Chapter 266 (2/2): Brilliant as Fireworks

Meteorites 10 kilometers away were pushed by the shockwave, escaping outward at extreme speeds.

As for the commandants, their losses were heavy.

Mori Eiji, the Class Four commandant who had let his guard down and approached Chi Cha’s body after his death, was killed instantly.

The other commandants were also heavily injured. Only Xia Guang, who was the farthest away, remained unscathed.

– Art is an explosion!

– Chi Cha was actually this cunning.

– The characters in this anime are getting more and more devious. It’s amazing.

“Xia Guang, I’m leaving it to you!” Heishan, the Class 3 commandant, had both his legs blown off and was leaning against a meteorite, gasping for air.

“Understood!”

Xia Guang nodded and put away her firearm. Her butterfly wings vibrated, and she turned into a stream of light, chasing after Lin Zhen and the others at high speed.

Her speed wasn’t as fast as a spaceship at full acceleration, but fortunately, she didn’t need to fully catch up. As long as she was close enough, she could use the firearm in her hand to sink the ship.

Moreover… the battle camp’s strength wasn’t just limited to this.

“Group C, they’re coming. Intercept them!” Xia Guang said softly into her headset.

The moment her words fell, another ten frigates flew out from the meteorites, completely surrounding Lin Zhen and his group.

“What should we do, Elder Chi Cha?” Lin Zhen, whose star energy was completely depleted, had no other options left.

The others’ supernatural powers could hardly affect other ships from such a distance, so he could only ask Chi Cha for help once more.

“First, stop!”

Chi Cha controlled the spaceship and stopped it next to a meteorite. The nearest frigate was less than 1,000 meters away. In space, this distance could be considered right before their eyes.

“And then?” Lin Zhen looked at the incoming rays, his face full of anxiety as he couldn’t help but ask.

“And then?” Chi Cha said softly, his voice carrying a hint of sentiment and respect. “And then, leave it to her.”

*Flash!*

A blinding white light suddenly flew out from the side.

Blue hair fluttering, her figure was moving, and her delicate white feet stepped through the void — it was actually Yun Ruoxi!

She stood with her back to the spaceship, looking coldly at the frigates. The telekinesis of a Level 2 star energy user surged out, blocking every single attack.

– Better late than never. Xiao Xi’s classic last-minute arrival — this is the vibe.

– She’s coming, she’s coming! This woman is walking in with her own background music.

Just as the barrage said, Yun Ruoxi’s arrival also brought the anime’s rearranged theme song. Melodious singing slowly rose, filled with sadness and finality, as if premonishing something.

“Xiao… Xiao Xi? Why is she here? Isn’t she?!”

Looking at that moving figure he had thought about for so long, Lin Zhen was dumbfounded. His mind was a mess, and he had so many questions he didn’t even know which one to ask first.

“Sister, Sister is here!” Aili jumped up from her seat, pressing against the porthole with a face covered in tears.

“There is no time. Ask those questions later,” Chi Cha said at a rapid-fire speed. “Now is the final step. Lin Zhen, warp immediately!”

“But, what about Xiao Xi?!”

Although not a single one of the doubts in Lin Zhen’s heart had been answered, he clearly knew one fact at this moment — after warping, he would never see this figure again.

His right hand froze over the button, unable to press it down no matter what.

But at that moment, a familiar, sweet female voice suddenly rang out.

“Brother Lin Zhen, press it. I don’t have much time left! This is my final power!”

– Xiao Xi really has a lot of “final powers”!

– I’m dying from laughter.

“Xiao Xi!” Lin Zhen couldn’t help but shed tears again. He knew that this was absolutely not the brainwashed Yun Ruoxi, but the real, gentle Yun Ruoxi!

“Okay, I believe you. I’ll listen to you!”

He answered through his sobs and pressed the warp button with force.

Rationally, he knew this was the best choice. Only by doing this would he ensure that everything Yun Ruoxi had done wouldn’t go to waste. But the emotion in his heart made him suffer immensely.

So much so that after pressing it, he broke down completely, crying like a child as he slid off his chair.

“Brother Lin Zhen, hee hee, why are you still crying?”

The warp engine flared again, channeling energy, and Yun Ruoxi’s gentle voice rang out once more. Her voice carried a hint of a smile, and she was even teasing the weeping Lin Zhen as if nothing had happened.

“Only little children cry, Brother Lin Zhen. After leaving the Negative Universe, everyone will have to depend on you!”

– Gentle Xiao Xi is too cute.

– Sigh, the gentler she is, the harder the “knife” hurts. I’d rather see the cold Xiao Xi from before.

“Okay, I won’t cry!” Lin Zhen wiped his tears. “But can you come with us?”

As his words fell, a thin, transparent membrane once again covered the surface of the spaceship.

Yun Ruoxi’s voice followed, but because the spaceship had turned, he could only see her lips moving; he couldn’t hear any sound.

– What is she mumbling?

– Are there any lip-reading masters here?

– The image is too small; I can’t see clearly.

– Wait for the frame-by-frame experts to analyze it later.

– Xiao Xi, what exactly is your answer?

Lin Zhen pressed his face against the dome window, but he could no longer receive an answer from Yun Ruoxi.

In front of the spaceship, the girl’s expression was terrifyingly calm, nothing like the emotion-filled voice from just now.

Dense space cracks appeared around the spaceship once again, interfering with the ship’s warp.

