Chapter 285 Miss Charlotte
“Fire!”
Just as the branch was about to fall into crisis, a large number of small smart missiles suddenly flew in from a distance.
The three people showing off in mid-air were immediately engulfed by exploding fireballs.
A few seconds later, the flames dissipated, and the three were unharmed, having timely deployed kinetic shields to block the missiles and subsequent shrapnel flying towards them.
However, this time, they had provoked not the space station's security forces, who were just working for money.
A large number of Apocalypse Queen's personal guards emerged from behind nearby buildings. They wore street-style composite fiber clothes or faux leather jackets and raised their primitive but effective gunpowder-based automatic weapons.
To adapt to urban combat, these firearms were equipped with large-capacity drum magazines, belt feeds, and even large-capacity ammunition boxes carried on their backs.
Before the ammunition ran out, it was often the gun barrel that would give out first.
Plenty of firepower!
Tens of thousands of steel, copper, and lead projectiles rained down like a storm.
Even a hero can't withstand too many enemies. Lu Yuan saw that the bulletheads initially flattened into discs around the cybernetic assassins, but later, their deformation became smaller and smaller, approaching a conical shape.
Very good!
This was a sign that the shields were gradually overloading.
It seemed that psionics based on zero element physics also had limits, and psionicists would also get fatigued!
Under continuous fierce attacks, the cybernetic assassins' super-gravity ability applied to Cangyuan's side also gradually became ineffective, and the players felt their bodies were no longer as heavy as before.
So that's it. The opponent looked like a mage-type class, and focused spellcasting could be interrupted!
Then, now's the time!
Lu Yuan rolled over, grabbed an infrared laser rifle from a table in the branch, aimed it at the chest of one of the cybernetic assassins, and pulled the trigger.
Accompanied by intense red scattered light, the composite armor plate on the opponent's chest was burned through by an invisible laser beam. Some unknown artificial organ inside his chest cavity was incinerated, causing the shield strength to plummet.
His body was then struck by a dense shower of metal bullets, sparking intensely, and he fell from mid-air, motionless. The remaining two, seeing the situation was bad, quickly retreated.
“They've been repelled, Your Majesty. Yes, understood!”
Anya's personal guards did not blindly pursue but, following their boss's orders, established a defensive line near the Cangyuan branch.
Soon after, a black armored car stopped in front of the warehouse, and Lu Yuan saw a familiar face inside.
“Thank you for your timely assistance, esteemed Ms. Anya.”
He walked up and nodded slightly in greeting.
“Don't be so polite. We're going to be close allies from now on,” Anya said, smiling and shaking her head from inside the car window.
“Besides, these guys dared to be so arrogant on my territory. I can't pretend I didn't see anything, like the council did before. What was promised to the public must be delivered.”
“Hmm—indeed.”
Lu Yuan looked back at the fallen cybernetic assassin. Male God was scanning him.
“Ma Lou! I think I found a Zero Element Furnace device!”
“Good, destroy it first! Prevent him from using his abilities again!”
“Those are psionic mercenaries from Paradise Island,” Anya said with a serious expression, staring at the cybernetic human whose body was being hammered by Male God. “As for who hired them, I can help you investigate.”
Lu Yuan nodded, not refusing her kind offer.
“Boss, how should we deal with this thing?”
Male God came before Lu Yuan, carrying the motionless cybernetic assassin.
“Interrogate him first. After that, keep him alive and send him to Emerald Star. Have Xiao Xue and Sasha form a research team. Disassemble him, dissect him, and thoroughly research the principles of using psionics.”
Such good material delivered to their doorstep, of course, called for the full luxury treatment.
“Understood~”
“What do you want to do!?”
Lu Yuan had spoken the previous part in Chinese, which the cybernetic assassin didn't understand, but he instinctively felt a strong sense of malice, his eyes filled with fear.
Heh, weren't you so cocky just now?
Lu Yuan waved his hand.
Take him away, take him away!
“Executive Officer, this place of yours is too conspicuous and too flimsy. If you don't mind, how about temporarily taking that little girl inside to 'Apocalypse'?”
Anya gave Lu Yuan a meaningful look.
“I know you want to recover the colonial ship from your 21st-century ancestors. Frankly, I'm also very interested in it and very willing to help you achieve this feat.”
It seemed that the Apocalypse Queen still completely controlled all intelligence on this space station.
Could it be that the mysterious girl, whose combat and athletic abilities were clearly not outstanding, managed to evade the pursuit of three psionicists and reach the branch's entrance alone, precisely because she received covert assistance from Anya?
Regardless, Anya clearly knew that she was the overall commander for the salvage operation chosen by the Emperor of the Empire.
However, Lu Yuan had never publicly revealed his background and had classified this information as sensitive corporate intelligence.
Therefore, Anya, like all other Star Alliance residents, did not know that the current Cangyuan Executive Officer was “the one” who embarked on the expedition with the colonial ship in 2095.
To the public, today's Cangyuan was merely a small branch of a former cosmic mega-corporation that had luckily survived the apocalypse through cryosleep. Lu Yuan put his hands on his hips and looked back at the warehouse, which was almost filled with layers of cryosleep pods, power armor frames, and 3D printers.
