Suddenly, an unexpected incident occurred. Even though Jiang Jianming insisted that he was fine, Ryann’s face still looked very worried.
“Or,” Old Marshal Chen stroked his chin, “I can have someone take Her Highness the Crown Princess to the general hospital for a rest and a check-up?”
Jiang Jianming laughed in surprise, “No, no, isn’t that a bit too much?”
Old Marshal Chen: “Your Highness Ryann, you can stay and listen to me finish talking, and then go back and tell the Crown Princess the same thing.”
This matter was neither big nor small. But the military general hospital was just next door, and it was a quick trip. Old Marshal Chen called the guards outside and sent Jiang Jianming out.
Ryann was now extremely worried about Jiang Jianming, and immediately grabbed an umbrella to follow him, but Old Marshal Chen called him from behind, “Your Highness, please stay.”
Ryann: “I’ll send him over and come back, you wait—”
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly paused. The rain clouds outside the window were dark and heavy, and Old Marshal Chen’s eyes were deep as he sat unmoving.
Ryann and Marshal Yuan stared at each other for a long time, and Ryann’s eyes gradually cooled, “Did you deliberately get rid of him?”
Anger suddenly surged onto his face, “You did this just to get rid of him…!!”
Old Marshal Chen sighed and shook his head, “Ah, Your Highness, this is where you are wrong.”
The old man patted his chest, “My communication was clearly sent to the Crown Prince’s wrist device, and I repeatedly asked Your Highness to keep it a secret, but you directly brought His Highness Jiang over, isn’t this making it difficult for me?”
Ryann didn’t even want to say more, he turned around with a cold face and walked out the door.
In the corridor, there was only the sound of rain, and surprisingly, not a single Golden Sun Wheel guard could be seen. Above their heads was a light blue high-tech rain screen, blocking the howling wind and rain.
Old Marshal Chen followed him out, and the two of them walked under the rain screen, one in front of the other. A few steps away, there was a flying vehicle, which was the transportation Ryann and Jiang Jianming had used when they came.
“We already know that the consciousness of the crystal particles is shared, Your Highness.”
Old Marshal Chen continued to speak unhurriedly, even though Ryann was already ignoring him, “If human consciousness can contaminate a single crystal particle, it can infect a large number of crystal particles; if it can directly destroy the consciousness of the mother nucleus, it can even win in one fell swoop, which is more useful than defeating the enemy by capturing their chief.”
“On the material level, we already have solidifying rays and tranquilizers. The former can deactivate crystal particles, and the latter directly deprives crystal particles of life. These are weapons developed by humans to combat crystal particles.”
Ryann walked to the front of the aircraft, reaching out to open the door, his body slightly paused.
He heard Old Marshal Chen say from behind, “This is the two ways of fighting, spirit and matter, Your Highness. Have your questions been answered now?”
The silence highlighted the intense sound of rain. The Crown Prince’s emerald eyes were cold, his fingers tightened on the handle of the aircraft door until his knuckles turned blue.
“…After the fifth holy war.”
After a long time, Ryann Kaios slowly lowered his eyes, he began to speak, “The premonition of the crystal disorder disappeared, the price was two hundred thousand Golden Sun Wheels rushing to the Crystal Nest, never to return, this is the answer.”
Chen Hanke also turned his head to look towards the horizon, sighing, “Wrong, there was never a fifth holy war, little highness.”
Across the rainy sky of Aslan Star City, across millions of miles of galaxies, this old man who commanded the empire’s military affairs could not see the appearance of the Crystal Nest even if he looked up.
Old Marshal Chen said, “After the fourth holy war, the great emperor began planning a counterattack against the Crystal Nest. This top-secret plan was known to only a few people, and it was given a special name.”
“The White Bird Plan.”
…….
At first, the Black Shark Base tried to use mechas equipped with high-intelligence to remotely inject tranquilizers into the Crystal Nest.
But all attempts failed. The defensive consciousness of the crystal particle mother nucleus was strong, it would manipulate alien creatures to attack the invaders, and it was difficult for mecha starships to approach.
So the soldiers had to go to their deaths themselves.
They carried special high-purity tranquilizer weapons and fired them into the Crystal Nest like bullets and artillery.
What they were going to face was the crazy attack of the Crystal Nest. With the human power so far, the survival rate was absolutely zero.
When the weapons were exhausted, the last bomb that died together was the unyielding will. Even if the body was swallowed by the Crystal Nest, the spirit turned into an arrow off the string and pierced into the depths of the Crystal Nest, until even the self-consciousness was swallowed by the crystal particles, and the real death came.
