221: It's not that I don't have ideas, but I'm just the temporary team leader.

The screen jumps, and the scene changes.

Deep within the Forbidden Ground of the Immortal Clan Bai Family, a palace rose high into the clouds, majestic and vast, like an imposing temple.

The surrounding air was permeated with a sense of antiquity and vicissitudes, as if every brick and stone were telling a story.

At this moment, the light inside the palace grew dim.

It highlighted a beautiful, otherworldly woman, like a clear shadow under the moonlight, appearing like a Fairy from the mortal world.

Her gentle gaze fell upon the now silent Magical Artifact of communication, her eyes filled with reluctance.

She remembered that day when a small figure, face covered in tears, threw herself into her arms, asking for her daddy.

Looking at how heartbroken Little Die was, a wave of helplessness and sadness welled up in her heart.

"What should I do?"

"Little Die misses her daddy."

"But her daddy, for the sake of this world, has already..."

Her words lingered on her lips, but ultimately remained unspoken.

But the Reincarnation of fate never stops; heaven always leaves a way out, and there is always guidance in the unseen.

One day, an Old ancestor of the Immortal Clan Bai Family calculated an astonishing hexagram, which revealed that they would still have one last meeting in this lifetime.

The place where the hexagram would be fulfilled was an unheard-of small place, though exactly when it would happen was unknown.

As the Clan Chief of the Immortal Clan Bai Family, she could not leave the Kanli Realm for long.

In the end, she gave the opportunity to see the person she missed to Little Die.

And today, that Old ancestor came over and said the hexagram had manifested.

As thoughts surged like a tide, she walked slowly toward the depths of the palace, as if every step was awakening those sealed memories.

Deep inside the palace, the huge hall that had almost hollowed out the ground was silent, as if time had stopped flowing there.

Inside the hall, a terrifying existence like a giant beast knelt on one knee, its posture magnificent, giving off an indescribable sense of oppression.

Under the illumination of countless precious jade lights, the true face of this giant beast gradually came into view; its main color was pitch black, and it had a pair of red wings on its back.

It could be seen that it seemed to have been silent there for a very, very long time.

When the woman walked to the front of the "giant beast," she finally stopped in front of a transparent mysterious crystal coffin.

Inside the coffin, there was only a charred remain and a strange crystal stone.

The crystal stone, which had originally been like a star in the dark night, was silent and lusterless.

However, at this moment, it emitted layers of soft halos, as if in joy, as if greeting the woman.

The woman looked at the crystal stone, her eyes filled with nostalgia.

Recalling the bits and pieces experienced decades ago, it finally turned into a single sentence.

Her gaze fell on the crystal stone, her eyes surging with nostalgic tears, as if she had returned to decades ago, every scene experienced vividly in her mind.

In the end, all the longing turned into a soft whisper: "My husband, you have finally returned."

Her voice seemed to cross the boundaries of time and space, carrying endless tenderness and longing, "Little Die and I have missed you..."

...

[Beep, beep, beep! Communication connected.]

What surprised Xia Mulin was that the person on the other side of the communication was actually Colonel Duan Qihe.

[For the Empire.]

"For the Empire."

After Duan Qihe connected the message, he directly heaped praise on Xia Mulin's contributions.

After this great battle, Duan Qihe had come to regard Xia Mulin as a talent, not just a temporary leader of a low-level Combat Squad.

The other's deployment and planning all made him feel sincere admiration.

Initial battle reports showed that they had lost less than one-fifth of their resources and troops, yet they had severely damaged the native creatures.

This included the damage caused by others' commands before Xia Mulin took over.

If one were to calculate carefully, this battle loss number would likely be even lower.

Therefore, he specially came to ask about the other party's next plan.

Of course, regarding the repair of the realm-breaking gate, Duan Qihe also spoke without reservation.

The order he received was for the realm-breaking gate to be repaired temporarily in two or three days, but by now, a full seven days had passed.

