222: The crowning of ants and the blood-red sky

The docking area on the outskirts of the base had completely paralyzed.

The originally orderly metal decks now looked like skin covered in patches of rust. Thousands of spaceships were piled together haphazardly; some had even thrust their landing gear directly into the engine nozzles of others.

Most of these ships were products of patchwork.

Some had thrusters welded onto shipping containers, while others had several escape pods stuck together with industrial glue. They were dilapidated, ugly, and emitted the pungent, acidic smell of incomplete propellant combustion.

Yet the people crawling out of these iron coffins had eyes that shone with a terrifying brightness.

They were dressed in rags, and many had festering scars on their skin from long-term work in radioactive mining areas. Holding homemade kinetic guns or even just sharpened steel pipes, they surged toward the edge of Hanhai Base's protective shield like a tide.

There was no pushing, no clamor.

They simply tilted their heads back, looking at the towering Deep-Space Broadcast Tower, gazing toward the direction of the man who had torn the Alliance fleet to pieces in the live broadcast.

It was a miracle.

To these low-dimensional beings who had struggled in the mire their entire lives, Chen Feng was not just a merchant; he was the butcher who had dragged the high-and-mighty 'gods' down from their altars.

“Zzz—”

A gap slowly opened in the protective shield.

Chen Feng stepped out, flanked by Reno and Eve.

The crowd instantly erupted. The roar suppressed deep in their throats converged into a deafening wave, causing even the gravel on the ground to tremble.

“Chen Feng! Chen Feng! Chen Feng!”

There was no fawning in these voices, only a fanaticism that wanted to tear this damn world apart.

The crowd automatically parted to form a path.

A young figure stepped forward.

He looked to be barely in his early twenties, with the left side of his face covered by a crude prosthetic implant—clearly a cheap black-market item. This was Jax, the leader of the largest exile organization in Sector 9.

He walked to a spot five meters in front of Chen Feng and stopped.

“Thud.”

Jax dropped to one knee, his knee hitting the metal floor heavily.

Behind him, tens of thousands of exiles knelt in unison like falling dominoes. The dense crowd looked like pilgrims on a hajj.

With trembling hands, Jax pulled an old, worn-edged data storage device from his chest.

He held it high above his head.

“This is the ‘Spark of Civilization’.”

The young man's voice was raspy, carrying a hint of a sob. “Stored inside is all the history, art, and technological blueprints we managed to salvage before our home planet was destroyed... as well as a list of thirty million victims.”

“We have no money to buy bonds. We have no decent ships.”

Jax looked up. Tears welled in his intact right eye but never fell.

“This is all we have left. We offer it to Hanhai.”

“We do not ask for asylum, nor for food and warmth.”

He gritted his teeth, every word squeezed from a bloody throat. “We only ask... give us a gun. Let us die on the path of the charge.”

The wind howled across the plaza.

Chen Feng looked at the storage device, then at Jax kneeling before him.

He didn't take it.

He took a step forward, reached out, and grabbed Jax's arm.

“Stand up.”

Chen Feng's voice wasn't loud, but it spread throughout the plaza via the amplifiers.

Jax froze, his body stiff.

“I said, stand up.”

Chen Feng applied pressure with his fingers, the unquestionable force compelling the young man to stand straight.

Chen Feng looked around, his gaze sweeping over the bowed heads on the ground.

“Hanhai is not a charity, and I am not a savior.”

He let go and brushed the dust off Jax's shoulder. “I don't need slaves. Those high-and-mighty Alliance lords are the ones who need slaves, who need you to kneel and beg for scraps.”

“Here, in Hanhai.”

Chen Feng pointed to the frantically operating munitions factory behind him, to the ferocious mechs that had just rolled off the assembly line.

“We only do business.”

“You provide your lives, I provide the guns. Together, we will take those people who trampled you into the mud, those who burned your homes, those bastards who call themselves gods...”

Chen Feng paused, a grim arc curling at the corner of his mouth.

“...and send them all to hell.”

