Chapter 1 "I am the captain of the Short Horn Star. Passengers, we are under attack by scavengers. We are about to engage our engines at full power. Once we enter warp, we can shake off the enemy. Please don't worry, the enemy will never get in. We have plenty of experience dealing with attacks."

This time, the voice coming from the broadcast was no longer a robotic, synthesized voice, but the captain's steady, masculine voice, reassuring the passengers.

As a low-level tour group, the Short Horn Star often faced raids by scavengers and space pirates. The Short Horn Star had been specially modified, its shields were very tough, making it easy to run away.

"This isn't good…" Han Xiao felt a headache. He just wanted to arrive at his destination safely, why was it so difficult? Space attacks were a predicament that he couldn't solve with his current strength. To a large extent, he could only resign himself to fate.

A dozen scavenger ships surrounded and attacked, bearing three different symbols. Suddenly, Han Xiao recognized one of the symbols, and his eyes narrowed.

"Boneless Bird?!"

Han Xiao immediately thought of Sissoli from a few days ago, and immediately searched the crowd, but to no avail. Sissoli had disappeared without a trace. Han Xiao frowned, grabbed a flight attendant, described Sissoli's appearance, and demanded, "Where did that person go?"

This flight attendant was the same one who had flirted with Kerlodd when they first boarded. At this time, she looked panicked, and her speech was stuttering. She stammered, "Th-that… that passenger changed to a VIP cabin yesterday…"

Kerlodd came over, looking nervous, "Those are Boneless Bird scavengers. It must be the middleman from last time who called them. They're attacking openly. If this ship can't hold on, we're all done for. I haven't lived enough yet."

"No kidding, no one has lived enough."

The sudden attack made it difficult to prevent it in advance. Sissoli had power behind him, he could call for people, but Han Xiao didn't have any interstellar power behind him, there was nothing he could do, and he was very passive. Moreover, Sissoli's thoughts were unknown. Han Xiao couldn't really read minds, so he didn't know what the other party would do. Moreover, if he started fighting on the ship first, he would be kicked off in a matter of minutes.

Thinking about these things now was useless. Han Xiao calmed down and said, "Sissoli is one of their people, and he's also on the ship. These scavengers won't destroy the ship. They will definitely land. There are two possibilities. One is to cripple the Short Horn Star and threaten to destroy the ship, making us obedient. The second is that they can't do anything to the Short Horn Star and can only break through from the inside, landing first. We can't do anything about the first one, but we can try to resist the second one."

"Then what do we do?"

"We can only fight back after we get weapons." Han Xiao's mind raced. Weapons and violence were not allowed on the ship—except in special circumstances, such as unremovable mechanical modification.

"All luggage and equipment are stored in the ship's warehouse."

"Good, don't leave me behind, I can fight." Kerlodd had an expression of doing whatever he said.

Han Xiao immediately grabbed the female flight attendant and demanded, "Where is the warehouse?!"

When the female flight attendant heard the conversation between the two, her eyes widened, and she looked stunned. Only then did she realize that the Godoran was actually a follower, and she had been misunderstanding all along, that this low-key human was the leader. She quickly came back to her senses and pointed out the way, trembling.

Without another word, Han Xiao was about to rush out of the hall when the female flight attendant hurriedly said, "Hey, don't go. The ship is in safety mode, and the exit of the hall is locked. No one can get out…"

Bang!!

The players following closely behind him all used their strongest attacks. In the dazzling light and the loud bang, the broken mechanical lock scattered all over the ground, and the metal door flew out. Han Xiao didn't slow down at all, and rushed out with his people, leaving the passengers in the hall panicked and hesitant.

Now, the scavengers and the Short Horn Star were still in a stalemate, and the situation was unclear. Most of the passengers were watching in fear. His actions were not impulsive. Grand Technician Han had never liked letting others determine the outcome. Regardless of whether the scavengers could break in or not, he wanted to be prepared and take the initiative.

If the Short Horn Star could escape smoothly, that would certainly be the best result. But if it fell into enemy hands, his prior action would be crucial. It would be too late to start preparing after the enemy broke in.

The group ran for nearly ten minutes, and the vibration from the attack never stopped. They could feel the reaction force becoming stronger and stronger, which meant that the Short Horn Star was accelerating crazily. However, it had not been able to enter warp. Han Xiao knew that something was wrong.

Many pieces of equipment could prevent a ship from entering warp. Since scavengers had the business of robbery, they must be equipped with similar devices to prevent their prey from escaping.

