When the M-Slash Comet mecha broke through the Golden Sun Wheel’s mecha formation and arrived in front of L-Gyrfalcon, the army had successfully cornered Laurent’s mecha onto a tower built in the forest.
Since General Xie’s daughter was still being held hostage, everyone was hesitant to act rashly. Just as they were preparing to deploy mechas to release hypnotic gas in this airspace, news of the energy station being destroyed suddenly came, like a bolt from the blue, making everyone’s vision go dark!
His Highness Ryann and Colonel Jiang rejoined the team at this time.
As soon as the mecha’s cabin door opened, Diana cried and threw herself onto Jiang Jianming, babbling for her brother.
The crown prince held her back, took her aside, and before Jiang Jianming could speak, he explained everything that had happened.
Including how Audrey’s acute crystal disorder had turned chronic and he was now on the verge of death; including how Donna was coerced by Laurent to send people to destroy the two most important of the eight energy stations.
On the side, Donna’s hair and clothes were all messy, her face streaked with mud and tears. Her hands were cuffed, and she sat on the ground with a numb expression, like a puppet.
Kevin didn’t finish listening, his legs went soft and he fell into his seat.
“His Excellency Audrey…” His face was ashen.
Diana’s thin body trembled like a winter leaf, her lips quivering non-stop.
She shook her head neurotically, “No, no… Brother just said he would be home a little late.”
Jiang Jianming walked over, reached out his arm to support Diana’s shoulder, pulled the girl into his arms and whispered, “I’m very sorry.”
Diana stared blankly with wide eyes, like a robot that had lost power.
The Snow Dove was behind them, and when it came over, the base leader sighed lightly, “Let me take a look.”
The mecha opened. The chief went in, Diana also staggered in, and the last one to go in was Kevin.
Jiang Jianming and Ryann did not go in, the two went to Old Marshal Chen.
The cold wind blew through, the old marshal had just hung up the communication with several generals, he didn’t look back, he leaned back in the mecha and let out a breath.
“We’re about to go to war, Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
The old marshal’s face didn’t show any panic, even his white eyebrows were relaxed, “You take those two children back first, the people should have already been evacuated.”
Originally, Kevin was in the mecha because he was the first discoverer of that gem and was very familiar with Laurent; Diana was there because she was Audrey’s dependent younger sister.
In a situation where the situation was shrouded in confusion, pure force and intelligence could also be blinded. At this time, some informants may occasionally provide unexpected breakthroughs.
But now, the nature of the matter had completely changed.
Even chasing Laurent was no longer important at this moment.
The blockade barrier disappeared, foreign enemies and even alien creatures could invade at any time…The Nine Star City of the Empire was no longer a place of peace.
Jiang Jianming knew this situation, but still said solemnly, “They should indeed go back, but I am an officer of the Empire. Old Marshal, I should stay.”
“He stays, with me.” Ryann also said, “He will be needed here.”
“Your Highness.” Old Marshal Chen turned around, “You are the strongest force in the Empire, when the starship artillery fires up, are you prepared to fight holding a person?”
Ryann calmly counter-questioned. “Do you really think he is a delicate and incapable wife?”
The old marshal shook his head helplessly, waved his hand like shooing a fly, and said nothing more.
“——Brother!!”
Suddenly, a tragic scream came from afar.
Diana went in and took a look and collapsed.
Audrey’s appearance was exposed to the daylight. She was lying in the cabin, almost unrecognizable, crystalline material and flesh and bones intertwined, most of her face was also covered with fine crystal clusters.
The chief looked at the data and shook her head. “The crystal chaos has reached this level, indeed it can only be frozen and hibernated, let me take her away.”
Speaking, she turned her head and said lightly: “Old Marshal, I’ll go first. In case the enemy releases a large amount of real crystal ore, the tranquilizers will be scarce, I will go to allocate some.”
“Don’t…!” Diana rushed forward like a madman, her eyes were blank, and tears fell down her cheeks, “Brother! Brother!!”
Two Golden Sun Wheel soldiers came up to stop her, but they could hardly control this weak girl. She struggled and cried. “It’s impossible, it’s impossible…”
Old Marshal Chen: “Okay, please hurry up, chief.”
The old man said and waved his hand, “Bring another person, take these two children, and our Madam Sekt to the military headquarters for care.”
“I don’t want to, I don’t want this…Brother, wake up, brother!!”
