As soon as Li Xiao finished dispatching a wave of forces, 09 automatically projected the combat updates transmitted back from Yi Lian directly into his field of vision.

Under the suppressing fire of the optical cannons, ten enemy forces—including the Ninth Legion—were currently stuck in a deadlock with the Third Legion at high altitude, not daring to draw any closer.

The First District Garrison Base had deployed all of its combat forces. Compared to the numbers the Third Legion could mobilize, the Garrison held the numerical advantage; however, high-destruction weapons had been completely disabled. In a force-on-force engagement, the combat skills of individual soldiers became paramount.

There had always been an unwritten rule in the military:

The best and most exceptional soldiers went to the main legions, the second-tier went to high-ranking garrison bases, and the rest were assigned to garrison bases rated B-grade or lower.

In terms of pure combat technique, the First District Garrison was no match for the warriors of the Third Legion.

The current state of the battlefield proved this point beyond a doubt.

Four hours in, the residents within a two-hundred-kilometer radius of the garrison base had been completely evacuated.

Li Xiao connected to Yi Lian, the commander of the Third Legion.

“Recall half of your forces. Prepare to retake control of the First District Base.”

On the other end of the comms, Yi Lian stood in front of the monitoring console, his eyes rapidly scanning the various combat reports flashing across the screens: “Your Highness, if we recall half, I fear the outer rescue operations will be pushed to the limit. The Garrison’s combat units are clinging to us, determined to disrupt our lines to the end.”

Li Xiao replied, “No need to worry. Plenty of people are coming to help.”

Just as he spoke, Yi Lian saw his adjutant look up from the main console and shout frantically at him: “Sir! We’ve detected an unidentified military fleet! They claim they were invited by the Royal Family!”

A screen forwarded by the adjutant popped up on the monitoring console, displaying information about the unidentified fleet’s location, count, and warship models.

At first glance, Yi Lian thought it looked extremely familiar. Looking closer, he realized—wasn’t that the exact enemy fleet seized back in S1301?!

Li Xiao: “Let them in.”

Yi Lian signaled his adjutant to pass down the order, then couldn’t resist asking, “Which unit is this?”

Li Xiao: “The Ravens.”

Yi Lian was just about to nod when he froze in shock: “…?!”

The Ravens?!

Main Flagship of the 72nd Legion.

Meng Jian listened to his subordinate reporting on the frontline situation.

“The Third Legion can completely bypass our interception system to fire optical cannons! Our reinforcements can’t get near the First District Garrison Base, and the tech department has tried everything without breaking their code!”

Meng Jian stared at the dozens of virtual screens before him, his expression unreadable: “Is it the same story in the other war zones?”

The subordinate replied: “The other war zones currently haven’t been hit by optical cannons.”

Meng Jian thought to himself that it was just as he suspected—only the Third Legion possessed this anti-interception system.

“That little brat from the Li family has some trick up his sleeve after all. I underestimated him.”

If he had known from the very beginning that Li Xiao possessed this level of capability, he would never have allowed him to live to see today.

Hearing a report over the interceptor, the subordinate hurriedly spoke up: “We just received news! It seems the Third Legion’s reinforcements have arrived at N001!”

A familiar fleet appeared in the newly opened window. A Raven emblem had been newly painted onto its outer hull. Meng Jian’s eyelids twitched violently.

Li Xiao had indeed been in league with the Ravens all along.

“Using the military assets stolen from us to turn around and hit us—how is this any different from slapping us right across the face?”

Meng Zai slammed his palm onto the table in rage, “That brat Li Xiao is far too arrogant!”

Subordinate: “Should we send reinforcements?”

Meng Jian said calmly, “No rush. Since they’re resorting to calling in such a ragtag crew, it proves they are indeed short on manpower.”

Meng Zai looked over at Meng Jian: “That fleet is roughly one-third the size of a standard military legion. Combined with that force, the size of the Third Legion’s combat units is almost equal to that of the First District Base.”

Meng Jian sneered disdainfully: “Look at what kind of trash is operating those military assets. They’re merely putting up a front to fill space. How much combat capability can a hollow shell actually have?”

Meng Zai and the surrounding officers thought about it and realized he was right.

