Chapter 396: Emergency Meeting, Unlucky Horus

Li Yu's noble title and military appointment had not come down yet. According to normal procedures, he didn't have the qualification to participate in the High Echelon meeting.

However, it should be Vimala exerting effort in secret that allowed him to participate in the High Echelon meeting.

Returning to his room, the projection equipment emitted a luminescent blue light, covering the entire room.

"Authority verification passed, data stream encrypting..."

As the mechanized voice sounded, the entire room transformed into a huge council hall. The ring-shaped hall was almost full, all Virtual projections from afar.

This was still Li Yu's first time participating in Returning Star's High Echelon meeting, feeling somewhat novel in his heart.

He looked around. There were biological entities of all races, the highest proportion still being interstellar humans.

His Seat happened to be in the middle, not at the end, but also not too far front.

On his left and right were two generals in military uniforms, the emblems on their bodies somewhat different, not knowing which fleet's commanders they were.

Because it was remote Virtual projection, secret communication was also done through Communication Equipment, difficult for outsiders to hear.

Only a few people closer to Li Yu revealed amicable smiles to him, highly likely people from Vimala's camp.

Li Yu also found Titus at the very front. He sat in his Seat, closing his eyes to rest, while Alexei revealed an inexplicable smile to him in the corner.

Li Yu didn't strike up a conversation with anyone else, quietly waiting for the meeting to start, while checking the news brief.

The transmission of news in Interstellar Society had almost no delay. It had only been about six hours since Horus was seriously injured.

And an emergency meeting was convened here. The specific details were not explained in the brief, the details of the war being too complex to be explained clearly in one or two sentences.

Not long after, Vimala's figure appeared on the centermost Seat. Appearing along with her was Klein, who sat behind Vimala with her head down.

This was also the role she played in meetings most of the time––a transparent person with no sense of presence.

With Vimala's appearance, the High Echelons' private communications gradually stopped, looking at this Queen who once again dominated Returning Star's government affairs.

Vimala was always resolute and decisive, not having too much nonsense, directly saying: "You already know the gist of the matter. Commander-in-Chief Horus requested support, what suggestions do you have."

Vimala controlling government affairs and Digor controlling government affairs had a very big difference. In events like this, Digor possessed absolute authority.

Say support and there's support, say withdraw and there's withdrawal.

But Vimala didn't have this ability, must seek the agreement of the vast majority of High Echelons. So this was also why she was thinking of improving her own influence all the time.

"This..."

As soon as Vimala finished speaking, the crowd began to discuss. This wasn't private conversation, but speaking directly in the council hall.

Causing the surroundings to become extremely noisy. Li Yu looked at this scene like a Wet Market, involuntarily finding it amusing.

However, the ones being loudly noisy were all people in the middle and back sections. The big shots in the front didn't speak much.

Titus didn't even open his eyes, still closing his eyes to rest.

"Queen, is the specific battle report drafted? We only know a rough outline, it's very hard to make a decision." Someone said loudly, arousing consensus.

"Yes..." Vimala nodded, then a huge projection emerged in the center of the hall. A large amount of text mixed with battle videos, allowing everyone to see clearly.

Every word of the battle report for this kind of large-scale battle was very important. The crowd perked up and read carefully.

"...Discovered a small fleet of the Troll Legion invading the defense zone, the commander of the Expeditionary Force's Fourth Fleet issued a containment order..."

"...Lasting thirteen minutes, expelled the enemy invading fleet..."

"...And this was just the Troll Legion's feint. Another over a hundred thousand warships approached from the flank through a Psionic Cloaking Field..."

"...Commander Horus's advance deployment allowed us to learn of their sneak attack purpose..."

The battle report was standard. The military instructions within it also didn't have any major flaws in the eyes of the scheming commanders present.

Such battles had been experienced countless times. If it was only the Troll Legion, Horus wouldn't have been defeated at all.

The key lay in one sentence––

"...After the war progressed for three hours, an unknown Ultra-High Risk Lifeform suddenly appeared, sneak attacking Commander-in-Chief Horus..."

"...The Troll Legion didn't let go of this opportunity, Commander-in-Chief Horus was seriously injured and had to order a retreat..."

One of the battle recordings was enlarged, able to clearly see a white Flowing Light, breaking through layers of barriers, charging towards the black figure in combat.

