Chapter 378: Xia Fei’s Rage
Xia Fei rapidly dashed to the command deck and read the data collected by the backup radar.
“c.r.a.p! We’ve already entered the insectoid territory, and we’re actually in the vicinity of some of their wars.h.i.+ps and one of their cities!” Phantom gasped in astonishment.
“It’s fine. Don’t forget that we emerged from the wormhole under stealth. Even if the tracking stations out here did manage to catch a trace of our energy discharge, there’s no way for them to grasp our precise position,” Xia Fei said somberly.
It appeared that they were near a small bordertown, which was far away from the core of the insectoid territory. There were not many s.h.i.+ps flying about in s.p.a.ce here, for this place was very backward, which fortunately made it not much of a threat to Xia Fei and the Impaler.
“I’m afraid the danger will increase the more we proceed onward. Let’s first investigate this area, see if we can find any useful information.”
“You wish to enter this insectoid town? That’s far too dangerous. While probably none of the insectoids here are a threat to you, they can still inform the core divisions about you, and that’ll draw military encirclement upon ourselves. I think it’s best if we just pa.s.s through here as discreetly as possible.”
Xia Fei shook his head. “We’ve already been away from the Alliance for too long; I need to know how the war efforts are going, and there isn’t any heavy military presence guarding this place. Besides, the map the insectoid cerebrum gave me is too old; I’ll need to find something more recent.
“This blunder with the starmap reminded me as well that nothing in this universe will remain unchanged; we’re lucky to have warped into the insectoid territory in relative safety. There’s no telling if a new blackhole formed along the route we are presently taking; if so, that’d be a real tragedy.”
Phantom originally wanted to dissuade Xia Fei from risking a trip into the insectoid territory and make a beeline for the Pan-human Alliance, instead, but he instantly broke in a cold sweat when he heard what Xia Fei had just said. A blackhole? That was essentially the most frightening natural hazard in the entire universe, where even light could not escape.
There was no telling how many tens of thousands of years ago the starmap from the insectoid cerebrum was, so there was no telling what changes could have happened to the route; furthermore, Xia Fei ultimately could not let go of his concern for Avril deep in his heart.
“Fine, but we can’t stay too long down there,” Phantom said.
…
The insectoid town was built on a small planet. By human standards, this planet’s air quality and water source had already deteriorated to unsustainable levels; this polluted planet was filled with garbage, and all sorts of strange creatures flew about freely.
However, the insectoids did not have strict requirements when it came to their living standards, so they hardly had any issues with such planets.
Xia Fei landed the Impaler in somewhere desolate and quiet as inconspicuous as possible, then he wore an oxygen mask before he secretly ventured into the town outskirts.
The insectoids had a sense of smell far more sensitive than humans. If any average human entered their city, they would almost instantaneously be discovered. After all, any unremarkable bug found here could very well act as the eyes and ears for the insectoids, so it was a good thing that Xia Fei had Breath Control to mask his presence, which even insectoids with the keenest of senses would not notice his existence.
…
As he got closer and closer to the town, he noticed how it was made up of hundreds of houses. There were six muddy roads that were strewn with rubbish. A town of such a size out here in the outer rim of the insectoid territory was hardly considered small; after all, most insectoids were living very primitively, residing in holes underground as they led lives no different from the common bugs.
Only insectoids that had managed to evolve into human forms were considered true masters. They were able to construct houses and machines or even research language. Aside from their outward appearance looking slightly stranger than humans, they practically had living habits similar to that with humans.
The streets of this insectoid town were paved rather haphazardly, all crooked and of uneven width like worms. The height of the stone houses and rooms varied. There were also abodes made with welded metal, and the size of the windows also varied, with some being larger than doors. They were like what human children would create with wooden building blocks, all messy and without any order whatsoever. This was a clear display of just how rudimentary the life skills of the insectoids were.
Bloodthirsty Ice G.o.d combat suit had a black cloak, and Xia Fei wrapped this around himself, only revealing his two eyes. Every dark corner Xia Fei saw made for a great hiding place, allowing him to proceed onward rather efficiently, occasionally appearing above house beams or between gaps of the houses.
In the center of the town was a fairly well-grounded building, and while its exterior looked somewhat ugly, at least its walls were upright. One should not have too high of an expectation toward the buildings the insectoids could build, so such a standard building was already considered the best-looking out of everything in this town.
Xia Fei held a nearby housing beam with one hand as he peered over, spotting a sign board above which stated that the building was a local insectoid frontier command center, responsible for local transports, defenses, and communications.
As the insectoids had a universal military system, every single local resident was a soldier for the cause.
Xia Fei used this chance while the streets were fairly empty to leap from the beam to the roof of that command center, flattening himself like a sheet of paper to make himself inconspicuous.
There was a square skylight right in the middle of this roof, and Xia Fei made his way over and peeked through. All he saw were two simple communication devices. Two insectoids, one fat and the other skinny, were drinking while they chatted inside.
It was said that the alcohol the insectoids brewed tasted horrible, comparable to toilet water. Human brewmasters and winemakers had always been the most sought after individuals on slave market trades along the borders. In terms of food and beverages, humans were far more advanced than the insectoids, so if the insectoids truly wanted to taste good alcohol, they had to employ human slaves to make it for them. Of course, this was a privilege that the n.o.bility had, so the soldiers of this bordertown could only drink the terrible toilet water they called alcohol.
