We must admit, the asteroid belt is indeed quite chaotic, but at the same time, truly vicious crimes are rare.

First, because it belongs to the prosperous star realm, second, despite being problematic, its order is maintained by several forces working jointly.

In the vast space, robbery cases are not uncommon, but robberies that succeed and then kill to silence are indeed rare.

Yet Qu Jianlei and Xiao Hu choose not to respond and decide to continue running for their lives.

Unfortunately, it's useless, as two warships along with six attack ships are slowly pressuring them.

Those assault ships have already started attacking, but the intensity isn't very high.

The two merchant ships have also begun attacking, but aptly control the strength, ensuring there's no possibility of blowing the opponent to bits.

They are not planning on destroying the opponent—after all, if the ship is wrecked, how much could you loot?

The attacks of these ships are merely trying to force the opponent in a particular direction, much like an experienced sheepdog herding sheep.

We must admit, their coordination is quite skilled, unknowingly driving the opponent's starship towards the designated direction.

Such exquisite coordination, not to mention sheepdogs, even common soldiers besides the elite squads in the military can't manage it.

Thus, familiarity breeds skill; without collaborating in robbery three to five times, such tacit understanding cannot be developed.

The tattered merchant ship fleeing ahead begins to counterattack after being attacked, though similarly, dares not use too much intensity.

This reasoning is evident, nobody finds it surprising.

The attackers have held back, can the hunted truly afford strong retaliation if damage is caused?

The final outcome might be that the entire merchant ship crew would be wiped out, in such moments, would one gamble on the opponent's kindness?

The reaction of the Hunter is rather panicked, seemingly lacking adequate training and real combat experience.

Thus inadvertently, occasionally firing harmless tracer bullets is not too unexpected.

For the robbers, such timid counterattacks are completely anticipated.

Their losses are almost negligible, and so far, the battle plan appears need no modifications.

But the Third Butcher keeps grumbling, "Damn it, No. 2 was hit again, poor my Energy Block..."

The Kitchen Maid doesn't pay attention to him; cooperation has this downside, everyone likes to emphasize their losses.

But it's clear, during the loot distribution, performance is considered—whose attack had the best effect, irrespective of costs!

When the fifty-thousand-kilometer encirclement is formed, two assault attack ships also fly out of her merchant ship, of the strike type.

The Kitchen Maid's armed merchant ship is smaller than the Third Butcher's space-air carrier, but still larger than typical armed merchant ships.

This merchant ship has thick armor, strong power, and plenty of weapons, leading to limited internal space and small cargo capacity.

Being able to fit two strike-type attack ships, truly is quite challenging.

But the Third Butcher grumbles again, "You even brought two attack ships here, and only using them now... that's excessive!"

Excessive or not, do you decide? The Kitchen Maid snorts.

But to avoid disputes during loot distribution, she responds, "Strike type, fragile!"

Fragile attack ships are best used in the final assault to completely dismantle the opponent's close-range defenses,

The Third Butcher understands well that the opponent has some selfishness, but the reasoning is justified.

Thus, he can't argue and merely laughs, "You're too careful, look, aren't they hitting your fragile ones again?"

"But it's useless, just tracer bullets... the opponents are truly a bunch of newbies."

The Kitchen Maid doesn't indulge him, "A bunch of newbies, right? Who was just too scared to launch attack ships?"

The Third Butcher is displeased, "Was I afraid? Just being cautious, when taking on a job... don't you consider costs?"

While the robbers thought they were about to succeed, Qu Jianlei and Xiao Hu were analyzing.

"I'll confirm again, how many independent combat units you haven't successfully infiltrated... including those not awakened."

Xiao Hu replies, "Two armed merchant ships, including a space-air carrier, all successfully infiltrated."

"Six assault type attack ships, including three backup ones on the mother ship, all successfully infiltrated."

"Two strike type attack ships, one of which is ninety percent infiltrated."

"The other infiltrated fifty-four percent, needs about ten more seconds for complete control."

Qu Jianlei frowns and asks sternly, "Are there any omissions?"

"None at the moment," Xiao Hu answers crisply, "Boss, I'm just waiting for you to blow the horn of counterattack."

"Don't tease," Qu Jianlei actually likes flattery but can't let it go to his head.

"Be cautious, actively probe fifty thousand kilometers around, check if there are other ships."

Perception at this distance is the current limit of Imperial technology.

Beyond fifty thousand kilometers, it's not impossible to sense, but can merely perceive—engagements there.

As long as current information hasn't been observed or captured, it doesn't matter.

All information has a time limit; any action overlooking timeliness discussing information is just playing the fugitive.