Then the two erupted with powerful combat fluctuations, even the battle Recording being somewhat blurry, should be from suffering Disruption.

Then, a terrifying figure also charged out from the Troll Legion, making the combat fluctuations even more vast.

The battle Recording was accelerated many times. About forty minutes later, the Black Armored Figure was thrown flying from the battle group, with multiple cracks on its body.

Under the cover of that massive Interstellar Fortress, hastily retreated.

"...Highest Combat Power Level exceeded twenty million calories, an A4-level lifeform. According to what Commander Horus said, the person who sneak attacked him should be the Leader of the [White Uprising Army]––Yodel Ryusu..."

"[White Death Resistance Army]!?" Someone was very surprised: "How could they appear there? Isn't that group active within the Spirit User territory?"

"I'm more curious why Yodel sneak attacked Horus."

"They are an organization similar to The Reformers, but more radical. Under normal circumstances, they shouldn't cooperate with the Star Glory Empire."

"This is a provocation to Returning Star. We should immediately contact the Spirit User diplomatic department to jointly strangle the [White Uprising Army]..."

"..."

The crowd spoke up one after another, proposing various opinions. Under normal circumstances, Horus shouldn't have fallen into this perilous situation before the Four-Armed Titan Legion arrived.

But now, because of this [White Uprising Army] that suddenly popped out, he had to temporarily evacuate, and himself even fell into serious injury.

"Temporarily there is no intelligence to explain the cause of his attack. I have already sent people to negotiate..." Vimala said in a deep voice.

She was also very displeased. This sudden news disrupted many of her arrangements.

Now that Horus was seriously injured, the situation in No Man's Land suddenly tilted. The plan to further expand Li Yu's influence in a short time probably couldn't be carried out temporarily.

"It's said the Leader of the [White Uprising Army], Yodel, is someone who hates evil as his enemy." From a relatively rear position, such a sentence suddenly sounded.

Li Yu, whose mind was originally wandering beyond the heavens, heard this sentence, his mind suddenly jolting. He thought of a matter.

The crowd turned to look. It was the boss of the Central Star System's law enforcement department, responsible for the Central Star System's security issues.

But because the Central Star System was simply too safe, his sense of presence was extremely low, routinely handling some petty theft incidents.

"What does Minister Andy mean?" Vimala's cold eyes looked at him.

Andy couldn't help but shrink his head. Originally he just had a flash of inspiration, didn't expect it to attract Vimala's attention. Now he also braced himself and said:

"I just suddenly thought that before Commander Horus left the Central Star System, he was also attacked by quite a few people."

"Those people were all ordinary Citizens of the Central Star System. Tracing back three hundred generations couldn't find any problems. However, they all have one thing in common, that is speaking out from a sense of justice, hating evil as their enemy."

Once this passage was spoken, the entire council hall fell into a brief silence.

"Haha..." Someone sneered out loud. It was a fleet commander. He had some personal grudges with Andy, now seeing a chance to mock, he wouldn't show mercy.

"Does Minister Andy mean, could it be that the people making moves on Commander Horus now are all people of justice?"

Hearing this, everyone felt it was somewhat outrageous. Even Titus opened his eyes, his expression strange.

You can't say those people who hate evil all found Horus displeasing to the eye. Then what monstrous crime did Horus exactly commit to receive such treatment.

Titus shook his head, closing his eyes again. The corners of Alexei's mouth were almost grinning to the roots of his ears.

Too interesting. Because this person's stupidity was just right, making him sometimes even unable to distinguish whether the other party was truly stupid or pretending.

If it was this reason, it would be too much nonsense.

Andy's face alternated between green and red, explaining: "I just thought of this matter, that's all..."

"Hehe..." That commander sneered: "It's obvious this is a conspiracy targeting Commander Horus. As the boss of the law enforcement department, finding out nothing is one thing."

"Now you actually use this kind of reason to explain the cause of Commander Horus being sneak attacked? Laughable..."

Andy was choked, unable to speak, could only curse angrily in his heart.

Li Yu's face was strange, looking at Minister Andy with slight sympathy. In reality, the possibility the other party stated was not low.

[Obtained Special Item––Batman's Life-and-Death Hostility: After locking onto a target, the target will be viewed as hostile by justice-aligned beings, and may be attacked at any time.]

