Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"We need to take the initiative and catch the Central Continent team completely off guard." In the officers' lounge of a warship in the Medal-awarding fleet, tens of thousands of light-years away, a blond young man explained to several officers who didn't look like soldiers, sitting on a circle of sofas around him, while munching on a chocolate.

He pointed to the television, which was broadcasting footage of federal heroes fighting bravely, captured by war correspondents, as well as numerous highlights from the battlefield in Korenda.

"The Central Continent team did a good job in building momentum, but it also exposed their incompetence and weakness." He pointed to the busts of the Federation heroes in the center of the screen. "Clearly, they deployed most, if not all, of their manpower to gain merit and leverage within the expeditionary force. They did a good job, ensuring the survival of part of the expeditionary fleet while also becoming Federation heroes. But this also made them lose their cover and completely exposed them to us."

“We even know the identities and names of all of them,” he said, pointing to the description beneath the bust.

"Zheng Zha, Zhang Jie, Lingdian, Kampavsky, Ming Yanwei, Cheng Xiao, Alice, Patchouli, Chu Xuan. These names sound familiar..."

He suddenly felt someone tugging at his sleeve. Annoyed, he turned around and found a little girl of about eleven or twelve years old looking at him with a grin.

“I know, I know, brother Neos, I know who they are.”

"Next time, could you please interrupt me before I'm thinking? My dear Miss Xue Ling'er?" Neos sighed helplessly, picked up a piece of chocolate, bit it off, swallowed it, and patted the girl's head.

"Alright, I know you're very capable, so please tell me who they are? People you know in real life?"

"No, it's in a game." The little girl shook her head and replied, "It's a shooting game with a slightly strange art style, called Touhou Project. Alice Margot Royd and Patchouli Knowledge are characters in it. They're the kind of boss characters who cooperate with the protagonist and also fight against each other."

“Oh.” Neos raised an eyebrow and looked at the other side of the officers’ lounge, where a tall, slender figure had been standing by the porthole from the beginning, gazing down at the cosmos.

"Captain, it seems the Central Continent Team also has someone from another world like you. Are you interested?"

The figure waved his hand, signaling Neos to continue his reasoning.

Then Neos looked at the little girl again.

"Xueling'er, how strong are Alice and Patchouli in the game? How powerful is that world? Are they difficult to deal with?"

"It's a fairy tale world, a story about a group of monsters and humans living together in a demiplane. Their territory isn't even as big as a large city. Even the strongest monster there is far weaker than the captain. And both of them are only mid-level characters, and they might even be defeated by ordinary people."

“They shouldn’t be underestimated either. In short, we should temporarily elevate the importance of these two.” Neos nodded and continued, “The Supreme God has determined that we are stronger than the Central Continent Team, which means their rating is lower than ours. They are not a breeding team. If they were, there would only be one or two, or at most three, so-called Federation heroes. Instead, there would be a large group like this.”

"So the situation is quite clear: Zhongzhou Team should be a small team with fairly evenly distributed abilities. Unity is their weapon, and teamwork is their characteristic. This also means that as long as they are broken up, they will become weak. And the weak ones are just right to be our pawns and meat shields, after all, the real enemy we need to deal with is Senzhou Team."

“Just tell us what we should do, Neos,” a burly white man said with a smile. “We all admire your wisdom. Weren’t all those difficulties we faced before solved thanks to your wisdom and the captain’s strength? Just tell us straight up: where to attack, how many, and how hard to hit?”

"Don't be impatient, Mr. Horfield. The warp drive hasn't started yet, and the fleet will take some time to reach the insect planet. You'll have plenty of time to demonstrate your power later."

“And my plan is actually quite simple.” Neos took out another piece of chocolate from his pocket and swallowed it. “They want to be heroes, don’t they? If they want to be, let them be. They become heroes only to use the expeditionary force to protect themselves. As long as we demonstrate that we are far stronger than them and have the leverage to crush their external forces at any time, then they will have no choice but to become our tools.”

"There's no need to disrupt the awarding ceremony. Since the Zhongzhou team is going to such lengths to build momentum for themselves, it shows they value this honor. They'll make many arrangements for it, and a direct confrontation would only waste our time. But not disrupting it doesn't mean not interfering with it."

"Their influence is useless before the medal ceremony ends; heroes only gain authority when they are recognized. Before that, anyone who dares to use their fame to cause trouble is doomed. Therefore, their influence is half-crippled before the medal is awarded."

