Night’s Nomenclature

Two off-road vehicles sped across the wilderness.

Aboard were Federation war correspondents, carrying cameras and broadcasting equipment.

Normally, whenever there were military exercises within the Federation, such war correspondents would be deployed.

One aspect was to film the military exercises.

The other was to interview key military figures, hoping to obtain some important information.

In fact, the Federation Army would always notify reporters in advance during each exercise, after all, the exercise was also a time for the Conglomerate to show off their muscles; it was a chance to let the outside world know their strength.

However, strangely enough, this time the Federation Army suddenly held a collective exercise without notifying a single reporter.

On one of the off-road vehicles, a male reporter checked his camera equipment while muttering, "It's only just spring, and these Conglomerates are acting like they're in heat, holding a collective exercise. I wonder what kind of tricks they're up to. Could it be that the fall of the Shendai family's Demi-God has rattled everyone's nerves, upsetting the balance of power?"

War correspondents are well aware that military exercises usually occur during sensitive periods.

The reporter followed the driver's gaze towards the distant horizon, his mouth slowly opening, "Damn! Chen Family's Southern Fleet of the First Air Force? And Qingshan Fortress?!"

The driver murmured, "Something's wrong! Very wrong!"

The reporter took photos with his camera, "Drive steadily, let me focus!"

"Don't you find it strange? We were just talking about this, Qingshan Fortress is the Li Clan's Air Fortress, but among the five major Conglomerates of the Federation, Shendai, Koshima, Qing Family, and Chen Family have all announced military exercises, but the Li Clan has not announced any exercise plans at all," said the driver.

At this time, the reporter also reacted, "The Li Clan isn't here for military exercises…they're here to fight!"

Since they were going to actually fight, there was no need to issue an exercise notice.

That's logical.

In modern warfare, information is paramount.

And the Chen Family's Southern Fleet was blinded before the battle even began; their radar was gone.

Everyone was flying in the sky, their radars could only see their own people, not the enemy.

It's like everyone else was playing an online game, and they were playing a LAN game.

This scale of fleet was originally intended for precision strikes against Demi-Gods, not considered an all-out war scale.

Now they encountered a ruthless Air Fortress.

It's like you just got a pair of sevens, and the other side doesn't even play their king bombs, but directly throws a real grenade into your hands.

This is simply unplayable.

The greatest advantage of an Air Fortress is its ability to extend the battle line, and the internal anti-gravity device and nuclear reactor allow for long-lasting operation.

Fighter Jets and Airships burn high-energy fuel, so their combat radius is only around 1800 to 600 kilometers.

To put it simply, if you fly any further, you'll run out of fuel.

This is also the significance of Outer World aircraft carriers; aircraft carriers are forward bases for carrier-based aircraft.

The Air Fortress is currently equipped with a Type T nuclear-powered reactor and an anti-gravity device, allowing Qingshan Fortress to fly further in the sky.

This time, the Chen Family's Southern Fleet only deployed more than ten Fighter Jets, which is a huge investment in small-scale warfare.

However, Qingshan Fortress can carry sixty carrier-based Fighter Jets and eight Airships, flying around in the sky.

Currently, in the entire Federation, four Conglomerates own Air Fortresses, only Koshima doesn't.

This is why Li Bingxi risked his life to obtain the Qing Family's nuclear energy research institute and nuclear power plant; it wasn't because of energy shortages, but because they needed the advanced technology in those two infrastructures.

Otherwise, Koshima would forever be lagging behind and taking a beating in the air domain.

From another perspective, those in the Qing Family who traded with Koshima had gone mad; they clearly knew that this decision could change the Federation's landscape, yet they still abandoned the overall interests of their family for the sake of immediate factional interests.

They gave away the Air Fortress technology.

However, this is not important; for the Chen Family, what matters is that they never expected to encounter an Air Fortress here.

Before this, the Li Clan showed no signs of involvement in this war.

Just yesterday, the Chen Family's diplomatic officials stationed in City 18 personally visited Ban Shan Mountain Estate to negotiate with the Li Clan Intelligence Agency.

The main purpose of this negotiation was to discuss whether the Li Clan would interfere in their friction with Shadow.

The Li Clan's answer was: No.

Actually, the people from the Li Clan Intelligence Agency weren't lying; they really didn't have much to do with Shadow; it didn't matter what grievances the Chen Family had with Shadow.

