Otaku Translation: Carrying the Bases of Starcraft C128

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Chapter 128: The Shape-Shifting Heavy Warrior

Before Tang Fang could react, a powerful force slammed into him from behind, knocking him flat onto the ground. An instant later, the hiss of flames erupted near his ear. About a second passed before two deafening explosions—"BOOM! BOOM!"—ripped through the air. Eight meters to their right, chunks of concrete were blasted skyward, sending shards of rubble raining down with an earsplitting clatter.

"Enemy at our rear," Housen muttered tersely. In one fluid motion, he rolled off Tang Fang and raised the grenade launcher mounted on his right arm. Without hesitation, he fired two Judicator grenades toward the left flank.

Tang Fang shook his head, dislodging bits of debris from his shoulders, then twisted around for a better look. When his eyes landed on the attacker speeding toward them from six hundred meters away, his face darkened.

This defensive robot was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Beneath it lay thick treads designed for rugged terrain; in the middle was a reinforced chassis shaped like a protruding jaw. Above that sat a cylindrical body emblazoned with a blood-red scorpion insignia, roughly four and a half feet in diameter. Extending upward were two mechanical arms, each tipped with a 7.62mm rotary machine gun fed by ammunition stored in compartments on the robot's back.

Mounted alongside the twin machine guns were cluster rocket launchers, giving the machine the ability to take down armored targets. But what caught Tang Fang's attention most were the countless pinholes dotting its surface. Zooming in with enhanced vision, he realized they were high-powered micro-cameras, likely feeding real-time data to the core processor—or perhaps a remote operator—for a full 360-degree view.

"Run, damn it! Why aren’t you running?!" Xia Yuanhua shouted, stomping his feet in frustration. How could these idiots even think about fighting when faced with such a monstrous adversary? They must have a death wish.

Pitman sprinted over, equally frantic. "You morons! Are you trying to get yourselves killed?" Unlike Tang Fang and Housen, who seemed oblivious to the danger, Pitman and Xia Yuanhua knew exactly how formidable this thing was. Its outer shell was tougher than battleship armor—ordinary weapons wouldn’t scratch it.

"BOOM! BOOM!" Before either man could finish speaking, another pair of explosions lit up the battlefield, momentarily blinding everyone with their brilliance.

And then came the scene none of them would ever forget. The supposedly indestructible hull—the same one compared to battleship-grade steel—was now marred by two gaping craters the size of dinner plates. Wisps of smoke curled upward as jagged edges revealed glimmers of blue particles beneath.

Gulping audibly, Xia Yuanhua stared at Housen, who was sprawled on the ground like an overturned turtle, flailing his limbs in an attempt to stand. "Pitman," he stammered, "tell me… those were just grenades, right? Not missiles or hypervelocity projectiles?"

Pitman didn’t respond. His gaze remained fixed on the distant defense bot, completely ignoring Xia Yuanhua’s question.

"Pitman! Hello? Answer me!" Still no reply. Frowning, Xia Yuanhua turned back to the robot—and finally understood why Pitman hadn’t reacted.

Good Lord Almighty. Anyone witnessing what happened next would struggle to stay calm. The once-speedy robot suddenly decelerated as if someone had slammed on the brakes, its velocity plummeting from motorcycle speeds to something closer to a bicycle.

"Did… did it eat something bad?" Xia Yuanhua muttered weakly.

While Xia Yuanhua and Pitman gawked in stunned silence, Tang Fang and Housen weren’t faring much better—but their shock stemmed from different sources. For Xia Yuanhua and Pitman, it was the sheer destructive power of the Judicator grenades. For Tang Fang and Housen, it was the unbelievable resilience of the robot’s armor.

After all, the grenades fired by Marauder power suits weren’t your run-of-the-mill explosives—they contained trace amounts of antimatter particles. Against standard military vehicles, a single hit could shred their plating. Even a space battleship wouldn’t survive prolonged bombardment without sustaining catastrophic damage.