However, actively detecting out to five hundred thousand kilometers will significantly increase the consumption of Energy Blocks and reduce the equipment's lifespan.

Moreover, this kind of behavior in space itself implies a very high level of aggression.

If the Starship is merely worried about being harmed by foreign objects, it can activate passive Perception.

Xiao Hu noted, "At seven hundred thousand kilometers, there are two Starships teamed up. They look like they're just passing by."

"Let's wait then," Qu Jianlei hadn't gone mad enough to kill even the bystanders, "How long can we hold out?"

"If we keep pushing forward, we can hold out for another ten minutes," Xiao Hu provided the precise answer.

"Their encirclement has formed, but it's only on the sides and behind us, we can keep running straight ahead."

That's just a useless statement—if I run fast enough, others can't possibly surround me.

The 8384 Merchant Ship has been thoroughly modified, as long as it wants to run, these guys won't necessarily catch up from behind.

Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment, "Activate normal state top-load mode, aim to hold out for ten minutes."

The normal state is distinguished from the pre-warp acceleration state, now being in combat, warping is basically equal to courting death.

However, top-load puts a lot of strain on the engine and cannot be used for long.

The 8384 Merchant Ship activated top-load mode and was instantly noticed by the Kitchen Maid and Third Butcher, "Trying to run now? Too late!"

Besides the Attack Ship, two Armed Merchant Ships also began to accelerate, surprisingly faster than the fleeing Merchant Ship.

Qu Jianlei noticed this scene, clicking his tongue helplessly, "Well, more work to do, gotta modify the engine later."

Both his Warships had undergone significant modifications, but the propulsion system only had slight optimizations.

Yet the two pursuing Merchant Ships had remarkably superior propulsion performance, clearly specially modified.

This is the helplessness of being far from mainstream society.

Qu Jianlei could only handcraft components, while the opponent could utilize industrialized society's equipment and experience to make targeted modifications.

Previously, he had not considered modifying the power system because it was quite challenging, with scarce materials and high costs.

In his view, as long as the Merchant Ship's propulsion was good, it was basically sufficient.

After all, in space, he didn't fear encountering enemies, and in a pinch, could even engage in close combat temporarily.

But now the two Merchant Ships on the other side reminded him that speed is still quite important in both conventional battles and chases.

However, it's frustratingly not a problem that can be solved in the short term.

He sighed, "Why does it feel like there are more and more things to do?"

Xiao Hu, however, casually suggested, "Just dismantle their power system later and study it."

Qu Jianlei shook his head, "Not compatible, probably can't just use it, materials are also a big issue."

Three minutes later, the red light of the power system began flashing, faster and faster.

"Reduce speed," Qu Jianlei sighed, if he didn't reduce speed, the engine would soon malfunction.

Seeing the two Merchant Ships behind still accelerating, he pouted in annoyance, "Industrialization really rules."

"Can't worry about it too much, make a move."

Next moment, an Attack Ship cried out in surprise, "Huh, this power system... why's it decelerating?"

As soon as the words were spoken, the general channel filled with exclamations.

"Damn," the Kitchen Maid's cold face showed a rare hint of horror, "Quickly disengage from combat."

"Boss, the control system malfunctioned," someone shouted in panic, "There's a seventy percent chance it's a data attack!"

"Damn..." the Kitchen Maid cursed under her breath, "I knew this crappy thing wasn't reliable."

"But I'm puzzled, the Protective Shield is fine, how did we encounter a data attack?"

"Boss," a Star Thief exclaimed again, talking about the Protective Shield, "The shield's strength is rapidly decreasing."

"Kitchen Maid!" the voice of the Third Butcher came through, sounding quite exasperated.

"Damn it, you tricked me, we're not done, I'm leaving first."

"Hmph," the Kitchen Maid snorted coldly, "You think you can leave just because you're ahead?"

"Fire control system is down," someone shouted again, "Even manual operation can't control it!"

The Kitchen Maid's facial muscles twitched ceaselessly, "What about the Attack Ship? Is it the same?"

"Both Attack Ships have lost contact," a loud voice responded, "Backup power activation failed!"

"Damn," the Kitchen Maid gritted her teeth fiercely, paused for about three seconds, then coldly commanded, "Signal surrender with lights."

True to being a decisive bandit, she made the surrender decision promptly upon realizing they'd hit a hard wall.

However, she received terribly bad news, "Boss, the light, the light control system... also failed!"

"Boss, that 8384 is turning back!"

The Kitchen Maid's face turned pale, "What kind of entity have we provoked this time?"

(To be continued, call for monthly tickets, subscriptions, and recommendation votes.)