The Tianhe Battle

"Queen, you actually came looking for me!"

"No shit! You wouldn't answer my calls, so how could I not come looking? And what about your promise to your queen that you'd come whenever I called? Does that not count anymore?"

"It counts! But your researchers could solve all this. You've just been so focused on war that you overlooked it."

That was true enough. Lin Ran had found the demons in Huang Village utterly lacking. Although he didn't know the full extent of Demon One's capabilities, Liang Bing had fought Kaisa for tens of thousands of years, so Demon One presumably wasn't much worse than Holy Kaisa's Knowledge Vault.

The main thing was that Kaisa had Pipi Xi behind her, while Liang Bing only had her own research team. Even combined, those people couldn't measure up to Pipi Xi.

"Your queen doesn't care! I want you to help me upgrade the Demon Gene!"

"No! What, am I sick in the head? Help you upgrade the Demon Gene so you can infect us Earthlings and strengthen the Demon Legion?"

Liang Bing froze. She had indeed overlooked that.

"Fine, then I won't force you. But next time your queen asks you to do something, you're not allowed to turn me down!"

"That depends! I only said I'd come whenever you called. I never promised to do everything you asked."

Looking at Liang Bing's huffy expression, Lin Ran couldn't help smiling. He had to admit, Liang Bing was an absolute beauty when she dressed normally. Angels all seemed quite beautiful. Good genes! There was a reason they were hailed as the most perfect race in the Known Universe.

"Now that you've had your hands on me, you're pretending you don't know me!" Liang Bing pretended to wipe away tears while actually observing Lin Ran.

"Your beauty trap won't work on me. All right, Queen, I've unblocked your access to my Dark Communication. You don't need to come all this way again."

"That's more like it." Only after hearing that Lin Ran had opened his Dark Communication to her did Liang Bing leave with a haughty air.

Meanwhile, far away in the Styx Galaxy, Karl couldn't help frowning. He had discovered that Liang Bing had been in frequent contact with a Super Soldier from the Super God Academy lately, yet he couldn't read Lin Ran's information either. He could count on one hand the people in the Known Universe whose information he couldn't read. Now there was one more!

"Never mind. As long as it doesn't affect my Void Plan. Once the age of the Void arrives, my scholarship can be brought to a perfect close."

The next morning, Lin Ran called Qilin over, handed her the weapon he had customized for her, and granted her access to Little Dark, allowing her to use Little Dark to calculate and transport things as well.

This specially made weapon could fire dark energy laser blasts as well as God-Slaying-series armor-piercing rounds. As long as the target didn't have a God Body, one shot from this gun would leave them in bad shape. Even someone with a God Body could lose half their life if struck in a vital spot.

That night, Lin Ran was sleeping soundly when Azure Heaven suddenly issued an alert.

[The Taotie army is entering the atmosphere! Estimated arrival above Tianhe City in two hours!]

"Battle stations, battle stations! Assemble on deck! We're moving out!" Lin Ran called directly over the channel for everyone to assemble.

Rena yawned as she boarded the aircraft. Sensing everyone's nervousness, she couldn't help smiling. This battle was just practice for them.

"Just watch the show later. Don't get serious," Rena said over Lin Ran's private channel.

"I know. Don't worry."

Lin Ran, Rena, and Monkey Brother exchanged smiles. Now they would see who could throw the match without giving themselves away. Three hours later, Lin Ran and the others finally arrived aboard their combat aircraft. Before they even approached the battlefield, a laser blast came at them, and Aircraft One, carrying Rena, was the first to be hit!

At that moment, Aircraft One's pilot looked utterly bewildered. How had he suddenly appeared at the military camp? This was naturally Lin Ran's doing. The moment that energy cannon began charging, Azure Heaven had already calculated where its shot would land. Azure Heaven then completed its analysis of the pilot and transported him through a wormhole to the military camp.

The busiest thing at that moment was Lin Ran's gene system. The task Lin Ran had given Azure Heaven was to save every soldier in danger.

