by <unknown>
"Yes. Even if they are on the same boat, their interests might not be the same. I have collected countless files regarding General Lei in the past couple of days. He is definitely not a man to be manipulated easily. The four Kurfürst families cannot control him, and your mother probably can't either."
Li Yao said with a smile, "Look, your mother has the Deep Sea Fleet, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors, the Tribunal of Extraterrestrial Devils, and such a huge Deep Sea Palace, whereas we have absolutely nothing. How can we expect to compete with her? At such a moment, if I am the one who rescues General Lei in person, I will be able to make connections with him and try to force a new balance."
Li Jialing stared at Li Yao for a long time and said, "So, you haven't completely trusted the queen after all."
"Come on. I am not a cold and ruthless man, and I want to completely trust the woman that my foster father deeply loved."
Li Yao sighed and said, "However, you saw your mother's intimidating style that looked like a white-haired witch too. Did she leave you the impression that she should be trusted?
"Besides, do you not feel that too many coincidences have been happening recently?
"The moment your mother ran out to hunt her brother, the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance took place.
"When the reformists greatly compromised the Godly Might Prison, General Lei Chenghu was secretly escorted to the place and kept under arrest?"
Li Jialing's eyes froze gradually. "What are you trying to say, Brother Yao?"
"Nothing. I'm just having some random thoughts."
With a smile, Li Yao looked at the tackily gold Colossus and said, "However, other than everything else, the secret treasures of the Supreme Emperor that I've earned from your mother alone will render the adventure worthwhile enough!"
"Right. You've been producing something with the rare materials from the queen, which you claim to be a 'secret weapon'."
Li Jialing was a young man after all. He shifted his attention and asked curiously, "What is it exactly?"
"Let me put it this way. You should know that there is a kind of special magical equipment named 'Ares Extension'. They're added to the outside of a crystal suit to enhance its combat ability."
With a more and more brilliant smile, Li Yao said, "Have you considered if the Colossus can have its own Ares Extension?"
Chapter 2211: The Arrow Is on the Bow |
Three days later, in the Mystic Ice Sector, a half barren world in the first quadrant of the Imperium of True Human Beings, the lackluster star that had already entered the decaying phase was releasing bluish light lethargically.
The special elemental reactions yielded weird radiations that suppressed spiritual waves, making the area as lifeless as a frozen ocean.
All the planets were like lonely islands consolidated in the frozen ocean. Even if a few starships occasionally broke the barrier of the three-dimensional space and appeared on the barren land, the exhaust flames behind them were absolutely still, making them look like fish that were struggling to survive in the gaps of ice.
"New Birth 2", a carrier, was exactly one of the struggling fish.
Because of a gap in the reactor in the third power unit, a fairly large explosion took place in the engine compartment, and the liquid fuel that could very likely cause a chain reaction was spilled everywhere. Immediately vaporized and expanded, the fuel spread out of the engine compartment, raising a series of screams and exclamations. The rear half of the carrier was in turmoil.
Right when "New Birth 2" minimized the power output of the main engine, switching to the cruise mode, in order to repair the damaged reactor and clean the leaked fuel in an emergency, feeble ripples unrecognizable to the naked eye appeared on their sailing route up front in the seemingly empty void.
It was almost like a big fish that was surfacing on an ocean, flapping the fins and opening its bloody mouth at the prey.
The working medium thrusters of the carrier were still emitting chaotic aftermath of spiritual energy, with the heat of almost a thousand degrees.
The ripples that were turning into the shape of a human had already swum in.
"Another tube."
Under the protection of the Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit, Li Yao resisted the scorching temperature while searching for the best part to breach into the carrier. He whined in his head, "Another infiltration operation that has taken every detail and every procedure into consideration. How can anybody ask for more? Hey, do you think there will be an accident this time?"
"The greatest accident has already happened. Who would have thought that the Godly Might Prison would build the ventilation tubes so broadly and stuff thousands of guards into it? How can the situation be any worse?"
The mental devil said, "In the past three days, we had 324 drills, and the success rate of the last hundred times has reached 96%. That is good enough!"
"It does make sense. Every sentry post, every surveillance camera's degree, speed, and frequency of rotation, and every possible accident have been taken into consideration. I don't think we will be unlucky enough to meet any anomaly again, right?"
While mumbling in a low voice, Li Yao groped on the interior wall of the waste tube. Then, his eyes suddenly shone. "This is the place!"
Four hours later, when "New Birth 2" finally repaired the fault of the power unit and accelerated again, Li Yao had already changed into a completely different appearance and hidden himself in a freezing hibernation refrigerator, where he was locked together with hundreds of other ferocious felons.
His brow ridge rose highly, and his lips were half missing, exposing the crooked teeth to the air. It was a typical look of a disobedient, temperamental criminal.
He wore an orange prison uniform that was filled with special metal pads. There were two energy boxes on his chest and his back, which could release super electric currents that were as powerful as lightning into the clothes. Even the strongest prisoner would be paralyzed, if not electrocuted, immediately.
His identification information was on his wrists and his ankles, suggesting that he was a dangerous person who had committed a hundred murders and trained himself through bloody slaughters after his mind was deranged because of a training accident.
