Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 56: Escaping Death's Grasp

"Dodo, can you hear me? Provide support to our location immediately. We are going to be surrounded soon," I shouted to the speaker.

"Bao'er, Old Du, keep watch at the door," commanded Zhang Xingxing.

I continued calling out for Dodo through the communicator, but there was no reply. The commotion outside the grocery shop grew louder. I knew that the enemy had located us through the communicator. The final battle was upon us.

"Xingxing, my morph-capable system only has five minutes' worth of energy left. I wasted too much energy protecting the patrol car earlier," I said.

"You can share my energy," said Zhang Xingxing.

I felt a warm current in my heart upon hearing her offer. Suddenly, the sounds of a firefight sounded outside.

"Team leader, Canyue, the enemies are already shooting at us," Zhang Bao'er's voice came.

"Canyue, regardless of whether this will be our final battle, let us face them together and give them everything we have," Zhang Xingxing said.

I nodded firmly, grabbed my gun, and walked through the door with her.

The sound of gunshots filled the world outside the grocery shop. A group of Eternal guards and several air defense drones were firing at Zhang Bao'er and Old Du. The two had their shields on, defending as they opened fire on their enemies. Zhang Xingxing and I joined the battle immediately. Zhang Xingxing turned on her shield, protecting me, the prince, and Dondon in it.

"Canyue, we need to attack to kill. Look, they have two juxi beasts with them," said Zhang Bao'er after downing an Eternal.

I looked into the distance. Two juxi beasts were scanning the area we were in, sending waves of green light everywhere. With their scans, they provided guidance to the enemy shooters and improved their accuracy. Standing beside the beasts were the black and white killers, watching our encirclement like they were watching a movie.

"No killing. Excessive casualties will only create enmity between us. Within 24 hours, if we win, we win. If not, we fight till the end," I said.

"Team leader, the beams coming from the air defense drones are too powerful. Our morph-capable shields won't last long," reported Old Du.

"We have no alternative at the moment. Try your best to avoid the attacks. Drag this out as long as you can. Canyue already sent a message to Dodo. We need to buy them enough time to save us," said Zhang Xingxing.

At this time, a massive guided missile shot into the sky from behind the juxi beasts. The missile flew toward us, and from its size, it clearly had enough firepower to destroy all of us.

"Careful, everyone. Avoid that missile," Zhang Xingxing exclaimed.

We scattered, but the missile was incredibly fast. It dropped in our midst immediately. Heatwaves and shockwaves even more powerful than what our nuclear warhead could create ensued. Even scarier was the fact that the missile had created an isolated dimension of about 50 square meters in size upon detonation, compressing all the power of the explosion in the small space. It was as though the Big Bang had been restricted to an area the size of a single planet.

Surprisingly, the Eternals that were only 100 meters from us were completely fine. They all watched silently as we suffered the explosion within the isolated dimension. After about 10 minutes, everything within the isolated dimension had turned into black ash, leaving us, with our shields, the sole survivors. Thanks to the protection of technology, we survived. Despite having the protection of our shields, the massive impact within the dimension had knocked little Dondon unconscious due to his tiny body.

"Dondon, Dondon, are you fine?" shouted Zhang Xingxing as she shook Dondon.

I walked to them and checked on Dondon before saying, "He's fine. He only fainted from being thrown around."

I then placed Dondon into my bag. The sounds of gunshots rang again. The Eternals were mounting their final attack against us, their battered enemies.

"Old Du, Bao'er, how much energy do you have left?" Zhang Bao'er asked.

"I only have enough energy for about four hours of regular defense, but every two hits from the red beams will shave one hour off my supply," replied Old Du with the same calm he always had.

"I have three hours' worth of energy," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Same, three hours for me as well. Everyone, hang on. Prepare for our final stand," said Zhang Xingxing.

The Eternal soldiers' ray guns and the red disintegrating beams from the sky continued draining our energy. After about an hour, the encirclement around us started tightening up. At this range, I could clearly see the furious gazes of the Gandos and the constantly scanning juxi beasts, which were behind the soldiers.

"Team leader, I'm running out of energy. I can't last much longer," said Old Du.

There were about 30 Eternal corpses strewn across the battlefield while over a hundred Eternal soldiers were surrounding us.

"Damn that Jido. Is opening the door the only thing he does? He's not going to provide any kind of support?" cursed Zhang Bao'er. "Canyue, it has been an honor fighting alongside you."