Within Lin Ran's Dark Plane Gene System, the canopy of flowing code began to operate slowly. Under Azure Heaven's control, the Super Dark Matter Computer also precisely placed a dark energy shield around every soldier in Tianhe City. Unless they encountered danger, they wouldn't be able to sense the shields.

"Rena's in danger! They're using God-Slaying No. 1!" With that, Lin Ran jumped out of the aircraft, leaving Ge Xiaolun looking utterly dumbfounded. His big brother was gone. What was he supposed to do now?

About three seconds after Lin Ran jumped, Aircraft Three, carrying Liu Chuang, was also shot down. Its pilot was teleported beside Aircraft One's pilot, and the two looked at each other in confusion.

"Could that soldier named Qiangwei have done it? Can't she transport things remotely?"

"Possibly! To think that girl still remembered to protect us at a time like this!"

Both pilots agreed that Qiangwei had saved them. After all, according to the information currently released about the Super Soldier Company, only Qiangwei had that ability.

"Rena! I'll protect you!"

"You bastard! Like I need your protection! You're being way too obvious about slacking off!"

Lin Ran caught the incoming God-Slaying No. 1 round in one hand, then fell straight into the river!

"Did Brother Ran get shot?" Xin Zhao asked uncertainly.

"Brother Ran! Brother Ran! Can you hear us?" Everyone called for Lin Ran over the channel. Naturally, Lin Ran wouldn't answer. He had stolen Rena's chance to slack off!

"Azure Heaven, analyze this God-Slaying No. 1 round!"

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

[Analysis failed. Connecting to the Super Dark Matter Computer. Analyzing---10%--20%--30%...60%]

[Analysis failed! Unable to crack the source code!]

"Hmm? Source code?"

[Yes. The source code inside this God-Slaying No. 1 round has a very high encryption level.]

"Shouldn't a God Body's genetic encryption be the highest? You can even read Liang Bing's genes and the others', but you can't read this?"

[That is incorrect. Azure Heaven did not read their genetic source code, only the underlying genetic portion.]

"Oh, okay. Forget it, then."

Lin Ran climbed out of the water, slipped onto the roof of a tower, and began sneakily observing the battlefield.

Seeing that a Super Soldier had blocked the God-Slaying No. 1 round aimed at Rena, the Taotie decisively organized another assault targeting her. Thousands of Taotie Warriors riding combat craft rushed out from beneath the massive flagship and surged toward Rena.

An arcing laser blast killed dozens of Taotie Warriors. Hidden atop a tower, Qilin began sniping the Taotie.

"Qilin, is that a sniper rifle? Why is it as powerful as a sniper cannon?" Rena asked, her face darkening.

"Hehe, Lin Ran gave me this weapon. It's much better than my old one."

After Qilin had sniped hundreds of Taotie Warriors to death, the main flagship's cannon muzzle began to glow faintly. It was clearly charging.

Lin Ran had thought this shot would be aimed at Rena again, but instead, it fired straight toward Qilin's position.

[Target lock detected on you. Loading the Super Dark Energy Computer. Creating defensive barrier!]

[Defensive barrier complete!]

A massive black shield firmly protected Qilin behind it. Lin Ran had been about to go block the shot for her, but then he heard the command calling on Little Dark and ducked back again.

The laser energy cannon continued bombarding the defensive barrier, but it only consumed a little energy. The barrier didn't even tremble.

"Damn it! I'll deal with that female soldier. You go keep Rena occupied and wait for me to rendezvous with you!"

Three massive mechs rushed out of the flagship. Qilin braced her sniper rifle, steadied her breathing, and locked her muzzle onto the incoming massive mech warrior.

[Target detected to have been modified into an entirely mechanical body. Ammunition switched to God-Slaying No. 3 Explosive Round!]

A smile curled Qilin's lips. She fired, sending an explosive round blasting out. As the round traveled, it actually began to grow slowly larger. By the time it approached the Taotie mech warrior, it had grown to the size of a fist.