185: The dirt road at the entrance of the village becomes a highway?

“Notice to all units in the Southern Border: Windbreak Corridor… lost contact.”

The trembling voice of the communications soldier.

Like a needle, it gently pricked the triumphant joy that had just risen in the Command Center.

The air solidified.

General Wei’s hearty smile had not completely faded, and it froze on his face.

Lord Qin, who was beside him, and several other Legendary powerhouses, had their smiles freeze.

Everyone present was a seasoned veteran, and no one would naively believe that “lost contact” was just a communication failure.

In wartime, especially at such a critical juncture.

“Lost contact” only meant one thing—destroyed.

“Windbreak Corridor…”

Lord Qin’s voice was somewhat dejected. “That’s not a frontline fortress.”

Yes, not the front line.

The Windbreak Corridor was located in the hinterland of the Blue Star Alliance’s Southern Border control zone, hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from front-line positions like Youfeng Valley.

It was guarded by layers of defenses and dozens of fortresses, making it a theoretically absolute safe zone.

It didn’t need heavy troops to guard it, because its very existence was the cornerstone of stability for the Southern Border War Zone.

It was not a fortress, but a super jump point so vast that it could support the movement of an entire war zone’s forces.

It was the “heart” and “artery” of the entire Southern Border War Zone.

Every day, deployed units transited through it.

Massive amounts of war materials, reserve soldiers, and even frontline officers and soldiers rotating for rest all depended on this passage.

It could not only achieve ultra-long-distance, large-scale troop transfers within the Molten Heart World.

It also directly connected to the Realm Sea, serving as the “Heavenly Gate” for Blue Star Alliance’s native reinforcements to arrive in the Southern Border.

The entire Molten Heart World.

Due to its special laws and enormous size, strategic jump points of this level.

The Blue Star Alliance spent a century.

And only four were built, each guarding one of the four major war zones: southeast, northwest.

Now, the Southern Border’s “Heavenly Gate” had collapsed.

“Damn it… how is this possible?”

“Are the Windbreak Corridor’s garrison troops just for show…?”

General Wei slammed the water bottle in his hand to the ground, emitting a dull thud.

Immediately after, reports from different front-line positions flew in like snowflakes, explaining everything.

At Red Rock Pass, five Dark Star Legendary.

At Blackwater River, three Dark Star Legendary.

...

Adding the seven Legendary at Youfeng Valley.

All in all.

The Dark Star Empire had deployed over two hundred Legendary-level combat powers across the entire Southern Border this time.

Among them, there were even Legendary Monarchs above the Sixteenth Order.

They used so many Legendary powerhouses.

Attacking all front-line defense zones in the Southern Border at all costs was not to occupy these places at all.

It was merely to tie them down.

Using over two hundred Legendary to tie down all of the Blue Star Alliance’s top combat power in the Southern Border.

And another unknown force, taking advantage of this window of opportunity.

Precisely struck the soft underbelly of the Southern Border.

The Windbreak Corridor, with the most fatal blow.

“What a feint, what a grand scheme…”

General Wei murmured to himself, he sat back in his chair, somewhat dejected.

“To rebuild the Windbreak Corridor, even if the Alliance immediately mobilizes the best engineering lords, it will take at least ten years.”

“These ten years… will be enough for the Dark Star Empire to turn the entire Southern Border upside down,” Lord Qin added, his voice full of powerlessness.

“And without the Windbreak Corridor, how will subsequent reinforcements arrive? What about the supplies for the tens of millions of troops in the Southern Border War Zone?”

A Legendary powerhouse took over the conversation, his tone filled with gravity.

The Molten Heart World was too vast.

To transfer troops from the nearest Western Border jump point, even a Legendary powerhouse flying at full speed would take several months. By the time the troops arrived, it would be too late.

Without subsequent support, the Blue Star Alliance army entrenched in the Southern Border would become an isolated force.

Facing the Dark Star Empire’s subsequent full-scale assault, its fall was only a matter of time.

Inside the Command Center, the atmosphere was heavy.

They had just won a brutal positional battle, only to lose the entire strategic layout in the blink of an eye.

This huge disparity was enough to crush anyone’s will.

“General Wei.”

A voice broke the dead silence.

“I need to return to Infinite City.”

Everyone looked over, the speaker was Su Jin.

He stood there, his expression as usual, as if the news that was enough to turn the entire Southern Border upside down had no effect on him.

“You…” General Wei opened his mouth.

He looked at Su Jin, and from this young man’s face, he saw no frustration, only the usual calmness.

For some reason, his anxious heart actually calmed down a bit.

“Kid, do you have a plan?”

“It’s hard to say right now.”

Su Jin shook his head, not making any promises.

“I just have an idea that needs to be verified back there.”

He did have an idea.

The first thing that came to his mind the moment he heard about the destroyed “jump point” was the hundred-meter-tall tower standing in his territory—the Star Realm Beacon.

That thing might bring a turning point.

“Good!” General Wei didn’t ask further, slamming his hand on the table.

“Go! If you need any resources, or if you need this old man to do anything, just contact me directly!”

“Thank you, General.”

Su Jin nodded in acknowledgment, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, then his figure flickered, and he disappeared from the spot.

...

Infinite City.

Su Jin’s figure appeared in the Lord’s Hall.

The next moment, he was standing beneath the hundred-meter-tall Obsidian spire.

The Star Realm Beacon.

It stood silently.

The huge spatial crystal at the spire released a deep, ethereal blue light.

On the tower’s body.

Energy patterns flickered like breathing.

Each flash triggered tiny spatial ripples.

As a front-line jump point requisitioned by the Alliance, it was indeed usable.

But the specifications of this beacon.

Compared to a strategic hub like the Windbreak Corridor.

One was a village dirt road, the other was a sixteen-lane highway.

Its current transmission limit.

It could only support a unit of ten thousand people at most at one time, and the cooldown time was extremely long.

For a war at the war zone level, where troop movements were often measured in legions, it was like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water.

But… what if it could be “Ascensioned”?

Su Jin raised his hand, placing his palm on the cold tower body.

“Sublimation.”

He silently chanted in his heart.