Chapter 167 Reunion with Wind and Snow (3)

Like the last interstellar conference, this confidential meeting before the war also adopted the method of remote projection and sharing across the interstellar space.

When Ryan and Jiang Jianming came in, everyone else's projections were all there.

It was still a black virtual space, with a huge dark blue screen hanging. The three-dimensional star map projection has been unfolded, and the cool-toned shimmer illuminates the faces of those present.

Not many people attended. Xie Yuduo and Jin Min sat on both sides, Lieutenant General Jin ordered two capable generals he trusted, and Major General Xie was next to Secretary Liu Rita, who temporarily managed Yin Beidou First Army Corps on his behalf.

"I'm sorry, everyone has been waiting for a long time," Jiang Jianming sat down on his seat, "we are late."

"What are you talking about, little lord," Xie Yuduo raised his eyebrows at him with a smile, "It's late, the official just came in."

Lieutenant General Kim and Major Rita's eyes twitched almost simultaneously.

The two said in unison: "...that's because you (you) are late again, Major General."

Xie Yuduo: "Oh."

They all knew that the situation was tense and that there were no outsiders, so they quickly omitted the part of greeting and politeness.

Ryan still had the usual neat style, he sat directly in the main seat and looked at Xie Yuduo.

"Let's solve your problem first, Major General." The crown prince raised his chin, "Report the current situation of the fleet, and then how do you want to get back?"

"The status quo is fine."

Xie Yuduo sat with his legs crossed, but his expression was a little serious: "This trip, the main damage was in the Crystal Nest area. The return trip was very careful, and there were no more casualties. , that is, some of the hulls are seriously damaged along the way, which is not very good."

"As for how to get back... I can only make a long-distance jump, there is no other choice."

If it was in the past, the fleet could use the alternate method of jumping and sailing to slow down and come back. But now that the crystal teacher is entrenched in the far interstellar space, it is impossible to easily let the elites of this team of Yin Beidou return home.

To avoid a hard fight, the safest way is to jump directly to the sky above Beta Alien from the smectic nest space outside the controllable range of the Crystal Sect, without giving the enemy a chance to attack.

Jin Min nodded: "There is no objection to this, is the transition energy enough?"

"No problem," Xie Yuduo raised his eyebrows and smiled, "I brought 30% of the engineers and equipment in the energy area of ​​the fortress with me before I left. There are a lot of real crystal ore harvested along the way, and the energy is basically paid for. Balance is enough."

"..."

Lieutenant General Jin brought the two Yin Beidou officers to the meeting. Hearing this, he gasped in shock at first, and then turned his head away sadly.

Good Xie Yuduo, the expedition not only took away the capable generals, but also took the energy production system along, no wonder the first fortress can't be defended...!

The Crystal Nest expedition has made progress, but the front line of Yin Beidou has been lost. In case the fortress cannot be taken back, this major general will not be brought to a military court for tea?

Xie Yuduo pretended not to see it, and snorted twice: "So, the next thing is that you will have a headache."

With five fingers, he poked twice on the screen in front of him.

In the dimness, the azure three-dimensional star map changed with a "hum", and the red double-circle symbol representing the "transition wormhole" appeared on the coordinates of the beta galaxy, whirling around.

It is through this wormhole that the expedition fleet will return to the alien star where Yin Beidou is stationed from the Near Crystal Nest.

"It's okay to say that the lava thieves are old friends. What is the trouble with the crystal religion? If they attack, how will the second fortress deal with it?"

Xie Yuduo looked at Lieutenant General Jin and the Crown Prince in turn, and asked in a deep voice, "Lieutenant General, Your Highness, are you two going to prepare, choose 'attack' or choose 'defense'?"

Choose to attack or choose to defend.

If it falls into the ears of people who don't understand interstellar warfare, it seems like a word that comes out of nowhere.

But the few people present all understood the two strategic policies Xie Yuduo was referring to.

