Chapter 810: Chapter 810: Someone Has Arrived
(Recently handling house issues, doing everything alone as I am, almost no time… So the updates might be sparse, a fair warning in advance…)
After the violent explosion ended, the entire mine began to collapse.
Before being buried by the huge rocks and metal debris, Dingdang once again used her ability to summon super plants, sending everyone safely to the surface with countless indestructible vines and massive buds. After jumping out of the giant bud, I found myself on a somewhat unfamiliar small hill, while the giant funnel-shaped basin from earlier was a hundred kilometers away, gradually collapsing and sinking amidst the relentless rumbling and vibrations from underground.
A sound of something gigantic wriggling came from behind. I turned around to see the enormous plants still continuously emerging from the huge hole in the ground, the noise of the vine’s rapid growth sounding much like the deep rumbling of thunder. Two-meter giant buds poked their heads out from the layers of vines, “spitting” people from inside them with a puff. I knew these things were those very docile plants created by Little Dong, and I also knew their verdant exterior was composed of a mysterious substance more resistant than warship armor, and in many worlds, these vines are worshipped as the roots of the World Tree, but… despite all that, could Dingdang refrain from using these disgusting things to solve problems every time?
Being spat out like digested residue by a bunch of tentacles is really grotesque!
Thankfully, these things don’t have the mucus attribute like real cannibal flowers, otherwise, I might have tied Dingdang to a yo-yo for an afternoon of play today.
I looked up to the sky, where faint flashes were still intermittently visible beyond the dense, murky clouds. Burning warship debris occasionally pierced through the clouds, plummeting toward the ground amidst thick smoke and fire, but not as densely as when I first landed. The battle in outer space had ended, and the scattered remains of the last Revenge Army warships were scenes of self-destruction crashing into the atmosphere. The desolate land was shrouded in the lingering smoke from explosions, and the air carried the acrid smell from distant battlefields. Some exceptionally tall figures were leading many indistinct silhouettes, moving toward this direction. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Zeus and several Atlantis warriors rushing here, with restless lightning and energy rings coiling around them, and behind them followed countless Anubis and Valkyrie soldiers.
Cleaning up the battlefield after combat is also one of the responsibilities of the Servant Army, which seemed to be the reason Zeus remained until now.
“Whew, I need a good sleep when I get back, today’s activities were so intense.”
Yelsen grumbled, jumping a few times on the spot, stretching his somewhat sore shoulders. I had to view this incredibly tenacious guy differently; since landing today, he’s been constantly hit by cannons, though Dingdang’s healing helped, this guy’s mindset is remarkably stable even now. As Monina said, this War God has likely awakened some talent fitting his role during his millennia of enduring beatings?
A plume of pitch-black Shadow rose from the underground, and Monina gradually manifested physically within the Shadow, with the black metal box—an item we snatched from the Revenge Army at the last minute—beside her feet.
“Just this thing,” Bingdisi found a small stick from somewhere, poking it around on the old and slightly worn metal box, sounding quite displeased, “The Revenge Army sacrificed their entire forces to break through your defensive lines just to grab this lousy iron box?”
“I’ll pry it open!” Yelsen, without a second thought, drew his golden giant sword and moved to cut the box in half, shocking me at the sight. Thankfully, Bingdisi reacted quickly, kicking the reckless War God aside, then muttered with her chin propped, “Looks like Xyrin style, just don’t know what it’s for, hopefully, this thing we snagged today is worth the trouble.”
I nonchalantly looked at the metal box on the ground; it was less than a meter long, over forty centimeters wide and high, rectangular, with basically no decorations on the surface, only a few constant faintly glowing energy grids and an external locking device. Clearly a container of some sort, but no one dared to open it rashly (except that idiot Yelsen), because no one could be sure it doesn’t have a self-destruct mechanism inside it, with Empire-related things, you always have to guard against that angle. Don’t forget their famous scuttle-and-all-in tactics…
Zeus’ thunderous voice awakened me from my thoughts. He and the Atlantis warriors were now up close, and I had to crane my neck to see many rapidly healing wounds on the giant’s body.
