Chapter 178: You Flew Toward Me Faster Than I Fell
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
[Just because there were fewer Zerg doesn’t mean there were none! They have wings—they can fly!]
[Lei Ying, please be careful! Wuwuwu—]
[From a soft-spoken science reporter to a frontline war correspondent, here’s Lei Ying charging ahead.]
“The personnel transfer had to go on. The Censorship Committee had already done everything to minimize the risk,” Lei Ying said, patting the holster on her hip. “They even gave me a light-energy pistol for this assignment.
“Similar transfers had been conducted five times before, with casualties reported in three of them. But so far, this transfer seemed stable. Everyone, don’t worry.”
Comments flooded in:
[No way, no worries? Lei Ying, look up behind you—what’s that black spot?]
[I see it too! Whoa, a whole flock of black dots flying fast! Are those Zerg?]
[Mom, I promise I won’t ask for more thrilling coverage if Lei Ying stays safe.]
“What black dots?” Lei Ying turned her head and squinted. Sure enough, she spotted fast-moving objects against the leaden gray sky. Her heart skipped a beat. She found a guard nearby. “Hey, is that a Zerg coming to attack?”
The guard wore combat gear, a helmet, and a mask—only his eyes were visible.
“What Zerg…”
A sharp tearing sound echoed in Lei Ying’s ears and those of her hundreds of millions of StarNet viewers. The camera caught her young eyes suddenly widen as the gleam in them vanished, drowned by the blood that spilled out.
Comments exploded with screams as Lei Ying felt like she had plunged into an icy abyss. Terrified, she lost her voice and couldn’t utter a single word.
She stumbled backward. A brown Zerg’s forelimb twitched inside the guard’s chest cavity. The man’s body lost support and collapsed limply, revealing an arthropod-like Zerg lurking behind him.
The Zerg was small, probably Class E. Gamers in Star Ocean always treated Class E Zerg like minor pests. But now Lei Ying faced one directly, and all the viewers begged her to run immediately. The Zerg bared its sharp mouthparts, venom dripping from its jaws. It bent its legs, preparing to spring. Just as the Zerg leapt, Lei Ying drew her gun and fired five consecutive shots, shredding the creature into a bloody mess. Panting heavily, she slowly regained awareness of the surrounding sounds. A flood of Zerg surged in, attacking the convoy.
Mostly Class E and Class D Zerg, the androids and guards barely held their ground with their firearms. Gunfire erupted from all directions. The personnel at the front urged the convoy to speed up. Suddenly, someone shouted at Lei Ying, “Watch out behind you!”
She instinctively turned—and came face to face with a D-Class Zerg as tall as a person, its circular mouth agape. Rows of tiny teeth wriggled inside, exuding a putrid stench. Her heart stopped.
The next moment, a shadow grabbed Lei Ying by the shoulders and knocked her down into a bed of fallen leaves. The Zerg snapped at empty air, then angrily turned to continue the assault.
The person who saved her raised his gun and fired at the Zerg. He had clearly killed several before—his light-energy pistol had only three bullets left. Two shots hit the Zerg’s fragile mouthparts, and one exploded against its body. The attack hurt the Class E Zerg but didn’t kill it. Trembling uncontrollably, Lei Ying handed over her pistol. “I have bullets left. Use mine.”
He glanced at her, but instead, the pistol leapt from the ground with agile precision, climbing up the Zerg’s back. His black hair fluttered in the wind. He fired twice into the Zerg’s compound eyes, blasting its nervous system into mush. The comment section fell silent for a moment—then flooded again.
[Why do I feel like this skilled guy looks familiar?]
[Yeah, kinda. I feel like I’ve seen that face somewhere while watching the news—he’s pretty handsome, so it stuck in my mind. Who is he?]
The floating smart media sphere wasn’t filming Lei Ying’s direction, so viewers could only guess based on the brief glimpse they caught earlier.
[Feels like… Lin Xu.]
“Wasn’t Lin Xu sentenced to 150 years in prison?”
[Guess you didn’t get the full story. He escaped again and is currently on Imperial’s most wanted list.]
…
[I just checked the wanted list. It really looks like him…]
[I don’t get it. If it’s really Lin Xu, after running for so long, why did he end up here fighting Zerg?]
[Haven isn’t under Imperial law enforcement. Of course, he’d want to escape here.]
[I thought he’d be with Heinrich Chu, but he’s still alone. Where did Heinrich go?]
After confirming Lei Ying was uninjured, Lin Xu helped her to her feet and handed back her light-energy pistol. “Go find a vehicle. Retreat behind the blockade line. It’s dangerous here, and more Zerg will come.”
Seeing Lin Xu’s face clearly, Lei Ying’s eyes widened. She remembered the Marianna murder case that had caused a huge controversy. But Lin Xu’s brows were tightly furrowed now, the ashes of war darkening his face with solemnity. Lei Ying dared not ask questions. After whispering her thanks, she hurriedly took the pistol and left.
When she reached a vehicle, someone inside reached out to help her up. Suddenly, the ground trembled, and Lei Ying slipped, nearly falling. She and the floating media sphere turned toward the source of the vibration. A massive four-winged moth-like Zerg was closing in on the convoy, its body much larger than the tall trees nearby.
More dark gray shapes sped rapidly across the sky, steadily approaching the surface of Haven. The comment section exploded with screams:
[That thing’s gotta be five meters tall!]
