When Li Yao entered the secret chamber in the rear of the command center on the flagship of the Astounding Thunder Fleet with Li Jialing, Lei Chenghu was watching the panoramic light beam in silence alone.
On the light beam, the stars were shining and circling around the perfect Immortal Cultivator slowly.
After he returned to his own fleet, Lei Chenghu was like a dragon that had come back to the ocean. He looked ten times more intimidating than the time that he was kept in prison!
Li Yao even vaguely sensed that the soul of the “God of War” was extending infinitely from the secret room to every starship of the Astounding Thunder Fleet and even the Third Battle Area like nerves and veins!
Lei Chenghu was completely melted into the fleet. Every starship was a cell for him. He was the fleet, and the fleet was him. He was a living embodiment of the army of countless starships!
“General, the elites of almost all the fleets in the Third Battle Area have been gathered. Those who have yet to arrive are preparing for space jump busily too, and they will show up at the… designated coordinates at the same time.”
Looking at the distribution map on the light beam, Li Yao asked, “How are the fleets of the four Kurfürst families doing? Are they reacting to our operation?”
“It’s been three days since we returned to the Third Battle Area. Those people should’ve realized that something was wrong however stupid they may be. But they are not sure what we are trying to do yet, and they are simply mobilizing forces near the Third Battle Area and cutting our supply lines. They are not bold enough to enter the Third Battle Area to be killed yet.”
Lei Chenghu sneered, “It is a pity that any blockage and defense is useless in the vast sea of stars. Attack, attack, and attack boldly is the only way of success!
“In eight hours, the Astounding Thunder Fleet, which has significantly expanded, and the special mix team of the Third Battle Area will be able to perform a massive space jump to reach the prearranged coordinates. But the attack without any reserve will consume all of our crystals, fuel, and ammunition. In other words, it will be a wild gamble. If we cannot get enough resources, we will be dead for sure!
“Let’s hope that your queen’s intelligence is as accurate as she claims to be and that the other fellow Cultivators of the ‘reformists’ work hard with us in the spirit of sacrificing themselves for the dawn of the new Imperium!”
“Rest assured about that, general. Her Grace’s Deep Sea Fleet is long prepared and will meet the Astounding Thunder Fleet at the prearranged coordinates. The destination of our attack has been seriously compromised by the reformists too. The cooperation from inside won’t be a problem. The enemy will definitely be caught unprepared, and we will exchange the minimal price for the maximal resources.”
Li Yao said, “As for the other fellow Cultivators of the ‘reformists’, it is even less necessary to worry about them. As long as the Astounding Thunder Fleet and the Deep Sea Fleet rise at the same time and the flames burn across the Imperium, will they have a second choice?”
Lei Chenghu stared at Li Yao thoughtfully and nodded his head. “Fine. For the Imperium, let’s wager everything on the gamble!”
He tapped his wrist crystal processor and said, “Bring him in.”
The door of the secret room glided without a sound, and two loyal guards, whose artificial bodies had been significantly modified, dragged in a middle-aged man who was also wearing the black military uniform of the Imperium.
The door of the room was closed again.
Judging from the silver skull on the middle-aged man’s shoulder, he was a vice-admiral of the Imperium’s army.
However, his hands, legs, and spine had been locked by the confinement magical equipment that looked like iron thorns, and he was unable to move at all.
He seemed to also have been coerced to take anesthetic and hypnotization pills that could suppress his soul and block his spiritual energy, which made his mind messy and sluggish.
The man’s name was Dongfang Yuan. He was the highest commander of the fleet under the special investigation committee’s command.
He was also the director to dissect the Astounding Thunder Fleet and capture radicals in the Third Battle Area under the Council of Elders’ command.
He thought that the leaderless, panicked Astounding Thunder Fleet would be meat on a chopping block at his mercy, but out of his expectation, Lei Chenghu jumped out of nowhere, and an unbelievable, super Colossus played a perfect “decapitation strategy”.
Dongfang Yuan did not have the guts to sacrifice himself and raise a civil war of the Imperium by the way. Threatened by Li Yao’s sharp saber, he had no choice but to surrender dutifully and become a captive.
To this moment, he was still unaware of all the ambitions of Lei Chenghu, Li Linghai, and Li Yao.
He only thought that it was just a random mutiny and that Lei Chenghu would just hold him as a hostage and ask for more benefits from the Council of Elders.
Therefore, the moment he saw Lei Chenghu, the commander of the investigators’ fleet hurried to explain, “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, Marquis Liaohai, everything was a misunderstanding. It was only because the Third Battle Area needed a commander while you received the investigation in the rear that I was temporarily appointed to take over your job and strengthen the defense of the Third Battle Area. Now that Marquis Liaohai has returned from the rear, my fleet will certainly not meddle in the Third Battle Area anymore. Please do bear the big picture in mind. Brothers should not brutalize each other!”
Lei Chenghu and Li Yao looked at each other and scorned at the same time with disdain and cruelty.
“Marquis Liaohai, what… what do you want exactly?”
