I Am a Salted Fish in the Interstellar Era - Chapter 23

The blade flashed by, and Gu Qianqian, clutching his wounded shoulder, stumbled back two steps. The baby-finger-sized knife circled back, grazing him and slicing open a cut in the space bag tied around his waist.

Everything happened too suddenly. Shi Yu, without hesitation, turned around, drawing her energy gun from her waist and firing at the beautiful butterfly fluttering its wings.

The butterfly was hit by the energy gun, its wings flapped briefly before it fell straight down, and the controlled blade also turned into phosphorescent powder, scattering down from the air.

Where the phosphorescent powder fell, space began to distort, and a dark hole slowly tore open, with the butterfly falling right into it.

Gu Qianqian had seen such holes in exhibition halls before, the sight of which still made him shudder to think about.

His pupils dilated, he shouted, “Quick! Run! The insect race crawls out from these kinds of holes!”

“We can’t stay here, we must immediately evacuate this shelter!”

Everything unfolded too rapidly. Lin Xie was just reacting when he heard Gu Qianqian’s warning, but in a few seconds, the hole had already opened, and a red, tumor-covered tentacle peeked out.

Without hesitation, Shi Yu fired at the red tentacle. Lin Xie also made a quick decision, activating the shelter’s alarm through his brain-computer interface to start the evacuation.

Others, barely catching up, followed Shi Yu’s lead and shot at the hole, but clearly, the energy gun did no damage to the tentacle. Instead, the tumors on the tentacle seemed to swell as if fed.

Lin Xie’s pupils shook, and he immediately told the young people nearby, “Shen Han, take some people and lead the refugees to the designated place. I’ll cover the rear!”

“You’ll be in charge of coordinating everything hereafter, ensuring everyone’s safe departure!”

Shen Han, Lin Xie’s right-hand man, had been managing the shelter’s coordination together.

Instantly understanding Lin Xie’s decision and knowing there was no time to hesitate, Shen Han bit his lip and immediately said to those not part of the Sea Blue Star garrison, “Follow me!”

Shi Yu, watching the wriggling tentacle, clenched her mecha armor ring tightly.

She was well aware of the slim chances of survival for Lin Xie and the others if they stayed behind.

“What are you waiting for?” Lin Xie, seeing Shi Yu still standing there, couldn’t help but shout.

“I can do this!” Shi Yu looked up, her gaze determined.

Although she didn’t know the origin of the “War God,” her days of interacting with mechas made it clear to her the vast gap between A-level mechas and the “War God.” If she piloted the “War God” to fend off the insect race…

“Get the hell out of here! The Sea Blue Star garrison isn’t so incompetent that we need a minor to cover our retreat!” Lin Xie grabbed Shi Yu’s hand and pushed her towards Feng Xiao.

“Everyone leaves, no one stays!”

As people exchanged looks, Lin Xie was about to explode in anger when Luo Xiaci suddenly stepped forward, saying, “This hole will likely expand to a diameter of one meter within a minute, and to ten meters within five minutes. In an hour, creatures as large as Scorpion Tail and Knife Beetles can come through.”

No one questioned how he knew the rules of the hole’s expansion. Lin Xie’s anger subsided, and he nodded, patting Luo Xiaci on the shoulder before also telling him to leave.

Feng Xiao and Lu Dongyan clenched their teeth, one dragging Shi Yu and the other supporting Gu Qianqian, quickly leaving.

Lin Xie did not inform the people in the shelter about the bug race’s invasion but instead initiated a level one alert to notify everyone to leave.

The shelter was in disarray, but panic had not yet ensued.

After coming out, Gu Qianqian said, “I need to find my brother; you guys go first.”

Gu Mingzhan’s injuries had healed nicely after emergency treatment, but he had not woken up for many days and was still in the rescue area.

Luo Xiaci happened to hear this and added, “The rescue area has already arranged for evacuation. Everyone has headed to the shelter’s exit by now. Going there now would be futile.”

He seemed to know everything. Shi Yu took another look at him and directly asked, “What do you think?”

The evacuation plan had been arranged in advance, and everyone in the shelter began to evacuate along the predetermined route under the coordination of Shen Han.

Luo Xiaci quickly said, “Since the bug race has sneaked into the shelter, isn’t it possible they might also attack us on our retreat path? What we need to do now is ensure the safety of the people leaving the shelter. If there are no casualties in the shelter, his brother will definitely be fine.”

The bug race had tried to invade the shelter several times without success. This time, they launched a major attack by breaking through from the inside, continuously sending reinforcements. Lin Xie and the others stayed behind to resist, which inevitably weakened the combat strength on the road. Due to the sudden incident, reinforcements from other shelters might not arrive in time.

