Chapter 140

Chapter 140

Those who heard the clear audio were shocked.

Baisha: "Why are the Red Feather Sparrowhawk clan's king worms hatching too? Can two king worms appear on the same planet simultaneously?"

"Could this be fake news?" Cen Yuehuai spoke doubtfully, but quickly reasoned that the Federation's team wouldn't joke about such a matter, then turned her gaze to Xino, "Didn't the military conduct a preliminary survey of the Death Star before we arrived?"

Xino took a deep breath: "Let's report this information to the organizers first."

Before they could act, their mechs' screens simultaneously flickered with a warning red light. The organizers issued a notice to temporarily suspend the joint military exercise, instructing the Empire's team to stay put, with reinforcements arriving shortly.

Soon after, they received a second message from the Empire's fleet they had previously contacted — the fleet sent a map showing the storm's distribution on the Death Star, indicating it would be updated in real-time. According to the map, if they moved northwest for a bit, they could exit the storm area. The fleet would maintain contact with them. Once they reached a less windy area, they would be directly boarded onto a starship — clearly, they were not meant to continue participating here.

Meanwhile, the live streams of both teams on the star network were nearly disconnected. The Empire's side managed to provide a satellite view, while the Federation's live stream had turned into an ominous gray.

Although many viewers still lingered in the live streams, a portion of the restless audience chose to exit and started discussing the events on forums instead.

"In my opinion, choosing the Death Star as the competition venue was a huge blunder. Ordinary people might not have heard of the notorious reputation of the Death Star, but for military personnel, it's an ominous place. It's not suitable for large-scale military academy training."

"I feel the same. The first two competitions were entertaining regardless of the outcome, but this one turned into hell mode straight away. I'm constantly worried about whether these students can survive. The focus seems to have shifted from the competition between the two teams to a brutal struggle between humans and nature. The winner survives, the loser perishes. It's turned into a wilderness survival documentary."

"Folks, this was the result of a draw, nobody expected this. Plus, they happened to encounter the Death Star's storm period, with all that sand and purple radiation light, of course, the footage is unclear."

"Let's just call it a night and wait for the results. I bet 500 star coins it's the Empire's win again."

Outsiders were still unaware of what exactly was happening on the Death Star.

Meanwhile, Baisha and her team were facing an awkward choice.

"Has our fleet reached an agreement with the organizers?" Ji Ya sat in the cockpit, her amber eyes shimmering, a hint of vigilance in her expression, "According to the rules, if we board the starship and leave the surface of the Death Star, it would be considered a voluntary withdrawal from the competition."

Baisha frowned, "I've already inquired with the fleet, but haven't received a response yet."

The students began whispering among themselves.

"Does the Joint Military Exercise's 'Risk Management Regulations' cover this situation?"

"There's a bunch of regulations, but who actually reads those in normal circumstances!"

"If we really withdraw, wouldn't that mean directly handing victory over to the Federation?"

"Forget it, they're directly facing a king worm, who knows how many will survive."

"All the main team members from the three grades are present, let's vote," Baisha said tiredly, "whether to stay put and wait for the organizer's instructions, or return to the starship immediately."

The gathered main team members looked at each other, no one speaking for a moment.

"Those in favor of reuniting with the fleet first, raise your hand," Xino was the first to raise his arm.

In such a situation, being the first to choose withdrawal might seem cowardly. But it was perfectly appropriate for Xino to take this initiative. Having accompanied his family's military unit on the front lines, he had certainly faced more dangerous situations than this, making his choice reasonable.

"If we were on the front lines, of course, we wouldn't retreat a single step," Xino privately messaged Ji Ya, who seemed reluctant, "But this time, leading the team, we have many freshmen. They're simply not accustomed to such high-risk combat environments. That they've held out this long is already commendable."

Ji Ya remained silent for a second, then also raised her hand.

Subsequently, most of the main team members followed suit, with Cen Yuehuai and Yu Yan acknowledging that their lives were paramount, conceding this round to the Federation if necessary.

"In that case, let's reorganize our formation and head northwest," Baisha ordered succinctly, offering them some reassurance, "We might not necessarily be counted as withdrawing from the competition. After all, half of the people in the organizing committee are ours."

Fortunately, they had already rested for a while, and when they reformed their formation and stepped back into the storm, their steps were still steady.

However, the northwest direction was only a rough estimation. Exactly where to go still needed to be determined by themselves.

Baisha and a few teammates skilled in astronomy and meteorology discussed briefly, pinpointed their target, and led the team toward it at a steady pace.

After walking a few kilometers, the sound of the wind seemed to lessen, and the frequency of sand and stones hitting them also decreased.

