Chapter 62 Return: If you're so capable, why don't you let her choose right now? ...
The defenses of the Grasshopper Fortress have been brought to a state of readiness. Even Shi Wei, a hostage who knows nothing, felt a sense of tension.
From that night on, she never saw Yi Lan again, and she couldn't make a single call.
Their activities were also restricted, and their only entertainment was reading various documents.
Whether Yi Lan did it intentionally or forgot to revoke the access, she was able to access many top-secret records about Asta—and gained a clear understanding of the Source Blood.
Asta's extraordinary combat power and mental strength both come from star-source matter. She has an extremely high affinity for this matter, which has led to the rapid evolution of her mental strength. Especially after joining the mercenary group, her mental strength has become terrifyingly strong.
The "source blood" refers to Asta's genes. Research has shown that these genes are highly similar to those of ancient Earthlings. Researchers within the mercenary group speculate that she may have originated from ancient Earth.
The two major bloodlines in the world today, the Manra royal family and the Yi family direct line, have maintained a high concentration of their original bloodline through so many generations, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to inherit it.
A 70% match is required for inheritance, and the other party must also possess Asta's genes.
So everything is clear now. This bastard's single-minded pursuit of her isn't some nonsense about love at first sight—it's also about compatibility.
Highly compatible AOs will spark a flame of love upon their first encounter.
Therefore, both King Sklag II and Yi Lan had a strong liking for her, but Shi Wei was not sensitive to pheromones, so no spark was ignited.
This is actually the main reason why Similan and Cyril had strange ideas about her. These two brothers were the sons of Sklag II, inheriting their father's bloodline and preferences.
However, Shi Wei was unaware of this; she didn't even notice Cyril's special feelings for her.
However, Shi Wei felt that His Majesty did not need a new offspring. He already had two adult sons, and having another one would likely greatly affect Manla's political situation.
As for Yi Lan, she sighed as she woke up from that intoxicating night—there's no such thing as love at first sight or romantic love; it's all just about each person having their own needs.
Although Hela's proposal appealed to her, it seemed too difficult to put into practice. She only wanted a peaceful future and had no grand ambitions.
Yi Lan was not surprised by Manla's direct confrontation; in fact, he had been prepared for it.
During the decades of their feud with Sklag II, they both knew each other's personalities well; neither would back down unless their spines were broken.
The site of the Deep Blue War, a thousand years later, has once again become the site of war.
This time the scale was even larger than the last time. Yi Lan led 50,000 men and a large number of mechanized troops, while his opponents only had 20,000 men, and they did not arrive at the same time.
"It's actually Similan. Ha, he just watched his son come to his death?" Yi Lan said listlessly.
Hela looked at the star map and said, "We don't kill prisoners. After all, he's a prince, so he should be quite valuable."
“What if we kill him?” Yi Lan said, “He can suppress me with his terrain and equipment, but he can’t do anything to me. Once the Third Army cuts off his supply, it will be difficult to retreat.”
“We can’t kill him. He can force a jump. If we kill Sklag II’s son, Manra will definitely do something serious,” another sergeant said, fearing that the commander might be tempted to kill.
Yi Lan glanced at the star map and suddenly said, "How about we retreat a bit and let him in? That way, it'll be considered an invasion. He's leading the elite of Manra's Western Army. If we can wipe them all out, it'll be a worthwhile trade—"
Hela calmly said, "Then we will also suffer heavy losses. We must wait for news from the Sixth Army to see if they have any ambushes in their rear. If Manra quickly reinforces us and lets them in, we will be in trouble."
Yi Lan scoffed, saying, "Where would he get reinforcements? After the Alliance got the news, they started harassing their eastern front. At most, Sklag II only has tens of thousands of men left, and even if we add them all up, it won't exceed one hundred thousand. At worst, we can retreat to Fortress Zerg. What's wrong with letting them in?"
One of his subordinates thought it was too risky and said, "But if Sklag II leads the army himself, with just 50,000 men, we won't be able to do anything to him for a while."
