Chapter 389: A Jadeite Capital s.h.i.+p
The Impaler’s Black Bat radar was already damaged, so Xia Fei could only send signals using the public frequency, but he was unsure if the signal could even get to the Alliance.
He had sent back many video files and reports of everything he had seen and heard in the insectoid territory. Xia Fei believed that, if the military got its hands on this information, it would be of some help in their war efforts. He was deep in the insectoid territory, so this was all he could do.
However, he had no idea that his information and his simple speech had set off an unprecedented wave throughout the Alliance. In this nigh hopeless war, wherein the fate of the entire human race was on the line, Xia Fei’s words were like a catalyst that swiftly stimulated everyone’s enthusiasm for winning war and desire for freedom.
The civilians, who had been cowering in their corners and had been unable to carry on, suddenly burned with enthusiasm!
Those warriors holding their sentry posts with deep worries on their minds were now burning with renewed enthusiasm, too!
The entire Alliance was burning with enthusiasm!
They had been inspired by Xia Fei’s words and were now determined to fight to the death with the insectoids!
Humanity was a unique sapient lifeform in the universe. What they feared the most was not the approach of death, but rather the lack of hope.
Those days spent doing nothing and waiting for death were incredibly painful, and many were more willing to die vigorous deaths rather than become slaves to the insectoids, to live out the rest of their lives within cells and under the whips.
Xia Fei’s appearance had given all of them hope of survival. They suddenly realized that the insectoids were not invincible. As long as the methods of attack were done right, they could be killed with raises of their hands.
This was particularly true to those high-ranking warriors. The barrage of tens of thousands of wars.h.i.+ps was something that even the highest level of cultivation would find difficult to deal with, but if one were to infiltrate enemy lines, things would be different. For example, if a Legendary rank warrior could get into the insectoid territory, it would be able to do far more damage than an Alliance wars.h.i.+p attacking from the outside.
The Adjudicator Union, Monastic Order, and even The Brotherhood, which was shrouded in mystery, sent out signals for cooperation, and the elite human warriors within these organizations began movin out to the territories that the insectoids had occupied to engage in secret operations. This was to make sure that the insectoids did not have a peaceful occupation, as well as rescue the civilians who had not been able to flee in time.
The military and major manufacturers vigorously supported the efforts, providing them with everything they needed, be they wars.h.i.+ps or cloaking systems.
In truth, the production of cloaking devices was not some high-end endeavor, but the Alliance had always been worried that, if all wars.h.i.+ps were equipped with cloaking devices, managing them would be very difficult, and illegal activities would increase. Thus, production of cloaking devices had always been strictly regulated previously.
With this major threat facing them, the Alliance naturally loosened the restrictions on military weapons and cloaking devices. In truth, if all the wars.h.i.+ps had cloaking devices, while these might not be enough to beat the insectoids, they would at least allow the civilians aboard ordinary s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps a higher chance of escaping from the warzones.
Of course, these cloaking system were not as advanced as Xia Fei’s Estamel cloaking device. After all, it was the only cloaking device in the Alliance capable of a stealthed jump.
The elite warriors joined the plan to sow chaos in occupied zones with bloodshot eyes and chests exploding in rage. In small teams of three or five, they took stealthed wars.h.i.+ps into occupied territories, using their quick wits to fight back against the enormous insectoid fleets.
This sort of divide-and-conquer strategy, with experts working together to deal lethal strikes, proved surprisingly effective. After occupying a planet, the insectoids would need to send wars.h.i.+ps down to begin plundering the land, seizing resources and slaves. This had been their goal for starting this war.
After all, the insectoids had their own burdens to bear. Their soldiers and fleets consumed enormous amounts of resources each day. If they did not derive any benefits from their conquests, even the insectoids in all their power would find it difficult to continue.
Humanity were much richer than the insectoids, and the resources they plundered from the occupied zones were sent back to the insectoid territory. Once these resources were digested by the insectoids, they would become even more wars.h.i.+ps and soldiers to continue the pillaging and plundering.
The insectoid Emperor Uti was highly intelligent. In the past, the insectoids would kill the locals of any place they were pa.s.sing through, even using ma.s.sive wars.h.i.+ps to destroy the planets. This was an utterly idiotic way of doing things, for it would not be long before the enormous expense would compel the war to end.
Now, the insectoids were using war to fuel the war efforts, bolstering their already formidable central finances. The resources being seized were enough to fund the army and even provide a little extra. Uti had truly played his cards well. Once he was done with the humans, he could point his spear at the Na’vi, the Yon, and other races. While attacking and plundering, the insectoids could slowly a.s.similate their new territories, and over the long term, the insectoids would undoubtedly become one of the behemoths in the universe.
The Pan-human Alliance’s plan to sow chaos was now severely hampering the insectoids’ advance. With the Alliance army retreating, occupying a star region was not difficult. What was difficult was a.s.similating that star region.
It was not like they could only occupy and not actually disembark on the planets, right? If they did that, there would be no means of plundering resources, and without resources, there would be no new wars.h.i.+ps to strengthen the army. Destroy all planets with life? This was killing the chicken to get the egg. Planets that could support life were irreplaceable. There were only so many planets in the universe that could support life, and one destroyed was one lost forever.
In the short term, destroying one could intimidate their foes, but if they destroyed them all, where would they put the burgeoning population of the insectoids?
