The battle with Cromwell broke out at four in the morning.
The Information Division used quantum-entanglement jammers to disrupt Cromwell's internal communications. Battalions 0711 and 0715 piloted twelve warships in a charge against both flanks of the interstellar pirates' gathering point. Battalion 0752 launched a rear assault to destroy their food stores, while the elite 0748 mecha unit broke through the defensive line. Each battalion had accompanying medical personnel assigned to it.
From four o'clock onward, Cromwell, sunk in darkness, was illuminated by bursts of fire, revealing the fortresses and towns built across its surface.
Soldiers from both the Third Military District and Cromwell poured onto the battlefield. The booming roar of war seemed capable of annihilating everything.
Overhead, warships gathered like wings converging in the darkness, flickering with tiny yet terrifying points of firepower.
At the same time, the command warship in the rear also came under a pirate surprise attack.
The raiding force was astonishingly large, numbering three thousand. They stormed the command warship with unstoppable momentum. Both their weaponry and combat capability were fully comparable to those of the elite 0748 mecha unit. Plasma cannons and ultra-high-speed projectiles tore through the ship across a wide area, while dozens of insectoids taller than a person climbed up from somewhere beneath the vessel, opening bloodthirsty mouthparts and using limbs sharper than steel to destroy the warship in a frenzy.
“Boom—boom—boom—”
“Boom—boom—boom—”
“Boom—boom—boom—”
Inside the warship's command center.
The command room began to shake. The sound of artillery outside made many command officers go pale with alarm.
Xie Yijin remained steady at the helm, watching the fighting across every front and continuously issuing new orders as though she hadn't noticed the changes around them at all.
This was the best opportunity to seize Cromwell. Nothing could be allowed to go wrong. As for the pirate force that had boarded the command warship, it was far too powerful. It didn't resemble any combat deployment Cromwell should have possessed. More importantly, the reconnaissance units hadn't detected anyone leaving Cromwell at all.
There was only one explanation: this pirate force was an allied force Cromwell had summoned.
In the vastness of space, most interstellar pirates were fugitives. They were experts at seeking profit and avoiding danger, which meant they put self-interest above everything else. Most fought separately and rarely formed alliances.
The other commanders were just about to persuade Xie Yijin of something when Jiang Zui, standing at her side, frowned slightly and stopped them with a hand gesture.
This wasn't his first time on a battlefield, nor was it his first time facing a trap like this. Looking at the other screens showing the fighting outside the command ship, he felt his heart tighten little by little.
Seeing this, the commanders didn't dare speak and disturb the supreme commander.
Xie Yijin continued issuing orders methodically, never taking her eyes off the battlefield, doing her best to remain rational.
Only after sending the final order and confirming the outcome of the battle for Cromwell did she issue a command to everyone aboard the command warship:
“All personnel, evacuate immediately!”
“The warship will self-destruct in thirty minutes.”
“All personnel, evacuate immediately!”
“The warship will self-destruct in thirty minutes!”
The moment the order was given, every soldier aboard the various ships who was entangled in combat with pirates received it through their earpieces. They stopped fighting and hurriedly jumped from the ships.
Space motorcycles streaked through the air toward the Cromwell battlefield like falling stars.
Xie Yijin led a group of people onto the broad deck of the warship. The deafening crash of artillery and the sounds of mecha locked in combat filled their ears without pause.
In the next second, eight pirates wearing silver masks hovered in midair and blocked their way. Lightweight flight devices were mounted on their backs, a relatively new mode of transportation in interstellar society and extremely expensive.
“Oh. So the supreme commander of the Third Military District is right here.”
The leading male Alpha was powerfully built. Whenever the flames of battle flashed, the savage scar branded across his right eye became clearly visible. His eagle-like eyes held mocking contempt.
He looked to be in his forties. His voice was hoarse and unpleasant to hear, and he held a heavy plasma cannon as though it were a toy gun.
Behind him stood a masked man with long hair and a tall frame. His snake-like eyes radiated a chilling coldness that made people's backs prickle.
