ccnovels #414 - Get ready to leave!
#414 - Get ready to leave!
"Madam… Madam?"
Huh?
Amina retracted her gaze from the calendar clock on the wall, her eyes landing on the conference table in front of her.
She couldn't remember how many times she had been here.
This conference room had also changed from the previous cramped, crude, metal wasteland style to the current style that Amina couldn't quite put her finger on.
The overall tone had become silver-gray, and the two large starscape windows displayed the rapid advancement of Earth's material technology. The corners and bends were also very rounded, and the 'weightless emergency handrails' that were everywhere were also decorated into artistic shapes.
Outside the window, two battleships quietly departed, spewing tail flames.
Amina cleared her thoughts and looked at the new, unfamiliar faces at the conference table.
These were several middle-aged men and women, wearing the uniforms of the Expeditionary Force.
Amina didn't understand what rank their epaulettes and brooches represented, nor did she care.
She didn't belong to the human system; the relationship between the two was more like… employment?
"Alas, I really envy you, Madam."
The old man sitting at the head of the long table, with a sign that read 'Speaker of the Hall of Governance' in front of him, said to Amina elegantly:
"Whenever I see you, you always have such a perfect temperament and appearance."
"Mm," Amina said simply, "I still have tens of thousands of years of life left, of course there won't be any changes."
The old man asked, "Is there any news from that old friend in the Earth's core?"
"I haven't been there recently," Amina shook her head. "The guardian there has become very weak. His consciousness is dissipating. Alas, even though he possesses such great energy, he ultimately cannot withstand the erosion of time."
"Yes," the old man sighed, "Time is like a… pig-slaughtering knife."
Amina was immediately speechless.
What kind of analogy was that!
"Let's get down to business," Amina said. "Let me state in advance that I am protecting this planet based on my friendship with the Black Storm, and incidentally protecting his secluded cultivation place. I am not your vassal or protector. I am not in charge of the expeditionary war."
The old man quickly said, "You misunderstand, we don't want to ask you to go to the front lines. In addition to what you said, you are also a respected elder and wise person of our Earth humans."
"I'm still very young, not an elder."
"Let's not talk about pig-slaughtering knives."
The old man cut to the chase:
"Here's the thing. Half a month ago, a large-scale battle broke out. Our joint expeditionary force encountered an enemy offensive that had never appeared before."
"These enemies flanked us with the Blade Beast swarm, and our expeditionary fleet suffered severe damage."
"Based on the enemy biological samples we captured, we cultivated… take a look."
The old man swiped his finger, and the table projected an image of a nutrient tank, inside which was a life form resembling a spider demon. The upper body was human, while the lower body was a round belly and eight sharp blade limbs.
Amina tilted her head and sized it up a few times.
She muttered, "Did it mutate during cultivation?"
"It didn't mutate. The creatures that engaged with the 07th Fleet were of this type."
A marshal quickly explained:
"They have psionic power ranging from B-grade at the lowest to S-grade at the highest, and they can move freely in space. Their main combat method is boarding actions."
"They ride in spire-shaped battleships, and as long as they can get close to our battleships, they will infiltrate our battleships like dandelions blown by the wind."
"This has caused us heavy losses."
Amina asked, "I remember, more than twenty years ago, I brought the technology for psionic shields for battleships from the City Above the Clouds."
"The cost is too high," the old man at the head sighed. "The 07th Fleet is mainly composed of ships from the first and second phases. Even the self-maintenance systems are starting to report errors like crazy, and the equipped mechanical legions are also old models."
Amina didn't dwell on this issue.
The old man at the head asked, "What do you think of this creature?"
"It should be a variant of the pseudo-psionic slave," Amina said. "But to be specific, I'm not too sure. You can ask Professor Shen Qionglin; she's an expert in this field."
"Professor Shen is in seclusion."
The old man said helplessly:
"Finding her is much more difficult than finding you. She has the highest access privileges and often sails with the fleet. I'm afraid something will happen to her."
Amina looked at this guy a little displeased.
If it weren't for the fact that her psionic slave was partners with this old man, she wouldn't bother with him!
It made it seem like her worth was not as good as that Shen Qionglin.
"However," Amina thought of the various abnormalities in Shen Qionglin's body, and said softly, "That God Domain Project is indeed somewhat unexpected. Shen Qionglin has already shown some divinity."
"So," the old man asked cautiously, "can you develop a few psionic circuits to restrain this newly emerged species?"
Amina said helplessly, "I've said it many times. That special ray that disintegrates psionic circuits is Ina civilization's technology, not mine. I don't have the ability to develop it either."
"Alright."
The old man gave a smile, and then steered the topic to the side that Amina was more interested in.
