171: This thing is still chasing me!

"The megastructure we were responsible for was the one deployed to Cetus V66.79—oh, right, is this place still called Cetus?"

As he spoke, Keith suddenly paused and asked.

Xi Hai nodded and answered affirmatively:

"Yes, it's still called that."

"Why do you ask?"

Keith seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"That's good. At least the Captain's choice back then was right."

Before Xi Hai could ask, Keith took a breath and continued—

The megastructure deployed at Cetus V66.79, which is the one they were currently standing on,

its mission—or rather, the mission of all Human Federation megastructure units at that time—was to strike aggressively at the front lines to draw the aliens' attention.

They would coordinate with the assembled feint fleet to induce the aliens to misjudge the Human Federation's next strategic move.

In the plan, after the aliens were distracted, the assault fleet would quickly break through, followed by the feint fleet disengaging under the cover of the megastructures, and finally, the megastructure units would withdraw.

However, even the High Command that drafted the plan admitted that in this mission, the megastructure units faced almost certain death:

To maintain sufficient firepower and create the appearance of a total offensive along the entire front, each megastructure was assigned hundreds of firing tasks over seven days—

To put it nicely, their battle line was a spherical plane; to put it even better, the Human Federation single-handedly surrounded the entire universe.

In short, their situation was dire. Due to that betrayal, they had suffered massive combat losses.

With insufficient numbers of megastructure units, they couldn't fire a shot and run back like they used to.

Consequently, their mobility was restricted to a very small area—

much like artillery units in ground warfare that sacrifice mobility for more extreme firepower output in a short period.

Because of the almost 100% mortality rate, personnel for this mission were all volunteers—

"This mission is almost certainly a suicide mission. I will not order you to participate in such a death trap, nor will I deceive you into sacrificing yourselves for the Human Federation against your will."

"Those who want to participate in this mission, report voluntarily when the troops assemble!"

"For those who don't come, there is a stack of signed blank transfer orders on my desk. Go take one and fill it out yourselves!"

"No one will blame you!"

"For this operation, all units will be broken up and placed under the direct command of the Human Federation High Command."

"And I—I will always be with my troops!"

"I will head to the front lines with the brave!"

"No matter how badass those sons-of-a-bitch aliens are, follow me, and we'll give them a good pounding regardless!"

"The Human Federation spirit remains, and human glory lasts forever!"

This was the short speech delivered by Wang Chengzhu, the supreme commander of the Human Federation megastructure units, during the pre-battle mobilization.

As it turned out, the expected manpower shortage did not occur; instead, some units even saw 13,000 people show up when only 1,300 were expected—

Retired veterans who were past the demobilization age said, "You said anyone who wants to come can come. If I come to report to my old unit, can you stop me?"

In short, the Human Federation's past and present were all united, desperately trying to carve out a future.

Only the scum of the Star Sea Affinity Society were causing trouble—at this time, they were even using genetic weapons developed by the aliens to poison places throughout the Human Federation's territory.

In short, amidst internal and external troubles, the Human Federation's megastructure units set off as scheduled—

"At that time, after we finished deployment, we kept braking continuously in the five star systems around here."

"To ensure continuous firepower, we simply tossed the safety operation manual aside and charged up while moving."

"Even so, we later discovered that if we continued to maneuver, we wouldn't be able to complete the firing mission within the allotted time."

As Keith spoke, he started gesturing. He looked at Xi Hai, a hint of pride on his face.

"After discussing it, we just stopped directly at Cetus V66.79."

"Everyone voted to take a risk and blow up the star marker here, using the temporarily formed Void Turbulence as cover."

"Being able to do this was thanks to the latest experimental attack megastructure we had in our hands—"

"Our megastructure relied on Void Jump calculations for the impact point, while the aliens' long-range strike methods had to travel through the void."

"In other words, we could hit those aliens, but they couldn't hit us."

Xi Hai raised an eyebrow and retorted:

"Wait, then why didn't you calculate the coordinates from the start, blow up the star marker, and fire while sitting in the hole?"

Keith was stunned for a moment, then looked at Xi Hai in astonishment—

What? Are humans tens of thousands of years later this reckless?

Back then, even just blowing up the star marker from across a whole star system caused about 60% structural damage to their megastructure, and several specially sealed core components were affected.

Is this thing something you can just blow up whenever you want?

Do you treat your life like it's wholesale?

Are you really that unafraid of death?

After pondering for a long time, he finally asked:

"Are star markers... that worthless nowadays?"

Xi Hai: ???

"Forget it, let's not talk about that. So, you don't know anything about the follow-up to that Firefly Project you mentioned?"

Keith nodded.

"Do I look like I know?"

"We just completed the fire support mission, and after sending the recovery request, we went straight into hibernation."

"I wanted to ask you that same question!"

Xi Hai felt speechless. Hearing only half a story was the most absurd thing, bar none.

"Didn't you set up a rotation? No one on duty?"

Keith clapped his hands.

"We did!"

"But I wasn't on it!"

"The rotating personnel were technicians. I'm administrative staff. Call me out for rotation? Are you joking?"

Xi Hai: ...

So this guy just slept for tens of thousands of years like that?

"That's still not right!!!"

"Use your brain! It's been tens of thousands of years, and no one called you!"

Keith also slapped his forehead.

"Oh, right!!!"

"No one called me, huh!!!"

Xi Hai: ???

You only just realized this now, goddammit!!!

You're dreaming, man!!!

"Alright, never mind that. You should come out first."

"Take us to your hibernation area in a bit and let's see what's actually going on."

Keith nodded silently, then braced himself against the outer wall of the Hibernation Pod, attempting to climb out.

But he still underestimated the damage that tens of thousands of years of cryosleep had caused to his muscles—even though the Human Federation had ultra-long-term hibernation technology, tens of thousands of years was still too extreme for a human.

He had just struggled to stand up a little when he felt his lower body go weak, and he instantly toppled over to one side.

Fortunately, the two Marines nearby were quick-witted and caught him just in time, preventing him from having an intimate encounter with the floor.

But just as he recovered, he saw three pools of an unknown blue substance spread on the floor behind the Marines, along with the blue substance flowing on the floor—

"Holy shit!!!"

"This thing is still chasing me!!!"

Immediately, Keith let out a shrill shriek.