Chapter 82

Spaceport.

The spaceport at this time was no longer the one from before.

That one was only temporary.

After the planetary orbit of Jarilo-VI was pushed forward, that spaceport was dismantled.

The current spaceport was the outermost Dyson Ring.

It was also a military base.

Although it wasn't fully completed yet, it was still in sections and hadn't fully closed.

But even so, it could definitely be called a megastructure!

You have to know, it was going to cover the entire planetary orbit!

The materials required even had to be transported from other star systems.

There was no other way.

The planetary orbit was too long; if the materials relied only on the Jarilo star system, I'm afraid that even if all the planets were dismantled, it wouldn't be enough to cover much of the orbit.

And the reason for such a large space military base was that in the future, there wouldn't just be the First Fleet; the numbering of the fleets would continue to extend.

To put it bluntly, we're just getting started.

The now-destroyed Glamoth Republic had a territory of tens of thousands of light-years.

And even that wasn't considered a particularly large power in the universe.

By comparison.

How much power did Lin Qi have?

Setting aside top-tier strength, the Jarilo system was only at the average level in the universe.

This was also the common perception of other powers in the universe.

Jarilo's future should be limitless.

But for now, it was still just a small fry.

Not only did the company, the Luofu Luofu Xianzhou, the Family, and other major powers think so, but those interstellar pirates also thought so.

Otherwise, how would they dare to attack Jarilo merchant ships time and time again?

Lin Qi leading the fleet out this time was to break this impression.

"Commander, everything is ready."

Beside him.

Came a cold and serious female voice.

But Lin Qi knew that this tone wasn't directed at him; it was just that the owner of the voice was used to speaking like this.

After all, she was now the commander of the Jarilo First Fleet.

Theoretically, she was also the person with the second-most military power in the Jarilo system, after Lin Qi.

"Cocolia, give the order."

"Understood! Commander!"

Immediately.

An order was issued.

The crew members acted one after another.

[Warp engine charging...]

[Charging complete!]

[All ships ready!]

[Initiating warp!]

Subsequently.

Following the star rail, the Jarilo First Fleet left the home planet.

Along with it was a massive merchant fleet.

Lin Qi had no intention of hiding his tracks; he wanted to be as high-profile as possible.

In any case, the goal was one thing: to deter the small-minded.

And interstellar travel was never smooth sailing.

There would always be some twists and turns.

"Commander, a swarm has been detected ahead. Shall we initiate an attack?"

"Attack!"

The next moment.

The ships equipped with high-energy weapons suddenly opened fire on the swarm blocking the path.

Boom, boom, boom!

Sound cannot travel in space.

But watching the energy beams explode within the swarm always gave one an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

"This is interstellar warfare."

62. Boarding the Express! Himeko: The Doctor understands me.

"Report, Commander! The swarm has been annihilated!"

"Our fleet's combat damage rate is zero!"

"Requesting further instructions from the Commander!"

Soon.

The fleet staff reported the results of the engagement.

The results were very pleasing.

The swarm was completely wiped out, and the fleet was unscathed.

Although the number of these swarms was average and there was no Brood Mother leading them, they were actually quite a threat to many merchant ships.

Merchant ships usually released scouting machines in advance on the necessary routes to transmit information from ahead back.

If there was a problem, they would detour without hesitation.

They would never do what they were doing now, which was to go up and fight the swarm.

Even specialized combat ships would avoid it if they could.

After all, bugs couldn't be killed off, and there was no benefit to fighting them.

Conversely, even if a ship just scraped off some paint, it would cost money to repair.

But Lin Qi's fleet was different.

Coming out this time also had the purpose of training the troops.

After all, no matter how sophisticated the equipment was, without experience in using it, it wouldn't work.

"Continue sailing."

"According to the predetermined plan, first escort the merchant fleet to complete the trade."

Lin Qi said casually.

Upon hearing the order, the fleet began to move forward.

Heading to the next section of the star rail.

Interstellar travel in the Honkai: Star Rail world was just like this, moving from one section of the star rail to the next.

That's why there was the saying of a "necessary path."

And ever since the Cancer of All Worlds—the Stellaron—descended, the star rails had broken quite a bit, and there was even a possibility of "collisions" during warp.

Then there was the possibility of encountering the Legion and the swarm.

Needless to say about the Legion; if you encounter them, you can only accept your fate.

And ordinary cargo ships, in all likelihood, couldn't run away.

And the swarm?

Don't look at the fact that the Aeon of Propagation has been dead for many years; the insectoids left in the world can still bring disaster to interstellar travel and even civilizations.

Besides these, there were the descendants of ancient beasts, star-sky behemoths, and other entities.

Finally, there were the interstellar pirates.

But no matter which kind of disaster it was, it wasn't something ordinary merchant ships could deal with.

Not to mention being targeted by interstellar pirates.

In the long run, losing trade volume was a small matter, but delaying the construction of the Jarilo system was not acceptable.

Unfortunately, those interstellar pirates didn't care about that.

Even if it was just some building materials, they would snatch them; it didn't cost them anything anyway.

Only this time, they had undoubtedly kicked an iron plate.

