by <unknown>
"It seems that my guess was correct. No matter how you disguise yourself, you can't hide the fact that you are the queen's most trusted subordinate."
Lei Chenghu said casually, "She trusts you so much that even the mission to monitor me has been entrusted to you, 'Vulture Li Yao'!"
"I'm afraid that you are wrong, General Lei. I am not here just to monitor you!"
Li Yao said solemnly, "Besides monitoring you, Her Grace also instructed me that I am to 'give you a hand' when you lose faith and waver in the great cause of the reformists. It appeared to me that the queen wanted me to kidnap you or even threaten to kill you. But don't be nervous, General Lei, because as I said earlier, I have been admiring General Lei since childhood. I grew up listening to your tales, and I always regard you as an idol. So, when the moment that I have to take action comes, I will certainly be unable to take action. Chances are that I will even choose your side!"
Lei Chenghu: "… Excuse me?"
Li Jialing turned around rather rigidly and looked at Li Yao in astonishment.
"Who… are you exactly? What does the queen want by putting a guy like you to my side?"
Lei Chenghu narrowed his eyes, mired in a confusion that rarely happened to him again. He mumbled, "Do you know? I have a natural-born ability or intuition. Even though one is in the Nascent Soul Stage or the Divinity Transformation Stage, I can tell the deepest desires in their heart the moment I meet them, and I know what they want exactly.
"The queen is no exception. I can see clearly her ambitions that are growing like an ever-expanding beast that will swallow the universe.
"But what about you, Vulture Li Yao? I really can't see through you. I cannot tell what kind of soul is hidden underneath your skin.
"My intuitions tell me that you may be even more dreadful than the queen. Are you?"
Chapter 2235: I Am a Patriot, Too! |
"You are flattering me, General Lei."
Without changing his face, Li Yao said, "In fact, I have been training in Her Grace's secret base in seclusion since childhood, same as this brother 'Huang Fei' here. I barely got in touch with anybody from the outside world. So, I am a simple and outspoken man. I have no clandestine secrets in my heart at all, so what can you possibly see in me, General Lei?"
Lei Chenghu's eyebrows were furrowed so hard that it looked like an unsheathed saber, which was about to slash at Li Yao's carotid artery brutally.
He clenched his fists, and his fingerbones were cracking. He seemed to be holding back his urges with his astonishing willpower.
"It's true!"
Li Yao said sincerely, his eyes as pure and clear as a baby's, "I'm sure that General Lei has noticed that my real age is not very old."
"… Yes."
After a long silence, Lei Chenghu nodded his head. "Your cells are very active. The waves that your soul spreads out are full of vigor too. You are not the strongest Divinity Transformation Stage expert I have seen, but you are definitely the youngest one. I assume that aside from secluded training or long-term hibernation, you should be no older than eighty years old, right?
"An expert in the Divinity Transformation Stage no older than eighty. That is truly incredible. What kind of monster are you? And how have you been training yourself?"
"I am not a monster but just a regular person who dedicated all his time to training."
Li Yao said, "If I had not seized every second and every minute to train myself crazily, without caring about anything happening outside, how could I possibly have broken into the Divinity Transformation Stage in less than a hundred years? You have never heard of my name before, and you cannot find any information about me, right, General Lei? That's only reasonable, because this is the first time I have ever visited the outside world. So, I may be immature due to my lack of social experience. If I say or do anything wrong, please do forgive me, General Lei."
"Enough."
Taking a deep breath, Lei Chenghu said, "Listen up. I don't care if your bulls*it is true, and I don't care if your queen has other purposes under the fancy banner of the reformists. For me, I'm doing this for only one reason—to fulfill the responsibility of a soldier!
"Tell me, do you love the Imperium?"
Li Yao raised his chin high and saluted in a textbook unity etiquette. "My love never ends!"
"But I hate the Imperium. I even loathe the Imperium that reeks of stink from every pore right now."
