Evolution - Chapter 68
Chapter 68
Annoyed as she was, Major General Xie'er never equivocated when it came to official business. She sent a set of coordinates to Adonis.
A major general of her standing needed to maintain a certain image, after all. She had been stationed on Blue Star for a long time and hadn't returned, and the Alliance, seeing she wasn't in a hurry, hadn't immediately provided her with a full complement—including warships, armaments, and personnel.
This time, besides escorting the first batch of Blue Star students to Alliance universities, her main task was to acquire these assets and uphold the prestige befitting a major general.
“There are four warships lying in ambush nearby.” Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit; she never left things to chance. Why fight one-on-one when you could solve things with a group beatdown? That would just be making things difficult for herself.
By the same token, why bother with a direct confrontation when a sneak attack would do the trick? That would be far too exhausting.
A relaxed smile played on Adonis’s lips as he thanked Xie'er with great sincerity. “Thank you.”
If Xie'er hadn't suddenly appeared, the day he finally ended his quest for vengeance might still have been a distant dream.
Xie'er didn't acknowledge his thanks. It wasn't important. It wasn't as if she wanted that bastard dead just to avenge him. Instead, she brought up another matter. “The Alliance’s covert support for you must not be leaked. I’ll keep an eye on the liaison process and try to make sure they assign reliable people.”
She was confident she could manage that; it would just require pulling a few strings.
Adonis looked nonchalant, as if the dangerous, life-threatening business he was about to undertake was nothing more than a trip around the world. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”
On this matter, a simple thank you was not enough. Even if his revenge was complete and life and death no longer mattered to him, Xie'er's arrangements were a gesture of consideration and protection from a friend.
Xie'er fell silent for a moment before speaking slowly. “Once the information on the storage sphere is successfully decrypted, I’ll have someone send you a copy.”
Stirring up trouble within the Empire was one thing with a foundation and quite another without. The assets that nobleman possessed would be best used in Adonis’s hands to cause the Empire a headache.
Adonis turned his face away and mumbled, “Alright, I’m leaving. Xie'er, let's leave it at this. Let's pretend we never knew each other.”
Don't let me drag you down.
Major General Xie'er flew into a rage, slamming her hands on the table. “What more do you want?! This repays you for helping me back then, and that's it!”
Adonis laughed until tears welled in his eyes. He stepped forward and gave Xie'er a big hug. “It seems the most worthwhile deal I ever made in my life was smuggling you out of the Empire.”
Xie'er hugged him back for a second before quickly pushing him away. “Get lost, and don't even think about taking advantage of me!”
Adonis walked to the door and placed his hand on the button to open it. He hesitated, then turned back. “I never told you, Xie'er, you don't owe me for saving your life. After all, you saved my life back then, too.”
If he hadn't chanced upon Xie'er, whose cover had been blown and was being hunted, and hadn't helped her and found a way to smuggle her out of the Empire, things would have been different. They had traveled together for a long time, and Xie'er's grim determination—that her enemies had to die before her—had deeply moved him.
Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have had the spirit to endure, to lie low and patiently eliminate his enemies one by one, like slicing meat with a dull knife.
In a way, Xie'er had saved him, forcibly changing the course of his life. Otherwise, he might have let his pain destroy him, becoming a broken man with no will to fight. Or perhaps his enemies would have assigned him to some dangerous mission, where he would have died quietly.
Major General Xie'er snorted but slowly gave him an Alliance military salute.
Adonis smiled without a sound and slowly returned the salute.
He opened the door and walked out, just like their farewell all those years ago.
Parting today, they would never meet again.
After seeing Adonis off, Xie'er stared into space for a while before refocusing on her official duties.
For her, and for most people, leaving the Imperial warship behind was the easy part of this rescue mission. The truly hair-pulling part was dealing with the aftermath.
For instance, with the incident during the Fourth Military's entrance exam, how should the university respond? How would this year's candidates be admitted? What arrangements would be made for those who were harmed? Dealing with the Alphas who attacked their comrades under the influence of the forbidden drug was relatively simple. But the candidates who lost their lives here, either from the Empire's attack or while protecting their companions, presented a much more complex problem. Should they be posthumously awarded military merit? How would their families be consoled?
The living, whether they were harmed or had harmed others, still had infinite possibilities ahead of them. But the candidates who had fought to the death to protect their comrades, their young lives cut short, weighed heavily on the heart.
They could have had brilliant futures, but an unforeseen accident brought it all to an end. They had fallen before they could even begin to shine.
While Xie'er was deliberating on how to write her rescue report and what recommendations to make, the instructors who had lost contact finally appeared at the finish line in their transport ships.
The instructors gathered and met with Xie'er. After a clear division of labor was established, they all got busy.
Their main responsibility was to gather and reassure the candidates, and to calculate and record the scores for those who had reached the finish line, following the normal examination procedures.
The Fourth Military had not yet decided whether to adjust the admission criteria for this year's entrance exam, or how to adjust it. The latest directive was for the instructors to proceed as normal with the candidates not involved in the incident, and to leave everything else to Major General Xie'er.
They had to wait for Major General Xie'er's rescue report before they could make a final decision on any adjustments to the admissions process.
There were now only 36 hours left until the end of the exam.
Xie'er, having taken on the rescue mission, needed to understand the situation clearly. Her focus was on all the candidates who had participated in the confrontation with the Empire's forces.
Especially the ones who had led the effort.
He Qingping was still on the flagship. Facing Major General Xie'er, he naturally held nothing back, spilling everything he knew and naming all the leading candidates.