The Ravens couldn’t even make a top name among star pirate groups; they were third-rate at best. How could they compare to formally trained soldiers?

Once the real fight broke out, wouldn’t it be like slicing through vegetables?

Meng Jian turned his gaze to the holographic map of the Nanming Constellation.

The military forces dispatched by the Royal Family were arriving at various A-grade and B-grade garrison bases one after another. Judging by the current troop numbers reaching the Nanming Constellation, it still hadn’t met his expectations.

Meng Jian: “Expand the war zone. Lure the Yi Family Army over to me.”

Meng Zai: “The Yi Family Army is hunker down in their old nest. It might be very difficult to draw them out.”

“Use every available asset at your disposal. Lure out as many as you can.”

Meng Jian crossed his hands in front of him, “This is our final showdown with the Royal Family. There’s no longer any need to hide.”

N001.

Ever since the war broke out, the public display screens in every district had not rested for a single second.

After hearing that many media companies had voluntarily handed over control of their public screens, Li Ji simply ordered the External Affairs Department to project real-time combat monitoring feeds and highlight reels of combat units to the entire Nanming Constellation on rotation to boost morale.

Starry Sky Media felt it was time to showcase their true prowess. They gathered a group of technicians to work overtime, adding subtitles, voiceovers, and hit sound effects to the footage, pumping the battlefield atmosphere to the maximum.

When the External Affairs Department saw that people actually had this much spare time, they simply handed over raw footage to Starry Sky Media, asking them to help edit and produce it for online and offline distribution as battle promotional material.

The other media companies were green with envy. An opportunity to show their faces in front of the Royal Family was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence—how could they let it slip away?!

Thus, they frantically posted their own company-produced promotional cuts online, pitifully begging to be tagged and noticed in the comments of the Military Headquarters’ main page.

In the streets of various N001 districts, citizens waiting for evacuation gazed up at screens large and small. Accompanying each kill on screen, bursts of cheers erupted from the crowd from time to time.

At a nearby middle school, a group of teenagers were guided by the voice-control system toward the helipad to assemble. One by one, they watched the combat footage on the screens, eyes sparkling with excitement.

“The Third Legion is so fierce! Who the hell kept saying the Yi Family Army were all wimps?!”

“Who else besides the Meng family? To make himself look good, he degraded everyone else to worthlessness.”

“My parents kept saying the Royal Family was too weak to beat the Meng family, which kept me so worried I couldn’t sleep these past few days.”

“Were your parents brainwashed? With Li Xiao and Song Jin around, how is the Royal Family weak?!”

“LMAO, how can a twisted old man like Meng Jian compete with the Second Prince? They’re not even on the same level, alright?”

“There are volunteer slots on the rescue transport ships! I’ve already signed up online!”

“Where? I want in too!”

The supervising teacher off to the side listened to the teenagers’ enthusiastic discussions. Seeing zero fear toward the Meng Family Army and instead an overwhelming confidence in the Royal Family, the teacher suddenly felt a profound shift in the tide of the era.

The influence that Li Xiao and Song Jin held over the younger generation far exceeded anyone’s imagination—it had transcended fandom and reached the level of absolute faith.

They firmly believed the Royal Family could defeat the Meng family, and looked forward to participating themselves, becoming a part of the force protecting the Empire.

On the other hand, the middle-aged generation had grown up in an information environment dominated by rhetoric like “The Royal Family is useless, completely dependent on the Meng family.” Even when seeing changes in the Royal Family, the deeply rooted belief that “The Royal Family can’t beat the Meng family” was difficult to overturn overnight.

Hearing that the Royal Family was going to engage in an all-out war with the Meng family, their primary reaction was still panic.

The supervising teacher looked at the unstoppable Third Legion on the screen.

Perhaps it really was time for them to change their mindset.

The Minister of the Military External Affairs Department reported the situation to Li Ji every half hour, his complexion looking better with each update.

Li Ji sat at the conference table, discussing tactics with Li Xiao and Song Jin via virtual screens.

A video comm pop-up appeared, and the Minister of External Affairs showed his face, beaming with smiles.

