Chapter 727: Pre-War Preparations (4)

Ninth Defense Zone Outer City.

Huokan closed the repair shop door, packed his personal belongings, and turned around to see Laoma running back in a flurry.

"Huokan! Huokan! Have you heard?!"

Laoma's face was flushed red, and his eyes shone with an excitement bordering on ecstasy.

"The Emperor! The Emperor is going to war! War against those damned Alien Races! Right on the front lines!"

Huokan slung his pack onto his back and replied in a deep, resonant voice.

"Yes, I know."

Only then did Laoma notice the pack on Huokan's back and the closed repair shop.

The ecstatic excitement on Laoma's face froze instantly.

He finally saw clearly that Huokan was carrying a pack, which was bulging and clearly filled with personal items.

And the repair shop door, which was always left open to welcome neighbors and drifted with the scent of iron and fire, was now tightly shut, hanging with a heavy lock.

Huokan stood there in his same oil-stained coarse work clothes, yet the aura radiating from him was completely different.

"Huokan... you... what is this?"

Laoma's voice caught, his fingers pointing helplessly at the closed shop and the marching pack.

Huokan nodded slightly and spoke in reply.

"Yes, Laoma. The news is true; the war is about to begin."

Huokan paused, looking at this friend with whom he had spent such pleasant times here.

"My brothers... are in the Fourth Defense Zone.

The Salamanders Legion is summoning its warriors.

The Emperor's will requires us to execute it!"

"Brothers," "Legion," "warriors," "the Emperor's will"... these words made Laoma's heart tremble.

He suddenly realized that this "big friend" before him, who helped him fix hoes, greeted the children, and mingled with them commoners, was never an ordinary person!

He was an Angel of Death of the Emperor!

A living war machine walking among men!

He belonged to that battlefield, unimaginable to mortals, where the most brutal slaughter against Aliens took place!

An indescribable, complex emotion surged into Laoma's heart.

"Good heavens... Huokan..."

Laoma's voice trembled; he subconsciously straightened his slightly hunched back, wanting to express his highest respect in this way.

"I'm sorry, in the time we spent together, I forgot about this."

Huokan looked at the surging emotions in Laoma's eyes and forced a smile onto his grim face.

"Protection is part of the duty, Laoma."

He raised his massive palm, gently patted Laoma's shoulder, and continued.

"Just like you tend the land in the Planting Zone so more people can be fed. We are simply... fighting on different battlefields for the same goal: the survival of Humanity."

He looked up at the gray sky of the Ninth Defense Zone, then looked down at Laoma, his tone becoming incomparably solemn.

"I leave the repair shop to you. If the neighbors need the tools inside, feel free to use them. When I... and my brothers, have burned those Cyberk scumbags to ash, perhaps... I can come back to fix your hoes."

Hearing Huokan's words, Laoma nodded vigorously, his eyes growing hot.

He suddenly remembered something, fumbled clumsily in his dirt-stained pockets, and finally pulled out a small wrench he used himself, polished until it shone.

It was one of his tools of the trade.

"Huokan!"

Laoma's voice was choked with sobs; he handed the small wrench to Huokan with both hands—a gesture that was somewhat clumsy, yet filled with the most simple and sincere blessing of an ordinary laborer.

"I... I have nothing else to give you... take this! May the Emperor protect you! Protect all the Angel Warriors! You... you must win! You must... come back alive!"

Huokan looked at the small wrench, which was completely out of place with his Power Armor, and remained silent for a moment.

He did not refuse, but instead extended his massive palm and, with extreme care, picked up the tiny metal tool with two fingers.

He placed it solemnly into the chest pocket of his work clothes, a spot right against his heart that beat for the Emperor and Humanity.

"I will carry it, Laoma. It will remind me of what I am fighting for. So that the children can run safely in the streets... for all the people like you who still live resiliently under the shadow of Aliens.

Tell the children that the Emperor's Angels will burn away every Alien that dares to threaten Humanity.

Take care, Laoma. May the Emperor's radiance protect you all."

Having said this, Huokan did not linger.

He took one last look at the tightly closed repair shop door, one last look at this neighborhood where he had briefly integrated and left warm memories, and then turned away.

He strode forward, his tall figure appearing exceptionally majestic on the narrow street.

Laoma stood where he was, the sensation of handing over the wrench still lingering in his hands.

He watched Huokan's back, which was so striking as it merged into the hurried crowd at the end of the street, and tears finally could not help but roll down.

He wiped his face hard and, toward that disappearing back, shouted hoarsely with all his might.

"For the Emperor! Huokan! For Humanity!! Come back alive!!!"

The news spread like an electric current to every corner.

Fear still existed—fear of war, fear of losing loved ones.

But at this moment, these fears were suppressed by a more powerful emotion—the monstrous hatred accumulated after long being oppressed by the Alien Race, having their homeland trampled, and their kin slaughtered, as well as the light of hope, bordering on Faith, brought by the Emperor personally sounding the horn of counterattack.

People talked, argued, prayed, and then silently returned to their respective posts.

They threw themselves into production, reinforcing fortifications, and maintaining order with more focus and desperation than ever before.

Because they knew that the Emperor's Sharp Sword had been unsheathed, and they, these ordinary people struggling to survive under the shadow of the Alien Race, were finally no longer just lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

They became a part of this great war; their sweat, their labor, and even their lives would all transform into a cornerstone supporting the Emperor's victory.

The darkness before the Dawn might still be thick, but for the first time, they felt so tangibly that the light to dispel the darkness was right ahead, ignited by the Emperor himself.

Inside the command tower of the Ninth Defense Zone Military Region.

"Everything is ready."

Yingzhou stood inside the command tower, watching the soldiers preparing in an orderly fashion outside the window, and whispered to himself.

Over two years of accumulating strength, countless simulations and preparations, and sacrifices had been exchanged for information.

The final step had already been taken.

There was only one goal: to completely wipe the Cyberk Alien from this planet!

At this moment, Yingzhou saw that the only Task he had triggered in these two years was nearly completed.

【Task: Peace within the jurisdiction and victory in the first battle.】

【Task Requirements: While ensuring peace within your own jurisdiction, achieve victory in the first battle against the Cyberk.】

【Task Reward: Three Warlord Titan.】

Looking at this Task, Yingzhou slowly opened his mouth to speak.

"As long as the first battle is won, then by that time, each of the three attack directions will have one Warlord Titan."