The fat insectoid looked like a ladybug, whose back even had a carapace which had failed to evolve completely. As for the black and skinny insectoid, he was evidently from the ant species.
The ant species made up the largest majority of insectoids. It was said that, out of ten insectoids, one would be from the ant species, but it was a pity that this species, which was in the majority among their race, was hardly well-treated by the others. They were known for their hard work and reticence, not at all complaining about being ruled over by other species, and was considered to be the lowest existence out of all the insectoids.
The two insectoids were drinking with great gusto, their speech already slurred, and even their gait unsteady whenever they stood up and paced about.
“Our insectoid military sure isn’t all talk. What Pan-human Alliance or their so-called well defended capital ring? Did they not all end up toppling over to the might of our General Tanini’s fleets?” said loudly the fat insectoid, clearly feeling very excited.
Xia Fei’s heart sank. He had already expected such an outcome, and thinking about it made him feel very uncomfortable. Avril and the newly constructed headquarters of Quantum Holdings were all in the capital ring. He had no clue how the Endaro Star Region had fared, and how his home planet, Earth, was presently doing.
The skinny insectoid raised his cup and nodded. “That’s right; that’s right.”
The fat insectoid stood up, puffing out his chest like a general who had won a war. “Uti truly deserves to be known as the smartest emperor in all of the insectoids’ history. Now that the Pan-human Alliance’s capital has been reduced to ashes, the billions of soldiers and citizens, who look upon our great insectoid army and thought to flee, will only find themselves overtaken by our heroic General Tanini and all be exterminated. Oh, how truly satisfying! Hundreds of billions of despicable humans instantly dying out in s.p.a.ce—that is truly a huge glory to our insectoid race!”
“That’s right! You’re right.” The honest and stern ant nodded.
The fat ladybug raised his cup high. “Come, let us cheer for the insectoids’ great victory!”
“That’s right; we should cheer.” The skinny ant nodded and bowed.
Just as those words were uttered, they heard the sound of a single tap, and the front door of the command center suddenly shut, then someone wrapped in a black cloak appeared in the room.
It turned out that Xia Fei could no longer remain hiding after hearing about how the fleeing s.h.i.+ps of civilians from the capital had been ambushed and subsequently wiped out by the insectoids. He leaped down from the roof and locked the doors from the inside.
Avril, Charlie, Andre… They were all his closest kin and had all been in the capital ring when the war broke out. Could they truly have met with danger?
Xia Fei did not dare to think about it. Just the thought that such a thing had occurred caused an uncontrollable rage to burn vividly in his chest.
“Did you just say that the Pan-human Alliance’s capital, with hundreds of billions of soldiers and civilians… has been destroyed by the insectoids?” Xia Fei asked, his voice trembling.
“It’s not just that. Blood from these hundreds of billions of humans flowed for seven days and seven nights. The entire human capital was set ablaze by the Great General Tanini, reducing it to ashes. I heard that the Great General Tanini even used a weapon of ma.s.s destruction to blow up the stars and planets in Venal Galaxy at once. There’s never going to be such a place in existence anymore. Hahahahaha!”
The fat ladybug was so drunk that he did not even know who was standing right in front of him. All he cared about was to exaggerate in his bragging about the tragedy. Actually, Uti’s original decree did not include such details; these were all embellishments that others added, bragging about the results of the war to boost morale. It was a fairly common move used by the military.
*Kerchunk!*
Xia Fei raised his hand, his blade following, cleanly cutting that fat ladybug into two. His arm was trembling, and the black cloth covering his face made it hard to see his expression, but it was most definitely twisted and ugly at this time.
“Is he speaking the truth?” Xia Fei asked, a dark expression on his face.
The moment the skinny ant saw Xia Fei’s face, true fear gripped him. Never could he have imagined that, in this distant small town, he would actually come face to face with a human—a human who was extremely cruel and powerful.
*Kerchunk!*
The skinny insectoid’s two slender arms were cut right at their joints by Xia Fei.
“Answer my question.”
The skinny insectoid was in so much pain that he kept gnas.h.i.+ng his mandibles, the two large pincers tightly clasped together as the ant shuddered violently.
He struggled to nod. “It’s true. Uti personally sent out the commendation decree, stating that Great General Tanini had decimated the Pan-human Alliance’s capital, the entire galaxy including all its inhabitants, tripling the salary of all the soldiers in our army.”
Xia Fei could only feel his vision blur as his mind went blank. He staggered back.
Avril. Could Avril have…
That inferno in his chest erupted like an active volcano. There was nothing that could stop his violent eruption.
A heavy killing intent abruptly engulfed the entire insectoid town.
Xia Fei had completely exploded in his rage.
“Kill them all. Kill them all.”
An unfamiliar voice echoed in Xia Fei’s mind, seemingly guiding him in perpetrating a ma.s.sacre.
It was unknown when Celestial Moon had flown out of its scabbard and orbited around Xia Fei.
“Thousand Venerables!” Xia Fei let out a low, guttural bellow. The entire town could hear this terrifying growl, and these insectoids all lifted their heads and looked at the stars, thinking that a bolt of lightning had struck down from the heavens.
With Xia Fei at the center, the air around began churning in all directions.
Like a nuclear bomb that had detonated under Xia Fei’s feet, it instantly swallowed the insectoid town whole.