Him and their stars.

Chapter 2111 A Duel of Honor, You?
Are they upright, noble, and exemplary in martial arts, and who cherish each other, yet are forced to be lifelong enemies on opposite sides due to their positions and the cruel twists of fate?

...Aren't you being a bit pretentious? Why not just bring back the whole "Sister Wang" thing?

Yu Lian felt that if she were under twenty, she might actually like this kind of thing too.

However, the combined age of his three lifetimes already made him a complete old man. Even considering only this lifetime, he was still a mature adult. He immediately got goosebumps and couldn't help but secretly glare at Feifei. Then he saw her girl clasp her hands together, her face full of apology, mouthing, "Just bear with it a little longer. After this divination, they'll make it up to you properly. They definitely will!"

"Compensation? With some entirely new knowledge?" Yu Lian couldn't help but use telepathy.

"Tsk, I'm telling you... we've been married for so long, do you still have any new knowledge? Okay, okay, whatever you say goes," Fei Fei replied verbally.

Yu Lian regained his composure and glanced at the proud-looking Prince Wei. He was quite impressed that no one had laughed at him.

Well, although it's embarrassing, it's part of the plan after all, so mature adults have no choice but to bear it.

He had just composed himself when he clearly saw that his subordinates on the other screens, who were watching the conversation, all seemed to feel the same way and were proud of it.

Captain Nemo even muttered to himself, "As expected of the Dragon King of the Empire, with such discerning eyes, he must be a capable leader."

If everyone else is moved but I'm the only one who thinks it's pretentious, then wouldn't I be the one who's pretentious? Yu Lian thought of this question and immediately felt a great blow.

That being said, ordinary imperial soldiers, and even most of the lower and middle-ranking military nobles of Tirello, should still be quite receptive to this approach, right?
Even if it were a matter of fatefully becoming mortal enemies, I'd still prefer to have Brother Solo. Regardless of his abilities, his character is beyond reproach. In the Empire, a militaristic, feudal, and anti-civilizational nation full of hypocrites, isn't someone with above-average character like him a rare gem blooming in a nuclear wasteland?
I'm referring to the literal sense.

Just as Yu Lian was thinking this, he heard the King of Wei say again: "Your nemesis, our famous general, the Wolf of Dawn, Lieutenant General Jaeger Sobek's fleet is approaching. He will definitely arrive in the Heavenly Realm before you."

There's no way he'll make it. Even a newbie who just got their navigator certificate could figure out that kind of flight plan.

But then again, why is it that every time I reach the end, it's you who stands in my way? Sobek, isn't the world looking out for you?

"Your expedition will not succeed. It will become a tragic legend, sung for thousands of years to come. You and all your comrades will become immortal poems. But that's all. Your Excellency, is that really all? You have the ambition to change the universe, are you really going to give up?"

What kind of persona is this? Using his silver tongue to persuade me to withdraw my troops?
“Your Highness, you know this is impossible. The Empire has started a war, but how it ends is not up to you. We don’t want to become a poem, but every step we take now is changing the universe!”

"Bravo!" The subordinates on the other small screens cheered silently, as if they had all been greatly encouraged.

Feifei also gave Yu Lian an OK sign, indicating that she approved of his free improvisation.

"Yes, this is war! The brilliance of idealists will be extinguished in the most brutal flames. Dreams and honors are actually distorted and devoured." King Wei sighed, his eyes filled with sorrow and compassion, as if at this moment, all the pain caused by the war had been completely concentrated on him.

King Velent was, in this war, the only conscience of the wicked Galactic Empire.

Honestly, isn't this a bit over the top? Would ordinary soldiers of the Empire accept this kind of character?

"However, there are still nearly a million of our soldiers in the fortress who couldn't evacuate in time. Although they are still putting up a fierce resistance, the situation is such that they will become your prisoners sooner or later. We, the commanders, have failed them."

The remaining fleet, including professional crew members and technicians, numbered less than 50,000, but both sides seemed to have tacitly agreed that the nearly one million fully armed Imperial soldiers on the fortress were merely scraps.

"If this continues, it will surely become a large-scale massacre. Heroic legends should not be tainted; please think carefully."

