Very soon, they got to see just how much strength Li Xiao truly possessed.

Encountering five waves of garrison mechas along the evacuation route, Li Xiao dealt with every single one of them all by himself!

Someone exclaimed in surprise over the public channel: “Every other street is escorted by an entire mecha unit, but ours is being escorted by the Second Prince alone!”

Severing the wiring of the last silver mecha, Li Xiao remarked casually: “Short on manpower; bear with it.”

The person who had spoken: “…”

No, he wasn’t complaining.

Others on the public channel began discussing in low voices: “Is there any way to reallocate troops from somewhere else? Having the Second Prince act alone is way too dangerous.”

“The Nanming Constellation garrison is completely unreliable—where could we reallocate from?”

“Nongovernmental organizations? Something like Star Realm Aviation?”

“We can help with the evacuation too; everyone squeeze together in our vehicles. With this many cars, we can fit quite a lot of people.”

Hearing more and more people join the discussion on the public channel, Li Xiao handled another wave of enemy forces and said offhandedly: “Plenty of organizations have already joined the rescue effort; their vehicles are right nearby.”

Hearing this, the group following behind Li Xiao looked around and indeed spotted several ordinary vehicles affixed with Third Legion decals—trucks, shuttle buses, and all sorts, even carrying company logos.

The journey here had been far too thrilling, with everyone’s attention entirely consumed by the mechas and fighter jets filling their vision. If not for Li Xiao pointing it out, they wouldn’t have noticed at all.

After finally reaching the vicinity of the rescue ship, garrison mechas blocked the way like pesky flies to deny passage. The moment the Third Legion’s mecha force cleaned up one batch, another wave charged right back up—it was practically endless.

Li Xiao brought everyone closer, and Third Legion mechas immediately approached to escort them inside the rescue ship.

Li Xiao waited until all the vehicles entered the ship, then piloted his mecha around to head toward another street. Seeing two friendly mechas pinned down and beaten by six enemy units, he casually disposed of the enemies as he passed by.

Before the two mecha pilots could even react, their opponents suddenly exploded all at once. Taking a look at the call sign of the black mecha flying past, their spirits jolted.

Was that the Second Prince?

Is the gap between their skills and the Second Prince really this massive?!

“Don’t zone out on the battlefield! Are you looking to die?!”

Their squad leader’s rough, angry scolding came over the public channel. The two mecha pilots quickly adjusted their state, yet couldn’t help shouting in the public channel anyway.

“Captain, the one that passed by just now was the Second Prince!”

“He took on six alone—an instant kill!”

Captain: “That’s the Second Prince who drove the Meng family to jump up and down in desperation! Could he possibly be a useless eye-candy?!”

The two mecha pilots: “…”

That makes a whole lot of sense.

Another sector.

Jiang Hao and Lin Shuo piloted separate vehicles, waiting alongside the Third Legion’s rescue team until the mecha units cleared out the garrison blockades in the area before making a rapid landing.

The squad leader’s instructions came over the team’s public channel.

“Temporary notice! There is a nursing home in this sector. The management is afraid of taking responsibility and refuses to use the facility’s own vehicles to transport the elderly, so we have to go pick them up!”

With the count exceeding five hundred, and fearing the elderly’s limited mobility would slow down the transfer speed, they immediately headed toward the nursing home.

By the time they arrived at the entrance, many elderly residents were already waiting. The moment the vehicles stopped, they anxiously began boarding.

Jiang Hao and several students tried to help the elderly onto the vehicles, but were turned down.

“We can manage on our own! Inside the rooms, there are still some who can’t get out of bed, crying their eyes out right now.”

Hearing this, Jiang Hao hurriedly ran into the nursing home while reporting the situation over the public channel.

Lin Shuo and three other military cadets followed closely behind. Asking around while rushing toward the corresponding wards, the moment they saw an elderly person, they threw them onto their backs without a second word and sprinted out.

Forcing the nursing home staff to help out and utilizing every single stretcher and wheelchair available, the group of students was still worn out to the bone.

