Xiang Yi hurriedly asked Xiao Zhibin, "Can you handle this?"
"This is just a transport ship. We only have one machine cannon for clearing meteorites. We can't fight a war."
The other pilot, Qi Chen, also realized something was wrong. "They didn't even issue a warning. There's definitely something wrong with this patrol. They can't be a real patrol team."
That settled it. This group was after Xiang Yi.
"I know. I've already sent a distress signal to the government. The real patrol's space station happens to be on our side of the planet. They've already responded and will be here to rescue us soon."
Xiang Yi frowned slightly at his words, just about to say something.
POP! POP! POP!
A few sharp, rapid cracks echoed through the cockpit, accompanied by the hiss of leaking air.
The three of them whipped their heads toward the source of the sound. Several puncture holes, each as thick as two fingers, had appeared on the side of the cockpit.
However, a layer of foam-like material oozed from the ship's breached structural layers, quickly filling the holes and hardening to form a temporary seal.
"They're firing on us! Grab onto that handrail!"
Xiao Zhibin roared at Xiang Yi, disengaging the autopilot. He began manually piloting the ship through evasive maneuvers to dodge the attacks from the pursuing ships.
The ship's automated voice announced, "Artificial gravity system has been shut down. Please fasten your seatbelts."
"That was just a warning shot. The firepower of five ships wouldn't just punch a few small holes in us. We need to get out of here, fast."
Just as Xiao Zhibin pushed the controls to execute a maneuver, a continuous vibration shuddered through the rear of the ship. A few stray tracer rounds streaked past the side of the vessel.
He immediately pulled up an interface on the main console displaying the ship's structural components, glanced at it, and said, "They're trying to destroy our ship outright! What kind of trouble did you get into?"
Xiang Yi was pressed against the cockpit wall, one hand gripping a handrail and the other his Mining Gun. He gave an awkward shrug from his strange position.
'All he'd done was break out of prison, incite a riot, and, while he was at it, release the Blood Crystals from the mine shafts, causing the prison a tiny bit of economic damage.'
'But the real reason the prison was hunting him down had to be more than that. It wasn't worth sacrificing two more lives just for one escaped convict. The reason was probably related to the crimes he was accused of.'
Even though they were all in the same boat now, Xiang Yi had no intention of elaborating.
Just as the ship accelerated further, fleeing toward the planet.
Five more blips suddenly appeared on the ship's radar.
It was the signal of a small fleet, also composed of five ships. Simultaneously, a forced communication signal patched into their ship, using a special comms code.
Xiao Zhibin was focused on piloting. Qi Chen, beside him, took a look and said, "It's the local patrol. They're signaling us to proceed as normal and said they've already issued a warning to the ships behind us. They're going to help intercept them."
The moment Qi Chen finished speaking, the ship was rocked by another series of impacts.
Startled, Xiao Zhibin immediately sent the ship into several barrel rolls, finally shaking off a volley of strafing fire.
"Damn it, we're already in the planetary domain and they're still shooting! These guys must not think their prison sentences are long enough."
"Planetary domain?"
When Xiang Yi heard those two words, a relevant memory surfaced in his mind.
Generally, every planet with a human colony has an autonomous government, which operates under a higher-level government body.
The concept of a "planetary domain" was established to prevent conflicts between different Planet Governments within the same Star System.
Specifically, the planetary domain extends from the planet's surface out into space for a distance equal to one planetary diameter.
If the planet has a moon, the distance is measured from the moon.
Entering this area means you are in the jurisdiction of the local Planet Government and must abide by its laws and regulations.
However, there was likely no law anywhere that permitted impersonating a local patrol and attacking a ship with clearance to be there.
For that matter, no law should permit ships to attack each other at will.
Although it was bad news that the fake patrol behind them still dared to attack in this location, the fact that the transport ship had entered the planetary domain meant they were now just a stone's throw away from the planet itself.
Through the ship's porthole, Xiang Yi could already see the planet's atmosphere.
On the ship's radar, the two groups of blips had nearly collided.
Xiao Zhibin had just breathed a sigh of relief when a crimson beam of light suddenly pierced through the ship's hull above Xiang Yi's head and below his feet.
The violent, instantaneous depressurization almost ripped Xiang Yi's hand from the nearby handle.
At that exact moment, the ship entered the atmosphere. The friction between the hull and the air caused the internal temperature to rise steadily, already approaching sixty degrees Celsius.
Even though the breach was quickly sealed by the foam material, the temperature inside the ship showed no signs of dropping.
Xiang Yi was fine in his protective suit, but Xiao Zhibin and Qi Chen were starting to succumb to the intense heat.
"What's happening?"
"Temperature control system is offline! The engine's about to burn out! Someone needs to go fix it!"
Qi Chen's face was flushed red. He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up from the pilot's seat. "I'll go!"
The moment he pushed himself away from his seat, he stumbled and fell, his consciousness fading from the extreme heat.
Gravity had already returned to the ship upon entering the atmosphere.
Xiao Zhibin quickly reached out, grabbed him, and dragged him back into his seat.
There was nothing more he could do at the moment. He could only continue to guide the ship's rapid descent while silently praying that the engine wouldn't explode from overheating mid-air, and that he himself wouldn't be cooked alive on the way down.
Just as he was succumbing to despair, Xiang Yi suddenly shouted to Xiao Zhibin, "Can you control the offline system from the main console?"
"No! Once it's offline, it's an independent system! Even if it's fixed, it has to be manually reconnected afterward! Otherwise, someone has to operate it by hand down there!"
"I understand. Do you have a manual?"
"What manual? Why do you need a manual at a time like this?!"
"For the temperature control."
"How should I know? Go look for it yourself in the tool cabinet down there!"
"Okay."
"Okay what?"
Xiao Zhibin's words were becoming slightly delirious from the heat.
But then he snapped back to his senses and glanced back, only to see Xiang Yi's figure disappearing through the cockpit doorway.
Xiang Yi had already familiarized himself with the ship's layout. He went straight to the engine room on the lower deck and found the temperature control system manual Xiao Zhibin had mentioned in a nearby tool cabinet.
He flipped to the equipment repair section, focusing all his attention on the manual.
The moment he actively applied his Spiritual Power to his own brain, he felt everything around him slow down.
The sound of the engine, the rate of the rising temperature, the speed at which tiny sparks drifted through the air—everything slowed.
Of course, Xiang Yi knew that time hadn't slowed down. Rather, his own thought process had accelerated under his deliberate control.
He didn't dare waste a second of time, nor any of his rapidly depleting Spiritual Power. He focused his gaze on every single word in the manual.
He had to memorize every key point written in the manual about equipment repair and operation.
'He could do this.'