The alarm blared—pirates had come to raid the cargo.
Long Fei, Li Xiucheng, and two other MS mercenary pilots each launched in their own mobile suits.
Four MS catapulted out.
"What's going on? Pirates actually team up to rob now?" a blue-haired female pilot said.
The raiding pirate groups had four ships in total, all refitted from cargo vessels. The pirates flew two different flags, indicating they were from separate bands.
Most of the deployed MS were modified construction models, with only a few being heavily damaged battlefield units that had been patched up for combat. Besides the MS, there were also some obsolete fighters.
A single pirate group wouldn't dare attack a cargo ship escorted by the Tianyi Mercenary Corps, but the alliance of two groups had emboldened them.
Together, the two pirate bands fielded a total of 40 MS and 8 fighters.
The two cargo ships stayed close behind the escort frigate.
On Long Fei's side, each pilot was responsible for ten MS.
Piloting his original Gundam RX-78, Long Fei charged straight into the swarm of pirate MS.
With perfect control, he fired three shots from his beam rifle—three shots, three destroyed MS.
Long Fei's actions instantly drew the attention of many pirate pilots. Taking out three machines in a split second convinced the pirates that the Gundam pilot was an ace.
Numerous MS locked onto Long Fei.
Countless shells rained down on him.
Inside the cockpit, Long Fei listened to the nonstop warning alarms while using the pedals and controls to evade. Even while dodging, he counterattacked, taking a head with every shot.
"Wow, the boss is insane! It's only been a minute, and he's already downed ten MS. I've only gotten three," a bald, dark-skinned black man said.
"Pani, you're so lame. Most of the enemy is distracted by the boss, and you've only taken three? I've already got five," the blue-haired female mercenary pilot retorted.
"Aviana, if you have time to trash-talk your teammate, why not focus and help the boss clean up the rest?" Li Xiucheng's reproach came over the comms video.
Aviana stuck out her tongue and quickly moved to assist the boss against the remaining pirate MS pilots.
By now, Long Fei had switched from the beam rifle to the bazooka. He aimed at one of the fighters, pressed the trigger, and a single round struck true—the fighter erupted in a massive fireball.
Long Fei noticed the remaining seven fighters trying to break away from the battlefield and head for the cargo ships.
He immediately switched back to the beam rifle, floored the thrusters, locked on, and fired—one shot every two seconds, each one exploding a fighter.
Seeing their deployed MS suffer over half losses in under two minutes of combat, and all their fighters destroyed, the two pirate captains immediately signaled retreat.
"Tch, what a buzzkill. They got scared off that easily," Aviana said disdainfully.
"The boss's Gundam beam rifle is way more powerful than the ones on our Jim MS. We might not even take down an MS with one shot, but the boss makes them explode instantly," Pani said with envy.
"I hope the boss builds a few more of those for us. Then our mercenary corps could pretty much dominate this region—no pirate group would dare cross our path."
"You two seem to have plenty of time for chit-chat. Why aren't you returning to the escort ship immediately?" Long Fei's stern voice popped up on their video comms.
The two shrank back and quickly piloted their MS back to the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate.
Long Fei wasn't particularly satisfied with this battle. An engagement of this level couldn't properly test the Gundam's shortcomings. Most of the pirate machines were poorly modified construction MS, far from ideal in combat. Though some were standard military-issue units from certain nations, the pirates' overall fighting ability was vastly inferior to a regular army—especially their MS piloting skills. This kind of opposition couldn't highlight the Gundam's strengths or reveal its weaknesses.
The pirates' obsolete fighters were slow as well. Even if someone else piloted the original Gundam, as long as their skills weren't terrible, downing those fighters would have been easy.
For the next two days, no pirate groups appeared, and the cargo ships safely reached the Kosoras Kingdom.
The Kosoras Kingdom was an independent nation among the space colonies, consisting of only three colonies. Among the many nations, it was considered insignificant—essentially a fifth-rate power.
Its total population was under four million.
The Kosoras Kingdom relied mainly on asteroid mining within its territory and domestic agricultural exports for foreign currency. Its gross national product was extremely low—even the Mikaang Kingdom had more than double Kosoras's GNP.
The escort warship underwent two days of maintenance and repairs at the dock while waiting to see if any merchants would come to hire them.
Long Fei rode his motorcycle alone to observe the local conditions of Kosoras's third colony. He found the economy and living standards rather poor. The outer areas were in bad shape, and he saw many people in tattered clothes idly sitting on the streets.
Long Fei decided to head to the more prosperous district. There, the economy was somewhat better—there were industrial factories and basic facilities. He saw workers in uniforms busily at work.
Long Fei took out his phone, activated his custom secure communication line, and contacted his factory director, Simmons.
He asked Simmons if the factory still needed any other materials.
After receiving Simmons's reply, Long Fei visited several factories to purchase the required metal materials.
He visited a few plants, signed several orders, and notified Simmons to arrange pickup.
Long Fei checked the time—it was already evening. The colony's artificial sky had taken on an evening hue. Many factories had shut down for the day, though some were still running overtime.
Long Fei decided to head to the city center to find a restaurant and fill his stomach.
The city center was relatively lively, with some bars and entertainment venues.
After eating his fill, Long Fei strolled through the center, taking in the sights as a post-meal walk.
He came to a park and watched the fountain, relaxing, when he heard a voice nearby call out, "Little Feifei."
Hearing "Little Feifei" made Long Fei frown, his expression turning rather sour. "Little Feifei" was his childhood nickname. Besides his mother, only one other woman had ever called him that.
It was his aunt, Long Huijuan—fifteen years his senior, yet she acted more like an older sister.
Long Fei turned toward the voice and saw a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties staring at him in shock.
Long Fei hadn't expected to run into his biological aunt, Long Huijuan, here.
Long Huijuan likewise hadn't expected to encounter her nephew, whom she hadn't seen in years.
The Long family, into which Long Fei had been born (and reincarnated), was a centuries-old commercial dynasty. The family head, Long Dingkun, was Long Fei's grandfather. His father, Long Yingxuan, was Long Dingkun's third child. Long Fei's aunt Long Huijuan was the patriarch's fourth child—his youngest and only daughter, the one he doted on most.
Long Yingxuan's business talent couldn't compare to his elder brothers, and his father paid him little attention, so life in the Long household had been relatively relaxed for him, without heavy constraints.
Later, however, his marriage had been arranged by his father, an arrangement Long Yingxuan refused, leading to a major fallout.
The wife he chose, Wu Qian, came from an ordinary family. To a great house with hundreds of years of history, like the Longs, that was considered low-class and unworthy.
When Long Yingxuan married, he received no blessings from the family—no Long member attended the wedding.
Long Huijuan, born late in her father's life, was deeply cherished by him and could be called the willful little princess of the Long family. Yet for some reason, this spoiled princess was especially close to her third brother, Long Fei's father, Long Yingxuan.
When Long Fei was young—after his transmigration and reincarnation—his aunt would often visit. As a child, he was frequently teased by this capricious aunt. But Long Fei had never been an ordinary child; with an adult soul from another world, he could see that although she was his aunt, Long Huijuan behaved like an older sister playfully tormenting her little brother.
Moreover, Long Huijuan's age wasn't far from that of his eldest sister, Long Kui—she was only ten years older than her.