158: Buhau! Missiles coming!

Xi Hai's office—

Julius was fast; he arrived at Xi Hai's office with a file in less than two minutes.

After reviewing the nine candidate fleets, Xi Hai immediately selected the reinforcement: the Ninth Mobile Fleet.

The composition of this fleet was different from the First Mobile Fleet that had already departed; it was not equipped with carriers. Instead, it consisted of 400 eternal storm, 1,000 CAS066s, 1,000 KCCP2.0s, and 6,000 small Warships.

"Have the Ninth Mobile Fleet assemble quickly. We depart in one hour."

At the same time, thinking of the Time-Space Walker's mission, Xi Hai hesitated for less than a second before adding to Julius, "I will accompany them with the storm."

"Also, didn't you say that to ensure combat effectiveness, you were only prioritizing the number of mobile fleets?"

"Now it is time to rebuild the headquarters' direct fleet."

"Plan it out yourselves. The reconstruction must be carried out without hindering frontline operations, and you must ensure the newly built fleet contributes positively to the frontline situation."

"Also, the reorganization and re-equipping of other fleets, as well as the rectifications I previously ordered, must be implemented as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

Watching Julius stand at attention and salute, Xi Hai returned the salute and turned to walk out.

Meanwhile, recalling those complicated administrative documents, he sighed again—although he had set the general direction, the details, refinement, and execution required integration with the specific circumstances of each location, and every star system, every planet, and even every region had different specific situations.

He really needed civil servant-type administrative talent.

Truly, sitting in this position, he finally realized how rare an administrative talent like Marx or Guilliman was.

Just like that, while wondering where to poach administrative talent, Xi Hai stepped onto the Shuttle next to his office.

...

When the reinforcement fleet was preparing to depart, over in Cetus V66.79, two FG300s hidden at the edge of the asteroid belt sent a communication to White Shark—several fleets traveling via the Gravity Conduit had just arrived in this star system and were now heading toward the planetary Starport here.

They're here!

White Shark felt a surge of excitement the moment he received the message. He picked up his communicator and ordered the ten people who had landed with him, "Attention everyone, we have received communication from the Warship. The Saint's fleet has arrived!"

"Our mission is to confirm the target location and designate the target for the operation fleet!"

After speaking, he looked at Baili Ying beside him, "Let's go. How is your intelligence gathering and organization coming along?"

Baili Ying put away the data pad in her hand and made a V-sign, "OK! Done! Guaranteed not to drop the ball!"

White Shark nodded, then picked up the two backpacks he had packed earlier and tossed one to Baili Ying, "Let's go!"

...

Perhaps for the people on this planet, this day seemed truly important. The streets were already packed with people, countless individuals wearing pious expressions, as if on a pilgrimage, following the routes guided by the Protectorate Army.

White Shark and Baili Ying mingled in the crowd, slowly moving forward. The crowd was moving in an orderly fashion, but given the massive numbers, it still felt very crowded—

"Hey, Dead Fish, what is poking my back?"

"Oh, that's the flashlight in my pocket."

"Just a flashlight? (Disappointed)"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing! Watch the road!"

After wriggling for several tens of minutes, the two barely managed not to get separated. Fortunately, after walking out of another alley, the crowd finally entered an open area—they had circled into a plaza.

In the middle of that plaza stood the White Tower that White Shark and the others had visited once before. All the Followers were dressed in solemn traditional attire, standing on what looked like a temporarily constructed platform, their expressions dignified and solemn.

Among them, several large loudspeakers flying in the sky were repeatedly playing an audio clip: "A hundred years ago, Lord Muldra passed the harsh trials and received the recognition of the lord of the sand sea,"

"A large number of people united around him. They used themselves as firewood, igniting the spark of light named hope,"

"Universal love, frugality, unity... countless teachings from the lord of the sand sea were brought to every place,"

"The wasteland that lasted for thousands of years was ended, and the light of civilization finally shone again on the sand sea..."

White Shark listened, his brows slightly furrowed. Just high-sounding words.

After all, in his eyes, if the price of saving a planet was to let humanity grow a massive tumor, then letting this planet be destroyed was the correct choice—the latter was the price of protecting and preserving human civilization.

It didn't keep White Shark waiting too long. Soon, several Shuttles flew in from the edge of the sky, appearing in the field of view. The crowd immediately boiled over— "They are here! Those heroes!"

White Shark tugged slightly on the person beside him and asked, "Uh... brother, hello, do you know what deeds those heroes have done?"

The man took one look at White Shark's old-fashioned attire and immediately put on an "I understand everything" expression, proudly saying, "You're from one of the outside settlements, right?"

"Let me tell you, back then, where were there any settlements?"

"That was a wasteland that stretched for thousands of years. Cannibalism back then was a daily occurrence, not an exaggeration."

"Back then, it was Lord Muldra. He first received the blessing of the lord of the sand sea, and later brought that doctrine to form the Protectorate Army,"

"They fought for over a hundred years to save people from the wasteland."

"That is why you have the settlement you live in now—otherwise, we would all still be struggling desperately for survival now!"

White Shark listened, this image seemed quite positive, right? "Then what happened later?"

The man continued, "Later? After the wasteland here ended, they resolutely stepped off this planet to search for traces of other humans."

"But when they returned, they said that the humans outside also..."

"BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!"

Suddenly, several earth-shattering explosions rang out, and a commotion immediately erupted in the crowd—several missiles flew in from who knows where and slammed fiercely into those Shuttles!!!

Debris, fire, black smoke... half the sky was set ablaze.

And following that, the masses gathered below were also ignited— "Attack!!!" "Protectorate Army, evacuate the masses!!!"

The broadcast immediately switched to the shouts of the Followers on the platform, and a large number of Protectorate Army soldiers immediately removed the sharp objects from their bodies, started rushing into the crowd, and linked hands to form a human wall to begin guiding the crowd.

Shouts, screams, all sorts of chaotic sounds mixed and poured into White Shark's ears. At this moment, he felt as if he could no longer control his own direction; he could only pull Baili Ying tightly into his arms. The two held onto each other like this, moving forward amidst the crowding of the masses.

Until the earpiece in his ear suddenly blared with an emergency message from the FG300— "Boss! A whole bunch of strange Warships suddenly popped out of the Gravity Conduit over here! They are also heading toward the planet!"

"We are about to be discovered! Initiating emergency evasion now!" "You guys be careful—"

Damn it! Some uninvited guests have come to join the fun!

At this moment, the debris in the sky had already begun to slowly fall, but the anti-gravity systems of those Shuttles were still running. The fire of the explosion and the gas clouds floated, like a fire lotus from mythology, dyeing half the sky red.