Legend of the Supreme Soldier - Chapter 441

t was a lively sight inside the Papatte base, as it was the prelude of war. The Sangs were fearless against their upcoming challenge however. They looked extremely excited. It was the time where they felt their existence, as they had gotten used to war. War had already become the part and parcel of their life.

Ever since they got to Planet Yi Ju, it had been always one training course to another. There was not a time where the Sangs could actually jump into action. They had obeyed the orders without questions but inside them, there was a thirst to express their passion thoroughly in battle.

Even though they were unaware of the exact occurrence, it was blatantly obvious that something would be happening soon, and it would be big. Feeling pumped, they worked hard, like a bunch of hungry tigers loitering in the woods.

The one interesting “occurrence” in the base was about Rui Bing. “She’s Teacher’s wife?!” The screaming line had determined Rui Bing’s fate being forever high-profiled among the Sangs, as curious they were of her, since no ordinary woman could have been the great teacher’s wife after all.

And as they had expected, Rui Bing was no ordinary woman, as she demonstrated her strength and earned the Sangs’ approval with her fist. It was still a place where fists would speak louder than words. You could not be teacher’s wife if you were not as strong. Thought the Sangs, the simple thumb of rule of life.

Rui Bing liked the place a lot, since she would never have the time without a foe to fight. She was more of a true martial arts practitioner compared to Ye Chong who was the teacher. She held an entirely different prospect on martial arts mastery. That was probably why Ye Chong’s style was more towards efficiency and experience while Rui Bing gave more attention on self-discovery and breakthrough.

And… Mu/Shang had arrived!

That was one exciting news to Ye Chong, since it had been his ultimate goal of finding them ever since they lost each other. Ye Chong could not help but to reminisce the old days with Mu/Shang on Trash Planet.

Those were the good days…

Thought Ye Chong, his heart felt warm, as the corners of his lips raised.

He missed Mu/Shang, especially when they were the problem-solver upon encounter. The capability of Mu/Shang had been long imprinted in Ye Chong’s mind, even when he was no longer that wimpy, incapable boy who lived with the trashes.

The meeting room went silent however, when the visual of the outside got transmitted. People were shocked upon the sight of a gigantic fleet sluggishly traveling towards them in the space.

There was an unspeakable tension when the Coxcomb was taking the lead.

It was a fleet made out of 1000 spaceships of different sizes. None of them was a warship, still the enormous fleet was a grand sight to behold.

Imagine this. In the dark boundless spaces, thousands of spaceships were traveling together in a dense formation across the milky way, in which one would have a length of 10 kilometers and the other having 5 kilometers at average. How impactful it was! They were like a school of sharks, swimming soundlessly in the space.

“Holy…,” muttered Guo the old chief upon the sight.

The others’ expression was priceless too.

“T-teacher…,” Sang Pu gulped, as he mumbled his inquiry, “I-is this that friend you’ve mentioned before…?”

“Mhm.” Ye Chong nodded, “Yes it is.” If it was not the Coxcomb that took the lead, probably Ye Chong would need a moment or two to confirm the identity. He was too familiar with the ship. Back on those days, Ye Chong gave in so much to finish the entire modification process of the ship. So no doubt he could identify it at first sight.

But Ye Chong got to admit, he was particularly curious of how Mu/Shang escaped the Red Sea. The fleet was so grand he could already imagine the commotion it caused when it appeared above Terry City.

Back when it happened, the sky of Terry City darkened completely. Torres nearly dropped his jaw when he saw it. Such force, thought he, which force exactly were they from? The fleet was a colorful mess with all different models of spaceship, obviously they were not from the aristocrats.

Torres did not have the time to figure that out however. The visit of the massive fleet was one problem demanded to be resolved immediately, since of where in Terry City could he find a parking space for their landing? The government of the city was almost non-existent and Torres was assigned to be the government itself, as he would supervise on all administration works being the supreme administration leader on Planet Yi Ju.

…(In the Meeting Room)…

“Ye, I hereby present you the digitalized wedding registration certification for both you and your wife. There are 36 styles and a large palette of colors to be chosen upon preferences. Legitimacy: 100%. Difficulty of execution: 0.03. Service would be provided without any charges. Furthermore, based on the trend of the climate changes on Planet Yi Ju since the last 30 years, it has been predicted that within the next 60 and 120 days, the biological reproductivity would be highly feasible, thus the best period of offspring formation.” Stated Mu. That was the first thing he said upon seeing Ye Chong. The mechanical voice was ringing a jaw-dropping fact.

Rui Bing’s face reddened rapidly and Ye Chong was stupefied, “Mu…”

“It would be plausible to- JUST GET HER! Take out your vertical stick and start the ride, Ye! Ride on the horse, lady! Intimacy is the best policy!” Screamed the mechanical voice expressively, “Certainly. When it comes to the actual technique itself, mhm, Ye, I trust your ability, I have a grand library of information here.” The change of tone was uncalled for…

“Shang…” Cold sweats were streaming on Ye Chong’s face.

Luckily there were not many people in the room, or the embarrassment was unimaginable. Other than the group on the Coxcomb, there was only Ye Chong and Rui Bing. The Sangs were already sent to the outside before this, since… Mu/Shang was a little… too advanced for the primitives… It would also be better the lesser the number of people knew.

Mu/Shang did not change much physically. The wound from the left shoulder across the body to the waist remained as shocking as before. Ye Chong might have encountered all kinds of advanced models before, including the legendary trio of He Yue themselves, still, somehow something on Mu/Shang caught him. It was the grace and simplicity that no other advanced model could compete, even with that visible scar over the body. Ye Chong believed, if Mu/Shang was unblemished, he would look as good as the legendary trio.

Well, of course, not anybody could simply harass Ye Chong like that, not even Lian Yue the flamboyant genius.

“What had actually happened? Where did you guys get the spaceships? Did you guys seize a fleet?” asked Ye Chong. That was the only sound reason he could think of, though the chances were slim. The Coxcomb was the only warship in the entire fleet. It was nearly impossible for one single warship to take control of the whole fleet. But then, there was Mu/Shang, both of them were the key to unlock the impossible. Who knows what trickery both of them had pulled off.

“This is our own spaceships. A total 902 of them. Most of them contained specific apparatuses and facilities for production,” explained Qiu Man.

“Our own spaceships?” Ye Chong did not hold grudge against Qiu Man but her way of saying it was simply odd.

“Both Shang and I made a plan after losing you.” Beeped Mu, “By utilizing the techniques in the database, we triggered a mass production under collaboration with other forces. These spaceships are most of the outcomes of the production. We had performed a transfer.”

Ye Chong finally got a grip of the situation.

“Unfortunately, due to time constraint, we could only transfer a majority of them, which the remaining… had benefited Shi family,” stated Qiu Man spitefully. Although she did not agree to the operation at first, she accepted her destiny and had invested a lot of her efforts. Nevertheless, the masterpiece had been given away, definitely she would be dissatisfied.

“Shi family? Which Shi?” asked Ye Chong.

“Shi family of the Tian Xing Cove.”

“Oh, Shi Xin seemed to be there too,” said Ye Chong as he thought back his past with Shi Xin and the Jin Gui tribe. Both Shi Xin and eldest son of the Jin Gui tribe had become his apprentice and… well they did pay a large sum of money for the apprenticeship. Thanks to that “tuition fee”, Ye Chong could remember them well.

“Did you rob her?” Qiu Man looked shocked, like how Ye Chong thought of the same thing upon seeing Mu/Shang’s fleet. The others did not seem surprised as robbing her seemed like what Ye Chong would do.

“I did not. She came for me herself. Mhm, she did give some money,” said Ye Chong.

“No way. Shi Xin seemed like a rational person from what I’ve heard. How would she make such a foolish mistake? Well, if she was on our side, then I do have some workaround to do. Heh, I’ll make Shi Tianhu that old fox to spit out everything rightfully ours,” said Qiu Man, looking charged as she pondered of her master plan on maximizing this new chess piece on the table.

“So Mu… how did all of you get out of the Red Sea?” asked Ye Chong.

quot;We used rubber. We quickly produced a massive amount of rubber that enveloped the entire body of the Coxcomb utilizing its cohesiveness which separated the metal surface from the sea,” explained Mu/Shang. Now everything made perfect sense. Ye Chong could not help but to be amazed at the creativity of the solution. Although it sounded rather plain as concisely Mu/Shang described, the reality must be way more thrilling than Ye Chong imagined.

“Who thought of this?”

“Shang.”

Oh it was Mu, as expected fro- wait, Shang?

The answer was beyond Ye Chong’s expectation.

Ye Chong then opened up the entrance and called in the Sangs. There were several things to do. For starters, Sang Pu would lead the Coxcomb crew to the resting room. Sang Ling would be having a discussion with Qiu Man regarding the arrangement of the following tasks.

“There, Ye.”

And finally Mu/Shang’s dimensional keystone had returned to the front of Ye Chong’s chest.

“Ye, what are you planning next?” asked Mu.

“Hmm…” Caressed the keystone pendant round his neck, “We’ll talk about it after this,” said Ye Chong.

“Mhm,” Mu/Shang agreed.

The return of Mu/Shang was a boost to Ye Chong’s forces. The facilities and apparatuses had been all transferred to safety almost immediately after that. Planet Yi Ju was a planet neither rich with resources, nor crowded with population, but it was a planet abundant with free lands however. Miles and miles of land was under the ownership of the Papatte Squad.

And an industrial area was then found not far from Terry City a few days later. It was a medium-sized area that had included production line of all weaponry and accessories, processors and laser launcher. You could even find machines producing the valve pieces for mech hydraulic stabilizer and the keel of a medium spaceship. As long as they got the resources, they could produce almost anything.

