Sir, do you want the pheromones? - Chapter 15

Jin Ran’s heart clenched the moment he heard that voice.

The noise from the communicator was unbearably harsh, hissing like a snake flicking its tongue against the eardrum. The small drop pod nimbly dodged the overwhelming barrage of attacks, fortunate that its small size made it harder to hit.

Jin Ran suddenly sat upright, watching the tiny drop pod bounce around in the night sky. Any second now, it could be shot down, and Pei Xingyu, inside, wouldn’t even have a chance to fight back!

Jin Ran shouted angrily, “Why the hell did you come back? You passed the warp point and came back to die—are you crazy?”

Pei Xingyu ignored his furious, near-hysterical questioning, his voice still calm as if he weren’t the one dodging attacks. “Zhou Peng, attempt docking.”

Zhou Peng, having been terrified by Jin Ran earlier, barely managed to steady his nerves as he forced open the reserve bay doors in the narrow gap. The drop pod successfully docked, and the doors were swiftly closed.

Pei Xingyu emerged from the pod, not bothering to fix his slightly disheveled collar as he walked to the front control room. Zhou Peng, upon seeing him, suddenly felt a sense of security.

“Commander.”

Pei Xingyu gave a slight nod and stood beside Jin Ran, pulling up the mecha’s status. The external damage was at 70%, the mental net defense had been breached, ammo reserves were below 30%, but the thrusters were still intact.

“You’ve done well,” Pei Xingyu said, not looking up as he praised Jin Ran.

Jin Ran, seeing that Pei Xingyu wasn’t missing any limbs, scoffed, “No shit. I graduated with a 97.3. Don’t compare me to those naive idiots from Ziwei Yuan who can only chant slogans.”

The “naive idiot” in question, Zhou Peng, felt wronged and lowered his head. “Commander, Jin Ran blew up the space station. What do we do now?”

Pei Xingyu had seen the Hall Space Station explode just as he passed through the warp point, initially thinking it was the enemy’s accidental attack while targeting Jin Ran and his team.

“You blew it up?” Pei Xingyu asked, turning his head.

Jin Ran responded nonchalantly with an “Mm,” adding, “Punish me however you want when we get back.”

Pei Xingyu paused, looking at Jin Ran’s expression that screamed, “I did the right thing, and if I had to do it again, I’d still blow it up.” Shaking his head, he said, “No need to punish you. Blowing up the space station was a good move.”

If it were him, he might have thought of the same strategy but wouldn’t have executed it. Only someone as bold as Jin Ran would decisively blow up the space station in such a tense situation, not only covering their warp but managing to evade capture for so long.

As long as the thrusters remained undamaged and there was enough fuel for the mecha, they could hold out until the nearest garrison was forced to provide support.

Pei Xingyu paused and asked, “Did you send a distress signal to Hall?”

Jin Ran burst into laughter, “Oh dear, Commander Pei, don’t you realize how Hall views you? They’d love for you to die out here in space with no trace left. They’re afraid you might rise from the ashes. If your ship sends a distress signal back, they’d probably hold a meeting first to discuss it. By the time they finish, our corpses would be cold.”

Pei Xingyu was silent. Jin Ran had only been in Ziwei Yuan for a few days and had already figured out so much.

He wasn’t just reckless and impulsive as he seemed on the surface. His madness was a kind of boldness, where he knowingly chose to do the impossible.

Jin Ran fiddled with the external communicator, clearing his throat as he spoke into the vast darkness, “Hey, you guys over there, aren’t you a bit pathetic? You’ve been shooting for so long and still haven’t hit us. Got nothing better to do? Wanna chat?”

Zhou Peng was dumbfounded. What was Jin Ran doing?

Pei Xingyu frowned, “Stop messing around.”

Jin Ran tilted his head and tried to connect to the enemy’s communication line. After a few hisses, he actually succeeded. Before the other side could speak, Jin Ran spoke first, “Ziwei Yuan is so poor. You guys put so much effort into this heist, but it’s not even worth the expense. Anything to say?”