"Him?" Yi Lan seemed to find it a joke: "He would personally go into battle for a woman? Give me a break, do you think we wouldn't notice the commotion of 50,000 people?"
The location for the Battle of Deep Blue was carefully chosen by King Scolag I. The place was located at the border between the two sides, but due to spatial distortion and mixed meteorite areas, the passable area was very narrow, making it easy for mercenaries to defend but difficult to attack. However, once it was captured, they could go straight to the heart of the enemy—approaching the Grasshopper Fortress.
Therefore, Yi Lan has both a great advantage and a great risk. As long as he holds his ground, Similan will be unable to do anything to him.
But soon news came from the 3rd Regiment of the 6th Army: they were surrounded, and after half an hour of fighting, they had lost one-third of their starships.
Yi Lan ordered them to retreat and sent two more teams to reinforce them, while he himself led the main force to put pressure on Similan.
He had already tested the strength of the Similan forces and, having been harassed by them for a long time, was already impatient and began to retaliate.
Manra's starships were reduced to dust one by one.
Similan was very stubborn and refused to retreat, probably because he was afraid that if a loophole appeared, Yi Lan would be able to exploit it.
Therefore, the only option was to gradually fill in the new starships.
The offense and defense are in different locations.
At this moment, public opinion is also very unfavorable to Manra, because they were the ones who struck first, and the mercenaries, standing on the moral high ground, are launching a strong attack on them.
Currently, the domestic situation is being handled by Cyril, who instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to respond according to the established plan: pointing out that mercenaries had abducted people first, infringing on the rights of Manla citizens.
The Fran Empire was also forced by Manra to disclose the details of the accident, and also condemned the mercenaries.
There was no other way; the incident happened on their turf, and if he didn't speak up for Manra, he would be labeled an accomplice.
The identities of the kidnapped hostages were quickly revealed, along with the exorbitant ransom demanded by the mercenaries.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: This egregious incident, which seriously violates the Cosmic Convention, infringes upon the rights of Manla citizens, and violates Omega freedom, must be punished. Manla will not agree to such a humiliating treaty, but will not tolerate it. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not withdraw its troops unless the mercenaries release the hostages.
Manra quickly gained the upper hand in public opinion. Yi Lan was indeed in the wrong; he had stolen the emperor's mistress, so he deserved to be beaten.
However, some people questioned the authenticity of the "kidnapping incident," wondering if the hostage was real or fake, and whether it was a conspiracy between Manra and Fran.
"Fine, we won't withdraw then!" Yi Lan was extremely arrogant, and even prepared to respond personally: "I've already destroyed one-fifth of their starships. In another half month, will the Similan still dare to rant?"
In fact, Yi Lan also suffered some losses. Similan came prepared, and he couldn't force the other party to retreat in a short time.
We can't really let the commander personally handle public relations—this guy might be a genius at warfare, but his way of speaking is just too irritating.
The mercenaries quickly responded, stating that the Omega was being held captive in Fran by King Scolag II, and that they were doing so to protect the Omega; as for the ransom, it was a complete fabrication.
To increase credibility, Shi Wei's past escape and smuggling were revealed, and the mercenary argued, "If it was mutual love, why would this Omega run away?"
Public opinion is developing in a strange direction. Both sides have public relations experts. One side wants to escalate the matter to a national security issue, while the other wants to guide it towards gossip and scandal, using the competition between two Alphas for one O to attract attention, especially since these two Alphas are also the leaders of two major forces.
Cyril was in a terrible predicament. The other party was simply being a scoundrel. If it turned out to be a love triangle, it would affect Sklag II. The people would not support an emperor who would rashly start a war just to snatch a woman.
He could only continue to pressure the Fran Empire, release more details of the scene, award a medal to the Alpha who protected Shi Wei who was seriously injured, and continuously release condemnations from Shi Wei's relatives.
This attack involved multiple battlefields, and the war of public opinion was also very important.
