On the eve of battle

For a while afterward, the Super Soldier Company began training aboard the Juxia. Ge Xiaolun had also acquired his cute little cosplay wings, but no matter what he did, he could not fly. This worried Qiangwei sick. Did she really have to give her first kiss to this loser?

Qilin surprised everyone the most. Ever since her super gene had transformed into Judicator, her strength had risen rapidly. In another little while, she would probably become a Super Soldier with a Third Generation Body. A Super Soldier with a Third Generation Body was not to be underestimated. Lin Ran remembered that even Shi Hao, who appeared midway through, was only at that level.

Moreover, because of her gene's characteristics, Qilin's presence grew increasingly faint. When she stood somewhere, people would often overlook her if they were not paying attention. Of course, this had no effect on Lin Ran.

All she lacked now was a good weapon, and Lin Ran already had plans for that. He had asked Rena for a batch of dark alloy and handed it to Azure Heaven.

Azure Heaven was currently refining Qilin's weapon, and it would be finished in another two days.

That afternoon, Lin Ran was lying on the deck, watching the others train, when Liang Bing's voice reached him. He stood up and stepped into a wormhole. The others were already used to this.

"Seriously, that getup is hideous!" The moment Lin Ran arrived, he saw Liang Bing in her Demon Queen form. She looked hideous, with all that heavy smoky makeup!

"You actually think your queen is ugly?"

"Uh, that armor of yours was already pretty ugly, and then you did yourself up like this. Ugly piled on ugly. Absolutely hideous!"

"None of your damn business! Don't forget, I'm your superior!" Liang Bing snapped in exasperation.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Weren't we unsealing a demon? Where is it?"

"Follow me!"

Lin Ran followed Liang Bing to a deserted place. An altar appeared before them, with a human dressed as a priest and a demon standing on it. The demon held an instrument and kept fiddling with something.

"How's it going?"

"Your Majesty, the demon is right underneath here, but forcibly pulling him out won't work."

"Can you get him out?" Liang Bing turned to ask Lin Ran.

"Huh? You didn't call me here to watch?" Lin Ran asked in surprise.

"In your dreams! Why would I call you here to watch just because I had nothing better to do? Of course I brought you here to help!"

"Tch, you could easily handle something this trivial yourself, yet you called me all the way over here," Lin Ran muttered indignantly.

"Azure Heaven, crack this seal."

[Analyzing---10%...20%...30%...100%]

[Analysis complete! An acoustic corridor has been set up above this altar. You only need to speak the password. The password is Dula Hari Hatukun.]

"Dula Hari Hatukun!" As Azure Heaven deciphered the altar's seal, the acoustic corridor appeared. After Lin Ran spoke the password, a great demon wreathed in flames charged out.

"Damn, isn't this Da Bolun?" Somewhat speechless, Lin Ran slapped his forehead. He had nearly forgotten this cannon-fodder demon. How had this guy died in the anime again? The only one who had left a deep impression on him was the Sword Demon, Ato.

"Your Majesty, this guy doesn't seem to recognize you," Lin Ran teased Liang Bing.

"He will in a moment!" Feeling she had lost face, Liang Bing immediately used the Demon Claw to hoist Da Bolun up, then began brainwashing him.

Just like that, Da Bolun became Liang Bing's loyal underling, as well as A Tai's underling.

Bored stiff, Lin Ran watched Da Bolun kneel before Liang Bing, then met her smug gaze. Irritably, he stepped into a wormhole and returned.

"Huh? Where are Qiangwei and Xiaolun?" After returning, Lin Ran noticed the two were missing and asked Monkey Brother curiously. Monkey Brother pointed at the sky.

"Xiaolun can fly with his wings now!"

Monkey Brother nodded. Lin Ran thought it over and decided he needed to master flight too.

"Azure Heaven, decode Liang Bing's angel gene and see if you can make me a pair of little wings to play with too."

[Decoding the underlying code of the angel gene---]

[Recessive angel gene acquired. Optimizing---]

[Optimization complete! Implanting---]

[Implantation complete!]

