126: A mantis trying to stop a chariot

Surface, outer defense line, 7th Armored Regiment position.

The earth groaned and cracked under the bombardment of countless energy beams...

The once-orderly alloy bunkers were now twisted and deformed, like toys ravaged by a giant beast.

Regiment Commander Zhao, War God Level, his left arm's power armor, along with the flesh beneath it, had vanished...

The severed area was barely sealed with emergency gel, charred black!

He leaned half-propped against the remains of the only relatively intact command vehicle, his only remaining right arm gripping the control lever of a heavy "Thunder Roar" railgun.

His vision was somewhat blurred...

On his helmet display, the green dots representing soldiers' life signals were extinguishing in droves at a suffocating speed...

Being replaced by glaring red!

"3rd Company! Report your status!" His voice transmitted through the internal communication channel, hoarse like an old, broken bellows.

After a brief sound of electrical interference, a young yet unusually steady voice rang out, accompanied by heavy panting and the background sound of explosions:

"Commander! 3rd Company... there are only seventy left who can still move! Sector B-7 has fallen! There are too many of those damn Star Pirates' landing craft! We can't break through their energy shields at all!"

It was the 3rd Company Commander, that young man who smiled a bit shyly but had won the combat championship in the entire regiment's grand competition.

Regiment Commander Zhao's heart gave a sharp tug...

"Even if you can't break through, you must keep firing!"

He roared it out, which aggravated his wounds, causing him to cough violently, blood foam spilling from the corners of his mouth.

"Behind us is the 'Hope Valley' underground shelter! Inside... inside there are over thirty million civilians! And... and our parents, wives, and children!!"

His voice echoed in the communication channel, filled with a heart-wrenching determination!!!

The channel fell silent for a moment, leaving only the screeching of artillery and energy beams tearing through the air.

Then, another rough voice belonging to a veteran with a thick accent rang out. It was the 2nd Company's political instructor, an old War General Rank who had been in the army for three hundred years:

"Commander! Rest assured! Before the 2nd Company is wiped out, the Star Pirates won't be able to take a single step into 'Hope Valley'! Even if I have to dig with my hands or bite with my teeth, I'll strip off some of their paint!"

"Right! Commander! Let's fight them to the death!"

"For the AG-7 Agricultural Star!"

"For the Human Federation!"

"For our home!"

"For our loved ones and children waiting for us back home!"

After a brief silence, more responses, wounded but incredibly firm, came from various broken positions.

These voices, some young, some old, some tearful, some full of rage...

But at this moment!

They all converged into a single, unyielding will!!!

Regiment Commander Zhao's cloudy eyes flashed with a glimmer of moisture...

But it was instantly replaced by a more resolute expression!

He slammed the control lever, and the Thunder Roar muzzle lit up again with blinding blue light, launching a thick solid projectile towards a landing craft in the sky that was attempting to lower its altitude.

"Swish—Boom!"

The projectile was once again easily deflected by the pale blue energy shield, exploding into a cloud of dust not far away...

"Damn it!"

Regiment Commander Zhao slammed his fist hard against the scorching metal wreckage beside him, making a dull thud.

Just then, a "Falcon" attack aircraft, painted with the AG-7 Agricultural Star garrison insignia and covered in scars, trailing thick smoke and flames, like an unyielding moth, let out a final roar and resolutely crashed into a Star Pirate frigate hovering at low altitude!

"Farewell! Brothers! For the Human Federation—!!"

The pilot's final cry was clearly transmitted through the public channel to the ears of every soldier still fighting.

"Boom—!!!"

A huge fireball bloomed in the sky, instantly swallowing the heroic aircraft.

The Star Pirate frigate's shield fluctuated violently but remained stable...

But that brilliant and fleeting flame was like a heavy hammer, smashing hard into everyone's heart!

A tragic... yet powerless sacrifice!!!

Regiment Commander Zhao gritted his teeth so hard his gums almost bled!

He watched the gradually dissipating flames, his eyes filled with bone-deep pain!

