Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 821: Pursuit Order
"Ke Lan! You should be able to hear me, right?" The Hound raised his head and shouted, "We are trapped and can't get away! Isn't the thing you just released from the coffin very powerful? It can destroy the fleet with one move. Can this thing break through this damn space anchor?"
"I don't know why, it seems that the 'consumption' just now was too huge, 'Joker' crashed, and I can't control it for the time being." Ke Lan said.
Although "Joker" seemed to have just raised his arm nonchalantly, only Ke Lan, the controller, knew how terrible the price he had to pay was. At that moment, his mental strength was almost drained. If he hadn't been supported by the spear transformed from the living armor, he would have probably fallen to his knees on the ground.
After his mental strength was almost exhausted, the connection between Ke Lan, "Joker" and Agunactor became extremely weak. Fortunately, he had handed over the control of the battleship to Hound and the others before. Otherwise, in his current state, he really wouldn't be able to make Agunactor move.
"Really? He failed at this critical moment?" The Hound shouted in annoyance, spitting at his feet. "Then do you know how long it will take for that guy to recover? Without his ability, we can't escape."
"At least..." Ke Lan estimated in her mind, "Six to eight hours."
Generally speaking, it is impossible to recover from this level of consumption without a day and a night of rest. But just after Ke Lan controlled "Joker" to use that move, Ze Luo obviously saw that his mental strength had been overdrawn, and he took the initiative to walk behind Ke Lan and stretched out his arms to hug him.
The next second, Ze Luo once again changed from the form of a three-nothing girl into a piece of armor, but unlike the previous combat armor, the armor that was transformed this time mainly covered Ke Lan's head and spine. Countless tiny tentacles pierced Ke Lan's skin and muscles, penetrating into the spine and cerebral cortex... directly merging each other's consciousness together in a "physical connection" way.
Ze Luo was like a power bank, helping Ke Lan to quickly recover her overdrawn mental strength... But even so, it would take at least six hours to recover to the point where she could control "Joker" again.
…
Fleet Zero, "Betelgeuse" heavy cruiser, Medical Room No. 4.
"I don't need bandaging, I'm not injured!" Yeger pushed away the medical soldier beside him, supported the edge of the stretcher with his other hand, and tried to flip down, but the severe pain from his back made his body lose balance. With a "bang", he fell heavily to the ground face down.
Although Yeager was extremely lucky to pass through the battle zone and land on the ground, it was still a bit exaggerated to say that he was "unscathed" - according to the images on the scanner, there were at least more than 30 metal fragments of various sizes that had not been removed from Yeager's body. The impact of landing caused multiple fractures and bone cracks throughout his body, and countless muscle contusions...
The most serious injury was the one after the ejection, when a piece of debris flew out from the explosion of the cockpit and went straight through his right thigh, but luckily it avoided the aorta in the thigh... Otherwise, by the time the search and rescue team of Fleet Zero found Yeager, he would have died from excessive bleeding.
There were no serious injuries that were life-threatening, but there were countless minor injuries all over his body. Perhaps it was because of the crazy secretion of adrenaline during the battle, or perhaps it was because of the great sadness when his close comrade-in-arms died. When he landed, Yeager didn't even notice the injuries on his body, and didn't even do the most basic emergency treatment.
In fact, when the search and rescue team found him, Yeager's consciousness was already on the verge of blurring, and the emergency medical kit issued to each fighter pilot was still placed in the compartment under the seat and had not been touched at all.
In the words of the officer of the search and rescue team, "This guy doesn't want to live at all. Even if the wreckage of a fighter plane falls from the sky towards where he is standing, I guess he won't move his feet."
It was not until Yeger was sent to the medical room of "Betelgeux" and received a blood transfusion, a large amount of electrolyte fluid, and two injections of enhancers that his consciousness was pulled back from the brink of semi-coma.
But as soon as Yeger regained consciousness, he kicked away the medic who was helping him remove the metal fragments embedded in his leg.
"The battle is over, Colonel Yeager!" A lieutenant standing at the door shouted with a frown, "We have successfully withdrawn from the combat airspace, and the enemy has not caught up with us! Please cooperate with the medical staff... Our ship has received a large number of disabled people, and the medical department is a bit overwhelmed!"
"The battle is over? What did you say?" Yeger's eyes widened. "We escaped?"
"It's not an escape. It's an order from Yaguna Kotor for us to retreat," the lieutenant explained.
"Isn't that just running away? Leaving the Yaguna Tor there and letting our warships that are responsible for escorting retreat on their own, is that any different from running away?" Yeger cursed with spit flying.
"It's an order from Yaguna Kotor." The lieutenant emphasized again.
"Since we are going to retreat, then why did we fight in the first place? Ah? Is our fight meaningful? So many people... and Hans, what's the point of their sacrifice?" Yeager said angrily, "Let me... ouch... give me a wheelchair, I want to go to the hangar!"
"Colonel Yeager, please calm down..." The lieutenant paused and continued, "If you want to go back to fight, then I can tell you that the unidentified black fleet has been destroyed."
"What?" The anger on Yeager's face froze, and slowly turned into astonishment. He muttered to himself, "That black fleet... was destroyed? How is it possible... No, it's possible. If it was Yaguna Kator, let alone one black fleet, even ten would be no problem..."
"Actually..." Seeing that Yeager's emotions seemed to have stabilized, the lieutenant's expression and tone also eased. He moved closer and said to Yeager in a low voice, "The Black Fleet was destroyed by one person."
"Alone?!" Yeger's eyes widened instantly, "Are you kidding me?"
"It was just one person... Many people saw it, there's no mistake." Speaking of this, the lieutenant's expression was also very complicated, "That person suddenly appeared in the air, raised his hand, and the entire black fleet was directly knocked to the ground... The officers and soldiers were spreading it privately..."
