Chapter 113: The Civil War Breaks Out
Ling Feng piloted Silver Snow over the period of several consecutive s.p.a.ce jumps, reaching Naomi Star at the fastest possible speed.
At that time, it was two o"clock in the morning and the soldiers of the Glory Legion who were patrolling the Naomi Star s.p.a.ce Station saw this strange silver-white mech and immediately activated the defensive net to intercept Silver Snow.
Ling Feng said anxiously: "Please inform your Marshal, Udir, the commander of the Rose Legion, has an urgent matter to notify him of!"
Ling Feng took out the white rose flower badge, the insignia of the Rose Legion, and put it on full display. The people present in the s.p.a.ce station looked at each other, not knowing what they should do.
Fortunately, the freshly replaced patrol captain was Rosen"s most trusted subordinate. Seeing that Ling Feng had taken out the Rose Legion’s insignia, he wasted none of his breath and connected to Rosen"s personal communicator in no time flat.
Rosen had been resting in Ling Yu"s room. In reality, he was worried that Ling Yu was unwell, so he had demanded to accompany Ling Yu in order to take care of him at night. Ling Yu had no say in this matter and was forced to allow Rosen to sleep in his room.
After receiving the communication signal, Rosen was worried about stirring Ling Yu from his slumber, so he quietly got out of bed and walked to the study in an outer room, he switched his communicator on, and asked in a whisper: "What"s the matter?"
The patrol captain saluted him, speaking with a grave tone: "Marshal, Udir, Commander of the Rose Legion, has sent someone to Naomi Star, saying that there is an urgent matter to inform you of. That person piloted General Udir’s very own mech, Silver Snow. They are currently waiting outside the s.p.a.ce station."
Rosen had been thrown in for a bit of a loop: "The Silver Snow has come?"
The other party immediately nodded, saying: "Correct, it has been confirmed without a doubt that it is the S-Cla.s.s mech Silver Snow!”
—Udir had actually given his mech to someone else to pilot? It made it plain as day how much he valued and trusted this person.
Rosen thought for a while before saying: "Have him wait for a bit longer, I"m on my way over."
Rosen quickly piloted Black Dragon to the Naomi Star s.p.a.ce Station, he opened the defensive net barrier and let Silver Snow land on the clearing.
The man who walked out of the control cabin was wearing a white coat and had a handsome face, along with it was a gentle temperament. However, at the moment he locked eyes with that person, Rosen suddenly froze in place— the blacks and whites of that pair of eyes that created a distinct contrast between one another, why did they look so similar to Ling Yu? Could they possibly be related?
Sure enough, the first sentence out of Ling Feng’s mouth was: "Where is Ling Yu? Is he not with you?"
Rosen answered to him: "He’s asleep. Udir sent you here, what"s the matter?"
Ling Feng frowned: " Ling Yu is still asleep? Wake him up! If we wait any longer, there won’t be enough time!”
With that, Ling Feng ignored Rosen’s surprised gaze and piloted Silver Snow directly to Naomi Star’s Underground Military Base, the path he took was traversed with the familiarity one would expect of someone making their way back to their home.
Rosen watched this scene in shock and finally came back down to his senses after three seconds. After giving a few words to his subordinates, he immediately turned around and followed Silver Snow.
Ling Feng has lived here with Ling Yu for many years, he would naturally be pretty familiar with it. He had Silver Snow touchdown straight at the entrance of the underground base, pa.s.sed through the pa.s.sword verification, and walked through the familiar stretch of corridors up to Ling Yu"s lounge.
Ling Yu was sleeping on his side, frowning uncomfortably because of the little one inside him. In a dream, a little baby grabbed his hand, calling out dad. He was about to respond, but suddenly the quilt was being yanked off and there was a force pulling him up.
Ling Yu, who was startled awake, frowned in displeasure: "Rosen, what is it?"
Ling Feng glanced at his younger brother, "Get up, I"m not Rosen!"
He opened his eyes and was met with a familiar face. The sleep fog finally dispersed from Ling Yu, and he said in surprise, "Brother? Why are you here?"
Ling Feng: "…………"
Rosen, who hurriedly followed from behind into the bedroom, witnessed this scene, he had originally wanted to scold Ling Feng for entering someone’s room so impolitely without permission. Hearing Ling Yu referring to the other as his brother, Rosen stiffly swallowed his words back down, touched his nose, and smiled at Ling Feng with an amiable disposition: "Ahem, and you would be Ling Yu’s brother? Ling Feng?"