A man’s voice, hoarse and amused, responded, “Who said we were after your supplies? I want Pei Xingyu’s life. Last time, we only destroyed the ‘Sky Gun’ monitoring tower. What a shame.”

Pei Xingyu instantly recognized the voice: one of the leaders of “Greedwolf,” Wela. It made sense they would dare openly ambush him here with such powerful firepower.

“That’s not gonna happen. If you want our Commander’s life, I can’t just hand it over. How about we negotiate? I’ll give you something else in exchange, and if it’s good enough, you let us pass.” Jin Ran’s tone was relaxed, but his hands were not idle as he continued to skillfully evade attacks.

Wela laughed, “Your life in exchange?”

“Greedwolf,” Pei Xingyu scoffed coldly. “Last time, I didn’t eliminate you completely. Letting you live this long was my mistake.”

Jin Ran clicked his tongue and glanced back at him. “No need to be so violent. Greedwolf, right? I heard your planet has a lot of good stuff, including some nice liquor. Turns out, I like drinking too. Wanna learn how to brew?”

Wela replied, “If you’re still alive, that is.”

Jin Ran laughed, “Why would I be wasting time chatting if I didn’t want to stay alive? Hey, take a look behind you.”

Wela, startled by Jin Ran’s sudden remark, reflexively glanced behind him. Besides his two subordinates, there was no one else. “Trying to stall, huh? Let me tell you—”

Just then, the panicked voice of one of Wela’s men rang out through the communicator.

“Sir, a team of heavy mechas is approaching, fully armed!”

“We’ve been locked on by the enemy’s phase missiles!”

“The defense grid is fluctuating, it’s about to break!”

Wela’s scalp tingled, and he felt a cold chill run down his spine. He had been so focused on chasing Jin Ran that he’d completely ignored his rear. He mistakenly thought the locks were Pei Xingyu’s counterattack, but it turned out they had been outmaneuvered!

“Sir! Sensors show three heavy warships forcibly warping in and surrounding us!”

The mech that had forcibly transitioned still had its power output at level three, and its approaching speed was astonishingly fast. Before Vera could even issue a command, she saw the enemy fire pressing in right in front of the defense net, raining down like a meteor shower.

The sturdy defense net, at this moment, disappeared with a series of pops like a bubble. The warship led by Lin Kaisui, bearing the inscription “Ziwei Yuan,” arrived and surrounded Vera’s three medium-sized mechs.

Countless ion cannons and high-energy particle beams locked onto Vera from all directions, making her look like a little rabbit surrounded by a pack of wolves.

“Commander, are you alright?” Lin Kaisui’s voice came through the communicator.

Pei Xingyu gave a single order, “Exterminate!”

The next second, a long, buzzing sound rang through the communicator, making their eardrums itch. Jin Ran reached up to rub his ear, hissing as he said to Zhou Peng, “Wow, your commander is ruthless.”

Pei Xingyu ignored him, his eyes fixed on the external monitors. Weapons fired out with great firelight, aimed straight at the “Greedy Wolf,” but just as they were about to hit, they were intercepted!

A squad of heavy mechs, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, intercepted 80% of the firepower, and much of the remaining 20% was evaded, only grazing the side of the mech and disabling a single thruster.

Zhou Peng cried out, “Who are these guys?! How did they suddenly get reinforcements?”

Pei Xingyu’s expression darkened as he immediately checked the external monitoring signals. Upon seeing the results, he felt momentarily breathless. “Mei Pu! This…!” His good character held him back from finishing the sentence.

Zhou Peng carefully turned his head, noting Pei Xingyu’s sour expression as he ordered the Ziwei Yuan fleet, “Ignore Mei Pu and the ‘Tianyi’ ship. Continue pursuing Vera, who’s trying to escape amidst the chaos. She must be eliminated!”

