Like a scumbag cat

Just as⁠‌⁠‍‌⁠​‍‌​​⁠‍‍‍​‌​⁠‍‍⁠⁠​ Bai Ze was about to close in, two flashes of snow-like light from the transformed SS mechas lit up at the same time.

Zhou Jiuya immediately recognized them—one was Cecilia’s “Black Jade,” and the other was Leinster’s mecha “Caged Hawk.”

“Cecilia—!!!”

In this world, the people that Zhou Jiu Ya hated the most were the people of the Illusory God Church, especially Leinster and Cecilia. The former ambushed him, preventing him from rescuing his brother in time, and later even kidnapped Jiang Ci.

As for Cecilia—if she hadn’t snitched back then, Bai Min wouldn’t have died! Not to mention, that insane woman had literally cut open Bai Min’s abdomen and dug out Jiang Ci.

. Wan Jiang immediately lunged at Black Jade, and the two clashed violently.

On the other side, Bai Ze and Caged Hawk rushed toward He Zhun’s shattered escape pod at the same time.

Sparks flew as blades and weapons collided.

From the very first move exchange, Leinster immediately noticed Bai Ze’s change, because the silver spear had completely changed its style. His initial prediction failed, and he was instantly knocked into the air.

“Shit—!”

Leinster’s eyes widened as he crashed through countless buildings. He barely managed to steady himself, and when he looked up, he saw Bai Ze leaning over and grabbing the escape pod. By now, the pod’s outer shell had been completely destroyed by the earlier energy shockwave.

Jiang Ci didn’t hesitate. He immediately pulled Bai Ze back.

“Bai Ze, open the landing gate! Bring him in!”

Whirr—

Mechanical arms extended from the top of the cockpit, instantly securing the shattered pod. Bai Ze swiftly cleared away the broken shell and activated the medical device to prepare for rescue. But the next second, the mechanical arms froze.

“A-Ci, this…”

“What’s wrong?!”

Jiang Ci quickly glanced back, but at a glance, he was stunned.

…Holy Stigmata!

He Zhun had been injected with Holy Stigmata!

At this moment, the young man was covered in blood and his expression twisted in pain. Beneath his torn clothing, golden Holy Stigmata writhed and crawled, healing his wounds as they moved. But Bai Ze’s medical database had no information on this phenomenon, so the AI was unsure of how to proceed.

“Cough… cough cough…”

He Zhun slowly sat up from the escape pod. As he moved, the sound of bones realigning and snapping into place came from his body.

He dazedly stared for a few seconds, then his eyes gradually locked onto Jiang Ci’s face.

Neither of them had expected to reunite under such circumstances. Once the closest of family, now they didn’t even know how to speak to each other.

Jiang Ci looked at the young man whose face was covered in blood, and a deep sorrow and heartache spread in his chest.

He now knew from his uncle that He Zhun’s entire family was executed in order to save him. If it hadn’t been for He Zhun’s father, Jiang Ci would’ve died a few months after his birth.

He Zhun had been carrying that hatred all these years, walking a path of vengeance. And Jiang Ci was one of his reasons. No wonder He Zhun had never said anything. No wonder he didn’t trust the Empire. No wonder he chose to walk this road alone.

“He Zhun, are you alright?”

Jiang Ci was the first to break the silence. He wanted to show concern, and more importantly, to explain the truth behind that political purge to He Zhun.

“Listen to me, back then, over twenty—”

“Enough, Jiang Ci!”

Of course He Zhun knew the purge more than 20 years ago was nothing but a staged act, he knew it from the beginning.

But now, he couldn’t let Jiang Ci speak the truth—because there was a listening device planted inside him.

The Pope had spared his life, but had also left behind something else.

He Zhun gestured at his throat.

“You think saying this hypocritical crap now actually means anything?”

Jiang Ci noticed that unusual motion and instantly understood what he meant.

He was saying: don’t speak. It’s not safe.

