Him and their stars.

Chapter 2167 Who is the Grand Commander?

Yu Lian said that he had been fighting the emperor for almost a whole day and wanted to continue fighting.

Of course, setting aside personal grudges, this thing, somewhere between a monster from the Void Realm and a mechanical puppet, will become the source of the rift between the two realms as long as it exists in this star system. In the long run, this star system, inhabited by nearly a trillion people, will be polluted by the subspace and turned into a chaotic wasteland.

He glanced in the direction of Dragon's Palace—at a distance estimated in astronomical units, even with his eyesight, it was impossible to see the original appearance of that imperial palace again. However, he clearly saw that several nearby cities within the outer ring were already engulfed in flames.

He could even hear the desperate cries of innocent citizens.

Yu Lian hovered in the frigid sea of ​​stars, his gaze sweeping between the colossal steel behemoth and the distant imperial capital, Star City. He was certain that this twisted, evil behemoth was the target that had to be eliminated. However, while that was the case, how exactly to fight it was a matter highly debatable.

He quickly weighed several attack plans in his mind.

Attacking the behemoth directly is, of course, the most direct approach. While its impenetrable barrage of bullets and thick armor are insurmountable obstacles for warships and aircraft, they are certainly no match for ourselves.

However, even if it breaks through the armor, that chaotic void flesh and blood is even more likely to go out of control.

In short, either we need to find a way to be banished to the Void Realm, or we need to launch a saturation attack.

Just as he hesitated slightly, a streak of light flashed from afar, deftly avoiding the scattered residual energy waves, and hurtled straight toward him.

Yu Lian looked closely and discovered that it was a "Red Ghost" light-wing fighter jet with a blue and white paint scheme and a row of red shooting stars painted on one side.

The driver's skills were clearly quite superb; after a beautiful roll and deceleration, he hovered less than a hundred meters away from Yu Lian.

He probably wanted to contact me, but couldn't come up with any effective means at the moment. After awkwardly pausing for half a minute, he had no choice but to use his light to signal.

Yu Lian glanced at the RX78 serial number on the side of the fighter jet, reopened the communication terminal, and took the initiative to send a message.

A small pop-up window appeared in his field of vision, showing Captain Li Baolu wearing a flight helmet. He was looking at him like a god, but that was understandable.

This is probably the reaction of a normal person looking at a "person" who is nonchalantly suspended in a vacuum.

"Captain Li Baolu, you've been mobilized too?" Yu Lian greeted him.

How do you make a sound in a vacuum?
The pilot on screen, looking utterly shocked, probably had this question in mind. But in reality, he simply saluted and said, "Sir! I, your humble servant, knew you commanded respect across the land, blessed by heaven! You would surely turn danger into safety, and be invincible!"

"Stop, stop, stop! This line was obviously taught to you by your wife. I still prefer the old, taciturn flying fanatic. Get back to your old self!"

His wife is, of course, former ace pilot Martha Deacon. They've been rivals since their flight school days, a kind of childhood sweetheart relationship that's taken a turn for the worse.

After the Battle of Said, Miss Deacon was seriously injured and retired from the front lines. She is now an instructor at the New Shenzhou Flight Academy.

To be honest, this couple didn't even have a honeymoon before they had to go their separate ways. They were just like a grain of sand in the wartime.

Yu Lian asked, "Have your fighter jets already advanced this far? Where is the aircraft carrier group?"

"Sir, the carrier strike group has moved behind Rum Star and is standing by cautiously."

Yu Lian glanced again at the distant gas giant, imagining his own carrier fleet, led by Wayne, reverently approaching the behemoth under the cover of the celestial body. Although this didn't quite seem like the work of that hot-tempered redhead, considering the presence of the rational Michael Kent, they should still maintain basic caution.

"Now, all three aircraft carriers and the cruiser fleet are in position," Li Baolu continued to report. His voice was mixed with a little static in the communication: "However, according to Master Gongsun on the Silent Ship, the existence of that behemoth will release mysterious interference from the Void Realm. If our aircraft carriers get any closer, they may be boarded by the Void Realm monsters."

Indeed, not counting the three large carriers, the number of marines is negligible given the size of light carriers and cruisers, and it is impossible to guarantee that there will be psionicists in charge. If the Void Beasts "board" them, the consequences would be unimaginable.

You have to understand, if a pseudo-angel-level monster like that had just boarded the ship, even the Enterprise and the Lexington sisters would have been utterly destroyed.

However, they cannot truly be absent from the boss battle and sit idly by while their comrades act as the main tank.

“Indeed, whether it’s reconnaissance or searching for opportunities, maintaining distance is essential,” Yu Lian agreed. “Moreover, the gravity of a giant planet can interfere with spatial channels to some extent. The rift in the virtual realm shouldn’t be able to pass directly through a planet’s mass and open right next to you.”