“How are the losses?”
“Some warriors returned to the River of Souls, but most survived gloriously.” Zeus nodded slightly, then suddenly led the warriors beside him away, revealing there were others behind him: an elderly man riding on a Sphinx composite beast, “Another clan leader, he wants to meet you.”
Emerging from behind Zeus and his group was an old man with streaks of white hair, yet robust and spirited. Though he looked aged, the glint in his eyes was as sharp as a vigorous soldier. I was genuinely surprised: “Roland Gale!?”
“Yes, Your Majesty, it’s good to meet again, despite the poor setting.”
The former leader of the Roland Gale Consortium, now the Councilman of the Pan-Galactic Civilization Community, Roland Gale responded with a booming voice, “A batch of Community Fleet has just arrived at the Mist God Star Base, and I am once again the fleet commander—haven’t been on the battlefield myself for hundreds of years, wanted to see if I could be of help here, but it seems the battle’s already over.”
“The Community Fleet is here too?” I asked somewhat surprised, because at the beginning of organizing the fleet to this world, the Community fleet wasn’t included in the plan. But soon I understood: Sandora and I jointly decided to deploy the Celestial System Fleet into the battle, and half of the Community forces were incorporated within the Celestial System Fleet, not as the main forces, yet still essential for escort and maintenance, presumably Roland Gale came along with this escort detachment.
However, the Giant World Gate hasn’t been completed, and the Celestial System Fleet only has two small planet battleships that have just been teleported to Mist God Star (hiding beneath the ocean). The Community fleet should be here as the vanguard for support.
Roland Gale has always been a person I profoundly admire. Even his nominal position as a faction leader under Imperial rule doesn’t affect all members of the “First Family” warmly welcoming this hardy old man. After Zeus led the soldiers to escort the enigmatic black box back to the main flagship, we chatted a bit with Roland Gale, primarily inquiring about the status of the Civilization Community.
Reassuringly, the Civilization of Ten Thousand Tribes has now re-established a normal social order, transitioning from a daily murderous or murdered dysfunctional civilization toward a steadily developing normal civilization. Though their inherently fierce customs can’t be changed, at least now they can consider things beyond war.
Since the main flagship for the Celestial System Fleet is currently the sun the Community relies on, once the Ghost Energy Death Star detached from their Constant Star System, the Integration Department arranged for an artificial star to temporarily fill in. Aside from the change in the sun’s color, the ordinary residents of the Community haven’t been affected by the war mobilization command.
Through prolonged enhancement and expansion, with the efforts of countless builders and Xyrin Host, the current Celestial System Fleet has become even more powerful and complete compared to before. At first, this fleet consisted of just one Ghost Energy Death Star as the main flagship, twelve simplified planet battleships as escort formations, and some regular ships escorting the planet battleships. Now, the third generation of planet battleships (still codenamed “Zero,” as in the Xyrin Empire’s tech tree, equipment without intrinsic technological tier changes don’t require code changes; when new equipment is commissioned, old equipment automatically retires to civilian models, canceling codes), personally designed by Taville, has replaced those outdated planet battleships. Amid the borderline-mad military actions, these third-generation planet battleships have reached a number of thirty-plus, forming a multidimensional escort grid around the Ghost Energy Death Star via a series of complex orbital systems, providing sterner defense than the initial Celestial System Fleet ever had. And the older escort starships have been stripped of most weapons, fully converted into residential ecological planets, now serving as the home star planets of the Pan-Galactic Civilization Community, orbiting the Ghost Energy Death Star as well, but their orbits lie on the entire Celestial System Fleet periphery, adhering to the classic Kepler orbits known across the Universe.
