Blue Star, outer space.
On an asteroid, A Zhui and Angel Yan sat around chatting out of boredom, while keeping half an eye on the situation on Blue Star.
Looking at A Zhui beside her, Angel stretched lazily and teased, "A Zhui, that warmonger Dukao is giving your little man trouble again. Aren't you going to do something about it?"
A Zhui shook her head. "The queen told us to ask Ah Chen what he thinks about Dukao's actions, but Ah Chen doesn't want me getting involved. He wants to use this war to train the troops, and the queen agrees. All we can do for now is wait.
"And I believe in Ah Chen."
Then A Zhui continued, "The Yanhuang Empire has developed too smoothly because of Ah Chen and its advantageous location. Everything's gone their way; they've hardly faced any setbacks.
"On top of that, their technology is generations ahead of the times. Once the war began, they were unstoppable, which left many soldiers feeling restless and overconfident.
"When they entered the European Battlefield, Dukao's interference caused those countries' military equipment to improve too quickly. Once the Yanhuang Empire lost much of its advantage in weaponry, its soldiers started performing poorly. After noticing this, Ah Chen finally decided to use Dukao's interference as an opportunity to train the troops."
At the same time.
Angel Nebula, Merlot Heavenly Court.
In the garden, Keisha and He Xi sat at a table, each leisurely sipping a glass of red wine.
"Grumpy old woman, you said that little Ye Chen might grow strong enough to fight the Void someday. How reliable are your calculations?"
"Heh. To be honest, I don't know either. I've run the numbers through the Sacred Knowledge Treasury—the Celestial Computer—for ages, but the result was still 'unknown.'"
Hearing this, He Xi shook her head in exasperation. She'd thought Keisha had figured something out, but it turned out she hadn't calculated anything at all.
Still, the fact that she couldn't calculate it meant Ye Chen's future held infinite possibilities.
Well, "infinite possibilities" meant anything could happen, good or bad. He could reach unimaginable heights, or fall just as far.
Two years ago, Angel Yan had sent Keisha the strange phenomena that occurred when Ye Chen broke through on Blue Star, along with a series of subsequent data.
After receiving that information, Keisha realized there was something extraordinary about Ye Chen. She believed that, if he matured, he would become another god-tier figure.
But when she used the Sacred Knowledge Treasury to make her calculations, the result was still "unknown."
That didn't stop Keisha from taking Ye Chen seriously and investing in him.
Blue Star, European Battlefield, Third War Zone.
Cannons roared, and smoke filled the air. After two years of war, the city that once stood here had become a ruin.
Wata City, a small city, had been reduced to rubble.
Among the broken walls, figures cautiously crept from place to place.
They were camouflaged, rifles slung over their backs, and their faces were tense as they watched for any movement around them.
Under the cover of night, they were nearly impossible to spot without looking carefully.
As time passed, they arranged their positions throughout the ruined city. They were clearly setting an ambush.
In a concealed corner,
Lyle held a pair of binoculars and watched the distant area in the faint moonlight.
Meanwhile,
on the outskirts of the city, a group of heavily armed Yanhuang soldiers hurried through the night. As soon as they reached Wata City, they stopped.
The officer in charge glanced at the ruined city before them. It was utterly silent, devoid of any sign of life.
He then waved his hand toward the soldiers behind him, signaling them to rest where they were. At the same time, he arranged for men to keep watch around the perimeter.
At the officer's signal, the soldiers behind him finally relaxed. They had traveled a long way, and their legs were nearly giving out.
One by one, they sat down without a care, or leaned against whatever they could find. Holding their weapons, they rested in a state halfway between sleep and wakefulness.
They had suffered a heavy defeat soon after entering the European Battlefield, taking devastating losses. The blow had humbled their once-arrogant hearts. Fortunately, they quickly recovered and adjusted their approach.
Then they launched a counterattack.
Two years had passed. The European Battlefield had been a crucible, and as their comrades fell one by one, the soldiers had matured into battle-hardened elites.
Those who weren't elite soldiers had already died. They simply couldn't survive in this crucible.
In the city,
Lyle's eyes lit up when he spotted the group. They were the targets of their mission.
Their task was to stop these soldiers from reaching the main battlefield and providing reinforcements, because The Alliance was ready to launch a counterattack against the Yanhuang Empire.
Dozens of units like theirs had been sent to different parts of the war zone to cut off the Yanhuang Empire's supply routes.
They had come prepared to die. They would fight down to the last man and never retreat.
Lyle didn't know what gave the Alliance forces the confidence to counterattack the Yanhuang Empire, but he was willing to believe in them. He had no choice but to believe.
After all, they had already been pushed into a corner with nowhere left to retreat.
By this stage of the war, both sides had suffered heavy casualties, and neither could afford to back down. At this point, whoever retreated would die.
On the European Battlefield, with Dukao interfering behind the scenes, the Yanhuang Empire had lost much of its advantage in weaponry. It could no longer overwhelm its enemies, and had to fight a war of attrition.
There was little doubt about the outcome of this war of attrition. The Yanhuang Empire might have lost much of its advantage in weapons, but it still had air superiority.
On top of that, it had a huge population and thirty years' worth of war preparations. With the whole nation ready to fight, it could replenish its forces at any time. The Yanhuang Empire could afford to keep this up; the European nations couldn't.
That was also what gave Ye Chen the confidence to use this war to train the troops.
Sitting on a rock, company commander Zhou Ning suddenly felt uneasy and looked around. The surroundings were so quiet that he couldn't even hear an insect. His eyelid began to twitch.
Sensing something was wrong, Zhou Ning immediately woke the soldiers around him. "Stay alert!"
Zhou Ning had survived ever since the empire began its war. His uncanny sense of danger had saved him countless times, and now he was feeling it again. He didn't know where the danger was, but he couldn't afford to be careless.
The startled soldiers opened their eyes at once. They skillfully clicked off the safety catches on their rifles and watched the surroundings with cold, alert eyes.
On the other side,
Lyle was just about to make his move. When he saw what was happening, his face turned green. He had no idea what had tipped them off, but the arrow was already nocked; he had to let it fly.
He immediately fired the first shot.
At that signal, the small city of Wata erupted into chaos.
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