Simanan watched his army being decimated, his face numb. He was heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do—his only mission was to hold off Yi Lan.
And this is just the beginning.
Compared to the Similan Islands, which were being attacked from both sides, Sklag II was in a slightly better position. On the fifth day after the start of the war, he had secretly arrived at the defensive port of the Fortress of the Locusts. This was the defensive port farthest from the Deep Blue battlefield. Due to the war, most of the troops were concentrated in the West Port, waiting for Yi Lan's orders.
Even though he had penetrated deep into the mercenaries' stronghold, he remained calm. His only worry was Shi Wei.
He issued orders methodically:
"Bombard the enemy's energy system in two hours, prioritizing the destruction of the power system, then launch a saturation barrage of penetrating shot to destroy the 'Star Dome' of the Grasshopper Fortress as much as possible. West Port's infiltrators, await orders..."
"Starry Sky" is the interception and protection shield of the Grasshopper Fortress. Two-thirds of the ammunition he brought this time was used to blast open this shell, so its combat effectiveness is not long-lasting.
Similan only knew a rough time, and he had been on high alert for almost 20 hours. Once he received the message, he would have to stop Yi Lan's forces.
Two hours later, a large number of missiles were launched—the mercenaries took a full ten seconds to react because the security agency agents had destroyed a large number of communication devices.
Similan and Yi Lan received the news almost simultaneously. Yi Lan was stunned for a moment, while Similan immediately ordered: "Tighten the encirclement."
He only had two-thirds of his troops left, and he still had to surround Yi Lan's more than 40,000 men. It was an incredibly difficult situation.
Five hours later, cracks began to appear in the starry sky.
Despite the overwhelming firepower and the fact that half of the energy system was paralyzed, they managed to hold out for so long.
Sklag II brought only a little over 10,000 men, while there were over 100,000 in West Port alone, not counting the troops in the other two ports—fortunately, not all of them came.
Sklag II was completely surrounded, and perhaps feeling he had enough manpower, the mercenary commanders facing him did not send in any more troops.
He was simply curious about where the enemy came from, and how they could hold out against him for so long in an encirclement with such a disparity in troop strength.
The others were already urging him to come, but he kept cursing and saying, "Don't interfere, hurry up and repair the power station, I want to fight him one-on-one!"
However, the opponent's goal was not to fight him one-on-one. After the starry sky shattered, he saw a red dot start flashing in the opponent's fleet, which was only one-fifth full. The instrument representing the energy intensity began to spike wildly.
Similan's encirclement was riddled with holes, but he still tried his best to hold off the enemy's flagship, even at the cost of sending his own starship to its death, rather than allow Yi Lan to jump.
"Is he trying to hold me back with his life?" Yi Lan laughed, his voice cold. "Where does he get his confidence from? From attacking my headquarters with ten thousand men?"
Hela was coordinating with the Grasshopper Fortress. Looking at the reports, she frowned: "These ten thousand men are trying to destroy our energy and defense systems. They came around from the east, those damned Alliance..."
Yes, the east is the territory of the Alliance. Sklag II negotiated with the Alliance and planned to use their route to launch a surprise attack.
“Commander, you go back first, I’ll take care of this kid.” Hela realized something was wrong: “The starry sky is shattered, the fortress is at risk, and it’s hard to say whether there are any large forces of the Alliance or Manra to the east. We can’t drag this out here.”
Yi Lan thought for a few seconds, nodded, and began to break down the components, preparing for the jump.
When Similan saw the enemy's capital ships begin to disintegrate, he knew that Yi Lan was about to jump. His side had used up all its chaff and had few starships left, and even then, they might not be able to stop him.
He gritted his teeth and, taking advantage of Yi Lan's leap, led half of his troops in and charged in.
Jumping requires a magnetic field, and the Similan Islands plan to use one of their capital ships to break in and disrupt the enemy's jump.
This is no longer gambling with luck, it's gambling with your life.
Yi Lan looked at the image on the monitor and laughed, "I really don't understand, I stole his father's woman, why is he risking his life against me?"
