Meng Chongyun had only just left at dawn when Deputy Director Guo Hongfan received word that planets across the Federation were under attack by the insect race.
They had all known this day would come sooner or later. After all, the enemy had been hiding far too deeply for far too long.
Following the prearranged plan, they dispatched troops to meet the attack. Guo Hongfan hurriedly sent a message to Meng Chongyun aboard the starship.
He had approved Wen Nanfeng’s proposal to eliminate the Alpha Gold Crown. The Isolation and Containment Center was currently the hardest-hit area, and that insect was certainly involved.
Before long, another subordinate reported,
“Deputy Director! Another insect has started a livestream... It’s Li Qin, at the Isolation and Containment Center!”
The new livestream had not yet attracted many viewers.
The background was a scene of utter chaos. The roar of mechs mingled with screams and gunfire coming from every direction.
While the Federation soldiers were struggling simply to keep themselves alive, Li Qin strolled calmly down the center of it all, using his optical computer to record everything before him.
An insect had just finished parasitizing a human. The newly possessed body rose and moved without the slightest hesitation. When it turned its face, a twisted smile spread across its features.
“Greetings, Chief.”
Li Qin waved, then turned the camera toward himself.
“One thousand and twenty-one people. Good morning, everyone. Another beautiful day has begun.”
“What is this place!? Was that an insect just now?”
“Is the streamer human or an insect?”
“My God, look behind him!”
A doctor in a white coat came running out of the building, pursued by three already-parasitized “people.” One of them had half a shoulder blown apart, yet it leaped directly onto another person’s back. Then, with startling agility, it lunged forward...
The doctor stopped struggling before long. Within a few seconds, they stood up again and faced Li Qin.
“Greetings, Chief.”
“@Federation Military Headquarters!! Aah! Their Chief is here!!”
“Take him out!”
“Help! Insects have invaded our planet too! Everyone, lock your doors and windows!”
“Draw the blackout curtains too! Don’t let them see you. Things have already gone crazy in the building across from mine!”
“Help! Why are there insects on Shuomo Star too?!”
“The military is here! I can see starships and mechs. We’re saved!”
“...So the interstellar war really has begun, hasn’t it?”
A swarm of insects quickly gathered around Li Qin, eliminating the soldiers who tried to attack them one by one.
In the livestream, the insects displayed the same skill, intelligence, and vigilance as Federation soldiers. When they reached a slightly more open area, they even deployed mechs...
The appearance of several of those “monsters” left the people of the Federation nearly suffocating.
“They’re fighting with mechs? They can actually use mechs!”
“Oh my God! I haven’t even graduated yet, and the insects are already using mechs?!”
“Humanity is finished... This time, we’re completely finished!”
“How are we supposed to fight that!?”
“Stop spreading despair! We have the military!”
Li Qin stared expressionlessly at the comments scrolling across the screen.
Human psychology was so fragile. All it took was a little fright, and people would surrender automatically.
Wonderful.
“Deputy Director! We can’t shut down the livestream for now. The communications companies have been infiltrated too!”
“...What’s the situation inside the military districts?”
“The First, Second, Third, Sixth, Ninth, and Tenth Military Districts are operating normally. Insects have been discovered inside the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Districts, and the purge is underway!”
“Seal the air routes and send reinforcements at full speed.”
“Yes, sir!”
Li Qin piloted his mech toward the building where the original body was being held. Suddenly, a sharp pain tore through his head.
Someone was using mental power to attack the original body?
Hah. Now? Too late!
Suppressing his fury, he spoke.
“Send two swarms to the coordinates I’m about to give you.”
“Yes.”
The golden eyes visible through the camera no longer made any attempt to conceal themselves. The surrounding insects grew even more ferocious, roaring as they hacked a path forward for him.
Meng Chongyun was gone. Who else could possibly hurt him?
More than a hundred commanders had rushed to the monitoring room in a desperate attempt to kill the Alpha Gold Crown.
Shi Zhixin had also moved there from outside the underground chamber where “Qi Chengyan” was being held.
The mental-power extraction device they had installed last time required only minor modifications to function as a reverse-input device. It allowed the commanders’ mental power to pass through the walls without obstruction, letting them exert it to its fullest.
Even so, after the young man at the very center of the underground chamber twitched once from the initial assault of so many mental attacks, he showed no further reaction.
The monitoring instruments showed that Qi Chengyan’s mental activity, though low, remained on an unbroken straight line. It was as if it had been locked in place. No matter how much pressure the commanders applied, it would not drop any further.
Shi Zhixin anxiously watched the muted exterior surveillance feed and optical-computer livestream, then glanced repeatedly at the instrument displaying the Alpha Gold Crown’s mental-power level.
He poured all his own mental power into the attack as well.
Come on! Hurry up!
“Everyone, give it everything you’ve got!”
Once the insects had obtained weapons, they began blasting indiscriminately. Even though the commanders could no longer hear the livestream playing through Shi Zhixin’s optical computer, they could still hear the distant exchanges of fire outside the underground chamber.
Everyone was frantic. They wanted to finish this as quickly as possible and get outside to help.
But as time passed, Shi Zhixin’s eyes slowly widened.
The line on the screen representing “Qi Chengyan’s” mental power was actually beginning to rise.
The pressure felt by the commanders grew heavier and heavier.
“More insects have joined the attack!”
“...They’ve broken in.”
“Stay alert!”
At last, the young man on the surveillance feed was no longer curled up on the floor.
He planted his left hand against the ground and sat up, scratching his disheveled hair. Then he raised his eyes toward the camera.
“Sorry about this. I have somewhere to be, so I can’t play with you anymore.”
Wen Nanfeng and Xue Jie encountered Li Qin and several other insects piloting mechs at the entrance.
After learning of the insect invasion, filing their reports, and arranging the necessary work at both academies, they had rushed here at the first opportunity.
As expected—
“All units, stop them!”
Xue Jie had not piloted a mech in a long time. Her years of work at the Academy of Sciences had kept her indoors most of the time. On top of that, she was no longer young, and often felt that her strength was failing her.
But her greatest pride was her mental power. Although she had not reached the level of an Ultra-S, few people in the S-rank could rival her.
Wen Nanfeng was much the same, though he had one advantage over Xue Jie: before entering the Isolation and Containment Center, he had at least undergone several years of proper infantry training.
Li Qin nimbly evaded their combined fire. Then he switched his mech’s external speakers on.
“Where is Elizabeth, the one who conducted my mental-power screening today?”
Xue Jie found herself firmly suppressed by the other party’s mental power. She nearly blurted out the location where Elizabeth was hiding.
But the last fragment of her reason made her bite through her own tongue.
“You’ll never find out!”
The mech’s cannons locked onto the insect in front of her.
“Director! Save me!”
A familiar voice suddenly came from nearby.
Was that her assistant?
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Two shells were fired at the same time. Li Qin performed an extreme close-range maneuver, narrowly avoiding a direct hit to his vital points.
The familiar voice instantly became excited.
“Go to hell, Director!”