As a pilot, Li Baolu naturally wouldn't fully understand the commander's decisions, but he still praised the commander's wisdom and prowess. After getting married, this kid's emotional intelligence skyrocketed faster than a fat otaku's blood sugar spikes while eating barbecue and drinking iced cola; he seemed genuinely eager to improve.

"Then why were the carrier-based aircraft released?" Yu Lian asked.

"My squadron, the Crimson Ghost First Squadron, is requesting permission to engage," Li Baolu replied solemnly, displaying the spirit of an elite pilot this time. "We can't just stand by and watch those things besiege the Silent One, can we? Someone has to test its mettle! Moreover, with the help of the Bifang System, the loyal wingmen of the Crimson Ghost fighters can perform more complex missions. We don't have to worry about the drones being contaminated by the virtual realm, right? At least we can gain some attack windows and reconnaissance visibility."

Yu Lian's heart sank. He admitted that such a judgment was very reasonable, but the survivability of fighter jets facing such monsters in space was really hard to describe.

"Moreover, sir, we have achieved some results." Li Baolu's tone was calm with a hint of pride: "With the cooperation of my loyal wingman, I have already shot down two of those monsters from earlier."

Yu Lian was slightly taken aback, then overjoyed. Crushing that monster with his eighth-ring strength wouldn't have given him any sense of accomplishment, but learning that his comrades had destroyed the Void Realm monster with technologically advanced weapons filled him with inexplicable pride.

"However, all of my loyal wingmen were also wiped out and caught by the enemy. If it weren't for your intervention, I might have already been killed in battle." Despite saying this, the man showed no relief at escaping with his life, as if he had become desensitized to death.

"Were you just trying to return?"

Li Baolu nodded: "But after realizing they were being chased by the enemy, they gave up."

He probably didn't want to lure the enemy to the mothership.

He then frankly reported: "The first squadron deployed 12 aircraft, and 3 have returned to the mothership. 5 have lost contact. It is now confirmed that 4 monsters have been destroyed."

From the perspective of casualty ratio alone, it is acceptable.

"Return to base immediately," Yu Lian ordered.

Li Baolu hesitated for a moment, perhaps wanting to ask if he needed to take you back, since leaving the Commander alone in space wouldn't be right. But then he realized that asking the question would seem inappropriate from any angle, so he could only salute and leave with a conflicted expression.

In the following five minutes, Yu Lian had the crystal envelop his body and wandered around the vicinity at a speed comparable to the sub-beam cruise of a light-winged fighter jet. After rescuing two of his own fighter jets, he received a source wave communication from behind the planet, and Horatio Wayne's overly serious face appeared on the screen.

He had probably mentally prepared himself for this, so he didn't show any obvious surprise. He simply saluted properly and then said helplessly, "To be honest, even now, I'm still not quite clear about the current battle situation. But the Sobyk fleet isn't attacking us; they're doing their best to cover the Silent. They're allies now, right?"

“Yes, before the emperor fell,” Yu Lian said.

Horatio Wayne and Michelle Kent, appearing on the other side of the screen, simultaneously wore expressions of utter shock and speechlessness. To be honest, seeing two Earthlings with such synchronized blank stares was quite a sight to behold. After several seconds, Kent finally exclaimed, "It feels like you've just been through a battle beyond our comprehension!"

"Yes, I've almost wiped out an entire reinforced company of emperors, but this war is far from over."

Those "defective products" that were killed by the shockwave and the subsequent arrival of the Void Realm Lords on the floating islands will not be counted in the battle record for now.

Wayne and Kent looked at each other, and finally could only reach a consensus that "the things about higher-dimensional psionic beings are indeed the most incomprehensible."

"Well then, to make a long story short, Captain Li Baolu said that their Crimson Ghost fighters conducted a probing sortie, but were unable to strike the behemoth's main body."

“Yes. He is constantly creating rifts in the void. Currently, the number of individuals confirmed to have appeared in outer space has reached 12000, and the number is still increasing. The Crimson Ghost First Squadron failed to break through the blockade.” Mihir Kent reported quickly, revealing a subtle anxiety and wavering of a senior staff officer.

If the number of virtual beings scattered across the universe truly reaches five figures, even if all our fighter jets were to launch a desperate assault, it would be impossible to break through the blockade after all the blood has been spilled.

"We should be thankful that most of the illusory monsters appearing in the starry sky are simply guarding the behemoth's body. If they had launched a frenzied counterattack, we, the Imperial warships, and all the nearby space cities wouldn't have lasted long," Wayne said.

“Within a 20 million-kilometer radius of star system, there are 174 space cities with a civilian population of over 150 million,” Kent added.

Although this area is only on the outer ring of the capital, and most of the various space cities are just functional facilities, the population is already quite dense.

There's no way around it; the Heavenly Capital is the most densely populated information center in the entire universe.