The magnetic field was disrupted, and Yi Lan's starship was damaged. His opponent was in even worse shape and had already been surrounded.
"Fine, you're asking for it." Yi Lan couldn't teleport for the time being, so he prepared to deal with Similan, disregarding their past personal relationship.
“Anyway, you still have an older brother. Even if one of your sons dies, that dog emperor won’t care,” Yi Lan said.
Besieged on both sides, with reinforcements stuck outside, Similan felt he was about to meet his great-grandmother.
The moment the starship was blasted apart, he activated his mech.
"Huh? Not dead?" Yi Lan was a little surprised, but quickly smiled: "An S-class mecha, ha, they really went all out."
He started playing a game of cat and mouse.
Similan was driven crazy by him.
Even an S-class mecha couldn't withstand Yi Lan's toying. Just as Yi Lan was about to reap the opponent's life, a strong impact came from behind him.
He was stunned for a moment, then burst into fury a few seconds later: "What the hell!"
The communicator lit up, and Hela's face appeared, anxiously saying, "Commander! West Harbor has been hit by a Star Source nuclear missile! Countless casualties!"
Yi Lan closed his eyes, his face dark and gloomy, and cursed, "Damn it! So this is what you were waiting for, I'm so angry..."
He cursed a couple of times, looked at the nearly broken mech that had been taken away by Manra's reinforcements, and said, "Prepare for warp!"
Nuclear weapons, specifically nuclear warheads loaded with stellar-source material—
Sihanoukville has been razed to the ground.
Hela said, "It's too late! If they have a backup plan, they definitely have more than one nuclear bomb. Let's capture this prince first, and then negotiate with Manra!"
"Talk my ass!" With his base bombed, Yi Lan was no longer rational. Shi Wei was still at the Locust Fortress. The group that launched the attack was definitely after Shi Wei. The people he left behind were enough to hold out until he returned.
Shi Wei was stunned by the missile: A missile with this kind of power? What the hell is that!
Is His Majesty finally losing his temper and about to fight Yi Lan?
No way, Yi Lan, what the hell are you doing? How come your base was raided in just a few days?!
She's still here!
Bullets don't have eyes; what if they accidentally hurt her?
That explosion just now felt like it happened right near her!
Actually, that missile was quite far from her because the "Starry Sky" system hadn't completely lost its effectiveness.
A group of guards rushed in, took her underground, and left a few people to take care of her.
"What's going on outside?" she asked, grabbing a soldier who was adjusting data.
The other party replied coldly, "There's an enemy attack."
There's no need to ask who it is; you can guess already.
She sighed and said, "Can't we just sit down and talk about the ransom properly? She could help negotiate."
Yi Lan was right. She was thrown into a protective space dozens of meters underground in the Zhongsi Fortress. There was plenty of energy and protection there. It would take the enemy at least ten days to get her out.
This is the safest place in the Grasshopper Fortress.
However, King Sklag II did not intend to approach him directly.
Because the agents of the Security Bureau have not yet been able to pinpoint Shi Wei's location.
The mercenary commander who was confronting King Skolag II received a communication. He answered it angrily and began to curse as soon as he got through, but he was stunned when he saw the other person's face.
"Have Yi Lan take over the communication," the other party ordered.
Admittedly, he now had enough troops to kill the enemy, but the anger brought on by that bullet vanished instantly, and he obediently replied, "Yes."
As he transferred the call, he wondered why he had obediently followed orders.
Yi Lan received a communication:
"Commander, Emperor Manra wants to communicate with you!"
"Who?" The process was abruptly halted as the pilot was about to jump to Yi Lan.
The subordinate replied obediently, "Sclag II."
"Where is he?" Yi Lan realized something.
Subordinate: "He's right across from me."
"Damn it! What the hell!" Yi Lan really hadn't expected that King Sklag II would personally intervene. He suppressed his anger and said, "Come on!"
One minute later, that familiar face appeared on the screen.
