by <unknown>
Things were getting more and more interesting.
"Wuying Qi at this moment was no longer the innocent, childish young man he used to be," Su Changfa said. "In the thirty years of civil war of the Martial Meritocrats civilization, his battle commanding abilities had been honed to an excellent level. During his hundreds of years traveling in the sea of stars, he had experienced more adventures than normal Cultivators could dream about. His body, his will, and his soul were all as tough and unwavering as iron!
"When he arrived in the Star Ocean Republic, Wuying Chi distinguished himself and rose to fame when he only demonstrated a fraction of his capabilities. He established his own force and gradually got in touch with the government of the Star Ocean Republic!
"Don't forget that Wuying Qi used to be the youngest member of the Committee of Equal Human Beings, and his father had even been the chairman of the organization. He was sort of born and raised in a family of politicians and learned a lot from the familial knowledge. After the tremendous changes that he went through, he grew an even more profound understanding of humanity!
"Wuying Qi soon discovered that many fatal problems were hidden below the splendor of the Star Ocean Republic on the surface!
"The seemingly on-fire, well-respected, and flourishing 'strongest country in the universe' actually had undercurrents flowing everywhere. Germs and viruses were growing and undermining the foundation of the country!
"The problematic issues included the decline of the high-quality population, over medication, the frequent strikes organized by the greedy labor unions, the incessant increase of benefits and wages, the serious aging population, the unbalanced development of different Sectors, the low-quality immigrants from the remote Sectors, the conflicts between different beliefs and religions…
"Also, with the Star Ocean Republic governed by parliament for almost a thousand years, different parties had already formed indestructible groups. Faced with the absolute power that nobody could check, the representatives had slowly become corrupt, too. Elections gradually became games of money and crystals. To win the elections, all kinds of dirty methods and ruses were employed. Everybody was thinking about the short-term, selfish interests of their own party and sect. Nobody had ever given any thought to the long-term development of mankind as a whole.
"All in all, the diseases that had once caused the destruction of the civilizations in the Curly Dragon Sector, the Medicine Fork Sector, and the Martial Meritocrats Sector could all be found in the Star Ocean Republic!
"However, the Star Ocean Republic was enormously huge and boasted a lot of potential. It was like a giant with a remarkable body build who hadn't been crushed by the lethal viruses yet!
"However, once the giant was truly crushed, the repercussions would certainly be dire!
"Wuying Qi's 'first hometown' had already been destroyed. He absolutely did not want his 'second hometown' to be destroyed for the same reasons. He wanted to save the country, the people, and the civilization of mankind, but he was alone and did not know where to start!
"The feeling of being the only sober person in a crowd of drunkards watching each and every one of them staggering to the abyss while having nothing that he could do made Wuying Qi more depressed than ever!
"Just then, something unexpected happened in the Star Ocean Republic.
"At the frontier of the country, an insignificant country suddenly jumped out to challenge them. Caught unprepared by the enemy's unannounced assault, quite a few vassal worlds of the Star Ocean Republic were taken over."
Hearing that, Li Yao suddenly thought of a possibility. His heart racing, he almost exclaimed aloud!
Suppressing his excitement hard, he asked, trying to be as cool as he could, "What's the name of the 'insignificant country'?"
Su Changfa did not notice Li Yao's agitation. Thinking for a moment, he felt that there was no reason to tell him the answer. "Let's just call the insignificant country the Covenant Alliance."
As he expected!
Li Yao understood it now. He totally understood where Su Changfa was getting at now!
"Although the Covenant Alliance was an insignificant country, it had made careful preparations for a long time. Hitting the critical parts of the Star Ocean Republic, it exposed all the problematic issues that we talked about earlier!
"In the moment, the fatal weaknesses of the Star Ocean Republic—such as the jittery partisan competition in the parliament, the low efficiency of the rigid system, and the greed of the ordinary people—were all revealed to everyone. Faced with the Covenant Alliance's aggressive attacks, it was barely possible to take reactions!
