Chapter 540: The Battle of Destiny

Regarding Bleem's latest mission, truthfully, Li Hao has even considered giving up; some of his hypotheses have been pierced through.

There is a great deal of information within this; the power he thought he could always keep hidden actually had no effect, and Bleem remains perfectly clear about his situation. He truly doesn't know how Bleem managed that, but it has provided Li Hao with a bit of confidence that he might possibly be able to destroy Theseus. Secondly, Theseus's claims have been confirmed; since Bleem appeared, he has never made a mistake, which means his enemy is Theseus, and everything behind this is Theseus's conspiracy. Nangong Yuhang is nine times out of ten just a puppet, though Nangong Yuhang himself likely does not think so.

Of course, regarding Bleem knowing about Theseus, there are two possibilities: one is that the information was obtained from him, and the other is that Bleem is Theseus.

Looking at the bright side, his existence is for the sake of destroying Theseus this time. If it is a conspiracy, then Theseus is Bleem, and the ultimate goal is to seize his body; if he goes, he is just a meat bun thrown at a dog.

Because his body is more suitable for a massive Spirit than a Reincarnated Human, Theseus can influence Nangong Yuhang, making Nangong Yuhang believe this is his own ambition, and can similarly influence him, making him believe he is fighting for Human and protecting his loved ones.

It can be said that both his and Nangong Yuhang's weaknesses have been gripped tightly; this is both where Human is strong and where Human is fragile.

It is not that Li Hao has not struggled with this contradiction. Once his body is seized by Theseus, then Theseus will be unstoppable. But if he does not go, no one in the Expeditionary Army can withstand Theseus's power, or even withstand Nangong Yuhang, and the Expeditionary Army would very likely be completely wiped out.

Therefore, regardless of which outcome it is, he has no choice.

Of course, if he were to flee alone, no one could do anything about him, but what would be left of living then?

The only surprise is the last sentence, "end the civilization war on Blue Star." Blue Star certainly refers to Earth, and civilization war should refer to Human and the Nimer; it seems to be emphasizing that Bleem is unrelated to Theseus.

However, Li Hao suspects that his doubts and guesses were grasped by Bleem, who then deliberately added that sentence. In fact, Bleem is overthinking things; having laid out the plan to this extent, he simply has no choice.

If this is his destiny, Li Hao decides to face it calmly. Being able to live until now, and every day spent living with everyone—the Dean, the little rascals, Zuo Xiaotang, Class Monitor, Wuzang, Chao Qinglong, Luo Bi, Aofei... and of course A Youyou—his life is already very fulfilled, and he can accept any result.

Regardless of whether Theseus is actually Bleem, he will at the very least perish together with this old monster. If he fails, General Makemu will certainly use the Janibekov Cannon.

If even that doesn't work, then he has no other way; this must be the destiny of Human.

Five days later, the newly added Zhanxing Fleet joined the Expeditionary Army, and after two days of resupply, the entire Expeditionary Army stood ready. The massive army approached the Kepler Planet, which by now was surrounded by an endless swarm of Giant Insect. Just looking at the dense red dots on the radar made one's scalp tingle. During the time Human was preparing, the brood nests flew into space like dandelions; it is unimaginable that Human had not discovered the preparations of the Giant Insect for so many years.

That was a mistake; these were Theseus's preparations from the start, the final legacy of Earth's previous civilization. It also possessed the layout of a highly intelligent organism. The massive Spirit resulted in slow thought commands, perhaps even unable to make continuous, real-time orders, but it was very suitable for long-term preparations, such as producing countless Giant Insect and evolving various types suitable for space warfare.

From the discovery of the Wormhole to the coordinates of Kepler, and the entry of Human, everything was in Theseus's plan. The arrival of Nangong Yuhang provided the final condition needed to convey his will. Now, the time for the decisive battle has arrived.

Five special combat teams were also within the Hanxing Fleet. In this battle, the Hanxing Fleet is the main force. All along, the various fleets have taken turns leading the charge to understand the combat power of the Giant Insect, all so that the Hanxing Fleet could exert the greatest lethality in the decisive battle.

The most Elite destroyers in the Hanxing Fleet formed a guard team. They will spare no cost to cover the five transport ships in their airborne assault on Kepler. Admittedly, Li Hao and his team are executing a very difficult and dangerous mission, but at this moment, every Warrior in the Expeditionary Army is the same. The destroyers selected only the most Elite Captains, and Elena was one of them. She is responsible for guarding Li Hao's First Combat Team. The five assault fleets need to find gaps in the Giant Insect during the great battle, break through the encirclement of the Giant Insect, enter the near-Earth orbit of the Kepler Planet, and then land near the five Human bases respectively. Every second of this process is fatal.