As long as they talked about the great pioneer of Ina civilization and the powerful guardian of Earth civilization, the Black Storm, Amina would not have any aversion.
The surrounding generals exchanged glances, with a hint of a smile in their eyes.
The Speaker was starting to praise the Black Storm again.
Most of them were born in the post-Black Storm era, or the expeditionary era after the Martian Victory. They could only understand the era when humanity was about to perish through video materials and the stories of their predecessors.
They all respected the Black Storm.
But this respect was rational;
They didn't have the fanaticism or even piety of the older generation.
This story has to be told from eighty years ago…
Eighty years ago, the Black Storm swept through like a gust of wind, wiping out all the powerful Blade Beasts on Earth.
The evil Obsidian Spirit Cultivation forces that conspired to destroy the world were resolved by the Black Storm at the cost of his strength;
The incomparably powerful Blade Beast civilization was also driven out of Earth and the solar system by the direct intervention of the Black Storm and the indirectly left technology;
Even Fu Jian, the legendary commander of human merit, the iron-blooded military god who always emphasized the collective over the individual, would say that he was an exception whenever he mentioned the Black Storm.
Powerful force was only the most direct and weakest part of the Black Storm's influence.
The quotes and spirits he left to the human world inspired human civilization to rise up in the disaster, overcome the cold winter, and become a powerful civilization in the star field.
Now, human civilization has formed a coalition with other civilizations that have been invaded by Blade Beasts, and is counterattacking Blade Beasts in various parts of the star field.
The Blade Beasts' arrogance is soaring;
Humans have big guns and strong ships.
Of course, the Black Storm's timely rescue and encouragement were valuable, but the real reason why humans were able to complete the leap in the civilization level in a short period of time was [Mechanical Rise].
The annihilation of the D8 Comprehensive War Zone, a major disaster that killed more than 60 million people, was definitely a key point in the historical process of mankind.
In this battle, the Black Storm exerted power beyond common sense, eliminating more than a dozen spirit cultivators in one breath, seizing more than a dozen core circuits, and wiping out all the pillar Blade Beasts on Earth.
After this battle, the human commander Fu Jian completely lifted the restrictions on autonomous mechanical bodies.
Human society put forward the slogan of [Mechanical Reconstruction], coexisting and benefiting each other with autonomous mechanical bodies.
Within a short year, three new human fortresses and fifty-six new fully autonomous mechanical fortresses were added in the areas seized from the Blade Beasts.
Soon, the Blade Beast Legion successfully carried out interstellar transmission with Mars as a springboard, threatening Earth.
It was at this critical moment that the mechanical fortresses frantically exploded with troops, and the design drawings of various aerospace aircraft carriers were rapidly updated, and the first generation of space battleships quickly took shape.
Although they did not play a role in this battle.
The initial wave of Blade Beasts was blocked outside the Earth by Amina, who was wearing a neon skirt and carrying a giant sword.
The subsequent waves of Blade Beasts were steadily blocked outside the atmosphere by the light wall that suddenly appeared on Earth and lasted for more than thirty years.
Then, humans relied on fully autonomous mechanical fortresses to continuously explode with troops and spaceships for those thirty years, accumulating power, emptying most of the Earth's 'interstellar resources', and then began a full-scale counterattack under the leadership of the human commander [Iron Rain Lingtong], and finally won a Martian Victory.
After the Martian Victory, the Blade Beast tide retreated from this area, and Earth civilization finally began in this star field…
…to get a seat at the table!
Human civilization has finally stood up!
Now, fifty years have passed since the Martian Victory.
Humans have newly developed two military planets, one planet for the development of a fully mechanical civilization, and one planet for a semi-human and semi-mechanical civilization.
Amina is still guarding the Earth;
Nierda, seeing that there were no battles here, had already run to the star field to fight Blade Beasts and hunt down Star Shards.
And the [Mechanical Reconstruction] movement also has the shadow of the Black Storm.
There is no other reason, the principal of the Earth Human Subsidiary Civilization · Earth Mechanical Civilization is the Black Storm's personal maid, loyal wingwoman R99, code-named Peony.
The main reason why human civilization has not been betrayed by mechanical civilization is that Peony is guiding and suppressing it.
This is actually in response to that sentence;
He is not in Jianghu, but his legends are everywhere in Jianghu.
The latest novels are first published on 69shuba!
The Black Storm is also a great lecturer.
The mech combined attack technology he passed down has now been updated and developed into more than a dozen generations, and is a compulsory course for human space warriors.
He has taught powerful [Beast Language Walkers], [Abnormal Mr.], and [Mad Queen], all of whom are pillar-level generals on the front lines of the human-Blade Beast war.
