217: Chapter 216 Counterinsurgency War

Fifty thousand light-years from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, a war was raging in full swing.

Although there was still nearly a year and a half until the end of the world, it felt as if the apocalypse had arrived early here.

Lin Han, commander of the Resistance Army, was so furious that he kicked over the table in front of him.

The purpose for which he had formed the army back then was to protect the universe and fight against the evil Zhangyang Civilization.

Once the Milky Way Galaxy became the only remaining pure land in the universe, his goal naturally became to protect the Milky Way Galaxy and fight against Zhangyang God.

But he never expected that the current Resistance Army would not only stop protecting the Milky Way Galaxy from the Evil God, but would instead turn their blades against the sentient beings within the Milky Way Galaxy.

Although these sentient beings were all criminals intent on causing trouble, this was fundamentally at odds with the slogans from when the Resistance Army was first established.

What made Lin Han even more indignant was that the number of rioters within the Milky Way Galaxy was increasing.

The numerous members of the Resistance Army had initially thought these minor security issues would be easy to handle, but soon, they were overwhelmed as they rushed to put out fires everywhere.

Even more frightening was that the Resistance Army began to suffer casualties, and the number of people sacrificing their lives for this was growing.

The number of criminals, which used to be dozens or at most a hundred, had reached three thousand on the opposing side in this conflict fifty thousand light-years from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. It was effectively the size of an army.

Furthermore, the massive Resistance Army was busy suppressing riots all over the Milky Way Galaxy, so the number of soldiers that could be mobilized to come here was limited. After several engagements, the Resistance Army even showed signs of being suppressed.

Fortunately, Yu Lan and the others arrived with several warships and thousands of Symbiotic Armor Warriors to provide support. In almost an instant, they annihilated the rioters' troops.

After the dust settled, the people from the Xingyang Civilization walked together with Lin Han across the devastated and chaotic battlefield ruins. Yu Lan looked around, her expression gradually becoming severe: "This is not a riot by thugs. Look at those weapons? This is an organized military unit."

Lin Han held an identification scanner, scanning the dead rioters one by one. Then he slowly said: "But looking at the database, these sentient beings are not professional soldiers, and they don't even have any records of relevant training."

"They were originally intelligent beings on this planet, working in various professions. But after the Matter Conversion by the Xingyang God and the distribution of relief supplies from various civilizations in your universe, these beings basically gave up their original jobs and turned to a life of lying flat. I just don't know why they suddenly participated in such a large-scale riot."

The identification scanner in Lin Han's hand was naturally familiar to the people of the Xingyang Civilization. It had been jointly developed by the Resistance Army, the Xingyang Civilization, and some advanced civilizations within the Milky Way Galaxy to better maintain security.

Each civilization would upload the information of the residents on its planet to the network. When those responsible for security arrived at a location, the identification scanner would automatically download data from this civilization and several surrounding celestial bodies, then match relevant information by scanning suspects.

But Yu Lan dismissed this, saying indifferently: "These data are just uploaded by the civilizations themselves; no one can guarantee they are real."

Lin Han immediately realized the seriousness of the problem and couldn't help but ask with a hesitant tone: "Could it be that you think there is a government pushing behind this large-scale riot!"

Xiliu, standing to the side, shook his head: "It is too early to draw conclusions, but these standard-issue weapons are indeed suspicious. Besides, with the end of the world approaching, people are in a panic. How many of those responsible for the upload work would seriously do the job at hand?"

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this. Yu Lan, not giving up, kept calling the people cleaning up the battlefield: "You must search carefully and thoroughly; it would be best if you can find survivors."

She wanted to obtain relevant information by interrogating captives to find the masterminds and organizers behind the scenes. But Hope clearly did not hold much Hope for this; she felt that these low-level cannon fodder, who were used as human shields, could not possibly have had contact with the people at the very top.

So she suggested: "Let us go directly to find the supreme ruler of this planet. On the way, you can also tell us the ins and outs of this battle!"

Everyone thought about it for a moment and finally boarded the shuttle. They only needed to circle half the planet to arrive at the planet's presidential palace.

Wei Wei looked down at the ground, feeling very sad. Because she discovered that the center of this war was not some remote place or fortress, but the center of a busy city.

Nearly a hundred collapsed high-rise buildings, various civilian and military vehicles scattered among the chaotic ruins, and countless corpses lying about.

Seeing this, Wei Wei couldn't help but say sadly: "Many innocent civilians must have died in this riot, right?"

Lin Han clenched his fists. He said bitterly: "Roughly estimated, all three thousand rioters were killed, except for a few who were seriously injured! Our side also had nearly a thousand casualties. Because it happened in a downtown area, civilian casualties are definitely far higher than the casualties of the combatants on both sides, but they are still being counted, and it is unknown when the data will come out."

