Chapter 169: For Dawn and Terra, We Are Unbreakable!

Lai Shande was furious.

This duration was neither days nor months; it was precisely nine hours.

It was as if they were stepping on the Empire's Fist's nerves.

The already stubborn Empire's Fist could hardly not think this was the opponent mocking them.

Then all the Empire's Fist present, after holding back for a while, almost simultaneously looked up toward Kiriman's general direction.

Meanwhile, the corners of their mouths under the helmets opened and closed silently in anger.

Not knowing Xisi, they naturally ranted at Kiriman.

Being able to stay silent was already the greatest respect to the Original Body.

But the dire battle situation left them no time even to vent their anger at Kiriman.

When a spore pod pierced the dense anti‑air fire net and struck the high wall of Terra's palace, though it was only a few insects, it was instantly pulverized into mud by the dense garrison behind the wall.

Yet reality would not allow Lai Shande to stay here and continue berating Kiriman.

He turned directly toward his post, ready to command the increasingly thin garrison and to meet the Terran's new wave of attack.

As for the reinforcements mentioned in the report…

Lai Shande was too lazy even to pick up the report.

After all, what could Lai Shande still hope for from a reinforcement that should have arrived months ago?

Just like the old siege of Terra, the Empire's Fist does not reject reinforcements, but only trusts itself!

Lai Shande's figure moved away from the summit; facing the officials, the Empire's Fist, and the Star Realm Army looking back at him, he kept marching, then suddenly raised the Dawn's Fist, turned his back to the crowd and shouted:

"For Dawn and Terra!"

Behind him, the Empire's Fist instantly straightened, clenched its right fist and hammered its chest, saying:

"We are indestructible!"

Dense artillery fire shot into the sky, effectively weaving several layers of barrage clouds above the palace.

The vast majority of Terran spore pods turned into debris during descent, and the powerful anti‑orbit fire roared fiercely whenever the Terran 'Ancient Ship' attempted to approach and used its mass to disturb Earth's gravity.

Although Terra is not a war planet, to the Ancient Ship at this moment, the planet resembled a fire‑spiked hedgehog; each time it tried to get close, dense anti‑orbit fire repelled it.

Thus, even after circling Terra for so long, the Ancient Ship still found no way to seize Terra.

It could only intensify the siege on Mars, Pluto and other worlds in the solar system on one hand, while patiently continuing to drop spore pods onto Earth on the other.

Even though each successful landing yielded only a little, with persistent accumulation, in some sparsely populated regions far from Nest City, the Terrans still managed to amass a sizable insect swarm.

At this moment, those swarms, together with the spore pods, were launching attacks on nearby human cities.

"The South African sector has fallen, and South America is sending an emergency signal."

When Lai Shande arrived at the command hall, before he could speak, his adjutant hurriedly opened his mouth.

He also handed several reports to Lai Shande.

Lai Shande merely glanced, then without looking back walked straight to his command seat.

But when he reached his seat, he saw a crowd of Guardian Sect Army surrounding a Mechanical Sage, silently awaiting him.

The Mechanical Sage, upon seeing Lai Shande, performed a courteous bow.

This time, Lai Shande could no longer ignore it; as the Empire's most important ally and the solar system's key defense pillar.

Facing the arrival of the Martian Mechanical Church, Lai Shande must summon all his effort.

Lai Shande responded to the Mechanical Sage with respect, and just as he lifted his head, the Mechanical Sage spoke:

"Lord Lai Shande, when will the two gentlemen Leontus and Tullian return to Terra?"

The cold Mechanical Electronic Voice showed no emotion, but as it stared rigidly at the lone eyeball of the Mechanical Sage opposite, Lai Shande still sensed its extreme dissatisfaction with the situation.

Sure enough, without waiting for Lai Shande to speak, the Mechanical Sage continued:

"I am not here to blame, but I hope you understand that Mars's underground preserves a great deal of precious technological heritage."

"Mars is a world as important as Terra; we need, and urgently need, special protection from the Imperial Army."

The Mechanical Sage directly made a request, a simple one: that Lai Shande do everything possible to protect Mars.

Lai Shande's expression turned sour; after a long pause, he reluctantly said:

"I will immediately assemble a reinforcement to go to Mars."

"How many troops?"

The Mechanical Sage almost instantly retorted, then glanced at the scene where even the command hall had thinned, and before the flushed Lai Shande could speak, coldly pointed out the absurdity of his question.

"By my calculations, Terra currently lacks the capacity to dispatch reinforcements; in fact, Terra needs reinforcements itself."

"Lord Lai Shande, no matter how resilient, cannot alter physical reality."

After rebutting Lai Shande, the Mechanical Sage withdrew his gaze from the command hall, pondered in silence for a moment, then finally stated the purpose of this mission.

"If the battle situation remains unfavorable, to preserve the Empire's precious technological heritage, we will next..."

"We will take Mars and leap away."

The Mechanical Sage rarely showed seriousness, and upon hearing this, Lai Shande's face instantly stiffened.

After all, the main firepower of the worm‑like swarms assaulting the solar system now comes from Mars sharing the burden for Terra.

If the Mechanical Church truly intends to take Mars and run, the swarms currently besieging Mars will launch a full assault on Terra.

Lai Shande looked at the earnest Mechanical Sage, hesitated only briefly, then suddenly produced the only argument he could use to retain the other side.

"Reinforcements!"

"Kiriman's promised reinforcements will arrive in nine hours!"

Lai Shande, who moments ago had been berating Kiriman, now clutched this as a drowning man grasps a straw of hope, uttering the same words to the Mechanical Sage.

But the Mechanical Sage simply turned and prepared to leave, and as he walked toward the door, gave a casual, slightly bored reply:

"Yes, reinforcements."

"The reinforcements that should have arrived months ago."

The Mechanical Sage spoke as he left, and Lai Shande froze in place, opened his mouth but couldn't reply.

It could only be the Mechanical Church, which had warned them before departing, watching helplessly, and after struggling for a while gave up trying to retain them.

Behind him was a massive Solar System star‑map projection, and around its edge stood the Terra guards who had stopped their work, faces dead‑silent as they watched.

The command hall's atmosphere was heavy; after a moment of silence, Lai Shande met everyone's gaze, took a deep breath, then suddenly hammered his chest.

Taogang was sullen, accompanied by Lai Shande's roaring "Unbreakable."

The Mechanical Sage suddenly halted, and the surrounding guards instantly widened their eyes.

In the Solar System projection map, beneath "Unbreakable," were countless Xisi legion warships……

Bursting out of Subspace!