by <unknown>
"On the other hand, before we grow strong enough, we might as well make some deals with the other three families and put down the Dongfang family together!
"The Dongfang family is the largest Kurfürst family. Many people claim that the Dongfang family is the 'First Family' of the Imperium, and that the leader of the Dongfang family is the 'uncrowned emperor' of the Imperium. Hehe. If we can take down the Dongfang family, it will be the first barrage that marks the collapse of the old order. As long as the barrage explodes at the center of power brutally, nothing can possibly stop us from renovating the Imperium!"
Li Linghai slashed her hand down heavily, as if she were chopping an enormous family that had lasted thousands of years into pieces.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at Li Yao with passion and eagerness again. "I did not know that you were such an excellent master of refining. This is really great!
"I vaguely have a feeling that your arrival is a good sign that the reformists and the new Imperium will rise and radiate unstoppably like a morning sun!
"Right now, 'Li Lingfeng', my only loophole, has been completely erased. Everything is being pushed forward according to my plan. With your participation right now, I'm certain that our glory will soon arrive!"
Li Yao hesitated, "Well…"
Li Linghai frowned. "What now? Are you still bothered by your belief?"
"Not exactly."
Thinking for a moment, Li Yao said, "I'm just flattered to be called a 'good sign'. To be honest, nobody has ever said that I was a 'good sign' in my long life. Also, whenever I heard other people saying 'everything is under control' or 'things are going exactly as planned', accidents would happen shortly…"
"Huh?"
Li Linghai was slightly dazed. Right then, the crystal processor on her wrist began to buzz crazily.
It seemed to be a very private communication channel, because Li Linghai hesitated for a moment before she turned it on before Li Yao and Li Jialing.
A moment later, Li Linghai's heart of ambitions was frozen, and ice seemed to be poking out of her every pore.
"Something is wrong."
She gritted three words out from between her teeth.
…
Let the time be wound back to three days ago.
It was in the Green Wind Sector on the fourth arm in the second quadrant of the Imperium of True Human Beings.
The Green Wind Sector was one of the worlds that were closest to the frontline before the Imperium launched the splendid strategic counterattack.
Naturally, it became the home camp of the expedition army at the early phase of the war as well as a transfer base for supplies.
As the frontline was pushed forward along with the army's victories, the home camp of the expedition army had been moved to the Sectors that had recently been recovered.
However, the logistical base of the army, which boasted hundreds of thousands of starships, was still deployed here.
Every day, billions of tons of supplies were shipped to this place from the resource planets at the remote corners of the hundreds of Sectors nationwide, before they were delivered to the fleets in the frontline after categorization and calculation.
The special location and the needs of war made the Green Wind Sector prosper abnormally. Most of the locals made a fortune more or less through the war, and their days were evidently better than before the war.
Therefore, it would not be exaggerating to say that the locals of this world were the most avid advocates of the war.
At this moment, to celebrate the recovery of an insignificant resource planet in the frontline, a triumph ceremony of an enormous scale was held in the capital of the Sector again.
The entire sky was rendered into the lightning trident flag of the Imperium by mystic rays. Balloons painted with eagles and iron fists were flying everywhere. The streets and the alleys were all ablaze with lights. Both the true human beings and the hominoids were standing on their toes waiting for the arrival of the awesome Exos of the Imperium and the assault starships. Everybody was shouting from the bottom of their heart, "Long live the Imperium! Long live the Immortal Cultivators! Long live the civilization of mankind!"
When Dongfang Tuo stepped on the podium on one side of the main avenue next to the central square of the capital, he immediately found himself drowned by the overwhelming cheers.
Before the war broke out, faced with such a zealous and "valiant" crowd, Dongfang Tuo, just like other Immortal Cultivators, was filled with excitement and pride.
But after such a long time of war, when he heard the roars for victories, the elegant-looking big shot of the Dongfang family, one of the five hundred elders in the Council of Elders of the Imperium, the CEO of the Imperial Expedition Bank, and the chief manager of the military supplies division in the expedition army, couldn't help but sigh and furrow his eyebrows.
Triumph. Triumph. One triumph after another. When will they ever end?
Dongfang Tuo thought to himself.
For the people or the bottom-level officers in the frontline, triumphs meant military credits, medals, and infinite glories of the Imperium.
However, the big shots who were responsible for the resources and gears of the expedition army such as Dongfang Tuo knew clearly that every triumph meant that more troops had to be deployed to defend the newly-recovered territory. It would mean a longer and more fragile supply line and a "black hole" that would swallow infinite resources. Such black holes could never be filled.
From whatever perspective, the army of the Imperium had reached the limits of expansion, and it could not withstand any more of those "triumphs".
However…
Anybody can decide when to start a war, but not everyone can decide when to stop a war!
Dongfang Tuo somehow thought of those words. He couldn't help but put on a bitter smile.
Naturally, he did not let the bitter smile that represented his real feelings to last for more than half a second. Instead, he simply coughed and put on a solemn expression, before he made his way to the middle of the leadership of the government and the military who had medals and sashes all over their chests, waiting for the arrival of the victorious troop.