“I will use the identity given to me by the God of War to secretly postpone the awarding ceremony, which will buy us half a day to a day. After the news of the postponement spreads, the Central Plains team will definitely react. They will take this as a signal to start a war. This will make them gather together, and we will then give them a head-on blow.”

“We are stronger than them, that’s for sure. But our goal is not to annihilate them, but to make them fight for us. So our first battle must demonstrate overwhelming power.”

He called on two people in the lounge: one was the burly white man who had just spoken, and the other was a bear-like Scandinavian.

"Hoffer, Richard, you two are the strongest in close combat in our team besides the captain, so I need you to suppress their main combat ability users from the front."

“Killing one or two wouldn’t be a problem, would it?” The burly white man chuckled as he looked at Neos. The Scandinavian beside him remained silent, but the glint in his eyes revealed his fierce fighting spirit.

"Whatever, it's not important anyway. In fact, I'd rather you kill a few, since establishing authority requires bloodshed. And I believe your fighting strength won't disappoint me," Neos replied, patting the little girl's head.

"Xue Ling'er, you're in charge of suppressing their mental abilities. Don't hold back, crush them into an idiot or blow their head off, that's fine too. Mental abilities are too unpredictable, and given that the high-ranking members of the expeditionary force are mostly ordinary people, we can't rule out the possibility that they might resort to desperate measures."

“I understand, Neos,” the little girl said with a grin. “How about Aya protects me? The enemy might have assassins or something. I’m very vulnerable.”

“No problem.” Neos nodded. “Aya will protect you, and then…”

He glanced at the remaining people in the lounge. "Miriah, Manini, you two will be responsible for remote support and in-game coordination. Rose, take this opportunity to hack into the expeditionary force's network and film the battle. Then, edit the images of our team members—I noticed that the Central Continent team has concealed their abilities very well, so we can use this videotape to preserve it and, when the time is right, directly identify them as modified warriors infected by the Zerg, bringing them down from their pedestal as heroes."

"Should we just break their momentum?" asked the petite woman named Rose.

"No, their power is useful to us. We'll use it to get rid of the Morizu team after we've dealt with them. Once we've used it, we should kill them all. There's no need to give them a chance to make a comeback."

"So how should we blackmail them?"

“It’s simple. There are nine of them. Kill one or two, or two or three, to prove our strength, and then capture one or two of them as hostages. I think these two are the most suitable.” Neos pointed to Alice and Patchouli.

"Like the captain, they all come from another world and possess combat power upon entering reincarnation. Therefore, they must hold a certain position within the Central Continent Team. Furthermore, they share the same origin, so there must be a bond or affection between them. My goal is to kidnap one of them. Of course, I can leave a hand or an eye for the rest to prevent them from making any rash moves. Once we demonstrate our strength and have control over their key members, they will have no choice but to fight for us."

"Of course, the possibility of unexpected events cannot be ruled out. But with the captain in charge, I think no unexpected event will be a problem."

"After all, we're the team that survived against that freakish Indian team!"

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More than five thousand... never mind, I don't want to split it into two parts _(:з」∠)_

Chapter Twelve: I Heard Someone Wants to Outwit Chu Xuan

As the meeting on the Nan Yan team came to an end, the pre-match discussions on the Zhong Zhou team also concluded. Both teams had decided on their strategies and were simply waiting for the opportunity to clash.

And the support fleet's jump will begin soon.

..........................................

After the meeting, the rest of the Zhongzhou team dispersed, each adjusting their pre-battle mindset in their own unique way—Zheng Zha seemed to have something to say to Chu Xuan, while Ba Wang and Zhang Jie showed great interest in their time in the military camp. Ling Dian remained as elusive as ever, while Ming Yanwei stayed in a quiet room, resting with her eyes closed. As for the two newcomers… they were free to do whatever they wanted.

They all left, leaving only two witches. After exchanging the necessary information, they had some time left to chat.

"Patty, how's it working with Chu Xuan? Have you suffered any mental blows?" Alice poured herself a cup of tea and then poured Patchouli a cup of coffee—although she had strongly recommended tea to Patchouli for its stimulating effects hundreds of years ago, Patchouli always felt that coffee suited her taste better.

"Working with the smartest people in the world doesn't feel very good."

