There are a total of three warships attacking from the air, all of them are armed merchant ship types.

The fortress on the ground is also built solidly, seven fortresses are retaliating, and the glow of the protective shield is exceptionally conspicuous in the fierce wind.

"That's very strange," Qu Jianlei mumbled quietly, "Who did I offend here?"

At this moment, a voice filled with ecstasy came, "The military, it's the military warship... Which fleet are you from?"

"No, this isn't the military," someone recognized the warship and stated with clear reasoning, "Unknown forces!"

"Who cares if it's unknown or not, the opponent's firepower is too fierce! Requesting assistance, requesting assistance!"

"Yes, if they're enemies, we need to activate the three remaining fortresses."

This is too over-the-top, Qu Jianlei didn't think the opponent still had three fortresses unactivated,

So he coughed lightly and finished what he hadn't said before, "Get serious, it's a raid... I'm here for a raid!"

"A raid? That's easy," the opponent was overjoyed upon hearing this, "Take out the enemy warship, and tell us what you want."

Qu Jianlei was truly confused: What does "the raid is easy" mean?

However, before he could react, Xiao Hu eagerly asked, "Boss, should we take action?"

"If we can drive away the intruders, then wouldn't we be justified in robbing them?"

That child... Still maintains a simple view of good and evil.

"But there aren't many Energy Blocks left," Qu Jianlei hesitated a bit.

He claimed he was here for a raid, but his true intention was to stage an armed parade: I've come to raid, now pay up!

He had the determination to risk everything, but if he could extort some without paying any price, wouldn't that be better?

However, now was not the time to hesitate. He only hesitated for a moment before deciding.

"Stop attacking, stop attacking! I order both sides to cease fire."

"Whomever doesn't stand down, I will attack!"

It's clear that although his reaction wasn't slow, he really lacked mediation experience to say something like that.

However, it appeared that both sides were ready to fight, indeed quite dominantly.

The defending side seemed willing to accept mediation, and their artillery intensity gradually reduced.

After all, the fortress's protective shield was still intact, and not attacking could still ensure their own defense.

But the three armed merchant ships continued their agile maneuvering, with their artillery fire intensity unabated.

The next moment, the side hull of one merchant ship opened, releasing three small attack ships, bombarding the defense fortress wildly.

Qu Jianlei gritted his teeth, "Seeking death, Plan Two, attack!"

Xiao Hu was already ready to strike, but as an artificial intelligence, it can't launch an attack before receiving an order.

The Gao Fang warship maneuvers evasively, two twenty-centimeter beams of white light shot toward the largest armed merchant ship.

However, at the moment of hitting the merchant ship, the starship's shell burst into two flares of blue light, blocking the white beams.

"Directional explosive reactive armor?" Qu Jianlei's eyebrows slightly furrowed, "Having such a thing, should we use the Main Cannon?"

Generally speaking, warships hitting ordinary merchant ships is usually a guaranteed hit, and armed merchant ships are no exception.

But some armed merchant ships are modified not just for firepower but also for strong defense, like this merchant ship.

Xiao Hu nervously stated, "The Main Cannon uses plenty of energy. Look, its defense is decreasing."

This miser! Qu Jianlei was so annoyed that he rolled his eyes, "Is this the time to save energy? Continue attacking."

Almost at the same moment he gave the command, a fortress under concentrated fire exploded.

"All my Energy Blocks!" Qu Jianlei yelled angrily, eyes red, "Xiao Hu, Plan Three!"

"Received," Xiao Hu fired a stream of tracer bullets, targeting the largest armed merchant ship.

Ignore its stinginess; the first chosen target for attack is always the largest armed merchant ship.

But following this, another round of tracer bullets was fired, aimed at another armed merchant ship.

Seeing the Gao Fang warship's continuous attack, the armed merchant ship released another two small attack ships, heading straight toward Qu Jianlei.

These small attack ships are fragile but exceptionally agile, and their attack power is strong.

However, the Gao Fang warship is also extremely agile, constantly rolling and maneuvering, striving not to be locked onto by the opponent.

The next moment, three triple machine cannons spewed fire here and there.

This is due to the reason why its firepower is weakened; otherwise, there should be six triple machine cannons.

Following this, two series of tracer bullets fired by the Gao Fang warship suddenly detonated.

The opposite armed merchant ship was quite savvy, even though they noticed the fired tracer bullets, they evaded early.

Seeing the tracer bullets explode nearby, someone snorted, "Knew it was no good intentions."

"Disaster," someone shouted loudly, "The protective shield intensity is decreasing!"

"Damn, damn... there's such a thing as Electromagnetic Interference Bombs?"

There are many types of Electromagnetic Interference Bombs, capable even of distorting magnetic fields causing electromagnetic positioning to fail.

