More than ten refugee transport ships sped through the starry sky in a panic. Behind them, a World Tree fleet was chasing after them relentlessly.
The atmosphere in the cabin of the transport ship was tense. A large number of refugees were in a state of panic, especially the most damaged White Mountain. The word 'despair' was written all over the refugees' faces.
"The reinforcements we called for haven't arrived yet … If this continues, we'll be caught."
The captain of White Mountain was sweating profusely as he stared at the ship inspection report on the virtual screen. On the three-dimensional virtual model of White Mountain, the functional modules were malfunctioning red. The entire spaceship was on the verge of being paralyzed. A quarter of the twenty-eight propulsion engines were damaged, and the power of the energy core had dropped to seventy-four percent.
Due to the frequent invasions of the World Tree, some refugee planets were no longer safe. The Galactic Alliance Army formed a transport fleet to migrate the refugees in these areas. This small fleet was tasked with this mission to transport a portion of the refugees.
However, halfway through, they coincidentally bumped into the World Tree fleet that was hiding in their territory. A battle broke out, and the smaller guard fleet was completely wiped out. Most of the transport ships were destroyed on the spot, and the remaining fleet fled in panic, but they were still chased by the World Tree fleet.
The White Mountain transport ship was the most severely damaged among the existing starships. The modules of the spaceship malfunctioned, and its speed gradually decreased, slowing down the entire fleet.
"At most, we can last for another ten minutes before the engines shut down. There's a barren planet with a serial number ahead. Should we land?"
The adjutant's trembling voice sounded. The captain of White Mountain clenched his fists and hesitated.
If they were forced to land, the entire ship would have no way to escape. They could only let the guards on the ship bring the refugees to hide on the planet and wait for reinforcements.
The suggestions of the other captains came from the communication channel.
"White Mountain, land. Your ship is no longer able to keep up with the speed of the main fleet. We can't slow down and wait for you."
"You'll be alone sooner or later. Instead of being paralyzed in space, you might as well hide on the planet. At least you'll have a chance of survival."
"Leave the White Mountain behind and help us buy some time to save more refugees."
Some people analyzed rationally, while others made blatant requests. They were all trying to persuade the White Mountain to stay.
"I understand …"
The captain of the White Mountain Ship had a helpless expression as he felt sorrowful.
He understood the mentality of sacrificing friends rather than oneself. From the perspective of command, it was best to abandon a burden like them and stay behind to delay and buy time for more refugees on the other ships.
But even so, he felt very guilty. In the report, this batch of refugees was just a line of cold numbers, but at this moment, they were all living people. Using his own boat of refugees to help even more refugees might be in line with his calculations, but in terms of reason, he couldn't bear to do so. These refugees were not soldiers, and they did not have the consciousness to sacrifice themselves. Furthermore, it was impossible for him to make this decision after discussing it with the refugees. Otherwise, it would most likely lead to a mutiny. He could only silently lead them to stay behind to cover the retreat while the others still had hope and still believed in the captain. This ruined their hope of escaping, and this made him feel bad.
Just as they were in a dilemma, the desolate planet appeared in front of the transport fleet. The eyes of the captains lit up as they saw an unmarked small armed fleet docked on the surface of the planet. It was only when they got closer that the radar detected their presence.
"There's a fleet lying in ambush here? He doesn't look like someone from the World Tree. "
"Are they our reinforcements? Forget it, no matter who it is, they're all part of the galactic society. "
"Quick, contact the other party and send the signal!"
All of a sudden, the captains were overjoyed. They thought that reinforcements had arrived and hurriedly sent out a request for help.
On the other side, Pangon and the others, who were resting on this desolate planet, were stunned and started discussing.
"This seems to be a refugee army that's fleeing. There's a World Tree fleet chasing after them."
"They're asking for our help. What should we do? Should we help?"
"Don't help. The lives of the galactic residents under the three Universal Civilizations have nothing to do with us. Let's go, don't get involved."
Everyone quickly exchanged opinions and reached a consensus.