“Your Majesty, the publicity effect has exceeded expectations! The online sentiment is overwhelmingly positive, offline protests have drastically decreased, and local communities have spontaneously organized numerous support activities. We have received communications from over ten thousand organizations, all expressing their willingness to support the battlefield unconditionally.”

Li Ji nodded: “Continue expanding the coverage.”

The Minister stole a glance at the other two screens, where Li Xiao and Song Jin were sitting in their cockpits, focused on piloting their mechas. He asked cautiously: “Your Majesty, if we use the Second Prince and the Royal Consort for promotion, the effect would definitely be even better.”

“No,” Li Ji rejected flatly. “Exposing too much of their information to the enemy right now will only bring trouble.”

Realizing that made sense, the Minister could only suppress his eagerness and disconnect the call.

Soon after, a video link from Yi Anhe, Director of the Intelligence Bureau, came through.

“Your Majesty, I have received news that Meng Jian is losing his composure.”

Li Ji looked up: “What move is he making now?”

Yi Anhe waved his hand to open several photographs: “There are unusual movements everywhere. Over a hundred military factories have deployed warships one after another, picking up large groups of people along the way. They are likely private forces raised by the Meng family.”

On screen, Li Xiao and Song Jin looked over simultaneously.

The photographs captured personnel from certain companies and factories being systematically transferred onto warships via private helipads.

Warships produced by private military factories did not go through official registration procedures—much like unregistered vehicles, they could not be identified with valid credentials by the military. Their navigation was illegal, essentially making them no different from star pirates.

Li Xiao and the other two instantly recalled the enemy attack back in S1301.

The Meng family undoubtedly controlled numerous military factories, which allowed them to produce those Samurai mechas and warships equipped with the 384 energy system.

As they were speaking, Yi Anhe received another piece of intel, his expression darkening: “Three more military factories secretly providing support for the Meng family have been discovered. Among the deployed warships are several unconventional models that appear to be newly developed.”

Li Ji flipped through the warship documentation forwarded by the Intelligence Bureau. His eyes immediately caught the power system specification: 384-type Energy Stone Supply. He frowned: “I don’t recall seeing any reports regarding a new energy framework.”

Yi Anhe: “There are indeed no warships with this configuration in the regular military.”

Song Jin casually sliced through three mechas that had charged toward him, offering an explanation: “This is Danse technology. The Meng family likely stole it, or obtained it in exchange for the blood of the Shengya tribe.”

Yi Anhe asked: “Is the difference between it and the 362 energy system that vast?”

“Vast.”

Song Jin smiled slightly, “If utilized properly, it can boost combat power a hundredfold.”

Yi Anhe’s expression shifted slightly: “Then we must stop these warships from entering the battlefield as early as possible.”

“No rush,” Li Xiao said calmly. “Keep forwarding the reports. Wait until he has deployed them all.”

Yi Anhe was deeply concerned.

Their deployed forces were already outnumbered by the Meng Family Army; if the Meng family mobilised this many private troops on top of that, failing to adjust tactics immediately would only make things far more dire.

Li Ji spoke with a dark, resolute tone: “Do as Xiao-xiao says.”

Yi Anhe opened his mouth, then nodded in agreement: “Understood.”

After the video feed disconnected, Li Ji asked Li Xiao: “When do you plan to make your move?”

Li Xiao glanced at the time: “In half an hour.”

Li Ji: “Stay safe. I’ll have Old Liu prepare desserts waiting for your return—a newly developed matcha pastry, tastes quite good.”

Song Jin swallowed his saliva: “Don’t wait half an hour. Let’s attack right now.”

Li Xiao: “…”

Brother, you’d better not be doing that on purpose.

N001, District 32.

Everyone received notification to head to designated areas based on the prompts on public screens to await evacuation.

This place was over three hundred kilometers in a straight line from the First District Garrison Base. There was virtually no atmosphere of war here; laughter and lighthearted chatter echoed everywhere across the streets. It didn’t look like an evacuation at all, but rather like people heading out to a local festival market.

Suddenly, a public screen flickered, revealing a live monitoring feed. Numerous transport ships were flying high in the sky, their side doors sliding open as countless mechas poured out.

“They’re here! Look up!”

Someone in the crowd cried out in excitement.

