The next day, the official residence in Zone A of the Blue Mother Star once again welcomed the imperial envoy delegation.
Following the custom of Yongle Garden nobles, when visiting a lower-class star city on a diplomatic mission, indulging in an extravagant banquet was unavoidable.
Last time, the atmosphere had been tense and time pressed. But now that the dust had settled, this tradition was restored—a welcoming feast was set in the reception hall of the official residence.
As the old empire’s national anthem was played by the band, the envoys strode into the hall, surrounded by guards.
Bin Fiennes seemed to have grown even fatter, his golden robe stretched tighter than last year, clearly having lived well this past year. His gaze wandered leisurely, immediately spotting the young man who had advised him years ago.
“Your Excellency the Envoy, I trust you’ve been well.”
Jiang Jianming wore a pure black formal suit, with only white lace at the cuffs and cravat.
He raised a toast to Fiennes from afar. The crystal chandelier on the ceiling cast shimmering light onto the swirling red wine.
“Oh my, isn’t this His Excellency Aslan?”
Fiennes’s face broke into a smile. “With the envoy delegation’s arrival today, the great migration strategy is set to enter its second phase. How come Prince Kaios isn’t present?”
“Your Excellency knows full well, please don’t press the issue,”
Jiang Jianming said coolly. “We spent two months persuading His Highness not to do anything foolish. He is, after all, still of an impetuous age. Please forgive him.”
“Hehe, of course, of course,” Fiennes’s smile grew even more smug, “It’s a minor matter. As long as we can fulfill His Majesty the Emperor’s mandate, haha…”
A year had passed, and Blue Mother Star City had grown much more desolate. Riots never occurred again, and even when the fleet landed at the port, nearby people only silently lowered their heads.
It seemed that in the face of such overwhelming force, even one as formidable as Kaios could only choose to submit.
Fiennes scanned the room again. The star city’s civil affairs officer, chief of security, head of the technology department, chief secretary of the official residence… all those who hadn’t left last year were here. With that, his last lingering doubts dissipated.
The dazzling golden lights bewildered the eyes, the aroma of roasted meats and sauces enticed the envoy to the banquet table.
The clinking of glasses and sounds of laughter, accompanied by music, echoed high and low.
…
Zone A, Starship Port.
While glasses clinked at the official residence, the soldiers here weren’t so lucky.
Under Fiennes’s orders, all imperial soldiers had to work in 24-hour shifts, supervising the workers’ loading operations.
Winter nights fell early.
After laboring for most of the day, the local workers of Blue Mother Star had long since begun to slack off, this one complaining of a sore waist, that one of an aching back.
Several sergeant majors paced about wielding hard whips, barking orders like ancient shepherds driving livestock.
“Move it, all of you get moving!”
“You there, with the crew cut, who told you to rest?”
“Get up! Every one of you, do you not fear death!?”
“Damn it, seems we need to draw some blood before you’ll listen…”
Finally, a dark-faced soldier brandished his crystal bone, walking towards a small old man sitting on the ground, refusing to move.
Suddenly, there was a flicker above his head. With a snap, all the lights in the entire starship port went out.
Darkness fell all around.
“Fuck, what’s going on?”
“A power outage!?”
The dark-faced soldier spat viciously on the ground.
“Goddamn broken star city, can’t even maintain a power supply! You bastards, where’s your backup power!? Within three minutes…”
Bang!
Blood sprayed as a crystal-encased hole burst through the dark-faced soldier’s skull.
The new crystal-tech bullet pierced his instinctive crystal bone defense. Momentum carried him stumbling forward a few steps before he collapsed.
The small old man who had been sitting dejectedly on the ground suddenly raised his head. In the darkness, his wrinkled face flashed with a predatory gleam.
“Someone’s shooting! We’re under attack—”
The old man sprang up, his crystal bone slicing through the throat of an imperial soldier who cried out in alarm.
The next moment, countless compartments in the starship port’s ceiling burst open. With loud “bangs”, barrel-like figures smashed into the ground, kicking up dust.
Machine guns spewed streams of fire-like bullets as these “barrels” wielded weapons. With piercing cracking sounds, crystal bones shattered under new crystal-tech rounds. Imperial soldiers’ bodies fell in succession, blood mist spreading.