This group of avengers was not on the side of the three Universal Civilizations. Even if the World Tree invaded, it had nothing to do with them. It was already benevolent of them not to hit the three Universal Civilizations when they were down.
Pangon was silent for a while before saying,
"In that case, reject all their contact requests and leave this place immediately."
The captains of the transport fleet were looking forward to the reply of this unfamiliar armed fleet, but all communication requests were like stones sinking into the sea.
The next moment, their expressions changed. They saw this unfamiliar armed fleet rising into the sky, ignoring the call for help and heading in another direction. It was obvious that they were leaving them and did not want to support them.
"They're gone. They're not our reinforcements."
"Looks like we can't count on this team …"
The captains' hopes were dashed, and they immediately became listless.
Seeing that there was no turning point, the captain of White Mountain gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.
"All units, take note. Separate the cargo compartment at the bottom of the ship and carry all the crew members for an orbital landing. Set the procedures for the peeled outer hull to turn around and face the attack. Cover your brothers as they leave."
Hearing this, everyone's expressions turned solemn. They knew that White Mountain had chosen to sacrifice itself.
Although they hoped so, when it actually happened, they were not very happy. They had mixed feelings.
Very soon, the two of them split up. The majority of the fleet continued to flee into the distance, while White Mountain decelerated and left the fleet. It turned around and flew toward the desolate planet. It looked like a lone stream of light in a group of meteors.
In outer space, White Mountain quickly completed its transformation. The thick armor shell was unlocked, and the mechanical components started moving one after another. The entire carrier ship arched like a prawn, and the cabin at the belly of the ship suddenly separated, turning into a steel-gray escape ship. Its size had shrunk by a lot, and it had almost no weapon components. It was forced to land on the planet.
As for the ship that was left on the spot, it was like a hollow armor shell that changed direction on its own. The turrets on the ship fired fiercely toward the back, trying to stop the World Tree fleet that was gradually approaching.
Bang!
The escape ship landed heavily on the planet's surface, creating a ring-shaped crater. Let's read it.
All the cabin doors opened at the same time, and the refugees who were forced to change their simple life support hurriedly rushed out of the cabin. They looked up at the sky with despair and panic in their eyes.
The World Tree fleet had already arrived in outer space, and a round of focused fire destroyed the armor shell they had left in outer space. It slowly descended and expanded in front of everyone like a shadow.
"Why did you stop?!"
"Why did you land here? You surrounded us!"
The refugees were in an uproar. They glared at the guards beside them with hatred and anger. Without them knowing, the captain had ordered the spaceship to land, instantly reducing their chances of escaping to zero.
"Everyone, listen up. Follow the soldiers on the ship and spread out."
The captain of White Mountain did not explain. Now was not the time to say anything. He could only harden his heart and give the order coldly.
He knew that the chances of everyone surviving were close to zero after the forced landing, but he still wanted to make one last effort and hide with the refugees.
However, the next moment, when he saw the actions of the World Tree battleships clearly, he finally fell into despair. The cannons of the World Tree fleet were all aimed at the planet's surface. They were clearly preparing to save time and wipe out the planet directly.
"We're dead meat … However, I've delayed the World Tree fleet by firing a few rounds here. My mission is completed …"
The captain of White Mountain clenched his fists, and his expression changed rapidly. There was unwillingness, but there was also a hint of relief.
However, just as the crowd raised their heads and welcomed the Star Destroyer Cannon that destroyed them with eyes filled with fear, a resplendent light suddenly shot over from another direction in the starry sky, piercing through several World Tree battleships and exploding into fireworks.
Everyone looked over in shock and saw a meteor wrapped in dense flames rapidly approaching. Dense Pugilist flames shot out crazily like heavy cannons, bombarding the World Tree fleet one after another. The battleships were blown into pieces one after another.
Behind Pangon was the armed fleet that had just left. At this moment, they returned and crippled the World Tree fleet that was not too large in size in the blink of an eye.