And even more so, overwhelming hatred!!!

"Brother... rest in peace..."

He whispered, his only remaining arm trembling slightly from excessive exertion.

A slightly smaller Star Pirate landing craft seemed annoyed by the persistent resistance of this group of "bugs" below...

It lowered its altitude, hovering almost directly above the position, and its cold metal belly opened, revealing an array of weapons flashing with red light.

A suffocating sense of oppression descended instantly.

"All units! Find cover! Activate personal shields at maximum power!"

Regiment Commander Zhao roared at the top of his lungs, even though he knew it was probably meaningless...

At the landing craft's hatch, a Star Pirate member appeared, wearing light power armor and a playful smile on his face like a cat playing with a mouse—a High-level Planetary Level!

He didn't even look at the soldiers waiting in formation below; he just casually raised his right hand, which was covered in a metal gauntlet.

He slightly spread his five fingers, then, towards the direction of the position, made a distant grasping motion!

No sound, no light.

But Regiment Commander Zhao felt an irresistible, terrifying force, as if coming from the entire planet, crushing in from all directions!

The remains of the command vehicle he was in let out a teeth-grinding groan and was instantly crushed flat!

He felt all the bones in his body wailing, his internal organs feeling as if they were about to be crushed!

"Urgh—!" He let out a painful grunt.

"Commander!"

"Old Zhao!"

The terrified shouts of his subordinates came through the communication channel.

Regiment Commander Zhao used his last ounce of strength to lift his head, looking through the gaps in the twisted and deformed armor towards the landing craft in the sky, towards that figure as indifferent as a god.

His vision began to blur, his consciousness gradually fading.

In the moment before completely falling into darkness, he used the last breath of his life to send a faint yet incredibly clear final message into the communicator:

"AG-7 Agricultural Star... will never... fall..."

"Boom—!!!"

With him as the center, everything within a radius of hundreds of thousands of meters—the broken fortifications, the burning combat vehicles, the remains of the fallen soldiers, and those still alive and fighting...

Along with their unyielding faith, their vows to protect their home, their final thoughts of their loved ones...

Were all instantly compressed and crushed under that incomprehensible, mighty force...

Finally turning into an extremely dense sphere less than three meters in diameter, mixed with flesh, metal, and endless regret!!!

That Planetary Level Star Pirate casually flicked his finger, and that sphere containing countless lives and stories...

Was shot silently towards the distant mountains like flicked dust, disappearing into the horizon...

The position fell into a deathly silence!

Only the explosions still coming from afar, and the faint crying from the civilian area further away, proved that this desperate battle was still continuing...

The landing craft satisfiedly increased its altitude and turned towards the next target.

Below it, on the scorched earth that had just been "cleared," a tattered, blood-stained military flag was half-buried in the mud.

A corner of the flag was still slowly burning in the untouched flames, emitting a faint yet stubborn light...

Until his death, Regiment Commander Zhao's eyes were filled with endless anger, unwillingness, and... a trace of relief?

He finally didn't have to watch his brothers die one by one anymore.

City center, shelter...

The underground shelter, officially opened in an emergency and touted as capable of withstanding Planetary Level attacks, had now become the biggest death trap!

When the Star Pirates' bunker-busting bombs easily tore through the dozens-of-meters-thick special alloy protective layer, as if cracking an eggshell!

The hundreds of millions of people crowded inside welcomed their darkest moment!

Energy beams swept through the narrow space; every flash was accompanied by the passing of hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives.

Crying, screaming, begging, cursing... mixed with the sounds of explosions and collapsing buildings, composing a symphony of despair!

Some tried to resist!

Picking up crude weapons and rushing towards the Star Pirates!

Only to be decomposed into basic particles in the next second...

Some curled up in corners...

Holding their loved ones' cold corpses tightly, their eyes hollow, as if their Souls had long since departed...

In the sky, in the civilian flight lanes, countless civilian spacecraft and passenger airships attempting to flee the planet rose into the air in a panic, like a flock of startled birds.

