by <unknown>
"Besides, starships are different from ground troops. The ground troops can fight independently, and every soldier can act on their own. But on the starships, as long as the bridge is under control, even if the sailors down below start a mutiny, it is unlikely for them to seize the starship.
"Most importantly of all, Hundred Flowers City is in a dense distribution right now. District 01 is closely surrounded by almost a hundred districts. It's equivalent to saying that the millions of civilians in those space stations are being held hostage. Powerful as the guns on the starships may be, it is impossible to expose District 01 without destroying dozens of districts.
"So, there is no need to count on the reinforcement of the starships. We can only attack as infantries!"
The eyes of the old colonel suddenly turned sharper than he had ever looked in his hundred years of service in the army. All his subordinates were slightly dazed under his stare. They breathed heavily, waiting for instructions.
"Starting from this moment, abandon the Spiritual Nexus!" the old colonel declared resolutely. "Just consider us to be under high-intensity interference of all bands. Return to the primitive state of squad battle. Now, we are going to split. Part of us will go to other troops to inform them of the latest situation and ask for their aid. Let's hope that they can make the right choice, too. The rest of us will follow the two fellow Cultivators from the Ancient Sages Sector and stab into District 01!"
"Somebody is definitely going to believe us!" Li Yao raised his voice and interjected. "Because Professor Mo Xuan couldn't have anticipated that the two of us would escape the moment before the space jump, or that we could resist the mental assault of the extraterrestrial devils inside Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital. His whole scheme is already disrupted after miscalculating the two things. So, he has been forced to activate his plan in advance or to control the situation through more radical approaches.
"Blocking District 109 by force is the best evidence. I believe that District 109 can't be the only area that has been blocked by him.
"In order to prevent the outside world from noticing such an enormous blockade, Professor Mo Xuan needs to fabricate endless false information and send it out. A lie can only be covered with greater lies. When the lies grow too huge, even Professor Mo Xuan will have to crash despite the computational ability under his control!
"A lot of people out there must've already grown suspicious. Other than the federal army, there are also the free fighters, members of Exo Societies, and battle-type Cultivators in the universities. All we need to do is tell them the truth and gather more warriors!"
"I'm not too worried about that." Luo Qisheng smiled somewhat bitterly and said, "It's been a hundred and three years since I joined the federal army and twenty-two years since I served in Hundred Flowers City. I do know a few friends in this place.
"However…
"The 414 troop is just a common troop that does not even have a special title. My old friends are basically the same. Most of the soldiers in the troop are just ordinary fighters. The Building Foundation Stage Cultivators haven't reached the bottom level as officers yet. If even the Spiritual Nexus is untrustworthy right now, let's be honest here, we are just a tray of loose sand with mediocre combat ability.
"In comparison, according to what you said just now, it is very possible that the enemy controls all the automatic defensive magical equipment in District 01 and has turned the bodies of a thousand experts into 'battle shells'. This is going to be a tough battle!
"No. We are not afraid of death, but we fear that we cannot accomplish the mission! In order to break into the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center against the bombardment of a thousand experts, we will need a point of attack, an arrow that can focus the 'sand' into a 'rock'!"
The old colonel stared at Li Yao and Long Yangjun with a complicated expression.
There was both hesitation and expectation in his eyes.
Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other and nodded heavily.
"Rest assured, colonel. We know the famous slogan in the federation—the blood of the strong must be shed first!" Li Yao declared. "Since the two of us are the strongest of all people here, we will definitely run at the front and lead the charge!"
Luo Qisheng stared at them for a long time. Then, he laughed and opened his arms.
"Welcome to the federation!" the old colonel said earnestly.
…
Twenty minutes later, on the lawn outside of Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital…
District 109 had been fully closed. Not only was any transportation and communication with the outside world entirely cut off, the 3D light beams nearby that simulated blue sky, white clouds, mountains, and rivers had been shut down. The lackluster silver cabin wall was revealed. Even the air was humid and suffocating, making everyone feel that they were in the middle of a steamer.
A thousand soldiers of the federal army, in their crystal suits, were like a thousand iron statues that had been stabbed into the grass. They listened to Luo Qisheng's instructions.
In the federation a hundred years ago, the so-called 'crystal suit legions' were the elite troops of the elite troops. Only the ace troops exclusively made of Cultivators had the privilege of equipping every soldier with a battlesuit.
After the technological boom in the golden period of development, the crystal suit production and the skill card assembly technology from the Flying Star Sector had made significant progress. In the federation today, even regular troops and miscellaneous troops without special titles had been equipped with crystal suits.
Yes. The 414 troop was a troop in the second tier, only slightly better than a miscellaneous troop.
The soldiers of the 414 troop were either too old or too young. Some of them were veterans who had served in the army of almost a hundred years. They were very experienced, but their physical strength was declining. Some of the soldiers were rookies who had recently enlisted. Although most of the squads had been allocated with a Cultivator, the quality of the Cultivators was quite low. Most of them were in the Refinement Stage, and few were in the Building Foundation Stage. Those in the Core Formation Stage were too rare to be seen.