The battle did not last long. Under the watchful eyes of the crew of White Mountain, Pangon led the Avenger fleet and quickly swept through the enemy ships that filled the sky. The huge World Tree fleet was only left with wreckage and parts floating in outer space.
This wave of narrowly escaping death made the refugees unable to control their emotions. The crowd cheered in joy.
The captain of White Mountain seemed to have woken up from a dream and hurriedly got someone to contact this armed fleet to express his gratitude. However, after the other party finished fighting the World Tree fleet, they still did not reply coldly. They had no intention of communicating, as if they had only done a small favor. They turned around and left without saying anything, not even bothering to clean up the battlefield.
"This is obviously not the Galactic Alliance Army. What kind of army is it …"
The captain of White Mountain looked at the departing Avenger fleet and muttered to himself in a daze.
At this moment, Pangon returned to the main ship, and his other companions surrounded him with strange expressions.
"You're really something. You said that you wouldn't get involved in the war, but you suddenly made us turn around and kill our way back."
"If we are targeted by the World Tree because of this battle, it will be troublesome. It will not be beneficial for us to accumulate our forces."
"Whose side are you on?"
The attitude of the few of them was as if they were denouncing him.
Pangon did not mind and waved his hand expressionlessly. "I've changed my mind. Although we won't take the initiative to participate in the war, if we encounter such a thing again in the future, we'll save them if we can. Our target of revenge is the three Universal Civilizations' regime. The ordinary galactic citizens have no enmity with us."
"This is exposing our existence," one of his companions said with dissatisfaction.
"To Black Star, our existence is not a secret. If we cause a negative impact on the war, he can tell the three Universal Civilizations about us at any time. After all, he has never been on the same side as us." Pangon paused for a moment before saying with a deep voice, "Furthermore, more than half of the galactic society has guessed that the World Tree's full invasion is because a traitor leaked the information. Do you think Black Star will suspect us?"
Everyone was stunned.
"In his opinion, we have sufficient motive to do so. If we don't express our goodwill, what if Black Star really thinks that we did it? Therefore, even if we don't participate in the war, we can't completely stay out of it," Pangon explained.
Hearing this, the few of them looked at each other and were slightly shaken.
You're clearly just a Pugilist, but why do we feel that what you say makes sense every time you try to trick us?
…
Somewhere in the secondary dimension world.
A spatial rift opened, and Hayleen flew out. Her figure was translucent.
With the enhancement of her special talent spell and the Leaf Invisibility Cloak, her current state was close to 'jumping out of the three realms and not in the five elements'. She could not be observed normally.
"The whereabouts of the Pivotal Snake are mysterious, and the mother tree only has a general direction and range. There's no clear location. What should I do …"
Hayleen was a little troubled.
After accepting the mission from the Ancestral Tree King, she had been searching for information about the appearance of the Pivotal Snake for the past half a year, but she could not find any opportunity to assassinate it.
Furthermore, Black Star seemed to have been guarding the Pivotal Snake the entire time. To her, that was the most dangerous place in the universe. She adhered to the principle of not taking any risks and did not dare to approach it.
After thinking about it, the only feasible assassination method Hayleen could think of was to add the 'snake-killing agent' made by the mother tree to some secondary dimensions in the areas where the Pivotal Snake often appeared. Then, she would wait patiently. If the Pivotal Snake ate one of the secondary dimensions, it would be poisoned.
Although this method was very random, she did not have a better way for the time being. After all, she could not control the food source of the Pivotal Snake, so she could only try her luck.
The only advantage of this method was that it was safer. She did not have to take the risk of being exposed to get close to Black Star, giving her a lot of opportunities to try and make mistakes.
Hayleen raised her hand, and a black-green liquid substance floated out. It was the 'snake-killing agent' that the Ancestral Tree King had given her.
With a flick of her finger, a small drop of black-green liquid separated and merged into the ground of this secondary dimension. There were no visible changes on the surface.
"I hope this method works …"
Hayleen muttered to herself, feeling uncertain.
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