Yet here, against this monstrosity, the grenades had only gouged out two shallow craters. The impact barely fazed it. What on earth was its armor made of?

The robot gave them little time to ponder. With a whistling sound, two more rockets launched, accompanied by a hailstorm of bullets from the twin rotary cannons.

Housen had barely managed to scramble to his feet when the barrage struck. A cacophony of metallic pings filled the air as sparks flew everywhere, and his body rocked violently under the relentless assault.

Tang Fang, however, moved faster. Seeing the rockets streaking straight for him, he used the stimpack directly. The drug took effect instantly, sharpening his senses and boosting his reflexes to superhuman levels. Planting his hand on the ground, he activated the exoskeleton’s assistive systems. A surge of counterforce propelled him upward as he executed a perfect backflip, dodging both rockets with the grace of a fish leaping out of water. He landed cleanly on his feet, unscathed.

C-14 Gauss rifles barked angrily as Tang Fang switched them to automatic fire. Streams of metal spikes zipped through the air, leaving trails of silver light before striking the robot’s chest plate dead-on. Each shot punched clean holes through the armor.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Housen cheered triumphantly as he steadied himself, watching the spikes embed deep into the robot’s torso. But Tang Fang wore no expression of victory.

Sure enough, Housen’s grin vanished within seconds, replaced by a string of curses. "What the hell?! Why is this damn thing still moving?!"

The barrels spun again, spitting fire as the cluster rockets soared into the sky. They arced downward, screaming like banshee demons bent on destruction, closing in on Tang Fang and Housen with terrifying speed.

"FUCK!" Housen wasted no time. Another dose of adrenaline coursed through his veins, doubling his agility. Rolling aside, he narrowly avoided both the machine gun fire and one of the rockets while retaliating with two more grenades.

Meanwhile, Tang Fang dodged yet another rocket, calculating their odds. Between the firepower of himself and Housen alone, taking down this iron behemoth seemed unlikely. Perhaps calling in reinforcements—all available Marauders—to unleash a concentrated barrage might level the playing field.

As Tang Fang and Housen battled for their lives, Pitman and Xia Yuanhua weren’t idle either—but their “fight” looked drastically different. Instead of engaging the enemy, the two men wrestled each other, pinching and yanking in frustration.

"Do you believe this, Pitman? Those lunatics are actually trading blows with that monster that slaughtered fifty of our comrades!"

Pitman shook his head. "I must be dreaming... I must be…" He winced as Xia Yuanhua pinched harder. "OW! Stop it!"

"If we’re dreaming, why’d you say that?"

"Why’d you ask me like that?"

"Forget it! What about the mission? Should we make a break for it while we can?"

"No way. Morally, we can’t abandon them. Besides, if that thing has already detected us, government forces might be en route. Leaving now would mean walking straight into a death trap."

"So… should we help?"

"Don’t be stupid. Us charging in would barely give it a toothache."

"Then what do we do? Just sit here?"

"Exactly. Sit tight. And hey, feel free to cheer them on if things get dire."

"...Right."

In the midst of evading another rocket, Tang Fang leaned sharply and squeezed the trigger. A silver spike shot forth, intercepting an incoming rocket mid-air. "BOOM!" The explosion sent waves of fire and shrapnel cascading toward him.

Slapping the ground with his palm, Tang Fang rolled clear of the blast, rising quickly to his feet. Just as he prepared to call in the remaining Marauders for a coordinated attack, the defense robot abruptly ceased firing. Its chest armor split open, revealing a hidden mechanism. A metallic tube resembling a chimney slid down, locking snugly between the cylindrical frame and the load-bearing base. Slowly, deliberately, the barrel swiveled until it pointed directly at Tang Fang and Housen.

The damn thing had transformed—from humanoid robot to tank mode. Both men stood frozen, mouths agape.

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