This was when Mu/Shang shone with his computational power. The running production lines were forming a complete circuit of mass production. In other words, such industrial area was already capable of mass-producing complete mechs and spaceships, as well as a few of other end-products.

The industrial area was livelier than ever the moment it was fully established. Tons of laser firing devices were first to be produced since Planet Yi Ju lacked such type of offense the most. The team had to allocate most resources on ranged weapons since most of Ye Chong’s mechs were close-combat models, other than Mu/Shang. And none of these models could wield a manual firearm efficiently in the battlefield.

So they chose to produce these automatic laser firing devices. Even though such device lacked accuracy, it could achieve a 100% accuracy as long as it fired in mass with the other devices – perfect for tower defense.

Furthermore, Mu/Shang had brought a few spatial monitors which could be a big help in observing unstable area in the space, allowing Ye Chong to make the necessary move when distortion occurred.

The Sangs were ever-moving even when they were not assigned to the usual patrolling tasks. After Ye Chong’s last encounter with bristleworms, he outlined a charging training course for them.

The communicative facilities had also been renewed, now under Little Rock’s supervision with Zhang Yu as the assistant. The Virtual World server on Planet Yi Ju had reached an astonishingly high level of security now with both of them.

Ye Chong had been in the commander’s room most of the time. According to the data he had been receiving, the unstable space zone ahead was further destabilizing at an alarming rate – that was not a good sign for everyone. The atmosphere of the commander’s room was grim as most people’s expression. If the spatial destabilizing rate had reached the limit way before the arrival of Sang’s reinforcement, what could happen to them?

… (Meanwhile)…

“What? You found Xin?” shouted Shi Tiancheng as he sprung from his seat.

“This…,” muttered Uncle Hua as he passed the report carefully to the leader of Shi family, “the report of our intelligence from Virtual World. It’s a letter. The sender claims to know the whereabout of Lady Shi… but they are only willing to tell it when you speak to them personally.” Uncle Hua was Shi Xin’s personal bodyguard since childhood, there was strong bond between them.

Shi Xin seemed to have completely vaporized from the world ever since she joined the apprenticeship under those Jie experts. Shi family took all the efforts in searching her, yet not even a clue was found. Shi Xin was Shi Tiancheng’s daughter, one with the highest hopes too, among all his descendants. Shi Xin had never disappointed his father. She was decisive and capable, a very careful person who rarely made mistakes in her work. Her charisma had somewhat pushed her to become the unsaid leader among the youngsters. Almost everyone in the Shi family presumed her to be the next leader of the family. Shi Xin’s decision of joining the Jie expert was never an issue for Shi Tiancheng, for he was also curious of these mysterious fighters, but never once he thought Shi Xin would step into the dungeon herself straight off without giving a thought or two. Such move would only be deemed as reckless in the eyes of the elders like him. It was a reckless mistake, a fatal one too.

The whole family had never stopped looking for the talented lady all these years.

And right when they were losing hope, this letter came, certainly the leader was agitated.

“Alright, prompt the transmission.” It only took a few seconds for Shi Tiancheng to make up his mind.

Staring into the tiresome eyes of the leader, Uncle Hua left the room after giving a few nods.

The galaxy had been restless all these days. First there was a major reformation among the aristocrats, which caused people of He Yue to fear, including Shi family that began retrieving their dispersed forces. Then one important working partner of the family left without a word. Shi Tiancheng had been withstanding immense stress the last few days, it was not something describable to the outsiders.

Shi Tiancheng took a deep breath and tapped the interface.

“Hello there, Mr. Shi, we meet again.” The captivating woman speaking with a familiar tone shocked him.

Qiu Man was still a negotiator after all. Shi Xin, the figure almost-in-the-oblivion of most people on Ye Chong’s team, had become the most valuable chess piece in her hand. Shi family not only had returned every single property once owned by Mu/Shang in the past, but had also submitted a large amount of material goods to her. Similarly, the Jin Gui tribe had coughed out some goodies for Qiu Man. She sure had some persuasive skill, that it made Shi Tiancheng, leader of Shi family and Roland, leader of Jin Gui tribe forked out every bit of gold in their pocket.

Well, that income had resolved Ye Chong’s most puzzling financial crisis. They had been rushing their productions these few nights that Mu/Shang had consumed a great deal of resources in their inventory. Planet Yi Ju did not have its own mine, so they would need a constant supply from the market or they would have to terminate the operation.

Everything went smooth, till one report from Sang Pu, which caught Ye Chong’s attention.

To avoid any distraction on every running operation, Ye Chong had seized control of all areas around Planet Yi Ju and forbade any transportation from approaching. But on today, a small team of mechs somehow had trespassed in the area. And the guarding Sangs attacked without hesitation.

It was good that they had guarded the place but…

Ye Chong looked at the remnants of these mechs…

Those mechs… were the invigilating models… of the aristocrats.

And the next report, within the proximity, 3 spaceships had been detected.

It was an unlucky day for Ye Chong.

Of all times, the aristocrats just had to be alarmed now, when he was engaged in all sorts of preparatory works…

he three aristocrats did take prompt actions in fact, as Ye Chong detected a few suspicious mechs wandering within his vicinity from time to time. Those were very sneaky mechs that had been only observing the Collisions moving in the area the whole time. No action was already taken thus far but Ye Chong was informed of their existence.

Facing an unknown force from the corner of the galaxy, the three aristocrats decided to tackle it with great caution under a tricky period like this.

These mechs were already a distraction to Ye Chong. The rate of spatial instability was ticking fast and Ye Chong simply did not have the time to entertain these uninvited guests.

Sang’s reinforcement did not seem to be arriving soon. Once the spatial anomaly occurred, the reinforcement would be stuck at the Calamitous Asteroid Belt and failed to reach Ye Chong’s site.

The entire Planet Yi Ju was on high alert, ready to battle anytime.

And that was when one last plot twist was added to their script, as a few blurry visuals were spread in the network…

There were a few threads created with the following titles:

“A Mysterious Force on Planet Yi Ju!”

“Stronger than the Stronghold, Mission: Unknown!”

“Strange Skeleton Aircraft’s Higher than the Sky, said experts.”

“Who are They? What do They Want?”

“Friend or Foe? Aliens on Yi Ju!”

Speculations about Ye Chong’s property and his army flooded the Virtual World board. Photos were clearly taken from afar, as the clarity was horrible. But it was also such horrible clarity that further enhanced the mystery brewing on Planet Yi Ju. The reformation in the three aristocrats was then having their attention shifted upon this mysterious planet activity.

All sorts of stories were on the board rapider than Little Rock’s fingers busy tapping the keyboards trying to eliminate those posts. It only took a few moments before the news got to the station. Several talk shows were hosted regarding the controversy on some of the most popular news channels.

“Hello and welcome back to Galactic Whisperer. I’m your host and today we have a very special guest, known as the specialist ahead of the time, Mr. Uda. So, Mr. Uda, what’s your view on the mysterious force that had engulfed Planet Yi Ju recently?” asked the host.

“Uhh…,” replied Uda carefully, “We have yet to receive sufficient information regarding the force that had been active recently. I can’t really name the possible kind of organization the force associates with…”

“There have been rumors claiming that they are the pirates, do you agree?”

“Impossible!” Uda shook firmly, “This is obviously a baseless speculation. It’s clear from those pictures available on the Virtual World. We could see a well-disciplined army that carries out tasks systematically in the organization. To be honest, I personally think that this force is pretty close to the ace pilot squads of all three aristocrats in terms of standards. So they can’t be pirates, especially when they have a standardized equipment, which it would be impossible for a group of mere burglars to achieve.”

“Such insightful analysis, as expected from Mr. Uda! As mentioned by our commentator, the organization sure is strong, which debunks the speculation that they are merely pirates. Still, people are confused, Mr. Uda, regarding the reason why anybody would pick a place with such horrible environment like Planet Yi Ju as a military base for training. As far as we could discern from these shots, the army not only is stationed at Planet Yi Ju itself but also had formulated a strong defense system on the planet. So, why and how, Mr. Uda?”

“Umm…” Uda did not seem really confident at this, “I do have the same question as everybody else. Planet Yi Ju has substandard productivity while its land resources are poor. Its location is rather dangerous as it was close to the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, far from the developed area with bad transportation. Every aspect is so poor that a sane person would never consider investing materials to build a base here. However, according to what we have found, apparently a group known as the Papatte pilot squad had appeared on this planet a few years ago. So I would believe that they have their own reasons to be there. Regarding why they built the defense grid, it should be related to their main goal I suppose.” Such language skill of squeezing out an empty comment…

“So, Mr. Uda, do you think there might be a type of association or two between the defensive behavior of the force and the recently initiated reformation among the three Aristocats?”

“There might be,” said Uda.

That was when the visual of Collision got projected to the audience. It was nearly indistinguishable with the motion blur.

“This is the visual we had obtained at the exterior of the area. This aircraft with a unique design seems to be their main equipment in executing tasks. It was pure coincidence when we got hold of the aircraft’s appearance, as somehow this bizarre looking aircraft possesses an excellent anti-detection capability that our staff managed to take a shot of it only because of an accidental flick on the photon mode button. I am pretty sure Mr. Uda has some good insights on this strange bird,” said the host.

“Certainly, we were also astonished by the visual when we first saw it, that we consulted countless mechanics on the aircraft. Most of the mechanics believed that it could be a skeleton aircraft. Well, I believe most pilots and any of our friends whose job has something to do with mechs would know what a skeleton mech is. The concept of building a fully skeleton mech had been proposed years ago but none of those aristocrats managed to realize it. Never once we would expect the blurry aircraft we see right now is really a skeleton aircraft. There is actually someone who is capable of building a skeleton machine. It is simply amazing!” said Uda, with a little more excitement towards the end.

