Interstellar Survival: Invasion

After saying all I had to say, I took out Bulu, who was still sleeping soundly, from my backpack.

"My god. What is this? This doesn't look like a creature of this universe," exclaimed the great sovereign.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

"Little bee, you're right. This is a creature from a higher universe layer. You get to learn something new today," said Zhang Bao'er smugly. 

Hearing Zhang Bao'er's words, the great sovereign gasped in admiration.

"Canyue, looks like Bulu is dormant. How do you wake it up?" asked Old Du.

"I don't think we can wake this little fellow up. Why don't we try pricking it with a needle," Domo gave us a rotten idea.

"Yes, yes, I agree. Go give it a try," Zhang Bao'er urged, clearly trying to make some trouble for Domo.

"Absolutely not. If you anger Bulu, it might destroy Domo's mind upon waking up," warned Old Du.

"Temo, can Markus establish a connection with the fiend? I doubt we can wake Bulu up," said Zhang Xingxing.

"What do you plan to do? Do you want to communicate with that fellow? Why didn't you ask for my help?" The great sovereign was unhappy that we had not asked for its help.

"You can contact the fiend? That's great! Can you contact it immediately?" asked Zhang Xingxing in excitement.

"That's no big deal. I'll form a connection immediately. Get the ship ready for mental projection," agreed the great sovereign.

The little bee in the projection started spinning, seemingly deliberately creating a sense of solemness for our sake. Temo had cleared some space in his mind projection system for the fiend to make an appearance. All of us focused on the projection, waiting nervously for the fiend.

After a few minutes, the fiend really did appear. But its appearance was rather comedic. Instead of the Blueling in green that I had seen previously, it had appeared in the form of a chubby bee.

"Well done. Two little bees, flying amid flowers," teased Zhang Bao'er.

"Fatty, you'll be my first target to kill," said the fiend, who, unlike the polite great sovereign, immediately threatened Zhang Bao'er with death.

The threat caught Zhang Bao'er by surprise and successfully scared him. He no longer dared to joke, and the atmosphere in the ship turned solemn.

I stood up and asked politely, "Senior, are you really the fiend of Pluto that I met previously?" 

"Fiend of Pluto? What stupid name is that? My name is Ant," replied the fiend fiercely.

I could clearly hear some laughter coming from a few of the Bluelings among us. The fiend of Pluto was such a terrifying creature. We truly couldn't picture it as an ant. I couldn't understand why it named itself so.

"Great Ant, that was my mistake. We need you to continue working with us as per our agreement. Together, we will escape this place," I voiced my request.

"I can easily leave. Why should I take burdens like you along?" said the fiend, seemingly having forgotten about the great danger we had faced to help it.

"You're being ungrateful! We risked our lives to enter the encirclement and help you! How can you forget that?" Unsurprisingly, impatient Zhang Bao'er was the first to reply.

"I suppose I can help. If you kill this fatty, I'll take you with me," said the fiend.

Silence descended after the fiend made its request.

I was the first to object to its ridiculous suggestion. "We have pledged to each other before. You helping us has nothing to do with Zhang Bao'er. He is my brother. I will not allow any harm to come to him." 

"Fine. Yes, there is an agreement between us, but there is no agreement between me and that fatty. We can leave the fatty behind. Otherwise, I'll leave by myself, and all of you can stay here. Make your decision. I don't have a lot of time," said the fiend.

"I'll kill myself. There is no need to throw threats here. Everyone, just go. Don't worry about me," scolded Zhang Bao'er as he drew his pistol.

"Stop adding more trouble," said Old Du as he kicked Zhang Bao'er away.

"Old Du, why did you kick me?" questioned Zhang Bao'er unyieldingly.

Unable to take more of Zhang Bao'er's antics, Zhang Xingxing signaled Anxashe with her eyes. Anxashe understood her meaning immediately and went over to cover Zhang Bao'er's mouth.

