TCPUAAV Chapter 76

 

Using the Zerg as bait, Hector and Merrell successfully eliminated Balham’s space station defenses.

 

All six captured fighter jets were stored in the main battleship’s hangar, while the pilots were locked away in the cargo hold. When the two groups of prisoners met—one from the earlier ambush and the other just recently captured—one side looked utterly dejected, feeling their hopes of rescue slipping away, while the other was filled with anger, cursing these deceitful space pirates for their treachery.

 

Meanwhile, the station’s commanding officer, who had been anxiously awaiting a response from the missing fighter squadron, hesitated on whether to request backup from the planet’s surface. Just as he was about to make a decision, the long-silent fighter jets finally reestablished communication.

 

“What’s the situation?” The officer rushed to the control panel.

 

The communication channel crackled with heavy static, distorting the voices and making them difficult to understand. He had to ask for a repeat multiple times before he could make out fragments of the message: “Too many Zergs”, “We’re outmatched”, and “Severe injuries—need immediate medical assistance.”

 

The more he listened, the more alarmed he became. Without further hesitation, he ordered the space station’s docking bay to open and personally went to assess the situation.

 

The airlock doors slowly parted, allowing three fighter jets to glide inside.

 

“What exactly is going on?” The officer strode forward impatiently, not even waiting for the ships’ shields to fully disengage before demanding answers.

 

“What’s going on is… you’ve been tricked.”

 

As the shields dropped completely, Hector stepped forward, wearing his black Dragon King mask. A plasma gun was already aimed squarely at the officer’s forehead.

 

At the same time, the other two fighter jets disengaged their shields, and from each, four armed soldiers jumped out.

 

“Cut their communications,” Hector ordered, then gestured toward the approaching station personnel with a tilt of his gun. “Drop your weapons, hands on your heads, and get over there.”

 

With their commanding officer held hostage, the remaining station crew had no choice but to surrender and obediently kneel against the wall.

 

Meanwhile, a few soldiers swept through the space station, ensuring no one was hiding. Once the area was secured, they brought out titanium handcuffs and restrained all the prisoners together.

 

“All clear. The station is secured—you can come in now.”

 

Hector activated the comms and notified Rong Heng and Merrell.

 

Receiving the signal, the cyan battleship slowly docked with the station.

 

Rong Heng pulled on his plain white smiling mask and raised a hand, signaling to the little mermaid. “Let’s go.”

 

Sitting in his designated little chair, Ruan Jiao watched them eagerly, his forehead antennae drooping in disappointment.

 

It seemed he had finally understood that there was no point in insisting. He didn’t ask to go along this time—he only tightened his grip on the snail mask in his arms.

 

Sitting quietly in the corner, he looked like a small, damp, and gloomy mushroom—utterly pitiful.

 

The little mermaid couldn’t help but glance back at him repeatedly. But thinking about how small Ruan Jiao was and how unsafe it would be for him to tag along, he steeled himself and turned away.

 

It was Rong Heng who, just as he reached the doorway of the command room, turned his head back toward Ruan Jiao. Annoyed, he lifted his mask slightly and called out, “If you don’t hurry up, I won’t take you.”

 

!!!

 

The damp, gloomy little mushroom suddenly perked up, his red eyes widening in stunned disbelief.

 

“Hurry up.” Rong Heng’s tone was impatient.

 

The little cub sprang off his chair in an instant, dashing toward him with excitement. His forehead antennae, which had been drooping in despair just moments ago, now wiggled with renewed energy.

 

Rong Heng scoffed, then scooped him up in one swift motion, settling him on his left arm. His tone was strict as he warned, “Stay close and don’t run off—understand?”

 

Ruan Jiao beamed brightly and nodded enthusiastically. Then, with great seriousness, he put the snail mask over his face.

 

The mask, like Ruan Jiao himself, had two little antennae sticking out from the forehead.

 

The little mermaid, walking beside him, chuckled softly and reached out to tap the cub’s wiggling antennae with his fingertips.

 

Together, Rong Heng and the little mermaid crossed the bridge, entering the space station.

 

Inside, the little dragon and the little fox had already followed Hector and Merrell into the control room. When they saw Ruan Jiao perched on Rong Heng’s arm, they immediately gathered around him.