The two stared at each other for a few minutes, then Yi Lan suddenly laughed: "You came to steal from my house for a woman?"
He thought about it and concluded that the bastard must have brought very few people; if there were many, it would have been impossible for him to attack so quickly.
"Who told you to steal my person?" King Sklag II said, "Our conflict is between us. Why make things difficult for an Omega? Are you even human?"
Such accusations meant nothing to Yi Lan's thick skin. He sneered, "Your person? Stop pretending. Did you detain her in Manla willingly?"
“Of course I’m willing. If you hadn’t pulled this stunt, I would have married her right away,” said King Sklag II.
Having spent so much time with Shi Wei, Yi Lan had figured out her personality and retorted, "Marriage? Are you still dreaming? If she were willing to marry you now, I'd cut off my head and give it to you as a toy—"
His Majesty, exposed for his lie, showed no remorse and retorted, "So, if you take her away, will she be willing to marry you? If you're so capable, let her choose right now!"
This time, Yi Lan was exposed. He avoided the topic and said, "Do you think I'm stupid? The Security Bureau's agents haven't found her yet, have they? You only have a few thousand people left. Even if West Port is blown up, there are still hundreds of thousands left in Fortress Zerg. Do you think you can escape unscathed?"
King Scolag II looked at him and chuckled, “I dared to bring such a small number of people because I have a way out—let’s lay my cards on the table, I brought two Star-Source nuclear bombs.”
Yi Lan finally couldn't hold back any longer and burst out cursing: "You really have no shame! You dare to use a nuclear bomb? Do you think Fortress Nerubian doesn't have one? I can give the order right now, and you'll be reduced to ashes!"
“Then go ahead and bomb.” King Scolag II said nonchalantly, “It’s your territory anyway, throw as many as you want. We can also have a speed contest. I’m near the core of the fortress, let’s see who can throw faster.”
Yi Lan took a deep breath. The power of nuclear weapons is incomparable to that of ordinary missiles. In fact, the one that bastard just dropped was a relatively light Star Source nuclear bomb. If he had really brought the heaviest one, that bomb could have destroyed the Grasshopper Fortress—of course, at that distance, he wouldn't have survived either.
Sklag II was right; he had already disregarded his own life by dropping nuclear bombs on his own base.
The other side didn't even give him time to stall, saying, "I'll give you two minutes. Hand over the people and let my troops in, or I'll blow up the Grasshopper Fortress and we'll all be finished."
Yi Lan clenched her fists, really wanting to disregard everything and blow this bastard to pieces.
Hela had just boarded his fleet when she heard this and quickly said, "Don't be impulsive! Commander, that's our base camp. If we blow it up, we're finished!"
Yi Lan looked at the smug face on the communicator and said in a gloomy tone, "Shi Wei is in the core area of the fortress, but you will never find her. If you use the Star Source Nuclear Bomb, she won't survive either."
This threat was completely useless. Sklag II laughed and said, "I can't even survive myself, why would I care about what happens after me? Let's all die together. You'd better get away, or you'll end up being buried with us."
He seemed genuinely indifferent to his own life: "I'll die with her. She won't blame me. If she does, there's nothing I can do."
That's really a scoundrel.
Yi Lan prides himself on being shameless, having roamed the universe for decades, but only today has he truly realized the extent of the shamelessness of the person before him.
By doing so, Sklag II was indeed deliberately walking into the lion's den, but he brought two nuclear missiles with him. The first one was meant to destroy part of his forces, while the last one was a threat.
He tied his life to the Grasshopper Fortress, and the purpose of the attack was not to find someone, but to destroy the "Starry Sky"—the Grasshopper Fortress without protection was like a hostage with no power to resist.
At this distance, he doesn't even need to fire; he can just detonate it directly.
Even if we evacuate them now, it's no use. Without the main base, any number of troops will be quickly paralyzed.
Seeing the commander's face growing increasingly dark, Hela's heart leaped into her throat, and she kept urging him, "...Don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive, there's plenty of time, Commander!"