Lin Han gritted his teeth in hatred for those rioters. He recalled that in the few years since he became commander, it seemed he had never really defeated an enemy.

Facing the Zhangyang Civilization, the Resistance Army could only flee and rescue refugees whose ships were damaged on the way. Now, while maintaining security in the Milky Way Galaxy, they were once again overwhelmed by these rioters.

Everyone knew he was feeling bad, so no one spoke for a while. Only Hope waited a moment before asking: "Then what are the causes and consequences of this war?"

Lin Han recalled as he said: "At the beginning, our station near this planet received a report that a dozen people had taken three women hostage in a shopping mall. So we dispatched a fifty-person squad to suppress the rioters! On the way, the captain received a distress message from the planet's supreme leader, and of course, the content was also about the hostage incident at the mall. The captain said we were already on the way and told him not to worry. Then, when we arrived at the scene, it was the same old, repetitive process of maneuvering and negotiating with the bandits."

Xiliu nodded upon hearing this. He felt that this group of rioters belonged to the type that had their own demands, not the kind that mindlessly looted and smashed.

Lin Han continued: "However, their demands were very strange. They actually wanted us to send a spaceship, then let them pass through the parallel channel to reach your universe!"

Wei Wei looked puzzled upon hearing this: "Where is this demand strange? This universe will be completely destroyed in less than a year and a half. Isn't it perfectly normal for them to want to escape to our universe and continue to survive?"

Yu Lan smiled slightly and patiently explained: "Because any normal terrorist would not make a demand that is certain not to be agreed to! No one will break this bottom line for them."

Lin Han nodded: "Yes, in principle, we will not negotiate with rioters or compromise. Let alone this kind of demand. In many small-scale hostage incidents that broke out earlier, the demands they made were basically to escape this universe. After all, most intelligent beings are afraid of death. However, they were all suppressed forcefully without exception. Because once this precedent is set, countless people will risk using this method. Using hostages to exchange for a ticket to escape. Consequently, more innocent people will be taken hostage. So for the safety of more people, we always shoot rioters who propose such conditions directly. Over time, as these riot incidents were turned into various news reports and spread throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, those beings also knew that this was a bottom line that must never be touched, and a demand that would never be agreed to. Therefore, in recent hostage incidents, no bandits have made such a demand."

Wei Wei finally understood and nodded silently. But she also felt inexplicably heartbroken.

The quota for the Kindling Project had quadrupled, and now, in each civilization, eight beings could be selected from every ten million of the population to board a spaceship and escape this universe that was about to be destroyed. This was naturally still a despairingly low probability, which was why those rioters chose to take the risk.

Of course, after knowing that such a demand would definitely not be met, they shouldn't have asked for it again. Sure enough, Yu Lan guessed: "If this is the demand this group of rioters made, it means their goal is definitely not this."

Lin Han nodded: "Indeed, so the captain on the scene immediately discovered something wrong. No one would risk death to make a demand that they knew would be rejected. This law has already reached a consensus in the Milky Way Galaxy. So the captain notified me of this anomaly while telling his subordinates to be on high alert. But no matter what, the mission to rescue the hostages had to be carried out. So the captain took out two stasis fields, preparing to immobilize the rioters and the hostages. Each fifty-person squad was equipped with two stasis fields, which we originally thought would be more than enough to deal with these dozen rioters. But we didn't expect to be ambushed soon! Suddenly, hundreds of armed militants gathered around, equipped with the most advanced military armored vehicles. The fifty-person squad was almost completely wiped out. The captain also sacrificed himself one minute before I arrived."

Having said all this, Lin Han felt heartbroken. Yu Lan handed him a glass of water and then slowly analyzed: "Thousands of people, advanced weapons. All this must be controlled and supported by some civilization or some country behind the scenes. It's just a matter of who it is and what their purpose is, which we will have to discover."

Xiliu seemed to have deep concerns: "The most frightening thing is that this is likely just the tip of the iceberg. With the approach of the end of the world, both individuals and governments will become increasingly restless. Some events that would not have happened, or could not have happened, will gradually surface."

Lin Han took a deep breath: "Now our Resistance Army is already in a state of working at full capacity. And every minute and every second, a large number of our soldiers are sacrificing their lives!"

Yu Lan looked ahead and said firmly: "We will think of a way, but for now, let us finish dealing with this matter. After all, this is the first riot on the scale of thousands of people. If we cannot solve it, the evildoers will become bolder, and such security battles will become more and more frequent!"