The sound of the assault warships tearing apart the clouds was already vaguely coming over from the sky not far away.
The earth began to shake slightly, implying that the iron hooves of the Imperium of True Human Beings that could stomp on everything were approaching.
At that time, the elder of the Imperium did not know yet that there were only 32 minutes and 47 seconds to go before the end of his life.
His killer, on the other hand, would not be the inhumane people of the Covenant Alliance who were like machines made of flesh and blood, but the army of the Imperium that he was waiting for.
Chapter 2184: A Bunch of Idiots! |
"Elder!"
Upon Dongfang Tuo's arrival, the important officials of the Green Wind Sector who were chitchatting delightedly immediately stood at attention, held their right fist to the chest, and slightly bowed at him to show respect.
The five hundred elders of the Imperium had the most prestigious position. Even though they were not appointed in the army or the government, they still boasted the power and stature above everyone else, because they were the Imperium!
His face as gloomy as a swamp, Dongfang Tuo nodded at everyone and waved his hands casually, hinting that they need not be so nervous.
The Green Wind Sector was a transfer base of supplies for the expedition army of the Imperium.
Military supplies were a critical and beneficial field. Naturally, they were controlled by the noble families.
Therefore, the important officials who were qualified to stand on the podium to welcome the victorious army were all from the four Kurfürst families or their vassal forces. In short, they were his own kind.
Since they were his own kind, he could talk with them on a lot of topics freely.
Different from the fervent crowd on the
street who were roaring "long live the Imperium", the important officials were not too excited during their whispers.
"Another 'glorious triumph', and a new resource planet. Hehe. It's a shame that the Covenant Alliance blew up all the mines before their evacuation under the new strategy of resistance. They even corrupted all the underground mines in a very sordid way. By estimation, the work to address the pollution alone will take years, and there is no telling how huge the investment will be. This is not a resource planet at all; this is yet another bottomless hole!"
"Exactly. The people from the Covenant Alliance are seriously brainwashed too, and they are quite against the Imperium. I'm afraid that they cannot be transformed into the fine labors of the Imperium without long-time tutelage. But it will mean that we will have to waste a lot of food on them. It's not like we can kill all of them, right? Annihilating all the people in the dozens of Sectors that are newly recovered? Who is bold enough to make such a decision? This is really… upsetting!"
"The support of the people in the rear has already reached the limits. No matter how they are 'encouraged', it is impossible to unleash more potentials. On the other hand, the accident rate is on the rise, and the small-scale riots are happening all the time. As it happens, most of the available forces of the Imperium are concentrated at the frontline and cannot suppress the riots at the rear. As a result, a few days ago, the terrible event that a Cultivator destroyed a whole space fortress took place, and the whole process was live-streamed after the Spiritual Nexus was compromised by the Cultivator. Shame. It is truly a great shame for the Imperium. To think that an insignificant Cultivator…"
"An insignificant Cultivator cannot cause much trouble yet. But the pressure of currency inflation that we are faced with right now is too huge and already on the verge of collapse. If the war goes on, the malign devalue of the currency will be unavoidable. We have run detailed deductions. If the war goes on for another year at the current intensity with the current supply of resources, then by February next year, the currency of the Imperium will be devalued by at least 300%, and by the end of next year, ten times. The catastrophic consequences will be more grave than the appearance of ten thousand Cultivators!"
"So, what matters most right now is how to end the war in a decent way!"
His eyes half narrowed, Dongfang Tuo was expressionless and did not seem to catch the discussions around him. But in fact, he heard every word loud and clear.
He also knew that the discussions and complaints of the important officials of the Green Wind Sector were mostly meant for him to hear. They hoped that, as one of the elders of the Imperium, he could propose a motion to end the war as soon as possible in the Council of Elders.
However…
Dongfang Tuo sneered in his heart. Did those officials think that the Council of Elders did not hope to end the war "decently" as quickly as possible? The only thing was that the Covenant Alliance, whose large piece of flesh had been torn off, would not give the "decent" end that the Imperium wanted so easily, would it?
"The damn soldiers at the frontline do not appreciate the hard work of the supplies in the rear at all. All they can think of in their head is to fight, fight, and fight! If they continue like this, our logistical system will collapse in no time!"
"Yes. I'm told that there was a mutiny in the 27th fleet stationed in the 'Heavenly Moon Space Zone'. The middle- and bottom-level young officers were quite moody and unwilling to carry out the order that asked them to 'stand by'. They still intended to attack and further strengthen the battle line."
"What are those people with more brawn than brains thinking? Are they going to feed the people on the newly-recovered planets who have been highly brainwashed? What a bunch of idiots!"
"Those insubordinate guys are only attracted by the military credits and medals and never think about the big picture. Once their heads are befuddled by their hot blood, they can do anything. Also, there is a disturbing phenomenon nowadays. The young officers from different Sectors seem to be reaching out to each other. They appear to have established a lot of groups such as 'clubs' or 'fraternities'. There is no telling what they are up to. It is truly distressing."
