Target

Li Xiucheng had been feeling quite stifled these past few days. He was responsible for hosting Long Huijuan and Lin Yuehua aboard the ship, and he also had to find ways to avoid Lin Yuehua from time to time.

It was all because Long Huijuan, his employer, had paid so much money that she wanted to visit the escort ship.

Long Huijuan hadn't expected the escort ship to have so few crew members, with many tasks handled by automated systems.

Qian Tong and a few bodyguards, all former special forces soldiers, discovered that the automation technology within the escort ship was something even their own Hanxia Nation didn't possess.

What shocked Qian Tong and the others even more was that the MS, named Proto Gundam, was not only aesthetically pleasing in its design but also equipped with very advanced weaponry.

Many countries' MS were equipped with conventional ammunition and physical weapons. Few MS possessed beam weaponry. MS equipped with beam weapons typically belonged to special forces units or were operated by ace pilots.

The escort ship's captain had also been feeling helpless these past few days. This employer was his boss's aunt. Despite having his own luxurious tourist spaceship, surrounded by nearly ten bodyguard escort ships for protection, she had specifically sought them out for escort duty.

Among a vast fleet, their mercenary escort ship was the only one, making them seem completely out of place.

Long Fei spent most of his time hiding in his room, trying his best to avoid meeting his aunt.

"Little Fei Fei, Auntie has something to discuss with you."

"If it's about the escort ship and its automated systems, I advise you to drop the idea."

"No, no, no, it's about the MS you developed, especially that one called Proto Gundam. Auntie wants to talk to you about it."

"You can forget about that. I'm definitely not discussing it."

Long Huijuan had been visiting the escort ship from time to time these past few days, her actual goal being to discuss the MS he had developed with her nephew.

The Long family owned its private arms corporation. Long Huijuan wanted to bring her nephew Long Fei back now. If she could inform her father about his talents, perhaps she could persuade her father to cancel Long Fei's arranged marriage. Furthermore, it would allow Long Fei to remain with the Long family and utilize his talents, contributing to the family.

An alarm sounded, indicating the appearance of a pirate fleet consisting of dozens of pirate ships.

"Little Fei Fei, are you going out?" Long Huijuan asked Long Fei, who was rushing towards the cockpit, with a worried expression.

Long Fei didn't answer and directly entered the cockpit.

All four MS of the escort ship were deployed.

The ten bodyguard escort ships responsible for Long Huijuan's safety deployed all of their MS and fighter jets.

The MS deployed by Long Huijuan were all the [Annihilator] MS developed by the Long family's arms corporation, which was also one of the standard MS equipped by the Hanxia Nation's military. The fighter jets were also one of the standard Hanxia Nation equipped fighter jets, the [Leopard].

Long Huijuan's side deployed 50 Annihilator MS and 20 Leopard fighter jets.

The pirates deployed over 100 MS and more than 50 fighter jets.

The flag of this pirate group depicted a pair of handguns and a wolf.

This pirate group was named [Gun Wolf]. Its leader was a middle-aged man wearing an eye patch, named Letai. His reason for leading his pirate group here was actually to take money and do someone's bidding.

His employer's request was to capture Long Huijuan.

To ensure he could complete the mission, his employer had gifted him 100 [Tiger Blade] MS for free. These were standard MS equipped by the military of another powerful nation, the United States of America. The fighter jets were also from the United States of America's military standard equipped fighter jets, the [Fierce Wolf], with 20 units.

"It seems my employer is determined to capture this lady," Letai said, holding a photo of Long Huijuan. "All units, deploy. Shoot down all of the target's MS and fighter jets, and capture the target."

The entire pirate fleet's MS and fighter jets were deployed.

Long Huijuan's forces could only adopt a defensive formation.

The numbers were heavily skewed.

However, the pirates were ultimately a disorganized mob, and they always felt that the pilots on this side were all retired military personnel.

The engagement between the two sides couldn't suppress the enemy for a moment.

Long Huijuan, Lin Yuehua, and Qian Tong, along with the bodyguards, ran to the escort ship's control room.

Normally, the captain might have directly opened fire on outsiders, but since it was the boss's relative, the captain was momentarily embarrassed and didn't know how to proceed.

"How is Little Fei Fei doing?"

When the captain first heard "Little Fei Fei," his expression was slightly taken aback, and he immediately replied, "The boss is fine."

Long Huijuan looked around the control room. Besides the captain, there were only two other people responsible for reporting the battle situation.

At this moment, a sound came from the control console where the captain was seated.

"Captain, our ship's missiles have locked onto 20 enemy MS and 5 fighter jets. The missiles are ready."

"Fire!"

The 30 missile silos of the flanking escort ships opened, and 30 missiles were launched instantly.

Nearly a third of the locked-on targets were shot down, while the remaining ones evaded the missiles.

"Captain, a total of 60 missiles are flying towards our ship. The 60 missiles have been locked onto by the point-defense cannons, and they are only 30 kilometers away from our ship."

"Engage point-defense cannons."

All missiles were shot down, with the last missile being destroyed 450 meters away from the escort ship.

Long Huijuan, Qian Tong, and the bodyguards were all astonished by the results.

What surprised Long Huijuan even more was that the escort ship's combat operations were entirely handled by the automated system, with the captain making the decisions regarding operational commands.

Long Huijuan had initially thought that the automated system on the escort ship was only responsible for maintenance and some logistical tasks. She hadn't expected the automated system to be capable of handling combat operations. If her nephew Long Fei's technology were brought back to the Long family, then her nephew would be a great contributor to the family.

Because her nephew's technology could reduce the manpower pressure on the military and could also be used in civilian spaceships, this technology would be highly sought after.

If the Long family mastered this automated technology, they would gain immeasurable benefits.

At this moment, a bodyguard beside Long Huijuan whispered in her ear, informing her of the current battlefield situation.

Currently, the pirate group, which had the numerical advantage, was being subtly suppressed by a smaller group.

"What in the world is going on? Why are we, with our superior numbers, being suppressed by a smaller force?" Letai said, clearly annoyed.

"Captain, we've discovered an MS with an unusual appearance. Many of our men have been shot down by this MS," a spotter reported to the captain.

"Bring me a photo of that MS."

As Letai looked at the photo of the Proto Gundam, his brow furrowed. He suddenly felt that the employer who hired him was not as simple as they seemed.

"Damn it, so you were using me. On the surface, you told me to capture someone, but in reality, you were sending my men to their deaths. You wanted to test the performance of the opponent's newly developed MS to obtain the data you desire," Letai deduced the employer's objective.

"How many of our men did that MS shoot down in total?"