Ever since the insectoids began to mutate, their population had exploded. Compared to humanity’s completely inefficient method of reproduction, a female insectoid could give birth to several hundred children at one go, far more than a human female could. These new members of their race would need only one or two years to mature and join the war efforts, becoming warriors or workers.
The insectoid territory was already approaching the limits of the number of insectoids it could hold. This was why Uti was so anxious to attack the Pan-human Alliance.
Humanity’s elite warriors guarded those occupied planets, and once insectoid wars.h.i.+ps descended upon the local population to plunder their resources, these human warriors would come out and slaughter the insectoid soldiers and destroy their wars.h.i.+ps!
The only way to prevent this was by sending a large number of soldiers at once and flooding the entire planet. After all, the number of elite human warriors was limited, and they would be unable to deal with a large insectoid force, but each star region had several thousand life-supporting planets. Flooding each planet one by one with soldiers was a huge waste of time and resources. The insectoids’ advance had slowed to a crawl, giving the Alliance a chance to take a breather.
At this time, the fighter organizations of the Alliance once more displayed their worth. Without these warriors causing chaos in the occupied zones, the Alliance would have found it very difficult to last this long. However, even though the elite fighter organizations were doing their all, the Alliance still lost one-third of its territory, and the situation still looked grim.
…
Not long after Xia Fei sent his exploits back to the Alliance, in a certain unknown corner of the universe, several young women gathered together to watch his video.
This was a giant dome made entirely from transparent gla.s.s. It had excellent lighting and offered a panoramic view. Surrounding it was a boundless blue ocean topped by white froth. Dolphins gleefully jumped in and out of the water as they played, entering the water with more grace than the finest diving athletes.
Above, there were flocks of seagulls and white clouds that wove out strange images, like wars.h.i.+ps pus.h.i.+ng through a storm or b.u.t.terflies dancing amid flowers. The sight was beautiful beyond words.
If one got a closer look, they would discover that these were realistic images being projected from an enormous screen, and the location was not some bright and sunny beach but rather the insides of a capital s.h.i.+p which was traveling through deep s.p.a.ce.
Capital s.h.i.+ps were humanity’s most powerful wars.h.i.+ps, and all four major wars.h.i.+p corporations would produce them. However, this s.h.i.+p was not a product of any of these corporations. It had no serial number, no model name, and no entry in the Alliance register. It had the appearance of an emerald, like a giant piece of jadeite floating in s.p.a.ce, making all the other stars in the cosmos appear dim by comparison.
That this was a capital s.h.i.+p not belonging to any of the four major wars.h.i.+p companies was already shocking enough; what more that this capital s.h.i.+p possessed an elegant appearance and gorgeous hue? It should be enough to cause the most outstanding s.h.i.+p designer’s jaw to hit the floor. It was beyond a simple wars.h.i.+p and was essentially a work of art—one that was unique in the universe.
In one particular room was a comfortable chair, which seated a beautiful and graceful young woman. Her face was so clean and pure that she did not seem to eat the same food as regular mortals. If one had to define her, she would be a fairy who had descended to the mortal realm.
If Xia Fei were given a chance to see this sight, he would definitely charge straight at this fairy. He did not care how otherworldly she appeared. No matter how beautiful she was, that was her affair, and Xia Fei did not care. All Xia Fei cared about was the girl at her side, Su Ruoyu.
Xia Fei had seen this woman before in the Blood Matrix. At the time, Xiaoyu was by her side as well, and she treated this woman with great respect as if she was her servant. Xia Fei needed not guess to know that the one who had abducted Xiaoyu back then was this fairy. Even if it had not been her, it should have definitely been done on her command.
These were already enough reasons for Xia Fei to kill her. In this universe, there were many men who would freeze upon seeing a beautiful lady; alas, Xia Fei was not one of them.
In Xia Fei’s eyes, there were only three types of people: friends, strangers, and enemies.
Xia Fei would risk his life to protect friends, would ignore the voices and opinions of strangers, and would kill his enemies. He firmly believed that enemies existed to be killed. Even if she was so beautiful that the sun and moon would appear dim in comparison, this would never be a reason for Xia Fei to let her go.
The fairy coldly watched as Xia Fei killed insectoids, the gruesome slaughter not perturbing her in the slightest. On the contrary, when Xia Fei smiled and confessed his love for Avril, the fairy slightly creased her brows.
At her side was a young girl in a white gown, holding a transparent crystal pot. Inside the pot was a leaf that exuded a fragrant aroma. The aroma was not too thick, enough to ensure that the entire room had a faint floral fragrance.
Xia Fei had first met Xiaoyu when she was still a child, but she was now a slim and graceful young woman. Perhaps due to the influence of the fairy, Xiaoyu also had a somewhat pure and otherworldly demeanor.
As she watched Xia Fei slaughter his way through the insectoid territory, Xiaoyu turned pale, the crystal pot in her hand swaying and just barely managing not to fall to the ground. When Xia Fei confessed to Avril, Xiaoyu felt sincere happiness for him, happy that he had found someone to love. Deep down, though, she felt a small hint of dejection that she could not suppress no matter what.
The fairy placed a hand under her chin. This unremarkable act from her could make all living beings swoon, and every frown or smile from her was imbued with grace and beauty.
“Xiaoyu, I recall that this man is from your home planet, too, yes?” the fairy softly asked.