Everyone looked up at the sky. Sure enough, transport ships were approaching, descending lower and lower. The massive hulls pressed down overhead, bringing a heavy sense of pressure. The laughter on the street vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden, tense atmosphere.

They had assumed it was the Garrison arriving. But as the mechas descended, they realized something was off—the design models were completely different from what they had seen on the public screens. They looked like samurai warriors.

On the left arm of each samurai mecha was an emblem of a spreading Raven’s wings. Terrified screams erupted throughout the streets.

“It’s the Ravens!”

“Help! Why are star pirates here too?!”

“Isn’t it supposed to be the Third Legion? What are you guys screaming for? You’re scaring me!”

“It’s the Ravens! The Ravens! Run!”

“Wait, no! The right arm has military markings! Everyone calm down, stop pushing!”

The public screen flickered again, displaying a handsome, smiling face. The panicked crowd looked at one another, completely unsure of who he was for a moment.

“I am Gold Finch… no, Raven Chief, Wei Feng. I have been dispatched by the Second Prince to assist in the rescue operations.”

A collective gasp echoed through the crowd.

This was actually the top leader of the Ravens?

This leader looked so young!

Just as the crowd remained split between belief and doubt, the public screen split in half, revealing Li Xiao’s face. The street went dead silent in an instant.

Seeing those two faces side-by-side on a giant screen was nothing short of a visual knockout.

Li Xiao sat in his cockpit, speaking in an unhurried manner: “I invited the Ravens here. Their chief is in my hands, so everyone can follow them with peace of mind.”

Hearing the first half, everyone’s heart had been lodged in their throats. But hearing the second half, their hearts settled comfortably back into their chests.

As expected of the Second Prince—his arrangements were thorough down to the last detail.

On the other side, Hu Jiang and his father had attacked a Garrison squad and were now being hunted down by all nearby Garrison forces.

Hu Jiang’s father checked the side mirrors, drifting wildly through various narrow alleys as he sped toward District 32.

“How long have they been chasing us?! Is this ever going to end?!”

Seeing that the enemy was attempting to flank them, Hu Jiang stuck his gun barrel through the car window crack and fired a few shots, cursing loudly: “You swiped their commanding officer! How could they not chase us?!”

Hu Jiang’s father shot back defiantly: “What the hell do you know?! Higher military rank means higher cash value!”

Hu Jiang swore under his breath.

Every single one of them has dollar signs for eyes.

A dark shadow flashed past. The two looked back to find that the four military vehicles pursuing them had vanished.

Hu Jiang’s father yanked the steering wheel hard, coming to a halt to check the situation.

“Where’d they go?”

Song Jin had flown past and reached out in passing, grabbing the four military vehicles and crushing them together. Passing by a high tower, he casually hooked the crumpled mass onto the very tip of the spire before flying off without looking back.

Before the group of Garrison soldiers could react, they heard the terrifying crunch of warping metal. The doors were severely deformed and couldn’t be opened at all. What drove them to true despair was that they were suspended right on the edge of a spire hundreds of meters in the air, liable to plunge downward at any moment.

“Don’t move! Nobody move!”

A Garrison soldier in the back seat peered out through the shattered window. The moment he realized their situation, he nearly wet his pants in terror.

“Call for backup! Fast!”

While they were trembling in fear, a truck circled back in front of them.

Hu Jiang rolled down his window and looked up at them: “Asking for trouble! Now you know what happens when you cross us—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the truck shot forward.

Hu Jiang glared at his father in dissatisfaction: “Couldn’t you wait until I finished dropping my cool line before driving off?!”

Hu Jiang’s father stared straight ahead, slamming the gas pedal to the floor: “There’s a Captain up ahead! Worth way more than the Lieutenant we just caught!”

Hu Jiang: “…”

Main Flagship of the 72nd Legion, Command Bridge.

Seeing Wei Feng on the screen, Meng Jian’s pupils dilated in shock: “Impossible!”

Noticing his abnormal expression, Meng Zai scrutinized Wei Feng suspiciously: “Is there something wrong with this guy?”

“It can’t be…”

Meng Jian stared at the screen, muttering under his breath.

He knew the exact internal situation of the Ravens inside out. How could a leader named Wei Feng—who looked identical to the real Wei Feng—suddenly pop out of nowhere?!