Skeleton Mech – the terminology that had once vanished in the mind of the people – had rekindled in the discussion today. The almost-impossible craft to create was found on the planet with the mysterious force, no doubt the mystery had intensified of the planet in the eyes of the people.

Few pairs of eyes were soon found somewhere afar from Ye Chong’s vicinity, those were the curious people from all fields. Some of them were the intelligences of different forces, there were also mere reporters and some insane mech fanatics who would like to check out the legendary skeleton mech with their own eyes.

They sure would like to have a better look, but none of them had mustered the courage to step beyond the boundary. Even if they did, like one of the reporters who recklessly piloted a mech one meter into the territory, they would be chased upon a team of those strange-looking mechs right away.

And none of them had survived.

The floating pieces in the space were reminding people of the cruel truth, that the mysterious force’s army was formidable and inhumanly efficient. The outsiders gave up their thoughts of even trying. It was the army’s cruelty that warned the outsiders to back off. No explanation, no talking, one blast and the intruder would be a goner.

Somehow the outsiders could feel the horrible gazes coming from the inside of the strange mechs.

Zoom! The outsiders’ mechs backed out immediately, which some of them decided to stop only after traveling a few hundreds kilometer away from the boundary.

Ye Chong hated being the focus but he did not have any feasible solution in getting rid of that. The truth was, even Little Rock had given up on stopping the waves in the Virtual World.

Something was happening and Ye Chong’s team was watching the projection carefully.

“T-30 minutes till the limit. With an inconsistency of +/- 3%,” said Mu.

Mu’s monotonous speech somehow calmed Ye Chong’s mood.

30 minutes till the moment of truth.

Thought Ye Chong, taking a deep breath, as he turned and nodded at Sang Pu.

“Team 1 into the air now! Team 2 and Team 3, standby,” ordered Sang Pu through the communicator.

Above Terry City, a thousand Collisions had launched themselves into the air. These Collisions were no longer the outdated model you saw back in Archipelago, as improvised its design by Old Jalopy while revamped its engine by Lian Yue the genius.

It was quite a view to have 1000 mechs in the air at once, but nobody could ever witness it as the citizens had been evacuated to the underground.

The reporters beyond the boundary were almost thrashing in excitement upon seeing the 50 teams of army of 1000 Collisions appearing in the neighboring space zone of Yi Ju.

Most programs had been cancelled and were replaced with the streaming of this view.

“After days of silence, the mysterious organization had finally launched its first operation. As you can see, we are streaming the historical moment for you, stay tuned as you could see a thousand aircrafts traveling in the area. They have demonstrated great discipline and have a complete formation. Their army is enormous but not out of control. If you were here with us, you would be feeling the intensity by just looking at the skeleton aircrafts themselves… Not even the aristocrats’ reforming army could beat this intensity…”

The hologram screens in the heart of different cities were projecting the same scene, which the pedestrians jerked their steps clumsily and had a view upon.

The hustles and bustles of cities had stopped, as people set their eyes upon history.

quot;Into the outside!” As Sang Tie was not in Team 1, the leadership went to Sang Mu who sent off that flinty stare of excitement to the upcoming battle.

The army of a thousand mechs looked grand off the air yet appeared to be a mere cluster in the boundless space. Sang Mu did not intend to disperse the army at the moment.

“Formation!” he said, as the mechs reformed into a giant cone shaped arrangement.

“This is brilliant!” exclaimed the reporter. “We have just confirmed that there are a thousand of these skeleton aircrafts in this army alone! We could see the impeccable formation of the army as they took the orbit of the boundary!” The reporter seemed shocked, “Ah? Are they accelerating? Oh my gosh, that is fast! So fast! Show me the measurement now, hmm, Mach 10, Mach 12… it’s adding up, Mach 15? They had reached Mach 15. Anyone who has piloted a mech before would know how difficult it is to keep the handle under control at speed of Mach 15. The miracle is there folks! The formation remains the same flawless even at such a high velocity. We should be giving our applause now! This is a well-trained army! It just makes me start to anticipate their following move!” The news was broadcasted throughout every corner of He Yue galaxy.

To the people it felt like a show, a performance of this strange team of skeleton aircrafts traveling in the space. The people were astounded by the stern glow of Sang’s army which differed itself from the typical heroes. Sang’s army had demonstrated the fear of masses, in the coherent ultimate order that had imprinted the visual of the Collision army in the heart of the people.

This was day of history, when Sang family was once again mentioned in the entire He Yue galaxy.

The Collision, after Lian Yue’s improvised engine system, could travel up to Mach 22 in the space, which Mach 20 was a critical point. The maximum speed an advanced mech could travel at would be Mach 15, only a super mech could maintain a velocity up to Mach 20. Mach 20 was the maximum mainly due to the issue of overcoming weight of the body and the friction that the body had caused during the travel. However, with a mech made out of not metals but purely skeletons, as well as Lian Yue’s Destiny engine model, fueled by mildstones exclusive to Archipelago, Collision had smashed the cap effortlessly while maintaining the shocking velocity of Mach 22.

“Turn on all firing units. Battle Station!” ordered Sang Pu sternly.

Little Rock and Zhang Yu in their helmets started inputting commands. They were the key components of this operation, as not only they had to control the firing units according to the orders, but also they had to ensure the confidentiality of the entire transmission.

The activation program had been launched on all laser firing units in the zone.

Beeeeeep…

The pale bluish glow began collecting on the muzzle of all firing units, like a cluster of pale blue stars kindling in the dark void.

People were fascinated by the beauty, yet a little afraid.

The laser firing units, of those Ye Chong purchased earlier and those Mu/Shang had produced with the newly established industrial area, made an astonishing sum of 500,000!

Yes, five hundred thousand firing units were installed densely in this tiny zone round Planet Yi Ju. People would be convinced that this will be an unbreakable stronghold that no fleet would have the courage to rashly reach the glowing blue stars. There were 500,000 of them, when the Coxcomb only had 180 firing units in the past.

It took Mu/Shang and Little Rock three days to arrange the optimum locations for these 500,000 units.

“Oh my He Yue galaxy, this is gorgeous! The most breathtaking view I have ever seen! A perfect, solid defense of countless laser firing devices. This must be the most complete firewall I’ve ever seen! I seriously had lost count, how many units are there exactly? It’s shocking!” The reporter had lost his senses in words. It was not a rare sight to see a force to go full hostile in He Yue galaxy, but never once people had witnessed one force to go this far.

At first people were certainly fascinated by its beauty, but the perception of fear soon would remind them of the cruelty of war!

But Ye Chong and his army did not really care these nonsensical details. Planet Yi Ju was lively. There were all sorts of procedures to run through, inspection before departure, installation of energy cartridges, compressive explosives installation and inspection, second inspection and so on. The entire Papatte base was like the clock, ticking as countless gears turned to each other, all working towards a goal, to show something to the world.

Well, the one that got really busy as a bee was no one other than Little Rock, and Zhang Yu too!

The Mavericks decided to join the party, as they stepped into Planet Yi Ju’s virtual networking system upon the broadcast. Mu/Shang had foreseen this way back so he had formed a virtual world defense team with Little Rock and Zhang Yu and they had laid all kinds of traps around the network. Those were not the misleading signs one would see on the pathway to Planet Yi Ju’s database, but they were the pure explosives. It was not hard to set up such devastation for Mu/Shang and Little Rock the decent Mavericks. It was all for the transmission’s confidentiality. It was fine for Little Rock to even conduct such brutal strategy on the network.

But the Maverick mob was a little overwhelming this time. It felt like a wave submerging Planet Yi Ju’s virtual world. Some of the Mavericks logged off the moment they spotted the traps, while the remaining was the Maverick-savvys and overconfident players who wanted to have an adventure online. Of course, it was not easy to discover the source code of the opponent himself even for these expert players in Maverick field, but was it not fun to face such a strong foe?

Little Rock and Zhang Yu fully focused themselves on the incoming attacks. Mu/Shang had something else in hand so he could not provide assistance from time to time. Everything coming in the virtual world would be under Little Rock and Zhang Ye’s responsibility. Their defense was formidable, but these Mavericks arrived like the assassins, capable of stabbing them in the back at any second.

The two of them were highly attentive, they could not relax.

Well, the other members in Team Ye Chong were not having a fun time either. The space was destabilizing soon it seemed, as the rate of spatial instability was climbing. In 10 minutes, the rate would hit the limit.

They had no idea what would possibly occur once the limit had been reached, not even Mu/Shang could find any applicable information on this off the Virtual World. All they got was a news extract where there had been a similar occurrence about 20 years ago. But the news extract wrote the incident so briefly that there was no value of analyzing at all.

Team 2 was ready to launch.

Ye Chong and his members were staring at the projection in the meeting room. The cameras around that unstable space zone were transmitting the visuals for them.

Around 90% of population of the entire He Yue galaxy were watching them. Within the last hour, Planet Yi Ju had probably gained the attention quintupled the attention it had in its entire time of existence before.

The group was holding their breath, as anticipating something to happen.

In 10 minutes, space would be destabilized, yet the 10 minutes lapsed like centuries, even Sang Pu the calm leader was sweating heavily on his head. Ye Chong looked indifferent however, “As expected from the teacher… calm as the water…,” whispered Sang Pu.

T-1 minute.

Everyone stood up from their seats as they looked upon the projection.

What would happen? The atmosphere was nauseating. The pressure was building.

Ye Chong looked at the ticking figure on the processor, “Team 1 into Battle Station, equip all firing units, prepare to shoot on command.”

