The Sunil Race strongly promotes a culture of venerating superhumans and the military, instilling a sense of dedication from a young age. Lana dreamed of joining the army and becoming a glorious soldier protecting the tribe since childhood, and he trained diligently. His neighbor happened to be a veteran, and Lana and the neighborhood children often went to ask the veteran to train them, counting down the days until they reached the age required for enlistment.
The Calamity every few years, and the intervals between them are a period of development for gathering resources, building more weapons, and training a new batch of soldiers. The Sunil Race usually begins to recruit soldiers after the Calamity. Although the population is 90% less than at its peak after the DarkStar Catastrophe, the population is still relatively dense in a large city.
There are two conscription models: one is voluntary enlistment, which goes without saying; the other is compulsory conscription, which targets prisoners and families with multiple children. All eligible young people must serve a period of military service and undergo basic soldier training. When a crisis occurs, these people can be temporarily conscripted as soldiers.
Lana's ambitions certainly went beyond military service; he wanted to apply to enlist and become a regular soldier, but his parents strongly opposed it.
"How can you say such things? Protecting our people is an honor. Countless people have sacrificed their lives for it, and I am willing to give my own life as well. It is Glory!" Lana exclaimed, his eyes wide.
Lana's parents pleaded with him, "You're still young, there are many things you don't understand. So many people join the army every year, losing one won't make a difference."
"No, that's shameful! My dream is to protect my people!" Lana said passionately.
"Have you thought about us?" Lana's mother sobbed uncontrollably. "You used to go to Mr. Nivelle next door for training all the time. He died in battle yesterday, and his body was brought back, broken into several pieces. You didn't see the scene. His wife fainted several times from crying. Now, only a widow and her child are left at home, and they'll have to live on a pension from now on. It's so pitiful. But at least she has a young child to raise. We're old, and you're our only child. If you die, what will happen to us? How are we supposed to live?"
Lana was speechless, looking conflicted, and muttered, "This isn't right..."
"Lana... whether it's the superhumans, the military, or Mr. Nivelle, they are all great people, but we are just ordinary civilians. I love my race, and I will produce and work to contribute to our people. The battlefield should not be a choice we consider." The father placed his hands on Lana's shoulders, speaking earnestly. He respected the superhumans and the military, and was grateful for their contributions, but when it came to himself, he could not make the same choice.
Lana lowered his head and remained silent.
The mother said anxiously, "Lana, you must promise us, you mustn't do anything rash!"
"... I agree." Lana lowered his head and said sullenly, "I will serve in the military, but I won't enlist."
His parents immediately breathed a sigh of relief, their faces filled with kindness.
Outside the window, Melos leaned against the windowsill, tilted his head back, and stared blankly at the sky.
In the sky, the massive silhouettes of nine warships resembled thick, dark clouds, obscuring the sunlight that should have streamed into the city. The airflow from their engines transformed into a persistent wind, carrying the thick stench of blood from outside the city into the city, where it became almost imperceptible.
Many memories surfaced in succession: Fagorna's bitter smile, Lana's passion, the accusations of the patrons, the bloody battlefield, the fallen soldiers, the worshipped people, the countless moments of detachment after sobering up, the days spent guarding the bar and letting myself slowly decay, and the DarkStar disaster that I hadn't thought about for a long time—that was the last time I saw my Delphis.
In my memory, Delphis still wore thick glasses, his hair was unkempt, messy, and greasy, and his white lab coat looked like a robe on his thin, short frame, giving him a strangely comical appearance. His image appeared on the communication screen, with the research institute's dome destroyed behind him. Delphis habitually pushed up his glasses and said to his taller younger brother Melos, "You brat, I left something for you in the research lab at home. The password is our parents' birthdays reversed; you don't need to bother cracking it."
His tone was as always, still that feeling of disappointment and frustration, but with a hint of lingering affection. Communication with *Tu*shu had come to an end. He looked out the window and saw countless menacing DarkStar warships floating in the direction of the military research institute where Delphis worked, with a mushroom cloud exploding on the ground.
He unlocked Delphis's private research room with a password— Melos had always wanted to sneak in and cause trouble but never knew the password. He then saw the inheritance his brother had left him...
