I Am a Salted Fish in the Interstellar Era - Chapter 10

As the first rays of dawn lit the earth, Xie Yuyan witnessed the most beautiful scene of his life.

A hundred-meter-tall mecha, covered in silver, shimmered with a fluid blue that rippled like water under the early sun, resembling distant, cold, and unattainable mountain ridges. Its perfect streamlined design reflected glimmering light, a moment of breathtaking beauty that outshone even the sunrise on the mountain peak.

“Lancezell…” Xie Yuyan softly uttered four words, as the virtual screen from his right eye shot out, locking onto the mecha not far away. A series of data analyses immediately appeared before him.

Inside the mecha’s cockpit, a pale blue light scanned Shi Yu from head to toe, followed by numerous virtual screens appearing in front of her, with data flowing continuously and a mechanical voice sounding once again.

?Driver data scan successful, mecha mode adjustment, downgrade adjustment, adjustment successful, driving strength A-level?

Shi Yu didn’t quite understand the mechanical voice’s meaning, and she had never systematically learned how to pilot a mecha before. Now, looking at the cockpit, her face was filled with confusion.

Shi Yu tentatively asked, “Can I use voice commands?”

She was met with silence.

Not giving up, Shi Yu tried again, “Little AI? Siri? It can’t be, right? With such advanced technology, the mecha can’t be voice-controlled?”

After another moment of silence, the mechanical voice spoke again.

?Activate beginner mode??

For some reason, Shi Yu detected a mocking tone in the mechanical voice.

It wasn’t her fault; she was just a salted fish, and it was normal not to know how to operate it, so she cheerfully said, “Activate! Activate!”

–

A middle-aged man, stunned by the mecha appearing outside the floor-to-ceiling window, forgot to move, murmuring subconsciously, “Impossible…”

Quickly regaining his senses, he didn’t hesitate to open his brain-computer interface to call a terminal number, but the call was rejected. A triangular exclamation mark at the bottom right of his brain-computer interface indicated he couldn’t communicate with others now.

Biting his teeth and weighing the pros and cons, the middle-aged man made a decision, took out his mecha, and jumped out of the floor-to-ceiling window.

The fiery-red mecha descended upon the earth like a blazing flame. Being a heavy mecha, it appeared bulky, with huge gun barrels threateningly mounted on its shoulders.

The middle-aged man was well aware that their visit to the Sea Blue star was for an item that disappeared ten years ago.

They had found a clue the night before last and could have traced the item immediately, but their plans were interrupted when Sea Blue star was invaded by an unknown species. They had to stay in the dangerous area, waiting to find the item before leaving. They thought it was like finding a needle in a haystack but didn’t expect the person wearing that item would come to them.

Taking a deep breath, the middle-aged man cursed his carelessness. He knew its power, so after entering the cockpit, he immediately aimed the gun barrels at the silver-blue mecha.

He wanted to strike first, but the silver-blue mecha moved.

The middle-aged man held his breath, only to see it clumsily take out a cylindrical object in its hand and shake it.

The middle-aged man was puzzled, not understanding its intention, but out of fear, he instinctively stepped back, wary of any potential danger.

A second passed, then two seconds… after several seconds, nothing happened, and the silver-blue mecha was still fiddling with the cylindrical object.

Suddenly, the middle-aged man realized he might have been tricked, becoming furious and embarrassed. He drew the large sword mounted on his back, charging at Shi Yu with all his strength.

Whether by coincidence or not, the previously unresponsive cylindrical object suddenly ejected a beam of light, and the silver-blue mecha disappeared from its original spot in the blink of an eye. In just a moment, the middle-aged man felt a heavy impact from behind, stumbling forward and crashing into a building, collapsing it.

The radar’s inability to capture its speed chilled the middle-aged man to the bone. He was a seasoned soldier, honed on the battlefield, with SS-level physical capabilities, reaction time, and observational skills far beyond ordinary people.

Yet, piloting an S-level mecha, he was unable to track the movement of the silver-blue mecha.

The middle-aged man made a snap judgment, his mecha’s guns standing erect, firing indiscriminately around him. His mecha had already completed a simulation model of the surrounding environment, displayed on the virtual screens before him.

The middle-aged man only saw a flash of silver-blue before the booming sound of explosions filled his ears. In that instant, his pupils dilated, witnessing all the fired shells being sliced by a beam sword in mid-air, exploding before they could even hit the ground.

An unprecedented sense of oppression and fear instantly took over the middle-aged man’s heart. He had never imagined himself to be so powerless in front of Lancezell.

Yes, Lancezell.

In the old language of the Federation, Lancezell means the God of War.

–

“No way? Is the newbie invincible mode just for one minute?” Shi Yu tried to bargain with the mechanical voice, but there was no response.

Shi Yu had no choice but to manually control the mecha, her movements becoming awkward again.

