27: Chapter 27 Ling Shuang's Wary Probing! Revealing the Full Truth of Being Framed by the Federation!

In the top-floor ward of the Grey Fire Planet medical center, the air was so quiet that the faint beeping of life-support equipment could be heard.

Outside the window lay the azure sky unique to the Star River Empire's home planet, with flowing clouds stretching out and lush greenery, a stark contrast to the deathly silence, gunfire, and darkness that Commander Ling Shuang had witnessed during her three months of flight. Yet, the more peaceful it was, the tighter the guard in her heart was strung.

She was a "major criminal" wanted by the Federation, a death row target holding ironclad evidence against high-level traitors, and an SS-Class Mecha War God betrayed by former comrades and abandoned by the entire system. There is no such thing as an unmotivated life-saving grace, especially in this interstellar era of "the weak are prey to the strong."

Emperor Chen Fan stood in the center of the ward, dressed in his black star river sovereign formal attire. His posture was upright, his presence calm. He exerted no oppressive pressure, nor did he attempt any deliberate intimacy; he simply watched her calmly, granting her a sufficient safety distance.

Commander Ling Shuang leaned against the head of the bed, her face still pale, silver hair draped casually over her shoulders. Her originally cold and sharp brows and eyes carried the weakness of one who had suffered grave injuries, yet her eyes remained as clear as blades. She met Emperor Chen Fan's gaze without yielding an inch, her words cold and laced with layered defensive probing:

"You say you are Emperor Chen Fan, the sovereign of the Star River Empire."

"You saved me, annihilated the Black Crow Fleet, and made enemies of the high-level traitors in the Federation..."

"What do you want?"

"My mecha technology? war god mecha combat data? Or is it... that evidence I carry that could overturn the 7th Star Sector?"

Her voice was very soft, yet every sentence struck at the core of interests.

In her view, for Emperor Chen Fan to go to such lengths, risking a direct confrontation with the Federation's secret fleet, it must be for the most valuable thing she possessed.

Either to use her to oppose the Federation,

Or to seize the evidence to seek profit,

Or to conscript her as a tool of war.

These were the most common tricks of interstellar powers; she had seen too many.

Emperor Chen Fan looked at her hedgehog-like, tense demeanor. He did not answer immediately, but instead asked calmly:

"Do you think I need to use a war to trade for what I want?"

Commander Ling Shuang's brows furrowed slightly.

She could not refute him.

This man before her possessed a fleet of a hundred standard warships, a planet-class mothership, a habitable terraformed home planet, and a full-domain planetary shield. His military strength was sufficient to crush any privateer fleet on the border; even the main force of the Federation's Black Crow Fleet had been annihilated by a single shot from him.

With such strength, if he wanted technology, data, or talent, there were plenty of powers who would offer them willingly. He had no need to risk diplomatic collapse or the onset of war just to snatch her from the Federation's hit list.

Yet, the more this was the case, the less she could understand.

She could not understand his purpose, his stance, and even less his seemingly "unfounded" confidence.

"I don't like guessing." Commander Ling Shuang withdrew her gaze, her voice cold and detached. "You saved me, so there must be a price. Even if I, Commander Ling Shuang, die, I will not be anyone's pawn, nor will I use the evidence in my hands to trade for a life of cowering."

Her integrity was carved into her very bones.

Better to be a broken jade than an intact tile.

Emperor Chen Fan looked at her scarred yet still straight back, at her eyes that refused to lower even though she had survived a desperate situation, and finally spoke slowly. His voice was calm, yet it pierced through all her defenses:

"You did not betray the Federation."

"You did not collude with the enemy, you did not withhold military supplies, and you did not rebel."

"You were framed."

A simple sentence.

Commander Ling Shuang's body stiffened abruptly.

That pair of eyes, always cold and guarded, showed intense fluctuation for the first time.

She looked up sharply at Emperor Chen Fan, her voice tightening uncontrollably:

"You... How do you know?!"

Aside from her and those high-level traitors, no fourth person knew about this!

She had been on the run, daring not to trust anyone, daring not to speak a word of the truth. Even before losing consciousness, she had been desperately protecting the evidence inside her mecha's core!

This man before her had actually spoken her deepest grievance in one sentence!

Emperor Chen Fan did not play games. He raised his hand and waved it lightly. The wall of the ward instantly projected a holographic image—

It was the full truth restored from the deep database of her war god mecha.

