CH 113

At the same time, at Wen Yu’s sub-star berth.

This was the fourth day that Lu Huai led his formation to be stationed here.

Lu Huai’s level of mental power and pheromone, and physique were no different from the ordinary Alpha, and the B level of mental power, if put into the standard of the base practical training, it was difficult to say whether he could even last until the fourth round. He came from a military family, his father was the last general, and in the most fierce battle of the year he sent his men back safely through this leap point, but he himself, to keep others from discovering the existence of this place, finally died with the enemy.

Lu Huai inherited his father’s legacy, his conditions could only be described as fair, but with his tenacity and hard work, he eventually dispelled everyone’s doubts, step by step, and reached this current position.

Lu Huai was a little older than He YunTing, easy-going and talkative, and because he truly trusted him, despite his doubts after receiving the order to maintain the sub-star, he still strictly complied.

From the news sent by the Empire, Lu Huai learned that none of the other berths had been broken by the Zerg, the main star territory had not lost a single soldier, both civilian areas and core areas were still maintaining the existing order, and there wasn’t too much change.

In this way, it seemed that the main star’s ports had been cleaned up, leaving only the relatively distant sub-star itself untouched by Zerg.

After all, what others believed was, if the attack on the main star berth was successful, they would be able to invade the Empire’s territory through a gap that has been breached, while the sub-star he was defending was just an insignificant branch of the Empire’s star system, and the attack wouldn’t be able to reach the main star.

If anyone knew that underneath this insignificant branch, there was a leap point that could directly connect to the core.

Prince Wen Yu had already learned about this before Lu Huai came, but fortunately, the location of the berth was relatively remote, and Wen Yu had left this place unused over the years, so that even if it was blown up, it wouldn’t have too much impact on the sub-star. However, the soldiers brought by Lu Huai didn’t know why they had to bring so many explosives to the sub-star for this expedition, only that they heard that the need to blow up the berth on the last day was a direct order issued by the General, who was far away from the fortress.

No one would question the General’s order.

Then, they were still immersed in the shock of a few days ago from the fortress battle.

Lu Huai was talking about this topic when he walked up to two soldiers who had just changed from their shifts to rest. When his soldiers saw him coming, they immediately saluted, “Major General. No abnormalities in the first half of the day’s duty, no abnormalities in the patrols, no suspicious cases detected by the detectors.”

“Understood.” Lu Huai showed a warm smile, so that his soldiers wouldn’t be so formal, “Since they are off duty, sit down and rest for a while.”

“Yes.”

Lu Huai accepted the water handed over, casually taking a sip and saying, “Still talking about the fortress?”

The two young soldiers looked at each other and nodded, “Yes.”

Probably because Lu Huai is usually more easy-going, he didn’t stop them, so the two soldiers continued to whisper, “Mainly because I didn’t expect, that they would really use the Eye of the Star River.”

“Yes, that requires His Majesty the Emperor’s personal authorization to launch.”

“So His Majesty is really watching us!” A few wisps of excitement and enthusiasm ignited in the tone of one of the soldiers.

“The queen really went to the front! It really came with a determination to win, didn’t it? I thought it would stay cowering in its nest.”

“But it’s a good thing, now that the queen has been exterminated, the next generation of young females will be sleeping for who knows how long.. In any case, after this battle, there will be peace for a long time.”

“But why is the fortress still under attack now?”

“Probably to avenge their queen…”

Lu Huai heard the sergeant say this and raised his face and smiled, “Then do you know the reason why the Zerg is still attacking now?”

The two soldiers didn’t know why, and when they heard him ask that, they immediately turned their faces around.

“Most of the Zerg who come to the berth were black arrow ants, right?” Lu Huai patiently explained to them, “This type of Zerg is generally used for transportation and leaping functions, and isn’t strong in attacking. It’s true that the Zerg Queen appearing personally is something no one expected, but since the Zerg Queen has already gone out, other functions of the bug aside, the giant black arrow ants as a necessary migration species of Zerg, will definitely be the most numerous that leaves the nest.”

The little soldier nodded, “Understood, that is, no matter what, the black arrow ants must be the most consumed, to ensure that those other bugs will be brought over to fight!”

