211: This time it's a real infiltration.

(Two chapters in one)

(Received a burst chapter reward from the great Super Hellcat, now owe 31.)

(My studies have been very heavy recently. If you readers have extra money, treat yourselves to good food and drink, and do things you find meaningful. Please be rational about spending on reading novels. If you think my writing is good, watching three short videos and giving a small free gift is enough.)

(The author genuinely does not have time to write extra chapters right now.)

...

After exiting Void Travel and then exiting Warp Travel,

The reconnaissance-type FG300 carrying over a hundred Marines finally reached its final destination—

Near the L5 setting space station of Ursa Major V01.01.

"Everyone, check your gear. We begin entering the drop zone in ten minutes."

Inside the ship cabin, everyone was fully geared up and ready. The leaders of each squad were tallying their team members, making final preparations for the upcoming operation.

Squad D, having suffered the most severe losses, saw its Assault Personnel severely depleted, leaving only a dozen combat support units such as Drone Operators and Medics.

After deliberation, Celius decided to temporarily disband Squad D and redistribute its members into Squads A, B, and C to ensure overall combat effectiveness.

They would restore the unit's structure upon their return.

Of course,

Since Squad D's leader had already been 'one-shot back to base' in the last battle, this suggestion met with no opposition.

At this moment, Celius glanced at the hundred-plus people behind him.

Most of them had completed their final checks and entered combat status—

They could now enter the Drop Pods.

He nodded, turned to face the crowd, and began his final mobilization speech:

"Everyone listen up! I'm saying this one last time!"

"First, we are engaged in a genuine secret infiltration operation! The objective is to decapitate all high-level executives of The Consortium!"

"Second! This operation has no reinforcements and no resupply! Bring out every trick you have!"

"I have three requirements: Do not be captured! Do not expose yourselves prematurely! And most importantly, clearly identify your targets!"

"Our purpose is to make the entire high command of The Consortium pay the price! Don't lose sight of the big picture! And do not show mercy to those who don't deserve it!"

"YES!!!"

Having finished, Celius turned around—

The night lamp had already investigated; everyone living on this space station was a devil who fed on human flesh and blood.

Therefore—

"Now! All personnel! Enter the Drop Pods and await orders!"

"On this trip, there are no accidental injuries, and certainly no innocents!"

"YES!!!"

..."Orbital calculation complete. Commencing delivery."

"Estimated time of arrival: Three minutes."

"Swoosh—"

A cold electronic voice sounded as more than ten red Drop Pods were gently ejected from the ship, quickly activating their Optical Camouflage Devices and disappearing into the darkness.

Celius sat inside one of the Drop Pods, quietly feeling the floor beneath him.

A slight tremor came, a sign that deceleration had begun.

Almost there... He slowly tightened his grip on the weapon handle, his mind unconsciously recalling the conversations he had with the Supreme Director on the way—

They currently lacked the strength to openly challenge the entire Order Alliance, so this operation presented two options.

The first was to treat it as an untraceable Terrorist Attack, assassinating all high-level executives of The Consortium.

The advantage of this approach was that they would avoid any political maneuvering and deliver an effective blow against the masterminds of this incident.

The drawback was that the political identity of those Consortium executives upon their death would still be that of assassinated leaders.

The second was to treat it as a righteous "arrest" operation, capturing all high-level executives of The Consortium and quickly handing them over to the Sacred Stars Group for "trial," followed by the death penalty—

Even if they had to be killed on the spot, it was best to leave behind video evidence of the trial.

Although this seemed absurd and extremely difficult to implement,

this crazy plan was not without feasibility:

First, the Sacred Stars Group still retained a certain reputation as "heroes."

Second, The Consortium had just offended the Military Alliance and The Empire, two military giants, and had been severely hammered by The Empire, showing a rather poor performance.

Third, if they could indeed capture a large number of The Consortium's high-level executives, it would certainly cause The Consortium to enter a temporary state of stagnation.

Following this sequence of events, The Consortium would simply be regarded as a piece of moving meat in the eyes of most factions—

Moreover, The Empire, that early bird, had already taken a bite out of this meat.

