t [V6C107 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Qianye glanced at the burning arachne battles.h.i.+p as they pa.s.sed by, but until the very end, he found no one climbing out from within. Apparently, the crew had all died inside.
Qianye moved about restlessly as a sense of uncomfortable helplessness arose in his heart. A force made up of an arachne viscount and hundreds of elites couldn’t be considered weak at all on a ground battlefield—one would need to spend some time in order to finish them off. Such a force had currently perished in the blink of an eye, and he hadn’t even seen what they looked like.
Qianye quickly recollected his thoughts and turned toward a different direction.
Zhao Yuying’s control of the s.h.i.+p was extremely decisive. She began accelerating madly just as a squadron of three Evernight battles.h.i.+ps appeared in the distance. If she hadn’t accelerated in advance, it was quite likely that they would’ve been surrounded already.
Zhao Yuying circled far around the enemy and charged diagonally into an area populated with imperial airs.h.i.+ps. Even so, the three Evernight battles.h.i.+ps were still on their tail. Qianye turned the turret around and aimed at the enemy from afar, observing their movements all the while.
Two out of the three battles.h.i.+ps were vampire models, while the third was an arachne type. Among them, the arachne airs.h.i.+p’s movements were the most erratic. However, the arachne battles.h.i.+p left an intense trail of origin power in Qianye’s True Sight and slowly painted a clear picture of its movements.
Qianye stomped down on the foot pedal all of a sudden, sending a three-meter-long ballista bolt flying into the void. It was just that the projectile’s landing point was an empty void—there was nothing there at all. Its proximity to the arachne battles.h.i.+p was only relative.
This blast surprised even Zhao Yuying. She muttered to herself, “Did he misfire?”
However, that arachne battles.h.i.+p made a sudden leap and actually moved into the bolt’s trajectory!
The giant metallic bolt easily punched through the battles.h.i.+p’s armor and drilled right into its core region. Afterward, the origin arrays on the bolt started to flicker, ultimately ending in a shocking explosion.
The arachne battles.h.i.+p was merely of the corvette cla.s.s—its speed was immediately reduced after being struck by Qianye. Much like a wounded beast in the chaotic battlefield, it was soon locked onto.
Qianye’s shot seemed to have alerted the other two vampire destroyers. The two s.h.i.+ps lowered their speed at almost the same time and soon left to seek other targets.
The imperial destroyer wasn’t battle-crazed. It only kept on flying forward and quickly increased the distance between them.
The intense airs.h.i.+p battles continued for an entire day before coming to a stop. The vessel was full of injuries when Zhao Yuying ordered the s.h.i.+p to descend, but owing to its powerful armor, the imperial battles.h.i.+p hadn’t suffered too great a damage.
Zhao Yuying and Qianye walked down from the destroyer together. The former grabbed Qianye’s shoulder and laughed, “Little Five, it looks like we should really build an airs.h.i.+p for you. All we need to install is a single high-output cannon.”
Hearing this, the Zhao clan staff behind them were filled with embarra.s.sment and admiration. The imperial officer in charge of recording contributions had already rushed over. Everyone, including the original captain of the airs.h.i.+p, was tongue-tied and their expressions transformed rapidly. They kept stealing glances at Qianye from time to time.
During this fierce battle, this destroyer alone had destroyed or crippled two Evernight cruisers and three corvettes. This accomplishment could be considered quite glorious. Meanwhile, the s.h.i.+p’s own damages were almost negligible—it would be able to fly once more after some repairs.
In addition to Zhao Yuying’s piloting skills, Qianye’s cannon skills had also reached great heights. He was only in charge of a single turret, but his. .h.i.t rate was almost three out of four. Additionally, most of the kills were achieved in Qianye’s hands. He had even set a record of firing three times in a row against the last opponent.
At dawn the next day, the horizon had only lit up slightly when the third fleet vice commander-in-chief arrived at the command tower. The battle had already ended at this point, and the airs.h.i.+p port was filled with all kinds of battles.h.i.+ps, transports, and soldiers who had just disembarked. The scene was one of utter disorder with in-repair and refueling vehicles everywhere.
Seeing this scene, Yang Li couldn’t help but snort loudly. This caused the temperature in the room to fall by several degrees. A military officer who had followed Yang Li for a long time reported, “General, those are all airs.h.i.+ps belonging to the aristocratic families. They simply park wherever they want regardless of what we say.”
Yang Li’s expression turned dark as he said with a snort, “These bloodsuckers are like insects latching onto the empire!”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but his aides all knew the meaning. Yang Li was born from a humble family and had to climb all the way through the ranks to where he was now. He had always believed the major clans to be more bugs than pillars of the empire. It could be said that he detested the clans greatly.