After that, he added, “Zhou Peng, connect me to the ‘Tianyi.'”

“Yes, Commander.”

Jin Ran also knew about Mei Pu, and the interception just now made his teeth ache. “That guy has no clue! If I knew he was coming to support, I wouldn’t have blown up the space station. The reinforcement’s basically helping the enemy at this point.”

The communication connected, and Mei Pu’s anxious voice came through, “Commander Pei, are you alright? I intercepted all the missiles! No casualties, right?”

Pei Xingyu was too furious to respond.

Zhou Peng didn’t dare speak, and Jin Ran glanced at Pei Xingyu, noticing his dark expression. Afraid that the commander might target Mei Pu next, he laughed and said, “Commander Mei, you intercepted all the missiles Commander Pei fired. Good job, really commendable.”

Mei Pu was stunned. When he’d rushed over, all he saw were missiles headed in one direction, so without thinking, he ordered an interception and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, he had arrived in time.

“Commander Pei… hahahaha, I was in such a rush I didn’t pay attention. I was just afraid you might get hurt, you know. My bad, my bad.” Mei Pu chuckled awkwardly, but the silence on the other end made it even more awkward, so he swallowed the rest of his laughter.

“Ahem.” Mei Pu pretended to scold his subordinate, Molü. “Your reflexes are too quick! You didn’t even check which side fired those missiles before intercepting. What if something had gone wrong?!”

Molü, baffled, thought to himself, “But you were the one giving the orders! I was just following them.”

Besides, Jin Ran’s voice was unmistakable to him, so he gritted his teeth and retorted, “Who are you mocking? You think you have the right to talk to Commander Mei like that?”

Jin Ran didn’t bother responding and instead looked at Pei Xingyu. “Hey, how about we do something more interesting?”

Pei Xingyu was momentarily stunned but quickly realized where Jin Ran’s hand was moving. He instantly knew Jin Ran’s intention and sternly said, “No!”

Too late.

Jin Ran had already maneuvered the battered light ship close to the wobbling medium-sized mech marked with the “Greedy Wolf” emblem that the Ziwei Yuan fleet had heavily damaged. He moved in, firing a low-power photon cannon at point-blank range.

The ship shook, and Jin Ran fired three more consecutive shots. The other side’s hatch was blasted into a gaping hole, with only one person left inside, trembling as he struggled to stabilize himself at the control panel, trying to pull away but barely managing to move.

Jin Ran stood up, gave up his seat, and grabbed the protective suit and helmet he had taken off earlier, putting them back on. He then casually slung a photon gun over his shoulder. As he turned back to glance at Pei Xingyu, he had an unmistakable rogue look on his face.

“Jin Ran, don’t do anything reckless!” Pei Xingyu hadn’t even finished speaking before Jin Ran leaped toward the enemy.

Pei Xingyu’s heart shot into his throat, nearly causing him to stop breathing. If the two mechs suddenly moved closer together, Jin Ran would be crushed!

If they were too far apart, Jin Ran might not even make it across. Jumping from one hatch to another, especially in the middle of a battle—this was insane!

Pei Xingyu skillfully adjusted his mech to move back a bit, fine-tuning the distance. Jin Ran, wearing a protective suit with a thruster, agilely grabbed onto the enemy’s hatch, whistled at the pirate inside, then aimed the photon gun he had slung over his shoulder.

“Bang bang bang!” Three shots later, Jin Ran took off his helmet and tossed it, along with the photon gun. This time, though, he left his protective suit on. He pulled the lifeless pirate aside and seated himself in the pilot’s chair.

He fiddled with the communicator and linked up with Pei Xingyu, clearing his throat before speaking, “Commander Pei, the spoils of war are quite—”

Commander Pei, normally calm and composed, was now so furious his face turned ashen. He roared into the communicator, “Jin Ran! When you return to Ziwei Yuan, you’ll be confined for half a month!”