“He will,” Steve smiled and nodded, as if he had been waiting for Long Yun’s certainty.
“Why?”
Steve didn’t answer Long Yun’s question. Instead, he shifted his gaze past Long Yun, toward the omnipotent robot, X-II, floating there. Although the robot had no expression, it seemed to be thinking.
Long Yun looked at X-II suspiciously.
After a long silence, X-II finally spoke in its unique mechanical voice: “Yang Hao will. Because the daughter of the kidnapped Mr. Steve is named Amanda.”
“Amanda?” Long Yun was still puzzled.
“Amanda… the former master, my creator.” X-II’s voice actually trembled, “Also Yang Hao’s classmate, Yang Hao’s woman—the only one who supported him at the Royal Academy on Remon Star. If Yang Hao were here, he would definitely go to save her, no matter the cost.”
Long Yun fell silent. After X-II finished speaking, it also fell quiet, and indeed, everyone else remained mute. Yet, in this silence, a world-shaking battle had already been destined. With this battle, the great transformation of the universe had begun.
The history of the Empire was forever marked with a bloodstained symbol.
Time moved slowly and heavily.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How had the Sunset Fleet managed to escape?
This question, which had perplexed the Anti-Empire Alliance, brought great satisfaction to Luo Dongjie. The smug smile on his lips even managed to dispel the gloom left by his recent defeat.
Now, recalling the moment of his crushing defeat at the Saint Bear Star, Luo Dongjie no longer regretted the decision he had made at that time. Instead, he bitterly regretted his own behavior when the fleet was destroyed by the Light-Hunting Weapon. At the moment he saw his powerful energy beams dissolving his own fleet, Luo Dongjie had nearly collapsed mentally, his mind going blank.
If it hadn’t been for his aide taking command and ordering a retreat, even those few hundred warships might not have survived.
Luo Dongjie had never imagined he could ever break down like that. As an outstanding commander, one must possess the composure to remain calm even when a mountain collapses before one’s eyes. Yet he had lost his composure so badly that he couldn’t even issue orders. This failure of willpower was even more shameful to him than the defeat itself.
Therefore, Luo Dongjie had executed his aide and everyone else who had been in the command cabin at that time. Now, only he himself knew what had truly happened.
To achieve great things, one must be willing to use any means necessary.
Although he had suffered a devastating loss with part of his fleet destroyed, as long as he could successfully break through and bring news of the rebellion in the Three Crystal Sea Star System back to the Empire, his position could still be preserved.
“Thank you,” Luo Dongjie smiled, glancing toward a beautiful woman lounging at one side of the command cabin. “Should I call you ‘Thousand-Faced Temptress,’ or Ling Ziyang?”
Indeed, the woman seated in the corner of the cabin was a peerless beauty. She wore a tight space suit of the Imperial Fleet, accentuating her graceful curves, and her exquisitely beautiful facial features were oddly familiar.
This beauty had a deep connection with Yang Hao. Back in the days at Remon Star, she had already been the madam of Ling Fei Starlight Brothel stationed there. While officially the leader of a brothel, she actually held a far more secretive identity.
She was none other than Ling Ziyang, the direct envoy of the Imperial Senate, known as the “Thousand-Faced Temptress.”
After Yang Hao left Remon Star, he had encountered Ling Ziyang again while on the run. At that time, she had disguised herself as Jin Mianyue and even had intimate contact with Yang Hao. However, when she tried to lure Yang Hao into the ambush of the Celestial King Fleet, Yang Hao and his companions saw through her plan. Forced to flee, she had disappeared ever since—no one expected her to reappear here.
As for Luo Dongjie, he indeed possessed cunning beyond his years. Naturally, his retreat to the Three Crystal Sea was not simply a matter of seeking refuge with his future father-in-law. If even a cunning hare had three burrows, how much more so for Luo Dongjie?
He still held several aces up his sleeve, and Ling Ziyang was one of them.
As a fleet commander stationed in the outer territories for a long time, Luo Dongjie had access to sufficient intelligence channels, allowing him to learn about all the Empire’s secret forces in the outer regions. As soon as he arrived at the Three Crystal Sea, he had immediately made contact with Ling Ziyang.
Ling Fei Starlight Brothel had at least one branch in every star system, and the Three Crystal Sea was no exception. After her previous failed attempt to intercept Yang Hao, Ling Ziyang had been assigned to the Three Crystal Sea’s Ling Fei Starlight Brothel as a secret base of the Senate. During this time, Ling Ziyang had been observing the preparations for war in the Three Crystal Sea. However, the Three Crystal Sea had already cut off all communications with the Empire across nearly a hundred light-years, leaving her unable to report. Just when she was growing anxious, she and Luo Dongjie found their interests aligned.
“There’s no need to be so polite,” Ling Ziyang crossed her long legs, clearly disliking Luo Dongjie’s leering gaze. “We’re just partners. Once we return to the Empire, I’ll take my reward, and we’ll go our separate ways.”