Everything about him was frozen in the temperature of almost minus a hundred degrees.
On the surveillance crystal processor next to the hibernation cabin, it could be clearly seen that all of Li Yao's biophysical parameters were approaching zero at this moment. Even his cellar reactions were almost frozen. He looked no different from a dead person.
In the creepy refrigerator, the hundreds of prisoners were all the same, like ice sculptures that had slept for hundreds of years.
But nobody knew that underneath Li Yao's dead-like appearance, his simmering soul was waiting to explode like a restless volcano, and every mitochondrion inside his every cell was like a spring that had been compressed to the minimum, ready to eject at any moment.
Neither did anyone know that, even though he seemed barehanded, Li Yao had kept more than ten Cosmos Rings inside his body.
The metal reactions of all the Cosmos Rings had been blocked by him by constricting the internal organs, which was enough to dodge the scanning of any magical equipment.
Once the weapons and ammunition inside the Cosmos Rings were retrieved, they would be enough to raise a small-scale war in the Godly Might Prison!
After a two-hour voyage, "New Birth 2" slowly cut into the extra-thin atmosphere of the sixth planet of the Mystic Ice Sector, diving into the frigid hell that was full of ice and frost.
The temperature of the place was so low that the starship did not even leave much flames when rubbing the air at a high speed. The scarce light was soon absorbed by the freezing fog.
All the continent was covered in frost, snow, fog, and rocks. Most of the places were desolate lands that one could not even find germs.
The circular area near the equator was the only paradise for all the liv
es on the entire planet.
Although it was the equator, there was no sign of sunlight and liveliness at all. It was dominated by ice and snow, like the poles of other planets. Only the mottled moss and fungi managed to keep the title of the planet as a habitable one.
However, other than the locals of the place—the highly coldproof moss and fungi—many other objects were active on the firn field.
They were the special spiritual puppets designed for battles in polar areas and made of coldproof materials. They were slaughter machines known as "Snow Monsters".
Under normal circumstances, they would've been just training targets for the strong Immortal Cultivators. However, in such a place where the freezing wind was blowing in the environment of minus a hundred degrees, the charge of hundreds of "Snow Monsters" was enough to freeze the blood of any Immortal Cultivator or Cultivator.
The "Snow Monsters" deployed in the place, on the other hand, were much more than "hundreds".
Other than the "Snow Monsters", there were also dense underground bastions and automatic firing points on the ground, which could turn the snowy world into an ocean of fire at any moment.
That was still not counting the Godly Might Fleet cruising between the atmosphere and the near-planet orbit. Although the descendants of the four Kurfürst families considered working in the Godly Might Prison as a punishment, the four Kurfürst families were never petty on their starships and their gears.
At least four main-force warships were among the most advanced models of the Imperium. Their main cannons, which could reduce the temperature hundreds of meters nearby to absolute zero instantly, were enough to let anyone with a normally-functioning head to abandon the idea of resisting them in such an extreme environment.
Li Yao's head was functioning quite well.
Therefore, he was absolutely unwilling to be a lone hero to fight against hundreds of thousands of "Snow Monsters", an equal number of cross-fire underground bastions, and hundreds of crystal warships in the sky in such a wretched hell.
He only hoped that, if Li Linghai was really a bold, ambitious schemer, her planning and organization abilities better deserved her ambitions. She must show up in time, cause a destructive blow to the Godly Might Fleet, and launch a blanket of bombardment on the surface of the planet.
The land that was covered in snow and frost suddenly split. From the silo whose bottom was too deep to be seen, hundreds of complicated lights were shot out and outlined a virtual sailing route in midair.
"New Birth 2" turned off the vertical thrusters, and adjusting the power output of the anti-gravity rune arrays, slowly landed into the underground port of the Godly Might Prison.
If nothing went wrong, Li Yao had one hour, 58 minutes, and 33 seconds to avoid the scanning of the guards and surveillance cameras, pass half of the prison, and find General Lei Chenghu to provide protection.
One hour, 58 minutes, and 33 seconds later, Li Linghai's Deep Sea Fleet would show up in the sky of the Godly Might Prison and perform an attack that would shock the entire Imperium!
…
Right at the same time when Li Yao snuck into the Godly Might Prison as a "frozen corpse", deep inside the prison, "God of War" Lei Chenghu met the first living "guest" who had come to visit him after half a month of custody.
The guest, however, was quite a great surprise for Lei Chenghu.
Even his face that had always been taciturn and serious like forever-frozen ice was caught in a moment of bewilderment.
The guest had a face exactly like his own, albeit a hundred years younger.
Of course, the ambitions, desires, impatience, and restlessness all over the young face could never be found on Lei Chenghu's face that was full of wrinkles.
"Honghai, how did you find this place?"
Looking at Lei Honghai, his eldest son, Lei Chenghu frowned, without any ecstasy of meeting his family at all. Instead, he pondered, full of suspicion and alert for a moment, before his eyes turned even gloomier. "Did the 'special investigation committee' ask you to persuade me? You have abandoned the Astounding Thunder Fleet and joined the 'special investigation committee'?"
