Book 10: Chapter 12: The Dangerous Thing

There was no sound in the vacuum of space, but the rolling shockwave that followed blew away Bobby’s three nearby companions and the space creatures dragging them.

The storm vanished in an instant. In the spot where Bobby had been, a hazy, dreamy cloud of light appeared. At the center of this light cloud was a colorful halo, slowly rotating counter-clockwise, just like a nebula commonly seen in the starry void of space.

This was the true form of the Wind Element manifesting in the vacuum. The earlier storm was the shockwave created when Bobby dispersed his bio-particle state throughout the entire Bingren.

The moment this cloud-like Wind Element formed, it flew towards the nearest Dean. The Wind Element cloud merely brushed past Dean’s Bingren, and the dark green spider silk sticking to it immediately detached.

Just after saving Dean, the cloud formed by Bobby rapidly shrank and in an instant, turned back into a Bingren. Clearly, his special ability had reached its limit and he could no longer hold on.

After returning to the Bingren Mecha form, Bobby’s current state was rather pitiful. The armor plates and metal components on the Bingren’s surface had all fallen off, and his whole body was full of dents and holes, resembling a pile of junk. Dean was very alert; he reached out, grabbed Bobby’s Bingren, and sped off towards Robin and the others’ location.

The space creatures blown away by the shockwave quickly steadied themselves. They pulled Frank and Sawa and flew towards the asteroid belt. A few other space creatures charged towards Robin and the others, but their numbers weren’t large and they probably wouldn’t pose a threat to Robin’s group.

At this moment, Qin Lun also encountered trouble. The four space creatures he had attacked earlier were now fiercely pouncing towards him. At the same time, from within the asteroid belt behind him, a few scattered space creatures were also closing in from that direction, trying to surround him.

Qin Lun’s eyes flickered. He was facing a life-or-death decision. Due to the distances involved, the encirclement these space creatures formed around him wasn’t tight. With the speed of the Bingren Mecha, he could easily break free.

However, if he did that, Frank and Sawa would undoubtedly be dragged deep into the asteroid belt by these space creatures before support could arrive. Judging from the highly corrosive bodily fluids of these creatures, the two of them were probably in grave danger.

Both Frank and Sawa had special abilities obtained through their own exchanges. The hunchbacked servant’s ability leaned towards defense, while Sawa’s ability leaned towards support; neither was of much help in their current predicament.

Qin Lun didn’t care at all about Sawa’s life or death, but he did not want anything bad to happen to Frank.

“Damn it!” Qin Lun glanced towards the direction of the Faith and sighed helplessly. He believed the Faith should have already noticed the abnormal situation on the battlefield, but the 2000 light-seconds separating them was an impassable chasm.

Even if the Faith had already launched support Bingren in time, it would probably take half an hour for them to arrive.

“No choice, at least I must save Frank!” A fierce glint flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes. Instead of retreating, he advanced, charging directly towards the four space creatures he had attacked earlier.

Strangely, Qin Lun’s gaze seemed to pay no attention at all to the four space creatures in front of him. His look went past their bodies, fixed on the direction of Frank and Sawa.

These space creatures, resembling large spiders, seemed to possess high intelligence. They were immediately angered by the Bingren’s dismissive posture. The fangs near their mouths opened slightly, ready to spit out that strongly corrosive, dark green bodily fluid.

Qin Lun watched coldly. A faint, smoky, dusty-looking light flame slowly emerged from the Bingren’s body. But before he could take any real action, the four large spiders in front of him suddenly paused, their whole bodies beginning to tremble slightly. Their already pot-bellied bodies now swelled up like balloons.

“Exactly eighteen seconds. This thing’s Constitution is really not bad. Or perhaps I filled too little ‘ammunition’.” Seeing the abnormal state of these space creatures, Qin Lun didn’t seem surprised at all. He calmly calculated the time interval from when they were hit to when the effects manifested.

The four large spiders, after swelling to their limits, burst like water balloons, splattering bodily fluid in all directions. Apart from the mineral deposits attached to their surfaces, the organs and tissues inside their bodies seemed to have been dissolved into a pool of acid by some mysterious substance.

“It really worked!” A hint of joy appeared in Qin Lun’s eyes. The Bingren suddenly accelerated, rushing through this area and charging towards Frank and Sawa.

The reason these space creatures ended up like this was precisely because the few “bullets” shot into them during the earlier attack had taken effect. The bullets currently used in the Gauss steel pellet gun were themselves just soft-core mud pellets. After hitting a target, they would soften and disintegrate, having no actual killing power.

However, Qin Lun had manipulated the Holy Thorn to incorporate some Jannamer biological tissue from the Bingren into the interior of the soft-core mud pellets. When the bullets disintegrated inside the four space creatures, they became contaminated by the Jannamer.

In reality, the Jannamer biological tissue, once separated from the Bingren’s control core, couldn’t exist for long. These biological tissues would quickly lose activity. But during the time before they lost activity, it was sufficient to contaminate and eliminate these few space creatures.

