A Fatal Recording

He Tangtang truly had, swiftly and chillingly, swallowed a Daie alive in front of everyone. As its Yanxiu energy drained away, the Daie vanished without a trace, in absolute silence. The shock this spectacle gave the Great Spike swarm was unimaginable. If they even possessed concepts of predator and prey, they would probably have had to reconsider the food chain between the two civilizations. By now, from the perspective of achieving operational objectives, the Expeditionary Force could broadly declare victory. At the cost of nearly two-thirds of their source energy airships and casualties among their super combatants, humanity had successfully destroyed the Great Spike Martian tractor field and slain all three Daies encountered so far, along with a massive number of Red Shoulders. Then, just as Han Qingyu had anticipated and hoped, the remaining Great Spike forces on Mars began to rout, disengaging from the battle of their own accord. On the Martian battlefield, a blitzkrieg had hastily flared up and swiftly concluded. In terms of the process, it had undoubtedly been fraught with hardships and unexpected crises, and the battle itself had been brutal. Yet, looking strictly at the duration and outcome, the conclusion of this battle actually imparted an unreal sensation. Compared to the desperate, near-hopeless fight anticipated beforehand, it had ended up seeming far more relaxed and easy. "Is it really over just like this?" Perhaps precisely because of this sense of unreality, Wen Jifei's unease had still not entirely dissipated, even as he inspected the tractor field ruins in the valley after the battle. "Were the three Daies present on the Martian battlefield at the same time really just a random fluctuation in proportions?" "And what did those syllables at the end in the tractor field mean?" "..." Given that the Expeditionary Force had no possibility of wiping them out completely, Wen Jifei and General Yergana gave no orders to pursue or attack. Anchored around the remaining operational ships, the hundred thousand soldiers established a secure camp, remaining stationed on Mars in a defensive posture while awaiting Azure's next operational orders. Meanwhile, they were waiting for Han Qingyu to recover from life-threatening injuries. Waiting for Pegmont to awaken from the coma brought on by excessive energy depletion. And incidentally, waiting for He Tangtang to recover from his bout of gluttonous overeating—from having choked on his feast—to see just how far he could progress by then. The medical personnel accompanying the expedition strove to treat the wounded. Engineers worked tirelessly, hoping to repair some of the airships. Scientific surveys of Mars were also proceeding at a frantic pace. An excited General Yergana transmitted news of the victory back to Blue Star... After repeated confirmations, the equally overjoyed Azure Council chose to announce the joyous news of victory to the entire world immediately. Then, using the battlefield photographs and dispatches transmitted back from Mars by Ashilia and Ian, they organized extensive media coverage. After months of despair and terror, followed by more than a month of helplessness, worry, and prayer, humanity's pent-up emotions were thoroughly unleashed by this distant, glorious triumph. A grand, uninhibited carnival swept out from the major cities and the fronts of Azure, swiftly spreading to nearly every corner of the globe where human life existed. People gave voice to their gratitude, joy, and faith through all manner of anthems and songs of praise. Many even began to believe that, with figures like Major Qing and Pegmont, humanity was now capable of overcoming any invasion crisis brought by the Great Spikes, drawing ever closer to ultimate victory. Because no matter how great the crises and perils they faced, whenever they led humanity, they almost always won, moving forward with every step. *** Compared to the public, those who pulled away quickest from the euphoria of victory were a handful of core senior officials, including the Azure Board of Elders. Because their concerns and attention had already shifted entirely to an audio recording subsequently transmitted back from Mars. It was precisely the low, resonant syllables Wen Jifei had ordered recorded at the bottom of the valley in the final moments of the decisive battle—reverberating in the lingering space of the destroyed tractor field. It almost certainly came from the main force of the Great Spike civilization still traversing the depths of space. Judging by the sheer majesty and oppressive weight radiating from the voice, it was very likely from that legendary Great Spike god of war, Miwang. "We must decipher it, whether it brings good news or bad," Speaker Kemore said with resolute eyes, seated along the side of the long table rather than at the head. "And quickly. It likely bears