“Captain, give that male Alpha to me.” The man held a laser sword and tilted his head, looking at Jiang Zui as though he were an insect. His gaze was like a web that wanted to tear Jiang Zui apart. His lips curved into a wicked, excited smile. His voice was gentle as water, but his words were vicious beyond measure. “I want to turn him into a specimen.”
The female Alpha behind him wore black leather armor and had short, wavy hair.
A refined silver half-mask covered her right eye. She fixed her gaze on Jiang Zui, and the moment she saw him, her brows drew faintly together. Her five fingers gradually clenched, her thin lips pressed tight, as though this battle made her extremely tense.
“It's the Gessell pirate group!”
“It's Gessell!”
“Fuck! Gessell actually became Cromwell's reinforcements!”
“…”
The interstellar universe was vast, its planets beyond counting.
Most pirates were people who, after breaking the law, were no longer accepted by the Federation or Empire. Gradually they gathered together and survived by raiding across the stars, becoming a scourge wherever they went. There were many pirate organizations large and small, and one of the most formidable was the Gessell pirate group.
Yet Gessell had grown increasingly powerful precisely because it never clashed head-on with Federation or Imperial forces. Its whereabouts were notoriously difficult to trace.
The burly Alpha was Jin Weisi, captain of Gessell's pirate warship.
As for the long-haired man behind him, he was Xia Yu, the Alpha vice-captain famous throughout the stars for his love of collecting beautiful human skins.
“Don't get dragged into prolonged combat!” Xie Yijin frowned slightly and gave the order calmly.
The command ship was about to self-destruct. Retreat was the priority.
The commanders drew plasma firearms and unleashed a barrage on the pirates, each finding cover as they retreated!
Xie Yijin gripped the mecha belt at her waist and charged toward the burly Alpha, her terrifying mental power rapidly linking with her mecha.
Red-and-white armor swiftly covered her body, and two long swords appeared behind her. Like a flash of lightning, she stepped through the air, drew a sword, and slashed at the male Alpha.
The military personnel with the highest combat strength had all been deployed to the front. Most of the commanders left behind belonged to the strategic corps.
Three of the eight enemies were high-level Alphas with extensive combat experience and fighting power ranked among the best in the entire interstellar world. If they relied only on fighting while retreating, these commanders would never escape the battlefield. Xie Yijin had to buy them time.
“Commander Xie!”
Several commanders shouted, both shocked and terrified.
“Retreat immediately!”
Xie Yijin's razor-sharp laser sword had already struck at Jin Weisi more than a dozen times!
Jin Weisi dodged nimbly, trading blows with Xie Yijin in midair.
This fight was completely different from yesterday's playful scuffle with Jiang Zui. Neither side held back. Every attack was lethal, giving the opponent no chance to breathe. Their battle swept everywhere. One moment Jin Weisi slammed Xie Yijin out of the air onto the warship deck and pummeled her; the next, Xie Yijin locked both his arms and flew upward with him. The exchange was dizzying to watch.
Their terrifying strength blasted holes into the ground, and every sweep of a blade left a deep gash where it passed.
Jin Weisi and Xie Yijin were locked in an inseparable fight.
What about Jiang Zui?
Jiang Zui was being tied down by Xia Yu.
Xia Yu behaved as though he had a personal grudge against attractive people. Every thrust of his laser sword aimed straight at Jiang Zui's face, vicious and merciless.
Jiang Zui seized an opening and tightened his grip on his mecha belt.
Silver armor rapidly covered his whole body. After dodging the laser sword, he raised a hand and fired a plasma cannon directly at Xia Yu's head.
Xia Yu's mecha armor instantly covered his head, but the blast still sent him flying backward dozens of meters!
Jiang Zui—the heavy-weapons enthusiast—rolled his wrist.
He really couldn't understand it. In this day and age, there were still people so damn obsessed with swords?
He glanced at Xie Yijin and Jin Weisi, who were fighting fiercely. At that moment, Xie Yijin's long sword was split apart by Jin Weisi. The broken blade, hurled away by the immense force, streaked through the sky before burying itself in the warship's surface.
Jiang Zui wanted to help, but within mere seconds Xia Yu flashed back like lightning and tangled with him again!
