I Am a Salted Fish in the Interstellar Era - Chapter 27 (Part 1)

Regardless of how Feng Xiao and the others wanted to reprimand her, they had to admit Shi Yu’s actions were simply too cool. The bees, which they would have only thought to run from, were now being turned into roasted bees, with the crackling sound providing immense satisfaction.

S and SS level bees could be taken down by Shi Yu’s particle sniper rifle, but the lead SSS level bee gained a bit of freedom after being hit by a particle sniper bullet.

It vibrated its wings powerfully, shaking off all the rain, and even formed a small vacuum around it, preventing the heavy rain from getting close.

Without the rain as a medium, it became much harder to paralyze it with electric arcs, and this brief moment was enough for it to break free from the control of electricity and flames.

Lu Dongyan, who was closely watching the swarm, swallowed the pudding in his mouth and set up his sniper rifle on the spot. Feng Xiao didn’t hesitate to open fire, while Luo Xiaci had already completed data collection on the bees.

Shi Yu’s deployed drones continued to strangle other bees, and seeing the SSS level bee breaking free, she dismantled the particle sniper rifle and swung out a beam sword.

But in those brief moments, the bee had already closed the distance. It seemed to enter a berserk state, its speed incomparable to before, and the red marks on its abdomen deepening. Its originally black proboscis began to change, sprouting a row of dense, sharp teeth, turning the once beautiful bee into a horrifying creature.

Its wings also swelled and grew sharp, dense spikes, and it swung its enlarged wings directly towards Shi Yu.

Shi Yu, wielding the beam sword, barely blocked its strike but was sent flying by the bee’s immense force. Without any hesitation, the bee flapped its wings for a new round of attack.

Feng Xiao’s cannon fire arrived in an instant, all hitting the red mark on its abdomen, but this direct and powerful bombardment did nothing to harm the bee, only slightly slowing its speed.

Lu Dongyan, carrying the sniper rifle, continuously fired at it. This time, the bee didn’t take the hits head-on but dodged left and right, avoiding the bullets from Lu Dongyan’s sniper rifle.

Clearly, it felt the cannon fire was no threat, but the bullets from the sniper rifle could injure it.

Luo Xiaci focused on the bee model he had simulated, biting his teeth, his mind racing. His index finger danced crazily on the virtual keyboard, constantly calculating data only to reject them until a light bulb went off.

“Find a way to break off its stinger!” Luo Xiaci communicated to the others.

During the recent fight, Shi Yu’s beam sword grazed the bee’s stinger without causing any damage, yet the bee instinctively retracted its stinger, as if it was a natural instinct to protect its weak points when faced with danger.

The red marks on its abdomen were also weak points, but as it became more berserk, Feng Xiao’s bombardment couldn’t even scratch it. Clearly, attacking from this angle would be much more difficult.

Shi Yu was flung away by the immense force of the bee, swaying in midair. Hearing Luo Xiaci’s voice, she squinted her eyes and noticed the seemingly insignificant stinger beneath the bee’s round abdomen, relative to its size.

From ancient times, bees have had one characteristic: once their stinger breaks, they will die shortly after.

Shi Yu trusted Luo Xiaci’s judgment and shouted, “Cover me!”

Feng Xiao and Lu Dongyan responded simultaneously, unleashing a barrage of bullets mixed with sniper rifle shots towards the bee.

The bee’s speed was too fast. Feng Xiao fired tracking shells this time, with his shells covering the front and Lu Dongyan’s sniper bullets following closely behind. Shi Yu smiled, wielding her light beam sword, and dashed forward while the floaters previously surrounding the bee swarm were all recalled.

The booming sound of explosions filled the air as the bee’s massive wings sliced through each shell, unscathed, while a hidden sniper bullet silently pierced through the exploding shells, striking the bee’s rounded abdomen.

Unlike the bullet that penetrated the octopus steel spider’s abdomen last time, this one only created a small dent in the bee’s abdomen, causing it no pain.

Its mandibles clicked together as if mocking.

But then, countless sniper bullets pierced through the smoke from the exploded shells, each hitting the dent with increasing force until the innermost bullet was shallowly embedded in the bee’s body, releasing electrical arcs.

The bee’s clicking mandibles halted, and it let out a furious roar. Its giant wings vibrated, releasing strong sound waves that knocked down all incoming bullets.

It roared in fury, unable to believe such a fragile thing could harm it. But before its anger subsided, Shi Yu, wielding her light beam sword, dashed towards it.

Both of her light beam swords pressed against the bee, instinctively sensing the threat of particle weapons to itself.

But it refused to back down, flapping its strongest wings in an attempt to clash directly with Shi Yu. She knew it would do this, flashing a bright smile as her light beam sword collided with the bee’s wings.

The bee’s compound eyes turned red, its stinger lifted, attempting something.

