Chapter 29: Counterkill

28. Counterkill

A car?!

No one could have dreamed that this was what would greet them! They couldn't understand why anyone would load a car inside a spaceship! The four-meter-long wreckage of the car was tossed out like a toy. Caught off guard, the mercenaries opened fire, but the blaster bolts were useless against the vehicle.

CLANG!!! The car wreckage slammed into several mercenaries, scraping across the ground and sending a massive spray of sparks flying.

Some mercenaries who recovered quickly immediately opened fire toward the hatch. The *pew-pew-pew* of blaster fire rang out as several red bolts streaked through the mist toward the opposition.

However, an invisible force suddenly descended, and several more blasters were wrenched from the mercenaries' hands without warning. Before they could even reach for their weapons, *rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!* A crisp volley of gunfire erupted, and the mercenaries in the front fell to the ground one after another.

A burly man emerged, holding an assault rifle in one hand. His marksmanship was incredibly precise; a single burst of fire brought down five or six mercenaries. Meanwhile, the blaster bolts hitting him riddled his artificial skin with holes, and the metal endoskeleton beneath suffered significant damage, yet he remained standing firm.

"It's a robot!!" the mercenaries screamed, seeing the silver-white mechanical structure beneath the man's damaged skin.

*Rat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!* The T-850 showed no mercy. After emptying the assault rifle, he tossed it aside and pulled two more assault rifles from his back to continue the barrage.

Tang Xiao, Vunt, Quinto, and Spad followed behind, each wielding an assault rifle, firing wildly and indiscriminately forward!

Regardless of the many advantages of blaster weapons, the mercenaries currently only possessed single-shot blaster pistols, which were forced to yield before the rapid-fire assault rifles.

*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!* Dense bullets poured out like water. Another four or five mercenaries fell into pools of blood, leaving the survivors to hide behind cover and fire sporadic shots.

Tang Xiao focused his mind, locking onto a Rodian mercenary hiding behind a crate. He raised his hand and made a grasping motion in the air; the mercenary's gun was instantly wrenched from his hands. The Rodian instinctively tried to grab it, but the moment he poked his head out, his skull was blown apart by a shot, spraying blue blood everywhere.

The T-850 marched fearlessly at the very front, allowing the blaster bolts to continuously strike him. His artificial skin peeled away, revealing the skull-shaped mechanical endoskeleton beneath. His red electronic eye rotated constantly, locking onto targets and opening fire!

A blaster bolt struck his left eye, instantly blowing the electronic sensor away, but he still used his remaining eye to aim, sending a bullet straight into the forehead of a Bossan mercenary.

Once the assault rifle was empty again, he discarded it and drew two pistols from his waist to continue shooting.

*Bang!* Another blaster bolt hit his right elbow joint, instantly blowing his arm into two pieces. The T-850 swung the severed limb, slamming it into a man with a heavy *thud*, denting the bulkhead.

"Die, you metal-head!" a mercenary behind him suddenly charged out, aiming a blaster pistol at the back of the T-850's head.

But before he could pull the trigger, the blaster was ripped from his hands.

A second later, his head exploded like a watermelon!

At the start of the battle, seeing the tide turn, the Felin woman scrambled toward the cockpit, screaming, "Close the docking bay! Fast!!"

The moment she finished speaking, a *bang* rang out. A bullet grazed her cheek and entered the back of the pilot's head.

Brain matter splattered everywhere.

Behind her, Tang Xiao blew the smoke from the muzzle of his revolver and said coldly, "If I were you, I'd kneel down immediately with my hands behind my head."

The Felin woman obeyed instantly, her face filled with terror. "Don't kill me! I didn't mean it! Don't kill me... it was Black..."

"I don't want to hear it!" A sudden surge of violence surged within Tang Xiao. A flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes. *Bang!!* With a single gunshot, the Felin woman fell into a pool of blood.

Tang Xiao sighed, tossed the pistol aside, and leaned against the bulkhead, feeling a sense of exhaustion. He had never even killed a chicken in his entire life; why was he like this now? Why had he just executed someone with a single shot?

Moreover, he hadn't originally intended to kill her. He wanted to capture her to ask about Blackgo Damask II... and yet...

*Did I awaken the Dark Side of the Force?* The thought surfaced unbidden in Tang Xiao's mind.

At the same time, the other Gorsok 720-class freighter realized something was wrong. It turned its bow and began to accelerate in an attempt to flee.

"Cut the weeds by the roots! Vunt! Get to the cockpit and take out that ship!" Tang Xiao suddenly snapped back to reality and shouted.

"I'm already on it!" Vunt had already kicked the pilot's corpse aside, but the pilot's brain matter had coated the console, making it impossible for him to distinguish which button did what.

However, at that very moment, a sudden change occurred!

Light flashed in the adjacent space, and immediately after, a massive warship emerged from hyperspace right in front of them!

It was a *Generous*-class communications frigate, bearing the insignia of the Interstellar Banking Association!

"Shit! It's Makito's pursuers!! How did they track us all the way here!!" Seeing the 825-meter-long giant ship, Tang Xiao felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, his entire body freezing up. "Vunt, can we still run?"

"I don't think so," Vunt said with a bitter smile.

The turbo-laser turrets on the *Generous*-class frigate began to adjust their angles, aiming at the fleeing Gorsok 720-class freighter, and opened fire!!

The ruthless artillery struck the freighter instantly. No sound traveled through the vacuum of space, but the successive explosions testified to the ferocity and cruelty of the attack!

With a single shot, the 38-meter-long freighter was destroyed; the ship's deflector shields were utterly useless against an attack of this magnitude.

After firing that single shot, the *Generous*-class frigate made no further move; it simply opened its hangar doors and sat there quietly.

At that moment, Tang Xiao's heart skipped a beat. He looked at the *Generous*-class frigate, his gaze turning profound. He could vaguely sense a deep-seated darkness within the warship—an infinite darkness...

Shaking his head, Tang Xiao said, "Alright, I think we are safe for now. Quinto, you and Spad try to pilot this freighter. Vunt, T-850, we're going back to the *槍騎兵號* (Lancer). Then we go into that warship. It's time to deliver the goods."

The *Lancer* and the Oro-class freighter flew one after the other into the somewhat narrow hangar of the *Generous*-class frigate. Once the ships stabilized, hundreds of fully armed B-1 battle droids surrounded them.

B-1 droids were a very rudimentary type of robot. Giant trans-stellar corporations like the Interstellar Banking Association and the Trade Federation loved using these cheap, effective, and mass-produced droids, whether for combat or any other task.

Vunt took the memory drive and walked at the front, while Tang Xiao blended in with the others, trying his best not to stand out.

[Easter Egg Chapter Attachment 1: T-800 in Battle]

(End of Chapter)