He suddenly raised Jax's hand, clenching the 'Spark of Civilization' tightly into the young man's palm.

“Straighten your knees! From this day forth, under this starry sky, there will be no more low-dimensional ants.”

“Only warriors of the ‘Ascendant Alliance’!”

Dead silence.

Followed by an explosion.

It wasn't a cheer; it was the roar of a beast breaking its chains. Tens of thousands of people stood up, waving their fists. The soaring murderous intent made even Reno, standing in the rear, feel his scalp tingle.

“Eve.”

Chen Feng turned around, speaking rapidly. “Give them authorization.”

“Understood.”

Eve's fingers swiped through the air.

“Beep—”

The personal terminals of all the exiles vibrated simultaneously.

A data package named 'Titan - Simplified Biological Mech Operating Protocol' was forcibly implanted.

This wasn't a complex military training manual.

It was a brute-force patch written by Eve based on 'idiot-proof operation' logic. It interfaced directly with the user's central nervous system, simplifying mech piloting techniques that would normally take years to master into an instinctive reaction similar to 'exoskeleton walking'.

Jax watched the red activation button light up on his terminal, his breathing becoming hurried.

He felt it.

A massive stream of data was washing through his nerves. It was the seed of power, the key to revenge.

He had never even touched a high-end weapon, and didn't even know how to aim properly.

But at this moment, he had an illusion—as long as he was given a mech, he could tear a battleship apart.

“Go get your equipment.”

Chen Feng waved his hand, as if driving off a pack of hungry wolves. “Don't let my production lines stop.”

...Deep inside the base, underground level three.

There was none of the clamor and fanaticism of the outside. Thick soundproof walls kept all noise at bay; the room contained only the faint hum of holographic projectors.

Amidst the shifting light and shadows, a woman with a graceful figure leaned against a corner.

She wore a proper professional suit, looking like an executive secretary for some large corporation. But in the next second, her facial muscles twitched slightly, instantly turning her into a burly man with a face full of scars, and then into a hunched old man.

Shadow (Ying).

The Thousand-Faced Phantom Fox, Hanhai's sharpest hidden blade.

“Boss, these are the coordinates K just sent back.”

Shadow's voice was shifting, finally settling on a cold, neutral tone. With a flick of her finger, a complex star map unfolded before Chen Feng.

In the center of the star map was a red area marked 'Extremely Dangerous'.

The Eden System.

That was the private garden of the core nobles of the Omni-Dimensional Trade Alliance, and one of the most heavily defended areas in the entire universe.

“Is the intel confirmed?” Chen Feng stared at the red dot, his fingers habitually tapping on the tabletop.

“Confirmed.”

Shadow pulled up a blurry photo.

In the photo was a young girl in a white habit, sitting in an ancient courtyard in a daze. She had rare pale-gold hair, and though it was only a profile, her features were at least seventy percent similar to Augustus.

“Lilith. An illegitimate daughter Augustus left behind during an interstellar tour in his early years.”

Shadow reported in a low voice, “Because her mother was from a low-dimensional race, Augustus considered her a family disgrace. She has been under house arrest in this place called the ‘Silent Convent’ since birth, never having taken a single step outside.”

Chen Feng looked at the photo, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

A man like Augustus would never care about something like family affection.

But he did care about 'bloodline' and 'prestige'.

More importantly, according to the intel provided by K, there seemed to be a biological key to a core vault of the Augustus Family hidden within Lilith's genetic sequence.

This was a card.

A trump card that might, at a critical moment, be able to force Augustus's frantic offensive to a halt.

“The convent's defense level is very high.”

Shadow pointed to the dense defense nodes on the periphery of the star map. “Three Royal Guard units take turns on sentry duty, and there are force field jammers on the outskirts. A frontal assault is impossible; even if we threw the entire current Alliance army in, it wouldn't be enough.”

“So we can't use force.”

Chen Feng took a coin from his pocket and flipped it between his fingers. “We can only win by wit. I need someone to infiltrate and bring her out.”