Ling Feng gave Rosen a look, he held absolutely zero interest in humoring Rosen with any superfluous words, he just went straight to the point, taking out the electronic screen Udir gave him, his words laced with solemnity: "Ling Yu, the communication line between Naomi Star and the outside world has been completely cut off. Udir asked me to come over myself and pa.s.s on the news to you! Take a look, the situation is dire, we may need to evacuate anytime now!"
Seeing his brother"s serious expression, Ling Yu immediately sat up from the bed, putting on a coat through the motions, and took the screen, unlocking it with the pa.s.sword.
Udir described his discovery in a few simple words—
He always had an inkling that Po Military Starfield had more to it than what could be readily seen on the surface, so after having the Rose Legion post on Po Military Starfield, Udir secretly deployed a stealth reconnaissance aircraft. It was to surveil whether there would be any consistent abnormalities at the Empire’s biggest military base.
Udir’s main surveillance priorities were settled on several large patches of forest ground and ravines on Po Military Star. Unfortunately, no distinctive abnormalities were detected over the course of several months. However, on this very night, Udir had dispatched a miniature unmanned surveillance aircraft into the early hours of the morning. It suddenly sent back an abnormal report— the reconnaissance aircraft found an enormous military base in the depths of the Koln Forest!
The reason why the scene of that moment was captured is precisely that the underground military base was entering the launching stage!
This underground base was extremely well hidden, amongst the lushly dense forestry and mountains was an expansive plot of land, the artificial turf that blanketed over it split open. If it weren"t for the careful reconnaissance efforts, it’d have been impossible to discover it.
The underground base holds the ultimate nuclear weapons possessing an extremely terrifying destructive power— and these ultimate nuclear missiles were capable of crossing galaxies. Their placement was inclined towards the Capital Star on Cepheus, the other being none other than Naomi Star!
After Udir detected the abnormal nuclear energy fluctuations, he immediately had Ling Feng go notify Ling Yu because he believed that after learning that Rosen and Ling Yu hadn’t died, Auguste would without a doubt set off the long-buried galactic missiles to strike Naomi Star!
—Such a brutal, cruel method, Rosen and Ling Yu would have been none the wiser.
Galactic missiles had tremendous power, and its advanced seeking system could accurately reach the designated coordinate point through s.p.a.ce jumps. Once successfully launched, it could blow up a small-scale planetary body, to say nothing of Naomi Star and its weak defensive capabilities from a militaristic standpoint as a planet based on mining and natural resources.
As early as the founding of the Empire, the first appointed ruler ordered for the prohibition of ultimate nuclear weapon manufacturing so as to prevent the grave destruction of the entire universe and its environment. Unexpectedly, under the nose of everyone, Auguste has actually built an underground base in the Koln Forest of the Po Military Starfield to research such a horrible thing…
Ling Yu and Rosen looked at each other and both thought of those badges Xiao Yuan had found in the Koln Forest.
Obviously, Auguste had begun preparations for this as early as more than 20 years ago. It was possible that those three officers of the Thunder Legion found something they shouldn’t have, leading to their deaths, their badges left behind in the Koln Forest for Lin Yuan to stumble upon.
The truth had come out, but a chill nevertheless ran down the spines of everyone in the room.
Auguste’s schemes were deeply rooted and calculated with minute deliberation, his plans had already begun to come to fruition! The Hydra Legion and the Glory had moved to Naomi Star. The moment they make a move, the galactic nuclear weapons will be launched to blow up Naomi Star!
Ling Yu"s expression pulled a complete 180°, enduring the pangs of discomfort settling in his stomach region, he turned over and got up with not a moment wasted and changed his clothes. He turned his head back to Rosen, saying: "I’ll gather the people of the Dark Night Legion, you go notify Drew, we will be evacuating effective immediately!"
"Alright!" Rosen nodded and went on a search for Drew.
Ling Yu spoke with a steady calm, "Brother, Xiao Yuan and Snow are in the rooms numbered 7-10 on the left. I definitely won’t be able to look after them at the moment. I will trouble you to take care of them."
Ling Feng spoke in a rushed tone: "Don’t worry, I’ll pick them up right now!”
In a minute"s time, coming from the communicators carried by the soldiers of the Glory Legion, Hydra Legion, and the Dark Night Legion, an ear-piercing siren rang in concert. The sharp sound pierced the night sky and instantaneously shattered the tranquility that should have been present at two in the morning—
Lin Yuan was sound asleep when he suddenly heard that shrill alarm. As was in his soldier’s nature, he realized that something major happened on the base. He changed into his clothes and went out the door as fast as he could, he was met with the sight of Caesar, Brian, and Snow coming out of their rooms next door at the same time.