The order came like a bomb and his teammates were shook awake from the dismay of anticipation. Sang Pu looked at the rolling number on the processor, his eyes enlarged.

The figure was… speeding up?

The rate was increasing quicker?

The 1 minute they were supposed to wait had been decreased visibly.

Well, the Sangs were body and soul ready for this possibly apocalypse. They had been countless before.

The Sangs maintained their formation, as began accelerating beyond Mach 15.

The space was actually destabilizing.

Ye Chong could see it.

..(Papatte Squad Base Interior)…

Everyone had their eyes glued upon the projection. They were stupefied upon the reading, including Ye Chong who no longer could hold his chilly expression.

“S-s-s-s-spatial Distortion Rate: 90%!” The voice of their observer muttered in fear.

…

“Spatial Distortion Rate: 100%”

A black spot was discovered at the center of the area right next to planet Yi Ju. Despite the voidness of the space, the black spot looked very obvious, like a burnt spot of a drawing of night sky. It was darker than black, dark-right horrifying.

Within twinkling of eyes, the black spot had grown in size at a horrendous rate! It began reaching the surrounding, as forming into a particular shape.

Disc. A circle, a perfect disc-circle.

Black disc phenomena…

Ye Chong could not help but to flinch upon the sight.

He remembered his adventure at the underground cavern primary planet. That creepy view was probably unforgettable till the day he died.

A perfect circle of darkness that hovered in the air, from which a limb of an unknown beast would reach out with an ear-bleeding scream!

The strong deja vu was hitting his head.

“Mu, wh-what would happen… assuming we attack the disc!?” Ye Chong tried being calm in his inquiry. Although he had no idea what the disc would bring this time, provided that it was the same unidentified creature from his underground adventure before, they would be losing and they will lose.

“Negative. Outcome: Unknown. Unable to calculate,” answered Mu right away. “Spatial Destabilizing Rate : >60%.” That was a no-no to Ye Chong’s plan.

In all spatial studies, a spatial destabilizing phenomena would be the most terrifying thing the scholars could ever imagine. Providing a destabilization occurred, the space would technically collapse and half of the entire He Yue galaxy would be affected. The worst part was, everything would be happening in matter of mere minutes.

Before they noticed, the black disc had reached the diameter of 20 meters.

It was still enlarging, like the fear in Ye Chong’s heart as he watched the black disc on the projection. The last spatial distortion he saw at the underground was hardly 3 meter long in diameter. And this black disc had hit the diameter of 20 meters within the last few minutes!

The reporters started to notice the strange phenomena beyond the boundary, as they readjusted their cameras towards the bizarre circle in the center.

“Oh my, what in the He Yue is that?” asked the reporter, with a never-before-felt excitement in him, “I had never seen such fantasy! The black circle seems to be a black hole, unlike a black hole, it does not suck. Hah, at least we are safe you see. It looks so gorgeous that I wonder if it’s the most perfect circle in the entire galaxy? The peculiar part is, we were unable to measure its breadth, it’s simply too thin! Oh my, it’s still growing, growing like puberty. The diameter now… hmmm… approximately 50 meters !”

The scene had been broadcasted across universe. People stopped their works, people placed down their phone, as with an unintelligible expression they looked upon the projection.

“What… is that thing? Oh my He Yue galaxy…” One customer in the bar was opening his mouth wide, that the beer he was pouring went overflowed.

“It’s so round and black… and looked very deep.”

“I don’t know, I think I had seen something similar on my wife…”

“Dude, I’m eating!”

Somehow the bartender got slapped.

“We are still unable to identify the phenomena at the moment. Was it the gate to hell? Or was it a portal to an alternate dimension? Or was it some gadget-went-wrong by a robotic cat from the future? Hehe…,” said the reporter mischievously, “but I believe that the mysterious organization has an earth-shattering secret associated with its recent operation and the hole!”

Ye Chong did not seem interested in having any association with this hole. His fear intensified, as his sweat fell harder.

The black disc was still growing! The diameter? It had reached 800 meters.

Ye Chong quivered a little as he reminisced the last encounter with this spooky disc.

What would come out this time…

Time was lapsing sluggishly, it felt as if the disc was sucking the flow of time…

On the projection, the disc remained growing and Team 1 had started shifting towards the exterior.

3 hours and 5 minutes later…

The black disc had stopped, while achieving a diameter of 22.6 kilometers…

A black circular area of an approximate 23 kilometer diameter did not seem that impressive in the voidness of space. But, if one was able to take a look near the area itself, it would be breathtaking indeed. It was a giant, perfect, abyssal circle, with an unmeasurable breadth. Nobody knew what it was, and why it was there.

But people were convinced that, they no longer had the leisure to crack jokes, not even the reporter just now. His tone had turned grim, like the atmosphere of the entire galaxy.

In the past 3 hours, countless scientists and scholars had launched a detailed discussion on the phenomena, yet nobody could provide a sound explanation.

Darkness defines death, death defines destruction.

So what would this unknown darkness bring to the galaxy?

Was it apocalypse?

The speculation popped up in the mind of the people.

The ceased growth of the black disc was a nerve-calming sight to people. Just when they thought it was only an adornment to the space, things happened!

Dark, purplish scarlet gases began rolling out of the flat circle. The gases did not spread however, only surrounding the dark disc constantly.

In no time the disc had been fully engulfed by the dimly reddish gases.

The cloud of gas was grooving, as if given life.

It was a creepy sight.

Out of sudden, a dark purplish lightning zapped by quickly.

It was a sign. Countless sparks started bellowing within the clouds.

Although the broadcast had no sound, somehow people could imagine the cracking sound of a typical aggressive spark.

Everything happened rapidly. In 5 minutes, the cloud of gases regained its serenity.

“It is expanding,” alerted Mu.

“Mhm.” Ye Chong had already noticed the growth of the gases after the spark-reaction ended.

And that was when the alarm went off.

“Warning. Unidentifiable Creature Detected! Warning. Unidentifiable Creature Detected! Population: Unknown. Population: Unknown!”

Within the purplish cloud, a dense flock of red spots could be discerned.

Heavy gasps were heard in the meeting room.

Ye Chong somehow calmed down again, as he looked at the frozen Sang Pu, “Attention, Team 1. Attention, Team 1. Retreat right away. I repeat, all units retreat right away! Prompt your weapons, fire at order!” Ye Chong seized the commandership and placed the order promptly.

Sang Pu, who just recovered from the shock, had his face blushing.

That was when the reporters noticed the gliding army of the mysterious organization had evacuated themselves from the area. The stranger thing was, all laser firing units had been redirected towards the cloud of gases.

“Team 2 into the space now! Team 2 into the space now! Confirm location before entry,” said Sang Pu after he got hold of himself.

Ye Chong’s eyes were staring at the screen, in which the red dots were growing as well, those red dots were… they were charging towards the edges of the cloud! They seemed to be very capable at speed! Ye Chong could start discerning the silhouette of their appearance now!

!

Sang Pu’s eyes went larger than Collision, as anger filled his gaze, veins were bloating on his forehead, his lips were almost muffling up the communicator. His fingers were trembling on the grip.

“All units, radius vector 6 to 9, radius vector 12 to 15, ready to fire upon command!”

Little Rock and Zhang Yu in their helmets were rapidly tapping the interfaces on the processors, as they redirected the firing device to the according scope.

The unidentified creatures were arriving. They were charging very quickly towards them.

One had already left the cloud!

The second! Third!

A blob of sweat rolled off Sang Pu’s cheek, as his respiration grew heavier.

The appearance of that unknown creature had been fully captured by the camera, everyone in the meeting room had seen it clearly.

Sang Pu’s tightened fingers rubbed against the communicator, “Fire!” he shouted upon seeing the unknown creatures pouncing.

he dark, starry sky was lit up.

Numerous laser beams fired together, raining down onto the mysterious creatures. Words cannot describe this magnificent sight. The laser beams fired from the beam guns were all in a faint red color. Each beam gun fired approximately 120 shots per second.

In just a few seconds, hundreds and thousands of laser beams tore through the wide, open space!

The laser beams were tightly concentrated like the holes on a sieve, heading towards the mysterious creatures.

Laser beams were bright, but usually observable with the naked eyes. However, the holographic screen was now saturated with an intense brightness that would eye hurting!

The power of the laser beams from the beam guns shocked the people watching from inside the meeting room.

Ye Chong stared dumbfounded at the red beams on the holographic screen. This was a plan that he ,Mu and Shang came up together, but the effect was much beyond his expectations. He never put much hope in the laser beam guns.

Laser beam guns were invented quite some time ago, but they had never been the primary means of assault in the past. These weapons were practically immobile, mostly inaccurate, and consumed energy like a sponge would absorb water. Hence, they had never been widely used. Compared to laser beam guns, long range mechs could shoot far more accurately.

Of course, more importantly, be it the Five Galaxies or He Yue Galaxy, it had been a long time since an actual war had happened.

Ye Chong never imagined that their creative use of the laser beam guns would later change people’s perceptions about these long abandoned toys. Despite the many flaws of these weapons, they had an overwhelming advantage in at least one respect – they were cheap.

Everyone in the meeting stared the holographic screen that was now completely saturated in bright red.

Sang Pu was even more puzzled. If he could not see anything on the screen, then how could he direct his men?

The meeting room was in an uproar in the next instant.

Just like in the meeting room, this bright light was seen from every other corner in the He Yue Galaxy. Surprised by the sudden brightness on their screens, many people cried out in fear and quickly shut their eyes. The weak hearted ones were even more shaken.

Compared to Sang Pu and others, members of the public who were watching the live broadcast were surprised even more, since they had no warning at all.

