Chapter 92.2
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The mecha landed, and Qiao Zhiya rushed out of the cockpit, heading straight for the trunk as thick as a wall. Fearless of pain, he rubbed his face against the rough bark, then placed his hands on the tree and closed his eyes.
Chu Rong stepped down after him, his face dark as he stood guard by his side. His gaze fell on Qiao Zhiya’s slightly flushed cheeks, and he reached out to touch them, only to be swatted away by the closed-eyed Qiao Zhiya, which made his face even darker.
The wood-elemental magic gradually penetrated into the trunk of the tree. Soon, a gentle magic responded to him, wrapping him tenderly and carrying his power towards the bottom of the tree, passing through the roots and seeping into the soil.
Qiao Zhiya’s ears happily twitched. He obediently followed the power until he touched the ground.
The root system of the ancient tree was very developed, and it stretched freely under the ground, interweaving into a web of net.
He tried to pour his magic into the ancient tree. As a feedback, he was bombarded by many wonderful “sights”.
Everything on this planet was laid out before him without any concealment: the small animals making nests at the roots, the birds flying through the woods, the breeze blowing leaves, the ripe fruits falling, the tender shoots emerging after the rain, the clear streams flowing after the ice thaw… He could even see the cute little animals digging holes on the other side of the planet.
It’s amazing, it feels like he has become the planet itself, and he can clearly know the trajectory of all the living creatures on the planet. Then he found himself seeing himself and Chu Rong.
He “saw” his body closing his eyes, one hand raised against the trunk. Chu Rong stood beside him with a frown, raising his hands in the air, looking distressed.
The sensation was too novel for him to resist. He couldn’t help but approach and circle around Chu Rong’s hand raised in mid-air. Then, Chu Rong suddenly clenched his fist and turned his head to look accurately at him. Surprised, the scene vanished, and he found himself back in the underground landscape.
‘Was that the scenery that the ancient tree could see?’ He wondered. Just as he pondered, the power guiding him suddenly halted, swirling around a section of roots. He snapped out of it, quickly focusing his attention in that direction, and then froze.
Green. All he could see was swaths of green.
The location where the ancient tree’s power lingered turned out to be a vast expanse of naturally formed wood-elemental magic stones. They were settled together, almost completely occupying the underground, obstructing the ancient tree’s roots from extending and absorbing nutrients.
“Their growth is too vigorous,” a blurry, elderly voice sounded, carrying a hint of helplessness and indulgent affection, as if dealing with mischievous children. “I nurtured them, but they have begun to affect the lives of other children. Please help me clean them up, if you would.”
A gentle breeze brushed his face, and Qiao Zhiya suddenly snapped out of his daze. He blinked for a few seconds, then turned to Chu Rong, who was frowning at his palm, and threw himself into Chu Rong’s arms. Looking up at him with shining eyes, he said, “Chu Rong, if I’m going to repair the flagship, I’ll need to learn the basic structure of a flagship first. It might take some time…”
Chu Rong came back to himself, suppressing the strange familiar feeling he had just experienced, and reassured him, “It’s okay. I have repair plans from the flagship repair team here. There are detailed diagrams for the fabrication and installation of all the parts that need to be replaced. It shouldn’t be too difficult. We just couldn’t repair the flagship before because we couldn’t find the materials. I’ll help you too, so don’t worry.”
Qiao Zhiya hesitated for a moment, glanced around nervously, and then softly requested, “Um, could we spare some time to help Elder Tree-xiansheng solve a little problem before I get familiar with those installation diagrams?”
Chu Rong squinted, reached out to grab his ear, and replied, “Helping out is fine. Repairing a flagship is a big project and not urgent for the moment, but… no beating around the bush. Speak honestly.”
“There are a lot of emerald jades under Elder Tree-xiansheng! Super many! It should have formed into a vein by now! They’re blocking his root growth. Let’s dig them out!” Qiao Zhiya immediately confessed, nearly jumping for joy. “There really are so many emerald jades! So many! Elder Tree-xiansheng said he could give them to me, so you won’t have to spend money buying jades for me anymore!” He wouldn’t have to bankrupt Chu Rong’s family again!
Jade?
After hearing his explanation, Chu Rong glanced at the ground under his feet, and looked at Qiao Zhiya’s vivid joy, and nodded.
In the Federation.
With no further appearances of the Zergs, the public’s panic gradually subsided. Instead, more attention was directed towards the missing Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya, and messages praying for their safety flooded the Starnet.