Now the main force of the Crystal Cult is in Alpha Outer Planet, which is too far from Beta. If they want to attack the fleet, they can only use the way of jumping.

——The tactical game of transition versus transition has become a crucial point.

"If our army is on the defensive, then it is quite lawful to deploy at the transition point."

Lieutenant General Jin Min pondered with a stern face, and quickly manipulated the screen, "With the wormhole as the center, it forms a three-dimensional array of spheres."

In the center of the red double circle on the three-dimensional star map, a word "thank you" appeared.

And the white blocks of light symbolize the Imperial Army, they move rapidly and disperse into a spherical shape, wrapping the red double circle in the center.

Lean said: "But at the same time as the formation was laid, the location of the jump point was also revealed, and the enemy could also jump over."

Next to him, Jiang Jianming understood it, and marked a second red double circle on the star map, and at the same time he laid a black spot symbolizing the enemy's army.

He followed Ryan's words and said, "The spherical formation is not very efficient. It is suitable for encirclement, but not for defense, and it is easy for the enemy to break through with cone formations from the outside."

Ryan reached out his right hand in tacit agreement, spread out his five fingers, and moved those small black light blocks.

With the same force, the white sons are scattered into thin spheres, and the sunspots are condensed into tight cones.

The latter quickly pierced through the former's formation, as if the jet-black arrow pierced a white bubble and pierced the word "Xie" in the center.

An officer behind Jin Min let out an "ahhh" and said regretfully, "The enemy army can't predict the time and coordinates of our army's transition. Originally, our army took the lead. But in this way, the enemy army took the lead. No, no, no!"

Another said: "Then, what about taking the offensive?"

If the defensive is trying to protect one's own transition point, the offensive is aimed at blocking the enemy's transition.

A large-scale wormhole transition that can accommodate thousands of starships requires sufficient energy and preparation time. If the enemy can be restrained and there is no chance to open the wormhole, it will achieve the effect of attacking and defending.

Xie Yuduo asked: "How is the crystal religion and fortress of Alpha Alien now?"

"Xiaguan rectified the fortress before leaving."

Rita responded, "We emptied the real crystal mine warehouse, closed the Heroic Spirit Monument and let it sink into the ground. On the surface, the automatic defense system was turned on to the highest level, and all the battle omnis were released, so that outsiders could not easily enter. "

"This is also the reason why the Crystal Cult did not come to support in time when the Lava Thief was expelled by us on that day - they must be racing against time to attack the first fortress with all their strength."

"but."

Xie Yuduo tapped the table with his fist: "It can last for three or two days at most."

When the Crystal Cult really captured the first fortress, this game would be even more difficult to fight.

Someone said: "So plan the return of the expedition fleet as soon as possible, preferably within two days!"

"But here's a question: Since the Crystal Cult is attacking the fortress, isn't it actually going to be distracted by the blocking fleet? Then we have to take the initiative to attack, isn't it a waste of troops?"

"According to the lower official, since Major General Xie's expedition fleet is still in good condition, it is better to plan the first fortress recapture battle, and then welcome the return of the fleet."

"How can that be done!? I don't know how long the recapture battle will take. If something happens to the expedition fleet, who can afford this responsibility!?"

Soon, the meeting began to develop in the direction of brainstorming, and the heated discussions were like pieces of paper flying all over the sky.

Jiang Jianming stopped talking halfway through, the blue light of the three-dimensional star map kept jumping, and the tactical rehearsal above flowed away from his eyes like water.

"On the lava side, it is necessary to allocate energy to some extent. It is better to combine attack and defense, divide a team of starships to contain the thieves, and leave the rest in Beta Alien for defense..."

"What a bad idea! The defenses that stay behind are weaker. Maybe the Crystal Sect wasn't excited at first. Seeing us dispersing our forces, did you immediately decide to jump over and shoot a few shots?"

"Major General Xie, if the situation of your fleet is really good, can you consider, ahem, self-reliance..."

