123: Chapter 123 Welcome to the Battlefield

[You woke up in a private hospital on Moxing.]

[You voluntarily joined the Human Federation Army.]

[You have lived in the Federation for decades; the Federation life has already taken up a massive portion of your time.]

[Your feelings for the Federation are deep—at least, that is how you feel—and you are proud to be human.]

[So, when the Human Emperor ordered the offensive, you were thrilled.]

["Our Human Race is finally going to become the overlords of this starry sky!"]

[With a heart full of hot blood, you joined the army.]

[A Mahayana Cultivator who is just over a hundred years old is actually not rare in the Federation.]

[The Federation's scientific cultivation technology can allow an ordinary person to reach the Mahayana realm within forty years. However, to maintain the vitality of the spiritual energy in their bodies, they all need to consume something called spirit buns.]

[To put it in terms a Mortal would understand, this is food.]

[You were assigned to Fleet Group 32254.]

[Living with you was a fellow named Duolun. He was a bit chubby, and when he laughed, the fat on his face would bunch up.]

["Lin Heng, do you really not want this spirit bun?" Duolun asked, looking at the spirit bun you handed to him.]

["Yeah, this thing doesn't taste good anyway," you replied.]

[spirit buns have no flavor when eaten, at most a hint of sweetness.]

[However, it was said that for those whose Mahayana cultivation was stacked through Formation technology, these buns tasted delicious, giving them a very refreshing sensation.]

["Lin Heng, let me tell you, eating this spirit bun like this is too bland. If there's a chance, I'll take you to my hometown. It's a small star on the left fourth arm of the Yuntian Star Cluster. Although my hometown doesn't have any psionic industries, there is plenty of delicious food. Take this spirit bun, for example." Duolun took a big bite of the spirit bun as he spoke. "This thing has at least tens of thousands of ways to be prepared, and each one is different. Eating it plain like this is indeed quite mediocre."]

[spirit buns are made from a type of psionic powder. Specifically, one needs to ingest this substance called psionic powder, but it is made into the shape of bread and thus called a spirit bun.]

[Normally, a Mahayana Cultivator needs to eat three spirit buns a day to maintain the vitality of the spiritual energy in their body.]

[But Duolun was clearly not normal. Including yours, he had already eaten nine today, making it ten with the one in his hand.]

[Being able to eat is a blessing, you thought, looking at this guy who was eating the spirit bun with such satisfaction.]

[spirit buns are actually not scarce. Even on Earth, the Federation has a dedicated shipping route to transport them, and the price is extremely low.]

[On your fleet, each soldier gets five per day.]

[This is already more than enough.]

["Actually, I don't like war at all. I really hope the war ends quickly," Duolun said. "I'm telling you this in secret. Don't let the second lieutenant find out."]

["Yeah," you nodded gently.]

[You, too, hoped for an early victory in the war.]

[Most people in the Federation hoped for war. You had the most excellent army, the largest warships, and the highest quality of troops.]

[Young soldiers hungered for merit.]

[Although life in the Federation was relatively affluent, the path to promotion was very difficult.]

[Even you hadn't achieved any significant status here in the Federation.]

[People like Prisoner 5 and Prisoner 6 relied on sheer force to directly obtain high status, but that didn't work for you. Leaving aside the fact that everyone in the Federation was at the Mahayana realm, even if those Mahayana Cultivators needed to ingest some psionic powder, their cultivation was real. Furthermore, the Federation's technology also proved that individual force was insignificant.]

[As for achievements in technology, the things back on Earth were like one plus one equals two; you could understand them at a glance. You were certainly willing to learn those simple things, but here in the Federation, with knowledge accumulated over hundreds of millions of years, it wasn't that you were unable to learn, but that you didn't want to. Besides, it was too time-consuming.]

[Most importantly, the Federation's learning websites were highly developed. As you studied, you would inevitably end up 'studying' other things.]

[You were full of anticipation for this war. At least, you believed that you could prove yourself in it.]

[With the previous simulations, you were unwilling to just live as an ordinary person in the Federation.]

[Fleet 32254 was on its way to the Spirit Tree Race.]

[The Federation had three battlefronts in total, and this was the Second Front—the most dangerous one with the lowest survival rate.]

[Looking out through the transparent wall of the warship, the distant nebula glowed with a dark purple halo. A vast expanse of dark purple nebula stretched across the end of your vision, with cloud-like stardust slowly churning, its edges rimmed with an extremely faint, jade-green shimmer.]