It was probably Chu Huai’s behavior of claiming illness and avoiding visitors, along with the Chu family’s frantic search for Chu Rong, that gave the President a false impression. Suddenly, he became high-profile again, ostensibly under the guise of helping the Chu family but actually aiming to undermine Chu Rong’s military power.
In this matter, the Xiang and Wei families, along with another neutral marshal, showed a high degree of consistency by jointly rejecting his “well-intentioned” proposal. The You family remained neutral and did not take a stance.
Finally, Yuan Xiu’s father Yuan Lie stepped forward to temporarily take over Chu Rong’s daily work, while military authority was left to Chu Rong’s subordinates such as Fan Xiangnan. The other families could only oversee matters without intervening.
So, after a few more days passed, the Zerg still hadn’t appeared, and the populace gradually set aside their worries. Some even began to speculate optimistically that perhaps the next peaceful decade was about to arrive.
At the latest session of the parliamentary meeting, Xiang Lingyun suddenly stood up, stating that the presidential election could not be indefinitely postponed. Since the Zerg hadn’t reappeared, he argued that the matter should be put back on the agenda.
Seated at the upper dais, Long Ruifeng’s face darkened at his proposal, but he managed to maintain his composure. He acknowledged that it was indeed necessary to address the issue but emphasized the importance of extending martial law for the sake of public safety.
Xiang Lingyun didn’t budge. He immediately asked him how long he was going to impose martial law.
The vassals of the Xiang family immediately followed his inquiries, and so was the Wei family. Eventually, some other scattered forces began to urge Long Ruifeng with the same proposal.
In the end, Long Ruifeng reluctantly agreed to a one-week deadline, stipulating that if the Zerg did not reappear within that time frame, martial law would be lifted, and the presidential election would resume its schedule.
After learning about this, Chu Huai sneered. He still planned to not cancel his sick leave. He just watched the show from the side.
Previously, the Xiang family had struck a deal with the Chu family regarding military authority. Now, since they want to capitalize on Chu Rong’s disappearance and his “illness” to vie for the presidential position, let them go ahead. He wanted to see what kind of situation Xiang Lingyun and Long Ruifeng, who suddenly became outspoken and dared to reach out to the Chu family, would stir up.
On the other side, on the primitive planet, Qiao Zhiya multitasked, familiarizing himself with the repair schematics of the flagship while directing Chu Rong to operate the mecha for digging underground. Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, they approached the emerald jade vein that troubled the roots of the ancient tree.
He immediately signaled for Chu Rong to stop the mecha and climbed out of the cockpit to retrieve a small hammer to personally investigate the situation. The ancient tree had grown for too long, and its roots were intricately tangled. They had to be extremely careful to avoid harming the roots of the ancient tree.
Chu Rong stepped forward with a frown. He glanced up at the top of the dim pit, pressed down his worry about the situation back home, and stepped forward to help.
A week flashed by, and a new parliamentary meeting was held. Xiang Lingyun was smiling and well-informed. Long Ruifeng’s expression actually looked pretty good, and his composure was pretty calm, too.
“That’s settled then, let’s resume the presidential elections. Hopefully, Chairman Chu’s health has improved.” Long Ruifeng decisively hammered down on the matter, feigning concern for Chu Huai’s well-being and subtly challenging Xiang Lingyun. He waved his hand, about to adjourn the meeting, when an urgent communication interrupted.
The expressions of all the members present changed instantly. A communication that could directly dial in like this, with such an urgent tone, could only mean one thing.
“President! The Zerg have appeared near the D18 planet border! A lot of them! They’ve formed a Zerg tide! They are approaching the first line of the space defense fortress of the planet! Requesting reinforcements!”
The urgent and fearful report echoed through the entire conference room like a roaring shout. Long Ruifeng quickly responded, standing up and saying, “Immediately activate Level 1 Alert! Notify the public not to wander the streets! I’ll arrange for reinforcements right away!”
“Yes!”
The communication ended, and Long Ruifeng glanced at everyone in the conference room again, asking, “Now, I request that the presidential election be further postponed. Any objections?”
Everyone looked at each other, all of them remained silent.
Xiang Lingyun frowned and didn’t speak.
This Zerg tide is not like others; it must be treated with extra caution.
Seeing them silent, Long Ruifeng turned and left, and began to contact the troops stationed near the planet D18.
This Zerg tide seems to be a signal of impending crisis. Soon, news of the Zerg tide’s appearance also came from the Empire, and panic began to spread. All planets once again imposed martial law, and this time, the measures were even more stringent than before.
The first wave, the second wave, the third wave… Zerg appeared like bamboo shoots after the rain. They formed a tide that directly threatened the outer planets of the two civilizations. The battle lines were quickly drawn, and then, soon after, another dreadful piece of news came through.