 

Ruan Jiao had been sulking at them for leaving him behind earlier, but after being teased a few times, he couldn’t stay mad. He giggled and playfully high-fived the other cubs.

 

Rong Heng set Ruan Jiao down and walked over to the control panel with the little mermaid. This was where the station’s communication system was located—the central hub connecting it to Balham’s surface.

 

“If you were in charge, what would you do next?”

 

Instead of immediately issuing orders, Rong Heng posed a question to the little mermaid.

 

The young cub furrowed his brows and began to think.

 

Back on the main battleship, Rong Heng had already explained the general situation of Balham to the little mermaid.

 

Balham was a resource planet developed by the Naxi Group, rich in mineral deposits and continuously mined for nearly fifty years. There were no permanent residents—only long-term stationed engineering teams and various factories. To ensure security, Balham was guarded not only by the Naxi Group’s private mercenary forces but also by planetary-scale defense and weapons systems, making it highly defensible.

 

However, precisely because of these security measures, the number of stationed personnel was relatively low. To maximize efficiency and profits, Balham had undergone extensive mechanization. Most labor positions were handled by robots, with only a handful of management roles occupied by humans.

 

This meant that taking over the planet’s surface was relatively simple—all they had to do was seize Balham’s Ground Control Center. Once they had control over the command systems, the entire planet would be in their hands.

 

[We can request reinforcements from the surface under the space station’s identity.] The little mermaid carefully typed out his idea. [The station commander should have emergency clearance. We can use him to gain entry to Balham, and once inside, we can execute another ambush to seize control.]

 

After sending his response, he anxiously looked up at Rong Heng, waiting for his judgment.

 

“You haven’t been reading for nothing,” Rong Heng nodded approvingly before adding, “but…”

 

He deliberately stretched out the pause, watching as the little mermaid’s eyes widened with tension before finally continuing, “We can refine the plan further—to make it more convincing.”

 

With that, he ordered the soldiers stationed outside to let a small group of Zergs into the space station.

 

These Zergs had been lured and herded all the way here, repeatedly driven around. By now, they were in an absolute frenzy. The moment they entered the station, they began rampaging and attacking anything in sight.

 

Rong Heng observed their movements through the surveillance monitors. When the station’s alarm system finally blared, he gave the order: “Kill them.”

 

The little dragon and the little fox grabbed their weapons and charged out without hesitation.

 

Behind them, the soldiers swiftly followed the command and joined the battle.

 

With such a small number of Zergs, there was no need for Hector or Merrell to step in. Instead, they remained in the control room, watching the fight unfold on the monitors.

 

Merrell clicked her tongue as she watched the little fox efficiently take down Zergs. “She’s got potential. Way tougher than those pretentious brats from the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan.”

 

Merrell was an Evolver, a species that valued strength above all else.

 

Among the Four Great Noble Clans, the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan was the most unconventional. They rarely engaged in direct combat, preferring instead to ensnare enemies in layers of illusions and traps.

 

Moreover, thanks to their natural beauty and innate charm abilities, the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan often engaged in interbreeding with lower-bloodline hybrids—despite being one of the most bloodline-conscious races.

 

Merrell had always looked down on them. In her opinion, those so-called “pureblood” Nine-Tailed Foxes weren’t nearly as capable as this half-blood cub.

 

“I’ll go teach her something.”

 

After watching for a bit, Merrell couldn’t resist anymore. She picked up her blade and strode toward the battlefield.

 

Since the space station had limited room, the cubs had to fight in human form rather than their beast forms. However, without the enhanced strength of their true forms and lacking formal combat training, their efficiency in killing Zergs quickly dropped.

 

“Watch what I do.”

 

Merrell approached the little fox, intercepted a Zerg lunging toward her, and drew a plain steel blade from her waist.

 

The blade was only about a foot long, its silver edge thin and razor-sharp.

 

“When facing an enemy, don’t just focus on its attack patterns—you need to understand its anatomy, pinpoint its weaknesses.”

 

She spun the blade in her hand, then bent her knees and leapt, using the Zerg’s segmented limb as a foothold to propel herself onto its back.