Thinking back to his father, Meng Shan, who had suddenly gone insane, Meng Jian’s heart pounded violently.

No, this is a trick by Li Xiao! This Wei Feng must be an impostor, trying to use the same psychological tactic to mess with my mind!

Meng Zai was completely bewildered. After staring at Wei Feng for a long while, he asked: “Doesn’t this guy look a bit like Li Xiao?”

Meng Jian felt as though he had been hit on the head with a sledgehammer, his ears ringing loudly.

Before he could think any further, Lin Xu rushed over to report: “Li Xiao has announced an attack on the First District Garrison Base!”

An Alpha Colonel nearby gasped: “Haven’t they yet to complete the civilian evacuation?!”

Meng Jian’s face darkened as he stared at the frontline data on the monitoring console: “They intend to launch a brute-force assault.”

N001.

The two armies faced off in the skies above, while below, evacuation teams moved in busy, orderly fashion.

Debris and fallen parts littered the streets. Broken mechas crashed down, hanging off the exterior walls of high-rises and triggering small explosions.

Numerous medical vehicles wove through the rolling billows of smoke, loading the injured before continuing toward their next destination.

Five military academy students had originally been following behind the mecha units, but were caught in the crossfire when the unit was ambushed. Two of them suffered severe leg injuries during the vehicular crash and had no choice but to temporarily hide in a corner of a shopping mall lobby, waiting for medical transports to rescue them.

Watching the battle in the high sky reach a fever pitch, the students whispered in admiration and frustration.

“If only we had mechas too. We wouldn’t have to sit here waiting for rescue.”

“I feel like I’m just holding everyone back.”

“We gained so much combat experience back on the S1301 battlefield. I really want to put it into practice.”

The public display screen suddenly flashed, displaying Li Xiao’s face. All five students perked up instantly.

Li Xiao looked directly at the camera, his voice cold and resolute: “Effective immediately, the Third Legion will retake control of the First District Garrison Base. Any organization or individual resisting the Third Legion will be deemed a traitor and executed on the spot.”

The students’ eyes widened.

“They’re charging straight into the main headquarters!”

“The Second Prince is so damn cool!”

“Dammit, I want to join in so bad!”

“Go, Third Legion!”

Both online and offline, countless people watched this scene unfold, their hearts lodged in their throats.

Across the network, news of Li Xiao leading the Third Legion to attack the First District Base swept the internet like wildfire, driving viewer numbers in all related livestream rooms to absolute capacity.

Garrison Base, Command Center.

Looking at the military forces gathering outside, the Alpha Commander broke into a nervous cold sweat.

“Mobilize the ground troops to hold the command center! Tell the aerial combat units to prepare for battle!”

Beta Colonel: “Yes, sir!”

The sky was painted crimson by the setting sun. Li Xiao led his mecha fleet, hovering high in the atmosphere. Without needing any auxiliary tools, he could clearly discern the combat deployment of the Garrison base.

Song Jin rotated his somewhat stiff wrists: “Deathbed struggles.”

Commander Yi Lian’s voice came through the mecha unit’s public channel: “Your Highness, everything is in position!”

Li Xiao issued the command across the channel: “Execute.”

Song Jin pushed his control stick down into a straight dive. Reversing his grip on his blade, he leveraged his high-speed side spin to cut down three Garrison mechas head-on.

Behind him, three decapitated mecha heads plummeted from the sky. The main bodies emitted several sizzling sparks before losing complete control.

Li Xiao feinted to fool five oncoming mechas, rapidly looping around their rear while boosting his thrusters to the max. He flipped his long blade horizontally and swept it across, severing the main power circuits of all five Garrison mechas. Within the blink of an eye, they exploded one after another.

Before anyone else could even make a move, the two of them had already cleared out the first wave and charged straight to the front.

Gasping sounds echoed through the public comms channel.

What kind of terrifying strength is this?!

Not even video games dare to play like this!

Song Jin: “If we move faster, we can still make it back in time for dinner.”

Everyone on the public channel: “Understood!”

Li Xiao: “…”

Still thinking about those new pastries, huh?