“Some of the Zergs can release a neural wave that interferes with spiritual powers, similar to what happened to those competitors that day. Anyone exposed to the Zerg neural wave will be unable to use their spiritual power; furthermore, they’ll suffer from severe headaches and physical paralysis if they try to move. Right now, the military can only engage the Zerg from afar while staying inside a battleship. Patrol teams on the planets can only carry firearms that don’t require spiritual power to use for self-defense. Mechas are completely ineffective.”
Fan Xiangnan reported, lips drawn into a tight frown.
They were all aware of the truth: the Zergs appearing this time were all artificial monsters, completely fake. He couldn’t fathom the level of madness required for someone to artificially create such creatures and even devise neural waves specifically targeting human spiritual powers.
Chu Huai’s expression was grim as he asked, “Can this neural waves attack be blocked?”
“It can be blocked, but it’s unstable, so it’s not advisable to use,” replied Fan Xiangnan, shaking his head. After a pause, he suddenly added, “Master Ren passed me a message a couple of days ago, saying that the research on the artificial cultivation of alien beasts tendons has yielded results and we can proceed to the next stage of research anytime. Also, there’s a preliminary draft for a new type of mecha designed based on Qiao’s “Elf”. Once we finalize some details, we can start producing the first batch of manually-piloted mechas.”
This was what Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya have been working hard on, and now it seemed that the results were about to be achieved. Moreover, these results happen to be able to counter the fake Zergs with harmful neural waves, but the outcome…
The atmosphere in the study became heavier. It had been over half a month, and there was still no news from Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya. The stable emotions everyone had maintained began to turn anxious.
“Go and invite Master Shang. Ask him to assist Master Ren in finalizing the initial version of the manually-piloted mechas, and begin production of the artificial alien beast tendon and veins as well. It’s better to be prepared. Also, those squads that were previously reassigned to familiarize themselves with ancient martial combat should intensify their training again.” Chu Huai quickly shifted his focus from turbulent emotions and issued these instructions. After a moment of thought, he added, “Arrange for someone to investigate Long Ruifeng. The timing of this recent appearance of this Zerg tide is too coincidental. He must be involved somehow.”
First, the Zerg appeared during a live broadcast event on the entire Starnet. On top of that, they appeared in an event with many people with special identities, such as the Imperial Third Prince, the fiancé of the Federation’s Marshal, and the Marshal’s younger brother, which only exacerbated the panic-stricken atmosphere.
Then Chu Rong and Qiao coincidentally disappeared in public. The Chu family was immediately hit. Then, with their “protector” disappeared, the public would certainly be more panicked and their confidence in the Chu family would be greatly reduced.
After that, the presidential election was suspended indefinitely, trying to divide the Chu family’s military power. After the Xiang family finally able to put the election back on agenda, the Zergs oh-so-coincidentally reappeared.
Moreover, the current wave of Zerg appeared near the D18 planet where the forces of the You family were stationed, and the nearest planet to D18 – that is, planet D05 – was where the forces of the Ning family were stationed. The Chu family had no chance to intervene, and the situation was interconnected.
‘—Wait a moment, the Ning family?’
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The mecha landed, and Qiao Zhiya rushed out of the cockpit, heading straight for the trunk as thick as a wall. Fearless of pain, he rubbed his face against the rough bark, then placed his hands on the tree and closed his eyes.
Chu Rong stepped down after him, his face dark as he stood guard by his side. His gaze fell on Qiao Zhiya’s slightly flushed cheeks, and he reached out to touch them, only to be swatted away by the closed-eyed Qiao Zhiya, which made his face even darker.
The wood-elemental magic gradually penetrated into the trunk of the tree. Soon, a gentle magic responded to him, wrapping him tenderly and carrying his power towards the bottom of the tree, passing through the roots and seeping into the soil.
Qiao Zhiya’s ears happily twitched. He obediently followed the power until he touched the ground.
The root system of the ancient tree was very developed, and it stretched freely under the ground, interweaving into a web of net.
He tried to pour his magic into the ancient tree. As a feedback, he was bombarded by many wonderful “sights”.
Everything on this planet was laid out before him without any concealment: the small animals making nests at the roots, the birds flying through the woods, the breeze blowing leaves, the ripe fruits falling, the tender shoots emerging after the rain, the clear streams flowing after the ice thaw… He could even see the cute little animals digging holes on the other side of the planet.
It’s amazing, it feels like he has become the planet itself, and he can clearly know the trajectory of all the living creatures on the planet. Then he found himself seeing himself and Chu Rong.
