Chapter 107: Is This Still 40K?

In orbit.

The crew and soldiers who had just arrived on the surface to rest immediately rushed back to the fleet.

At the same time, a huge number of freshly recruited, barely equipped with uniforms and rifles and almost untrained new recruits were constantly thrust into space with terror on their faces.

Ahead of the small ships in the rear loading personnel and supplies wildly, a strike cruiser led a line of cruisers and light cruisers, forming a battle line that raged against the opposing Undead Fleet.

The Spirit Race Battleship hovered between the two forces, spinning endlessly amid thick smoke after losing power.

The massive Gauss beams from the Dead Spirit Warship constantly pierced the endless void, green light columns surrounded by dense energy lightning; any ship on Xisi's side hit— even a Moon-class cruiser— would have its shield shattered and be struck directly on the hull.

Watching another Gauss beam hit the side of a light cruiser behind him, and the massive hull fragments around the warship disintegrating instantly, Xisi could not see any human corpses.

The entire area struck began an irreversible, continuous disintegration.

The sight made Xisi's eyelid twitch; there were only about a hundred ships ahead, the smallest enemy force he had ever faced.

Yet the pressure from the Dead Spirits pressed Xisi to the point of breathlessness.

Because in terms of pure technological strength, the Dead Spirits are arguably the galaxy's most powerful existence.

As an ancient civilization that participated in the wars of the Ancient Saint and the Star God, and even managed to backstab the Star God after the war.

Dead Spirit warships utterly crush human vessels of the same class.

In the Human Empire's war against the Dead Spirits, they often can only rely on numbers to win.

One could say that from space to the ground, humanity is being crushed by the Dead Spirits in every dimension.

Even Asitate, if hit by a Gauss beam from the Dead Spirit Ground Forces, would only meet total disintegration.

As for mortals......

Xisi thought of this and glanced again at the light cruiser hull still disintegrating; even now, Xisi had seen no bodies drifting out.

Mortals, even their very existence, would be completely erased by disintegration.

Watching the light cruiser, gradually losing combat ability, fire its remaining Macro Cannons before total destruction, Xisi could only halt the advance and dispatch two attack ships toward Bai'er's warship of the Dead Spirits, pulling the distance back a bit.

Although the Empire's space tactics against the Dead Spirits are to get up close and blast them with Macro Cannons.

But seeing only a few of his own ships now, Xisi abandoned the close‑range idea.

He slowly fell back while personally commanding the strike cruiser equipped with Hundredfold Amplification, firing wildly at the Dead Spirits.

Meanwhile, on Xisi's bridge amid the haste, the distant Undead Fleet and the seemingly helpless Spirit Race Battleship in the middle both displayed a rare, shared terror.

At this moment, inside the Zhong-level Tomb Ship, a metal skeleton adorned with lavish decorations housed a Prosthetic Eye that continuously flashed green radiance.

The Dead Spirit Overlord, holding a scepter, stood before the dimly flickering green‑glowing 'stone' bridge, looking through a massive floor‑to‑ceiling window at the strike cruiser spewing exaggerated Light Spears, and had not spoken a word from his communication array for a long while.

He watched a attack ship, comparable to a human escort class, fail to dodge and be pierced by a single shot that tore through the whole vessel; the Dead Spirit Overlord's personality core flickered with emotions far more intense than Xisi's.

"These monkeys......"

"When did technology become this advanced?!"

Deep within Usubal's personality core, a rigid thought formed: although the other light cruisers and cruisers performed normally, the strike cruiser serving as the flagship wielded terrifyingly exaggerated power.

Usubal even saw with his own eyes a high‑trajectory beam strike the enemy's Void Shield without breaking it—a rare occurrence.

The impact of that scene on him far exceeded the shock of a human named Bai'er stealing his master's relic.

Because theft is just theft, it isn't a major issue for the entire Dead Spirit Empire.

But now, seeing this sudden Imperial fleet and the strike cruiser's exaggerated firepower, this is news that could overturn the entire Dead Spirit Empire.

If every human warship had this kind of power......

Usubal's metallic body involuntarily straightened a bit, his green eyes shining so brightly they nearly illuminated the surrounding bridge.

"We have to get this warship over here and study it backwards."

Usubal whispered to his own personality core while watching Xisi's strike cruiser.

Even as he greedily eyed Xisi's warship, he never forgot his primary mission.

The metal skull turned slightly, its green Prosthetic Eye fixed on Baier's Spirit Race Battleship.

After a long silence, the communication array emitted a mechanical electronic voice:

"Why haven't we found that filthy thief yet?"

The haughty rebuke came from the dead spirit crew below, whose personality cores were reduced to a trace; a cold mechanical query followed, and a crystal‑clear image projected across space before Usubal.

A multitude of bizarre mutated crew members were desperately resisting the Dead Spirit Jump Squad; each Gauss beam that pierced a corridor turned the crowded crew into dust, only for more mutated crew to surge from behind.

Among those mutated crew were a few Spirit Race Pirates, who cursed Bai'er while fighting for their own lives.

On the other side of the warship, Bai'er ended a partner with a single shot; under his raging eyes after the Spirit Pirate Prince's death, he deftly produced a Soul Stone and harvested the spirits of those Spirit Race.

He stood, glanced at the pursuing Dead Spirits drawing nearer behind him, brushed the ornate Dead Spirit Box in his chest, and decisively turned into the escape pod.

Behind him, a swarm of mutated mortals he had cultivated tried to follow; Bai'er raised his hand and said:

"Stay. My new partner appears to be an Empire; if you go, how can I make these Empire folk cooperate with me?"

The mutated mortals froze, their eyes showing a fierce will to survive, yet some genetic control made them unable to defy Bai'er's command after his words.

The mutated mortals, controlled by Bai'er, turned to become cannon fodder, while the escape pod, carrying only Bai'er and the Dead Spirit Box he clutched, blasted away from the Spirit Race Battleship toward Xisi's slowly retreating strike cruiser.

Soon after spotting Bai'er, the strike cruiser eagerly opened its reception deck.

It landed relatively smoothly.

In the distance, Dead Spirits who had searched every warship without finding Bai'er raged, blasting the entire Spirit Race Battleship into debris and swiveling their guns toward Xisi.

On the deck, watching the relentless Dead Spirits, Bai'er prepared his expression to meet yet another unknown partner, when he looked up toward the interior of the deck.

The sight before him froze Bai'er in place.

"War... war dog?"

As a veteran of the Great Expedition, Bai'er stared at the fully re‑painted blue‑white Devourer and instinctively uttered Helusu's pre‑return legion name.

His eyes then swept over the war dog, noting that although few in number, nine Panbian Juntuán were present.

Bai'er felt a sudden sense of time travel.

He even fixed a serious stare, turned his head to glance around, then, puzzled, couldn't help staring again:

"You, Divine Emperor's."

"Where did this come from?"

"Is this still 40K?!"