The vanguard riding the bizarre beasts looked completely at ease. Ever since Gu Yuan had arrived, the human mechs were no longer as frightening as they had once been. Gu Yuan knew their weaknesses, and they had almost never lost a battle.
Besides, they were pursuing a defeated enemy, so there was no reason to stay particularly vigilant.
By the time they heard movement coming from ahead, they still had no idea that trouble was upon them.
Dozens of pitch-black gun barrels emerged from the forest, all aimed directly at the Blue-skin cavalry unit.
“This is bad!” the Blue-skin commander shouted, accompanied by the shrill cry of the beast beneath him.
The armored troops on the other side opened fire without hesitation. The thunderous explosions rang throughout the forest. Many Blue-skins were blown apart into bloody mist in the very first barrage. Freed from their riders’ restraints, the beasts instinctively fled, only to crash into other nearby cavalrymen.
What terrified them even more was that, almost at the same time, more than a hundred small aircraft flew over the treetops and began firing indiscriminately at them. The gunfire was as dense as pounding rain.
“The vanguard has encountered an attack from the human mech forces!”
When the report reached the rear, Gu Yuan—who was riding the same beast as the princess—was stunned.
“How could that be? They should have been retreating!” He remembered clearly that when his family had contacted him, they had said the Ninth Battle Group would withdraw. After that, he would be able to return to the Empire with the princess in his capacity as a peace ambassador.
“No! Their entire mech force has been deployed!”
As he spoke, explosive shells were already detonating nearby.
“Don’t panic! We have the numbers! Organize a counterattack immediately!” Gu Yuan gritted his teeth. Was the commander of the Ninth Battle Group trying to get himself killed? Still, he had nothing to fear. He knew their methods, and he had defeated them many times before!
Gu Yuan still naively believed that those past victories had all been his doing.
Reality soon slapped him hard across the face.
Just as the scout had reported, the Ninth Battle Group appeared to have brought out everything they had. Powered armor advanced through the forest while shells and lasers never stopped flying. The Blue-skins’ proud aerial cavalry was also firmly suppressed by the human drones. A dense curtain of fire formed in the sky, and every Blue-skin who dared to take off was shot full of holes.
In a single exchange, the pent-up emotions of the human soldiers, suppressed for many days, were released. Their morale was even higher than when they had first arrived. Seeing the Blue-skin scum who had killed their comrades, the soldiers’ rifles continuously spewed out bullets filled with fury.
And when they saw the figure charging fearlessly at the very front, they became even more excited. Though that man was the Governor rather than the battle-group commander, everyone had heard the rumors about him. Now they were actually counterattacking under his leadership!
“Holy crap! This is incredible!” Fang Zhiyi was having the time of his life. He drove his mech forward at full speed, even leaving Hu Lie and the others behind.
At last, Gu Yuan realized that something was wrong. The Stellar Region troops were fighting in a way completely different from usual!
The Stellar Region troops had always used mechs to spearhead their advance, supported by light infantry and aerial cover. That rigid style of warfare had never changed. Yet the Stellar Region troops they faced today were… different.
The mechs and accompanying infantry had formed into small squads. After the Blue-skin vanguard collapsed, they did not pursue the fleeing enemy. Instead, they continued advancing in other directions, as though they were carrying out some predetermined objective.
Gu Yuan pondered for a moment. “They aren’t pursuing us? It seems they’re destined to lose!”
He began issuing orders decisively, while the Blue-skin princess Aya gazed at him with admiration.
“Disaster! The human army has blocked the route for the left-wing forces to return and reinforce us!”
“The cavalry unit has been ambushed by a terrifying human squad!”
“What about the troops sent to encircle them?” Gu Yuan shouted anxiously. He could feel that events were gradually slipping beyond his control.
A staggering figure suddenly stumbled forward. “The encircling force discovered the enemy’s supply convoy and pursued it. Then, then they were ambushed!”
Gu Yuan was dumbfounded. He wanted to continue issuing orders, but after raising his hand, he had no idea what to say.
Suddenly, a pillar of fire shooting into the sky in the distance drew everyone’s attention. Aya slowly turned her head toward it, her face filled with terror.
That was their headquarters. It was obvious that it, too, had come under attack.
Gu Yuan was stunned, but he still forced himself to remain calm. “Gather all our forces immediately! We’ll break out first!”
But by then, his orders had already lost their authority. The Blue-skins had witnessed the attack on their home with their own eyes, and they all turned their mounts toward it.
At that moment, the officers of the Ninth Battle Group held the Criminal Governor in the highest regard. Not only had he led them in a counterattack, he had even employed tactics! First, he had used aerial reconnaissance footage to deploy several squads and sever the Blue-skins’ lines of communication. Then, he had sent out bait to lure away the enemy’s outer forces.
What was even more ruthless was that he had withdrawn nearly half of the Destroyer battalion back to the ships, then had them make precision landings near the Blue-skins’ headquarters. Judging from the current situation, the Blue-skins had completely collapsed. Every soldier in the Ninth Battle Group had finally vented the anger they had been holding in.
“I’ve never fought such an easy battle!” Hu Lie exclaimed excitedly, waving one arm. His mech nearly smacked the teammate beside him. “That lunatic… isn’t he afraid of being judged by the Empire?”
The “lunatic” he was referring to was currently piloting a suit of powered armor. Holding a gun in one hand and a sword in the other, he stabbed through a Blue-skin that lunged at him. Then he flung the creature aside in disgust and stomped on it. The Blue-skin’s body twitched once before going still.
“Sir, as the commander, you don’t need to charge into battle personally,” Hu Lie teased over the comms.
Fang Zhiyi laughed. “Being able to charge alongside my brothers is my honor!”
His words were clearly transmitted through every communicator.
Hu Lie paused. He exhaled a puff of smoke, then raised his gun and blew apart a Blue-skin’s head.
“It’s a shame I didn’t get to know you sooner.”
“Uh, sir, some of the men have found the stolen stealth armor. They’re trying to open an escape route for the Blue-skins.”
Fang Zhiyi fell silent for a moment. “What about Gu Yuan?”
“They’re searching for him now!”
The skirmish did not last long. The Blue-skins who had profited by following Gu Yuan had long since grown contemptuous of the humans. Now, faced with the full-scale assault of the Ninth Battle Group, they collapsed instantly and fled in all directions.
What made Hu Lie even happier was that he had captured the traitor.
Gu Yuan.
To help his lover escape, Gu Yuan had actually been willing to stay behind as a decoy. He had calculated that these people would not dare kill him.
Sure enough, after Hu Lie reported the news to Fang Zhiyi, Fang Zhiyi barely had to think before making his decision.
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
