157: Chapter 157 War Begins

"Sssss—"

As the opening sealed shut once again without a single gap,

in the next second,

the five-meter-tall bug, which had been as stiff as a wooden carving, suddenly flashed a look of wisdom in its black eyes—a look exclusive to players!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Controlling this massive Flesh Mecha, Makabazi hopped in place a couple of times with familiarity.

Then, stepping heavily on the metal floor, he kicked up a gust of wind and dashed straight out of the incubation room toward the open, frozen plains outside!

Its speed was astonishingly fast!

Seeing this, Liver Emperor, who had been watching enviously from the side, burst into action.

His body, boasting an impressive fifty points of Agility, suddenly erupted with power.

Taking a running start, Liver Emperor leaped into the air.

He precisely grabbed the bone spikes on the bug's back mid-air, did a roll, and landed steadily astride the broad back of this Flesh Mecha!

"Hahaha! Brothers, look at this!"

Liver Emperor shouted triumphantly from the bug's back,

"This isn't just a mech, it's a freaking awesome mount for free! This is too sweet!"

Watching Makabazi joyfully romp through the rock piles controlling the bug,

Lin Li shook his head helplessly and quickly led the others outside to record the prototype's various combat and parkour data.

Outside the underground incubation room, on the vast arctic frozen plains,

Makabazi sat in the comfortable flesh cavity. Through the neural link, the massive body's vision and sense of touch were perfectly synchronized with his brain.

He could even clearly feel the crisp texture of crushing frost underfoot.

"This is awesome! The turning latency is practically zero!" Makabazi roared with excitement.

Lin Li led Hong and the others out of the base, quickly catching up.

The strategic value of this Flesh Mecha technology was immeasurable.

It completely solved the problem of mutant players being unable to wear standard-issue Power Armor or pilot tanks and mechs.

As long as there was enough biomass nutrients, the Shelter could pump out a biological heavy armored legion at any time without needing any steel smelting!

...

Meanwhile, on Outpost 586,

a civilian shuttle bearing the crest of House Rofis, the planetary system's capital, landed smoothly at the newly built starport on the outskirts of Shahe Town.

Carrying a simple linen knapsack, Elena stood before the boarding ramp.

She turned around and looked at Governor Jia Mei, the Archon of Shahe Town, who had personally come to see her off.

"Goodbye, Uncle Governor Jia Mei."

Elena bowed solemnly,

"During this time working at the grassroots level in Shahe Town, I've truly learned a lot. I finally understand what the cornerstone of a truly prosperous society is. I'm going back to the prime planet, and I will convince my brother to carry out a thorough reform of Mobius!"

Governor Jia Mei looked at this noble young lady, who had now shed her spoiled demeanor, with even a bit of farmland dirt still under her fingernails.

He smiled with gratification and reached out to pat Elena on the shoulder.

"Go on, child. Changing an old world is hard, but someone has to take the first step. Stay safe, and keep it up!"

Elena nodded vigorously.

Afterward, she turned and boarded the family shuttle, accompanied by her quiet Catachan bodyguard, Cork.

With the roar of the engines, the shuttle took off and flew toward Mobius Prime.

By the time the shuttle finally arrived at the top-level landing pad of Mobius's capital Hive City, it was already evening.

Elena couldn't wait to jump off the ship.

She didn't let the servants who came to meet her announce her arrival in advance. She wanted to rush straight into the office to give her hard-working brother a big surprise, and at the same time, show off what she had learned during this period.

However,

when she reached the inner hall of the Governors Mansion, she was stopped at the door by the old butler, whose face was grim.

"Miss! Praise the God-Emperor, you've actually returned safely!"

Seeing Elena, the old butler's eyes welled up with emotional tears, but his expression quickly grew incredibly heavy.

"You've returned at a terrible time. The Governor is in a furious rage right now and refuses to see anyone."

Elena froze. "What's wrong with my brother? What happened?"

Lowering his voice, the old butler said with a tremble,

"Just two hours ago, we received a communication from our family's informant stationed in the Abyss Prison."

"That Prison Planet... has completely spun out of control. It has been occupied by that group of rebels from the junkyard."

Elena's heart sank.

She knew exactly how terrifying the execution capability of Lin Li's warriors was.

After a long while,

several sweating family generals retreated from the Governor's office.

Elena took a deep breath. Ignoring the butler's attempts to stop her, she pushed open the heavy, carved wooden doors and stepped into the spacious and luxurious Governor's office.

Governor Cromwell stood with his back to the door, looking irritably out the floor-to-ceiling window at the steel Hive City.

Hearing the door open, Governor Cromwell turned around in anger:

"I said, no one is to disturb—"

His voice cut off abruptly.

When Governor Cromwell clearly saw the familiar figure standing at the door, shock washed over him, quickly replaced by pure ecstasy!

"Elena?!"

Governor Cromwell strode forward, grabbed his sister's shoulders, and looked her up and down, his eyes turning slightly red,

"Are you alright? You really came back alive? Those native thugs didn't do anything to you, did they?!"

Feeling her brother's genuine concern, Elena felt a wave of warmth in her heart.

She pushed her brother's hands away and looked up, her expression becoming more serious than ever before.

"Brother, I'm fine. Not only did they not harm me, but they also showed me a truly civilized society."

