"Report, excluding the small team that remained at the cave entrance."

Here we now have seven Phoenix Guard mechs remaining, including your mech, and forty-three soldiers.

Among these seven Phoenix Guard mechs.

Your unit has lost its long-range combat firepower, and its combat effectiveness is reduced to less than one-tenth.

Of the other six, two Star Shields were completely destroyed, and their bodies suffered relatively serious damage. Although they can still move, their combat power is only slightly better than your mech.

Of the remaining four Phoenix Guard mechs, only a tiny fraction of the Star Shield remained, practically nothing. The Star Missiles and Star Bombs were also reduced to a few, leaving them with less than 30% of their full-power weaponry.

As for the soldiers, almost all of the forty-three were injured, three of whom were seriously injured. Although they survived, they had lost their ability to fight.

In addition, seven soldiers suffered serious injuries of varying degrees, which greatly affected their combat effectiveness.

That's basically the situation in our part right now.

He heard the report from his subordinate.

Song Keke's heart sank; the situation was worse than she had imagined.

She looked at the star map, at their current location, and at the original infiltration point; they were still three modules short.

But given their current situation, it's difficult for them to lead this depleted team forward.

Song Keke glanced at the time again; nearly ten minutes had passed since they began their boarding operation.

They don't know what the situation is like outside. Perhaps because they are inside an enemy starship, their communication with the outside world is intermittent. Synchronizing the starship map is already their greatest effort.

"According to our original plan."

The boarding operation began, lasting approximately twenty minutes.

"Twenty minutes from now, all interstellar heavy marines must evacuate, because that's when the high-explosive bombs we've installed on this interstellar warship will be remotely activated." Song Keke looked at a corner where a pile of explosives had already been placed.

Those were explosives brought in by Marines.

The explosives in this one location are nothing to this starship.

However, according to their original plan, there would be one hundred explosion points on this starship.

And imagine what it would be like if all one hundred explosion points detonated at the same time?

Even if it's not a hundred, but just half of them, it's still incredibly impressive.

Now Song Keke has to decide whether to lead her team to retreat, abandoning the three remaining bomb sites they are responsible for, or... to continue advancing.

The fighting in this section has already affected their efficiency.

This could very likely prevent them from evacuating the interstellar warship within the originally planned twenty minutes.

At that point, the explosives won't care whether they've evacuated safely; they'll detonate according to the original plan.

Song Keke took a deep breath and looked in the direction she had come from. It would take at least five minutes to retreat from here and take all the wounded with her.

If they continue forward, the evacuation time will increase further.

This doesn't even take into account the time needed to continue forward, encounter enemy interception, and engage in combat.

Therefore, it is highly likely that if they continue forward, there will not be enough time for them to evacuate.

Moreover, there are still many wounded here.

Song Keke took another deep breath; this time, she made her decision.

"Units No. 5 and No. 7, which are more severely damaged, will now evacuate to our cave entrance with the more seriously injured personnel."

Leave us 70% of the ammunition you are currently carrying.

If we do not return when the evacuation time arrives.

Then you don't need to worry about us, just leave immediately.

"Did you understand?" As soon as Song Keke said this, everyone present naturally understood Song Keke's next plan.

She was prepared to delve deeper; she wanted to continue with the next task.

"clear."

"yes."

Upon receiving the order, the two damaged mechs immediately began to unload some of their weapons and ammunition, handing them over to the other interstellar mechs so that they could have more combat power to fight.

At the same time, it's time to clean up the battlefield here.

You can see some Space Marines soldiers pouring a powder onto the already dead JF-17 soldiers.

Soon, the corpses of these JF-17 soldiers turned into powder and vanished.

This is how the Xiaolong Legion fleet currently disposes of the bodies of its fallen comrades on the battlefield. They use a powder developed using Zerg technology, which actually contains many insects the size of bacteria.

Once activated, they consume the bodies of carbon-based organisms, and they die immediately when food is depleted.

Even if the carbon-based organism doesn't die during this process, it won't feel any pain. The insects will first release a hallucinogenic toxin during this process.