“They’re wearing stealth armor!!”
An imperial sergeant cried out in disbelief, “There was an ambush in this starship port. Form ranks, form ranks!!”
Stealth armor was once popular in the era of base wars. Made of special materials, it could evade radar, infrared, electronic, and sonic detection.
But its drawbacks were obvious. This fully sealed armor weighed at least a hundred pounds, placing a huge burden on the body. Wearing it to lie in wait for hours would exhaust a person, let alone fighting.
In the current interstellar age, it had long been obsolete.
And these people… if they had been lying in ambush since before the starships landed, it had been at least over ten hours!
Bang!
Red crystal bone burst through the stealth armor from within. Lin Ge kicked off the cumbersome suit, wiping her sweat-drenched face with her arm. “Kill them all for this old lady!!”
“Kill!!!”
The rebels followed suit, shedding their heavy armor. Roars like thunder shattered the night as they charged at the imperial soldiers.
In and around the starship port, whether inside buildings or on open docking areas, battle engulfed everything in an instant.
Caught off guard, the imperial army had no idea where this “army” of demons came from. Terrified by the onslaught, they were at a disadvantage within minutes.
“Big Sister!”
In the midst of the slaughter, the small old man dragged his injured leg to Lin Ge’s side, “They’re trying to retreat to the starships. They have military mechas in there!”
Lin Ge’s face was stained with large patches of blood, her left cybernetic eye flashing as it locked onto a soldier trying to approach her from the shadows.
She hurled a crystal bone, smashing half the attacker’s head, and snarled fiercely, “To hell with ‘Big Sister’, from now on it’s General, General Lin!”
As the enemy’s corpse fell before her, Lin Ge panted heavily, that voice echoing in her mind again.
“This time,” the black-haired youth smiled at her, “do you want to be a general?”
Last time, when making her a lord, Jiang Jianming had helped her seize her first territory step by step.
But this time, Jiang rather mysteriously claimed that being a general was different from being a lord. In the end, he only gave her two instructions.
“First, don’t let the imperial army start up the starships and mechas. Otherwise, you’ll instantly lose your advantage.”
“Second, while fulfilling the first condition, minimize damage to the starships as much as possible. Those will be our future resources.”
She knew it was different. A lord could remain in one place, but a general was only a general in battle.
Lin Ge took a deep breath. She suddenly raised her arm, her black hair wild, the folding mecha on her wrist bursting with blinding light—
“Listen up, all of you! Our fate hangs in the balance. Anyone who doesn’t want to go hungry and cold again, follow me!!”
“Take the starship port, and this old lady will treat all our brothers and sisters to meat, three pounds each!!”
……
Crash—
A wine glass fell to the ground, shattering with a crisp sound.
[Report! Report to Lord Fiennes, Zone A Central Starship Port is under attack! The Blue Mother Star people set an ambush here. We’re being suppressed, and they’ve taken our starships—Ah!!]
The latter half of the message was drowned out by gunfire and screams. The static noise of the communication echoed jarringly in the banquet hall amid the melodious music.
Fiennes stared blankly at his wrist device, as if trapped in a nightmare.
Suddenly, he felt something cold against his temple.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the icy gun barrel.
“You! You…”
Dawn Aslan’s expression was calm, a gun in his right hand, a wine glass in his left as he finished the last sip of wine.
The sudden change threw the room into chaos. Fiennes’ guards drew their weapons, while the Blue Mother Star officials immediately revealed their crystal bones.
But no one dared move, as Jiang Jianming had his gun pointed at Fiennes. “Nobody move. Watch out for misfires.”
No one had expected Aslan to make the first move, let alone that the seemingly frail young man would act so swiftly.
Even their own rebels couldn’t help but comment inappropriately from behind, repeating that same phrase.
“So what can’t His Excellency Aslan do? Wasn’t he supposed to be a sickly civiRyann?”
“Put down the gun… Do you know what you’re doing? The Empire won’t let you get away with this…”
Fear turned Fiennes’ lips blue, his teeth chattering. “You, you said it yourself last year!”
Jiang Jianming sneered. “Yes, but we’ve already taken this step.”
Fiennes’ wrist device kept ringing, constantly popping up windows with urgent alert tones.
“Answer it, Your Excellency.”
