Chapter 601: General Xi Ding
On the holographic screen, one could see countless mechs heading their way towards the mysterious warship. The tens of thousands of mechs were accompanied by over a hundred warships. The Five Galaxies had always banned research on warships until the red-tailed beast invasion began.
These warships were clearly influenced by the Three Aristocratic Families from He Yue Galaxy, but it was a mixture of influences from the Three Families that failed to achieve their core qualities. These warships were like trash in Ye Chong’s eyes. Ye Chong believed that these warships must be the work of the Three Aristocratic Families’ employees sent to the Five Galaxies. Besides, the warships were modified from normal large starships, which had a very different structure compared to a proper warship.
Without further delay, Ye Chong ordered Appilok to fire.
The first weapons up were Darkniss’s ship cannons. Ye Chong always believed in the importance of ship cannons, especially in a battle between warships. The ship cannons could determine their very survival. The few warship battles Ye Chong had seen left a deep impression in him. An individual’s strength was almost negligible in a battle between warships.
All of the ship cannons on Darkniss were made from the extremely rare Belfang metal alloy. Belfang metal alloy was usually reserved for high precision mechanical parts. It was never used to build ship cannons, not even in He Yue Galaxy.
Five thick laser beams shot out from the ship cannons. People only saw a bright flash that momentarily blinded them.
The five warships were hit instantly. Their thick hulls did nothing to shield them from the laser beams. The ships exploded into pieces under the attack.
Boom! All five warships exploded simultaneously into five dazzling fireballs in space that engulfed the metal carcasses. The explosion sent out fragments of metals flying outwards at high velocities, which then hit the mechs surrounding them and sent those mechs crashing down. A few of the mechs exploded immediately in midair. Ye Chong knew exactly how to destroy a warship. Traditional ship cannons usually did damage by piercing the target’s hull. Unless the cannonfire hit something vital like the engine or energy cell storage, the enemy ship would not be heavily damaged.
The ship cannons on Darkniss fired laser beams and spheric photon grenades. This highly unstable weapon would explode with the slightest amount of contact, and cause great damage to the enemy ship.
The devastating firepower from Darkniss shocked the viewers and combatants alike.
It felt like their hearts stopped beating for a short moment. They had expected conflict of some kind, but not for the warship to actually fire at them so ruthlessly.
Ye Chong’s actions had surprised them so much that they were momentarily paralyzed.
The local authorities who were following the incident closely were also shocked. They looked at each other in fear, for they expected such an unyielding opponent. Nothing like this had happened ever since the invasion of the red-tailed beast.
If the other party had not presented themselves so professionally, they would have looked more like space pirates.
Suddenly, the comm device on their desk rang.
They jolted out of their surprise and activated the comm without thinking.
“You imbeciles! Who the fck ordered them to attack? Are you blind? Do you not see how powerful the opponent is? Are you dragging me into your fcking act of suicide?”
A man roared through the comm device loudly, threatening to bring the place down.
“General … General …” Someone in the room tried to explain. The man yelling at them was not someone they should mess with. He was the person with highest authority in Csebesini’s military. Xi Ding Defense Line was his handiwork. It was because of him that Csebesini Galaxy became the last haven in the Five Galaxies. His reputation in Csebesini Galaxy was unrivalled.
“Don’t ‘General’ me. Let me tell you ssholes, I’ve allowed you to make your little profits all this while, so who the fck caused this huge mess? Which f*cker ordered it?” General Xi Ding continued to blast at the people without reserve.
The meeting room was dead silent. General Xi Ding was a man with a temper. No one in their right mind would dare to speak against him when he was mad.
The General cut the line in rage. After that, his personality changed completely. All the rage vanished, replaced by a deep coldness. Deep wrinkles carved into his stone-like face. His hair was snow white, but his cheeks were a blushing red.
“Do we have a background for the warship?” The General asked as he looked at Darkniss on his holographic screen.
His assistant shook his head. “None. The fleet is the Gu Family of Tian Luo, but we have checked their records and found nothing about a warship like this.”
“The Gu Family of Tian Luo?” The General chuckled coldly. “They’re not capable enough to build this warship. They are a dying empire, a mere shadow to their past. Get Hua and his people in here.”
The assistant quickly activated his comm device and spoke a few words. After a moment, a few men entered the General Xi Ding’s office. This was a group of roughly a dozen people of different build.
“Do you know this warship” General Xi Ding asked without preamble and pointed at Darkniss on the holographic screen.
The group directed their attention to the screen.
After a while, a pale young man spoke up, “General, that warship is probably not from the Five Galaxies. It seems to be influenced by the Xue Lai Clan, where I’m from, but the overall design is different.”
Another thin man said, “Hua is mostly right about that. The warship is definitely not from the Five Galaxies, but there seems to be some characteristics of my clan, the Ye Family.”
General Xi Ding looked towards a woman, who spoke respectfully, “I agree with them both. Regrettably, I see no signs of influence on this warship from my tribe.”
