Chapter 159: The Beginning of a Legend
"Lieutenant General Thomas, can you explain why you allowed the white ghost to disappear in front of you?"
In a dark hall decorated with holographic projections.
Thomas stood under a spotlight, with two tiers of seats in front of him.
There are three chairs at the top. The chair in the middle has various reliefs representing supreme status. An old man in pajamas is sitting on it, but the old man's figure is very faint and he is not paying attention to this place.
The chair on the left was slightly lower, and sitting on it was a kind old lady wearing a long robe and a complicated high crown. She had a gentle look in her eyes as she looked down at Lieutenant General Thomas.
The chair on the right is lower and is now empty.
These three chairs are the symbols of the highest power of Sherman's empire.
Under the three chairs were eight figures in different costumes: three old generals with medals on their chests, two old men wearing the iconic white robes of the Council of Elders, two old men in formal attire, and a young woman in a long robe and a veil.
This represents the military, the Senate, the State Chancellery, and the Holy See.
Although Lieutenant General Thomas holds a high rank in the military, he is still only qualified to use honorifics here.
Why let the white ghost go?
“Because of public opinion.”
Lieutenant General Thomas replied in a deep voice:
“I couldn’t give the order to imprison White Ghost or directly destroy the mecha.
“This war against insects was a great victory, enough to boost the military prestige and morale of the people in the empire.
"White Ghost has been regarded as a folk hero. His heroic performance against the Zerg has been recognized by grassroots officers and soldiers.
"I decided to let him go not because I value my personal reputation, but because I took into account the fact that the whole country is united in fighting against the insect plague and the evil federation. I also took into account the empire's broad mind and tolerance for the people!"
He added:
"This was not a mistake, but the only choice made based on the situation at the time.
"Of course, if the honorable people decide that I must be responsible for this matter, I will accept all punishments with all my heart!"
An old general said slowly, "Lieutenant General Thomas, you did nothing wrong. This was a great victory. We saved 26 million people from the evil bugs. You did an excellent job."
The white-robed elder in the Council of Elders said, "The White Ghost's behavior is very suspicious. Before we can determine his purpose, we must control him as soon as possible. He can be a hero, but he must be a hero who obeys His Majesty and the Empire."
The Minister of State retorted: "Every indication is that this is a noble of our country who has excellent character and uses the glory of the Imperial Star as a source of motivation."
"No, you are wrong. The value of the nobles' existence is granted by His Majesty," the old man in white robes said with a cold look, "He is separated from His Majesty's glory, which is a betrayal in itself."
The Minister of State said: "Can't a powerful empire accommodate a hero from the people? His contribution to the empire is indelible. If it weren't for what he did, and we allowed the insect plague to break out in a few years or even a dozen years, we would be pushed to the edge of the cliff!"
The old man in white robe said: "This cannot change the objective fact that he is an uncontrollable factor."
"alright."
An old and gentle voice came from the highest platform, and the old men who were arguing below immediately shut up.
The old lady sitting next to the emperor smiled and said:
“If the Empire can’t even tolerate a young man with a strong personality, why does it call itself the most powerful country in the galaxy?
"Reward him, praise him, give him enough honor, but he needs to show up to receive it.
“Once he kneels before Your Majesty, you will naturally be able to take off his mask and make him become Your Majesty’s loyal dog, serving the glory of the Imperial Star.
"Keep asking questions. Don't delay General Thomas for too long. He still has to deal with the subsequent troubles."
"yes."
"Lieutenant General Thomas, the Council of Elders has another question. White Ghost's Ghost Mecha has shown extremely outstanding performance. Why didn't the military research this type of mecha before?"
Thomas laughed and said, "Because it's not practical."
"Improper?"
"Yes, honorable elder."
Thomas explained simply:
"We have conducted a rigorous analysis of the data of that mecha. According to the preliminary analysis, this is a mecha designed specifically for the Zerg, and the pilot must be a highly-transformed human.
“Its strength, endurance, stability and response speed are all based on greatly reducing the number of buffer circuits, which places extremely high demands on the driver’s physical fitness.
“We have developed many similar mechas and have tried many times to use genetically modified warriors as drivers, but the experimental results were not satisfactory and we were unable to achieve a balance between strength and speed.