[You couldn't help but think that a massive, unparalleled fleet was sailing across this starry sky.]

[This fleet belonged to humanity, and you were currently inside it.]

[Beside you, Duolun was still chattering away, talking about the delicacies of his hometown.]

[A sense of pride couldn't help but well up in your heart.]

[The feeling that 'we humans are invincible in the world.']

[Suddenly, the warm, jade-green light at the edge of the distant nebula darkened completely in an instant.]

[Countless highly condensed, dark-green psionic artillery shells silently shot out from the depths of the nebula, tearing through the floating stardust and blasting straight into the flanks of the Human Race's endless fleet.]

[The artillery fire directly blew through the fleet's defensive measures. A blast of psionic artillery radiated an azure-blue light in the starry sky, its brightness far more dazzling than a star.]

[The psionic cannon directly pierced through your fleet's flagship, and the edge of that beam of light happened to pass right by you.]

[That fat guy named Duolun had just been telling you about how they prepared spirit buns in his hometown.]

["First, you cut a small hole on top, and then pour that chili oil I mentioned into..."]

[Boom—]

[Without even being able to utter a single last word, the chubby fellow was turned to ashes.]

["Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!"]

["It's the long-range psionic cannons of those Giant Rock Race bastards."]

["Don't activate the psionic defenses, or we'll just be sitting ducks!"]

["You rookies, pull yourselves together!"]

[...]

[Looking at the roaring artillery fire filling the sky, you instantly froze on the spot.]

[You felt as though your limbs could not move.]

[You are at the Mahayana realm, but so what?]

[Everyone here is at the Mahayana realm.]

[You always subconsciously projected the experiences of Prisoner 4, Prisoner 5, and Prisoner 6 onto yourself, believing those were things you had personally gone through.]

[You believed you could risk life and limb like Prisoner 4, command thousands of troops like Prisoner 5, and turn the world upside down with a wave of your hand like Prisoner 6.]

[But that was merely your imagination.]

[You hadn't experienced it; you had only watched from the outside.]

"Just like me!" Lin Heng nodded, strongly agreeing with this statement.

After all, he was the one who said it.

However, he still had self-awareness. It would probably still be like this next time; after all, he wasn't Prisoner 7.

"Unless I choose option one and obtain the memories."

Of course, Lin Heng knew this was impossible.

[Right now, if a psionic cannon so much as grazes you, you will turn into a pile of ashes just like that chubby fellow did.]

[You are afraid.]

[You have begun to feel dread.]

[Before this, you were nothing more than an ordinary person who had just obtained Mahayana cultivation, and then lived a few years of ordinary life in the Federation, nothing more.]

["Rookie, what the fuck are you doing?!" An officer lunged at you. "Didn't you hear the order to jump ship just now?"]

[He grabbed you and jumped off the warship, followed immediately by beams of light shooting toward the fleet like meteors.]

["Bastard!" The officer wanted to slap you, but suddenly clutched his thigh, and his spiritual energy shield instantly vanished.]

[Now that you were not inside the warship, being in this starry sky without a spiritual energy shield was like an astronaut taking off their spacesuit in outer space.]

[Your reaction was swift, instantly wrapping both of you in your spiritual energy shield.]

["Sir," you said, looking at the officer.]

[At this moment, on his thigh, a scorching, charred wound was deep enough to expose the bone. His Physical Body, which originally flowed with soft spiritual light, was being continuously burned by the residual corrosive power of the Giant Rock Race's psionic artillery. Wisps of black smoke drifted out from the wound.]

["Idiot!" He finally freed up a hand and smacked you.]

["Why the fuck are you still worrying about me? Run! Run, kid!!!" he shouted, pushing you away.]

[You looked at him, then at the beams of light continuously shooting out from the surrounding nebula.]

[Grit your teeth, you mobilized all the spiritual energy in your body and began to flee at full speed.]

[...]

[The Second Front, the frontline.]

["Your name is Lin Heng?" a second lieutenant said, looking at your file.]

["Yes, Sir!"]

[He said, "You're very lucky, kid. Under that severe psionic artillery fire, you are one of the only five thousand survivors from Fleet 32254."]

[There were a total of one hundred and thirty million Federation soldiers and officers on Fleet 32254.]

[The second lieutenant looked at you and extended his hand. "The Federation government has now authorized me to promote you to corporal."]

[Instead of reaching out your hand, you saluted. "Thank you, Sir!"]

[The second lieutenant wasn't angry at being left hanging; instead, he patted your shoulder and said with a smile, "Corporal, welcome to the battlefield!"]