【Warning! Warning!】
“Ten seconds until warship self-destruction! Evacuate immediately!”
“Ten seconds until warship self-destruction! Evacuate immediately!”
Seeing the moment of detonation drawing closer, Jiang Zui's heart pounded and cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
Just then, he heard a hoarse yet familiar female voice. “Xia Yu! I'll help you!”
【10】
【9】
The instant the words fell, a shell struck his body.
His mecha resisted the terrifying force carried by the projectile, but it still hurled him farther away. His body streaked across the sky like a meteor.
“Boom—boom—boom!”
“Boom—boom—boom!”
“Boom—boom—boom!”
【8】
【7】
【6】
The interstellar pirates heard the sound of the warship exploding, realized something was wrong, and fled in panic.
Xie Yijin sensed her mental power collapsing, strands of strength seemingly being drawn out of her without end.
The broken sword in her hand fell into deep space. She stared at Jin Weisi in shock and realized the traitor had most likely poisoned her food.
【5】
【4】
Jin Weisi had roamed the stars for more than twenty years. Both his physical strength and mental power were formidable. He pulled the trigger of his plasma weapon, and the shot flew straight toward her carrying the force of thunder.
Xie Yijin watched the projectile fragments about to pierce her body, but she was too weak to dodge.
Was… she going to die here?
This time, there truly wouldn't be anyone to save her.
【3】
Unexpectedly, a female Alpha pirate dressed in black leather flashed forward like lightning and rammed Xie Yijin aside, helping her avoid the fatal blow.
Before Xie Yijin could react, the other woman seized her arm with lightning speed. Space-time seemed to freeze for a fleeting instant. The section of mecha armor she was gripping felt as though a new chip had been embedded inside it. Xie Yijin's heart screamed that something was wrong, but the woman had already grabbed her and thrown her far out into space.
Xie Yijin heard her curse under her breath, “Go die!”
【2】
【1】
Xie Yijin traced a parabola across the sky.
Her last thread of mental power disappeared completely. In her ears came the roar of the warship exploding, screams, and furious curses.
A sharp ringing swept through her ears.
Before she lost consciousness, she felt as though something had pierced both her legs.
*
The Cromwell campaign ended in victory for the Morris Empire's Third Military District.
In this battle, Morris eradicated the pirate scourge that had entrenched itself there for years, recaptured serious interstellar criminals, and rescued innocent civilians who had been enslaved for six years. While clearing the battlefield, the military discovered an abyss on Cromwell where insectoids were being bred and destroyed it. The Gessell pirate group, hired by Cromwell at enormous expense as reinforcements, had destroyed the command center, but once it became clear Cromwell had lost all momentum, they vanished back into the vast universe without a trace.
After the battle, Xie Yijin's communicator gave no response. No one knew whether she was alive or dead.
Shen Jianbai was nearly driven mad with panic. She searched every fragment of the shattered warship and still couldn't find a trace of Xie Yijin. As time passed, her heart sank lower and lower.
“Commander Xie did it to buy time for us, and then…”
Gloom blanketed the Third Military Department. A large group of Alphas secretly wiped away tears.
Li Yanjin, who had long been deeply in love with Xie Yijin, had rabbit-red eyes every day. He went mad constantly, grabbing people and demanding in a frantic voice to know whether Xie Yijin had been found. He refused to believe for even a moment that she was dead.
He saw Jiang Zui at the field hospital. Jiang Zui was methodically bandaging wounds, performing surgery, and making rounds. Li Yanjin instantly flew into a rage. Ignoring everyone trying to stop him, he charged over and screamed abuse at Jiang Zui. “You're happy now, aren't you?! Xie Yijin is dead! Xie Yijin is dead! She's never coming back!”
Jiang Zui changed the IV drip for an injured soldier lying in bed, his expression as calm and indifferent as ever. “Mm. Why does that matter?”
He showed not the slightest emotional fluctuation over whether one person more or less existed in the world.
“You! You…”
“People die on battlefields every day. No rule says Xie Yijin can't be one of them.”
Li Yanjin's eyes turned even redder with rage, his face twisting savagely. “How can you say something so cold-blooded?! I curse you to die a horrible death!”
