Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 168 - 138. Armored Suit Core

Chapter 168: 138. Armored Suit Core

Boom!

Before his words could finish, a surging flame suddenly erupted from the rails in front of them.

"Brake!"

Li Aozi roared, then dove into the carriage, scooped up Xeno, and dragged Du Zexin into the locomotive.

Zhou Liefeng reacted even faster than him. As soon as the exploding projectile landed, he had already begun to brake. But could a massive armored train be brought to a stop so easily? All he could do was keep the locomotive on track. After a violent shake, the front of the train hit the broken tracks, nearly sending everyone flying.

The heavy locomotive plowed through the smoke from the explosion and instantly pressed down on the steel tracks. Relying on the armored train’s significantly greater weight compared to a regular train, it sheared through the shattered, irregular break, sparking and grinding. After a piercingly loud noise, it miraculously didn’t derail.

But the subsequent carriages weren’t so lucky. Seeing that all passengers were evacuated, Zhou Liefeng timely disconnected the link to the rear carriages.

Clang—

The huge carriages derailed, tipping and collapsing outwards like an earth-shattering landslide, buried in the blizzard and gun smoke.

"Someone’s attacking us with artillery!?"

Li Aozi dragged Du Zexin into a corner, looked up, and squinted at the broken rails.

"No, it’s missiles!"

The experienced Zhou Liefeng was absolutely certain:

"If it were artillery, it wouldn’t have this kind of mobility. Only hypersonic missiles could do this."

Before he finished speaking, a beeping alarm suddenly went off on Du Zexin. Du Zexin’s face changed, "AI’s search radar warning! We’ve been locked on!"

"Stop the train!" Li Aozi said, "We can’t dodge the missiles. Don’t bother, just stop. Comrade Zhou Liefeng, contact the Metro Brotherhood, tell them Four Nations has attacked you."

"Understood."

Zhou Liefeng’s judgment matched his. While smoothly bringing the train to a halt, he opened the emergency communicator and spoke in code:

"October calling Zero, October calling Zero."

"Zero has received. Describe your situation."

"The invasion has occurred, the assailant is a woman."

"Received, condition one alert. October, please close up shop and rest, wait for resupply."

As Zhou Liefeng put down the emergency communicator, Li Aozi already had his hands up, picked up a green smoke grenade from the train, and waved it in the air, signaling surrender.

Red and green signal lights lit up in the sky, the triangular head of the surveillance drone oscillated slightly. The thermal imaging camera quickly captured the signal on the ground, after CG processing, converted it to a color image, and transmitted it to the Mobile Armor pilot.

"The target vehicle has stopped moving. One person has disembarked, unarmed, and showing signs of surrender."

The electronic operations officer, Yin Xifeng, pushed up his tactical visor and reported indifferently:

"Captain Uzida, please give your instructions."

"No need for more words."

Uzida Dixie, Captain in the Frost Plated National Defense Army’s 73rd Armored Brigade Special Mobile Team, spoke blandly.

"Our task is to capture regardless of life, but a live one is always worth more."

"Yes, yes, regardless of life—I understand what you mean, Captain. Those who want to take the easy way out prefer to just kill and be done with it, but when the Governor of Fourth Rule says this, it means something different."

Gunner Karin Ram chewed her gum:

"This could be an opportunity to curry favor with the Governor of Fourth Rule—maybe we’ll get an extra allowance, or even a city residence in Twin Star City."

"A residence in the capital is nothing. Even a villa with a 90-year lease seems utterly cheap compared to the favor of the Governor of Fourth Rule." Electronic operations officer Yin Xifeng teased.

"It truly piques one’s curiosity though, who exactly is it that requires active-duty soldiers to make a move."

Gunner Karin clicked her tongue in wonder:

"This is probably no ordinary man from Frost Plated Country—involved in leaking secrets? Or treason?"

"Maybe both."

The woman with a flame-like scar on her face sneered as she spoke:

"We’ve reached the target airspace, begin the drop—Shengnan, give them a show of force."

"Understood."

Zhang Shengnan, with her short hair, gripped the control stick and spoke expressionlessly:

"Confirm operation code: Metro Collapse."

"Commence drop operation now."

"MA-20 ’Wolf Badger’ Mobile Armor, Uzida unit—deploy!"

Whir!

The fifty-four-ton Mobile Armor rapidly transformed, its head flipping inwards, hiding within the tank turret-like chassis, its legs compressing and retracting, morphing the entire body into a surfboard-like shape.

Its arms also stowed the missile pods inside the fuselage, allowing the stealthy radar-absorbing materials to fully come into effect—even though it was just an interception of an armored train, it shouldn’t be necessary to use anti-radar camouflage. But the cautious female soldiers weren’t as lackadaisical as the Fourth Rule Agent. Taking this opportunity, they even gave the mecha and equipment a thorough inspection.

The gigantic rotorcraft quickly released its magnets, the nuclear propulsion reactor adjusted to the operational running gear, and the thrusters on the back spurted out sky-blue flames downwards, jetting forth into the descent.

The sensation of weightlessness during the drop was familiar to the crew inside the vehicle. Captain Uzida calmly ordered, "Initiate low-altitude parachute deployment."

"Yes, ma’am," Zhang Shengnan replied as she skillfully maneuvered the mecha’s body. She turned off the altitude alarm, waiting until she reached the appropriate low-altitude area before she abruptly deployed the parachute.

Rustle—

Pure white parachute blossoms bloomed, the Wolf Badger Mobile Armor instantly shifted to a humanoid form, the thrusters on the body’s legs gently expelled flames to slow the descent, then suddenly cut off. Zhang Shengnan casually controlled the cut-rope system to sever the parachute lines, and the Mobile Armor crashed onto the ground like a dark steel fortress.