Interstellar Survival: Invasion

In my daze, I felt a pair of strong arms lift me before bringing me into the ship. After an indeterminate amount of time, I recovered my senses. I found myself lying on the ground of the cockpit. Dodo and Dondon were busy starting the ship. Everyone had returned to their original appearances. Seemed like our disguise had run its course.

"Canyue, you're finally awake. You need to thank Titan for carrying you in," Zhang Bao'er said.

I threw Titan a look of gratitude.

"The spaceship is taking flight. Be ready, everyone," said Dodo.

Dondon then pressed the engine button. At that time, our warning light suddenly lit up.

"Weird. Something seems to be keeping the ship stuck," said Dodo.

"I thought the electromagnetic system was broken?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"Yes, the electromagnetic system no longer works. But something solid seems to have made our undercarriage stuck," said Dodo.

"What should we do?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"We need someone to go down and manually deal with it," said Dodo.

"What's our suits' energy level?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

Dodo checked the system and replied, "About two hours' worth of energy."

"I'll go. I have more physical strength," volunteered Old Du.

"Put on the suit and be careful," said Zhang Xingxing with a nod.

Old Du then put on his morph-capable suit and left through the door.

Shortly after, Old Du said through the communicator, "The ship is being kept in place by the electromagnetic lock. Although the electromagnetic system has failed, the lock remains."

"Can you deal with the lock?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"Yes. I need a few minutes," Old Du said.

I heaved a breath of relief upon hearing that. For some reason, I wanted to leave this artificial planet badly.

"Dear customers, don't forget to settle the bill. Also, I am now also a wanted criminal of Lidu. Can you take me with you to Planet Eternal?" Domo asked.

"You'll have to pay for passage. It's not cheap," said Zhang Bao'er.

"You're acting like a bandit that would loot a burning house!" said Domo in anger.

"Don't listen to him. We'll take you there free of charge," I said.

"The system indicates that the lock has been removed," said Dondon.

"Well done, Old Du," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Prepare for flight. Take off immediately after Old Du is back," commanded Zhang Xingxing.

'We can finally go to Planet Eternal. This Planet Lidu is truly a difficult place. We had so many close brushes with death,' I thought.

After a few minutes, I noticed that Old Du had yet to return.

"Old Du, Old Du, reply if you hear me," Dodo called out to the communicator.

No reply came.

"What in the world is happening?" Zhang Bao'er said.

We looked out the cockpit and inhaled deeply at what we saw. The white and black Gandos had captured Old Du. One of them was pointing his massive sword at Old Du's neck.

‘Is there no end to these two?’ I cursed.

"Canyue, Bao'er, the three of us will put on our suits and save Old Du," said Zhang Xingxing.

We did not argue and quickly put on our morph-capable suits. I also activated the fatal mode of my gun, prepared to throw everything I had at the Gandos.

"All measures are authorized to rescue Old Du, including the usage of nuclear warheads," Zhang Xingxing commanded.

"Roger," Zhang Bao'er and I replied loudly.

We left the ship and stood on the platform. I could see that Old Du was in a semi-unconscious state.

"This is bad. Old Du's suit has probably been damaged by the Gandos. We need to rescue him as soon as possible, or he might die," Zhang Xingxing said anxiously.

The two Gandos looked at us coldly, not uttering even one word. Their steel suits gleamed with an eerie light as they stood in the cold outside, staring at us with two pairs of eyes that caused all my hair to rise on end.

"What conditions do you have to release him?" I asked loudly.

What followed was a minute of silence as we stood facing each other.

"We want all of you to die," the black-eyed Gando finally replied.

"Screw you, you dumb musclehead. If you have the balls, let go of him and fight me one on one," challenged Zhang Bao'er.

I knew that Zhang Bao'er's words were to provoke the Gandos, but surprisingly, the black-eyed Gando actually put Old Du down and stepped forth.

"I accept your challenge. So long as you can prevail over me, all of you may leave," said the black-eyed Gando.

"I—" Zhang Bao'er found himself speechless.

"I'll fight on his behalf. How about that?" I said loudly.

"No. I have accepted his challenge. One can not go back on one's words," said the black-eyed Gando.

"I’m challenging him, not you," I said as I pointed at the white-eyed Gando.

The black-eyed Gando blanked out slightly. Not able to think of a counter, he looked at the white-eyed Gando.

"I accept the challenge. So long as you prevail over me, all of you may leave," said the white-eyed Gando.

"Canyue, my apologies. Just let me do it," said Zhang Bao'er guiltily.

