Shelling

After a second passed, the other side still hadn't answered. Yu Lian was getting impatient; his time was limited, and he didn't have time to waste with these short folk.

"Sigh, probably an idiot," Yu Lian sighed and raised his gun again.

"I'll talk, I'll talk! My name is Babas, I am, I am an Alliance citizen... Bah! I'm an employee of the Compass Trading Company! I, sob, uh, right, these ten cannons here were all transported by the company. They're Tsunami, no, they're anti-air and anti-ground Ion Cannons modeled after the Alliance's Tsunami Type 4! We have 20 people here, all employees of the company! We're just wage slaves! We're really not dangerous enemies, please don't hurt us! Sob sob sob sob!"

Seeing Yu Lian's impassive, emotionless face, this goblin engineer named Babas repeated himself in broken Terran Common, then added, "I, I'm willing to cooperate, really, really, everyone will cooperate. We'll do whatever you want!"

Now that's more like it. Yu Lian nodded in satisfaction, glancing at the headless corpse with its exploded head next to him. "This gentleman was hit by stray fire from the Sandfolk, what bad luck! May the Spirit of the Universe bless him. Is that right?"

"Yes, yes..." Babas now understood why the other party had picked up the Sandfolk's gun, and he became even more terrified. What's more frightening than a madman in this world is a madman with reason and judgment.

"Your cannons, they're all controlled by a central computer, right?"

Actually, they didn't use vacuum tubes, so they should be called information terminals, but for the sake of the observers outside the great universe, let's just call them computers from now on.

Yu Lian had confirmed the RVs. Besides a few for living, the largest one was clearly a multi-purpose terminal command vehicle, which should be the central command post for this artillery position.

"Yes, yes," Babas nodded subserviently. He was sure Yu Lian knew what he was talking about, so it would be even harder to fool him.

"Then get over there and get to work, all of you!"

The engineers scrambled out of their RVs like mice fleeing a cat's den, and were all herded into the command vehicle. Yu Lian gave Captain Winter a thumbs-up. The latter had also recovered from his stupor and felt a mix of emotions. "Hey, being rescued by a student, how undignified! Heh... If all Moonfolk were like this, then the world would truly be at peace."

With that thought, the Captain returned Yu Lian's thumbs-up and waved for a few soldiers to follow Yu Lian inside, while he focused his full attention on defending the position. This was essentially handing over the command of the bombardment to Yu Lian, but he didn't feel there was anything wrong with it. The other officers of the 101st Company also seemed to think nothing was amiss.

"As Second Lieutenant Yu Lian said, that goblin was killed by stray fire from the Sandfolk. Anyone who lets slip a word will have an artillery shell shoved up their backside!" The Captain roared over the company's comm channel, receiving a string of replies like "Yes, yes!", "Who's the goblin?", "I didn't see anything!" followed by cryptic remarks. Things like "Death is death," and "The goblin's death is actually a philosophical proposition," which made the officers and soldiers burst into laughter. The channel was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

"I like this Moonfolk. More interesting than any Moonfolk I've ever met! No, more interesting than all the elite bureaucrats I've met!" Lieutenant Parkin summarized.

The time was now 8:17 PM. Alchi Highland 6 and the ten heavy cannons had all changed hands. The defending forces at the position had been completely annihilated, with over a thousand Sandfolk soldiers and laborers killed. Not a single one of their own had been injured. It was almost flawlessly smooth.

And even at this point, most of the Sandfolk hadn't even reacted. The brawl site over there was still noisy, and the training grounds for tanks and firearms were still bustling.

Yu Lian stood in the command vehicle, holding his C10 in one hand and the White Raven rifle he'd picked up in the other, smiling as he stared at the backs of the goblins' heads. The short creatures trembled as they operated the computers, pulling up a battlefield map on the holographic screen.

"Three aimed at A7, two at B12, two at H11, and the remaining three on standby. Let's get moving... Oh my, that unfortunate gentleman over there, why are you adjusting the cannon angle? Won't nudging it left one increment hit empty ground? What a shame!" Yu Lian stepped forward, and before the goblin could beg for mercy, he had smashed the stock of the White Raven rifle onto the goblin's head. The yellowish-brown, hairless little head instantly exploded like a watermelon, splattering everywhere.

The goblins let out screams, but a soldier guarding the vehicle outside fired a shot into the sky, and they immediately fell silent.

This jinx was an expert. They really couldn't fool him! The goblins suppressed their fear and grief, and had no choice but to obediently get to work.

