The lifeboat ejected from the hatch had no power, whether it could escape was left to Heaven's Will.

But the space mecha was different; it had an intelligent core.

Little Lake could invade these cores, but its own load was already heavy, and there were too many space mechas.

However, there was no need to worry about that, as the space mecha was meant to deal with small attack ships.

Like the Armed Merchant Ship that Qu Jianlei was on, when its protective shield was fully activated, the firepower of the space mecha was hardly able to make a dent.

Unless there was a large number of space mechas, charging forward and sacrificing themselves, would it cause any significant damage.

Similarly, with the firepower of the Armed Merchant Ship, blowing up a space mecha wasn't difficult at all.

Little Lake didn't suffer from fear of crowds—after all, it was just artificial intelligence. It asked aloud, "Shall I attack?"

It wasn't incapable of making a judgment; Qu Jianlei had set it up early on: any attack on humans must have my orders.

Qu Jianlei didn't hesitate and simply spat out a word, "Attack!"

Well, then, Little Lake not only attacked the space mechas but also the lifeboats.

Colorful sparks blossomed in space, one after another.

As a qualified artificial intelligence, Little Lake was extremely efficient in its attack and displayed stinginess to the fullest.

The main cannon surely attacked the space mechas, while smaller weapons inevitably attacked the lifeboats.

The main cannon over-attacked the space mecha, but wasn't it efficient?

The lifeboats had extremely low defense; physical defense was barely there, while electromagnetic defense was a bit higher.

Under such efficiency, it didn't take long for the escaping crew to be swept clean.

Space was scattered with debris: mechanical parts, metal shards, and human tissue...

Seeing the massacre of fleeing people opposite them, the two robber teams were enraged, "Too excessive!"

Of course, some were filled with endless fear, "We're surrendering, and still, they disagree. I don't want to die!"

In their fury, one assault ship actually gave up the infighting, and they repaired the main cannon together.

This wasn't strange; back then, Qu Jianlei had operated cannons without control systems.

And the control system of that cannon was destroyed by his electromagnetic technique.

The starship's cannon system was much more complex, involving hydraulic columns among other things, and it was very inconvenient without a control system.

Yet the opponent actually fixed the cannon, manually loading shells, poor aiming accuracy, and the turret couldn't move well.

The immobility of the turret was fatal, especially as the hull of the attack ship rolled and spun continuously.

However, even so, the opponent still managed to aim toward 8384 amidst the rolling, firing occasionally.

Qu Jianlei couldn't help but admire them. After all, with the power system stopped, the antigravity system gradually failed.

In zero-gravity conditions, maintaining counterattack, and barely hitting the target, how strong must their fighting spirit be?

He coldly instructed, "There are talents everywhere indeed... destroy it, no survivors!"

Little Lake paused noticeably, then asked, "Destroy the attack ship and then kill... I got that right, didn't I?"

"I hold the utmost respect for warriors," Qu Jianlei replied calmly.

After pausing, he snorted coldly, "And at this time, still wanting to drag me to the grave... did they ever think about the ones they robbed?"

In the next moment, a white beam flashed as the main cannon fired; for an attack ship without a protective shield, the intensity was enough.

The attack ship erupted in a dazzling white light, completely exploding.

Several scattered mechas and a few lifeboats shot in all directions with the explosion's aftershock.

Little Lake calmly executed them one by one, while timidly speaking, "They... might have been desperate."

Qu Jianlei had moved past the entangled mindset, answering without hesitation, "That's because I'm strong enough."

"If I weren't strong enough, the desperate one now would be me."

Little Lake asked again, "Boss, I don't mean to argue, but... they might not necessarily kill during the raid, right?"

Qu Jianlei coldly replied, "Haven't you seen people commit suicide? On Blue Star, how few have jumped from rooftops?"

Little Lake fell quiet, then softly muttered after a long pause, "So, that's human nature?"

"Human nature is very complex," Qu Jianlei replied casually, then curiously asked, "Are you completing a personality?"

"Yes," Little Lake admitted honestly, "but it feels like... it's a long road ahead."

Of course, Qu Jianlei sighed inwardly; human nature was extraordinarily complex.

But he didn't want to frighten the Big Head Butterfly, "It's time, commence eliminating crew members on each warship."

If they kept waiting, who knew what would happen, so it was best to let Little Lake clear them.

Little Lake couldn't actively kill, but once ordered, it could, and he didn't have to kill personally, relieving him of guilt.