At this moment, Yang Li thought of something. “Where’s the No. 36 that was conscripted yesterday? How’s it doing?”
The officer flipped through the records and said, “It has returned from battle yesterday with light damages. It’s expected to be redeployed after simple repairs. This is No. 36’s contribution status.”
Yang Li saw clear hesitation in the officer’s eyes. He immediately glared at the man and shouted, “Give me that. What’s there to hide?”
The officer could only pa.s.s the register over. Yang Li s.n.a.t.c.hed the doc.u.ment and scanned it briefly before his expression transformed drastically. He then flipped it back and forth several times before handing it back to the officer.
The latter said hurriedly, “I’ve already checked with the crew, the contributions are in order.”
Yang Li snorted deeply and tossed the register onto the table. “Lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, let them be then.”
“How about General Lu?”
Yang Li pondered for a moment before saying, “Send their contribution report to him. General Lu doesn’t like people hiding things.”
An officer stepped out to perform the task. Another person asked after he had left, “General, if we do that, won’t we have failed to grasp their weak point?”
“They used a requisition order, so there’s no weak point to begin with. But they’re making a big mistake if they think they can do whatever they want just because of their accomplishments. This is a battlefield where ma.s.sive armies are converging. It’s all too easy for a handful of headstrong fellows to encounter an accident,” Yang Li said calmly.
There was an airs.h.i.+p base not too far from the port. Despite being built very recently, it was large, well-equipped, and almost like a small city. This was the temporary base of the imperial third fleet, and also the primary base for this entire war.
At this moment in a building at the center of this base, there was a short, middle-aged general with short hair enjoying his breakfast at the dining table. Compared to his general rank, this breakfast was simply too crude and not much better than that of the lower-ranking officers.
He consumed his food at a steady rate while listening to the aide’s report, but he paused ever so slightly as the report arrived at No. 36’s accomplishments.
The clever aide stopped his report for fear of interrupting the general’s thoughts.
Moments later, the general stuffed the potato that had been hanging in the air for some time into his mouth. “Nice fighting, but this makes me hate them even more. Continue.”
The aide sighed in relief as he flipped over to the next page and continued reading. He was also a man of humble birth. Although working for the commander-in-chief of the third fleet was a promising future with unique opportunities, he was constantly walking on thin ice.
At this moment, Qianye and Zhao Yuying had left the airs.h.i.+p port to report-in to the imperial main camp nearby. With Zhao Yuying’s ident.i.ty and status, she was able to procure a batch of military vehicles to transport herself, Qianye, and the accompanying Zhao clan soldiers to the imperial main camp.
Along the way, Zhao Yuying asked again, “Qianye, are you really not following me?”
Qianye shook his head. “Individual hunting suits me better.”
Zhao Yuying said with a frown, “This isn’t the b.l.o.o.d.y battle or Giant’s Repose. This is a real war with no limits, do you understand? You might encounter marquises or even dukes in a battle of such scale. Even I will have to run in such circ.u.mstances, not to mention you. Operating with the army will reduce your opportunities a bit, but it’ll be much safer.”
This was the umpteenth time Zhao Yuying had taken great pains to dissuade Qianye, so he had no choice but to tell the truth, “I don’t need safety, I need more contributions.”
“Why? What do you need them for?”
For some reason, Qianye felt uneasy whenever the topic of contributions was brought up. It felt as though something bad was about to happen, and this caused his expression to become unnatural. Zhao Yuying, of course, wouldn’t let go of this and kept on pressing the question.
“I need military contributions, the more the better. I have a feeling it’ll be useful to me later on.”
Zhao Yuying glared at Qianye. “Military contributions are only to exchange for wealth and status. What other use is there? What do you need that the Zhao clan can’t give? A n.o.ble rank might be difficult, but there’s still room for maneuver. Moreover, you’ve been in enough battles to know that dead soldiers don’t get any contributions.”
Qianye could only raise his hands in defeat against Zhao Yuying’s verbal siege. “Fine, fine, I know. I’ll come find you once I encounter any danger. Is that alright?”
Zhao Yuying accepted his response reluctantly, but couldn’t help but lecture him some more, “Little Five, even Little Four is operating obediently with the main force. You have to know that he’s much stronger than you.”
Qianye nodded in agreement. Just like that, the jeep finally drove into the imperial main camp amidst Zhao Yuying’s non-stop talking.
Qianye parted ways with Zhao Yuying near the barracks. The empire had different arrangements for independent hunters.
Under the guidance of a female major, Qianye arrived at a large tent filled with all kinds of resources. A number of officers were working busily behind a temporary workbench.
A lieutenant colonel picked up the register and asked, “General Qianye?”
“That’s me.”