The weather was as beautiful as ever, and the temple was filled with sunshine.

Li Yuebai stood in the center of the temple, looking at the flashing information on the screen, feeling cold from head to toe as if he had fallen into ice and snow.

Encountering a distorted black hole in the vast universe is like encountering a vortex reef while sailing in the ocean on Earth.

Fortunately, judging from the content of the distress signal, things have not yet reached the worst point.

"Host..." The system hesitated.

"Let's put the unimportant things aside for now." Li Yuebai said.

He quickly went through the candidates who were suitable for rescue in his mind, and was considering who to ask for help when the sound of a flying vehicle landing was heard on the platform outside the temple door.

Someone is coming.

"Who?" Li Yuebai was in a state of nervousness and anxiety. When he heard that there was an uninvited guest, he couldn't help but feel annoyed and asked angrily in a deep voice.

The hatch of the aircraft slowly slid open, and a familiar figure jumped down, except that his clothes had changed to a dark green officer's uniform.

"Cizel?" Li Yuebai blurted out.

"High Priest." Xizel jumped off the aircraft and knelt on one knee at the door of the temple. He looked at Li Yuebai with respect, but his tone was much more urgent: "I have something important to ask of you."

"Now is not the time to talk about this." Li Yuebai refused flatly.

Even if it's Cecil, he can't take up even a minute of his time now, Lei's matter is the most urgent.

"I want to know what happened to General Ares." Xizel seemed to have not heard anything and said again: "General Ares's battle this time was very dangerous because the marshal...did not give him enough soldiers. I have been worried all the time. And now, the scheduled return time has long arrived, but the central control station has not received any news of his return..."

really.

Cecil has always been very concerned about Lei's movements. Now that such a big accident has happened, it is impossible for him not to have heard of it.

But Cecil was worried, why did he find this place so quickly?

"Why did you come to me?" Li Yuebai asked sharply, "Do you think I would know about the military affairs earlier than the military people?"

"Because you are the person General Ares trusts the most!" Xizel said, "So I judge that you may receive more news than the military... Please, tell me."

"Did you receive Lei's distress signal?" Li Yuebai sighed.

"A distress signal? No." Cecil lowered his eyes, a hint of sadness flashing in his eyes.

Indeed, it is impossible for Lei to send a distress signal to Xizel, and the person he trusts most is only Longyue.

Looking at Cecil's anxious and serious expression, Li Yuebai made a decision immediately.

At the same time, the system dialog box popped up:

Dear host, please tell Xizel the coordinates of Reares according to the original owner's choice and ask Xizel to go to rescue him.

Li Yuebai pressed the OK button without hesitation.

"Lei's fleet encountered a deformed black hole." Li Yuebai stepped forward and held César's shoulders with both hands: "He has lost contact with Amiens and is in danger."

Cecil's eyes suddenly widened.

"In an emergency, we must act accordingly. Therefore, I solemnly request you, Lieutenant Cizer of the Third Fleet." Li Yuebai said solemnly, "I request you to rescue him directly without asking for instructions, without review, and without transfer orders."

According to normal procedures, after receiving the distress signal, Li Yuebai should first forward the signal to the military, and the marshals and generals should hold a meeting to discuss the authenticity and credibility of the signal. Then, after going through several complicated procedures, estimating risks, deploying personnel... finally set out to rescue.

This process takes too long.

Therefore, Li Yuebai chose Caesar.

Only Cecil would go to the rescue without hesitation.

Moreover, Xi Ze Er now has enough manpower to organize a well-qualified team.

"...I agree." Cecil lowered his eyes: "And I am grateful."

"I should be the one who is grateful." Li Yuebai felt that he was despicable for taking advantage of the boy's love and making him willingly step into danger.

However, it was too late to get entangled in moral issues.

Li Yuebai stretched out his hand and gently helped Xizel up. Then, he leaned close to his ear and whispered the coordinates of Lei's location.

Coordinates are a set of three complex numbers. In the vast universe, only coordinates are reliable and unchanging.

After writing down the coordinates, Cecil leaned over and kissed the back of Li Yuebai's hand, then turned and left without hesitation.

Li Yuebai was just about to watch him board the aircraft when he saw the whole world suddenly freeze and stop.

"bite!!!"

The system issued a clear prompt tone.

"Dear host, congratulations on reaching the time travel point!" The system emphasized word by word: "From this second on, you have full control of the initiative. The original owner's choice in the original plot will no longer be your standard. You can be completely independent! Now, go save the world!"

