Chapter 505: Perseverance III (2/2)

The fleet was finally safe as they entered the clearing. In that moment, after more than three hours of intense combat, Ye Chong felt drained. He could barely lift a finger.

The fleet members were overjoyed. The joy of having survived put them all into a celebratory mood. True, they had not done their warp jump, but it felt like a success already! This interesting stretch of empty space had also convinced them of the reliability of this warp jump point.

When Ye Chong returned to Haskel, he was greeted like a king! The surviving starships aligned themselves in formation, like an army awaiting the king's inspection. Every fleet member saluted their leader. As Ye Chong entered through Haskel's hatch, everyone on board came to welcome Sir Jay, the man who had once again led them to victory. They stood in two lines, crowding the narrow passageway.

Ye Chong had no choice but to step out of Han Jia.

In reality, he looked like a mess. Sweat had covered every inch of his uniform, like he had just come out of a shower. His face was glistening with moisture. Drops of sweat dripped off the ends of his hair.

”Salute!”

Everyone stood at attention, saluting him with formality.

”Welcome back, Sir!” Xi Qing and Shu bowed in unison, in an attitude that was close to worship.

”Welcome back, Sir!” The 900 odd crew members greeted thunderously.

Ye Chong did not know quite how to react. He had never experienced anything like it. He was more used to the silent way the Sang Tribe worked under his lead, no bells and whistles. What he needed was rest. Even a single step forward felt like hard work right now.

He quickly gathered himself, waved at them and said unceremoniously, ”Back to your stations.”

The one-armed mech had mysteriously vanished, but no one dared to pursue the matter. What else could they do? Ask Sir Jay himself about it?

In the wake of the joy of surviving, they began to grieve for the people they lost.

Ye Chong and his fleet recuperated for eight hours in the clearing. Who knew what was awaiting them on the other end of their warp jump! If they encountered a threat in their exhausted state, they would be incapable of even the barest self-defence.

Ye Chong did not spend all eight hours resting. In fact, he was pretty much restored after five hours. In these eight hours, the fleet reorganized itself, and the tally for casualties was done.

The figures were shocking.

Of the 150 starships placed on the outer edges of the fleet, only three survived. Six of the starships positioned deeper inside the fleet were lost. Of the 2,500 mech pilots they had, 600 lost their lives while another 400 were injured. Now, Ye Chong had only 1,500 mech pilots with battle-ready capacity. Most of the mech pilots died while retreating to their starships. The entire fleet suffered a total of 8,641 deaths.

However, now was not the time to contemplate on this matter. They faced a bigger problem, which was the actual warp jump itself.

Ye Chong made plans for all kinds of scenarios they might encounter after the jump, especially in deciding on a rendezvous point in case some ships got lost from the fleet. Ye Chong had been mostly lucky in the past, but warp jumps were prone to accidents in general, and the stakes were high this time. There was no room for carelessness.

After the preparations were made, it was time to leave. It was at this moment that Arwa's fleet reached the edges of the Calamitous Asteroid Belt.

”Sir, we are a go,” Xi Qing reported nervously. Besides him, Shu's expression betrayed nothing, but his tightly clenched fists showed how anxious he was as well.

Ye Chong nodded, ”Let's go.” Unlike Xi Qing and Shu, Ye Chong had been through more dangerous situations than this. All the preparatory work was done. The mech pilots were rested and ready for combat.

If the former space pirate was right, they would reach Planet Spectre on the other side of the jump. Their preparations would be warranted.

Spectre was a strange place. Rumors were abound about the planet. It was shrouded in mystery ever since Gray Valley came into existence. Starships that went close to the planet simply vanished into thin air.

At first, many confident explorers went to investigate, but none of them came back. The planet became notorious. In the end, the Research Consortium had to set up an outpost in the vicinity to stop people from getting too close. Gradually, Spectre came to be a place that no one dared to approach. Not even the space pirates felt adventurous. It became an unspoken rule to space travelers of all trades.