"...Lao Jin, you are thanking someone for dying."

Jiang Jianming gradually frowned.

No, he thought to himself.

wrong. At present, the thinking of everyone has not fundamentally found the direction.

Defense, attack, offense as defense, transition blockade... These tactical plans of them still remain in the thinking of normal people.

However, to deal with the heresy of crystal teaching, can it be done with the thinking of a normal person?

All the while, they have tried to deal with the enemy in a habitual way of thinking.

However, the tricks taught by crystals: manipulating alien creatures, creating crystal chaos, and infiltrating the interior of the empire... are far beyond the scope of "normal".

Therefore, in the face of crystal teaching, they often can only passively counterattack.

First, he was smashed by the enemy with a stick, causing the blood to flow out of his eyes, and then he was embarrassed to find a way to break through and retreat from the enemy.

Jiang Jianming lowered his eyelashes and stroked his ring finger. Through the black leather gloves, he felt a small but hard touch,

In the Lan Xi Shi battle, the reason why he dared to venture deep into the enemy's formation was because of the trump card of the Crystal Bone Ring. Directly beheading "Bishop of Chaos" Lauren with one blow is an "unexpected" for the Crystal Cult.

But now that the cards have been exhausted, if you want to exceed the Crystal Cult's expectations again, you can only rely on psychological games...

"stop."

At a certain moment, Ryan interrupted everyone's discussion.

Jiang Jianming raised his head, just in time to meet the sight of the crown prince.

The eyes of the two were immediately separated, and Ryan said lightly: "Halftime, let's cool down before continuing to talk."

In the virtual space glowing with dark blue luster, the tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed.

Jiang Jianming also breathed a sigh of relief. The next second, Lean turned sideways and grabbed his wrist. The strength was a little warning, and it hurt a little.

His Highness looked gloomy and lowered his voice: "You'd better know it yourself."

"If I get sick from the conference room again this time, I'll never want to come in here again."

"..."

Did I look so bad just now?

Jiang Jianming didn't dare to speak, so he could only quickly nod his head.

Over there, Rita was regularly reporting her work to the Major General, but Xie Yuduo had already started talking about the wonders he had seen in Crystal Nest.

Jiang Jianming didn't join in the chat. He took a tablet during the intermission, wrapped his coat and leaned on the seat, emptied his mind, and stared at the curvature of His Highness's white hair.

In the end, how can let the Crystal Cult taste the taste of being caught off guard...

Is it because Xie Fleet is too important, and the first fortress is too important, they always think about stability, but limit their thinking?

"By the way, talk about something."

When everyone was almost relaxed, Ryan spoke up again and glanced at the two officers brought by Jin Min.

Lieutenant General Jin reacted immediately: "Oh, you two, get out first."

"No, come here, let's listen together."

Unexpectedly, Lean said: "Sooner or later we will know."

Having said that, the crown prince pondered for two seconds, then leaned forward and crossed his fingers into the shape of a tower: "Tell you about... a new discovery about crystal particles."

Jiang Jianming looked at his posture, and his spine seemed to be electrocuted.

"Your Highness?"

He thought to himself, wait, don't you mean—

I saw Ryan raised his head slightly, and a sharp smile appeared at the end of his narrowed eyes——

Whenever the person is about to do something deviant, he will show this cheerful demeanor.

"Although the Empire doesn't allow it to be officially announced, after all, the war is going on. I think it's better to confess."

The prince spoke in an elegant tone without haste and without delay. Crystal bones condensed on the back of his left hand, while his right hand casually curved his index finger and knocked "dangdang" twice.

"This thing... crystalline particles, they're alive, and a form of life that's racially colonizing humanity."

Ryan said quietly: "As for the Crystal Cult, they are an anti-human cult organization that believes in Crystal Particles and hopes that their own clan will perish soon."

"The conclusion is obvious: what you have on your shoulders is the future of mankind. So in the next battle, give me the spirit to fight."

