The third day, early morning.
A massive, gray-black military transport ship, like a prehistoric behemoth, descended upon the containment center.
The hatch slowly opened.
What was exposed was not comfortable seating, but a cold, barn-like metal warehouse.
"Everyone, board the ship in numerical order!"
Driven by heavily armed soldiers, the women were pushed and shoved onto the transport ship.
Among them are former university professors, corporate executives, artists, doctors, lawyers... They are the empire's most elite and proudest group of women.
Now, they are dressed in uniform, gray prison clothes, their faces filled with despair and numbness.
They had no idea what fate awaited them.
But in their hearts, they all had an ominous premonition.
The transport ship's hatch slowly closed, cutting them off from the last ray of sunlight from their hometown.
The engine roared loudly.
Dozens of transport ships, fully loaded with "female traitors," slowly rose into the air and flew towards that distant, bloody front line, which they had only ever seen in war reports.
Hellfront
The Land of Holy Light, the Northern Province, the Black Forest.
This place was once the heart of the ancient Elf Kingdom. Now, it has been transformed into a living hell.
The main force of the demon army had already crossed this point and advanced deeper into the continent. However, a large number of remaining elven resistance forces still lingered in the Black Forest.
Using their familiarity with the terrain and their superb guerrilla tactics, they constantly caused trouble for the Empire's logistical supply lines.
The Imperial forces stationed here consist of a full division of the Ironblood Legion. Their mission is to completely wipe out all resistance fighters in this forest.
The war was exceptionally brutal.
Although the elves were suffering repeated defeats, each of their counterattacks was exceptionally ruthless and deadly.
The Empire's soldiers are dying and being wounded every day.
The transport ship landed at this makeshift military airfield on the edge of the forest, scorched black by the war.
The hatch opened.
A pungent smell, a mixture of gunpowder smoke, blood, and rotting flesh, instantly flooded the cabin.
The women then erupted in a fit of violent coughing and vomiting.
"Get down here, all of you! Hurry up! Don't dawdle like weaned women!"
A one-eyed officer with a burly face stood at the hatch, roaring impatiently. He reeked of blood and alcohol.
The women were roughly driven off the transport ship by the soldiers using their rifle butts.
When they saw the scene before them, everyone was stunned.
In the distance, artillery fire raged.
Nearby, there was an endless expanse of simple military tents.
Countless imperial soldiers, wounded and with vacant eyes, moved about the camp.
On the ground, bandages stained with blood and used energy magazines were scattered everywhere.
A faint, almost imperceptible groan of pain drifted through the air.
This is the front line.
A real, yet cruel world, completely different from the peaceful and comfortable life they enjoyed in the capital.
"Take these 'goods' over there! Change them into their gear! Prepare to depart in half an hour!" the one-eyed officer ordered his subordinates.
The women were taken to a huge warehouse.
The so-called "equipment" was just a thin, camouflage combat uniform with no protective capabilities.
And a pulse rifle, the oldest and most obsolete weapon long since obsolete in the Imperial Army.
"What is this? You want us to fight a war with this?" A woman who used to be a member of a shooting club asked incredulously, looking at the rough rifle in her hand.
"Otherwise what? Do you expect me to equip you with power armor?" A sergeant in charge of distributing equipment said with a sneer, "You want equality, don't you? Let me tell you, on the front lines, a recruit's first mission is to use this kind of junk as a 'pathfinder.' Congratulations, you're getting the same treatment as the raw recruits."
"A stepping stone?"
“You’re just cannon fodder.” A cruel smile appeared on the sergeant’s face. “Go and use your lives to find out the location of those damned magical traps of the elves. That’s your only value.”
The last trace of color drained from the women's faces.
Half an hour later.
This special "cannon fodder battalion," composed of tens of thousands of untrained imperial women, was driven into the depths of the Black Forest.
Each of them had a new collar placed around their neck.
“Listen up, you bitches!” The one-eyed officer, sitting on his hovering combat platform, shouted at them through a megaphone, “Those are ‘explosive collars’ around your necks. They have positioning systems and vital signs sensors on them.”
"Your mission is to move forward, always forward. No retreating, no stopping. Anyone who tries to escape, or falls behind the main force by 100 meters, will have their collar explode immediately!"
"If your vital signs disappear, the collar will explode! So don't even think about playing dead!"