Probably finding this statement interesting, Lu Huai laughed, “That’s the truth. So since there will be no new ‘children’ born on the Zerg Planet, those remaining ones that have come on board the black arrow ants will naturally simply fight it out to avenge their mother.”

Hearing this, someone’s face stiffened, “Then the General, are they okay? Can they still… Can they hold up?”

Lu Huai’s face sank for a moment. Because he himself wasn’t sure if the fortress’s troops could survive the retaliatory death of these Zerg together.

“The fortress battle seems to have been very intense.” Someone couldn’t help but worry for them, “As far as the battle situation goes, now…”

Lu Huai didn’t want to show too much anxiety in front of his subordinates, only slightly wrinkled his brow, “According to the number and trend of the past few days, there are no more black arrow ants as tools, so the other side’s situation will not be any better.”

“It’s just that it depends on whether they can safely survive the last day.”

“The last day is… What does it mean?”

“It means that whether it’s the fortress’ strength or the Zerg, there will be a result on this day.”

If the fortress’ energy was ultimately unable to match the number of Zerg, then the starships and mecha that have lost their energy will become strong and be eaten away by the surviving bugs little by little; if the wave of bugs was overwhelmed, then the fortress’ follow-up would not have to worry and there would be no casualties.

One of the soldiers raised his hand trembling and said, “But this last wave… It’s a giant sand worm that appeared in the border area last time.”

The only ones that were raiding the fortress were the black arrow ants, which were used as transport, and the “giant sandworm” that this soldier was talking about. It was the most powerful type of worm from the Queen Zerg, and the reserve pilots who died in the border area at that time showed how fearful it would be one day.

“Don’t worry.” Lu Huai stood up and ended the topic, “You know what kind of people are guarding the fortress now.”

These words were like a shot in the arm, taking the worry off these young soldiers again, “Yeah, it’s General He!”

“It’s the General!”

It seemed that no matter how troublesome the situation was, the name He YunTing was like the sharpest sword and the most solid shield in everyone’s heart. As long as they heard his name, the blood in their chests would be rebuilt and their fighting spirit would rise.

Lu Huai saw the young faces of the soldiers and spoke, “Those who have changed their posts can rest, others continue to keep an eye on the berth, pay attention to the alert.”

“Yes!”

He finished giving the order and returned to his cockpit. But before Lu Huai sat down, the front line communication, symbolizing an emergency, rang. His heart tightened and he quickly connected, “What’s going on?”

The soldier in charge of the probe had an unprecedented panic in his voice, “Major General! The front line…”

The other side sent a real-time screen over.

Lu Huai’s eyes fell on the screen, his face suddenly changed, and then his eyes suddenly darkened—

—

In M2742, Lin Han was carried back to his driver’s seat by He YunTing, the other let him tug on his clothes, but didn’t know how to coax him, and could only repeat those few words. He cried too hard just now, and even though he was trying to hold back his emotions now, he still sobbed every now and then, looking vulnerable and pitiful.

Lin Han had never cried when he was in the border area, never cried when he faced those horrible bugs, but now two top-notch people in the eyes of the Imperial public, one crying like a child who lost his beloved toy, the other bewildered like a teenager who had done something wrong.

The little dumpling, who had fallen asleep in the cabin, was also startled, first glaring at He YunTing subconsciously and angrily, and then withdrawing its gaze resentfully after noticing Lin Han’s dependence.

Grr jumped down from the blanket, using its buttocks to make as little noise as possible when it landed, then tiptoed closer to Lin Han, saw the right moment and fiercely burrowed in Lin Han, and finally managed to get stuck in the gap between Lin Han and He YunTing’s hug.

It shrunk itself into a ball and then went to touch Lin Han’s palm.

Touch it, touch it and he won’t be uncomfortable.

Lin Han felt himself being carefully coaxed by one person, and only then did he realize as an afterthought that he had smeared his tears all over the clothes of the person in front of him, and his shoulders were wet and moist. He blushed and tried to say something, but just as he opened his mouth, a physical sob blocked his words.

So he was hugged a little tighter, and the little fur ball in his hand moved a little more helplessly.

After a moment, Lin Han got his emotions under control, and only then did he raise his hand and give the other man a soft push, straightening up from his arms.