It involves plunging those who are about to die but have not yet died into a painless dream, where they eventually die.

Because in a battlefield environment, it is actually very difficult to bring the bodies back.

Leaving corpses behind would be risky if the enemy was not ultimately defeated, or if the enemy had the opportunity to take the corpses back with them.

Although these soldiers can be resurrected on the Dragon Star Empire side.

However, it cannot be ruled out that the enemies of the JF-17 might use these corpses to humiliate the JF-17 interstellar empire; such things have happened before in the history of interstellar warfare.

This is one of the reasons why some commanders, when defeated, would rather explode with their flagship than let the enemy find their bodies.

The battlefield was quickly cleaned up.

"Captain, let's go back now."

"Be careful." The people preparing to evacuate saluted Song Keke and the others who were about to set off again.

Then they watched as Song Keke and the others rushed to the next compartment.

"Let's go." The pilot of Unit 7 sighed, looking at the heavily wounded soldiers strapped to his mech, and began to move back the way they came.

As they left, they seemed to hear gunfire and explosions coming from behind them again.

Five minutes later, they returned to the cave entrance.

The squad left guarding the cave entrance also appeared to have encountered some fighting, as the remains of some attackers could be seen around the entrance.

It's likely that the enemy sent a team to eliminate them.

Why are there only you guys?

"Where are the captain and the others?" a mech pilot asked anxiously over the communication channel.

"We were ambushed by the enemy in one of the compartments. The battle lasted too long and we suffered heavy losses."

Considering the situation of the wounded and the damaged mechs, the captain ordered us to retreat first.

"They continued to complete the remaining tasks," explained the pilot of Unit 7.

"Oh no? But we only have less than five minutes left before we have to evacuate," someone said worriedly.

No one answered at this point.

Because they were looking at the red lines on the starship's trajectory.

The red line that had originally stopped has extended forward again during this time and is now stopped in the last mission module, just about to connect with the other red lines.

At this point, there was far too little time for them to evacuate from that location.

The facts are already laid bare, but they are simply unwilling to accept them.

They looked back down the passage they had come from, hoping to see Captain Li Keke and the others there.

"How's the situation outside?" the pilot of Unit 5 asked, trying to ease the pressure in his mind.

Because after glancing at the scene outside the cave entrance, she also noticed something was amiss.

She noticed that the fighting on the distant battlefield was becoming more intense, and the number of enemy interstellar warships seemed to have increased.

The pilot of Unit 9 replied, "At about five minutes later, the enemy's reinforcement fleet arrived."

Moreover, it was another Troll King's Legion's interstellar fleet, although it only had 40,000 interstellar warships.

However, it also put considerable pressure on our starship.

Therefore, we can't delay any longer.

The longer we linger here, the greater the danger to our mothership will become.

The pilot of Unit 5 looked up at their mothership.

The second Golden Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought!

At this moment, there are many signs of attack on the hull armor of this interstellar warship. There are even destroyed turrets at the locations of some secondary guns, as well as billowing smoke and occasional explosions.

The most serious damage she saw was an electromagnetic biological railgun, which must have been directly attacked by a T6-level main gun or the bow gun of a ship.

There was a huge hole there, and the entire turret of the electromagnetic biological railgun was gone, leaving only a crater more than ten meters long. The lower section was also affected, and some broken walls and ruins could be seen.

Fortunately, this was a near-T7 level interstellar warship, so this minor damage was nothing to it.

But as time went by, unfortunately, there was no trace of it.

"There is only one minute left until the required time."

For our safety, we must retreat now.

If the time limit is pushed too far.

"The power of those explosives could potentially affect us," the pilot of Unit 9 warned.

"No! The captain and the others haven't returned yet!" The pilot of Unit 5 said through gritted teeth, unwilling to give up.

The pilot of Unit 9 said in a deep voice, "I know what you're thinking."

The captain told you to lead them back, not to stay here and wait to die.

Wait a minute, our mechs can withstand an explosion, but what about those Space Marines hanging outside our mechs?

Can their exoskeleton armor withstand the strain?

Did you even consider that?!

Upon hearing this, the pilot of Unit 5 fell silent.