Intercepting the Black Crow arms ship, discovering the high-level secret orders, being suddenly accused of treason, the base being surrounded, the bloody breakout, the ambush in the asteroid belt...

Every scene was precisely restored, without the slightest deviation.

Commander Ling Shuang watched herself in the footage, fighting bloody battles while isolated and helpless. She saw the faces of former comrades turning against her, the sinister and cunning conspiracies of the high-level traitors. Her cold eyes couldn't help but turn slightly red at the corners.

It had been three months.

Three months of flight, three months of injustice, three months of being isolated and helpless, three months of being unable to clear her name.

She had been defined as a traitor by the whole world, hunted by the Federation she once protected, betrayed by those she trusted, and even in death, she would have to carry the stigma.

And today, on an unfamiliar planet, in front of an unfamiliar powerhouse, her innocence was laid out completely before her eyes.

She could no longer hold it back.

Commander Ling Shuang took a deep breath, her fingertips trembling slightly. Her voice went from tense to hoarse, from cold to choked with sobs. The grievances, anger, unwillingness, and injustice that had been pent up for three whole months finally burst forth at this moment:

"Yes... I was framed."

"Everything is fake."

"The charges are fake, the wanted notice is fake, and even the announcement of my 'death in action' was fabricated by them to cover their tracks!"

She began to recount, her voice trembling but every word clear, revealing the full truth of how she was framed by the Federation, without reservation—

1. Commander Ling Shuang personally reveals: The full truth of the framing!

"Three months ago, I led a patrol and intercepted a secret fleet with no identification in the border airspace."

"The ships were fully loaded with Federation standard heavy weapons, tactical nuclear missiles, mecha cores, and... a complete smuggling manifest."

Commander Ling Shuang's voice was very soft, yet carried a bone-chilling coldness:

"The recipient was the rebel forces, interstellar bandits, and exiled legions inside and outside the No. 7 Dead Zone."

"The sender, the one who signed and stamped it, was the core group of the Federation Seventh Star Domain high command!"

Speaking of this, she clenched the quilt, her knuckles turning white:

"They abused their power to secretly transport Federation military supplies, sell them to rebel forces, create border conflicts, and reap huge profits. Then, they used this money to cultivate private armies, win over factions, and step by step, erode the border military power, eventually... wanting to completely control the 7th Star Sector!"

"After I discovered the evidence, I wanted to report it to the Federation headquarters immediately, but my communication lines had long been monitored by them."

"That same afternoon, the charges of 'Commander Ling Shuang colluding with rebels, withholding military supplies, and attempting treason' spread throughout the entire star sector."

"My troops were disarmed, my base was blockaded, and my access privileges were wiped."

"The comrades I once fought alongside were ordered to open fire on me;"

"The superiors I once respected issued the kill order personally;"

"The Federation I once served treated me as a discarded pawn."

"What they wanted was never to capture me for trial."

"What they wanted was for me to die, for the evidence to be destroyed, and for the whole truth to be buried in the Dead Zone forever."

"The Black Crow Hunting Group is the private army they raised."

"For three months, I fought my way from the Federation's core star sector all the way to the No. 7 Dead Zone, exhausting my ammunition, wrecking my mecha, and suffering severe injuries... just to protect this evidence."

"I did not betray the Federation."

"I never did."

"But the Federation I protected wanted to put me to death."

In the last sentence, Commander Ling Shuang's voice trembled slightly, yet it was exceptionally firm. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but not a single drop fell.

This was the last stubbornness of an SS-Class Mecha War God.

The ward was silent.

Only her hoarse voice and the faint sound of the equipment remained.

All grievances, all conspiracies, all betrayals, all hunts, were laid bare.

No concealment, no embellishment, no exaggeration.

This was the full truth of why Commander Ling Shuang was hunted by the Federation.

2. Ironclad evidence presented! Commander Ling Shuang's final bottom line and entrustment.

As her voice fell, Commander Ling Shuang raised her hand and pressed the micro-identity chip on her neck.

A faint golden stream of data drifted out from the chip, condensing in mid-air into an encrypted core folder.

[Commander Ling Shuang · Ultimate Evidence Package]

[Contents: 1. Complete list of Federation high-level traitors (17 people, including Deputy Commander of the Star Sector, Minister of Armaments, Director of Intelligence); 2. Full route records of arms smuggling (32 routes, covering the Federation - Dead Zone - Rebel forces); 3. Recordings, videos, and signed documents of the high-level conspiracy; 4. Proof of affiliation of the Black Crow Hunting Group; 5. Original records of the entire process of Commander Ling Shuang being framed.]

