Character List
Qiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.Chu Rong: Marshal ML.
Ren Mo: aka Master Ren. A mecha master making full manually-piloted mecha.
Fan Xiangnan: ML’s second-in-command.
Tan Shengwei: A captain in ML’s army.
Zhuang Yu: A doctor in ML’s army.
Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC.
Lin Zhen: MC’s designated teacher during his stay in ML’s warship.
Chu Huai: ML’s older brother, he’s now the President.
Yuan Lie: Yuan Xiu’s father, a Lieutenant General.
Qiao Yi: MC’s father. An elf.
Mi Lai: MC’s mother. A dwarf.
Xiang Kun: Chu Yan’s (ex-)mortal enemy. Xiang Hui’s younger brother. Mecha manufacturing student.
Xiang Lingyun: Xiang family’s head. Xiang Kun and Xiang Hui’s father.
Wei Xiongchang: Wei family’s head. A Lieutenant General.
He Hongjun: one of the four Marshal from the Federation.
An Xei: The former Emperor’s younger brother. A Prince and a scholar.
Neitaxi: General from the Empire, the strongest mecha soldier in the Empire.
Feng: The Imperial High Advisor.
Jian: the Imperial High Advisor’s son. Studies History.
The military port quickly became lively. High-ranking officials from the military and political circles gathered, and Xiang Lingyun and Wei Xiongchang even brought the flagships of the Xiang and Wei families. Yuan Lie and He Hongjun also brought their best warships after receiving Chu Rong’s urgent notice.
Everyone was bewildered. Chu Rong’s awakening was undoubtedly great news, but what was going on now? Were they going to war? But there were no Zerg appearing right now.
The Imperial High Advisor, who had been in a coma since being brought back, and Jian, who had been silent and unwilling to speak, were also packed up and sent over by Zhuang Yu, then taken into the Xiang family’s flagship by Lin Zhen’s team.
“What’s going on?” Zhuang Yu frowned, looking around for her superior’s figure, and anxiously said, “The Marshal woke up, why didn’t you notify me? What’s this nonsense? After a spiritual power upgrade, you need to rest — don’t you know this common sense!”
Lin Zhen shook his head and replied, “Up till now, all the orders I’ve received have been relayed through the communicator by the Marshal.”
In other words, he hadn’t even seen Chu Rong’s face yet, let alone tried to dissuade him or understand the situation.
Zhuang Yu was stunned by this and couldn’t help but grit her teeth, feeling like her head was about to explode with frustration. She said angrily, “What a mess… really!”
As the two were worried and angry, another line of hovercars arrived at the port entrance. Even the people from the Empire had come.
Xiang Lingyun and Wei Xiongchang exchanged glances, unable to find Chu Huai’s figure anywhere, and frowned, hurrying over.
The number of ships docked at the port increased by one more Imperial flagship. As everyone grew more puzzled and began to discuss among themselves, a familiar black hovercar finally arrived, invigorating everyone as they all moved forward to greet it.
The hovercar, emblazoned with the Chu family crest, stopped and opened, revealing an old man with white hair stepping out. Everyone was stunned, and Zhuang Yu couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “Master Ren? Why are you here?”
Master Ren glanced at her, did not answer, and instead looked back into the car.
Everyone’s eyes couldn’t help but shift back, and finally, Chu Rong’s familiar figure appeared before them. He still wore that displeased frown, his uniform neatly pressed, looking as difficult to approach and unlikeable as ever, but seeing his familiar face brought immense relief to everyone, like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.
Chu Rong was truly fine. Thank goodness, they hadn’t been fooled by someone using Chu Rong’s communicator.
Previously, Zhuang Yu had been angrily cursing Chu Rong, but seeing him now, she rushed forward two steps, carefully examining his appearance, and let out a big sigh of relief — he looked normal, his aura was stable, and he hadn’t gone mad or become stupid; he was still his usual self.
Chu Rong first received a small box from Master. Ren, then frowned and glanced around at everyone, saying, “What are you all standing around for? Go count your troops. After counting, go to the Xiang family’s flagship for a meeting to receive your tasks. We set sail in an hour. Hurry up.”