I waved off his apology. "You did nothing wrong. We're both trying to save Old Du. I'll fight. Observe and act accordingly if there is an opportunity."

I finished my words with an eye signal.

In truth, I was feeling pretty nervous. I definitely wouldn't be this big fellow's match. I did not know why I had decided to step up. As the white-eyed Gando walked toward me with his massive hammer, I turned my morph-capable defensive system to the maximum capacity.

Accompanied by a biting cold breeze, the massive hammer whistled through the air toward me. I hurriedly leaped to the side, barely avoiding the attack. The gigantic hammer struck the platform, creating a spark and a depression on the floor. I hurriedly turned on my gun's tracking functions and unleashed a ferocious torrent of bullets at the Gando's eyes.

The white-eyed Gando used his left hand to cover his eyes, intercepting all the bullets with his steel gauntlet. I wasn't about to give the white-eyed Gando a reprieve; over 10,000 tracking bullets were released upon him. The bullets struck his armor, producing numerous sparks, creating the scene of the confrontation between cold and hot weapons.

Covering his eyes with his left hand, the white-eyed Gando made a horizontal sweep of his hammer with his right hand. I wasn't able to avoid it since I was focused on attacking, so I steeled myself and charged into the Gando.

I crashed loudly into him, successfully avoiding the sweep. The collision forced the Gando to take a step backward. His hammer was too big to be used in such a short range while his other hand was needed to protect his eyes. Thus, he roared in fury at his helplessness. With one hand, he raised his hammer and brought the sharp end of the hammer down toward me.

"Canyue, watch out!" I heard both Zhang Bao'er and Zhang Xingxing shout at the same time.

I turned reflexively after hearing the warning. With a bang, the end of the hammer pierced through the ground.

'Good heavens. If that hits me, I am definitely dead,' I thought.

Suddenly, I sensed a massive force strike on my suit. Although the morph-capable suit had diverted most of the force, I was still sent flying toward Old Du. It turned out that the white-eyed Gando had kicked me away with his leg.

I somersaulted several times before I could stabilize myself. I was close enough to see that Old Du's lips had turned purple. He was breathing weakly as he lay under the foot of the black-eyed Gando.

'This is bad. Old Du can't last much longer,' I thought anxiously.

My intense movement caused my gun to stop firing. The white-eyed Gando took the chance to charge me while swinging his massive hammer with both hands. Suddenly, several loud sounds rang out as a bright explosion erupted below the white-eyed Gando's left foot. The shockwaves caused the entire docking bay to shake. The white-eyed Gando blanked out as he dropped down on one knee.

"Hmph. You think I'm so useless that you can do anything you wish to me?" I said coldly.

Earlier when I rammed into the Gando to avoid the hammer, I was able to plant two of my most powerful cluster bombs at my opponent's ankle. The collision had shifted the Gando's attention, so he did not notice the bombs. My plan seemed to have paid off. The white-eyed Gando tried to stand up, but the explosion seemed to have worked as his attempts to stand back up were fruitless.

"Despicable ant of the universe. You think this is enough to get you a victory?" said the white-eyed Gando furiously.

He reached out with his left arm, and the entire arm started shifting and changing. The steel wrist and palm ultimately transformed into a rapidly spinning chainsaw. The Gando raised the chainsaw and swung at his injured ankle, seemingly intending to get rid of this useless body part.

'Heavens. This fellow is way too ferocious,' I thought, alarmed.

With a loud bang, a black sword stopped the path of the chainsaw and produced sparks.

"Enough. Let them go," said the black-eyed Gando.

I hurriedly ran toward Old Du, lifted him, and ran to Fearless without care. I did not care if this was a conspiracy. It was more important to save Old Du. Zhang Xingxing and Zhang Bao'er provided cover as I ran and protected me as we retreated back to the ship. In less than a minute, we were back before our ship. Dondon hurriedly opened the door, and we were about to go inside.

"Wait," a cold voice rang out behind us.

I gestured to Zhang Bao'er and Zhang Xingxing to carry Old Du into the ship and then turned around.

The white-eyed Gando had stood back up with the help of the black-eyed Gando. The black-eyed Gando was looking at me with a pair of murderous eyes.

"Warn the Jido on your ship that the entire Lidu will no longer have any Jido. Before long, I'll slaughter all living beings on Akko as well," declared the black-eyed Gando coldly.

I couldn't even be bothered to reply to the rash fool as I turned and entered the ship. Dondon then activated the ship and took off, leaving behind the two massive figures standing on the platform.