The entire He Yue Galaxy was in turmoil.

The reporter’s cry of surprise was also broadcasted to the entire He Yue Galaxy. However, the reporter managed to act professionally as befitted a man with his rich experience in the field. He immediately switched to a filtered feed of the spectacle. This filtered camera was rarely used in interviews, and reserved for more unusual occasions, like this one.

By now, the spectators had mostly recovered from the assault on their eyesight.

When they opened their eyes again, they saw something that would forever be burned in their memories!

Since a filter was used, the holographic screen was now in various shades of green. However, on this thoroughly green screen, numerous light beams drew straight lines across the sky. The entire holographic screen was filled with these bright light beams. The light beams flashed and vanished, but the number of laser beams in the screen continued to increase.

Everyone was shocked.

The entire He Yue Galaxy, be it in bars or in the city square, as long as the holographic screens were showing the live broadcast, the people watching them were all dead silent.

The laser beam guns rapidly depleted their energy reserves, especially when they were firing so intensely. This was another reason the beam guns were not favored – they could not be used in a prolonged assault.

Five minutes! The energy cells in each laser beam gun could only sustain a total of five minutes of firing in maximum capacity.

After the five minutes, the holographic screen finally dimmed. During the firing, Ye Chong and the Sang Family Legion had not thought of using filters, a sign of their lack of experience.

The laser beams left an afterimage that lasted for three seconds.

The bright holographic screen was like a huge ball of glowing yarn, and right now it was slowly unravelling, losing brightness with every second that passed. The laser beams that once lit up the sky, providing a dazzling performance to the people, were now slowly vanishing from the universe.

Ye Chong and his group could finally see everything there clearly now.

Silence! The meeting room was dead quiet, so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

They were all wearing colorful expressions. Everyone’s mouth was wide open as they stared dumbfounded at the holographic screen. However, many of them quickly recovered and looked away, feeling sorry for the creatures. Most of them sharply inhaled, and one could hear all the sharp inhales across the room.

The holographic screen showed a terrible sight that even a warmonger like Sang Tie with a heart of stone could barely continue watching it. The destruction caused during the five minutes before was devastating!

Outside, floating around in space were many of the creatures’ dead bodies. They were pieces of flesh, torn off limbs, and organs flying around. All the creatures received multiple wounds, and most of them were just full of holes. It was hard to wholly preserved bodies. This was a problem for Ye Chong and his company, since it was difficult to reconstruct the complete image of these unknown lifeforms.

That round of assault was simply too violent! Ye Chong believed that even Mu or Shang would not be able to survive an attack like that. In fact, no mech could survive an overwhelming attack like that. Ye Chong thought that this intense firing assault was more powerful than a warship’s cannons, especially against small sized enemies like mechs.

Ye Chong made a note to himself that should he find himself within range of laser beam guns, he should run away as quick as possible.

Ye Chong now knew that the devastation they wrought was being broadcasted to every corner in the He Yue Galaxy. He Yue was not a peaceful place, but the conflicts were often on a small scale. There had never been any large scale military warfare. Most of the people here still lived relatively peacefully, and had never seen anything so shocking as this! If even the Sang Tribe members were affected by this battlefield, how could the commoners even manage?

The horrible images of flesh, innards and severed limbs were everywhere. The reporter was daring enough to focus the feed on those things.

Everyone who was watching the holographic screen turned pale, their eyes widening with fear.

Blergh! Someone finally could not hold it anymore, and vomited. Like a catalyst, people began to vomit everywhere. The sound of people throwing up did not stop. Here and there, people bent over to empty their stomachs.

Here and there were sounds of vomiting, children crying, adults swearing, nonsensical mutterings … The symphony of chaos began as fear spread amongst the people. It was as if the apocalypse was here!

Ye Chong and the Sang Tribe Legion’s reputation skyrocketed overnight. However, they were mainly famous for their violence! This caused most starship fleets and mech squads to stay far, far away from Ye Chong and his Sang Tribe Legion for a long time after.

Nonetheless, Ye Chong and the Sang Tribe Legion would not have minded being known for this particular reason.

Ye Chong studied the holographic screen quickly, summarizing the results of their assault.

Ye Chong may look calm on the outside, but on the inside he was shocked. He could already identify some crustalades among the unknown lifeforms. However, there were more types of unknown lifeforms here than the last time when he and Rui Bing were at the Gateway. He had not seen many of them before.

It was a pity that their bodies were now mostly unrecognizable.

Ye Chong’s eyes fell on the huge, dark fuschia colored gas cloud on the holographic screen. This cloud was so huge that it seemed to fill up the entire background of the holographic screen from every angle.

He focused on the gas cloud intensely, as though he could see through it by pure willpower.

Abruptly, he noticed something and leaned forward. His gaze turned even more penetrating, and his expression turned slightly grim. He stared at the fuschia colored gas cloud without moving.

No one in the meeting room noticed Ye Chong’s expression change. After the initial shock, they were now discussing excitedly about the brief assault earlier. Everyone was talking about the surprisingly powerful laser beam guns. That magnificent spectacle was just amazing! They had never seen a large scale war before, and never before had they thought of fighting in this way. This experience had completely altered their perception of war.

The Sang Tribe members were natural warriors. They were all physically and mentally trained for combat. While they were not as familiar with modern weaponry as even the average mech pilots were in the He Yue Galaxy, they understood battle far more deeply than the so called elites here.

This round of battle was an eye opener to them. Like Ye Chong, they had an innate sensitivity to all things combat.

Ye Chong was now speaking with Mu/Shang.

“Mu, it is growing larger?”

“Yes. It’s rapidly expanding, and it’s now 56 percent larger than before,” Mu reported with characteristic precision.

Ye Chong felt his heart skip a beat!

e suddenly remembered about the mollusc bristleworms and crustalades. Mollusc bristleworms were immune to energy weapons. They evolve by absorbing energy, while crustalades evolve by consuming metals. Were there any other creatures that were similar to mollusc bristleworms here? After all, in the span of just a few minutes, the laser beams that were shot towards this purplish gas cloud was packed with a lot of energy!

Ye Chong had already recognized some of the bodies as that of the crustalades, so it was a real possibility that the mollusc bristleworms were also here. Ye Chong was not particularly worried about them. He knew that the Collision mechs would be effective against them because of his experience fighting against those creatures.

Ye Chong was more worried about the existence of other kinds of creatures that were similar to the mollusc bristleworms.

Evolution was a powerful and frightening ability. Take the crustalades as an example. The more metal they consumed, the more metallic their armor plates would become. Their armor would become tougher, and their teeth stronger.

After encountering the crustalades and mollusc bristleworms, Ye Chong had never seen any other creatures that could evolve as fast as those two.

Pure energy and metal were the conditions for their evolution. However, they were also the most important resources for humans. Based on this principle alone, without regard to the aggressive behavior of the unknown lifeforms, humans and these creatures were intrinsically incompatible. This was also the decisive factor that turned both sides into enemies.

However, Ye Chong was probably the only who was thinking about this at the moment. Most of the people were still watching the holographic screen, some of them cursing the mysterious battalion that was simply too menacing and terrifying! Look at those countless bodies floating in space, the proof of their callousness!

Nonetheless, Ye Chong was not the kind of person who would think about how he was a part of humanity. He would never willingly shoulder the burden of saving humanity. The only thing he cared about was the danger that these creatures posed to the people he cared about.

The purple gas cloud was rapidly expanding, and Ye Chong thought it looked like a huge purple heart, expanding with each pulse.

The purple gas cloud was now spanning across 700 kilometers. However, it did not turn any thinner. It was still as thick as before. 700 kilometers was the equivalent length of about 120 starships joined lengthwise. Such a massive object was still considered small compared to the scale of the universe, roughly the size of a slightly larger asteroid. However, to the Sang Tribe members who were still flying around it, it was a solid threat.

“It’s unimaginable! Heavens! What’s happening? Was this mysterious battalion actually here to fight against those unknown lifeforms? It’s too devastating! We had no idea where these unknown lifeforms come from, but the incontrovertible fact is that these outsiders that came from far away have been completely destroyed by a powerful force! Is it possible for these unknown lifeforms to survive an attack like that? I bet nothing could! Even the most sturdy starship in the world will be destroyed by that round of attack.

“The place has become a devastating battlefield! May I remind the audience that minors should be accompanied by adults while watching this program.” The reporter had by now recovered from his shakened state, and began to speak more fluently. However, one could still notice the slight tremble in his voice.

Along the Hyperbolic Flight Route, a fleet made up of approximately 50 starships were flying at constant speed. As the He Yue Galaxy’s fifth largest flight route, it was extremely busy. The number of starships that traveled along Hyperbolic Flight Route had also steeply increased of late. Ever since the Three Aristocratic Families relocated their military personnel, most of the main flight routes were greatly affected. Due to the fact that the Hyperbolic Flight Route was not under the control of the Three Aristocratic Families, however, flights along this route were not just unaffected, but had increased by a few magnitudes.

Captain Craig sat quietly in the captain’s cabin, resting his mind. There was nothing in particular that demanded his attention throughout the flight. The Hyperbolic Flight Route had always been quite safe. Rarely would space pirates dare to do their marauding here.

The 50 transport ships that made up the fleet were all carrying war resources. There were high performance energy cells, mechs and mech parts. High performance energy cells could store four to five times more energy than normal energy cells, and were thus much preferred. However, due to its complicated manufacturing process, they were also very expensive. Aside from the Three Aristocratic Families, only two other huge company groups could produce them, and only in limited numbers. All their products were sold by wholesale agents, and they were never sold individually. Every year, all the manufactured energy cells would be sold out to these wholesale agents.

