198: A kite with a broken string

"What kind of hellish place is that..."

On the bridge of the vengeance, a helmsman stared out the viewport, his voice trembling.

The starfield had vanished.

In its place was a vast, boundless 'wall' composed of countless shattered celestial bodies. Massive asteroids, like the carcasses of ancient behemoths, tumbled and collided slowly under chaotic gravitational forces, stirring up silent clouds of dust. Dark crimson nebulae and violent electromagnetic storms coursed through it, like venomous serpents coiled within a graveyard.

Xing Zhan's 'remnant forces' plunged into it without hesitation. Their colossal ship flickered on and off the radar, quickly swallowed by those immense shadows.

"Boss! The data is in!" In the Vast Sea Fleet command center, Eve's voice carried a note of uncontrollable terror for the first time. "That's not a natural asteroid belt! I've scanned the gravitational field distribution—there are massive signs of artificial intervention! It's a giant gravitational trap! The trajectory of every single asteroid has been pre-calculated! Going in is... is a meat grinder!"

"Reno!" Su Li grabbed the communicator, screaming with all her might. "I order you to cease pursuit immediately! That's an order! The highest level of command! Do you hear me?!"

The shrill warning pierced the comms channel, only to crash against a wall built of hatred and fanaticism.

"Orders?"

On the bridge of the vengeance, Reno's single eye was fixed dead ahead. At the edge of his vision, the massive, black flagship that represented the hatred of his entire life—the slaughterer—was 'struggling' to navigate through the gaps between asteroids. Its speed had noticeably slowed, and black smoke billowed from its stern, as if grievously wounded.

The image of A Yong, his limbs severed, dying in a pool of blood, flashed before his eyes.

"What do you office-dwellers who only look at data reports know about war?!" Reno roared into the communicator, the veins on his neck bulging like twisted earthworms.

"That's Xing Zhan! The murderer who killed my brother!"

"He's wounded! His ship is wounded! If we let him escape, if he repairs his ship, we'll all die!"

"This is our only chance!!" The blood vessels in his eyes seemed ready to burst, his voice now completely hoarse. "I will not let him get away! Never!"

"Reno... cal...m... down..."

Chen Feng's voice attempted to cut into the comms for the first time, but it was torn to shreds by the powerful magnetic interference leaking from the edge of the Shattered Star Graveyard.

The fragmented command sounded, to Reno's ears, like hesitation, like indecision, like more of that same 'office mentality'.

He glanced at the screen showing the massive, smoke-belching silhouette receding into the distance, then at the flashing comm symbols representing Su Li and Chen Feng's requests.

A furious sense of being shackled, of being micromanaged by amateurs, instantly shattered his last shred of reason.

When the general is in the field, even the emperor's commands may not be obeyed!

No.

When the general is in the field, the emperor's commands can be ignored!

He spun around and, under the stunned gazes of everyone, ripped open the panel beneath the main console, finding the interface connecting to the hyperspace comm module.

Then, he yanked it out with all his might.

"Zzzzt—"

After a sharp crackle of electricity, the entire bridge's communication system fell into dead silence.

"Enough!" Reno panted, glaring at the dumbfounded crew. "From now on, we take orders from only one person: me!"

He turned back, gripping the control stick once more, pointing it towards that pitch-black abyss.

"Full speed ahead!!"

Vast Sea Fleet Command Center.

Su Li watched the screen as the comm signal representing the 'vengeance' turned from green, to yellow, and finally to a hopeless red indicating 'physical connection severed'.

The color drained from her face, and her hand holding the communicator fell limply to her side.

Chen Feng watched in silence. That sense of foreboding had finally solidified into a cold reality. The organization he had built, this makeshift alliance bound by shared interests, vengeance, and hope, was so fragile under extreme pressure.

For the first time, his fingers stopped their incessant tapping.

On the screen, the rows of green dots representing the Vast Sea Fleet, led by the vengeance, plunged one after another into that dark, chaotic, and silent Shattered Star Graveyard, like moths drawn to a flame.

Signals vanished one by one.

When the signal of the last Supply Ship disappeared at the edge of the asteroid belt, the screens in the entire command center plunged into darkness.

The fleet... was out of control.

They had become... kites with severed strings.