"That is all because of the indulgence of the Sector Masters. The Sector Masters of the remote worlds are a group of a*sholes who are ambitious, selfish, short-sighted, insatiable, and never consider the big picture!"
Dongfang Tuo sighed again in his heart.
As the CEO of the Imperial Expedition Bank and a manager of logistics who ran astronomical military supplies every day, he was well aware of the topics that everybody was talking about.
Having swallowed dozens of worlds in a row, the Imperium had already reached the limits of expansion in the current phase. If it were to continue to expand blindly, it would become an infinitely growing beast that would be collapsed by its own weight—like a whale stranded on a beach—and explode from inside.
Therefore, for the overall interests of the Imperium, "decently" or "indecently", the Imperium's counterattack that had lasted more than ten years must be ended as soon as possible.
However, the officers at the frontline who craved to make a name for themselves, and especially the young, bottom-level officers who had been seriously brainwashed by the invincibility of the Imperium and the significance of the civilization of mankind, thought otherwise.
They desired to distinguish themselves. They desired to expand the territory for their country. They desired to leave their name in the history books as one of the brilliant heroes during the rise of the civilization of mankind!
As the saying went, when a general was at war, he would not take orders from the monarch. In a universal war that spanned dozens of Sectors and thousands of lightyears, it was barely possible for the rear to effectively control the deep-sky fleets that were wandering in the depths of the boundless space.
Every deep-sky fleet boasted a super starship more than ten kilometers long, which had self-circulating air and water systems and also a storage for synthesized food that was enough for the use of twenty years and could provide the basic needs of energy despite the unpleasant smell.
With those things, every deep-sky fleet was a small, self-sufficient entity that could fight for years even without supplies. "Deep-sky" meant the ability to march beyond the sky to explore, fight, and conquer independently.
In many cases, it was impossible for the rear to observe what the deep-sky fleets were doing at the frontline all the time, and even if they did catch what the fleets were doing, there was little they could do to top those fleets.
More importantly, the deep-sky fleets were not directly controlled by the four Kurfürst families.
The Imperium was simply too huge. The vastness of the universe resulted in the terrible difficulty of a central government. Just like the emperor could not control the entire Imperium completely, the four Kurfürst families were unable to do so too.
At this moment, of the hundreds of fleets in the frontline, only half were direct subordinates of the four Kurfürst families, whereas the rest came from the peripheral worlds of the Imperium that were relatively independent.
Although a base had been established to coordinate all the fleets, the real controllers of the fleets were in fact the Sector Masters of the peripheral worlds, who were all disobedient and ravenous warlords.
Those warlords were often happy to see the radical behaviors of the young officers under their command.
After all, one more resource planet that they secured would mean one more accomplishment for the warlords themselves.
Also, before other people arrived, they could still loot the newly-recovered planets. Even if the Covenant Alliance had truly burned everything to the ground, some garbage that was still of value could certainly be found as long as they were determined to.
For the warlords whose nests were thousands of lightyears away, they never thought to control the resource planets at the frontline for a long time since the very beginning. What they were thinki
ng had always been to loot and run. Therefore, their behavior was even more blatant, and they were almost a bunch of bandits.
As to how the planets that were first burned to the ground by the Covenant Alliance and then completely looted by the troops of the Imperium should be dealt with, how the battle line that was stretched all the time should be defended, how to address the exponentially increasing pressure on logistics… Those problems were the worries of the base of the expedition army or the Council of Elders. The warlords did not care about any of that, and they simply returned with abundant military credits and medals "triumphantly"!
Thinking about that, Dongfang Tuo couldn't help but agree with the officials' comment on the ravenous soldiers in the frontline—they were truly a group of a*sholes!
Right then, the soul-stirring marching song was begun, and the quakes of the air and the ground were more and more intense. At the same time, the dense crowd, like a volcano eruption, roared at the loudest of their voice, "Long live the Imperium! Long live the army! Long live His Majesty! Long live the civilization of mankind!"
The victorious army showed up.
In the sky came the assault warships that looked like floating mountains. They drifted close like hundreds of clouds made of iron. On the ground, they were the fully-armored, awe-inspiring crystal suit legions, who approached the main avenue and the podium together with the magnificent drumming.
"Let's conquer, Immortal Cultivators! Conquer the ghosts and the evils!
"Let's reign, true human beings! Reign the dark and cold universe!
"As our warships sweep past the surging tides, the glory of the Imperium will shine forever!"
"Glorious Imperium! Glorious army!"
The battle anthem of the Imperium of True Human Beings echoed in the sky and on the ground together with the cheers of the people.
Chapter 2185: Blood Oath Alliance of the Imperium's Army! |
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Guided by the rumbling, six-turreted super-heavy crystal tanks, known as "fists of the Imperium", the fully-armed soldiers in crystal suits marched past the podium in neat rows.