It was the same familiar terrible attitude, but Yuan Lie and the others couldn’t help but smile slightly, responding with a “Yes, sir,” before turning to count their troops. The others followed suit, dispersing, leaving only Xiang Lingyun in front of Chu Rong, whose flagship had been forcibly requisitioned.
“Marshal Chu, you…”
Xiang Lingyun stepped forward, wanting to ask what this sudden assembly was about, but Chu Rong waved him off, his eyes scanning the crowd and landing on Zhuang Yu. He asked, “Where are the Imperial High Advisor and Jian?”
Zhuang Yu, feeling guilty about her previous curses, pointed towards the Xiang family’s flagship without daring to speak.
Chu Rong nodded in understanding, spoke a few words with Master Ren, and then signaled Xiang Lingyun to follow as he strode towards the Xiang family’s flagship. With Chu Rong’s arrival, the previously chaotic port quickly became organized.
An hour later, all the ships set sail under the cover of night. Chu Rong stood at the forefront of the meeting room on the Xiang family’s flagship, marking over a dozen coordinates on a star map of the Blue Galaxy. He said, “These are the fixed large-scale teleportation device coordinates I extracted from An Xei and Ning Tianxing’s minds. They are all connected to the mastermind’s hideout. Besides relying on randomly placed teleportation devices by puppets, the Zerg release also depends on these hidden fixed coordinates.”
Everyone was stunned, speechless as they looked at the coordinates almost encircling the Blue Galaxy.
They had thought that the laboratory on the garbage planet that Chu Rong had destroyed was Ning Tianxing and An Xei’s last resort, but it turned out there were still so many hidden monster teleportation sites.
“In Ning Tianxing and An Xei’s memories, I learned a term, ‘food.'” Chu Rong’s eyes turned cold as he too looked at the star map, saying, “The monster they serve has a spiritual power level of at least SSSS. They might have once been human, but after countless human experiments and ‘food’ absorption, they have become a true monster. Regular food can no longer sustain them, they need a large supply of ‘food’ to survive.”
Everyone fell silent, pondering what exactly this ‘food’ referred to, too afraid to ask.
Finally, Chu Huai took the initiative to ask, “What does ‘food’ mean?”
“Humans with high-level or special spiritual abilities, experimental subjects cultivated by Ning Tianxing, Zerg eggs, and…” He paused, omitting a certain term, then looked at the group and said, “In short, as long as this monster is not eliminated, the Blue Galaxy will never achieve true peace and stability.”
Everyone was shocked and then realized the severity of the situation, all adopting serious expressions.
“The coordinates of the monster teleportation sites obtained from An Xei have all been destroyed by me.” Chu Rong continued, pointing to the star map. Half of the coordinates around the Blue Galaxy dimmed, making the remaining coordinates stand out even more.
Chu Rong withdrew his hand and tapped a few times on his communicator, and the leaders present received a planetary coordinate on their devices.
“The cunning monster regularly shifts between these coordinates using teleportation devices to avoid detection. He must have realized his hiding spots have been exposed and is likely to launch a counterattack soon. Therefore, it’s crucial to destroy these coordinates quickly, cutting off all his escape routes and shutting down his channels for releasing evil into the Blue Galaxy. The mission details have been sent to your communicators. Master Ren will provide your troops with enough manually-piloted mecha to familiarize the soldiers as soon as possible. Meeting adjourned.”
Manually-piloted mecha? Could they be the strange mechas that allowed the Chu family’s troops to continue fighting under Zerg neural wave suppression? The Chu family was willing to equip them with these?
The sole Imperial General, Neitaxi, who had been quietly awaiting orders, stood up excitedly at Chu Rong’s words. He gave a formal Imperial military salute and said loudly, “Marshal Chu, rest assured, for the peace of the Blue Galaxy, we will do our utmost!”
Others followed suit, standing up and offering praise and gratitude for Chu Rong’s generosity.
Listening to their thanks, Chu Rong’s hand gradually clenched, his eyes dark and brooding. Manually-piloted mecha had finally been widely implemented after Qiao Zhiya provided a perfect alternative solution. However, the person who developed them had gone missing, right before his eyes, mocking his incompetence and ridiculing his past arrogance and ignorance.
