Chapter 154: Why Did I Have to Provoke Him?

Travel to a certain star system of Terra.

And it's not a regular Empire route; there is not only no Empire world here, but even merchant fleets are scarce.

Yet in this star system, endless fleets are scattered in the void, and on the far side of a certain planet, hundreds of warships circle a 'ship' far larger than Aolake.

Countless Macro Cannons and various firepower are pointed straight at this 'giant ship'.

The giant ship is merely a mass; at this moment it has no retaliatory fire, but resembles a massive, bloated void megacity with numerous irregular domes, allowing the surrounding predatory human fleets to circle it.

Only the wreckage of Spirit Race Battleships that swore to fight to the last moment recently indicates the identity of this void megacity.

It is a giant ship, and also a Spirit Race ark!

The Spirit Race ark, as the last mobile home of the ark Spirit Race, these giant ships almost bear the final hope of the Spirit Race.

They traverse the galaxy via network pathways, then hide themselves as carefully as possible in certain remote star systems.

Only at necessary moments, for various reasons, do they appear on the outskirts near other powers.

And now, the ark that Xisi captured is here because the star system contains precious minerals, attracting an ark to mine them.

Originally this group of ark Spirit Race had been mining peacefully for a long time, and occasionally could send merchant fleets to trade with nearby humans.

But as Aolake, relying on Hundredfold‑enhanced Dead Spirits reconnaissance equipment, locked onto such an ark world, and even the not‑detouring Xisi, it firmly enforced the Empire's established policy toward Alien Form.

It is also Xisi's 'repayment' for being schemed against by the Spirit Race.

At this moment the ark is completely crippled, vast domes shattered into huge gaps by Gauss Light Spears.

And inside these gaps, all the mobilized Spirit Race men and women, filled with despair, watch the endless human army before them!

Mortal soldiers fight alongside the Astat, and Yunxuji even transports massive vehicles and knight Mechs down from the warships.

The Spirit Race's star‑dart guns continuously fire high‑energy crystals, and from behind they even bring out a secret, a nether construct powered by Spirit Race Soul Stones.

But these scarce vehicles, not to mention being unable to withstand the human forces' concentrated fire.

Even if they could hold, awaiting them are merely hundreds of warships overhead and nearly ten thousand various firepower of all sizes.

Can't win?

If you can't win, fire a Macro Cannon!

If that still fails, fire two!

After all, even if a warship fires once, coordinating all warships for a single barrage would take an unknown amount of time.

Thus when the ark's defenses are completely shattered, the ground battle becomes a one‑sided slaughter.

On the ground, Xiulun watches the pirate Astat ahead, frenziedly shouting Xisi's name as they charge.

He doesn't dare glance back at the Aolake overhead, but can't help lowering his eyes in resentment.

At the same time, he is genuinely curious what method Xisi used to make these oath‑swearing pirates so pumped up, all utterly loyal to Xisi.

He had thought that as long as he fought Terra with Xisi, and if he could please Xisi, Xisi would still allow him to return to his own great vortex.

But now, seeing these former subordinates, Xiulun almost completely discards that notion.

After all, he can't have Xisi nod, only to turn around and find himself alone while everyone else stays to continue following Xisi!

Xiulun helplessly withdraws his gaze from these former subordinates, then watches a group of mortal new recruits retreating gloomily ahead; Xiulun doesn't even bother to enforce battlefield discipline, let alone lift an eyelid.

He merely returns to his command post out of boredom, ready to strictly carry out Xisi's orders:

"The fourth batch of new recruits has completed a full battle as scheduled; now the entire army halts forward movement and deploys the fifth batch of new recruits onto the battlefield."

Xiulun speaks boredly to the command console; surrounding commanders of the Empire, pirates, and the Ancient Legion immediately begin preparations with practiced ease.

Having slaughtered so far, even the dullest person knows that besides truly wanting to punish the Dead Spirits and the Spirit Race, Xisi has another aim.

But the main purpose is to use these Alien Forms to train his massive numbers of new recruits.

Soon, the fourth batch of new recruits returns jubilantly, passing by the arriving fifth batch.

Both sides' expressions are perfectly normal, only Xiulun, who commands this ground operation, sees the recruits who moments ago wore terrified faces now return with fierce looks.

No matter how Xiulun looks, he feels these mortals lack even the semblance of a veteran, let alone a recruit's look.

He gazes for a long while, his brow increasingly furrowed, using an exaggerated phrasing that even he finds overblown to assess this group of 'new recruits'.

"Honestly, I can't even call them recruits."

"But if you call them battle‑hardened elites, I see a few of those qualities."

Xiulun watches with his own eyes as this group of battle‑tested new recruits moves from in front of him to the rear, boarding the long‑awaited Yunxuji to return to the armed merchant ship in orbit.

There, medical bots and hot food, hot water are already waiting for them.

The new recruits turn around to enjoy themselves; aboard the ark, the Spirit Race, filled with despair, watches as they finally 'repel' a heap of human forces, only for the humans to, as if drinking water, casually send another heap!

Then at the very center of the ark, watching the surging crowds pressing from all directions on the screen, the ark lord clenches his teeth, eyes blood‑shot, forcing himself to retract his gaze.

He also looks to the other side, where the projection shows a group of Spirit Race huddled, evading, silent.

He sees opposite, both Dark Spirit Race and ark Spirit Race, as well as clown and pirate Spirit Race mixed forces.

The ark lord here has teeth nearly sparking with fire.

"I am not your Death God army, and have no ties with you."

"Yet you caused the disaster, and now you want me to bear it!"

"If you still claim to be the Spirit Race saviors, you should, before my people are slaughtered to extinction, find a way to stop those lunatics opposite!"

The ark lord points at the battle scene in the projection and roars, while the Death God army on the opposite side stare at each other, then truly don't know how to speak.

After all, Xisi's journey shows this is not the first time he has captured a Spirit Race ark, and regarding the previous attempts, their final outcomes...

The Death God army, thinking of this, becomes even more speechless, and can only look to Iveline, who chose to warn Xisi first, hoping she will give a suggestion.

The opposite ark lord also looks eagerly, but facing everyone's gaze, Iveline, though not bowing her head, remains silent for a long while; the response she gives the crowd is a long sigh after holding it in.

The Death God army is helpless, and the ark lord is stunned.

"It's not..."

"Your sigh makes me feel I'm doomed!"

The Lord of the Ark opened his mouth in astonishment, staring dumbfounded at the projected Yi Fu Lei Ni.

And Yi Fu Lei Ni, though she did not speak, looked at the exaggerated human army opposite her, and a wave of remorse—she could no longer count how many times it had arisen— rose in her heart.

"What am I…?"

"You have to provoke him?!"