CH 128

"A fighter drone. Do we shoot it down immediately? We can't expose ourselves," asked Dondon.

"It is impossible that the enemy is attacking with only one fighter drone. Don't take any rash actions yet. Continue observing," I said.

"This might be a scout. After verifying our identities, a bigger group might come next," reminded Kelly.

"From its flight trajectory, it has a clear goal. Continue observing. Dondon, prepare for a wormhole retreat," I commanded.

After flying around Fearless once, the fighter drone sent a green beam toward us.

"Reporting to Canyue, the fighter drone seems to be trying to establish a communication channel with us," reported Dondon.

"Allow it," I said.

We connected our communication channel with the fighter drone. Shortly after, a brand-new map appeared before us. From the map, our green corridor could be clearly seen. All around the green corridor were countless red dots.

"My god. The empire is waiting for us at the opening. How did they learn about our operation?" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er.

"Which imperial armies are in charge of attacking Akko?" I asked Kelly.

"The attackers are from the Southstar Army, roughly five legions in total," said Kelly.

"How many soldiers do they have per legion?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

Kelly started providing a detailed description of the empire's military composition, "Each legion is composed of 200 Milky Way–class battleships and 500 Star System–class destroyers. Each battleship carries 800 fighter drones. There are 100,000 soldiers in each legion." 

"In short, there are around 500,000 soldiers ahead of us?" said Zhang Bao'er in stupefaction.

"There is something I don't understand. I thought you were all supposed to be geniuses? Just open a wormhole with Fearless, and we can easily get through the blockade, right?" suggested Domo after listening silently for a long time.

"Dwarf, stop pretending to be smart when you know nothing. The energy signal from producing a wormhole is big enough to be immediately detected by the imperial army. We might as well just announce our arrival," sneered Zhang Bao'er.

This time, it was Domo's turn to shut up indignantly.

"Canyue, the fighter drone is sending something else over," said Dondon.

"Accept it immediately," I commanded.

A green arrow appeared on the screen.

"What does this mean? Arrow?" asked Domo.

"It must be telling us to go with it," said Old Du.

"Is this a trick? This is an enemy fighter drone. Are we supposed to trust it for no reason?" asked Kelly.

"I believe this fighter drone is here with a purpose. Its sole reason here is to help us," I said.

"You mean..." Old Du muttered. 

"Master Wind. He must be helping us," I said.

"Forty-five minutes left until the ceasefire ends," reported Dondon.

"No time to hesitate. Follow the fighter drone. We'll take a gamble," I decided.

As we were running out of time, nobody objected. Dondon controlled Fearless and followed the fighter drone toward the Southstar Army. The fighter drone led the way, and when we reached the imperial perimeter, it released a thin shield around us.

Under the cover of the shield, we miraculously entered a completely different corridor leading into the planet. All around us were various massive cannons, fighter drones, and other military equipment.

"My god, this is only the Southstar Army. How big a military force do we need if we want to actually defeat the empire?" lamented Kelly as she looked out the window.

Fearless followed the fighter drone through the corridor for a while before suddenly stopping. From the map, we could see that we had arrived at a fork in the corridor. Everyone looked outside the window and saw that all around the fork were air defense drones and fighter drones lying in wait.

"Good lord. Can these air defense drones also operate in outer space? Originally, they were only used by the empire at low altitudes!" exclaimed Domo when he saw the drones.

"The fighter drones are good for offense but bad for defense. These air defense drones were clearly transferred here just to deal with us. There is now no doubt that this fighter drone is our friend," said Kelly.

The fighter drone stopped, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to get through the fork. Everyone's heart thumped as we waited in silence. When everyone was waiting, a massive shuttle appeared in the distance and slowly flew toward us.

Soon, the shuttle arrived beside us. The fighter drone immediately descended and stopped beneath the shuttle. Dondon reacted and followed the fighter drone, hiding beneath the shuttle before advancing under the cover of the shuttle.

Thanks to the cover of the shuttle, Fearless safely went through the fork. Everything went smoothly after that. With the fighter drone's guidance, we quickly left the blockade and reached Akko's atmosphere.