Diana reached out in despair, but she was dragged back, and the treatment cabin slowly shrank between her fingers.
She kicked and screamed, like a blood-crying cuckoo, “Ah ah——ah ah ah——”
Kevin stood there, lost. The Golden Sun Wheel soldiers pushed him, making him sit in the air vehicle, hurriedly and forcefully, as if a whole destiny was whipping behind him.
In the face of war, time did not allow ordinary people’s crying or hesitation.
The wild wind blew the flowing clouds, a figure suddenly swooped down and reached out to hug his neck.
Jiang Jianming spoke softly to Kevin, “Protect yourself well, wait for me to return, and check your last homework.”
“Wait, senior, I…” Kevin was extremely anxious. He suddenly didn’t understand why it was Jiang Jianming, a severely ill and a disabled human, who stayed behind, while he was sent away.
The young man reached out in confusion, but Jiang Jianming seemed to have seen through something long ago, and withdrew at the right moment, letting Kevin grab at nothing.
In a daze, Kevin saw Jiang Jianming’s icy white profile and pitch-black pupils.
Jiang Jianming turned around and walked to His Highness Ryann’s side, and finally, the two stood side by side in front of the 3D star map.
Soon, Diana and Donna were also pressed into the air vehicle. But as soon as the soldier’s force loosened a bit, the former violently pounced on the latter.
“Why!”
Diana’s once doll-like face was as white as a water ghost. She clumsily collided with Donna against the iron wall of the mech, tears streaming down her face, reaching out to strangle Donna’s neck.
She had been tongue-tied since she was a child, and even if she wanted to accuse or curse someone, she didn’t have the vocabulary, she could only mechanically repeat, “Why! Why!”
“Brother went to save you, why!”
“You ask me why?”
Donna, disheveled, did not resist, but just smiled miserably, “What about it, could you do better than me, little dodder flower?” (TL: metaphor for a female image that is weak, delicate, and needs protection, people who are highly dependent)
Her eyes were full of bloodshot, and she choked out, “I also want to know why, why is my daughter still in Laurent’s hands now.”
Kevin felt as if he had been hit by a sledgehammer, making his head dizzy. Diana weakly let go of Donna and cried even more desperately.
The Golden Sun Wheel soldiers next to them hurriedly pulled the two women apart and scolded, “Quiet!”
With a bang, the door of the air vehicle closed, and everything was far away.
Laurent hiding in the tower, the surrounding mecha formation, the mighty S-class mecha Gyrfalcon, the vast and clear sky–
And the people who were holding on at the horizon, were all far away from him.
Kevin looked at all this, his brain fell into chaos, and his blood vessels throbbed.
He clenched the seat belt on his body, panting heavily, and a wave of grief and indignation surged up in the young man’s heart.
He asked himself: What am I here for?
Just now, the crying voices of the two women fell into his ears.
Kevin turned his head and stared at the tower, and a hint of crimson color slowly climbed up the corner of his eye.
Suddenly, Kevin unbuckled his seat belt, he pushed open the door of the air vehicle with a bang, almost the whole person was about to hang in the air, he roared, “Why!!”
“Your Excellency Prime Minister Laurent–no, Laurent!”
Inside the air vehicle, the Golden Sun Wheel soldiers had just restrained Diana and Donna in their seats, and at this moment they turned back in shock, “Kid, what are you doing!?”
“You traitor, who tramples on human lives!!”
Kevin seemed like a lit barrel of explosives, roaring recklessly in the air, his eyes fixed on the tower!
Ever since the army forced him here, Laurent inside had been silent, as if he was going to wait until the moment the blockade barrier disappeared.
“I believed in you!”
“My family, friends…also believed in you!”
The echo was drowned in the wind and clouds.
In a small air vehicle far from the battlefield, a young boy’s anger seemed so insignificant, even ridiculous.
Kevin’s eyes were wide open, he roared until his face and neck were red, and his veins were exposed, “General Xie’s wife and daughter believed in you, only to be threatened and controlled by you…We were the same!!”
“When you promised to make this empire better, when you said you wanted to make everyone happy… We believed in you, step by step we supported you to become the prime minister.”
…Thus, it’s they who exalted a villain into a god.
Kevin clenched his teeth tightly, hatred and self-blame soaked his eyes. This catastrophe, everyone who supported the prime minister had a share.
