25: They're coming in...

White Shark didn't disappoint; in less than an hour, he had processed the passes for 20 warships.

"Route has been scheduled for you."

"You may depart the port."

On the bridge of a ruby-colored ship, painted with the hull number "002," which was the flagship of Xi Hai and White Shark,

a communication from the control tower rang out.

Just now,

Xi Hai, knowing White Shark was a United University graduate, fully entrusted him with the task of obtaining the entry permits.

He himself had wandered around the Space City for a while—

Of course, it was only for a short while before he lost the mood to wander.

The reason... suddenly, with a "clank," a sound rang out.

The robotic arm detached.

The warship, pulled by tugboats, began to slowly move outward.

Xi Hai stood up from the command chair.

He looked out the window at the gradually receding dock, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

He had accidentally gotten lost, leading a few Marines into a deeper part of the space station.

What he saw there,

was simply a completesubversion of his worldview.

It turned out that the superficially glamorous space megastructure,

once peeled back, was rotten to the core—

The interior here was even worse than the lower-level urban areas he had stayed in before.

Through those narrow passages, high-temperature components, and precarious modifications,

hunched figures with deformed spines moved about.

They worked in spaces like mezzanines, lived in places that seemed uninhabitable, and undertook all the high-risk jobs that should have been replaced by machines long ago.

They're still doing this in the interstellar era?

It was like... forcing people to do things that could clearly be handled by computers in the 21st century.

And then not paying them.

Xi Hai felt a physiological discomfort.

Seeing Xi Hai's unusual expression, White Shark also felt very... displeased.

Just now, the Chairman had accidentally stumbled into the "mezzanine" area.

It was he who found the Chairman and his group and led them out.

Everything in the mezzanine brought back some very unpleasant memories from the depths of White Shark's mind.

The people in the mezzanine were "lifetime debt contract workers" for large companies and corporations.

In short, they were slaves of the interstellar era.

Ever since the Order Alliance officially and completely banned the development and application of AI,

this barbaric and primitive system began to spread rapidly like bamboo shoots after a heavy rain in various signatory regimes.

But despite his displeasure,

what could White Shark do?

He could stand here and criticize, lamenting the decline of the world,

all because he took a gamble back then and successfully escaped.

Otherwise, he would now be one of those slaves.

Suddenly, the ship underfoot emitted a soft "hum".

The tugboat detached, the warship's engines started, and it slowly accelerated.

Everything Xi Hai was thinking turned into a sigh.

He felt that this world shouldn't be this way.

The dark starry sky once again filled the bridge windows.

And hidden within the blackness were not just thousands of stars,

but also five destroyers that left the port area almost at the same time as Xi Hai.

The Giant Stone Group emblem was printed on the hulls of those warships.

"They processed passes for Void Channel 21."

On the bridge of one of them, Da Wei Dai Er imperiously instructed the captain,

"We'll wait for them near the Void Channel!"

Facing this square-shaped young miss, one can only say the captain's composure was exceptionally high.

Even after being sprayed with spit, he replied without changing his expression:

"Young Miss, did you investigate the number and quality of the enemy's starships beforehand?"

"Moreover, in the Order Seat, even an attack in the outer Void Channel"

"would be treated as a pirate siege, wouldn't it?"

Da Wei Dai Er snorted disdainfully,

"What's there to investigate?"

"A few bumpkins,"

"what kind of good ships could they have?"

"At most, a few Frigates modified by that old classmate of mine."

"The others? Even if they're the smallest 237-meter light destroyers produced by our friendly competitors,"

"they couldn't afford to maintain them even if they were given for free!"

"As for the peacekeeping fleet here?"

"I'll just have my family say a word,"

"under the guise of arresting commercial spies."

Seeing her like this, the captain had nothing good to say.

After all, he was just an employee.

Let's set up an ambush at the Void Channel entrance, he thought. Hopefully, the peacekeeping fleet won't react too quickly... Looking at Da Wei Dai Er, who had already snatched the communication console and begun contacting her superiors, the captain secretly prayed in his heart... The entrances and exits of Void Channels are generally some distance from stellar systems.

It is said to reduce the impact of large gravitational bodies on ships entering and exiting the Void Channel.

However, whether this is true or not cannot be verified, as the last human regime capable of building Void Channels perished over ten thousand years ago.

You can't really dig up those engineers, who probably don't even have ashes left, and ask them, can you?

In any case, for the current Xi Hai, this was a problem.

Twenty warships lined up in a V-formation, slowly moving forward.

"Warp target calculation complete."

"Activating warp drive module."

As the report sounded from the central control panel, night lamp, which had been calculating for nearly half an hour, finally successfully located the drop point.

With a distortion of the surrounding space, a blue light flashed, and the fleet began warp travel.

If anyone had seen it, the scene in their eyes would have been 20 warships flashing once and then disappearing from their original position—

Unfortunately, those eyewitnesses were Da Wei Dai Er and her group, who were hiding behind an asteroid ahead.

Watching the 20 "destroyers" suddenly vanish before her eyes, she actually felt... a sense of relief.

Of course, so did the other crew members.

Based on their impression, if the other side had continued to approach,

this young miss, who knew nothing of the world, would definitely have shouted "The advantage is mine!" for the sake of her reputation, and then forcefully ordered all warships except her flagship to charge.

"Hmph, it seems these people have some tricks up their sleeves, huh?"

Staring at the warships that had physically disappeared, Da Wei Dai Er suddenly thought of something and immediately smiled sinisterly.

She looked at the captain beside her and said,

"Contact your direct superior!"

"Those vanished guys must have discovered some relic that can achieve such an effect!"

"Such a relic is indeed destined for our Giant Stone Group!"

"Never mind,"

"I'll speak personally!"

Captain: ...If he hadn't signed a lifetime contract, he would really want to change jobs.

Looking at the spherical creature jumping up and down in front of him,

he felt that following this young miss, he would sooner or later die without even knowing how... 90 minutes remained until midnight on July 5th, standard calendar, the planned attack time for the "Saints" Second fleet.

"Are you all ready?"

Salman asked, looking at Samir, who had returned to the bridge.

Looking at his childhood friend with dark eye bags, Samir said proudly:

"Don't worry, it's all handled."

"A total of 500 void energy warheads, each containing 1ML of void energy."

"They'll blow the enemy to the point of questioning their existence."

Salman nodded.

"Good."

"Later, put ten of them in the decoy team."

"They will buy us time."

"As for us,"

"we will attack Planet 3 in the chaos."

"All three targets are there."

"Then,"

"all for the sacred objective."

Samir and Salman exchanged glances, then replied:

"Yes,"

"all for the sacred objective."

...