"Okay, enough nonsense."

Ready to return.

Make sure you get back on track.

Ultimately, everyone agreed on the idea of ​​evacuating now.

The pilot of Unit 5 took one last look at the deep tunnel before silently preparing to activate the backup power source in the mech's feet.

Actually, the Phoenix Guard mech has rocket thrusters in its feet, but these consume the mech's own energy reserves.

Therefore, when we came here before, we used external rocket boosters to save the mech's energy.

Save this for when you need to escape and save your life.

Is everything ready?

The enemy may still have external defenses on the ship, even if we need to evacuate.

We can't let our guard down, you know!

Everything is ready.

"Then begin the retreat."

With a command given, the four Phoenix Guard mechs here began to detach from the ship's surface like rockets and fly towards the second Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought.

As they took off, they also saw other interstellar heavy marines evacuating in other locations around them.

The scene looked as if dozens of rockets were being launched from the surface of the enemy's interstellar warship.

The remaining defensive firepower of the Drought Demon King-class heavy strategic interplanetary destroyer naturally wouldn't let these targets go unchecked, and the remaining close-in weapon systems continued to fire.

The evacuated interstellar heavy marines dared not let their guard down, even though the enemy's firepower was far less than before.

However, they themselves have also reached a certain limit.

If they are not careful, they could be shot down by the enemy ship's close-in weapon system.

They didn't want to increase their own casualties in this final stage.

During this process, the pilot of Unit 5 kept a watchful eye on the enemy ships below while eagerly looking towards the opening.

She desperately wanted to see her captain and the others evacuate safely and smoothly.

But it never happened.

This made her heart sink to the bottom; was the worst about to happen...?

"Don't get distracted, aim at the landing trajectory," a voice came through the communication channel.

On the hull of the Golden Scarab-class heavy interstellar dreadnought, open hatches appeared one after another, serving as the gateways to welcome these warriors home in triumph.

These interstellar heavy marines, on the other hand, need to bring their teams back before their last energy resources are exhausted.

Lock onto the location of a hatch and proceed!

At the same time, an announcement rang out on a higher-level command channel: "In thirty seconds, we will detonate all the bombs."

All interstellar heavy marines who have not yet evacuated are requested to immediately evacuate the enemy ship.

Just a reminder, we have 25 seconds left to detonate all the bombs. Please evacuate immediately!

..."

Upon hearing that sound, everyone's heart seemed to die at that moment.

The pilot of ship number five clenched his fists, as if he could see the voices of his team members and captain Li Keke continuing to move forward without hesitation.

Fortunately, her mecha successfully entered the landing trajectory, although the final landing was not perfect.

The aircraft crashed heavily onto the deck of the landing bay, throwing the soldiers on board to their knees.

But at least, they were safely evacuated.

At the same time, the pilot of Ship No. 5 saw a fireball explode on the surface of the hull of the Drought Demon King-class heavy strategic interplanetary destroyer.

One fireball after another appeared, like strings of lights adorning the hull of the Drought Demon King-class heavy strategic interplanetary destroyer!

——————

In a factory in the Xyz Dragon Galaxy.

A dwarf craftsman working at his post suddenly lost his grip on a new type of welding torch, which was about to strike his foot.

If it lands, this interstellar dwarf's foot will likely be injured. Although it can be repaired with current technology, the pain will be real.

In that instant, a hand reached out from the side and firmly grasped the welding torch.

"Old Song, what's been going on with you these past few days?"

I'm always distracted when I'm working.

Look, this almost resulted in a workplace accident.

Although we can receive medical treatment for free, as long as the injury isn't too severe, it can be repaired.

But we should avoid doing things that cause suffering.

"If he develops any psychological trauma, even if the wound is healed, he might not be able to work in this position anymore." A nearby interstellar dwarf craftsman picked up the welding torch and looked seriously at the distracted Old Song interstellar dwarf.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry." Old Song only came to his senses at this moment, and his forehead was covered with sweat.

"I think you need to take a rest."

It's time for us to take a break now.