Captain Craig served as a Captain under one of these wholesale agents. With 35 years of flight experience, he was widely respected by his peers and the wholesale agent.

Currently, he was being assigned for an important mission. The amount of goods to be transported this time was unprecedented. Of the 50 ships in the fleet, 25 of them were loaded with high performance energy cells. Craig knew that this was roughly the volume that his employer would purchase for an entire year!

For this mission, Craig had made a whole range of preparations. All 50 ships in the fleet did not look particularly conspicuous from the outside, but they had all gone through extensive modifications. All the crew members assigned to this mission were handpicked, and they were all excellent mech pilots. All of them were combat ready, and stood a chance even against mech pilots from the Three Aristocratic Families.

Craig was confident because of these reasons. Additionally, he had been directing fleets along the Hyperbolic Route since he was 18. He knew the route like the back of his hand.

“Captain!” A crew member interrupted his rest. He opened his eyes and asked in a low voice, “What is it?”

“Please look at this, what is it?” The crew member pointed towards the holographic screen.

The screen was filled with the image of a huge and seemingly boundless purple gas cloud.

Whatever was going on along the Hyperbolic Flight Route did not gain any attention from anyone else. Right now, the center of all attention was in a secluded area where Planet Yi Ju was.

Ye Chong’s expression was grim.

The first one to notice was Sang Pu. Soon, like a chain reaction, a second person noticed, then a third person … Gradually, everyone in the meeting room noticed Ye Chong’s grim expression. The lively discussion in the meeting room quieted down until it was completely silent. Everyone looked to the young man. Even the slowest of them had figured out by then that the situation was not as optimistic as they thought.

If it were anyone else, they would have thought he was worrying for nothing. However, this was their young teacher, whom they had revered as a God … No one in the Sang Tribe would doubt him.

Ye Chong watched unblinkingly at the holographic screen, unaware of the stares he was receiving.

Everyone else looked to the holographic screen that he was watching. Shown on the screen was still a purple gas cloud. They stared at it for a long time, but did not notice anything amiss.

Just then, Ye Chong spoke, “Pu.”

“Ah.” Sang Pu paused at the sudden call, but quickly responded, “Sir …”

“Did you see any bodies coming out from the purple gas cloud?” Ye Chong asked a curious question.

Sang Pu looked like he was recalling every detail of the event before. He then looked up and replied firmly, “No, Sir. I didn’t see any bodies coming out.”

The exchange between Ye Chong and Sang Pu attracted the attention of everyone else in the meeting room.

Ye Chong took a glance at Sang Pu, and asked, “Do you think there could be more unknown lifeforms in the purple gas cloud?”

“Inside the purple gas cloud?” Sang Pu was surprised, then the feeling turned to dread. “Could there be more of those creatures in there?”

Sang Pu’s question caused the mood in the meeting room to turn serious.

Right then, Ye Chong received incoming from Mu. “Ye, be careful, the purple gas cloud’s range has extended to where we placed our laser beam guns.”

Mu’s words sent a jolt to shock to Ye Chong. He abruptly looked up. The massive purple gas cloud on the holographic screen had indeed reached the area where they had placed their beam guns. The laser beam guns disappeared one by one into the expanding purple gas cloud, like they were swallowed by the massive thing.

Ye Chong felt dead calm right now. He quickly identified the key factors in play.

“Mu, make a comparative analysis on the rate of expansion of the purple gas cloud, for before and after our attack.”

Mu’s reply was swift. “The rate of expansion had increased by 7.67 times after the attack.”

“As expected! It’s absorbing energy!” Ye Chong muttered to himself.

The exchange between Ye Chong and Mu was unknown to Sang Pu and others. To them, it seemed that Ye Chong was only in deep thought.

“Send some men into the purple gas cloud to investigate what’s inside,” Ye Chong said to Sang Pu.

Sang Pu nodded in understanding. He immediately opened his comms channel. “Sang Mu, send 50 men into the purple gas cloud, investigate what’s inside. Any discoveries should be transmitted live back to base. If signals are disrupted, record your findings, but you must bring the recordings back. Understood?” Ye Chong had left all the actual commanding of the Sang Tribe to Sang Pu. When it came to battles, Ye Chong had a natural instinct, but this did not imply that he would be an able commander. Hence, he had never interfered in the particulars of commanding their forces. This was a fact that he had understood early on. It was best to leave some things to the professionals.

On the holographic screen, Sang Mu nodded. “Understood.”

The 50 Collision mechs made up their first combat wave.

From their first wave of Collision mechs that were flying around the edge of the purple gas cloud, 50 Collision mechs broke off from the group. They immediately formed five squads and plunged straight into the purple gas cloud.

heir worst fear happened. Once the 50 Collision mechs entered the purple gas cloud, they lost contact with base. Little Rock, who was in charge of communications, reported this anomaly the moment he noticed it. The news caused the atmosphere in the meeting room to turn dreadful.

It was now obvious that the purple gas cloud could block electromagnetic signals. This meant that mechs that entered the purple gas cloud would no longer be as combat effective. The world inside the cloud was not suited for battles using mechs.

What was within this purple gas cloud? Could there be more of the mysterious creatures?

No one had an answer to that. However, they were under no illusion that the investigative probe into the purple gas cloud was going to be easy. An enormous swarm of menacing creatures had just emerged from within the gas cloud. Who knew what else was awaiting inside?

In fact, Ye Chong and the Sang Tribe members in the meeting room back at their base were not the only ones who were interested in the investigation squad that was sent into the purple gas cloud. The frontline reporter had also noticed their movements.

“Oh! After that extraordinary scene earlier, there’s now new movement from the mysterious and powerful organization. We can see here that 50 odd looking full-skeleton mechs had formed into squads of five and entered the purple gas cloud. I believe this must be scouts they were sending out. What could possibly be inside this purple gas cloud? More strong unknown lifeforms? And what about the black spherical thing we saw just now? Is it still there? Truth be told, even I am feeling an urge to enter this mysterious purple gas cloud to investigate further!” The reporter’s voice was still a little unsteady, but he was otherwise back to normal.

Everyone’s attention was on the rapidly expanding purple gas cloud on the holographic screen.

Minutes passed, but no Collision mech flew out.

The people in the meeting room at the base were feeling more anxious by the moment. Everyone was worried. They knew that with each passing second, the odds of survival for the 50 Sang Tribe members would worsen by a little more.

After three minutes, the purple gas cloud expanded even more, but they still did not see any Collision mechs coming out. A sense of foreboding was heavy in the room. After all, Collision mechs could travel up to Mach 20. Even if the purple gas cloud was a few times larger than it was now, the time elapsed should have been enough for the mech pilots to make a few roundtrip flights inside the gas cloud.

It was quiet in the meeting room. No one said a single word.

Five minutes passed. By now, almost all the laser beam guns they had set up were consumed by the crazily expanding purple gas cloud, as shown on the holographic screen. From Little Rock’s side, they learned that all communications with the laser beam guns were lost. Hopelessness spread in the meeting room. They feared that the worst had happened.

The second attack squad had arrived on the scene. Two battalions with a thousand Collision mechs each skirted around the edges of the purple gas cloud, one following the other. It was a marvel to see how they managed to stay in formation throughout their flight. Every turn was made in perfect sync. It was a graceful performance.

Just as the second attack squad was completing half of its circular circuit about the purple gas cloud, a Collision mech suddenly emerged from within the gas cloud, flying erratically like a candle fire dancing in the wind. It looked like its engines would give way at any moment.

“Ahh!” There was a uniform gasp in the meeting room, and the people inside stood up almost simultaneously.

The Collision mech was bruised all over. It must have just survived a terrible fight. The four skeletal blades on the mech were all broken. Only half of the colliding spear on its frontal tip was still attached. The main body of the Collision mech was covered with damages.

“Assist the mech! Quick!” Sang Pu could no longer keep composed as he roared his orders into the comms channel!

There was no need for his orders. The second attack squad had noticed the Collision mech that came out of the purple gas cloud almost instantly. A hundred Collision mechs abruptly accelerated and left formation, tracing a hundred beautiful arches in space. Their target was the heavily damaged Collision mech.

“Comms is on! We’re linked to the mech.” Little Rock’s announcement was like music to the ears.

“Be … Beware …” The mech pilot’s voice came through intermittently, sounding tired and forced. The brief words were followed by a series of coughs and heavy breathing.

A sense of dread overcame the people who were listening. They were all experienced fighters. Of course they could deduce that their comrade was heavily wounded, and in a very dangerous situation!

Before they could think on what he was warning them about, something drastic happened on the holographic screen!

Suddenly, dozens of figures slipped out of the purple gas cloud. Their target was the damaged Collision mech.

To assist the heavily damaged mech, the Collision mechs that were approaching it had all slowed down. This sudden turn of events had caught them off guard. The mechs that were at the frontlines were in immediate danger due to their deceleration. Collision mechs relied on speed. If they lacked the velocity, things would not look good for them!

The unknown lifeforms moved quickly. Just as the two sides were about to clash, the Sang Tribe demonstrated their excellent coordination in the battlefield once again!

The Collision mechs that led the assist made a very steep angled turn towards the side and backwards, leaving an empty space of 25 meters across in their wake.

Before the audience could make sense of the maneuver, the Collision mechs from behind charged forward without slowing down!

Mach 22!

The next 20 Collision mechs in the formation charged ahead like 20 bullets, flying so very close to one another to squeeze past the 25-meter opening, and straight on towards the unknown lifeforms.

In that short instant, the leading mech pilots and the second wave of attacking mech pilots never spoke through the comms. They did this completely out of battle instinct and the spirit of coordination! Moreover, the Sang Tribe members displayed their top notch mech piloting skills. Even at Mach 22, they were to execute such a tough maneuver. Even the most critical mech pilots would be impressed by them.

