Chapter 99: Death Before Victory?

It was 9 a.m. on Earth Day.

Zhou Yuan boarded a transport aircraft, leaving Pluto and heading towards the mining area in the Vedis asteroid belt. The Vedis belt wasn't far from Pluto, and even a transport aircraft could reach it within an hour, so there was no need to deploy starships.

The team consisted of fourteen members in total. There were two pilots, Claire and her co-pilot Aina. The remaining eleven members were combat soldiers handpicked by Kenney, along with Zhou Yuan, the commander of the defense force.

All eyes were on Zhou Yuan inside the cabin. The soldiers stared intently at his exosuit, practically drooling, but due to their positions, they dared not ask any questions.

Seeing this, Zhou Yuan smiled and raised his hand to make a fist. "I believe you all know what this is—a single-person combat exosuit."

"I wasn't supposed to reveal too much, but since you are my troops, I'll make an exception."

"This is the newly developed prototype, the Morita Type-1 single-person combat exosuit. Currently, there are only three units in the entire Federation."

"As the defense force of the research department, we are the research department's favorite unit, so I managed to get hold of one."

"In the future, more people will become exosuit pilots, but the manufacturing cost of these suits is too high for weaklings to possess them."

"So whether you can become an exosuit pilot depends on whether you have the ability."

"I've heard that the Special Operations Force is also aware of this news. They want to snatch the second exosuit currently under construction from our hands."

Zhou Yuan lowered his voice and spoke mysteriously, "Damn it! Those damn Special Ops!"

"The things developed by the research department should naturally be used by us, the defense force of the research department!"

"The Special Ops are daydreaming; they have picked the wrong fight!"

The cabin instantly filled with discussions.

The news of having a chance to pilot an exosuit was great news for them. But the fact that the Special Operations Force wanted to snatch it from them was absolutely intolerable!

"Alright, enough with the tough talk. Anyone can talk tough."

"The Special Ops believe that the exosuits were designed to kill bugs, and they consider themselves experts in that area."

"They think that the defense force members are all cowards who hide underground and don't deserve to possess exosuits."

"The higher-ups of the research department were swayed by their words, but I managed to secure an opportunity for you."

"This mission is that opportunity. You may not know this, but the mining area in the Vedis asteroid belt we're heading to is a semi-infested zone..."

Zhou Yuan continued speaking softly but stopped midway.

"Commander, I have a suggestion!"

Kenny immediately raised his hand and said seriously, "To ensure the safety of the mining personnel, we should help them deal with the nearby insects."

"Yes, the team leader is right."

"That's right, it's nothing for us."

"This is a good idea. We can do it better than those soft Special Forces. Even if there is no opportunity, we will create one and go for it."

Upon hearing Kenny's words, everyone echoed in agreement.

They all thought that the research department's defense force should take the lead, seize every opportunity, and even create opportunities if necessary.

"Good!"

"Now, rest well and stay alert."

"After completing the mission, I will let you go all-out and blow up ten or eight insect nests."

Seeing the reaction of the team members, Zhou Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

As a commander, he really put a lot of effort into making sure his subordinates could gain military merits.

Host: Zhou Yuan

Identity: Federal Captain, Superhuman

Attributes: Strength 13, Speed 12.5, Jumping 12.5, Agility 12.5, Endurance 13, Defense 13, Self-healing 13, Skill 1.8, Brain Function 15.5

Skills: Telepathy, Telecommunication, Telekinesis, Hypnosis, Mind Control, Fast Learning...

Equipment: Icarus Destroyer, Leapfrog, Nanorepair Medical Pod, Laser Bird, Inferno Grenade...

Title: Financial Guru - Gain 1 Soul Point per minute

Soul Points:

After finalizing the plan to exterminate the insects, Zhou Yuan opened his personal panel.

He hadn't killed a single insect in these few days, earning only over seven thousand Soul Points, all thanks to his title.

But his skill had increased by 0.2.

When he had nothing to do, he would pick up training. Both his combat and marksmanship skills had improved a little.

... ...

"Sir, we have a situation!"

After sitting in his position for about half an hour, Zhou Yuan heard Claire's call.

"What's going on?"

With a furrowed brow, Zhou Yuan quickly walked into the cockpit to ask.

"Sir, this is an unfamiliar asteroid."

Claire pointed to the window, where a massive asteroid could be seen. It was predominantly gray and clearly a frigid ice asteroid.

"Preliminary estimates suggest that its average diameter is larger than 500 kilometers, with a surface area greater than 79 million square kilometers."

"The stellar network information shows that it is an unrecorded asteroid."

"But we are already in the Fudes Asteroid Belt region, and every celestial body here has a designated number, except for this one."

Elena, Claire's assistant, handed Zhou Yuan a tablet at this moment.

"Ignore it. Our destination is the mining area."

"Record its information and transmit it back, then continue the mission."

Zhou Yuan casually glanced at the tablet and then ordered.

It wasn't anything extraordinary.

The Fudes Asteroid Belt revolved around the Fudes Star, a planet with a diameter over 150,000 kilometers.

As a planet nearly twelve times the size of Earth, it had a strong gravitational field, attracting asteroids was normal.

Almost every day, new asteroids joined the Fudes Asteroid Belt. However, it was rare to see one as large as the current one.

"Yes, sir!"

Claire and Hannah replied in unison, and the transport aircraft approached the asteroid ahead.

Recording the asteroid's information was relatively simple, just flying around it at low altitude and capturing images of the surface.

Plans can't keep up with changes.

An accident occurred after the transport aircraft entered the gravitational layer of the asteroid.

"Captain!"

Elena pulled the control lever forcefully, commanding the transport aircraft to climb while shouting for Claire.

"Let me do it!"

With a low shout, Claire immediately took over the controls.

At this moment, Zhou Yuan hadn't left the cockpit yet. He only realized what Elena and Claire were so tense about when he saw the scene ahead.

The large asteroid was rotating and had just turned to its backside.

And on its back, there was a mountain range made of ice that appeared to be at least four to five kilometers high in altitude.

At this moment, the transport aircraft was right in front of the ice mountain range.

Due to the rotation of the asteroid, the ice mountain range came to life and rushed towards the transport aircraft with an overwhelming force.