“Hurry up!”

The director sitting inside the rescue vehicle barked at the military cadets, “Why are you so slow? If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late!”

Jiang Hao: “Since you want to hurry, why didn’t you come down to help?”

The director said as a matter of fact: “This is your job; why should I help?!”

Lin Shuo helped the last elderly person into the vehicle and shot back upon hearing this: “Your job is to take care of the elderly, yet I haven’t seen you take care of them either!”

Just as the director opened his mouth to speak, he saw five mechas fly over from among the scattered high-rises and yelled: “I told you it’d be too late! Dallying around—students are just plain unreliable! The Third Legion actually sent a bunch like this for rescue; what rotten luck!”

Jiang Hao, Lin Shuo, and the group of students were yelled at right to their faces. Seeing that enemy forces had indeed arrived, they could only bottle up their frustration and contact nearby combat units.

The mechas flew past at low altitude. Unable to board the vehicle in time, the students quickly ducked behind the vehicle frame to dodge bullets.

Bullets struck the vehicle body, producing loud bang-bang-bang sounds and scaring the cabin full of elderly people into shrinking together and trembling.

The squad leader’s voice came through the public channel.

“Everyone get inside the vehicles first!”

Military vehicles possessed excellent bulletproof performance and wouldn’t be easily penetrated.

After dodging the first wave, Jiang Hao opened the vehicle door, slipped into the driver’s seat, and skillfully started the engine.

A streak of a white mecha swept past his field of vision. Jiang Hao subconsciously stole an extra glance, just in time to see the white mecha engaging five enemy units. Long blades clashed, sending sparks flying.

With a combo of leaping forward-assault maneuvers, the white mecha took down two enemy units directly, turning around to pin down the remaining three and handling the fight with ease.

Seeing the white mecha’s unit number, Jiang Hao’s eyes sparkled as Lin Shuo’s surprised shout rang out in his ear over the public channel.

“Little Jiang, is that your brother? His skills aren’t unreliable at all!”

Watching the scene of his brother fighting seriously in the sky, Jiang Hao replied blankly: “…It’s my first time finding out too.”

Very soon, Jiang Chi’s voice came through the public channel.

“Follow me!”

Jiang Hao slid the control joystick, slamming on the accelerator to gain altitude: “Coming!”

The route toward the rescue ship was even more dangerous than when they came.

The garrison troops acted as if they had gone mad, intercepting whoever they caught, treating everyone with equal hostility and equal trouble.

Jiang Chi’s memory was incomplete, and he hadn’t touched a mecha in a long time. Relying mostly on instinct to pilot, he found himself in a contradictory state of being both confident and guilty, intending to finish the fight as quickly as possible.

“Hao-hao, you guys speed up; I’ll cover you!”

Jiang Hao had grown up alongside Jiang Chi since childhood. Though it was the brothers’ first time on a formal battlefield together, gang fights had been a daily occurrence.

“Understood.”

Jiang Hao lowered his altitude, weaving rapidly through the scattered high-rises.

Jiang Chi seized the right opportunities to deal with the pursuing enemy forces.

One lured the enemy while the other waited for a chance to counter-kill, cooperating with exceptional tacit understanding.

The rescue vehicles behind followed Jiang Hao closely, finding gaps to break through the encirclement amid the mecha battles between friend and foe.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the ship, Third Legion mecha units guarding the area approached from both sides, escorting them into the hangar bay.

Lin Shuo parked the vehicle in the designated spot, only then realizing his palms were soaked in sweat and his heart was pounding with immense excitement.

“Little Jiang, your brother is amazing! Is he about to get promoted?”

Jiang Hao was actually a bit dazed, but not knowing the truth couldn’t stop him from idolizing his older brother.

“He rarely takes things this seriously; he might be operating at 300% of his capability.”

“…” Recalling the situation along the way, Lin Shuo felt a little puzzled, “But he gave me the feeling that he was holding back quite tightly; it shouldn’t be his normal level yet.”

Jiang Hao: “…”

Based on his understanding of his brother, his brother had truly given it his all.