Yi Lan was furious. She said, "So what if it's blown up? We can just build another one! He's dead, but Manra still has a few capable fighters—"
Hela was furious. She said, "It's not worth it, Commander! He gave his life for our headquarters. We're losing big time. And with so many soldiers, we can't get out anytime soon! Sklag II is dead, but he has two sons. Manra's power is still there, and there's the Alliance that's eyeing us covetously. He's colluded with the Alliance. Once they realize something's wrong, they'll definitely take action against us too!"
...
When Shi Wei was brought out of the underground, she was still confused—was it all done so quickly?
Seriously? Is His Majesty really that incompetent?
When she was sent to Scolag II's starship, she was completely stunned.
She looked at the man walking towards her, then at the guards behind her; they had already gone out.
King Skolag II pinched her cheek, hugged her, and looked at her red hair with a complicated expression: "I'm sorry you've suffered."
Having gained several pounds, Shi Wei was oblivious to his complicated emotions and asked blankly, "Why are you here?"
"We've come to rescue you," His Majesty said irritably. The reinforcements surrounded their starship and began to retreat.
The mercenaries did not stop him. Yi Lan looked at the bombed-out West Port and the shattered "Starry Sky" and clenched his fists tightly.
He didn't understand where he went wrong.
Perhaps fearing something might go wrong, they traveled at full speed on the return journey, without taking any detours from the Alliance, and instead kept leaping.
Even with his weak constitution, Shi Wei was still dizzy from these continuous leaps.
Upon returning to Manla, she was taken for a medical check-up.
Having experienced a great battle and a long journey, His Majesty had no time to rest. He first went to see the seriously injured and unconscious Similan—thankfully, he had an S-class mech, otherwise he might have really died on the Deep Blue battlefield.
There were many things to clean up, and Cyril hadn't had a break in a long time. His father sent him off to rest, so he had to put down what he was doing.
Cyril also went to see Similan; his vital signs were relatively stable, but the aftereffects were unclear.
He didn't go to the battlefield, so his younger brother was wounded far more often than him. This risky raid was to minimize the front lines—but the father and brother took the greatest risks.
"Are you willing to risk your life for her?" Cyril asked in a low voice, looking at his brother's pale face.
Shi Wei was put in the repair chamber for several days. Actually, she was quite healthy, and the aftereffects of the jump disappeared quickly, but the doctors insisted that she rest.
Okay, okay, who dares to argue with the doctor? She had no choice but to obediently soak in the recovery chamber.
When I woke up, I found that my hair had returned to its original color, probably because of those doctors.
Looking at herself with black hair and black eyes, Shi Wei felt a little uncomfortable.
His Majesty is also very busy, Cyril said, busy cleaning up the mess left by this war.
Although the alliance was secretly colluding with Manra, and everyone could see through their connections, they still publicly condemned her actions.
What do you mean by violating the universal covenant, provoking war, or being detrimental to universal peace?
The funniest thing is that the Cosmic Security Committee thought Manra was really going to war with the mercenaries, so they quickly issued His Majesty a "Cosmic □□" - which was really too late. If they were going to issue one, they should have done it before the war started.
The National Security Council is the last thing it wants to see war, and it tries to explain this attack as a minor skirmish.
They've already used Star Source nuclear weapons, and they still call it a minor skirmish? Everyone thinks he's an idiot.
Strangely enough, after Manra attacked the mercenaries, Yi Lan actually swallowed his anger.
Manla made no further moves, and it seemed to have really just been a minor skirmish.
This made the alliance, which was jumping up and down in a panic, lose face—they were also stunned by that nuclear bomb at the time and dared not investigate.
Afterwards, the Alliance President was so angry he almost slapped his thigh. If he had been bolder and sent someone to investigate the situation, he would definitely have fired a few nuclear missiles at the Grasshopper Fortress after the "Star Dome" became ineffective.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to destroy two major rivals in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately, he lacked both the luck and the courage.
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Author's Note: Yi Lan: You scoundrel!!!
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