Aslan Star City.
This was the second sunset since the start of the chaotic battle. As the remnants of the red afterglow disappeared beyond the horizon, the smoke on the scorched earth of the Star City had already dissipated.
The corpses of alien creatures and the remnants of mechas piled up at the street corners. The wind blew up a dirty, torn red scarf–perhaps two days ago, it was still wrapped around a girl’s neck, but now it lay silent in the dust at the corner of the street.
As dusk fell, people were still hiding in various shelters.
They knew that the enemy had not been repelled. The starships of the Crystal Cult were above their heads in the cosmos, and the soldiers of the empire were fighting them.
At the military headquarters, the soldiers anxiously awaited news from the front line. Many senior officers had been awake for a day and a night, their eyes already red from exhaustion.
The battle situation was reported in succession. When they learned that Celine was trapped and the space station could not fire, everyone was extremely anxious; when they learned that the Crown Prince had led the troops to rescue, turning the encirclement into a counter-encirclement with a clever move, everyone cheered in ecstasy.
However, the battlefield was far away in the universe, and there was always a time difference in the news. At this point in the battle, when they learned that His Highness Ryann’s crystal bone had uncontrollably burst out, severely damaging more than a hundred enemy ships, and that His Highness himself had temporarily lost his command ability, the hearts of the generals were once again lifted.
“Report!” The communication soldier’s window popped up, “The front line…the latest battle situation,” the soldier swallowed, his face strange, “Admiral Celine’s command has been withdrawn by His Highness, now…now it’s Colonel Jiang…commanding the fleet and the space station.”
In the conference room where the generals were gathered, there was an unusually quiet moment. Someone confusedly asked, “Who!?”
The soldier looked very confused, “Colonel Jiang…His Highness the Crown Princess.”
“What!?” Several senior generals looked at each other, unable to believe their own ears. Major General Tang raised his hand to signal everyone to calm down, and asked the soldier seriously, “The last message, didn’t it say that His Highness the Crown Princess was seriously injured and unconscious!?”
The soldier: “…Yes.”
At this point, everyone was speechless.
“This, how can this…” Someone punched their own palm, their head in a mess, “Ah! How can this work!?”
“It’s absurd, even if Colonel Jiang is a young prodigy, he… he has never commanded a starship battle before! Let alone in a situation where he is seriously injured, once a mistake is made…”
“Didn’t Admiral Celine say anything? Colonel Lin Zhi of the space station, he is an experienced officer.”
Lieutenant General Luther frowned, his white eyebrows furrowed, and sighed, “Celine has always been proud and arrogant, and she has suffered consecutive defeats recently, perhaps she has lost her confidence.”
“Moreover, that is an order from His Highness. If it is executed by the Crown Prince… whether it’s Celine or Lin Zhi, can they defy the Crown Prince?”
The setting sun outside the window was heavy, and the lights in the conference room were exceptionally bright. The generals stared at each other, unable to say anything for a long time, and finally all stood up in silence.
This was a tacit understanding, they wanted to go together to find the old marshal for clarification.
A few people knocked on the door of Marshal Chen Hanke’s office, only to see the old marshal sitting at his desk, his cane leaning against the corner, the old man’s face was deep, staring at the semi-circular virtual screen popped up by the smart brain.
“Your Excellency, Commander in Chief!”
“We officials believe that the front line…”
“Shh.”
Old Marshal Chen squinted his eyes and waved his index finger in front of his lips.
The light from the screen reflected on the old man’s wrinkled face, and it took a full half a minute before Chen Hanke stretched out lazily, “The matter on the front line, it has been fully entrusted to the Crown Prince, whatever he says, goes.”
Major General Tang’s heart skipped a beat, he looked at the virtual screen in disbelief–at that moment, he couldn’t see anything.
The Major General was just guessing wildly in his mind: Could it be that the old marshal was looking at the frontline battle report? Did the old marshal think they could win?
A general who was too anxious couldn’t help but step forward, “But…!”
“Don’t rush.” Old Marshal Chen pointed to the sofa opposite him, “Sit down, have a cup of tea with this old man.”
The generals could only sit down in confusion, the secretary handed each of them a cup of hot tea, but no one was in the mood to drink.
They sat with the old marshal, dryly waiting for the latest frontline situation to be sorted out by a dedicated communication soldier and personally delivered.
So, under everyone’s gaze, that window popped up again and again.
[Reporting the situation! Our fleet launched a full-scale attack a moment ago, starting with a fish-scale formation, the space station continued to move to assist in the battle, we have the advantage.]
[Report! The enemy’s battle line is retreating, our advantage continues to expand.]
[Report! The enemy and our battle line have left the Lanxishi star system, the enemy’s drones and alien creatures tried to sneak around and attack the space station, we set up an ambush in advance, severely damaging the enemy!]
