You've Been Ridden

While that's what he said, Yu Lian didn't have an Atomic Light Spear snatched from some Imperial Star Knight, nor a prototype Tempest Energy Cannon stolen from the Alliance's Future Star Labs, nor the psychic divine sword obtained from the Enlightener ruins that could cleave through dragon scales and Titan ship armor.

He was currently a half-cripple unable to move, with only a Sergeant Major, who was possibly a future celebrity, by his side, and a group of seemingly unreliable guards, commonly known as "Guard Team Minions" or "odd-jobbers."

They truly were unreliable. A group of able-bodied men lined up, standing their ground and firing their rifles with "pa pa pa" sounds, lacking dispersed formations, crossfire, or layered advancing fire positions. If one wasn't careful, they might mistake it for a line battle formation.

Seriously, what kind of self-important fools did these old men think they were, acting like battleships?

Yu Lian knew it wasn't really their fault. The entire galaxy had received the gifts of their predecessors too early, leading to rather skewed technological trees. Not to mention the weak and incompetent Commonwealth humans, even the two overlords currently dividing the galaxy, the Empire and the Alliance, had infantry tactics that were just as pathetic.

However, a team of over ten people, without supporting heavy firepower, without transport vehicles, and with only four Exoskeletons – one of which was currently on him and likely broken – was simply unbearable. If this were the Empire, even the guard troops of inland lords wouldn't make such a foolish mistake.

The weakness of the Blue Star Commonwealth humans was indeed inherited! Yu Lian compared the two sets of memories and felt his eyes light up.

Fortunately, although their own team was unreliable, the enemies weren't an overwhelming swarm of vicious claws or Leviathan-class behemoths capable of directly engaging battleships. They were the most common Zerglings and Hydralisks. In Yu Lian's era, they were mere cannon fodder and support for the Zerg swarm, useful for terror attacks behind enemy lines or occasionally as emergency rations. But on the front lines, facing a fully equipped regular army, they were just food.

The guards indeed lacked tactical acumen, but they were armed with electromagnetic rifles that could spit out a thousand rounds per minute, forming a dense barrage. Although the insectoid monsters had evolved carapaces that could withstand bullets, they were still biological creatures with limits. In Yu Lian's vision, less than one in a hundred actually reached them, and all of them were wounded.

"Baka!" Lieutenant Mondsen shouted loudly.

"Bien!" The burliest man in the squad immediately let out a roar that no normal person could possibly produce. He took a stride forward, stepping out of the line, and directly lifted the Power Axe at his waist.

His Power Axe was also more than a full size larger than a normal soldier's, its blade unfolding like a wagon wheel. Yet, the Sergeant wielded it with effortless grace, swinging it with the speed of thunder and radiating an imposing aura.

The first Zergling to break through the net of fire was smashed on the head by the great axe, instantly shattering into pieces. That wasn't all; the Zergling's corpse flew backward like a struck baseball, hitting a Hydralisk.

The latter, which had already deployed its carapace to spit projectiles, was knocked back into the barrage and instantly turned into a sieve.

"For the Commonwealth!" The Lieutenant, also a burly man, shouted and leaped behind the Sergeant. They stood back-to-back, the Lieutenant wielding a Chainsaw Sword emitting a piercing "buzzing" sound. With a sweep, he split another Zergling in half. The timing of his sword strike was so precise, it was as if the Zergling had lunged directly into the blade.

Clearly, a master swordsman. He was likely using the "Imperial Stormtrooper Combat Sword Technique, Type 1," also known as "Anti-Beast Type," which was specifically designed for fighting large beasts. Although developed by Imperial psychic nobles, it was a common technique that anyone joining the Imperial military could learn, and it had now spread throughout the galaxy.

Truly, two iron-willed heroes! One possessed natural strength, the other exceptional swordsmanship. In a cold weapon era, their martial prowess alone would have earned them a place in history and even the right to establish their own fiefdoms.

He felt he had to do something, and moved his body again. This time, a piercing pain shot up from his lower body. However, at least his upper body had regained sensation.

Yu Lian's upper body was only clad in a field uniform, while his lower body was still encased in the Exoskeleton, or rather, what was left of it.

"Weapons, are there any weapons?" Yu Lian fumbled around and actually felt the grip of a rifle by the side of the power stretcher. He checked it briefly; the magazine was full, and the battery still had over half its charge, which was enough.