“But why! Why!”
He punched the alloy of the air vehicle regardless of his bleeding knuckles, he roared angrily and unwillingly, “Where did the empire wrong you, what is your plot, what do you want to do!?”
The voice dissipated weakly.
The air vehicle slowly moved away from that area.
Kevin was finally restrained by the Golden Sun Wheel soldiers, all three of them neatly. He slumped in the chair as if drained, sniffing.
Gradually, the city came into view, with patrol police and soldiers running in the streets and alleys.
No one dared to reveal that the blockade barrier had failed, only saying it was a temporary military exercise, urging the civilians on the street to quickly enter the air defense facilities.
Soon, the defense shield of the Star City also slowly rose.
In the next moment.
A loud noise shook the dome of Star City, and the air vehicle shook violently. “Uh ah!” Kevin was choked by the seat belt, his head banged on the back, and a sharp ringing sound rang in his ears.
He twisted his head back violently, and his breath choked.
Rumble…
The color of the sky changed.
In just a few seconds, the surroundings darkened like sunset.
In the central park, countless white pigeons flew in terror towards the distance, children cried and hid in their parents’ arms. The gale swept away the dust, the leaves shook crazily, and the small stones were sucked into the air.
Countless people looked up, the space above their heads was distorted, the wormhole generated by the high-dimensional jump energy briefly swallowed the light. That was a huge vortex, the strange blue-green and orange-red light was rotating like a flame and flowing towards the center.
“Look–”
Some people’s faces showed expressions like witnessing the end of the world.
“Look up, it’s, it’s a starship–!”
One, two…gradually it was difficult to count the number, huge steel starships slowly sailed out of the vortex.
It was like a group of evil dragons being released from the sealed land, the muzzle quickly gathering light, just like bloodthirsty eyes!
Sure enough, after the blockade barrier disappeared, the enemy’s starships first rushed towards Aslan Star City.
At this moment, Kevin suddenly heard a sharp “buzz”, the sound of a high-frequency broadcast.
Then he heard his own name, and a familiar voice——
“Kevin.”
****
On the tower besieged by the Golden Sun Wheel Mecha Army.
A mecha stood there, its design was somewhat rugged and strange humanoid, from a distance, it looked like a giant sitting in a bowing position.
Laurent sat in the driver’s seat, a smile seemed to appear at the corner of his eye. Most of his body had crystallized, and the crystal bones that had expanded by absorbing real crystal ore trapped the unconscious Xie Yinxing within.
This appearance, from appearance to temperament, anyone who looked at him would not think he was a human. But Laurent still maintained his benevolent man’s face, even the depths of his eyes were full of affection.
Using the built-in broadcast function of the mecha, Laurent said gently, “Child, your name is Jiang Kevin, right, I remember you.”
“Your father, Jiang Qi, is an air vehicle maintenance worker; your mother’s name is Jasmine Smith, she works as a sorter in the recycling station.”
“Your family is poor, but you are diligent and serious, successfully admitted to Kaios Military Academy; many noble children ridicule you, you also dislike them, so you are often isolated, even bullied.”
“But among the commoners and the poor, many classmates admire you. Isidore Aaron, Lulu Lin, and Schell, and Asou… you are good friends, they call you Brother Kevin.”
Far away, Kevin sat in the air vehicle, dumbfounded.
How absurd, so absurd that he wanted to laugh. His Excellency the Prime Minister of the Empire would actually answer his question in person, and remember the names of a group of lowly people so clearly, if it weren’t…
Tears of resentment squeezed out of Kevin’s eyes.
At this time, the changing and strange sky was spreading behind him, the wormhole was flashing with electricity and thunder, and the attacking starships were emerging one by one from it.
If it weren’t for this situation, he should have been grateful and prostrated at the feet of the Prime Minister!
“Kevin, you see…”
The door of the mecha opened, and Laurent slowly stood up, his eyes were deep and pitch black, and his clothes were violently swaying and crackling in the wind.
“You, your family, your friends, I remember all.”
Laurent put his hand on his chest, raised his face and looked into the distance, even if the end of the Star City horizon had been shrouded in darkness.
He said in a low voice. “Every wish of mine is sincere, the promises made to everyone, the fireworks and banquets of each year’s festival, are also sincere.”
“I just… want to lead mankind towards a true paradise of happiness.”