Lei Chenghu said gloomily, "However, despite all the flaws of the Imperium of True Human Beings, and although it can be too dark and cruel sometimes and become the tools of the scoundrels to meet their selfish desires, the Imperium is always the toughest shield, the sharpest saber, and… the only home for the civilization of mankind.
"The Imperium may have all sorts of problems and too many reasons for people to hate it, but it has concentrated the strength of most human beings in the sea of stars, allowing billions of people to be united against the Covenant Alliance, the extraterrestrial devils, the bizarre alien species, and even the darkness of the universe itself.
"The universe is too vast a place, and the ambitions of mankind are too exuberant. Without the common acceptance of 'Imperium of True Human Beings', all the human beings in different Sectors will lose organization in a hundred years and separate into different countries even though there is no aggression from the Covenant Alliance, the extraterrestrial devils, or any alien species. They will raise their own colorful flags and brutalize each other under the most ridiculous excuses.
"By then, no devils or monsters are needed. Human beings themselves are enough to turn the entire universe into a bloody hell, just like the thousands of years after the Star Ocean Imperium's collapse and before the establishment of the Star Ocean Republic!
"Therefore…
"Despite the many shortcomings of the Imperium today, despite all the spots, ulcers, and cancers growing on its bloated body, and even though I hate its guts in many occasions, I will fulfill my responsibility as a soldier of the Imperium and defend it forever with my flesh, my bones, and my soul!
"Please forward to your queen that if she is worried that I may waver, her concerns will be unnecessary. During the half month when I was under the custody of the four Kurfürst families, I completely thought it through. In the past hundred years, I was too docile, hesitant, and restrained by the honor code of a soldier. I did not try everything I could to save the Imperium.
"But today, I have completely found my own path. Nobody can stop me from saving the Imperium with iron and fire, or even the approaches that are sordid, shameless, and cross all lines!
"If the queen's ultimate purpose is as upright and bright as she claims, then she will forever have my loyalty. Furthermore, if her personal interests coincide with the overall interests of the Imperium, is it really unacceptable to support her to be the first female emperor in history?
"However, if I discover that her ambitions are so violent that the interests of the Imperium will be jeopardized, our cooperation will immediately fall apart, and I will stop and destroy her whatever the price is. Do you understand?"
Li Yao nodded his head quickly. "Crystal clear!"
"And you, you are the same."
Lei Chenghu's eyes were suddenly sharper than ever, as if they were piercing through Li Yao's body and the cabin walls behind him. "I don't care whether you are just glib, or you are really 'simple, immature, and outspoken', but as long as you sincerely defend the Imperium and the civilization of mankind, I will call you 'fellow Cultivator' and fight by your side until the end!
"However…
"If I ever discover that you've been keeping other secrets, which harm the interests of the Imperium, trust me, the cannonballs from ten thousand warships will hit your head at the same time, and even if you escape to the edge of the cosmos and to a thousand years later, I will shatter my body and obliterate my soul to find you and kill you!"
Li Yao took a long breath in relief. "That's great!"
Lei Chenghu fr
owned. "What is great?"
"I'm totally relieved right now."
A brilliance that was even more scorching than the sun suddenly beamed out of his clear, big eyes. "Because I can guarantee with my life that I am absolutely a loyal, devoted patriot. I have an infinite love for my country, and I am willing to spill my hot blood, shatter my bones, and burn my bones into ashes, mix the ashes with water, and spray them to my homeland. This is exactly how much I love my country!
"I firmly believe that my country stands for the best interests of mankind. So, I will never turn against my country. However formidable, brutal, and ruthless the enemies I'm faced with are, I will fight them to the end. Even though I have nothing but an appendix left in the end, I will roll a saber with the appendix and keep on fighting!
"So, what General Lei described will never happen. Of course I am relieved!"
When Li Yao was swearing, Lei Chenghu stared at his eyes closely all the time, not disguising that he was looking into Li Yao's heart at all.
