"Hahaha, Gaia, you can't escape! I've already told Lord Carlos, the Evil Star God."
At that moment,
a voice filled with arrogant glee rang out from the sky. The Evil Moon Warrior Anubi descended from above, fixing his gaze on the group before him. "Hand over the Star of the Galaxy, and you might be spared. Otherwise, when Lord Carlos arrives, destruction will be your only option."
"If you want the Star of the Galaxy, come and take it."
Gaia swung the Mysterious Iron Laser Gun in his hand. His voice was cold, and his blue Electronic Eye flickered as he stared fixedly at the Evil Moon Warrior Anubi in the distance.
Protecting the Star of the Galaxy was the mission entrusted to them, the Cosmic Star Gods.
"Stubborn fool."
Seeing this, the Evil Moon Warrior Anubi's crimson Electronic Eye flickered. The Evil Light Ball in his hand creaked as he squeezed it. He pointed at Gaia and the others. "Hidden Wolf, take the Star of the Galaxy. I'll hold this guy off."
"Roar!"
At Anubi's command, Hidden Wolf, who had already arrived, slowly crawled out from behind a pile of ruins. His paws struck the ground with heavy thuds.
Like a tiger-wolf, he pounced at Gaia and the others.
"Find somewhere to hide! I'll deal with them."
The Mysterious Iron Laser Gun in Gaia's hand split open in the middle, revealing a cold, dark muzzle. He fired a blue laser at Hidden Wolf as he lunged toward them.
With a bang, Gaia's attack sent Hidden Wolf flying more than ten meters. He slid across the dry, cold ground, leaving two conspicuous tracks behind.
"Gaia, I'm your opponent!"
Anubi quickly closed in on Gaia. The Evil Light Ball in his hand shot out streak after streak of purple Evil Light Rays, attacking Gaia.
Any Evil Light Rays that missed would strike the ground and leave crater-like dents.
Some of the aircraft wreckage that hadn't yet been dismantled came apart instantly.
"Hidden Wolf, hurry and catch those three children! Get the Star of the Galaxy back!"
As the Evil Moon Warrior held Gaia off, he reminded Hidden Wolf to go after the Star of the Galaxy.
Getting his hands on it would earn him a great merit.
"Roar!"
Hidden Wolf had nearly lost his ability to fight after Gaia's attack. He struggled to his feet, shook his still-dizzy head, then thundered across the ground toward the group of humans to seize the Star of the Galaxy.
"Run!"
Seeing this, Lily cursed her luck and hurriedly called for Dilu, Yaoyao, and Xiao An to follow her.
This wasn't the original storyline anymore.
Yaoyao wasn't going to get captured by the Evil Moon Warrior Anubi out of spite.
The three human children heard the pilot's words and ran after her. "Where are we going?"
"My spaceship, the Lingdong!"
Lily glanced back at Hidden Wolf, who was rapidly closing in. Her eyes were full of worry.
"Boom!"
All of a sudden,
just as the wolf-like robot pounced at them, the main cannon on the Lingdong, parked in the distance, fired a blazing white laser that struck Hidden Wolf.
In an instant, the main cannon's laser sent Hidden Wolf flying.
Surprisingly,
the attack hadn't killed Hidden Wolf in one shot, but it had given Lily and the others more time to escape.
"Nice shot!"
Seeing this,
Lily couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Thanks!"
"Relax. Just doing what I do."
Night Cloud's confident voice came through Lily's communicator.
He was a professional when it came to firing a cannon.
It was a skill he'd had to learn to travel the universe alone, though he was a little rusty now.
The good thing was,
he'd hit his target with one shot. If he'd missed, he wouldn't have been much of a professional!
"Look at you, getting all cocky."
Hearing the confidence in Night Cloud's voice, Lily scolded him. "Zhuoya, open the hatch and let us in."
"Understood. Opening the hatch now."
At Lily's words, Zhuoya, the Lingdong's intelligent assistant, slowly opened the hatch at the rear of the ship. It was the only entrance.
The rest of the ship
was sealed off, with no way to get inside.
As soon as the hatch opened, Lily ran into the ship. "Grant Night Cloud authorization to pilot the Lingdong."
"Night Cloud's authorization to pilot the Lingdong has been received. Unlocking the cockpit hatch."
After receiving authorization for Night Cloud to pilot the Lingdong, Zhuoya immediately unlocked the cockpit hatch.
"Hey, hurry up and start the ship! We need to get out of here first. This is insane."
After making sure the three children had all entered the Lingdong, Lily breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you all right?"
"Y-yeah, we're fine!"
"Huff, huff! I'm exhausted."
Xiao An rested both hands on his knees and panted. Looking down at the machine wolf that had gotten back up and was charging toward them again, he cried, "Oh no, it's coming again!"
"Zhuoya, close the hatch right now!"
Hearing Xiao An's cry, Lily was startled. When she saw Hidden Wolf thundering toward them, she shouted an order.
"Understood."
Zhuoya, the Lingdong's intelligent assistant, received the order and immediately carried it out.
The whirring of gears filled the air.
The hatch slowly closed.
Seeing this, Hidden Wolf pounced toward the ship, ready to leap into the Lingdong before the hatch shut.
But
it was already too late.
In the end,
he slammed straight into the hatch and was left seeing stars.
"Wow, is this your spaceship? It's so cool!"
At that moment,
Dilu looked at the cold, silver walls around him, his eyes full of wonder and amazement.