"Wuying Qi loved the Star Ocean Republic and did not wish to watch the destruction of his second hometown. Therefore, he devoted all his assets to establishing a team and marched to the frontier to resist the Covenant Alliance!
"While the regular army was as inert as a stupid dinosaur, and they were on a shameful losing streak against the Covenant Alliance's unpredictable tactics, Wuying Qi had analyzed the features of the Covenant Alliance's attacks in time and came up with countermeasures, managing to draw even with the enemy.
"After the first few battles, Wuying Qi's militia was taken in by the regular army based on their remarkable achievements.
"Wuying Qi, with his unparalleled combat ability and commanding ability, was also recruited as an officer of the regular army.
"He was engaged in life-and-death battles with the Covenant Alliance on the front lines for years and made tremendous contributions. The middle-level and the bottom-level young officers all considered him a superhero. Because he was used to his black crystal suit, and his combat style highlighted the importance of speed and elusiveness, the officers and the soldiers all admired him and gave him the title 'Blackstar'!
"Just like that, Wuying Qi built a ladder to climb upward with drops of blood and sweat. He gradually became the highest commander of the Star Ocean Republic on the frontline in the war against the Covenant Alliance. His personal prestige was also higher than ever among the young officers and the bottom-level soldiers!
"However, the war didn't go as well as he expected.
"The war didn't go well not because the Covenant Alliance was too strong to be defeated, not because Wuying Qi's commands had been flawed, but because too many people were hamstringing him in the rear!
"At that time, the Star Ocean Republic was still dwelling in the fantasy of the 'strongest country in the universe' and did not think too much of the insignificant Covenant Alliance at all. Everybody believed that it was just an ailment and that the frontier was merely being harassed by a bunch of barbarians.
"Wuying Qi, having been engaged with the Covenant Alliance for years, knew the enemy's sordidness and dreadfulness very well. They were definitely not regular barbarians or devils. They had to be suppressed with the strength of the entire nation in order to remove the problem for all eternity!
"He proposed to the capital many times, requesting that the country enter the highest warring state immediately, levy special war taxes, build the largest planetary warships at any cost, and enlarge the scale of the army by more than ten times!
"All in all, it was a national war, which could potentially end the Star Ocean Republic, that they were faced with, not a frontier faction in everybody's imagination!
"The suggestions that he raised with his blood and sweat were considered jokes by the noble ministers in parliament. All of them were vetoed!
"For the general public, because of the inconvenience that the war brought to people's daily life, the 'saints' in the people and among the Cultivators all complained and criticized the military operations in the frontline!
"To deal with nothing more than an insignificant Covenant Alliance, the Star Ocean Republic is suffering tremendous losses. We haven't made any substantial development in multiple years. May I ask what the commander in the frontier has been doing?
"We strongly demand an investigation on the peculation and corruption issu
es of the high-level officers on the frontline. What are the assets we have delivered to the frontline used for exactly? Every usage must be clearly listed!
"Is the harsh training for the newly-recruited troops in the rear justifiable? We're told that the cruel methods of training were all come up with by Lieutenant General Wuying Qi, commander of the Third Fleet. He must explain the legitimacy and the necessity of such a set of training methods!
"Yesterday, we were harassed by the guerilla troops of the Covenant Alliance again. Three squads of the regular army, a hundred and fifteen soldiers in total, died for their country! How did that happen? How exactly have our soldiers been trained? What exactly are our battle tactics? Wuying Qi must stand up and take all the responsibility!
"Such opinions were everywhere on the newspapers, network, and streets of the Star Ocean Republic.
"In short, the 'saints' among the people and the Cultivators were not willing to fully support the warriors who were fighting bloody battles in the frontline by improving the tax rate, reducing the benefits, and going into a war system. Yet, they demanded, utterly in negligence of the objective conditions in the frontline, that the generals and the soldiers annihilate the Covenant Alliance as soon as possible!