The blaring sirens continued to cry throughout the base and these odd few teenagers looked at each other completely dumbfounded just in time to catch sight of a man speeding towards them.
Snow widened his eyes, saying in shock: "Dad? Why are you here?"
Ling Feng walked up to the four of them and clapped Snow’s shoulder, saying: "I’ll tell you everything later. Ling Yu and Rosen have to get their legions in working order and don"t have time to take look after you all. Hurry and come with me!"
Although the four of them were very confused, they could see Ling Feng"s grave expression. They asked no more questions and turned to keep pace with his footsteps.
When they had surfaced from the underground base, they were struck dumb by the scene unfolding in front of them—
The open s.p.a.ce outside the base was densely packed with soldiers dressed in uniform, the number of warships loitering in the air was far too many to count, their wings carried out to full mast, almost entirely blocking the shining bits of starlight speckled on the night sky. Only the insignia of a shining golden sun on the black warships could be seen giving off a sparkling light.
"The 10th Division of the Glory Legion is a.s.sembled!"
"The air combat troops are beginning to evacuate!"
"The 2nd Division is a.s.sembled!"
"…"
At two o"clock in the morning, even in such a dire situation, the evacuation of the three major legions was still done in an orderly fashion, not a single shred of chaos could be seen!
Ling Yu, who was the most familiar with Naomi Star served as the commander-in-chief of this evacuation operation. He delineated three large areas, allowing the three Dark Night, Hydra and Glory Legions to a.s.semble individually and evacuate under the guidance of three distinct routes.
From a distance, it was as if a group of birds had gathered and simultaneously left Naomi Star, flying off into the distance far, far away…
Lin Yuan was in Silver Snow’s c.o.c.kpit, watching this scene play out from a distance, he was shaken to his very core!
He admired his dad"s ability to command, and was even more shook by the steel-like cohesion and the clean-cut orderliness of the mobility speed belonging to the Empire’s top three legions!
In less than half an hour, the three legions stationed on Naomi Star that were comprised of millions of people had completely withdrawn!
The Hylte No Man"s Land on the outer edge of the Isville Galaxy had become a temporary foothold for the three major legions.
After landing in the dead zone, all soldiers in the warships wore oxygen masks, except for those in B-Cla.s.s mechs and above equipped with self-contained oxygen supply.
Because of constant battling in s.p.a.ce, the oxygen reserves in the Legion can keep them afloat for a day.
Ling Yu, Rosen, and Drew each piloted their respective mechs and stayed at the forefront. The three connected to each other’s communicators to come to an agreement for the following courses of action. Drew couldn’t help saying: “I didn’t expect Udir to be so shrewd. And here I was thinking he had moved to Po Military Starfield to laze around.”
Drew has always had an issue with Udir’s inclinations towards the arts and his strange hobby of gardening, but this time, Udir’s prompt notification gave Drew a slightly more favorable impression towards this strangely-tempered general.
Rosen smiled and said: "Udir isn’t as simple as we believed, otherwise, how could he possibly live such a simple and easy life for so many years serving as the commander, all the while under the pressure of those ancient antiques of the Shaman Family?"
At the mention of the Shaman Family’s ancient patriarchs, Ling Yu’s eyebrows curled into a frown.
What happened to his brother back then was the fault of Udir"s grandfather, his insistence on the idea of Pure-Blood Elitism prevented Udir from getting together with someone of unknown lineage. With Auguste launching a mutiny, there were some from the Shaman Family that maintained a neutral stance, while the other half actually held a positive opinion.
Udir did not publicly state his position, but since he asked Ling Feng to come over to inform them of such critical news, he clearly was not in favor of Auguste’s decisions.
So long as the Rose Legion was not moving against them, Ling Yu would have a bit more confidence during the up-and-coming confrontation.
Ling Yu poised his mouth to speak: "When the window for the missile launch has pa.s.sed, let’s relocate."
From inside the screen display, Rosen looked at Ling Yu, "Where do you think is the best place to set our base?"
Ling Yu pointed towards a cosmic nephogram, pictured as a radiant starfield that sparkled and shone, similar to that of a lyre from the era of Ancient Greece: "Let’s go to Lyra."
This line of thinking just so happened to coincide with Berg.
From inside Drew’s mech, Berg nodded and said: "Lyra is quite a ways away from the Capital Star. Even if Auguste wanted to, we’d be way out of his strike range. More importantly, the Second Princess, Sia, had been married off to Lyra. Her husband has quite the repertoire in that area, the Eldest Prince, Sylvie currently resides there. We’ll be much safer going there."
