Little Feifei

The alarm sounded. A Pirate Group had come to seize the cargo.

Long Fei, Li Xiucheng, and two other mobile suit mercenary pilots each launched in their own mobile suits.

Four mobile suits shot out from the catapult.

"What's going on? Pirate Groups are actually teaming up for robberies?" said a blue-haired female pilot.

There were four pirate ships in total, all modified cargo vessels. Two different flags flew among them, making it clear that they belonged to separate Pirate Groups.

Most of the mobile suits they deployed had been modified from engineering mobile suits. A small number appeared to be heavily damaged mobile suits salvaged from battlefields, repaired, and thrown back into combat.

Besides mobile suits, they also had some retired fighter jets.

A single Pirate Group would not have dared rob a cargo ship protected by the Skywing Mercenary Group, but the alliance of two Pirate Groups had emboldened them.

The two Pirate Groups deployed a total of forty mobile suits and eight fighter jets.

The two cargo ships followed closely behind the Escort Ship.

Long Fei's side was each responsible for ten mobile suits.

Piloting his Proto Gundam, Long Fei took the lead and charged straight into the pirate mobile suit formation.

He fired three consecutive shots with the controls, destroying three mobile suits with all three shots.

Long Fei's actions immediately drew the attention of many pirate mobile suit pilots. Instantly destroying three mobile suits made the pirates believe that Long Fei, who piloted the Proto Gundam, was an Ace Pilot.

Quite a few mobile suit pilots locked onto Long Fei.

Countless shells rained down on him.

Inside the cockpit, Long Fei listened to the alarm blare nonstop. He worked the pedals and controls to evade, and even while dodging, he could counterkill, taking down one enemy with every shot.

"Wow, the boss is amazing. It's only been one minute, and he's already taken out ten mobile suits. I've only destroyed three," said a bald, dark-skinned Black man.

"Pani, you're so pathetic. Most of them have already been drawn to the boss, yet you've only taken out three. I've already destroyed five," said the blue-haired female mercenary pilot.

"Avina, if you have time to mock your teammate, why don't you focus and help the boss deal with the other enemies?" Li Xiucheng's reprimand came through the video comms.

Avina stuck out her tongue and hurriedly helped the boss deal with the other pirate mobile suit pilots.

By then, Long Fei had switched from the Beam Rifle to a rocket launcher. He aimed at a fighter jet and pressed the launch button. One shot hit its target, and the fighter erupted in a massive explosion.

Long Fei noticed that the remaining seven fighter jets were about to break away from the battlefield and charge toward the cargo ships.

Long Fei immediately switched back to the Beam Rifle and floored the pedals. He aimed and fired, shooting once every two seconds, and every shot blew up a fighter jet.

When the captains of the two Pirate Groups saw that the mobile suits they had sent out had lost more than half their number in less than two minutes, while all their fighter jets had been destroyed, they immediately gave the order to retreat.

"Tch, how boring. We scared them off so easily," Avina said disdainfully.

"The boss's mobile suit Beam Rifle is far more powerful than the ones used by our GM Mobile Suits. We might not even be able to take down one mobile suit with a single shot, but the boss makes them explode with one shot," Pani said enviously.

"I hope the boss builds a few more mobile suits like that for us. Then our mercenary group can practically dominate this whole region. Every Pirate Group that sees us will have to take a detour."

"You two have the mood to chat casually, so why haven't you returned to the Escort Ship immediately?" Long Fei's rebuke popped up on the video comms.

The two shrank their necks and hurriedly piloted their mobile suits back to the Escort Ship.

Long Fei was not particularly satisfied with this battle. This level of combat simply could not reveal the Gundam's weaknesses. Most of the enemy mobile suits were modified engineering units, and their combat performance was extremely poor. Although a small number of pirate mobile suits were standard-issue models used by certain nations.

However, the Pirate Groups' overall combat capability was far inferior to that of regular armies, especially their mobile suit piloting. This level of opposition could neither showcase the Gundam's strength nor expose its shortcomings.