He's done.

Ryan put away the crystal bone, as if he was just making a very ordinary order.

Even because the audience did not respond, he froze in dissatisfaction.

"What about the answer?"

Sorry, no answer.

Those who were drinking water just now were holding a cup; those who were chatting just now were still opening their mouths. Except for Jiang Jianming, the insider, the others looked at the prince with blank eyes.

They weren't even shocked, because they didn't understand and their brains didn't react.

After seven or eight seconds, Xie Yuduo said tremblingly, "Huh?"

Jiang Jianming's eyes froze for a while, and his Adam's apple moved.

He suddenly squeezed his eyebrows hard, smiled deflatedly, stuffed the medicine bottle into his chest pocket, and stood up from his seat.

Very good, almost forgot, the most "unexpected" person in the world is here.

"...My good highness, you can't do this."

Jiang Jianming turned to Ryan's front in three or two steps, "Even if you decide to confess to the generals, please be considerate of normal people's ability to accept."

Ryan looked up: "Ginger?"

"But." Jiang Jianming put his hands on Ryan's shoulders, his eyes were bright and compelling, and he looked down at his lover, like a... an eagle staring at a rabbit.

He took a deep breath and said eagerly: "This kind of 'no' style idea, let's do more."

"?"

Ryan showed the look of an unreasonable person: "...Who do you think can't?"

"No no no, you can do it, very good, anything!"

Jiang Jianming changed his words quickly, he felt the blood vessels in his skull throbbing, and the fingertips pressing on Ryan's shoulder became cold and blue.

It's almost time to open your mind, get some crazy inspiration...

He shook it vigorously, as if something good could fall from the crown prince, "Don't think about the possibility, don't think about how to implement it. Anything will do, give me some ideas."

Ryan: "...You calm down. If you get so excited, I'm going to pull out your terminal patch."

Over there, the officers were still sluggish.

"……no."

Xie Yuduo looked numbly at the two figures pulling and pulling, his tongue was stiff: "His Royal Highness, little lord. After you have discussed whether you can do it or not..."

"Can you explain to the subordinate first, what's going on with 'crystal particles' and 'racial colonization'!?"

Alpha Alien, the first fortress is still snowy.

It is no longer what it used to be. Half of the watchtower collapsed, and there were countless strange alien creatures piled up beside the broken wall. Some were scorched by the electric shock rays of the fortress, and some died under the artillery fire of the omnic.

The alien creatures in front fell, and more of the same kind climbed on the frosted corpses and continued to hit the iron wall. The explosion sounded every ten minutes, and the flames and black smoke were blurred in the snow.

The soldiers have withdrawn, but the fortress is still fighting here.

Inside the high-altitude starship, a man in a black robe passed through the automatic door and came to the deepest room.

The light in the room was dim, and there was only a white-haired girl sitting on the ground, holding a real crystal ore the size of a human head, and was biting with the crystal bone on her teeth.

There was no other movement except for the sound of "click, click, click", which was depressed and strange.

"Margaret."

Bishop of Destruction frowned and shouted.

The other party didn't hear it, and the man took two steps closer and called her again: "Death."

Margaret raised her head and returned a nasal "um". Her brows were wrinkled with pale marks, and her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.

The man in black robe bent down and took the real crystal mine in her arms, and said, "Don't eat it, where is Your Excellency the Archbishop?"

As soon as the voice fell, the sound of gentle footsteps came from inside.

"destroy."

In the darkness, a light and a silhouette appeared. Gaius was wearing a white linen robe, holding a floating illuminator in his hand, and walked out unhurriedly.

"What's the matter?"

"His Excellency the Archbishop." The white-haired girl Margaret called out.

"His Excellency Archbishop," Su bowed deeply, "The Lava Bandit has expressed dissatisfaction with us."

"Chilong blames us for not telling him the real situation of the Imperial Army in time, causing him to be deceived by Yin Beidou's bravado."