Only then did Li Yuebai remember the rules announced by the system when he first came to this world.

At that time, the system said that at first one could only experience and observe, and all important decisions had to be made according to the choices made by the original owner in the original plot. Only...only when the plot developed and the original owner made the first mistake, could one reach the true point of time travel and fully grasp the initiative.

"Am I in complete control of the initiative now?" Li Yuebai's voice trembled a little.

"Yes, host." The system replied.

"I..." Li Yuebai's heart sank, and he suddenly felt unprecedented fear.

Fear was like a huge net that wrapped him up completely and made it impossible for him to escape.

"System, don't joke with me!" Li Yuebai said sternly.

"Dear host, I have never told you any lies." The system said seriously: "Everything is true."

"That... that is to say, I have made a mistake." Li Yuebai suddenly felt more vulnerable than ever before: "But... where is the mistake? I actually..."

The intelligence and reaction speed that I was proud of became a joke in an instant.

"Your mistake was that you shouldn't have told Xizel the coordinates of Leares." The system said emotionlessly.

"..." Li Yuebai raised his eyes and looked at Caesar's back, feeling unbelievable.

"Who is Cecil?"

"Bad guy." The system said decisively: "I'm sorry, host, due to the constraints of the Lord God, I can only delay until now to tell you the truth."

"It's not your fault." Li Yuebai sighed tiredly, "I should have expected it."

"No one could have predicted this, not even you." The system said, "This is a deliberate joke from the Lord God. You can't escape it."

"Tell me what happens next."

"Yes." The system said solemnly: "After Xizel got Lei's coordinates, he quickly led the third fleet to rescue..."

"The Third Fleet?" Li Yuebai frowned. "Xizel is only the captain of the First Squadron of the Third Fleet. He does not have the authority to lead the entire Third Fleet."

"What if Marshal Augustan grants him this power?" the system asked.

"Marshal Augustin?" Li Yuebai was shocked.

"Yes, Cizer and the Marshal are from the same party and are close allies," said the system.

Li Yuebai almost crushed the staff in his hand.

This time, I was deceived so thoroughly.

There is a kind of pitiful quality about Cecil that makes people like him unconsciously and even become addicted to him, so much so that they don't even examine his doubts properly... Then again, he did it so perfectly that it's useless to examine him any further.

"The relationship between the Marshal and General Ares is becoming increasingly tense. You know this too. General Ares's encounter with the deformed black hole this time is not unrelated to the Marshal." said the system.

The ground control center of Amiens was responsible for scanning, monitoring and detecting whether there were any obvious dangerous obstacles on the fleet's route. Things like deformed black holes should have been detected early and the fleet should have been notified to avoid them, but they were not detected this time... It is very likely that the marshal ordered the people at the control station to do something and deliberately concealed this discovery.

"After Xizel found Lei, he certainly didn't rescue him." The system said, "He sent people aboard the flagship to repair the damaged signal transmission and reception system, and then injured Lei when he was completely unprepared."

"No one can hurt Reares." Li Yuebai couldn't believe it, and his first reaction was to deny it loudly.

"Don't underestimate Cizer." The system said, "And at that time, Lei was caught off guard not only against Cizer, but also against many elites from the Third Fleet."

"Why would the people of the Third Fleet obey Cizer's orders and instead attack the more familiar Admiral Ares?" Li Yuebai felt his anger rising.

"Because they accepted not only the orders from Cizer, but also the orders from the Marshal." The system said: "The Marshal denounced General Ares as a rebel and accused him of countless crimes. The officers could only obey the Marshal's orders. Moreover, Cizer is usually the most loyal admirer of General Ares. As long as Cizer cooperates with the Marshal to slander and defame him, the officers will naturally believe and obey..."

"What exactly is the purpose of the Marshal and César? Why did they attack Lei?" Li Yuebai tried to forget his anger for the moment and think about the reasons logically: "Although Lei and the Marshal are not in harmony, he has never meant to impeach the Marshal. He does not want to rebel. The Marshal cannot be unaware of this..."

"Because of you, host." The system said in a deep voice.

“…”

After imprisoning Lei, Xizel did not return to Amiens, but stayed there and sent a contact request to Longyue.

He used Lei's life to threaten Longyue and forced him to hand over the fleet x.

"Fleet x..." Li Yuebai looked at the staff in his hand, which was the controller of Fleet x.

