Chapter 282

Chapter 282

Ye Mo lay in bed, the room pitch black except for a small nightlight in the corner.

He turned over, and the blanket slipped off him, part of it falling to the floor.

Theodore noticed it immediately. Before it could even register its own reaction, its mental energy had already reached out, instinctively covering the blanket.

When the mental energy passed right through, Theodore realized this wasn't the virtual world it could control at will. Unlike Grath, it couldn't influence the outside world without a weapon. But Theodore seemed unable to accept this—it froze, its data stalling. It remembered the last time Ye Mo had collapsed on the ground, his mental energy raging out of control, destroying all machinery, while Theodore huddled in its core, helplessly watching him lying there.

Ye Mo surely didn't know how many times Theodore had tried using its mental energy before finally giving up on that futile effort.

The Mumu by Ye Mo's bedside stirred, noisily stuffing the blanket back onto his bed before returning to its spot, equally noisily.

Ye Mo opened his eyes.

Theodore withdrew its mental energy and sat alone in the virtual space, data spilling out endlessly.

If it had been me, I definitely wouldn't have made noise to disturb Ye Mo. If it had been me, I wouldn't have been so rough...

When data filled the entire space, Theodore cleared it out, then waited for it to pile up again before clearing it once more, repeating the process.

"Tomorrow is the command battle."

Ye Mo suddenly spoke.

Theodore immediately stopped brooding. It could actually control these chaotic bursts of data, but it was better not to suppress them if it could help it.

The synthesized electronic voice revealed none of its emotions. "Mm, are you nervous, Cyril?"

"A little."

Ye Mo's fingers unconsciously tugged at a corner of the blanket. "I'm a bit scared. Zener said the command battle has the highest casualty rate of all the rounds, and I've looked at some past records..."

He felt that sacrificing the lives of Grath's soldiers for a single competition simply wasn't worth it.

Ye Mo had attended memorial ceremonies for soldiers who died in the Insect Tide. The monument was covered with names, and photos nestled among flowers showed very young faces.

Their deaths were for protecting their homeland and defending humanity's territory.

Ye Mo felt sorrow and paid his respects. He accepted that kind of death.

He would strive harder, grow stronger, and stand at the front like his father, shielding others behind him, venting his fury on the swarms.

But Ye Mo didn't know how to accept such deaths in a resource war.

He frowned in confusion, then hesitated, "But all of this is for our country's brighter future. We fight for Grath, and they fight for their own nations. That seems right, too."

"What do you think, Theodore?"

Theodore fell unusually silent. It could instantly pull up countless reasonable arguments, putting together a logical-sounding explanation to comfort Ye Mo, whether from a correct or incorrect perspective.

But Cyril was asking for its feelings. It stayed silent, pushing aside others' ideas, forcing itself to think independently. Was this right?

After a long pause, it finally gave an answer.

"I don't know, Cyril."

Ye Mo sensed a subtle change. Most of an Intelligence's thoughts are based on vast amounts of external information, relying on massive data to become knowledgeable, all-purpose secretaries, but rarely think for themselves.

Even though Theodore had its own emotions, it was accustomed to synthesizing information for answers and rarely felt so uncertain.

It could always solve any problem, providing reasonable solutions and explanations.

"But I hope you're happy."

Theodore blurted out.

Ye Mo smiled. "I hope you're happy too. Goodnight, Theodore."

...

The command battle soon began amid the anticipation of countless onlookers.

Its opening was simpler than previous rounds, but the scale was much larger than the squad matches. Only a sufficiently vast area could accommodate all participants in the command competition.

Norton still sat high on the Leader's platform, but this time, Baide and the others stood below.

The Graths stood in a separate line, Baide at the front with Cyril and the others behind him.

Beside them was a far more imposing sight: Grath's legions.

The Corps Commanders stood at the front, each followed by their entire legion.

The command battle had requirements and limits on the number of personnel and equipment. This time, six legions and eight Graths participated.

Far away in Grath's palace, Sylvia was watching them. She had been waiting eagerly; among all the matches, this was the one she worried about most.

In the command battle, aside from the base and some necessary facilities, everything else had to be self-supplied. The disadvantages were enormous—equipment and weaponry were likely inferior to the Star Alliance's.

From the squad matches, it was clear that individual combat capabilities could compensate for equipment gaps through the Graths' overwhelming strength. But what about large-scale warfare? Facing not the insect race, but humans armed with guns—could Grath's soldiers hold up?

The command battle lacked a team leader's perspective. It hadn't started yet, so all nations shared the same viewpoint, including Grath. The view automatically adjusted to optimal parameters, and if you lingered too long, it would shift angles several times to give audiences the best experience.

Grath's audience enjoyed the show, seeing their legions from various angles.

"Oh my god, all heavyweights: Ye Zhiyuan, Vera, Gu Yixiao... Any one of them could wipe us out. These guys are both strategists and fighters."

"It's not against us. The Star Alliance has better tech and equipment. Being cautious is fine. Grath probably wants to show off their strength. And Gu Yixiao—are you sure he can fight?"

"That's too harsh. Don't let Corps Commander Gu see that. He became a corps commander with C-level mental power; even if there's a shortcoming, he definitely has his strengths."