"Not bad." Patchouli picked up her coffee and took a small sip. "Because I had some expectations beforehand, it felt within my control—I've really never met such a strange creature before, who can learn anything so quickly and understand any theory so easily. He only spent five minutes learning the basic space warfare command skills from my experience of commanding the fleet, and in the latter half of the war, he even took over the command of two-fifths of the remaining fleet... and did it quite well."

"What took me twenty years to learn, he mastered in just two days." Patchouli shook her head and sighed in admiration. "The world he was born into, with a talent like him leading scientific research for more than ten years, still had its overall technology stagnating at the early stages of fission, not even having ventured into space... I really have to admire the efficiency of his world's government."

“Who knows? There are always some strange things in different worlds. It’s inevitable to find them strange.” Alice smiled and took a sip of her coffee. “For example, the federal government in this world has developed warp technology, which allows them to jump from the second arm of the galaxy to the third arm in an instant, but their infantry still use late-stage gunpowder weapons from hundreds of years ago… I think they’re called M16s, but I don’t quite remember the models of these early gunpowder weapons.”

She shook her head slightly. "I really don't understand. Their intelligence officers did say that the insects are resistant to energy shocks and not so afraid of lasers. But with so many kinetic weapons, can't they even build something as basic as a railgun?"

"Did they discover their technology by digging up graves?" Alice sighed softly, looking quite sentimental. However, her actions were meaningless to the person sitting next to her—Patchouli simply watched her quietly, focusing on the hand holding her coffee cup.

“You… you’ve got the wrong cup.” Patchouli drew out the word “you.”

“I didn’t take the wrong one.” Alice shrugged nonchalantly. “I poured myself a cup of tea, but I didn’t say it was for myself.”

“………………” (eyes)

“…Alright.” Alice exhaled softly, flicked her fingers, and the two inappropriate drinks, along with their containers, turned to ash. She coughed lightly, intending to skip over this topic that no longer needed to be discussed.

"Then let's talk about lunch..."

"Does your body need to eat or drink right now?" Patchouli glanced at her. Clearly, obsessive souls don't need to consume matter at all. All they need is energy, standard energy.

Alice's face twitched.

“…It’s not necessary,” she immediately added. “But it doesn’t matter.”

Patchouli then tilted her head slightly, avoiding looking at her. "Well then, I don't think we need to waste time on this. Since you don't need to eat, you don't need to waste food."

"...But you still need it."

"I'm not hungry."

"You'll get hungry sooner or later."

"Then we'll wait until that moment comes eventually."

"Patch, that's not how you talk."

“I think this is fine.” Patchouli leaned back slightly, her lips curving upwards as she looked at Alice’s pouty face. “After all, I still don’t really want the food on my plate to end up in someone’s stomach a second after I put my fork down.”

"And someone doesn't even need them. This is a waste of resources; it's inappropriate, unreasonable, and unacceptable."

"..." Alice covered her face, letting out a low voice through her fingers. "It's just that I drank half a cup of your coffee, why are you being so petty? I'll cry if you want!"

“Go ahead and cry, I’m waiting.” Patchouli struck a pose as if to say, “Please begin your performance.” At the same time, she produced a camera and popcorn from somewhere.

"..."

Alice stood up, walked to the conference room lobby, closed the door, and casually cast a magical seal. Seconds later, all the passengers on the de Chroy starship seemed to hear a piercing scream erupting from the depths of their souls, a chilling wail like that of a banshee in legend!

..........................................

Half an hour later, the support fleet warped into this star system. The higher-ups were immediately busy; starship captains, fleet commanders… both official and temporary, were summoned by the highest-ranking officer of the medal-awarded fleet for a meeting to discuss upcoming strategic matters. Chu Xuan and Patchouli happened to be among those attending the meeting.

As part of the support fleet's original plan, this strategic meeting would also include the awarding of honors to the 'Heroes of Kolenda'. It would be a grand ceremony, with the heroes receiving awards from millions of Federation citizens and hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the entire expeditionary force's combined fleet. They would receive rewards including lifetime honorary titles and promotions of at least three ranks. From then on, they would become role models and beacons, inspiring Federation warriors to fight even more bravely.

—That's how it should have been.

After the jump, a starship containing crucial data, advanced weaponry, and a significant number of officers became lost. Even more unfortunately, the space force commander responsible for awarding medals happened to be aboard this starship. Therefore, the medal-awarding ceremony had to be postponed until a replacement starship arrived or the original ship was recovered (a slim possibility).

