Chapter 1 The Hidden Shadow

At this moment, on the edge of the battlefield, inside the cockpit of the hidden False Court V-generation pure mechanical mecha, Shadow.

Arlais watched the self-destruction of the Blue Whale without the slightest concern. From the moment it was attacked, the Blue Whale's fate was sealed.

His gaze remained fixed on Su Mo. After watching his battle with the False Court V-generation mecha, Bone Eater, a hint of a smile appeared on his face. He had witnessed his own conjecture.

"Golori, now it seems, compared to five years ago, do you think Su Mo's strength has increased or decreased?"

Golori replied without the slightest hesitation, and with great certainty, "It's become stronger."

"Alas, it's a pity that he's heavily contaminated by negative energy and his body can't handle it, so he can't fight for long."

"Yes, it's a great pity."

"Alright, this matter is over. Let's go! The front line is still waiting for us."

Arlais issued the order with a calm expression.

In fact, a large reason Arlais chose to board the Blue Whale and head to the front lines was to catch a glimpse of Su Mo. Now that his goal had been achieved, there was no point in lingering.

"Yes!"

Golori piloted the mecha and left silently.

At this time, Su Mo took a few deep breaths and accelerated away in the Shadow of Thunder.

Soon, he caught up with the escaping escort ship.

At this moment, the Fabricator Devourer said to Su Mo in a low voice, "Hidden magnetic mines ahead!"

In Su Mo's eyes, red dots appeared in the distant starry sky.

So he accelerated and rushed in front of the escort ship, and Lin Xiaoyu followed suit when she saw this.

Su Mo, piloting the Shadow of Thunder, charged up the Thunder Ray Cannon, sweeping across the path and clearing away the magnetic mines that could threaten the escort ship.

Lin Xiaoyu reacted immediately, maneuvering her mecha to break through and help clear the way.

They broke through all the way forward.

However, the Imperial Army's ships did not intend to let them go, and several battleships locked onto the escort ship, attempting to catch up.

.......

At the third and fourth space base stations on the interstellar navigation route.

After one interstellar ship after another completed their assembly.

They were anxiously heading towards the location where the Blue Whale had its accident.

Throughout the communication channel, the commander's roars echoed.

"Faster! Faster!"

......

On Earth, Long Ming led Tang Qin and the others with grim expressions towards the special conference room.

"Has the news been confirmed?"

"It's already been confirmed. The Blue Whale's signal has been completely cut off. According to information passed from the Xinghuan Forum by some survivors, it can be confirmed that the Blue Whale has self-destructed, and all members have basically died in their posts."

Tang Qin replied quickly.

"What about the fleet at the nearby space bases?"

"They're all heading to the scene of the incident non-stop, preparing to carry out combat and search and rescue missions. Under normal circumstances, the Imperial Army should choose to withdraw without gaining any advantages, and will not fight us again. Therefore, the fleet heading there will focus on search and rescue as its primary mission."

"Make sure they rescue as many as possible."

Long Ming said hoarsely.

"Understood!"

Tang Qin nodded in response.

Soon, Long Ming and the others arrived at the entrance of the special conference room, and the soldiers guarding the door respectfully opened it.

Long Ming walked in alone, while Tang Qin and the others waited outside, not following him in.

Entering the special conference room, a circular conference table came into view, with five chairs placed around it.

Long Ming went straight to the chair in the middle and sat down.

At this moment, the holographic simulation system automatically unfolded, and figures appeared in each position.

On the far left was Memikas, the aloof ruler of the Yanas Kingdom, dressed in a silver high-necked bodysuit and wearing a crown.

The second figure was an elderly man with a loose robe, a tense, aged face, and eyes filled with anger. He was none other than Lufat, the Speaker of the Highjia Republic, which had suffered the attack.

The first figure on the right was a woman in a blue dress with a cascade of blue hair, flawless skin, and an incredibly outstanding appearance. She was Amilo, the great sage of the Haike Free State.