[That’s a C-Class four-winged moth Zerg! It can fly! Its wing dust burns at high temperatures! Help!]
[Lei Ying, run! Run!]
The four-winged moth Zerg was huge and fast. In the blink of an eye, it closed to less than twenty meters from the convoy.
Lei Ying watched as Lin Xu holstered his light-energy pistol. After exchanging a few words with a guard, he took the guard’s electromagnetic rifle and charged toward the giant moth Zerg.
Comments poured in:
[Holy crap, who is this badass rushing to fight a C-Class Zerg with just an electromagnetic rifle?]
[He just killed an E-Class Zerg with a light-energy pistol!]
[The more I watch, the more I’m sure that’s Lin Xu… His vibe is so strange—cold and detached but also weirdly fierce, just like this ruthless guy.]
The four-winged moth Zerg’s compound eyes locked on Lin Xu. It let out a howl and charged to intimidate him. Lin Xu narrowed his eyes, ran away from the convoy, then turned and fired a shot behind him. The electromagnetic slug sparked against the moth’s shell, causing a small explosion but nothing too intense.
Enraged, the moth Zerg spun around and charged at Lin Xu, its running shaking the ground. Lin Xu quickly climbed a tall tree, reaching roughly the same height as the moth. He raised his electromagnetic rifle and fired at the gap between its head and shell. Electricity arced through the shell, stunning the moth momentarily.
Without hesitation, Lin Xu leapt up, grabbed the moth’s limb, and climbed onto its head. He fired at its compound eyes, blowing them to pieces. Seizing the moth’s moment of frenzy, sharp claws sprouted from Lin Xu’s hands, piercing through the shell. He shoved the arm-length electromagnetic rifle deep into the Zerg’s flesh, masking the claws’ movement so outsiders would think he’d simply blown apart the moth’s brain with the rifle.
He jumped off the moth’s body, slicing its shell and wings in half with his claws and rifle as he fell. Sticky fluids splattered everywhere.
Lin Xu’s claws weren’t long enough to pierce the entire moth, but the opened shell exposed the Zerg’s vulnerable body. Lin Xu raised the rifle again and fired, severing the moth’s nervous system completely. The giant Zerg screamed in agony, forcing the convoy’s people to cover their ears. The livestream comment section went utterly silent, filled only with question marks.
[???]
[???]
[Excuse me, is this a special warfare android made in Haven? How can he kill Zerg with his bare hands?]
The black dots in the sky gradually closed in, the ground still trembling beneath them. The dying scream of the four-winged moth Zerg attracted an A-Class scythe mantis.
The floating media sphere hovered at about human height, and viewers watched in horror as the towering, dozens-of-meters-tall Zerg took slow steps forward. They began to panic and lament, declaring the Star Ocean game a child’s play compared to this.
[Bro, stop fighting, stop fighting. No matter how good you are, you can’t beat that thing!]
[If it were me, forget fighting—I’d already be on my knees. If this is really Lin Xu, I’d call him a universe-class badass.]
[Help! Are there Zerg in the sky too?!]
[Silly kid, run!]
Lin Xu looked up at the approaching black dots on the horizon, then glanced back at the A-Class Zerg in front of him… and turned to run.
[Awesome! A wise man knows when to retreat!]
[He didn’t run toward the convoy. Is he trying to lure the Zerg away?]
[Can he even outrun that thing? Wuwu…]
Lin Xu sprinted at full speed, barely keeping the same distance from the towering Zerg.
The floating media sphere, tracking Lei Ying as she prepared to leave, lost sight of Lin Xu’s path. Viewers’ smart systems detected a cliff ahead of him.
[Is he going to sacrifice himself?]
[But the Zerg can fly, and he can’t!]
As the media sphere drifted further away, Lin Xu’s figure shrank to a thumb-sized black speck. The pursuing A-Class scythe mantis looked about the size of a real mantis.
Viewers anxiously waited for Lin Xu to pull off another surprise comeback, but the next moment— Lin Xu leapt off the cliff. The fierce wind whipped through his long hair.
[?]
[??]
[???]
Just as Lin Xu’s silhouette disappeared behind the cliff and the scythe mantis paused, a gunmetal-gray flash streaked across the screen, swirling down into the valley below.
Sharp-eyed viewers shouted, [Blizzard! Marshal Chu’s Blizzard!]
[It’s really Lin Xu!]
They had already instinctively linked Lin Xu and Heinrich together.
On the screen, the battle-worn Blizzard rose from beneath the cliff, its particle beam palm cannon gathering all its power. One blast erupted, the brilliant white light instantly engulfing the scythe mantis, reducing it to scattered fragments.
The shockwave bent and toppled all the surrounding trees like crashing waves. Leaves rustled loudly in the aftermath.
[Ahhh, it’s Marshal Chu!]
[Marshal Chu looks so cool saving people!]
The comment section flooded with cries of relief.
Some still muttered, [He’s a traitor, no longer a Marshal…]
But such comments were quickly drowned out. When the Blizzard’s cannon faced the common enemy of humanity, Imperial citizens couldn’t help but cheer its dazzling silhouette.
Inside Blizzard, Lin Xu adjusted his mental energy link helmet and, alongside Heinrich, piloted the ship skyward, continuing to block other Zerg attempting to assault the convoy.
“That was dangerous just now,” Heinrich said in the mental domain.
Lin Xu replied, “You can’t catch me?”
Heinrich answered, “I was afraid something like this would happen.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. You flew toward me faster than I fell.”
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