Once they left the land of the empire, they could never return to their hometown.
They were destined to be buried in the sea of stars, and even the hope of being wrapped in horsehide and returned was extravagant.
The young commander Aslan died young and passed away before he had time to know the truth about the crystal particles.
However, in the dark, that solemn and stirring elegy became the true portrayal of countless human martyrs who devoted themselves to the racial war in the nearly fifty years that followed.
On the surface, the fifth holy war was a complete defeat, with the annihilation of two hundred thousand elite empires, and it also became one of the most embarrassing stains in the life of Great Emperor Kaios.
In secret, the first White Bird expedition was a heroic and tragic victory. It was the first shot that humans fired against crystal particles. Those sacrificed lives successfully delayed the arrival of the ‘ultimate’.
Since then, every time the Silver Big Dipper went on an expedition to the Crystal Nest, it was a one-way trip, and every time it was scolded: wasteful of people and money, stubborn and ignorant…meaningless.
Until today, there were not many people in the empire who knew what the legendary founding monarch and those soldiers who should have had a promising future were for when they shed blood on the cold stars and resolutely faced death.
Ryann was silent for a long time, and the mixed emotions flowed through his eyes.
In the end, His Highness kicked the door of the aircraft with the tip of his boot, turned back unhappily, “Why don’t you let Jiang Jianming hear these? What do you want to say to me alone?”
Footsteps sounded, it was Old Marshal Chen slowly walking to the side of the Crown Prince.
“It’s too hard, Your Highness,” the old man sighed heavily, “This battle is too hard. Fifty-two years have passed since the first White Bird expedition, and as you can see, the old methods are almost unsustainable.”
“The Golden Sun Wheel used to be a golden shield alongside the Silver Big Dipper, but the first White Bird expedition took away a full two hundred thousand elites, each of whom could have been a future general of the empire. Since then, the Golden Sun Wheel has been in decline, and now even the prodigal sons of noble families can mix in and covet military pay.”
“And how is the Silver Big Dipper not difficult? Expedition after expedition, death after death. The Black Shark Base has made a prediction based on current data, by the time the White Bird Plan is carried out to the end, even if we estimate optimistically, humans are not far from extinction.”
Ryann sneered coldly, “Isn’t this because you have been hiding it all along? The expedition to save the nation and preserve its existence, making it like stealing chickens and dogs, what can it achieve?”
They stood at the edge of the rain screen, occasionally a gust of wind would blow some rain threads onto their faces. The old marshal’s cane was propped up just where it had been rained on, and its original black color was dyed even darker.
Chen Hanke stared at his own cane, “So we must change, but for the next choice, I and Her Majesty have some disagreements. I would like to take the liberty of asking Your Highness’s opinion first.”
“My opinion? That’s simple.”
“First,” the Crown Prince’s eyes were deep, “Expose the true face of the Crystal Cult, first make the space bandits surrender to resolve the worries behind, if they won’t surrender, beat them until they submit.”
When he spoke, his tone was very calm, but his words were hard, so he showed a bit of unquestionable momentum.
“Second, disclose the truth to the public, enter a state of war, conscript, manufacture weapons, and gather materials throughout the empire; give the base equal privileges, the things that should be developed should be accelerated, it’s also a simple reason.”
“Third, reorganize the Golden Sun Wheel, Silver Big Dipper, and other imperial legions, go all out to expedition to the Crystal Nest, kill the crystal particle mother nucleus… there should be no doubt about this.”
It seemed that in the mouth of this crown prince, everything became “simple”. Only here did Ryann pause for a second, but he quickly continued to speak.
“Disabled humans who can join the army should also go. The tranquilizer has been upgraded to the third generation, it’s worth a try.”
Old Marshal Chen’s expression changed several times midway, but he still listened quietly.
Then the old man’s white eyebrows moved, and he slowly said, “But Your Highness, let’s not talk about how thorny the social problems such as public panic after disclosure are. Looking at the current situation, if all humans really join the battle, it is inevitable that the elites, geniuses, and heroes will die first, and resources will also be exhausted.”
“By the time a few decades or a hundred years have passed, even if the war is won, what will be left of human civilization?”
Ryann: “…”
The old man’s hand fell on the young crown prince’s shoulder and patted twice, “Your Highness, do you still remember the two proposals submitted last year?”
“One is the so-called renaming proposal, hoping to cancel the discriminatory terms ‘new humans’, ‘disabled humans’, and change them to ‘crystal humans’ and ‘non-crystal humans’.”