She slowly raised her hand, her telekinesis surging out as she forcibly mended the cracks one by one.

The massive outpouring of telekinesis made her face turn pale.

At the same time, Xia Guang also stopped not far behind the spaceship.

Fixed in the void, she unfolded her massive firearm and locked onto the girl through the scope.

She bit her red lip. The crosshair first aimed at Yun Ruoxi’s head, then hesitantly and slowly moved to her chest, and finally settled on the side of the girl’s lower abdomen.

Xia Guang pulled out the magazine, inserted another one, and then resolutely pulled the trigger.

A white light flashed silently, passing through the girl’s lower abdomen.

She let out a muffled groan, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her right hand instantly went weak, and the cracks she had just mended began to tear open again one by one.

– It’s over, it’s over!

– Xia Guang, show some mercy!

However, in the next second —

Yun Ruoxi straightened her back. At the same time, she reached out both hands and opened her mouth in a silent roar.

Even more violent telekinesis surged out, and the speed at which the cracks mended actually became faster.

*Drip, drip…*

From the bloody wound on the girl’s lower abdomen, round, floating spheres of blood continued to drift outward.

Watching this scene through the scope, Xia Guang’s expression was complex. Then, she raised her head, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger again.

Another white light flashed.

The girl groaned.

A large hole appeared at the position of her right shoulder blade. Her entire body was sent flying backward by the recoil, drifting into space as she leaned back.

“Sister, Sister!” Aili wept bitterly, unable to even speak.

“Xiao Xi! Stop, quickly stop! You’ll die!” Lin Zhen cried out while leaning against the dome window. Seeing his beloved girl about to die before his eyes, he couldn’t care about anything else!

To hell with escaping! He only wanted Yun Ruoxi to live. He just wanted her to live.

But Yun Ruoxi couldn’t hear. She couldn’t hear anything. She simply straightened her body again in a staggering motion, floating back slowly using her telekinesis.

Her face was pale as she raised her still-movable left hand, aiming at the spaceship to mend the space cracks once more.

– Holy crap, my scalp is tingling watching this!

– The hymn of humanity is the hymn of courage.

– Who still remembers that this is the little girl who only knew how to cry in the second episode?

– I remember. I remember very clearly.

The barrage’s defenses were completely shattered by Yun Ruoxi’s willpower.

Xia Guang was also stunned by the girl’s tenacity, and for a moment, she didn’t fire again.

She was a soldier. She had seen people with stronger wills than Yun Ruoxi.

But those people were all older, battle-hardened veterans with their own goals and persistence.

But Xinglan… she was just a 13-year-old girl!

Seeing that the cracks had been mostly mended by Yun Ruoxi, Commandant Behemoth could no longer sit still.

Seeing that even Xia Guang couldn’t stop Yun Ruoxi, he simply roared into the voice channel, ordering the frigates to launch an attack.

The soldiers pulled their triggers without hesitation, but the ships showed no reaction, as if they had malfunctioned.

“I finally caught up!” Chi Cha’s voice carried a hint of exhaustion.

One after another, the frigates turned into silent fireworks. “Explode,” Chi Cha said softly, controlling the ships to fire at each other, letting them turn into fireworks.

– Dad, nice save!

– This is the “Big Dad” of the show. Even after dying, he can still carry the team.

Amidst the fireworks, the mending of the cracks reached the final step.

A smile finally appeared on the girl’s exquisite face, as brilliant, beautiful, and fleeting as the fireworks.

Her lips parted slightly. Although her voice couldn’t be transmitted, Lin Zhen understood what she was saying. Because the phrase was very simple, consisting of only two words —

“Goodbye.”

***

In the next second, the cracks were completely mended. The spaceship continued to phase out, sliding toward the other side of the membrane wall.

“Kill them! Don’t hold back anymore!” Xia Guang moved her gun muzzle amidst Behemoth’s roars, aiming at the phasing spaceship.

Phasing did not mean immunity to attacks. As long as the intensity was sufficient, one could still disrupt the warp.

“I’m sorry.” Xia Guang pulled the trigger. A beam of white light flew out from the muzzle at nearly the speed of light.

Although she hadn’t changed the magazine, the power of this single shot was enough to disrupt the spaceship’s warp if it hit.

Xia Guang was absolutely certain, which was why she had said she was sorry.

But in the final instant before the white light was about to hit the spaceship, a figure abruptly appeared in front of that beam of light.

The white light pierced through layer after layer of her telekinetic shield, broke the protection of the Starforce Battlesuit, and finally left a bloody hole in her chest and abdomen.

Even her internal organs were clearly visible.

Scalding blood instantly splattered across the spaceship’s alloy armor, only to be quickly frozen by the low temperatures of space.

Lin Zhen, Zi Jiu, Kaos, Yun Che, Anvil, Scarlet, and Aili were all screaming something.

But in the final process of phasing, all those sounds became distorted. Even if they were right next to each other, they couldn’t hear anything clearly.

Then —

The spaceship completely phased out and vanished.

Only the heavily injured girl remained, floating pale-faced in the void.

“Mission failed… They are gone, Behemoth.” Xia Guang put away her firearm with a complicated expression and spoke while pressing her headset.

– Xia Guang had no choice either.

– Waaaah, my Xiao Xi. Do we have to torture her one last time at the very end? Production Team, are you even human?

– I’m going to start “riding the wind”!

– Is this the once-in-a-lifetime “Flash” of the Yun family…?