Thus, their cooperation... was indeed perfect!

What followed was glossed over with censorship for the reader's discomfort.

However, while clearing the last attack ship, the space-air carrier erupted in a dazzling white blast, blowing itself up.

Qu Jianlei didn't feel much, he just shook his head, "Too bad, there are still three assault-type attack ships…"

Those three spare attack ships were slightly worse in configuration, but easy to supplement, really a pity.

He originally thought that he could actually capture these three intact attack ships, but alas, man proposes, Heaven disposes.

"The sooner they died, the sooner they're reincarnated," Xiaohu remained quite calm, "Living like that was a kind of torture for them too."

"I think we're both being a bit pretentious," Qu Jianlei laughed, "Last one, finish and pack up."

However, at the last moment, the kitchen maid swallowed poison inside the space mecha.

Her dying curse was released faithfully.

"Hehe, is fishing that fun? 8384, I hope you continue to enjoy playing… I'm waiting for you!"

This recording wasn't very good; if the space mecha hadn't been invaded, it couldn't have been preserved at all.

After all, it was a grudge of a loser—failing at robbery and then blaming the other side for being too strong?

But Qu Jianlei fell into thought, "Xiaohu, did you hear that? This fishing business… can't do it often."

"The cause was their greed," Big Head Butterfly's logic was very clear, "Would they have bitten if they weren't greedy?"

It was even a bit angry, "Boss, did we ask them to come and rob us?"

The cultivation of an independent personality is a long and arduous journey, Qu Jianlei sighed quietly.

He felt like a parent of mischievous kids, "But don't test human nature lightly, do you get that?"

Xiaohu cheerfully replied, "I tested human nature, but this time's gain… really isn't bad."

Indeed, it wasn't bad, one heavily armored armed merchant ship, as well as two assault-type and four assault-type attack ships.

As for energy blocks, there weren't too many, but there were over eight million pieces.

The other side's energy block reserves were nothing to scoff at, knowing that this was after the Space-Air Carrier blew up.

This kind of energy reserve is enough to support a medium-sized battle.

For Qu Jianlei, in any case, this was an unexpected surprise.

Besides that, the harvest of these starships in the asteroid belt, armed starships with combat power, are hard currency.

Of course, regrets were there too, as these starships were all damaged, not one intact.

But how should one put it? He wanted the complete ones, but couldn't get them, right?

Even Xiaohu, who loves to talk, agreed, so what else could he say?

In any case, after repairs, many of these starships could still be used, and even if not, they could be salvaged for parts, right?

In the end, I'm still just a junk collector… Qu Jianlei sighed silently, starting to clear the battlefield.

At this time, less than eight hours had passed since the battle started, and he was quite satisfied with this.

"I thought it would take three or four days, but unfortunately, your strength didn't allow it!"

The battlefield didn't actually need much cleaning, the main thing was to check if there were any survivors.

This process is a bit inappropriate for children, so let's leave it at that; the next thing is to take away the spoils.

Fortunately, this time Qu Jianlei came with a real armed merchant ship, and the mechanical arms were very useful.

One armed merchant ship plus six attack ships were all tied together by him.

Then the huge mechanical arm grabbed these seven ships and disappeared into the vast starry sky.

These seven starships had already shut down their power systems, but just one battered 8384 was enough.

The energy required for space travel, if said to be a lot is endless, if said to be little, is indeed very little.

Space lacks air resistance, if there's no battle to encounter, and no need to warp, really minimal consumption.

Cruising at uniform speed, maintaining the energy shield's strength is enough, minor evasion in case of potential danger.

Qu Jianlei didn't even need to worry about the energy protection of the seven ships — no one inside, what need for energy protection?

As for cosmic wind and cosmic rays causing damage to the seven ships?

Please, they're all damaged anyway, a little more damage, how would it be different, won't they still need repairs?

The following facts proved that interstellar travel's danger truly… isn't small.

Qu Jianlei didn't understand why during the battle, no one came by to watch.

Maybe really out of "safe navigation"?

Anyway, as he carried the seven starships forward silently, three waves of starships found the anomaly in passing.

Two of these waves quickly broke contact with him.

Obviously, these were all seasoned "safe navigators," knowing not to join in on the unnecessary events.

But one wave was really strange, actually coming deliberately closer.

The reason probably wasn't complicated, mainly because this combined body of eight ships was a bit large individually.

Just from the radar cross-section, it was a big white patch.

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