"Great Ant, this fatty doesn't have a good temper, but he did not hesitate when we had gone to aid you. Don't lower yourself by bickering with him. We need to prioritize protecting the great sovereign and escaping the perimeter. We need your help," requested Zhang Xingxing politely.

"Fine, fine, but if he speaks one more word, I'll eat him. I already sense that the enemy ships are searching nearby. I need to search for a suitable escape route. Get your ship to follow me. We'll first get through the first blockade line," said the fiend, finally forgetting about Zhang Bao'er.

Temo immediately controlled Markus and utilized the mental connection with the fiend to follow the fiend as it moved. As Markus flew rapidly while invisible, we could clearly see a tight net that the imperial battleships had formed. Many ships were constantly pushing nearer and nearer to Pluto, clearly in search of us. The fiend took a lot of turns while moving, but each direction seemed to be guarded by enemy ships. Even after a long time, the fiend was still unable to find an exit point.

"I didn't expect the empire's defensive perimeter to be so tight. Can the ship find a safe route amid the minefield?" asked Old Du, feeling somewhat helpless.

"Ant, can you do it or not?" The great sovereign started challenging the fiend.

"I'm the one searching for a safe route. Why are you inferior creatures being so mouthy? If you're capable, why don't you come out here and look for the route yourself?" replied the fiend impatiently.

Hearing the fierce tone, nobody said anything else.

"If we want to leave, we need to create an opening with force. According to my estimation, you need to destroy a small fleet led by a cruiser. Will your ship be able to do it?" asked the fiend.

"It will be very difficult. Markus has limited firepower. It can't destroy a cruiser. If we only need to destroy regular battleships and drones, we can probably do it," said Temo.

"That will do. I'll deal with the cruiser. You'll handle the remaining ships," said the fiend.

"Are you sure? Can you really handle a cruiser?" asked Temo doubtfully.

"Don't worry about me. Let's get started. Our target is the fleet ahead of us," said the fiend before charging toward the cruiser in the distance.

"That fellow has gone mad. Why didn't it make proper preparations? What if we lose? Wouldn't this be the end of us?" complained Domo.

"That fellow has always been a lunatic. Let's help," said Temo.

Ahead of us was a small fleet searching in the area. We noticed that the fiend was about to attack the Nebula-class cruiser in the middle of the fleet while maintaining an invisible state. Before long, the fiend came in contact with the cruiser's shield. A blinding light erupted, and the cruiser's shield perfectly protected the ship. The fiend's advance was stopped outside the shield.

A blue light erupted from the fiend's body. Surprisingly, the blue light seemed to have become one with the injured parts of its body. When the cruiser's green shield encountered the blue light, the two colors merged perfectly. The fiend's entire body turned cyan.

That color seemed to indicate the fiend's great recovery from its injuries. An even brighter light erupted as the fiend punched through the shield and the ship, leaving a massive hole in the ship's hull. The domineering attack stunned all of us.

"Just what kind of a monster is this? It can even punch through a cruiser," exclaimed Temo, who knew very well how powerful the imperial battleships were.

Naturally, the imperial army was not to be trifled with. All the surrounding battleships instantly focus-fired on the fiend, flooding it with so many attacks that the fiend turned into a ball of fire.

"Temo, do you see that opening?" asked Baron Sisse upon noticing that an opening had been created when all the enemy ships focused on attacking the fiend.

"Of course," said Temo. Markus released four vigor bombs. With the bombs orbiting the ship as if they were guardians, Markus charged toward the opening.

The other battleships noticed what Markus was trying to do. Immediately, a few battleships turned around and fired madly at us. About a dozen drones also instantly rushed toward us. One of the drones flew into a vigor bomb with a shield around it. The powerful bomb instantly decimated the drone, but the other drones continued charging fearlessly.

Unsurprisingly, all the drones were instantly destroyed. The missiles sent by the battleships were all blocked by Markus's shield as well. Before long, we were right in front of the opening. We were about to enter the central region of the Midstar Army's defensive perimeter, an area where their defenses were the weakest. But out of nowhere, the damaged Nebula-class cruiser appeared in front of us, blocking our path forward.