Chapter 161

Chapter 161

The final joint military exercise was supposed to be the concluding battle of the series, but most people's attention wasn’t on the competition.

The chaos in the Federation's military department also affected the outside world. It seemed everyone sensed a storm brewing. Not just the elite families, but even ordinary people were on edge, cutting out all unnecessary social activities. Fortunately, the chaos didn't last long. At least on the day the Imperial delegation arrived in the Federation, the spaceport appeared as busy as usual, with many spacecraft coming and going. However, the port seemed to be under martial law, and unlike before, there were no crowds of frantic Federation reporters chasing them as they disembarked.

"Before coming here, my family warned me not to meddle too much, saying the Federation is in chaos and not very peaceful. But now it seems no different from before... Even the officers who came to liaise with us are the same ones as before." Cen Yuehuai noticed several familiar faces in the Federation's liaison team, and whispered to Bai Sha, "But if you look closely, they seem more vigilant than before."

Cen Yuehuai's observation was accurate.

Since they were the same liaison officers, their changes were noticeable to Cen Yuehuai. Previously, these officers treated the Imperial delegates neither coldly nor warmly. Arguments over the joint military exercises were common and friction was normal. But today, they were all submissive, saying nothing superfluous, doing nothing unnecessary. Everything was impeccably handled, yet restrained, with an unexplained sense of urgency, as if they were under constant threat.

"The venue for the third joint military exercise is indoors," said the Federation's receptionist. "The area is vast, almost equivalent to a small planet, and much safer than a barren star. This is our Federation's private training ground, opened for the final exercise... Completing this joint exercise peacefully is the mission of both our teams."

Indeed, though the joint military exercises were a show of martial prowess, their core purpose was to thaw relations between the two nations. Symbolically, the match meant more than its practical significance. With the Federation's defeat imminent, winning or losing didn't matter much. It was better to conduct the final match gracefully, showcasing magnanimity and stature.

Perhaps because the competition was held within Federation territory, they were exemplary hosts. Their courtesy and attentiveness to the Imperial delegation were not only apparent to outsiders, but even Bai Sha and her team felt unexpectedly honored. Take their accommodation, for instance: the Federation arranged top-tier suites in different hotels for all members of the Imperial team, and each meal was an extravagant affair, seemingly using all the planet's resources to entertain them.

"Is this a sugar-coated bombardment?" Cen Yuehuai questioned doubtfully, "Aren't they trying to bribe us into throwing the match?"

"Are you so shallow that these small favors can buy us?" Xinuo asked with a laugh.

Cen Yuehuai: "Of course not."

Xinuo: "Then that's settled. I think they might be hoping we'll go easy on them during the match, so the Federation team doesn't lose too badly. After all, human relations work this way – you give me an inch, I give you a yard."

Jiyah furrowed her brow slightly: "So, you plan to hold back in the competition?"

"I didn’t say that," Xinuo shrugged, "Others are others, I am me. I won’t hold back. Well, unless they agree to deliver Bai Sha's friends to the Empire willingly. Then, maybe, I might consider it."

Jiyah raised an eyebrow, giving him a reproachful look: Bringing up the most sensitive topic, aren’t you?

Realizing his faux pas, Xinuo glanced towards Bai Sha. Seeing her composed, he sighed and said, "Sorry."

"No need to apologize," Bai Sha said.

"But to have our rescue plan simply dismissed? I thought it was quite feasible," Xinuo commented. "It's tough that Han Chong, that old-fashioned guy, agreed to draft the plan for us. You know his capabilities, the top secretary in the Congress, certainly much better than any of us."

"The rejection of the plan isn't anyone's fault," Bai Sha said, massaging her temples. "Let's just focus on finishing the competition. That way, I'll have some time left to visit them at the Imperial Capital Star."

They rested for a night in the hotel.

Perhaps due to the new environment, everyone had a restless sleep. The next morning, Cen Yuehuai even had a nosebleed, but she seemed fine. Medical devices indicated her body was normal, and her mental strength was surprisingly stable.

"Maybe it's too dry on this planet. I'll just put a humidifier in my room," Cen Yuehuai reassured Bai Sha, patting her shoulder. "After all, it's a joint military exercise. A bit of blood might even be a good omen for victory."

Cen Yuehuai's optimistic spirit quickly made them forget the minor incident.

At nine in the morning, both teams were positioned at the entrance of the venue. This time, the terrain simulated was a desert.