"He actually did it, there must be a strong scientific research team behind him. - This will help us find out his true identity.
“Moreover, it is a pure melee mecha. If it is on the front battlefield, it cannot survive for too long in the fire network and cannot play any value.
"It only targets Zerg."
Thomas paused and continued:
“Of course, I think that the military research institute should restart similar designs now, in case there is another dangerous situation where a swarm of insects is buried under the administrative planet.
"I must remind you that I am a general. Leading troops and deploying troops is my specialty. As for the research and development of weapons and equipment, you need to talk to those guys who don't go to the battlefield about this topic."
The three old generals smiled faintly.
The Minister of State suddenly asked, "What happened during those ten minutes when the White Ghost broke into the underground swarm to detonate the Queen? The live broadcast was interrupted at that time."
General Thomas, who had been handling the situation with ease, fell silent.
His eyes flickered slightly, with a little light in them:
"Captain Gris fought alongside him and recorded the general process. Would you like to watch it? If you don't mind the horror elements in it.
“This is a strong soldier.
"Putting aside all political considerations, if he is willing to serve the Empire, I will strive to apply to become his commander."
The elder said, "Just give a brief description."
"The simple description is... he single-handedly killed the queen who was protected by the swarm."
…
Zubin Star battlefield, the edge of the artificial crater.
Captain Gris of the Imperial Special Forces was staring at the insect corpses all over the ground below.
Warships sailed into the atmosphere and began to bombard the remaining Zerg. The Zerg that had lost its queen was left with the instinct to flee.
Logically speaking, by this time, half of the Zerg would be fighting back.
But today the swarm of insects seemed to have been frightened by something, and all of them fled in panic.
Grace held onto the energy storage battery supply box and slowly sat down, listening to the reports coming from the team's voice chat.
I'll have to recruit more people when I go back.
Four of the thirteen-man team were killed in the battle.
If you look at the losses alone, Gris would naturally feel extremely sad.
However, he had previously estimated that most of the team had been wiped out, but now that he had received news that most of them had survived, he found it much easier to accept it.
This is the fate of a warrior.
Gris sighed softly and took off his protective helmet towards the imperial soldiers who died at the bottom of the pit.
Grace gradually regained his ability to think calmly, and he frowned as he pondered.
It's so abnormal.
The White Ghost is so abnormally powerful!
However, the white ghost was hiding in the mecha, making it impossible for Gris to judge whether the white ghost itself was too powerful or the mecha had too much technology and power.
After our commandos began to charge, the war scene could only be described as tragic.
Ordinary soldiers went forward one after another to tear open a path and cover the charge of several reinforced teams acting as the spearhead.
When the soldiers could no longer charge and were surrounded, blocked, and devoured by the insect swarm, all the pressure fell on these spearhead teams.
No one backed off.
Even though everyone was full of resentment on weekdays, and felt that the Empire was exploiting these soldiers who had been transformed;
But at this moment, facing the Zerg, facing the queen, facing the mission, everyone fought with everything they had.
There are just too many bugs.
Because of the Zerg flagship-level protective shield above, the most powerful fleet fire support could not reach them, and they could only rely on the partial firepower of the ships in the rear.
When the spearhead team was more than a thousand meters away from the queen insect, they were caught in a real swarm of insects.
There is no way to move forward at all.
Even though they had strong physical fitness and individual firepower systems, they still felt despair and powerlessness when faced with the layers of insect swarms.
At this moment, a red shock wave suddenly erupted.
Gris didn't see where the red light came from, but he found that the movements of the surrounding insect swarms suddenly slowed down. The insect swarms that were originally rushing towards them began to turn around mindlessly and collided with the insect swarms behind them.
That familiar flame danced in Gris's sight again!
The white ghost and his evil spirit, which had already disappeared in the insect swarm, rushed back to Gris.
'Whose body is the bomb on?'
'Me! The activation key is my iris!'
'Captain Gris, try to keep up with me.'
Without hesitation, Gris led his team to quickly move through the formation, following closely behind the evil ghost and charging towards the queen insect.
This was the most thrilling, difficult and most exciting battle for Gris.