However, at this moment, the intimidating fighting will released from them was as impressive as the ace troops of the federal army that had their glorious titles, such as Flying Tiger or Eagle Strike.
Every soldier tried to stand as straight as possible, even if they were just ordinary fighters whose spiritual root had not been awakened.
"This is the brief of the situation right now. The 414 troop is now faced with the most arduous task since it was founded!" Luo Qisheng roared. "I'm not going to lie to you. This is not a mission issued by the superiors. It is not even an authorized one but an operation of insubordination and desertion!
"It is a soldier's responsibility to obey orders. Maybe we shouldn't do this, but soldiers should also consider protecting their country as their responsibility. They should answer the call of their motherland!
"Do you hear the wind? The federation is now in unprecedented peril. The motherland is summoning us. That is an order of the highest level! We are the soldiers of the New Federation. We are warriors with brains and hearts. We are not cold slaughtering machines!
"So, the 414 troop of the eighteenth group army, listen to my command and carry out the urgent task immediately. We will break into District 01 and take back the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center from the enemy's hands!
"As the highest commander of the 414 troop, I can't promise you anything right now except that after the battle, even if only one soldier survives, the 414 troop will boast its own unique flag, emblem, and title, like the ace legions exclusively made of Cultivators!"
Chapter 1749: The First Time in a Hundred Years! |
The exit to District 108 next to District 109 was an enormous gate more than twenty meters in diameter that was as indestructible as a dam.
Once the gate was locke
d from the outside through the mainframe crystal processor of Hundred Flowers City and all the barrier rune arrays were activated, it was practically impossible to open the gate by brute force.
Theoretically speaking, the gate could never be opened, unless it met a super refiner who was both adept at rune arrays and the internal structure magical equipment and also capable of destroying the necessary parts with the brute force of the high level of the Nascent Soul Stage.
Unfortunately, Li Yao happened to be one such super refiner who had the brute force above the high level of the Nascent Soul Stage!
Chi!
Under Li Yao's coordination, a hundred Exos exerted their strength in two directions simultaneously. The carotid artery on every soldier's neck were almost exploding before they finally opened a small gap on the airtight gate.
Passing through the long pathway, they did exactly the same on the gate that was the entrance to District 108, only to discover that District 108, or rather, the few areas that they opened later through all kinds of trouble, was so chaotic that it looked like the end of the world.
The entire Hundred Flowers City had entered the highest alarm state.
All the transportation channels among the hundred ball-shaped space stations that made up Hundred Flowers City were closed. Every space station was blocked from the space stations nearby with the enormous gates that weighed tons, turning them into independent individuals.
Such a design that was similar to an airtight cabin on starships was meant to avoid an accident where all the districts were exposed to the vacuum after one of the space stations was destroyed by intense hostile fire.
As a result, all the economic activities in the entire Hundred Flowers City stagnated. The daily lives of the citizens were seriously affected, too. The gravity control in quite a few districts became unstable. Now and then, residents, shuttles, and miscellaneous objects that were not fixed on the ground would float to the center of the ball-shaped towns. Then, a moment later, the man-made gravity was improved to more than twice the standard gravity. Most people were breathing heavily because of their own weight and unable to stand on their feet.
The entire Hundred Flowers City was in chaos!
The 3D light beams that constructed the beautiful environment of blue sky and white clouds had turned into twisted snowflakes and even revealed the cold silver cabin wall and rusted tubes on it in the end. The virtual signs and arrows on the major roads either disappeared or changed crazily, causing a lot of shuttles to almost run into each other. Thankfully, automatic emergency brakes and buffer rune arrays were the basic configuration for most of the shuttles nowadays. No serious traffic accidents took place when they were just moving at a low speed in the downtown area. But still, unprecedented traffic jams filled every district of the city!
There was no need to mention the oxygen supply system and the automatic heating system. Should anything go wrong, cold wind might be blown out, and the heatproof rune arrays might be shut off. As a result, the districts of Hundred Flowers City that were on the shadowy side would turn into a frigid hell where a drop of water would turn into ice immediately, and the districts facing the sun would become steamers with a temperature of more than fifty degrees.
Getting to the bottom of it, the seemingly splendid space metropolis was merely a series of thin, iron shells soaked in the freezing universe.
Compared with the life-and-death issues above, the Spiritual Nexus shutdown in the entire Hundred Flowers City seemed to be a minor problem not worth mentioning at all.
The only thing that suggested the existence of a government was the obscure broadcast whose source was barely distinguishable.
"Dear citizens, please don't panic. Proceed to the nearest shelter if possible. Attach yourselves to soft objects if you prefer to stay indoors. Do not go outside. Repeat. The war has already broken out. This is not a drill. Please proceed to the nearest shelter in order!"