Baisha looked up to see the sky swirling with eerie purple light, tinting her mech in a faint purple hue—a sign that the storm's purple radiation light was abating. Of course, the storm hadn't disappeared, but shifted elsewhere. Their fleet was waiting nearby.

The obscuring sand and dust gradually dissipated, revealing the gray-black contours of the mountain ranges ahead, including the barren and desolate ground and—

"Holy crap."

A student blurted out unintentionally.

Undoubtedly, they voiced what many others were feeling.

Laid out before them were piles of bones on the ground... various star worm skeletons, small ones barely a meter long, and large ones perhaps over ten meters. They lay quietly scattered across the ground, most of the flesh stripped clean from their bones, leaving only a tight layer of meat sinews clinging to them.

Cen Yuehuai: "This..."

Xino took a shallow breath: "The Red Feather Sparrowhawk flock has been here."

Cen Yuehuai kicked a star worm carcass at her feet, noting that the body was relatively fresh, but even the eyes were pecked out, leaving only two dark, empty sockets.

"Red Feather Sparrowhawks are high-risk star worms, even more troublesome than Crawling Roses, and here's why: they move in flocks. Moreover, they're flying star worms, faster than most others, making it hard for people to keep up," Xino looked up at the sky, "To tackle such a dense target, we'd need to rely on the fleet's firepower..."

Before Xino could finish, two loud booms echoed from afar. Over the hills, dazzling white light surged and fell like a tidal wave.

It was the starship's laser cannons.

"Now we don't need to report our coordinates to the fleet."

The fleet had likely already engaged in combat with a group of Red Feather Sparrowhawks.

They scaled the hill at top speed and indeed saw three starships moving slowly in the air. Countless Red Feather Sparrowhawks swarmed around the starships like a dark cloud, attacking them. Many of the Sparrowhawks screeched as they dove towards the starships, only to be scorched by the energy shields, engulfed and incinerated by flames in an instant, plummeting to the ground. Yet, their companions' demise did not halt the frenzied attacks of the Sparrowhawks. The fleet could only deploy laser nets to capture as many as possible, then launch missiles to annihilate them.

Since the starships had to descend to lower altitudes to pick up the students, and the crew members inside were unarmed, opening the hatch would invite the damned star worms inside. Therefore, they needed to significantly thin out the Red Feather Sparrowhawks first.

Fortunately, these starships were clearly experienced, methodically eliminating most of the Sparrowhawks after a few maneuvers in the air.

Suddenly, the Sparrowhawks seemed to notice the group on the ground and abruptly abandoned their assault on the starships, flapping their wings and rushing towards Baisha and her team!

Everyone was ready with their weapons, about to engage the star worms, when they heard Baisha's deep breath. A powerful psychic force emanated from their center, instantly forming a flowing protective barrier around them.

Baisha: "You go first, quickly board the ship."

Xino turned to say something, but the invisible wave of psychic force hit him, dragging him forward.

Within the swirling vortex of psychic power, everyone could only move in the direction Baisha arranged, unable to go against it.

"Your Highness!" Cen Yuehuai turned and shouted, about to continue persuading, when she heard a clear, piercing cry. A beautiful and eerie silver-blue mythical bird soared into the sky, its feathers ablaze with flames—Cen Yuehuai was nearly blinded by the sight and quickly shut her mouth, obediently following the main group towards the descending starship.

They boarded the starship in groups. During the process, the Sparrowhawks kept making hoarse and chaotic wailing sounds, compelling the students to look back.

They witnessed the mythical bird fiercely battering the Red Feather Sparrowhawks.

The battle was particularly chaotic because it involved a spirit form of the Feather Clan combined with a bird-like monster. However, only the Red Feather Sparrowhawks were injured; the mythical bird didn't lose a single feather.

It was like a dimensional overpowering.

Minutes later, Baisha retracted her spirit form, just in time to catch the tail end of the boarding process while piloting her mech.

When she jumped out of her mech's cockpit, the captain was already waiting nearby.

The starship was slowly ascending.

"Crown Princess, all students from the Empire have been completely evacuated from the competition venue."

"Good," Baisha's tone was flat, but anyone with eyes could see she was not in a good mood, "Find me the officials responsible for observing the Death Star and conducting risk assessments."

"The Emperor has already ordered an inquiry; they are currently under investigation," the captain expressed somewhat helplessly.

"As for the organizing committee, no conclusion has been reached yet. Technically, the situation on the Death Star should fall under the competition's risk avoidance regulations. They should nullify the results of this match. There have been similar cases before..."

The captain's rambling was cut off by Baisha: "I didn't ask about the withdrawal. I asked about the rescue. How is the Federation's team doing?"

The captain paused briefly, choosing his words carefully: "Not very optimistic."