Yu Lian hadn't intended to operate so many cannons by himself. Although he could, even with two or three more awakenings of his Star Rings, he wouldn't have been able to handle it. Since history had already told him that there was a large group of goblin hired engineers and gunners here, why not let them do the heavy lifting?

He had followed them because he needed someone who knew what they were doing to supervise these frog-like creatures and ensure they followed orders diligently.

As for the so-called Alliance citizens... Heh, indeed, citizens of the two major powers were spread throughout the universe, which might cause some doubt for upright people like Captain Winter. But how could that fool Yu Lian, a transmigrator and reborn individual who had navigated the underworld? Did this great hero not know the background of the Compass Trading Company? Its registered location was in some obscure small country in the Galaxy, backed by financial magnates of the Alliance, but also by many other forces and even cross-galactic criminal organizations. To put it bluntly, they were the outer fringes serving as black gloves for a bunch of big shots. If you joined such an organization and were caught red-handed, what good would being an Alliance citizen do? Even if they were active Alliance military personnel or even diplomatic staff, killing them would be killing them. Did they really think anyone would acknowledge them?

Under Yu Lian's gentle gaze, the goblins finally adjusted the trajectories and looked over fearfully.

"Captain, what's the situation with the enemy down the mountain?"

"Some Sandfolk are attempting to attack the mountain, but it's not a major problem right now."

"We're ready here as well, do we have permission to fire?"

Just based on this attitude, the other military academy elites couldn't compare! The Captain sighed, suppressing his excitement, and said in a stern tone, "Permission to fire granted!"

The Captain couldn't help but be excited! He knew very well that the order he was giving this time could go down in history.

Seven cannons began to bombard! Energy condensed into light orbs and roared out of the barrels, streaking across half the sky. They were originally aimed directly at the light screen covering all of Tulon, but now, halfway through their flight, they veered straight towards the dense Sandfolk encampment on the ground.

"Whoosh! Swish!" Explosions of the photon beam concept occurred. The rapid changes in airflow and temperature caused the energy light orbs to detonate in mid-air. Their sound wasn't particularly loud, but it created a deadly high-temperature field, completely destroying all stone houses and life within its spread.

Then, even more terrifying explosions occurred, accompanied by rising smoke and dust and truly deafening blasts. This was caused by the high temperature igniting all explosive materials. The Sandfolk who miraculously survived the high temperature were once again subjected to light, heat, and deadly shockwaves.

Kazhan naturally saw the flames rising in the direction of the Great Elder and was stunned. He knew the most terrible thing had happened: the heavy artillery position had indeed been taken by the enemy. The Sandfolk had bought this great weapon by grinding their bones and sucking their marrow, only for it to become their death knell.

Should I go rescue Teacher Hessen over there, or retake the position? The thought crossed Kazhan's mind, but he quickly made up his mind.

Although the bombardment was fierce, it shouldn't be able to harm the Great Elder, and there were already many people rushing to his side to curry favor. However, if they didn't retake the position and the cannons, they would all be targets for slaughter.

"Moway! Gather everyone, quick..." Before he could finish speaking, he felt a sudden, scorching heat source from above.

"Khan, be careful!" Moway, with a burst of power from who knows where, reacted faster than Kazhan, who was a first-ring psionics, and pushed him to the ground, using his own much larger body as a shield.

The scorching heat from the energy burst instantly took Moway's life, and then stabbed into Kazhan's body like swords. Afterward, his hearing and senses were completely overwhelmed by the subsequent massive explosions and vibrations. If he hadn't been a "Guardian," with a body far more resilient than a normal life form, he might not have survived.

After an unknown amount of time, Kazhan, who was on the verge of fainting, regained a little consciousness. He struggled out from under Moway's body and was horrified to find that his loyal friend's remains were no longer even in human form.

He looked around in a daze, then saw the small training ground. One minute ago, hundreds of the tribe's finest young people were training diligently there, gritting their teeth and striving for themselves and the future of their tribe. But now, only a massive crater remained, along with scattered, charred limbs and body parts around it.

The young Khan moved forward blankly, subconsciously staggering towards his stone house, where his wife was, then his knees buckled, and he numbly knelt on the ground.

He saw the collapsed stone house and a beautiful, white-scaled arm wearing a bracelet.

Only one arm...

Kazhan sat there like a soulless puppet, not even hearing the bugle call from Tulon Port behind him.

But for the other Sandfolk, it was like the wails of demons from hell.

Without the comments from my silly netizens, I wouldn't even know how to copy. Please leave your comments enthusiastically, and it would be best if you also vote and collect... If you're a tycoon, hehehe.