Chapter 240

April 7, 2022.

Noon.

Elizabeth City, situated at the southern end of Africa, has already moved past the standstill caused by the attack two months prior, and the shadow of losing 360,000 compatriots is also gradually dissipating.

The city has fully resumed operations, with various ships and freighters traveling to and from the starport, and even the portal in the shallow sea area has vanished, as if it had never existed.

Ironically, the temporary base built around the portal, currently being dismantled by UNSC engineers, actually proves that the portal did indeed exist.

Meanwhile, on the newly completed memorial plaza by the seaside, large crowds have gathered, many of whom are holding bouquets of white and yellow flowers.

At the center of the plaza stands a monument inscribed with names.

Neatly arranged bouquets are placed before the monument, and upon close inspection of the right corner—hard to notice—there is also an enigmatic inscription of '80Y (100 million)'.

"Mom, why do people bow to that big stone?"

On the sidewalk across from the plaza, a boy sitting on a public bench, his legs dangling unable to touch the ground, innocently asks his mother beside him.

"It's so that those heading to heaven may rest in peace," the mother said gently.

"Heaven…? Are there angels there?" the boy grew more curious.

"Of course, son," the mother said patiently.

"Wow… I really want to see an angel…" the boy looked up at the sky, his face full of yearning.

"Hehe~."

Mother lifted her hand, rubbed the boy's crown, smiled kindly: "As long as you listen to Mom, eat well and don't be picky, you'll surely have a chance to see an angel."

"Mm‑hm!" the boy nodded repeatedly.

In fact, this mother and son had, two months ago, witnessed a "angel" descend beside them, firing a dazzling arrow that slashed the darkness.

But they lost that memory and forgot that they had once lived in a sunless fortress city and the fearful past.

And on the desert plain twenty kilometers northwest of Elizabeth City lies the garrison of the UNSC th Airborne Division.

The first‑floor dining hall of the base cafeteria.

Over a thousand airborne troops, dressed only in training uniforms or black short‑sleeved shirts, gathered in small groups, sitting at four‑person tables, enjoying lunch while chatting with comrades.

Back then, while operating together with Krig, they successfully captured alive a colonist's corporal…

No, it should be a sergeant.

After the UNSC withdrew from the portal, they gave out awards; because the three squads performed outstandingly, every member received commendations, and some were promoted in rank.

At this moment, the sergeant and six comrades, carrying metal trays brimming with vegetables, meat, and staple food, walked toward a less crowded area.

Then they placed the trays on two tables, and pushed the tables together.

"Guys, I wonder which alien scum's homeworld we'll be able to visit next," a comrade said as soon as they sat down.

"Who knows? But I heard—just heard—that the superiors and Umbrella seem to have a lot of information on alien species."

"I'd love to cooperate with Astate again; those guys are truly fierce, working with them feels safer than riding in an armored division's tank."

The comrades opened up the conversation and chatted freely, but from what they talked about, it seemed they had forgotten matters of another Earth.

In fact, after the portal closed, their memories were overwritten; the operation originally aimed at another Earth was unintentionally switched to one targeting the colonists' homeworld.

Before leaving the portal, they also did not encounter Umbrella technicians holding "silver rods" nor a cleanup team; instead, their superiors issued an order forbidding any external discussion of the war details, under penalty of being sent to a military tribunal.

Thus they did not forget the mysterious and powerful Astate, DivineBody, and OriginalBody.

"Everyone, attention!"

When the sergeant and others were halfway through lunch, a loud announcement from the cafeteria entrance made them all set down their spoons and turn toward the doorway.

A colonel, wearing a blue beret, with graying sideburns and beard, responsible for their th Airborne Division, entered the dining hall and raised his voice:

"According to reliable information, on July 17 we will conduct joint exercises with Umbrella; this time we will play the defending side, so everyone prepare in advance!"

"Yes, Colonel!" the airborne troops rose and replied.

"Mm." The colonel raised his hand in return.

"Colonel!" a captain suddenly raised his hand: "I have a question!"

"Speak."

"Will those super soldiers take part in the exercise?"

The captain's words, representing all the airborne troops, voiced the doubt in their hearts.

Having Astate as an ally gives great confidence, but if they were opponents…

"No, they will not partake in any exercise‑type operations; does anyone still have questions?" the colonel said, looking around.