They had encountered deserts in previous military exercises on barren stars, but this time, the venue also simulated polar days and high temperatures. Overall, the conditions were neither good nor bad. The danger level of the insects introduced was also moderate. It seemed they just had to go through the motions to finish the match.

When the two teams met, Bai Sha glanced at the opposing commander, an unremarkable face that she was sure wasn't even in the first tier of the original Federation team.

The opposing commander nodded emotionlessly towards Bai Sha: "Please instruct."

Bai Sha: "Likewise."

With a whoosh, the entrance to the field opened, and the scorching sandstorm hit their faces.

The teams were taken away by different transport ships and dropped into different parts of the field.

Upon landing, they couldn't see each other. As usual, Bai Sha arranged for her team to spread out in formation, laying out a scouting net to hunt the star insects.

Cen Yuehuai and Ji Ya, a team known for their speed and agility, were assigned to the edge of the exploration network. Soon, Cen Yuehuai spotted a shifting sand whirlpool on a dune. She sent the coordinates in the team channel, then raised her hand and tentatively shot an arrow into the depths of the whirlpool.

No reaction.

Cen Yuehuai was about to shoot another arrow when she felt a rustling sound from beneath and a very fine ripple spread under her feet. She controlled her mech to leap up, firing three arrows towards something in the sand, only to see them immediately deflected.

Cen Yuehuai: “?”

What was that?

A psychic barrier of the Star Worms? But she hadn’t felt this Star Worm deploy a barrier. Moreover, she hadn’t detected any psychic waves from the Star Worm in front of her. Her arrows were made of special material, not something easily deflected, and only a few types of Star Worms could deflect her arrows so effortlessly.

While Cen Yuehuai was puzzled, Ji Ya had already arrived with seven or eight teammates.

The sand whirlpool suddenly became active—sand and dust erupted, revealing something hidden beneath. It was a section of a body covered in scales, which reflected a faint silver light under the harsh sun.

"What is this? A mutated viper? A silver-scaled python?... No, silver-scaled pythons are supposed to live underwater," Ji Ya speculated a few names of Star Worms, but none seemed right.

In an instant, the ground beneath them heaved tumultuously, the entire sandy area undulating like the surface of the sea. With nowhere to stand, Cen Yuehuai and Ji Ya were swept into the quicksand. As they sank, a teammate in a heavy mech acted swiftly, using his shield as a makeshift surfboard. He rolled in the waves, narrowly escaping to a distance. Cen Yuehuai, quick-thinking, activated her mech’s propulsion system and energy shield. Her body shot upward, flipped over due to imbalance, and the round energy shield, glowing like a silver eggshell, was pushed out by the surging sand waves.

The energy shield was energy-consuming but better than being trapped in the vortex.

As several students were attempting to follow suit to escape the whirlpool's grasp, suddenly, the whirlpool split in two—a massive dark shadow rose from the sand sea, engulfing their mechs.

The students looked back.

It was a huge snake, its body covered in fine silver-blue scales, shimmering in the sunlight like a layer of thin frost. The giant snake had vertical fins on its back, staggered and flexible, allowing it to move effortlessly through the sand sea.

"What kind of Star Worm is this?" the students wondered, stunned. "Never seen it before."

Cen Yuehuai, pushed out by the rolling sand waves, rolled on the ground a couple of times to stop her momentum. She shot a fire arrow and an ice arrow at the snake, both of which were deflected. The fire arrow left no mark, and the ice arrow only left a faint trace of frost on its fine scales.

"This thing is impervious to fire and water, isn't it?" Cen Yuehuai shouted.

Ji Ya was still swirling in the vortex. Caught by the tail of a giant snake, she was lifted into the air. Immediately, Ji Ya drew her dagger and started hacking. After two strikes, her angry voice came through the channel:

"Run! This thing isn't a Star Worm at all!"

Not a Star Worm?

Cen Yuehuai instinctively widened his eyes.

Not a Star Worm… does that mean this giant snake is a mechanical creation?

Cen Yuehuai quickly changed his strategy and shot two armor-piercing bullets with smoke trails. The bullets collided with the snake's belly, sending flames and shaking its body. When the smoke cleared, many of the silver scales on the snake’s belly seemed to have fallen off.

"Everyone, armor-piercing attack!" Cen Yuehuai ordered, "Let's tear it open first!"

They were fairly lucky; several students had brought armor-piercing bullets. By the time their ammunition was nearly depleted, they had barely breached the giant snake’s defenses. When the rescue arrived, they were tearing open the wound on the snake's belly, exposing its internal structure. They fired an electromagnetic cannon at the breach, and suddenly silver-blue sparks erupted beneath the snake's skin, and after a few struggles, it stopped moving.