With Li Xiao and Song Jin charging at the absolute front, they ignited morale right from the opening move. The entire combat force was pumped to the peak, successfully breaking through the base’s first line of defense in under half an hour.

Li Xiao: “All units, split up according to plan.”

All squad leaders called back in unison: “Understood!”

Inside the Garrison Base Command Center, chaos and panic reigned.

“Sir! They’ve broken through the second line of defense!”

The Alpha Commander shouted frantically: “Are the gun turrets still unusable?!”

The Beta Major at the main control console replied: “Negative! No matter how many times we reboot or repair, the system remains completely unresponsive!”

Alpha Commander: “Manual override!”

Beta Major: “We tried that too! It doesn’t work! Both the firing sequence and smart control programs have been disabled!”

Staring at the cluster of red dots rapidly closing in on the monitoring console, the Alpha Commander ordered: “Aren’t there a batch of obsolete mechas stored in the northern warehouse?! Deploy all of those as well!”

Beta Major: “Yes, sir! Assigning combat personnel immediately!”

A Captain at a sub-console stood up to report: “Sir! Unit 001103 has defied orders and is pulling back without authorization!”

Thinking he had misheard, the Alpha Commander glared at him in disbelief: “Pulling back to where?!”

Captain: “They are currently landing one after another at Helipad No. 9!”

The Commander roared in fury: “Patch me through to their squad leader!”

Before he could finish, another Lieutenant at a sub-console reported: “Unit 001096 is retreating!”

“Unit 001047 is retreating!”

“Unit 001081 is retreating!”

The Alpha Commander felt a surge of panic as he connected to all the squad leaders defying orders across the monitoring console, screaming hysterically: “What are you all doing?! Are you rebelling?!”

One Beta Lieutenant replied in a nasty tone: “Fighting them is what would make us actual rebels!”

An Alpha Lieutenant chimed in: “Ever since you ordered us to obstruct the Third Legion from evacuating civilians, we no longer had any obligation to obey your commands!”

A Beta Captain added: “I am willing to die in battle, but I will not be slaughtered as a traitor by my own people!”

The Commander slammed his hand onto the desk: “Do you really think surrendering means the Royal Family will spare you?! If you don’t fight back now, you’ll lose your jobs, and your lives might not even be guaranteed!”

The Beta Lieutenant who spoke first said: “Floating over there to fight will definitely cost us our lives. You don’t care about us, but we have to look out for the brothers under our command.”

Several other squad leaders nodded simultaneously.

“Good! Very good!”

The Commander was so angry he laughed, pointing at them and spewing threats: “Just you wait! Once we deal with the enemy, we’ll come back to deal with you lot! Not a single one of you will escape!”

Northern Camp.

An Alpha Major received his instructions and assembled all combat personnel to prepare for engagement.

“Everyone follow the system prompts! Head to your assigned zones to initiate your mechas and await deployment orders!”

However, after he finished speaking, hardly anyone responded.

The vast majority of the soldiers stood straight in place without moving. A few obedient soldiers who stepped out of rank noticed their comrades hadn’t followed; after a moment’s thought, they shuffled back to their original positions.

“What are you guys doing? Move!” a soldier walking up front urged.

A soldier in the front rank stood firm and snapped back: “If you want to go, go yourself! We’re not going!”

The Alpha Major’s temper flared: “You were taught on your very first day in the military never to disobey orders from superior officers! Did you feed all the rules to the dogs?!”

A soldier retorted: “We were taught on our very first day of primary school that we must be loyal to our country!”

Alpha Major: “What conflict is there between protecting the base and being loyal to the country?!”

Soldier: “You’re asking us to turn our weapons against the Second Prince! That is treason!”

Amidst the heated argument, someone shouted loudly: “Don’t waste your breath on the Meng family’s lapdogs! Capture him and turn him in to the Second Prince for military merit!”

The eyes of all the soldiers lit up in an instant: “…!”

Why hadn’t they thought of that before?!

The Alpha Major’s scalp went numb. He instinctively reached for the sidearm at his lower back.

The front-row soldiers reacted lighting-fast, disarming his gun before tackling him to the ground alongside their swarming comrades, raining down a flurry of punches and kicks.

Above the Base.

