"Fifth squad has reached the target position for support!"
"Seventh squad is in position! We'll strike the target from the southwest—all units, watch your fire!"
"Eighth squad has arrived. All firepower locked on."
"Sixth squad..."
By the time Jiang Ya led the reinforcement troops to the scene, the tide of battle had already turned.
The Walter mech had exhausted its loaded ammunition, leaving only weapons firing intangible rounds, which could still attack under the mech's energy propulsion.
Only six squads remained in the fight, and nearly all the cameras had been destroyed...
These six squads had stretched their battle lines far apart, just to minimize the impact of "Qi Chengyan's" psychic attacks.
"Keep draining his energy! All comrades, pool your psychic power to suppress the enemy!"
Finally, under Jiang Ya and her team's deliberate attrition, the mech's energy reserves ran dry. The target could no longer fire a single shell.
The enemy's psychic power was at last jointly suppressed by the high-ranking commanders and soldiers of the First Military District, forcing "Qi Chengyan" to halt.
Li Qin limped his mech over to the overall commander, his voice heavy with grief.
"Reporting, Commander. Second Squad and Third Squad are completely lost. More than a dozen fellow soldiers—they..."
"...I understand."
Jiang Ya was silent for a moment.
"We'll bring them all home..."
Li Qin wiped the tears that had suddenly spilled from his eyes inside the cockpit.
"Yes, sir!"
"Clear the battlefield. Have our people send them back through the docking bay. Remember to pass through the scanner on the way in and out for decontamination."
"Yes, sir."
"Tell everyone not to relax their psychic suppression. And don't let 'Qi Chengyan' leave the Walter mech."
"Roger!"
"Fifteenth to Eighteenth Squads, ensure communication is stable, replenish ammunition, and take over from the first ten squads. Continue exploring the new star."
"Roger!"
After arranging everything, Jiang Ya finally reported the battle situation to the military district commander.
"Reporting to the Commander... Yes, the target is contained. Twenty-two soldiers were killed...
I didn't let 'it' leave the mech, since the mech and cockpit still provide some degree of isolation.
The entity exhibits human behavior, speaks human language, can now pilot a mech, and has extremely high psychic power. I suspect it's a parasite from the insectoids... We need headquarters support immediately."
"Qi Chengyan" sat motionless inside the cockpit, dozens of psychic threads locking him in place.
The psychic barrier that had once stretched so far was now compressed into a tiny sphere, clinging close to his head.
His eyes kept scanning the mechs passing before him, and his fingers twitched slightly. Several soldiers in their cockpits involuntarily rubbed their noses.
Back at headquarters, mech engineer Shi Zhixin never imagined that the first sealed chamber he ever built wouldn't be for a prototype mech—but for transporting a human possessed by an insectoid parasite. And that human was an old acquaintance: Qi Chengyan, the First Military District Major who had gone missing during the star-beast tide.
Having stayed up for two straight nights, Shi Zhixin didn't even bother to comb his hair after hearing the full story. He simply took the mission.
There was plenty of opposition within the department. Everyone said the mission was too dangerous, that a mech engineer shouldn't be sent for such a task—especially at a critical stage in research and development!
But he silenced them with a single sentence.
He had built the sealed chamber. If there was any problem, he could fix it on the spot.
There was something else he didn't say: no matter what, he had to see Qi Chengyan one more time. That brilliant, passionate, remarkable heavy-mech operator and singular combat major.
So without even calling his assistant Ji Gang, he packed the sealed chamber and boarded a starship with the reinforcement soldiers heading to that new star.
By the time he arrived, the soldiers of the First Military District had been suppressing "Qi Chengyan" with all their might for nearly a full day.
Everyone's face was haggard. Some bore serious injuries but refused to enter healing pods, afraid that losing one person might cause a breach.
"You've worked hard. We'll take it from here."
Everyone from headquarters possessed S-class psychic power, wore protective suits, and piloted the latest mechs with meticulous sealed modifications.
All soldiers exploring the new star were relieved, sent to receive treatment or rest.
Under higher-level psychic suppression and the targeting aim of over a dozen high-function mech weapons,
"Qi Chengyan" had no choice but to step obediently out of the cockpit and enter the resized sealed chamber Shi Zhixin had prepared for him.
Inside, even the air wasn't ordinary filtered air—the chamber used a compressed oxygen supply system with replacement and destruction mechanisms.
If "it" hadn't claimed to have "leverage" and wanted to negotiate with the military district, the Federation would never have wasted these resources on it.
Looking at that familiar face, Shi Zhixin felt a storm of emotions.
Everyone worked out of Tianshu Star, and as a headquarters mech engineer, he often dealt with the First Military District.
In his memory, that young man was good friends with Yi Shao and Bei Liu of the Ninth Military District.
He always wore a warm, cheerful expression.
During joint military competitions, he radiated explosive force—as if no problem could ever break him.
Then he disappeared in the star-beast tide...
He never thought he'd see him again. And never expected their reunion to be like this.
The sealed chamber's door locked shut. Shi Zhixin spoke to the "person" inside through the glass.
"Qi Chengyan... Are you still conscious?"
The person inside cracked a grin.
"Human names are pleasing. I like this name... Qi Chengyan. Could you tell me what exactly you humans mean by 'consciousness'?"
Rage surged through everyone present.
"That's not your name!"
"Don't you dare say that with Qi Chengyan's face!"
"You filthy parasite! You're nothing!"
"Get out of Major Qi's body!"
"Oh, such ugly words. Is this how you humans usually verbally attack each other?"
The "Qi Chengyan" inside the chamber pressed a hand to his chest.
"But that won't work. He and I are one now."
Under everyone's gaze, a golden shimmer rippled across Qi Chengyan's eyes, then settled into a fixed glow.
Sorrow was written all over Shi Zhixin's face.
"How... did you possess him?"
"Emm, I prefer to call it symbiosis.
You see, his body is still alive. In your terms, all physical functions are completely normal.
And his ability to stay in this 'living' state depends entirely on me...
I imagine your leader has many questions for me. And as it happens, I have many questions for you too."
"...What do you want to ask?"
"Oh, so many! First, why do you humans always try to exterminate us?
If I recall correctly, you were the 'alien species' that arrived later.
By your own human logic, wouldn't this be called invasion...?"
