Chapter 11#
The Beta Lieutenant Colonel Who Died for His Country#
The First Research Institute was located at the southern end of the Capital Star. Surrounding the institute were the top-tier academic institutions of the entire Human Alliance, and on this foundation, the renowned academic city of Stadi had taken shape. The First Research Institute was built in the form of a white tower; the higher the floor, the more senior the researchers stationed there. Regardless of age, status, or seniority, the only criteria were academic level and research output.
At this moment, on the very top floor of the white tower, all the top researchers were seated around a round table. The one presiding over the meeting looked surprisingly young, but no one dared to underestimate him—Alex Hint, the youngest chief of the Research Institute in history.
“The security classification for this meeting is top secret. Activating Level One Emergency Protocol.” Alex tapped the tabletop with his finger.
Top secret? Level One Emergency Protocol? This was the first time such a high-level emergency protocol had been activated in two hundred years. Some quick-witted researchers had already begun to guess at a certain possibility.
“This mission was ordered by the military high command one hour ago.” Alex played a segment of footage via holographic projector—it was precisely the material that Xuite and the others had risked their lives to capture on the insect planet. “I need a comprehensive analysis of this data, and a detailed and definitive report must be produced within three days.”
After concluding the meeting methodically, Alex returned to his laboratory and dialed a comm number. Once the call connected, a young man in military uniform with a stern expression appeared—it was Lu Heng.
“Brother.”
“Lainer, I just received a mission from the military high command regarding the footage you sent back.” Alex got straight to the point.
“Just now?” Lu Heng frowned slightly. “We submitted the footage to the military three days ago.”
Alex smiled with a hint of sarcasm. “Those high-ranking officials nowadays…”
“Brother, watch your words.” Lu Heng cut him off. Although they were using an encrypted channel, it wasn’t completely secure.
Alex shrugged. “On to business. I need you to tell me every detail from when you entered the wormhole to when you left, exactly as it happened. It will help with my research.”
Fully reconstructing a period of time was no difficult feat for 3S spiritual power. As long as Lu Heng was willing, he could recite precisely how many guard insects they had killed, the exact body measurements of each guard insect, and so on without a single error.
Before long, Alex obtained the intelligence he wanted. Lu Heng was about to end the call when he heard Alex ask, “Have you ever regretted it?”
“Hm?” Lu Heng didn’t quite understand what he meant.
“Back then, against all our objections, you insisted on attending military academy. Wasn’t it because you disliked the scheming and backstabbing of political circles? But the military now…”
Alex didn’t finish the sentence, but Lu Heng already understood. The current military high command’s political maneuvering was no less vicious than that of the political world—if anything, it was worse. For the position of Grand Marshal, all manner of filthy tactics emerged one after another.
“I am still walking the same path I chose back then. I have not deviated.”
“It’s all because of that brat Xuite who lured you away,” Alex said. “The worst thing I ever did in my life was bringing Xuite home to attend your third birthday party.”
“Brother, that’s the one hundred and eighteenth time you’ve said that.” Lu Heng sighed helplessly.
“It shows just how much I regret it! Moving on—Mother is asking whether you’ll come back to the Capital Star for Star Origin Festival this year. It’s been almost ten years since we spent the holiday together as a family.”
Hearing this, Lu Heng felt a pang of guilt. “I’ll do my best. Please give my regards to Father and Mother.”
The First Research Institute soon produced a definitive analysis report: the Queen was evolving. This was both bad news and good news.
It was bad news because once the Queen’s evolution was complete, the Zerg would inevitably expand aggressively, squeezing humanity’s living space. It was good news because the final stage of the Queen’s evolution was the best possible window to kill her.
A thousand years ago, humanity had once succeeded in assassinating a Queen—precisely during the final stage of her evolution. Afterward, it took the Zerg two hundred years to produce a new Queen. During those two hundred years, humanity’s territory, technology, and military had all developed enormously, finally enabling them to hold their own against the Zerg. If they could kill the Queen once more, perhaps humanity could seize this opportunity to completely eradicate the Zerg within the next two hundred years.
The top-secret analysis report that was supposed to appear at the military high command’s conference in three days instead showed up early on the desk of the Fifth Corps Commander, Wayne. An hour had passed since he finished reading the report, and Wayne sat in silence, his gaze deep and dark, the cigar between his fingers nearly burned to the end. The adjutant standing nearby didn’t dare breathe loudly—he knew this was Wayne’s habit when pondering something.
Suddenly, Wayne let out a soft laugh, though his expression looked somewhat sinister. “This is quite a good opportunity to deal with Feng Lei.”
Feng Lei had long been a thorn in Wayne’s side. He and Ries were the most powerful contenders for the Grand Marshal position. Their strength, prestige, and seniority were nearly evenly matched. However, Ries had a son named Xuite. Although Feng Lei was a special operations force independent of the regular corps, to the public and to various power factions, the bond between father and son was ultimately inseparable. In recent years, as Feng Lei’s momentum grew ever stronger, the probability of Ries ascending to the Grand Marshal position grew correspondingly.
