Chapter 9: New Forces, Section 2

An Unknown Fleet?
Hei Fa’s mind stirred, and he immediately stepped to Li Feng’s captain’s seat, his fingers moving swiftly. Countless streams of data flowed across the main screen like waterfalls, allowing him to read the information at will.
“Twelve medium-sized warships. Model unknown; no records in the database. Expected to arrive in ten minutes. No other information available.” Muttering, Hei Fa frowned deeply.
Seeing his reaction, Su Lei and Xue Tong exchanged puzzled looks—they couldn’t understand what Hei Fa meant.
There was nothing they could do; after all, this warship was a product of Hei Fa’s past era. Only he could operate such non-standard radar detection. Even if Xue Tong and Su Lei were shown those streams of data, they would likely not be able to make sense of them.
Unlike the advanced active scanning technology of magic-guided warfare, which could detect enemies from afar while remaining hidden, only the ancient radar on Li Feng’s ship could achieve this. It was truly ironic.
“Order the accompanying ships to stop dispersing, retreat five kilometers, and form a defensive formation. Enter combat mode and remain silent. Shut down all radioactive energy sources—make them think they’re just floating debris.” Hei Fa gave a brief command.
Under his orders, the three magic-guided warships following Li Feng immediately changed direction, retreating silently like ghosts in the night. Their black camouflage provided excellent protection in the vast starfield; without close attention, their presence was barely detectable.
Using only the most basic propulsion engines, with even the elemental cores inside the ships reduced to a minimum, this mode of travel was more suited for ambush than preparation for battle. Even Su Lei, who knew little about military affairs, understood that such floating ships could hardly be detected by ordinary warships, not even with active detection.
Defeat the enemy first. No matter where, this ancient tactic remained effective forever.
Hei Fa leaned back quietly in the captain’s seat and took out a cigarette.
All he needed now was to wait…
Ten minutes later, faint glimmers gradually appeared in the distant starfield, coming into view for everyone. The screen reacted instantly—curursors, like hunters spotting prey, quickly enclosed all those glimmers. Then, rows of data flooded half the screen.
With a few slight movements of his fingers, the shape of the enemy ships was magnified several times, displayed before everyone.

Entirely silver-white in color, its surface covered by overlapping arc-shaped armor plates. Shaped like a giant shuttle and utterly smooth, no weapons could be seen. The engines at the rear were also completely retracted inside the ship’s hull, making it impossible to obtain any data from the outside. Extremely mysterious. Even the experienced Blood Eyes couldn’t identify their origin. These warships were slightly smaller than the Li Feng, yet they gave off a very special feeling.

What kind of feeling was it?

Hei Fa pondered for a moment, looking around and noticing that everyone else had the same strange expression as him. His heart suddenly tightened.

That’s not right… It’s completely wrong…

Though he wasn’t sure, Hei Fa was certain that these warships gave him an absolutely abnormal feeling. That slight tremor in his heart was as if he were about to encounter some danger.

“Adjust the course and move backward at a slow speed. Keep silence. At this distance, trust the capabilities of the Li Feng. Baroka, don’t let your ship fire its weapons platforms. What we need now is observation.” After a pause, Hei Fa spoke calmly. A hint of interest flashed in his eyes beneath his long hair.

Let’s get closer slowly. I want to see what’s making me uneasy. At this distance, I doubt you can detect the Li Feng’s disguise, Hei Fa thought silently.

As an assault ship highly emphasized in Earth’s era in Huaguo, the Li Feng’s capabilities were recognized by Hei Fa. Besides its powerful explosive force and acceleration, its ability to change camouflage using floating particles at will was also one of the key reasons. This was why Hei Fa ordered the other warships to retreat while keeping the Li Feng ahead alone.

In such a chaotic starfield, at a distance of five kilometers, even with the naked eye, Hei Fa was certain that the enemy wouldn’t notice the existence of the Li Feng.

The enemy warships were getting closer and closer.

Blood Eyes and Baroka could even hear their own heartbeats. They weren’t as calm as Hei Fa. In their perception, battles between warships meant a fight with weapons—whichever side fired first would gain the upper hand. Letting the enemy get closer like this was surely seeking death!

Yet they trusted Hei Fa.

“Distance is seven kilometers. It seems the enemy has noticed us.” Under the heavy atmosphere, Sulei’s voice even changed pitch as she tried desperately to suppress her emotions, her face pale.

“Not yet. If they’ve noticed, we should attack already.” Hei Fa remained calm. His cold gaze was fixed on those white figures on the screen as his mind raced.