“I’m fine. Don’t ever, ever use it again.” Lin Han’s eyes were painful and swollen from the tears, but he still said to He YunTing in all seriousness, “Do you hear me?”

He felt a pain in his eyes and tried to reach out to rub them, but He YunTing noticed it before he even touched his eyelashes. He kissed him on the eyelid, told him not to move, and then said, “I won’t have to do that anymore.”

He YunTing explained to him that he had only used it once during a scorching battle a few years ago, and hadn’t opened it since, even though there were backups in the mecha. This time it was because he hadn’t closed his eyes for too long and his body was exhausted to a certain extent that he subconsciously thought of using this thing. He couldn’t show weakness to his subordinates, there were too many things that needed to be processed and checked, how could he rest?

“You’ve used it before?!” Lin Han’s voice got a little louder, and soon felt that his words were no different from questioning, and now was not the time to rehash old scores, he wiped his face, “Then you sleep for a while now. Let’s only use the defense state, I have no problem maneuvering alone for a while.”

He YunTing was still not used to it, but looking at Lin Han’s eyes, he finally didn’t refuse.

“Just two hours. I’ll call you when the time is up.”

“Lu—”

“Lu AnHe reports I can write down, I can distinguish what to tell you immediately and what can wait for you to wake up and talk about. I won’t interfere with your decision and command.” Lin Han quickly interrupted him.

“Sandworm—”

“The time hasn’t come yet, what you said last night is arranged, don’t worry.”

No matter what was said Lin Han was able to block him.

He YunTing looked compromised, but his body was still stiff, like he hadn’t gotten used to it yet.

Lin Han thought about it, “Or you can sleep against me.”

He YunTing’s expression finally had a subtle change.

“How big is the driver’s seat? You can sleep on my leg.” Lin Han seemed to be planning to do so, holding He YunTing’s head on his lap.

The other party obeyed his action and leaned up, although his head was on the pillow, but a six-foot-plus man was on Lin Han and his posture looked indescribably awkward.

He didn’t move, and He YunTing also didn’t move. Just when the General thought he was really going to sleep in this position, he heard the tear-stained youth broke into laughter.

Then he smelled a little faint sweet fragrance.

“Okay, okay, rest well.” Lin Han hugged the other man, didn’t give him a hard time, and released a little more pheromone to make He YunTing’s body less stiff.

He YunTing finally fell asleep against the cockpit.

Fearing that the other party wouldn’t sleep peacefully, Lin Han didn’t put his pheromone away, and the smell of caramel grew stronger and stronger throughout the cockpit.

Grr also liked this smell, it made it easy for it to fall asleep, so Lin Han took advantage of the small thing after falling asleep, quietly held it, and then gently put it on He YunTing’s military cap.

This was He YunTing’s first good sleep in these days. He fell asleep in a sweet fragrance, with a small, dark doughnut on his head. Even though his brow was still slightly furrowed, even though the corners of his lips remain cold and hard and flat. Fortunately, the front line was also rare and steady for those two hours, like it didn’t want to disturb his restful sleep.

“Mn, okay,” Lin Han communicated very quietly with Lu AnHe, “he’s sleeping, I’ll tell him when he wakes up.”

Lin Han hung up the communication, returned to the driver’s seat, and inclined his head to look at the man who was sleeping. He remembered the first time He YunTing went to V Proton Star, he had also seen him sleeping through the video message.

At that time, the other side held his face. Even when he was asleep, he was very serious, as if he could open his eyes in the next second.

But now he was much better than then.

Lin Han wanted to touch him, but he was afraid to move too much and disturb He YunTing’s rare rest at this moment.

But now the other party’s appearance was really appealing to him, Lin Han hesitated for a moment, but finally couldn’t resist taking a step closer, cautiously and carefully moved his face over and kissed his lips very lightly.

Probably asleep, Lin Han’s nose felt his breathing, but didn’t wake up when his lips were kissed. Lin Han didn’t dare to make any more movements, even afraid that his breathing would affect him, and left after only a short time.

But in the moment when the kiss happened, Lin Han’s chest still felt a little very gentle vibration.

He YunTing was asleep, he couldn’t hear his heart himself, but in the moment of the kiss, Lin Han saw a very interesting image.