He still remembered he had cast a "voodoo" on Horus, that was because this Old geezer secretly wanted to kill him.

And Li Yu only wanted to disgust the other party. He didn't expect that thing's effect to actually be this big.

Of course, Li Yu also couldn't be sure the reason was truly this, because no one knew why the [White Uprising Army] would appear in No Man's Land.

The possibility of them cooperating with the Star Glory Empire was also not small.

"If it really is that reason, old man Horus, I can only say sorry oh..." Li Yu said silently.

Now the two could be considered belonging to the same camp. He truly didn't want to see Horus be unlucky. Pity... pity... Li Yu withdrew the smile he inadvertently revealed.

"These pieces of information are still under investigation. The key now is whether to support?" Vimala interrupted the off-topic discussion, pulling it back, and spoke up:

"I propose sending troops to support. This battle originated from Majesty Digor. We can't just retreat like this, otherwise His Majesty's reputation will be damaged."

This was Vimala's attitude. She vigorously facilitated Horus leading the army, just to let him return to the peak. What's the meaning of returning seriously injured now.

"I suggest letting Horus withdraw his troops. No Man's Land doesn't have any benefits to fight for. Continuing will only pointlessly waste strength."

The one speaking was General Aisel, who had been silent all along. As the current spokesperson for the Military, if Horus, this Old geezer, regained authority, it would damage his direct interests.

Vimala frowned slightly. This was also the troublesome part. Wanting to support must obtain the Military's support, otherwise it was very hard to succeed.

But letting Horus return to the peak would obviously damage Aisel's interests, he would find it hard to support.

With General Aisel speaking up, many people opposing sending troops spoke up one after another. Li Yu roughly estimated, not a few.

No Man's Land indeed didn't have the necessity to continue fighting. If there was an advantage and Horus returned in triumph, the majority of people present still wouldn't get any benefits.

If they lost, it might instead damage a lot of interests. Might as well not fight.

Titus was silent on this, not expressing any opinion, so the people in his camp were also very silent.

Looking around, Vimala had long had a premonition of this situation and was prepared. Her expression was calm, waving her hand casually, a Recording appeared on the Holographic Screen:

"...The Star Glory Empire's hand is reaching very long. If we don't hit them until it hurts this time, then next time they might reach their hand into our borders..."

This was the speech Majesty Digor gave when launching the war. Vimala's voice was icy: "Majesty Digor has only not shown his face for a few days, and you want to overturn his decision?"

"This..."

Everyone Looked at Each Other in Dismay. Because the time Digor was in "Secluded retreat" wasn't long, his prestige still existed, everyone didn't dare to say anything at this moment.

"Do you still want me to disturb Majesty Digor who is at a critical moment!?" Vimala scolded loudly.

The expressions of the people holding opposing opinions changed slightly. If they let Digor come out, then this war was bound to continue fighting.

The opposing voices of the crowd gradually decreased. Titus's expression was calm, he had long expected this answer.

Digor's lingering prestige still existed, now wasn't an appropriate time to change his decision.

"What do you say, General Aisel..." Vimala only then turned her gaze to Aisel.

Many big shots had a premonition of this situation, so they didn't express their opinions before.

However, Aisel, as the primary interest loser in this matter, had to speak, otherwise what would the brothers below think of him?

Horus hasn't even returned yet, and you're afraid?

Aisel's tone still remained unruffled: "I still hold an opposing opinion, but we indeed need to send troops to avoid Horus falling into a more dangerous situation."

Vimala knew this was already a manifestation of Aisel conceding, and didn't press step by step, nodding: "Since that's the case, then let's negotiate the support personnel and scale as soon as possible."

Even so, Vimala's mood was not considered good.

The resistance encountered for support wasn't big, also because the time since Digor's "Secluded retreat" wasn't long. It wouldn't be this easy next time.

She also couldn't figure out how Yodel could suddenly attack Horus.

She had originally prepared to use this Digor card when the Four-Armed Titan Legion arrived in No Man's Land.

But now she could only use it in advance, all because of this sudden mishap.

Right at this moment, someone suddenly spoke up: "I remember the commander of the Black Pupil Fleet hasn't taken office yet, right."

As soon as this was said, a massive amount of gazes focused on Li Yu.

(End of this chapter)