At that moment, the floaters pulled by Shi Yu shone brightly, releasing particle beams from afar. Something was sliced through with a tearing sound, followed by a roar that could shake the heavens as the bee’s mandibles clicked together, its severed stinger falling straight to the ground.

The bee knew death awaited it. Its spines on its wings stood up, thickening and lengthening visibly, while its body deflated simultaneously.

Luo Xiaci noticed the bee’s body data fluctuating wildly and shouted without hesitation, “Get away from it! It’s going to take you down with it!”

Shi Yu also wanted to distance herself, but battles happen in the blink of an eye. She wanted to retreat, but the bee wouldn’t let her.

Its mandibles spread wide, and with its giant rigid wings, it aimed to pierce Shi Yu’s cockpit.

Data surged on the virtual screen in front of Shi Yu, knowing that even if the bee’s strike couldn’t penetrate the cockpit, it would still cause irreversible damage to her mental strength.

She was bound to get hurt!

Ha, little bee, can’t you tone down the arrogance?

Golden light shone in Shi Yu’s eyes.

At the critical moment, a silver-red scimitar shot from afar, smashing the bee’s giant wings and cutting through its open mandibles in one swift motion.

Almost simultaneously, another scimitar came flying back, slicing horizontally across the bee’s waist. In the blink of an eye, the bee shattered into pieces, scattering to the ground.

Shi Yu was stunned as a mecha approached at an unbelievable speed on the simulation sand table.

Looking up, the silver-red mecha stopped midair, with virtual particle wings like the “War God” unfolded behind it. The returning scimitar circled in the air before embedding itself in its wrist.

Xie Jiangsa, observing the nearly defeated swarm, raised an eyebrow and opened the public channel, “You little guys are quite impressive! There’s potential there~”

The trailing tone made the previously cool silver-red mecha lose all its coolness, making Shi Yu want to laugh and relax, fainting shortly after.

The silver-blue mecha suddenly powered down and fell, catching Feng Xiao and the others off guard. Xie Jiangsa caught Shi Yu in a flash, eyeing the “War God” 3D model on the virtual screen with interest.

Xie Yuyan had deleted all the videos in the space station, and he had been probing about where Lancezell was. Xie Yuyan never directly answered him, but unexpectedly, Lancezell was in the hands of a youngster.

However, it seemed she hadn’t fully unleashed Lancezell’s power; otherwise, such a group of little bees wouldn’t have resulted in such a fierce battle.

–

Shi Yu woke up with a severe headache, as if someone was pricking her brain with a needle from the inside out, causing her face to scrunch up in pain. She even thought about punching herself in the head to knock herself out again.

“You’re awake? Drink this potion quickly if you are. Did you overuse your mental power, and now your head is hurting?”

Feng Xiao’s cool voice rang out, and only then did Shi Yu open her bleary eyes, emitting a pitiful and undignified whimper before pleading, “Can’t you just hand it over?”

One of them leaned against the door with arms crossed, staring into space, another sat enjoying a tube of nutrient gel, and the last one stood by the bed looking down at her.

To think she was in such pain, yet these three had hearts of stone. Didn’t they know how to be compassionate?

If they knew what she was thinking, they’d probably spit in her face. Who was she to talk about fragrance and jade, fighting fiercer than any of them? She was practically a human war machine.

Feng Xiao, perhaps having a shred of conscience, helped Shi Yu sit up and drink the potion.

A few seconds after drinking it, Shi Yu felt the pain in her head lessen significantly. She quickly finished the rest of the potion and asked for more, “Is there any more? I want another!”

It tasted sweeter and much better than the nutrient gel.

Feng Xiao pushed her back down onto the bed with one hand, “Do you want to become an idiot? Can you just drink as much potion as you like?”

This special potion for treating mental power exhaustion was priceless and rare. Feng Xiao wouldn’t have any, otherwise, he would have used it on Lin Xie and the others. This potion was sent by Xie Yuyan, who likely gave up his own supply.

Shi Yu, feeling unjustly scolded, obediently lay back down, wondering if the young doctor had his bad days without warning.

Feeling much better, Shi Yu decided to let bygones be bygones and lay flat on the bed.

It was then she realized something was off about her surroundings. This was a private room, unlike the communal space in the shelter, where the only privacy was a tent.

“Have we arrived at the command center?” Shi Yu asked belatedly.

“After you fainted, we brought you here,” Feng Xiao replied casually, then took out a device from his spatial bag to check her mental power. “Lift your head, put this on, let me see how your mental power is doing.”

Now that Shi Yu was awake, a more detailed examination could be conducted.

“How about I measure your mental power and physical level?” Feng Xiao said, manipulating the device from his brain-computer interface.

Shi Yu was curious about her own levels and nodded.

Soon, she felt something cold touch her temple, moving from left to right, then began beeping.

