Chapter 394: Speed and Motion Sickness
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
On a desolate, unpopulated planet, a chase was underway on its gray plains.
Almost a hundred hovering s.h.i.+ps were chasing after the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. The Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p’s exhaust flames expanded violently in an instant. The sudden increase of speed was like a tornado that stirred up countless dust from the floor.
Hum!
Das.h.i.+ng at a low alt.i.tude, the head of the boat was covered in dust, like a high-speed triangular speedboat das.h.i.+ng across the ocean.
Boom!
The hovering s.h.i.+ps hastily increased their speed as well, but they could barely keep up with the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Many hovering s.h.i.+ps’ accuracy decreased noticeably because of the angles, and their attacks missed much more often.
The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was trembling like it would crash at any moment, but everyone felt the visible change. Although it felt more dangerous, the number of times that the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p got hit decreased drastically. The high mobility largely enhanced the s.h.i.+p’s ability to dodge. The weakened s.h.i.+eld was just strong enough to endure these attacks. Han Xiao’s piloting skills were horrifying.
By increasing the power of the engine, the difficulty in piloting would increase as well. Yet, As compared to the previous pilot, everyone could directly feel the difference when Han Xiao took over. It was like the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p became ‘alive’! It felt like the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p became an extension of Han Xiao’s body.
The gravity in the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was finally calibrated. The people stood up one after another, and their doubts all disappeared.
They were overjoyed by Black Star, who took on such crucial responsibility in the current dire situation. Anything that could better the situation was a pleasant surprise. They never expected Black Star to have this up his sleeves.
“Fantastic!” Goa’s tone changed instantly. A glimpse of a smile appeared on her expressionless face. “At this pace, the damage dealt by the hovering s.h.i.+ps will be minimal. You did very well!”
“What?” Han Xiao was confused. “This is just basic controlling. I have not done anything yet.”
The higher the speed, the better his controls. He was far from his limit at the current speed.
Sadly, if he increases the speed further, the s.h.i.+eld would be too thin. He was worried that he might be rusty after not piloting a battles.h.i.+p for so long. Maintaining the current s.h.i.+eld thickness was a safer choice for him.
However, in the mercenaries’ eyes, the s.h.i.+eld’s thickness was already horrifyingly thin, yet Black Star said that this was just his basic controls?
What was he going to do then‽
A bad feeling arose in everyone’s heart.
Han Xiao stretched his wrist and said, “Hold on tight.”
With the lesson of falling right on the floor earlier, no one ignored his reminder this time. They held onto anything that they could as soon as possible. Their faces were filled with nervousness.
Hum!
In an instant, the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p started to drift, like a raging horse trying to get rid of the rider on its back!
All kinds of tricks were interjoined smoothly—lateral rollover, roller coaster, Z-maneuver, and so on. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p had still been flying in a straight line just one second ago, and now it was completely random!
The hovering s.h.i.+p fleet was already having a hard time following, and now that Han Xiao was moving this way, their formation became broken immediately. Many hovering s.h.i.+ps blocked the shooting range of the fleet behind them. Their laser fire became spa.r.s.er, and the threat level of the attack decreased largely again.
Everyone felt like they were in a can that was being shaken violently. For the first time, they felt inertia that pulled them in all directions. Their stomach acid was rus.h.i.+ng up, their brain juice was vibrating, and their faces were pale white. Their vision started to blur, and the surrounding environment and people started to have mirror images.
After piloting s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps for so many years, the pilot felt like he was back to when he first started learning. The dizziness was like an old friend that he had not met for a long time. He could almost see his pilot teacher waving at him with a smile on his face.
Han Xiao could still divert his attention and said, “That pilot, come and control the weapon. If we keep running and don’t fire back at all, it will be the end of us sooner or later. Fire when you see a chance.”
The pilot hastily followed the order and sat in the weapon operating seat. Compared to Black Star, his piloting skills became completely ordinary. The resentfulness before completely disappeared—he was now only scared that he might burden Han Xiao.
“On my count—five, four, three…”
Han Xiao stared at the screen, then did one more drift that messed up the formation of the hovering s.h.i.+ps, creating a split-second opportunity to fly straight up.
Hu!
The trembling came once again!
Even if the people expected it, their legs still softened, and they almost fell.
The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p flew in a ‘U’ shape, flying from close to the ground right to above the hovering s.h.i.+p fleet, das.h.i.+ng back in the opposite direction.
“Fire!”
The pilot fired immediately. The cannon shot out from the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. There was no need to aim—it was an attack fired at the dense part of the formation.
Boom boom boom!
s.h.i.+eld lit up on a few leading hovering s.h.i.+ps as they were forced to stop for a moment. The fleet behind b.u.mped into them straight away, causing chain reactions like dominos. The entire fleet in front became a mess, rolling across the sky.
