Chapter 947 - Testing the weapons

Chapter 947: 947 - Testing the weapons

[NT: Just one Chapter today, because it’s Election Day in Brazil. Tomorrow, everything will be back to normal. I’m very sorry, and thank you so much to everyone who’s read this far.

On the 10th or 11th, I’ll be moving into my new home, so there will probably only be one Chapter again during those days.]

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After a little over an hour of flying, the Black Diamond finally began to slow down.

The stars that had been streaking across the windshield settled back into mere stationary points in the darkness.

They had reached their destination.

Before them stretched a gigantic asteroid belt, one of the largest in all the Celestial Heavens.

Some of the rocks were so massive they looked more like dwarf planets drifting aimlessly through the void.

The density of the area was also absurd.

The asteroids sat so close to one another that they should have been smashing into each other constantly, yet they barely seemed to feel their neighbors’ gravity, orbiting the central star in perfect harmony.

Ziyue, who until then had been drinking with Qingyi’s wives and simply enjoying the moment, set her glass aside and stood up. She walked over to him with calm steps.

Pausing beside the pilot’s seat, she too gazed at the enormous formation for a brief moment, the glint of the starlit rocks reflected in her eyes.

"A formation this tightly packed wouldn’t normally remain an asteroid belt for very long. This place only stays this way thanks to powerful Qi arrays, and it’s mainly used for pilot training and weapons testing," she said, waving her hand lightly.

In the next instant, a small pair of glasses appeared between her delicate fingers, as if pulled out of thin air.

"These were used in weapons testing before the systems were fully operational. Even an ordinary mortal, without a drop of Qi, can use them to control the spacecraft’s targeting system... in case you want to let Lingxi play around a bit."

She handed the glasses to Qingyi, whose face immediately lit up with a smile.

It was extremely irresponsible to hand the weapons of such a powerful spaceship over to a child that young.

If Ziyue did that in front of the family elders, she’d probably receive a whole stack of letters of condemnation.

Of course, those letters would only keep coming until she reminded those elders exactly who she was, but the problem remained all the same.

Fortunately, neither she nor Qingyi cared much about that sort of thing.

The two of them were free spirits by nature, and as long as the little one was having fun, they were happy.

Honestly, the main reason Qingyi had come all the way out here was precisely to let Lingxi have some fun. He agreed without a second thought, motioning for Rouxi to bring their daughter over.

Rouxi came over with the baby in her arms and settled her on her father’s lap.

Lingxi was a little confused at first, looking around without understanding what was going on, but her little eyes were soon drawn to the asteroids glittering outside in the starlight.

Rouxi took the glasses from Qingyi’s hand and carefully tried to put them on her daughter.

The little one resisted a bit at first, turning her head away and wrinkling her tiny nose, but she soon gave in.

Then she began looking from side to side, somewhat bewildered by the radar lines and firing calculations flashing right before her eyes.

Qingyi leaned over the control panel, activating the small-caliber weapons system.

A low metallic hum ran through the hull as a hatch slid open at the front of the ship. Two 90mm cannons emerged from within, their dark metal catching the glow of the distant star.

Lingxi turned her head to one side, then to the other.

She was only a few months old, but she was a terribly smart child.

It took her just a few seconds to realize that the cannons outside were moving along with her gaze. She tried it once more, slower this time, watching the twin barrels swing to follow her, and a sweet little squeal escaped her lips.

She turned to her father and pointed at the control stick between his legs, babbling adorably, as if she were just waiting for his go-ahead.

"Go have some fun, princess," Qingyi said with a smile, drawing another excited squeal from Lingxi.

The tip of her tongue peeked out between her pursed lips, her face scrunched into that look of concentration only a child can make, as she gripped the control stick—which was clearly far too big for her—with both of her tiny hands.

She turned her head, fixed her gaze directly on one of the asteroids, and pulled one of the triggers.

In the next instant, the entire ship shuddered.

The two cannons fired at once, beams of golden Qi tearing through the void with the heat of a thousand suns and all the power of a Cosmic Emperor.

The twin projectiles left a trail of pure gold in their wake, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye. They slammed into one of the largest asteroids in the belt, sinking hundreds of meters into the rock before detonating.