This is truly interesting! The Galactic Empire crushed the main force of the Commonwealth's expeditionary fleet in 1 hour and 22 minutes, turning over two million skilled crew members into wreckage—this was King Suliuka's achievement. But now, the Blue Star Commonwealth has wiped out one million fortress garrison soldiers, and that's considered a massacre?
Yu Lian wanted to laugh, but he also knew that this shouldn't be what the King of Wei meant.

Then, the tone on the other end suddenly calmed down, his eyes filled with a surging fervor, and he seemed to begin to glow:

"I implore you, grant me the right to fight you fairly. This is a duel of honor for psionicists! Whether I live or die, please spare their lives, let them live. Even as prisoners of war. Your Excellency, the war between the Galactic Empire and the Blue Star Community is over; what continues is our war against you. As commander, I have failed and lost the fortress. But as the chosen emperor, I still have a duty to fight to the death for my comrades! I only hope that my blood will grant you mercy!"

Looking at King Werrent on the screen, whose gaze was so firm as if he were about to face the main guns of the warship, Yu Lian had to admit that this guy was indeed a genius actor who could even fool himself. He was a master at creating a persona.

"Is this also part of the plan?" Yu Lian asked Fei Fei telepathically.

"The general direction was agreed upon, of course, but this guy can improvise. Since it's about choosing an emperor, it's inevitable that he has such eloquence."

"So, if I agree to his honor duel and kill him on the spot, can that be considered part of the plan?"

"Actually, he really wants to see how he'll react if you agree, and whether he has any other plans." Fei Fei shrugged. "Maybe he even has a backup body. He's now assessing the character of the Dawn Royal Family with the utmost malice."

Yu Lian shifted his gaze away from Fei Fei and looked directly at the Prince Wei opposite him.

Just when everyone watching this scene thought the two were confronting each other mentally across the screen, Yu Lian suddenly laughed: "Have your transport ships come and pick up the people. A million people lay down their weapons; three or four cargo ships will be enough."

King Wei was slightly taken aback, then revealed an undisguised ecstasy, so much so that he was almost incoherent with joy, but his expression was also clearly one of relief at surviving a calamity.

In short, if it's a character design, it's very vivid. If it's a performance, it's a masterful display of great depth and nuance.

Yu Lian heard him say with unprecedented sincerity, "From now on, your nobility and benevolence will spread to every corner of the universe. Even the most remote people, even those who have not witnessed your martial prowess, will surely hear of your virtues. My warriors and I are the result of your forgiveness, and we will remember this kindness."

To avoid any misunderstanding, our fleet will withdraw from this system from Gravity Well No. 3 and await orders at T119 in Shengyuan. Only a small number of transport ships will remain to pick up the remaining officers and troops. I guarantee that all ships will not carry any weaponry.

“You are a respectable and intelligent person. I hope this trust will continue as before,” Yu Lian said. He saluted Yu Lian with a grateful expression, then carefully logged out of the communication.

In that case, wouldn't this guy's fleet be even further away from the Heavenly Domain? But he even prepared an excuse, which means he must have been planning this for a long time.

“Very good, this is the general direction. Although there have been some twists and turns, it is indeed progressing in the established direction.” Fei Fei said, “Old Knight Commander Milerkai is really pitiful! Perhaps he is the only price to pay?”

"Thinking about it now, that old man was probably prepared to die. After all, he was over a hundred years old and there was no possibility of him becoming a demigod, so he didn't have many years left to live. He might as well use his limited life for an unlimited cause."

“An endless career. That old man is Count Borugaeli, a branch of the Duke of Boroles family. What kind of career could such a nobleman possibly have?” Fifi pondered for a moment, then her expression revealed a mischievous smugness: “If the prophecy of bloodshed really comes true, wouldn’t it be the orange cat’s responsibility to clean up the mess in the end? Hehe, I can’t wait for the future.”

Then, just as King Wei had predicted, the remaining nearly one million grenadiers in the fortress, after receiving the order to lay down their weapons, did not, as expected, refuse to bend and instead ceased their resistance.

Like well-trained robots, under the watchful eyes of a small number of Earthling soldiers, they bypassed some important functional compartments and control areas, mainly assembling at the port of Area A via civilian access roads.

The port in that area is an important distribution center for goods; it could easily accommodate several times more people than a million.

Twenty minutes after Yu Lian and King Wei communicated, the technical reinforcements from the Dragon Ship arrived at the fortress command post. After "politely escorting" the surrendered command officials out of the country, they quickly took control of the fortress.