Coupled with the necessary maneuvering, its most likely outcome would be the downfall of the wall with everyone pushing it. And even if it did have one die-hard ally... well, discount that option,

After all, The Empire had hammered The Consortium's head like this, and no one had stepped forward to intervene.

So, the choice was between an uncontrollable Consortium or a territory that could continuously produce and generate revenue.

Most people would surely know how to prioritize.

Celius and his team chose this method, meaning that even if those high-level executives of The Consortium died, they would die after being judged and bearing the crime of "Crimes Against Humanity."

Moreover, with this shield of "Political Correctness," most regimes would likely use this excuse in subsequent actions to both follow the group and rush forward to carve up the spoils—

After all, the reason they hadn't fought before was because the Military Alliance was suppressing them.

This time, the Military Alliance simply watched The Empire fight The Consortium, even lending The Empire its support.

The signal being sent was self-evident.

Faced with these two options, Celius chose the second without hesitation—

He wasn't thinking about all that; he just wanted The Consortium to suffer eternal damnation.

"Clang!!!"

Suddenly, a sharp sound came from beneath his feet—

The Drop Pod had landed on the exterior wall of the space station!

Celius immediately stood up and put on his powered armor helmet.

Several latches immediately clicked into place, making a "clack" sound.

"All personnel! Activate Full Circulation Devices! Prepare for zero gravity!"

Gripping his rifle, Celius watched the Drop Pod hatch slowly open and ordered loudly:

"Go!"

He then took the lead, leaping out, activating the Plasma Thrusters on the back of his powered armor, and surging outward, leaving the Drop Pod... Ten minutes later, at an external pipe opening, the combat squad led by Celius was cutting away the protective barrier.

"Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz—"

"Is it cut yet?"

"Cutting, cutting, don't rush."

This mission was essentially chosen by Celius himself to be "Hell" difficulty.

There were fifteen targets in total for this operation, so the hundred-plus men were divided into fifteen combat squads, with each squad responsible for one target.

"Snap—!"

"It's cut!"

A crisp snapping sound was heard, immediately followed by a brief report.

"Move out!"

Immediately, the ten men raised their rifles and filed one by one through the gap that had been cut open.

The night lamp had already gathered the internal structure of this entire space station for them ahead of time—

Perhaps because this space station was a relic of the Third Epoch, it was digitally controlled.

And everything digitally controlled, in front of the night lamp, could be considered a bunch of lolis... Oh, no, that's not right.

After hacking all the space station's systems in three seconds, the night lamp declared the difficulty level to be merely a cup.

In short, under the night lamp's visible control, everything in this space station—whether monitoring systems or control systems—had been hijacked.

It would help manage everything here, whether it was visual feeds, communications, or deployment orders—

From now on, what the data monitoring personnel of this entire space station saw depended entirely on what the night lamp allowed them to see.

To use a less-than-perfect analogy, if the digital control system here was the female protagonist in a Japanese anime who was having fun with a blond guy while talking to her boyfriend on the phone,

then the monitoring personnel here were the boyfriend on the other end of the line, separated by just a screen, yet completely clueless—

Even if they knew, they would be powerless to act.

Among the fifteen combat squads, the mission assigned to Celius's squad was the most challenging—

The other squads were responsible for the group of minister-level figures, while Celius's squad would head straight for The Consortium's Marshal.

The night lamp had already analyzed all the information on that Marshal and established a preliminary behavioral model.

Ever since The Consortium's previous two Ministers of Finance died accidentally, this Marshal had removed all monitoring equipment from his office and locked himself inside.

Every day, only one Colonel from The Consortium's Cosmic Army would irregularly deliver documents and files inside.

Furthermore, that office was a complete Space Capsule with independent internal circulation and information isolation mechanisms.

Let alone a Miniature Reconnaissance Drone, not even a single molecule could enter without permission—

Even the night lamp stated that it was powerless against this type of purely physical Electronic Defense Shield.

So Celius came up with a simple and brutal solution:

Wasn't there a Consortium officer who delivered things to him every day?

Why not just capture him and transfer consciousness into that guy?

