Galaxy of Giant Ships: Starting with Data-Driven Warships

Chapter 13 Return

It was a colossal creature nearly five meters long, covered in angular, grayish-brown rock armor. Its limbs were thick and powerful, and its tail was long and flexible. Most terrifying of all was its head—a huge mouth that occupied almost half of its skull, with a dark red tongue that moved in and out constantly, and a viscous, corrosive liquid could be vaguely seen flowing between its teeth.

Star Rock Lizard.

Chen Yao instantly recalled the information he had learned about common creatures in the starry sky during his time at the family academy.

As a species of astronomical creature with an extremely wide distribution, the Star Rock Lizard is mostly found in the asteroid belt and occasionally on the surface of some planets rich in mineral resources.

Their bodies are covered with a highly defensive layer of rock armor, which is difficult for ordinary attacks of the same level to penetrate. Their tongues can also spray corrosive venom, making them capable of both ranged attacks and close-quarters combat, and extremely dangerous.

Click!

After the second attack, the standard psionic shield could no longer hold, and the components fell into a state of complete overload, requiring half an hour to reactivate.

Chen Yao was not alarmed by this. Compared to the [Standard Psionic Shield], the level 20 [Chikan Copper Mothership Armor] was the strongest defensive measure currently available to the Sky Patrol.

The remaining energy from the Star Rock Lizard's tongue strikes the Chikan Copper Mother's armor, only causing a faint spark and virtually no damage to the ship's armor.

With a slight sense of relief, Chen Yao immediately controlled the [Particle Concentration Cannon] and the two standard [Pseudo-Energy Secondary Cannons] to launch an attack.

A deep blue light rapidly converged at the bow of the Sky Patrol, and a solid particle beam shot out, aiming at the Star Rock Lizard that was adjusting its posture and preparing to launch its third attack.

laugh!

The particle beam struck the Star Rock Lizard's body with precision; however, it only tilted back slightly, and a shower of fine stone fragments exploded on its rocky armor before exhibiting no further reaction.

The Star Rock Lizard shook its massive head, a faint hint of mockery flashing in its dark red vertical pupils. Then, it opened its enormous maw again, spraying a cloud of dark green corrosive venom with a pungent, fishy stench towards the Sky Patrol.

The venom splashed onto the Chikan copper armor, making a hissing, corrosive sound, but the armor still shone brightly. Although there was some damage, it was far within the acceptable range.

In the warship's main control room, Chen Yao narrowed his eyes, his expression not pleasant.

Although the level 10 [Particle Energy Cannon] is a blue main cannon, the Sky Patrol Fireship hull that carries it is only at Tier 0, so it cannot truly unleash 100% of its Tier 1 power.

Therefore, it is difficult to inflict fatal damage on a Tier 1 creature like the Star Rock Lizard, which is known for its defense.

"We can't keep this up any longer. There's less than half an hour left before the Sky Patrol's return time. We have to deal with them as soon as possible, otherwise, if we miss the return time, we'll be left to wander alone in this unknown alien world..."

Thinking about the consequences of missing the return, Chen Yao's eyes gradually became anxious.

At one point, a glint suddenly appeared in his eyes, as if he had thought of a solution.

"Sky Patrol, you control the warship and engage the Star Rock Lizard. Remember, just keep it occupied. If necessary, activate the 'Red Rock Mother Guardian' trait of the [Red Rock Mother Ship Armor]!"

【Roger that, Captain!】

Upon issuing the command, he quickly stood up from his seat, raised his right hand, activated the dimensional secret realm mark on his palm, and the next second, he vanished from the control room.

Within the dimensional secret realm, Chen Yao quickly located the target asteroid.

With the help of his exoskeleton armor and handheld planet-mining device, Chen Yao completed the processing of the asteroid in just over ten minutes.

When he returned to the main control room of the Sky Patrol, he had more than a hundred low-grade planetary origin crystals in his hand.

"【Particle Concentration Cannon】, Upgrade!"

After ten uses, the [Particle Concentration Cannon] was upgraded to level 20.

At this point, only ten minutes remained before the Sky Surveyor's return time.

A cold glint flashed in Chen Yao's eyes, and he let out a soft chuckle.

"Again!"

This time, the Sky Patrol no longer deliberately dodged or avoided, but instead, contrary to its usual practice, charged towards the Star Rock Lizard that was still lingering not far away.

The blue particle beam shot out again, but the effect was completely different from before.

The extremely concentrated beam of light pierced through the Star Rock Lizard's body. The layer of rock armor that had previously been impossible to penetrate finally showed a clear crack, and dark red fluid seeped from the wound, condensing into tiny drops of blood in the vacuum.

The Star Rock Lizard let out a painful roar—a terrifying howl clearly visible through the air patrol radar.

It seemed to finally realize the danger and turned to flee.

However, would Chen Yao give it that opportunity?

The Fission Core Engine was running at full power, propelling the Sky Patrol closely behind. The two Psionic Secondary Cannons fired continuously, and the Particle Concentration Cannons, which completed a buffer every few seconds, ensured that every shot landed precisely on the same spot on the Star Rock Lizard.

As the rock armor shattered and blood and flesh flew everywhere, the Star Rock Lizard's massive body slowed its escape even further amidst its mournful cries and roars.

Finally, the moment the seventh particle beam pierced its body, the massive Star Rock Lizard completely lost its life.

The quest "Hunting Beyond Tier" – defeating a Tier 1 Star Rock Lizard – is now complete.

Chen Yao ignored the "Cross-Rank Hunting" mission and instead controlled the Sky Patrol to quickly approach the Star Rock Lizard's corpse. The corpse of a first-rank creature still had some value. After storing the corpse in the Dimensional Secret Realm, he quickly turned to the asteroid where the Soul-Gathering Stone was located.

This asteroid is over three kilometers in diameter and is not within the scope of what can be directly collected from the dimensional realm. However, fortunately, it contains only 1.2 kilograms of Soul Stones, making it very easy to mine.

A few minutes later.

laugh--

The Sky Patrol's hatch closed, and Chen Yao slumped into the captain's chair, his face deathly pale.

Previously, in order to collect and mine those twenty-odd resource points, he had already consumed more than 80% of his mental energy. In addition, with the continuous exploration over the next few hours and the tense battle against a higher-level opponent, it can be said that his mental energy was now extremely exhausted.

He bit his tongue hard to clear his mind a little. Chen Yao suppressed his fatigue and steered the Sky Patrol to a relatively open area, quietly waiting for the warship's return point to arrive in a few minutes.

Then, recalling his tremendous gains, a joyful smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

"No matter what, this expedition... was worth it."

Time passed slowly, and at a certain moment, a strong spatial pull descended upon the Sky Patrol.

The next second, the Sky Surveyer quietly disappeared into this asteroid belt, leaving only the mined asteroids as a testament to its presence.