All kinds of insects appeared like a military parade, constantly becoming an obstacle for them, but under the sweeping light blade of the evil spirit, they were no match for them at all!
The team members began to fall behind, and Gris ordered them to work in groups of three or four to cooperate with each other and snipe the bugs at the rear.
The figures around the evil ghost gradually became fewer and fewer, and finally only Grace was left.
This was because the evil spirit took care of Grace a few times occasionally.
'It's right here.'
The processed voice of White Ghost sounded again.
Grace couldn't imagine how this guy managed to remain so calm at this moment.
The evil ghost mecha activated its foot hammers, jumped up and slammed the ground hard, and cracks immediately appeared on the ground mixed with insect corpses and glass-like substances.
The evil ghost swept the light blade across to kill the swarm of insects that were rushing towards him. He then held the light blade upside down with both hands and thrust it hard into the center of the crack. A shock wave erupted and the glassy ground shattered with a ping.
The evil ghost mecha fell straight into the huge cavity below.
Dense swarms of Zerg elite combat units rushed over from below, completely covering the protective shield of the Ghost Mech!
Just as the mecha's energy shield was about to be breached, the red shock wave appeared again, sweeping in all directions like a wave, and briefly illuminating the countless space Zergs inside.
The evil ghost mecha fell down along with a large number of insects, and a fierce battle broke out again below.
Gris did not forget his mission, and he crashed into the cavity.
The bug ignored Gris.
All the insects gathered towards the evil spirit.
The evil ghost swung the light blade to create an illusion, and moved at high speed towards the darkness.
Charge, charge, endless charge!
The ghost mecha had lost its left arm and had several knife limbs embedded in its back. It seemed that it could fall down at any time.
But this mecha showed its incomparable strength!
For several moments, Gris had an illusion - he felt that the mecha seemed to have become a living organism, as if it had come alive, and its iron body was not driven by those sophisticated circuits.
When Gris came to his senses, the third red light shock wave erupted again, and the surrounding insects stopped moving again.
The evil spirit leaped suddenly, and when it fell again, the light of the light blade illuminated the shadow of the queen.
This monster!
This bloated and terrifying monster was now trembling all over and dodging backwards!
It kept sending the adult insects into the mouthparts on its chest and made a hissing sound at the evil ghost mecha.
Grace's eyes turned red.
This is the target he wants to blow up!
As long as they detonate the bombs they carry, the deaths of those soldiers will be worthwhile, and this decapitation operation can achieve its intended purpose!
Gris shouted and rushed forward.
But what is faster than Gris is the Ghost Mecha.
The light blade slid quickly, the thrusters exploded at full power, and the Ghost Mecha, with the last bit of protective energy, drilled directly into the Queen's huge abdomen!
The queen screamed, roared, and trembled!
A beam of red light suddenly appeared in its chest and abdomen, and the evil ghost rushed out of the mother insect's neck covered in blood.
The queen insect fell down with a loud bang.
The swarm of insects fled in all directions.
As Gris kept yelling, he became confused and realized that his rush was of no use at all.
'Captain Gris!'
The white ghost shouted, and his voice finally had some emotion, that is, a strong sense of fatigue.
'Detonate it!'
Grace: Isn't this just a waste of time?
Aren't they all gone? It would be nice to keep a sample for research.
At that time, the White Ghost saw his hesitation and said something that now sounded ridiculous to Grace.
"This thing can be resurrected. If you don't kill it completely, it will give birth to a little female insect."
Gris believed it.
Grace immediately rushed forward and notified all personnel outside to retreat in advance. Fortunately, the bugs outside were also fleeing, and the remaining combatants had time to evacuate the area affected by the explosion...
Bang!
Gris sat on the supply box, covering his eyes with one big hand.
Why did he believe this guy's lies!
Although the Zerg are scary, they are also living organisms. How could they be resurrected for no reason?
After entering the underground, Gris lost contact with the outside world. ——There is a shielded area composed of special insects below.
When Gris checked his battle videos afterwards, he found that... several clips had disappeared for no apparent reason.
Two red shock wave bursts in the cavity were not recorded.
The scene of the evil spirit entering the queen's body was also not recorded.