"Come on, brother, I'll go with you to get some rest." The old craftsman stopped using his tools, handed over his work to Lao Song, and then left the workshop.

The two first went to the washroom next door to clean themselves up, which had gotten dirty from work, and then changed out of their work clothes and into a brand new set of clothes.

"It feels so good. Every time I take a bath, I feel refreshed and invigorated."

Come to think of it, we didn't have this kind of treatment when we were working. Just being able to make a living was considered good.

Working at the Dragon Star Empire now is simply paradise.

They have fixed working hours every day, food and salary, and even education is provided if they have children.

They've really thought of everything for us.

Here, no one looks down on us or bullies us because we are interstellar dwarves.

This is so wonderful.

Emperor Xiaolong was truly a great emperor.

"For an emperor like that, I'd be willing to work, or even risk my life," the old craftsman said enthusiastically.

At this moment, he noticed that after Old Song finished dressing, he stared blankly at a pendant for a long time.

He peeked out and saw that the pendant contained a recorded image.

It's a family photo of the Song family, and the most eye-catching person in the middle is the burly interstellar female dwarf in combat gear.

Are you worried about your youngest daughter?

You were really something before; all he wanted was to be a starfighter mech pilot.

"How could you be so heartless as to kick someone out of their home and ignore them for five years?" the old craftsman complained.

Old Song immediately retorted, "How could I have ignored it?"

My wife and son secretly took care of Coco for those five years. How could I not know?

"If I hadn't provided it, do you think they could have easily taken that much money from their homes?"

The old craftsman squinted and grinned at Old Song: "Oh ho, so it turns out you're the one being pretentious."

You really need to change your temper; you're so stubborn.

What grudge could a father hold against his daughter overnight?

And look at your youngest daughter, isn't she making you proud now?

Now, piloting a starfighter mech, he's doing very well in the Dragon Legion fleet. I heard he's already reached the rank of brigadier general!

That's quite an achievement.

Although we interstellar dwarves are highly valued by the Wyvern Interstellar Empire, our main role is in the industrial sector.

Very few of them received military rank awards.

If I counted on my fingers, I'd guess no more than ten.

Brigadier General... Brigadier General... If my son could bring me a Brigadier General's medal, I'd be laughing in my sleep.

Hearing his old friend's teasing words.

Old Song bluntly retorted, "You're all just armchair critics."

Ask yourselves, if it were your children who wanted to be space mech pilots, would you have wanted them to?

The old craftsman chuckled but did not answer the question.

In fact, they all know the answer to this question.

Although they all say they envy Lao Song for having such an outstanding daughter, they are very envious if this happened to them.

Their attitude is probably no better than Old Song's before.

After all, for a space dwarf to not do his job properly and instead become a space mech pilot is considered a heretical act in their eyes.

"Those are all things of the past."

Isn't it enough that everything is fine now?

Besides, your relationship with Coco has improved now. She even came back to see you during her vacation.

They even pinned their own medals and awards on you.

What do you have to worry about now?

Moreover, our Xiaolong Interstellar Empire possesses the technology to revive, and all frontline combat personnel of the Xiaolong Interstellar Legion fleet have this right.

Even if your daughter dies on the battlefield, she can be resurrected.

Therefore, you have absolutely no need to worry.

Old Song said irritably, "Easier said than done."

Do you know how much effort and sacrifice Coco has made to get to where she is today?

Do you know how many calluses are on her hands? Do you know how many scars are on her body?

They can also get injured while fighting on the front lines.

Although it will heal, the pain will still be real.

Coco has always been afraid of pain, let alone the pain of death... Coco... Coco... how could she endure it?

As Old Song spoke, he gripped the pendant tightly, and his voice trembled.

A grown man, now acting like a little girl, even with slightly red eyes.

Seeing Lao Song's appearance, the old craftsman stopped teasing him and simply patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Coco is an excellent child."

She's a lucky person, and nothing will happen to her.

You need to take good care of yourself now.

If Coco knew you looked like this, how could you let her feel at ease fighting on the front lines?

Let's go have a big meal.

I saved you today, you have to treat me to a good meal!

"You old geezer, all you ever do is eat!"

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