Li Yao, on the other hand, also opened his mind frankly for Lei Chenghu to perceive free at will.
Lei Chenghu sensed for a long time. Then, his face was less grave, but the suspicion on it did not disperse after a long time. He mumbled, "Why… is everything you said true and carries no air of fabrication at all?"
"Because it is true in the first place. I am really an unwavering, authentic patriot who has come to this place at great risks out of my infinite passion for my country and the civilization of mankind!"
Li Yao demanded, "I'm the one who should be confused here. Why is General Lei unwilling to believe me when everything I say is true? Is General Lei the only patriot in the vast universe?"
"Forget it…"
Looking at Li Yao's big face that had no loopholes at all, Lei Chenghu, unusually, chose to give up. "In any case, thank you for your help in the Godly Might Prison. If you are a real patriot, I believe we will get along very pleasantly… Fellow Cultivator Li.
"Now, let's return to the Third Battle Area."
Lei Chenghu cleaned his military hat with the newly-installed artificial arm and strode to the bridge with his head held high.
On the bridge were the soldiers who had just been gathered and who were ten times more excited than they were ill at ease.
A middle-aged officer whose entire body was covered in bandages and whose left hand and left foot had been replaced by artificial limbs staggered to Lei Chenghu; his face cramping all the way as if he was suffering excruciating pain. He saluted Lei Chenghu in the most standard way and said, "All the soldiers have been gathered. Please give your instructions, general!"
It was Lei Honghai, Lei Chenghu's eldest son, who betrayed his father because of the four Kurfürst families' attraction and who was taught a lesson by his father later. He had fought a path of blood out of the Godly Might Prison!
Lei Chenghu nodded his head emotionlessly. Looking around and detonating the magma in the hearts of the soldiers with the passion in his eyes, he finally walked to the control panel.
Gritting his teeth to hold back the pain when the unsuitable artificial limbs rubbed his wounds, Lei Honghai turned on the public communication channels of the three starships.
"Soldiers of the First Mix Team of the Godly Might Fleet!"
Before the complicated faces on the hundreds of light beams, Lei Chenghu roared reassuringly, "The war that will decide the future of the Imperium and even the civilization of mankind has begun, and you and I are the only main characters in the war!
"Until today, you were a bunch of nobodies. Nobodies. You were the losers in the competitions within your families, the offcut that nobody cared about, the secondary goods who had been kicked to this snowy world to pass the rest of your lives, the 'nulls' that did not deserve to leave your names on the family records, and even the prisoners who were destined to rot in the dungeons!
"But after today, your names will resound in the sky and be cheered by billions of people. Your names will be carved in the monuments in the central squares of the capital and every habitable planet!
"The Imperium, the history, and the civilization will not forget what you have done today. They will not forget your sacred and glorious games!
"Everyone onboard, be prepared. Full power output to the space jump units. Target the Third Battle Area. Move forward!"
Chapter 2236: Lore of Red Nimbus! |
The No. 223 resource planet in the West Wind Sector in the Third Battle Area in the Imperium of True Human Beings had an extremely harsh environment without an atmosphere.
The West Wind Sector was a small world with a diameter of thirty billion kilometers. The star here was still in the adolescent phase soon after birth. As a result, the seven planets around the star were all seriously torn by the drastic changes of gravitational forces and could not form a dense atmosphere. So, there was not a single habitable planet.
The ever-changing gravitational and tectonic movements, as well as the material exchanges when the meteorites hit the planets, endowed quite a few satellites of the West Wind Sector with abundant rare metals and crystals.
The West Wind Sector was the remotest world in the Third Battle Area, and the No. 223 resource planet was the remotest celestial body in the West Wind Sector.
On this planet, there was an abundant reserve of "nickel-fused crystals", which, once added to the highly-explosive cannonballs, could significantly increase the destructiveness of the cannonballs and even double the radius of destruction.
