The internal communication quickly connected.

Fu Luo: "I am a B-level soldier from the General Staff Office, under orders to carry out an on-site communication station detection mission."

"...Fu Luo, it's me." It was Yang Ning's voice. Fu Luo wasn't sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt that Colonel Yang sounded a bit guilty and weak when he said this.

At the same time, Fu Luo saw clearly what the two groups of pirates were fighting over - two medium-sized transport ships with Earth Allied Forces military markings were hovering there quietly.

She could almost imagine what had happened.

The annoying Yesi excitedly said beside her, "Right, right, what do you guys call this kind of situation again? One watermelon kills two people?"

Fu Luo: "...Two peaches kill three warriors?"

Colonel Yang paused for a moment, lightly clearing his throat, and quickly found a very specious way of putting it: "Traces of space pirates were discovered in our camp's alert zone. To prevent our movements from being exposed, a small fleet was dispatched to lure the enemy here. For safety, please be sure to fight quickly. The General Staff Office's small ship C18 happens to be passing by, please cooperate with the action."

The ship Yesi brought out was C18.

Fu Luo: "...Yes."

After following Yesi for a while, she felt that her heart had grown a bit more shrewd again.

For example, Fu Luo couldn't help but wonder why Colonel Yang was personally commanding on the scene. It didn't feel like handling an emergency situation, it was more like testing the waters...

Fu Luo quietly asked Yesi, "Now that the umbilical cord between the fleet and Earth is severed, are we going to have to live by looting from now on?"

Who knew that the internal communication system was more sensitive than Fu Luo imagined. Yang Ning accidentally overheard.

He coughed dryly to remind Fu Luo to pay attention, then said in a voice full of righteousness, "C18, report your coordinates and prepare to rejoin the formation."

Fu Luo stuck out her tongue, read out the coordinates, and joined her first ever action to rob pirates.

Life is so full of surprises. Half a year ago, she was just an ordinary human who almost developed space phobia when disconnected from headquarters in the vast universe.

The Second Department, lurking in the darkness, was like a pack of patient wolves. The Earth Allied Forces's stealth technology was superb. Even after rejoining the formation, Fu Luo could only see vague shadows through the telescope.

Her ears were filled with the calm but explosive discussion between Colonel Yang and Yesi, a former pirate leader.

Yang Ning: "Charging straight in with the curvature drive could lead to a tough battle. Ideally we should wait a bit, but I'm afraid they'll fight to mutual destruction. It would be a pity to lose so many warships, resources and supplies."

"No worries, just wait," Yesi said. "Close-quarters battles between pirate groups are nothing new, just three moves - first destroy their power, then break through their defenses, finally use resonance to take out the living things inside and capture the ships. Unlike you regular military folks who are rich and imposing, firing missiles at each other from afar."

Yang Ning calmly explained, "No choice, space pirates are all desperate people making a living in space, while most of our soldiers properly attended military academies and learned from textbooks. When they really get to space, it's already not bad if they don't develop space phobia. They have no experience. Those capable of operating such precision close-quarters battles are probably only in those few special forces units."

Yesi snorted, taking that as acknowledgement of his explanation. "It's all a matter of habit - if you want to take advantage, wait for the moment when one side is salvaging the spoils of war."

Yang Ning understood as soon as he heard this - the protective net has an opening when salvaging spoils.

"Can't rush." Yang Ning said cautiously, "Scouts 1 to 13, move out and clear the surroundings. Don't let anyone fish in troubled waters."

Inside C18, Yesi hesitated for a moment, then nodded, acknowledging the other man's caution.

"Sometimes being human requires a certain imagination," Yesi said earnestly, pointing to himself. "But when executing, you still need a bit of trivial planning."

"Too bad the pirate groups don't have large or giant ships." Yang Ning, who only does the "trivial planning" part of the work, said with some lingering interest.

Fu Luo vaguely heard his implication - too bad the sheep aren't fat enough.

Yesi: "Even a mosquito is still meat. Too big, and with your strength, you might not be able to swallow it."