Time passed minute by minute, and the battle situation stacked up one by one.
Every time the window popped open, it was still that soldier. And the more he reported, the more stunned his expression became.
But no one reprimanded this soldier, because the mood of the generals was almost in sync with this communication soldier.
[Report–our space station is retreating, returning to its original position, the Golden Sun Wheel fleet begins to accelerate the attack, the enemy is defeated!]
Because everything was going too smoothly.
There were no dangerous situations, no heart-stopping moments. Apart from the word “stable”, the rest was “smooth as flowing water”.
The enemy’s flaws were precisely torn open, and our advantages were steadily advanced.
The more stable it was, the smoother it was, it was like a bamboo shoot after a spring rain!
[Report the frontline situation!]
In the middle of the night, the voice of the communication soldier trembled slightly, [The enemy ships…have begun to retreat locally! His Highness says the game is set, please rest assured, generals.]
This development was beyond the expectations of the generals, and for a moment, everyone was in a daze.
Indeed, in the previous stage, the Imperial Fleet had established an absolute advantage. Logically speaking, the remaining work was just a mop-up operation, and maintaining the status quo would lead to victory.
But the battlefield is full of changes, and the Crystal Cult is very mysterious. To be able to push this advantage at high speed like a snowball to the end requires very precise vision and strategy.
Even Admiral Celine was prepared to be cautious, but their Crown Princess went up and launched a strong attack, and he actually broke through?
Could it be so mysterious?
Too smooth, on the contrary, made everyone feel uneasy. The expressions of the generals were all serious, and the tea on the table had long since cooled.
For quite a while, no new communication came. Lieutenant General Luther was flustered and spoke in a low voice to Major General Tang, “It’s not a trap set by the enemy, is it?”
Major General Tang waved his hand, and took another look at the old marshal who was sitting still, and dared not make a sound.
Just then, there was a sudden rush of footsteps in the corridor outside!
The old Marshal Chen, who had been sitting still, turned off the screen in front of him, turned around and stared at the door, as if waiting for a verdict.
The generals turned pale, and they all thought the same thing in their hearts–
It’s over, with such a panicked pace, it must be bad news.
The door opened, and it was the communication soldier from the window, he actually came in person.
This time, tears streamed down his face, his Adam’s apple rolled, and in front of a group of high-ranking generals, he raised his fists high!
In an instant, all the generals in the office stood up!
“We…we won!!” The soldier’s eyes were wide open, and he finally roared out this sentence from his throat, “We won, we won–!!”
“We won!!!”
The same cheers, multiplied in volume, echoed at the other end of the universe.
A moment ago, the Crystal Cult fleet, which had been battered and even lost a bishop, had experienced a nightmare of being suppressed by the Imperial Army for several hours, and finally chose to retreat at full speed.
The large number of alien creatures they brought with them followed the fleet and left.
But the soldiers of the Golden Sun Wheel did not dare to slack off, they all held their breath in their lungs, their faces red and their necks thick, staring dead at the huge star map projection!
Unlike the senior officers of the Empire, these soldiers were actually blocked from the real information. They didn’t know that His Highness Ryann was now mentally abnormal, and they didn’t know that Jiang Jianming was in a state of serious injury.
The momentum that had just broken the enemy’s formation was overwhelming, and the move to change the commander before the battle did not cause too much dissatisfaction among the soldiers of the various starships.
At most, they could think that His Highness saw that the victory was in hand, and pushed his beloved Crown Princess to the front to gain some military merit.
After all, it was His Highness Ryann, it was understandable, normal operation.
Moreover, if the Crown Princess was just really a vase, the soldiers would definitely not accept it.
But Jiang Jianming was first a discerning inspector, then a colonel of the Golden Sun Wheel, and had even made contributions in the Silver Big Dipper, and had won victories over the Crystal Cult and alien creatures…This matter suddenly became different.
Far away from the generals of the Empire, they analyzed various pros and cons rationally.
But for these soldiers who were really fighting on the front line and on the line of life and death, their subconscious thinking was simpler.
–Whoever looks more capable of leading them to win battles, and more capable of leading everyone to return home alive, they believe in.
The Crown Prince, who has been regarded as a son of god since childhood, is strong and dazzling; and the Crown Princess, who is a disabled human, has continuously created victories and is full of legendary colors.
Them wanting to replace the recently defeated Admiral Celine and personally command, isn’t this the most reasonable thing?
The only ones who were nervous were inside the Changhai Hao. These people saw the truth in their eyes. At first, many people were so scared that their hands were shaking.
But no matter what, who would have thought that it could be so smooth, so cool!
Until the light block symbolizing the enemy fleet completely exited the border, the colorful high-dimensional blockade barrier slowly rose.