He looked up, his gaze falling on Shadow.

This was a suicide mission.

The Eden System was filled with high-sensitivity genetic scanners targeting shapeshifting races. One slight slip-up would mean eternal damnation.

“I'll go.”

Shadow didn't hesitate for a second. She had even stood straight before Chen Feng had finished speaking.

“I am the Thousand-Faced Phantom Fox. If I wish, I can be a gardener in the convent, a serving maid, or even... a messenger sent by Augustus.”

She walked to Chen Feng, her constantly changing face revealing a pair of exceptionally determined eyes.

“You saved my life. Hanhai is also my home. To protect this home, never mind a convent—I would even dare to break into Augustus's bedroom.”

Chen Feng was silent for two seconds.

He didn't say any hypocritical pleasantries. In the face of war, sentimentality was redundant.

He took a black metal cylinder from a drawer and handed it to Shadow.

“This is a spatial transmission beacon specially made by Eve.”

Chen Feng's voice was low. “It has a high power output, enough to penetrate Eden's interference field. But it's one-time use, and activation requires three seconds of charging time.”

“Find her, grab her, and activate the beacon.”

Chen Feng stared into Shadow's eyes. “Remember, I want to see her alive or see her corpse. If you can't bring her back alive, bring back her genetic samples. This is very important to me.”

Shadow took the beacon and tucked it away close to her body.

“Understood.”

She took a step back, her body gradually becoming transparent as if merging into the air. “Wait for my good news.”

The air rippled slightly, leaving Chen Feng alone in the room.

He looked at the empty corner and took a deep breath.

The layout was complete.

With the Ascendant Alliance drawing fire on the front, Shadow infiltrating the rear, and the financial support of the Mechanical Divine Court, he had played this game of chess to the limit.

Next, it would depend on how Augustus made his move... Outside the base, the revelry continued.

The exiles, having obtained new equipment, were singing and dancing on the plaza. A massive bonfire was lit, and cheap synthetic alcohol was passed through the crowd. Jax stood atop a scrapped tank, preaching to the crowd about the Alliance's future.

Everyone was immersed in an illusory sense of victory.

As if just by having guns and Chen Feng, they had already won.

“Bee-woo—bee-woo—”

Right then.

An alarm of extreme shrillness tore through the night sky without warning.

This sound was unlike any before. It was sharp and piercing, as if it would puncture one's eardrums directly. The cheering on the plaza stopped abruptly, and everyone clutched their ears in terror.

“What's happening? Is it a false alarm?”

“Radar! Look at the radar!”

Someone shouted.

All eyes turned to the massive holographic tactical screen in the center of the plaza.

On the originally pitch-black deep-space background, a shadow suddenly appeared.

It wasn't a dot.

Nor was it a cloud.

It was a blood-colored tide that was rapidly spreading and swallowing the starlight.

It appeared from the very edge of the star map, and in just three seconds, it covered half of the entire Sector 7.

It was blindingly red.

Suffocatingly red.

“Detecting an ultra-large-scale warp reaction...”

Eve's voice broadcasted throughout the area. This time, even the voice of the perpetually calm AI girl carried an unmistakable hint of trembling.

“Quantity... uncountable.”

“Energy level reaction... off the charts.”

“This is not a sub-fleet.”

Eve's voice sounded like a death sentence. “This is... the main battle clusters of the Alliance's First, Second, and Third Combined Fleets.”

Chen Feng rushed out of the command room and looked up at the sky.

Even without radar, it was visible to the naked eye.

In the distant deep space, countless 'stars' were lighting up. That was not the light of suns, but the exhaust flames of tens of thousands of battleship engines.

They linked together like a giant net that blotted out the sky, pressing down toward this tiny planet with a terrifying speed never before seen.

The air seemed to freeze at this moment.

The exiles who had just been full of hot-blooded fervor dropped their wine bottles, which shattered on the ground.

The fear of absolute power, originating from the depths of their souls, instantly shattered the confidence they had just built up.

The army was at the gates.

True destruction had arrived.