Li Xiao hovered in place, monitoring the progress across all squads.

The voices of various mecha squad leaders came through the public channel:

“This is Fourth Squad. We have received a surrender signal from Garrison Unit 001072. Please advise!”

“This is Fifteenth Squad. We have received a surrender signal from Garrison Unit 001142. Please advise!”

“This is Eighth Squad. All Garrison mecha units in our sector have issued surrender signals. Please advise!”

…

Watching the Garrison mechas rhythmically flashing red indicator lights as they powered down and landed on the ground, Li Xiao spoke calmly: “Have them turn off their mecha power systems and assemble in an area one kilometer away from their mechas. Assign personnel to keep watch over them.”

Across the public channel—

“Fourth Squad copies!”

“Eighth Squad copies!”

“Twenty-First Squad copies!”

…

Garrison Base, Command Center.

Seeing the situation turn completely sour, the Garrison Commander ordered the Beta Colonel: “Recall the outer combat units to pull back and flank the enemy!”

The Beta Colonel acknowledged the order and immediately dispatched the command.

However, he quickly received replies from various units stating they were unable to pull back.

The Commander roared furiously: “Unable to retreat?! Are they disobeying orders too?! Are they looking to die?!”

The soldiers deployed outside to deal with the Third Legion were the most loyal units in the base; cases of malicious compliance or outright rebellion were virtually non-existent among them.

Refusing to believe it, the Commander personally connected to the squad leader of an engaged frontline mecha unit. The moment it went through, he bellowed: “The base is compromised! Bring your men back immediately!”

The squad leader’s face looked no better than the Commander’s: “We are being utterly suppressed by the Ravens! We can’t disengage! Requesting immediate backup from headquarters!”

Hearing this, everyone present stared with wide, unbelievable eyes.

Suppressed by the Ravens? How was that even possible?!

A third-rate star pirate group like the Ravens—even if they were handed advanced mechas, they wouldn’t even know how to operate them properly!

The squad leader was left with numb hands from the force of an incoming blade strike. Grimacing in pain, he shouted: “They’re too strong! Judging by their combat style, they don’t look like star pirates at all! Were we lied to?!”

A loud ringing echoed in the Commander’s ears. He snapped his gaze to the troop distribution map on the monitoring console, and the realization hit him like a lightning bolt.

They had fallen into a trap.

This was a classic feinting strategy.

From the very beginning, the Third Legion had never intended to use optical cannons against the base.

Evacuating the nearby civilians might have been real, but there was never any need to evacuate such a massive radius. He had dispatched far too many troops to block them, leaving his base severely undermanned. The external combat personnel were pinned down by the Ravens, making a retreat near impossible—they couldn’t reinforce the base in time.

If this continued, all that awaited them was total annihilation!

Third Legion.

Hearing the operational updates from the Ravens, Yi Lian was pleasantly surprised and quickly relayed the news to Li Xiao: “I didn’t expect the Ravens to be this capable!”

Li Xiao: “I had our special forces blend in with them to provide tactical guidance.”

Yi Lian: “…?!”

Special forces disguised among the Ravens? No wonder their coordination and tactical deployments were executed so seamlessly across the board!

Just as Yi Lian breathed a sigh of relief, he heard Li Xiao add casually: “However, the leader is indeed the Raven Chief. Their style in a brawl might be a bit wild… lacking in elegance.”

The moment Li Xiao finished speaking, Yi Lian heard his adjutant report: “The Ravens are carrying out large-scale muggings on the Garrison’s mechas! They aren’t letting anyone go unless they surrender their mechas!”

Yi Lian: “…”

The adjutant listened to the subordinate’s report through the interceptor: “They haven’t even spared their sidearms… someone’s solid gold belt buckle was pulled off too…”

Yi Lian: “…”

Yi Lian broke out into a cold sweat, asking Li Xiao cautiously: “Your Highness… they wouldn’t rob their own side, right?”

Li Xiao thought about it for a second, his tone perfectly serious: “I don’t know. Depends on their mood, probably.”

Yi Lian: “…………”

This is a pack of straight-up bandits!

Song Jin, who had been listening in on their conversation: “…”

This kid is starting his wicked mischief again.