Chapter 503: Perseverance I
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When the video reached Kasent, the entire planet exploded in chaos. People had begun to move to Kasent since a few days ago, but many still harbored illusions of their own. Besides, it was difficult for the civilians to find starships that allowed them to hitch a ride. For the moment, many civilians found themselves stuck on the planet.
It was mayhem in the cities. Mechs were flying around everywhere, trying to escape. Occasional explosions happened when mechs ran into each other. On the ground were the anxious masses, carrying their belongings and holding onto their children, their faces betraying fear and hopelessness.
The docking zones in the cities were also in a mess. The starships were all trying to depart, and the crowds on the ground were all trying to get a place on the ships. People were crying, yelling, begging … The glorious cities were now reduced to a living hell.
The docking zone control centers were overwhelmed. Without instructions from control, the starships lifted off by their own discretion.
Suddenly, two starships in the air collided into each other. One of the ships suffered heavy damage to its tail engines, while the other ship lost its half its starboard side hull armor.
The two ships lost balance and began to spin in the air, struggling to regain their balance.
It was all futile in the end.
The two starships wobbled their way down from 900 meters up, like drunken sailors, and crashed heavily into the docking zone crowded with both starships and people.
Boom! Boom! Two loud explosions followed, and two humongous flames flared out. Debris sprayed out from the center of the explosions.
The two fallen starships acted like ignition, and the docking zone, full of fuel, exploded.
One by one, the starships exploded like a chain reaction.
All around them, the crowded masses suffered from the explosions. They barely had time to scream before the flames engulfed them. People who were further away from the starships did not escape the effects of the explosions. The debris and fragments from the explosions came at them, burning hot and fast, piercing their bodies, cracking their skulls.
The injured lay in their own pool of blood, struggling, wailing in pain or fear. No one was left standing in the docking zone.
The predictions of the mysterious man, Jay, had finally came true on this day. The Heavens did not give the people who doubted or hesitated a sliver of chance. Reality was cruel and determined.
Only a meager few survived the incident. The rest had paid the full price of their decisions with their lives.
Just as Jay predicted, the red-tailed beasts arrived on Kasent three hours later, and completed their surrounding formation. Two hours later, they had secured the surrounding areas of the planet.
Thus, Gray Valley was divided into two parts.
The people who were surrounded by the red-tailed beasts panicked. When news of the invasion spread, ships that were headed for Kasent immediately turned back and headed for the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, hoping to get to the rumored warp jump point. They had no other choice.
The lucky survivors and the people who were watching from afar now witnessed the sudden appearance of a legendary genius. If the truth of Jay's victory before was not yet ascertained, no one doubted his abilities this time.
Jay's reputation rose to a whole new level. People honored him, praised him, worshipped him. In short, he was put on a pedestal.
The mysterious man Jay became an enigma. To the average person, he was the symbol of invincibility, and Gray Valley's last hope.
The people hoped that the man would appear once again. They prayed that he would survive the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Many volunteers had began their journey to Planet Spectre, hoping to join the remarkable fleet. They believed that the mystical Sir Jay would once again be victorious.
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Ye Chong ordered for the ships to accelerate past this unstable region, but the floating rocks were too dense for higher velocities. They were still advancing slowly.
Casualties were reported every day, but never on the same scale as what happened in the beginning.
Ye Chong dared not be careless, however. It was already the third day, their last, in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. This was the most crucial part of their journey.
Distance-wise, they were already very close to the warp jump point. It was only 1,800 kilometers away. Usually, they would cover this distance in just an hour, but now they would have to take 12 hours.
They finally flew past the unstable region, but as the fleet advanced further, the pressure on them grew. Ye Chong was forced to assign all remaining 1,300 mech pilots on protection duty. With more manpower, their situation improved slightly, but five hours later, the situation became more difficult.
Ye Chong had no more extra personnel at his disposal.
With only seven more hours to go, they could only soldier on. The rest of the journey would be the most dangerous and hardest part of their flight.
To reduce areas exposed to risk, the starships were positioned very close to each other, but this did not improve their situation by much.
The mech pilots guarding the starships in their mechs were exhausted, and they were beginning to suffer from casualties. Before this, none of the mechs had been reported damaged. Now, as the danger around them increased, they had finally reached a breaking point.
Ye Chong was deeply troubled by this.
The rocks all around them came crashing down on the starships like a heavy downpour. In just three minutes, they lost 50 mechs. It was no wonder Ye Chong looked so troubled. At this rate, they would lose all their mechs in just two and a half hours.
This was unacceptable for Ye CHong.
However, no amount of tricks and strategies were going to save them this time. The fleet members would have to persevere.
Ye Chong decided to step into the field himself. He had no concept of how leaders should not be in the frontlines.
He believed that every bit of effort would push them further towards victory.
Hence, he made his move!
Among the entire fleet, only Xi Qing, Shu and the other students had seen Ye Chong in combat. The rest had never seen Sir Jay fight. Even Xi Qing and Shu had never seen Ye Chong fight with a mech. To them, Sir Jay was their leader, more suited for strategizing.
No one realized that Sir Jay's expertise was in fact not in strategizing, but in actual combat!
When Sir Jay decided to step into the field himself, all of Haskel's crew members were dumbfounded. They stared at their leader in disbelief.
Ye Chong did not give them the chance to object, only turning his back to them and leaving with determination.
When news of Sir Jay's decision came through the comms to the mech pilots who were struggling outside, everyone thought they had heard wrong.
When Ye Chong's Han Jia exited Haskel's Passage 1, the comm channels were flooded with thunderous cheers. Everyone felt their exhaustion evaporated. They were invigorated, they were ready to fight!
Ye Chong did not know how his actions had brought about this boost in morale in his soldiers. In fact, he believed that while he had improved from before, there was still much for him to learn before he could become a true leader.
Ye Chong only hoped that he could do his part in fighting for their survival. That was all.
The beautiful Han Jia danced across the dark outer space that was raining asteroids. Its beautiful body moved economically and with great precision. The mech was fast and powerful, a mechanical wonder to behold.
The mech pilots were surprised to find Sir Jay much stronger than they were. No matter how he asteroids rained on Sir Jay's mech, his agile mech would always be able to avoid the rocks, or used its weapons to deflect them.
Some of the larger rocks became Sir Jay's weapons. He used his mech to change the course of these rocks to collide into other rocks that were coming towards them.
Sir Jay's skillful and confident maneuvers had affected all the mech pilots. The comms channels once again roared with cheers. All the fleet members felt encouraged.
Right then, Sir Jay's mech was not the only one showing off. Beside him was a one-armed mech in blue and white. Its right arm held a Farqua sniper rifle. The unremarkable sniper rifle turned formidable in the hands of this mech.
The unknown mech pilot fought with extreme calmness. His shots never missed. The mech balanced between long range sniping and wide area coverage, demonstrating the skills of a long range mech in this dazzling battle.
The unknown mech pilot worked well with Sir Jay. They coordinated their movements perfectly. Sir Jay adjusted his position accordingly as the one-armed mech went about its near-supernatural shooting spree. The deadly rain of asteroids was no challenge for the two mechs. Shots of thick and thin blue lines fired through the air like a blooming flower, while the small and nimble Han Jia did its petal dance around the shots.
No one knew who the mech pilot in the one armed mech was, just as no one knew that Sir Jay was an ace mech pilot. Only the very first few members of the fleet could guess that the mech pilot in the one armed mech was the other leader they had, the one who never showed their face.
In the end, Shang could not help but interfere in this critical situation.