Not many people noticed the extra figure on top of the plane. Everyone's eyes were focused on Igor, so after the battle situation stabilized, Azathoth simply lifted his robe and sat down on the spot, watching the battle below with relish. However, after a few minutes, he felt as if someone in the crowd was watching him.

He looked around and found that not far from the battlefield there was a blue mecha with its head turned, staring at this side motionlessly.

Zerg limbs, some of which needed to be blurred out, flew around the mech, but the pilot acted as if he hadn't noticed, maintaining an eerily calm demeanor and tilting his head high. This reminded Azathoth of a joke he'd heard long ago on Earth: if someone stared up at the sky for too long, even though there was nothing there, more and more people would follow suit... Sure enough, two or three helicopters had already noticed Antonio's mysterious gaze and were trying to turn their heads in his direction.

Azathoth thought for a moment, and his figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.

He couldn't see the blue mecha pilot's current expression, but judging from the other party's still stiff demeanor, the human inside was probably very confused.

But Antonio was not stupid. Although he felt as if he was hallucinating, he did not make it known at the first time. Instead, he looked around vigilantly. It turned out that a malicious Zerg had flown within ten meters of him, with its thick front claws raised high, excitedly intending to give a fatal blow to the dazed human on the battlefield.

At the same time, Marshal Gonger's voice came again: "You are staring at the Archon at a time like this?! Isn't 24 hours in a day enough for you to appreciate?"

The old man's tone was very incredible, as if he saw his little granddaughter not playing with her dolls one day but instead running out to roll up her sleeves and farm.

Antonio dodged the enemy's attack and began to beat up the bugs that tried to sneak up on him, while replying, "...I wasn't looking at Sabrina. Did you feel like there was a stranger standing on the plane just now?"

The red and green Lego mech in the distance paused.

A few seconds later, another person looked up stealthily and looked around.

Azathoth: “…”

"No." Antonio said decisively after dealing with the nearby enemies. "It's too dangerous now. We don't even know how many enemies are hiding in the dark. You guys fight first. I'll go back to the consul."

Before the Lego mech could reply, the communication device beeped and an unfamiliar signal was received through the internal channel.

"If the person you just saw was a 'stranger' in a cloak," the newcomer, who had somehow interrupted, said slowly, "then there's no need to worry. 'He' wouldn't attack the Archon for no reason."

Upon hearing this, Marshal Gongger's wrinkled cheeks twitched twice, like a shriveled orange peel wrinkled by the wind.

The voice continued politely, "However, Mr. Antonio still holds a noble friendship for the Consul, which I deeply admire."

Antonio opened and closed his mouth, forgetting what he had intended to say.

However, he did not try to run back. Instead, he slapped the shell of the Zerg opposite him in anger, probably mistaking the milky white shell for a pearly white mecha driven by someone.

**

Azathoth appeared for too short a time, just a fleeting glimpse in the moonlight. Even experienced photographers were unable to capture the image of him standing under the full moon.

So apart from a few important figures present who strictly kept the secret, no one knew that he had been there.

The next morning, the headlines were undoubtedly dominated by the snapshots of the Saint Valentine mecha. To attract attention, reporters came up with increasingly eye-catching headlines, some so exaggerated that one wondered if the federal government was about to be overthrown and rebuilt by external forces—"A wanted criminal worth two million star coins made a high-profile appearance last night, wreaking havoc on the battlefield! Secretary of Defense: Sullivan's combat effectiveness is too great for the military to effectively intercept him."

In fact, Antonio's original words were: "He's here to help, and he has the ability to influence the outcome of the battle. Are you planning to arrest him now and let humanity fight among themselves in front of the enemy?"

Moreover, the bounty on Igor's official federal wanted list was less than two million star coins. The reporter who wrote for this newspaper probably added up all the bounties posted on Igor by various forces at once.

Igor's identity already brought him a lot of traffic, and with the deliberate guidance of many tabloids, there were many different opinions on the Star Internet in the next few days. Some people swore that the alarm sounded that night because of Igor, and the two sides in the battle were Igor himself and the federal army.

Regarding this statement, the protagonist of the news said: Some people's views are just stupid enough that it is difficult to tell whether the other party is sincere or just pretending.