Suddenly, the ship emitted a vibration that was dozens of times stronger than before, accompanied by a roaring explosion. Everyone staggered and almost fell.

Han Xiao's expression turned stern. The cosmic environment was a vacuum, so the sound proved that the enemy had broken in. The shield had been breached.

Good grief, this captain has a jinxed mouth!

At the same instant that the sound transmitted, the panel displayed a notification:

[You have triggered the emergency mission [Defend the Short Horn Star]]

[Mission Introduction: For some reason, several groups of cosmic scavengers have targeted the tour group you are traveling with. They are preparing to land and capture the Short Horn Star. Scavengers are boarding the ship in a steady stream, intending to capture all the passengers in one fell swoop. Your fate is closely linked to this ship.]

[Mission Objective: Repel all scavengers and protect the Short Horn Star]

[Reward: 350,000 experience, 1,500 Enas, unlock regional reputation]

"It seems that the scavengers chose the second method. In addition to Boneless Bird, there are two other scavenger gangs that I don't recognize. They are working together, and the reason for their large-scale attack on us must be more than just capturing a group of slaves…"

Han Xiao's eyes flickered slightly. He turned his head and saw that more than twenty online players behind him were acting dazed, which meant that they were looking at the panel. After a little thought, he knew that they had also triggered the same mission, so he didn't need to spend his own quota.

He didn't have time to worry about the rewards for now. Han Xiao turned on the communicator, but found that there was no signal. There was only one explanation for this situation, and that was that the scavengers had high-level equipment that could block communications. It must have been used to prevent prey from asking nearby civilizations for help, which showed that they were well prepared and determined to succeed.

"The enemy has already broken in." Han Xiao said in a deep voice, "We can't rely on the ship's own guards. I don't want to sit still and wait for death. We must protect this ship. I have a plan. First, go to the warehouse and retrieve our weapons, and then split into three groups. One group will go to the main control room, and the other will find the captain and the officers. They have the authority to control the ship. The enemy will definitely be heading for these two targets when they land, so we must race against time. There is likely to be a head-on collision. We know nothing about the enemy's combat strength, so we must proceed with caution."

"The last team will look for emergency escape vehicles. Such a large ship must have such measures. This is a last resort."

It was very advantageous for the players to split up. They could communicate with each other through the panel without being blocked, and by using this feature, Han Xiao could control the overall situation by asking the players around him.

Everyone agreed and followed his instructions.

Without further ado, Han Xiao led the people to the warehouse.

…

On the side of the Short Horn Star, the shields were focused on and a gap was created. Before the shields could repair themselves, the heads of seven scavenger ships extended hard mechanical rams, crashing into the Short Horn Star, and embedding themselves into it. Thick smoke billowed out of the holes, and a large group of scavengers successfully boarded the ship and entered the interior.

Hundreds of scavengers, armed with various firearms, fired beams and bullets, fighting fiercely with the Short Horn Star's bodyguards, and people screamed and fell from time to time.

Gunfire was dense and the situation was intense.

Most of the fighting soldiers were ordinary people of various races, and there were also a small number of Supers among them.

One of the ship's bodyguards was a bug race martial artist, with six arms, using a six-sword style. He struggled to move nimbly through the crowd, flashing cold light, and scavengers fell bleeding one by one.

Whoosh—

Suddenly, a huge black shadow covered the bug race martial artist, and fell rapidly.

The violent wind pressure was like a black hole, sucking away the surrounding air, and everyone around felt a sense of suffocation.

"Hiss…" The bug race martial artist made a tragic insect cry, and raised six swords to block.

Boom!!

The bug race martial artist disappeared in an instant, the deck was dented and cracked, but the edges were raised with jagged, shattered edges, shaped like a crater!

A large war hammer was slowly raised. The hammer head, which was about one square meter in area, was covered with the bug race's green acidic blood, emitting a foul-smelling white smoke that dripped and sizzled.

In one blow, the bug race martial artist had been turned into a paper man!

Serpent Braid lifted the silver-handled war hammer with one hand, the alloy hammer handle rubbed against the rocky skin, making a cracking sound, and shouted loudly: "Quickly kill all the guards, then the Gazers go to clear the main control room, and the Beast Hooves go to control the hostages…"

For this deal, Serpent Braid also invited two other scavenger gangs to help, called [The Gazers] and [Beast Hooves].

"As for the others…"

Serpent Braid flicked his braids and sneered, "Follow me to find that Godoran!"