Cen Yuehuai took a deep breath and kicked the remains of the giant snake: “What is this thing? Is the Federation fooling us with this? I should have known they couldn’t capture a high-level Star Worm alive.”

"I've already reported to His Highness," Ji Ya said, shaking the sand off herself, "but I don't know if others have encountered the same thing."

Meanwhile, Bai Sha received many reports that the creatures they encountered were “not real.” These things were no easier to deal with than Star Worms. Only a small number of groups encountered real Star Worms, but they were basically killed in one hit, not high-level prey.

Therefore, one hour into the competition, the points of the Empire's team were few.

"Isn’t this competition being broadcast live?" Cen Yuehuai asked Ji Ya, somewhat speechlessly.

"You forgot? The Federation said they entered a special state recently, and this joint military exercise won’t be broadcast live," Ji Ya said coldly, "I thought they had accepted their fate, but it seems..."

In the first four competitions, the Empire lost one.

Logically, the Federation could only tie with the Empire if they won the remaining two competitions. Everyone assumed this was unlikely to happen.

"So the Federation was waiting for us here?!"

"Isn't this blatant cheating?" Cen Yuehuai fumed with anger. She opened the scoreboard and found that the Federation's points weren't much higher either. Both teams were like sleeping dragons and young phoenixes, but the Federation's score was just a few dozen points higher than the Empire's.

"I refuse to believe that the Federation's situation is the same as ours," Cen Yuehuai said.

Ji Ya: "It depends on what the command is. His Highness seems to be communicating with the competition organizers. Anyway, we have recorded everything; if necessary, we can stop the competition." It was uncertain how long they would have to wait. The Federation's arena was semi-closed, originally to prevent the escape of Star Worms, but now it also blocked signals, causing even sending a message to be delayed.

Cen Yuehuai was choked with frustration, her anger having no outlet, and she stared fiercely towards the border of the desert. Soon, she pointed in a direction and frowned, "Look over there, aren't those Federation people?"

"Indeed they are," Ji Ya glanced from afar and saw the group hunting a Star Worm—a genuine Star Worm. Although it seemed low-level based on its psychic wave emissions, considering their current lack of points, even this Star Worm became incredibly precious.

"Let's go, why should we watch them gain points?" Cen Yuehuai revealed her weapon, "This Star Worm is ours."

Saying so, she charged ahead.

Ji Ya shared the sentiment and ordered her team members to rush towards the Federation students.

"I heard they've been using some psychic matrix technology lately? I don't see them being much better than before," Cen Yuehuai scoffed, launching two arrows to force the Federation students to react. Her intervention quickly made the Star Worm break free from the Federation students' encirclement.

The Star Worm was still fleeing everywhere, and Cen Yuehuai and Ji Ya were already clashing with the Federation's people.

Cen Yuehuai channeled her psychic power into her weapon and engaged in close combat with the opponent.

To be fair, these Federation students reacted quickly and coordinated much better than before. Initially, Cen Yuehuai felt somewhat suppressed, but the gap in strength was evident. She maneuvered her mech adeptly on the battlefield, her blade tracing dazzling paths under the harsh sun, its sharp light seemingly piercing through the mech's shell straight to the pilot’s life. Her weapon, capable of transforming, added unpredictability to her fighting style with sudden cold arrows shot from her hand-held weapon.

However, Ji Ya soon realized something was off—Cen Yuehuai's killing intent today was too intense. She pinned a Federation student to the ground, holding the blade and stabbing it into the shoulder of the opponent's mech, then slashing diagonally. The blade made a grating noise as she pried open the cockpit. She then threw the mech to the ground, kicking it over and ejecting the student from the cockpit. Cen Yuehuai, quick as a flash, grabbed the student's head like picking up a small chick. The huge mechanical hand almost covered the student's face, who, surprisingly, did not cry out for mercy, possibly unconscious.

"Wait—stop!" Ji Ya, left with no choice, rammed her mech into her, "Are you going to kill someone?"

Cen Yuehuai stumbled from Ji Ya's collision, turning back with a voice filled with barely concealed frenzy, "Why not?"

Ji Ya: "...Have you thought about how to explain this to His Highness?"

Cen Yuehuai in the mech suddenly paused, the hot blood in her veins cooling significantly, followed by deep fatigue: "I don't know. I think I just lost my temper."

She let go, placing the student gently on the ground.