"The ethereal creatures spread by that behemoth have begun landing in the 12 space cities. Our troops that landed in Stone Cabinet City have also encountered the enemy."

The outer ring of Shigui City is a small space city with a small population, but it has a small dock and a military shipyard, and even some transport ships are moored there.

Yu Lian's idea was simple: after killing the emperor, they would have to break through the encirclement, which would require preparing some supplies.

However, the fact that they encountered an enemy there can only be described as fate, which is truly inexplicable.

"So?" Yu Lian looked at his old classmate with a scrutinizing gaze that was hard to decipher.

Kent glanced at Wayne, seemingly worried that his friend was being blamed, but the latter said matter-of-factly, "So, the landing force that was originally going to collect supplies is now working with the Imperial garrison to clear out the monsters in the city and protect the residential areas from damage. The front line is currently very stable."

“You did the right thing!” Yu Lian agreed without hesitation: “The army under Yuan’s command is a kingly army, a civilized army, and a benevolent army. Sometimes, humanitarianism takes precedence over military orders.”

Wayne seemed relieved, but then shook his head and said, "I will try my best to prioritize military orders while upholding humanitarian principles. Once the reinforcements arrive, I will have the troops carefully withdraw from the battlefield. The city's military warehouses and twelve transport ships are under our control."

"...Horaceau, I really miss the old you, the one who was brave but reckless! Can't you come back to that?"

"Sir, you can still make such a wicked joke at a time like this. It seems you really have victory in your grasp! I admire you immensely."

How could a mere arrogant redhead be so sarcastic? This is definitely not the Horatio Wayne I know. Even when he achieved great success and became a famous rebel general in his past life, he never unlocked this trait.

Who exactly influenced them?

“Indeed, the system is very useful,” Yu Lian said again.

"Exactly! They should be used to control transport ships and warehouses. Sending them to the front lines would be a real waste."

Mihir Kent quickly added to the report: "The Silent One has just intercepted and deciphered the Imperial Army's internal communications. The Empire is indeed preparing for a desperate fight."

So, while the Silent One was performing extreme maneuvers as a main tank, it hadn't forgotten its primary duty of monitoring Imperial communications! From an ally's perspective, it's as if we were in the wrong first.

Of course, as a military officer... no, a qualified leader, he felt guilty for less than a second and continued listening to Kent's report.

"The Dragon Ship Azure Jade, escorted by four Holy Shield Guards, has arrived at the nearby battlefield. In addition, three more Dragon Ships have appeared in the inner ring of the capital and are on their way."

Sure enough, the main force of the Knights was in the capital, and they must have all been hiding discreetly. Their warships were probably hidden in various space cities, or perhaps they were using their home planet's atmosphere as cover.

Clearly, although the emperor was on the verge of being abandoned by his loyal ministers, he did not give up on treatment and initially genuinely wanted to set up an inescapable trap for himself.

"The Azure Jade has gathered twelve Star Knights who charged at the behemoth on dragons! The effect was somewhat better than that of the fighter jets."

The subtext, of course, is that it was a failure. And the losses were heavy, even disastrous. However, purely in terms of effectiveness, it could perhaps be considered an effective tactic.

Yu Lian laughed: "So, Duke Gai has also betrayed us? Or has the Knights broken free of his control?"

……

The monster roared once more, but the Silent One, which was "just inches away," still managed to evade the direct hit thanks to its superb performance and maneuverability.

However, the aftershocks of that energy torrent and the resulting spatial disturbances still spread like an invisible tsunami, reaching even the Imperial fleet.

Two Aegis-class cruisers, which were preparing to cover the entire army, had their engines disabled by a strange attack, and of course, they could no longer avoid the subsequent scorching rays.

The cruiser's shields shattered instantly like soap bubbles, and the hull rapidly disintegrated and melted under the corrosive influence of dark red energy, turning into two brief and tragic fireballs in the sea of ​​stars.

This was certainly not the only loss suffered by the Sobyk fleet.

Fortunately, the capital ships are still alive—although ships including the Yutu have been boarded by the Void Realm creatures. However, the valiant assault team has maintained a high level of alert, and the first three Void Realm monster units to enter the ships were eliminated in the shortest possible time, so everything should still be under control.

Sobek looked at Countess Giafil Lamout in the communication window, and seeing her heroic and beautiful face and hearing her clear and bright female voice, he felt a little safer.

Although it is unknown how this top enforcer under Brunhilde arrived in the capital, her formidable reputation speaks volumes.

After all, such a surreal battle requires experts in the mystical.

“As you can see, the first charge failed. Four knights and four dragons perished,” Giafil said. “But that’s precisely why we need to charge again.”

Look at that matter-of-fact tone, as if he really is a legitimate commander.

Jaeger Sobek and everyone on the bridge looked at the real Grand Master, Duke Gerebean, who was sitting with his eyes closed and head drooping, as if he were dozing off.