After exchanging looks, the group quickly decided to evacuate, and the people from the shelter had already assembled outside.

Feng Xiao helped Gu Qianqian bandage his wounds, and the team set off. They all glanced back at the shelter as they left.

Some who did not see Lin Xie in the line-up felt something amiss and couldn’t help but look back.

With hovercars available, the speed of travel was fast, and the shelter was quickly left behind. Shi Yu and the others were dispersed among various hovercars. Not long after the cars started, she heard a rumbling sound from far behind.

Shi Yu closed her eyes, and the mecha ring on her index finger, perhaps sensing her emotions, flashed a pale blue light.

The hole expanded faster than Luo Xiaci had predicted, and for some reason, the red tentacle that had initially stretched out retracted back.

As Lin Xie frowned, a worm-like creature from the bug race suddenly burst out of the hole. Its speed was so fast that several mechas were swept to the ground before they could react.

This worm was damp all over, with various suckers on its body. When the mecha’s cockpit clearly displayed it, Lin Xie could even see the black liquid rolling on its surface.

Without hesitation, the worm wrapped around one of the mechas. Its strength was immense; the mecha was snapped into two the moment it was entangled, causing great mental trauma to the pilot inside, who screamed and passed out.

Lin Xie, holding his greatsword, did not hesitate to strike down at the worm. Black liquid spurted out, and the worm was instantly cut into two. However, it wasn’t dead. It wriggled on the ground, its wound healing at a visible rate, and what was once one worm became two.

As more worms emerged from the hole, the pressure on everyone increased. They had no choice but to cut the worms in two, only to see their wounds heal and become whole again.

Sweat broke out on Lin Xie’s forehead. The majority of Sea Blue Star’s stationed mechas were A-grade. These worms did not possess high combat strength but were incredibly strong. Once entangled, the mechas would be crushed into halves by their tremendous strength.

The only way to avoid being entangled was to cut the worms into pieces, but the more they cut, the more appeared, filling the space with disgusting worms.

Soon, Lin Xie found that cutting the worms short enough rendered them immobile and combat ineffective, lying on the ground, merely disgusting to look at.

All the mechas wielded their greatswords, frantically slicing at the worms, but the hole kept tearing further, and besides these worms, other bug race creatures crawled out.

Black leeches, with their disgusting tentacles and sharp teeth, didn’t care about the disgusting worms on the ground, swallowing them whole, their fine, dense teeth crunching together.

Disgusting black liquid flowed from the white sharp teeth, the contrast of black and white almost making Lin Xie, who had seen much of the world, vomit.

He dared not let his guard down, continuously directing the stationed troops to defend and cover each other. The greatest advantage of Sea Blue Star’s stationed troops was their structured soldiering, knowing how to cooperate with comrades, allowing them, even in A-grade mechas, to exert beyond A-grade combat strength.

As mechas were destroyed in battle, the shelter turned into ruins, and the hole continued to tear.

Lin Xie, looking at the hovercar convoy that had not gone far on the simulation sand table, gritted his teeth and roared, charging into the black leech swarm with his greatsword.

He should be thankful that the combat strength of the bug race coming through the hole had not exceeded A-grade; otherwise, even with him here, they could not have held on for a few minutes.

As time ticked away, Lin Xie felt his mental energy being drained continuously, his consciousness gradually blurring. All he remembered was swinging his sword to dodge, while the screams of his comrades echoed around him.

When he saw the bristly leg emerging from the hole, Lin Xie couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.

He hadn’t expected to survive the front lines only to die amidst these disgusting creatures.

Lin Xie roared again, the core of his mecha’s controls spinning wildly. The mecha, which had started to show signs of defeat, opened all its cannons and bombarded the octopus spider emerging from the hole with a frenzy of fire.

In doing so, he was distracted and got struck by a giant leech’s tentacle, crashing hard against a building.

Inside the cockpit, Lin Xie spat out a mouthful of blood, his body aching intensely, and his head filled with a stabbing pain that continuously weakened his will.

He saw the octopus spider crawling out of the hole, each of its legs crushing the insectoids on the ground, creating hole after hole, their hissing and twisting bodies unable to resist.

He watched as the octopus spider approached him, raising its terrifying forelimb towards the cockpit.

But just then, a particle laser shot from afar hit the raised forelimb of the octopus spider, breaking one of its legs.

Lin Xie’s eyes widened as a girl’s arrogant voice came through the public channel.

“Ugly freak, who allowed you to lift your foot? Stay down!”

A silver-blue mecha descended from the sky, her sniper rifle disassembling back into the mecha, and she threw out a particle beam sword, charging with the speed of lightning.