NOVEL NEXT Chapter 46: Red and White
At this moment, the Great Shepherd Shalon was establishing contact with the Star Alliance Security Committee on Sun Wudis. Despite the scattered focus, his powerful telekinesis still detected something unusual.
Due to his age and frailty, he could no longer join the battle, so he hastily commanded:
"Activate the air defense system, convert the fungal mat to desert mode, all people abandon their terrestrial bodies and retrieve their consciousness into the mother system..."
"It's too late, Lord Shalon!"
An assistant was lying by the window sill, shouting:
"They've come down!"
Bang bang bang bang!
The massive bodies of the fungus beasts split open, their spores forming narrow barrels, continuously shooting out lightning, weaving a dense web of firepower in the sky.
A large number of rockets were intercepted by anti-aircraft guns and missiles, with only a few rockets landing near the city and military camps.
Maxwell's military police cautiously approached, unaware of who exactly was inside them.
"Huang Qu, take a look, these rockets are really shabby."
A mushroom officer approached, tapping the rocket's shell and laughing.
"Yeah, it's like an alarm clock cobbled together from junk."
His colleague kicked it.
Thud!
"Hey, are you crazy! What if it explodes?"
"If it was going to blow, it would have exploded mid-air. It fell from such a height without detonating, which means there's no explosives inside."
"Strange, these rockets don't have warheads... What is this hatch? Did it open in the air?"
The citizens of Maxwell began to discuss in confusion. Suddenly, someone heard some strange noises, vocalizations different from those of the Maxwell Consortium.
To be precise, as fungal beings, they didn't really have a language.
So they all looked up:
In the sunset-streaked sky, countless white parachutes blossomed, filling the sky with menacing steel armor and tanks with mighty turrets—equipment all discarded by the Maxwell people.
But soon, they saw something even more unbelievable, equipment nearly primitive—massive paratroopers in wingsuits from several interstellar epochs ago, cutting the twilight line at low altitude.
They scattered across the city's districts, with banners tied to scarlet arrows in their hands flying high.
Soon, the automatic translation devices started functioning, and they finally comprehended what those voices were conveying:
............
From the Erga Coast, to the peak of Davalon,
The crimson arrow moves forward without retreat!
The great army fights alongside the people
As long as there's a breath left, we'll never surrender
In the past, remember our suffering history,
Now, we push forward with all our might,
In the future, we will prosper even more,
The indignation of the nation turns into bullets,
To bury all past foes,
In the darkest hour, the Red Arrow will never surrender,
The day of light will eventually arrive!
...............
Red Arrow Emperor Rudolf descended heavily on the fungal mat of the district, firing a volley casually before discarding his rifle. He then switched to a flamethrower, aiming it at the surrounding buildings and pulling the trigger.
BOOM————!
The raging fire instantly engulfed the ground, these sticky fungal mats proved to be exceptional fuel.
"Burn the houses! We can't kill them, but fire can destroy their properties!"
The Emperor's judgment was correct, their lives were of no value, and their weapons weren't enough to destroy the Zeta Rank-equipped Maxwell Consortium's regular army.
However, fire is equal for all beings.
Even when battered, the Red Arrow soldiers persisted in following the Emperor's order:
"For the tortured and suffering humanity, I become a burning meteor!"
Boom!
"We're out of gasoline—move aside, I'm going to self-detonate."
Bang!
"Let's do it together; flying up will expand the damage area."
Clang!
"Damn, what kind of mad dogs are these?"
Maxwell's soldiers felt a chill down their spines:
"They're not even trying to kill; instead, they're destroying our properties with their lives!"
Their officer, however, looked pensive:
"By the way, what are they singing?"
"Ah—uh, sir, with such a rousing melody, it must be their national anthem."
"It's an airborne assault, yet so ostentatious?" The officer queried skeptically, "Are they here just to burn a few houses?"
The soldier shrugged:
"Who knows, sir, they're reckless with their lives."
"Or maybe, they understand their lives are worth less than these houses. If they take out one or two civilians, it's still a gain."
The officer put away his scornful attitude and said solemnly:
"Soldier, we are fighting against a great species. They may have primitive equipment and lagging technology, but their resolute spirit equals ours, the interstellar species."
"What spirit?"
"Never surrender to invaders."
The officer said:
"Primitive beings are primitive because they are forever entangled with the anxiety of individual survival, hence unable to achieve unification, let alone cultivate the resolve to venture into the cosmos."
"This people we face, this group called humanity, like us, they are willing to sacrifice themselves for the long-lasting peace and prosperity of great civilization."
"We might have to acknowledge... Azure Star, human civilization, truly is a civilization qualified to step into the cosmos."
The Red Arrow army didn't create any miracles.
They destroyed 1.2 billion worth of ammonium gold assets, killing a mushroom by luck and torching two cities.
Soon after, they were eliminated by the police, with the Red Arrow Emperor and a small number of troops retreating into the city. After 9 hours of guerrilla warfare, they were also killed by the citizens.
No last words were left, and no one knew he was an Emperor.
He simply died quietly alongside his people.
Perhaps such an emperor was indeed the best kind of emperor.
However, despite all this, it greatly shocked the member states of the Intergalactic Security Committee.
Regardless of the means, the Azure Star People indeed reached Starry Abyss and even crossed the star system to launch a small assault on Maxwell.
Soon, the Kappa Rank powerhouses promised by the Hunters Association were in place, stationed as allies on Azure Star to ensure security and also to act as mediators.
At this point, matters were effectively settled.
Li Aozi entrusted the operation of these affairs entirely to the bureaucratic teams of Azure Star and Dialan.
Though the Temple was not content, the ultimate outcome was that the Star Union adjudicated the withdrawal of the Baizhu Fleet from Azure Star, declaring Maxwell's claims void.
However, the price was the acknowledgment of Azure Star as an independent city-state.
Li Aozi agreed, for at this moment, sovereignty, popular sentiment, and even the Pathway, were firmly within Li Aozi's grasp.
Seemingly losing sovereignty, in reality, Li Aozi gained even more.
Additionally, he could finally prepare his troops to formally advance towards his true objective—Submergence Starry Abyss.