"After going through everything, Wuying Qi became greatly fearful.
"He seemed to see the tragedy that once destroyed the Martial Meritocrats civilization replaying itself on a larger stage slowly!
"The Star Ocean Republic was a center of the civilization of mankind. Once it was destroyed, the civilization of mankind would be completely hopeless!
"The ordinary people were unreliable. Most of the hypocritical Cultivators were unreliable. To save the civilization of mankind, he could count on nobody but himself!
"Everybody mistook Wuying Qi for a tough general who had more brawn than brains and knew nothing other than fighting a war. They didn't know that he had already been a qualified politician hundreds of years ago who had a deep insight on humanity!
"Faced with the criticization from the rear, he accepted all of them in pretense to buy him more time, but all the while, he negotiated with multiple parties diplomatically, dismembering their coalition without alarming them, increasing his personal influence, and winning the trust of some of the sects.
"In secret, he established a new group named the Salvation Syndicate, which consisted of the young officers in the army and the Cultivators in the rear who had been tested by him in person!
"The purpose of the Salvation Syndicate was to save and purge the civilization of mankind through whatever means possible so that the old and weary Star Ocean Republic could be revived again!
"At this point, in fact, everybody who was not stupid could clearly see that the frontline against the Covenant Alliance was a great swamp. The military power and the discipline that the Covenant Alliance demonstrated suggested that they would not be annihilated easily!
"Without the general mobilization of hundreds of Sectors, whoever was nominated as the new commander in the frontline would only get himself in trouble, his lifelong reputation depreciated!
"Therefore, although the war in the frontline didn't go well, Wuying Qi's post as the highest commander on the frontline remained as stable as ever. Nobody wanted to jump into the fire pit to replace him!
"At this moment, Wuying Qi's mindset was changed, too.
"The situation right now was exactly the situation in the Martial Meritocrats civilization. The people of the Covenant Alliance were like the people of the Sand Primitive Sector. They were not the real enemies. The real enemies that jeopardized the entire civilization were hiding right behind him!"
Chapter 1257: Hero or Fiend? |
In the Grand Illusionary Land behind Su Changfa, another poignant picture showed up.
Almost half of the picture was occupied by a huge, setting sun. Below the bloody sun was a desert that was full of debris and corpses from a war. A black shadow that was weary and small was marching forward alone.
Behind him, the wolves and hyenas that were depicted in an anthropopathic way were tailing him. Their countenance that were both cowardly and brutal, both greedy and hypocritical, could not have been more vivid!
The pictures in the Grand Illusionary Land were obviously drawn by experts among the Immortal Cultivators who were adept at painting. Whoever saw them would feel deeply sympathetic toward Wuying Qi and indignant about the mediocre Cultivators and the avaricious ordinary people!
Li Yao stimulated his soul with spiritual energy time and time again, in case he walked into Wuying Qi's shoes and observed the entire world from the 'Blackstar'!
"After recognizing who his real enemy was," Su Changfa said slowly, "Wuying Qi was no longer as frank and demanding as he had been in the past when he was willing to insult all the leadership in the Empyrean Terminus Sector, the capital, in order to win the war. He focused more on stabilizing the defense line and reducing the consumption of assets and the death rate of the soldiers. Finally, he got a moment to catch his breath. However, in secret, he had been expanding the influence of the Salvation Syndicate by accepting more 'fellow Cultivators' who shared his vision!
"Wuying Qi believed that most of the officials in the Star Ocean Republic and the old Cultivators were too deeply poisoned to be rescued. Only the young Cultivators were the future of the country and the future of the civilization of mankind!
"At that time, the lethargy of the Star Ocean Republic also triggered many hotblooded young Cultivators' passion to revolutionize other than Wuying Qi. With Wuying Qi's personal charisma and the calling of a great cause, the Salvation Syndicate quickly expanded, winning countless young Cultivators over!
