Chapter 1881: Chapter 16: The Final Moment (Part 2)
Li Xiang’s face turned pale at this sight; the Third Fleet was his lifeblood, and this battle had nearly wiped out more than half. It seemed the fleet would be disbanded after this.
"Start the engines! Damn it! There’s another swarm of insects heading our way! We must restore operational capability immediately!"
In the fleet, even though the commanders shouted themselves hoarse, it was still no use. The crimson light earlier was too powerful, directly scrapping these machines, including even the dark spirit power engines.
The situation was extremely critical now. If they couldn’t restore operational capability soon, once the insect swarm arrived, they would be like fish on the chopping block, helpless to resist.
Besides them, another giant in the field was also in a bad way, that being the Old God, Orestox.
The Emperor’s burst hit him at the closest range, practically dealing a full set of blows. Even with his robust body, he couldn’t withstand such an attack infused with divine domain powers. At the moment, more than half of his body was corroded, with large patches of flesh falling from his face, revealing the skeleton beneath.
The Emperor’s hundreds of tentacles took the opportunity to ensnare Orestox, releasing crimson energy that eroded his body while furiously pulling in different directions, as if to tear him apart.
"Roar!"
Orestox let out a painful shout, but his current status was very poor, making it impossible to break free, leaving him stuck in a stalemate.
On the other side, aboard the flagship of the Third Fleet.
Chu He forcefully flipped over, shifting from a prone position to sit up, leaning against the damaged wall.
Blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth, and his clothes were all stained with blood, a pitiful sight.
Surveying the surroundings, more than half of the area was destroyed. The entire flagship was reduced to wreckage by the previous crimson light attack, with numerous bodies of crew members floating all around. Surviving was indeed quite lucky for him.
"Star Order, report the current situation."
Chu He patted his wristwatch, but it didn’t respond.
He gave a wry smile, unable to rely on the Star Order for a status report now. If he didn’t receive treatment soon, he probably wouldn’t last much longer.
The surrounding oxygen was rapidly depleting, but Chu He ignored it. First, he quickly took a spiritual medicine from his storage space and took it, then pulled out a spirit-detecting compass to check the nearby situation.
However, the next moment, as the spirit-detecting compass lit up, the scene that appeared in his eyes truly startled him.
He saw near the fleet, a group of light dots representing dark spirit power energy reactions rapidly approaching, and seeing this number, made him immediately think of the insect swarm.
"It’s over..."
Chu He deeply understood that the general situation was lost. The insect swarm was attacking at this time, and the fleet now had no ability to resist. Regardless of the outcome of this battle, the Third Fleet would likely cease to exist.
He sighed and slowly raised his head, looking at the deep starry sky, yet his heart was extraordinarily calm at this moment.
Once upon a time, his dream was simply to enter the aerospace field and become a fighter pilot.
Later, when he was in school, great changes occurred in the world, and creatures called Alien Species emerged, attempting to devour everything in the world.
Soon, transcendent beings also appeared among humans, and all sorts of incredible black technologies emerged.
The confrontation between the Human Clan and the monsters began, and Chu He grew up in such an era.
Later, he realized his dream, but it was somewhat different from the start. He couldn’t become a fighter pilot, as such things no longer existed in the world.
Instead, a device known as an anti-gravity car replaced them.
With his talent and effort, Chu He gradually rose from an initial anti-gravity car driver to a space shuttle captain, finally reaching his current status.
What supported him in achieving all this was partly the urgency of this species war, the love for his family and compatriots, and partly his own deeply buried dream of longing to visit the vast universe, traversing it at will.
Now, that dream was almost realized, and Chu He’s life was, in some sense, without regret.
He looked up to that deep starry sky, yet a faint sense of regret unconsciously rose in his heart.
The more he knew about this universe, the more awe, curiosity, and wonder he felt.
Chu He lamented that he couldn’t continue walking this path; he longed to delve deeper into the starry sky and explore, to see what the scenery was like over there.
Sadly, this wish was likely not possible, and within a sigh was profound helplessness.
On the compass, the light dots approached.
Feeling the decreasing oxygen around, Chu He couldn’t help but feel a bit of gratitude that perhaps he wouldn’t be devoured by the insect swarm, that he might die first. This way of dying was somewhat better, at least more so than being eaten by insects.
"Whoosh!"
A beam of light shone on his face, forcing him to struggle to open his eyes.
"What is that?"
For a moment, Chu He’s brain blanked; the strong light was too dazzling, preventing him from seeing clearly what was over there.
The next moment, an invisible force suddenly enveloped him, and he involuntarily flew towards the light source.
"It’s..."
Chu He was shocked; as the distance closed, he could vaguely make out what the light source was.
A spaceship! It was a spaceship!
Moreover, judging by the look of it, this spaceship didn’t belong to any Star Alliance fleet but came from that special race.
Bell!
Chu He was immediately startled, followed by an overwhelming joy that surged up in his heart.
"Reinforcements! Reinforcements are here!"
Having escaped the light’s enveloping, he finally saw the surrounding scene clearly. The space was filled with countless drones, and numerous Third Fleet crew members were being rescued from the wreckage, flying towards the drones like him.
Seeing this, the tense muscles throughout Chu He’s body finally relaxed, and he let out a deep breath, knowing that he and the others were saved.
Chu He laughed, from a chuckle gradually turning into loud laughter, then to laughter mingled with a hint of sobbing.
He thought of his fallen comrades.
No one wants to die, and the so-called carefree attitude is merely a form of self-comfort in helpless situations.
Surviving, he was genuinely overjoyed.
Now, looking at those unsightly Beller drones, he found them rather pleasant to the eye.
"Squeak~"
As the hatch opened, two people appeared before Chu He.
"Identity confirmed; Third Fleet’s Chief of Staff, Level 7 Commander, Chu He."
One of them scanned Chu He with an instrument, then greeted him with a Star Touching Ceremony, saying:
"Commander, welcome back."
Chu He was severely injured and didn’t have the strength to return the salute, merely straining to keep himself from collapsing.
"Thank you... for saving me... which combat unit... do you belong to... and why are you with... these drones...?"
The two exchanged a glance, then one of them spoke:
"Commander, we’re not from a combat unit; we’re security personnel from the Anti-Demon Alliance Digger mining team SK-9300. As for these drones... we don’t know how they got here either..."