The entire Celestial System Fleet is actually composed of four parts. The first part is, of course, the Ghost Energy Death Star serving as the overall flagship. It is the undeniable core of this Super Fleet, and the fleet exists because of the Ghost Energy Death Star. The second part consists of its military starships, including more than thirty Third Generation Planet Battleships and their satellite systems (a type of giant space fortress equipped with functional modules, much smaller than the Planet Battleships but larger than most conventional warships). The third part includes the civilian starships located on the periphery, which are ecological planets where the Pan-Galactic Civilization Community resides. The fourth part is the large-scale service fleet, including the Imperial Fleet with military responsibilities, and the Community Fleet responsible for ship maintenance, supply transport, and combat support (they sometimes humorously refer to themselves as Worker Bees).
After the war mobilization order is issued, the Celestial System warships will not all be deployed. The civilian starships and basic defensive conventional fleets will remain, and at this time, an artificial Constant Star purely providing light and heat will replace the Ghost Energy Death Star—at this time, the entire system left behind will look exactly like an ordinary Constant Star System.
The cleanup work after the war has already been handed over to the Servant Army. As for that metallic box of unknown purpose, Taville plans to begin research on it tomorrow, as the Giant World Gate has entered its most critical assembly phase, and all qualified Imperial Technicians are working at the outpost to activate the gate. Bubbles sent down a mass-produced host to establish a temporary military base on Brown Earth Star. We did not return to Imperial Admiral but stayed temporarily at this base, and later today, Sandora arrived on the surface.
The main purpose of her visit here was to confirm the “Soulless” phenomenon we discovered in the Revenge Army during the battle. This news is obviously significant to Sandora, but regrettably, besides the testimonies of those involved, we have no tangible evidence that could be preserved. All the Revenge Army warriors have self-destructed; even those who did not are just relatively intact corpses, from which no soul-related information can be deduced. The only thing with some research value now is the memory cores we collected from the battlefield, which belong to some Revenge Army commanders. Bubbles is analyzing the data stored in these cores.
Upon arriving at the temporary base on Brown Earth Star, Sandora immediately sought out the Leader Bee Soldiers who participated in the battle to inquire in detail about the Revenge Army’s Soulless situation, and then came to the lounge to greet me. I noticed that the gloom on her face had diminished significantly from the previous days.
“The exact intelligence hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the Revenge Army we fought against is indeed made up of husks,” Sandora said while sitting down on the sofa next to me. I cautiously asked, “Isn’t there not much of a difference? In any case, it’s still the Revenge Army we’re battling.”
“It’s different, at least I prefer to think it’s different,” Sandora shook her head with a wry smile, though her voice sounded somewhat relieved. “If I were to know they attacked me in a completely conscious state, that would be hard to accept. But now… at least it proves their actions weren’t driven by their souls. For a Xyrin Apostle, living and betraying the Empire is more shameful than death, so knowing they were ‘dead’ really eases my mind a bit… Ah Jun, am I being somewhat self-deceptive?”
I truly didn’t know how to respond at that moment. The conflict in Sandora’s heart over the past few days was something I empathized with. Perhaps, as she said, it might be self-deception, but regardless, she now has a reason to tell herself that the Revenge Army didn’t betray.
“The Mobra Civilization suffered significant losses this time too.”
I didn’t want Sandora to linger too long on this topic, so I diverted her attention, “Although the Revenge Army didn’t target Mobrans for slaughter after landing, they killed a third of the population on Brown Earth Star to clear the way, mostly civilians and miners. The local army was too terrified to resist.”
“Resistance wouldn’t have helped,” Sandora frowned, “The Xyrin Apostle is a race with a very strong sense of purpose. Since the Revenge Army needed to act on this planet, they’d crush anything in their way. But what you mentioned is concerning. It’s said that after the Revenge Army landed, all the armies on this planet scattered like civilians, and globally, only dozens of Ascetics resisted a bit—of course, they were wiped out on the spot.”
Then we exchanged a glance, both sighing at the same time.