Things were feeling increasingly wrong. Where exactly was the problem?

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Hei Fa’s mind. His expression changed drastically.

A gap! It’s a gap!! There’s a problem with the gaps in those warships’ armor!!
“Sulei, zoom in the image 100 times.”
“Understood.”
With her eyes slightly narrowed, Kurokami immediately found the answer in the enlarged image.
At such a high magnification, every detail of those white warships was clearly visible. Kurokami could see that the seemingly seamless armor was actually made up of individual plates!! And the black substance visible in the gaps between those plates…
It was muscle!!!
Those warships were actually living creatures!!
Her expression changed drastically as she threw away the cigarette in her hand.
“Abandon the disguise. Li Feng, activate all engines. Retreat at full speed. Order the warships behind us to enter combat mode. Fire at full strength, targeting their front lines. Baroka, get your men to take action!!”
“Boom!!”
The silent starry sky was instantly torn apart by countless beams of light. The moment Kurokami gave the order, the artillery fire that had been prepared in advance launched a fierce attack. At the same time, Li Feng’s surface disguise quickly dissipated, replaced by a bright blood red color. Its armored plates flipped open one after another, revealing the dark barrels of its electromagnetic cannons. As it retreated rapidly, it emitted long streams of flames.
Instantly, the opposing white warships seemed to explode, suffering massive damage. Flames burst on their smooth armor plates, and countless crystalline fragments flew out like flowers, leaving them in a desperate situation.
But Kurokami could see on the screen that although the artillery fire created bursts of light on those warships, it only caused surface damage. After the first wave of attacks, not a single enemy warship had been destroyed. All the artillery fire seemed to vanish without any effect. On the contrary, the enemy ships, like frightened wild horses, suddenly accelerated and charged at Li Feng with full force.
“Leader, they can even repair themselves!!” Baroka’s panicked voice reached Kurokami’s ears.
Indeed, Kurokami also noticed that those white warships weren’t indestructible. On the contrary, the artillery fire could still harm them. Almost every shot could lift large sections of their armor and create deep holes in their hulls. But moments later, those areas would be covered by emerging muscles, which would wriggle slightly before new armor formed quickly.
This was clearly a biological self-healing instinct.
Her expression grew grim as Kurokami finally realized she was in serious trouble this time.

Biological warships. A technology beyond the imagination of ordinary people. He had heard of it in the past as well, especially prevalent in the Earth Federation’s United States region. Some extreme scientists proposed a theory: using animal cells and genes to synthesize materials suitable for creating mechs and warships. This caught the attention of the authorities, who invested heavily in the research.

The studies progressed smoothly, and those scientists even created biological materials suitable for use. However, in the end, different genes rejected each other and could not be combined, leading to the project’s failure. At the time, it was even laughed at by other countries.

But now, he had witnessed the existence of such warships with his own eyes. Kurokami was filled with astonishment.

Although those experiments had failed, they left behind many valuable insights. At least Kurokami now knew some methods to damage those biological materials.

“Stop firing. Order the accompanying ships to retreat at full speed. Rikuu, switch to incendiary bombs. Keep firing while retreating. Under no circumstances let them get close,” Kurokami ordered quickly.

To deal with self-repairing biological equipment, anti-genetic agents would be the best option. But since it was impossible to determine the enemy’s biological structure, Kurokami had no choice but to settle for a secondary solution.

As soon as the incendiary bombs were used, Rikuu’s superior firepower became evident. No longer as weak as before, almost every shot left massive flames on the enemy ships. The incendiary bombs, containing liquid oxygen, burned fiercely even in space. Their scorching heat could melt steel.

The enemy fleet suffered heavy losses. Under everyone’s gaze, three of the leading warships suddenly disintegrated into clumps of sticky, paste-like substance, which then turned into giant balls of fire under Rikuu’s subsequent attacks.

“Phew!” Baroka finally breathed a sigh of relief, his pale, fat face gaining a hint of color. The earlier ineffective bombardment had terrified him. Now that he saw results, he was overjoyed.

“Leader, you’re truly an expert!!” With a loud voice, Lili spoke. When Baroka turned around, he was stunned.

In front of him, Kurokami was standing up, leaving his captain’s seat.

“Where are you going?” Blood-Pupils exclaimed in shock.

“They’re moving too fast. If this continues, they’ll reach us before we can wipe them out all,” Kurokami said, stopping and wearing a helpless smile. “I need to go out and stop them…”