This was what she had protected with her life.

It was her final bottom line, her final weapon, her final hope.

Commander Ling Shuang looked at this evidence suspended before her eyes, her cold gaze falling on Emperor Chen Fan, carrying a final, desperate probe:

"This is the whole truth, all the evidence."

"If you want it, you can take it now."

"Use it to negotiate with the Federation, to trade for interests, to trade for status, to trade for everything you want."

"I only ask you for one thing—"

"Let the world know that I, Commander Ling Shuang, am not a traitor."

She had already prepared for the worst.

Even if she were used, even if she were sacrificed, she had to clear her name.

But she did not expect it.

Emperor Chen Fan only glanced at the evidence. There was no greed in his gaze, no covetousness, and he didn't even reach out to touch it.

He just looked at her, his tone calm but heavy as a thousand jun:

"Keep the evidence yourself."

"This is your innocence, not my bargaining chip."

Commander Ling Shuang was stunned, looking at him in disbelief:

"You... don't want it?"

"What I want is not evidence." Emperor Chen Fan said calmly, his gaze clear, without a hint of impurity,

"What I want is justice."

"You were framed, I will seek it for you."

"The people who hunted you, I will kill them for you."

"The Federation that owes you glory, I will take it back for you."

"You are an SS-Class Mecha War God. You should not die in a conspiracy, you should not be on the run carrying a stigma, and even less should you pay with your life for the truth."

Commander Ling Shuang stared blankly at Emperor Chen Fan.

Guardedness, probing, suspicion, defensiveness...

In the face of these few sentences, they crumbled layer by layer.

She had seen sycophants, seen power-hungry high officials, seen comrades who kicked people when they were down, seen hunters who killed to silence witnesses.

But she had never seen a person like this.

Willing to make an enemy of the Federation,

Willing to bombard the Federation fleet,

Willing to risk diplomatic war,

To save her, to listen to all her grievances, yet not want her technology, not want her evidence, not want her to be a pawn.

Only giving her innocence, only giving her justice, only giving her the dignity to live on.

Her mental defenses cracked open with a huge gap.

But she was still not completely convinced.

Because she still didn't understand—

Where exactly did Emperor Chen Fan's confidence come from?

How could he dare to declare war on the entire Federation traitor group?

How could he protect her?

How could he return justice to her?

She was a War God; she only believed in strength.

A promise without strength was just empty talk.

Commander Ling Shuang took a deep breath, suppressing the surging emotions in her heart. When she looked up again, her gaze had regained some of its coldness, but it was less guarded and more earnest:

"You say you can seek justice for me, and that you can protect me."

"I believe in strength, not empty talk."

"I have seen your fleet."

"I have also heard of your mothership."

"But I want to know—"

"What is your true foundation?"

"What do you rely on to contend with the Federation?"

She was waiting.

Waiting for him to reveal his true power.

Waiting for a reason that would make her completely convinced, completely entrust herself, and completely follow him.

And Emperor Chen Fan looked at the final doubt in her eyes and nodded slightly:

"Rest well."

"When you can get out of bed, I will take you to a place."

"There, you will get all your answers."

As his voice fell, Emperor Chen Fan turned and walked out of the ward.

The door closed gently.

The ward returned to silence.

Commander Ling Shuang leaned against the head of the bed alone, looking at the blue sky outside the window, her fingertips clenching gently.

She knew.

Next time they met, Emperor Chen Fan would reveal his most core, most powerful trump card.

And that trump card would determine all her future choices.

Submission, or persistence?

Follow, or leave?

Entrust everything, or keep a distance?

The answer would be revealed in the next moment.

Chapter 28: Super-Strong Pre-Construction

Commander Ling Shuang, having recovered from her serious injuries, boarded the star river sovereign mothership, accompanied by Emperor Chen Fan.

When she saw with her own eyes:

Planet-core power supply, strategic-level main guns, full-function interstellar manufacturing system, super-light-speed long-range navigation core, full-domain command halo...

When she felt the terrifying strength of this mothership that crushed Federation warships of the same class.

This cold, arrogant, and peerless SS-Class Mecha War God,

Her heart was finally completely shaken, completely shocked, and completely convinced!