Having said this, the lieutenant suddenly stopped as if he remembered something.
"What are you saying? Just keep talking!" Yeger asked anxiously.
"This is just a private rumor. Colonel, don't take it seriously, and don't tell the captain..." The second lieutenant warned first, and after seeing Yeager nod, he continued, "The officers and soldiers are saying that the man is not a human at all, but a super weapon created by the Alpha civilization... He possesses the 'power of a god'."
"The power of God... is it the 'great God' that the Alpha people believe in?" Yeager frowned. "Could it be that you saw it wrong? It was the weapons on the Yaguna Tor that destroyed the black fleet, and that... that person just happened to make a move at that time?"
"Then we don't know. Anyway, at that time, the Yaguna Kotor ship did not make any movement. Even our energy detectors did not detect any energy fluctuations around the Yaguna Kotor. Instead, it was that person..."
"What happened to that guy?"
"When the monitoring equipment selected that person as the target, all the instruments malfunctioned at the same time... I heard that the situation on the flagship was even more serious, and almost half of the external monitors were scrapped." The lieutenant lowered his voice, "Unable to observe, unable to spy... It sounds like it has something to do with those mysterious things."
Yeager knew very well that the "mysterious things" the lieutenant mentioned were the "great gods" believed in by the Alpha civilization.
If this lieutenant had not made up a story to fool himself, then this mysterious man who suddenly appeared would indeed be much more "suspicious" than Yaguna Tor.
"Did you take a picture of that figure?" Yeger asked again.
"Yes, but it's only his back, and it's not very clear." The second lieutenant glanced at the medical soldier next to him, signaling with his eyes to take this opportunity to reinsert the infusion needle that Yeger had just pulled out. At the same time, he took out a mobile phone from his pocket and opened a photo.
Yeager leaned his head closer and saw an extremely blurry photo on the screen. It seemed that it was taken with a mobile phone through the porthole. Even when it was enlarged to the maximum extent, no details could be seen clearly.
All that could be seen was a figure floating just above Yaguna Tor, wrapped in something that seemed to be a robe or a blanket.
It is not surprising that people can float in the air in this era. Anti-gravity devices or micro-thrusters can do it. Some special modified humans with flight modules can even fly freely in the air like Iron Man in the movie, without any equipment except armor.
"What about the Black Fleet?" Yeager asked again.
The lieutenant's finger swiped across the screen and moved to the next photo. The powerful fleet that had been suppressing the Zero Fleet throughout the battle and gave Yeger a feeling of being invincible had been "embedded" in the earth in this overhead photo. The aircraft carrier warship, which was more than 2,000 meters long and nearly 3,000 meters long, was broken into four pieces, and thick smoke rose straight into the sky.
"Wait, switch back to the previous photo." Yeger said suddenly.
"Oh, okay." Although the lieutenant was a little puzzled, considering that Yeger was finally willing to calm down and accept treatment, it was not easy to refuse his request. After all, it was just a photo. If he wanted to see it, just let him see it... It was better than letting him continue to make trouble.
Although the command above has issued an order prohibiting the spread of any relevant information, Colonel Yeager is still a member of Fleet Zero. These photos have been circulated wildly in the fleet's internal network. Basically, all officers and soldiers of Fleet Zero have seen them, not just Colonel Yeager...
"Huh?" Staring at the back figure in the photo, Yeger couldn't help but let out a light exclamation.
Although the back view was only a few pixels in size, for some reason it always gave Yeger a very familiar feeling.
It was as if he had seen this person somewhere before.
No, not as if, he must have seen this person, and more than once!
"Can you send me the photo?" Yeger said, "This should n't be against the rules, right?"
"It shouldn't be allowed... The higher-ups have already issued a clear ban on spreading the information." The second lieutenant hesitated, "But as long as you don't tell anyone, there won't be any big problems."
Not to mention him, a small lieutenant in the logistics department, even the medical soldiers who were treating Yeger's wounds knew about it... There were so many witnesses that it was no longer confidential information.
"Okay, then please transfer it to my personal communication terminal." Yeger had already made up his mind. When he had a chance to return to the Ark, he would ask his technical officer friend who worked in the military information department to see if he could adjust the clarity of the photo... If it could be enlarged a little more and have more details and information, maybe he would be able to remember where he had seen this figure before...
At this moment, the red alarm light above the door frame of the medical room suddenly lit up, and the alarm sounded: "This ship will enter the first level combat readiness state immediately, all personnel, please be ready!"
"Level 1 combat readiness?" Yeager was stunned for a moment. "Didn't we say that we have evacuated the combat airspace? And the black fleet has been destroyed... What's going on?!"
"Wait, wait a minute, the order from above has just been passed down, let me take a look." The second lieutenant himself was also confused. He put the phone back and pressed a few buttons on the screen quickly.
The next second, the lieutenant's body froze and his face gradually turned pale.
"What's going on?" Yeger urged, "Say something!"
"The flagship just sent a message saying... that Yaguna Kotor has confirmed its rebellion, and ordered Fleet Zero to immediately carry out pursuit and interception missions. Our battleship... is also in the combat sequence." The lieutenant said in a trembling voice.
"What did you say? Are you sure?" Yeger scratched his ears hard. He thought he had misheard. "Aguna Tor rebelled? Why? Was it because of the order that asked us to retreat just now? But wasn't the Black Fleet destroyed?"
"I, I don't know." The lieutenant shook his head like a rattle. "Anyway, the order from above said so... Colonel, do you know what this means?"
"What?"
"Not only do we need to fight against Yaguna Kator... we also have to face... that thing that just now... destroyed the entire black fleet with a wave of its hand."
