In just twenty seconds, Xiang Yi had rapidly flipped through dozens of pages of the booklet.
A hint of exhaustion showed in his eyes, but without the slightest hesitation, he pressed his hand against the temperature control unit near the engine, which was already beginning to glow red.
Just as he thought, the offline temperature control unit had become a standalone device. This meant he could use his Spiritual Energy to repair it without affecting the rest of the ship.
At that exact moment, the ship broke through the atmosphere.
Below the thick cloud layer, a violent downpour instantly lashed the ship's viewports.
The rain, which should have instantly vaporized on contact, now streamed up the viewport like ordinary water.
Xiang Yi returned to the cockpit.
Through the planet's torrential rain, he could see a sea of lights spreading across the ground below.
Xiao Zhibin, at the pilot's controls, felt the ship's internal temperature rapidly returning to normal. He turned to Xiang Yi, ecstatic, and said, "We're almost there!"
Before the excitement could even fade from his face, a bullet suddenly tore into the cockpit from above and behind. It ripped through Xiao Zhibin's shoulder, mangled his arm, and blasted out through the viewport.
He slumped over without a sound. Blood gushed from his shoulder, forcing its way through the cauterized, charred flesh of the high-temperature wound before dripping to the floor.
Even Xiang Yi was stunned for a moment.
He lunged to Xiao Zhibin's side with unprecedented speed, laying him flat on the floor.
He snapped open the medkit and frantically wound bandages around the wound, turning to roar at Qi Chen, "Don't just stand there! Fly the ship! I'll save him!"
Xiang Yi glanced at the wound. The muscles of the shoulder were massively torn, and the damage extended into the back and chest cavity.
If the atmospheric friction hadn't melted part of the autocannon shell, the shot would have likely torn half his body to shreds.
Xiang Yi tried to stop the bleeding. He tried to save him.
But Xiao Zhibin's face was rapidly growing pale, and his every exhale was searing hot. His lungs were clearly burned.
The tools Xiang Yi had on hand were not enough to save him. He could only watch as his breathing faded and his heart slowly stopped.
"How is this fair...?"
Xiang Yi glanced back at the newly patched bullet hole. 'How could a bullet from space, after suffering atmospheric friction, still manage to hit the ship so precisely and strike Xiao Zhibin?'
'Could it be my damn cursed luck at work again?'
Refusing to give up, Xiang Yi attempted a round of CPR.
But the loss of vital signs was irreversible. Death had already crept in.
Xiang Yi could only close Xiao Zhibin's eyes. He took the ID tag from his chest and tucked it into his pocket.
He looked up. Qi Chen was staring intently at the computer screen for the ship's main Control System.
The front viewport was a spiderweb of cracks, and after being patched with foam, it was impossible to see outside.
He could only rely on projecting the terrain data stored on the computer to the console to confirm the ship's current position.
The ship's autopilot trajectory was also displayed on the screen. They were only five kilometers from the city below.
"Bad news. The Control System is shot. I can't operate anything," Qi Chen suddenly said, turning to Xiang Yi. "There's good news, too. The autopilot is still active, but we're slowly drifting off course. I can keep it headed in the general direction for now."
"So?"
"The ship is going to crash. We need to get to the rearmost cargo hold to brace for impact. If we're in the bow when we hit, we're dead for sure."
"There's a lever over there that can jettison all the cargo. Then we just need to find a place to brace ourselves. We might have a chance to survive."
"Zhibin... Never mind. It's fine. Let's go."
Qi Chen's voice was somber.
He got up to head toward the rear of the ship, but suddenly stumbled and fell.
He struggled for a moment but couldn't move. He quickly reached a hand out to Xiang Yi. "My foot is caught on some broken equipment! Give me a hand..."
Without hesitating, Xiang Yi immediately turned and reached out to Qi Chen.
But at that moment, a crimson laser shot down from outside the atmosphere, lancing through the cockpit with perfect precision. It pierced Qi Chen's chest, and the light in his eyes vanished instantly.
Once again, Xiang Yi froze.
He slowly looked up at the sky, then down at himself, an unreadable expression in his eyes.
Just as before, he took the ID tag from Qi Chen's chest—half of it seared away by the laser—and clenched it in his hand.
Gazing at Qi Chen's body, a flicker of something passed through Xiang Yi's eyes.
He suddenly opened his backpack, took out the container of Blood Crystal Worm Eggs, and sprinkled some onto both bodies.
"I'm sorry."
He was desecrating the bodies, but at the same time, he was planting specific evidence.
If these Blood Crystals survived the crash, they would interfere with the subsequent investigation.
If the local government was unaware of Blood Crystals, they would surely classify the incident at a higher level of secrecy, denying the prison any chance to investigate.
In silence, Xiang Yi made his way to the cargo hold at the stern of the ship.
There were four cargo holds. The two upper holds were riddled with holes, but the lower ones were still mostly intact.
The release lever was located at the mouth of the lower hold. However, the starboard lever was destroyed; only the port-side lever was still functional.
Xiang Yi opened the door to the cargo hold and immediately pulled the lever.
The mechanical scrap piled inside the hold began to pour out toward the ground below.
The reduced weight seemed to raise the ship's nose slightly, perhaps allowing it to glide a little farther.
But Xiang Yi quickly discovered a problem: the cargo hold hadn't completely emptied.
The smaller pieces of scrap had slipped through the opening, but a good amount of the larger debris was now jammed in the partially opened hatch.
The cargo hold was damaged; the unloading hatch below had only opened into a narrow slit. Through it, he could see nothing but darkness.
The roar of wind and rain flooded in through the gap, nearly drowning out the blaring alarms inside the ship.
Bracing for impact here might be even worse than staying in the bow. At least in the bow, death would be instant. Here, he would be ground into paste by flying shrapnel, like he was in a meat grinder.
'Qi Chen had clearly said to come to the cargo hold, which meant it had to be the safest place on the ship.'
'But if the cargo hold wasn't safe either, then nowhere on this ship was.'
'He had to find another way to survive.'
Xiang Yi immediately drew upon his Spiritual Energy, focusing his Spiritual Power within his mind.
The raindrops being sucked in through the gap seemed to slow, each one becoming distinct and clear. His thoughts were accelerating.
In a fraction of a second, a viable option came to him.
Bail out.
'If he remembered correctly, the terrain projection on the computer had shown a place...'