Both sides clashed into each other with loaded momentum!

Blood and flesh exploded everywhere! Skeletons and armor broke into pieces! It was not exactly a magnificent moment, but it was disturbingly brutal.

The 20 mechs collided head on against the 20 unknown lifeforms.

On the holographic screen, severed limbs and chunks of flesh exploded outwards. Skeletal fragments were scattered around the battlefield.

Everyone in the meeting room felt a sharp tug in their hearts.

There was no sound, only a live feed of what had happened. A battle in space was done in complete silence.

To the average layperson, everything was over in an instant. They could barely react to the incident, and most people could not even make sense of what had occured. However, in the meeting room at the base, Ye Chong and the Sang Tribe members, all veterans of combat, had seen everything clearly.

Shock … Disbelief … Dread … These emotions colored the expressions of the people in the meeting room.

“How could this be?” Someone finally cried out.

Their emotions were to be expected. The clash had ended with all 20 Collision mechs destroyed completely. None of the mechs survived intact. Some of the mechs lost all but one of its skeletal blades, with the last one dangling precariously from its mother body. Some mechs fared even worse, showing a deep gash that cut from the tip all the way to the tail. It was a miracle that these mechs did not explode right then.

Collision mechs were a symbol of indestructibility for the Sang Tribe. Now, they had met their match! The enemy was able to cause this degree of damage with just their bodies. They must have incredibly tough bodies to achieve this.

Ye Chong was also shaken to the core. As inventor of the Collision mech, no one understood the Collision mech better than he. Archipelago’s skeletal material were as strong as metal alloys. However, even such a strong material could not hold against the unknown lifeforms. Aside from the few mechs that Ye Chong did not completely understand, he believed that these creatures could fatally damage every other kind of mech in existence.

Ye Chong stared at the unknown lifeforms that came out of nowhere on the holographic screen, his expression guarded despite the growing turmoil in his heart.

These creatures were about 12 to 15 meters tall, the average height of most mechs. They had a light gray exterior that had with a metallic shimmer, suggesting tough skin. The creatures looked muscular, with lower limbs that were far thicker than their forelimbs. The feet had claws that seemed to be made of metal too.

The head was a conical shape, long and sharp. The narrow, long eyes in dark red were chilling to watch.

Behind the creature was a thick tail, its main tool of offense. Ye Chong saw that at least 15 of the 20 Collision mechs were damaged by the tails. The tail was about 15 meters long, looking thick and strong, with a black glistening surface. However, the most terrifying bit was the tip of the tail, light red in color, looking like an arrowhead but with longer blades that pointed backwards at the sides.

On its back were dozens of black colored armour plates that shined like polished alloy armor plating, an obvious means of defense. The chest, however, was smooth and bare. There was nothing there except for the muscular lines.

The Sang Tribe watched the unknown lifeforms on the holographic screen unblinkingly. They were awed by the destructive power of the creatures’ tails, and found their agility in outer space hard to believe.

Unlike them, however, Ye Chong was entirely focused on the hands of these mysterious creatures!

e Chong would never forget those hands! They were very similar to the one that emerged from the circular black hole in the cave underground – angry crimson lines against black colored skin, with strong webbed fingers. These pair of hands had left a very deep impression in Ye Chong. He could never forget what happened in the underground cave.

The only thing that was different this time was that the hands had only five fingers each, unlike the eight fingers he saw last time. The number of digits was different, but that was just about the only difference that mattered.

A similar black hole, and similar hands …

Were these two events related in some way? Ye Chong stared at the unknown lifeforms on the holographic screen, pondering the question. Ever since the black circular hole appeared, the idea had been bugging him.

Aside from Ye Chong’s pondering, the rest of the people in the meeting room were all captivated by the battle that was unfolding on the holographic screen.

The first round of collisions had happened in only a few seconds. However, it was enough for the Sang Tribe members to know what to do next.

The sudden attack was like a signal that marked the beginning of the next round of battle!

The 30 Collision mechs behind the 20 before them were already preparing themselves before the actual collision. They had no time to analyze the results of the first round of attack. The 30 Collision mechs charged towards the now wounded unknown lifeforms.

In that short first attack, the mech that was blocking the path to their enemies had cleared away. In other words, the 30 Collision mechs had a clear path towards the enemies.

The 30 Collision mechs had enough distance to accelerate!

Many of the Sang Tribe members in the meeting room looked flushed. For these battle-eager people, nothing could make them more excited than what was about to happen next! Accelerated Collision mechs were deadly weapons of war!

It seemed that the wounds affected the movements of these unknown lifeforms. However, they also made an accurate assessment of their situation. The 20 creatures flew away quickly, hoping to escape back into the purple gas cloud.

However, how could they hope to run away from the 30 Collision mechs that had targeted them?

It was right then that another attack squad that was circling nearby began to approach the center of the fight. The third wave of attack had prepared themselves to be airborne to assist.

Mach 22 was almost impossible to imagine for any commoner. Of all the people who witnessed the next few moments, many of them only saw a blur.

When they finally made sense of the situation, they could only see 16 pairs of menacing red eyes slowly losing the life in them. The creatures floated helplessly in space, their wounds rapidly frozen , leaving behind pale bodies.

Of the 20 unknown lifeforms, only four made it back to the purple gas cloud. The rest of them died in battle.

The unique fighting style of Collision mechs, their strength, and their top notch speed fascinated the audience. If the first round of attack was too fast to follow, the second round of attack was clear as day. Even so, few people understood the details of what had transpired.

That’s because the Collision mechs were too fast! Nonetheless, this was exactly what got people excited. Not everyone in the He Yue Galaxy would be a mech pilot, but they would certainly know a thing or two about mechs. For most people, they were not interested in unknown lifeforms. After all, you could always find more of them in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. There were plenty of them over there.

Mechs and velocity were concepts that were easier to relate to, and far more interesting.

The news channel seemed to understand the taste of its audience. Right now, the holographic screen was replaying the scene earlier, with a professional set of analysis results displayed on the sidelines, revealing a shocking Mach 22!

All the spectators in the He Yue Galaxy were blown away! The odd looking flying vessels became the hottest topic everywhere. Just when the numbers came out, many mech manufacturing companies faced an overwhelming number of calls from their call center, inquiring if the company could produce or at least buy those mechs for them.

However, the people in the base meeting room on planet Yi Ju did not share the good cheer.

Killing 16 out of the 20 creatures was a satisfying result. However, when taking into account that 24 Collision mechs were damaged, and 50 Collisions mechs were deployed in the battle, it was a truly worrying result. In the second round of attack, with 30 Collision mechs against 20 wounded creatures, they still suffered four casualties, and let four of the creatures escaped.

This showed how strong the unknown lifeforms were in combat – they were at least as powerful as Collision mechs!

Additionally, despite being hit with such a powerful momentum, the unknown lifeforms did not explode into pieces as did the other wild beasts the Sang Tribe had fought against before. Their bodies were mostly intact, a sign of how tough they were.

“Recording is transferred over,” Little Rock reported briefly as his usual way. The Collision mech was now being escorted back to base, but the condition of the mech pilot inside was still undetermined.

Of the 50 people who went in, only one came out alive. It was a grave statistic. The Sang Tribe members had always been close to each other. Sang Ling’s eyes were already red with tears. The rest of them went silent.

Ye Chong took a sweeping glance of the people around him, and said, “Let’s have a look.”

The Sang Tribe members lifted their heads. Their lives back in Archipelago had always been dangerous. Battling for life was an integral part of their lives. The death of comrades was not uncommon. With their sorrows momentarily suppressed, everyone looked to the holographic screen. They were also curious about the horrors in the purple gas cloud that left only one of the 50 Collision mechs alive!

As the recording began to show, they all saw an endless stretch of the purple gas cloud.

The purple gas cloud was dense, and visibility was low. Nevertheless, the mech pilot had quickly switched on the sodium lamps at the front of the mech.

As holographic scanning became mainstream, few mechs would be equipped with lighting systems like this. Strangely, the more advanced mechs and starships would often be found equipped with them. Ye Chong had installed sodium lamps for the Collision mechs to help the Sang Tribe travel across the Red Sea. The lamps were not big, and they came at a low price.

Who would have thought that the sodium lamps would actually be put to good use!

Despite the bright sodium lamps, however, visibility did not extend beyond a kilometer. As a precaution, the mech pilot had slow down his Collision mech.

The Collision mech drifted slowly in the vast, purple gas cloud. This went on for about half a minute without incident.

Everyone in the meeting room as holding their breath, watching the recording as though it was happening to them right now.

Only Ye Chong kept his calm as he watched the recording silently.

Just then, the scene on the holographic screen changed. Something came into view in front, but the dense purple gas cloud made it hard to make out what it was.

The mech pilot noticed immediately. He dimmed the sodium lamps and slowed down his mech even further. The Collision mech cruised forward warily.

As he inched closer towards the object, the view became clearer. However, whatever it was had such a strange shape that it looked like nothing at all.

Suspense grew in the meeting room.

Getting closer now, and clearer still. The Collision mech approached the thing in front of it, and now they finally saw what it was.

Thick columns of flesh in a dark, purplish shade were growing in a frenzy, spreading outwards like tendrils. The dark purple columns were so thick that even the thinnest parts were larger than the cross section of a Collision mech. The soft bodied creature had tendril-like columns for its body, in a dark purplish colour that was even more intense than the color of the purple gas cloud. The columns looked like part liquid, part solid. As they expanded outwards in all directions, any column that got into the way of another would merge with its counterpart like liquid.

