Horizonburg, Area C3 Gate.
The hydraulic system locked down. The alloy door, half a meter thick, had already clamped together front-to-back as the external explosion-proof bolts automatically dropped into place.
Even if someone slapped a thermal fusion bomb right onto the seam, it would take half an hour of blasting just to breach a small opening.
But the mob outside, blinded by bloodlust, had completely lost all reason.
The dozens of armed pickups and modified motorcycles leading the charge showed absolutely no intention of slowing down.
These members of the "Fuck Your Grandma" gang likely had nothing left in their brains but "kill, kill, kill."
Faced with the tightly shut gate, they actually pulled the triggers of their vehicle-mounted machine guns. Some even shouldered RPG rocket launchers, firing directly at the seemingly indestructible alloy wall.
Boom! Boom!
Several bursts of fire erupted across the gate's surface. However, aside from leaving behind a few scorched patches of paint, it achieved virtually nothing.
A few motorcyclists who couldn't brake in time slammed straight into the wall, turning themselves and their bikes into a mangled slurry of scrap metal and flesh.
The trailing convoy behind them finally ground to a halt.
Hundreds of people crowded chaotic and noisy before Horizonburg, their shouting and cursing mixing with the roar of revving engines.
It looked as though they intended to organize an assault right then and there—determined to chew through the heavy gate and drag out the fat sheep hiding inside.
Up on the city wall.
Gamma-9 stood behind the bulletproof glass of the watchtower.
He looked down at the dense cluster of reckless red dots below, his single optic completely devoid of pity.
For Deep Space Industries, this wasn't a war at all. It was merely a mandatory "pest control operation."
Having received confirmation from the Sage, Gamma-9 began his inputs.
High up on the base's elevated positions, the camouflage netting instantly slid off four hidden artillery emplacements.
Four "Iron Ostriches" revealed their ferocious profiles.
Their thick, digitigrade mechanical legs dug deep into the soil. Hydraulic spades lowered and locked into the ground, creating an absolutely rock-solid firing platform.
The long barrels of the 155mm howitzers slowly depressed, their pitch-black muzzles pointing directly at the crowded clearing outside the wall.
Distance: 1,800 meters.
At this range, using 155mm high-explosive artillery shells against unarmored and lightly armored targets was an extreme case of firepower overkill.
It was like using a high-pressure fire hose to clear an anthill.
But as the Sage had put it, that absolute, devastating destruction was exactly what he wanted.
"Fire."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The four heavy guns roared simultaneously.
The shockwaves from the muzzles instantly blew away the surrounding dust. The massive recoil sent the heavy gun bodies violently jerking backward before the hydraulic recuperators pushed them smoothly back into position.
In less than a second, four high-explosive shells weighing 50 kilograms each crossed the span of over a thousand meters.
However.
Instead of slamming directly into the ground like they had during the battle against Helios, they utilized a newer airburst fuze.
At a height of five meters above the ground, the shells detonated.
Clang—!!!
The ultra-high-pressure shockwaves generated by the explosions expanded outward at several thousand meters per second.
Within this radius, the air itself became the most lethal weapon.
Before the thugs in the open-top pickups and motorcycles could even register the pain, the shockwaves pulverized their internal organs into mush.
Tens of thousands of steel balls and jagged shrapnel, propelled by the blast, swept across the entire clearing.
Civilian vehicles devoid of armor plating were instantly shredded to pieces. Fuel tanks were punctured, triggering secondary chain explosions.
Human bodies were far more fragile. At this range, the shrapnel sliced through bone and tore through muscle with ease.
It took only a single volley.
The once crowded, raucous gateway was instantly transformed into a silent, deathly slaughterhouse.
Dozens of vehicles became burning heaps of scrap metal, and over a hundred thugs were reduced to unrecognizable organic residue.
In the face of absolute caliber and payload, so-called fearlessness and gang loyalty were nothing but a joke.
Meanwhile, on the edge of the gravel belt several hundred kilometers away.
Two massive landships were parked side-by-side like steel behemoths on the wasteland, blocking the only path leading deeper into the territory.
One of them was painted a matte black with sleek, cold lines—this was the Dusk.
Inside its spacious bridge, a young woman sat before the main control console, watching the horrific, real-time footage transmitted back from the frontline convoy.
She wore a well-tailored black trench coat over tight tactical gear, with a head of silver-white hair casually tied back.
Her name was Ai Qi, captain of the Dusk and one of the major warlords on Planet Zais.
She wore no makeup, and her skin looked somewhat pale from a chronic lack of sunlight, but this did nothing to diminish her beauty.
In fact, complemented by her cold, somewhat world-weary aura, she was arguably even more striking than Helios's Jesia.
Right now, Ai Qi's grey eyes held no emotional ripples.
She watched the severed limbs and shattered bodies flying across the screen as if she were reviewing a dry financial spreadsheet.
"155mm caliber, high-explosive fragmentation, airburst fuze," Ai Qi spoke softly, her voice cool and detached. "And a very fast rate of fire with highly precise fire-control systems... This is the new faction occupying Horizonburg?"
The adjutant standing beside her swallowed hard, his face pale.
"Captain... the frontline rapid response team reports that our interceptor vehicles wouldn't even be able to withstand artillery of that power. If we had charged in with them just now, we'd probably..."
Ai Qi didn't say a word. She simply reached out and switched off the bloody surveillance feed.
She had never planned to send her forces in to die from the very beginning.
She had only come here because she was dragged along by the bald captain of the "Fuck Your Grandma" next door, who had promised to split the dark-tech blueprints from the Scavenger.
But as a shrewd commander, Ai Qi never fought battles she wasn't sure of winning, let alone crack a tough nut just for petty scraps.
Bzzzt—
The communicator suddenly crackled to life, letting out an incredibly crude, roaring voice.
