Chapter 8 - Guerrilla Warfare and Gains

Chapter 8: Guerrilla Warfare and GainsSure enough, while evading, the pirate fleet began to turn towards the location of the frigate.

Since their radar detected the incoming projectile, backtracking its trajectory could naturally lead them to the hidden enemy!

NPCs might be simple, but they weren’t brainless.

“Trouble!” Lin Zhichen’s eyes flickered as he looked at the radar display of the spatial terrain, starting to consider the subsequent guerrilla warfare.

Once the enemy was on alert, the effectiveness of long-range bombardment was significantly reduced. He already noticed the flaw in this tactic:

“If I were to team up with Ah Ke and Tianyi, and all three frigates employed long-range bombardment tactics, the dense barrage would be enough to eliminate them halfway.”

So even elite forces needed sufficient numbers; otherwise, they would be worn down by the sheer volume of enemies. It was important to remember that NPC wild monsters were endless.

While pondering this, Lin Zhichen kept his eyes fixed on the battle. As expected, against a prepared enemy, the crucial first round of bombardment didn’t achieve the anticipated results. It wasn’t until the seventh round of bombardment that the first raiding boat was destroyed.

In the explosion’s aftermath, the remaining pirate ships immediately scattered, moving towards the surrounding asteroids.

With the pirate gunboat’s radar monitoring and shared intelligence, the frigate’s position was now exposed. The pirates could now spread out,

using a skirmish line and the cover of asteroids to surround the frigate. This was completely different from the previous raiding boat formation, which didn’t detect the enemy at all.

“Then let’s have a guerrilla war!” Lin Zhichen chuckled, and the frigate’s engines roared to life, propelling it deeper into the asteroid field.

In the distance, a second burst of fire erupted—that was the raiding boat hit by the previously fired projectile. Now the score was 6:1.

The frigate weaved through the asteroid cluster like a nimble fish. If one were to zoom out and view the battlefield, it would be clear that this terrain naturally limited the speed of both sides. Besides the engines, the coordination of the crew determined the speed of the starships.

And in this aspect, Lin Zhichen had no fear!

Perhaps due to the excitement of battle, the experience gained from routine navigation training had been relatively slow, but now it was like a waterfall cascading down, with skill progress rapidly updating.

Half an hour into the chase, the frigate’s pilot NPC’s skill had advanced to expert level!

“Name: Warship Pilot DQXJJSY** (Human, White)

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Profession: Warship Pilot (Expert)

Talent: Warship Piloting (White): Warship Evasion Rate +9%, Sub-light Speed +5%

Skills: 1: Ship Piloting (White, Expert 1.42%): Sub-light Speed +21%

2: Obstacle Evasion (White, Expert 24.47%): Speed through Complex Environments +23%

Evaluation: Akina Mountain Drift King!”

The rapid passage enabled by the Obstacle Evasion skill allowed the frigate to navigate the asteroid belt with ease. Despite being a larger vessel, the frigate achieved a speed that left the pirate raiding boats far behind.

With a speed advantage over the enemy and a longer range, the chase quickly turned into a counterattack. Utilizing the high-speed maneuverability, the frigate under Lin Zhichen’s control acted like mounted archers, periodically firing a volley of shots towards the rear.

The awakening of his psionic abilities brought enhanced senses. Although he couldn’t fully control them, he could vaguely perceive fleeting moments of opportunity. During these moments, the crew, following his orders, would fire without the frigate coming to a halt.

Ordinarily, the hit rate in such conditions would not be high. However, radar detection revealed that with their close coordination, this near “blind firing” achieved a hit rate of 60%!

The small tungsten alloy projectiles, traveling at sub-light speed, easily penetrated the electromagnetic deflection shields. The pirate raiding boats, with their civilian-grade hulls, were easily torn open, resulting in immediate explosions. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴøvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Under Lin Zhichen’s almost cold command, the entire frigate operated like a finely tuned machine. Orders were executed immediately upon being issued, with efficiency elevated to the peak of human capability.

The frigate glided through space like a nimble fish, elegantly side-slipping to evade incoming electromagnetic projectiles. The sharp sixth sense brought by his psionic awakening allowed him to react several seconds before danger struck.

The benefits of having an excellent crew quickly became apparent. The ship moved as if it were an extension of his will, operating efficiently and smoothly.

In this near-perfect state, the skills of the crew members rapidly improved. In just one hour, they completed the leap from advanced to expert level in their professions.

According to the Federal Human Resources Department, individuals with advanced professional skills make up about 40% of the total population, while expert-level talents are often less than 6%.

Even within the Federal Fleet, the crew members on this frigate were considered elite. Under normal circumstances, they would be reassigned to battleships or even flagships as elite skilled personnel.

At this moment, through the combined efforts of the crew and Lin Zhichen, the hit rate of the electromagnetic projectiles had reached 70%, with pirate ships being hit from time to time.

One explosion after another lit up the space, and after two hours, only the intact frigate and a solitary pirate gunboat remained in the area.

At this point, the battle became simpler. After all, combat wasn’t solely determined by the size of the ships.

The frigate was like a hunter with a shotgun, hunting an enraged elephant in the jungle.

A shotgun couldn’t kill an elephant with a single shot, but a nimble hunter could use long-range weapons to slowly drain the blood of their prey.

Just like now, one electromagnetic projectile after another struck the pirate gunboat, while the enraged enemy’s retaliatory shots were in vain.

Lacking the necessary skills and never having trained for long-range bombardment, their projectiles missed the target by a wide margin. The shots passed kilometers away from the frigate, occasionally kicking up clouds of dust on the asteroids.

After an hour, the gunboat, which had been hit by more than fifty projectiles, finally let out its last cry in the starry sky, transforming into a blazing fire that illuminated the cosmos.

The battle was over. Lin Zhichen, who had been continuously stimulating his brain with psionic energy, felt a wave of dizziness as he relaxed and slumped into the captain’s chair. “Damage control, collect the spoils! Clean up the battlefield and leave immediately!”

This was within the patrol range of the pirate base. Once the battle started, the enemy would have definitely reported the attack to the base via their communication devices. It was foreseeable that fleets were already being dispatched from various locations.

If they didn’t leave in time, they would likely face a siege by hundreds of pirate ships.

A day later, having recovered, Lin Zhichen began calculating the gains.

“A small red laser turret, a frigate blueprint, and a large electromagnetic railgun turret!”

Lin Zhichen’s eyes lit up when he saw the large electromagnetic railgun.

The technology behind the large electromagnetic railgun was essentially the same as that of small and medium electromagnetic railguns. The main difference was that the large electromagnetic railgun had greater power and a higher cost.