When she heard Ji Changqing's name, Major General Xie'er raised an eyebrow.
Oh, so this one was involved too. And from the sound of it, she was the one who organized the whole thing.
As expected of the person Yu Zhiyao has her eye on, she thought. Not a pushover, is she?
With the list in hand, Major General Xie'er had her subordinates send messages to these individuals, ordering them to the finish line as quickly as possible.
The other candidates not involved in the incident would continue the exam as normal. As for this bunch, since they were so focused on military merit points, what was the point of racking up exam scores? They could just get their asses over here!
Ji Changqing's group, the troublemakers in Xie'er's eyes, were all a considerable distance from the finish line. It was impossible for them to appear instantly.
From the moment they received the message, it would take a long time for them to sprint all the way to the end.
So long, in fact, that the Imperial nobleman who thought he had escaped was blown to smithereens in space, and they still hadn't arrived.
At a little past four in the afternoon, Xie'er received a message from the subordinates she had sent for the ambush. They reported that they had successfully destroyed two Imperial warships and sent a video of the two ships exploding into fireworks in space, one after the other.
A rare smile appeared on Xie'er's face.
Adonis was right. She was petty, vengeful, and held a grudge. Did they think they could wreak havoc in the Alliance and then leave in one piece?
They could dream on!
Did they really think she was a pushover?!
By the time Ji Changqing, Gu Changge, and the others sprinted to the finish line and were led aboard the flagship, it was nearly six o'clock.
Gu Changge was buzzing with excitement, urging everyone along the way. Now that they were on the flagship and about to meet the major general, he grew nervous and whispered to Ji Changqing, “Aren't they going to let us wash our faces and tidy up our clothes first?”
Cheng Jian, Weisman, and the others nearly rolled their eyes into the back of their heads.
They were obviously here to report to Major General Xie'er. It was all for military merit points. The sooner they submitted their mission report, the better. Who cared if their stunning good looks had taken a hit?
But apparently, Major General Xie'er wasn't as impatient or heartless as they had imagined. She thoughtfully arranged for someone to lead them to the dining area for a full meal before scheduling the meeting.
Because there were several dozen of them, Xie'er's aide led them to a conference room large enough to accommodate everyone.
The group filed in, sat down obediently, and waited quietly for Major General Xie'er.
When Xie'er entered the conference room, she saw dozens of people, each one sitting there like a picture of perfect obedience.
A group of audacious daredevils, putting on such a well-behaved act for her. A formidable younger generation indeed.
Xie'er maintained a gentle demeanor, neither exposing their pretense nor scolding them for their audacity. After all, for a group of military academy candidates to have performed so well under such circumstances was absolutely commendable.
If they were already cadets, Xie'er would have even wanted to praise them for their decisiveness, effective organization, and competent command.
After all, military cadets had undergone basic training and were all reserve soldiers. They were expected to possess such qualities, as well as the conviction to face challenges head-on, never abandon their comrades, fearlessly face death, and do everything in their power to protect others and achieve victory.
The problem was, they weren't cadets yet.
This was the real reason for Xie'er's anger toward Adonis.
Of course, it was more an anger directed at herself, at the Alliance military.
For any country or political body, sending civilians to face the enemy on the battlefield was a disgrace.
It meant their planetary defenses were fragile, their military useless, unable to protect the civilians behind them.
Especially since this was a training base for the Fourth Military University.
She could already foresee the storm that would soon descend upon this planet's government and defense forces, the Fourth Military, and all the planets and garrisons along the Imperial warships' route.
She spoke very little, offering only a few words of comfort to the candidates present. Her aide was carefully instructing the group on the format for their short essays—that's right, it was impossible to interview each of them personally. Major General Xie'er's approach was simple and direct: she listed out the required sections for the rescue report and had her aide guide the candidates in completing their respective parts.
Since they had experienced it firsthand, all they had to do was summarize and describe the events truthfully according to the points listed.
At most, after they submitted their reports, she would review and revise them until they were presentable.
Ji Changqing, Gu Changge, and the others stayed in the conference room until nearly ten-thirty at night before their essays were finally approved and they were sent off to rest.
Only Xie'er and her aides remained, continuing to work through the night with the compiled materials.
At three in the morning on the seventh day of the Fourth Military's entrance exam, Major General Xie'er's rescue report was finally complete.
“Nearly twelve thousand Imperial soldiers infiltrated. All were annihilated, with no survivors.”
...
“Among the abducted candidates: 4,216 Betas. 3,744 were injured while protecting comrades, and 472 were sacrificed. Their warrior souls live on. It is requested that the fallen be posthumously honored as martyrs and buried with full military honors; the wounded should be awarded military merit.”
“Among the abducted candidates: 4,791 Alphas. 2,578 restrained themselves. 2,497 were injured, and 81 died. The injured may be awarded bonus points at discretion; the families of the deceased should be generously compensated. The remaining 2,213, after being driven into a frenzy by the drug, attacked their comrades, injuring 1,871. They should be handed over to the judiciary for their actions and permanently stripped of their eligibility for military or government service. 342 died, a deserved fate.”
“Among the abducted candidates: 2,863 Omegas. 739 were injured, and 17 died. The rest are unharmed. One successfully escaped and secured rescue, and should be commended.”
...
“Ji Changqing, Gu Changge, He Qingping, and others organized over ten thousand candidates, annihilated a thousand-strong band of space pirates, and actively rescued their comrades from enemy hands. They should be awarded military merit.”
Attached was a very, very long list of names—all those who had participated in annihilating the space pirate group and in the rescue efforts.
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