Fu Luo thought, *No way, if you encounter someone stubborn, you can't beat them.*

Yang Ning sighed, "Yeah, let's take it slow."

Yang Ning's thought was clear: *There will always come a day to pass this way, we need to make them all leave behind toll money.*

"Accumulate combat power, find a way to rendezvous with our people. I don't believe the space pirate groups are a monolith. Forces that should be won over must be won over, even if only temporarily - in extraordinary times, we can only take some extraordinary measures." Yang Ning said softly, "Our work pressure is not small."

Colonel Yang is talented. He expressed his intention to stop at nothing, not ruling out allying with certain forces among the space pirate groups, and then kicking them away after the alliance, in a very euphemistic and pleasant way.

Yesi never thought that in this lifetime he could go back to his old profession. He seemed quite sentimental while being at ease. He blocked the internal communication channel and said to Fu Luo, "I used to dislike Colonel Yang for being so hypocritical at such a young age. Now I realize I didn't understand enough. He actually has a very promising future."

Fu Luo tried to discern which part of his statement was actually a compliment for Colonel Yang, but she failed. She could only concentrate on the battle in front of her, observing while taking notes on the reader.

These were the first battle case notes that were truly her own. Unlike the one Ye Wenlin gave her, every stroke here was from her own experience, not a single word came from literature.

If it were me, how would I fight?

Fu Luo stared at the perilous battlefield. Gradually, all the noise in her heart disappeared. Since she wasn't a pilot, she even ignored the occasional mission relay sound in the communicator.

Cut off the enemy's retreat?

No, we don't have that many troops. It's easy to alert them when going around. What about directly inserting in the middle?

The opponent will be in a fluster, and then retreat in a thirty-degree direction, so...

At this time, the 'Flame Pirates' could no longer hold on and split half their forces to cover a retreat, trying to preserve their strength to escape.

They're done for - Fu Luo, who was rapidly deducing all possible situations in her mind, immediately noticed that the commander of the flame-marked pirates made a fatal mistake.

At a time like this, going all-out to break through might still give them a slight chance. This petty tactic of dividing forces will quickly be picked apart by the opponent one by one...

At the same time, Yang Ning chuckled softly over the communicator: "Everyone, warm up the curvature drive system."

The "Circle Pirates" revealed a fanged sneer, opening their bloody maw in the darkness, slowly swallowing the "Flame Pirates". All the small warships of the "Flame Pirates" were trapped inside the encirclement, their defense systems destroyed one after another. Many that suddenly stopped moving likely had their crews already killed by resonance.

Afterwards, the protective layers of the few remaining "Flame Pirate" warships abruptly turned white, signaling surrender.

The pure white protective shields slowly faded away as the power and weapons systems shut down together, extinguishing their flames of battle.

The "Circle Pirates" slowly converged, contentedly contracting their forces, preparing to tally up their spoils.

Right at that moment!

A massive ship suddenly rose up in the distance—a soundless ghost ship with an enormous national flag emblem and the huge word 'Lancang' visible—making the pirates' small and medium vessels look like ants in comparison. Before the other side could react, the next instant, a close-range high-energy cannon blast came crashing down on them.

Of course enough ants can bite an elephant to death, but when facing this kind of giant ship, it's better for the measly two small fleets with only medium combat ships to flee and evade.

The pirates' mobility was undeniably fast. Some hadn't even finished reattaching their removed protective layers before scurrying off like a swarm to avoid the attack. At this time, the stealth ships that had long lain in ambush suddenly appeared right in the middle of the entire pirate formation.

The curvature drive completed a short-range jump!

Large-scale resonance cannons exploded, invisible shockwaves sweeping out. The C18 almost became a weapon dancing like the wind in Yesi's hands, shuttling through the pirate group as if entering a realm of no resistance, sealing throats upon drawing blood. While the enemy formation was in chaos, he swiftly destroyed twelve power systems in a row.

Only then did the mirage of the "Lancang" on the horizon disperse, as if it had never existed after that expanse of darkness.