The voice was quite loud at first, but soon, it became twisted and feeble, before it was replaced by the shrieking attack alarms. Everybody felt that a beast was tearing their eardrums with sharp claws.
Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and Luo Qisheng looked at each other, all feeling grave.
They were not sure if the war had broken out.
However, according to the speculation of Li Yao and Long Yangjun, Jin Xinyue had reached the moment where she had to activate her plan, and there was no need for Professor Mo Xuan to hide his plan now.
So, the war was destined to break out today. It was not important whether it happened a few hours earlier or a few hours later.
What mattered was not how the war broke out but whose banner would be flying at the edge of the cosmos when the complicated war that involved multiple forces was over!
"Professor Mo Xuan's pace has been disrupted. He knew that we would rush out without bothering anything. That's why he caused such mayhem in order to prevent us from marching forward!" Li Yao analyzed the situation calmly. "Just like I said before, he could've taken over the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus Information Processing Center without alarming anyone and lurked in the darkness while the Star Glory Federation and the Black Wind Fleet had an ultimate competition before he finally jumped out to claim all the benefits.
"But our unexpected operation forced him to go to the stage in advance and reveal his existence.
"As a result, he will have to mobilize more computational ability to fabricate the information streams being sent from Hundred Flowers City to the outside world, pretending that this place is peaceful and quiet!
"For the virtual life living in the Spiritual Nexus, computational ability is their everything. Now that he is wasting so much of his computational ability on the pretension, it will certainly affect his real plan to some extent.
"What we are going to do is force him to consume even more computational ability!"
Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and the 414 troop accelerated to the central area of Hundred Flowers City.
However, the closer they got to the downtown area, the more citizens and shuttles were crowded in midair, and the more chaotic the situation was. As a result, they were inevitably slowed down.
In the meantime, they encountered some other troops who were stationed in various districts.
Thankfully, those troops did not attack them the moment the two parties met. After all, even though Professor Mo Xuan could fabricate orders through the Spiritual Nexus, it was impossible for him to make up such a ridiculous story that a thousand spies of the Imperium had snuck into Hundred Flowers City pretending to be an established troop of the federation.
Furthermore, Luo Qisheng had been stationed in Hundred Flowers City for more than twenty years. Even his family had moved there. He had quite a few comrades in the troops.
His face alone was enough to half convince many commanders of Li Yao and Long Yangjun's story.
The real problem was that the last order those troops had received before the communication was shut off was to maintain order, pacify the citizens, and guide as many to the shelters as possible.
It was definitely the most complicated work.
Most of the soldiers had been dispersed among the panicked citizens. It was impossible to gather them anytime soon!
It was not until then that Li Yao and his companions realized that Professor Mo Xuan had cast the entire Hundred Flowers City in chaos not just to prevent them from moving forward but, more importantly, to hamstring the bottom-level soldiers who could possibly affect his plan!
"It is not going to work out this way!" Li Yao gnashed his teeth hard. "Where's the nearest double airtight exit? It's time to split. We will approach District 01 from the outside. Colonel, you will stay here and try to gather more people!"
"Alright!"
Luo Qisheng's throat moved, as if he had something to say, but he said nothing in the end. He simply stood at attention and saluted Li Yao and Long Yangjun in the most standard way.
For the convenience of shell maintenance and emergency e
vacuation, there were quite a few exits that directly led to the space on the cabin wall of every district.
Naturally, such exits were usually locked by double and even triple airtight gates, and they were never opened unless there was an emergency.
Chi…
When the last airtight gate in front of Li Yao and Long Yangjun was slowly opened, the darkness of the entire universe flooded in like cold seawater.
However, due to the lack of the blockage of the atmosphere, when the first sunlight crashed into the cabin, the cold seawater was immediately heated into scorching magma.
Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other and jumped into space!
Right now, they were floating in the middle of almost a hundred enormous silver ball-shaped space stations, like two tiny ants that were crawling on shiny silver balls.
Stepping on the shell of the ball-shaped space station below their feet and triggering colorful ripples with the power rune arrays on their crystal suits, the two of them sprinted toward District 01, leaving scattered exhaust flames behind them!
Behind them, more soldiers of the 414 troop crawled out and became their solid support!
In such a way, they reached the area near the enormous ball-shaped space station where District 01 was located without any trouble.
However…
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The infinite runes that were carved on the shell of District 01 densely unleashed ten thousand thick electric arcs, which sloshed among the few most central space stations, weaving a frightening, forbidden area of death!
One was not supposed to hear any sound in the vacuum.
However, everybody who saw the deadly electric arcs could hear the sound of their brain nerves that were cracking in fear!
Hundreds of lifeless Exos were standing quietly among the deadly electric arcs. They were absolutely motionless, like statues, and simply allowed the electric arcs to dance around them. But after they discovered the intruders, they seemed to be activated at the same time. Destructive heat was emitting from the cold crystal cameras on the helmet of their crystal suits!