The hovering s.h.i.+ps were not that fragile, so they did not crash.
Han Xiao only stayed in this position for less than three seconds. Before the fleet could adjust, he made a sharp turn and escaped to the side. Its movement was as smooth as silk.
On the other hand, the chasing fleet took a few seconds to adjust before catching up. Although no battles.h.i.+p crashed, Han Xiao largely increased the distance between them.
“Not bad.” Han Xiao smiled and gave the pilot a thumbs up.
The pilot smiled brightly back at him, as vomit flew down right between his teeth.
The difficulty of these few movements was very high. Yet, no one in the s.h.i.+p showed any sign of being shocked. They did not even have the strength to be surprised—their legs were shaking, and their heads were spinning.
These movements had successfully given all of his teammates a debuff.
Goa opened her mouth, forcing herself to try to give a few words of compliment, but instead covered her mouth in an instant. The muscles in her neck could be seen clearly to have moved up and down, only then did she dare put her hand down.
Aros.h.i.+a shook left and right, then sat down on the floor, unable to stand up. She said with confusion, “What’s happening to me?”
Herlous was breathing heavily, and he almost suffocated like a fish out of water. The mercenaries around were all trembling. Luckily, Herlous’ body was strong enough, so he could still hang on. He turned around and was shocked to see that the players were very calm. “Are you people feeling fine‽”
The players smiled cheekily. As short as three seconds after Han Xiao took over the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, they realized the danger and immediately decreased their physical senses to five percent. Therefore, although they had the [Heavily Dizzy] status on their character, so they were still feeling very refreshed!
“I thought we just entered a time and s.p.a.ce tunnel.”
“This piloting skill is absolutely horrifying!”
“I have seen Fast and Furious; this is fast and dizzy.”
The players still had the strength to discuss what was happening.
With no time to be bothered about everyone’s reactions, Han Xiao started to think of the plan.
“Just piloting the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p will not last us two days. The DarkStar fleet will not make no changes. When they realize that the hovering s.h.i.+p fleet cannot deal with us, they will definitely use more aggressive methods. I can only play with the hovering s.h.i.+p fleet for two hours at most. After that, the danger level is going to rise step by step.”
He planned ahead. After all, stalling for two days was not an easy task at all.
The others did not know DarkStar’s motive, only Han Xiao did. DarkStar had come for the Secret Message Bead. Therefore, DarkStar would not be willing to miss out on even one person.
A few plans flashed in his head before Han Xiao said, “It’s not going to work out like this. We can’t stay on the surface. I have a plan…”
As soon as he said this, the expression on everyone’s face became as tragic as a prisoner on their way to the execution ground.
“Anyt… Anything you say. We trust you,” Goa said.
Despite it clearly being an encouragement, there was no sound of joy in it at all. Instead, her voice was trembling a little.
…
In the command hall of the DarkStar mothers.h.i.+p, the image feedback from the hovering s.h.i.+ps was shown on the screen. The captain, Sarota, was watching it with hands behind his back.
Ten minutes pa.s.sed after the battle started. The s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps of Blades and Purple Gold were clearly struggling—only Han Xiao was doing slightly better. This attracted Sarota’s attention right away. He pointed at the screen and asked, “Which mercenary group does this s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p belong to?”
“The Sky Ring Army.”
Sarota nodded and said, “They have quite a good pilot. Looks like we need to spend more time. By the way, that Black Star is apparently on the Sky Ring s.h.i.+p as well, isn’t he?”
The last question was directed toward the corner of the hall.
In the corner, Ember was standing against the wall with a cold and indifferent face. When he heard Han Xiao’s name, his eyes swayed slightly. He had a very strong impression of Han Xiao since his last defeat.
Oom!
At this time, the alarm suddenly sounded.
“Captain, s.p.a.ce ripple detected. There are fleets jumping toward this direction.”
Sarota was not surprised at all. He brought up the detection image, showing that a large battles.h.i.+p fleet was jumping toward this direction from far away at both sides of the mothers.h.i.+p. Both of them were in a guard formation. DarkStar was in the middle.
The two fleets were the Border Guards Army of Holy Stone Civilization and Black Raven Civilization. Their style of the battles.h.i.+ps was very different—one side was semi-circle shaped and thick, and the other was streamlined and thin. The metal fortresses were very intimidating.
As soon as the DarkStar mothers.h.i.+p showed up, it was noticed by the Border Guards Army. Holy Stone and Black Star immediately sent out a fleet to make a field investigation. They did not act immediately once they saw DarkStar. Instead, they stayed still and watched from afar.
“Is there a need to do anything?” an a.s.sistant asked.
“Send out a message. Tell them we are just pa.s.sing by to settle our business, and we will be leaving very soon. They will not attack us,” Sarota said calmly. He was not concerned at all like everything was under his control.