However, as soon as they broke through the atmosphere, they were precisely picked off one by one by the Star Pirate warships using their secondary batteries, like target practice!

In space, short-lived and sorrowfully beautiful "fireworks" bloomed...

Behind every "firework" lay thousands of shattered families and vanished dreams...

The final public signal sent by the "Hope," an educational ship filled with children, before it exploded, was a collective chorus from the children—a fragment of the Human Federation's national anthem!

The young, tragic voice echoed in the cold Universe for a brief moment before abruptly ceasing...

Even those remote farms and villages were not spared!

The Star Pirates' landing craft swept low, their energy whips lashing out at the ground at will...

Turning golden wheat fields into scorched earth, and igniting peaceful villages into torches!

Old Man Li's courtyard, which had just been renovated and hailed as the "Hero's Former Residence," was struck by a stray energy beam. Half the house collapsed, engulfed in roaring flames!

Old Man Li and his twenty-seven children, along with over a hundred Planetary Level bigwigs like Planet Governor Wang Anbang, were making a final, futile stand, relying on the surviving structures and a fragile energy barrier they had jointly erected...

Looking at the fleet that blotted out the sky and feeling the Stellar Level Auras that weighed as heavily as mountains, their hearts were filled with powerlessness and despair!

"Hold the line! For the AG-7 Agricultural Star! For the Human Federation!" Planet Governor Wang Anbang roared, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as his energy was nearly exhausted.

Old Man Li gripped his encrypted communicator tightly, sending the final distress signal to his daughter over and over again, tears streaming down his face: "Cui Hua... my daughter... your father and mother... fear they... won't be able to wait for you..."

All 130 billion lives on the planet! From soldiers fighting in blood to helpless civilians fleeing; from government officials holding their posts to farmers in the fields; from infants crying for milk to the elderly in their twilight years... all were experiencing this sudden, devastating living hell!!!

Death spread at the speed of light!!! Despair spread like a plague!!!

Individual courage and collective will, in the face of an absolute disparity in power... seemed so... insignificant! So... ridiculous!!!

The AG-7 Agricultural Star, a planet once full of vitality and hope... was being devoured by death and darkness at a speed visible to the naked eye!

At the Pillar of Leaders, in Chen Jun's courtyard. Cui Hua's heart-wrenching wails, like the sharpest alarm, instantly pierced the tranquility and peace of the place.

Chen Jun's hand, which had been teasing his great-grandchild, froze in mid-air, and the kind smile on his face slightly stiffened.

He slowly raised his head, his gaze passing over the kneeling, weeping Cui Hua to look at the solemn-faced Shi Yue, Li Qingshan, and the others.

Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, combined with the grim expressions of everyone present and Cui Hua's desperate cries, it was enough for him to understand—something had happened, and it was no small matter.

It wasn't that he was worried about the survival of the Human Federation; with those few Star Arm Level daughters of his around, the Human Federation was as stable as Mount Tai.

He had finally managed to enjoy a few quiet days of playing with his grandchildren, so why were there people with no eyes coming to cause trouble again?

And causing such a huge commotion, making the younger generation in the family cry.

Especially since his favorite granddaughter-in-Law was crying so sadly and desperately.

This caused a trace of anger to rise in his heart.

This subtle emotion of displeasure, although faint, was like a pebble thrown into a silent deep pool, quietly rippling outwards...

Almost at the same instant Chen Jun frowned slightly and that trace of displeasure rose in his heart— "Hum..."

Space seemed to be gently plucked by some invisible force transcending dimensions.

Light twisted slightly like water ripples, and the air seemed to freeze for an insignificant instant.

The next moment! Five figures, without any warning, as if they had existed there since ancient times and were fused with space itself... appeared quietly beside Chen Jun!!!

There was no earth-shattering Aura explosion, no terrifying scene of space tearing apart. Their arrival was so natural... as if they had simply strolled out from the folds of space, returning to the position that had always belonged to them.