Coincidentally, according to the intelligence provided by the night lamp, that guy was currently on his way.

Therefore, Celius took two men and hid them along the officer's inevitable route, activating their optical camouflage.

"He's here—just one person. Prepare!"

"Thump-thump-thump-thump..."

The sound of boot soles stepping on metal came from the end of the corridor, growing louder and closer, until—

He appeared before them.

"Now!"

The moment the Colonel stepped into their attack range, a ripple of distortion shimmered on both sides of the corridor.

Two large men wearing red powered armor immediately deactivated their optical camouflage and sprang out from the sides of the corridor. One covered the Colonel's mouth while the other instantly pulled out a Stun Baton and delivered a sharp strike to his neck.

"Zzzzzzt—"

The Colonel didn't even struggle before painlessly entering high-quality sleep.

Seeing the ambush succeed, Celius immediately hoisted the limp Colonel onto his shoulder and reactivated the optical camouflage.

"Quick! Head back first!"

"Notify them that the attack succeeded, and have our people immediately prepare the Consciousness Transfer Device,"

"Go!"

Soon, the group returned to the combat squad's rally point. A simple Consciousness Transfer Device had been assembled, connected to the power supply, and was ready for immediate use.

Celius tossed the man onto the device and said to the operator:

"Start. We can begin the transfer."

"Transfer it directly to me first."

The operator nodded, first placing Neural Transfer Helmets on both men, and then attaching electrodes.

Finally, just before activating the device, he confirmed again:

"I must make a final statement,"

"Injecting one person's consciousness into someone whose mental state is intact—no one knows what might happen."

"Therefore—do you confirm that you still wish to proceed with this dangerous action?"

Celius nodded.

"I confirm, absolutely,"

"So—start immediately!"

"Yes!"

Soon, a faint blue electrical light glowed, and the Colonel of The Consortium lying on the ground suddenly leaped up, opening his mouth toward the ceiling as if to roar, startling everyone nearby.

But the man didn't cry out; he only continuously made "hissing" groans, occasionally mixed with a few indistinct sounds.

A Special Operations Team Member leaned closer to listen.

The man seemed to be repeating the phrase, "Assassin... Assassin..."

"He thinks we're Assassins?"

Immediately, he backed away disdainfully.

At the same time, the look in his eyes toward the lump on the ground became scornful—

"What a joke,"

"Assassin?"

"We are not those sneaky rats who hide their heads and tails."

"So-called Assassins have no strength, cannot win in frontal combat, and possess no morality."

"They merely rely on underhanded methods and shady tricks,"

"to deceive, assassinate, and ambush in order to achieve their filthy goals."

"We are honorable soldiers, soldiers who arrive bearing justice and law."

"We disdain such tactics."

Time passed minute by minute, and the blue light on the Converter grew dimmer.

"Oh... oh crap..."

When the last trace of flickering arc light on the Converter disappeared, the Colonel of The Consortium on the ground slowly sat up, bracing himself against the floor.

Immediately, the operator chambered a round, aimed at the man, and began the confirmation procedure previously settled upon with Celius—

Name, the Legion's motto, and a string of random code generated by the night lamp, split into two segments.

"Who are you?"

"Celius, your Captain."

"What is our Legion's motto?"

"What's on the ground is ours—but not if it belongs to friendly forces."

"78987384?"

"467893876."

As the final confirmation numbers were recited,

the operator removed the round from the chamber, put the safety back on, saluted "Celius," and said:

"My apologies, Captain. That was disrespectful."

"Are there any abnormal conditions?"

"Celius" nodded, indicating everything was fine.

"I can adapt, I suppose, but my head feels a bit foggy."

Seeing that Celius genuinely seemed alright, the operator nodded, handed over an Electronic Tablet, and continued:

"Alright, here are the Colonel's memory fragments; they're a byproduct."

"The night lamp has already filtered out all potentially useful recent content. Please review it; it will facilitate your actions later."

"Okay," Celius took the Electronic Tablet and began scrolling through it.

But the more he read, the more he felt something was wrong—

Is The Consortium... starting to fracture internally?