Barren Star – Chapter 51
by Little PandaThe Iron Tree Blooms
When first studying mecha, among the books Ning Buyi had to digest was knowledge about “Phantom Attack Wave”, a type of spiritual pollution. While the Greedy Wolf Star System now only houses three major civilizations – the Beast Race, Insect Race, and Da Xia – this wasn’t always the case. Throughout the long river of history, there existed Dragon Civilization, Angel Civilization, Demon Civilization, and others, though they all eventually vanished into the stream of time for various reasons. Among these lost civilizations, any involving “divinity” were ultimately classified as “taboo,” as their final path led to becoming “indescribable entities” that devoured everything. The skills of the space pirates’ mecha warriors ahead were products of genius research into these “taboos” gone astray.
Ning Buyi left the patrol ship alongside Hua Zhuoyu, already holding the Nine-Tailed Fox as she entered her mecha. The space pirates immediately unleashed their ultimate move, instantly manifesting countless twisted flesh and strange eyes growing from tumors before them. Within the crimson blood, contaminated matter writhed and made bizarre sounds like bellows… rather than terrifying, it was more nauseating. Ning Buyi’s skin crawled with goosebumps, while the Nine-Tailed Fox’s fur stood completely on end.
While there were corresponding medicines for “spiritual pollution” attacks, this didn’t mean the medicines could dispel all spiritual pollution. At least the current pollution level was extremely high – in Ning Buyi’s view, at least three companions had fallen into indescribable horror, their behavior becoming erratic. She wanted to go rescue them, but an alien mecha appeared before her. Its lines were extremely fluid, shaped like a flat swordfish with wing sides sharp as blade edges, capable of easily slicing through hard metal. Ning Buyi quickly judged this mecha’s level, knowing it was one Hua Zhuoyu had let through for her to practice on.
The pilot of the “Swordfish” mecha was a short man. Though his own abilities were ordinary, with the aid of “spiritual pollution,” he was like a fierce tiger among sheep. Unfortunately, he failed to cross the boundary ahead, instead finding a gap to slip in front of Ning Buyi. At this moment, his eyes flickered with crimson light as he stared fixedly at the beautiful humanoid mecha ahead. If he had enough money, why would he be willing to pilot this inferior “Swordfish”? His face full of greed, he controlled the “Swordfish” to charge like a bullet toward that silent mecha.
Through repeated improvements by the leadership, the “Phantom Attack Wave” had become capable of resisting most spiritual medicines. It was precisely because they had this to rely on that they would “charge recklessly” – wolves harvesting sheep need no tactics.
Ning Buyi watched the “Swordfish,” strange light flickering in her eyes. Though “Yaoguang” hadn’t moved, her thoughts remained actively jumping. The “Swordfish” before her had lower overall performance than “Yaoguang,” but its structure gave it a massive advantage in speed – if the mecha warrior utilized this point, it would be difficult to track their movement trajectory. But she never expected the “Swordfish” would charge straight in recklessly, without even utilizing its speed advantage.
A free head is not to be wasted – Ning Buyi’s eyes flashed suddenly. In the instant of closing in on the “Swordfish,” “Yaoguang’s” right palm released a cold gleam – a knife forged from high-strength metal. She targeted the “Swordfish’s” wings; this model of mecha had a flat body with multiple engines inside, including one in each “wing.” Once an engine was damaged, it would lose balance during high-speed movement.
The short man originally thought Ning Buyi had fallen into spiritual pollution, but unexpectedly she suddenly moved. He didn’t even have time to react before hearing an explosion from his mecha’s body. As a series of warning alarms rang in his head, the man gritted his teeth, preparing to maneuver the mecha to slide out from the side. But how could Ning Buyi give him a chance to escape? “Yaoguang’s” performance completely overwhelmed the “Swordfish” – in this situation, the reinforced metal shell was instantly shattered. The man’s spiritual power suffered heavy damage, immediately losing control as his whole body fell from the lifeless mecha.
Ning Buyi grabbed the unconscious man and threw him to her companions in the patrol ship, her gaze falling on the “battlefield” not far away. Not all space pirates were simpletons like the short man – at least in those brilliant force impact waves, one could see there was give and take, rather than complete domination.
Ning Buyi didn’t rashly fly forward, as she could tell from the opponent’s fluid movements that they were veteran mecha warriors. This could to some degree level out the advantages brought by mecha performance. But this didn’t mean Ning Buyi would do nothing – she patted the now-recovered Nine-Tailed Fox and said softly, “It’s your turn to enter the stage.”
The Nine-Tailed Fox blinked its large eyes, placing its paw on the back of Ning Buyi’s hand.
The “indescribable pollution” constantly spread outward. Though their side had used spiritual medicines to stabilize their mental domains, this also reduced the warriors’ endurance. The Nine-Tailed Fox’s “Enchantment” couldn’t remove pollution, but could draw in space pirate groups that weren’t “contaminated.” They used “indescribable pollution” as a weapon, but presumably hadn’t tasted the flavor of “spiritual pollution” themselves.