However, the moment they appeared! The entire Hall of Remembering Bitterness and Thinking of Sweetness, no, the entire Pillar of Leaders, and even the natural Laws of the wider Star Domain seemed to tremble slightly! Then they became more submissive and stable! As if welcoming their true master?!

The person leading them was none other than—Yun Qinglan!!!

She was still wearing a simple, plain white dress, unsoiled by dust, as if she had condensed all the spiritual grace and purity of the star sea.

Her ethereal eyes were clear to the bottom, unstained by any dust. At this moment, however, they held a trace of faint doubt?

Her gaze first fell on her father, Chen Jun... That clear gaze seemed capable of piercing through all appearances and directly perceiving the Origin!

Confirming that her father was unharmed and that there was only a tiny ripple in his mood... that trace of her father's displeasure, in her perception, was like a pebble falling into a calm lake, crystal clear.

Immediately, her gaze swept lightly over the kneeling, weeping Cui Hua with chaotic breath, as well as the solemn-faced, tense Shi Yue and the others.

Without needing anyone to report, all the words spoken in the room just now, as well as the tragedy and despair unfolding in the distant Star Domain, affecting hundreds of billions of lives... all streams of information were already like the lines on a palm! Presented synchronously and accurately in her vast, boundless heart-lake!

Behind her, her four Sun Body sisters, Yue Xi, Xuan Sha, Su Yuan, and Liu Qing, stood side by side.

Yue Xi was radiant and holy, with a faint displeasure between her brows at her father's peace being disturbed;

Xuan Sha's eyes were as sharp as eternal ice, with the faint sound of clashing metal surrounding her, her Battle Intent hidden, drawn but not released;

Su Yuan was quiet and rational, with streams of cosmic data flashing through her eyes, having already instantly completed an absolute analysis of the enemy fleet's composition, technological level, and energy distribution;

Liu Qing was as steady as a mountain, her Aura as heavy as an ancient star core, as if she could suppress all space-time turmoil with just a single thought.

Yun Qinglan stepped forward slightly, her gaze finally falling back onto Chen Jun, and her ethereal voice rang out... with an absolute flatness as if stating the movement of stars, yet containing an unquestionable cosmic decree!!!

"Father."

She tilted her head slightly, looking at Chen Jun's slightly furrowed brows, seemingly displeased as to why there were ants daring to disturb her father's peace?

Then, she parted her red lips slightly, her voice not loud, yet it seemed to echo directly at the level of the Universe's fundamental rules: "To actually disturb Father and cause him trouble?! You have already brought about your own path to death!"

The moment her words fell, there was no violent surge of energy, nor an explosion of sky-high killing intent... but the entire room, and even the vast Star Domain connected to it in the nether, felt the lines of Law tremble and tighten!!!

Shi Yue, Li Qingshan, and the other bigwigs were shaken to their cores! As if they had heard a verdict delivered by the Universe itself, they couldn't help but lower their heads deeply, not daring to look directly at the figures who seemed to be the embodiment of the Laws themselves...

Cui Hua's crying stopped abruptly; she looked up in astonishment, her tearful eyes gazing at those five existences who were like Incarnations of the star sea, whose greatness was beyond comprehension...

Chen Zhaojing opened his mouth wide, looking at his aunts... especially that ethereal and mysterious little aunt who seemed able to decide the life and death of the star sea with a single thought! He only felt a chill of awe, originating from his life's instinct, rushing from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!!!

Chen Jun heard this, was stunned for a moment, then smiled helplessly, habitually reaching out to rub Yun Qinglan's soft hair. "You child... Dad is fine."

His tone was gentle, carrying undisguised doting, as if he were just comforting a little daughter who was unhappy because of the noise outside the window.

However, Yun Qinglan's extremely flat words had already rung the final, irreversible death knell for the main force of the Blood Blade Pirate Group, who were running wild countless light-years away, and for that "Skull Crusher" Balem, who fancied himself a rule-maker!!!