127: Chapter 127 A Warning by Cutting Off an Arm: Loyalty and Treachery Immediately Revealed

Diana kept her head bowed, her voice low and steady:

“The Hopkins Family will not fail Lord Zhang Long's trust.”

Zhang Long turned his gaze to Augustus and spoke casually, his tone a few degrees colder than when he spoke to Diana, but lacking the sharp, biting pressure he had directed at Sterling earlier.

“You're doing alright.”

“Compared to that chatterbox, at least you live up to the solid reputation the Knox Family has built over decades in the military-industrial complex.”

Augustus kept his head bowed, his thick shoulder muscles relaxing slightly. He didn't reply, only lowering his head a bit further.

Zhang Long paced slowly, taking in everything: the scientists tied up in the corner of the lab, the broken screen on the floor still flashing stress-distribution data, and the two military-industrial moguls still standing before him.

“Originally, in my eyes, all three of you were completely useless.”

“You failed to kill Musk and Edward, and you didn't bring back the Grey's eyeball. Useless.”

“I had already planned to abandon you.”

He paused for a moment, shifting his gaze back to Diana.

“But since Diana was able to stand firm in a crisis, it makes me feel you still have a shred of loyalty.”

“You're still worth nurturing a little.”

Then, he casually waved his hand.

From the fingertips of his blue-gloved right hand, an extremely thin, brilliant arc of electricity shot out. It cut a brief, blinding blue-white zigzag through the air, precisely slicing through just below Sterling's right shoulder.

Sterling's right arm severed cleanly at the shoulder joint and fell to the floor. Blood sprayed from the stump, soaking half of his suit and splashing across the alien material stress-slices on the edge of the overturned analysis table.

Sterling slid down against the half-broken analysis table his lower back had crashed into, letting out a heart-wrenching shriek of agony. His left hand desperately clutched the empty stump below his right shoulder, blood continuously seeping through his fingers.

Everyone present recoiled in terror at the sight of the electric arc.

Keating's hand instinctively flew to the holster at his waist, but once he touched it, he lacked the courage to even draw his weapon.

He knew better than anyone that in front of that blue glove, any human weapon was just scrap metal that would bounce back into his own forehead within a second.

Zhang Long slowly placed his blue-gloved hand, which was still crackling with faint static electricity, back behind his body. He looked down at Sterling, who was slumped on the floor, his tone so flat it was almost casual.

“For double-dealers like you, there is usually only one end: death.”

“But for the sake of Diana's firm stance, and considering you are still a team... I will only sever one of your arms for now, as a warning to the rest.”

“If there is a next time, you won't get off so easily.”

Clutching his severed arm, Sterling struggled to his knees and began to kowtow frantically, slamming his head against the floor. His forehead was smeared with blood, shattered glass, and dust, and with every strike, blood seeped from his knees, but he couldn't care less.

His voice trembled, but every word sounded as if it were being squeezed from his throat, forced through his teeth. Marshaling all the resolve his physical limits could muster, he quickly pressed each word onto the scorched floor.

“Lord Zhang Long, I was wrong! I shouldn't have wavered!”

“I swear! From this day on, I, Sterling Remington, will absolutely believe in the Longevity Faction!”

“Grey Alien' million-strong fleet is nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs before the Longevity Faction! I was wrong! I will never dare do it again!”

Zhang Long looked at Sterling, who was kneeling on the floor, kowtowing until his forehead bled, his face expressionless.

He brought his blue-gloved hand back to his front and waved it casually toward the lab exit.

“Get out of here.”

“If you go to the hospital now, you might still be able to reattach your arm.”

Sterling grabbed his severed arm from the floor with his remaining hand, clutched it to his chest, and stumbled out of the lab door.

He cradled the dripping arm like a baby, blood running down his clothes and leaving a trail all the way to the corridor exit.

Diana watched Sterling's retreating figure disappear around the corner of the corridor, lowering her eyelids as she let out a very soft breath.

Fortunately, she had stood firm and held her ground when everyone else was on the verge of collapsing.

Otherwise, the severed arm would be hers right now, and the entire Hopkins Family would have faced collective punishment next.

Augustus stood by the analysis table, slowly rubbing the knuckles of his right fist with his thick palm, a lingering fear weighing heavily in his chest like a block of cold iron.

If he hadn't happened to be angered by Sterling's unreliable attitude and chosen to stand silently by Diana's side, his own arm would have been severed from his shoulder right now as well.

...

Sublevel 3, Isolation Room.

The room was lined on all four sides with electromagnetic shielding copper mesh and blast-resistant concrete layers, and the cold overhead lights illuminated the interior in a deathly pale glow.

At this moment, there were only three people in the room.

Zhang Long stood at the front with his hands clasped behind his back;

Diana Hopkins stood about three paces to his left, hands resting in front of her, her posture respectful but not overly subservient;

Augustus Knox stood against the wall on the right. His fists were still habitually half-clenched, but his shoulders were tensed tighter than usual.

Both of them knew that Sterling had already been excluded from the core of this team.

Not because Zhang Long had publicly announced any disciplinary decision, but because every word Sterling had spoken while standing there no longer belonged to someone with a firm stance.

Zhang Long slowly brought his hands from behind his back to his front. His blue and black gloves gleamed with a faint, matte finish under the cold lights.

He first glanced at Augustus, then turned to Diana. When he spoke, his tone was flat, as if asking a question, yet also as if stating a fact that everyone knew in their hearts but no one dared to voice first.

“Now that you know the Solar System is a flawed space-time, and that Grey Alien' million-strong fleet is about to press down upon us...”

“Do you feel that even the Deep State might not be able to withstand a full-scale invasion from the Zeta Star?”

Diana and Augustus lowered their heads at the same time.

Sterling's severed arm, which surgeons were currently racing against time to reattach on the operating table, had already pre-answered what fate awaited any wavering.

Augustus was the first to speak, his voice extremely low but every word crystal clear:

“Lord Zhang Long, the strength of the Longevity Faction is definitely not something a low-level civilization like Zeta Star can shake.”

“We have never doubted this for a moment.”

Diana followed immediately, her tone even steadier than Augustus's, and her phrasing more cautious:

“The Hopkins Family has staked our entire fortune on the Longevity Faction from the very beginning, and we have never wavered.”

“We believe that the true power of the Longevity Faction is absolutely not something Zeta Star can rival, regardless of whether their fleet is one million or ten million strong.”