However, the postponement of the medal-awarding ceremony did not mean that the strategic meeting would also be postponed—the meeting still had to take place, and not the video conference common in this era, but a more high-level one, requiring senior officers to travel by transport ship to the support fleet flagship for face-to-face meetings. Perhaps for the sake of facilitating subsequent matters, a certain 'talented and well-connected senior staff officer' suggested that the other 'Heroes of Kolendadu' also accompany the acting commander and captain of the starship De Croy on a transport ship to wait near the flagship.

The proposal was not rejected.

"Clearly, the Southern Flame Squad didn't just barge in unprepared. They did implement some defensive strategies to prevent us from making any unexpected preparations on the De Croy. At the same time, luring us here under the guise of preparing for the medal ceremony ensured that we couldn't use our reputation among the soldiers to do anything underhanded—although we never intended to do that from the beginning, I have to admit, the wise men in the Southern Flame Squad are quite capable."

While Patchouli and Chu Xuan made their way to the flagship under heavy guard to participate in the strategic meeting, the task of thinking and planning once again fell to Alice—she changed into a dress that was much more flamboyant than her military uniform, and held a small cane that was also decorated quite nicely.

She was currently aboard a giant warship about two hundred kilometers from the fleet flagship. While the warship's captain was attending a strategic meeting, he had prepared an exceptionally spacious officers' lounge for them, the 'Heroes of Korenda,' almost like a public square, to ensure they wouldn't be neglected.

This would be a good space for combat, and perhaps that's what the Nan Yan team thinks too.

“I’m only worried about Chu Xuan.” Zheng Zha sat on a sofa, his destructive greatsword leaning against him. “He has very few enhancements. What if he’s attacked while attending the strategic meeting with Norrell…”

“That possibility is negligible.” Alice shook her head, dispelling his worries. “The flagship of the Expeditionary Force's unified fleet is heavily fortified. To take action there would be tantamount to abandoning the Federation's ‘momentum.’ Although the medal awarding ceremony hasn’t taken place yet, Patchi and Chu Xuan’s contributions cannot be erased. They will take action, but on the flagship, they certainly won’t choose to use their fists. Instead, they will consider using their brains to solve the problem. It’s a battle of wits, and in a battle of wits, there’s no need to worry about Chu Xuan.”

“They don’t even dare to use psychic abilities lightly, because many of the high-ranking generals in the original work have extraordinary psychic talents. Perhaps they can’t use various psychic skills like we reincarnators, but when they are under psychic influence, they are very likely to be able to sense something,” Alice said.

The expeditionary fleet also had such exceptionally talented officers, but they were selected by Patchouli early on and either dealt with using the Zerg's plasma fire or sent to medical pods. The remaining controlled individuals were naturally weak-willed and easily manipulated.

She didn't go into too much detail, but her words were enough to appease Zheng Zha. So he quieted down, gathering his strength in preparation for the battle to come.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one with questions. After Zheng Zha shut up, Zhang Jie became the next person to ask a question.

"Is this the battlefield we've chosen?" he asked, looking around. "Should we... prepare in advance, set up a position or something?"

Alice didn't answer him directly, but instead looked at the warship's porthole. To others, it was a vast cosmic expanse, but in her view, the Great Library, with all shielding measures activated, was silently suspended, moving parallel to the warship about twenty kilometers away.

The heavy main cannons on the new equipment are fully loaded. With just one command from her, this giant warship will be reduced to hundreds of millions of tons of space debris in half a second. Everyone on board, except for the reincarnators from the Central Continent Team, will die. And she has even prepared a way to deceive the high command of the expeditionary force.

She looked away.

“No, there’s no need. Besides, this is the battlefield they chose.” Alice shook her head and replied, “They used this meeting to lure us here but didn’t attack immediately. That means they still have reservations, their plan isn’t complete yet… and I also guess what their plan is.”

Alice reached out and turned on the large screen in the lounge, enlarging a recent report—it showed that a biology PhD named Rose had discovered a new type of parasitic insectoid while dissecting insect corpses. In her report, the PhD proposed a hypothesis: this parasite could infect humans, reside in the minds of soldiers, and then infiltrate the fleet like a spy.

The idea wasn't unusual, and the guess wasn't out of the ordinary. But the message spread too quickly; in less than half an hour, it had quietly spread throughout most of the expeditionary fleet in inconspicuous but memorable ways, such as appearing in the "Daily Headlines" or "Today's Push" on the terminals. Alice, of course, could easily see that someone was pulling the strings behind the scenes.