The middle-aged man, halfway through his mental breakdown, suddenly felt a sense of ridicule rising within him. Was that little girl deliberately provoking him?

Not finishing him off immediately but dawdling instead, if not a provocation, then what was it?

A surge of anger welled up inside him, reigniting his collapsed fighting spirit. A soldier could be defeated, could die in battle, but would never allow others to humiliate him.

The middle-aged man put aside his jumbled emotions and quickly distanced himself from the [God of War], establishing his advantage. Setting up his cannon again, his specialty was long-range attacks, fitting his heavy artillery mecha.

But as he attempted to fire, the silver-blue mecha suddenly unfolded virtual particle wings behind it. The mimic wings vibrated slightly, and it disappeared from its spot again, the particle sniper-gun components mounted on various parts of the mecha instantly merging.

The overwhelming sniper fire from above shattered the red mecha’s head, followed by countless electric arcs covering the red mecha. The middle-aged man’s pupils shook, his body convulsing, his last vision filled with the silver-blue mecha fluttering in the sky like a butterfly.

The sound of booming explosions was incessant, the red mecha’s appearance to disappearance lasted no more than five minutes.

Shi Yu, who had been beaten up badly before, now felt exhilaratingly refreshed.

She was about to fly back and forth in the air, trying out the sniper gun’s accuracy, when the mechanical voice sounded.

?Driver’s body is overloaded, recommend immediate disengagement from the mecha for treatment?

?Warning! Forceful ejection from the cockpit in three seconds?

Shi Yu: “???”

She was still in the danger zone, could she wait until she reached the shelter before disengaging?

Before Shi Yu could argue with the mechanical voice, the negative states that had just disappeared from her body invaded her nerves again, the stabbing pain in her ribs, her dizzy head, making her want to scream.

A swipe of blue light from her index finger ring, the mecha disappeared, and Shi Yu fell to the ground.

She endured the pain in her body, took out a vial of nutrient solution and drank it. The nutrient solution couldn’t help with her injuries, but it barely kept her spirits up.

As Shi Yu was about to stand up using the rubble on the ground, a pair of shoes suddenly appeared in front of her.

Shi Yu looked up, only to see a young man squatting down, his soft and beautiful silver hair fluttering in the early morning breeze, tickling her face, making her want to brush it away.

Shi Yu, who had just thought of running away and had tricked someone, showed an embarrassed smile: “Little Beauty, you can’t take advantage of my illness, demand my life—”

Before she could finish, Shi Yu felt a pain in the back of her neck, and in the corner of her eye, the young man injected her skin with a syringe.

Shi Yu’s eyes closed, and she passed out.

She blinked, then blinked again.

The other person also blinked, then blinked again.

For a full minute, the two of them inexplicably looked at each other, until the person in front of her finally straightened up, opened their brain-computer interface, and slowly said, “Your physical condition is not bad. The broken ribs will take another two days to fully recover.”

Listening to him mutter, Shi Yu noticed that the other person was wearing a white lab coat, and she appeared to be in a hospital.

Shi Yu propped herself up to sit, feeling only a slight pain on her waist side. The medical technology of the interstellar era was so advanced that it could heal her injuries in just two or three days.

After listening to the young man’s muttering, Shi Yu asked suspiciously, “Are you a doctor?”

The young man looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, his cute baby face could easily make him appear even younger, but he was tall and slender, easily over 1.8 meters tall at a rough estimate.

The young man lifted his eyelids to glance at Shi Yu and said, “Just a volunteer.”

Shi Yu instantly had a question mark above her head.

Guessing that she was unclear about her situation, the young man felt compelled to explain, “Three days ago, Sea Blue Planet was suddenly invaded by an unknown species. People have been getting injured continuously, so our shelter temporarily organized volunteers. I’m one of them. You were brought here yesterday.”

Hearing this, Shi Yu immediately recalled the previous events. She instinctively looked down at her right index finger, saw that the mecha ring was still there, and quickly asked, “What about the person who brought me here?”

It seems that the Little Beauty still adhered to martial ethics, not taking advantage of her illness to end her life.

“When we found you, you were lying outside the shelter. Did someone bring you here?” the young man asked, then added, “Your psychic energy was severely depleted, and your body also sustained significant injuries. Luckily, you were promptly injected with a high-grade regenerative medicine, which prevented any serious damage. Be careful next time; the body can be healed, but if something happens to your psychic energy, not even a deity can save you.”

He advised.

Shi Yu was stunned, instinctively reaching to touch the back of her neck.

Was the injection given by the Little Beauty a high-grade regenerative medicine?

The young man didn’t notice her expression, took out a syringe from the medical box, and said, “Stretch out your hand. This is the last dose of physiological repair fluid. After this injection, rest for one day, and you’ll be able to move freely tomorrow.”