Chapter 1177: Chapter 603: Deserters (Part 2)
Here, only Carter had not interacted with Li Ming, his gaze flickering as he continually sized up this "life form with the highest developmental potential in history."
"Barbaro is also about to arrive." Anduin couldn’t help but say, looking at Li Ming with a complex expression, hesitated and asked, "Did your teacher instruct you on anything when he came?"
"No," Li Ming shook his head. "The teacher only told me not to worry and assured all of you as well."
Anduin and Sheffield glanced at each other, feeling quite helpless, a typical Azure Dragon style.
The few of them chatted on and off, seemingly intentionally or for some other reason, without mentioning the upcoming meeting with the allied forces of the Three Great Civilizations.
After waiting for about five days, Barbaro arrived, and another three days later, Sven appeared.
With less than ten days left until the deadline given by the Three Great Civilizations, factoring in their journey to the Chaotic Star Gap, departing now was already somewhat late.
"Why hasn’t Benito arrived yet?" Sven furrowed his brows, staring at the virtual screen, "We can no longer reach the Chaos Core at the agreed location."
"Late is late, do they really mean to not allow us to be late?" Barbaro said in a muffled voice.
Of course, not allowing lateness was nonsense; what the Three Great Civilizations said was just a stance.
At least, the allied forces of the Three Great Civilizations had not yet reached the Chaos Core as well.
They waited another five days, but Benito’s response was always "soon, soon."
Yet, even until the arrival of the allied forces of the Three Great Civilizations at the Chaos Core, Benito had not shown up.
Still, it was Barbaro who, out of impatience, picked up the smart terminal and launched into a tirade at him. Only then did Benito speak the truth, his face helpless and eyes evasive: "Actually, I don’t intend to go."
"You don’t intend to come?" Barbaro was slightly stunned, a sudden anger rising in his heart, he said in a deep voice, "Wasn’t it agreed on from the start?"
"Ah..." Benito sighed, "Don’t blame me, everyone. If we go like this, it would be like marching to our deaths."
"The High-level Life Form Union doesn’t want to help us either, Lord Azure Dragon is probably unable to hold on alone."
Their faces didn’t look good. They had been putting on a brave front, and now someone was backing out, which was like a bucket of cold water poured over them.
Anduin was expressionless, "If you weren’t going to come, you should have said so earlier, saving us from wasting our time."
"Ah..." Benito knew he was in the wrong, and when being criticized, he didn’t have the decency to say anything, explaining:
"I actually have been hesitating, and only just made up my mind."
"Alright, you can leave now, as far away as possible. In the future, there will be no place for you in the Chaotic Star Gap." Anduin’s tone was calm.
"Coward." Barbaro spat fiercely.
"Fool..." Sheffield shook his head.
Looking at their scornful gazes, Benito also felt somewhat ashamed and angry. Through the virtual screen, he was fearless, an evil thought emerging at the edge of his courage, he said coldly: "In the future? Whether there will even be a Chaotic Star Gap..."
Before he could finish speaking, the smart terminal in Barbaro’s hand sparked with an arc, the virtual screen closing, and it was Anduin who made his move.
Once it was confirmed that the Azure Dragon Association would take action, things became less awkward than before.
At the worst, they could defect at the last minute.
Of course, doing so would mean completely offending Azure Dragon.
But Anduin had his own logic, they believed that Azure Dragon had a solution, and that was why they were willing to take the risk.
In the end, if Azure Dragon really couldn’t withstand it, they couldn’t be blamed for defecting.
Having been mingling in interstellar space for so many years, Anduin was long accustomed to betrayal.
However, that was also a last resort, and unless it came to the final step, he didn’t want to do it.
Moreover, defecting wasn’t without downsides, certainly resulting in some means imposed by the Three Great Civilizations.
"Since Benito is unwilling to come, let’s prepare to set off," Anduin said.
"Gentlemen, can we wait a while longer?" Li Ming suddenly spoke up, and they couldn’t help but look at him.
