"Wasn’t the Fierce Ghost Mecha still under repair?" 026 instinctively inquired.
"It’s already operational, you should head to the escape pod," Lyu’s projection appeared before 026, his gaze somewhat stern, "I’ll try to secure three minutes for your escape... if Hera can’t be rescued, prioritize your own safety."
"Hera is the boss’s partner," 026 reminded him, "We can’t just abandon Hera."
Lyu nodded slightly, "If you can’t even protect yourself, how can you protect others? Just do your best, the boss won’t blame you."
was momentarily speechless.
Lyu urged, "Go quickly!"
turned away and leaped to the side, the blue-streaked hair bouncing gently as she took a few quick steps into the escape pod.
Two devices had already been installed, and the Mechanical Guard had returned to the bridge to prepare for battle.
The robotic old butler shuffled out of the connecting passage; although quite hesitant, he turned and asked.
"Oh, great boss’s assistant, must I use the laser gun for combat? I could use my fists, I have a boxing program... Making a robot, whose core function is to serve humans, use firearms is really against my core protocol!"
026, donning an emergency spacesuit, waved a fist and cursed, "Just get on with it! I’ve already backed up your data! We’ll revive you later!"
"Alright, but this..."
The ship suddenly trembled.
The old butler hurriedly pressed the button to close the pod, fumbling to pull out the handgun, aiming at the bridge’s front passage.
The rear compartment of the spaceship was hit.
Golden insects clung to the metal hull near the rear compartment, embedding their bladelike limbs into the ship’s body, with their thin wings vibrating at high frequency, spreading a peculiar current.
The spaceship’s engines shut down!
The ship lost acceleration; although its speed didn’t decrease and continued at super-high velocity, it meant more insects would catch up in no time.
In just over ten seconds, the rear compartment of the transport ship was covered with insects.
They gnawed through the ship’s armor layer, their blade limbs slicing through the composite panels.
Due to the pressure difference between inside and outside, gases gushed out, blasting two insects away directly.
The spaceship’s emergency gas barriers had just been activated when a limb tore through the barriers, and a slender, fearsome body drilled into the rear compartment.
Then a second, a third...
The rear compartment of the transport ship was nearly torn apart, insects swarmed in, tearing open security doors, slicing through the cabin walls and engine room, searching every cavity, swarming toward the bridge.
They were attracted to Hera.
Their locked-on target was Hera alone.
In the escape pod’s cockpit, 026 saw Hera’s hand trembling, reached out to hold her hand, and whispered,
"Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. The boss will come."
Hera nodded, continuing to watch the bridge’s situation.
The bridge’s security door suddenly deformed, suffering some heavy impact, and in the next moment, several sharp limbs simultaneously pierced the security door, sliding left and right...
Before the door was torn open, the cabin wall had already cracked, seven or eight slender spider-like insects surged into the bridge.
Mechanical Guards opened fire fiercely.
The robotic butler frantically pulled the trigger of his handgun.
Light bullets whizzed by, leaving no damage on the insects, only slightly charring their shells.
If these guards could show emotion, they’d surely be in despair by now.
A glance towards the rear of the bridge revealed these formidable insects crawling densely over the aft bulkhead.
Dozens of insects were devouring the spaceship’s engines madly.
The insects were about to charge at the escape pod, and finally, the long-awaited escape pod launched at that very moment, flames erupted from its tail, accelerating it into the deep void.
The Insect Swarm went into an immediate frenzy, ready to burst out of the transport ship.
A visible ripple emanated from the spaceship’s central control panel.
This was a simple electromagnetic interference burst from sacrificing onboard system hardware.
Then, per Hera’s research, a series of biological signals appeared on the central control panel, a fiery red figure gradually coalesced.
The Insect Swarm froze in motion, the compound eyes on their small triangular heads flickering gently.
The fiery figure seemed like a goddess.
She had six burning wings unfolding slowly behind her, her slender and graceful form with a golden ratio, adorned with a golden face mask, holding a scepter, and slightly raising her smooth chin.
She looked impressive, but really... it was just impressive in appearance.
Naturally, this was Lyu.
She opened her right hand toward the Insect Swarm, continually emitting biological signals, calculating the escape pod’s trajectory.
After a dozen seconds, the escape pod had reached a safe distance.
Lyu gently rotated her outstretched right hand, slowly clenched her fist, and as the Insect Swarm tilted their heads to observe, a middle finger, white as jade, promptly shot up.
The Insect Swarm was puzzled.
At the ship’s rear, midsection, and the bridge, three faint flames appeared simultaneously, which rapidly expanded, three super-high-temperature fireballs enveloping the spacecraft completely, sprays of rings and colorful ribbons scattering across the cosmic space.
"So rude," the robotic butler murmured, adjusting the collar of his tailed jacket just before the fire engulfed him.
The transport ship self-destructed.
In the escape pod, Hera turned to witness the scene, her expression somewhat wooden.
"You planted so many bombs where I live?"
"Uh," 026 muttered guiltily under her breath, "they’re Antimatter Bombs, really small, and they’re usually very safe you know."
Hera’s mouth twitched slightly.
reminded, "The Insect Swarm is still there."
Hera turned her head again, just in time to see, at the edge of the explosive fireball, the insects darting past, racing towards their narrow escape pod.