There were many dark colored spots on the skin of the soft bodied creature. The spots seemed to be connected to the black threads that ran inside and along the columns, vaguely visible from the outside. Like a primitive forest expanding its territory, the soft bodied creature grew into a forest of fleshy columns. On these columns were many purplish black clumps. It was from these clumps that purple gas was released.

This was such a otherworldly spectacle that even the Sang Tribe members with their numerous encounters with all kinds of animals were dumbfounded. They stared in amazement at the holographic screen.

The mech pilot the Collision mech was lost in the moment for a while, before quickly snapping back to attention. He flew the mech carefully, creeping up to the rapidly expanding soft bodied creature.

The soft bodied creature was so huge that the spaces between the irregularly growing columns was enough to let the Collision mech pass.

The mech pilot hesitated for a moment, before choosing one of the larger spaces to pass through.

It was like entering a forest. The flesh columns extended here and there like vines and branches in an irregular pattern. The Collision mech had to slow down even more to avoid the unevenly thick columns.

As he flew further in, the flesh columns became thicker and thicker.

The mech pilot flew well, dodging all the obstacles as he maneuvered his Collision mech onwards without delay.

Ye Chong estimated his speed to be at about Mach 7.

After two minutes of uneventful flight, the only thing that changed was the thickening of the surrounding soft bodied columns. However, this made the spaces between the columns wider, allowing the Collision mech smoother passage.

Suddenly, the annoying purple gas cloud disappeared, and the view cleared up.

hat they saw was a whole jungle of purple fleshy columns, criss-crossing one another. It was like entering the human body, watching the blood vessels in the human system.

On the holographic screen, the mech pilot tried to use his holographic scanner, but to no avail. In the end, he switched back to optics. However, without the purple gas cloud obscuring the view, he could see a lot clearer here.

The purple fleshy columns here were much thicker than the ones they had seen earlier. The spaces between them were also larger, allowing the mech to fly more easily across.

Huh, what’s that?

On the holographic screen, they saw many large vesicles protruding from the purple flesh columns. These vesicles hung from the columns, enveloped in a layer of semi-transparent skin. Something seemed to move inside. Through the semi-transparent barrier, one could see that the black threads inside the purple columns all converged in the vesicle, ultimately connected to the creature that rested inside.

The mech pilot braced himself and ramped up the intensity of his sodium lamp. The light was offensively bright, and lit up a larger area around the mech. However, what it revealed shocked the people who were now intently watching the recording. Just as the lamp turned brighter, one could see the vesicles growing all over the purple columns. It was eerie sight.

The Collision mech carefully approached one of the vesicles. Everyone in the meeting room leaned forward unconsciously as they watched the holographic screen with undivided attention. They were all curious about the vesicles, eager to know what was inside.

The mech pilot was very skilled. He approached a very huge column, and kept his mech suspended without moving around.

The sodium lamp’s bright light shone onto the nearest vesicle, illuminating its every detail.

Within the semi-transparent envelope was a crystalline fluid. Thin, black threads connected to the creature that lay curled up inside. The threads seemed to be suspended in some kind of liquid. The creature inside was the kind that they saw earlier, the strong ones.

The creature lay peacefully inside the vesicle with its eyes closed, with no traces of the violence and menace that it showed earlier.

However, this black colored creature was slowly changing. Its exposed tail was slowly turning red.

“Heavens! It’s evolving!” Someone in the meeting room cried out.

At that moment, the creature inside the vesicle opened its eyes without warning. Its maroon red eyes gleamed coldly under the sodium lamp’s illumination.

The mech pilot was surprised. However, before he could react, it was already too late. The holographic screen’s view turned into static. It wasn’t hard to figure out that the mech pilot was attacked. The attacker must be the unknown lifeform. Some of them could even make out the moment when the creature burst out of its vesicle.

“Is it evolving?” Ye Chong asked Mu.

“Calculations indicate that the probability for that is at 72 percent,” Mu presented his opinion.

72 percent. That was a very high probability, coming from Mu. Ye Chong thought over the situation. He could see the vesicles popping out all over the purple columns just now. If every vesicle contained one of those creatures … That was a line of thought that Ye Chong could not follow.

Basically, from the battle earlier, Ye Chong could discern that the unknown lifeforms were just as strong as Collision mechs when in battle.

“Mu, do you have any suggestions?” Ye Chong asked.

“It will have to be up to you. There is not enough information for me to make a reliable recommendation.” Ye Chong felt helpless with Mu’s reply.

Time passed, minute by minute. The meeting room was silent. The people inside had long stopped discussing, and were now looking to Ye Chong.

Indeed, as Mu said, they had too little information to work on. However, Ye Chong was weighed down by the decision he was contemplating. If the creatures were really still evolving, then it would be a good opportunity for all of them.

However, that was only a conjecture. What if they were not evolving? Even if they were, could they still fight while evolving? What if they had finished evolving?

The thought made Ye Chong shiver inside. Those numerous vesicles must number more than five thousand. If all the creatures inside them had completed their evolution, they would become a threat of apocalyptic proportions for Yi Ju. The five thousand mech pilots of the Sang Tribe would not win against these creatures.

Yes. If that’s the case, why not make his gamble now?

Ye Chong was extremely opposed to making gambles in his decision making process, since it was an unreliable methodology. He was more used to arriving at a decision after careful calculations. However, the current situation had forced his hand. He knew too little about these mysterious creatures, and Ye Chong believed that he knew more about the creatures than anyone else in the meeting room. However, whatever more he knew would not make a difference.

Ye Chong gritted his teeth and gave his order, “All combatants, prepare for war.” If they do nothing now, they could only wait for the inevitable worst outcome. Ye Chong understood this much, at least.

“To think that I’ll come to rely on luck,” Ye Chong laughed mockingly at himself inside.

Everyone in the meeting room acknowledged the order. The battle hungry Sang Tribe was already eager to move out and fight. Everyone in the meeting room turned excited at once. Even Sang Pu looked flushed with anticipation.

“Ye, your decision is very dangerous,” Mu spoke up after a long moment of silence.

“It’s the only way,” Ye Chong smiled bitterly and said. “Mu, do I have any other choice?” From the beginning, Ye Chong had thought that they were at most two kinds of creatures – the mollusc bristleworms and crustalades. He never expected to discover even stronger enemies. Now, even escaping would be difficult. The purple gas cloud was expanding rapidly. Besides, considering their abilities to evolve, those mysterious creatures would definitely become stronger and stronger! There were seven areas with spatial instability across the entire He Yue Galaxy. Perhaps the day will come that Ye Chong and group will no longer stand a chance against the creatures. Ye Chong had never thought about fighting for world peace, but he believed that if they do not stop the creatures now, they would soon lose their homes to the enemy.

After going through all the trials and tribulations, Ye Chong had gained experience and perspective. No longer was he the little boy who only knew to run away.

“Based on available information, calculations indicate that this is the best decision.” Mu’s assessment gave Ye Chong confidence. “It’s too bad that the creatures seemed to be immune to energy weapons, or I would have been able to help out.” Mu’s words brought a warm sensation in Ye Chong.

“Mu, don’t worry. Oh, right, how’s Shang doing recently? I haven’t seen him in awhile.”

“He is doing some self recalibrations, it will take about three weeks.”

Five thousand Collision mechs gathered at a point 300 kilometers away from the purple gas cloud.

Ye Chong’s order was simple – destroy! Destroy everything inside! Destroy the flesh columns, the vesicles, and anything new they find inside. Images of the purple columns and vesicles had been transmitted to every mech of the Sang Tribe.

The five thousand Collision mechs were organized into five combat units. Since Collision mechs required a larger space to battle effectively, it would not do to have too many mechs together.

The five combat units accelerated along the edge of the purple gas cloud. Every mech switched on its front sodium lamps, lighting up their way forward. Seen from afar, they look like fireflies flying in the dark starry skies in outer space, circling the purple gas cloud.

Aside from the five combat units, there was another smaller, inconspicuous unit that consisted of 100 Collision mechs. These Collision mechs surrounded a mech in the center. The tiny and beautiful humanoid mech in the center stood out amongst the Collision mechs.

Yi Ju’s movements drew the attention of the frontline reporter immediately, and the interest of every viewer around the Galaxy. They had just seen the power of these strange flying vessels a moment ago. To them, the strange flying vessels were even stronger than the mechs produced by the Three Aristocratic Families. Many envied at the chance to command two thousand mechs like these.

However, when another three thousand of them went airborne, the people watched with dropped jaws. This mysterious force was becoming more and more of an enigma for the viewers.

From the looks of it, a large scale war was about to happen.

Just when the audience was glued to the holographic screen, the news channel feed switched, the war in the outer space replaced by a reporter with a grim face.

“Dear audience! Apologies for interrupting you all. I have some unfortunate news to share with you. The news that we received earlier has just been confirmed. Regarding the accident that happened on the famous Hyperbolic Flight Route, more than 39 starships are confirmed missing. The number of missing people is unknown, but estimated to be no less than five thousand.

“Our reporters have arrived at the scene. This is direct feed from them.”

The image switched again, and the people watched as a purple gas cloud materialized on the screen, similar to the one they had just seen.

“Ahh!” Many cried out in shock.

The reported spoke grimly, “This mysterious purple gas cloud is very similar to the one we found at Planet Yi Ju. Our guess is they are exactly the same. RIght now, it is expanding very quickly. For now, we have not seen any of the mysterious lifeforms that came out of the purple gas cloud like at Yi Ju …”

Before the reporter could finish, a sharp cry from one of the reporters on the scene was heard. On the holographic screen, a large wave of the unknown lifeforms emerged from the purple gas cloud, their presence looming over like a huge cloud as they flew towards the reporter’s starship.