He turned into Grr, into a small black hairy ball, and He YunTing who looked quite young was carefully tucking him into his arms, cherishing the protection, and would try to touch his head.

Ah, I see.

Lin Han licked his lips and smiled silently.

That’s what he’s dreaming about.

Lin Han straightened up, his eyes returned to the display, his hand on the joystick, his face serious.

He was indeed not a good pilot.

No qualified physique, no rigorous training.

About another hour or two of driving, he had to stop and wake He YunTing up.

But he was still happy, glad that he could have the mental power to match the other, so that at least he could let him sleep on his side without any worries when the other was tired, and also give him support with his mental power and pheromone when the other could barely hold on.

This should be enough.

—

The canopy of the fortress descended and M2742 cut into the night. This was the last day that He YunTing’s main force stayed at the fortress.

As Lu Huai said, due to the consumption of excessive black arrow ants, all the other species had been worn down during the fall of the Queen Zerg and the confrontation in the past few days, and at this moment, the only ones left were a group of giant sand worms with strong attacks.

The difference between the two types of Zerg was obvious. The black arrow ants themselves weren’t very strong, and the attack of dozens of them stacked together wasn’t as powerful as that of one giant sandworm. But the shield erected by the black arrow ants was definitely not to be underestimated, using the fortress as an example, the missiles fired from the bottom of the left space station couldn’t even penetrate their armor.

The particle cannon or magnetic rail gun was indeed feasible, but this would consume a very high energy. If all the energy was only used to break the shield of the black arrow ants, then when the sand worms really invaded, the fortress would become meat on the chopping board.

Today was one of Zerg’s more unusual days, perhaps still planning how to launch a general attack. In any case, compared with the firepower of a few days ago, it was really quite poor.

The fortress still stood, the middle of the huge circle has been half consumed, in order to save energy, the space station located on the left shut down the bottom two levels of weapons attack supply, for the right parked starships and mecha energy supply.

The soldiers were all on standby, the air was full of swords and crossfire.

After all, the fortress needed to be “guarded”, compared to the free fight, it was naturally a bit passive in terms of the initiative to attack. Always needed something to break the status quo.

The strange and short-lived balance didn’t last long.

As night fell, all around the fortress was shrouded in black, and the white light from the starships and space stations, which were functioning normally, lit up the night sky like daylight. At the same time that all the lights of the fortress were turned on—

At the edge of the rotating scanning circle, a dense red dot of enemy attack appeared!

“Boss! They’re coming!” Lu AnHe shouted.

The last round of the Zerg’s attack, which had been dormant for a day, finally came unavoidably and completely. Unlike before, this time the Zerg had a new deployment, no longer coming up in a swarm, even splitting into two waves—

One wave was the extremely defensive black arrow ants, and the other wave was the final killer, the extremely aggressive giant sand worms.

Their target was clear, one left and one right attacked at the same time, one group of Zerg troops led by giant sand worms flew rapidly towards the starship of the fortress, while the other group of more solid looking black arrow ants moved forward towards the space station.

They all but retreated, seemingly telling the humans that this tug-of-war had to have a complete conclusion!

The starship was the vehicle for most of the sergeants to rejoin the Empire, and the goal of this insect team looked very clear: to block the possibility of these people going back with the strongest attack, and then the relatively weak attacking black arrow ants would destroy and eat away the space station loaded with weapons bit by bit.

The idea was very good.

He YunTing’s voice didn’t rise and fall, as if the Zerg weren’t pressing in front of him right now, “Attention B9 fleet, prepare to relocate. Space station fighters take off, subsequent mech echelons to follow. Mecha… you’re free to play.”

Ye Ling waited too long for these words, grinned smugly, “Ready!”

In a short time, the Zerg troops led by the giant sand worms rushed to the periphery of the starship, braving heavy cannon fire. But in the face of the extremely powerful sandworm force, Ye Ling didn’t seem to be too concerned, and only sent less than ten mecha to attack with the lowest power consumption laser cannon.

Suddenly, the Zerg force, which appeared to be led by a giant sandworm, split apart, except for the two leading sandworms, the rest were all dense black arrow ants!

And at the same time, the “black arrow ants” attacking the space station also revealed their true colors — it was precisely the disguised giant sand worms. It turned out that the Zerg’s purpose was secondary to destroying the source of all the energy to get rid of it once and for all.

