Within seven steps, the laser is faster.

Lu Chen was blasted into a dizzy confusion, but almost instantly regained his composure, and his body was largely unscathed.

He truly had grown stronger—so much so that it felt a little unfamiliar. The enemy’s armor-piercing shells seemed to have accomplished nothing more than leaving a meaningless hole in the back plating, and in the end, it was the explosive force that managed to blow off the armor. Even the surrounding swarm was caught in the blast, injuring a host of locusts.

“A classic case of hurting yourself more than the enemy,” he muttered.

He still wasn’t certain of the enemy’s identity, but the repeated ambushes made one thing clear: his adversary couldn’t match him head-on.

“If it’s only the hive mind, then it’s frighteningly clever,” he mused, deciding to play along with a bit of deception.

He feigned being stunned by the blast, refraining from piloting his armor to stand up. The palm of his right hand, which housed both a laser cannon and a lightsaber, was tilted inward toward the wall, and the drive was not reactivated. He appeared to be completely unconscious. Only the radar in his armor continued to operate automatically.

Lu Chen finally got a good look at what had ambushed him.

It was a battle armor from a thousand years ago: an Imperial Blue Wushen Series, Level Forty. Slightly larger than Lu Chen’s own, its frame was leaner and more agile. The deep blue shell was corroded and battered, bearing marks of later modifications and replaced parts. Lu Chen could see at a glance that these were hand-machined, with neither the precision nor material strength up to standard.

The Level Forty armor engine was badly rusted, the original spirit oil tank nearly dry, and an externally attached modern spirit cell mismatched in power specifications. Even the armor-piercing ammunition from a thousand years ago had expired, lacking its former potency. Otherwise, such a sneak attack from behind would have penetrated Lu Chen’s armor completely.

Despite its designation as Level Forty, the Blue Wushen’s actual combat capacity was likely inferior to Lu Chen’s Level Thirty armor. Otherwise, the warning system would have triggered in advance.

Lu Chen realized that the locust swarm had deliberately lured nearby low-level adventure ships, attacked them, dismantled, and reassembled their components...

“Every corner of the Pangu Corridor is a trap; adventurers are nothing but lambs waiting for slaughter!”

Seeing the Blue Wushen armor unmoving for so long, Lu Chen pretended to regain consciousness, coughing, spitting blood, and weakly asked, “Alexei... is it you?”

The Blue Wushen, seeing the intruding armored knight not quite dead, suddenly erupted, drawing a giant sword from its back and charging toward Lu Chen.

After three years in this world, Lu Chen finally witnessed, in reality, a weapon common in games—the giant sword for armored combat! At least in the national server, Huaxia players had always favored physical greatswords; their close-combat power even surpassed the lightsaber. Some could even cleave through starships with sword energy...

He felt a pang of nostalgia.

Unfortunately, this was a world a thousand years in the future, where even lightsabers were nearly obsolete, let alone greatswords.

The real universe prized utilitarianism above all; the realm now belonged to laser cannons, high-energy particle cannons, gravity cannons, dark matter cannons, annihilation cannons, and two-dimensional foil droplets.

Who needed melee weapons anymore? Only cultivators still fought hand-to-hand.

Returning to the scene, Lu Chen saw the giant sword enveloped in spiritual magnetic rings, crackling with energy, its surface inscribed with densely packed ancient martial spirit patterns that glowed with pale blue sword light.

The Blue Wushen charged, swinging the sword at Lu Chen’s armor’s right arm, attempting to neutralize the dangerous laser cannon and lightsaber as swiftly as possible.

But Lu Chen braced his right palm, leveraging himself into the air. Despite the bulky appearance, he deftly evaded the Blue Wushen’s swift, descending strike.

Scarlet flames burst from his palm’s sword hilt, the sword energy singing as it unfolded within the array’s constraints, and he brought the blade down.

Swish—

The Blue Wushen’s giant sword, along with its arm, crashed heavily to the ground.

After a moment’s delay, the Blue Wushen reacted, aiming its left arm’s cannon at Lu Chen’s armor.

Beyond seven paces, the laser is quick. Within seven paces, the laser is even quicker.

Before his armor even touched down, Lu Chen rapidly retracted the lightsaber, transforming his palm into a laser cannon. Within seven paces, he blasted the Blue Wushen’s cannon, detonating it inside the left arm’s chamber.

In just three seconds, Lu Chen had neutralized the Blue Wushen’s offensive weapons.

He landed, flipped his armor upright, and once again gripped the lightsaber.

He thrust it through the gap under the Blue Dancer’s severed right arm. Dark red blood, tinged with purple, seeped from the armor...

It certainly didn’t look like human blood.

Could insects pilot armor?

Lu Chen carefully dismantled the Blue Wushen, wary of damaging the engine. If repaired, this engine could still function, and even held value as a collectible antique.

He opened the Blue Wushen’s chest compartment.

Inside the blood-soaked cockpit slumped an old man, his face gaunt as dry wood, hair white as snow, with antenna-like horns on his head.

Lu Chen guessed this might be Alexei.

“Killing a shipful of those who discriminated against you is one thing, but luring and slaughtering nearby adventurers afterward is absurd, Alexei.”

Yet the old man, trembling, struggled to speak, “Grandfather... has never killed a soul...”

Leaving only this vague statement, the fire of vengeance in the old man’s eyes faded, and he finally closed them in peace.

Turning him over, Lu Chen suddenly discovered—

His feet were insect legs, and behind him were locust wings...

There could not have been such a throwback humanoid a thousand years ago; clearly, this was not Alexei!

Grandfather? So he was Alexei’s grandson?

Which meant Alexei had merged with the insect race?

Lu Chen’s expression froze, stunned for a thousand years in a single moment.

On reflection, it made sense.

Alexei could not have lived this long.

All the locusts Lu Chen had encountered so far were male; only the mother locusts that handled reproduction were female.

He never expected that this fellow could actually mate with a mother locust, producing several generations.

Not a humanoid, not a demoness, but a true insect!

Lu Chen could only marvel at the bizarre wonders of the world.

Having dealt with the Blue Wushen armor, Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief.

As for the mother locusts responsible for reproduction, even if endowed with high intelligence, they would pose no combat threat.

Lu Chen quickly reviewed the situation.

The locust swarm filled the cave, obscuring vision and interfering with radar. The Level Twenty adventure armor whose head he had cleaved at the start was likely lured in by the swarm and killed, the humanoid insect monster inside probably a descendant of Alexei and a mother locust—perhaps training in piloting armor, or maybe serving to confuse the enemy, causing shock and distraction so that the rear ambush was overlooked.

The battle giant locusts in the rear formed the second layer of defense.

Any ordinary Level Twenty armor entering would not survive.

The Blue Wushen, hidden in the shadows, equipped with armor-piercing rounds and a giant sword, was the third layer.

Had Lu Chen not used universal resonance to absorb the blow, or not brought his Level Thirty laser cannon and lightsaber, he could easily have perished here.

Normally, any Level Thirty adventure ship entering would be doomed.

If the hive mind had known in advance that the civilian ship Leonine carried Gloria and his fully laser-equipped combat armor, it would never have lured him onto the asteroid.

“The hive mind is absolutely intentionally baiting humans!”

As he pondered, the locust swarm in the cave suddenly swarmed away, flying through another secret passage toward the deeper recesses.

“The male locusts and battle locusts are dead; the swarm must be heading to protect the mother locusts, or to die alongside them.”

Thinking thus, Lu Chen piloted his armor to follow.

He was determined to capture a mother locust alive.