Strike First

Within three days, they were pursued twice, and Gu Ding roughly understood what was going on. The reason they chose this time was because space jumps were impossible in the middle, and if they acted too early, those people were worried that Gu Ding Team would travel in reverse and escape back to the Reverse Dragon Star Region.

Seeing Gu Ding's brow furrow slightly, Liliath couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

"Another spaceship is chasing us." Gu Ding shrugged and turned to walk towards the cockpit.

Fa Te's expression also darkened; he guessed these people were still after him. While Gu Ding Team was formidable, being pursued once or twice wouldn't be a big deal, but if they were intercepted every day along the way, their journey would inevitably be affected. At that point, Gu Ding his team would definitely feel like a burden...

Inside the cockpit, after Gu Ding settled in, he had Sea Emperor project an image of the pursuing spaceship.

This wave of pursuers actually numbered more ships than the previous Copper Fist Mercenary Group ships, a total of thirteen. Twelve were three-star War God, and the lead ship was a three-star Banshee. Although the Banshee was also an assault ship, it was generally purchased primarily by women because, while its design was aesthetically pleasing, its combat capabilities were inferior to the War God, yet its price was more than double that of the War God at the same tier, making it not very cost-effective. Its only advantage was that the Banshee was far more agile than the War God.

All the spaceships had the same logo printed on their hulls: a coiled sea serpent.

"It's the Sea Serpent Mercenary Group," the Sea Emperor quickly found out the group's information. "It's also a three-star mercenary group, but their overall strength is much stronger than the Copper Fist Mercenary Group. The entire mercenary group has 486 members, with an average strength of Two-Star Mid-rank God. The strongest is their leader, Bashem, who has the cultivation of Five-Star Mid-rank God. His Combat Strength is comparable to that of High-rank God. There are also two vice-leaders, who are also Five-Star Mid-rank God."

"Let's take a look inside their spaceship." Gu Ding also wanted to see what kind of opponent they had encountered this time.

The Sea Emperor immediately projected the image.

The image shows the enemy's cockpit. Inside, three people are seated. The one in the middle is a rather arrogant young man. To his left is a middle-aged man, slightly thin. To his right is a fat man, who also appears to be quite young.

"The young man in the middle is Bashem." Actually, even without the Sea Emperor's reminder, Gu Ding had already guessed.

"The fat guy on the right is his cousin, Baboli, whose cultivation is also Five-Star Mid-rank God. The guy on the left is called Berif; he used to be in the Elite Legion of the Federal Government's military, but later chose to retire," the Sea Emperor continued. "There's another thing. Bashem's surname is Aston. The Aston Family is quite well-known in the Universe Sea, slightly weaker than Liliath's family, but still quite wealthy. Moreover, the Aston Family and the Koch Family are related by marriage. Bashem's two twin aunts married a direct descendant of the Koch Family."

In the cockpit, Bashem stared intently at the Gu Ding spaceship displayed on the probe. "You two, get your act together! This mission is of utmost importance. We must capture that fat kid alive, or the Koch Family's acquisition plan may very well fail."

"Boss, the Koch Family didn't even contact us for this mission, and we won't get any reward for completing it, so why should we come? Although the Gu Ding Team is just a new team, they've been making waves lately, so they must have some powerful backing. Besides, their potential is amazing. Once they enter the Universe Sea, they'll be like Flood Dragon returning to the sea. They'll probably rise to prominence in a short time. Wouldn't it be a bad idea to offend them?" Belief frowned slightly. He didn't want to have a conflict with the Gu Ding Team.

"No matter how amazing the potential, it's all for naught if you can't enter the Universe Sea." A hint of mockery flashed in Bashem's eyes. "After they hand over the little fat boy, do you think we still need to keep him alive?"

"Yes, if we wipe out the Gu Ding Team, our team's reputation will definitely rise." Fat Baboli agreed with his cousin's idea.

"If we're going to do it, we absolutely cannot leave any survivors," Belief said, offering no further objections but instead offering a very serious warning. "The members of the Gu Ding Team are all terrifyingly talented. Letting any one slip through the net could bring us unimaginable disaster in the future!"

Unbeknownst to them, their entire conversation was overheard by Gu Ding and the Sea Emperor.

"Sea Emperor, Titan Cannon, we've never tested its power before, have we?" Gu Ding turned off the video projector and asked.

"Never used it before. The firepower is too great, and it's not convenient to use at close range. It would affect our own spaceship." Sea Emperor probably knew what Gu Ding was planning to do. The Titan Cannon could easily destroy a planet. Even if the opponent's spaceship was a five-star ship with its shields fully activated, it would be reduced to dust in two shots at most.

As for the Sea Serpent Mercenary Group's three-star spaceship, one shot would probably leave nothing behind.

