Chapter 1 The Ambition of Li Zhi

Buzz!

Within the T-119 defense line's massive city, fighter jets roared across the sky.

The earth trembled as tank and armored vehicle formations, like rivers of steel, drove beyond the defense line.

"The First Brigade has moved out of the defense line and is approaching the target location!"

"The Second Brigade..."

Reports rose and fell in the command room.

Ninety percent of the entire Northern Military Region's forces were mobilized. Tanks and armored vehicles spread across the land, crushing the battlefield wreckage as they pursued the retreating tide of beasts.

Above, fighter jets, attack helicopters, and reconnaissance drones nearly blotted out the sky.

"Target location locked!"

"Moving at full speed!"

Li Zhi stared at the satellite monitoring screen, watching the beast tide frantically moving towards the coast, and the seemingly fatally wounded Marine Apostle. He clenched his fists and muttered to himself, "Slow down... slow down!"

Li Zhi knew that the Evolver troops had been exhausted in the previous operations, but why did he still insist on pursuing the beast tide instead of directly using nuclear weapons to bombard them?

The reason was simple.

Li Zhi had a crazy idea: to capture the Marine Apostle alive if possible!

In terms of achievement, capturing an Apostle alive would be far more shocking than killing one.

In terms of resources, capturing an Apostle alive would turn it into a continuous source of supplies. The Apostle's powerful flesh, bones, and scales could contribute to creating new weapons.

And if properly controlled, there might even be a chance to control its species and its Miracle Buildings through the Apostle!

Li Zhi felt a surge of heat in his heart.

If he could control an Apostle and a species with the ability to command Miracle Buildings, then even against Li Tianran, he would have the right to stand as an equal, wouldn't he?

From several perspectives, capturing an Apostle alive was definitely more beneficial than killing one!

And for this goal, Li Zhi was willing to gamble.

Abandoning the use of nuclear weapons and sending out the entire Northern Military Region.

All for the ambition in his heart.

...

While the war in the Gobi Desert and the T-119 defense line raged on, the war in the original Crazy Breath Island sea area, which was also invaded by Apostle-level forces, was not intense at all.

In this sea area, a bronze palace quietly sank below the waves, not even slightly emerging above the surface.

And as the owner of this bronze palace, the Star Apostle didn't seem very enthusiastic about this war. Dressed in a white suit, he sat cross-legged on the head of a giant sea beast, resting his chin on his right hand, looking half-asleep.

Ahead, a group of sea beasts were attacking the defense line guarding this sea area, but their total number might not even reach thirty thousand. Facing the defense of twenty mecha warriors, these sea beasts had almost no chance of getting close.

And above, the Sky Citadel quietly floated there, seemingly without any intention of moving.

"Hachoo..." The Star Apostle stretched lazily, adjusted to a more comfortable position, and looked at the battlefield ahead: "This war is so boring... How did I get assigned such a dull task?"

...

At this time, in the Gobi Desert, the battle was becoming increasingly fierce.

"Second Squad, eliminated twenty-seven invaders..."

"Third Squad, eliminated seventeen invaders..."

The reports from various squads rang in Li Tianran's ears one after another. After half an hour of sweeping, fewer than four hundred of the eight hundred Gale Followers who invaded the Kunlun Giant Ship remained.

But as time passed, the Pioneers' progress in eliminating invaders slowed down.

The invaders were too scattered, and after continuous fighting, the Pioneers also suffered casualties, reducing their numbers.

Moreover...

Li Tianran turned his gaze to the screen marking the invaders' locations. Dozens of invaders had entered the interior of the Kunlun Giant Ship and were rapidly moving along the corridors towards the command room.

The invaders couldn't possibly have known the internal structure of the Kunlun Giant Ship in advance, but there must be Second Evolution Mind-type Evolvers among them. By simply capturing a Pioneer and forcibly reading their memory, they could immediately find Li Tianran's location.

Finding Li Tianran was not difficult for the invaders.

Even so, Li Tianran didn't panic at all.

The Kunlun Giant Ship was full of traps and had a large amount of automated defensive firepower. Some firepower points were unknown even to the Pioneers. A few dozen Followers had basically no chance of forcing their way in.

Several hundred... perhaps there might be some chance!