However, he was only a beginner at piloting mechas. Compared to Lin Shuo, who was already the chief of the second-year mecha department, he lagged far behind in experience and theory.

If Lin Shuo could say so, could his brother really be hiding his true strength?

Parking the vehicle, Jiang Hao opened the cabin door and briskly walked to the back to help the elderly get off.

Handing them over to the Third Legion earlier meant they could go pick up the next round earlier.

As the cabin door opened, Jiang Hao spotted the director with a bruised and swollen face at a glance. Subconsciously checking the other elderly residents, they seemed fairly normal.

“You didn’t buckle your seatbelt?”

With a sour face, the director ignored Jiang Hao, jumping down from the vehicle to voluntarily help carry the elderly. His attitude was a complete night-and-day difference from before, leaving Jiang Hao, Lin Shuo, and the others utterly bewildered.

“Why does he look like he got beaten up?” Lin Shuo watched the spectacle while supporting an elderly resident.

An old man rolled his eyes at the director, walking out slowly while leaning on a cane: “Treating us like grandsons back at the home was one thing, but daring to put on airs with military cadets—he brought it on himself.”

Another elderly resident: “Not even taking the military seriously—a nursing home like this should just go bankrupt already. I’ll have my son withdraw his investment in a bit.”

A third elderly resident: “Disrespecting military personnel is a charge that can be big or small. I’ll have my grandson look into it and revoke his operating license to save him from harming others.”

Jiang Hao and the others: “…”

Every single one of these elderly residents had a background.

No wonder this director didn’t dare evacuate on his own—if anything truly went wrong, he really couldn’t bear the responsibility.

Sector Four.

Gao Jia and a group of companions had just dropped off a batch of people and drove the rescue vehicle back toward the residential area.

A reminder from their squad leader came over the public channel.

“There are many falling foreign objects in the sky near here; everyone be sure to stay on high alert!”

This place was close to where the rescue ship hovered. Numerous friendly and enemy mechas were engaged in a melee, dropping metal fragments from time to time.

Even a small component dropping from such a high altitude would dent even a military vehicle upon impact.

Passing by a residential community, Gao Jia noticed a piece of metal mecha plating stuck vertically into the road, and right beside it, a family of three happened to be trapped in that dangerous zone.

Accompanying the fight high above, metal fragments fell like snowflakes. Getting hit by even a single screw would mean a severe injury at minimum.

Gao Jia glanced over at the panicked family of three who were running around that piece of plating to charge outward.

The probability of death within three seconds reached 95%. Under such circumstances, even warning them would be useless. He had no handy weapon in his possession to help, and even if he charged over, he might end up getting injured himself without being able to save anyone.

No value in acting; meaningless.

Though his mind analyzed it explicitly like this, by the time Gao Jia snapped back to reality, his foot had already pressed the accelerator to the floor, flying toward the family of three in an attempt to use the military vehicle to block the most dangerous three-meter-long piece of metal plating.

If it hit the hood directly, the vehicle might be crushed flat.

In a split second, Gao Jia wanted to try ramming it slightly off course—as long as it didn’t hit the people, it would be fine.

A teammate’s shout came over the public channel.

“Gao Jia, come back! It’s dangerous!”

Yet at this moment, Gao Jia’s mind was entirely filled with calculations—the vehicle speed and angle that could both protect the family of three under the car and knock the metal plating off course.

In the end, he realized it wouldn’t work; regardless of the approach, he ran the risk of severe injury.

With his level of skill, he could only try to minimize his own injuries as much as possible.

Placing himself in danger for irrelevant people—Gao Jia would never have imagined himself doing such a thing.

Yet now that the step had been taken, he didn’t feel as much regret as he had imagined either.

Liu Jie had said: If you want to do it, just do it.

He seemed to finally understand what that meant.

Just as the metal plating was about to smash into the military vehicle, a dark shadow flashed past, and the metal plating vanished.

Gao Jia looked up abruptly, just in time to see that black mecha toss the metal fragment in its hand into an empty corner.

Saved?

He had observed the surroundings on his way here—there were no mechas nearby. Just how fast had this person rushed over?

“Don’t just stand there; it’s dangerous.”

Wei Feng used his long blade to sweep away falling debris, covering the family of three as they retreated under a doorway, “Come over and take them away.”

Gao Jia composed himself, landing his vehicle by the roadside. Watching the family sit into the cabin pale-faced and shaken, he voiced his thanks to the person on the other side of the public channel.

Seeing the feedback info returned on the channel, Wei Feng noticed Gao Jia’s name and title, asking an extra question: “What is Gao Zhe to you?”

Suddenly hearing someone address his great-grandfather directly by name, Gao Jia felt an indescribable sense of weirdness in his heart.

Even among top-tier aristocrats, people would use an honorific title when speaking of his great-grandfather.

With these thoughts in mind, Gao Jia replied in an ordinary tone: “My great-grandfather.”

After saying this, he heard a sound that was almost like a sigh—faint and ethereal.

“In the blink of an eye, that kid even has a great-grandson…”

A weird sensation welled up. Gao Jia gripped the steering wheel tightly, asking calmly: “Who are you? Do you know my great-grandfather?”

However, there was no sound from the other end of the public channel.

Gao Jia looked down; the public channel was disconnected, and the person had left.

Inside the mecha, Wei Feng came back to his senses.

Why had he said those words just now? It made it sound like he actually knew Gao Zhe.

Before he could think further, his terminal vibrated. Wei Feng answered: “Ah-Jiang, where are you guys?”

Hu Jiang’s rough voice came through the comms: “We arrived first; the others will come later. Where are you?”

Wei Feng looked at the radar: “I’m in the north of Sector Seven, currently inside a mecha.”

Silence fell on the other end of the comms for a moment.

Hu Jiang: “Whose co-pilot seat did you sneak into?”

Wei Feng: “Not a co-pilot seat; I’m piloting alone.”

Hu Jiang: “…Do you even know how to drive one?! Don’t mess around!”

Wei Feng: “I shouldn’t know how to, but right now it feels like I’m very good at it.”

Hu Jiang: “…”

Is that even human language?

In Sector Twelve, Hu Jiang ended the call and walked quickly toward a large truck by the roadside. Seeing his own father sitting forlornly in the driver’s seat, he asked in confusion: “What are you doing?”

Hu Jiang’s father pointed at the Star Realm truck diagonally opposite them: “I shouted on the road for half the day, but not a single person came; they all boarded the truck opposite us.”

As he spoke, he sounded a bit aggrieved.

Looking through the front windshield of the vehicle, Hu Jiang saw the line of Star Realm trucks opposite them doing booming “business.” The truck drivers wore iron-gray work uniforms—not high-class by any means, but neat and presentable at least, clearly looking like a legitimate company.

Hu Jiang then looked at his own father, disgusted beyond measure.

“It’s already giving you face that they didn’t turn around and report you.”

Hu Jiang’s father was completely baffled: “Why report me?”

“Look at those full-arm tattoos of yours, that fierce face—you don’t look like you’re here to rescue people, you look like you’re taking advantage of the chaos to kidnap and traffic people.” Hu Jiang pointed at him, then pointed opposite, “Look at them! Anyone who isn’t blind knows how to choose, right?”

Hu Jiang’s father: “…You’re discriminating.”

“Watch me.”

Saying so, Hu Jiang leaned out and shouted at the passing pedestrians, “We are official partners designated by the Royal Family, here to send you onto the ships! Get in!”

A group of pedestrians glanced at him and quickened their pace toward the Star Realm trucks.

Hearing a cold, disdainful snort from his father beside his ear, Hu Jiang: “…”

It must be that his way of shouting was wrong.

Seeing a group of garrison soldiers approaching at the end of the street, Hu Jiang’s father excitedly started the truck: “If we can’t pick up people, picking up a few stainless steel washbasins is fine too—we can’t go back empty-handed.”

Hu Jiang: “…”

Why were all the people around him so utterly unreliable?