He “saw” his body closing his eyes, one hand raised against the trunk. Chu Rong stood beside him with a frown, raising his hands in the air, looking distressed.
The sensation was too novel for him to resist. He couldn’t help but approach and circle around Chu Rong’s hand raised in mid-air. Then, Chu Rong suddenly clenched his fist and turned his head to look accurately at him. Surprised, the scene vanished, and he found himself back in the underground landscape.
‘Was that the scenery that the ancient tree could see?’ He wondered. Just as he pondered, the power guiding him suddenly halted, swirling around a section of roots. He snapped out of it, quickly focusing his attention in that direction, and then froze.
Green. All he could see was swaths of green.
The location where the ancient tree’s power lingered turned out to be a vast expanse of naturally formed wood-elemental magic stones. They were settled together, almost completely occupying the underground, obstructing the ancient tree’s roots from extending and absorbing nutrients.
“Their growth is too vigorous,” a blurry, elderly voice sounded, carrying a hint of helplessness and indulgent affection, as if dealing with mischievous children. “I nurtured them, but they have begun to affect the lives of other children. Please help me clean them up, if you would.”
A gentle breeze brushed his face, and Qiao Zhiya suddenly snapped out of his daze. He blinked for a few seconds, then turned to Chu Rong, who was frowning at his palm, and threw himself into Chu Rong’s arms. Looking up at him with shining eyes, he said, “Chu Rong, if I’m going to repair the flagship, I’ll need to learn the basic structure of a flagship first. It might take some time…”
Chu Rong came back to himself, suppressing the strange familiar feeling he had just experienced, and reassured him, “It’s okay. I have repair plans from the flagship repair team here. There are detailed diagrams for the fabrication and installation of all the parts that need to be replaced. It shouldn’t be too difficult. We just couldn’t repair the flagship before because we couldn’t find the materials. I’ll help you too, so don’t worry.”
Qiao Zhiya hesitated for a moment, glanced around nervously, and then softly requested, “Um, could we spare some time to help Elder Tree-xiansheng solve a little problem before I get familiar with those installation diagrams?”
Chu Rong squinted, reached out to grab his ear, and replied, “Helping out is fine. Repairing a flagship is a big project and not urgent for the moment, but… no beating around the bush. Speak honestly.”
“There are a lot of emerald jades under Elder Tree-xiansheng! Super many! It should have formed into a vein by now! They’re blocking his root growth. Let’s dig them out!” Qiao Zhiya immediately confessed, nearly jumping for joy. “There really are so many emerald jades! So many! Elder Tree-xiansheng said he could give them to me, so you won’t have to spend money buying jades for me anymore!” He wouldn’t have to bankrupt Chu Rong’s family again!
Jade?
After hearing his explanation, Chu Rong glanced at the ground under his feet, and looked at Qiao Zhiya’s vivid joy, and nodded.
In the Federation.
With no further appearances of the Zergs, the public’s panic gradually subsided. Instead, more attention was directed towards the missing Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya, and messages praying for their safety flooded the Starnet.
It was probably Chu Huai’s behavior of claiming illness and avoiding visitors, along with the Chu family’s frantic search for Chu Rong, that gave the President a false impression. Suddenly, he became high-profile again, ostensibly under the guise of helping the Chu family but actually aiming to undermine Chu Rong’s military power.
In this matter, the Xiang and Wei families, along with another neutral marshal, showed a high degree of consistency by jointly rejecting his “well-intentioned” proposal. The You family remained neutral and did not take a stance.
Finally, Yuan Xiu’s father Yuan Lie stepped forward to temporarily take over Chu Rong’s daily work, while military authority was left to Chu Rong’s subordinates such as Fan Xiangnan. The other families could only oversee matters without intervening.
So, after a few more days passed, the Zerg still hadn’t appeared, and the populace gradually set aside their worries. Some even began to speculate optimistically that perhaps the next peaceful decade was about to arrive.
At the latest session of the parliamentary meeting, Xiang Lingyun suddenly stood up, stating that the presidential election could not be indefinitely postponed. Since the Zerg hadn’t reappeared, he argued that the matter should be put back on the agenda.
Seated at the upper dais, Long Ruifeng’s face darkened at his proposal, but he managed to maintain his composure. He acknowledged that it was indeed necessary to address the issue but emphasized the importance of extending martial law for the sake of public safety.
Xiang Lingyun didn’t budge. He immediately asked him how long he was going to impose martial law.
