20: Chapter 20 Rescue!! Humanity's Technological Power

When countless support craft, carrying the roar of anti-gravity engines, broke through the clouds, Li Yuan knew that his lonely survival on this sentinel planet had finally come to an end.

Shortly after, the iron door of the underground command post slid open, and a squad of light infantry, fully covered in exoskeleton armor and wielding pulse rifles, leaped in swiftly, spreading out in a tactical formation.

Their armor was covered in dust and scattered bloodstains, clearly having just come from battle. The faceplate of the squad leader at the front rose, revealing a weather-beaten but sharp-eyed face.

He quickly scanned the surroundings, his gaze finally landing on Li Yuan and Laya as they walked out of the command room.

"Report your identities!" The squad leader's voice came through the faceplate's speaker, carrying a hint of electronic synthesis.

"Li Yuan, Edge Star No. 7 Reserve. During the battle a few days ago, I was assigned to the 'Keystone' sequence, an F-rank talent," Li Yuan answered calmly according to his prepared story.

At the same time, he stepped aside to reveal Laya behind him. "This is Laya, a survivor I found. She just reached adulthood and hasn't undergone Awakening yet. We've been together the whole time."

The squad leader's gaze lingered for a moment on Laya's exceptionally beautiful face, then looked at the slightly oversized but meticulously arranged female military uniform she wore, and nodded without asking more.

In an apocalyptic disaster, surviving was already a miracle; there was no need to dwell on individual stories.

"Follow us and stay alert. Although the main Zerg Swarm has been cleared by the fleet, there are still scattered units active," the squad leader gave concise orders. The team immediately changed formation, guarding Li Yuan and Laya in the middle as they moved quickly toward the support craft.

Along the way, scenes of small Zerg groups exchanging fire with human cleanup forces could still be seen among the ruins. Beams from energy weapons crossed with Zerg acid and bone spurs in the air, with explosions echoing one after another. However, the initiative on the battlefield was now fully in human hands.

A young and somewhat green member of the squad seemed full of curiosity about the two survivors, Li Yuan and Laya.

In the cleared areas, he couldn't help but lower his voice and introduce the war machines on the battlefield to Li Yuan and Laya with a hint of pride.

"Look over there!" He pointed toward the distant sky, where an elegantly shaped aerospace fighter with smooth lines was weaving through the air.

"That's a 'Luanbird-class' aerospace support fighter! It's the latest model commissioned by our Blazing Dragon Federation!"

As he spoke, several pulse lasers flashed from beneath the Luanbird's wings, instantly blowing a small group of patrolling Zerg Mutalisks out of the sky.

Immediately, the fighter's tail spewed blue flames, trailing a prominent sonic boom cloud as it disappeared into the clouds. "Impressive, right? I heard it's currently the fastest support fighter within the atmosphere!"

Li Yuan nodded silently. He remembered the light-energy rifle he was assigned when he was placed in the Keystone sequence on Awakening Day; it was completely powerless against the Zerg.

Before he could finish his reflections, the young man's voice rang out again, even more excited: "That! Look over there! It's the 'white emperor'! white emperor war mecha!"

Li Yuan looked in the direction he pointed. Even from a great distance, he could feel an overwhelming sense of pressure.

It was a steel giant over a hundred meters tall, its entire body covered in thick silver-white armor with hard, divine lines. Its head was surrounded by a halo-like ring of plasma cloud, which was air becoming ionized under high temperatures.

It charged toward an Ultralisk several times its size. That Ultralisk towered into the clouds and was several kilometers long, as massive as a mountain range.

"Buzz—!"

A brilliant plasma blade flashed by, and the Ultralisk's hideous head was instantly severed from its body. The massive momentum sent it tumbling into the distance, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

That wasn't all. The armor plates on the white emperor mecha's shoulders, chest, and arms slid open layer by layer, revealing dense clusters of muzzles. In the next moment, countless destructive energy beams poured out like a rainstorm, completely submerging the Zerg Tide host swarms trying to surge around the Ultralisk's corpse.