Elena looked straight into Governor Cromwell's eyes and said loudly,

"Brother, the way our House Rofis has maintained its rule for thousands of years is completely wrong!"

"In that place we call a countryside junkyard, the commoners don't need to endure high-pressure whips and executions to work hard. As long as we treat them like human beings, feed them, and give them hope, they can unleash productivity ten or a hundred times higher than under slavery!"

Elena grew more and more excited as she spoke,

"That kind of happiness, where everyone lives and works in peace, is definitely not fake! Brother, we on Mobius Prime must also start reforming! Otherwise, the over-exploited lower classes will drag the family into the abyss sooner or later!"

As soon as these words were spoken,

the ecstasy on Governor Cromwell's face instantly froze.

Replacing it was a bone-chilling coldness, as if he were looking at a complete stranger.

He slowly turned around, walked over to the liquor cabinet, and poured himself a glass of strong spirits.

"Treating the lower class as human beings? Happiness?"

Governor Cromwell sneered, his tone dripping with condescending disdain,

"Elena, you are too naive. What kind of potion did that so-called leader of the Spark Alliance feed you to make you believe such a ridiculous lie?"

He turned around and barked sharply:

"What do you think the Empire's massive tithes and star fleets are maintained by? Is it love and happiness? No! It's order and exploitation!"

"The lower classes are just fuel! You give them a bite of food, and they'll want a bed; you give them rights, and they'll eventually want to strip the crown from your head!"

Governor Cromwell slammed his glass heavily onto the desk,

"Might and the whip are the only truths to maintaining our family's rule!"

Looking at her brother's cold and arrogant face,

Elena felt suffocated.

This was a stubbornness built up over thousands of years.

"You've caused enough trouble outside during this time. From now on, put away your ridiculous ideas of reform."

Governor Cromwell adjusted his collar and spoke in an unquestionable, commanding tone,

"The loss of the Prison Planet has caused the five major families to seriously question the leadership of our House Rofis."

"To calm the political turmoil, I have already made my decision. Next month, you will marry the eldest son of the House Stewart, who controls the energy distribution of the Forge World. We will use this political marriage to exchange for their firepower support in our military campaign."

These words were like a bolt from the blue, striking Elena's head heavily.

Her eyes widened in disbelief, and her entire body trembled uncontrollably.

"A political marriage?"

Elena's eyes were red. She gritted her teeth and stared fixedly at her own brother,

"So in your eyes, I'm just like those laborers at the bottom of the Hive City—just a tool the family can use to trade for benefits at any time?!"

"Bastard!"

Governor Cromwell suddenly roared in anger,

"I am doing this for the continuation of this family! Without the family's protection, what do you think you are?!"

The two erupted into an unprecedentedly fierce argument.

In the end,

Governor Cromwell completely lost his patience.

He swept all the documents off the desk onto the floor.

"Since you think the civilization and happiness of that countryside place are so perfect!"

Governor Cromwell's face twisted, his eyes flashing with a mad intent to kill,

"Then I will shatter it with my own hands! I will assemble every warship and mercenary in the entire star system to steamroll that junkyard!"

"I will let you watch with your own eyes how utterly fragile your so-called happiness and civilization are in the face of true orbital bombardment firepower!"

Having said that, Governor Cromwell directly pressed the emergency all-channel communicator on the desk.

"This is Sector Governor Cromwell Rophis!"

"Now, in the name of the God-Emperor, I declare! We are officially launching a full-scale war against the rebel alliance entrenched on Outpost 586 and Planet 544! All Defense Force fleets are to lift off immediately and assemble on standby!"

After hanging up the communication,

Governor Cromwell looked coldly at Elena and shouted for the guards outside.

Two fully armed elite guards immediately pushed the door open and entered.

"Take the young lady back to her private tower."

Governor Cromwell ordered mercilessly,

"Without my hand-written order, no one is allowed to let her step half a foot out of her room!"

Elena looked despairingly at her once closest brother. She resisted no longer, being escorted out of the office by the two guards on either side like a puppet that had lost its soul.

...

In the cold, dim metal corridor,

Elena walked with her head lowered behind the two guards, heading toward the tower that represented her imprisonment.

Suddenly,

the ventilation duct grate at the front of the corridor was pushed open soundlessly.

A red afterimage with a red bandana tied around his head and muscles like blocks of steel suddenly lunged out from the shadows like a cheetah!

The two elite guards didn't even have time to let out a scream.

Cork, the Catachan bodyguard, moved like lightning, his hands striking precisely at the carotid arteries on the back of the guards' necks.

With two dull thuds, the guards' eyes rolled back, and they slumped to the ground, completely knocked unconscious.

Cork's movements were clean and efficient.

He didn't kill them, only using the most effective combat techniques to strip them of their mobility.

"Miss."

Cork walked up to Elena, his voice raspy,

"The contract states that I am only responsible for your safety. Let's go."

Elena stared blankly at the unconscious guards on the floor, then looked up toward the huge stained glass window at the end of the corridor.

Outside the window was Mobius Prime's oppressive, dark, and layered steel Hive City, where the natural sky could never be seen.

Countless smokestacks were spewing thick smoke into the air.

This was the home she had lived in for nineteen years.

But at this moment, she felt this city was so cold it chilled her to the bone.

"Cork..."

In Elena's once vibrant eyes, there was now only deep confusion and helplessness,

"Where... should we go now?"