But you want to kill our Li Clan's independent director, the future Grand Tutor, that's unacceptable.

Of course, the Chen Family wouldn't blindly trust the Li Clan.

After all, when interests are involved, a Conglomerate changing its mind is normal.

So they deployed a large number of reconnaissance points at the Li Clan's border to monitor the movements of the Li Clan Army.

Military reconnaissance results also showed that the Li Clan had indeed shown no signs of mobilizing troops.

But who would have thought that the Li Clan didn't move the army on the border; they directly used the Air Fortress!

It's only been a day, and the Air Fortress is already here!

The Chen Family's Zhutian Air Fortress is still on standby at the border with the Qing Family, but the Li Clan came to attack their home base!

"Crazy, this woman is crazy!" said the Chen Clan Fleet commander, "She brought the Qingshan Fortress here, isn't she afraid that Koshima and Shendai will suddenly attack from the north? Then the air supremacy in the north will belong to others! How dare she take such a risk and bring the Qingshan Fortress here?!"

But this commander didn't know that for Li Changqing, the risk was indeed high, but she still came.

In the Southern Fleet, the commander looked at the distant Qingshan Fortress, his scalp tingling.

Sixty Fighter Jets that had already launched and disappeared without a trace might suddenly appear beside them.

Before he could think much, the commander suddenly said, "Activate the main firepower compartment; even if we can't win, we have to finish this battle! Don't save any missiles, launch them all! If we can shoot down Qingshan Fortress, we will all be heroes!"

But as soon as the words fell, they saw a group of Fighter Jets suddenly piercing the clouds from above!

Li Changqing didn't want to wait!

The commander looked up at the Qingshan Fortress, and saw that the edges of the aerial city were gradually opening, revealing the dense Matrix-style gun barrels inside. The electromagnetic guns were fully charged, and the electromagnetic fields inside the electromagnetic cannons immediately increased, producing Ampère force, and the internal shells accelerated in an instant.

They were fired with a thunderous roar at a speed unattainable by modern gunpowder!

The electromagnetic cannonball crossed a distance of 1 kilometer and arrived at the Southern Fleet with lightning speed!

With a loud boom, an Airship broke apart!

The initial velocity of the electromagnetic cannon was simply too fast; in front of the Air Fortress's main firepower weapons, the huge body of the Class A Airship couldn't dodge at all; they were like targets in the sky!

The Southern Fleet's escorting Fighter Jets charged towards Qingshan Fortress desperately, but their missiles could only barely penetrate the Air Fortress's protective armor plates.

If there were more Fighter Jets, it would be fine, but one was too few.

Inside Qingshan Fortress.

Li Changqing calmly watched the Holographic Sand Table, "Try to save energy, we haven't found their second air fleet yet; it's likely nearby. Perhaps, they've been waiting for us to arrive."

Her black general's uniform concealed her graceful figure. She wasn't wearing any makeup, and her long hair was tucked into her military cap.

In war, there is no gender.

There is only life and death, victory and defeat.

Li Changqing is a strange person; she seems to have two faces, she can wear a black evening gown and be alluringly charming at a party, and she can instantly become an executioner feared by everyone in the intelligence community.

When cleansing the intelligence community in City 19, intelligence personnel felt like they had seen a ghost when they heard the three words Li Changqing.

She is the Federation's only female Lieutenant General, and she might soon be promoted to General.

In a way, the Li Changqing that Qing Chen saw didn't often appear in public; the public's impression of Li Changqing has nothing to do with beauty; the three words Li Changqing are synonymous with war and killing.

Old Twenty-One, on her left, said, "Boss, the Southern Fleet clearly didn't know we were coming."

Old Nine had taken three bullets for Li Changqing in City 19, and is now Old Twenty-One.

Li Changqing heard his words, her expression unchanged, she calmly said, "The First Air Force has a total of one Class A Airship, but only seven were deployed. Knowing that killing Shadow might trigger an all-out war, they only deployed so few Airships, which is illogical. I suspect Chen Yu is using us to eliminate dissidents, letting these people go to their deaths."

Li Changqing said, "In June last year, Lieutenant General Chen Chuanlu of the First Air Force opposed Chen Yu at a Chen Family internal meeting, saying he was a ruler behind the curtain above the family head. This matter might be connected to all this."

