CH 293

The moment the door opened, the three of us jumped off our beds. Standing outside the room was none other than Master Crystal, who had visited the Midstar Army.

"Master, you're back so soon?" I asked, pleasantly surprised to see him. It was rather unbelievable that Master Crystal had relied only on a single ship to complete his mission so speedily.

"The situation is urgent, so I returned right after I obtained the genetic password to pass through the perimeter. The genetic lock is much more complicated than we had imagined. The genes of two authorized individuals must be used together to pass through. Also, each authorization will only last 24 hours," said Master Crystal tiredly.

"A limit of 24 hours and the genes of two individuals must be used at the same time?" repeated Old Du in astonishment.

"Yes. I already told Master Wind to authorize me and Wind Spirit into their defensive system. According to our plan, our genes will be authorized starting at 0:00 AM tonight. We will have 24 hours after that to enter and leave Pluto," said Master Crystal.

"0:00 AM tonight? We have less than two hours to prepare. We need to tell Zhang Xingxing immediately and start the mission in advance," said Zhang Bao'er.

"But Carter's robotic army is still nowhere to be seen. Without that army, we won't be able to defeat the robotic army on Pluto even if we're able to land," reminded Old Du.

"We definitely don't have enough time to prepare. Master Crystal, can you contact Master Wind and delay the activation for 24 hours?" I asked.

"That won't be possible. Master Wind only has a single opportunity to enter the control room. He has already wasted that opportunity. Our fake identities will be exposed after 24 hours. To prevent suspicion, Master Wind has already removed his access from the system," said Master Crystal helplessly.

"In other words, this is our sole chance. Master Crystal, that was badly done. You had not taken Carter into consideration," criticized Zhang Bao'er.

"Don't say so, Bao'er. Master Crystal volunteered to go deep into the enemy camp to gain safe passage for us. How much courage would one need to complete a mission like that? We can't ask too much of him," I said.

The situation was urgent, so we rushed to the command center with Master Crystal to convene an emergency meeting. About 10 minutes later, everyone was gathered. I personally reported our time limit to Zhang Xingxing.

"We need to start in two hours? But Carter is still not back. With our current strength, landing on Pluto is the same as suicide," said Zhang Xingxing with a frown.

"We can't afford to wait. Either we go first or we give up our safe passage and try to think of a new plan after Carter arrives with his robotic army," said Baron Sisse.

"Since the baron has given us two options, let's make it simple. We'll vote," said Zhang Xingxing.

We unanimously agreed to vote, and Dodo immediately prepared the vote. About 15 minutes later, the result was out. Apart from Dodo and Temo, everyone else had voted to enter Pluto with Markus and save the great sovereign with our current strength.

"You fools have no idea how powerful the robotic army on Pluto is. With so few of us, we're only throwing our lives away," said Temo.

However, everyone ignored his objection, especially Domo, who seemed exceptionally excited for an unknown reason. He was acting like we were going on a tour instead of going to battle. Zhang Xingxing had everyone arm themselves and get ready. The mission would begin at midnight.

From our laser scans, we could see that there were three layers of defense around Pluto. Pluto itself was about two-thirds the size of Blue's moon. It was small enough for the powerful Midstar Army to create a complete blockade around it and leave only a small opening through the three layers. The opening was also the route we were going to take for our mission.

"The route we take is covered by the lightnet defensive system. Any unauthorized ship that enters will be immediately discovered by the net. The Midstar Army's ships will require less than three minutes to reach the opening. Thus, we need to make use of our authorized genes to enter," said Master Crystal.

"Dodo, contact Lin Feixue and verify the arrival time of the backup ship. Also, try to obtain an update on Carter's status," said Zhang Xingxing.

Soon, all information was gathered. Lin Feixue's backup ship would arrive at the designated position shortly. As for Carter, he was still delayed by the endless argument in the parliament. It did not seem like we would be able to rely on Carter's reinforcement anytime soon. By now, it was already 23:00 PM, one hour before our genetic authorization came into effect.

"We'll wait for an hour, and then we will set off. Temo, will your ship be able to land on Pluto?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"Markus can even land on your sun, to say nothing of tiny Pluto," said Temo proudly.