Her words were sharp and clear. In fact, Luo Dongjie understood perfectly. He belonged to the Imperial Privy Council, while Ling Ziyang was a direct agent of the Senate—politically, they were rivals. They were only cooperating because their goals temporarily aligned.
“Regardless, I must thank Miss Ling Ziyang. Without your ‘Mingse’ Assassin Group’s help, my fleet probably wouldn’t have escaped from the Three Crystal Sea port,” Luo Dongjie said with a smile that clearly showed his pride. “Your illusion warfare technique was truly impressive. Using illusions to make the Three Crystal Sea people believe we had already fled, then taking advantage of their confusion to break through the encirclement—it was just too easy.”
Using others was always a sign of success.
Mentioning the “Mingse” Assassin Group, Ling Ziyang’s expression turned uneasy. She couldn’t help but let out a cold snort. To the outside world, the Thousand-Faced Temptress Ling Ziyang was merely the manager of a branch of Ling Fei Starlight Brothel or a special envoy of the Senate. Few knew the hidden truth—that she was also the leader of the famous “Mingse” Assassin Group.
The Mingse Assassin Group was known as the “Unofficial King” among the Empire’s combat units. It was not officially listed among the regular military or combat groups, making it an anomaly—its very existence was often debated.
But without a doubt, the Mingse’s combat effectiveness far surpassed that of ordinary combat units. In terms of assassination alone, it was hard to find any equal within the entire Empire.
The Mingse Assassin Group gained its legendary status more than a decade ago during a crisis of imperial division. At that time, an imperial noble, relying on his military achievements and vast wealth, attempted to split half the Empire’s territory. This was the famous “May Revolution” in Imperial history.
General Hu Kui, already commanding a massive army, had discovered a treasure from ancient times, forming his own military faction. During the May Revolution, taking advantage of the Imperial forces being deployed far from the core territory, Hu Kui led ten million troops and ten thousand warships, seizing control of over two hundred star systems, and launched a direct assault on the Imperial Core Galaxy.
The situation was extremely dire. The main Imperial fleets were engaged in expanding the Empire’s outer territories, and the Senate’s family armies and combat units were also deployed elsewhere. In the Core Galaxy itself, there were fewer than a thousand warships of the Emperor’s personal guard. Even with resistance, they couldn’t have held out for a month. By the time the outer forces returned, Hu Kui would have already seized imperial power.
At this critical moment, the Emperor made a bold and unconventional move. He abandoned nearly three hundred light-years of defensive territory in the Core Galaxy, allowing Hu Kui’s fleet to advance unimpeded into the black hole-dense right arm of the galaxy.
Then, the Emperor unleashed the long-hidden “Mingse” Assassin Group—like releasing a flock of famished night owls. Though the Mingse numbered only over a thousand, they scattered their forces across Hu Kui’s massive fleet, planting one member aboard each of the core warships, where they launched brutal attacks.
In one night, a thousand of Hu Kui’s most elite warships simultaneously lost their commanding and deputy officers, becoming blind and leaderless.
Then, the Ten Great Assassins of Mingse struck together, breaking through twelve layers of defenses, defeating the two high-level sword master groups supporting Hu Kui, and finally perishing alongside Hu Kui and his elite guards.
After that night’s battle, Hu Kui’s army lost all its leadership. No matter how strong the remaining forces were, without command, they were useless. Combined with the full counterattack of the Imperial Royal Guard, the once-mighty rebel forces were either swallowed by black holes or forced to surrender.
The Emperor executed nearly everyone involved in the rebellion, spilling the blood of hundreds of millions, staining the entire month of May red—hence the name “Red May.”
In that battle, although the Mingse Assassin Group completed their mission, they lost more than two-thirds of their strength, with all ten of their greatest assassins perishing. To honor their great contribution, the Emperor personally named that night the “Mingse Night” and ordered the Senate to fully restore the Mingse’s combat effectiveness within ten years.
After more than a decade of careful cultivation, the new Mingse Assassin Group had indeed taken shape, with even stronger assassination capabilities. With the support of a certain elder in the Imperial Senate, the Mingse had developed new assassination techniques. Ling Ziyang, as a new-generation expert cultivated by the Senate, had recently been appointed as the new leader of the Mingse.
This was an extremely high-level secret within the Empire. For Luo Dongjie to casually mention it so openly, it was no wonder Ling Ziyang’s face darkened. She deliberately changed the subject: “General Luo, your ship is moving so slowly—aren’t you afraid the Three Crystal Sea forces will catch up?”
“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for,” Luo Dongjie replied confidently, gazing thoughtfully at the star map.
Ling Ziyang was confused: “Don’t forget, we have a more important mission. We must break through the hundred-light-year barrier before we can report the rebellion in the Three Crystal Sea back to the Imperial capital.”
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