This topic is even worse than the last one…
As Sandora and I were talking, the door to the lounge gently slid open, and Qianqian’s little head peeked in: “Ah Jun, Ah Jun, um… The Holy Pope and Uncle Zaku are here, and they brought a few others, they want to see you.”
I displayed an expression of surprise, not expecting them to come at this time, but considering the disaster Brown Earth Star suffered this time, it was more or less clear why they came.
The visitors from Mobra were arranged in a small room adjacent to the command room, as this is a temporary base and there can’t be any high-standard hospitality facilities. When Sandora and I entered the room, we found there were already more than ten people inside.
A few Knight Commanders from the Canglan Church, the Holy Pope (he’s still nominally the ruler of the Canglan Church because Uncle Zaku doesn’t want to manage affairs), and Uncle Zaku, people we are relatively familiar with. On the opposite side sat a few unfamiliar faces in oddly styled military uniforms resembling desert attire, led by a middle-aged man who was somewhat portly but still looked spirited. This last person was a bit balding, his forehead bright and shiny, covered in beads of sweat, his face as clean-shaven as his forehead, occasionally pulling out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead, causing his head to reflect a bright sheen each time.
In another corner of the room sat several Senior Generals of the Servant Army, including Roland Gale and Tex. They seemed to have been conversing with the visitors for a while and now appeared somewhat impatient, even the usually composed Roland Gale showing a trace of irritation. Get full chapters from NoveI-Fire.ɴet
As Sandora and I entered, the Holy Pope and Uncle Zaku immediately got up with the Knight Commanders, seemingly intending to pay their respects. Several knights did the Canglan Church’s cross-arm salute, while the Holy Pope and a few other knights awkwardly attempted the Xyrin Empire’s chest-thumping military salute. Uncle Zaku glanced at the mishmash of etiquette on both sides and offered a wagara (a cigarette-like thing)…
“Enough of the formalities.” I waved my hand, signaling the Pope’s group, who were accustomed to putting on airs, to dispense with the formalities, then reached out to take the “smoke” from Zaku’s hand and handed it to Sandora as a snack, while my sight shifted to the unfamiliar faces.
The latter were perplexed, and the Pope immediately sternly scolded in a low voice, “What are you waiting for!? They are the Holy Emperor!”
At this point, the Mobrans in military uniforms scrambled to their feet, hastily paying their respects. Some bowed, some saluted, some thumped their chests, and one even started borrowing a cigarette from Zaku…
Amid a flurry of activity, I could tell these people were extremely nervous and somewhat at a loss with the current situation. They seemed to have been pulled here suddenly, not even sure what to say. When Sandora cast her usual cold gaze at their leader, the latter involuntarily shivered. I looked curiously at the Pope and Zaku, hoping for an explanation.
“We are grieved by the attack on Brown Earth Star,” said the Pope, sitting uprightly, despite only having a small light ball in his head, which didn’t hinder his full commitment to etiquette with this borrowed body. “Most of them are miners and civilians.”
“Fortunately, this was a mining site,” Sandora said coldly. Although it was a disaster involving the deaths of tens of millions, she had long since grown accustomed to such wars, evaluating things from a very rational perspective of ‘gain or loss.’ To her, Brown Earth Star being a mining planet with a sparse population meant that an attack here was preferable to an attack on the Mobra Main Star. It’s not that she’s cold-hearted, but such thinking is necessitated by her role. “Regarding the attack here, I express my sympathy. We didn’t expect the rebels to attack a civilian planet. So, who are these people?”
Sandora pointed at the cautious middle-aged man impatiently.
Uncle Zaku lazily leaned back in his chair; having spent much time with us, he knew there was nothing to be overly concerned about right now. Hearing Sandora’s inquiry, he raised his hand, indicating the opposite side: “He is the current highest officer of the Mobra United Government and the Commander of the Government Army.” (To be continued. If you work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)