“The second is a proposal submitted by His Highness Jiang with the support of Xie Yuduo and you, aiming to address the current shortage of military talent, hoping to open up the mecha driving military branch and relax the restrictions on disabled humans joining the army.”
Old Marshal Chen’s wrinkled eyes showed a hint of a smile, “Those two proposals, I held them back.”
Ryann gave him a glance, coolly said, “I guessed.”
That was something to be handed to the emperor, and throughout the military, the only one with the power and courage to hold back the proposal was the Grand Marshal.
If it weren’t for Jiang Jianming’s forbearance, he would have turned over his “teacher’s” office long ago.
Old Marshal Chen sighed with emotion, using his cane to point and draw on the ground, “No matter how you say it, new humans are still stronger than disabled humans in terms of combat power, not to mention that we are deeply implanted by crystal particles, if we have to sacrifice half of the humans, then… let’s do it this way.”
“…You?”
Ryann realized something and was slightly moved.
His gaze fell, and he saw that the black cane soaked in rainwater was writing a word on the ground.
“So, there’s no need to change any names.”
Old Marshal Chen shook his head as he spoke, but his eyes became sharper and sharper, “After the new humans are extinct, the term ‘disabled humans’ will no longer have a discriminatory meaning.”
He put away his cane, and there was a clear “disabled” character on the ground.
Old Marshal Chen raised his head, his eyes were like steel that had just been tempered, “In the future, they are not disableds, but the surviving descendants of humans.”
Crack! A cluster of red-gold true crystals pierced the ground, the stone slab shattered, and the word “disabled” was also dismembered.
Ryann withdrew his hand with an angry look on his face, “Nonsense! You want to directly sacrifice all new humans and preserve all disabled humans!?”
Old Marshal Chen smiled, “Yes, the proposal I made to Her Majesty the Emperor is to emulate the great migration of the old empire and send all disabled humans onto starships, away from the empire.”
“!” Ryann couldn’t hold back his breath for a moment and took a short breath. He heard the other side continue, “And all new humans will be left here, then tell them the truth, forcing them to fight a desperate battle. If successful, there is a great hope that the crystal particle mother nucleus can be destroyed in one fell swoop.”
In the distance, lightning flickered, the thick clouds above the sky did not let in sunlight, making the old man’s facial contours alternately bright and dark, which was somewhat terrifying for a while.
Chen Hank lowered his voice, “Your Highness, we are all going to die.”
“But if we can raise troops as soon as possible, and achieve victory before His Highness Jiang’s late stage of crystal disorder, even if it’s just a heavy blow to the crystal particle mother nucleus…”
“The development of the crystal disorder will also slow down or even disappear, and he can survive, at least live a little longer.”
“This is the reason why I wanted to discuss with you alone.”
“What do you think?”
****
Jiang Jianming suddenly stopped.
Raindrops fell from the edge of the black umbrella like a curtain, he saw the golden roses of the White Jade Palace, these flowers were being beaten crazily by the wind and rain, spreading the rich fragrance further.
When he found out that the doctors in the hospital were delaying in every possible way, he figured it out and understood that the old marshal wanted to get rid of him.
How many times has this happened? He thought he had finally reached the stage of speaking out, but he was silently pushed away again.
Fatigue surged up, he went straight back to the palace, but stopped here.
Jiang Jianming stared at the rose in front of him, and suddenly thought of the day when Ryann came to him with a rose pinned to his chest.
He said in front of the whole empire, I love you.
So, do we have to go on like this?
Just silently watching, waiting, looking up.
Clearly, he has nothing to fear. Even though his power is weak, but now there are people willing to pull him forward.
Jiang Jianming took a few steps forward, bent over and broke off the most beautiful one.
The golden roses of the White Jade Palace were not to be broken by non-royals, this was the first time he had touched this beautiful flower with his own hands.
The thorns of the rose pierced his tender fingertips, Jiang Jianming didn’t care, he stood up straight, kissed the broken golden rose lightly on his lips.
Then he shook his black umbrella, casually inserted the rose into his left front pocket, and turned around to walk back the way he came.
After only a few steps, Jiang Jianming was taken aback.
“…Your Majesty?”
Lin Ge stood there, in the hazy rain curtain, the female emperor’s scarlet prosthetic eye became even more vivid.
****
Ryann Kaios remained silent.
He actually found it a bit strange, why was he keeping silent?
Chen Hanke had clearly given an option, which was what he had been thinking about day and night, almost obsessively desiring–to let Jiang Jianming survive.