Just as Jiang Ci was trying to figure out how to communicate securely, Leinster came charging at them like a furious beast.

“Jiang Ci—!!!”

Bai Ze faltered for a moment. But thanks to the recent surge in his mental power threshold, Jiang Ci and Bai Ze were now perfectly synced. Jiang Ci’s mental threshold had recently surged to 1200, while Leinster’s was just barely over 800. So even though Bai Ze briefly froze, Caged Hawk couldn’t find any flaws.

Right then, Bai Ze turned and stabbed his silver spear straight toward Caged Hawk’s cockpit. The angle was so tricky Leinster had no way to dodge in that split second. He could only cross both blades to barely block the earth-shattering strike.

What the hell?!

Who’s piloting Bai Ze?!

Leinster’s eyes were filled with disbelief. For a moment, he wasn’t even sure whether Bai Ze’s pilot was really Jiang Ci. In just half a year, his opponent’s combat ability had undergone a qualitative leap, and it was completely different from Zhou Jiuya’s previous bold, sweeping style. Now it was sharp, fast, and precise; every strike was hard to guard against.

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On the other side, seeing that Jiang Ci was dominating his opponent, Huo Xianfeng chose not to interfere. After all, this was the perfect opportunity to test his teaching results. With a casual wave of his hand, the sky was instantly blanketed with a dense swarm of Zergs.

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“Defense barrier… Repair it now, repair it immediately!!”

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“Quick! Order all fighters to charge in and block the gap! Buy time for the barrier repair!”

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But he didn’t care. He didn’t believe such desperate tricks could stop the Zerg invasion.

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“It’s done… it’s almost repaired!!!”

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“Naïve.”

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At this moment, all the mechas that were fiercely fighting stopped at the same time, and they all looked up to the sky at the same time.

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In that moment, the vibrant, multicolored world seemed to be wiped clean by an invisible hand—leaving only the gray and black colors of death and fear.

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At this moment, only the Forbidden Abyss could see the Zerg King inside the cockpit. It saw sparks of joy flickering in the depths of his cold and violent vertical pupils.

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That will be the true end of mankind.

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The entire base was in chaos, the sounds of explosions everywhere. The sharp, terrified screams of humans were almost drowned out by the even more terrifying screams of monsters the moment they came out. The soldiers were as helpless as a drop of water swallowed by the sea.

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At this moment, Cecilia’s expression was nearly frozen in horror. Her voice cracked with urgency and she nearly screamed:

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Whoosh—

The previously unstable space rift suddenly expanded, tripling in size.

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“That is…!”

Jiang Ci noticed it immediately.

Those weren’t standard humanoid mechas. They were Zerg-based mechas, those twisted forms he’d seen before on Winter Day Planet, and some were grotesquely fused together from various creatures. There were a lot of them, and they kept coming.

The moment they appeared, they charged directly at the Zerg army, immediately clashing and entangling in a chaotic battle.

Just then, Bai Ze’s robotic voice echoed directly in Jiang Ci’s mind via the biochip:

“Those are mechas modified using the corpses and exoskeletons of Zergs. A creation of Angus, the chief disciple of the Sage.”

But this wasn’t Bai Ze speaking—this was He Zhun, transmitting the message through the Bai Ze’s connection.

The Illusory God Church had long been in decline. After the Alliance collapsed, nearly 70% of the surviving humans were relocated to Eternal Cloud Planet by Pei Changyun. The Church no longer had the manpower or resources to sustain itself.

“Although the Illusory God Church still has the technology, after all these years, their ability to mass-produce weapons has withered. Angus proposed that the Zerg shells could replace the external structure of mechas. Their neural fluids can also be refined into an energy source. To conserve manpower, the units function more like drones, being coordinated and controlled by a central command system under Angus’s control.”