This battle video has been handed over to the military, and Grace mentioned that some of the data disappeared due to the impact of the battle.
In fact, Gris recalled carefully that when they left the underground without any hindrance and quickly escaped from the detonation area with the evil ghost mecha, Gris was invited to sit on the shoulder of the mecha and was given a ride by the other party.
Gris suspected that the battle record was tampered with at that time.
"Who the hell is this guy?!"
Gris uttered a few meaningless swear words.
A female team member wearing a tight combat uniform with several spheres floating around her floated over on a hoverboard and handed Gris a glass of energy drink.
"We don't know who he was before, but from today on, he is a hero of the empire and a living legend."
Grace curled her lips slightly.
An interesting picture suddenly occurred to him.
If the White Ghost's Ghost Mecha were to face off against the cosmic creature Valkyrie, who would win?
He voted for Valkyrie.
…
At the same time, inside the Feinan, which had already moved away from Zubin Star.
Yang Ming fell in the tail cabin covered in blood from insects and was carried back to the treatment cabin near the bridge by 026.
This ghost mecha has become a pile of scrap metal.
When Yang Ming left the cockpit, its various components were rapidly being discarded.
Fortunately, Yang Ming was not physically injured. He just consumed too much energy and fell into deep fatigue.
"Boss, you only need to sleep for about ten galaxies to recover."
Ritsu explained softly, causing 026 and Hera to breathe a sigh of relief.
Hera stared at Yang Ming for a while and said, "I'll go process the data. If he shows any abnormality, please call me immediately."
026 hurriedly said, "You go ahead, I'll just stay here."
Hera nodded, lowered her head, walked away quickly, and plunged into the various instruments placed on the bridge.
Lu curled his lips.
She began to handle subsequent events and guide public opinion, so that the boss could get the highest profit from this hard battle.
It’s okay if the mecha is scrapped.
The income from this live broadcast alone is enough to build ten such mechas.
What is important is the combat data, which is of great significance to the next step of the development of special anti-insect mecha.
Moreover, Lu noticed that during the intense battle, this mecha showed signs of being assimilated by the boss - similar to the ability of the Zerg to assimilate Terran ships.
This may serve as the direction for the development of the next model of mecha.
"law!"
026 shouted in surprise:
"Look! The boss is glowing!"
In the treatment cabin, faint red lines appeared all over Yang Ming's skin.
Lu smiled and said:
“The boss is expected to see a big improvement this time.
“Inject the boss with the gene stabilizer in two hours. I’ll keep an eye on the data, so don’t worry.
"Also, don't inform Miss Hera about this anomaly. Let her do the research on the bugs first. You stay here and I'll handle the follow-up of the live broadcast."
"Well! Go ahead!"
026 nodded quickly, then stared at Yang Ming with shining eyes, and sat down on the chair next to him meticulously.
In this battle, the Ghost Mecha captured more than just the young men of the Sherman Empire.
026 had actually trained in mecha driving combat for two years as the boss's fire support unit, but this time the restrictions were too great and she had no room to perform.
Ten galactic hours later.
Lu's projection appeared again. Looking at 026 who was sitting next to him and fell asleep, he couldn't help but stepped forward and pinched 026's face.
If you don't turn on the simulated touch, 026 won't be woken up.
Then, Lu frowned slightly, wondering whether to wake Yang Ming up.
There was a little problem with Emilia.
The boss values Edwang and Emilia very much , and he will most likely not stand idly by.
The boss's physical data have now returned to normal, and his brain wave composition has also returned to that of a normal human. There will be no problem in waking him up now.
But even if I wake up the boss now, will it help with the emergency that has just happened?
It would be better to let the Feinan first reach the airspace where Count Mensa's fiefdom is located. This will also take two hours and require several jumps.
Lu was a little confused.
But she soon realized a problem - her understanding of the complex human emotional system was not very comprehensive.
She couldn't fully define the significance and value of the siblings, Edwin and Emilia, to her boss.
"boss!"
Lu's voice sounded beside Yang Ming's ears:
"Emilia severely injured the grandson of Count Mensa. Emilia was detained by the Imperial Noble Court."
In the treatment cabin, Yang Ming opened his eyes, and the red light in his eyes slowly faded away.