The makeshift modification Qin Lun had adopted was effective. He was no longer unarmed, and he effectively possessed a lethal weapon specifically targeted against these space creatures. The only drawback of this weapon was that the bullets needed to be loaded and fired immediately; it didn’t have the capability for continuous firing.

Seeing the four large spiders explode, the space creatures behind Qin Lun slowed down hesitantly. Although they didn’t give up the chase, their movements were no longer as reckless as before.

“Frank, Sawa, remove the armor plates on your surfaces! Use the light blades built into the Bingren to cut the Jannamer biological tissue!” Qin Lun calmly instructed his two companions trapped in the web.

Frank and Sawa had also seen what happened earlier and immediately realized something. They quickly began to follow the instructions.

Qin Lun’s judgment was correct. When the Jannamer tissue on the Bingren’s surface was deliberately cut open, it indeed quickly consumed the dark green spider silk that was trapping Frank and Sawa.

Since this spider silk came from inside the space creatures, no matter how tough it was, it was still a biological fiber. Its companions could not be immune to the contamination from the Jannamer tissue.

Seeing their prey about to escape, these spider-like space creatures became extremely angry. However, they no longer dared to approach the prey recklessly. Even the large spiders intercepting Robin and the others began to withdraw.

But they hadn’t completely given up yet. Maintaining a certain distance, they spat that strongly corrosive bodily fluid towards the Apostles. However, once distance was opened, how could the highly mobile Bingren Mecha possibly be hit by it?

During this time, another large spider was caught by Qin Lun who seized the opportunity. Using Ballistic Refraction, he attacked it from behind, turning it into another dark green Firecracker.

“Qin Lun, well done!” The Apostles quickly gathered together again. Robin chuckled lightly and gave the young man a thumbs-up. “If not for your quick thinking, I’m afraid none of us would have realized yet what kind of dangerous thing this Full-Bio-Mechanism we’re piloting really is.”

The space creatures hidden in the asteroid belt all emerged, numbering around twenty or so. Besides the large spider-type space creatures, there was also one enormous creature resembling a crab. This thing was larger than the twenty-plus large spiders combined, looking like a crab battleship.

It could spit out a liquid thunder paste with a light green fluorescent glow. Its damage area was immense, capable of covering a very large stretch of space. After exploding, the dense, net-like dazzling flashes of light made Robin and the others watch with fear.

However, its speed was very slow, and it wasn’t very agile at turning. Despite trying several times, it couldn’t manage to cover the prey with its thunder paste orbs, as the Apostles were already on high alert.

“No need for us anymore!” Qin Lun suddenly turned his head to look deep into space, where hundreds of faint flashes of light had already appeared.

These flashes of light grew from gentle fireflies to aviation searchlights at a speed almost discernible to the naked eye, roaring as they pounced towards the space creatures in the asteroid belt.

While still some distance away from Qin Lun and the others, the hundreds of flashes suddenly split into three groups. The left and right groups traced two beautiful arcs, resembling both an eagle spreading its wings and an angel’s folded wings, inserting themselves behind the space creatures.

“The Gith have been in the third space age for over three thousand years. For them, unit tactics in space combat are as clear as looking at the lines on their palms. No matter how much we Apostles learn, we could never achieve this level of flight coordination, which is akin to art.”

Watching the numerous Bingren Mecha sweeping past, Robin said with a profound look in her eyes, “It’s time to step out of this misconception. We Apostles have our own strengths. There’s absolutely no need for us to learn their tactics. How to integrate the exchanged Apostle abilities with the Full-Bio-Mechanism Bingren beneath us is our most important subject.”

“Officer Robin, please lead the Apostle officers to withdraw first. Leave this place to our Third Flight Squadron to handle.” Robin’s ears rang with Fuyutsuki’s voice. The beautiful Gith female adjutant paused for a moment, then said somewhat awkwardly, “Captain Marx says he is very sorry for putting you all in danger. This incident is entirely his responsibility.”

“Please tell the Captain that we Apostles are soldiers, not children who need nannies. The accident during this exercise was due to our own carelessness. Please ask the Captain not to blame himself too much.” Robin took a deep breath and spoke cautiously, “However, please ask the Captain to lift the restrictions as soon as possible and equip us with real space combat weapons.”

“Young master, I’m sorry, I let you down!” While Robin was communicating with Fuyutsuki, Frank came to Qin Lun’s side somewhat shamefacedly.

“Heh, just be more careful next time!” Qin Lun didn’t comfort his hunchbacked servant. Frank’s performance just now had indeed disappointed him somewhat.

Although asking Frank to exhibit extraordinary adaptability in a situation like the one just faced was a bit too much, Qin Lun’s expectations for his own servant naturally couldn’t be compared to those for other Apostles.

But on second thought, Qin Lun quickly felt relieved. Frank was never the type of Apostle known for quick-wittedness; loyalty and resilience were his strong points.

“Let’s go back!” Turning his head to glance at the space creatures now engaging the Third Mobile Flight Squadron, Qin Lun controlled his mecha and flew towards the distant landing mothership that was arriving late.