Fiennes asked in terror. “You…”
Jiang Jianming emphasized. “Answer.”
With his life at stake, Fiennes shakily opened each pop-up window.
[Lord Fiennes! This is Parker, commander of the 7th Fleet Division. Zone K’s Second Starship Port has been seized by rioters. We can only retreat from the port… I deserve death for this failure!]
[Reporting to Your Excellency, Zone B Starship Port is under attack. The enemy is Blue Mother Star rioters. Requesting support!]
[Report: Zone R Starship Port has fallen. The commander has been sacrificed. Awaiting your orders, sir…]
Gradually, Bin Fiennes’ face grew paler, his expression more desperate.
He muttered neurotically. “No, no… Kid you must be using some trick to deceive me…”
“How could the Holy Emperor’s imperial army possibly be defeated!”
“We have ten thousand starships! A hundred thousand mechas!! How could we possibly be defeated!!”
The pop-ups kept coming, each bringing worse news than the last.
At the same moment, in different locations.
This human mother planet, wrapped in blue and white, after enduring humiliation for far too long, finally erupted in a unified flame of rebellion.
Why was this happening? Fiennes couldn’t understand.
This was supposed to be a glorious and comfortable diplomatic mission. He had been waiting to be promoted before the Emperor, waiting for his family’s honor to fall upon him.
And that young man called Dawn Aslan had even stirred a bit of fondness in him.
Oh, what a clever and docile lamb, Fiennes had once thought. He had even felt a rare spark of mercy, planning to take Aslan with him to become his personal slave.
So he didn’t know when the sheep had grown fangs.
He was even more baffled about where this impoverished planet got its fighting spirit, how people raised on garbage could defeat imperial warriors fed on meat and fish daily!
Jiang Jianming’s expression remained cold as he tapped Fiennes’ temple with the gun barrel, “Lord Fiennes, I trust you understand the current situation.”
“Blue Mother Star has long since rebelled. Your life holds no value to us. Rebellion itself is a capital offense punishable by the execution of nine generations. I don’t mind adding an envoy’s life to that list.”
“As for you? You misplaced your trust in rebels, causing the human great migration plan to fail in such a disgraceful manner.”
Jiang Jianming sneered. “You know better than us how much the Empire values this plan.”
“Let me tell you something else. Odin II not only fears Prince Kaios, but there’s even a personal grudge between them.”
“The Emperor had hoped to use this opportunity to legitimately eliminate his royal brother, but now the Prince has led the entire star city in rebellion. As cruel as Odin II is, even if the rebellion is eventually quelled, you won’t escape the death penalty…”
“Bin Fiennes, aren’t you afraid?”
Fiennes’ face twitched uncontrollably, “You… you want me to surrender…?”
His eyes bloodshot, he shouted. “I, Bin Fiennes of the Golden Snake family, surrender to such a garbage star city!?”
“Don’t move.” Tang Ren’s crystal bone immediately pinned him down, pressing the envoy unceremoniously to the ground.
Just then, Fiennes’ wrist device rang again.
[Lord Fiennes… this is Zone A Starship Port.]
The voice on the other end no longer carried urgency, but rather a deathly despondence. The sounds of battle and gunfire had ceased.
[Prince Kaios has appeared here, we…]
Prince Kaios’ cold, hard voice suddenly replaced the imperial soldier’s.
[I came, so they surrendered.]
In the hall, the guards drew sharp breaths, looking at each other in terror.
This was no joke – the imperial army at Zone A Starship Port had surrendered… so many people had surrendered!?
What did that make them, this handful in the official residence? Fish in a barrel?
Jiang Jianming narrowed his eyes, his finger tightening on the trigger. “You see, neither of us has any other choice. Isn’t that right, Your Excellency?”
“Don’t!” Fiennes screamed, his throat moving painfully and coarsely, as if swallowing stones, “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot…”
A few seconds later, two streams of tears flowed down the noble’s face.
“Don’t shoot… I surrender, I surrender…”
Jiang Jianming’s expression remained unchanged. “Order all imperial troops to lay down their weapons and surrender.”
****
Victory.
This was a victory that could be called perfect.
The good news spread through every street and alley, the entire Blue Mother Star was decorated with lanterns and festive ornaments. Countless people ran out of their homes, waving their hands and crying: We won, we won.