The student hadn't struggled throughout, and his body was limp when placed on the ground.

Ji Ya immediately had a bad premonition. She grabbed a medical kit from the emergency storage, jumped out of her mech, and approached the student. Bending down, she checked his breathing—no response. She then took out a heart rate monitor from the kit; still no response. After calling for help, she opened the student's uniform and administered a shot of cardiac stimulant to his chest. She then began administering electric shocks, but there was still no response.

Cen Yuehuai stood by, watching everything unfold, as Ji Ya declared with a bewildered and incredulous expression, "He's dead."

...Dead?

Just like that?

"Impossible." Cen Yuehuai jumped out of her mech and swiftly checked the student, only to realize that he really was dead. She widened her eyes slightly in defense, "I didn't do much! I only damaged his mech, not him! There are no obvious injuries on him..."

"You forcibly pulled him out of the cockpit," Ji Ya stated, "With the Federation's mechs' psychic connection, it's possible he suffered critical damage in that instant."

"There's no rigor mortis... he hasn't been dead for long. But this requires a medical autopsy to confirm, right?" Cen Yuehuai clenched her teeth, forcing herself to look at the body. Her head began to ache and swell, her strength seemingly draining from her body, "I don't believe this is entirely my fault. Piloting mechs in combat always carries certain risks."

"The point is, he's a Federation citizen," Ji Ya said softly, "Will they let us conduct the autopsy? Can we trust the results of their own investigation? If this goes to a military court, how will they judge you? You just now—"

Cen Yuehuai had clearly gone too far, although she wasn't usually like this.

Cen Yuehuai also realized the crux of the matter.

If this wasn't handled properly, it could escalate into a diplomatic incident. If the Empire's military court went easy on her, it would surely incite dissatisfaction among the Federation's citizens. But a harsh sentence would equate to a charge of intentional injury. According to the Empire's laws, she wouldn't just be expelled from the military academy; she would also face a decade or more in prison.

"Cen Yuehuai, don't be afraid—" Ji Ya tried to comfort her in a low voice when suddenly she paused, "What happened to your face?"

Cen Yuehuai touched her face, feeling the warmth of blood on her hand.

No wonder she had felt surrounded by the smell of blood.

"I, I..."

Cen Yuehuai's vision blurred as if swarmed by a thousand ants.

She fainted.

Ji Ya hurriedly caught her, glancing at the harsh sun and swirling sand, suddenly feeling that today was indeed a bad day—she began administering first aid to Cen Yuehuai following the previous procedure. Fortunately, Cen Yuehuai was still showing vital signs, though her body temperature was low, and her heart rate was accelerating.

Ji Ya sighed and reported all these troubling matters to Bai Sha. She helped Cen Yuehuai to stand up and then, as if remembering something, instructed her team to check the condition of the three Federation mechs that Cen Yuehuai had rendered immobile.

She soon received a report.

The other three pilots were dead.

Ji Ya's face turned grim instantly.

Even if naive, she realized this was a trap: “Leave those mechs where they are, don't touch them. Don't touch the bodies either. Let's form a circle and prevent anyone from approaching.”

Clearly, Cen Yuehuai didn't have the capability to kill so many in those few seconds.

These Federation students were originally hunting Star Worms in their mechs, alive at the time. The only explanation was that someone triggered “bombs” already planted in their bodies the moment they came into contact with the Empire's team.

Bai Sha quickly received the information and rushed over.

She glanced at the bodies sprawled on the ground and the unconscious Cen Yuehuai.

Xino clearly hadn't anticipated such a scene and quickly realized the direness of the situation: “Your Highness, should we...”

Xino's implication was “destroy the bodies and erase the evidence.”

Although it sounded inhumane, sticking to principles now would only bring trouble upon themselves once they were outside.

"Those mechs also have video recording capabilities," Bai Sha spoke softly. "What they went through just now is probably clearly recorded. Even if the video evidence is insufficient... They dared to lure us into this setup, clearly intending to escalate the situation. Even if they deliberately 'edit' the footage, it wouldn’t be surprising."

Saying this, Bai Sha opened the cockpit of her mech and approached the damaged Federation mechs.

She planned to copy the video recordings and damage data from these mechs.

Although she suspected that the opposition wanted to incite a conflict between nations... The opinions of the Federation didn't matter, but their empire's representative team needed to provide an explanation internally.

She forcibly opened several mechs. The moment she connected her light computer to the data center, a streak of silver light flashed across the screen, infiltrating Bai Sha’s light computer along with the data stream.