After receiving their orders, the people left one by one, leaving the meeting room empty. Chu Rong’s perpetually tense back slightly relaxed. He raised his hand to touch the jade pendant Qiao Zhiya had secretly hung on his space button not long ago, closed his eyes tightly, and then strode towards the room where the Imperial High Advisor was resting.
Watching him intently, Chu Huai sighed and sensibly refrained from bothering him, also taking his leave.
After the first space jump, the fleet split up in unison, heading quickly towards their respective mission coordinates. Under Chu Rong’s command, Xiang family’s flagship moved towards the third coordinate where Fan Xiangnan was located, near the remote Smith Defense Line on the Federation’s border.
In the infirmary, Jian, who had been resting by the bedside, immediately opened his eyes upon Chu Rong’s entrance. He hurriedly positioned himself in front of the Imperial High Advisor, his eyes filled with anxiety and apprehension.
“I know your father is the white shadow.”
Chu Rong stopped at the infirmary door, not entering, speaking plainly.
Jian was shocked, lifting his head abruptly to look at him, his body trembling as he explained, “M-my father didn’t harm Qiao, really! He sensed danger and rushed over to save him. Qiao wasn’t taken by my father! An-and please don’t harm my father. He can help find Qiao, really, believe me!”
That night, his father had suddenly awakened, transforming into a large white beast and taking him away from the Chu family’s residence, leaving him in a safe place before flying off urgently. Jian was stunned by his father’s transformation, filled with fear and uncertainty, waiting anxiously outside all night. Eventually, his father sent a communication, and when he reached the location, his father had reverted to human form, covered in scales, and had fallen unconscious.
Frightened, Jian realized his father couldn’t return to the Chu family’s residence in his current state, so he secretly hid him outside, attempting to contact Qiao Zhiya, only to find Qiao’s communicator unreachable. Then, the overwhelming news hit him — Qiao Zhiya was missing, and his father was the alleged culprit. Panic-stricken, he hid away, but a few days later, the military found them, capturing both him and his father. The only relief was that his father’s scales had gradually disappeared, preventing suspicion.
Now, with Chu Rong exposing his father’s identity, Jian was utterly panicked. Chu Rong valued Qiao immensely, and with everyone accusing his father of abducting Qiao, he feared what Chu Rong might do to his father.
Chu Rong saw his panic, his expression softening slightly, and responded warmly, “I believe you.”
Jian froze, eyes wide in surprise.
“Here are some yellow leaf wood potions, which might be useful for your father. Make sure he wakes up as soon as possible.” Chu Rong placed a box of potions on the ground, glanced at the Imperial High Advisor on the bed, then turned and left decisively.
Jian stared blankly for a moment, then picked up the box, finding it filled with various potions. Replaying Chu Rong’s words in his mind, he finally let out a huge sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground with the box in his arms.
They were safe, right? With Chu Rong’s attitude, he and his father should be safe.
Closing the door to his room, Chu Rong stood in the darkness, the facade of calm and composure crumbling, revealing the inner torment and self-blame. He slid to the floor, pulling out Qiao Zhiya’s communicator from the space button, leaning back against the door, staring at the dark ceiling, images of Qiao Zhiya’s disappearance and the man from the magic circle flashing in his mind repeatedly. He slowly closed his eyes.
He had seen that blond man in Qiao Zhiya’s memories.
‘Qiao Zhiya…’
His throat moved, and he pressed a hand to his forehead, then clenched his fist and pounded the door hard.
If he had paid more attention to Qiao Zhiya’s situation, listened more to his words, realized the abnormality of the magic circle sooner, believed him earlier, and helped him find his family…
His spiritual sea began to stir again. He opened his eyes, looking at the small communicator in his hand. Slowly, he reined in his exposed emotions and stood up.
‘No, now wasn’t the time for self-blame and despair. Qiao might have been rescued by his relatives and could still be in the Blue Galaxy, or perhaps he had returned to his unreachable homeland.’
‘If he was still in the Blue Galaxy, Qiao would find a way to contact me. If not…’ He turned to look out at the vast universe, his expression hardening. ‘If not, then I will find that monster, extract the secret of the teleportation device that brought Qiao here from their head, and go find Qiao myself.’
As the darkest hour before dawn arrived, he sat by the bed, holding the communicator that seemed to still carry his lover’s scent, sleepless.