These people were the highest level personnel sent by He Yue Galaxy to the Five Galaxies. The invasion of the red-tailed beasts affected both Black Cove and the Orbits. If even He Yue Galaxy was faced with the threat of these creatures, how could their outer branches hoped to survive unscathed? They escaped from their headquarters and finally reached Csebesini Galaxy. In the end, they were caught by General Xi Ding, who had kept an eye on them from the start, and chose to cooperate.
General Xi Ding considered their words for a moment. “So the warship is not from the Five Galaxies. If it came from your home galaxy, then how did it arrive in Csebesini Galaxy? Didn’t you say that the Gateways were overrun by red-tailed beasts?”
The group looked shocked, but Hua finally spoke up for them. “We don’t know how they arrived here too, but it’s true that we lost the Gateways. Perhaps they managed to bring the Gateways back under control?”
The group felt encouraged by this possibility. They were resident of He Yue Galaxy, and missed their home. They had chosen to cooperate with General Xi Ding so that they could live to return home one day. However, they had received no news from their main families back there so far.
“Do you think this warship is capable of taking back the Gateways?” General Xi Ding asked as he replayed Darkniss’s ship cannon attack and the warning shots on Wei Zheng’s squad on the holographic screen.
“Impossible!” Everyone in the group gasped in surprise. General Xi Ding was greatly surprised by their reaction. Could this amount of power be insufficient to bring the Gateways back under their control?
General Xi Ding had heard of the story about the “homeworld” for mech pilots. It was said that everyone there was strong, and that the best mech models were made there. He had no ulterior motives towards He Yue Galaxy. Any one of the organizations here could easily overpower his own. It was simply not his place to even consider the possibility.
The abilities of these people in his room further convinced him of his decision. These people were extraordinarily capable, but they were only considered average in that place called He Yue Galaxy. Besides, their technology far surpassed what was available in the Five Galaxies. When the invasion of the red-tailed beasts first started, Hua and the others had provided invaluable technical knowledge that ensured the survival of Csebesini Galaxy.
However, since the group had described how powerful their main families were, General Xi Ding had hoped that they might be able to annihilate the red-tailed beasts. He knew that Csebesini alone could not hope to win the war against those creatures.
As time passed, the red-tailed beasts grew stronger. Csebesini was progressing, but the time needed to develop and incorporate the necessary technology to survive was too long. The red-tailed beasts were expanding too rapidly.
Csebesini Galaxy might not live to see the day these creatures were defeated. General Xi Ding was old, but he hoped to leave behind Csebesini Galaxy as a safe and peaceful place for the younger generation.
When General Xi Ding heard the group’s reaction, he looked deeply disappointed. Hua quickly recovered from his surprise and explained, “General, I think you misunderstood. We’re saying that is’t impossible for this warship to be so powerful. Even our main family’s warships cannot achieve that amount of power.”
General Xi Ding looked towards the other members of the group. They all nodded in agreement.
“Then, do you mean that they are capable of taking back the Gateways?” General Xi Ding asked carefully.
“Absolutely!” Hua replied with certainty. He looked up and said, “General, I’d like to speak to them.”
The reinforcements sent to Wei Heng were ordered to stand down and wait for their next orders. Everyone in the reinforcement troop felt relieved. They saw the attack earlier, just like General Xi Ding. They were mightily intimidated, but they could not disobey orders from their superiors.
Ye Chong received a request from the party to negotiate a truce. This was a first for him. The other party had also ordered for their army to retreat 130 kilometers back as a sign of goodwill.
Having encountered this situation for the time, Ye Chong was unsure what to do next. Should he continue firing, or not?
He looked at Gu Qing, who smiled back in understanding. “Looks like their higher-ups have a more accurate assessment of their situation. They must be intimidated by your strength to have asked for a truce. The one who gave the order should be the real mastermind behind Csebesini.”
A truce was the most desirable outcome that Gu Qing hoped for. She knew that if Ye Chong were to attack without reserve, the 10 thousand soldiers around them would not survive the battle. Csebesini could not afford this loss, so a truce was the natural conclusion to this incident. The only thing that surprised her was how accurate the other party’s leader was able to gauge the strength of their warship with just a few shots from their ship cannons. It was very fortunate for both sides. As the last haven in this world, Csebesini did not lack capable personalities.
Thus, members of public watched how the arrogant soldiers restrained themselves. Was this really Csebesini’s army? People rubbed their eyes and watched in disbelief.
Regardless, the warship Darkniss left a very deep impression. No one would have imagined that the next time the warship appeared before them, it would bear news of victory and hope.
The results of the negotiation was not know to the public, but the warship quickly left and disappeared from sight. It had appeared mysteriously, and left in similar fashion. The Gu Family fleet was left behind, but the incident had won them celebrity status in Csebesini Galaxy. They became the only aristocratic family to enter Csebesini Galaxy without being torn apart, a feat envied by many.
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