Barbaro half-jokingly, half-seriously teased, "What, are you scared too, kid?"
Li Ming shook his head and chuckled, not responding to Barbaro’s teasing, merely saying: "The teacher hasn’t given me the signal to proceed yet."
"Oh?" The expressions on their faces became subtle.
Sven’s eyes flickered slightly, impatiently asking, "Does Lord Azure Dragon have other preparations?"
Li Ming didn’t answer, only smiled and said: "I hope you all can wait a little longer."
"Then let’s wait a bit longer," Anduin pondered.
They all nodded, but in their hearts, they were speculating what methods Azure Dragon had prepared.
......
At the Chaos Core node, a huge, semi-transparent shield covered the entire node.
Ordinarily, it would have been surrounded by Star Ports spanning tens of thousands of kilometers, empty now, with siphon tunnels still in operation, but where cargo ships should have been docking, only a few dilapidated ships lingered in the magnetic berths.
Warships surrounded the entire core node, seemingly integrated yet distinct, with different styles and exteriors. Various warships protected the flagship, forming a combat unit.
The Federation’s whale-shaped flagships most resembled textbook warships, showcasing the Empire’s substantial heritage. These formal ships over eighty kilometers in length were entirely constructed with advanced metal armor.
The bow’s main ray cannon, capable of piercing through terrestrial planets, at this moment flickered with a faint blue ring of charging patterns.
The Federation’s flagships were more streamlined, with a silver-gray hull covered in nano-scale wave-breaking scales, sporadically appearing spatial folds around them.
What caught the eye the most was the Star Alliance’s fleet, as a composite civilization, having numerous styles of warships, giving off a ragtag vibe.
Among them, some flagships completely overturned traditional ship concepts, covered in bio-armor akin to insect compound eyes, with a thousand tendril-like bio-electromagnetic cannons secreting plasma mucus glowing with green fluorescence.
At the outermost layer of the allied camp gathered a large number of media ships, filming the United Fleet from various angles.
Some estimated that the total number of warships of various styles in this allied force wouldn’t be less than twelve million, enough to sweep through 95% of the civilization in interstellar space, not including the accompanying X Level Life Forms.
The original purpose of the Three Great Civilizations was military intimidation, naturally not intending to block information, but instead, wished for as many people as possible to know.
However, during the process, no information would be allowed to leak prematurely, and only after the action concluded, would these media connect to the outside.
An extremely conspicuous interstellar fortress was situated at the center of the allied forces, with its surface full of honeycomb energy distribution slots. Dark red coolant tubes meandered along the patterns, connecting prismatic gun muzzles, pulsing with purple arcs.
In the central command room, the action commanders of the Three Great Civilizations gathered, with the Three Great Civilizations leaders displayed on the virtual screen before them.
This operation was massive in scale and extremely significant, naturally requiring leader-level figures to oversee the battle personally.
"The time has arrived, but Anduin and the others have not appeared," someone among them said, with a few black streaks on his cheeks, his eyes entirely black with no whites.
Three meters tall, with a burly physique, covered in metallic armor, holding a pale gold long spear exuding a light golden glow that flowed between metallic and energy states, upon closer inspection, one would find numerous special symbols.
At the end were three counterclockwise rotating dark matter star rings, with thorn-like patterns spreading from the grip, penetrating the densely cracked spear body.
Hemod, the Star Alliance’s "Gunman," and also the overall commander of this operation.
The Empire’s high-level life form representative standing next to him spoke in a low voice:
"Earlier secret intelligence suggested that Azure Dragon intends for Anduin and others to come, but the recent high-level life form joint meeting dealt a blow to Azure Dragon’s reputation. Noticing the unfavorable situation, they might abandon coming."
"No rush," Adam on the screen said indifferently, "It’s not that long, let’s give them some more time."
The Star Alliance representative hesitated a bit: "Will Azure Dragon really let Li Ming come and take the risk?"
"I just feel it’s unlikely, like a smokescreen."