Chapter 138: Transmit My Orders, Deploy Troops

In orbit.

Beside Aolake's massive hull floated a dozen warships.

At the same time, deep in the void far from the orbit, scattered warships kept bursting intermittently out of Subspace from almost every direction of the Alert Star.

But the warships that broke through were usually only one or two, and they were almost all damaged and shrouded in thick smoke.

At this moment beside Aolake, a Yunxuji drifted slowly past these warships, trailing points of light.

Fanluosi and the others sat with dead‑pan faces in their seats, while Xisi stared expressionlessly at the reinforcement Kiriman had sent outside the port window.

Boom— a burst of ammunition self‑detonation roared from far away from the Yunxuji, huge flames and scattering debris and corpses caused the Yunxuji to hurriedly lift away.

Seeing the frozen crew with faces full of terror and despair, Xisi silently withdrew his gaze, and amid the cabin's gloomier atmosphere, calmly glanced at the recording adjutant beside him:

"Cross off one Moon-class ship."

The adjutant bowed his head, daring not to speak, and hurriedly crossed off one Moon-class on the list.

Those around also buried their heads deeper; the more excited they had been an hour ago, the more despondent they now were.

Kiriman had indeed sent reinforcement, but looking at the arriving fleet, Xisi had no doubt these warships had just been ripped from a fierce battlefield and forced to head to the Alert Star.

Thus, when Xisi looked, none of the warships assigned to him were undamaged.

And the self‑detonation just now wasn't even the first.

A multitude of Yunxuji and rescue vessels launched from Aolake's deck, and after approaching the Moon-class they began salvaging as much personnel, supplies, and Phosphorus as possible.

Supplies were scarce, and Xisi could not tolerate any waste.

Even if the entire Moon-class were emptied, its wreckage would be devoured by Aolake, further strengthening the hull.

"Return now."

After inspecting Kiriman's reinforcement fleet, in the dead‑pan Yunxuji, Xisi finally spoke casually, a hint of helplessness in his tone.

As the First Adjutant, Bunoke quickly turned and entered the cockpit; the Yunxuji flashed with light, accelerated upward, and circled over Aolake's top before departing.

When passing the side deck, one could still see rescued crew wailing, lying directly on the deck, blood pouring from broken limbs and torsos, staining large sections of the deck red.

"The reinforcements that arrived weren't all withdrawn from battlefields; many came from nearby National Church holy worlds and Mechanical Church Forge Worlds, with warships rushing to follow the lord."

Fanluosi watched Xisi's silence, couldn't help offering comfort, while Xisi silently glanced at the relatively intact ships outside the port window.

But looking at these antiquated vessels, some so old that their factory‑installed light Macro Cannons were completely sealed off, Xisi simply could not treat them as the warships Fanluosi spoke of.

These ships, funded by believers from the holy worlds and Forge Worlds, were probably only slightly better than armed merchant ships.

At the same moment Xisi observed, destitute believers—perhaps desperate to repay loans on N‑hand warships—recklessly ran into self‑detonating warships to dismantle the dragonbones forged from refined gold.

Thus, while Xisi watched, the followers who hadn't yet reached the battlefield first left their ship due to overly aged aerospace equipment, and then died in space as the rear leg leaked.

Later, both the people and the aging equipment were pulled back by subsequent believers, who, adhering to the 'even a mosquito is meat' mindset, hauled them back.

From Xisi's perspective, this was a half‑price deal: he hired a trading fleet from the Falomoer Family, using the Alert Star's valuable assets at a slightly reduced cost.

Even if he sold the refined‑gold gates, the Falomoer fleet comprised only a few dozen ships, and Xisi could not muster the desire to even glance at the Terran Fleet's front.

As for the scattered Chaos war gangs that rushed to follow Xisi, their ships were no better.

Even if they exhausted all maintenance, the Chaos war gangs, deprived of logistics, could only barely retain two‑thirds of their warships' combat power.

Moreover, they were all escort and destroyer‑type small vessels; so far they hadn't even fielded a single cruiser.

The only redeeming aspect of these war gangs was that they delivered long‑overdue reinforcements to Xisi's heavily damaged Astat.

The cabin remained silent until the Yunxuji landed again on Heberia's Tower Top; the hatch opened, and the crew, after exchanging glances, looked at Xisi.

From outside came the overwhelming training noises of new recruits, and Heberia's long‑silent factories roared back to life.

Along with the sounds came the bleak, cold wind high atop the Tower Top.

Without speaking, Xisi, who had sat silently in his seat, finally rose under the increasingly urgent call from Terra echoing in his heart.

He stepped out of the hatch calmly, wordlessly; behind him Fanluosi and the others hurried to follow, and the veteran greeters on the Tower Top immediately stood at attention and saluted.

The officials who had long awaited stepped aside, bowing respectfully around a projection.