"Perhaps you find it hard to believe, but this is the truth." The system said, "No matter how great General Ares is, he is just a hostage in this incident. The biggest mistake he made in his life was becoming the best friend of the high priest."

This is ridiculous, this is ridiculous.

Li Yuebai rubbed his temples and felt a little unsteady on his feet.

"Host, if it were you, what would you choose?" the system asked.

The lives and fleets of those I care about...

A heavy burden suddenly came down on him, and Li Yuebai felt like he was going to be crushed.

It's a dilemma, choosing either way is a sin.

But if he had to choose one, Li Yuebai thought that his final decision should be the former.

"Just like your choice, Longyue handed over the control of Fleet X, and Xizel released Ares as promised." said the system.

"If the Marshal and Cizer's goal is to obtain Fleet X," Li Yuebai gritted his teeth, "then their ambition will definitely not stop here. This is just the beginning."

"Yes, César took command of the Second and Third Fleets, as well as Fleet X, under the Marshal's order. Then, in the name of protecting the Marshal, he surrounded the star of Amiens."

"He wants to occupy Amiens? The entire Star Ring Church state?"

"His goal is to make the Marshal the sole ruler of the Star Ring Church state." The system said meaningfully.

"Where does César's loyalty to the Marshal come from?" Li Yuebai felt disgusted.

"There is no such thing as loyalty. It's all about interests." The system pretended to be sophisticated.

"System, are you saying that everything that happened between Master Richard and Cecil during that period of time...was just acting?"

"Acting? No, no, no." The system denied: "Host, with your insight, if Master Richard was acting, you would be able to tell at a glance."

Yes, it was precisely because Young Master Richard's performance was impeccable that he did not arouse Li Yuebai's suspicion.

Now it seems that it was not that Young Master Richard’s acting skills were too good, but that he was simply kept in the dark and completely deceived by his father and "subordinates".

It is not known when the partnership of interests between the Marshal and Cesar was established. Perhaps it was when Cesar had just joined the First Fleet as a soldier, or perhaps even earlier.

The Marshal's goal is to defeat the Prime Minister and the Pope and become the sole leader of the Star Ring Church State. Unfortunately, the Pope has Fleet X, which is very difficult to deal with, so he went through such a big detour just to get Fleet X...

After Cézaire led his mighty fleet to surround Amiens, the marshal began to pretend to be ignorant, acting as if he had nothing to do with Cézaire, clearing himself from the matter completely, saying that everything was Cézaire's own decision and that he had no ambition at all.

Immediately, the marshal recalled several other fleets, gathered a large number of troops, and stayed indoors without going out.

At the same time, Césaire proposed negotiation conditions to Amiens - the Prime Minister and the Pope must leave the state and go into exile abroad. If they did not do so, there would be only one result - war.

As soon as this sensational news came out, the entire Halo Church state fell into chaos. The people were confused about the situation and for a while didn't know whether to support the marshal, the prime minister, or the pope. They were discussing and arguing every day.

When they witnessed several fleets suspended in low orbit, confusion and hesitation turned into fear of death.

Even those who supported the Prime Minister and the Pope did not dare to resist Cizer's fleet with flesh and blood.

At this time, Longyue had already collapsed under the intense pressure of self-blame.

He was willing to express his apology to Lei in every way, but it was impossible to achieve it. Lei never woke up. He was seriously injured by César's attack and was always in a coma. The best doctors on Amiens tried their best, but they could only barely maintain his life in this way.

Even though Longyue is now full of hatred and disgust towards Caesar, there is nothing he can do. He cannot act on impulse, he cannot call on the people to fight Caesar, he cannot ignore the lives of hundreds of millions of people. The only choice is a humiliating peace.

The Prime Minister and the Pope must leave, and the Marshal will take power and become the sole ruler of the Star Circle Church state.

…

When Li Yuebai saw this, all his anger turned into sadness.

"Maybe I misjudged César's character, but his ambition and dignity... could it be that I also misjudged him?" Li Yuebai said, "I always thought that he had ideals as broad as the stars and the sea, and a firm belief that he was above everyone else. In the end, he just wanted to be a running dog for the Marshal, a despicable dictator. This is really... too disgusting."

"Host." The system sighed almost inaudibly: "It is like this, no, it is not like this..."

"Explain clearly."

"Cesare is not the Marshal's running dog." The system said word by word: "On the contrary, the Marshal is Cesare's running dog."