 

Gripping one of the thick antennae on its head to steady herself, she continued, “Compared to their two- to three-meter-tall bodies covered in hardened exoskeletons, their heads are smaller and much more vulnerable.”

 

As she spoke, her right hand raised the blade. With a swift, precise motion, she slashed across the Zerg’s neck joint, severing its head from its body.

 

“Especially this spot—where the head connects to the torso.”

 

Before she even finished speaking, she was already holding up the Zerg’s head, signaling to the little fox.

 

Greenish fluid sprayed from the severed neck as the creature’s body collapsed to the ground.

 

Merrell hopped down, flipped the blade in her hand, and held it out. “Want to try it yourself?”

 

The little fox didn’t hesitate for even a second.

 

She took the blade, her silver eyes narrowing with focus.

 

Then, copying Merrell’s movements, she leapt onto a Zerg’s back…

 

*

 

The cleanup battle lasted for twenty minutes.

 

The space station was left in complete disarray—damaged equipment scattered everywhere, and Zerg corpses littering the floor.

 

Rong Heng had deliberately left a few Zergs alive. Then, he dragged the station commander to the communication terminal, pressing the barrel of a laser gun against his back.

 

“Repeat exactly what I just told you. If you mess up even a single word…” Rong Heng’s tone was low and oppressive, deliberately altered to sound unrecognizable. Paired with the plain white smiling mask on his face, his presence exuded an eerie menace. “…I can’t guarantee my trigger finger won’t slip. The lives of everyone in this station are in your hands.”

 

The station commander had initially harbored thoughts of resistance. But when he saw the footage displayed on the intruder’s intel terminal, those thoughts were quickly extinguished.

 

He could disregard his own life.

 

But the hundreds of people inside this station…

 

Clenching his teeth, he asked, “If I do what you say, will you really let us go?”

 

Rong Heng let out a derisive laugh. “If I wanted to kill people, they’d already be dead. I wouldn’t have let them live this long.”

 

He wasn’t wrong.

 

Interstellar pirates were notorious for their brutality—captives were a rarity. If they had kept people alive until now, it meant they never intended to commit a massacre in the first place.

 

After a brief internal struggle, the station commander wiped a handful of green Zerg blood onto his face and uniform, then took a deep breath and said, “Unlock my cuffs. I’ll cooperate.”

 

At the end of the day, he and his crew were just hired workers. There was no point in fighting to the death against a group of ruthless space pirates.

 

Rong Heng uncuffed him.

 

The commander scanned his identity card, activating the highest-level emergency communications channel. Adopting a panicked expression, he pleaded for reinforcements from the surface.

 

Meanwhile, Rong Heng and the others remained hidden outside the camera’s field of view, watching the man closely. If he showed even the slightest sign of betrayal, they would cut the transmission immediately.

 

However, the commander had no intention of showing loyalty to the Naxi Group.

 

With impeccable acting skills, he perfectly played his role, successfully convincing the Ground Control Center to allow their personnel to evacuate through the emergency passage. Furthermore, they even dispatched an elite squad of mercenaries to “clear out the remaining Zergs” at the station.

 

Given the wreckage, the piles of dead Zergs, and the visibly shaken station commander, the ground control officers had no reason to doubt his request.

 

Ten minutes later, the emergency passage was unlocked.

 

“You’re coming with us,” Rong Heng said, keeping his gun trained on him.

 

The commander’s expression tightened. “And the others…?”

 

“Relax. I never go back on my word.” Rong Heng nudged him forward with the gun. “Not a single one of your employees will be harmed. Once we take over Balham, you’re all free to stay and continue working—same salary, same benefits.”

 

……??????

 

The station commander turned to him, utterly dumbfounded.

 

Who the hell would want to work for a bunch of space pirates?!

 

But with a gun still pressed to his back, he had no choice but to swallow his outrage and keep his mouth shut.

 

As a law-abiding Imperial citizen, reasoning with a group of criminals who disregarded the law was completely pointless.

 

 

---

 

Lol Rong Rong really couldn’t say no to Jiao Jiao in the end

 

Thanks for reading!

For every three ko-fis, I will upload a bonus chapter~