The shuttle's engines came to life. Rings of dazzling light spread from the edges of the antigravity generator, sending ripples through Grey Dwarf Star's perpetually foggy atmosphere. The nimble craft slipped through a radar blind spot on the city's outskirts, then accelerated toward orbit along a shaft of sunlight.
Old Qiao felt strange "noise" in his logic chip. Thoughts and emotions that seemed not to belong to him were stirring in his mind. These sensations brought unease and lingering doubts, making him increasingly irritable.
He attributed these "malfunctions" to the damage he had suffered while fighting that bizarre giant—and to the impact of being slammed into the ground by that "little animal."
He had to finish repairing this shell as soon as possible.
The thought kept pulsing through his mind, repeatedly overpowering the other jumbled thoughts in his head.
Yet doubts still surfaced from time to time—was Luo really dead?
At first, the question had merely flashed through Old Qiao's mind when the shuttle took off. But as time passed, that sudden unease grew stronger instead, making him unconsciously recall the situation again and again, replaying every detail from the beginning of the ambush.
He realized that he truly had not witnessed Luo's death with his own eyes. At the instant the bunker and the shield behind it collapsed, the flashes of gunfire and smoke had blocked his view. Then the incendiary bombs that fell from the sky and the giant snake-woman that had emerged from who knew where had broken everyone's focus on the target.
Old Qiao slapped the control panel in front of him repeatedly, cursing with every vicious swear he could think of.
However, he no longer had the courage to return to that dark, lost city and search for Luo. He had already lost a huge