The figure on the far right was a middle-aged man wearing a V-generation colonial armor, with a calm expression and noble temperament. He was Pope Maodo of the Yamak Free State.

At this moment, the expressions of everyone in the conference room were not very good. They had convened this emergency joint meeting because of the attack on the Blue Whale.

Long Ming said in a deep voice, "Everyone must have received the news. The Blue Whale has fallen."

"I just don't understand. Why would something happen to such an advanced ship? It shouldn't have!"

Amilo said in confusion.

"This matter is indeed beyond everyone's expectations. Everyone knows how strong the Blue Whale's performance is. Its super-light speed flight mode is something even star destroyers may not be able to intercept. It has transported so many times in the past without any problems. I didn't expect it to stumble this time. There must be internal collusion, dereliction of duty, and leaks, among other things. Although the Blue Whale was traveling on our own route, the route is so large. How did they accurately lock onto it? This is even more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack."

Long Ming said in a deep voice.

"There's no need to say so much. These Imperial Army guys are blatantly provoking a war. This is an act of provocation!"

Speaker Lufat of the Highjia Republic roared angrily.

"That's right. In the past, conflicts were mostly minor skirmishes, but this time they've attacked our lifeline. Since they dare to do this, then let's go to war with them. There's nothing to talk about."

Maodo was also furious. He had lost the most supplies in the Blue Whale attack.

"Calm down."

Long Ming soothed.

"How can we calm down? Our ship has been blown up, everyone's supplies have sunk, and the front-line resupply has been disrupted. If we don't fight them, they'll really think we're made of clay."

Lufat replied with great anger.

"We can't fight. We don't have a legitimate reason to fight."

Long Ming denied it again.

Amilo also expressed his anger, saying, "Speaker Long Ming, what you're saying is wrong. How can we not have a legitimate reason? It's obvious that the other side did it. This kind of thing can't be covered up by pretending to be interstellar pirates."

"I don't think they're trying to cover it up, but rather rubbing our IQs on the ground. Which interstellar pirate has Level 5 ships, so many fourth-generation mechas? And which interstellar pirate dares to attack us? And on our own navigation route?"

Memikas said with considerable resentment.

"Then have you ever thought about why they still pretend to be interstellar pirates?"

Long Ming asked in a deep voice.

For a moment, everyone was speechless.

"Although we know they did it, we don't have concrete evidence. Going to war would be unjustified. The morale will be good at the beginning of the war, but it will weaken later. On the other hand, the morale of the other side will definitely be high. You have to know that the Imperial Army is already more valiant and adept at fighting than us, and they also have one more member state than us. How many chances of winning do you think we have if we fight? You've probably forgotten how the participants in the previous Sky Cup were wiped out. How many died in this kind of thing? And another thing, each of us owes the Xinghuan City more than 100 billion star coins in huge loans, and it's time to repay the money and interest at the end of the year. If we go to war with the Imperial Army now, and can't repay the Xinghuan City's money by then, are you planning to let the Xinghuan City deal with us?"

Long Ming's gaze swept over everyone present.

"Then what do we do? Are we just going to swallow this pill? Our front-line troops are about to run out of supplies."

Lufat asked through gritted teeth.

"How could we just let it go like this? This incident is blatantly trampling on our bottom line, but we just can't launch a full-scale war. But since they like to play dirty, we'll play with them."

A trace of coldness flashed in Long Ming's eyes as he spoke.

"What do we do?"

Everyone present asked.

"My informants buried in the major empires have provided an important piece of information. The Imperial Army's supplies to the front lines haven't set off yet. Since they dare to do the first day of the lunar month, we dare to do the fifteenth. We'll also send a large number of ships disguised as interstellar pirates, and as soon as their transport ships leave the scope of the Xinghuan City, we'll attack them. It's best if we can rob them, but if we can't, we'll just wipe them out. If our front-line soldiers are starving, they'll have to starve with them. If we can't repay the money at the end of the year, they can forget about repaying the money too. If we can't live a good life, then no one will live a good life!"