When the Jarilo First Fleet, fully armed, found the place where those large pirate groups were hiding, the battle was almost one-sided.

They had a little ability to fight back, but not much.

Especially after the Wildfire Legion attacked, they couldn't resist at all.

They simply weren't on the same level.

In the end, the general-purpose humanoid weapons tore through the pirates' ships as if they were dismantling small sampans; the so-called alloy plating had no protective effect in front of them.

Then, the battle ended.

"Report, Commander! The Black Hat Pirate Group has been annihilated!"

"Our fleet has suffered damage to two ships, but neither affects the execution of the next mission!"

Soon.

The report was presented.

Lin Qi looked at the name of this large pirate group and couldn't help but want to complain.

"What kind of crappy name is that?"

"Forget it, it's already become history anyway."

The report showed that the entire upper echelon of the interstellar pirate group had been wiped out, and those small fry who could be caught had also been captured.

It was just a pity that not much stolen money or goods had been confiscated.

At least in terms of cost alone, this operation was a losing business.

Lin Qi didn't care much about this.

"Continue sailing, look for the next large interstellar pirate group."

Then.

The fleet set off again, and according to Lin Qi's plan, they wiped out one interstellar pirate group after another.

The battle record was remarkable.

It was just a pity that the pirates weren't all fools.

They wouldn't just stay in place and wait.

And they wouldn't have no contact with each other.

Therefore.

After just wiping out three large pirate groups, the interstellar pirates on the popular routes all hid one by one; let alone Jarilo merchant ships, they didn't even hijack merchant ships from other factions much anymore.

It was as if they were avoiding something.

Regarding this.

Lin Qi was a bit helpless.

Because this was somewhat beyond the plan.

According to the plan, they should have sailed for a while longer before the fleet broke into smaller units to strike at small groups of pirates.

But looking at the current situation, if the First Fleet continued like this, I'm afraid there wouldn't be any major battle results for a long time.

Finally.

Lin Qi could only nod and divide the First Fleet into fifty small teams, each assigned a Wildfire Legion member, and then, after disguising them, escort the Jarilo merchant ships.

But even so, the interstellar pirates didn't dare to be as rampant as before.

"Commander, it's so boring~."

Inside the cabin, Seele sighed again, her eyes even a bit listless.

This was the third time she had said something similar this month.

"Eh, Seele, when did you switch jobs to become a Masked Fool?" Lin Qi asked.

"What Masked Fool?"

Seele was stunned for a moment, then reacted and complained, "Commander, aren't you bored? Since last month, we haven't experienced any decent battles; it's either on the road sailing, or on the road loading and unloading cargo. It's not exciting at all!"

"But you have to know, this rare boredom is the life that countless people dream of," Lin Qi shook his head.

"I know that, of course, but we didn't come out to experience life; we came to suppress bandits!"

Saying this.

Seele deflated again; she knew it was useless to say these things because if the interstellar pirates didn't come out, Lin Qi couldn't help it either.

Seeing Seele's reaction, Lin Qi found it somewhat amusing.

It could only be said that she was a child after all.

Boredom was probably only one reason; the other reason was probably that she wanted to show off a bit.

After all, she had been out for so long and hadn't really made a move.

Those large pirate groups weren't enough to fight.

Before she could exert her strength, they were covered by the fleet's firepower and wiped out by other members of the Wildfire Legion.

She had thought that after splitting up, there would be an opportunity for her to perform.

Who would have thought.

There wasn't even a ripple.

On the contrary, Deputy Commander Luka had already sent her information three times, saying how many pirates he had wiped out, and so on.

You have to know, before leaving the Jarilo system, she and Luka had made a bet.

A bet on who killed more bandits, or rather, solved more trouble.

For this.

Seele had even used her position as "Commander" as a stake.

Now it seemed she was clearly going to lose.

Could it be that the Commander was too powerful, scaring the enemies into hiding intentionally or unintentionally?

Seele was just thinking.

Lin Qi suddenly spoke.

"Don't look so glum. Don't you feel bored? I'll take you to another place to change your mood."

"Another place?"

Seele looked around, not understanding where Lin Qi was talking about.

Although the internal space of the cargo ship they were riding in wasn't small, she had already explored every cabin she could and couldn't go to.

Where else was there to go?

It couldn't be a nearby uninhabited planet.

There was nothing interesting there.

Lin Qi took out the Anywhere Door and explained.

"The star system we are currently in is a very important traffic artery; the star rails here can pass through many worlds, so a very large spaceport was built here, which can park countless ships."

"So we're going to this port?" Seele answered first.

Lin Qi shook his head, "We're going to the Astral Express docked at this port."

Astral Express?

After a period of cramming, Seele could only be considered half-illiterate now.

She wouldn't dare say she knew other knowledge, but she understood a thing or two about the famous powers in the universe.

Among these powers, she remembered the Astral Express particularly clearly.

Because the Astral Express was too special.

Or rather.

Driving a train and galloping in the star sea was in itself a very magical thing.

By comparison, other powers had spaceships and starships.

Which seemed ordinary instead.

So.