Therefore, after the Imperium took the West Wind Sector back from the Covenant Alliance, a small fleet was sent to camp on the No. 223 resource planet.
The mission of the fleet was not to defend the No. 223 resource planet in the Covenant Alliance's possible counterattack. The base of the expedition army did not expect them to be capable of that at all.
They were only responsible for cleaning and reestablishing the mining bases that had been seriously sabotaged by the Covenant Alliance in the extremely harsh, cruel world as "engineering soldiers".
It was exactly the mission of the ninth fleet of the Third Battle Area of the expedition army of the Imperium, also known as the "Red Nimbus Fleet".
The Red Nimbus Fleet was a miscellaneous force from a local area. To quote the powerful nobles and lords in the capital, they were just a bunch of mobsters who were formerly bumpkins. It was a typical example of all the miscellaneous troops.
The Red Nimbus Fleet was from the Red Nimbus Sector, a world that was not conquered, or to put it nicely, "did not join the Imperium", until five hundred years ago at the last phase of the Imperium's grand expedition.
Because the rulers of the Red Nimbus Sector judiciously chose to surrender when faced with the overwhelming army of the Imperium from the sky, and the Red Nimbus Sector was itself a barren and resourceless world that had nothing at all other than the billions of hungry people, the Imperium generously granted the Red Nimbus Sector a great deal of autonomy, as long as the Red Nimbus Sector submitted taxes and soldiers regularly and attacked the enemy together with the Imperium at the request of His Majesty and the Council of Elders when needed.
Despite the "generosity" and "mercy", the life for the people and even the Immortal Cultivators of the Red Nimbus Sector in the past five hundred years was still quite difficult.
The taxes of the Imperium were heavier and heavier after each day. Besides the taxes that were directly submitted to the court, the four Kurfürst families also exploited them by setting up fancy regulations including all kinds of "fees" and "special taxes".
In the meantime, the magical equipment and the industrial products made from the assembly lines of the highly developed industrial worlds at the center of the cosmos flowed into the Red Nimbus Sector like tides, completely destroying the industrial system of the Red Nimbus Sector that was rather underdeveloped but relatively independent. The Red Nimbus Sector was bound to the downmost stream of the interest chain of the noble families, turning into an insignificant compone
nt on the assembly line.
Five hundred years ago, in spite of the underdeveloped technologies, the Red Nimbus Sector was still capable of manufacturing crystal suits, armed shuttles, and even starships. It was even possible to produce one or two simplest space jump units.
But today, while the magical equipment that was used in the Red Nimbus Sector was more delicate, glamorous, and powerful on the surface, there was no longer a single crystal suit that was the Red Nimbus Sector's own brand. All the crystal suit factories of the Red Nimbus Sector had been purchased by the sects under the four Kurfürst families. The "outdated" assembly lines were all shattered and replaced by the brand-new ones, which were "generously donated" by the noble families.
Naturally, the central technologies of the magical equipment assembly lines were controlled in the hands of the noble families at the center of the cosmos and never to be learned by the Red Nimbus Sector.
Furthermore, those magical equipment factories could not produce a whole set of crystal suit anymore but were only able to make 5% of the components. The other 95% of the components were all shipped from the center of the cosmos and assembled on the spot.
As a result, the independent industrial system of the Red Nimbus Sector completely collapsed and lost all the bargaining chips. Their throats were choked by the noble families from the center of the cosmos, and they became the dump of foreign magical equipment as well as the resource supplier.
What was even more pathetic was that the Red Nimbus Sector did not have any resources that were abundant enough to supply the entire Imperium except for manpower.
The price of labor in the place, as a result, was suppressed to an appalling extent. According to the lords from the center of the cosmos, it was exactly because of the cheap labor force in the Red Nimbus Sector and the dutifulness of the workers that the magical equipment factories were established here. Otherwise, the lords could have set up the factories elsewhere or replaced all human workers with spiritual puppets.
