And now not only has the Jizhou been repaired, there’s also a boss like Tie Dan who can swipe a card, so isn’t it even easier. Hook into the high-speed track, beep, swipe to pay, and in less than thirty minutes you can Jump at light speed to Earth.
Of course, a lot of Demon Beasts are indeed entrenched around the Star Gate, but the track is actually still some distance away from the Gate, and with a Titan’s strength they aren’t completely without the power to fight. After all, didn’t they just hack their way out through a Demon Beast siege before.
Now, charging the Star Gate from the Hilda Group asteroid belt, if they go full throttle it takes only an hour and a half to ram into the track, and they don’t even need to decelerate—just swing straight onto the highway. Go full blast the whole way and in a total of two hours they’re at the station. You telling me a dignified Titan can really be shot down in such a short window?
Either way, if they take a detour they’ll be surrounded sooner or later; just do the math: is getting gang-beaten for a whole day more damaging, or is risking getting thrashed hard for two hours more dangerous?
Anyway, they’ve already joined the legion; you have to serve through three hundred sequences before you can retire, the whole starry sky is enemy-occupied territory, sooner or later you’ll get swept to Destruction by radiation in the Void. So everyone might as well just go all in—worst case, you crash headlong onto Earth and your soul returns home...
"Kinda makes sense actually. Go! Charge the Star Gate!"
Once he heard it would only take two hours to reach Nine Yin Mountain, Tie Dan couldn’t care less whether the legion lived or died. He immediately agreed it made sense! Charge!
So the Jizhou could only show a face like, ah~ this legion is really beyond saving~ and go pack up luggage, getting ready to set off.
But this time the plan really was kind of "what the hell": they were basically assuming they’d go in with the Titan’s hard head, charge straight into the beast tide and get gang-beaten for an hour and a half, then Jump at light speed right into an even larger beast swarm to get beaten again, so defense was absolutely top priority.
The legion members all started busying themselves with combat prep, loading all the rebuilt fleet with all the possessions they’d hoarded over the years. Every cargo ship, guard ship, and cruiser was dragged out to surround the flagship in layers as cannon fodder. Even Xianwei was pulled in to help, bringing along the Three-headed Whales and a Turtle, fixing them to the Titan’s four sides as meat shields, directly tying meat and bones together into a big chicken drumstick shape, ready to launch a kamikaze assault.
And as the boss paying for this run, Tie Dan, of course, could just stand back and watch without doing any work, enjoying VIP-suite lodging. The result was that he got dragged back yet again to his previous single cell in the prison by Spider Xi to "rest." This guy even managed to force an explanation:
"The dangerous-goods warehouse is naturally the safest place on this ship. Even if the ship is destroyed and the crew all die, the dangerous goods won’t leak.
You are an absolutely crucial VIP client of the legion; of course we have to protect your safety carefully... Let’s switch rooms—this one is no longer safe."
Tie Dan didn’t even ask why it wasn’t safe anymore; the instant the door opened he already saw it:
"What the hell is with these lizards? They actually chased me all the way into my room?"
"In fact, they’re not here for us..."
Spider Xi didn’t have time to explain. Four Lizardmen had already burst out, grabbed one of Spider Xi’s legs, and dragged him back into the room to start beating him up again.
Tie Dan, bored and with nothing better to do, followed them in. He’d originally wanted to see what kind of combat Magic this Taihao Clan used, but unexpectedly Spider Xi took a punch right in the face and went down on the spot, wrapping his head, squatting and hiding in his familiar corner, letting them punch and kick him at will. Tie Dan was baffled:
"Why aren’t you fighting back? Can’t you control eight of them at once? Use silk to trap them!"
Spider Xi let out a long sigh:
"They’re not worthy."
"Raaawr——!"
The Lizardmen flew into a rage, growing even more ferocious and tearing at him, beating Spider Fur into the air in all directions.
Because he wasn’t that familiar with alien customs and also had no idea what Spider Xi was up to, Tie Dan watched a while longer. Only when one of Spider Xi’s legs had already been torn clean off did he realize these Lizardmen were actually trying to kill him. It’s just that these lizards were also really weak; their main cultivation was mental damage, and they’d already degenerated to the point where their limbs were feeble. After all that beating they’d only managed this little bit of physical damage—pure noob chickens pecking at each other...
"I mean, what exactly are you guys doing? We’re about to charge the Star Gate and you’re still busy with internal strife? What happened to ’brothers united, their strength breaks Light’? And seriously, if you don’t fight back you’re going to get beaten to death, right?"
Spider Xi, beaten until green fluid sprayed from his mouth, said:
"No, it’s fine... If I die in the garden, I can be resurrected..."
Oh, right, there was that setting...
So Tie Dan gave them a look, exhaled a breath, blowing out a strand of Sword Wind that cut all four Lizardmen cleanly in half at the waist, killing them on the spot.
Hmm, if it were a Refining God and Returning to Void Great Demon Beast he might at least have some fun fighting; with this whole ship full of lizards, spiders, and maggots, he really couldn’t be bothered...
"Thank you for saving me. If I fought back myself, their souls would have been scattered in the Void..."
Spider Xi struggled to his feet and casually picked up his severed limb to gnaw on.
Tie Dan felt a wave of nausea, so he made do with what he had, chopped him into eight pieces, and fire-roasted them into cooked snacks for him.
"So what’s actually going on? You said they weren’t here for you—were they here for me then?"
Spider Xi didn’t stand on ceremony; he thanked him, took a strip of lizard, seized the time to destroy the corpses and at the same time replenish some precious protein, and gave Tie Dan a quick explanation:
"Yes, they came to mate with you. Ji Meng is also a Sub-dragon Species, and it went into heat when it smelled your scent."
Tie Dan’s face stayed expressionless, seemingly unmoved, but in reality he’d just been thinking of tasting some grilled lizard; now his whole body had gone rigid on the spot.