213: Great Cleanup

Li Tianren sighed and slowly closed his eyes.

Reflecting on his life, he had neglected his children's upbringing for the sake of his work, and had not even been able to see his parents one last time.

"Was it worth it..."

It was only at this moment that Li Tianren thought of this question.

"Of course it's worth it. Sacrificing the small self to achieve the greater good."

"I have worked diligently all my life, allowing countless families to live better lives."

"The only ones I've let down are my family."

Five seconds passed.

Li Tianren felt something was wrong. Why hadn't he died yet?

When he opened his eyes, he found the drone hovering in deep space, completely motionless.

Looking up, he discovered a giant warship ten thousand meters long.

Printed on the underside of the giant warship was a logo: countless stars gathered together to form a sea of stars.

On Blue Star, there was no one who did not know Star Sea.

Because over a hundred years ago, when Blue Star was still in the new energy era, this enterprise emerged and propelled Blue Star's civilization into the interstellar colonization era.

"Star Sea!"

Chen Zehai was trembling with excitement.

A moment ago, he thought he was dead for sure, but the next second, he had unexpectedly found a way out of a desperate situation!

The giant warship's side cannons flashed with blue light, turned, and fired a blue-white beam five meters in diameter diagonally upward!

The next second, the beam swept horizontally from left to right.

The three patrol ships a thousand kilometers away were vaporized in the intense fire, leaving not even dust behind.

The giant warship's belly hangar opened, and a small rescue ship slowly approached and docked in front of the two men.

Chen Zehai realized what was happening, immediately pulled Li Tianren, opened the cabin door, and climbed inside.

When the cabin door closed, the two looked at each other, gazing out at the dense, motionless drones with lingering fear.

"We survived!"

"It seems so!"

Blue Star, in a safe house one thousand meters underground.

"What did you say!"

"The mission failed?"

From the other end of the line came a stuttering, trembling voice.

"Yes, yes it did!"

"Star Sea intervened and even destroyed our three patrol ships!"

"No one survived?"

"They're all dead!"

After receiving confirmation, the five people in the room all let out a long sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's good."

"What kind of madness is Star Sea pulling? Why did they intervene to save Li Tianren?"

An old man with graying temples, sagging skin, and age spots all over his face spoke slowly: "You don't understand how much power Star Sea truly possesses."

"At the end of the last century, when the Federal Government was just established, Star Sea, as an independent entity, held veto power."

"Any decision by the Federation would be invalidated if Star Sea used its veto power."

"I'm afraid this matter won't be easy to resolve."

The five people opposite the old man were stunned. Such a thing existed?

"Veto power? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Yeah!"

The old man shook his head and sneered: "Star Sea has never used this right. As time passed, it was gradually forgotten by people."

"Since Star Sea has acted, this matter will not be easy to resolve."

A middle-aged man in a black jacket asked suspiciously: "Old Wang, what do you mean by that?"

The old man stroked the patterns on his cane, a flash of light appearing in his dim old eyes, as if recalling events from the past.

That year, the Hai Star fleet invaded, and he had also piloted a mecha to charge on the front lines, fighting for the survival of humanity on Blue Star.

It's just that the dragon-slaying youth of that year had eventually turned into an evil dragon.

He let out a sigh: "You don't understand how terrifying the methods of that existence are."

"In this world, nothing can escape his gaze."

"Since Star Sea has already acted, it proves that he has returned."

"Old Wang, don't just say half of what you mean!"

"What is going on? Is this matter really that serious?"

The old man took out his Terminal and pulled up the ground surveillance feed. When he saw two squads of ten people wearing Federal law enforcement armor rushing toward the safe house entrance, he suddenly smiled in relief.

He turned off the Terminal, leaned back into the leather sofa, took off his reading glasses, and carefully smoothed his clothes.

"Finally, a word of advice: don't lie, because it's meaningless."

The five people in the room looked at each other, still unable to understand the meaning behind the old man's words.

It wasn't until the two law enforcement squads broke down the door and rushed into the room that they understood.

They looked on in horror at the old man, who appeared calm, with even a trace of nostalgia on his face.

How much time had passed since they learned the mission failed?

How had this underground safe house been discovered?

"Take them away."

"What are you doing!"

"Why are you arresting us? What did we do wrong?"

The law enforcement captain operated his Terminal, and a virtual screen was projected.

"See clearly. This is an arrest warrant, approved by the Federal Supreme Administrative Office."

"The charge is conspiracy to assassinate a Federal official."

The middle-aged man widened his eyes; he felt that the situation was highly unusual!

They were being sentenced just like that?

Did they not even need evidence!?

"Where is the evidence!"

"Right, how can you arrest people casually without evidence? Do you know who we are?"

The law enforcement captain sneered.

"Arresting you doesn't require evidence."

Once these words were spoken, the other five people—except for the old man who stood up and voluntarily held out his hands—couldn't help but feel a mixture of emotions: confusion, panic, anger...

"I am..."

Before the man could finish speaking, he was knocked unconscious by the law enforcement captain with a rifle butt.

"I don't care who you are."

A young team member's voice sounded over the squad's voice channel.

"Captain, this person seems to be an official from the Mars branch of the Interstellar Development Agency. I've seen him on TV. Will we face retaliation for doing this?"

"Listen here, you brat. From today on, this person is completely finished."

"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up with the arrests. The task load is heavy these days, and we have to rush to the next one."

At the same time, on Blue Star, Mars, and other colonial planets, countless similar events were unfolding.

The law enforcement teams arrested people and sent them to prison, directly skipping the trial process.

In just three days, over a hundred thousand people were arrested in succession.

A major earthquake occurred within the Federation. Officials everywhere remained absolutely silent about the sudden Great Purge, and even the news media remained quiet.

Only a small number of insiders understood that he had returned.

It's time to rein in the claws...

In deep space.

Shui Meng sat in the co-pilot seat, pointing at the star map and shouting excitedly: "His Majesty the Human Emperor, I want to go here and take a look!"

He Ming looked at the star map. The direction Shui Meng was pointing to was on the edge of the Eastern Universe, where the front line against the Zerg was located.

"There is a war going on there. If we suddenly run over there, we will easily be conscripted."

When Shui Meng heard this, she seemed even more excited.

"Zerg?"

"Are they those bugs from science fiction movies?"

He Ming shook his head and snapped his fingers.

jarvis processed, and the light and shadow inside the spaceship intertwined, forming an image.

In the universe, a giant crustacean creature was floating. It suddenly opened its massive maw and swallowed an entire planet in one gulp.

The giant beetle stretched its eight limbs, and the resulting vibrations caused a cosmic storm that instantly turned the surrounding Meteorite Belt into cosmic dust.