If Zhe Qiuhong's deduction was correct and another Daie truly lurked in Antarctica, and taking into account the apparent behavior of the Great Spike swarms over the past year and more...
There was very likely an immense conspiracy concealed behind it all.
The origins of this conspiracy could probably be traced back more than a year, to the final phase of the Zenith War.
Back when that other Daie was publicly slain off the coast of Australia, and the Great Spike swarms looming over twenty-seven cities worldwide plummeted frantically toward the ground like headless flies—ultimately leaving behind vast quantities of resources, countless crafts, and six motherships—the conspiracy had already begun. "It" had concealed itself, using patience, sacrifice, and abandonment to fabricate the illusion that the Great Spike forces had lost their command. Perhaps there were even more objectives behind it.
For instance, luring humanity into sending more of its young geniuses on some future day into the battleground it had marked out and cultivated: Antarctica.
Or perhaps wiping out the primary strength of humanity's resistance in its entirety right here in Antarctica.
Perhaps there were even more... No, there certainly were more. But as to what they truly were, no one could completely deduce or foresee for now.
[There is very likely another Daie in Antarctica. It is the one that previously roamed the globe, spoke with humanity, and had its arm severed.]
This message, originating from Laboratory No. 0, spread at top speed to Azure Military Headquarters and the front lines.
"But there are no Great Spike crafts ambushing under the sea this time! Aside from extended, repeated reconnaissance by nuclear submarines, we've even risked sending source energy airships into the deep ocean more than once..."
"Right, and they tore down so many crafts to build the traction field. What I mean is, the possibility of a massive fleet lurking in the deep sea shouldn't exist."
"Besides, according to our estimates and tallies, with the Antarctic campaign progressing to this point, nearly a third of the Great Spikes' effective combat strength has already been eliminated..."
"No, that estimate is likely inaccurate, because we don't actually know how many Great Spikes were truly aboard the twenty-one motherships that retreated back then."
"Then where are they hiding?! They're not in the deep sea! As for the land, our reconnaissance over the past year has never ceased, and recently the Rejectors have implemented comprehensive surveillance. Under these conditions, it's impossible for it to hide large troop concentrations. So what I'm saying is, if this really is a conspiracy, what does that Daie plan to use to pull it off? Just itself?"
"If it was relying on itself, it should have made its move back at the end of the Zenith War."
"Maybe it needed to recover from its injuries? By the way, how is General Bochen's recovery going?"
"Shouldn't we hurry and request Legion Commander Chen to reinforce the Antarctic battlefield? His health..."
The staff officers of Headquarters were still fiercely debating and analyzing Zhe Qiuhong's deduction. But for the decision-makers, these debates were not what mattered at the moment. The only thing that mattered right now was: emergency response.
"Order all airships, including the six space motherships, to enter startup status as quickly as possible."
"Order all non-combat personnel to board the nearest vessels."
"Order all army group forces on the peninsula to pull back and assemble, integrating veterans and recruits into battle formations, prepare for sudden combat, and then maintain formation while moving toward the airships and the coastline."
"Notify the vanguard forces on the Western Front to maintain high alert where they are and await further orders... No, notify them to attempt to pull back immediately, moving toward the peninsula to rendezvous with us. They are needed here."
"Notify Stream Vanguard to stay vigilant and prepare for evacuation."
At the Antarctic Front Command, orders were issued one after another amidst tension between hesitation and resolve.
Regarding the battlefield, the front line's sensitivity was undeniably far sharper than that of the rear. When that message arrived, every single thing that had felt "wrong" over the past few days suddenly became terribly clear.
The commanders chose to believe it.
Because postponing the general offensive once would change little—the Great Spikes and the traction field were still there, unfinished, and Azure could always reorganize an assault.
However, if this 1.8-million-strong human source energy army were wiped out or suffered massive losses in Antarctica, the consequence would set the entire human resistance back by thirty to forty years.
Such an outcome would inevitably breed despair... unimaginable chaos... and might even mark the beginning of ultimate annihilation.
Through the Rejectors' unrestricted communication channels, orders were relayed at blinding speed...
Yet amid all the rapid mobilization, the tension, the vigilance, and the readiness for battle, no one truly knew the direction or the target. Where was the enemy? Where on earth would they come from? Would they even come?
...
"Underground! Great Spike!"
The instant Duocha shouted those words, he gripped his saber with both hands and stabbed down with all his might toward the Red Shoulder beneath the ice.
It was about to move.
This was perhaps the very first strike that a recruit of Azure's class of '94 or '95 had ever launched against a Red Shoulder. Duocha was not very strong; he knew he couldn't possibly kill a Red Shoulder, and that he would die. But...
*It will block, won't it?*
*Even if it doesn't block, to kill me, it'll still have to swing its column sword, won't it?*
*Jazar might not make it away either.*
*Still, you'll get the message back, won't you, my bastard of a brother.*
Jazar was running. The instant he heard Duocha shout, he had spun around and bolted with everything he had. In truth, that brief shout couldn't possibly convey the full situation, let alone explain what Duocha wanted Jazar to do... Fortunately, Jazar knew Duocha that well.
As he ran, he pulled out his communicator.
Duocha was dead.
"Great Spikes... underground... the Great Spikes are in—"
Jazar was dead.
They had enlisted in the spring in the Northern Hemisphere, arrived in Antarctica in the autumn, formed battle lines with their comrades to kill two black-armored Great Spikes, and while on guard duty had run into a lost team of war correspondents, asking one of the young girls among them to take a battlefield photograph of them.
That was their first photograph, and their last.
That young girl had told them the photograph would be titled "Duocha and Jazar."
...
Duocha and Jazar's discovery could not prevent what was to follow, but they had perhaps saved a hundred thousand comrades—or two hundred thousand...
The small group of Great Spikes they had discovered had not emerged early of their own accord. Likely, the shifting of the ice shelf under the frequent activity of human forces had pushed them up from the depths of the ice.
A massive force of Great Spikes was ambushing beneath the ice of the Antarctic Peninsula, lying dormant to conserve source energy. As early as more than a year ago, when they had just retreated from across the globe to Antarctica, this deployment had already been completed.
Today was not the point in time Daie had planned for their emergence. They were supposed to appear at an even more lethal moment, and then begin the slaughter.
Yet now, they were exposed ahead of time.
"Watch the ground!"
"Watch the ice!"
When the emergency orders from Front Command reached every army group and battle group, the ice beneath humanity's feet across the Antarctic Peninsula remained completely still.
Only now, the officers and soldiers finally knew: they would come from beneath the ice.
The battle had not yet begun. The air was thick with the terror of the unknown; tension and panic spread...
The human airship fleet bustled into motion with urgent frenzy.
Meanwhile, across the icefield, battle formation after battle formation gradually settled into silence.
Pairs of arms gripping sabers, blade after blade, suppressed source energy surge after suppressed source energy surge—all were waiting.
Maintaining vigilance and defense across the entire ground was undeniably difficult, but at least they were warned, and every formation had braced itself for the first round of battle.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
Out with the small team "hunting," He Tangtang gazed toward the volcano in the distance, then turned to Wu Xu. "Isn't that a Red Shoulder over there, Xu'er? Why don't you go kill it so I can eat it?"
Chapter 789