To what terrifying extent had the Black Storm's influence reached?
Take, for example, the old man named Zhou Zhengde before Amina. Forty-six years ago, he ended his tenure as a fleet commander and, campaigning on the slogan 'The Black Storm's Best Friend,' became the Speaker of the New Human Council.
Zhou Zhengde once publicly stated that he only had two teachers in his life.
His grandfather, Fu Jian, taught him that he should be iron-blooded and decisive, sparing no effort to safeguard the interests of the collective.
His close friend, Wang Zheng, taught him that he should be responsible, unafraid of difficulties, and brave enough to protect those he cared about with everything he had… and so on.
The Speaker made countless similar remarks.
Even in academic circles, the late 'Master of Three Arts,' a leading figure in weapon development, was a loyal fanboy of the Black Storm.
Returning our focus to the conference table.
Old Speaker Zhou Zhengde paused, a touch of emotion flickering in his eyes.
Amina already seemed ready to leave.
Old Zhou Zhengde hesitated.
Amina said, "If you have something to say, don't beat around the bush."
"When will he be back?"
Zhou Zhengde's eyes held a hint of helplessness:
"Although he helped me modify my body, allowing me to probably live for another twenty or thirty years, you know that I am essentially just an ordinary person.
"Ling Tong can wait for him for another hundred years, but I can't. I can only wait for him for another twenty or thirty years.
"If he really only appears after a hundred years, I don't even know if I'll be able to see him one last time, so… next time you go, could you take me with you?"
"No," Amina said, "I can't enter Cloud City anymore either. The Guardian's consciousness is already close to complete dissipation; he didn't deceive us about that."
Zhou Zhengde asked, "Before his consciousness dissipates, won't he grant you access again?"
"Probably not," Amina shook her head. "Cloud City has a new master, so there's no need to worry. Besides, I have a premonition."
Amina rose and walked towards the conference room door, which opened automatically.
Through the corridor's glass, she saw a light blue planet.
"He should be returning soon."
Amina's soft murmur echoed through the corridor.
Zhou Zhengde opened his mouth, then sighed softly, his eyes filled with emotion.
"Let's continue the meeting."
Zhou Zhengde waved his hand, his demeanor changing, gaining some of the majesty of a superior.
His expression seemed to say:
'You youngsters want to squeeze a budget out of me? Then show me some real skill!'
The marshals and generals held their breaths and focused.
If one looked closely, these people, including Zhou Zhengde, were actually projections.
Their bodies were not actually present.
It was simply because this was the flagship of the [Guardian], Amina, and they preferred to hold meetings here.
Amina returned to her meditation chamber.
Although called a meditation chamber, it only contained a bathtub and a few clothes racks. She liked to let her imagination run wild while bathing, so she called it the meditation chamber.
The racks were filled with various silken dresses, all custom-made to resemble the first set she had obtained.
Amina, wearing a light gauze robe, entered the pool, sighed softly, and let her long hair spread across the water's surface, gazing absently at the star map on the ceiling.
Would that guy become estranged from her after he came out?
After all, they had only known each other for a year or two, and now eighty years had passed.
'He should still go find Ling Tong, right?'
Amina's pretty face showed a hint of disappointment.
This was in private, so there was no need to hide her feelings.
… …
At the same time.
Cloud City in the Earth's Core World.
The figure that countless people outside spoke of and yearned for was currently sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat in the center of the main hall.
The enormous Dao character behind him seemed to contain boundless Dao rhythms;
And around this figure swirled five-colored cyclones, and three lotus flowers slowly bloomed behind him.
Dao Foundation, Perfect!
Wang Daochang opened his eyes and exhaled softly, an infinite understanding rising in his heart, and the three additional memories in his mind were also fully accepted.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the memories of his carefree life in the second life;
Otherwise, he could have experienced it too.
These three memories were [Second Confrontation with the Heavenly Tribulation], [Immortal Finger Pressure], and [Collection of Flirting Lines].
The figure of the Three Realms Playboy had dissipated, and the last wisp of his remnant soul had escaped into the Stone of the Past.
This stone…
Wang Jixuan raised his hand, and the wall next to him cracked open, as the fairy puppet held out this honeycomb-shaped, strange treasure.
Since he had been in seclusion for so long, there was no need to rush. He should first study the structure of this thing.
Compared to before, his cultivation had taken a big step forward, and more importantly, he had obtained a perfect Dao Foundation, making up for the innate deficiencies of this body, and his future cultivation path would be smooth.
This stone, which was able to retrieve a wisp of his remnant soul from under that Immortal Finger, must be an extraordinary object.