Daiweiluo below hurried forward:

"Sir, the Regent is waiting for you."

Originally dead‑pan, Xisi slightly lifted his eyes, then saw a massive projection at the center of the Tower Top, where Kiriman, towering like a giant, wore a golden crown and surveyed everything of the Alert Star.

The sparks from the Moon-class's self‑detonation above had not yet faded, and below the recruits still lacked complete uniforms, their weapons varied wildly as training continued.

Yet Xisi watched Kiriman, directly linked within a short distance, and never expected their first meeting to cost so much.

In the terribly inefficient Empire, to span the endless Star Sea and project oneself in real time to the other side of the galaxy implied an extravagantly massive expenditure.

And despite such terrifying cost, Kiriman, upon hearing Xisi step out of the hatch, did not turn around immediately.

Instead, after carefully surveying everything before the Alert Star, he kept a composed expression and faced Xisi.

The two panda eyes had not fully faded, but Xisi had no mood to linger on them.

Xisi simply watched Kiriman, who had spent such enormous resources to find him, waiting for him to state his intention.

Kiriman, however, stared at Xisi, his mouth moving a few times, the words he had prepared for so long unable to be spoken.

He could only hesitate for a while, then let out a weak, long sigh.

"I just came to see you, and on behalf of Terra, apologize for the past matters."

Kiriman was courteous, even somewhat reverent; as an outstanding politician, Kiriman was very 'people‑friendly'.

He had once, to deliver the original casting to the Space Wolf Legion, even knelt on one knee before the opposing Battalion Commander in public.

Thus calling Xisi 'you' and apologizing publicly was entirely normal for Kiriman.

Xisi looked at him, of course knowing Kiriman would never incur such massive cost merely for that reason to establish a real‑time communication with him.

It was to urge him to dispatch forces to Terra, but the present reality choked him so he could not speak.

Perhaps the communication cost was too great; after Kiriman finished, his gaze, clearly apologetic, lingered on Xisi, then he said nothing more about Terra, gave a slight nod, and, dragging a body as feeble as Xisi's, turned off the projection.

Meanwhile, the stationed Daiweiluo sent another small projection before Xisi.

"This is the latest report on Terra and the Solar Star Region brought by the Regent."

Daiweiluo looked toward Xisi, and Xisi recalled Kiriman's equally weary figure, took a deep breath, steadied his mind slightly, and then spoke casually:

"Just release it here."

Daiweiluo opened it immediately, and then a sheet spread over the entire region; under the relentless assault of two terrifying Tyran tendrils, one above and one below, striking the core of the Human Empire, a gray circular band representing dead silence raced ahead of the Tyran arrival, swiftly covering the entire outer perimeter of the Solar Star Region.

Daiweiluo's voice, also bearing an unmistakable low tone, began slowly:

"To delay the Tyran swarm, and to guide the swarm toward other zones, Terra has formally issued a directive of total extermination for all peripheral worlds of the Solar Star Region."

"At this very moment, tens of thousands of Empire worlds are being annihilated by the Empire's own forces."

"Now the number of deaths per second is increasing by the trillions."

Daiweiluo spoke as calmly as possible, yet even the highest officials who care little for mortals straightened slightly upon hearing the decree and its outcome.

Then countless eyes turned in unison toward Xisi.

Xisi remained silent where he stood, and those around him, watching Xisi, involuntarily slowed their breathing as well.

Although Lord Sisi had never spoken much before, lately his words seemed even fewer.

It wasn't until Xisi suddenly took another step that the crowd dared to deepen their breaths, trying to keep up.

"You need not follow."

He raised his hand to halt; the densely packed officials, commanders, Astat, and even legends like Bai'er at the Tower Top all truly stopped in place at once.

The previously deepened breaths slowed again.

The others could only watch Xisi walk alone in silence to the edge of the Tower Top, stand away from the crowd at the tower's side, and gaze at the profound silence above.

The cold wind remained bleak, blowing so that everyone felt their souls grow a little cold.

Above, the Moon-class self‑detonation continued, and before the majestic hull of the warship arrived, rolling thick smoke and small explosions spewed out desperate crew members.

And the 'new recruit' at his feet, not even fully equipped with a uniform, lacked heavy weapons or even artillery vehicles; even his shooting was simulated with sheet metal.

Silently watching his own 'army', and then under everyone's watchful eyes, Xisi slightly lifted his head, his gaze turning toward Terra.

Because even Xisi's momentary silence was bought with countless lives.

He no longer sighed, nor did he consider those still unprepared.

Facing the Divine Emperor's urgent summons from deep within his heart, and facing Kiriman's 'plea' that traveled thousands of miles just to see him.

Facing the cold wind atop the Tower Top, Xisi finally straightened his posture again, turned back toward the vast awaiting retinue.

Calm words, piercing the bleakness…

"Transmit my orders."

"Deploy troops!"