Chapter 431 - An Exercise (1/2)
At the center of the time-space vortex.
On an ancient ship with multiple decks was a large conveyance vehicle measuring more than a hundred meters in length.
On the open deck of the bow stood many people. There were both men and women, and they wore long-sleeved costumes. The men were generally tall and mighty, while the women were very beautiful and looked elegant in many ways.
They had passed through the time-space portal and arrived in a new environment.
The men and women on the deck could see everything in front of them through the transparent magical protective shield. Their expressions were curious and emotional.
“Is this our new home?”
This question was voiced by a girl named Li Huoqing. She was about fifteen or sixteen years old, and was not very tall. She had a small round face and wore her hair in a simple bun on her head. She could not help asking this question as she blinked her beautiful eyes.
“Yes and no. We lived in this place many years ago, and now we’re just returning home,” the middle-aged man standing next to her said.
He wore an ochre-colored set of robes. Standing in the center, with people on either side of him, he seemed to be of a high status. His thick and lively eyebrows coupled with a sharp gaze gave him a rather imposing look, as of someone in a high-ranking position.
He was the Chief Commander and Manager of these Protoss immigrants.
Li Huoqing had very good vision. She looked at Jupiter, which was not too far away, the satellites that surrounded Jupiter, and the sun that was emitting a yellow-orange light. She pursed her lips. “There are round balls everywhere, and it’s so dark. It doesn’t look nice at all. I don’t like this place.”
“The natural spiritual energy is especially thin, too. If we stay here for a long time, our level of mastery over the spiritual and moral virtues will not only stagnate, it could even decline,” the young man next to the girl said.
“Why are we the first batch to come over?”
“Ahh, I really didn’t want to leave.”
As resentment and complaints arose, the depressing mood soon spread.
“Enough. Shut your mouths,” the middle-aged man harrumphed. “This place may not be as good as our Heavenly Realm of the gods, but we can at least survive here without having to worry about the chaos that is spreading. This place will become our home.”
“Yes, Your Heavenly Majesty.”
“The only thing we can do is treat this as our new home. The survivable land in our Heavenly Realm is shrinking non-stop. We would have died if we stayed.”
The complaints died down, and, one by one, they lowered their heads in resignation. After all, they, at least, lived on.
The spiritual artifact that was the ship heaved forward with great strength.
A device installed at the tail of the ship ejected celestial particles.
The massive immigrant fleet continued to move forward.
However…
Days later.
Leaving Jupiter behind at a far distance, they arrived near the asteroid belt between it and Mars.
Suddenly, multiple pencil-straight beams of light lit up the dark space ahead of the ship. The beams crisscrossed each other simultaneously, and, when those high-energy light touched upon other objects, they exploded, creating fiery blazes in space.
There were no sound effects in a vacuum environment. However, one could comprehend the destructive power of those yellow beams simply by visual analysis.
“What’s happening?”
Upon hearing the observer’s report, The Heavenly Ruler’s expression changed. He walked to the deck, and, by looking at the outlines of the different sets of flashing red, yellow and white lights, he found that there was a large fleet lying right on the ship’s route. They were demonstrating the destructive power of their weapons.
One, two, three…
He did a rough count. There were around ten-plus ships with huge heads and sharp outlines.
Each heavenly ship that he saw was at least 3,000 meters long.
Compared to the spiritual artifact that was this ship, they could be described as a giant.
He could not help his face from turning ashen.
“This…. What’s the meaning of this? Are they showing off? A deliberate demonstration of how powerful they are?”
He could not help but clench his fists. “You… You dare to provoke us, even though you are trivial beings who don’t even have the power to kill a chicken.”
A terrifying aura emanated from his body. The air around him became heavy and humid, and the pressure suddenly increased.
He was enraged.
He could have just let it be if it were a show of provocation by the strong. But he understood the situation of the insignificant creatures from this universe. They might have reached the pinnacle in terms of weapons and all things external from their beings, but they were still insignificant in terms of personal strength.
Even a 6-year-old child from the Heavenly Realm could defeat ten adults here.
He could overlook it if those insignificant beings expressed deference and respect for the strong, but they actually had the guts to put on this military show of force?
They were courting death.
“Heavenly Ruler, please don’t be angry, please don’t be angry.”
At this time, the special liaison officer sent by the Earth Federation, who was responsible for communication and guidance, left the Traction. He boarded this large spiritual artifact of a ship, bent at the waist, and tried his best to explain.
“Heavenly Ruler, what you are looking at right now is a routine military exercise carried out by the ninth sub-fleet of the Fourth Fleet of the Federation. This exercise was arranged a few years ago, and it is not targeting anyone. Don’t misunderstand—please don’t misunderstand. We were just passing through the shooting range. They were not being deliberately offensive.”
The liaison officer did his utmost to explain. Under the crushing pressure, his forehead was now dripping with sweat.
“A routine military exercise?”
The Heavenly Ruler did not really understand this vocabulary. But he understood the general meaning of what the officer was saying.
His anger cooled just a little.
But he still said, with a look of dissatisfaction, “Then get them stop their drill immediately and get into formation at the side to welcome us. Show us the necessary etiquette.”
“Yes. I will contact them right away.”
The liaison officer left the deck and returned to the Traction.
However, not even a few minutes had passed when something unexpected happened.
Three sets of light that were even brighter than the sun illuminated in the shooting range that measured tens of thousands of kilometers. In an instant, light waves that were incomparably brilliant, like those from a powerful stun grenade, pierced their vision. It was so bright that they could not open their eyes—including The Heavenly Ruler.
The white glare in his mind only slowly dissipated after two or three seconds.
Then his body started to tremble. His expression was murderous and insane.
He gritted his teeth and spat out, “You—you—
“You will die a horrible death! I will make sure that you never laugh again!”
He ranted angrily in his mind Trivial, insignificant specks!
He was right in his understanding what he was witnessing: a military show of force, and an even greater one this time.
In order to show their power, this bunch of nobodies had even taken out their ultimate weapon.
It was said that nuclear weapons could kill their “spiritual vision.” He had not believed it until he witnessed the effects of the explosion. he knew that it was indeed possible for such a power to kill the person with the strongest spiritual vision.
As for a friar like him, once he got too close to the heart of the explosion, death would be certain.
Unwillingly, he felt a sense of dread and fear toward those insignificant beings.
However, his anger also rose.
These trivial ants might have some skills, but there was no need to make such an obvious show of it, even carrying it out in front of millions of Protoss.
What was the meaning of this? Just what was the meaning?
Very quickly, the liaison officer came back, sweating buckets. “The Heavenly Ruler, I wanted to stop them just now and get them to cancel the exercise. But just when I contacted them, they said that the exercise had ended, and that they will be returning directly to the base.”
“Hmmph—!”