Long Ming said fiercely.

"That's right, let the Imperial Army know how powerful we are. Our people didn't die in vain."

Lufat almost shouted.

"I agree!"

"I also agree!"

......

Everyone present expressed their support.

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Three days later, in the command room of the escort ship, Qian Chengxue and others gathered together to discuss the current situation.

Su Mo was piloting the Shadow of Thunder outside the escort ship, providing protection, but he was participating in the discussion using the mecha's holographic projection.

Zi Qing began to briefly report on the current situation.

"Our current situation is not optimistic. Most of the supplies we were carrying were on the transport ship, and the supplies on the escort ship are very limited. We've also crammed so many people in here, so I estimate that our survival supplies will run out soon."

"Then how far are we from the third station?"

Qian Chengxue asked.

"When the Blue Whale left the third station, it used super-light speed flight and flew for about seven days. This escort ship doesn't even have sub-light speed flight. If we rely on ourselves, it will take at least several months or half a year. And the worst thing is, because we were trying to avoid the pursuit of the Imperial Army's ships, we didn't dare to escape on the main route. Now we've deviated from the main route by a large distance, and it will take even longer to actually navigate back."

Zi Qing roughly estimated and said with great worry.

After hearing this, Su Mo said with a headache, "That's too long. At this rate, we'll starve to death long before then."

"Then we can only hope for a request for help and rescue, but that also has a big problem. The communication performance of this escort ship is limited, and we can't directly contact the checkpoint stations. We can only rely on luck along the way, constantly sending out distress signals with radar, hoping to run into a rescue fleet. But even if we do run into one, it's still a question of whether they will prioritize rescuing us."

Zi Qing said somewhat pessimistically.

At this time, Qian Chengxue raised her head and said calmly, "Zi Qing, just control the ship normally and move forward, searching for rescue ships along the way. I'll think of something for the rest."

"Okay."

Zi Qing didn't say much. This was the only way for now.

"Everyone, please try to endure it as much as possible in the near future, and ingest the minimum amount of food and water. I believe we can definitely get through this."

Qian Chengxue said to everyone.

"Sister Xue, we believe in you."

Although Sun Li and the others were a little downcast, they still cheered themselves up one by one.

"Alright, the meeting is adjourned. Everyone go and rest."

Qian Chengxue said. Now, basically everyone tries to lie down and rest when they have nothing to do, in order to minimize consumption.

"Okay."

So the sisters left one after another.

Qian Chengxue then turned to Su Mo and said, "Su Mo, I'm counting on you for security."

"No problem. I'll take care of this, so you don't have to worry."

Su Mo replied casually.

"Okay, then I'll go and take care of the injured sisters."

Qian Chengxue nodded and left.

Inside the cockpit of the Shadow of Thunder mecha, Su Mo cut off the communication and stretched. At this time, a prompt popped up on the operation interface in front of him.

"Warning, the Shadow of Thunder's nuclear fuel rods have 20 percent remaining, and are about to fall below the warning line. Please pay attention in time!"

Seeing this information, Su Mo suddenly sat up straight and looked at the prompt in disbelief.

"No way? Is it out of fuel so soon?"

"What's so strange about that?"

The Fabricator Devourer was not surprised at all. It seemed that everything was within expectations.

"This is too garbage. Is it as sturdy as the Gluttony mecha?"

Su Mo couldn't help but complain.

"Of course it can't compare to Gluttony. The Gluttony mecha is at least barely passable. Although these two mechas are both IV-generation mechas, they are not on the same level at all. A brand new Gluttony mecha in Xinghuan City can sell for at least 500 million star coins. That's why, when they compensated you with the Gluttony mecha back then, I felt like they were giving alms to a beggar."

The Fabricator Devourer said.

Su Mo coughed and said, "It's not what you think. Do you know what it means to be wisely muddle-headed? You only consider whether it's rational or not, but you haven't considered human relationships. If the Federation had money, it would definitely not deduct my compensation. You have to think about the combat pensions from five years ago. Speaker Long Ming had to wait until the compensation was received before he could pay it in full. From this, you can imagine that the Federation's finances are not as good as they seem on the surface."

