Chapter 53: Ugly

“This is a hidden manual switch for the emergency exit. If we encounter any emergency before reaching Di Yan Star, we can open it manually!”

As Su Ming explained, he suddenly noticed an unusual metal wall. He controlled his mecha to press it slightly.

Instantly, a cover on the metal wall sprang open, revealing a manual metal pull lever.

“You even know this?”

Lin Chuyu looked at Su Ming with some surprise, knowing that the school would not teach these things.

“I usually have some understanding!”

Su Ming was also a bit fortunate that his original body’s owner was a military enthusiast, and he had read all this information.

Although his own mind wasn’t very sharp, ‘Su Ming’s’ mind was, and he remembered it after going through the memories once.

“Hmph, there’s no need for such trouble. When needed, the people in the command center will naturally open the exit.”

Li Fubai also controlled his mecha and walked over, saying.

Su Ming glanced at Li Fubai, not bothering to respond to him.

At this moment, Zhao Ran and Chen Tong, having retrieved their weapons and replenished their ammunition, slowly walked over.

“Su Ming, we’re here!”

“Alright, we’ll just wait here.”

Su Ming said to the two of them.

Just then, the entire spaceship was attacked again, shaking violently, and the massive hull immediately tilted significantly.

Bang~

Zhao Ran and Chen Tong’s mechas instantly fell to the ground.

Su Ming quickly input commands and simultaneously pulled the control stick, barely stabilizing his mecha.

However, Lin Chuyu, who was beside him, failed to stabilize her mecha, and the entire mecha tilted towards Su Ming.

Seeing this, Su Ming quickly reached out and supported her mecha.

Lin Chuyu quickly readjusted her mecha to stand steadily and said thankfully,

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.”

Su Ming replied in a calm tone.

“Chu Yu, stand over here. I can support you.”

Li Fubai took a deep breath, suppressing his displeasure, and said to Lin Chuyu with concern.

“No, I can manage on my own.”

Lin Chuyu rejected Li Fubai’s kind offer.

At this moment, Zhao Ran and the other person struggled to their feet from the ground, complaining angrily.

“How are those idiots in the cockpit controlling this? Why is the spaceship always getting hit?!”

“I don’t know, but it’s best not to put our hopes in them.”

Inside the control room, students from the command department were utterly terrified, frantically inputting their respective commands.

“Dodge to the left!”

“What left? It should be to the right!”

“Which idiot lowered the power output? We should just push through in one go.”

“Are you blind? Don’t you see all the red dots on the radar? And attacks being launched by enemies everywhere on the optical display screen?”

“I don’t dare to look at the optical screen images, it’s too terrifying.”

One by one, the students from the command department didn’t dare to look at the real-time situation outside.

At this moment, directly in front of them, the empty universe suddenly rippled. Immediately after, the camouflage disappeared, and triangular crystals emerged one by one.

Behind the protection of these triangular crystals, a series of loop-shaped fortresses made of gray metal appeared, along with a large number of prismatic metal cubes, forming a defensive net.

Swish!

The loop-shaped fortresses instantly disintegrated, releasing dense, arrow-shaped XK-01 type metal defense machines.

Immediately after, the centers of those prismatic metal cubes split open in a cross shape and lit up!

Whoosh whoosh~

Countless beams of light and suicidal XK-01 type metal defense machines fiercely attacked the Old Federation fleet.

Boom boom boom~

One by one, the incoming warships were blown apart, blooming into the most brilliant fireworks in the dark universe.

Just then, a battleship emblazoned with the number 135 swayed erratically as if drunk, and was hit by a red beam of light directly on its bow!

Boom!

The entire warship tilted towards the number 134 warship flying beside it.

Inside the control room of warship 134, groups of command students were engaged in a brawl, fighting tooth and nail for command authority.

At this moment, someone inadvertently looked up and saw the bow of the adjacent warship, engulfed in raging flames, crashing towards them.

“Stop fighting! It’s going to crash into us.”

The students, who had been fighting fiercely, were all startled and looked up, their faces filled with extreme terror.

“Don’t come over! No! No!”

“I don’t want to die!”

“Ah!”

Rumble~

Instantly, the two warships collided in a massive explosion, and the debris and fragments from the explosion scattered, immediately hitting the battleship Su Ming was on.

The surface armor of the entire battleship was extensively deformed.

The warship continuously vibrated violently, and some students who were maintaining mechas or inspecting ship facilities directly fell from the operation consoles.

Thud~

Accompanied by splashing blood, they fell to their deaths one by one.

“Ah!”

At this moment, in various examination rooms, the indicator lights on each neural simulation pod turned bright red.

“Ah~”

One by one, the students screamed in extreme terror.

The Royal Court Order officers on site merely waved their hands indifferently, signaling the waiting doctors to take away the deceased students.

Thirteenth District Interstellar Military Airport · Fish Dolphin Central Control Room.

General Ames watched the real-time battle footage, looking at the warships being sunk one by one. A complex expression appeared on his resolute face, and his eyes were even a little moist as past memories surged in his heart.

These students were merely experiencing the battle at that time, and it was, after all, only a simulation. But he had truly lived through that war.

Although a century had passed, sometimes in the dead of night, Ames would still be awakened by nightmares, often dreaming of his deceased comrades, subordinates, and superiors.

At this moment, notifications kept popping up on the virtual screen.

“Warship 135 annihilated.”

“Warship 134 annihilated.”

Xia An looked at the red notifications one by one, feeling a bit flustered. Each annihilated warship meant that most of the students in that examination room were wiped out. Even if some students managed to escape using escape pods or similar means, they were very few.

So many eliminated students would not get many points.

Then Xia An’s gaze fell on General Ames. Seeing that Ames’s expression was a bit off, she spoke.

“General, should we lower the difficulty to avoid it looking too bad?”

“Lower what? They should be thankful this is only a simulated exam. Otherwise, we’d be collecting their bodies. It’s truly a disgraceful display.”

General Ames said coldly.

In fact, everyone’s performance was recorded, especially the situations inside the various spaceship operation rooms.

Some were truly appalling, with everyone being arrogant and self-centered. Some students even directly committed suicide with other examinees, thinking, ‘If I don’t do well, you won’t either.’

They simply didn’t understand what responsibility, accountability, and unity meant.

Of course, there were also those who cooperated very well and worked together in unity. However, if one looked closely, they would find that many of these cohesive and cooperative students were from the various Lower City Districts.

“Yes.”

Xia An replied with a slight sigh.