The vassals of the Xiang family immediately followed his inquiries, and so was the Wei family. Eventually, some other scattered forces began to urge Long Ruifeng with the same proposal.
In the end, Long Ruifeng reluctantly agreed to a one-week deadline, stipulating that if the Zerg did not reappear within that time frame, martial law would be lifted, and the presidential election would resume its schedule.
After learning about this, Chu Huai sneered. He still planned to not cancel his sick leave. He just watched the show from the side.
Previously, the Xiang family had struck a deal with the Chu family regarding military authority. Now, since they want to capitalize on Chu Rong’s disappearance and his “illness” to vie for the presidential position, let them go ahead. He wanted to see what kind of situation Xiang Lingyun and Long Ruifeng, who suddenly became outspoken and dared to reach out to the Chu family, would stir up.
On the other side, on the primitive planet, Qiao Zhiya multitasked, familiarizing himself with the repair schematics of the flagship while directing Chu Rong to operate the mecha for digging underground. Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, they approached the emerald jade vein that troubled the roots of the ancient tree.
He immediately signaled for Chu Rong to stop the mecha and climbed out of the cockpit to retrieve a small hammer to personally investigate the situation. The ancient tree had grown for too long, and its roots were intricately tangled. They had to be extremely careful to avoid harming the roots of the ancient tree.
Chu Rong stepped forward with a frown. He glanced up at the top of the dim pit, pressed down his worry about the situation back home, and stepped forward to help.
A week flashed by, and a new parliamentary meeting was held. Xiang Lingyun was smiling and well-informed. Long Ruifeng’s expression actually looked pretty good, and his composure was pretty calm, too.
“That’s settled then, let’s resume the presidential elections. Hopefully, Chairman Chu’s health has improved.” Long Ruifeng decisively hammered down on the matter, feigning concern for Chu Huai’s well-being and subtly challenging Xiang Lingyun. He waved his hand, about to adjourn the meeting, when an urgent communication interrupted.
The expressions of all the members present changed instantly. A communication that could directly dial in like this, with such an urgent tone, could only mean one thing.
“President! The Zerg have appeared near the D18 planet border! A lot of them! They’ve formed a Zerg tide! They are approaching the first line of the space defense fortress of the planet! Requesting reinforcements!”
The urgent and fearful report echoed through the entire conference room like a roaring shout. Long Ruifeng quickly responded, standing up and saying, “Immediately activate Level 1 Alert! Notify the public not to wander the streets! I’ll arrange for reinforcements right away!”
“Yes!”
The communication ended, and Long Ruifeng glanced at everyone in the conference room again, asking, “Now, I request that the presidential election be further postponed. Any objections?”
Everyone looked at each other, all of them remained silent.
Xiang Lingyun frowned and didn’t speak.
This Zerg tide is not like others; it must be treated with extra caution.
Seeing them silent, Long Ruifeng turned and left, and began to contact the troops stationed near the planet D18.
This Zerg tide seems to be a signal of impending crisis. Soon, news of the Zerg tide’s appearance also came from the Empire, and panic began to spread. All planets once again imposed martial law, and this time, the measures were even more stringent than before.
The first wave, the second wave, the third wave… Zerg appeared like bamboo shoots after the rain. They formed a tide that directly threatened the outer planets of the two civilizations. The battle lines were quickly drawn, and then, soon after, another dreadful piece of news came through.
“Some of the Zergs can release a neural wave that interferes with spiritual powers, similar to what happened to those competitors that day. Anyone exposed to the Zerg neural wave will be unable to use their spiritual power; furthermore, they’ll suffer from severe headaches and physical paralysis if they try to move. Right now, the military can only engage the Zerg from afar while staying inside a battleship. Patrol teams on the planets can only carry firearms that don’t require spiritual power to use for self-defense. Mechas are completely ineffective.”
Fan Xiangnan reported, lips drawn into a tight frown.
They were all aware of the truth: the Zergs appearing this time were all artificial monsters, completely fake. He couldn’t fathom the level of madness required for someone to artificially create such creatures and even devise neural waves specifically targeting human spiritual powers.
Chu Huai’s expression was grim as he asked, “Can this neural waves attack be blocked?”
“It can be blocked, but it’s unstable, so it’s not advisable to use,” replied Fan Xiangnan, shaking his head. After a pause, he suddenly added, “Master Ren passed me a message a couple of days ago, saying that the research on the artificial cultivation of alien beasts tendons has yielded results and we can proceed to the next stage of research anytime. Also, there’s a preliminary draft for a new type of mecha designed based on Qiao’s “Elf”. Once we finalize some details, we can start producing the first batch of manually-piloted mechas.”