I saw Zhang Bao'er turn on his nuclear warhead's operation as he spoke. Suddenly, a massive red beam struck our shields. Over a dozen air defense drones in the sky were combining their beams into a single bigger and stronger beam to launch a final attack against our shields.

"Team leader, final 10 minutes for my morph-capable shield," said Old Du.

"Prince, looks like we won't be able to get your throne for you," joked Zhang Bao'er grimly.

"It has been an honor to fight alongside all of you," replied the prince.

The yellow indicator on Old Du's and Zhang Bao'er's defensive systems started blinking, an indication that they only had enough energy to last three minutes. Zhang Xingxing nodded at me as everyone came to an understanding. We all activated our nuclear warhead systems. Suddenly, a series of zapping sounds rang out above us. Then, the air defense drones that were relentlessly attacking us spun in the sky and dropped.

A familiar voice rang out, "Xingxing, Canyue, retreat immediately."

I turned around and saw Dodo and an opened time door.

"Dodo, at this moment, you're my father!" Zhang Bao'er cried out in excitement.

As for Zhang Xingxing, tears of joy welled in her eyes from having survived death. Everyone hastily retreated, with me covering the rear. When the black and white killers saw us escape toward the time door, they ran toward us. With his hammer raised high, the white Gando slammed it down at me. Just as the hammer was about to hit my head, I nimbly passed through the time door. With a flicker, the door vanished into thin air.

'Those two fools must be bursting with anger from having realized that the food they had thought to be in their mouths already flying away,' I thought smugly.

We had returned to Domo's familiar black room.

"Damn you, dwarf. Why didn't you do anything after receiving our payment? I nearly got myself dismembered," scolded Zhang Bao'er.

"You dare blame me, you damned fatty? Your idiotic choice of retreating through a different route from the plan caused the governor to deploy all his forces against you. All the blocks are being searched, so I can't buy more materials to construct a new time door," scolded Domo.

"Yes, I received your message, and we had been trying to buy the required energy source for the time door," said Dodo.

"How did you manage to get some energy source then?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"We spent two diamonds buying it at a premium from the black market. This is a loss for me," complained Domo.

"Don't worry. After we get back to our ship, we can pay for the expenses," I said.

Only then did Domo stop complaining. Everyone had truly escaped from the grasp of death this time. We all sat down weakly, while Amethyst took out Dondon, who was still unconscious, from my bag and started nursing him. Titan came over to check on our condition. Fortunately, we had mostly sustained some minor wounds. The morph-capable defensive system was truly incredible.

"Dodo, is the governor searching for us?" asked Old Du.

"Yes. The entire city is under curfew now. The original plan was to have you steal the golden pass while the governor and his pet were away," said Domo.

"After losing the golden pass, the governor is supposed to be executed, right? Why isn't he arrested yet?" asked Toruse.

"Yes, it is capital punishment to lose a golden pass. Thus, the governor has sealed the flow of all information and is preventing everyone from leaving the planet. The spaceport has also been fully sealed, and it is being watched over intensely," said Domo.

"Shit. Then we won't be able to return to our ship!" said Zhang Bao'er.

"You guys have the worst luck ever. Anywhere you go, you end up wanted," complained Domo.

"You damned dwarf, do you want a beating?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"Screw you, fatty. Do you want me to seal you in a wall?" countered Domo unyieldingly.

Old Du pushed Zhang Bao'er back into his seat.

"Domo, Bao'er had just survived a massive battle. Dont mind him," I said.

Domo was still furious, so he continued nagging. Suddenly, Zhang Xingxing asked, "Do you have a way for us to board our ship? Can a time door help?"

"Dear customer, you must be kidding. The time door leans on the planet's electromagnetic system to work. It can only be opened on the planet, not outer space. Even if I could, I wouldn't have enough energy to do so. This is not a wormhole," said Domo.

"How should we board our ship and head to Planet Eternal, then?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"All visiting ships are parked at the docking bay. All those ships have been sealed by the electromagnetic system. Additionally, Lidu has three layers of defenses. Notable defenses include Lidu's automatic rail cannons and laser towers. Both are immensely powerful," replied Domo.

"How do we shut down their electromagnetic system?" I asked.

"Only the control panel at the spaceport can do so. I reckon that place is under tight security right now," said Domo.

The moment I heard the word spaceport, the image of the two Gandos appeared in my head. Those two were nightmares. They were extremely tricky to deal with.

"Unless we try the other method," Domo suddenly said.

"What other method? Say it. Help us. We will reward you greatly for your help," asked Zhang Xingxing urgently.

Domo looked at Zhang Bao'er, swallowed, and said, "Cut the system's energy supply."