Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 251: Fire and Brimstone

It had been four minutes since the second shot had been taken by the supermagnetic orbit cannon. On the mother ship’s surface, the damage was starting to get repaired. Witnessing the reparation speed, the nano repair bots were so much greater than mankind had expected.

Due to the small size of the nano bots, other than the necessary chips, it was impossible for them to contain internal power storage, so the power source of the bots had to come from outside.

This energy technology was part of the 4th revolution technology. Using the electromagnetic mesomeric effect, the energy was transferred to the nano bots in wave form. After receiving the waves of energy, they were internally converted to kinetic energy. In other words, as long as the mother ship’s energy storage was not destroyed, the nano bots could be used indefinitely, and there was no need to worry about malfunction from lack of energy.

Materials for repair were even easily solved. The size of the mother ship was as large as a small planet. The damage done by the supermagnetic orbit cannon was nothing more than a few puncture wounds relative to the overall size of the mother ship. Therefore, the lack of repairing materials was not going to be an issue either. The only way to stop the space merchants was to damage the mother ship on a larger scale.

When the repair on the outer walls was completed, the electromagnetic layers started to solidify again. When the Requiem showed itself once more in space, it would be time for the Hope to go down. It would take about 10 minutes for the charging to complete. In other words, humanity had less than 10 minutes to figure out a way for survival.

Yao Yuan leaped back into the supermagnetic orbit cannon, which was sparking all over the place. It looked like a piece of machinery that was going to explode at any moment. However, within it, Yao Yuan was uncannily calm.

He had done everything he could. He would not hesitate to fire this last shot if the situation asked for it. It wouldn’t have mattered, but if it could buy Ying’s group a few more minutes, then humanity might get an extension of hope. What other choice did he have? Give up? Even if the commander of humanity also surrendered, then truly humanity was doomed… What was the point of living then?

There would be none…

Therefore, no matter whether it was for the purpose of living or for the girl that he loved and had promised everything, he would have to stay in the cannon and fire the last shot when the last few minutes arrived.

Alas, maybe after all of their struggles, Ying’s group would still fail and the Hope would be destroyed, or maybe the Hope would be destroyed before Ying’s group succeeded in pulling the space merchants alongside them to hell, or maybe Ying’s group would manage to be successful with the time bought by this third bullet…

Regardless of the outcome, he had stopped caring…

At this final moment of his life, Yao Yuan was the calmest he had ever been. No, a feeling of quietus might be more precise. His life passed by in front of his eyes, his life that began as a replacement, his encounter with the woman that taught him the meaning of love, the meaning of life, and the promises he had made…

Then the life he spent on the Hope, the ups and the downs, despair and joy, his encounter with Bo Li, the girl that was a decade younger than him. His heart pricked with pain because in the end, they were not destined to be together because of some frivolous reasons…

With Yao Yuan’s Anima power, he could have come clean to Bo Li but at this final moment, but he didn’t do so. For some reason, he was suppressed by guilt. He had not only killed her father and had made her cry. Events like these made him lose the courage to face her even though he might not have the chance after this…

Finally…

"What is life?"

Yao Yuan studied the electromagnetic layers that slowly solidified in the cosmos, and he smiled. He used his Seeker power to locate the energy circuit he wanted to find and marked the coordinates into the computer. The cannon moved and charging began.

"Indeed, what is life?

"The only reason I’m even in this world is to be his replacement. I loved her, but she was embroiled in misfortunes because of my love. Maybe it’s because of the promise I made to her that I’m here, fighting to keep the meaning of my life going. Maybe that is life…"

Yao Yuan laughed self-deprecatingly. He had no idea he would be so sentimental when death was so close. It was so unlike himself… Perhaps man was truest to himself when death was imminent. It turned out he was pretty good with words. Maybe in an alternate universe, he would be a poet. Yao Yuan chuckled at his own joke.

At the moment the supermagnetic orbit cannon was going to fire its third and last shot…

The outer surface of the mother ship exploded in a series of lightning flashes. In that particular instance, the mother ship was like a giant, glowing ball of light, glowing so brightly that many watching had to shield their eyes. Yao Yuan could feel his heart beating violently. He struggled to keep his eyes open even though they were tearing up from the agitation. His Seeker power was activated to its maximum capacity to record everything in sight. The thing he was worried about the most did not happen, the space merchants didn’t make use of this opportunity to fire Requiem.

Instead, the mother ship was disabled…

After the flash winded down, the energy circuits on the mother ship's surface exploded almost simultaneously. Sparks and fire burst out spontaneously. It looked like a giant display of fireworks, blindingly beautiful. After the electromagnetic layers dissipated, the entire mother ship was in a state of inactivity.

Yao Yuan’s eyes were so agitated by the bright glare that they couldn’t stop tearing up, but it was hard to tell whether the tears were from the agitation or the sadness in his heart…

Time backtracked for 2 minutes…

Ying was sitting quietly on the metallic floor of the engine room. Around him was a spread of different heavy artillery, a Gaussian rifle, a sawblade, and an atomic watch. These were the things his teammates had left behind before they left. In the next 3 minutes, the whole area would be a plasmatic sea that would melt everything, including his bones. In other words, in the wide cosmos, the existence of this man named Ying would be completely wiped out!

Ying’s heart was serene like usual, and he was as calm as ever. No matter whether he was killing enemies, executing captives, in warzones, combat training, or sacrificing the weak and defenseless, he was calm, almost to the stage of deterring human connection.

Human connection?

What was that?

Ying had no recollection of human connection. Since he was young, there was no warmth in his relationships with other people. He was brought up by his uncle and aunt, and thanks to them he had a roof over his head and food in his stomach. However, the way they treated him was like how they treated a piece of wood or a pet. There was no warmth in the eyes that regarded him.

What was human connection? He really didn’t understand…

When he became older and moved back with his parents, he finally got a glimpse of human connection. Those eyes, his parents’ eyes that caressed every inch of his face, were full of kindness and gentleness. He wished to be bathed in those gazes every day, but they disappeared after a short few months. After that, he had never seen that gaze ever again.

What remained were disgust, condescension, and even fear…

Human connection?

What was that?

That warmth that he missed when he was young returned when he became the toughest teen in his village. Everyone gave him a wide berth and no one dared to throw mud or rocks at him anymore. It was a warmth born out of security, the warmth that arose after he stabbed a few gangsters in the city and everyone looked at him with fear. Warmth was when he was sleeping alone in his military bunk with a gun by his side. That was the meaning of warmth.

After that came the Black Star Unit…

Why would they trust him unconditionally? He only ended up there because he had nowhere else to go and had no other choice. Why would they trust him implicitly?

Against enemies, one must be vicious and take them out at the first moment, or there will be danger. Captives were unnecessary weight that would tie down the mission's process. They might even revolt during the critical juncture.

Ying knew that the only reason he could stay in this Black Star Unit, which occasionally reminded him of the way his parents used to look at him, was because he would complete his assigned missions no matter what. And if he failed, he would be forced to leave. Therefore, the mission came first, and failure was not an option. As long as there was a mission, it must be completed. Sacrificing the weak, the personnel not related to the mission, those were necessary if doing so could help complete the mission, because the mission was not allowed to fail…

After Ying beat down the third wave of the aliens' assault, he read the atomic watch in his hand. 6, 5, 4, 3…

"So, Black Star Unit is my home…

"The connection between the members was the thing I was looking for my whole life and the reason I must stay in the team…

"Turns out, I do have a family…"

A plasmatic explosion swallowed the room and swept across the mother ship. Everything disappeared, melted by the plasmatic wave…