"...This mecha is nuclear-powered. I heard it's a small-scale nuclear fusion reactor!" The young soldier's voice was filled with immense pride. "This is also from our Blazing Dragon Federation!"

Li Yuan looked up at the steel giant that seemed to have stepped out of mythology, his heart filled with incomparable shock. Even relying on Laya's power, his hunting plans at most involved Mutalisks—those flying insects about ten meters long. As for an Ultralisk, just seeing one was terrifying!

What terrifying technological power! Individual strength seemed so insignificant in the face of such war machines.

For the first time, he felt so viscerally what human civilization relied on to persevere in the war against the Zerg.

Continuing their march through nearly half the war zone, the squad stopped at the edge of a relatively intact plaza. A streamlined military vehicle full of futuristic technology was parked quietly there, its body shimmering with a matte black coating.

"We're here. The support ship landing zone is quite far from here, so we'll take the 'Chengying' tactical assault vehicle over," the squad leader explained.

While waiting for the vehicle's system self-check, Li Yuan noticed some strangely shaped unmanned units patrolling the plaza. They had multi-legged chassis carrying turret-like structures, moving silently and with extreme agility.

"Those are 'Sons of Chiron' unmanned tactical mobile armaments," the enthusiastic young soldier noticed Li Yuan's gaze and continued his commentary. "They're technical products from the Holy Alliance, mainly responsible for battlefield early warning, reconnaissance, and... well, drawing fire. They're quite useful and durable, but the Holy Alliance keeps a tight grip on the core patents and subsequent maintenance, which bottlenecks us. So, we don't have many of them equipped."

Li Yuan understood. It seemed humanity was not a monolithic block; various factions also had technological barriers and competition.

"Everyone, mount up!"

At the squad leader's command, everyone quickly entered the Chengying assault vehicle. The interior wasn't very spacious but was well-designed with comfortable seats. The moment the hatch closed, soft internal lighting turned on, and a clear electronic prompt echoed inside the vehicle:

"Optical cloaking system activated..."

"Thermodynamic cloaking system activated..."

"Detection barrier generating..."

"Chengying-class tactical assault vehicle startup complete. Friendly reminder: Drive recklessly, and your loved ones will weep."

If anyone were outside, they would find that the Chengying assault vehicle's shell seemed to merge into the air, completely vanishing from sight!

The vehicle started, moving extremely fast yet exceptionally smooth. It was like a true ghost, weaving silently through the ruins. Occasionally, it would even pass directly through a small group of confused Drones or Zerglings, and these Zerg units with their keen sense of smell and perception had no reaction at all, continuing to circle in place.

The journey was smooth. In just over ten minutes, a massive landing craft came into view—

Although he had seen it from a distance, looking up at this several-kilometer-long steel behemoth from up close provided an even stronger visual impact.

It was like a metal mountain range lying across the earth. On its cold armored shell, various turrets, missile silos, and signal antennas stood tall, exuding a heart-pounding pressure.

At the landing craft's entrance, a line had already formed. They were scattered survivors rescued from various places—not many in number, each looking weathered, their eyes a mix of relief at having survived.

Before boarding, all survivors needed to undergo strict identity verification and a re-test with a Talent Crystal to ensure consistency of information.

"This is a necessary security procedure," an officer in a military police uniform explained, his voice broadcasting across the entire waiting area through a loudspeaker. "There are 'Infector' units among the Zerg capable of eroding and assimilating human consciousness, creating perfect humanoid puppets. We must ensure that everyone boarding is a pure human compatriot."

Watching the people in front of him place their hands one by one on a faintly glowing crystal ball and then be guided into a device similar to a full-body scanning pod, Li Yuan's heart couldn't help but tighten. The situation he feared most had finally arrived.