Although the starport's replies were always understated, saying it "would be fixed soon," a faint uneasiness lingered in Duan Qihe's heart.

He keenly sensed that something was wrong.

So, he quickly contacted Xia Mulin, hoping the other party could continue to offer strategies for him.

"But, Colonel Duan Qihe."

"It's not that I don't have ideas, but I am only a temporary leader of a Combat Squad, how dare I discuss strategic matters casually?"

"My humble opinion is really embarrassing to express..."

Xia Mulin's tone was filled with hesitation, his words stopping several times.

Seeing the former's demeanor, the corners of Duan Qihe's mouth twitched involuntarily.

He thought to himself: You kid, why didn't you say that when you wanted the front-line command?

When the battle was won, and he, the supreme Commander-in-Chief, ran over personally to ask about the next step, only then did he say this.

This wasn't humility; it was clearly reaching out to ask for benefits.

Fine, I'll give it to you, I'll give it to you, I'll satisfy you.

[What temporary leader? You are clearly the official leader!]

"But, I am just a small Sergeant."

[What Sergeant? You are now a second lieutenant!]

"But, I haven't been on the battlefield, I haven't earned any Combat Points."

[A one-time reward of ten thousand Combat Points, and on the subsequent battle merit list, your name will be the first one on the first line!]

"But..."

[Alright, stop with the 'buts', give me a straight answer, can you do it or not?]

"Yes! Your Excellency, Colonel!"

"My opinion is this: we must retreat to the Mechanical City."

[Why?]

Duan Qihe felt a bit surprised; in his view, since they had already gained an advantage, they should continue to expand their results.

At the very least, they shouldn't give up the place they had just conquered, otherwise wouldn't so many Lapu People have died in vain?

Even creating a fake realm-breaking gate as bait could attract the enemy to attack.

Facing the question, Xia Mulin's face became very serious.

"No! We must withdraw as soon as possible!"

"Not only must we withdraw, but we must withdraw with great fanfare!"

"In this battle, although we successfully eliminated a large number of native creatures, their top powerhouses have almost not appeared."

"Why is that? Is their strength inferior to ours?"

"No, it's because the top powerhouses here cherish their lives, so they are unwilling to fight us to the death."

"In fact, they have been testing the number of our top combatants, trying to eliminate us with minimal losses."

"If we forcibly build a second realm-breaking gate, that would undoubtedly be forcing them to fight us to the death at all costs."

Xia Mulin's words made Duan Qihe understand instantly, and he immediately grasped the key point.

"Colonel Duan Qihe, do you think you can stop them at that time?"

[I understand.]

The next moment, the communication was cut off.

Soon, the order for a full retreat was issued.

After receiving the order, the Lapu People in the entire Xiling Royal Capital did not dare to delay and retreated from the place in an orderly manner.

To speed up the evacuation, the rear even dispatched a large number of Armed Equipment warships.

For a time, Xiling Royal Capital was filled with the sounds of machinery and personnel busy at work.

"Hurry, hurry, everyone board the Armed Equipment warships!"

"Give up cleaning up the spoils, evacuate immediately, do not hesitate."

"Carry the seriously wounded up first, the rest wait for the next warship!"

Not long after, the Lapu Galaxy Empire had completed the evacuation work.

As a key protection target, the Zhenxiao Combat Squad where Xia Mulin was located received priority care; all members boarded a warship of energy rank four and had elite escorts.

Sitting by the window of the warship, Xia Mulin looked down from the sky at the broken scene full of corpses and armor fragments on the ground, and a sense of inexplicable sadness suddenly arose in his heart.

However, he soon adjusted his emotions.

After all, he had gradually become accustomed to the rules of this cruel and cold-blooded world.

However, what Xia Mulin did not know was...

At this very moment, on this Armed Equipment warship, a well-rounded outstanding young man had already sneaked in...

He was none other than Qin Dong.