Su Mo paused slightly, and then continued, "And one more thing, didn't Speaker Long Ming give me an extra large sum of money? It has long exceeded the value of the Gluttony mecha. And no matter what, I used to be in the GT department. I can't go against my own department, can I? Some things are good enough."

In fact, Su Mo guessed correctly. The Federation's economy was more tight than imagined, and every sum of money was planned.

There was no extra money at all!

What was worse was that the Federation had also borrowed a large number of star coins from the Xinghuan City, and had to pay high interest every year.

Of course, you could also choose not to pay it back, but no one dared not to pay back the Xinghuan City's money these days.

After listening, the Fabricator Devourer just said in a low voice, "Then what are you going to do next?"

"What can I do? With only 20 percent of the energy left, of course I'm returning."

Su Mo piloted the Shadow of Thunder towards the escort ship. Although there was a set of nuclear fuel rods attached when he bought the Shadow of Thunder, that set was on the transport ship.

Of course, he didn't think about replacing it before, but this time he was really screwed.

On the escort ship, Qian Chengxue took out her mobile phone and logged into the Xinghuan City's forum. After hesitating for a while, she sent a message to an anonymous person.

"Father, I'm Qian Chengxue. I'm now on an escort ship escaping from the Blue Whale. I've deviated from the main route. The star coordinates are (21121, 1252, 1423). The ship is severely short of supplies..."

Not long after the message was sent.

A message immediately popped up.

"What is your situation now? Has the crisis been resolved? If possible, find a place to hide. I will find a way to coordinate the rescue."

"I'm fine here. I've gotten rid of the Imperial Army's pursuit. It's just that when we were escaping, we were separated from Lin Hai and the others. Is he okay?"

"He's fine. You just need to pay attention to your own safety. We'll talk about the rest when we get back."

Lin Yaotian immediately replied.

"Okay, I understand."

Qian Chengxue breathed a sigh of relief.

Fifteen days later, the escort ship docked on a barren planet.

Su Mo sat on the floor of the command room, leaning against the metal wall.

Sun Li and the others were also leaning weakly, too hungry to even want to speak.

They were saving food as much as possible, and dividing it up to take care of the injured sisters.

After all, they could endure it, but the injured sisters couldn't.

"Su Mo, do you think there will only be bones left when we're found?"

Zhao Han joked with Su Mo.

"Theoretically, that won't happen. At most, the bodies will stink."

Su Mo replied with a wry smile.

"Then when I die, you should still throw me into space. It would be embarrassing to stink."

Zhao Han couldn't help but say.

"It would be a pity to throw it away. Or why don't we take a loss and boil you?"

Sun Li squeezed out a weak smile and joked with Zhao Han.

"Sister Sun Li, you're going too far. How can you say that?"

Zhao Han replied somewhat angrily.

"Alright, stop it. It's okay, just endure it a little longer. Maybe the rescue will be here soon."

Su Mo quickly comforted them.

"After we're rescued this time, I'll never go on a diet again. I'm going to eat my fill."

Zhao Han replied with a weak breath.

"It's okay. We'll have a good meal after we get back."

Su Mo then got up and walked out.

He saw Qian Chengxue patrolling each of the sisters, asking them about their condition one by one.

"Go and rest for a while. I'll help you patrol."

Su Mo said with some heartache.

"It's okay. After all, I've also been injected with advanced genetic medicine. I'll be fine even if I don't eat anything for ten days. Not to mention that I've also eaten a little nutrient bar. The real suffering is theirs."

Qian Chengxue shook her head. These sisters had been following her since they were little, and she couldn't let anything happen to them.

Su Mo also sighed slightly. If it was fighting, he wouldn't be afraid at all.

But if he had to conjure up something to eat, he probably couldn't do it even if he was killed.

Where could he find it in this vast starry sea?

