<h4>Chapter 431: An Exercise</h4>


    <strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio


    At the center of the time-space vortex.


    On an ancient ship with multiple decks was arge conveyance vehicle measuring more than a hundred meters in length.


    On the open deck of the bow stood many people. There were both men and women, and they wore long-sleeved costumes. The men were generally tall and mighty, while the women were very beautiful and looked elegant in many ways.


    They had passed through the time-space portal and arrived in a new environment.


    The men and women on the deck could see everything in front of them through the transparent magical protective shield. Their expressions were curious and emotional.


    “Is this our new home?”


    This question was voiced by a girl named Li Huoqing. She was about fifteen or sixteen years old, and was not very tall. She had a small round face and wore her hair in a simple bun on her head. She could not help asking this question as she blinked her beautiful eyes.


    “Yes and no. We lived in this ce many years ago, and now we’re just returning home,” the middle-aged man standing next to her said.


    He wore an ochre-colored set of robes. Standing in the center, with people on either side of him, he seemed to be of a high status. His thick and lively eyebrows coupled with a sharp gaze gave him a rather imposing look, as of someone in a high-ranking position.


    He was the Chief Commander and Manager of these Protoss immigrants.


    Li Huoqing had very good vision. She looked at Jupiter, which was not too far away, the satellites that surrounded Jupiter, and the sun that was emitting a yellow-orange light. She pursed her lips. “There are round balls everywhere, and it’s so dark. It doesn’t look nice at all. I don’t like this ce.”


    “The natural spiritual energy is especially thin, too. If we stay here for a long time, our level of mastery over the spiritual and moral virtues will not only stagnate, it could even decline,” the young man next to the girl said.


    “Why are we the first batch toe over?”


    “Ahh, I really didn’t want to leave.”


    As resentment andints arose, the depressing mood soon spread.


    “Enough. Shut your mouths,” the middle-aged man harrumphed. “This ce may not be as good as our Heavenly Realm of the gods, but we can at least survive here without having to worry about the chaos that is spreading. This ce will be our home.”


    “Yes, Your Heavenly Majesty.”


    “The only thing we can do is treat this as our new home. The survivablend in our Heavenly Realm is shrinking non-stop. We would have died if we stayed.”


    Theints died down, and, one by one, they lowered their heads in resignation. After all, they, at least, lived on.


    The spiritual artifact that was the ship heaved forward with great strength.


    A device installed at the tail of the ship ejected celestial particles.


    The massive immigrant fleet continued to move forward.


    However...


    Dayster.


    Leaving Jupiter behind at a far distance, they arrived near the asteroid belt between it and Mars.


    Suddenly, multiple pencil-straight beams of light lit up the dark space ahead of the ship. The beams crisscrossed each other simultaneously, and, when those high-energy light touched upon other objects, they exploded, creating fiery zes in space.


    There were no sound effects in a vacuum environment. However, one couldprehend the destructive power of those yellow beams simply by visual analysis.


    “What’s happening?”


    Upon hearing the observer’s report, The Heavenly Ruler’s expression changed. He walked to the deck, and, by looking at the outlines of the different sets of shing red, yellow and white lights, he found that there was arge fleet lying right on the ship’s route. They were demonstrating the destructive power of their weapons.


    One, two, three...


    He did a rough count. There were around ten-plus ships with huge heads and sharp outlines.


    Each heavenly ship that he saw was at least 3,000 meters long.


    Compared to the spiritual artifact that was this ship, they could be described as a giant.


    He could not help his face from turning ashen.


    “This.... What’s the meaning of this? Are they showing off? A deliberate demonstration of how powerful they are?”


    He could not help but clench his fists. “You... You dare to provoke us, even though you are trivial beings who don’t even have the power to kill a chicken.”


    A terrifying aura emanated from his body. The air around him became heavy and humid, and the pressure suddenly increased.


    He was enraged.


    He could have just let it be if it were a show of provocation by the strong. But he understood the situation of the insignificant creatures from this universe. They might have reached the pinnacle in terms of weapons and all things external from their beings, but they were still insignificant in terms of personal strength.


    Even a 6-year-old child from the Heavenly Realm could defeat ten adults here.


    He could overlook it if those insignificant beings expressed deference and respect for the strong, but they actually had the guts to put on this military show of force?


    They were courting death.


    “Heavenly Ruler, please don’t be angry, please don’t be angry.”


    At this time, the special liaison officer sent by the Earth Federation, who was responsible formunication and guidance, left the Traction. He boarded thisrge spiritual artifact of a ship, bent at the waist, and tried his best to exin.


    “Heavenly Ruler, what you are looking at right now is a routine military exercise carried out by the ninth sub-fleet of the Fourth Fleet of the Federation. This exercise was arranged a few years ago, and it is not targeting anyone. Don’t misunderstand—please don’t misunderstand. We were just passing through the shooting range. They were not being deliberately offensive.”


    The liaison officer did his utmost to exin. Under the crushing pressure, his forehead was now dripping with sweat.


    “A routine military exercise?”


    The Heavenly Ruler did not really understand this vocabry. But he understood the general meaning of what the officer was saying.