But he didn’t feel any joy, any excitement, he felt another emotion rising from the bottom of his heart.
He didn’t know what it was, nor why. It didn’t make sense, all along, he was like a wandering soul in the world, only Jiang Jianming was the existence that made him care.
He later knew that this care was love. He only loved this one person, apart from Jiang, nothing else in the world mattered.
But if that’s all there is to it, what is the resistance in his heart at this moment?
The young crown prince suddenly had a moment of trance, he remembered a rare leisurely day, he and Jiang Jianming were walking on the street, the air was slightly cool and fresh, they were stepping on scattered snow under their feet.
It was still winter then, and the two had not yet made their relationship public, it was just the Crown Prince and Colonel Jiang.
Even though he was wearing a mask, and deliberately lowered his voice when speaking, his stature and demeanor were still recognized.
It was a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, with brownish-red curly hair, wearing a cloth dress.
Her face flushed as she held a large bunch of snow-white flowers and presented them to the crown prince she admired.
Ryann turned off the mask expressionlessly, the cold face he revealed almost scared the girl to tears on the spot.
Of course, that was his intention. But Jiang Jianming helplessly shook him, and after finding that he couldn’t shake out a better expression, the future crown princess bent down and hugged the girl, thanking her softly.
–This was even worse behavior than patting her head. He glared at him, but Jiang Jianming picked up the bunch of white flowers and stuffed it into his arms without a word.
The girl ran away with a red face, and he held the bouquet stiffly.
Jiang Jianming first smiled with pursed lips, and then complained in a low voice, “Your Highness, can you be a little more friendly to the people?”
He didn’t understand, frowned and looked serious, “Why?”
Jiang Jianming countered, “Isn’t this your empire?”
“Isn’t this your people?”
“Of course, even if you are not the crown prince, it’s always more comfortable to be friendly with people than to be cold. It’s okay if you’re not used to it, you can learn slowly.”
The other corners of memory have faded. Only remember when the breeze blew through that street, the young man’s eyebrows were gentle, and his black eyes were clear and deep.
And the bouquet of flowers in his arms had always been fragrant, different from the rose fragrance of the palace, it was the first time he smelled it.
He didn’t understand.
It was not because he had such a great love and dedication to this country that he did those things.
But now thinking about it, if that girl with brownish-red curly hair, wearing a cloth dress, only had a one-sided relationship,.
Being deceived by this empire, abandoned by the entire human civilization.
The sincerity and innocence being trampled on, being helplessly put in front of death, and then dying.
He probably wouldn’t be heartbroken and cry.
But he…
Suddenly, only in this second, the crown prince understood what the boiling emotion in his chest was.
On a peaceful evening, when he and his beloved were snuggling with each other, Jiang Jianming had told him about this emotion. And frankly confessed that it was the beginning of everything.
It is a call to arms, it is a roar that shakes the sky; it is a million corpses, or blood splashing three feet.
It is–
Anger.
War does not necessarily start with anger. Those invasions and oppressions, exploitations and abuses, may be due to greed, may be due to brutality, and sometimes are forced by survival pressure or racial instinct.
But resistance often starts with anger.
…….
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the rain changed abruptly. Chen Hanke, who was standing opposite the crown prince, contracted his pupils, and a sense of crisis came!
The first to explode were the walls on both sides, and that poor aircraft. In the roar, rubble flew around, red-gold crystal bones pierced through the smoke and dust, and then were barely held up by another smoky crystal bone!
The rain screen shattered, and the heavy rain fell with a plop, drenching the old marshal and the crown prince from head to toe.
“Ouch, little highness!”
Old Marshal Chen was dumbfounded, he was somewhat embarrassed with his arms crossed, spitting and shouting, “If you disagree, just kill someone and silence them!? I haven’t written my will yet, I’m a marshal after all, if I die casually, the military department will be in chaos!!”
But Ryann was staring at the crystal bone on the old man’s arm, and suddenly burst into laughter, “You blocked it.”
“Why?” He laughed, shaking his long hair in the rain with pleasure, and provocatively said, “Teacher, if according to your theory, since you can’t beat me, it’s better to let me chop off your arm to vent my anger, at least you can save your life, right?”
Old Marshal Chen: “…”
The crown prince proudly narrowed his eyes, and the emerald green frenzy was about to burn through his eyes.
With a slight lift of his thin lips, he said, “At the time of life and death, before fighting with all your strength, first internal division, ceding land for peace…..Throughout the ages, there has never been a battle that can be won in this way.”
“Your plan…” Ryann said, “I disagree.”