The pirate fighter jets were also obsolete models, so their speed was certainly not very fast. Even if someone else piloted the Proto Gundam, as long as their piloting skills were not terrible, shooting down those fighters would be easy.

For the next two days, they encountered no Pirate Groups attempting a robbery, and the cargo ships were safely escorted to the Republic of Kosolas.

The Republic of Kosolas was also an independent nation among the space colonies. It had only three colonies and was an insignificant country among the many nations, basically a fifth-rate state.

Its total population was under four million.

The Republic of Kosolas mainly relied on asteroid mines within its territory and domestic agricultural products for exports and foreign currency. Its gross domestic product was extremely low; even the Mika'ang Nation's GDP was more than twice that of the Republic of Kosolas.

The Escort Ship underwent maintenance at the dockyard for two days while they waited to see whether any merchants would come to hire them.

Long Fei rode a motorcycle alone to observe the customs and daily life of the Republic of Kosolas's third colony. He found that the local economy and people's livelihoods were not doing well. Construction in the outer districts was terrible, and he saw many people in worn-out clothes sitting idly by the streets.

Long Fei decided to head for the more prosperous district. Its economy was somewhat better, with industrial factories and some basic facilities. He saw workers in uniforms busily at work.

Long Fei took out his phone, activated his specially customized secure communication line, and contacted his factory manager, Simmons.

He asked Simmons whether the factory still lacked any other materials.

After receiving Simmons's reply, Long Fei went to the relevant factories to purchase the needed metal materials.

He visited several factories, signed several material orders, and notified Simmons to arrange for collection.

Long Fei checked the time. It was already evening, and the colony's sky had taken on the colors of dusk. Many factories had already stopped work, though some were still working overtime.

Long Fei decided to find a restaurant in the city center and fill his stomach.

The city center was fairly bustling, with quite a few bars and entertainment venues.

After eating his fill, Long Fei strolled through the city center, taking in the scenery as post-meal exercise.

When he reached a park and looked at its fountain, just as Long Fei was about to relax, he heard someone nearby call out, "Little Feifei."

Hearing that nickname, Long Fei could not help frowning. His expression turned rather unpleasant. Little Feifei had been his childhood pet name. Besides his mother, there was only one other woman who called him that.

She was his biological aunt, who was fifteen years older than him, yet usually acted more like an older sister.

Long Fei turned toward the voice and saw a beautiful young woman who looked to be in her twenties staring at him in surprise.

Long Fei had not expected to run into his biological aunt, Long Huijuan, here.

Long Huijuan had not expected to meet her nephew, whom she had not seen in years, here.

The Long Family that Long Fei had been born into was a business dynasty. The family head, Long Dingkun, was Long Fei's paternal grandfather. His father, Long Yingxuan, was Long Dingkun's third son. Long Huijuan was the family head's fourth child, his youngest child, and his only daughter. She was also the one most doted upon by the family head.

Long Yingxuan was less talented in business than his eldest and second brothers. In addition, his father did not think highly of him, so Long Yingxuan had lived relatively freely in the Long Family without too many restrictions.

Later, however, his father tried to arrange his marriage. Long Yingxuan refused his father's arrangements and even fell out with him for a time.

That was because Wu Qian, the woman Long Yingxuan married, came from an ordinary family. To the Long Family, an old clan with several centuries of history, hers was a low-status family, unworthy of marrying into such a great household.

Long Yingxuan received no blessing from the Long Family when he married. Not a single member of the Long Family attended his wedding.

Long Huijuan was the daughter Long Dingkun had late in life and was deeply loved by her father. She could be called the spoiled little princess of the Long Family. Yet for some reason, this spoiled little princess had an especially close relationship with her third brother.

When Long Fei was young after transmigrating and being reborn, this aunt often came to visit. As a child, he was frequently teased by this willful aunt. But Long Fei had not been an ordinary child; he had transmigrated and been reborn into this other world with an adult soul.

He could also tell that although Long Huijuan was his aunt, she teased him the way an older sister would tease her younger brother.

Moreover, Long Huijuan was not much older than his eldest sister, Long Kui, only ten years older than her.