Moros's Staff

Zhang Fan had barely stepped out of the incubation chamber and had yet to take a bite of fresh meat when he found Hu Baili leaning on his cane, glaring at him.

"Come on, Overlord, you really... Didn't you promise not to sell me out?"

"Hahaha, you mean that business with King Pamir? That little fellow really isn't suited to being king. He doesn't have the slightest royal bearing, and he even burst into tears. I think Wolf 800 would be a much better fit."

At the mention of Wolf 800, Hu Baili trembled slightly. Seeing Yata and an unfamiliar creature nearby, he communicated with Zhang Fan mentally. "You already know, Overlord?"

"I had my suspicions... But now I know."

"Wolf 800 has been undercover for a long time. Without him, we Lilvara might have been wiped out long ago."

"He's a real man!"

Zhang Fan glanced at Han Bing and asked with a smile, "General Han Bing, what do you think of Wolf 800?"

"Wolf 800 fights bravely, but he's one of the Liruwara People, and he's very close to Huobao. I hate him."

Hu Baili exclaimed, "This... This is Han Bing? Han Bing of the Nagang People?"

Zhang Fan smiled smugly. "Well? He's now the first general of my Insect Race. Not bad, right?"

"The first general? Isn't Yata a general?"

Zhang Fan smiled knowingly. "It seems a teacher still looks out for his student. Yata is my marshal. All the generals answer to her."

Han Bing suddenly said, "Overlord, I feel that my name no longer suits this body. Please grant me a new one."

"Me? Better not. The High Priest is the most learned person in Wanyao. Ask him to give you a name."

Han Bing immediately bowed to Hu Baili. "Please grant me a name, High Priest."

Hu Baili demurred politely while Zhang Fan showered him with praise. After pondering for a moment, Hu Baili said, "No one in Lilvara looks like you, with a tiger's head and a scorpion's tail. The tiger clan usually takes the surname White. The forehead leads the face and guards the sea of consciousness, which suits your title as the first general. How about White Forehead?"

Knowledge of Earth's creatures suddenly flooded Zhang Fan's mind. He cried out in astonishment, "Is this a coincidence, or... I'm starting to think Lilvara has a profound connection to my home!"

"What are you talking about, Overlord?"

Zhang Fan hastily explained, "In ancient times in my homeland, 'sea of consciousness' was also used to refer to the brain, though it's rarely used anymore. And 'white forehead' refers to a fierce tiger, a ferocious animal from my homeland known as the king of beasts. High Priest, if you told me there was no connection between us, I wouldn't believe it!"

"The king of beasts? Hahaha, good! That's a great name. From today onward, I'll be White Forehead!" Han Bing was delighted with his new name.

Hu Baili communicated with Zhang Fan mentally. "Did you obtain what you needed, Overlord?"

"I checked the records. They only recorded the expedition's departure, not its disappearance."

"Then your trip was wasted, Overlord."

Zhang Fan smiled. "Not entirely. First, I discovered that Huo Planet has vast numbers of slaves from various races. We can use that. Second, I think there's something suspicious about the missing disappearance records."

Hu Baili asked in confusion, "What's suspicious about there being no records?"

"High Priest, even you remember that they disappeared. Why would there be no record? I checked every record about that expedition preserved on Huo Planet. The only thing missing was the location where they vanished. I can think of only one possibility: it was deleted."

"Deleted? Why would the Nasteel people do that?"

Zhang Fan shook his head. "It wasn't necessarily the Nasteel people."

"Overlord, you mean... Impossible. Apart from me, only the previous King Pamir had access to those records..." Hu Baili suddenly paused...

"The previous King Pamir died on Huo Planet. Could it have been him?"

"I don't know. Perhaps he wanted to protect something. Of course, this is all speculation."

Zhang Fan looked a little disappointed. Without the expedition's last known location, his hopes of finding Earth had grown dim again.

White Forehead suddenly ran up to Zhang Fan. "Overlord, I just remembered something."

"Go on!"

"Ever since I got this new body, I feel as though I've gained a soul!"

"Get to the point!"

"I suddenly realized that I don't actually hate Huobao!"

"Get to the point!" Zhang Fan's voice grew stern.

"I suddenly felt that my hatred of Huobao was just a program. It made me oppose him. I'm wondering... Do Nu Feng, Chi Yan, Zi Dian, and Wolf 800 have similar programs?"

Yata immediately said, "The Great Emperor deliberately designed them to divide you and prevent you from joining forces to rebel against him."

Zhang Fan laughed. "The universe really is wondrous. Even a mechanical race uses the arts of Emperor rule."

Hu Baili shook his head. "Unfortunately, a program is only a program. He never accounted for an unforeseen development like General White Forehead."

Zhang Fan and Hu Baili exchanged smiles. Yata suddenly smiled as well, leaving White Forehead staring blankly at the three of them.

He asked curiously, "Overlord, what are you three smiling about?"

At the border between the Thunderflame Star System and the Purple Moon System...

While patrolling the border, Chiwila suddenly spotted the Purple Moon fleet commanded by Nu Feng around an asteroid not far from her forces.

There weren't many ships, only ten. What made this small fleet unusual, however, was the presence of Nu Feng's personal warship.

Chiwila dared not attack rashly. With Nu Feng's personal warship there, even a hundred ships would be no match for it.

She could only conduct reconnaissance quietly from a distance. What she discovered gave her a fright. Nu Feng's personal warship was escorting something extremely strange, at least five thousand meters long and two hundred meters wide. It looked like the cane in Hu Baili's hand, but was made entirely of metal. Its shape alone made it clear that it was a weapon.

Chiwila had witnessed the power of the Star-Destroying Cannon. This thing looked even larger, and it was out in space. If it was a mobile Star-Destroying Cannon, the Thunderflame Star System was in danger.

Chiwila immediately reported the situation to the Command Center on Jiede Star. Looking at the images she transmitted, Hu Baili exclaimed, "Moros's Staff? They actually built Moros's Staff..."

Seeing the terror on Hu Baili's face, Zhang Fan hurriedly asked, "What is Moros's Staff? Why are you so alarmed, High Priest?"

Hu Baili hastily explained, "Moros's Staff is a weapon from ancient legends, with the power to destroy an entire star system. Though it can only be used once, that one use would be enough to destroy the entire Thunderflame Star System. It seems the Nagang People are determined to wipe us out this time."

After pondering for a moment, Zhang Fan asked, "I've never encountered a weapon capable of destroying a star system, but it must require an enormous amount of energy. That means it should take a long time to charge, right? We have time to destroy it before it's ready!"

Hu Baili shook his head. "Moros's Staff does take a long time to charge, but the Nagang People will certainly protect it with a massive force. With our current strength, we don't stand a chance."

"Roughly how long will it take to finish charging?"

"Six days at the shortest!"

"Yata, how many troops do we have right now?"

Yata immediately answered, "{Rebecca}: 1,200, {Dragon-Type Rebecca}: 60,000, {Venom Bee}: 10 million, and 10 billion ground troops in total."

Zhang Fan shook his head. "Not enough. That's far too few troops to fight five star systems."

White Forehead suddenly said, "Only four star systems. I'm not in the Frost System, and my adjutant is here too. Without orders from me or my adjutant, no one can mobilize the Frost System's forces unless the Great Emperor comes in person."

Yata said, "That's still not enough. Even if you can still control the Frost System, we only have the forces of two star systems. Against four, the disparity is far too great."

The corners of Zhang Fan's mouth suddenly lifted into a sly smile. "We still have a vast force available. I imagine they've been itching for a fight for years."