96: Chapter 94 The Final Meeting

Lanshan Planet

In the upper hive of the Saint Sabat Hive City, there was a gigantic plaza capable of accommodating tens of thousands of people.

The dome hung three hundred meters above, constructed from adamantine skeletons and plasteel panels. Like a giant overturned bowl, it shrouded everything in the plaza under the pale, cold glare of industrial lighting.

At the highest point, Xia Xingchen reviewed the Death Assault Army and the Ironclad Heavy Army, forces he had spent an entire year organizing.

Death Assault Army

They wore black armor, painted in the matte black unique to the "Death Assault Army," with only crimson lines tracing the edges of their pauldrons and the patterns on their breastplates. Their helmet visors were uniformly lowered, hiding their faces, with only the cold, eerie blue light emanating from their T-shaped visors.

The first row carried hellguns, with barrels thicker and shorter than standard laser guns. The second row carried meltaguns, plasma guns, and flamers, their muzzles all pointed downward.

The back rows consisted of officers and non-commissioned officers, with power swords or Chainswords hanging at their waists.

Ironclad Heavy Army

The tracks of Leman Russ main battle tanks ground over the steel floor, emitting a harsh metallic screech that echoed through the dome like the low growl of an ancient beast. One, five, ten—countless. Their dark gray paint shimmered in the cold light, and the lascannon arrays on their turrets rotated slowly, scanning the viewing stand.

Then came eighty Basilisk self-propelled artillery pieces and sixty Medusa siege guns, their barrels all pointed in the same direction, resembling a massive forest of steel spikes.

Behind the artillery were the Sentinels. One hundred Sentinels followed in tight formation, their steps uniform. With every step they took, the steel floor emitted a dull "thud," like the heartbeat of a giant. The scout types were tall and slender, the armored types were sturdy and thick, and the engineering types kept their claws lowered, as if ready to tear something apart at any moment.

At the very rear was Xia Xingchen's Baneblade heavy battle tank. Over nearly three years of production, Xia Xingchen had manufactured nearly 1,500 Baneblade tanks.

At this moment, Ma Pingliang, Leovitos, Wang Ke, and Zheng Hai, who had temporarily come down from the warship, stood around Xia Xingchen, watching the entire parade from the reviewing stand.

Nearly a full year had passed. After completing their final reorganization, these troops would head directly to the Spaceport.

This year had been a rather miserable one for Xia Xingchen, not in terms of daily life, but in terms of System points. Because Xia Xingchen had not launched a single war this year and had focused solely on internal economic construction, his points this year were barely enough to pay taxes.

However, Xia Xingchen was not worried now. In the new year, he would earn back the points he hadn't made hundreds or thousands of times over.

Xia Xingchen turned around, looked at Ma Pingliang, and instructed him:

"Everything in the rear is basically handed over to you. In a year at the earliest, or two years at the latest, I will end this war."

Upon hearing this, Ma Pingliang nodded immediately and assured Xia Xingchen:

"Archon, I will guard everything here well."

Xia Xingchen nodded, then immediately looked at Saint Sabat.

"I don't want to stay here; I want to go with you."

Hearing this, Xia Xingchen swallowed the words he had originally intended to say and had to nod:

"In that case, what are we waiting for? Let's set off."

The dream star received sufficient supplies on Lanshan Planet and performed a short-range jump together with the macro-class transport ships.

The fleet performed a short-range jump and arrived at Vanad Planet.

Frankie immediately received Xia Xingchen.

At the same time, the army was also ready.

Here, Xia Xingchen conducted a final reorganization and supply transport. Through the intact Space Elevator on Vanad Planet, nearly 60 divisions of troops were transported to the macro-class transport ships.

Meanwhile, Xia Xingchen's macro-class transport ships also transported a batch of grain to Vanad Planet.

With the implementation of Soilless Cultivation Technology and stacking cultivation techniques, food was basically no longer an issue.

The compressed food blocks produced by Lanshan Planet in one year could supply at least ten billion people.

The plan to transform the Spring Field Planet for Xia Xingchen had also been put on the agenda. It was expected that initial development of the Spring Field Planet would begin within ten years, and the farmland on Lanshan Planet would be gradually transferred to the Spring Field Planet within that decade.

Xia Xingchen sat in the Governors Palace on Vanad Planet, waiting for the arrival of Inquisitor Kolo.

If there was still one thing bothering him, it was that the Rogue Trader Katrus had not visited once in the past two years, for reasons unknown.

Could something have happened to him?

However, there was no other way. Even if Xia Xingchen were worried, he had no good solution.

"Archon, the Inquisitor has arrived."

Cassandra quickly came to Xia Xingchen's side, pushed open the door, and reported.

The Inquisitor's Black Ships had already arrived in orbit around Vanad.

However, Inquisitor Kolo's Black Ships did not choose to hide. Instead, they docked steadily at the Spaceport and then landed on the ground landing pad via transport ships.

The Inquisitor arrived on Vanad Planet. He did not go to see Xia Xingchen immediately; instead, he stood on The Spire, looking down at the entire Hive City.

What Inquisitor Kolo did not expect was that the entire hive world had resumed operation and was even more prosperous and flourishing than in the era managed by the Thomas Family.

Inquisitor Kolo clearly remembered that when the Thomas Family ruled the Hive City, there was a huge factory that had always been in an abandoned state and had never operated.

But now it was puffing out black smoke; it was clear that it had been put back into production.

Inquisitor Kolo muttered to himself through the porthole:

"If only you were not a lost lamb!"

Half a day later, Inquisitor Kolo arrived at Xia Xingchen's Governors Palace.

Kolo sat in front of Xia Xingchen and then asked about Xia Xingchen's preparations.

"One million troops, with supplies to sustain combat for up to a year. I can scrape together five warships as a fleet, at least three of which are capable of combat."

Kolo nodded upon hearing this, very satisfied.

Xia Xingchen could tell from his expression.

"Then we have another huge problem: the Navigator issue has still not been resolved. I do not have enough Navigators for long-distance Warp jumps, so if we are to reach the Troy world, most warships can only perform short-range jumps."

Kolo replied after hearing this:

"Apologies, young Governor, I have no good way to solve this problem either. But short-range Warp jumps will not take too much time; at most, it will take half a month to arrive."

He had no choice; he couldn't exactly go to an ancient Navigator family, grab a bunch of people, and install them on Xia Xingchen's warships.

"One last question: besides me, have you recruited any other allies?"

Xia Xingchen asked the most critical question: Please, don't tell me you are really relying on my faction alone to quell the Troy rebellion.