This was what Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya have been working hard on, and now it seemed that the results were about to be achieved. Moreover, these results happen to be able to counter the fake Zergs with harmful neural waves, but the outcome…
The atmosphere in the study became heavier. It had been over half a month, and there was still no news from Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya. The stable emotions everyone had maintained began to turn anxious.
“Go and invite Master Shang. Ask him to assist Master Ren in finalizing the initial version of the manually-piloted mechas, and begin production of the artificial alien beast tendon and veins as well. It’s better to be prepared. Also, those squads that were previously reassigned to familiarize themselves with ancient martial combat should intensify their training again.” Chu Huai quickly shifted his focus from turbulent emotions and issued these instructions. After a moment of thought, he added, “Arrange for someone to investigate Long Ruifeng. The timing of this recent appearance of this Zerg tide is too coincidental. He must be involved somehow.”
First, the Zerg appeared during a live broadcast event on the entire Starnet. On top of that, they appeared in an event with many people with special identities, such as the Imperial Third Prince, the fiancé of the Federation’s Marshal, and the Marshal’s younger brother, which only exacerbated the panic-stricken atmosphere.
Then Chu Rong and Qiao coincidentally disappeared in public. The Chu family was immediately hit. Then, with their “protector” disappeared, the public would certainly be more panicked and their confidence in the Chu family would be greatly reduced.
After that, the presidential election was suspended indefinitely, trying to divide the Chu family’s military power. After the Xiang family finally able to put the election back on agenda, the Zergs oh-so-coincidentally reappeared.
Moreover, the current wave of Zerg appeared near the D18 planet where the forces of the You family were stationed, and the nearest planet to D18 – that is, planet D05 – was where the forces of the Ning family were stationed. The Chu family had no chance to intervene, and the situation was interconnected.
‘—Wait a moment, the Ning family?’
The mecha landed, and Qiao Zhiya rushed out of the cockpit, heading straight for the trunk as thick as a wall. Fearless of pain, he rubbed his face against the rough bark, then placed his hands on the tree and closed his eyes.Chu Rong stepped down after him, his face dark as he stood guard by his side. His gaze fell on Qiao Zhiya's slightly flushed cheeks, and he reached out to touch them, only to be swatted away by the closed-eyed Qiao Zhiya, which made his face even darker.The wood-elemental magic gradually penetrated into the trunk of the tree. Soon, a gentle magic responded to him, wrapping him tenderly and carrying his power towards the bottom of the tree, passing through the roots and seeping into the soil.Qiao Zhiya's ears happily twitched. He obediently followed the power until he touched the ground.The root system of the ancient tree was very developed, and it stretched freely under the ground, interweaving into a web of net.He tried to pour his magic into the ancient tree. As a feedback, he was bombarded by many wonderful sights.Everything on this planet was laid out before him without any concealment: the small animals making nests at the roots, the birds flying through the woods, the breeze blowing leaves, the ripe fruits falling, the tender shoots emerging after the rain, the clear streams flowing after the ice thaw He could even see the cute little animals digging holes on the other side of the planet.It's amazing, it feels like he has become the planet itself, and he can clearly know the trajectory of all the living creatures on the planet. Then he found himself seeing himself and Chu Rong.He saw his body closing his eyes, one hand raised against the trunk. Chu Rong stood beside him with a frown, raising his hands in the air, looking distressed.The sensation was too novel for him to resist. He couldn't help but approach and circle around Chu Rong's hand raised in mid-air. Then, Chu Rong suddenly clenched his fist and turned his head to look accurately at him. Surprised, the scene vanished, and he found himself back in the underground landscape.Was that the scenery that the ancient tree could see?' He wondered. Just as he pondered, the power guiding him suddenly halted, swirling around a section of roots. He snapped out of it, quickly focusing his attention in that direction, and then froze.Green. All he could see was swaths of green.The location where the ancient tree's power lingered turned out to be a vast expanse of naturally formed wood-elemental magic stones. They were settled together, almost completely occupying the underground, obstructing the ancient tree's roots from extending and absorbing nutrients.Their growth is too vigorous, a blurry, elderly voice sounded, carrying a hint of helplessness and indulgent affection, as if dealing with mischievous children. I nurtured them, but they have begun to affect the lives of other children. Please help me clean them up, if you would.A gentle breeze brushed his face, and Qiao Zhiya suddenly snapped out of his daze. He blinked for a few seconds, then turned to Chu Rong, who was frowning at his palm, and threw himself into Chu Rong's arms. Looking up at him with shining eyes, he said, Chu Rong, if I'm going to repair the flagship, I'll need to learn the