The colonel's answer finally reassured the airborne troops, who then responded in unison: "Nothing else, sir."

"Then carry on as usual."

After speaking, the colonel left the dining hall with several guards, and everyone sat down to continue eating.

"Another exercise, huh, Sergeant, any progress with that female Krig?" a comrade teased after sitting down again.

As soon as the tease was made, all comrades focused their gaze on the corporal.

"This topic has lasted two months; cut it short," the sergeant said calmly, picking up his metal spoon, his tone a bit solemn:

"Otherwise, you'd know what it's like to carry thirty kilograms and run ten laps around the base."

"Yes! Sergeant!"

Seeing the sergeant wield his rank to pressure others, the comrades naturally dared not tease any further.

While the dining atmosphere around the sergeant grew considerably more "solemn", the Hope Vessel Zeus‑class carrier was within Venus's gravity sphere.

On the bridge.

Having shed the OriginalBody power armor and donned a custom uniform, John stood behind a porthole, silently watching the not‑far Venus, enveloped by an extremely thick, murky atmosphere.

Two large Umbrella engineering ships sped past the Hope Vessel on both sides, coming into his view.

Later, six small Precursors II followed the large engineering ships, gradually approaching Venus.

This time, the task John received from his father was to use his flagship Hope Vessel to escort the company's engineering fleet throughout, attempting to carry out environmental transformation on Venus.

The reason it is called an "attempt" is that Venus is not as beautiful as her alias, the love goddess Venus; its surface environment is as hideously ugly as a fallen Aphrodite.

Average temperature 464°C, atmospheric pressure over ninety times that of Earth, the surface flows with magma, rain falls as sulfuric acid, and a day of rotation is longer than a year of orbit around the Sun.

Even Umbrella today does not have full confidence in being able to terraform the hellish Venus.

And John's flagship's "Hope" title continues from the second Eagle-class vessel built by Umbrella at the outset, while Robert and Rus's flagships continue the titles Dawn Guardian and Destroyer.

After all, Umbrella has already sold all the retired Eagle-class vessels to the UNSC.

"Sir, the Engineering Department has already reached the airspace above Venus's south pole, and landing craft are expected to be dispatched into the atmosphere in about half an hour."

At this moment, a report came from behind John from an "aide", and this "aide" was still Captain Titus Byron, wearing a uniform marked with the "Λ" symbol and bearing a scar on his left face.

And Byron, together with the surviving soldiers of Labat, forgot the existence of another Earth just like that mother and son, and now he is a captain in the Sparta Corps Auxiliary.

"Good." John replied coldly, then continued to stare silently out the porthole.

Byron, who understood their OriginalBody temperaments, raised his right hand in a salute to John, then turned back to the main console to continue monitoring the engineering team's progress.

As for the Auxiliary…

…

Inside the cabin of the Valiant Anthem.

"It seems that the humans on Earth have all perfectly integrated into this world."

While Sui Bian was saying this to himself, he closed the file on Titus Byron that was displayed on his desk.

As the file disappeared from the holographic screen, the display automatically switched to the data of the Sparta Corps Auxiliary.

After more than ten years of development, Umbrella's legion organization has basically taken shape.

A legion consists of Astartes, plus the crew, engineers, pilots, ground personnel, etc., of each OriginalBody flagship, with the current scale around twenty-three thousand.

In every legion, the Astartes and these auxiliary personnel are indispensable.

The most numerous among them are the legion auxiliaries like Byron.

This auxiliary force's former identity was a regiment-level mobile task force (MTF), the designation of which was abolished: Hope Express.

Chris and Jill's Charon Task Force was likewise dismantled, but these veterans still hold important positions in the company, either in civilian roles or remaining in the armed forces.

For example, Chris, this "Abnormal" burly man, is the overall commander of the Raven Corps Auxiliary and also the right-hand man of the Raven OriginalBody Kelakesi.

Jill, on the other hand, chose to go to Minos Island to assist Hank in training Umbrella's future officers and intelligence personnel.

The only MTF retained by the armed forces is the 141, numbering over five hundred.

The 141 possesses a small stealth-class warship that is constantly in near-Earth orbit, responsible for providing the first support to surface intelligence personnel.

"The worst off" are the living dead.

Due to the high cost of maintaining the living dead's normal physiological functions and defects such as lack of autonomous thought, they have now been cryogenically treated by Umbrella, equivalent to indefinite cold storage.