In the Command Room of the destroyer, Elena was earnestly performing her final checks. Beside her was Arths, meticulously assisting Elena. Elena is a standout among the Captains of the Hanxing Fleet, and it is no surprise she was chosen to execute this mission, but Arths did not have to go at all. Elena had tried to persuade her; in an extreme scenario, Arths could even have returned to the Solar System with the wounded. In fact, the Daliven Family had already hinted at this to her, but Arths did not bring it up. For this reason, the Command Headquarters even sent people to persuade her, hoping she would obey orders and go to the logistics fleet first. She only said one sentence: "Living in cowardice is no different from being dead. I am a Warrior, and being able to fight alongside my comrades in the Expeditionary Army is the greatest honor of my life."

Arths did not have any hesitation, and the people from the Command Headquarters did not continue to persuade her. What could be done was done, and what could not be done was also done; Arths won his respect.

As the superior who knows Arths best, she knows that Arths is no mere vase. Her results in the Starship S Tournament and her judgment and control during daily training are top-tier.

Regarding her First Mate, Elena frankly admits that it is hard for anyone not to like Arths. Her existence itself is a pleasure, and her personal ability is beyond doubt. Elena is very picky about professional matters, but at work, Arths is completely competent, with details and intuition that are very much on point. But at this moment, Arths is no longer the junior she has been scrutinizing and promoting, but a comrade-in-arms who will live and die together.

Elena secretly did one thing, which was to record this segment and send it to some Captains who had questioned or even held prejudices against Arths. It quickly spread. In war, what is needed is for leaders to lead from the front. Li Hao has led from the front, and as the champion of the S Tournament, he is about to execute a mission with a nine-in-ten chance of death.

Arths, the champion of the Starship S Tournament—given her situation, there was absolutely no need for her to charge at the front line, and no one would have made such a demand. Yet, when she could clearly have chosen a safer job, she charged to the very front, especially with that final sentence, "Being able to fight alongside my comrades in the Expeditionary Army is the greatest honor of my life," which won the hearts of the Warriors.

Death is not terrifying. Regardless of who the enemy is or how powerful they are, at this moment, the Expeditionary Army is united as one.

When everything was ready, the Human fleet set off toward Kepler in an umbrella formation. Makemu sat in the Space Fortress, which had been restored to eighty percent capacity. All weapons were on standby, and the crew behind him continuously relayed intelligence from the various fleets; they had all entered their designated areas. The Space Fortress he was in was also a thorn in the enemy's side.

Looking at the time, Makemu waved his hand, "Total attack, begin!"

If there is no gap, then tear one open by force.

The cannon fire of the Human Expeditionary Army illuminated the starry sky of Kepler. This time, they were not controlling the distance; all fleets pressed forward, firepower fully unleashed. Countless Mobile Suit had already prepared for contact combat, and the Giant Insect fell in swathes amidst the artillery fire.

And within the fleet, there was a special group; they were on the edge of the fleet, waiting for further orders—that is, the fleet executing this airborne assault.

Covering an airborne assault requires finding a suitable opportunity. It is not suitable to be too large, so they chose the Arrow Whale Cruiser and Pangu Destroyer, which have fierce firepower and stronger mobility. The Captains led by Elena were all experienced, keenly observing the battle situation and waiting for the opportunity.

Inside the five transport ships protected by the cruisers and destroyers, Li Hao and the others were already sitting in the Cockpit of their Mecha, feeling the shaking of the warships; one could imagine how intense the battle outside was.

The previous battles were almost all long-range exchanges, at most involving contact at the level of Mobile Suit protection. But this time, Makemu's order was for the fleet to directly enter a meat-grinder state. Only in this way could they tear open a gap, leaving the entire Giant Insect Legion with no time to attend to anything else, using the strength of the legion to win an opportunity for Li Hao and the others. Human concentrating their strength in this way would certainly be able to open a gap, but the disadvantage is that falling into such a meat-grinder battle would bring great damage and sacrifice to the fleet, and the difficulty of withdrawing from the battlefield would also increase.

And to achieve strategic goals, there will inevitably be sacrifices. Human Warriors do not fear this; when the collective will reaches unity, that is the moment Human is at its most powerful!

(End of chapter)