Chapter 34: Piercing a Thousand Miles

The Command Center was silent.

The Pure Water Station was already an asset of the Mechanical Church, so it could still control a large number of cameras and relay the interior footage back.

And as more Servo Skulls flew in, projecting the interior of the Space Elevator from additional angles, not only did all the Senate representatives stare dumbfounded, but even Kaerjia, who had previously only watched the front lines and was too lazy to bother with Xisi, had to focus entirely on the screen.

"In here, it's like hunting Chicken Thieves..."

It was unclear who in the crowd muttered it, but the words truly expressed the crowd's thoughts.

Everyone stared blankly at the screen, their eyes wide open, even forgetting to blink.

After all, in the footage, two thousand humans clad in Storm Armor and equipped with Jet Packs were using exaggerated techniques honed over countless years, continuously 'slaughtering' the surging Chicken Thieves pouring down from the top.

Almost every second, hundreds to thousands of Chicken Thieves fell from the walls, then cascaded down the massive Space Elevator from low orbit toward the ground.

Especially watching any ordinary 101 Storm Soldier wield a saber in one hand and a sidearm in the other, constantly hacking Chicken Thieves off the walls, the only summary the Command Center could give this battle was 'hunting Chicken Thieves'.

The only ones whose expressions remained relatively steady were the Asatas who could also produce such a battle scene.

But that stability was only relative, since the ones in the Space Elevator were not the cyber‑enhanced Asatas but a squad of Planetary Defense Force troops who had never even been to space.

Even if it took two mortals here to barely match an Asata's combat efficiency in the same scene, the fact that a thousand 'Asatas' suddenly appeared on the Space Elevator made Kaerjia stare silently for a moment, then lower their head and rummage, moving the banner representing Xisi from the densely packed cannon‑fodder column to the sparsely populated Asata column!

Just after Kaerjia carefully set the 'Xisi' banner, before they could lift their head, the crowd below, which had been frozen by the footage, suddenly let out a deep breath.

Kaerjia even frowned a little; after all, even with their extensive experience, they truly could not imagine how this battle might develop further.

Raising their head with a frown and still watching the screen, Kaerjia could not concern themselves with anything else, openly displaying all emotions except calm.

Because when they looked at the screen, the dark‑silver figure was turning into a silver lightning that swept down massive swaths of Chicken Thieves!

This time even Kaerjia finally stared unflinchingly with their only remaining right eye!

A mortal‑form Asata?

Kaerjia subconsciously wanted to label Xisi with that description.

But watching Xisi dash across the massive Space Elevator, wielding an Elegant Power Sword in one hand and a Precision Explosive Gun in the other, while dense Chicken Thieves rained down around him, even Kaerjia could no longer simply call him an Asata.

Because ordinary Asatas simply cannot produce Xisi's exaggerated effect!

Kaerjia stared blankly for a moment, then, unable to resist like everyone else, turned their gaze toward the Nobility whose eyes were also widened to the maximum.

Everyone wore astonished faces, shocked that the usually stingy Nobility this time was so generous, even giving away such a treasure.

Only the Nobility being stared at by Kaerjia and the others exchanged glances, their mouths twitching as if to speak, yet they could not find words.

In the end they could only force out a strained, more awkward than crying dry laugh, as a response to the crowd.

Then they furrowed their brows deeply, racking their brain, unable to understand why this set of armor had never produced this effect in their hands???

The crowd was speechless; everyone in the Command Center stared blankly at the exaggerated projection.

As Xisi's veterans drew nearer the top, the increasingly noisy front‑line Communicators, having received no response from Kaerjia for a long time, finally began pulling everyone's attention back.

The Star Realm Army Commanders couldn't help but look at Kaerjia.

At the same time, a pair of eyes kept scanning the strategic map, flashing thoughts far from a desire to keep fighting.

Kaerjia quickly regained composure, silently withdrawing their gaze; facing the Star Realm Army Commanders' stare, Kaerjia's expression turned cold again:

"The attack must continue until the Pure Water Station is definitively retaken!"

Everyone lowered their gaze but understood Kaerjia.