"Now, let's go!"
Threatened with death, the women had no choice but to trek cautiously into the dark forest, which resembled the jaws of a giant beast.
The forest was deathly silent.
Only they made a rustling sound as they stepped on the withered branches and fallen leaves.
Everyone's heart was in their throat.
They gripped their rifles tightly, their eyes scanning their surroundings in terror.
Sudden.
The woman walking at the very front suddenly found herself in the middle of nowhere.
"ah!"
She let out a short scream and fell down.
Below was a deep pit, disguised by leaves.
The bottom of the pit was filled with sharpened, poisoned wooden stakes.
The woman was instantly pierced through the body by more than a dozen wooden stakes.
Fresh blood gushed out.
She didn't even have time to let out a complete scream before her vital signs disappeared.
boom!
The collar around her neck exploded instantly.
Blood and flesh, mixed with bone fragments, were blasted everywhere.
The women following behind her were splashed with a warm, sticky liquid.
"vomit……"
They could no longer hold it in, bent over, and began to vomit violently.
"Don't stop! Keep going!"
From behind came the cold, urging voice of the one-eyed officer.
Fear overcame disgust.
The women could only bypass that bloody trap and continue, numbly, moving forward.
They were like a flock of sheep being driven by sheepdogs toward the slaughterhouse.
But death has only just begun.
call out!
A soft, whistling sound as it cut through the air.
A small, bloody hole appeared on a woman's forehead.
The terror on her face froze instantly. Her body fell straight backward.
It's an elf, a sniper!
"Enemy attack!"
Someone let out a hysterical scream.
The women panicked completely. Like headless flies, they scurried about, randomly pulling triggers at the surrounding woods.
The bullets struck the thick tree trunk without leaving even a mark.
This, however, revealed their location.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Countless, deadly, emerald-green magical arrows rained down from all directions.
Each arrow found its target with precision.
*Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!*
The women fell, like stalks of wheat being cut down.
Yes, some were shot through the throat.
Yes, some were shot through the heart.
Yes, some people were shot through the eyes.
Screams rose and fell.
A woman who used to be a lawyer was shot in the thigh with an arrow. She screamed and fell to the ground.
She wanted to climb, she wanted to escape.
But the intense pain left her unable to move.
She watched in despair as a tall, stern-faced elven ranger emerged from the bushes.
“Devils…you devils who have invaded our homeland…” The elven ranger’s eyes were filled with deep-seated hatred.
He raised the longbow in his hand.
"No... no..." the woman pleaded with her last ounce of strength.
The Elf Ranger acted without hesitation.
The bowstring has been released.
The arrow pierced the woman's brow with pinpoint accuracy.
boom!
The collar exploded.
The Elf Ranger was blown to bits, his flesh mangled beyond recognition.
This is their ultimate value.
He chose to die, taking his enemy down with him.
This one-sided massacre lasted less than ten minutes.
Tens of thousands of elite women from the capital city.
And so, she died silently and tragically in this dark forest of a foreign land.
Their blood stained the land red.
Their corpses became the feast of wild beasts.
When the one-eyed officer arrived at the battlefield with his troops.
Here, all that remains is a scene of utter devastation.
And, everywhere, were severed limbs and broken arms.
"Report, sir! The reconnaissance mission is complete! All 132 enemy elven rangers have been wiped out. Our 'cannon fodder battalion' is completely wiped out."
A soldier, expressionless, reported.
"Um."
The one-eyed officer nodded.
His face remained completely expressionless.
It's as if what died wasn't just tens of thousands of once vibrant lives.
However, it only consumed a batch of insignificant resources.
"Notify the logistics department to send a cleaning robot to clean up."
He glanced at the bloodstains all over the ground with disgust.
"Then, let the brothers prepare to take over this 'clean' position."
He turned and left.
Behind me, there was a deathly silence.
Only the evening breeze, blowing through the forest, made a sobbing sound.
The news that women on the front lines were treated like expendable resources and easily forgotten spread back to the empire like a silent plague.
The AI "Pangu" did not block this information. On the contrary, it calmly and almost cruelly pushed those processed video clips recording the women's despair and fear before their deaths to every imperial citizen who had ever supported or sympathized with the protests.
The entire empire fell into an eerie, deathly silence.