As users of “spiritual pollution,” the space pirates themselves wouldn’t fall into it, but they didn’t carry corresponding spiritual medicines. After being affected by “Enchantment,” they instantly fell into confusion, attacking surrounding entities like madmen, as if their entire bodies were surrounded by writhing tumors.
The space pirate gang’s leader Luke was at a distance when he immediately noticed his subordinates’ abnormal state and quickly issued orders. But his orders were ignored by his men. “Could it be this Judge’s special ability?” Luke’s eyelid twitched, but he quickly denied his own speculation – that attack seemed more like a Beast Race innate ability. But how could there be traces of the Beast Race on Giant Sickle Star, which was under Da Xia’s control? He had never heard of the Beast Race and Da Xia joining forces. They could only retreat. Captain Luke’s expression was extremely ugly – he knew there was a group of opportunists behind them who might raid Giant Sickle Star, but could also turn against his pirate gang.
Luke issued an order to the pirates who hadn’t been enchanted, and that group of recklessly charging brutes instantly abandoned their “fighting” and flew toward their ships. Though the patrol team had the upper hand, not a single mecha warrior went in pursuit. Ning Buyi was somewhat curious and asked Hua Zhuoyu through the intercom: “Aren’t we going to chase them?”
Hua Zhuoyu: “Our duty is to protect Giant Sickle Star and ensure the migration proceeds smoothly.”
Ning Buyi made an “Oh” sound, suddenly understanding. This “Demon Phantom Pirate Gang” wasn’t even the main culprit behind inciting the “survivors.” There were likely many forces lying in ambush around them – even if they could capture these troublesome pirates after giving chase, it would be meaningless. If Giant Sickle Star’s migration encountered major problems, all their “achievements” would be worthless.
In fact, after the Demon Phantom Pirate Gang retreated, the patrol team hadn’t even had time to recover before facing a second attack from another pirate gang. This time it wasn’t just one pirate gang; they charged toward the inner perimeter like madmen, hoping to capture large numbers of people during this “once-in-a-lifetime” migration. It’s worth noting that if the Insect Race wasn’t delaying at the frontline, there wouldn’t be so few patrol ships here, and some small pirate gangs wouldn’t dare face their might directly.
Within Giant Sickle Star.
The machines operated at high speed, capable of completing the migration within three days at their efficiency. However, during this process, they needed to face various difficulties, such as people who had signed migration agreements suddenly changing their minds and attempting to demand large compensations, or other unexpected incidents. But in reality, the “migration” was essentially mandatory – how could they allow people to dawdle? This caused frequent conflicts between Giant Sickle Star’s natives and the robots. Most hateful were the people from the “Survivors Organization”, who spread negative emotions everywhere, wishing everyone would stay on Giant Sickle Star.
Just like now, an ordinary-looking young person suddenly rushed out, holding an amplifier and shouting: “Where will we migrate to? What awaits us there? Our bodies are eroded by dark pollution – we couldn’t possibly be welcomed by Da Xia’s civilized stars.
“Since they’re unwilling to properly settle us, why should we leave? You go to a construction star now, but after finally settling in, that construction star will collapse too – what then? Keep migrating?
“I’ve heard that some big shots have already been arranged to go to the Imperial Star, while only abandoned children like us need to wander eternally and endlessly through space.”
The “migration” had already pushed people’s emotions to the extreme, and now influenced by this strange voice, various agitated voices immediately emerged. Some even crawled out of the transport cabins, expressing unwillingness to migrate with the starship. The order maintenance personnel immediately removed the troublemakers, but the public’s boiling emotions were difficult to suppress. If it were just this, it wouldn’t be too bad. But the troublemakers were also throwing bombs and starting fires in the city, claiming the Da Xia government was deliberately cutting off their retreat path – this made the situation even worse.
Gentle methods couldn’t stop the riots, while forceful behavior would only add frost to snow.
Even with the Civilization Alliance’s help, it was temporarily difficult to straighten things out.
In Iron Tree City.
Great fires rose to the sky, with aircraft weaving between branches like countless black shadows densely piled together.
Suddenly, a heavy rain fell without warning, accompanied by light, pleasant chimes like wind bells, echoing through the clamorous and noisy Iron Tree City.
The flames extinguished in the sprite-like dancing raindrops, and the entire city suddenly fell quiet.
Only the gentle sound of “Iron Trees Blooming” remained.
On the starship, He Chao, who was using his special ability to expel dark pollution, felt his eyelid twitch as four characters suddenly jumped into his mind: “Planetary Consciousness?”
Not just He Chao who was near Iron Tree City, but Hua Zhuoyu and Ning Buyi at the station also sensed something. Especially Ning Buyi – she noticed violent changes occurring in the Mountain and Sea Atlas, with a golden light almost filling her entire vision. She was no longer suitable for combat outside at this moment! Fearing an accident might occur in the air, Ning Buyi completed the handover with her teammates at maximum speed and returned to the patrol ship!
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