It indeed needed a more decent and safer command center. “Then I'll trouble you. Ma Lou, go untie the Empire's guest!”
A moment later, no less than 30 people, including elite players who had been summoned and teleported over, gathered in Anya's intelligence room.
“Hmm—it really is that little girl from the TV,” Guo Li Cheng stared at the girl, studying her for a long time. “But I have a question. Wasn't the Emperor's speech live? How did you have time to rush over?”
“What you saw was a cybernetic human impersonating me.”
The girl explained, “I had already escaped the Empire's border a month before Emperor Constantine V gave his speech.”
“Oh~ How old are you this year?”
“I'll be nineteen in a few months. Anyway, that's not the point! When will your person in charge arrive? I really have something very important to tell him!”
“I am the Cangyuan Executive Officer.”
Lu Yuan walked up to the girl and took off his power armor helmet. Since he had also worn a combat suit helmet when they first met, this was the first time he had shown his true face to her.
Lu Yuan observed her reaction without changing his expression.
“It seems you don't recognize me.”
The girl shook her head blankly.
“Should I know you?”
“Heh heh, the answer to that question can only be given by you,” Lu Yuan chuckled, gesturing for everyone present to sit down if they could.
“Why don't we start with introductions?”
“Hmm—hello everyone, my name is Charlotte, and I was a high-level core crew member who left the solar system with the colonial ship in 2095.”
That's a bit of a stretch.
Then how could you not recognize the Executive Officer?
And at your age, wouldn't you be a bit too young for a high-level official?
Ye Xing, who had teleported over, really wanted to expose her on the spot but held back, only asking one question.
“Then, what was your duty on the ship?”
“To fully assist the true Executive Officer on the ship,” Charlotte replied, emphasizing the word “true” and looking at Lu Yuan with a hint of hostility, as if mentally blaming him for misusing such an important title.
Then, she took a deep breath, seemingly a little embarrassed, and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
“And—to become the Executive Officer's wife in the future. Huh!???”
Although the players tried their best to remain calm, their body postures changed very noticeably, all leaning towards Charlotte and the Executive Officer, especially their heads, as if they wanted to press closer.
Don't stop, keep talking!
Lu Yuan, in the center of attention, felt as if he was being publicly executed.
He knew that if they weren't all wearing helmets, his good employees would now surely have expressions of trying their absolute best not to crack up!
Damn, what's going on, is it real or fake? Even rumors need some logic!
“Is this also an internal corporate decision?”
And they even assign partners, that's amazing! Dan Ta tightly clutched Guo Li Cheng's wrist next to her, completely unable to suppress the flames of gossip in her heart.
“Then, little sister, do you—are you willing to obey organizational arrangements?”
“Pfft!”
Guo Li Cheng frowned and elbowed her back.
Be serious, okay? What the hell is 'obeying organizational arrangements'!
“Of course I'm willing!”
Charlotte seemed to find some implications in the question very rude, immediately straightened her upper body to clarify, then lowered her head, returning to a somewhat shy state.
“The Executive Officer and I are both genetically modified individuals with perfect pure human genetic sequences. According to the plan, I need to bear—bear excellent offspring for him during the journey. This is our glorious duty!”
Her hands were pressed tightly against her thighs, her voice growing softer and softer, and her downcast face became redder and redder.
“Oh, in short, you mean to express that you two are a match made in heaven, right? Considering the need for a population boom immediately after interstellar travel, preparing a 'pit' for every 'turnip' in advance seems to make some sense—”
“Wait a moment.”
Sister Xue's gaze was sharp, noticing a blind spot.
“'We'? Do you mean you and the Executive Officer, or—”
“There are four other women with the same duty as me—”
Charlotte didn't dare to look at everyone, her face burning red.
“Huh???!!!”
“It appeared! As expected, a legitimate harem in a confined space!”
“Damn leadership privileges!”
“Indeed, human history progresses in a spiral—
“My question is, who is the main wife here?”
“By the way, isn't this really a H-game plot? I've played similar settings with 'Shhh shhh shhh—be serious!'”
“Oh my, oh my—” Anya took a puff from her cigarette. “You Cangyuan—you certainly play it fancy, don't you? It's given me quite a bit of inspiration for managing Apocalypse.”
Lu Yuan, at the center of the storm, used his secret technique.
Playing dead on the spot!
Entering low-power standby mode.
“I know this might have ‘a slight’ conflict with your moral values, but it's an important guiding conclusion we reached after repeated discussions on eugenics,” Charlotte explained with a wronged yet earnest expression.
“This special family model was reasonable in the early generations of interstellar colonization, especially for elite individuals with outstanding abilities! You cannot misinterpret it with modern perspectives, after all, we hadn't invented artificial wombs back then, and males only needed to fulfill their reproductive duties by....”
Dan Ta was about to burst out laughing.
Charlotte's seriousness made her unable to resist teasing her.
“Your way of speaking is truly too rude!”
Charlotte's face was as red as an M-type red supergiant star.
Dan Ta silently pointed to Sister Xue, who was sitting not far away, to Guo Li Cheng. She saw that, without realizing it, the other party's hands were already clenched into fists, and the killing intent around her was as heavy as a tangible entity.