"Father, I am indeed cooperating with the special investigation committee, but I have never abandoned the Astounding Thunder Fleet at all. On the contrary, the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the Lei family are both in peril and may be obliterated at any moment, which will be an inestimably heavy blow to the entire Imperium too. I am here to persuade Father exactly for the future of the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the Lei family."
Lei Honghai almost couldn't stand his father's aggressive staring. Gritting his teeth, he went on, "The special investigation committee is directly under the command of the Council of Elders and represents the highest interests of the Imperium. Didn't you always teach us that a soldier's responsibility is obedience and that we have to consider the interests of the Imperium as the top priority no matter what we do? Then, is there anything wrong to cooperate with the special investigation committee?"
Chapter 2212: Laureated or Cursed |
"Cut the crap."
Lei Chenghu said coldly, "Spit it out. What does the special investigation committee want you to do exactly?"
"I think you must know it, Father."
Staring at Lei Chenghu, Lei Honghai said, "The Council of Elders, the special investigation committee, and I all hope that Father can make a public statement and inform all the troops in the frontline of your support for the Council of Elders' investigation on the incident of the Blood Oath Alliance. We hope that you can chastise the radicals in the expedition army and persuade the members of the Blood Oath Alliance in the Astounding Thunder Fleet to turn themselves in. At the very least, we hope that father can give an order to restrain the Astounding Thunder Fleet so that no blood will be shed when the special investigation committee enters the fleet."
"It will enter the fleet?"
Lei Chenghu's pupils constricted abruptly. "The special investigation committee and the four Kurfürst families behind it are truly bold enough to lay fingers on the Astounding Thunder Fleet that has fought bloody battles for a hundred years with remarkable accomplishments?"
"There is no need to be worried, Father. It is only meant to remove the radicals in the Astounding Thunder Fleet."
Putting on a gloating and rebellious smile, Lei Honghai said, "The Council of Elders does not intend to dissect the Astounding Thunder Fleet but only want to ensure the Astounding Thunder Fleet's absolute loyalty for the Imperium. After the investigation and purge are done, it will still be commanded by us."
"By 'us', do you mean 'me'?"
Lei Chenghu narrowed his eyes. The shock on his face was entirely gone, gradually replaced by mockery and sadness. "I stand by what I said. I refuse it. Go now. Unless you are carrying the Council of Elders' death sentence to me, you do not need to come again."
"Father, why are you so obstinate?"
Looking at the Lei Chenghu who listened to neither kind words nor threats, Lei Honghai burst into fury and bellowed, blushing, "The situation can't be more dangerous. The radicals in the capital are about to be eliminated. The fleets of the major warlords and the nobles have pledged loyalty to the Council of Elders too. The few remaining fleets are now the targets for everyone, but their throats have been choked from up above like the fish in a water tank. The Astounding Thunder Fleet is exactly one of them!
"The universe is a vast place, but we are rootless duckweeds. However strong the Astounding Thunder Fleet is, all our ammunition and fuel depend on the base of the expedition army, as well as the Council of Elders behind it, because we do not have a base of our own!
"They do not need to take care of us through violence at all. As long as they cut off our supplies, what can we expect to use to compete with the four Kurfürst families? The trophies we have collected in the frontline? How long can they sustain?
"The trend is not in our favor! The war is over. We have won. The expedition army has accomplished its historic mission. It
is inevitable that the army is removed and reorganized. Nobody can resist such a trend!
"Now, the Council of Elders is surprisingly kind to ensure the maximal independence of the Astounding Thunder Fleet and give us a prosperous Sector as an eupatrid fief. I have no idea what you are persisting in. What benefits can you get for yourself, for the Astounding Thunder Fleet, or for the Lei family by going against the Council of Elders like this?
"Please. Think it through, Father!
"Ever since my childhood, haven't you been teaching us that self-interest and disunity is the source of the problems in the Imperium, and as a proud soldier of the Imperium, we must not fight for our selfish desires but for the interests of the Imperium and all mankind under the governance of the Council of Elders?
"Right now, it is the Council of Elders that has given the order that the expedition army be removed and reorganized. Also, the way of reorganization is not too harsh either. The Astounding Thunder Fleet is part of the expedition army in the first place. Why do we have to be the only exception and go against the wishes of the Council of Elders and the four Kurfürst families?
"Let me tell you the truth, Father. The Council of Elders is determined to settle the issues of the expedition army at whatever cost. If they cannot be resolved with no bloodshed, they will be resolved with blood.
"Yes. With your prestige in the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the entire frontline, as long as you give a signal, most of the warriors in the Astounding Thunder Fleet will fight to the end. But what does it matter? What is the purpose? If you are ruining the Astounding Thunder Fleet that you have been working hard on since a hundred years ago and letting the thousands of people of the Lei family die with you, you should at least give us a reason and let us know what we have died for!"
Listening to his eldest son's outspoken complaints and criticization, Lei Chenghu was silent for a long time before he slowly opened his mouth again. He said somewhat hoarsely, "Everything I've been doing is not for myself, not for the Lei family, not for the Astounding Thunder Fleet, but for the entire Imperium and the supreme civilization of mankind.