"Team Leader, we're back to save you," roared Zhang Bao'er in excitement.

At the edge of the atmosphere, the fighter drone turned and flew away. It had completed its mission.

"Thank you, Master Wind. We would have died without your help. How was he aware of our mission, though?" I wondered aloud to myself.

"I have the same question. This is a top-secret operation. How did Master Wind learn about it?" said Old Du beside me.

"Let's focus on saving Xingxing for now. We can think about it afterward," I said.

We checked the time and saw that there were 15 minutes left before the ceasefire ended. Suddenly, the sound of an explosion came behind us. We quickly looked back and saw that the fighter drone that had acted as our guide had exploded in the distance.

"Shit. The enemies have discovered us!" said Zhang Bao'er.

I stopped him from shouting with a wave of my hand. I paid close attention to the distant explosion. I did not see any ships from the empire.

"It must have self-detonated to prevent any leakage of information," said Old Du.

"Exactly. We are still undetected for now," I said.

"Send a packet of encrypted information to Carter before entering the atmosphere. With the ceasefire agreement, we will be safe after going through the atmosphere," said Kelly.

Dondon immediately did as told and sent an update to Carter's battleship, Star, indicating that we had arrived safely. A group of flying interstellar creatures flew past our ship, diving down toward Akko.

"Dondon, follow these flying creatures and enter the atmosphere!" I commanded.

Dondon quickly had the ship join the flock and enter the atmosphere. The intense friction caused Fearless's hull to turn fiery red. I noticed that the flying creatures were actually shrouded in furious flames, making them look like beautiful phoenixes. Fearless followed them through the atmosphere before descending past them. Five minutes later, we arrived beside a yellow lake.

"How far are we from the palace?" I asked.

"We are less than five minutes away by flight. There is a small number of air defense drones patrolling at a low altitude, but since the ceasefire is still active, I doubt they will attack us," said Dondon.

"Head for the palace immediately," I said.

Following my command, Fearless sped in the direction of the entrance to the underground palace.

'A battle is coming. The past 12 hours felt like a dream where I danced between life and death. However, I'm back, Team Leader Xingxing,' I said to myself.

"Everyone, prepare for combat. Man every one of our cannons." Kelly, who had experienced a cruel battle before, immediately made the arrangements for combat.

Fearless traveled swiftly. Not one of the imperial air defense drones we encountered on the way attacked. It would seem like the emperor was really sticking to the agreement. In less than five minutes, we arrived above the entrance to the underground palace.

The entrance was surrounded by countless soldiers from different branches of the imperial military. We could clearly see an abundance of siege equipment outside the gate. But since there was a ceasefire, none of them were attacking for now.

Nevertheless, I could also see that they were preparing for a new round of attack. The ones leading the siege preparations were none other than our old friends, the black and white Gandos.

It was normal for the flames of rage to be rekindled when enemies met. I immediately decided to launch a surprise attack upon seeing that the Gando warriors were the ones leading the siege. Dondon promptly sent another encrypted update to Captain Carter. With that done, I was ready to snatch the initiative and destroy their siege equipment.

"Aim all weapons at the enemy's siege equipment and attack. When the battle commences, Kelly will be in command of Fearless. Old Du and Bao'er, get ready to drop down with me. We will charge into the underground palace," I commanded.

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"No, we need to wait three minutes before attacking. The ceasefire is still not over," Kelly reminded.

"No. Attack now and seize the momentum," I said. My blood was churning for a battle.

"Absolutely not. There is no need to sully our reputation for a few minutes," Kelly protested anxiously.

At that point, several air defense drones were already slowly approaching us, looking ready to attack. Several heavy tanks on the ground had also aimed their turrets at us.

"Canyue, Kelly is right. Just wait a bit. The moment the ceasefire ends, we will focus fire on the entrance and destroy the siege equipment," persuaded Old Du.

I finally relented. Time passed, and finally, the countdown began.

"Ten, nine...three, two, one, fire! Mess them up!" I roared as an artillery barrage descended upon the entrance. At the same time, over a dozen beams also shot toward Fearless.