“If curses actually worked,”
Jiang Zui sneered. He had finished changing the drip and moved on to replace the bandages of the injured person in the next bed. Suddenly he raised his eyes to Li Yanjin, his gaze so cold it made people shiver. “Why curse me? Shouldn't you be cursing the murderer who got Xie Yijin killed?”
During his recent bouts of bickering with Xie Yijin, she had mentioned that there was a traitor in the military district and that the person was very likely inside the military hospital.
His mouth had mercilessly told Xie Yijin, “None of my damn business,” but as a soldier, how could he let a traitor go? In order to uncover them, he had deliberately allowed Li Yanjin to keep making trouble in the military hospital, muddying the waters so he could investigate from multiple angles. Every time he returned to the field hospital, Li Yanjin made things difficult for him. Cao Jiang, wary of offending the Li family, kept favoring Li Yanjin. He had even removed Jiang Zui from the deputy team leader position without hesitation. The moment Li Yanjin stuck out his backside, Cao Jiang followed along like a bootlicker.
Jiang Zui had observed them for some time but still made no progress.
Cao Jiang was timid, afraid of trouble, and hated inconvenience. He had a wife and children at home. Li Yanjin was a useless green-tea schemer desperate to throw himself at Xie Yijin, flaunting his family background and filling his head with nothing but Alpha-and-Omega relationship nonsense…
Jiang Zui had observed everyone in the field hospital.
Before yesterday's final battle with Cromwell, Xie Yijin had put a great deal of thought into force distribution. To prevent the traitor from inferring strategic deployments based on medical assignments, the accompanying medical teams were only assigned at the very last moment, leaving the enemy unable to determine where their forces were positioned.
But the command warship's location never changed.
That meant Gessell's appearance had not been a coincidence.
Moreover, Jiang Zui had checked Xie Yijin's recent food and drink yesterday and discovered medicinal powder inside her water bottle.
The powder was very likely the banned drug called Death Soldier, which damaged glands and destroyed mental power.
Someone wanted Xie Yijin dead.
No matter what, he had to find the traitor first!
Before such an important battle, Li Yanjin had deliberately provoked him on the eve of war.
The result of yesterday's provocation was that Li Yanjin, a pampered young nobleman, was injured and therefore unable to enter the battlefield. He had no choice but to be sent to the field hospital in the rear to wait for the war to end, allowing him to avoid Gessell's assault on the command warship.
Dislike could be faked.
So could affection.
Jiang Zui had no evidence.
His suspicion of Li Yanjin was only preliminary. He still needed proof.
If Li Yanjin really had done it, Jiang Zui would naturally let him experience what it felt like to be cut to pieces by a thousand blades.
After all, there was only one Xie Yijin in this world.
Before he himself was dead, how dare she try dying even once?
“Of course I curse the person who killed Yijin to die horribly!”
Li Yanjin flinched under that icy gaze, then stiffened his neck and cursed, “Don't think you'll have an easy time either! I'll never let you have an easy time again!”
Jiang Zui walked straight over and slapped him across the face.
“You… you dare hit me!” Li Yanjin covered his cheek, eyes wide with disbelief. He apparently hadn't expected an Alpha to truly strike a beautiful Omega like him!
Jiang Zui stepped forward and slapped him again. “I hit you because I wanted to. What, do I need to pick an auspicious date?”
If Xie Yijin hadn't kept stopping him, he would have slapped him long ago!
The sound could be heard throughout the entire field hospital.
“You hit me you hit me you hit me you hit me!!!!”
His pig-slaughtering shrieks rose and fell, accompanied by a tidal wave of disbelief.
Li Yanjin's face swelled up. He cried in the office, his eyes looking as though he wanted to swallow Jiang Zui alive. Several times he drew his laser sword and tried to slash Jiang Zui, only for Cao Jiang to stop him.
Cao Jiang was terrified. He couldn't afford to offend either one of them, so he hurriedly begged Jiang Zui to return to the capital planet.
Jiang Zui shoved both hands into his pockets, walked out, climbed onto a space motorcycle, and left the logistics warship where he had spent the past three months.
Author's Note:
