Blue Star, Azure Alliance Base Headquarters.
Speaker Kemore had not slept all night. His exhausted expression and bloodshot eyes made him look as if he had aged considerably.
In the past few years, people often said Kemore was fortunate. It was shortly after he took office as the Alliance Speaker that humanity ushered in the most powerful and glorious era in its history.
Against the backdrop of open warfare, humanity's overall source energy combat strength had surged dramatically. Victory after victory in major campaigns propelled Azure's prestige and influence to unprecedented heights, rekindling faith and hope throughout human society.
Everything seemed to be progressing rapidly in a positive direction.
Only days ago, Azure had even received news concerning the remains.
"Those are remains! Hundreds of sets of remains belonging to Blue Star's ancient Yanxiu that were once lost!"
"If the deductions are correct, recovering them will inevitably allow humanity's source energy combat strength to achieve unprecedented leaps in a short period. An advancement across the board—a transcendent, epoch-making leap."
This had once tempted Speaker Kemore to envision that this century-long, existential civilizational war might come to an early conclusion in an era under his leadership, brought about by humanity's unquestionable might.
And he himself would be immortalized in human history under the title of the ultimate victor of the civilizational war and the herald of humanity's cosmic age.
Yet at the same time, perhaps due to the chronic high pressure and an ever-present sense of crisis, an inexplicable unease persistently gnawed at Kemore's nerves from time to time.
It was precisely this inner conflict that had led Kemore, just days earlier—when humanity had ostensibly secured the greatest opportunity in its history—to suddenly drop a hint to Zhe Qiuhong that he had resolved to push hard for the execution of the "Spark" Project.
Who could have imagined that a crisis would arrive so swiftly?
The sudden turn of events on Mars, the appearance of the complete-form Puta'er, and its display of unprecedented combat strength caused everything once bright and promising to take a disastrous nosedive in an instant.
What was more, by the time they finally received the intelligence relayed back by the Martian fleet, two days had already elapsed.
"Your good predictions never work, but your bad ones sure as hell do. Screw your uncle, Kemore."
When Speaker Kemore finally couldn't resist reflecting on and voicing his prior unease, Chief of Staff of the Huaxia Front Xu Xiaohong, sitting beside him, cursed in frustration.
He had, of course, cursed in Huaxian.
Speaker Kemore naturally understood—at least in part, the cursing part. In the era of the source energy war, no one serving as Azure's Speaker or on the Elder Council could be completely ignorant of Huaxian. Even if they couldn't understand complex matters, they could at least recognize insults and street curses.
Especially the phrase "screw your uncle."
They had experienced it and heard it far too many times.
On countless occasions, when that invincible Huaxia brute had suddenly flown into a rage at core Alliance meetings, dressing down the entire room single-handedly and peppering every sentence with "your uncle," they were the ones who had sat quietly and taken the blasting.
"So... the Legion Commander, how is his condition now?" Finally, the leader of the Refusers spoke up, voicing the question weighing heavily on everyone's mind.
Could the peerless, invincible Chen Buer still fight?
If he could, could his legendary blade strike down Puta'er?
Under the anxious, earnest gazes of everyone present, Xu Xiaohong fell silent for a brief moment. Then, meeting their eyes, he said, "Still can't get off the table."
He meant a table—an altar table.
The kind where incense sticks were genuinely burning.
Incense sticks Xu Xiaohong had offered with his own hands.
Such altar tables and incense fires existed across millions of homes in Huaxia. That was something Xu Xiaohong could never explain to these foreigners.
So he only spoke that single line. And for this sentence, the Chief of Staff spoke in English. The members of the Elder Council and Azure's top leadership understood the words, yet at the same time seemed not to understand at all.
Why couldn't he get off a table?
Shouldn't it be a hospital bed?
The gathering was puzzled, but no one dared ask.
In any case, they took it as silent confirmation that Chen Buer was almost certainly unable to intervene in this battle. Or at least, in such a frail, dying state, it was impossible for him to willingly head beyond the dome to deliver his final slash.
In truth, no one present wished for the Huaxia Legion Commander to actually draw that blade. For it was like the final ounce of silver hoarded by an impoverished, starving household.
It was meant to save a life.
At the same time, it served a purpose even greater than saving a life: preserving that last ember of hope and faith.
...
"So, the Martian fleet can only rely on themselves to continue this flight," Azure's third-generation Speaker spoke up. "Let us hope the fleet's own medical personnel can keep Major Qing, Pegmont, and the others alive. For the time being, they cannot return directly to Blue Star..."
"Nor can they rendezvous near the Moon as originally planned. We cannot allow Puta'er and the Great Spike fleet to follow them and appear there."
"Indeed."
"Yet do you truly believe Puta'er is entirely unaware of the remains near the Moon? Don't forget our intelligence came from Miwang, and this Puta'er very likely came from Miwang as well."
The discussion around the conference table, which had been growing heated, came to an abrupt halt at this question.
After a brief moment of reflection, Speaker Kemore raised his head and said with heavy resolve, "There is no answer to this question. However, for now, we can only assume so and pray that it truly doesn't know."
"Yes, we have no other choice," Azure's former Coalition Commander-in-Chief added.
"So, have you issued orders to move the Miracle Space Station?" Xu Xiaohong abruptly shifted the subject. After gauging the reactions in the room, he continued, "Have it move into deeper space immediately, heading proactively toward the return route from Mars. We need to use it to establish a faster communications link with the Martian fleet so we can coordinate at any moment."
An orderly by the conference room door hurried off to carry out the order, without even asking the opinion of the Speaker or other Elder Council members.
"Next, order the fleet around the Moon to immediately expand their search radius. Have them search as if fighting a desperate battle to the death. We must find the remains as soon as possible, or no one knows what will happen next." Xu Xiaohong furrowed his brows and fell silent after speaking.
"Yes, the remains!"
"The remains!"
In an instant, the word seized the nerves of everyone present.
For that was currently humanity's final hope.
"Find them."
"Find them, and let Major Qing have his remains."
"Let Pegmont and Wu Xu have theirs."
"And then, let us strike back."
"Right, let's take out Puta'er and its fleet."
The imagined counterattack of hundreds of human source energy starships in formation, hundreds of Vault-tier and beyond-Vault-tier combatants striking together in the vast depths of space, temporarily re-energized all the old men in the room.
They could only tell themselves this.
And drawing strength from that vision, they examined every detail, striving to achieve the best possible outcome.
...
This Azure core-level conference lasted deep into the night.
At the very end of the meeting, the old men stood collectively in solemn silence, observing a moment of mourning for all the fallen soldiers on Mars, including Lieutenant General Christine.
Suddenly, "Report!" A Refuser officer cried out, appearing at the doorway with tears in his eyes.
Everyone looked up, turned, and stared at him.
"Reporting! The latest follow-up intelligence relayed back from the Martian fleet—General Yergna reports that based on current observations, it appears... there is a strong probability they have shaken off the pursuit of Puta'er and its fleet!"
At the same time, within the Martian evacuation fleet, in the cockpit of the Doomsday Great Wall.
"Report!"
A medic from the ship came running over.
Wen Jifei turned his head to look at him.
"Major Qing is awake!"
Chapter 955