As a matter of fact, Rosen and Drew’s first thought had also been Lyra.
In a majority of the Empire’s starfields, the greater part of them had already been in the hands of the Thunder Legion and the Phantom Legion, Po Military Starfield was also home to their underground bases. Only the Lyra Starfield had yet to fall in their hands.
Moreover, there was a planet on the outer edge of Lyra. It was a resource-rich planet similar to Naomi Star. It is uninhabited and only a few troops responsible for mining minerals are stationed there.
The main three legions had an extremely large amount of people, this planet would be their best option to land on.
Although the two had already made plans that had remained unspoken, Rosen was more than happy to end with letting his Omega be the one to say it. Rosen and Drew looked at each other and came to agree with their Omega’s suggestions.
This pair of Omegas were really so smart…
As their Alphas, Rosen and Drew although feeling a bit pressured were nevertheless very proud of them.
The Hylte No Man"s Land had originally been desolate and uninhabited, the barren stretches of land were chock full of huge, grotesquely shaped rocks. There were no stars anywhere in the surrounding area, bringing about a complete lack of any sources of light, it was just as dark as it was in the underworld.
The three major legions landed here, and many soldiers felt as though they were walking on pins and needles.
As soldiers serving the Empire, obeying military law was the only thing they knew to do. The commander of their legion issued a top-level alert order to urgently gather the legion. Although they all evacuated in accordance with the orders of their superiors, they were confused, moving along the motions in a muddled state. They were absolutely clueless as to what the reason for the sudden evacuation was—
Until half an hour later.
Sometime in the early morning in a time after the hour hand had struck three, a dazzling beam of light suddenly streaked across the outer edge of the Isville Galaxy, breaking through the atmosphere, leaving in its wake a long trail of light flying straight towards Planet Naomi!
—BOOM!
The deafening clap that shook the heavens and the earth seemed to leave its reverberations throughout the entire universe!
Looking through the monitor screen, the small aqua-blue planet held a resemblance to a pretty blue gem, but at that moment, the gem was irrevocably shattered into pieces, the whole planet was bombarded one after another with nuclear warheads until it could be shattered no further!
The smoke of war filled the air, dust bloomed up!
The starry sky in that place so far away seemed to have been warped under a tremendous force into a terrible graveyard!
The soldiers were stunned. If they hadn"t evacuated ahead of time, they would have been blown to ashes, there wouldn’t have been a body to bury!
Looking at that scene, Lin Yuan felt a sourness creeping from the bottom of his heart—
From a time before he was four years old, he had lived on this planet with his dad. He always remembered the beautiful golden sandy sh.o.r.es and the blue ocean that stretched as far as the eye could see. However, as of today, this beautiful planet called Naomi Star was no more. He has always wanted to go back to those beaches with his dad, just to see, but before his wish could come to fruition, this planet was thoroughly destroyed.
In the distance filled with artillery smoke, the field of view had grown hazy due to the thick coils of smoke rising, and very soon, that beautiful planet was blown apart.
War was so much crueler than he imagined…
Lin Yuan stood in front of the porthole, and his hands balled into a fist at the sight of the scene displayed on the monitor.
Seeing that the little monster’s mood wasn’t good, Caesar hurriedly walked to his side and gently held his hand.
Lin Yuan turned around, and the two of them looked at each other. Without saying anything, they could understand each other"s intentions. This was genuinely a nice feeling.
Lin Yuan couldn"t help smiling. He knew that, no matter how difficult things would be in the future, with Caesar and his hands so tightly entwined as they stood side by side—
Together, they would go through the darkness, and together they would welcome the light.
At 3:10 on the morning of July 10, Cosmic Year 799, a secret military base hidden in Po Military Starfield suddenly launched a cross-galaxy ultimate nuclear missile to Naomi Star… However, the Dark Night Legion, the Glory Legion, and the Hydra Legion under the command of the heads of each respective legion evacuated to the Hylte No Man"s Land half an hour earlier, avoiding a bombing on such a ma.s.sive scale that was capable of destroying an entire planet.
The next morning, the commander of the Glory Legion Rosen Bessemer, the commander of the Hydra Legion Drew Bayh, and the commander of the Dark Night Legion, Ling Yu, who had been missing for many years, all made their appearances on live TV, announcing the formation of the Empire Alliance, in support of Prince Caesar and the revival of the royal family.
The largest civil war in the history of the Empire started with a bang.