Transform into a human

In an instant, it felt like my lungs were being emptied, and all I could hear in my ears was the roar of my own blood.

Xia Du opened his mouth, but Yue Lai couldn't hear what the other person was saying.

His vision blurred rapidly at the edges, and he didn't have time to think about where the sudden attack came from—Xia Du couldn't possibly survive in a vacuum!

He quickly manipulated the airflow escaping from the dilapidated oxygen supply device not far away, trying to make it surround Xia Du, and then briefly gave it the thought of "protecting Xia Du" using the [Playing with Flowers and Grass].

He finally heard the voice of the summer capital:

"Yue Lai, are you alright?"

As he felt the damage to his body and was about to speak, Xia Du couldn't wait any longer. He forced himself to stand up, and tears instantly filled his eyes—Yue Lai's back was completely carbonized!

"Don't cry!" Yue Lai hurriedly wiped away her tears. "Although it's a bit troublesome to fix afterward, you're really okay now."

Thanks to his advance action, Xia Du was snatched back from the clutches of the King of Hell, while Kerr, who was on the same straight line as her just now, was in a much worse situation.

Downton stared blankly at what was in front of him, completely ignoring the fact that he was exposed to a vacuum, and was just trying in vain to grab something.

Kerr has completely vaporized.

He opened his mouth helplessly, but of course no sound came out.

Humans can only remain conscious for about ten seconds in a vacuum. During this time, Yue Lai conjured up a ball of oxygen and enveloped Tang Dun, only then hearing the barbarian muttering something repeatedly—

"Gone, such a big person, gone..."

"Sigh." Yue Lai didn't try to comfort him. He would have reacted the same way if Xia Du suddenly evaporated in front of him. He turned to look at the starry sky outside the Chaos Fortress.

From within the hazy gas clouds, a massive fleet finally came into view—

All the warships were the same size, like playing cards facing people, but instead of human figures, the "cards" displayed enormous ancient imperial script.

Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain.

In the Federal military system, the four inscriptions correspond to destroyers, frigates, cruisers, and battleships, respectively. The Taoyuan combat group that appeared here was equipped with two "Wind Ships", four "Forest Ships" and one "Fire Ship". Zara's Silver Guardian was one of the four Forest Ships.

Compared to the small-scale operations of police warships, this is the Federation's top-tier weaponry.

The pirates in Sector 56 were clearly caught off guard. The defensive array was only now being activated, with a spherical one-way shield enveloping the entire fortress. However, many of the coastal defense guns had already been destroyed in the first wave of attacks.

A sparse counterattack began, with two tear stone cannons, large enough to serve as the main guns of police destroyers, firing deadly steam jets. The Taoyuan combat group merely flashed the character "林" (Lin) before the jets were refracted into space beyond the naked eye's observation.

Completely ineffective!

Even such a massive fortress could be leveled by a single windship, yet this time the Central Fleet dispatched an entire combat group!

Pirates are pirates. With death looming, all sorts of spaceships scattered in all directions like locusts. Based on past experience, the military is unlikely to be interested in these "flies" that are not worth much military merit.

But this time it's different. The order from above is—"Leave no grass behind!"

Two "Wind" characters burst forth with dazzling light, and hundreds of brilliant points of light suddenly appeared in the void around the warship, from which rays of light burst forth.

Xia Du suddenly gripped Yue Lai's wrist tightly. The beam of light that had almost annihilated them came from these incredibly thin golden threads. Fortunately, their target this time was the fleeing pirates, and the fortress itself was not damaged.

The lights that had just left the fortress went out instantly.

Not a single person escaped.

"Yue Lai!" Xia Du was unusually flustered. "We can escape, right?!"

Yue Lai shook his head with a wry smile.

He said that Po Tian was just a special kind of martial arts performer, and even if he brought in Zan Hua Ke, he would only be cannon fodder. What could he do? Even if this was just a small-scale interstellar battlefield.

However, it's not entirely without a solution.

He contacted Tang Xiao through the Chain Crystal Network while looking inside the tavern.

Kerr wasn't the only one who died; Shu Chuan also perished in the first round of attacks. Bao Tou, with only half his body remaining, wept bitterly, as if two pieces of iron were grinding against each other.

"Little brother, little brother..."

Yue Lai yanked him up: "Wake up, your brother died a long time ago!"

"He just died, right in front of me!"

"And who was it that died in front of you nineteen years ago!"

The old man clutched his head, knelt on the ground in anguish, and wailed, "He's not dead! He's not dead!"

Yue looked at Xia Du, who was standing to the side with a puzzled expression.

"This guy used to be Xiaoru's crew member, and she's the one who introduced me here."

Xia Du suddenly realized why the tentacle man came out from behind the house as soon as he heard "Seven Kings"—it turned out he had followed Grandma Ye back then!

Just then, Yue Lai received a message from Tang Xiao, which was not a real-time communication, but a recording.

In the voice recording, Principal Tang lost his usual warmth; his voice was icy cold.

"Chain communication in sector 56 has been blocked. I can only send this encrypted communication using my privileges, so I'll keep it short."

"I don't know who ordered the attack on Taoyuan Fortress. Suppressing bandits isn't a big deal. Many rear admirals in the Central Fleet have that authority. Our people in the Ministry of War are still investigating."

"But even if we find out, it will be of no use. The order has already been issued and the operation is underway. No one can stop the order except Bai Wuyu. Even if the president comes, it will be useless."

"You said you found the Qilin Staff, which means someone deliberately used it to lure you to the Dark Cloud District, but I swear I didn't reveal the details of the commission to anyone! Besides, that was just a made-up excuse!"

Tang Xiao remained silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry, Yue Lai, but now you have to rely on yourself."

Communication abruptly stopped.

Yue Lai felt a chill run through him, and just then—

"boom!"

The gas storage pipe not far away was suddenly detonated, and the blast wave slammed the survivors against the ruins of the tavern.

"Cough cough cough..."

The military has begun attacking life support equipment; it seems they have no intention of leaving any survivors!

The only way out that Yue Lai can think of now is to unite the pirates and work together as one, so that there is still a glimmer of hope.

Thinking of this, he immediately entered the Chain Crystal Network, quickly activated his location, and then found the local domain established by the pirates. Upon entering, he discovered a magnificent but crudely constructed palace complex.

Even though they were already in grave danger outside, many pirates still hid in this virtual space like ostriches, showing what it means to be a disorganized mess at the last moment.

Some were chanting scriptures, some were doing homework, some were binge eating, and some were even opening silver flowers in their final moments... It was a chaotic scene of demons dancing.

Yue Lai used his old account to take over the permissions of this informal domain, shouting like a god:

"I am Captain Ye Ru, the 'King Kui'! Anyone who doesn't want to die, listen to me!"