“After the military high command holds its senior meeting, find a channel to leak this information. Then have some people build momentum on the Star Network—hype up Feng Lei.”
“Hype up?”
In a pleasant mood, Wayne was generous enough to enlighten his trusted aide: “The higher they’re lifted, the harder they fall. Find a way to contact Andrew.”
A few days later, the senior-level meeting convened to discuss the research report descended into chaos. Several corps commanders screamed at each other with no regard for dignity, faces red and veins bulging in their necks, almost resorting to shooting each other with photon guns. General Ries had already smashed one conference table with his palm; a new one had just been brought in, and cracks were already appearing on it.
“The Third Corps’s base is closest to the wormhole. It should logically be your troops that reinforce Feng Lei.”
“Our border sector has been repeatedly attacked by Zerg recently. We’re already under immense pressure and genuinely can’t spare anyone.” The Third Corps Commander narrowed his eyes, looking to his left. “The Fifth Corps doesn’t seem to have any engagements lately? Even though you’re a bit farther away, at full speed you should be able to make it.”
“A mission that could contribute so much to humanity—I naturally have no objections,” Wayne said, his gaze resolute, before adding with a note of regret. “It’s just that our base is indeed too far. I’m afraid that if by any chance…”
The previously agitated General Ries had fallen silent. He looked at these corps commanders’ sanctimonious faces and felt a wave of nausea. Whether on public or private grounds, he wanted to send troops to reinforce Feng Lei. The problem was that the Second Corps base and the wormhole were located at opposite ends of human territory. By the time his forces arrived, the Queen would have already completed her evolution.
No wonder Xuite had chosen to stay away from the Capital Star, choosing to drift far from home year after year. Ries sighed heavily in his heart. The rot in the military ran deep. Even if they could successfully eradicate the Zerg this time, he wasn’t sure the road ahead for the Human Alliance would be smooth.
In stark contrast to the blood and storms raging on the Capital Star, the people aboard the Feng Lei enjoyed a stretch of peaceful days. The military high command was still deadlocked in debate with no resolution, and so Feng Lei had a leisurely stretch without any missions.
This peace was shattered one day when Xuite went missing. Lu Heng went a full two days without receiving a single comm request from Xuite, nor did he “accidentally” run into him in the dining hall. This struck him as odd. After all, lately, Xuite had been so bored that he sent at least three comm requests a day.
After asking around, all Lu Heng learned was that Xuite had departed in his mecha two days ago. No one knew where he had gone. Lu Heng tried dialing Xuite’s comm number—no connection. Something must have happened. Xuite, though somewhat of a rogue and a playboy, had never gone completely silent like this, disappearing without a word. Remembering the call with his brother from a few days ago, a faint suspicion formed in Lu Heng’s mind. But where could he find Xuite? Leaving him be like this was no solution.
While Lu Heng was racking his brain, his personal terminal received a task confirmation email from the Mercenary Guild. Back when they were younger, to sharpen their real combat experience, he and Xuite had formed a two-person mercenary squad. Over the years, they had never gotten around to formally canceling it.
“Planet Bit: Hunt one hundred Iron-Clad Rhinos, retrieve the eyes. Deadline: three days.” Lu Heng frowned. “This is absolutely reckless.”
After some thought, Lu Heng decided to go find Xuite. Although Xuite was the restless, free-spirited type who disliked being tied down, ever since establishing Feng Lei, he always informed Lu Heng—his adjutant—of his whereabouts. And now, at such a sensitive time as the political maneuvering among the military high command, something had clearly gone wrong.
The Iron-Clad Rhino’s entire body was covered in armor that even photon cannons could barely scratch. Its only weak point was its eyes, and yet this task required the retrieval of complete Iron-Clad Rhino eyes. Moreover, Iron-Clad Rhinos were fierce-tempered and lived in herds. Once one was attacked, the entire herd would launch a frenzied assault on the attacker. Such tasks typically required a squad to cooperate in setting traps and slowly wearing the Rhino down to be completed. And yet Xuite had gone in alone.
When Lu Heng found Xuite, the latter was surrounded and besieged by over a dozen Iron-Clad Rhinos. Lu Heng’s arrival made things considerably easier. The two cooperated seamlessly, and before long, all the rhinos were dealt with. In the subsequent processing of materials, and through the return to the Mercenary Guild to turn in the task, Xuite remained completely silent.
After wrapping up the remaining matters, Lu Heng discovered that Xuite had vanished again. He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He could vaguely guess at some of the reasons, but he had never seen Xuite react like this before. It seemed the situation was not optimistic.
As for where Xuite was, Lu Heng actually knew. Atlantis, the planet where the Mercenary Guild was headquartered, was one of the first planets humanity had settled after entering the interstellar age. Many buildings from the Blue Star era still remained on the planet. The secret base where Xuite and Lu Heng used to hang out was located on an abandoned lighthouse by the sea. Back in the day, every time they completed a Mercenary Guild task, they would always go there to look at the ocean and unwind.