Chapter 891: Titan-Class Shuttle

Yang Ze continued, "In that case, why should you have exclusive access to the disaster-grade farm? Everyone here is a disciple of the Zenith Dojo—surely they have the right to have access to it too."

Hong Xi argued, "We're Master's disciples!"

"So are they!" Yang Ze countered. ?He was about to keep going when Zhang Lie raised a hand to interrupt him.

"The dojo will lavishly reward those who have the skill and drive to challenge themselves, and their rewards will be commensurate with the effort they put in. Hong Xi's simply worried that, if more people find out about the disaster-grade farm, the secret will eventually leak out to the public. In fact, that's not a problem. The Zenith Dojo has nothing to fear, and public knowledge of the existence of this farm won't change anything."

Sun Mengmeng nodded. "I agree. Those who are willing to risk their lives deserve to be compensated well for their success."

After Zhang Hong recorded everything down, she told everyone, "In that case, I'll set up this reward system and prepare for tomorrow's departure."

The next morning, Zhang Lie, the members of Team Zenith, and Hong Xi's four-hunter group waited outside the Chinese spaceport.

Given the Zenith Dojo's fame and reputation, it was easy for Zhang Hong to charter a space shuttle on such short notice—but the members of Team Zenith were shocked by the monstrous shuttle that had appeared before them.

Sun Xiaowu swallowed a gulp of saliva and gave Zhang Lie a thumbs up even as Zhang Lie turned to Zhang Hong and asked, "You brought over a... titan-class... space shuttle?"

A humongous shuttle was parked at the spaceport. Its design was sleek and modern, with a metallic exterior and rays of light streaking down its surface. In comparison to its bulk, Zhang Lie's body was minuscule—if the shuttle was an elephant, Zhang Lie was an ant. Not only that, the shuttle was outfitted for battle.

Zhang Hong was truly impressive to have chartered such a shuttle for them on short notice.

This sort of battle-oriented shuttle was something that boasted enough firepower to take down a small solar system, and China only possessed two or three such shuttles in its entire arsenal. The world at large had at most ten.

Zhang Hong replied, "You gave me too little time. I could only make use of my military connections to get such a shuttle, and when they heard that I was going to be sending reinforcements to Mars, they approved it immediately. Allegedly, Hong Tianqi himself expedited the process and lent us the use of a titan-class shuttle."

Zhang Lie marveled at the extent to which Hong Tianqi was willing to go to help Zhang Lie accomplish his objective.

Hong Xi asked, "Where's everyone else?"

Hong Xiao joked, "Surely they couldn't all have run off?"

Li Feng chuckled dryly. "If they all did, we might as well shut down the Zenith Dojo."

Sun Mengmeng shook her head. "Relax—I've worked with some of the older disciples directly, and I know just how motivated they are. Look, they're coming right now!"

Everyone looked into the distance to see the disciples of the Zenith Dojo converging on the spaceport.

"Of the 500,000 disciples, over 300,000 have shown up."

Those who had abstained from participating were largely the newcomers that didn't feel particularly tethered to the dojo, and who were the weakest and hence most likely to die.

After all, this expedition to Mars would be particularly dangerous, and there would always be those who were too scared or had family or children that they weren't willing to leave behind.

Zhang Lie didn't intend to punish those who weren't able to participate; instead, he would forgive them.

Even so, the first few waves of Zenith Dojo disciples, who had settled the first realm on behalf of the Zenith Dojo, all showed up. They might be starting to grow lazy, but that laziness was something they were willing to discard for a worthy cause.

The laziness had yet to corrupt their soul or form a habit around which their entire lives would revolve. From Zhang Lie's speech, they recalled the hot-blooded youth they had once been, who had rolled up their sleeves and fought for land and territory to call their own.

The hunters of the Zenith Dojo thumped their fists on their chests.

"356,642 members of the Zenith Dojo, here to report for duty!"

Zhang Lie was very pleased with the hunters' performance. Even the laziest hunter no longer looked like a layabout; their eyes and minds were sharp, and they all seemed to be ready for danger.

"Very good. The first wave of hunters will now board!"

Zhang Lie strode forward at the very front, followed immediately behind by the other members of Team Zenith and Hong Xi's four-hunter group. The remaining hunters followed suit in an orderly procession.

The members of the Zenith Dojo were all wide-eyed as they stepped into the titan-class shuttle. None of them had ever seen a spacecraft so large and so magnificent.

The floors were made of some steel alloy, and electronics filled the shuttle. The shuttle's sheer size was astounding enough from the outside, and the equipment on the inside was largely novel.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Even Zhang Lie had yet to experience a flight on a shuttle of this size before.

A disciple asked, "Dojo Leader, are we flying straight to Mars on this shuttle?"

Zhang Lie explained, "That's right. Given the current situation on Mars, we won't be able to use a wormhole or teleportation array to get there. Is that a problem?"

The disciples of the Zenith Dojo shook their heads. They couldn't help but respect Zhang Lie from the bottom of their hearts—only someone like the dojo leader would have been able to charter a titan-class shuttle for this trip. There were only a dozen such shuttles on Earth, at best!

They thought that they would have to face battle after perilous battle on Mars, but this titan-class shuttle's firepower would certainly help deal with the worst of the bugs.

Of course, no matter how large the shuttle was, it wouldn't be able to fit all the members of the Zenith Dojo. Only 30,000 people could be transported at once. One of their primary responsibilities was to fix the teleportation apparatus so that the rest of the disciples could teleport straight there from the Zenith Dojo.

Zhang Lie smiled and cracked a joke. "At any rate, we're all on the shuttle now—you can't get off even if you wanted to. Our goal is to support Mars and defend against the invading space bugs. This is a dangerous mission. You may get hurt, you may die, your companions and allies may die—but in the process, tempered by blood and flame, you'll all become stronger and more competent hunters."

The disciples turned serious.

"Many of you joined the dojo immediately after it was founded. This operation will be a chance for all of you to demonstrate your abilities to the rest of mankind, to the rest of the Milky Way. Those of you who are new to the dojo, watch carefully as your seniors fight. This is an excellent learning opportunity, and I hope all of you will be able to develop as hunters in the process."

Zhang Lie snapped his fingers. "Zhang Hong, are we ready to depart?"

"Yes, Zhang Lie!"

Zhang Lie was just about to nod when he suddenly thought of an important problem. "Who knows how to pilot a shuttle around here?"

Everyone was silent. They were genetic hunters, not shuttle pilots. Zhang Lie did have some experience flying a shuttle, but only a personal one, not this titanic monstrosity…