With a thought from Lin Ran, a pair of sky-blue wings appeared behind him. The next moment, the wings vanished, but Lin Ran shot off the ground and soared straight into the clouds. His wings could turn invisible! More precisely, they were concealed within the Dark Plane, so attacks he suffered in the main plane would not affect them.

Ge Xiaolun and Qiangwei reached outer space hand in hand. Before they had time to admire the view, Xiaolun sensed that the Taotie vanguard was already approaching and hurriedly asked Qiangwei to take him back to the Juxia.

Watching the two plunge downward at high speed, Lin Ran did not follow them. Instead, he continued climbing and soon reached outer space himself.

Lin Ran's eyes seemed to become a canopy of stars. He saw those flagships, along with densely packed small warships.

One problem lay before Lin Ran. He remembered that these Taotie seemed to have drawn up a low-altitude combat plan, with Tianhe City as their target. That was also where the Super Soldier Company first fought the Taotie, but that battle had turned Tianhe City into a hell on earth.

"Looks like I need to make some proper arrangements and prepare a big gift for these Taotie!"

After returning to the Juxia, Lin Ran began pondering how to fight this battle. Earth did not yet have space warships of its own, so placing the battlefield in outer space was not feasible.

Lin Ran thought it over. The battlefield would remain in Tianhe City. He stepped into a wormhole and appeared before Huang Lao.

"Sir, I just hacked into the Taotie's communications and learned that they've drawn up a low-altitude combat plan to stop us from launching nuclear weapons. Their first target is Tianhe City."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes!"

"Good. I'll arrange for the whole of Tianhe City to evacuate immediately. Can you deal with them?"

"Don't worry, sir. This battle is just practice for Xiaolun and the others. Otherwise, with the combat strength Rena, Monkey Brother, and I possess, any one of us could take on this fleet alone."

"With your assurance, I can rest easy."

"Yes, sir. Earth's military weapons and equipment are still far behind the Taotie's. Sending our troops to Tianhe City will be very dangerous. I've made some weapons that can equip a portion of them first."

With a wave of Lin Ran's hand, a black firearm and a type of standard-issue dark alloy armor appeared before the chief. Of course, only a small amount of dark alloy had been added to them. After all, Earth did not have much of the stuff in reserve. He had made only a little over seven thousand pieces of this standard-issue equipment.

"This gun can absorb and store dark energy on its own. At full energy, it can fire three thousand dark-energy rounds continuously. It can also change into another form to fire ordinary bullets. Its power is many times greater than current firearms, and it can penetrate the armor of those Taotie mechs."

"And with this armor, as long as the Taotie don't hit them in the head, they won't die."

The chief summoned two men to test the weapons and armor. Afterward, neither man could bear to part with them, and only reluctantly put the weapons down at the chief's order.

"Good, good! Comrade Lin Ran, I thank you on behalf of the country. With these weapons and armor of yours, our soldiers' casualties will definitely fall considerably."

"It's what I should do, sir! I'll be going, then. The Taotie should launch their attack very soon."

After Lin Ran left, emergency deployment orders went out across the country. Large numbers of military vehicles drove into Tianhe City in an orderly stream to organize the evacuation.

Du Kao was utterly bewildered. What was going on? Why had he received no information about an operation on such a large scale?

Du Kao could not help shaking his head with a bitter smile. After all, he was an outsider to Earth. Without Deno Three, they would never have been able to establish a foothold on Earth.

As far as Lin Ran was concerned, he had never truly wanted to join either the Super God Academy or the demon camp. What he wanted to protect was this country. Although saying so made him seem a little hypocritical, it was indeed his true goal.

"What are you spacing out about? You've been appearing and disappearing like a ghost every day lately." Seeing Lin Ran sitting on the deck in a daze again, Qilin walked over and sat beside him.

"Nothing. Qilin, war is coming!"

"Huh? Are aliens really about to invade Earth?"

"Yes. I'll give you a new weapon tomorrow. I guarantee you'll rack up kills on the battlefield and beat those aliens until they scatter like fallen petals and flowing water."

"Brother Ran, Qilin, time to eat!" Liu Chuang called from afar. Lin Ran sat up, then walked toward the dining hall shoulder to shoulder with Qilin.