Li Tianran looked at a certain point on the detection screen that was constantly moving towards the command room, reached out his finger, and tuned into the real-time surveillance of that location.

Soon, the figure of a Gale Follower appeared on the screen in front of Li Tianran.

One of the Follower's wings had been cut off, and his left arm was cleanly severed at the elbow. He looked very disheveled. Although flesh buds were constantly wriggling and growing at the wound, blood was still flowing out in a steady stream.

He ran wildly through an internal corridor of the Kunlun Giant Ship, with eight Pioneers chasing after him.

Clang!

A steel saber flew through the air. The Follower rolled on the spot, narrowly avoiding the blade, and then using his hands and feet, he burrowed into a corner like a gecko, and his figure quickly disappeared from the Pioneers' sight.

"This damned thing is too fast..." The Pioneers caught up, picking up the steel saber that had fallen to the ground: "Without steel cables to restrain his movements, it's difficult for us to catch up!"

They had chased and severely wounded him, but still lost him in the end.

A squad leader glanced at the corridor where the Follower had disappeared and said expressionlessly, "Forget it, don't chase this one. Let's find the other invaders!"

With that, the eight Pioneers turned around and left without any hesitation.

As if the Follower was already doomed.

Li Tianran moved the surveillance perspective to follow the intruder deeper.

The Follower arrived at the entrance of a corridor labeled "B23". He stood still for a second, and then rushed in.

The moment his body rushed in, the silent walls next to him suddenly lit up with dazzling red light!

Countless intersecting small beams of light instantly filled the entire corridor.

In an instant, the Follower's body was pierced and riddled with holes!

This was a small laser orbital knife!

It could easily cut through the body of a Second Evolution being!

"Aww!"

The Follower let out a shrill scream. His body now looked like a honeycomb, covered with dense, small holes!

But he didn't fall to the ground on the spot. Instead, he took another step, seemingly wanting to force his way through the corridor.

However, the moment he lifted his leg, the small beams of light in the entire corridor danced wildly, like the mood lights in a karaoke room, swaying crazily!

The Follower's leg, which moved first, was torn apart, becoming countless tiny pieces of flesh.

Then, countless tiny cracks appeared on his body, and then... he instantly collapsed.

Yes, collapsed!

Like a toy made of building blocks losing its support, it instantly shattered all over the ground!

Azure flames suddenly sprayed out from the honeycomb-shaped floor, rapidly burning the Follower's fragmented corpse. In just ten seconds, all traces of this Follower's existence in this world completely disappeared!

An invader was instantly reduced to nothingness.

This was the Kunlun Giant Ship's self-defense firepower.

The corners of Li Tianran's mouth curled up slightly.

He felt a bit emotional.

After witnessing the death of the Sky Apostle and the encounter of this Follower, he made an iron rule for himself.

That was that no matter what happened in the future, he would never step into the lairs of other Apostles!

Without overwhelming power, rashly stepping into someone else's home turf was almost like courting death!

As this invader died, the light spots showing the invasion on the monitoring screen were disappearing one by one.

"The Kunlun Giant Ship's self-defense firepower is still very powerful, but once the Death Valley is fired, these self-defense systems will also shut down most of themselves due to insufficient energy, leaving only the core position... This is indeed a defect. Is it possible to improve it through technical means?" Li Tianran stroked his chin.

The invaders were dying one after another, the situation on the battlefield became clearer and clearer, and Li Tianran's mood improved a lot.

But at this moment, a communications officer suddenly came to Li Tianran and said softly, "Governor... there's a message. On the human defense line battlefield, Li Zhi, the highest commander of the T-119 area, led his troops out of the defense line..."

The communications officer quickly told Li Tianran what had happened on the T-119 defense line.

Li Tianran was stunned after listening.

Then, he was furious!

"Who the hell told Li Zhi to send troops out on his own authority?"

"Chasing an Apostle?"

"The Marine Apostle is seriously injured?"

"Does he know how much effort I put in to kill the Sky Apostle back then?"

"Just a dozen mecha warriors can force the Marine Apostle to self-destruct? If an Apostle is so useless, how could it destroy so many civilizations? Creatures that have survived several Great Destructions, do you think it would screw itself up?"

"Immediately notify Li Zhi and tell him to immediately withdraw his troops and return to the city! This is a trap! A trap!"