Indeed, the Earth Allied Forces military had no stealth technology for ships above cruiser size to approach from close range. Something as huge as the Lancang, on par with the Trojan Horse No. 1, absolutely could not get close undetected.

Insiders could tell at a glance it was fake, but it was enough to fool these country bumpkin space pirates who had never entered a city.

Spatial projection technology was one of the major inventions showcased in China's National Day military parade. Western media, eager to stir up trouble, once called it the most useless vanity project of the 24th century... Colonel Yang proved with facts that there is no useless technology, only incompetent commanders.

Yesi's eyes flashed with a wily gleam as he asked Fu Luo: "Did you see clearly? Want to give it a try?"

Poor Fu Luo didn't react to what he meant before she felt the world spinning, the entire cockpit relocating.

This was a feature designed for the special situation of the pilot unexpectedly dying, colloquially known as the "one-click pilot swap" function.

Yesi, that old man with a screw loose in his head, "kicked the bucket" midway while in close combat with the space pirates!

Yesi: "Let me see what you learned in the simulation cabin. Go on, kid! Let's see whose fists are harder, yours or these space pirates'!"

She dodged an extremely close high-energy cannon blast. At the same time, the commander's voice came over the communicator: "C18, three enemy fighters are trying to break through near you. Stop them!"

Fu Luo: "Holy sh*t..."

Yesi's laughter shattered in the glare of the high-energy cannon.

Fu Luo quickly gathered her wits, pulling the small fighter into an especially crazy wide-angle turn, hitting the tail of the first enemy ship while in high-speed motion.

Yesi: "Yeah, you missed!"

Before his mocking words finished, that struck enemy ship, under the effect of inertia, maintained its high speed and crashed into the second enemy ship, perfectly blocking its path.

The second enemy ship had no choice but to evade, its line of sight obscured by allied ships. The second high-energy cannon arrived, and this time, its power system was destroyed with extremely high precision.

The third enemy ship seemed to be going all-out, fiercely charging over.

Fu Luo was wildly daring, pushing the power system to its maximum as she dodged left and right to evade two high-energy cannon blasts. While airborne, she forcefully activated the capture net, scooping up the first ship with its burning rear. She was instantly pulled into a self-spin, tumbling through a beautiful and lethal arc in the air. Fu Luo switched the ammunition with a "click" to a type with higher precision and more concentrated energy.

The cold crosshairs of the scope reflected in her retinas. At some point, she had gone from a rookie who only knew how to mechanically use "A-system aiming" to being accustomed to the feel of the "C-system".

One kilometer collision warning, at high speed, reduced to five hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters in a flash...

Almost crashed!

The extremely thin high-energy cannon was like a lethal embroidery needle in space. As the C18 brushed past the enemy ship, it pierced straight into its power system, extinguishing it in midair.

Yesi screamed: "Good shot, beautiful!"

Fu Luo pulled the emergency brake valve. The first ship with its tail hit had wisely automatically shut off its attacks and engines, raising a white protective shield to signal surrender.

Yesi, who loved courting death, sang with soaring spirits after getting his fill: "Car car car car car, a car car car car car..."

An exhausted Fu Luo casually wiped the cold sweat from her palms, leaning back heavily and letting out a deep exhale.

Some nerve misfired and she actually continued Yesi's song.

Fu Luo: "...charging towards your papa."

Yesi was greatly surprised: "Oh! Even young people like you watch such ancient works?"

Fu Luo: "Probably because I prefer a cold style of humor."

Yesi's mouth twitched: "I can see that."

The two fell silent for a moment, and Fu Luo finally couldn't help but laugh.

Being crazy like Yesi wasn't so bad. At least in his eyes, perhaps the treacherous universe and life-or-death battlefields were just a place filled with cold jokes.

Thinking about it this way, many things suddenly didn't seem so scary.

Just then, Colonel Yang's solemn and serious voice suddenly came through the communicator.

"Car charging towards your papa," he inquired in a scholarly manner, "and then what?"

Fu Luo: "..."

That bastard forgot to turn off the internal comms again!

...No point in living anymore.