Gaius smiled calmly.

"Does it matter?" he asked lightly.

"It may affect our cooperation."

"Yes, my destruction. But does it matter?"

Su choked and had to shut her mouth.

He looked up at his archbishop.

In the darkness, Gaius' face was still elusive, and the light from the illuminator could not fall into those eyes, they were like an opaque deep sea.

This man didn't care about his allies, he didn't care about his congregation, and he didn't even seem to care about the success or failure of his plans. He doesn't show any obvious love or hate for anything, and seems to have only the desire to perish the entire human civilization——

Su sometimes wonders if the archbishop is the racial consciousness of the crystal particles itself.

Su lowered his head: "...No, it doesn't matter. Your Excellency the Archbishop."

Gaius stretched out his hand to him, his fingers spread out, slightly bent.

Su realized something. He handed the True Crystal Ore in his hand to Gaius.

Gaius turned around and put it back in Margaret's hand.

Margaret glanced at the archbishop with those innocent blue eyes, she picked up the crystal ore and put it to her mouth, bit it down, and she continued to eat in pain.

Gaius turned his head, Chongsu smiled lightly, and asked, "Do you know why Chaos died?"

"...It was Jiang Jianming who killed him. We didn't expect this person to have the crystal bone weapon of the imperial prince."

"Really?" Gaius shook his head, "I told you to retreat ahead of time, but I left him on the front line of defeat, and handed him the task of holding Jiang Jianming hostage."

Su shuddered suddenly and looked up at the archbishop in disbelief.

He felt chills running through the pores of his body, and sweat stood on end.

"Even if there is no crystal bone weapon, he will face the wrath of Kaios."

Gaius smiled and said, "I killed him."

"..."

Su heard her voice squeezed out of her throat.

He asked His Excellency the Archbishop, why?

"Because he has love for mankind."

Gaius said.

"He begged the crystal particles, he believed in the ultimate inevitability, and the ultimate purpose was just to try to use the racial characteristics of the crystal particles to seek a paradise of great love and harmony for mankind."

"But you are different."

Gaius took a step closer to Su, reached out and stroked his forehead, "Do you remember what you said to me at first?"

"I," Su's face was pale, he felt as if he was being stared at by the deep sea, "I remember, Your Excellency the Archbishop."

That was many years ago. Remote orphanages, Sundays, churches where the bells ring.

A world-weary teenager who was out of tune with his peers, met the archbishop with a gentle smile.

"A garbage dump."

The teenager described his race like this, "Narrow and arrogant, hypocritical and despicable... It is a sour and smelly garbage heap that has been accumulated for nearly 10,000 years."

"Even if self-righteous people try to clean it, pouring a couple of bottles of perfume in the rubbish heap will only make the smell more nauseating."

"Spontaneous combustion is the best destination for such a hopeless rubbish heap."

"Yes, human civilization may only be beautiful and heroic at the moment when it chooses to self-extinction, so that it can leave a shocking brilliance in the universe."

The Archbishop's smile that day was as gentle and emotionless as it is today.

"Good boy. Come on fire."

That day, Gaius stroked his hair and took him from the orphanage, promising to let him see the flames of the garbage with his own eyes.

until today.

Inside the starship, the bishop of destruction in black robes and white temples raised his head——

"Destruction, I really like you."

Gaius said.

A "crack" suddenly appeared in his face.

Right in front of Su, the archbishop's flesh twisted, cracked, transformed into crystal blocks, and the crystal blocks continued to crack, so the entire body fell apart.

Those slugs fell under the pull of gravity while still rapidly disintegrating and getting smaller, most of the slugs disappeared before they hit the ground, they became crystalline particles.

"So please don't let me down."

Archbishop Gaius, who was still smiling just now, turned into crystal particles and disappeared into the starship, only the voice still echoed in his ears.

The author has something to say:

Destroy the Bishop: That is to say, the Archbishop is terrible, I am a little regretful of the second year of secondary school.