basic structure of a flagship first. It might take some timeChu Rong came back to himself, suppressing the strange familiar feeling he had just experienced, and reassured him, It's okay. I have repair plans from the flagship repair team here. There are detailed diagrams for the fabrication and installation of all the parts that need to be replaced. It shouldn't be too difficult. We just couldn't repair the flagship before because we couldn't find the materials. I'll help you too, so don't worry.Qiao Zhiya hesitated for a moment, glanced around nervously, and then softly requested, Um, could we spare some time to help Elder Tree-xiansheng solve a little problem before I get familiar with those installation diagrams?Chu Rong squinted, reached out to grab his ear, and replied, Helping out is fine. Repairing a flagship is a big project and not urgent for the moment, but no beating around the bush. Speak honestly.There are a lot of emerald jades under Elder Tree-xiansheng! Super many! It should have formed into a vein by now! They're blocking his root growth. Let's dig them out! Qiao Zhiya immediately confessed, nearly jumping for joy. There really are so many emerald jades! So many! Elder Tree-xiansheng said he could give them to me, so you won't have to spend money buying jades for me anymore! He wouldn't have to bankrupt Chu Rong's family again!Jade?After hearing his explanation, Chu Rong glanced at the ground under his feet, and looked at Qiao Zhiya's vivid joy, and nodded.In the Federation.With no further appearances of the Zergs, the public's panic gradually subsided. Instead, more attention was directed towards the missing Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya, and messages praying for their safety flooded the Starnet.It was probably Chu Huai's behavior of claiming illness and avoiding visitors, along with the Chu family's frantic search for Chu Rong, that gave the President a false impression. Suddenly, he became high-profile again, ostensibly under the guise of helping the Chu family but actually aiming to undermine Chu Rong's military power.In this matter, the Xiang and Wei families, along with another neutral marshal, showed a high degree of consistency by jointly rejecting his well-intentioned proposal. The You family remained neutral and did not take a stance.Finally, Yuan Xiu's father Yuan Lie stepped forward to temporarily take over Chu Rong's daily work, while military authority was left to Chu Rong's subordinates such as Fan Xiangnan. The other families could only oversee matters without intervening.So, after a few more days passed, the Zerg still hadn't appeared, and the populace gradually set aside their worries. Some even began to speculate optimistically that perhaps the next peaceful decade was about to arrive.At the latest session of the parliamentary meeting, Xiang Lingyun suddenly stood up, stating that the presidential election could not be indefinitely postponed. Since the Zerg hadn't reappeared, he argued that the matter should be put back on the agenda.Seated at the upper dais, Long Ruifeng's face darkened at his proposal, but he managed to maintain his composure. He acknowledged that it was indeed necessary to address the issue but emphasized the importance of extending martial law for the sake of public safety.Xiang Lingyun didn't budge. He immediately asked him how long he was going to impose martial law.The vassals of the Xiang family immediately followed his inquiries, and so was the Wei family. Eventually, some other scattered forces began to urge Long Ruifeng with the same proposal.In the end, Long Ruifeng reluctantly agreed to a one-week deadline, stipulating that if the Zerg did not reappear within that time frame, martial law would be lifted, and the presidential election would resume its schedule.After learning about this, Chu Huai sneered. He still planned to not cancel his sick leave. He just watched the show from the side.Previously, the Xiang family had struck a deal with the Chu family regarding military authority. Now, since they want to capitalize on Chu Rong's disappearance and his illness to vie for the presidential position, let them go ahead. He wanted to see what kind of situation Xiang Lingyun and Long Ruifeng, who suddenly became outspoken and dared to reach out to the Chu family, would stir up.On the other side, on the primitive planet, Qiao Zhiya multitasked, familiarizing himself with the repair schematics of the flagship while directing Chu Rong to operate the mecha for digging underground. Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, they approached the emerald jade vein that troubled the roots of the ancient tree.He immediately signaled for Chu Rong to stop the mecha and climbed out of the cockpit to retrieve a small hammer to personally investigate the situation. The ancient tree had grown for too long, and its roots were intricately tangled. They had to be extremely careful to avoid harming the roots of the ancient tree.Chu Rong stepped forward with a frown. He glanced up at the top of the dim pit, pressed down his worry about the situation back home, and stepped forward to help.A week flashed by, and a new parliamentary meeting was held. Xiang Lingyun was smiling and well-informed. Long Ruifeng's expression actually looked pretty good, and his composure was pretty calm, too.That's settled then, let's resume the presidential elections. Hopefully, Chairman Chu's health has improved. Long Ruifeng decisively hammered down on the matter, feigning concern for Chu Huai's well-being and subtly challenging