"The Sea Serpent Mercenary Group isn't exactly close, is it? This time, we don't need to wait for them to come and shout; let's just bombard them directly. Strike first!" Gu Ding gave the order to fire immediately.

Sea Emperor was secretly excited; he had always wanted to test the power of the Titan Cannon. His feeling was like a child getting a new toy, wanting to try out all its functions.

He deployed two Titan Cannons at once, locking onto the target area, clearly intending to wipe them out in one fell swoop. The enemy was currently just within the firing range of the Titan Cannon.

Just before he fired, Baboli suddenly became alert. "Danger! We must turn the ship around immediately!"

Baboli possessed a Special Divine Power to foresee dangers that would occur within the next few seconds, which allowed him to avoid death many times.

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately maneuvered the spaceship to make a sharp turn to the left.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The roar of artillery fire came almost simultaneously.

The twelve War God instantly disintegrated within the range of the artillery fire. Even the Banshee was mostly destroyed because it couldn't dodge in time; only the cockpit remained, but it was already badly damaged.

Three Five-Star Mid-rank God, aided by the defensive power of a Four-Star Divine Object Armor, jointly erected an artificial shield, desperately resisting the impact of the energy wave while frantically gulping down various potions to replenish their divine energy. The shockwave lasted for over ten minutes before dissipating, and the four-star divine artifact armor worn by Bashem almost crumbled into fragments the moment the shockwave subsided. The divine energy within the three was nearly completely depleted, and even the divine energy replenishment potions in their Storage Space were almost half used up. They themselves felt that their survival was nothing short of a miracle.

"Scatter and escape! Assemble in the Reverse Dragon Star Region!" Although Bashem didn't know exactly what had happened, he knew very well that whoever the other party was, they wanted him dead. If that kind of attack happened again, the three of them would surely die. Therefore, they had to escape!

After receiving a telepathic message from Bashem, the three of them sped away in three different directions.

"On our spaceship, the only weapon with such a long range is the Titan Cannon. Since they're scattering and escaping like this, should we use the Titan Cannon blast them to pieces?" Sea Emperor projected an image of the three escaping.

"Forget it, let's just run away. Each time the Titan Cannon fires, it consumes one Source Energy Crystal. One Source Energy Crystal is equivalent to ten thousand Source Stones, which is equivalent to hundreds of millions of Universe Crystal. It's too extravagant to use it to fight people." Gu Ding felt there was no need for it.

"But if we let them escape, they will surely retaliate later," the Sea Emperor said, offering his opinion.

"It's alright, let them come if they want revenge. At worst, we'll bombard them again in the Universe Sea." Gu Ding didn't care at all.

Bashem and his group had been darting through the area for several hours before slowing down, still shaken by what they had just witnessed.

Bashem dialed Baboli and Belief's contact numbers, and the two quickly connected.

Are you both alright?

"It's alright, has the danger passed?" Belief asked quickly.

"It should be over by now; that sense of danger has disappeared," Baboli replied after a moment of silence.

"What on earth happened? Baboli, do you know?" Bashem still couldn't understand what had happened with that sudden attack.

"It was a spaceship attack... I don't know what kind of spaceship could cause such terrible destruction. The warning image displayed by my supernatural abilities was just a cannon suddenly firing, and then we were engulfed in a sea of fire." Baboli recalled his memory of the warning and could only come to this conclusion.

"Artillery attack? How is that possible? On our probes, besides our own spaceship, there's only the One-Star War God that Gu Ding and his crew have." Bashem didn't quite believe what Baboli said. "The probes on our spaceship were specially modified by me. They can penetrate anti-detection coatings. It's impossible for other spaceships to approach without any warning."

"Could it be Gu Ding and his group?!" Belief asked, frowning.

"That's even more impossible. The distance he was at is beyond the range of all the artillery we know. Besides, his ship is only a One-Star War God. With such powerful artillery, their ship wouldn't even be able to withstand the recoil." Bashem shook his head. He didn't think Gu Ding and his team could do it.

"What if their ship isn't just a One-Star War God?" Baboli suddenly remembered something. "Some high-level ships can disguise their appearance. And the kind of firepower that produces that effect is something they've never heard of before, so it's not surprising that its range exceeds our known range."

"Indeed, the military releases some new spaceships every year, and their performance sometimes far exceeds the figures released to the outside world." Belief nodded, agreeing with Baboli's view.

"If it really is the Gu Ding Team, I'll make them pay once they enter the Universe Sea!" A cold glint flashed in Bashem's eyes.

~~~

This chapter originally introduced a rather interesting new character, but I felt it was a waste to leave him as a minor character, so I reluctantly cut over a thousand words and rewrote it...