190: A fleet must have warships!

"Gentlemen, the intelligence has come back—no, I should say the news is already flying everywhere."

"Cetus V66.66 has already turned into a complete mess."

"Therefore, your mission is complete."

In a conference room of The Consortium in Ursa Major V01.01,

a cold broadcast voice rang out, causing countless people currently hunched over their work to suddenly jolt—

"Your families' household registrations can now be upgraded."

The broadcast voice sounded again, accompanied by static "hissing" noises.

That's right, most of this special task force were "fourth-class citizens" with almost no political rights.

As for why fourth-class citizens were used to accomplish this?

It was to distance themselves at a low cost.

This explosive attack in the Cetus Sector was, from every aspect, extremely abstract and foolish.

But the beloved Marshal just happened to have taken a liking to this plan!

After that meeting concluded, a group of ministerial-level figures from The Consortium had no choice but to bite the bullet and proceed.

They first convened a small, private discussion meeting under the guise of execution,

and the approach they decided on was to have a group of fourth-class citizen administrative officers form a "special task force" to specifically plan this matter.

To minimize the risks of the operation,

these high-ranking officials of The Consortium didn't even reveal the "direct-line" proxy forces they funded and cultivated to the task force,

but instead let them figure out their own way, to contact or utilize those small terrorist organizations that hadn't been wiped out previously and were kept as "backups."

However, even though it was difficult, under the temptation of an opportunity for class mobility, the special task force still gave it their all.

They frantically utilized every resource they could mobilize and finally managed to weave a "web" that was barely usable.

And so—

A small, unknown terrorist organization called the "Mourners," composed of a large number of people suffering from injustice, "by chance" managed to "seize" a super-large void fission bomb.

Then, a certain Consortium official "accidentally" leaked the whereabouts of one of the initiators responsible for the "wetware proposal" during a routine press conference.

Upon receiving the news, this group didn't even need any extra guidance; they just huffed and puffed their way straight to Cetus V66.66.

The "pursuit fleet" that had been following behind "just in case" didn't even get to play a role...

Looking at those intelligence reports and the "confirmation" reports, the leader of the special task force let out a long sigh.

He shut down the equipment he had been fighting alongside for over ten days, stood up, and stretched fiercely.

Immediately, he stood up and scanned the office, looking at those pairs of bloodshot eyes, still rimmed with dark, heavy bruising.

Everyone remained stunned in their places, having no reaction to the words he had just spoken—like numb puppets.

"Hey," he said in a voice that sounded like relief, "friends,"

"Our mission is complete..."

"We... are going to be free..."

A sparse, scattered response sounded around him,

while more people, looking completely burnt out, slumped blankly at their workstations.

Their expressions looked anxious, yet carried a trace of anticipation.

The terms The Consortium gave them required them to sacrifice their own lives.

Everything in this secret office,

would soon become an "accident scene" due to an "operational error."

As for them, they wouldn't even be able to leave their names behind.

At this moment, the cold broadcast voice sounded again—

"Your families' household registrations have been upgraded to second-class citizens."

"Relevant registration will be completed within three natural days."

"Wuwuwu..."

Suddenly, a sob sounded from some unknown corner, immediately followed by a responsive sound from another workstation.

"We succeeded... we finally succeeded..."

"Wuwuwu..."

Finally, amidst the crying, the standing team leader coughed lightly twice, breaking the atmosphere.

"Ahem—"

"Everyone, let me say a few words."

"We're going to die in a little while anyway,"

"In these ten-plus days, together, we used a bunch of coincidences to plot such a heaven-shaking conspiracy,"

"That should count as having a 'life-and-death' friendship, right..."

His voice was numb, weary, and also filled with relief.

"Yeah, so what?"

At this moment, a man wearing glasses at the workstation behind him casually echoed him,

"We plotted together how to destroy an entire galaxy..."

"We spent other people's lives, does that count as 'life-and-death'?"

The team leader nodded and continued,

"The doors are already locked; everything that follows, whether it's space or time, belongs to us."

"We've been calling each other by numbers all this time,"

"How about... before we die, we all tell each other our real names?"

"After so many days... it counts as getting to know each other."

"I'm called Vella, I'm 176 years old."

Suddenly, a "pop" sound rang out.

The power in the office went out.

Immediately, a suffocating darkness enveloped them.

"I'm called El, I'm 321 years old."

But the darkness didn't engulf them; a sentence followed,

followed immediately by a second, a third...

At first, it was just reporting names, then self-introductions, and later it turned into idle chatter.

This office could be considered to have welcomed its liveliest day in these ten-plus days.

...

Meanwhile,

in the same galaxy, but in a different place,

in a magnificent, gold-adorned office.

The Consortium's sun-like Marshal—Dietrich, was sitting in his chair,

and on his desk, a news report titled "Cetus Sector Struck by Extreme Unknown Forces" was playing.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

"Enter!"

The Consortium's Minister of Defense knocked on the door and walked in.

"Report, Marshal! Your deployments are basically complete."

Before coming to the Marshal's office, his subordinates had already given him a detailed report.

This attack would almost certainly not have even the slightest connection to The Consortium.

The entire Cetus V66.66 had no evidence left, and the guys who knew the most had already been dealt with completely.

Just in case, even those terrorist organizations that launched the attack had been intercepted and completely wiped out on the spot by The Consortium's Cosmic Army after the attack ended—

So, he could come to ask the Marshal for instructions to enter the next phase of the plan.

"Not bad, you all completed this mission very well."

Dietrich glanced at his Minister of Defense and nodded with satisfaction.

"Is the puppet force we want to support ready?"

The Minister of Defense nodded, indicating:

"It is ready,"

"and the internal work of the Order Alliance has also been completed."

"Furthermore, the Cosmic Army fleet, under the name of joint handling, is already on its way."

Dietrich kept nodding with satisfaction.

He opened his mouth, wanting to give some instructions, but after thinking for a long time, he didn't know what to say.

But since he had already opened his mouth, he couldn't stop it,

so he said:

"Good, it was handled very well,"

"Remember, a fleet must have Warships!"

"The newly established regime must have people!"

The Minister of Defense immediately stood at attention, instantly putting on a battle face, and shouted with an excited, tearful voice:

"Yes!!!"

"Thank you for the Marshal's instructions!!!"

After his little outburst, Dietrich finally remembered what he wanted to say, so he quickly added—

"Also,"

"The Empire, for some reason, actually let the news of the attack spread—and it was a full-channel star marker broadcast, the kind that even Ursa Major received,"

"So, this time the response method is different from last time; the Empire has undoubtedly made more thorough preparations,"

"You must be very careful."

The Minister of Defense shouted again with tears—

"Yes!!!!"

Ten-plus minutes later, still wiping away excited tears, the Minister of Defense finally left the office.

Only after walking far away did he let out a sigh of relief.

Dealing with that guy is not easy...

As for the Empire's response?

He wasn't worried about this at all, just like when, at Ursa Major V12.22, the Imperial fleet must have turned against The Consortium—

Otherwise, he really couldn't think of anything else that could vaporize a fleet of The Consortium.

If he does the same thing this time, wouldn't it work?