from the cruiser.
Slowly, the obstructing destroyer and a high-speed interceptor frigate drew near Xia Fan. The latter rapidly approached the Disaster, while the destroyer turned on its warp disruptor field.
When within range of a warp disruptor field, no s.h.i.+p would be able to open a wormhole and flee . The Disaster would not be the only one affected, the two s.h.i.+ps from the Murder Shrine would also be restrained. This disruptor field was like a double-edged sword, not letting anyone leave!
The moment the disruptor field was switched on, Xia Fan suddenly spun the s.h.i.+p in the opposite direction and pushed the accelerator handle all the way forward.
The engine roared to life as his fire control system rapidly locked onto the two enemy s.h.i.+ps!
The moment the enemies had locked onto Xia Fan, Xia Fan had also done the same!
The Disaster made an abrupt turn, targeting the interceptor that was hurtling right toward it. The six main cannons shot forth their glaring fire, while the interceptor drew an arc, leveraging its small size and speed.
*Zing Zing*
Two stasis webifiers shot out and struck the interceptor. The captain of the s.h.i.+p was probably somewhat depressed right now, as the interceptor was a specialized wars.h.i.+p that lacked powerful armor, and its defenses relied entirely on speed and evasive movement.
Now that two stasis webifiers had ensnared the s.h.i.+p, its speed was rapidly decreasing. Even worse was the fact that it was within range of the warp disruptor field, so it could not even activate its warp drive. It had essentially been held down by Xia Fan!
That was when two stasis webifiers shot out from the two s.h.i.+ps, hitting the Disaster. It seemed like the enemy also planned to hold his s.h.i.+p down!
The truth was, there had not been three s.h.i.+ps that were loitering near the storm, but four. The moment they were about to start the engagement, the reconnaissance s.h.i.+p that had been keeping its distance the entire time suddenly appeared on the left side of Xia Fan’s field of view.
This reconnaissance s.h.i.+p was designed for capturing s.h.i.+ps while stealthed. It had two sets of stasis webifiers installed for that purpose, and as such, the Disaster found itself being hampered by four beams of stasis webifiers, essentially pulling it to a complete halt.
The situation turned dire. Three enemy s.h.i.+ps that specialized in capturing their enemies began to circle the Disaster, while there was still the cruiser in the distance, acting as the main firepower of this team.
Murder Shrine was very clever. Though they only had four s.h.i.+ps to remain in the area, they made sure that they were suited for the particular purpose of their a.s.signment. Among them was a s.h.i.+p that possessed superior firepower, while the remaining three s.h.i.+ps were in charge of capturing the enemy s.h.i.+p. They believed that the moment they have the Disaster ensnared in their clutches, the end result would be obvious.
Unfortunately, they were sorely mistaken.
Given what the Disaster was capable of, Xia Fan could easily have run off a long time ago. Everything he had done so far had been intentional!
*Rumble*
The sounds of six cannons firing echoed forth as the Disaster mounted its retaliation while withstanding the fire from the three s.h.i.+ps.
Xia Fan’s tactics for this engagement had been very simple: they were none other than a direct clas.h.!.+
The transmogrified Disaster had an energy s.h.i.+eld at the battles.h.i.+p tier. It was completely capable of withstanding his enemy’s attack; Xia Fan had intentionally stopped in s.p.a.ce, solely so that they would attack him!
A strange scene unfolded in s.p.a.ce. Three wars.h.i.+ps had the Disaster surrounded and subjected to an enfilade of cannonfire, but they were unable to break through its defenses. Its energy s.h.i.+eld absorbed the full strength of the enemy fire, with not a single shot making it past to dent its armor plating.
Meanwhile, the three enemy s.h.i.+ps had a hard time enduring the Disaster’s retaliatory fire!
The engines of the interceptor that had been held in place by the two stasis webifiers were set ablaze after repeated sh.e.l.ling. In the blink of an eye, the s.h.i.+p became nothing more than a dazzling display of fireworks against the dark backdrop of s.p.a.ce, completely ruined.
Swerving around, the Disaster then targeted that reconnaissance s.h.i.+p with its two stasis webifiers, and they bombarded each other!
By this time, the Disaster had entered the range of the enemy cruiser. The hostile s.h.i.+p began to unleash its long-ranged cannonfire right at the Disaster.
But Xia Fan did not care about being attacked. He continued to blast that reconnaissance s.h.i.+p with what firepower he could muster! He ignored the attacks from the cruiser and the destroyer. He simply directed his entire a.r.s.enal toward the reconnaissance s.h.i.+p!
This was quite similar to the style of a street brawl; Xia Fan was enduring the attacks of the other enemy s.h.i.+ps and focused only on destroying the enemy that he had managed to lock onto!
*Kaboom!*
The moment a second explosion of fireworks happened, the cruiser and destroyer finally realized that they were in big trouble.
It was not without reason that the Disaster successfully flew into the cosmic storm and subsequently piloted itself out from it.
The defenses of the Disaster were simply too high; even after all that time attacking the frigate, the Disaster still had half of its energy s.h.i.+eld up, but two s.h.i.+ps had already been destroyed at its hands.
The Disaster had already locked onto the destroyer that had caught up to him. At the same time, the cruiser in the distance pushed its thrusters to top speed in a desperate attempt to get away, all the while the Disaster pressed on with its attack, even as it continued to bear the brunt of enemy fire.
—
Approximately ten minutes later, a third explosion in s.p.a.ce thundered silently. The commander onboard the cruiser had watched helplessly as Xia Fan killed off his comrades one after another, yet there was simply nothing he could do beside cursing the ancestors of his enemy in his rage.
Three wars.h.i.+ps who had been tasked with capturing the enemy had all been eliminated by Xia Fan. If he wanted to leave, he could have done so at any time. The cruiser was already far in the distance, and was also completely helpless about what had just happened.
That was when another shocking scene happened.
After Xia Fan had finished off the three small wars.h.i.+ps who had besieged him, he did not warp away. Instead, he turned his s.h.i.+p around and accelerated. With unmatched ferocity, he went speeding right after the Sawtooth Tiger-cla.s.s cruiser!