Chapter 162: Jump Bridge

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The pilot looks out the cockpit window at the massive mothership, almost identical to Deimos, its silent control raising the Raptor's hull.

The view outside the window rotates 180 degrees.

The dazzling flashing light outside, and the trajectories fired by the pulse close‑range cannon, appear in this deep space, staging a silent fierce battle.

After completing the turn, the pilot steers the Raptor back toward the left side of DawnGuardian's hull and opens the communication channel:

"Third squadron, aircraft 3 requests return."

"Hold on…" The other end quickly replies: "Proceed to compartment 4, the decompression chamber."

"Copy."

After receiving the reply, the helmet's HUD alerts the pilot to head to the designated decompression chamber on the left side of the hull.

Slowing down and lowering the landing gear, the Raptor arrives at the designated decompression chamber to dock.

Then the chamber's doors close, and while pressurizing, it releases a thick disinfectant mist, subjecting the Raptor to a thorough decontamination procedure.

After pressurization and disinfection are complete, the interior doors open, a robotic arm grabs the Raptor and transports it to the middle deck of the hangar.

"Damn! Another one! Squad three, hurry! Hurry!"

Seeing the robotic arm deliver another Raptor that has emptied all its missiles, a ground crew member, clearly irritated, shouts orders.

Not only is there fierce combat outside the ship, the interior is equally intense, even more so than the external "battle situation," because all ground crew are racing against the clock.

And this phenomenon plays out constantly.

Meanwhile, on the bridge.

The crew stare intently at their consoles, some with cold sweat beading on their foreheads, fearing any mistake.

After all, their current position is the core zone of the Raiders' fleet; any error would be a catastrophic disaster.

However, Kaise, seated in the captain's seat, remains calm.

A captain so composed also eases the crew's restlessness.

"What is the main cannon's charge status?" Kaise asks.

"We expect to complete charging in twenty seconds!" a crew member reports loudly.

Hearing that, Kaise glances at the holographic screen on his right, then looks through the port window at the mothership as if within arm's reach, ponders briefly and commands:

"Notify the other two captains; in thirty seconds fire the main cannons simultaneously, creating a jump‑bridge opportunity for the combat forces."

"Affirmative!" the crew replies.

Then the crew seem to hold their breath, plunging the bridge into a silence so still a pin could be heard dropping.

The thirty seconds that should have flashed by now feel interminably long.

"Fire!" At last, Kaise's command breaks the oppressive atmosphere.

Hearing that, the crew member in charge of the main cannon immediately carries out Kaise's order.

Outside the ship.

Three Cangying-class bows suddenly flash an intensely blinding blue light.

Boom————!

Three ten‑ton tungsten‑iron projectiles burst forth.

The radiant blue electromagnetic trajectories slash through deep space, instantly piercing the mothership's bio‑armor and internal metal hull.

And the projectiles' force does not diminish, continuing to ram wildly inside the mothership, tearing and destroying everything in their path until they finally halt at the ship's central core.

Seizing this gap.

The three Cangying-class vessels swiftly adjust their bow angles, aligning their midsections with the enemy mothership, and skim past the three massive breaches opened in the enemy's outer hull by their own cannons.

In the instant before passing, each Cangying-class midsection ejects dozens of single‑soldier drop pods.

Meanwhile, thirty‑six Yuyou craft, having already left the hangar, under the escort of Shengjilesi and six Raptor squadrons, split into three groups and sequentially enter the three breaches.

The Shengjilesi and Raptor squadrons, having completed their escort mission, immediately pull away from the Raiders' mothership, accelerating to keep pace with the fleet's withdrawal.

At that moment, the three massive breaches begin auto‑repairing, and the Raiders' bio‑warships and fighters launch an even crazier suicidal assault on the Umbrella fleet.

However, the Umbrella fleet, having successfully pierced the Raiders' layered defenses, can once again tear through their frantic interceptions.

———————

…

Inside the Raiders' mothership.

"Hoo—!"

The damage to the hull caused by the Cangying-class electromagnetic cannons causes a sudden pressure shift inside, with the sound of escaping airflow roaring.

"Gulu~! Gulu~!"

Yet accompanied by a nauseating noise, the escaping sound gradually subsides.

It seems the mothership has repaired the hull damage and stabilized the pressure.

Upon close inspection, this appears to be a large warehouse‑like chamber, with metallic decks and walls.

Yet the decks and walls are covered with a layer of biological tissue, colored like floating duckweed on a stagnant, foul pond.

Vascular, vine‑like organs also grow here, occasionally writhing and twitching, their slime so viscous it makes one gag.

Thick green‑mist air fills the chamber, rendering visibility unpleasant for humans.

However, for the Raiders' organisms, it has no effect; after all, this is a suitable habitat for them.

A multitude of oddly shaped creatures traverse the chamber's decks.

Some resemble human bodies, others crawl on four legs, and some have multi‑segmented bodies like centipedes.

Their common trait is severe bodily deformity, limbs twisted and asymmetrical, sprouting sickening slender tentacles, like…

They should not have this appearance, but after forced assimilation by the Raiders, they have become these twisted, nauseating, viscous beings.

The plunderers forcibly seize their bodies, even their thoughts and memories, forcing them to become part of a collective consciousness and endure a pain that never sees daylight.

!

Suddenly, all the plunderer creatures halt and turn their bodies toward the entrance at the far end of the deck.

In the green thick fog, something that does not belong here seems to exist…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Suddenly! The blast‑arrow gun erupts in fire.

Puff! Puff!

A 1.0‑caliber blast‑arrow projectile pierces the rotting bodies of the plunderers, exploding violently from the inside out, "helping" them end their painful lives.

"Tack! Tack‑tack!" The pulse‑series firearms echo likewise throughout this large cabin.

Center of the deck.

An OriginalBody clad in Thunder Hammer Power Armor and twenty‑four HellParatroopers equipped with dedicated TPS Power Armor line up and unleash a frenzied barrage.

"Ri—shoo—shoo!"

Meanwhile, Du Lang, now wearing Sealed Outer Armor, uses a Dual‑Shoulder Cannon to assist the OriginalBody and the paratroopers, instantly blasting two centipede‑like plunderer creatures.

This assault squad is one of those that first stormed into the mothership using a Single‑soldier Airdrop Bay.

The OriginalBody leading this squad bears a wolf‑head insignia on the left shoulder of its Thunder Hammer, and it is Rus, who recently fought Du Lang.

(End of chapter)