The most important thing was that the Shadow of Thunder also had very little fuel left, so it would be difficult to go out and try his luck.

If a ship on the vast sea didn't have food, maybe it could hunt the fish in the sea. But in the starry sea, if there was no food and supplies, could it really hunt those mutated monsters?

Therefore, many advanced ships have built-in ecological cycle systems, in order to avoid this situation.

However, Su Mo quickly adjusted his mindset.

"I'll help you lend a hand."

"Okay."

Qian Chengxue nodded slightly.

......

Several days later, the last remaining food on the escort ship was also completely exhausted.

Su Mo, Qian Chengxue, and the others all gathered in the command room.

Sun Li said to Qian Chengxue with pale lips, "Sister Xue, what do we do now? There's really nothing to eat. We can still hold on for a while, but those injured sisters may really not be able to hold on."

Qian Chengxue also didn't know what to do.

Lin Yaotian had already started to coordinate the rescue for them, and the rescue should have arrived long ago.

But there was still no sign of it, so it was likely that there were too many people asking for help.

Seeing that Qian Chengxue didn't speak, everyone also lowered their heads, and their morale became even lower.

Su Mo was also scratching his head, not knowing what to say. There was nothing to say without anything to eat.

Just then, the public communication channel of the ship transmitted a crackling sound.

Then a intermittent voice sounded.

"This is the Searcher-026 ship. Can you receive the signal?"

Hearing this voice, Sun Li and the others jumped up in surprise, and Zi Qing immediately went to the communicator and replied.

"This is the Federation-registered escort ship number C-2541. We are the Morningstar Group's material transport personnel. The Blue Whale was attacked and escaped here. We are now requesting rescue."

"Understood, message received. Please wait patiently, we are rapidly approaching you!"

......

After hearing the reply, Qian Chengxue finally slowly let go of her hanging heart.

Su Mo also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The rescue ship had finally arrived.

.....

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More than a month later, an escort ship landed at the Imperial Capital Starport.

Su Mo and Qian Chengxue and the others stepped off the ship.

Tang Yao and many other sisters immediately greeted them. She said with red eyes, "Sister Xue, you're finally back. We were so worried about you."

"It's okay, there's nothing to worry about. We're back, aren't we?"

Qian Chengxue reached out and hugged Tang Yao.

"Yes, we were almost scared to death when we heard about the Blue Whale's accident."

Tang Yao quickly nodded in reply.

"I know, we made you worry."

"Um, Sister Xue, the Blue Whale had an accident, so what about our goods and orders?"

"We'll talk about that later. Let's go back to the company first."

Qian Chengxue said to Tang Yao.

"Okay, the cars are all ready."

"Let's go."

......

A moment later, Su Mo and Qian Chengxue got into Tang Yao's flyer.

Tang Yao drove the flyer into the air and left according to the designated navigation route.

Just after driving out of the Starport, Su Mo and Qian Chengxue were slightly stunned as they looked at the scenery outside the window.

They saw residents holding red flags everywhere on the road, angrily denouncing the Imperial Army.

"Thugs, butchers!"

"The source of all evil, the barbaric Imperial Army."

"A blood debt must be paid in blood."

......

"What's this?"

Su Mo asked Tang Yao with slight surprise.

"The Blue Whale incident has spread throughout the Federation. Although the Imperial Army deliberately disguised themselves as interstellar pirates, no one is a fool. Everyone's anger has been completely ignited by their despicable actions. There have been protests like this recently, and they've been going on for a long time."

Tang Yao roughly explained the situation.

"What's the reaction from the Imperial Army?"

Su Mo asked curiously.

"What reaction can there be? The five major allied nations recently issued the most severe questioning to the Imperial Army in history. But what's the use? The Imperial Army's attitude is very arrogant. Their spokesperson also took the opportunity to mock us, saying that we were too garbage and were intercepted by interstellar pirates, and even blamed us! You haven't seen that press conference, or your lungs would have exploded with anger."

The more Tang Yao spoke, the angrier she became. It was simply intolerable.