Xiang Lingyun. He waved his hand, about to adjourn the meeting, when an urgent communication interrupted.The expressions of all the members present changed instantly. A communication that could directly dial in like this, with such an urgent tone, could only mean one thing.President! The Zerg have appeared near the D18 planet border! A lot of them! They've formed a Zerg tide! They are approaching the first line of the space defense fortress of the planet! Requesting reinforcements!The urgent and fearful report echoed through the entire conference room like a roaring shout. Long Ruifeng quickly responded, standing up and saying, Immediately activate Level 1 Alert! Notify the public not to wander the streets! I'll arrange for reinforcements right away!Yes!The communication ended, and Long Ruifeng glanced at everyone in the conference room again, asking, Now, I request that the presidential election be further postponed. Any objections?Everyone looked at each other, all of them remained silent.Xiang Lingyun frowned and didn't speak.This Zerg tide is not like others; it must be treated with extra caution.Seeing them silent, Long Ruifeng turned and left, and began to contact the troops stationed near the planet D18.This Zerg tide seems to be a signal of impending crisis. Soon, news of the Zerg tide's appearance also came from the Empire, and panic began to spread. All planets once again imposed martial law, and this time, the measures were even more stringent than before.The first wave, the second wave, the third wave Zerg appeared like bamboo shoots after the rain. They formed a tide that directly threatened the outer planets of the two civilizations. The battle lines were quickly drawn, and then, soon after, another dreadful piece of news came through.Some of the Zergs can release a neural wave that interferes with spiritual powers, similar to what happened to those competitors that day. Anyone exposed to the Zerg neural wave will be unable to use their spiritual power; furthermore, they'll suffer from severe headaches and physical paralysis if they try to move. Right now, the military can only engage the Zerg from afar while staying inside a battleship. Patrol teams on the planets can only carry firearms that don't require spiritual power to use for self-defense. Mechas are completely ineffective.Fan Xiangnan reported, lips drawn into a tight frown.They were all aware of the truth: the Zergs appearing this time were all artificial monsters, completely fake. He couldn't fathom the level of madness required for someone to artificially create such creatures and even devise neural waves specifically targeting human spiritual powers.Chu Huai's expression was grim as he asked, Can this neural waves attack be blocked?It can be blocked, but it's unstable, so it's not advisable to use, replied Fan Xiangnan, shaking his head. After a pause, he suddenly added, Master Ren passed me a message a couple of days ago, saying that the research on the artificial cultivation of alien beasts tendons has yielded results and we can proceed to the next stage of research anytime. Also, there's a preliminary draft for a new type of mecha designed based on Qiao's Elf. Once we finalize some details, we can start producing the first batch of manually-piloted mechas.This was what Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya have been working hard on, and now it seemed that the results were about to be achieved. Moreover, these results happen to be able to counter the fake Zergs with harmful neural waves, but the outcomeThe atmosphere in the study became heavier. It had been over half a month, and there was still no news from Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya. The stable emotions everyone had maintained began to turn anxious.Go and invite Master Shang. Ask him to assist Master Ren in finalizing the initial version of the manually-piloted mechas, and begin production of the artificial alien beast tendon and veins as well. It's better to be prepared. Also, those squads that were previously reassigned to familiarize themselves with ancient martial combat should intensify their training again. Chu Huai quickly shifted his focus from turbulent emotions and issued these instructions. After a moment of thought, he added, Arrange for someone to investigate Long Ruifeng. The timing of this recent appearance of this Zerg tide is too coincidental. He must be involved somehow.First, the Zerg appeared during a live broadcast event on the entire Starnet. On top of that, they appeared in an event with many people with special identities, such as the Imperial Third Prince, the fianc of the Federation's Marshal, and the Marshal's younger brother, which only exacerbated the panic-stricken atmosphere.Then Chu Rong and Qiao coincidentally disappeared in public. The Chu family was immediately hit. Then, with their protector disappeared, the public would certainly be more panicked and their confidence in the Chu family would be greatly reduced.After that, the presidential election was suspended indefinitely, trying to divide the Chu family's military power. After the Xiang family finally able to put the election back on agenda, the Zergs oh-so-coincidentally reappeared.Moreover, the current wave of Zerg appeared near the D18 planet where the forces of the You family were stationed, and the nearest planet to D18 that is, planet D05 was where the forces of the Ning family were stationed. The Chu family had no chance to intervene, and the situation was interconnected.Wait a moment, the Ning family?'