This was a starship!
It was his first time aboard one.
That's right.
The Lingdong was a starship, not a spaceship like Lily had called it.
The design of a spaceship was very different from that of a starship.
Starships were built for battle.
They were a world apart from civilian spaceships.
"Come with me!"
Lily glanced at the three human children who'd brought danger down on her, then strode toward the cockpit.
Why hadn't they started the ship yet?
Dilu, Yaoyao, and Xiao An immediately followed Lily.
"Gaia, prepare to die!"
The Evil Moon Warrior Anubi glared angrily at Gaia.
As soon as he finished speaking,
the Evil Moon Warrior Anubi swiftly transformed into a crescent moon. The power of the Evil Moon gathered from all directions and poured into his metal body.
"Evil Moon Shadow!"
In an instant, he transformed back into his humanoid form. A tremendous force surged through the Evil Light Ball, his ultimate weapon, as though he were about to unleash a full-power strike from a fantasy novel.
"Light Energy Convergence!"
Seeing this, Gaia wasn't about to stand there and let the Evil Moon Warrior Anubi attack him.
He transformed into his spherical form. Sand began to stir around him, and a fierce gale swirled around his sphere.
Surging energy rushed toward him.
"Whoosh!"
Gaia transformed in the blink of an eye, his cold voice sounding almost comically dramatic. "Blue Aurora Slash!"
Anubi's Evil Light Ball fired an attack as powerful as the Lingdong's main cannon. The recoil even sent him stumbling back nearly a meter.
And Gaia?
He tilted to the side, dodging Anubi's full-power strike. Gripping his Mysterious Iron Laser Sword, he moved like a player using a melee attack in the Anti-gravity Engine dungeon in Star Warframe. Though he'd been ten meters from Anubi, he suddenly seemed to be pulled toward him like a magnet.
Gaia swung the Mysterious Iron Laser Sword down at the Evil Moon Warrior Anubi's head.
"Ah!"
The Evil Moon Warrior Anubi had just raised his Evil Light Ball to defend himself when he felt an overwhelming force strike him. Like a cannonball, he was blasted out of the sky and crashed into the cold ruins with a roar. He couldn't get back up for quite some time.
Aircraft wreckage flew in every direction.
"Are you all right?"
After taking down the Evil Moon Warrior Anubi, Gaia immediately went to look for the four humans. He didn't finish Anubi off right away.
The Star of the Galaxy was the most important thing.
Those four humans were the most important, too.
His mission was to protect the Star of the Galaxy and those four humans.
Inside the cockpit,
Night Cloud sat in the pilot's seat and looked innocently at Lily. "It's not that I won't take off. Your ship's acting up again."
"Damn it, I'll go fix it."
The alarm on Lily's face gave way to irritation.
At the worst possible moment, the junky ship had broken down again.
"Wait, aren't you the engineer? Shouldn't you be the one fixing the ship?"
Suddenly,
Lily remembered something. Hold on, I'm not the engineer.
The guy in the pilot's seat was the ship's engineer.
"How could I possibly fix the ship's system in such a short time? The whole thing has 1.5 PB of data. Just checking the circuits for a problem is a huge headache."
Night Cloud spread his hands.
"Fine, I'll go fix the ship for now. Once we're safe, you're responsible for fixing it properly," Lily said.
"I'm not an engineer, so why should I fix your ship?"
Night Cloud blinked. Kid, are you full of questions or what?
"You eat my food, live under my roof, and wear my clothes. What's wrong with asking you to fix one thing?"
Lily glared at him. You eat my food, live under my roof, and I ask you to do one job. Why do you have to make such a fuss?
"So that handsome guy is Sister Lily's boyfriend!"
Yaoyao gazed dreamily at Night Cloud's handsome, dashing face, which wasn't the least bit feminine. Her voice was full of disappointment.
Why did such a handsome guy have to have a girlfriend?
"He's just a freeloader."
Dilu curled his lip.
What good was being handsome?
He was still living off a woman.
"But he's an engineer!" Xiao An muttered.
Being an engineer was a sought-after profession.
In this era, spaceship engineers were guaranteed a steady income. There were some problems that machines couldn't handle, and only an engineer could fix them.
"So what if he's an engineer? He's still living off a woman."
Dilu's voice was still full of disdain.
"Heh!"
Night Cloud just snorted. He didn't bother arguing with the little brat who'd been spoiled by his parents.
Night Cloud was several thousand years old—or at least one or two thousand. He wasn't about to pick a fight with a child like that.
That would ruin his dignity and image.
At that moment,
Gaia's voice rang out in everyone's ears.
"Are you all right?"
His voice was full of concern as he asked.
Or rather,
he was more concerned about the Star of the Galaxy.
"We're fine. Is Anubi dead?" Dilu asked tensely.
"No. I only injured him. Protecting you and the Star of the Galaxy is what matters most," Gaia said.
"Oh. Will he come after us?"
Dilu's voice was filled with worry.
What should they do if Anubi caught up again?
"Don't worry. He won't be able to catch up for a while."
Gaia said this with complete confidence.
He was on his own natal star. Even though the Interstellar Energy was extremely weak at the moment, the closer he was to his natal star, the more powerful the force he could unleash.
Besides, he was still on his own natal star.
"By the way, Gaia, the Star of the Galaxy seemed to guide me to see another Cosmic Star God. I don't know whether that god is the Apollo you're looking for."