Shortly after recovering from his hospital bed, Nixon returned to his old ways, embarking on a sinister trolling scheme. He created a fake account and passionately cited a series of flimsy claims to prove that "Igor Sullivan had indeed engaged the army" that night. However, with so many clueless online surfers, few realized Nixon was playing a role in the trolling scheme. The article even became a gospel among conspiracy theorists. Ford Hill, already annoyed with Nixon's trolling, even called to mock him.

Others firmly believed that Igor had come to seek revenge on the Federation.

"A marshal who once made great military achievements suddenly lost his power after the war. Isn't it just the end of the rabbit, the dog is cooked, the bird is abandoned, and the bow is put away?"

Igor: Although this part of the speculation makes some sense, how did you use a reasonable process to infer a completely wrong result?

Hugo laughed so hard that he hiccuped. It seemed that he accidentally pressed a lot of spacebars when running the program internally.

"Look at the analysis in this article," the android said seriously, pushing the webpage in front of Igor and Azathoth. "It says you didn't originally betray the Federation, hiccups. But because the Federation was unkind, you decided to be unjust as well. In just six months, you went from being a wanted criminal to a high-ranking Zerg military leader, leading the enemy forces back in a resurgence, intending to prove to everyone who thinks you're a traitor, 'If I had truly betrayed the Federation, the Federation would have changed hands long ago.'"

Igor: “…”

Yuri silently handed Hugo a cup of lubricant.

Azathoth asked, "Doesn't anyone think Igor is here to help?"

"Yes, but very few," Hugo said. "Only a small number of people think that Igor represents a third party and is only temporarily on the side of humanity."

Igor felt a headache. "I guess the Federation is too busy right now and doesn't have time to deal with public opinion, so they just turn the topic on me. The more exaggerated and heated the discussion becomes, the less likely it is that we'll notice what they're trying to hide."

For example, those unknown traitors, the time the Zerg have been lurking, their ability to mutate... and so on.

A strange light flashed in Hugo's jewel-like red eyes.

"Of course we can't let them take advantage of us. Don't worry, we will take care of it."

Igor: "'We'?"

"Your sister and Yuri," the android said matter-of-factly. "Since you're idle at home anyway, you might as well become an online vigilante and help the Federation manage rumors."

Wendy smiled timidly under her brother's stern gaze.

"I swear I didn't sneak your adult ID card online."

Yuri: "I testify that she only reads plain text."

“…”

The waves on the Internet seemed even more turbulent than the sea surface during the storm that day.

Moreover, in this storm that may never end, an unknown undercurrent is surging beneath the surface.

Across thousands of anonymous forums and chat rooms, a few photos circulated quietly.

The most striking of these was a photo featuring a large full moon in the background, occupying almost three-quarters of the frame, even the uneven surface of the satellite clearly visible. However, the moon was clearly not the photographer's subject. Just to the right of the center of this celestial body, reflecting a silvery white light, stood a tall, thin figure, looking down with its head slightly lowered.

The backlit angle makes the person in the photo appear even darker, with only a corner of his robe and a small part of his face reflected in the moonlight, giving people a murderous and sharp feeling... I don't know how Hugo managed to take such a perfect sneak shot.

Another photo shows the sea level from a high vantage point.

Amidst the dark blue ocean lay a massive skeleton, surrounded by the decaying corpses of insects and a cascade of multicolored blood. Yet, the bones themselves were unstained, pale as if the artist had forgotten to color a painting. Staring at them for a long time, one could sense a bloody light radiating from the cracks in their bones.

At first, not many people took these photos seriously. Most people simply thought that the composition was wonderful and the pictures were strange yet beautiful.

Someone else recognized Azathoth's black cloak and jokingly asked, "Isn't this the guy from the short video about the volcanic eruption? I thought it was a movie promotion, but there's still no news."

"The bones in the water look a bit scary. Did someone skilled in horror scenes draw them? Or is it a scene model?"

Those who vaguely sensed some truth remained silent.

They carefully examined the photos, trying to find some clues. After a while, one netizen discovered that the angle of the black cloak standing in the moonlight and looking down coincided with the angle of the photo taken when the skeleton was photographed, as if the camera in the second photo was the eye of the person in the first photo.

So this netizen had a sudden idea and pieced together these photos that had been circulating from somewhere to form a huge panoramic picture.

The moment this panoramic picture was posted on various social platforms, many people who were joining in the fun suddenly found that their accounts were gone.