This woman controls all of the Li Clan's intelligence systems, so she knows certain hidden things.

And Chen Chuanlu's accusation of "ruler behind the curtain" was already quite harsh.

The leader of the First Air Force this time is Chen Chuanlu's son. If these seven Class A Airships are defeated, the son will die, and Chen Chuanlu will be brought to the Chen Family's internal military court.

Old Twenty-One hesitated for a long time and whispered, "You know all this clearly, why did you still come?"

Li Changqing calmly said, "I'm willing to."

Next to her, Li Ke was on a satellite phone, "Um, um, I'm on Qingshan Fortress now, don't worry, I'll definitely go save Master. Remember to eat well, I'll tell you the results after this battle."

Qing Yi reluctantly said on the other end of the phone, "Can't you give me a live broadcast on the phone? I want to know the battle situation too."

Li Ke whispered, "No, I'm in the Qingshan Fortress command room, I'll have to ask Uncle Yun Jing for help later…"

"Okay, okay, hang up!"

At this time, Li Ke, who had hung up the phone, suddenly said to Li Changqing, "Aunt, did you come because of my Master?"

Li Changqing glanced at him, "What are you thinking? This battle is extremely beneficial to the Li Clan. First, the Chen Family has been too active in recent years, always in a state of active preparation for war; we can suddenly severely damage their First Air Force fleet, which can make them much more cautious. Second, now that Shendai Qianchi has fallen, the balance of Demi-Gods in the Federation is gradually breaking; Shadow is also leaving, if we don't let him take one or two with him, we will also Face[-]some threats, after all, your seventh uncle doesn't go home every day; for our Li Clan, the fewer Demi-Gods in the Federation, the better. I prefer to let Shadow take Li Bingxi and Chen Yu away without any worries."

"Ah?" Li Ke curiously asked, "Shadow is only one person, can he really take away two Demi-Gods at once?"

Li Changqing smiled, "You underestimate the time ability of the Awakened One; the Forbidden Artifact Tribunal dares to take in anyone these years, but have you seen them go after Shadow? They just let him use Metahumans to plant tea gardens? They can't take him in! Li Bingxi is old and weak, and Shadow can take him away without any problem. I'm only curious, doesn't Li Bingxi value his life? Even if the resources traded by the Qing Family are important, he shouldn't trade his life for them, right?"

Actually, the biggest mystery in this battle is that everyone thinks Shadow taking Li Bingxi is like a piece of cake, but Li Bingxi himself doesn't seem to think so.

After all, Li Bingxi is only 7 years old this year; for a Demi-God, he still has at least seventy more years to live.

He doesn't need to die himself.

Even if he's afraid of being found by Shadow when he's alone, he doesn't need to deliver himself to the door, right?

It's Chen Yu who is making everyone wonder, because the Chen Family has had a few ruthless Demi-Gods, and it's possible that Chen Yu has some powerful means to deal with Shadow.

Li Ke looked at his aunt Li Changqing, thinking that she was clearly very worried about Master, yet she had to find a bunch of reasons to justify the rationality of this military operation.

Even if the Qingshan Fortress has the longest endurance, bringing it suddenly to the Chen Family's territory is unreasonable.

Li Yunjing remained silent, calmly meditating and cultivating in the Air Fortress's command room, as if everything was none of his business.

Finally, Li Changqing said, "You leave. This shouldn't be over yet, but Qing Chen's situation can't wait."

Li Yunjing remained unmoved.

Li Ke whispered, "Uncle Yun Jing, help Master, he's in danger."

Only then did Li Yunjing finally open his eyes, silently getting up and walking out of the command room; a Class A Airship was already waiting there.

On the Class A Airship, Li Shu looked at Li Ke and smiled, "Can we finally leave? I'm still worried about Master, let's go quickly!"

At this time, inside Qingshan Fortress, Old Twenty-One suddenly said to Li Changqing, "Intelligence personnel from the Southern production base sent a message; they saw a group of Fighter Jets flying from the sky; it should be the Chen Family's Second Air Force fleet, coming towards us. Should we ask Li Shu to stay? That Class A Airship is very important."

Li Changqing shook her head, "Don't tell them, let them go save Qing Chen."

Old Twenty-One pouted, just now you said it was for the family's interests.