Mobile City Travel Guide

High in the sky, the Xinghuo (Starfire) cruised smoothly, its hull cutting through the thick atmosphere.

The deck was quiet, with only the soft whistling of the wind passing by the flanks.

On the watchtower, a novice leaned on the railing, watching the distant scenery rise and fall.

According to Amy, their town was only two or three hours away, so he was happy to do her a favor. More important than that, however, was establishing connections and communication within the town to gather intelligence and resources.

Before leaving, Li Xin didn't forget to collect his spoils—the giant whale that had been killed.

The Xinghuo ship slowly approached it, and its remains were handled methodically by cutting, hoisting, and storing them using engineering equipment on the deck.

Half an hour later, the mobile city, laden with whale meat and grease, departed, while the mangled carcass of the giant whale slowly sank into the black mist and disappeared without a trace.

.......

The journey to the town was not smooth sailing; they soon encountered road problems.

It was a giant belt of rubble formed by broken floating islands and mountains. The large boulders were like mountain peaks, while the small ones were only the size of a fist, all spread out in a fine and dense pattern.

The Spark slowed down and began to move.

The distribution of the gravel is completely irregular, and sometimes it drifts slowly with the airflow, colliding and bouncing with each other, so you have to be very careful throughout the process.

As Li Xin focused intently on directing the driving, Amy gently tugged at his sleeve again.

"Be careful, there are often sky pirate groups lying in ambush on passersby here," she said.

A hint of doubt flashed in Li Xin's eyes.

Sky Pirates?

The name does have a steampunk vibe.

In fact, their vision was severely obstructed due to the irregular arrangement and movement of the gravel of varying sizes.

He waved his hand, signaling everyone to take their positions in front of the firearms and remain vigilant.

Unfortunately, he did encounter it halfway through his journey.

After a cannon shot, the sky pirates swarmed out from all directions.

They numbered in the hundreds, some piloting small, agile shuttle-shaped gunboats, others flying steam-powered airplanes equipped with twin machine guns, and still others simply hollowing out a large rock nearby, mounting cannons and heavy machine guns inside, and covering the outside with camouflage netting and vines to create a camouflaged fortress.

What surprised Li Xin the most was the other party's flagship.

It was a steampunk-style warship, also made of sheet metal and brass riveted together, with sharp, angular lines on its hull and a wide deck capable of simultaneously launching and landing more than a dozen gunboats and steam-powered aircraft.

Its firepower is also quite astonishing: the main gun is a twin-mounted naval gun, the secondary gun is a rapid-fire machine gun with an astonishing caliber, and it even has a missile launcher compartment.

Li Xin couldn't help but take a few more glances through his binoculars—it was indeed a missile launch bay, but the material was rather rough, and the missiles inside were made of cast iron.

His lips twitched involuntarily.

"Whose bandits are these, driving a warship?"

Amy, standing to the side, whispered something.

"This is a Storm-class airship that the Federation retired a long time ago. This air pirate group probably smuggled it in using some means."

Li Xinyan turned around and looked at her in surprise.

Those were phased out a long time ago? What level are the current warships of the Sky Wandering Civilization?

Without giving it much thought, he quickly directed the operation.

As is often depicted in novels and films, air pirates are typically dressed in leather jackets or wool coats, wearing goggles, with pistols, cigarette cases, and liquor bottles hanging from their belts, and a savage grin on their lips.

But before they could swarm forward, the Starfire opened fire.

The Flesh Butcher machine gun unleashed a dense barrage of bullets, instantly obliterating the air pirates and their vessel into dust. The Tiger Crouching Cannon roared in unison, the shockwaves blasting several steam-powered aircraft to pieces.

The city's machine guns were also in full swing, unleashing a barrage of bullets that riddled the fortresses disguised as rocks with holes, sending rubble and metal fragments flying everywhere.

The air pirates were caught off guard; they never expected that this novel vehicle would have such fierce firepower.

They quickly changed tactics, shifting their gunboats and steam-powered aircraft from direct assaults to constantly moving and firing. This strategy proved effective; the Starfire was harassed and overwhelmed, and the skeletal coating on the city's armor was quickly shattered.

Li Xin frowned deeply. If things continued like this, he would be worn down to death.

After a casual glance, he paused for a moment, then roared.

"Immediately initiate evasive maneuvers!"

In the distance, the Sky Pirates' Storm-class Sky Pirate Battleship had already completed its aiming.

The next second, the warship opened fire.

Its twin-mounted main gun roared into fire, followed closely by the rapid-fire machine gun, the muzzle flashes blending together, and the missiles were launched and soared into the sky.

In a split second, the Starfire made an emergency maneuver, using a nearby boulder as cover. Enemy fire immediately rained down, engulfing the boulder in a hail of explosions and bullets, and it began to crumble and shatter. The missile barrage, though formidable in its scale, seemed to lack accuracy; instead of avoiding the boulder, it struck directly at the blast.

No sooner had one wave subsided than another arose. The artillery fire had barely ceased when the scattered gunboats and steam-powered aircraft quickly converged once more.

Seeing this situation, Li Xin made a decisive decision.

"All Tiger Crouching Cannons, concentrate fire in one direction!"

This decision proved to have an unexpected and remarkable effect. When all the Tiger Crouching Cannons fired simultaneously, the shockwaves generated by the explosions instantly overlapped, forming a massive, overwhelming shockwave.

As the shockwave swept across, the floating rubble was struck as if by an invisible giant hand, and bounced off like marbles, instantly engulfing the unsuspecting air pirate gunships and steam planes.

Some of them had their fuselages destroyed, some had their wings broken, and some had their propellers flying off, all scattered and chaotic in the gravel belt.

Even the aggressive airship was affected and had to hastily retreat to seek refuge.

At this moment, the debris field in front of the Starfire was filled with billowing dust and chaos.

Despite this, the sky pirates were still unwilling to let go of their prey. The remaining gunboats and steam-powered aircraft continued to attack, while the airships, after dodging the shockwaves, accelerated and smashed through the rubble in their path.

After a moment's thought, Li Xin quickly came up with an idea.

After the Tiger Crouching Cannons were reloaded, he did not order them to fire at the enemy, but instead had them all point at the rear.

"boom!"

With a deafening roar, a massive shockwave erupted from the rear of the Starfire, propelling the entire mobile city to accelerate rapidly and instantly creating a significant gap between them.

The pursuing enemies were thrown into disarray, some even colliding with each other before they could turn around.

By the time they came to their senses, the mobile city had already vanished.