A golden explosion engulfed the cosmos.

The full power of a Cosmic Emperor burst free all at once, reducing everything within a radius of tens of kilometers to nothing but dust.

Light flooded the cockpit, bathing everything in gold for a second. When it faded, the rock that had once resembled a dwarf planet had simply ceased to exist.

"Aaaaah! Dadda!" Lingxi shrieked, bouncing in Qingyi’s lap and clapping her little hands.

She spun around, pointing at the destruction with one tiny finger, just to make sure Daddy had seen it all.

The handsome young man smiled from ear to ear at his daughter.

"Way to go, princess! Come on, keep firing! There’s still plenty of destruction to cause!" Qingyi said, stroking Lingxi’s soft hair.

She nodded vigorously, leaning forward and grabbing the control stick again.

Her little fingers found the trigger, and from that point on, she simply didn’t stop.

The ship shuddered with every shot, a dull thrum running up through the seats as the shock-absorption systems worked at full capacity just to keep the cockpit steady.

And so, for several minutes, Lingxi brought death to her daddy’s enemies.

Well, they were just lifeless chunks of rock, but in her mind, they were huge demons begging to be wiped out.

The Black Diamond’s golden fire rained down on the asteroids as the cannons roared without pause. Each new explosion outside filled the cockpit with another golden flash and drew another squeal of joy from the little girl.

Behind them, Qingyi’s wives watched it all, laughing, Rouxi nodding along with a proud smile every time another asteroid turned to dust.

When Lingxi finally stopped, satisfied after about thirty minutes, the cannons were already at their limit, their barrels glowing an incandescent red.

Fortunately, despite the intense heat, they had suffered no damage whatsoever. They were made of an absurdly durable material with an incredible ability to repair itself.

White smoke poured from the barrels as the ship’s cooling systems kicked in, the vapor spreading out and quickly vanishing into the void of space.

"Satisfied?" Qingyi asked with a smile as Lingxi stood up on his lap.

Using his robes for support, she planted a tiny foot on each of her father’s thighs and then hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest and letting out a contented sigh.

"Well, now let’s go back to the Immortal Celestial Capital and eat something. Daddy’s going to buy you some ice cream and then some little dresses, okay, princess?" Qingyi said, running his hand gently down her back.

The ice cream sold in many regions of the Celestial Heavens was quite different from what he’d been used to eating on Earth, but honestly, he had nothing to complain about.

In fact, it was much tastier and, overall, much healthier—especially since it was food made for children.

The laws established by Tianjin were very strict regarding anything aimed at children, so there was nothing to worry about.

Upon hearing the words "ice cream" and "dresses," Lingxi nodded eagerly, practically bouncing in her father’s lap.

She truly had the personality of a princess and, naturally, loved clothes and ice cream.

Without hesitation, Qingyi set their course back to the Immortal Celestial Capital and revved the engines.

The asteroid belt, now considerably less crowded than before, fell away behind them in a matter of seconds.

The return trip was much faster, since this time Qingyi pushed the throttle a little harder.

In less than twenty minutes, they were already flying over the Immortal Celestial Capital, the vast expanse of the city stretching out below as far as the eye could see.

"Do you know any good restaurants, Miss Mu Ziyue? Would you like to have lunch with us?" Qingyi asked as he steered the ship toward one of the Mu Family’s many hangars.

"Oh... I know plenty!" Ziyue smiled, pulling a token from somewhere and handing it to Qingyi.

"This one belongs to the Mu Family. Just present it and you’ll be well taken care of. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to join you. Now that I’ve come out of seclusion, I have many matters to attend to as a family elder."

Hearing that, Qingyi simply nodded in silence, tucking the token into his robes.

Shortly after landing, he went to handle the ship’s paperwork and the matters related to its transfer.

Normally, that would have been a tedious bureaucratic process, but since Ziyue herself was overseeing the transfer, everything was settled in a matter of minutes.

Leaving the Black Diamond behind for a final inspection before the sale, he headed to a restaurant for lunch with his beautiful wives, Lingxi still clinging to his neck and already eager for the promised ice cream.