Fully replacing the living dead, the Kriegers who possess a "soul" and can be "mass-produced" currently total ten regiments, with a total number of about thirty thousand.

According to Sui Bian's future plans, at least one Krieger combat regiment must be deployed on the primary star of each colonial star system within human territory, and if it is a production base like Zhi Yuan Star, even more will be deployed.

Even for star systems on the edge of human territory, a Krieger unit of battalion scale is needed to assist the UNSC in jointly bearing defense.

After all, the legions led by the OriginalBodies cannot cover all star systems, and as human territory steadily expands, this situation will become increasingly apparent.

This is also why Sui Bian has begun to gradually disclose the existence of Astartes to the UNSC, and even prepare to disclose it to society at large, because the UNSC and humanity need a "pillar".

If a star system faces a strong enemy invasion, and the UNSC, knowing that Astartes will eventually arrive, will likely defend together with the Kriegers until the very last moment.

Thinking of this,

Sui Bian completely closed the screen on his desk, glanced to the left, and said: "How are the various UNSC departments reacting to the OriginalBodies and DivineBodies?"

"There is a basis for cooperation in jointly resolving the colonist species, and the UNSC elite divisions have already adapted to the fact of the Astartes' existence," the Red Queen replied.

"Hmm." Sui Bian then looked to the right and said: "We are preparing to use the internet and media, especially the film and gaming industries, to output content related to super soldiers to society."

"Very well, sir." Bai Hou nodded.

"The rest…"

After concluding his conversation with the two assistants, Sui Bian placed both elbows on the desk, crossed his hands, gazed at the far end of the cabin, and muttered to himself:

"It is a suitable opportunity."

…

"Sizzle…sizzle…"

Accompanied by a faint electrical hum, the lighting in a passage between the metal floor and the hull flickered on and off.

"Boom…! Boom…!" At the same time there was a strong shaking vibration.

"What on earth is happening…"

A flight attendant with her hair tied up, pushing a cart laden with food and drinks, wearing a red form-fitting uniform, stopped in her tracks and spoke anxiously.

"It must have encountered a disturbance, right? Are you scared?"

The female purser walking ahead, somewhat older, with a white silk scarf, said with a laugh.

"Can't not be scared…" the flight attendant resumed pushing the cart, following the purser toward a left-side first-class cabin, her voice trembling as she said:

"We are, after all, in a jump within the Rift Space—if something goes wrong…"

"Don't worry…" the purser pressed the red button beside the cabin door to alert the passengers in first class, then continued to explain to the flight attendant:

"Encountering fluctuations within the Rift Space is normal, and to date no ship has ever been lost during a jump."

"All right." the flight attendant nodded, still uneasy.

"Whoosh—."

Coincidentally, just a few seconds after the two finished their conversation, the first-class cabin's automatic door slid open to the right.

Standing inside the first-class cabin was a male passenger in pajamas, with blond hair parted down the middle, youthful and handsome in appearance.

"Mr. Kennedy." Seeing this, the chief flight attendant lifted the insulated covers of two large trays, instantly revealing a standardized smile:

"This is the Wellington steak and burger set you ordered; would you like us to bring it in for you?"

"Hmm, thank you." The passenger surnamed Kennedy stepped back a few steps to make space.

"You're welcome; this is what we should do."

Immediately afterward, the chief flight attendant and the flight attendant carried the steak, as well as the tray holding the burger set, toward the first class cabin.

They entered.

One could then see that the lounge area of the first class cabin was spacious, laid with a white carpet, directly opposite the cabin door was a large porthole, and there was even a division between the master bedroom and the secondary bedroom.

However, the door to the master bedroom was tightly shut, while the door to the secondary bedroom stood open.

The flight attendant and the chief flight attendant placed the steak and burger set on the fixed table by the porthole, said to Kennedy, "Please enjoy," and then all left the cabin.

After the cabin door closed.

"Yawn..." Kennedy, looking sleepy, walked toward the table, sat at the end where the burger was placed, glanced at the tightly closed master bedroom door, and raised his voice:

"Hey, Miss Wang, your steak has arrived; come out to eat."

Having said that.

Kennedy didn't wait for Miss Wang to come out; he picked up the burger with his left hand and took a bite, enjoying the "breakfast" that was somewhat too high in calories.

(End of chapter)