The electronic voice spoke rapidly and every word contained valuable intelligence:

“Cecilia also brought a clone of Huo Chao with her and possesses a large number of mental shielding devices. I don’t know how Huo Xianfeng is linked to Huo Chao, but it seems to be a one-way mental link, like the bond between a pilot and their mecha. Bernard already noticed signs of this when Huo Chao’s Starblog was exposed.”

That’s why He Zhun had submitted an analysis report to the Pope in advance.

“Jiang Ci, Cecilia was your mother’s apostle. She only revealed your mother’s escape because the Pope already knew of Bai Min’s defection. Cecilia used that as a cover to gather intel on their pursuit plans. We still don’t know her current motive for staying with the Church, but for now, we can temporally consider her as an ally.”

“Huo Chao’s clone isn’t just a political weapon against Pei Changyun—there’s something more. His Holy Stigmata is unique, different from anyone else’s. So it’s best to get rid of him as soon as possible.”

A flood of information rushed into Jiang Ci’s mind. He rapidly analyzed, categorized, and extracted the critical points, then immediately synced Bai Ze with Zhou Jiuya and Huo Xianfeng.

In the next instant, Bai Ze launched forward, charging at the nearest Zerg mecha. The silver spear stabbed it, pinning the enemy to the wall of a nearby building.

Whoosh—!

The next second, a silver ring shot out from Bai Ze’s chest, transforming into a combat blade that pierced straight through the compound eyes into the brain. From the blade, numerous mechanical tendrils extended and rapidly infiltrated.

“Signal decryption in progress…”

“Signal decryption in progress…”

Xiao X shared the same core programming as the Forbidden Abyss, and could decode the Church’s signal systems faster than Bai Ze. Jiang Ci’s current priority was to locate Angus’s master control system—and destroy it. As for Cecilia and the Huo Chao clone, others would have to handle them.

Ding—

“A-Ci! I found the source of the command signal—it’s underground!!!”

Without hesitation, Jiang Ci pushed Bai Ze’s energy limit to max. The silver spear began to glow with blinding lightning. In the next second, the thunder-wreathed spear shot downward, cutting a path through the chaos of battle.

BOOM!!!

The already-ruined ground exploded, collapsing inwards to reveal an enormous subterranean complex. Jiang Ci paused for a moment, then had Xiao X scan the underground structure and immediately issued a command:

“Third squad—gather to my location immediately! It’s an emergency deployment!”

The Major General’s tone was cold and serious.

“Medical team, move in to receive a high-priority injured asset and evacuate them from the battlefield.”

Jiang Ci, of course, knew He Zhun’s purpose and his role as a mole. But the Church had already implanted a listening device and injected him with a Holy Stigmata—plus, He Zhun had just handed over critical intelligence. It was obvious that if he returned to the Church, he would probably die.

So this time, Jiang Ci understood him—but had no intention of letting him go back.

The Major General coldly added a supplementary order for the medical team:

“Authorized to proceed under Regulation No. 238 for special containment of the patient. Use non-lethal restraint measures if necessary.”

He Zhun was too smart, he always had contingencies, so special situations required special treatment.

“Yes, Major General Jiang Ci.”

The medical team leader confirmed the order and began to prepare a special medical cabin and the related equipment.

“Wait—!!!”

That was He Zhun’s voice. It was obvious that he had never expected that Jiang Ci, who had tried to verbally keep him the last time they met, would ruthlessly and forcibly detain him this time.

Moreover, he had just shared so much intel with him, not only to help, but also because he intended to join this war and exchange other information with the other party. And now Jiang Ci just tossed him aside after hearing it all???

This was no different from a scumbag cat that eats all the treats, then turns and walks away without even letting you pet it!!!

“Jiang Ci, you can’t—”

He Zhun’s eyes widened and he was anxious to say more, but before he could even finish, Bai Ze ejected him from the cockpit and very efficiently handed him over to the approaching medical team.

The entire process was seamless and every step carried out exactly in line with the First Legion’s battlefield treatment protocols. If it had been recorded, it could’ve been used as a textbook example in military academies.