How About We Spar?

The Howling Wind Divine Envoy was dead, his body no longer even recognizable as human.

The official who'd been blown apart by metal spikes earlier was just as unrecognizable, leaving behind nothing but chunks of flesh. The last one had died a little more cleanly—only a little. He'd lost an arm and a leg in midair, and after hitting the ground, he'd still tried to fight back. But a Marine Elite had charged right up to him and broken through his Storm Shield, then stabbed him to death in a flurry of blows.

Once the three officials who wielded Storm Divine Power were dead, the wind quickly died down, and the white fog soon dispersed.

For a brief while, the soldiers had indeed been thrown into confusion, disrupting their firing lines. Quite a few monsters had broken through, and more than a dozen Abscess Sprayers had entered firing range. The pus they sprayed had caused some casualties.

Overall, though, the chaos had inflicted severe damage, but it hadn't been fatal.

With the wind gone and the fog cleared, the soldiers regained control of the battlefield. Despite their casualties, they killed all the monsters that had broken into their positions. The Abscess Sprayers, which had fired only one or two rounds of biological shells, were also wiped out by machine guns and the Infantry Fighting Vehicles' cannons.

Even though the three Storm Officials were dead, the battle didn't end immediately.

The monsters had indeed followed the Storm Officials' commands to some extent, but after the officials died, the creatures still posed a great danger. Out of control and still in a frenzy, they continued pouring out of the forest, trying to attack every living thing they could see.

But despite their frenzy, and despite the soldiers' diminished firepower after their earlier casualties, the monsters still couldn't break through.

The gap in firepower was more than these primitive monsters could overcome.

It was said that when a large-scale, mature Alien Tide occurred, more and stronger monsters would appear—not just inferior Abscess Monsters and Sprayers.

But at least Gu Hang and his people hadn't run into any this time.

The various Incubation Nests in the forest were still in the process of building up their strength. Given a few months, they might gradually hatch, devour one another, and produce a batch of powerful monsters. Then the situation would become much more difficult.

But now, the Primal Angry Owl Sect had prematurely accelerated the maturation of most of the forest's Incubation Nests in an attempt to kill Gu Hang. They'd staged an attack that seemed massive, but in reality, it contained few high-level monsters, making the threat relatively ordinary.

In fact, to some extent, the Primal Angry Owl Sect's actions had even helped Gu Hang.

The premature maturation of so many Incubation Nests had drawn a vast number of monsters here, where they could all be dealt with at once. This would save Gu Hang's troops a great deal of work when they later swept through the entire Xenomorph Forest.

As the battle continued, the number and density of monsters emerging from the woods visibly declined.

Clearly, they weren't truly endless. After so many had been killed, there weren't many left.

By the time the troops led by Yan Fangxu arrived, the battle was already nearing its end.

When he learned that the governor might be under attack, he couldn't sit still and wait for rescue. He'd led his troops in a slow breakout, proceeding cautiously and methodically.

As he saw it, they didn't necessarily have to break through. Even if they could draw some of the enemy's attention away from the governor, that would still help.

But as they advanced, the number of monsters they encountered suddenly dwindled. It was as if they'd all gone somewhere else.

He guessed that the fighting around the governor had begun. He could even hear the roar of gunfire and artillery.

So they picked up the pace and reached the battlefield, rejoining the governor. But by then, the battle was almost over.

All he could do was lead the 3rd Battalion into the fight and help mop up the remaining monsters.

Before long, not a single moving monster remained in sight of the soldiers.

Pobov planted a foot on an Abscess Monster that had lost its lower half and was crawling across the ground on its hands alone. He watched it reach out uselessly, trying to grab him.

After a moment's thought, he raised his pistol and shot it in the head, silencing it for good.

Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned and saw Yan Fangxu approaching, looking exhausted.

His gaze naturally fell on the corroded, tattered fabric around Yan Fangxu's shoulder, and on the reddened skin beneath it.

He grinned. "Well, Captain, you're looking pretty rough."

Yan Fangxu rolled his eyes and walked up to punch him in the chest. "You're not looking much better. You're limping."

"Wasn't that because I came to save you?"

At that, Yan Fangxu couldn't deny it. His expression darkened a little.

Pobov, however, reassured him. "I'm not blaming you. Those pieces of trash, those useless heretics and traitors with no conscience—they were just using you to ambush the governor. You can't be blamed for that. Our duty is to be the governor's sword and shield. Neither of us did a very good job today, but from now on, I'm going to work harder. What about you?"

Yan Fangxu looked at the officer who'd risen through the ranks of the Waste Mine Society in surprise. Why had the man suddenly become so reflective?

He still didn't know that one of the Storm Officials had charged right up to Gu Hang and directly threatened the governor's life. Nor could he know just how deeply the sight of it had affected the battalion commander.

He didn't understand any of that, so the captain could only scratch his head and nod, accepting the challenge.

After parting ways with Pobov, Yan Fangxu went to find Gu Hang.

The governor was inside an Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

One of his old subordinates stopped him. "The governor is resting."

"I have something to report."

The Marine hesitated, but still tried to stop him. "But... Captain, the governor is resting. You should let him be."

Yan Fangxu was surprised again.

These weren't soldiers Gu Hang had recruited on Nuxiao Planet. They were Marines Yan Fangxu had brought down from the starship—his own subordinates.

They'd always been closer to one another. To speak irreverently, they'd often complained among themselves about all sorts of things concerning the governor. The soldiers were loyal to him, but it had seemed to be more a matter of duty and rank.

Now, though, Yan Fangxu could see genuine respect for the governor in his old subordinate's eyes.

A question slowly rose in his mind: What had just happened?

He didn't think it was wrong for his men to respect and be loyal to the governor from the bottom of their hearts.

On the contrary, that was how it should be.

But that didn't stop him from wondering what had caused the change.

He gave up on waking Gu Hang and instead pulled his old subordinate aside to ask in detail what had happened in the battle.

After hearing the story, Yan Fangxu fell silent too.

The governor had been attacked at close quarters by heretical cultists, yet remained unharmed and was merely a little tired. The governor's Psionic Power had shown its might once again. And the old subordinates who'd undergone the governor's swift "training" had been transformed almost beyond recognition...

It all sounded like a fairy tale to Yan Fangxu.

How had the governor remained unharmed? Why had those cultists simply fallen out of the sky?

All of it could only be attributed to the wonders of Psionic Power.

Yan Fangxu could more or less accept the news that the governor was a psyker master. After all, he'd known the governor was a psyker for some time. His abilities had simply become even more astonishing.

Yan Fangxu tried to convince himself that it wasn't a big deal.

But these Marine Elites who'd served under him could become even stronger? And in an incredibly short time? Just like the way the governor had trained those ordinary people?

Yan Fangxu found it hard to accept, hard to believe.

He joked, "So, you're better than me now, huh? Want to see if that's true?"

In the past, none of the Marines would've dared take him up on it. Captain Yan Fangxu was famous for being a tough fighter. Sparring with him was just asking for trouble.

But things were different now.

The soldier looked eager. "Sure! Let's do it!"

Hey, come on! Don't just look at the girls! How did the numbers go up so much overnight? The governor's pretty handsome too!