Inside the warship, under the bridge, on the mecha runway…countless soldiers were celebrating and hugging each other, crying and laughing.
This overly difficult and hard battle, won!
Inside the bridge of the starship Changhai Hao, the black-haired young man sitting on the command seat slowly leaned back, let out a sigh of relief, and smiled slightly.
Even though he didn’t have the strength to curve the corners of his mouth, his joy could only be seen from the tired black pupils.
“Jiang!” The slender figure next to him tightly embraced him, and said in a deep voice in his ear, “Did you see it, we won.”
He couldn’t see anymore, he couldn’t see anything in front of him.
But it didn’t matter, he knew.
“…Yes, we won.” Jiang Jianming rested on Ryann’s arm, his pale face showed a very relieved expression, he closed his eyes slowly and then opened them again.
For some reason, he felt his state had become strange from halfway through. It was as if he had forgotten many things, and remembered many things.
He heard the cheers, saw the soldiers cheering or roaring, but the cheers in his ears were faint, the scenery in front of him faded bit by bit, and his senses were wrapped in smoke and clouds, moving away from him.
He didn’t feel uncomfortable, he was just a little tired, and wanted to sleep.
In the vast white waves, countless pairs of disembodied arms reached out, held him, and pulled him.
Jiang Jianming didn’t know whose hands those were, didn’t know where these arms came from, and where they were going to take him. Wait, he thought in a daze.
Give me a little…a little more time.
Jiang Jianming slumped into Ryann’s arm, he coughed lowly, his fingers tugged at Ryann’s sleeve, and he forced the last bit of consciousness that was about to break to speak.
“Don’t chase the hard-pressed enemies…let…them go.”
“I know, you rest assured,” Ryann nodded, turned his head and ordered, “Retreat! Fleet, consolidate the formation, retreat at a uniform speed, and don’t show any cowardice to me!”
By now, the Imperial Fleet was already very tired and not suitable for chasing hard.
Jiang Jianming let go of his heart, he closed his eyes and exhaled a breath, his body slowly relaxed, and the last bit of consciousness shattered silently like a fragile bubble.
He tilted his head into Ryann’s arms, and he didn’t know anything anymore.
****
White Jade Palace, underground.
The blood-soaked giant humanoid mecha folded its wings and returned to its original position; the cockpit popped open, the light gold mental connection cord broke, and the emperor jumped down from the Iron Rose mecha and rushed towards the black-clothed leader.
“How is it!”
Lin Ge rushed over, her expression unusually fierce, she grabbed Sylph’s shoulders and shook, “What did you just say about unstable consciousness projection, what’s going on!?”
The chief shook her head, the black armored glove patted off the emperor’s tense arm, she said in a flat, emotionless electronic voice, “The reason is still unclear, but there is no danger of mental damage for the time being, please calm down first, Your Majesty.”
“The last time the consciousness projection was unstable, it was because he was injured in the Far Star and was pierced by a real crystal condensed by the high-level crystal bone.”
Sylph turned her head, the black mask still covered the true expression of the chief, “It is speculated that this time…it should be…directly attacked by a real crystal or even a crystal bone, the base body was seriously injured, causing the connection frequency to be abnormal.”
Lin Ge cursed fiercely, and anxiously asked, “Then…where is his consciousness now?”
Sylph: “The base body and the original body are pulling each other, maybe soon… it will be thrown to one side, or both sides will go once.”
“Chief!!”
The base researcher in front of the computer suddenly turned his head, “No… the connection of the consciousness projection can’t hold on!”
Chief: “If it can’t hold on, let it be, first disconnect, then rebuild the connection.”
****
Jiang Jianming completely fell into a wonderful state and fell asleep deeply. The white arm pushed him into the soft waves, and then tore him into millions of pieces, torn like crystal particles…swinging back and forth on the scale of the universe.
He seemed to see the stars all over the sky, under the stars was a pitch-black pit, the bottom of the pit was densely stacked with twisted and crystal-covered corpses, those corpses were glued by crystals, making it difficult to distinguish them from each other.
This was the mass grave of the Crystal Disorder patients.
He knew.
He knew, but at the same time, he was very sad.
He stood high on the edge of the big pit, looking down at this pile of corpses from a high position.
He seemed to be sadly waiting for something, waiting for…someone.
A gust of wind pushed him from behind, he closed his eyes, fell in the wind, sharp crystal clusters grew from his body, the starlight fell on his fingertips, and shattered with him.
Fate, please give me a little more time. Even if it’s just a little bit more time, let me wait for the person in the distance.
An invisible force suddenly pulled his consciousness into a body, and with a shock like an electric shock, Jiang Jianming suddenly opened his eyes.
In an instant, the scene in front of him made his whole soul shudder, and his scalp exploded!