"Ai Qi! What the fuck are you doing?!"
It was the bald captain of the "Fuck Your Grandma."
Through the viewport, the mismatched landship draped in skulls and spikes could be seen a kilometer away, its massive exhaust pipes belching thick black smoke.
With its engines running at full power, the bald captain was preparing to turn his massive vessel around, abandon the Scavenger, and rush toward Horizonburg at full speed.
"My men are almost wiped out! Why the fuck aren't you moving up to support them?!"
The bald man's voice vibrated so hard the speakers buzzed.
"Is your convoy just back there watching the show? Get in there!"
"That's just a single heavy artillery position! With your forces' gear, you could easily take out those few guns!"
Ai Qi picked up the communicator, her tone calm. "My vehicles aren't meant to plug your meat grinder."
"I don't give a shit!" the bald man cursed. "My ship is almost there. I'm going to level that garbage city when I arrive! If you don't pull your weight, don't expect to get a single scrap of the loot later!"
Ai Qi ignored his threat and set the communicator aside.
She turned to look at her adjutant. "Any news from the western front?"
The adjutant immediately handed over a freshly decrypted battle report, unable to hide the joy on his face.
"Yes, Captain! We have it!"
"Just ten minutes ago, our Second Fleet secured a decisive victory in the Kolumbik Trade Zone."
"The 'Odin Fortress' fleet completely collapsed after their supply lines were cut. Currently, four of their cruisers have been captured, and the remaining two are retreating."
"Our people have secured the core warzone. A massive haul of Golden Age relics that were just unearthed now belongs to us."
"More importantly..."
"The management committee of the Kolumbik Trade Zone has already expressed their sincerity. Starting today, the trade taxation rights are ours."
Ai Qi took the report and scanned it quickly.
A faint, subtle smile finally broke across her perpetually ice-cold face.
The Kolumbik Trade Zone.
Aside from the Lightless Sea, it was the largest resource distribution hub on Planet Zais—a place every wandering merchant and small-to-medium warlord had to visit.
Whoever controlled that place essentially controlled more than half of the planet's cash flow.
In comparison, while this Horizonburg looked like it might have some meat on its bones, the risk was far too high.
For an outside force in Horizonburg to possess heavy firepower of this tier meant they were absolutely not to be trifled with.
Throwing away resources to fight a brutal battle of attrition against such a hard target just for some cargo on a few off-road vehicles?
It wasn't worth it.
Any battle that didn't yield clear, low-risk returns was a waste of resources.
"Pass down my orders."
Ai Qi tossed the report onto the desk and stood up, her black trench coat rustling.
"Notify the vanguard to withdraw from Horizonburg at full speed."
"This ship is setting sail immediately. Destination: Kolumbik."
The adjutant froze for a moment. "But... what do we say to the bald captain?"
"What do we say?"
Ai Qi picked up the communicator again and pressed the talk button.
On the other end, the bald captain was still spewing a barrage of profanity, already threatening to drag Ai Qi back to be his bandit wife.
"Hey, Baldy," Ai Qi cut off his roaring. "Just letting you know, I have some business to attend to. I'm leaving."
"You can chew on this bone yourself."
"Wh—What?!" The bald captain on the other end clearly hadn't registered what he was hearing. "You dare leave?! You dare betray our alliance?!"
"If you move so much as an inch, I'll point my secondary batteries right at your engines—"
Before the bald captain could finish his threat, the words choked in his throat.
Because he discovered with horror that during the time their two ships had been parked side-by-side, the smooth side-armor plates of the Dusk had slid open silently.
A total of five large-caliber, high-energy light lances were glowing with the faint blue light of fully charged energy.
And those dark, hollow muzzles were aimed dead-center at the fragile bridge and ammunition depots of the "Fuck Your Grandma."
If he dared to make any suspicious move, a single volley would instantly blow his ship wide open.
This woman had never trusted him from the very beginning!
"We're all just trying to make a living here, don't be so naive," Ai Qi's cold voice echoed from the communicator. "Also, a friendly tip."
"Horizonburg isn't simple. If you really want to sail your ship over there to die, remember to send me a copy of your estate list. I might consider scavenging some scrap from your wreckage."
With that, Ai Qi cut the feed, leaving behind a highly half-hearted: "Good luck."
Hummmm—
The Dusk let out a deep rumble. Under the deterrence of its broadside light lances, the ship pivoted gracefully and sailed off toward the western horizon.
It left the "Fuck Your Grandma" parked completely alone in the wasteland.
The bald captain stared at the row of light lances that only retracted at the very last moment, cold sweat soaking through the back of his chair.
The connection was severed.
At the rear of the battlefield, the black convoy that hadn't moved an inch also turned around in unison.
Engines roared, throwing up clouds of dust.
They abandoned their allies who were still getting blasted on the frontlines and fled the scene.
They left behind a field of corpses and the bald captain's hoarse, furious screaming echoing over the comm channels: "Fuck your mother! Ai Qi, you bitch! I'll kill you! I'm going to fucking kill you, ahhhh!!!"
Inside the workshop of Horizonburg.
Andy watched the radar as the convoy split in two and let out a light chuckle.
"Interesting."
"That commander is a smart one."
On this chaotic planet, people who could assess the situation and avoid getting blinded by greed usually lived much longer.
As for the remaining one who was still venting his useless fury...
Andy's gaze drifted back to the "Iron Ostriches" currently adjusting their firing angles.
Since he refused to leave, he could stay here forever.
It just so happened that Deep Space Industries had plenty of new products in its armory that needed some real-world performance data.
"Gamma-9," Andy said into his communicator. "Since our remaining guest is so enthusiastic, let's not disappoint him."
"Let's turn up the heat on this wasteland."