"However, even at that time, Wuying Qi never thought of completely splitting apart from the world of Cultivators. The so-called Salvation Syndicate was merely a discussion group where everybody gathered and talked about subjects such as the relationship between Cultivators and ordinary people, the Cultivators' real responsibility to the civilization of mankind, the great kindness and the petty kindness, the position of the civilization of mankind in the universe, and so on. They only meant to stop the country from declining and improve the civilization!"
The picture behind Su Changfa flashed. Many young people were talking and laughing around a black crystal suit.
Every tiny stroke was brimming with vigor and hope, entirely different from the style when the parliament of the Star Ocean Republic was depicted!
Su Changfa gnashed his teeth. "Initially, Wuying Qi prepared to walk down the path of the reformists. He hoped to build up the Salvation Syndicate into the largest party in the Star Ocean Imperium. The representatives that belonged to the Salvation Syndicate would be the majority in parliament. One day, he could even campaign for the position of Speaker of the Star Ocean Imperium so that he could seize power legally and reform the civilization of mankind as he saw fit!
"However, at this point, what worried Wuying Qi most happened!
"The Covenant Alliance suddenly launched an attack toward the Star Ocean Republic with an enormous army including more than fifty fleets!
"The scale of the strategic attack far exceeded the combination of all the attacks from the Covenant Alliance in the past ten years. It seemed that the testing at the beginning was finally over, and the Covenant Alliance played a real move that could decide the outcome of the war!
"Right now, the mysterious, well-trained troops of the Covenant Alliance, with their state-of-the-art weapons, finally attacked in earnest. The exhaust flames from the warships of the fifty fleets were enough to rip the entire universe into shreds!
"Because of the sluggishness and the obstructions from the past, Wuying Qi, as the highest commander on the frontline, only had warships with low tonnage and firepower and legions that were seriously lacking all kinds of assets!
"Even so, Wuying Qi did not give up his responsibility. Exerting all the knowledge that he had learned in his hundreds of years of travel in the sea of stars, he defeated the e
nemy multiple times when his troops were terribly outnumbered, postponing the Covenant Alliance's advance, which was as aggressive as fire!
"Of all the battles, the most decisive one was the Battle of Karan!"
The Grand Illusionary Land behind Su Changfa displayed a bleeding galaxy where explosions were bursting out like raindrops.
With that as the background, a yellow, unattractive planet popped up.
"Karan was a resource planet near the frontline under the control of the Star Ocean Republic. Although it was not large in size, it had the storage of dozens of rare materials including the Green Lotus Stones, the Frost Brilliance Crystals, and in particular, the Purple Thunder Crystals, which were in a high reserve and quality. The Purple Thunder Crystals are an extremely rare super catalyst for fuel. After they are mixed into the fuel of a starship in a certain ratio, the maximum speed of the starship can be improved by more than five percent!
"A speed increase of five percent! What a terrifying improvement that is! In any interstellar battle, not five percent, even a one percent speed increase is very likely able to reverse the final outcome!
"For the two parties whose starship technologies were close, the Purple Thunder Crystals were strategic assets of paramount importance. Therefore, Karan was the most important place in the frontline, and both parties desired it!
"Wuying Qi's command center was established on Karan, too!
"The Battle of Karan was a strategic sudden assault that Wuying Qi had carefully prepared long ago.
"General sudden assaults require our troops to attack the enemy unexpectedly, but this time, Wuying Qi was preparing to let the enemy launch a 'sudden assault' on him!
"Before the Battle of Karan, despite the continuous victories that Wuying Qi had secured, they were just tactical victories after all due to his limited troops. The Covenant Alliance, on the other hand, was well-prepared and did not fear a war of attrition.
"Behind Wuying Qi's defense line, it was not the homeland of the Star Ocean Republic but more than ten vassal Sectors, which were also known as 'sub-republics'. They boasted a certain degree of independence and were in fact undetermined flip-floppers.
