CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: PIRATE

Through the camera at the back of the spaceship, Chen Ming could see the three ships behind him, also enduring the bombardment of asteroids similar to his.

Two of them were standard manufactured models named Conquest Level frigates.

Chen Ming remembered that the standard data for this model of frigate was a length of 42 meters, width of 25 meters, and height of 11 meters.

The overall shape was close to a diamond, with the front end of the spaceship more pronounced.

Normally operated by four to eight people, there are a total of three small load-bearing points located at the top and both sides of the spaceship.

It is an extremely excellent escort ship.

The remaining one was named Hellhound Level armed merchant ship, its size even larger than the Conquest Level.

It had a length of 65 meters, width of 33 meters, and height of 21 meters.

Although it is also a frigate level, the tonnage level of merchant ships is often larger than other frigate level ships due to the need to transport cargo.

And the Hellhound Level has an advantage that most other frigate-level ships cannot reach.

It possesses a legally compliant medium-sized load-bearing point, protruding at the right front of the spaceship.

This means the Hellhound Level can carry some medium-caliber weapons, posing the greatest threat to Iron Ore No.

These two types of ships are very common at the Mining Space Station, many trade fleets are basically composed of these two types of ships.

So Chen Ming was not surprised at all that pirates had these two types of ships.

Just as Chen Ming was thinking about the weaknesses in the design of these models of ships to find opportunities for breakthrough.

A communication request suddenly was sent to his spaceship.

Chen Ming thought for a moment and connected the communication.

A rough voice sounded from the communication channel.

"Stop the ship, we only want the valuable things on your ship, not the people and supplies, cooperate honestly, and we won’t use force."

This was the first batch of people Chen Ming saw and the first words he heard.

But Chen Ming never expected that the first words he heard from humans were threats from pirates.

So Chen Ming deliberately slowed down his speaking speed slightly, and said very calmly, "Idiot."

Then immediately hung up the communication.

Only a fool would believe them.

Rather than listening to their nonsense, it’s better to consider what to do next.

The two Conquest Levels aren’t easy to deal with, after all, these are professional combat ships, and his civilian ship definitely cannot compare with them in terms of combat performance.

Even if his spaceship has undergone many modifications, it would be very difficult to find an opportunity amidst the encirclement of the two Conquest Levels.

But the Hellhound Level is different.

The Hellhound Level is a merchant ship; even if it comes standard with a medium load-bearing point and three small load-bearing points, delivering extremely strong firepower.

Its own ship type limits its combat capability.

The Hellhound Level’s larger mass compared to other frigates puts its acceleration at the bottom among all frigates in a short time.

And its relatively large size, although providing it with heavy armor, also makes traveling in complex terrain, like the current asteroid belt, very difficult.

These are its disadvantages compared to other frigates.

Moreover, these disadvantages have already started to show.

As Chen Ming controlled Iron Ore No. to continue deeper into the Dark Graveyard, a considerable distance had already opened up between the three ships following behind.

The Hellhound Level had fallen far behind the two Conquest Levels, almost to the point where it’s out of the shooting range of the Electromagnetic Spear.

At this moment, Chen Ming saw an opportunity and immediately activated the spaceship’s weapon system, aiming the gun muzzle backwards.

But the violent shaking caused by Iron Ore No. colliding with asteroids made aiming impossible.

At this time, Iron Ore No. and Hellhound Level were separated by a distance of over ten kilometers, and even the slightest shake would cause shooting errors, making it impossible to hit.

Civilian ships lack special auxiliary aiming equipment; the automatic locking function of the Target Positioning System is difficult to utilize in such situations.

Although Chen Ming had attempted to lock onto the Hellhound, he had yet to open fire.

One could say this is the limitation of civilian work ships, lacking sufficient buffering and stabilization devices.

In extreme situations, like now, or potentially facing an attack immediately after, it’s challenging to perform at the expected level.

It seems that he must pay attention to these kinds of things in future modifications or simply switch to another ship.

As for now.

Chen Ming tried firing a few shots, but the bullets ultimately disappeared somewhere.

Then came some bad news.

Sensors detected a sparse area devoid of asteroids in front of Iron Ore No., possibly left from past mining.

Although Chen Ming felt uncomfortable due to the shaking from continuous asteroid collisions, he would definitely feel worse without the cover of asteroids.

He didn’t have time to turn in another direction to continue dodging; the two Conquest Levels had already locked his position.

Iron Ore No. could only move forward now.

At the moment the spaceship was forced into the open area,

The two Conquest Levels behind started firing, and the weapons on three small load-bearing points simultaneously erupted violent arcs and flashes.

Completely different from the civilian version 22mm machine gun he used previously, the flickering arc suggested the shooting speed would definitely not be low.

Chen Ming’s heartbeat started to quicken with the flickering arc, a mix of tension and excitement intertwining in his mind.

Chen Ming immediately initiated maneuvering flight with the spaceship and rotated the hull, keeping the relatively fragile engine out of the firing range of the two Conquest Levels.

A series of impacts hit the top of the spaceship as it was hit by bullets.

Chen Ming’s maneuvering didn’t evade the shots from behind.

He promptly used sensors to lock the bullet trajectory fired by the Conquest Levels.

Then Chen Ming found that the overlapping crossfire from the two ships almost completely blocked his emergency evasion routes.

The shooting technique was very professional.

Looking at the two Conquest Levels again, Chen Ming noticed something special.

Although the exterior of the two Conquest Levels didn’t appear particularly new, it was apparent from their long-term maintenance and upkeep that they cherished their spacecraft.

The weapons mounted on the ship also gave Chen Ming this impression.

He also noticed that the Conquest Levels maneuvered very smoothly among asteroids.

Unlike Chen Ming, who can control the spaceship with consciousness, they can only operate it via the spaceship computer.

With this spaceship, such professional combat and piloting skill, they were totally unlike a group of desperadoes only seeing money and the present moment.

Chen Ming even felt these people were not pirates at all.

They were just a fleet that took off its disguise in remote areas and engaged in piracy.

Although this was only conjecture from Chen Ming, if it was truly as he imagined, the success rate of his counterattack might...

"Hmm?"

Chen Ming suddenly paused.

He had just opened the panel to check the damage to the spaceship’s top armor.

However, in the three-dimensional spaceship image, the spot where the armor was hit showed no bullet holes, only some slight dents.

Unless they could continuously attack Iron Ore No. at point-blank range, allowing every bullet to make effective contact.

Otherwise, these bullets had no chance to inflict enough damage on Iron Ore No.’s external armor, which was modified with White Cloud Steel by Chen Ming.

Chen Ming stared at the panel for a few seconds, then experienced another round of bullet bombardment.

Seeing the armor’s durability still unmoving at 99% on the panel, he couldn’t help but ask himself a question.

"What was I just nervous about?"