All the women who had once cheered for Li Ruoxin and others online have quietly deleted their comments.
All the families that had ever expressed even the slightest dissatisfaction with the "female slave" policy became silent.
For the first time, the women of the empire truly felt the unquestionable, cold, and terrifying power emanating from the imperial authority.
They finally realized that the peace, prosperity, security, and so-called "social status" they enjoyed were not a given.
All of that was based solely on the favor bestowed by the emperor.
When they attempt to challenge the source of this blessing, the imperial power can take everything back without hesitation.
Fear is the best form of education.
This bloody shock completely crushed the opposition throughout the empire.
Lin Feng decided to hold a grand, public trial.
The subjects of the trial were the three "leaders" of this rebellion—Li Ruoxin, Zhang Wan'er, and Chen Jing.
The trial was held in the central square of the capital city of Chengtian.
That's the place where they once organized a demonstration involving tens of thousands of people.
Trial Day, that day.
The entire square was packed with people.
But unlike the usual hustle and bustle, today, this place is completely silent.
Tens of thousands of imperial citizens were "required" to attend the ceremony. Their faces mostly showed numbness and fear.
In the center of the square, a towering, black judge's bench was erected.
Lin Feng, dressed in a black imperial robe embroidered with golden stars, sat on the throne at the very top of the judgment platform.
Behind him stood the expressionless Imperial Marshal, Qin Lan.
Beneath the throne, Li Ruoxin, Zhang Wan'er, and Chen Jing, dressed in gray prison uniforms, were chained to three cold, metal pillars.
They have long lost their former glory.
Li Ruoxin's face was withered, her eyes unfocused, as if she had aged twenty years in an instant.
Zhang Wan'er trembled all over, her head lowered, not daring to look at anyone in the audience.
Only Chen Jing remained, her head held high, her eyes filled with resentment and unwillingness.
"Bring it up."
Lin Feng spoke calmly.
Several soldiers escorted a trembling man to the trial platform.
He is Zhang Wan'er's agent.
"Speak," Lin Feng uttered a single word.
"Yes...yes..." The agent was so frightened that he wet himself and blurted out everything like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.
"It's...it's Zhang Wan'er, she...she's jealous! She's jealous of those elven female slaves, who are more popular than her! She saw that her fans were leaving in droves, all talking about those foreign women, so she...she wanted to use this opportunity to stir up public opinion, suppress the reputation of those female slaves, and regain her own influence!"
These words caused an uproar in the audience.
Zhang Wan'er suddenly raised her head and screamed, "You're talking nonsense! It was you! You told me that this was an opportunity! That I could become the spiritual leader of the women of the Empire!"
"quiet."
Lin Feng's voice was not loud.
But Zhang Wan'er felt as if she had been choked, unable to utter a single word.
Next, Chen Jing's former secretary was brought up.
She confessed how Chen Jing abused her power to falsify data and exaggerate the impact of the "female slave policy" on social stability. She also revealed how Chen Jing contacted other officials in an attempt to undermine Marshal Qin Lan and even harbored ambitions to seize the highest power in the empire.
Finally, there is Li Ruoxin, a graduate student.
He cried as he recounted how Li Ruoxin had instilled her own theories of "freedom" and "equality," which came from the old era and were no longer applicable to the Holy Star Empire, into her students, and how she took pride in this, considering herself a great thinker who "awakened the people."
One by one, one by one.
The so-called "truth" was laid bare before everyone.
Behind their so-called advocacy for women's rights lies selfish, sordid ambition and desire.
The expressions in the eyes of the people in the audience began to change.
Fear turned into contempt and anger.
"So, they were all liars!"
"For his own selfish desires, he actually instigated a rebellion! Causing the deaths of so many people!"
"Kill them! Kill these traitors to the Empire!"
The crowd was indignant.
Lin Feng, this is exactly the effect you want.
He slowly rose and walked to the edge of the judge's bench.
Looking down, below the stage, the masses of people were like ants.
"Citizens of the Empire."
His voice, amplified through the sound-amplifying array, clearly reached everyone's ears.
"Today, I stand here not to judge these three lowly clowns."
"I want to tell you a truth."
“A truth about ‘equality’.”
He stretched out his hand and pointed to the sky.
“Every ray of sunshine you enjoy, every breath of air you breathe, every inch of land beneath your feet, did not appear out of thin air.”