The real giant sand worms had already begun to break into the station; they knew that the starship’s energy input, as well as the central energy ring was stored in one place, as long as the destruction of this energy ring… 

“Nice try.” Lu AnHe laughed over the communicator, “The target sandworms have all entered range.”

“How’s the empty city plan, Captain Ye?”

“It’s okay, it’s just that the ones that come are the ones that can’t fight, it’s a bit boring.” Ye Ling said disdainfully.

Despite the Zerg’s communication and exchange frequency humans couldn’t capture, these sand worms weren’t all mindless. It was just unexpected that the thought of intending to switch the strength of the two sides was somehow perceived by these humans, and had already started to create the illusion even days ago—

Not enough energy was true, but while taking advantage of the war, they switched the core energy and the location of the starship, while also pretending that all the war weapons were in the space station to hide the illusion of the sky.

Now, these sand worms in front of them simply have no giant capacitor, nor any shocking weapons reserves. Before those bright white lights were only specially created for them to see things, and at this moment the core force and energy source inside the space station had long been completely switched, only a few lonely to fill the supply ship…

They hissed in surprise and humiliation, and their anger at being deceived made them want to leave as soon as they could.

But it was too late.

“All fleets open fire and send a top-level strike to the center of the station.” A low command came from the public channel.

“Loyal to the Emperor!”

“Loyal to His Majesty!”

BOOM!

After this loud sound, an explosion of red light burst out from above the stargate that broke through the sky, the space station that had long been replaced and emptied seemed like a huge tomb, and before these Zerg with the most powerful attack power could even put their fists into play, they were surrounded together as if in a jar, using the ruins as coffins, and completely turned into pieces in the starry sky!

After the giant sandworm shattered, those black arrow ants, who only had defense but not much fighting ability, finally became ants on a hot pot.

They didn’t even have time to know that their actions had been detected by the humans, and they didn’t understand why there were so many core weapons on the starship, which should not have much combat power in the original plan, until they saw the energy box and the giant capacitor belonging to the space station, and then they came to their senses in a flash… 

Unfortunately, they only have defense to take, without the augmentation of giant sand worms, in front of these highly sophisticated weapons, it wouldn’t take too long for them to be subdued and destroyed.

The fifth day, which was expected to be a fierce battle, ended with the sound of bombardment.

—

The dawn of this day came unusually late.

But the night sky seemed to stay bright — lit up with the glow of the Zerg’s corpses and their weapons, which never went out.

It wasn’t a “battle”, but a simple game of psychology in which the king, who had won an absolute victory, crushed his defeated opponent.

When the dawn came again, the fortress guard finally ended completely.

The soldiers were all immersed in excitement, their mecha splattered with Zerg blood, the starship’s cannon fire blasted through each other’s brains, and they all eagerly surged, cheering for their victory.

He YunTing, however, still wasn’t idle at this time.

There were only a few hours left until the five days were up.

He settled the Zerg to hold the fortress in five days as expected.

“Contact Major General Lu Huai at the sub-star, confirm that the mission to blow up the leap point remains unchanged!” He didn’t have time to enjoy the brief victory with his men, and remained stoic in his orders. After all, there was still one more place that needed to be resolved.

“Yes!”

He YunTing pursed his lips, the Zerg of the fortress was considered completely erased, as long as the last uncertainty was removed along with it, then these days of sleeplessness would come to an end.

Although there were still many misunderstandings among the people, and although the council may still be quarrelsome after returning, at least none of the Imperial berths had been breached, and the fortress was still standing, furthermore, the Zerg had lost their most honored Queen.

In terms of results, it was a complete victory—

“Boss.” Lu AnHe’s voice went cold over the communicator.

“The sub-star side… we lost the connection.”

The public channel was dead silent for an instant.

The soldiers who had just achieved victory in the fortress began to draw in cold air, while Lu AnHe continued to report, “From Major General Lu Huai to his communication soldiers, none of them can be contacted.”

While everyone was still digesting the news, the red light of the communicator flashed, and the cold, calm voice of the Lord General came through word for word, “Starships carry the formations back to the Empire for repair. As for the sub-star’s leap point… I’ll go blow it up myself.”