After all, although Xisi and his veterans displayed jaw‑dropping exaggerated power, even launching a threatening assault on the Chicken‑infested Pure Water Station with two thousand men, these feats already far exceeded the crowd's expectations.

Yet even now, no one dared to guarantee that this operation would definitely win.

Moreover, as they approached the top, the equally shocked Chicken Thieves gradually went all‑out; with a flood of pure‑blood Chicken Thieves joining the fight, human silhouettes began to appear among the corpses falling down the massive Space Elevator.

Given this attrition, Xisi's side would find it hard to cut through the entire Space Elevator.

By now the crowd had withdrawn their eyes from the initial shock; aside from the Nobility still lamenting Xisi's armor with various aches, only the Star Realm Army regretted the loss of those two thousand sets of Storm Armor.

The only one in the crowd left was Kaerjia, somewhat regretting why they had only supplied two thousand Jet Packs.

The crowd gradually refocused on their own matters, while the Mechanical Church continued to compute the probability of Xisi's success.

Amid the renewed bustle, a Mechanical Church entity watching the screen suddenly emitted a massive 'Zero' in a mechanical voice!

The crowd looked on puzzled, and as the Mechanical Priest's remaining skin twitched with an indecipherable expression, everyone's gaze followed the Mechanical Church back to the projection.

Then the crowd's eyes widened, understanding the meaning of that Zero.

Zero means the success rate of the operation.

Because even Kaerjia, watching the sudden deluge of broken human corpses and the swirling Chicken Thieves in the channel, as well as the twisted 'transparent' phenomenon, realized that this operation, which they had never set any expectations for, now contained an unforeseen variable.

Since Likat appeared on the battlefield, even Kaerjia could not claim that Xisi's entirely mortal troops could return alive.

They merely retreated, and regarding the mission, Kaerjia held no expectations.

The gazes of those in the Command Center were varied—some not gloating, many feeling regret.

But regardless of the emotion, not a single person on the scene still believed Xisi could succeed.

After all, as an elite insectoid capable of assassinating Asatas, in this situation the only things awaiting mortals are fear and death.

Under the crowd's tacit agreement, even the Mechanical Priest began retracting the Servo Skulls.

But as the footage dwindled and the dark‑silver figure began to fall, the Mechanical Priest suddenly halted.

Then several of the Prosthetic Eyes on its body instantly stared forward.

The Elegant Power Sword swung, the Precision Explosive Gun roared, and the falling Xisi did not cease fighting.

At this moment Xisi was surrounded by dense swarms of Chicken Thieves covering the entire interior wall of the Space Elevator, while beneath his feet stretched a bottomless abyss hundreds of kilometers deep.

Nearby veterans' self‑detonations before death periodically ripped the inner wall, and the massive pressure blasted the veterans and surrounding Chicken Thieves into near orbit; amid the towering, deep azure sky, limbs and wreckage erupted in sudden bursts.

And in this descent, the Mechanical Priest was certain that Xisi was not alone!

"Quiet!"

Without the Mechanical Priest speaking, even Kaerjia scolded at that moment.

The surrounding crowd froze, stared blankly at Kaerjia, then after a brief thought, everyone abruptly fixed their gaze on the projection.

The dark silver Mech fell while fighting, until the Power Sword suddenly stabbed into its underside; the originally transparent void revealed a huge-bodied Tairen Likat!

Xisi's Jet Pack activated behind him, stopping midair covered in his blood and a few scratches on his Power Armor, while that Likat, which even to Kaerjia seemed enough to crush all mortals, instead fell downward into the earth.

"Win...... won?"

A State Church Priest couldn't help but express astonishment; no one around answered, only after the Mechanical Priest's eyes flickered did he give out a number.

"97.75%."

The crowd glanced at the Mechanical Priest, but instead, Kaerjia above suddenly opened the Communicator.

"Retreat!"

"Repeat once, all units immediately retreat!"

"Furthermore, report to the entire army, Squad Leader Xisi and Regiment, relying on their supreme loyalty to the Divine Emperor, reclaimed the Pure Water Station for Alert Star!"