...Alright, he had a weapon. But now there was a technical problem: he couldn't even lift his upper body, let alone aim. Who was he supposed to shoot?

Yu Lian tried to move his lower body again. Not only did it not budge, but the pain made him break out in a cold sweat.

The steel alloy armor could provide him with three times his own strength, allow him to run at a hundred-meter-per-second sprint for half an hour, carry two thousand rounds of ammunition, ten grenades, and a Power Axe or Chainsaw Sword that a normal person couldn't even swing. But now, it had become a shackle that restricted his basic movements.

What a feeble body.

Also, where exactly was I injured? Yu Lian couldn't help but mutter softly.

"Your waist suffered a severe injury." The one who answered him was Sergeant Major Sirica beside him. The beautiful young woman, possibly a future celebrity, answered while concentrating intently on her shooting.

Unlike the others, who were firing in bursts, this young lady was consistently firing in three-round bursts, each one precisely hitting the Zerglings that broke through the barrage, always killing them completely. She perfectly supported the two fierce teammates engaged in close combat.

Now, Yu Lian was at least eighty percent certain that she was indeed that person.

"I'm sorry... Even though you risked your life to pull Little Qiao out of the jaws of the bugs and suffered such a serious injury, he couldn't be saved." The speaker this time was the other of the only two women in the squad, a girl with an ordinary appearance, figure, and demeanor. A red Rod of Asclepius Emblem on her uniform indicated her identity as a Medic.

However, didn't the female medic have a medical Special Power Exoskeleton? Did the guards not value technical talent?

Yu Lian thought this, but the Medic lady had already picked up a thick syringe and, without a word, injected it into her own waist.

It hurt sharply the moment it was inserted, but then a cool sensation followed, the pain became almost imperceptible, and his stamina seemed to have recovered considerably. At the very least, Yu Lian could now manage to prop himself up halfway, and his field of vision widened.

"Second Lieutenant, you need to rest! Don't worry, we'll definitely repel them..." The Medic was startled by Yu Lian's movement and quickly stepped forward to persuade him, but the latter shouted, "Ina, shoot the Hydralisks!"

Staff Sergeant Ina Sirica of the Blue Star Commonwealth Xin Yumen Defense Guard was taken aback, thinking, You've only been here for less than three days, since when did we get so close? But what came out of her mouth was, "What are Hydralisks?"

The Sergeant Major naturally didn't know this "military scientific name" that wouldn't be recognized by the various galactic powers for several more years.

"Those big cobras! When they open their carapaces, they're about to spit spikes. Aim for their chests beneath their carapaces!"

When Hydralisks spit spikes, they were at their strongest. The future, fully evolved Hydralisk units could spit spikes thousands of meters into the air, still capable of piercing 2cm of alloy armor.

But at the same time, this was also their weakest point. The moment their carapaces opened meant their central nervous system and tendons within their chests were completely exposed.

Of course, catching that split-second shooting opportunity on a battlefield thick with gunpowder smoke would test a soldier's marksmanship. This wasn't like the future where every mechanized infantry soldier was equipped with individual targeting radar – even space battleships still had plenty of hand-cranked anti-aircraft guns back then.

"Pa pa pa! Pa pa pa! Pa pa pa!"

Sergeant Major Ina Sirica began to shoot, still in her classic three-round bursts. She didn't disappoint Yu Lian, perfectly demonstrating the marksmanship of a potential future celebrity. Each three-round burst inevitably resulted in a Hydralisk rolling and dying with fragments of flesh and blood spilling from behind its carapace.

Thus, for a full minute, not a single spike was successfully spat.

However, perhaps due to the absence of Ina's precise targeting, more Zerglings did break through the barrage. One even bypassed the interception of the swordsman Lieutenant and the strongman Sergeant and lunged at a soldier.

This private was completely stunned. Wearing only a standard field uniform and a bulletproof vest, he couldn't possibly withstand the creature's sharp mandibles and claws. He was about to be killed in one blow.

Yu Lian raised his rifle and fired a burst. He was fortunate that his current body, though feeble and seemingly crippled, still possessed some shooting instinct. Combined with the combat experience honed in his memories, he accurately sent bullets into the Zergling's gaping maw, then blew its head off.

However, the fact that he, a cripple, had to join the fight only meant one thing: they were truly in deep trouble.