When General Yu Lian and Fei Fei (whose name is written as "Empress" instead of "Adjutant") arrived at the command post, Ina saluted Yu Lian with a serious yet excited expression: "We've regained control of the fortress's No. 3 main gun. The codename seems to be something like 'Sky God's Astoundment.' Perhaps..."

Their work efficiency was a bit too high, partly because the Bifang robots were incredibly efficient. As for the other aspect, it felt like General Yelik hadn't left behind many secret locks during his retreat.

"So, you're going to test the cannon?" Yu Lian asked.

Ina paused slightly, then her eyes lit up: "Is it possible? Uh, it probably isn't. You've already promised that Imperial Dragon King, how can you go back on your word and bombard his fleet? Although I'm not very well-educated, I know that the higher a person's status, the more important their political credibility is."

I meant for you to fire on the unmanned artillery turrets over there to clear out the area! Who told you to actually fire on the Imperial fleet over there?

"What I mean is that now that we have regained control of the main gun, it will be easy for us to plant bombs in the energy core. I have done a preliminary calculation and placing one antimatter bomb in each of these energy cores, with a level 5 warhead, would be enough to destroy an entire region."

This correspondence college student demonstrated exceptional initiative and planning skills far exceeding his academic qualifications, which can only be attributed to his natural talent.

“I never said I wanted to destroy this fortress,” Yu Lian said.

"So, are you going to destroy this fortress?" Ina countered.

"Of course it has to be demolished. This is Chenxiao Fortress, one of the starting points for the Tirelo people's conquest of the universe, and an important symbol of the evil militaristic empire. Since we're already here, how can we not demolish it? Since I can demolish the Gate of Glory, I certainly won't let this place go." Although he said this, Yu Lian still felt a little heartache, perhaps because of the sentimentality in the virtual timeline.

Wasn't this fortress also the starting point for his co-ruling emperor's conquest of this empire?
He even had children here. Speaking of which, his third son with Brin... oops, I mean, the co-ruling emperor and Empress Iwenya was born in this fortress.

That is, the biological father of the virtuous grandson who "inherits from you, grandfather".

Tsk, I guess we should just tear it down!
“You can lead the engineering team to develop a demolition plan right now. Of course, the actual execution will have to wait until we make use of the waste,” Yu Lian said.

At his signal, Ina patiently maneuvered the massive floating turret platform onto the fluid metal layer. The crimson beam of positron cannons swept across the starry sky like a broom, leaving silent, blooming points of light in the star field where the dense cluster of turrets was located.

At that moment, even the starry sky seemed to brighten.

"Make sure you remember how you feel right now," Yu Lian said. "It might come in handy in the future."

It's unclear whether this will put significant pressure on the Imperial fleet, but in any case, they have completely escaped the range of the fortress's main guns and are retreating as planned.

Besides the Abyss Dragon, all the battlecruisers and aircraft carriers entered the weight well, their hulls trailing bright light as they disappeared into the horizon.

At the same time, three transport ships also sailed towards the fortress. They did not activate their shields, and even the few anti-piracy machine guns had their gun ports closed. The bows of the ships had already begun to flash harmless white light, demonstrating their extreme low profile.

Trojan horses were common in the space age, but they certainly don't fit the current context.

And that was indeed the case. Whether it was the entry of ships into port or the boarding of nearly a million imperial soldiers, everything proceeded in an orderly manner.

Thus, at least for this moment, the Earthlings and the Imperials, in this fortress and this galaxy, achieved a brief but touching peace.

After the Yuanlong left the local system, even the main body of the Silent Ship entered the port.

The fortress is filled with mountains of supplies, energy, and ammunition—invaluable spoils, of course. Even though the Silent Ship has transcended the three realms and can maintain its internal circulation indefinitely, the other friendly ships can still use them.

Moreover, the Enlightened One warship itself did not come away empty-handed.

The nanomachines of the warship, forming circuits, seeped into the pipes of the fortress's internal armor like vampire vines. From a purely visual perspective, it's hard to say who the villain is.

Fortunately, most Community warriors were used to it. They were already used to petting the fuzzy, nano-sized spheres and the nano-sized tentacles.

The Silent Ship originally intended the core of the Sky Tower as a charger, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Eleanor also came to inform Yu Lian. The terminal automatically displayed that the unlocking progress of the "Phase Disintegration Cannon" had begun to change after a long time.