"It was the men of the Empire! It was your husbands, your sons, your brothers! It was they who, on the distant, cold, dark interstellar battlefield, fought with their blood and flesh, with their lives, for the Empire, for you!"
"While they were expanding the empire's living space, what were you doing?"
"You are enjoying the peace that they bought with their lives!"
"While they were fighting to the death against ferocious demons and cunning alien races, what were you doing?"
"You are enjoying the wealth that they paid for with their lives!"
"And now, I am merely bestowing those defeated, lowly, foreign women as a small, insignificant reward upon the heroes of the empire."
"But you jumped out and shouted 'injustice' and 'objectification'!"
"What right do you have?"
Lin Feng's voice was like rolling thunder, shaking everyone's souls.
"You want equality?"
"Very well! I grant your wish!"
"I have sent those women, who, like you, cried out for 'equality,' to the front lines. Let them, like men, face the enemy's blade!"
"And then what happened?"
A look of extreme contempt appeared on Lin Feng's lips.
"They were all wiped out in a single day. Their deaths were less significant than those of an insect that gets crushed."
"Is this the equality you wanted?"
"No!"
Lin Feng's voice suddenly rose in pitch, like the roar of a god-king!
"This is not equality! This is the greatest waste of the Empire's resources! This is the greatest insult to the Empire's heroes!"
"Now, listen carefully! I will define here what true equality means in the Holy Star Empire!"
"Equality among men means facing death fairly on the battlefield! Earning glory and status through meritorious service!"
"And women's equality!"
Lin Feng's gaze swept across the audience, to all the trembling women.
"That is right, to bear children for the empire! To continue the noble bloodline of those heroes who may die at any moment on the battlefield!"
"Men, you sacrifice yourselves to buy space for the empire! This is your responsibility!"
"Women, by giving birth, you provide the empire with fresh blood! This is your glory!"
"Men are responsible for external affairs, conquering all directions! Women are responsible for internal affairs, procreation!"
"This! Is the most fundamental, most stable, and greatest equality of the Empire!"
"Anyone who attempts to undermine this equality is a traitor to the Empire!"
"Any woman who doesn't cherish the benefits men gain through sacrifice, and instead stirs up trouble from behind, has no right to be a woman of the empire!"
After speaking, Lin Feng slowly turned around and returned to the throne.
He didn't even glance at the three female prisoners, whose faces were already ashen.
"Execute."
He calmly issued the final order.
Qin Lan waved her hand expressionlessly.
Three Imperial executioners, clad in black power armor, stepped onto the judgment platform.
In their hands, the enormous blaster guns were aimed at the heads of Li Ruoxin, Zhang Wan'er, and Chen Jing.
"No... No... Your Majesty... I was wrong... Please spare me..." Zhang Wan'er finally broke down and cried out in a pitiful plea for mercy.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three muffled gunshots.
The heads of three women, who had once attempted to challenge the emperor's will, exploded like watermelons.
Red and white splattered all over the black judgment seat.
The bloody scene was clearly displayed before every citizen of the empire through holographic projection.
The entire empire was deathly silent.
From then on, no more inappropriate voices were heard.
A completely new order was established amidst bloody trials and declarations.
The men threw themselves even more fervently into the empire's wars of conquest.
Because they knew that what awaited them was supreme glory and the sweetest reward.
The women, on the other hand, completely gave up on their so-called careers and ideals.
They devoted all their energy to pleasing their men and bearing a healthier, stronger offspring for the empire.
Owning one, or even several, female slaves from other races became standard practice for all men in the empire.
Women in the empire used the number of female slaves their husbands owned as a basis for comparison.
Because it represents her man's ability and glory.
The entire Holy Star Empire has become a war machine—well-organized, highly efficient, yet cold and ruthless.
Its future is destined to be boundless, dazzling, and as vast as the stars and the sea.
However, in that constellation, there was no longer any room for any noise.
Deep within the Yongguang Palace, Lin Feng gazed through the enormous porthole at the vast, profound universe beyond.
The little disturbance he just experienced was nothing more than casually swatting a buzzing fly.
In his eyes, there was only a more distant goal.
"Next, where to conquer?"
He spoke softly to himself.
The voice was vast, cold, and devoid of any human emotion.
Like a god, like a demon.
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