An abandoned star city, destined to await death, had actually defeated the imperial fleet – what a heroic feat!
The rebel army treated this day like a festival. The preparations and battles of the past period had caused them to miss the real holiday, but now they could finally make up for it.
“Awesome! Awesome! Who could have imagined two years ago that I’d see this day? Cheers!”
“Haha, you don’t know. When His Highness appeared, wow, his crystal bone was taller than the ceiling. It scared the imperial soldiers so badly they wet themselves… Come on, cheers!”
“His Excellency Aslan’s strategy was simply divine, and the way he drew his gun was so cool!”
“Yeah, why be an advisor? He doesn’t seem that seriously ill. Why not be a commander and lead troops in the future? Though His Highness might not be willing to let him go, haha…”
The victory feast had wine and meat, singing and crying, with several people drunk beyond measure.
Jiang Jianming didn’t join in the revelry. He only said a few words before excusing himself, claiming fatigue, and left alone.
He knew that someone had to dampen the mood a bit at this time, to prevent everyone from becoming overconfident and inviting misfortune from excessive joy.
He knew his own battle plan best. The power gap between Blue Mother Star and the Empire was still vast, and even this victory was achieved by tricking Fiennes once again.
Among all the starship ports in various locations, he had only arranged for a few places with the best timing, terrain, and manpower advantages, concentrating forces to break through.
Even so, they hadn’t been able to achieve overwhelming victories everywhere.
However, the imperial army, living under tyranny and fearing punishment for dereliction of duty, only reported to their superiors when they truly couldn’t hold out anymore. As a result, only news of major defeats reached Fiennes.
The envoy, never having been on the battlefield, panicked and ordered a full surrender, which saved a lot of trouble.
On the observation deck of the official residence, the evening breeze was gentle.
“Jiang.”
Suddenly, someone softly called him from behind.
Jiang Jianming came back to his senses, tilting his head with a soft expression and raising a finger to his lips. “Shh.”
He turned around. The revelry continued below, bright and boisterous, but passing through the depths of those calm black eyes, it was like a match flaring up and then extinguishing.
Ryann stood there, wearing an elegant double-breasted formal suit, his platinum curls falling over his shoulders, gazing deeply in this direction.
He must have drunk quite a bit, but his demeanor was lucid, not appearing drunk.
“Aslan,” Ryann stepped forward, his delicate, sharp features illuminated, “How is it? Do you like it, this victory that belongs to you and me?”
He raised his arm, as if to embrace the other’s waist, but halfway changed direction, gently gripping Jiang Jianming’s upper arm instead.
Their shadows were cast on the ground.
“Why did Your Highness come here?” Jiang Jianming habitually reached out, smilingly ruffling Ryann’s hair, suddenly realizing the youth was taller than him now.
“You could have stayed and played with everyone a while longer. Lin Ge is drinking herself crazy. I just came out here because I was tired.”
“…But I saw you here.”
Ryann pursed his lips, his voice low and alluring, but his gaze seemed to pout coquettishly.
He led Jiang Jianming a few steps to a sheltered spot, complaining, “You’re standing here alone in the wind. I was worried you’d get dizzy and fall off.”
“Alright,” Jiang Jianming said, stifling a laugh, “Then tonight, Prince Kaios will keep me company. If I feel unwell again, you’ll have to carry me back.”
Ryann’s eyes brightened. Such words counted as very intimate; Jiang didn’t usually say them. It seemed he was truly happy tonight.
He tentatively, reservedly moved a bit closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with Jiang Jianming on the observation deck.
Jiang Jianming glanced at him. “Do you have something to tell me?”
“…Cough,” Prince Kaios cleared his throat, his gaze fixed on the distant stars, and said in a deep voice, “Aslan, in a few months, I’ll come of age.”
Jiang Jianming laughed. “Want a gift?”
Kaios’ low, gentle voice rang out at the same time.
“—I love you.”
Jiang Jianming’s expression froze, feeling a tingle down his spine.
“Jiang, I’ve made up my mind.”
Ryann turned his face, looking at him against the brilliant lights, his expression firm and natural, like a victor coming to claim his spoils, “I want…”
“To love you.”