Sensing the determination of killing emanating from Lei Chenghu’s every pore, Dongfang Yuan swallowed hard, and his voice became high-pitched. “Don’t do anything rashly. All the resources of the Third Battle Area count on the supply of the rear. You are just an isolated troop that cannot cause any trouble. You-You must think before you leap and do not jeopardize so many brothers of the Astounding Thunder Fleet—”
Dongfang Yuan’s voice came to an abrupt end. His eyeballs seemed to have been pumped out by negative pressure when he stared at the panoramic light beam behind Lei Chenghu and Li Yao, sweating hard with his teeth clattering.
He saw the overwhelming fleets jumping out of the void on the light beam.
The fleets that were previously stationed in the various resource planets of the Third Battle Area, or at least the most powerful starships in those fleets, had jumped to the space zone where the Astounding Thunder Fleet was anchored, gathering into a gigantic united fleet.
It was a highly unusual mobilization, and it could not have been permitted by the command center of the expedition army.
Dongfang Yuan was a general too. Naturally, he knew that such an unusual mobilization would only have one purpose.
Lei Chenghu was about to launch a massive attack with all the forces of the Third Battle Area, but what would his target be?
Thinking quickly, Dongfang Yuan breathed heavily while his pupils constricted to the minimum. He could not say a single syllable anymore.
Staring at him coldly, Lei Chenghu suddenly ripped off the armband of the expedition army of the Imperium on the left sleeve of his uniform and replaced it with a crimson, new one.
At the center of the new armband was an emblem of the lightning trident, supported by the words “Honor the Majesty” on the left side and “Settle the Rebellions” on the right.
Black uniform, red armband, and shocking slogan!
“Show me your courage and do not act like a clown. Even though you have been corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils into a devil ‘Demonic Cultivator’, you are still a soldier of the Imperium.”
Lei Chenghu smoothed his armband and cleaned his clothes, before he said to Dongfang Yuan, “You will be offered to the flag later. Do not lose the dignity of a soldier!”
“Extraterrestrial devils? What extraterrestrial devils?”
There was confusion in Dongfang Yuan’s small eyes, but feeling that he had caught the last life buoy, he said in a hurry, “Honestly, how is this related to the extraterrestrial devils? I am not a Demonic Cultivator. Absolutely not. Marquis Liaohai, this must be a misunderstanding. A great misunderstanding!”
In his anxiety, he did not realize that Lei Chenghu said he would be offered to the flag later. He was even more dumbfounded after he realized it.
Lei Chenghu hinted at his two guards. One of the guards kicked Dongfang Yuan to the ground, and the other took out a dosage of a fluorescent, mysterious drug from his artificial body before he groped for Dongfang Yuan’s carotid artery and injected all of it in.
“Cough, cough, cough, cough!”
Poor Dongfang Yuan did not expect that things would end so badly. He was not resolute enough when he still had the ability to fight but simply surrendered obediently. He had seen through Lei Chenghu’s ambitions now, but it was too late.
Like a drunk lobster, he writhed on the ground and cramped violently, with an excruciating look on his face.
Foams ran out of his mouth like a spring, only to turn into thick, green liquids very soon, mixed with thousands of spots of blood.
Veins as thick as leeches crawled all over his body, with black air vaguely spreading out. He couldn’t have looked more terrible.
BOOM!
Black streams of spiritual energy were ignited on his body, which were more violent, brutal, and aggressive than common spiritual energy. They raged and shrieked as if they were alive.
Crack!
Even the magical equipment that confined him was torn into pieces by his astonishing force. Dongfang Yuan, like a furiously burning beast, burst into a rampage and lunged at Lei Chenghu, roaring.
BAM!
In the next second, he was already kicked to the floor by Li Yao; half of the bones in his body were broken. His brutality that was boosted by the drugs was immediately gone.
Stomping on Dongfang Yuan’s head hard, Li Yao frowned and said, “Is this ‘tenebrum energy’? He has indeed become a Demonic Immortal Cultivator?”
“Not exactly. It is just an excitant whose symptoms are very similar to the outburst of tenebrum energy.”
Lei Chenghu said casually, “However, the forms of the extraterrestrial devils are mysterious and unpredictable in the first place. Nobody can say for sure what the real tenebrum energy and Demonic Cultivators look like. In the situation right now, if we say he is a Demonic Cultivator, he is a Demonic Cultivator.
“The Covenant Alliance is too unique after all. Accusing our enemy of joining the Covenant Alliance clearly does not make any sense. It will be much more reasonable if they have been corrupted by the extraterrestrial devils and become their lackeys.”
Looking at Lei Chenghu, Li Yao said, “I thought that General Lei was a soldier of honor and integrity who despised such petty tricks… which could not stand scrutiny.”
“In the past, I did despise such boring tricks.”
Lei Chenghu admitted frankly, “But it does not mean that I do not know how to use the tricks.”
“A soldier is a soldier. Soldiers cannot be classified as righteous ones and shameless ones. There are only two kinds of soldiers—the victorious soldiers and the losing soldiers.
“For the Imperium, I will win this battle whatever methods I have to use!”