Wen Jifei of Stream Blades Requests Command

"I have foreseen every vision of failure and sorrow—that we will die there, our bones weathered against our blades—yet still, I go willingly." These words came from a line in a poem penned by a Xiongzhanli veteran before the expeditionary fleet set forth. Humanity had embarked on this Mars expedition with extreme pessimism from the very beginning. Deep down, everyone knew just how slim hope truly was. The only reason they chose to make the attempt was that for a hundred years, humanity had never once abandoned these slim chances. Over the past century, it was precisely by seizing one such faint glimmer after another that humanity had survived and grown to this day—reaching a point where they could cleanse the Blue Star by their own might, and even wage war beyond the dome. Since this was the reality, and the prospects of victory were slim no matter how the battle was fought, General Yergna naturally had no further grounds to openly veto this assault. The old general fell silent for a brief moment and ultimately issued no order to veto the operation. Nor, for reasons none could fathom, did he directly issue an order approving it. One could view this as a somewhat irresponsible tacit consent, an unwillingness to take responsibility. Yet the immense pressure weighing on the old general's heart fundamentally did not stem from the Azure Board of Elders; rather, it came from his crushing dread of becoming a sinner in human history. After all, who in this world—including those old bastards on the Azure Board of Elders—could truly make a unilateral decision and shoulder the terrifying responsibility of humanity losing both Major The Qing and Pegmont at once because of their mistake? However, since the plan had not been vetoed, the corresponding operational deployments had to commence at once. On the surface, this battle was a two-man raid by Major Qing and Pegmont against the tractor field. But how could the expeditionary force truly leave them to fight alone? The efficiency and effectiveness of supporting operations were equally critical to the final outcome. Gazes in the conference room of the Mechanical Cradle began drifting toward Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei on the communications screen, who remained silent and resolute. General Yergna felt a pang of anguish at his own inability to bear the burden, but he too cast his gaze toward Wen Jifei. This young man was the handpicked successor of the Huaxia Front's chief of staff of thirty years—the only active member of the Azure Board of Elders. This young man had personally planned and directed last year's brutally cruel, suicidal blitz and pole assault in Antarctica. In that battle, the entire Stream Blades Antarctic Expeditionary Force had marched into the jaws of death, and fewer than a third survived. Strategy, accountability, cruelty, and resolve—everything a commander required, he possessed. He was also universally acknowledged as the true brain of Stream Blades. And he... was perhaps the only person in the entire human world right now who dared personally order Major The Qing to fight and die. Because they were each other's most trusted, best brothers. "General," Wen Jifei spoke, raising his hand in a seemingly casual, expressionless salute. "Wen Jifei of Stream Blades requests command authority." "Granted. Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei is hereby granted supreme overall command and independent decision-making authority over the Martian theater." General Yergna returned the salute. Wen Jifei nodded and turned his gaze to the sand table. The theater-wide command network opened. Only Wen Jifei's voice remained on the primary channel. "Orders: The 1st, 3rd, and 4th Ten-Thousand Legions of the Mars Expeditionary Force and their corresponding elite combatants are to deploy immediately, thrust across the Boulder H4 sector, and halt the Great Spike swarms in that area from reinforcing the tractor field at all costs." "Sir!" "Sir!" "Sir!" Amid the chorus of acknowledgments, the veterans who had just finished landing and taking underground cover rose to their feet, ten thousand by ten thousand. Wen Jifei continued, "Orders: The 9th and 10th Legions are to deploy immediately, advance due south, and launch a direct assault. Feign a full-scale storming of Weathering Zone F9 and an aggressive blitz on the tractor field to draw the outer Great Spike forces into a decisive localized battle." "Sir!" Before they even had time to take in the Martian landscape, the veterans adjusted their dead iron masks, deftly checking their gear or wiping down their long-idle combat blades one last time. "Orders: The Expeditionary Force's 5th Legion is to sortie immediately from the southeast. Pierce diagonally across the outer perimeter of Weathering Zone F9 at all costs, draw as much enemy attention as possible, then break out toward the northwest—or hold the high ground and fight to the death." "Sir!" Ten thousand veterans tightened the buckles of their combat boots. "Orders: The 6th, 7th, and 8th Ten-Thousand Legions are to board the mothership Doomsday Great Wall immediately. The warship will stand by and await its opportunity, prepared at any moment to make a direct landing into the dense combat zone of the tractor field and serve as an isolated bastion." "Sir!" "Orders: The Expeditionary Force's 2nd Ten-Thousand Legion is to board the flagship Mechanical Cradle immediately. The warship will stand by, ready to air-drop into the battlefield's core zone at a moment's notice." "Sir!" Aboard the command ship, all the Azure staff officers—including General Yergna—raised their hands alongside the soldiers of the 2nd Legion, saluting and accepting the orders. Just like that, the hundred thousand troops of the expeditionary force were deployed, or stood ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. Yet this was not truly the ultimate pivot of victory or defeat. The nature of source energy warfare dictated that after all peripheral conditions were painstakingly engineered, the clash between elite combatants in the core zone would determine the final outcome. Otherwise, a hundred thousand men could not kill a single Daie. "Orders: Concealed flight wings Eleven and Twelve are to return immediately to Sector G2 and prepare for low-altitude pickup." "Orders: Azure's supreme combatants, along with First Lieutenant Wu Xu, Major General Shen Yixiu, and Major General He Tangtang of Stream Blades... all aforementioned supreme combatants are to await transport in Sector G2. One or two per craft, launch and hold in concealed positions, standing by to charge the tractor field at a moment's notice." Wen Jifei had gathered all the top-tier combat strength into his fist, ready to stake everything on a single throw and hurl it at the Great Spike tractor field. Even now, his voice remained crisp, powerful, and steady—so steady that it was as though those weren't his friends, his comrades... or even living beings of red blood. He continued issuing commands: "Orders: All concealed flight wings aside from Wings Eleven and Twelve, every unloaded warship, every pilot, stand by. Be prepared at all times to engage in aerial combat above Weathering Zone F9 and ram directly into enemy flight formations, preventing airborne Great Spike craft from harassing and threatening our elite forces on the ground, or creating opportunities for the Doomsday Great Wall and the Mechanical Cradle to air-drop onto the battlefield." "Sir!" The crisp response echoed through the channel. Everyone had learned afterward why Pegmont's lonely Martian battle had fallen short by a hair's breadth when he attacked a tractor field alone—he had been rammed out of the sky by patrolling Great Spike craft... This time, the expeditionary fleet's pilots would not let history repeat itself. Because this time, they would ram first. Amid the tragic, heavy atmosphere, someone suddenly clicked their tongue—*clack*—over the pilots' dedicated frequency. This had once been Major General Yang Qingbai's unique greeting on this channel—flippant in the extreme—yet over time, it had become the standard greeting every pilot instinctively adopted. Perhaps because doing so never failed to impart a strange sense of ease. Scattered chuckles rippled quietly across the channel. By now, nearly all deployments were complete. Nearly... Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei paused briefly, then spoke again: "Craft CA117, report current status." Yang Qingbai: "Viable route confirmed. In transit." "Good." Wen Jifei: "Orders: Major Han Qingyu of Stream Blades and Major General Pegmont of Azure are to ready themselves and await the moment, prepared to launch an immediate aerial assault against the Martian Great Spike tractor field." "Affirmative," Han Qingyu replied.