Lu Dongyan was curious about Shi Yu’s mental level. She had boasted about being A-level, and he had believed her until he saw her incredibly sleek silver-blue mecha. He realized then that he had been duped by Shi Yu’s lies.

Lu Dongyan, owning an SSS-level mecha himself and having seen many, could tell Shi Yu’s silver-blue mecha was not below SSS-level. He even suspected it might surpass SSS-level, a thought that frightened him.

As it’s well-known, SSS+ level materials are scarce in the universe. To date, the Federation knows of only a few SSS+ mechas, including those of the seven marshals and Xie Yuyan’s mecha, “Judgment,” with other countries having similarly limited numbers.

To put it bluntly, there are definitely no more than a hundred SSS+ mechas in the entire universe, a conservative estimate.

Lu Dongyan, watching Shi Yu curiously looking up at the measuring device, couldn’t figure out her background.

But that seemed unimportant.

He finished his nutrient gel, then stepped in front of Shi Yu to look at the data measured by the device.

Three minutes later, Lu Dongyan frowned and pointed at the virtual screen that popped up from the device, turning to ask, “What does this mean?”

Normally, measuring mental power and level stabilizes in less than a minute, but Shi Yu’s data was still fluctuating after three minutes.

Feng Xiao also frowned, Shi Yu blinked curiously, not knowing what had happened, only to see Feng Xiao reaching out to resecure the device on her head.

Three minutes later, Luo Xiaci, who had been idly leaning against the door, also came over and after a glance at the virtual screen, directly said, “Isn’t your device broken?”

As is well known, a person’s mental power is constantly changing before the age of eighteen, normally developing in an increasing direction. Only a small portion show a negative growth due to genetic or external influences.

Of course, Shi Yu couldn’t possibly be experiencing negative growth, but her mental power and physical strength levels would occasionally jump up, then down, suddenly to S level, then drop to A level, and even more dramatically to B level, before bouncing back to SS level. It was more erratic than a roller coaster ride.

Feng Xiao instinctively retorted, “How could it be broken? I’ve hardly used it, and it’s brand new, bought just two months ago.”

“How do you explain her fluctuating mental power levels then?” Luo Xiaci stroked his chin, with the data on the virtual screen still jumping.

Feng Xiao had never seen such a situation before. After scratching his head for a while, he reluctantly came up with an explanation: “Maybe her mental power was damaged in a previous battle, and she just took a mental power restoration potion, so it’s jumping around like this…”

Feng Xiao said this with little confidence, not knowing how else to explain the device’s behavior.

“Is there no way to check the device? If it doesn’t work, why not change it?” Lu Dongyan suggested from the side, stroking his chin.

“No, the one I bought is supposed to be the most accurate model. It can’t be that I was so unlucky to have bought a defective one, right?” Feng Xiao began to doubt whether the device was functioning properly.

Shi Yu blinked her sparkling big eyes and timidly asked, “What’s going on? Can you not speak in riddles in front of me?”

Perhaps the mental power restoration potion was taking effect, as her headache from waking up had subsided, replaced by a cooling sensation spreading out, gradually easing the pain.

“Why don’t you take it off and try it on me?” Luo Xiaci suggested a way to test if the device was working properly.

Feng Xiao, finding the idea feasible, quickly removed the device from Shi Yu’s head and placed it on Luo Xiaci, with Lu Dongyan moving over a chair he had just made for Luo Xiaci to sit.

Completely ignored by the three, Shi Yu blinked again, trying to draw their attention, and said, “Can you pay attention to me? At least tell me what’s wrong with my mental power?”

“How is it?” Luo Xiaci asked, looking up.

“It must be broken,” Lu Dongyan said.

Feng Xiao reluctantly nodded, unwilling to accept that his newly purchased, most expensive, and supposedly most accurate device, advertised with a guaranteed accuracy and a twenty-year lifespan, was faulty.

What a rip-off, daring to scam him!

After Feng Xiao’s anger subsided, a surprised exclamation came from behind him: “A level? Luo Luo, your mental power level is the same as mine!”

It turned out Shi Yu, having been completely ignored by the three, resignedly got up to see what was happening and happened to see the test result on the virtual screen.

Luo Xiaci, surprised, raised an eyebrow: “Right, where is it broken?”

Feng Xiao & Lu Dongyan: “!”

“Your mental power level is A level?” Lu Dongyan’s voice clearly conveyed his disbelief.

Luo Xiaci gave Feng Xiao a look, signaling him to take the device off, then said, “Yes, both my physical and mental power levels are A level. Is there something strange about that?”

Better than an average person, but not considered a strong combat power.

Lu Dongyan was genuinely surprised. He had thought Feng Xiao was just a doctor, but then he effortlessly pulled out an SSS level mecha. It is well known that driving an SSS level mecha requires SSS level mental power.

All nations in the universe have this regulation to prevent some from recklessly driving mechas beyond their capability level, leading to irreversible damage to both body and mental power.