More memories surfaced. Melos remembered that he was a lazy bum who used to live off his older brother's salary and enjoy himself everywhere. He had a terrifying talent and reached the Grade B superpower level at a young age, which was thousands of times stronger than Delphis. However, he was always inferior to his older brother and was often scolded and reprimanded. He was like a dead pig that doesn't care about boiling water.
"Brother..." Melos murmured to himself.
Memories are like bubbling bubbles, and the final image that remains is Han Xiao's deep eyes, which seem to hold the torrent of time.
Melos's expression calmed slightly. He returned to the bar, entered the attic, and opened a long-sealed wardrobe. Inside was a passageway leading to the bar's secret basement, covered in dust. He slowly walked down, turned on the light, and found a pile of boxes in the basement, many of which contained Delphis's belongings.
He went straight to the corner of the basement, pulled out a wooden box, brushed off the dust, and opened the lid.
Inside was a set of dark-colored armor, a legacy left to him by Delphis, armor secretly tailor-made for him—[Shattered Splitting Light]!
Melos survived the DarkStar catastrophe thanks to this armor, and then never used it again, leaving it to gather dust in the basement as a memento of his older brother.
This may be the last usable General-Grade Armor in the entire Sunil Race.
Melos stared blankly at the armor, his gaze gradually sharpening.
"It's been too long since I've fought... I hope I don't get cramps."
The beasts that appeared in the later stages were even more monstrous, all being the apex predators of the planet's food chain. Some had transcended the category of beasts and could be directly called monsters. There were Concentrated Acid Flying Beetle with wingspans exceeding a hundred meters, capable of withstanding more than a dozen orbital cannon shots without dying, and able to spew corrosive acid that hissed and smoked as it adhered to the shields of warships. One of these monsters could be easily dealt with, but their appearance in swarms gradually overwhelmed the firepower of the positions. One warship's shield was breached, its outer armor damaged, and it made an emergency landing while smoking, requiring urgent repairs.
"What do the monsters on this planet eat to grow up?!"
The mercenaries were astonished. What did a monster with a wingspan of 100 meters mean? Its size was almost the same as Sunil's small warship. This was just a wild animal that evolved on the planet, and there was only a very small chance of it growing to this size. Such a super-sized monster didn't even need ground Reconnaissance troops; aerial Reconnaissance could locate it directly.
Those chimeras and alien races are not included.
The missiles continued their aerial bombardment, creating a deafening roar. Suddenly, alarms blared within the defense perimeter, and an emergency broadcast was broadcast.
"Charge ready! Charge ready! Mountain Beast Detection approaching, expected to arrive in fourteen minutes. All soldiers, prepare yourselves! High-energy concentrated particle cannons, begin charging!"
The fifth defensive perimeter cracked open, revealing a massive, steel-clad cannon with an extremely complex structure. The cannon barrel was hexagonal, embedded in a hollow particle stabilization device, as if the barrel had been divided into sections. Han Xiao's mecha immediately issued a high-energy alarm, and the muzzle of the giant cannon gradually glowed with intense light.
This high-energy concentrated particle cannon was a discarded item ejected from a wormhole in the center of Shattered Star Ring. It was an interstellar-level weapon of war, originating from an unknown advanced civilization. It was found and sold by scavengers, Sunil Race spared no expense to buy it. This was a lesson learned from the first Calamity, and they needed a trump card to deal with powerful beasts.
Although it was an obsolete product, it still cost the Sunil Race a huge amount of their wealth. The technology of more advanced civilizations was kept secret, so it could not be repaired or researched, only used. Each shot required a huge amount of energy. The Sunil tribe was short of energy, so firing a shot was equivalent to burning a lot of wealth. Their energy technology was naturally inferior to that of advanced civilizations. It required a long charging time before firing, and this giant cannon was only used when encountering the most powerful monsters.
The Sunil Race has been exploring this planet for over a decade, recording numerous wild beasts in their encyclopedia. The Mountain Beast is one of the most powerful monsters among them. Powerful beasts are usually lured away by field combat units, and the appearance of this Mountain Beast undoubtedly indicates the failure of the field forces.
Han Xiao exclaimed in surprise, casually blasting a Thunder Leopard that was approaching with a shot. Looking back at the high-energy concentrated particle cannon, he felt his mouth watering.
"This feeling of my heart pounding..." Master Han's eyes widened.