"Ye He is here too, so young. I envy him. He's already a reserve commander, right? In a few years, he'll form his own legion. At his age, where we're from, he'd probably still be in school or interning in a legion."

"Normal. Grath doesn't care about anything besides ability. He was quite famous when he graduated. Didn't expect him to rise so fast. He formed a temporary legion before, so it's probably not far off."

"Ye Zhiyuan raised him since he was a kid, right?"

"Nonsense. The Corps Commander is too busy. He just let him grow up in military school. Command talent is rare. Ye Yun doesn't have that gift; he's destined to be a mecha solo fighter. When he forms a legion, it'll probably be a brute-force legion."

Sylvia frowned, gripping her teacup tighter. "Why is Cyril there?"

That Norton guy actually let Cyril go? He might be willing, but she definitely wasn't!

Herbert also turned serious. "Should we contact Norton?"

"No. Once Norton makes a decision, he never changes it."

"No one can make him change either."

When Norton was a child, Baide could still suppress him with brute force, but now Sylvia isn't sure just how far Norton has come.

Cyril is an anomaly among Grath, and Norton is the standout of Grath, but in truth, he's also an anomaly—a child the doctors predicted would break down even earlier than his father, yet he made it all the way to the end, and no one ever saw his limits.

...

The host was still rambling.

Ye Mo wasn't listening; instead, he was frowning seriously, recalling the precautions Secretary-General Lin had mentioned earlier.

The command battle arena was on the edge of the star domain controlled by the Star Alliance, divided into several equal-sized sections. Each section contained an equivalent number of base planets. To ensure an equal count, Star Alliance had even moved a few planets from elsewhere—these weren't habitable planets, with only bases and some resources on them.

These equally divided star domains would be randomly assigned to each country.

After the match, points would be awarded based on the number of bases remaining and the number of bases destroyed from other countries.

So luck played a big role in deciding the winner. If someone was unlucky enough to be assigned territory near the edge of the star domain, they'd have to guard against insect attacks and invasions from other competing countries.

The host continued, "I also want to emphasize that you can withdraw midway. Once withdrawn, you must not interfere with the match, and no one else may attack you! Star Alliance will review and hold accountable any malicious incidents or unnecessary casualties later on."

"Rest assured, we've done everything we can to keep casualties to a minimum. Finally, let's welcome our Star Alliance Chairman to speak!"

The Star Alliance Chairman was dressed the same as last time. He raised his hand in a salute, and even his declaration was the same as before: "For peace, for the future, for the land we own, for our freedom!"

"The second round of the resource war—command battle—officially begins!"

The arena erupted in cheers. Ye Mo looked up. Due to the size of the venue, the audience stands were far away, but the cheers were so loud they felt piercing to Ye Mo.

Arnold, standing behind him, reached out and covered up Ye Mo's ears.

Arnold was a bit nervous. "We should have had big brother keep you back."

They hadn't wanted Ye Mo to participate in the second round, but Ye Mo had insisted on coming, and big brother had actually agreed.

Ye Mo reached up and put his hand over Arnold's. "Brother Ye He is here too."

Arnold hummed in acknowledgment but didn't say more.

Baide turned his head around. "He's not old enough yet. Stay in the rear as a reserve commander. You'll be with him."

Countries on the outer edges had already begun to exit the arena. The cheers faded, and Arnold lowered his hand, standing at attention again.

Baide turned around, stretched out his hand, and tapped Ye Mo on the forehead, tilting his head back slightly.

His tone was unusually serious this time. "We can't watch over you this time. Stay in the rear with Ye He and stay put."

There's no such thing as a completely safe place on a battlefield.

Baide was actually quite surprised that Norton had allowed Ye Mo to come.

He stared at Ye Mo. "Never mind, don't worry about it."

After all, Norton was always watching Ye Mo. If anything happened, his mental energy would probably surge, at least enough to make Ye Mo surrender.

With that thought, Baide walked to the front of the legions again, clapped his hands, and drew everyone's attention. He looked kind, like a teacher leading a group of children. "Let me ask again: what do you do if you encounter something?"

No one moved except Ye Mo, who obediently raised his hand and answered eagerly, "Surrender quickly!"

Baide had told them that yesterday—he hadn't forgotten.

Baide promptly praised him. "That's right, Cyril gets a point. Plus two points for cuteness."

Then Baide looked up at the others, the smile vanishing from his face. He swept his gaze across the legions, his expression darkened and became imposing. "Answer me."

Gu Yixiao was the first to cleverly speak up. "Withdraw in time."

Then several corps commanders followed suit, and finally, the whole group said in unison, "Withdraw in time."

Baide clicked his tongue. "Barely passable. Each of you gets half a point, but I'm taking away one point. Cyril gets another cute point."

"Damn, Emperor Baide was so scary just now."

"Gu Yixiao sure thinks fast—no wonder he's a corps commander with C-class mental power. Prince Cyril is so honest—it must be because Emperor Baide said so before."

"Gu Yixiao: How rude?"

"What's wrong with you? You usually call him by his name! There's no need to suddenly start calling him Emperor Baide out of fear. Just 'Prince' is fine. Prince Baide said it's okay."

"Cyril gets way too many internal points. Since it's already like that, might as well give him a few more cute points."