Only 112 members of Stream Vanguard had actually come to Oceania this time.
Because by the time Han Qingyu and the others returned to the Third Fixed Exploration Site, a large-scale mobilization was already out of the question.
Using all three of the base's source energy airships, this was the absolute maximum number of fighters they could bring.
However, among these 112 people was Theodore, the super combat power who had previously remained behind to guard the base.
It included eleven top-tier combat powers, two Endless sniper rifles, and nearly thirty sub-top-tier combat powers.
Furthermore, the remaining fighters were all ranked within Stream Vanguard's top two hundred in combat strength.
The reasoning behind this decision was actually very simple. Since this was a decisive battle that would determine the fate of humanity, and since Han Qingyu was human, and cared deeply about many people living on this planet—his comrades, his family, his friends... he had to come and do everything in his power.
Beyond that, there was nothing more to it. Han Qingyu remained his usual self, harboring neither grand ambitions for the whole world nor a saintly compassion for humanity.
Their core combat strength had deployed almost in its entirety. Although given the current situation, the likelihood of their base being attacked was very slim, Han Qingyu had always been cautious and protective of his wealth, so he had still taken precautions. He had made no active contact with the outside world, revealing neither the strength of the force he brought nor his own presence.
Conveniently, among the 112 who had come, besides him and Rusty Sister, there were seven other full-armor warriors. These warriors had originally been specially trained to serve as Rusty Sister's personal guard in the future. According to Rusty Sister's designs, each person's armor styling was completely unique.
Boom! The iron armor crashed to the ground head-on, followed by an explosion of blue light.
Two Great Spikes in the middle of a high-speed charge were blasted through the air on the spot.
After switching to the large blue light column sword, Rusty Sister clearly enjoyed using the column sword far more than a knight's sword, because hacking and crushing with this thing was simply too violent and intensely satisfying.
On the battlefield, the gunfire slowed in tempo but continued unabated. Wen Jifei and Milla picked off targets one by one while keeping watch over the entire area.
In truth, on a battlefield like this, the two of them and the sniper rifles in their hands were the primary source of lethality.
The speeding convoy pulled up not far ahead of Lao Jian and his men, beginning to decelerate.
The sprinting soldiers had all ground to a halt, turning their heads back...
On the battlefield behind them, led by Rusty Sister and Theodore, Stream Vanguard's top-tier combatants had deployed in full force. Seventy fighters against fewer than thirty ordinary Great Spikes, supported by precision sniper fire, turned the clash into an outright one-sided slaughter.
The Azure soldiers just stood there, watching in stunned silence for a moment.
"So this... is Stream Vanguard." The captain of Squad 1426, who already knew about the connection between Lao Jian and Han Qingyu's group, looked over at Lao Jian and gave a whistling chuckle.
Lao Jian smiled as well, but kept his mouth shut. He had long grown accustomed to people striking up conversations like this.
*Vanguard my ass. Didn't I raise all those brats from scratch, wiping their asses and changing their diapers?*
At times like this, Captain Lao knew that the calmer and more unruffled he appeared, the better the pretension worked.
Because on the other side, the Armenian soldiers were already completely dumbfounded.
The battle on the field ended swiftly.
Before the vehicles' wheels had even come to a full stop, they began accelerating once more.
Honk! A sharp car horn blared suddenly beside them.
Startled, Lao Jian jerked his head around.
Wen Jifei was already in a vehicle and called out, "Get in!"
"Huh?"
"Don't you guys have a mission? ...You do, right? Then hurry up!"
In the distance, Rusty Sister, Theodore, and Stream Vanguard's top-tiers were already sprinting toward the valley, running far faster than the vehicles could drive.
Picking up the Azure soldiers on the scene, the convoy tore off in the direction Lao Jian indicated, racing toward the other battlefield hanging on the brink of disaster.
No one had the luxury of making conversation along the way.
When Wen Jifei and the others arrived, on the vast open ground, about forty remaining soldiers from three Azure squads were fighting a bitter retreating battle to hold off the Great Spikes, while behind them, thousands of civilians fled desperately...
Bodies littered the ground everywhere—soldiers and civilians alike.
......
The battle ended quickly.
The soldiers, nearly all of them wounded, collapsed limply onto the ground. They lay in prolonged silence until someone began to weep silently. That weeping went unnoticed, because over on the other side, the three thousand-odd civilians who were finally safe for the moment, having come to a halt, now felt the despair and agony all the more vividly and deeply.
For a time, frantic wails of despair and breakdown echoed everywhere.
Stream Vanguard's warriors moved quietly through the area, searching for any surviving wounded.
No one blamed the civilians for crying like this; it was understandable.
Nor did anyone step forward to warn them against crying, because they weren't particularly afraid of drawing more Great Spikes.
And no soldier attempted to comfort them. Though they had seen and endured far more and far crueler things, comforting people was something they did not know how to do.
They themselves had long grown accustomed to putting sentimentality aside. Laugh when you want to laugh, cry when you want to cry, and once the laughter and tears were done, pick up your blade and carry on.
Clack, clack.
Rusty Sister suddenly walked toward the crowd.
Subdued by the menacing silhouette of her iron armor and the blue light column sword in her hand, the weeping gradually subsided. With eyes filled with terror or gratitude, the civilians watched her.
"Right now, you must be feeling utter despair, right? Wondering whether you should keep holding on..." Rusty Sister said in English.
Hearing the voice of an unmistakably young girl coming from inside the iron armor, the civilians stared at her in surprise.
"A military unit will be coming soon to take you away," Rusty Sister continued.
"It's useless. We're all going to die," a tearful voice replied.
Then another voice chimed in, "Yes, we can't escape."
"Even if we leave this place, can we leave this continent safely? Even if we leave Oceania, won't there be Great Spikes everywhere else?"
"In the end, we're all going to die..."
Despairing answers persisted for quite some time.
"Try anyway," Rusty Sister said. She did not try to give an inspiring speech or paint humanity's situation in a more hopeful light. She merely said calmly, "Since you're already in despair and things can't possibly get any worse, then try anyway. Try hard to survive. Maybe something good will happen."
With that, the iron armor turned and walked back toward the convoy.
*Try anyway, after you've felt despair...* In fact, there were probably very few people in this world more qualified to say those words than twenty-year-old Shen Yixiu.
Because starting from when she was just a little girl, the agony, darkness, and despair she had experienced day after day was something others could never truly comprehend.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...* The sound of source energy eruptions resonated in the distance.
The unit mentioned in the earlier communications that was sent to receive the civilians had finally arrived.
Amid the sweeping roar of eruptions, one sound seemed especially close and extraordinarily immense. Looking in that direction, a fluttering blur of pink could be seen moving at incredible speed.
At the same moment Wen Jifei and the others caught sight of Pegmont, Pegmont spotted them as well.
Neither had expected to run into each other again so soon.
"Fuck!" Pegmont was the first to speak. He looked around from a distance and shouted, "How come I don't see that bastard this time?"
"Did he burn to death?"
"Or is it because he knew I'd be here and was afraid I'd chop him up once his wounds healed, so he didn't dare show up?!"
"..."
During the few dozen seconds Pegmont spent hollering, the people behind him were conducting urgent communications.
Frontline reports were swiftly transmitted back... and broadcast outward. The excited, thrilled battlefield announcement of a Rejecter soldier sounded simultaneously across countless communicators:
"Stream Vanguard has entered the battlefield! Please take note to identify badges, Stream Vanguard has entered the battlefield..."
Chapter 670