However, a bomb that can interfere with the defense array, causing the protective strength to decline, is truly unheard of.

However, to say it's not an electromagnetic interference bomb, one wouldn't know what kind of shell it is.

In fact, this was an electromagnetic interference bomb specially made by Qu Jianlei according to the properties of Xiao Hu.

Typically, starship protective shields have the ability to defend against electromagnetic interference, the difference is just the strength.

Even ordinary starships need to consider defending against various cosmic rays during interstellar navigation.

Usually, it would be very difficult for Xiao Hu to invade the interior of a starship remotely, and it would not be quick.

Invading a warship is even harder, especially during combat, not only is the defense stronger, but the opponent is also constantly moving at high speed.

But with this type of interference bomb, it becomes much easier.

This shell can interfere with the opponent's defense to a considerable extent, and once a gap appears, Xiao Hu can seize the opportunity to invade.

Of course, to achieve this kind of invasion, some preconditions are needed, but let's leave those unsaid.

"Luckily it's just a merchant ship," Xiao Hu was clear about that, "if it were a real warship, it would be much more difficult."

This is not speculation, what it pilots is a real warship; its electromagnetic defense is not comparable to an armed merchant ship.

"Should we take control of the merchant ship's actions?"

"No!" Qu Jianlei shook his head, "It would expose you, act according to the original plan!"

"Alright," Xiao Hu murmured softly, "What a pity, all these are money."

It was a little reluctant to use its Energy Block, but it wasn't slow to act, the next moment, two more white rays were emitted.

The white rays hit the largest armed merchant ship, and this time no green light burst out.

The armed merchant ship got hit with two big holes, some violent explosions occurred inside, and the whole ship spun and crashed toward the ground.

The other two merchant ships were taken aback at the sight.

However, before they could react, two more white rays were shot out, hitting another merchant ship.

As this merchant ship also crashed toward the ground, the Gao Fang warship fired another round of tracer bullets.

The last remaining merchant ship was scared out of its wits, the combat personnel onboard already knew what it was facing.

This merchant ship fled for its life, but unfortunately, the freed-up battle fortress began to focus fire on it.

Soon after, four small attack ships lifted off from the ground to engage the invading attack ships.

In a short time, the last remaining merchant ship was heavily damaged, shaking as it descended toward the ground.

In this state, there's no chance of escape, and even if it could, it wouldn't survive in space, so it's better to surrender.

The Gao Fang warship ignored this merchant ship and continued to wildly shoot at the other two descending merchant ships.

Though Xiao Hu assured that no one would notice its invasion traces, Qu Jianlei was still uneasy, thinking it was best to destroy all evidence.

In the eyes of the Titan Group members, such behavior seemed extremely ruthless.

The invading merchant ship had already shown surrender signals, yet the opponent seemed blind to it.

The people from Titan had no choice but to contact the opponent, "Honorable robber, the invaders have surrendered."

Honorable... robber? Qu Jianlei found the wording somewhat humorous.

He asked in a deep voice, "Are you sure we don't need to kill all the invaders?"

"Well... indeed no need," the people from Titan speculated that the opponent was new around here, so they explained briefly.

Though the Asteroid Belt is quite chaotic, there's no prevailing culture of killing everyone to the last.

The main reason is that it has already been monopolized by multiple major powers.

Conflicts below don't matter, casualties are even less of a concern; to seize interests, one must pay the corresponding price.

But it's best not to exterminate completely, as this could trigger upper-level conflicts and make other forces nervous.

In short, such behavior is very unwelcomed.

Moreover, those captives can be used for exchange of interests, or at the very least, made to do labor.

While Imperial mining has become highly automated, there are still some inherently risky jobs, with many dangerous stages in smelting too.

Qu Jianlei felt somewhat emotional, not expecting that this chaotic place was more humane than normal society.

During the conversation, one of the invader's attack ships was shot down.

The other attack ships saw that the "Gao Fang warship" had stopped attacking and immediately requested to surrender.

These attack ships were not only fragile but also short-legged; even if they escaped the atmosphere, they lacked enough Energy Blocks to return.

The Titan people ordered the attack ships to land at specified locations, then dispatched armored units to receive the captives and warships.

There's a saying around here: Due to serious competition for interests, all kinds of equipment and combat personnel are readily available.

Surrender took about ten minutes, and as for cleaning up the battlefield and rescuing the wounded, that's for the next step.

Qu Jianlei had no interest in waiting anymore, he spoke up.

"Now it's time to talk about looting... Also, these two merchant ships should be considered as our spoils of war, right?"

He's not a petty person and didn't bother to argue over small points, not even counting those four small attack ships.

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