Another suicide...
General Paige's face was ashen. He personally pried open Li Qin's cockpit and inspected it carefully.
The person inside was completely dead, and there was no worm in his brain.
After his last breath, Li Qin's eyes quickly returned to their original color, and even now, traces of tears remained on his face.
"Leave the rest to us."
He closed the eyelids with one hand.
"All squad members, continue wiping out the alien insects, evacuate the survivors from the institute, and find the Alpha Gold Crown!"
"Yes!"
After placing Li Qin back in the cockpit, General Paige immediately called his daughter.
"Elizabeth, send me your coordinates. We need you to assist with screening during the follow-up survivor evacuation."
"Copy that!"
"Qi Chengyan" finally withdrew all of his mental energy.
Now no one could suppress him at will anymore, and he no longer needed to maintain two bodies acting like a normal person at the same time.
"Phew~"
He let out a relaxed sigh, then manipulated his mech to lock onto the wall ahead.
There were more than a dozen military star-ships and aircraft parked outside the back door for reinforcement. He only needed to hijack a portion of them.
The mental strength of every Federation soldier he had encountered along the way paled in comparison to his. All he had to do was guide them slightly and stay out of the mech scanners' range, and he could pass without drawing anyone's attention.
The back door of the Quarantine Control Center was heavily fortified, outfitted with all sorts of technological measures. He couldn't be bothered to deal with them one by one—breaking through the wall would be far quicker.
Having observed so many days through Li Qin's eyes, he knew well the importance of the phrase "strike fast and decisively."
He was on enemy turf now. The most important thing was to get out as quickly as possible.
The high-ranking Alpha alien insects around him didn't even need verbal communication to understand their leader's intent. Countless artillery shells blasted toward the wall ahead.
"BOOM—"
As the wall was blown open into a massive gap, the high-ranking insects' mental energy pressed down like a torrent. The soldiers guarding the aircraft didn't even have a chance to raise an alarm...
"Qi Chengyan" had already noticed that this batch of soldiers had more sophisticated mechs than before, so he didn't waste time having his subordinates break into the mechs and parasite them on the spot. Instead, he grabbed a few people at random and boarded the star-ship without looking back.
"Let's go."
By the time the commotion at the Quarantine Control Center was brought under control, several military reinforcement squads still hadn't found any trace of the Alpha Gold Crown.
It wasn't until the Second Military District's colonel realized he couldn't reach the troops left behind that he knew something was wrong. When he rushed to the back parking area, the vehicles were gone without a trace, and the ground was littered with their soldiers...
But they couldn't stop now. The primary mission of this visit to Tianshu Star was to support all the major centers and save as many civilians and researchers as possible.
There was still follow-up work to be done after the Quarantine Control Center, and the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medicine were also waiting for them.
There were no spare hands to go in pursuit at the moment, so they could only report the situation upward. The action couldn't pause for even a moment.
Elizabeth had already been pulled out of Room 103 by General Paige and was stationed at the main entrance, protected by several squads, conducting screening work.
Her mental energy was nearly depleted by now, but even as her lips beneath the isolation mask turned as pale as paper, she refused to stop.
So many soldiers had given their lives—even the two institute directors and Teacher Shi... She hadn't been able to help in any meaningful way. What right did she have to rest?
General Paige saw everything.
Comrades falling in battle was almost a rite of passage that every Federation soldier had to face.
Though he knew it was cruel to make his daughter face reality so soon, he was genuinely afraid...
Neither the Federation nor himself could be certain how much longer they could shield these young people from the storm.
If their rate of growth couldn't keep up, under the dual threat of the Alpha insects and the Star Beasts, how much hope was left for their future?
As soldiers, the most important thing was to suppress emotion in critical moments and complete the mission.
Once the spirit collapsed, that was truly the end of all hope...
Deputy Minister Guo Hongfan kept watch in the military's central command room, constantly refreshing the briefings.
The insect uprisings across the Federation's major planets were mostly under control.
Aside from Tianshu Star, the insects attacking other planets were mostly ordinary riffraff—hardly any Alphas in sight.
Even when an Alpha did show up, it was just a cameo before slipping away quickly.
The high-ranking ones had virtually all gathered at the Quarantine Control Center and the Federal Academy of Sciences, and those were also the two places suffering the heaviest casualties...
This insect invasion had truly caught the Federation off guard.
Their speed and scale made it obvious that this had been planned for a long time.
However, it was fortunate that they had noticed the birds and beasts acting strangely two days earlier and made some preparations, which was why the follow-up support and cleanup could proceed so smoothly...
The Alpha Gold Crown had left Tianshu Star after seizing the Second Military District's aircraft and star-ships, and then the star-ship's signal vanished entirely...
Aside from Shi Zhixin, they had also parasitized quite a few engineers and mech specialists. That really was a headache-inducing development.
Just as he was pondering this, Meng Chongyun called him.
"Commander!!"
On the other end of the screen, Meng Chongyun had just finished combat and returned to his star-ship, his entire face showing an unnatural pallor.
There had been over a dozen high-ranking Alphas arranged on those star-ships too—they really thought highly of him.
"Thank goodness you're alright!"
Guo Hongfan's suspended heart finally landed.
"How is it? Do you need reinforcements?"
"No need. Let them head back. We're already on our return course.
We rescued a total of two hundred seventy-six hostages, and all have been screened. None were parasitized."
Meng Chongyun's voice was hoarse.
"I've received the battle report. Xue Jie, Wen Nanfeng, and Xiao Shi, all of them... they're gone."
Guo Hongfan was silent for a long moment. Meng Chongyun was quiet for a while, too.
"The star-ship will reach Tianshu Star in about an hour. We'll hold a meeting once we arrive."
"Yes."
No sooner had they ended the call than both received the news of the insect leader's livestream.
Opening the link sent by subordinates, there it was: that familiar face...
"Qi Chengyan" had already changed clothes and seemed to have even taken a shower, sitting comfortably in the star-ship's lounge.
The surroundings were all sealed off, not a glimpse of the outside world—impossible to tell where they were.
"Two thousand-plus people online? That's about enough."
Feng Yi, who was doing cleanup work at the Ninth Military District, glanced at the screen of a bystander's optical computer and froze when he saw that face.
"...Brother Qi?"
How can it be you!?
"So, how did you all enjoy today's appetizer?
If anyone from the military watching this could relay a message to Commander Meng Chongyun: my visit to Tianshu Star this time was truly delightful.
Well then, see you next time? Trust me—Alphas won't keep you waiting too long."
The young man in the screen crossed his legs and propped his cheek on his right hand.
"The full-scale war is about to begin. I do hope you won't be as flustered as you were today."