upon how things develop next on the Martian battlefield," added an elderly white man sitting at the head of the table. Behind the seemingly unnecessary solemnity of these two core Azure figures lay two "bizarre" incidents that had occurred in succession just a day earlier. At that time, the audio file had been transmitted back from Mars marked as Class-C classified. The Miracle Space Station in orbit was the first to receive it. Finally having work to do, the duty translator swiftly forwarded a copy to the Great Spike Civilization Language Institute at Azure Headquarters. Then, driven by curiosity, he clicked open the file alone. Like him, two senior civilization language translators at Azure Headquarters on Blue Star began attempting to decipher it the moment they received the file, in accordance with their clearance. All of them died. Without a sound, without a single wound on their bodies, they died swiftly, purely from listening to that recording. Until death took them, they failed to make a single movement or utter the faintest sound. Afterward, another two translators, taking the risk of listening to the recording while attempting to decrypt it and verify the facts, likewise died silently. "The cause of death was the disappearance of life energy. More precisely, it was likely an extraordinarily rapid drain of life energy, but because it occurred so swiftly, I believe 'disappearance' is more appropriate." As the authority and representative in medicine, that was all Zhe Qiuhong could do. "But why? Why would this happen? According to our communications with the Martian Expeditionary Force, when that sound echoed across the valley tractor field, more than ten super combatants present—including Major Qing, Pegmont, Wu Xu, and Shen Yixiu—all heard it. Even Wen Jifei and General Yergana on the command channel heard it. Every single one of them was completely unharmed." "Yes. Their feedback indicated they merely felt a sense of oppression from it and shuddered on the level of consciousness as a result." "If it were a matter of combat power, neither Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei nor General Yergana are super combatants. In fact, as we all know, Second Lieutenant Wen Jifei is a Dice whose personal strength is extremely unstable." "Is something wrong with the recording itself?" "No. They listened to the recording afterward themselves, more than once, and remained entirely unaffected." "Could it be the difference between Mars and Blue Star? Did the differing environments cause anomalies in the sound's frequency and waves?" "No! It isn't that!" Amid the disordered debate, a denial tinged with complex emotion came from somewhere over the external communication line. The Miracle Space Station. Because of this expedition, three of humanity's finest Great Spike civilization linguists had been stationed there over a month ago. One of them had tragically died the day before yesterday. The one speaking now was one of the two survivors, a scientist who had always stood at the very pinnacle of the discipline—Major Xin Yaoqiao of the Huaxia Front. "The difference lies in understanding versus not understanding." Major Xin Yaoqiao paused, then continued, "Although I haven't tried listening to it yet, my deduction and assessment is that this should be a voice originating from Miwang. It is intricate and possesses extremely unusual syllabic fluctuations. Those who cannot understand it will naturally be unharmed because they cannot establish a connection with it. But those who can truly comprehend it will be affected—or rather, attacked. "I believe this is very likely Miwang's encryption method. From another perspective, this also proves that these words must be extraordinarily important and must be deciphered as soon as possible," Xin Yaoqiao continued. "..." The classified conference room fell dead silent. There was neither doubt nor response. "If you don't believe me, you are welcome to listen and try it yourselves. Even if some of you have taken relevant language courses, I don't think you would be harmed," Xin Yaoqiao said. Even after she said that, silence continued to hang over the room. Without question, no one here dared make the attempt. What Xin Yaoqiao meant was clear: this recording could not be understood merely through ordinary study and mastery. It required the most specialized researchers to even attempt deciphering it—and because they could understand it, they would suffer the attack carried by the sound. Currently, there were no more than twenty such specialists in all of humanity. Three of them were already dead. "I imagine that since it is an attack, the listener's resistance must correlate directly with their own source energy combat power." Xin Yaoqiao said: "Due to our scientific pursuits, our combat power is generally rather weak. The strongest among us, with strength nearing top-tier, is me."