Everything was ready. We only needed to wait for the moment to arrive.

"Commander, there is no need for you to come with us. It will probably be better if we have someone commanding us from the outside," I said as I walked up to Zhang Xingxing, who was gazing at Pluto through the window.

She turned her head to look at me. Her eyes anxious, she said, "I can't let you go on missions alone anymore. This might very well be your final mission. In that case, I wish to stay with you until the very end."

I grew incomparably excited. It was apparent that I was still very important in her heart.

"Fine. In any case, this might be humanity's last hope. Let's work together. I'll do my best to protect you," I promised.

"I hope to see all of us return alive," said Zhang Xingxing, making an even more difficult request.

"Roger!" I replied.

Before long, midnight arrived. Markus had been given the command to move in advance, so we did not need to do anything else. The ship started moving the moment the time arrived. Everyone was feeling extremely nervous. Not only did we need to face the powerful Midstar Army, but we also needed to land on scary Pluto. The mood in the ship was an odd mixture of fear and excitement. Suddenly, Domo took out a massive cloak and gave it to Anxashe and Old Du.

"When going through the defensive perimeter, we can cover ourselves with this cloak. Our enemies won't be able to detect us through their scans," said Domo, showing off the first treasure he had prepared for the mission.

Zhang Bao'er hurriedly snatched the cloak and covered himself with it. He immediately vanished from our view. But apart from Zhang Bao'er, the other objects around him were still visible.

"This is a treasure. It only hides organic life forms and will not hide anything else," said Anxashe.

"Hmph. What's so special about that? It is merely a product of what they had stolen from the Sacred Wing race," said Temo with disdain.

"Who's the actual thief? Be clear!" said Domo furiously.

"Shut up. We're approaching the enemy's perimeter. Everyone, hide under the cloak. Leave only Dodo, Master Crystal, and Wind Spirit visible in the ship," ordered Zhang Xingxing.

Seeing that Zhang Xingxing was angry, everyone turned obedient and hid under the cloak. At that time, I saw that as Markus approached the enemy, ships of all shapes were already visible ahead of us, hovering silently like numerous silent beasts.

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"The empire's military strength is truly far higher than ours," said Old Du when he saw the enemy army.

"What's there to fear? So what if they have a lot of ships? It is all meaningless if they only use their ships to commit evil," said Zhang Bao'er, trying to encourage all of us.

Suddenly, Markus came into contact with a wall of light. A red light flickered in front of the ship as an emergency request was transmitted to the ship's system.

"The defensive system has contacted the ship. Let's see if the genetic password works," said Temo.

I saw that under Dodo's help, Master Crystal and Wind Spirit placed their palms on the scanner. A few seconds later, the red light turned green, proving that the genetic password was effective. A frame formed of green lines appeared ahead of us before expanding forward into the distance.

"Not bad at all. We even have a safe passage highlighted for us. This is good. We won't accidentally wander off and accidentally break some traffic laws," joked Zhang Bao'er.

"Temo, have the ship follow the green path. We don't want to trigger any alarms," ordered Zhang Xingxing.

Temo did as told and gave Markus the command. We found to our astonishment that instead of leading to Pluto, the highlighted path led toward an area filled with battleships.

"Temo, you don't seem to be flying in the right direction. Instead of heading toward Pluto, we're heading toward the battleships," said Zhang Bao'er.

"That has nothing to do with my ship. It is flying in accordance with the order issued by your superior," said Temo.

"Stay silent, everyone. We're entering the enemy's inner perimeter soon," said Baron Sisse.

Only then did I notice that Markus had reached the group of battleships. From such a close distance, the massive battleships were shocking to behold. It was as though we were looking at a gathering of gigantic asteroids. The fleet was at such a scale that they almost seemed impossible to defeat. Numerous smaller ships could also be seen constantly moving amid the large battleships, probably carrying out transportation work.

"With the genetic password, it feels really easy to go through the enemy's perimeter," remarked Zhang Bao'er, acting like he was a tourist on a tour.

Immediately, a red light lit up as Markus came into contact with the enemy's lightnet defensive system again.