    His anger cooled just a little.


    But he still said, with a look of dissatisfaction, “Then get them stop their drill immediately and get into formation at the side to wee us. Show us the necessary etiquette.”


    “Yes. I will contact them right away.”


    The liaison officer left the deck and returned to the Traction.


    However, not even a few minutes had passed when something unexpected happened.


    Three sets of light that were even brighter than the sun illuminated in the shooting range that measured tens of thousands of kilometers. In an instant, light waves that were iparably brilliant, like those from a powerful stun grenade, pierced their vision. It was so bright that they could not open their eyes—including The Heavenly Ruler.


    The white re in his mind only slowly dissipated after two or three seconds.


    Then his body started to tremble. His expression was murderous and insane.


    He gritted his teeth and spat out, “You—you—


    “You will die a horrible death! I will make sure that you neverugh again!”


    He ranted angrily in his mind Trivial, insignificant specks!


    He was right in his understanding what he was witnessing: a military show of force, and an even greater one this time.


    In order to show their power, this bunch of nobodies had even taken out their ultimate weapon.


    It was said that nuclear weapons could kill their “spiritual vision.” He had not believed it until he witnessed the effects of the explosion. he knew that it was indeed possible for such a power to kill the person with the strongest spiritual vision.


    As for a friar like him, once he got too close to the heart of the explosion, death would be certain.


    Unwillingly, he felt a sense of dread and fear toward those insignificant beings.


    However, his anger also rose.


    These trivial ants might have some skills, but there was no need to make such an obvious show of it, even carrying it out in front of millions of Protoss.


    What was the meaning of this? Just what was the meaning?


    Very quickly, the liaison officer came back, sweating buckets. “The Heavenly Ruler, I wanted to stop them just now and get them to cancel the exercise. But just when I contacted them, they said that the exercise had ended, and that they will be returning directly to the base.”


    “Hmmph—!”


    The Heavenly Ruler turned his head and red at him. He clenched his fist; he was itching to make him implode!


    However, looking at the ten warships gradually moving further away, blue mes zing out from their tails, all he could do was to slowly mask the burning, murderous rage disyed on his face.


    He was upset.


    He was really very upset!


    ...


    On the other side.


    The ninth sub-fleet of the Fourth Fleet was returning to base, headed by its gship.


    In the bridge control room of the gship.


    Themander of the sub-fleet, Colonel Li Youming, a young man from the British shores, looked at the middle-aged military officer on the screen. “Commanding Officer Xi, was today’s little ‘exercise’ really appropriate? I am afraid that the members of the Federation will be very angry if they know that we took things into our hands. If the consequences are serious, it is possible that we’ll have to face the military tribunal or even get removed from our positions.”


    Li Youming, who had found the situation very exciting just moments ago during the military exercise in front of all the Protoss immigrants, had be worried now.


    “Taking things into our own hands?” The middle-aged military officer shook his head and estimated, “In order to maintain ourbat effectiveness, the Fourth Fleet conducts about 100 routine military exercises each year. Large-scale exercises are decided by the Federal Staff Department. Small-scale exercises of the sub-fleets are autonomously organized by the internal departments of the respective fleets. This is fullypliant with thew. How are we taking things into our own hands?”


    “Even so, the Federation is now starting to cater to those Protoss without any limits. Whether it isnd or capital, they fork out whatever and however much is needed out of fear of offending them. Our actions today might upset some Federation members.”


    “Colonel Li, don’t worry. Things will be ok as long as we have enough public support. The federal government has caused the people to break out in a seething mass of discontent for the past few years. Our performance will help to bring the military a lot of “brownie points” and leave a good impression in the hearts of the people... The Federation will not lose a young and promising officer because of a small military exercise.


    “Of course, even if you receive punishment—even if you were expelled from the military—don’t worry, Colonel Li. There will be a better future waiting for you.”


    The middle-aged officer blinked andforted this subordinate of whom he thought highly.


    Li Youming pressed his lips together. Yes, sir,” he said helplessly.


    In fact, they had fully assessed the consequences when they were preparing this military show of force disguised as a routine exercise.


    They had also considered the most serious possible consequence. Namely, under the wrath of the Federation, all the senior officers of the Fourth Fleet might be dismissed, starting from the highest-ranking Commanding Officer Xi all the way down to Colonel Li Youming. They could all be sentenced to prison for ten or twenty years. Their future would bepletely destroyed.


    Even so, they still did it. It was because they had an extremely strong backer: the Chen family consortium.


    From the establishment of the Fourth Fleet to its daily maintenance, the Chen Family Consortium was the one footing the hundreds of billions in military expenses every year. More than 80% of the officers and crew members were from the Chen Family’s free cities.


    Nominally, the Fourth Fleet belonged to the Federation.


    But privately, they were called “Chen’s Fleet.”


    The primary organizer of this “disy of force” was the highest-ranking officer, Xi, alongside one other senior officer. If anything happened, they was no doubt that they would be the ones bearing the me. But, without the tacit agreement and tform of the Chen family backing them, they would never have had enough guts to do this.


    Of course, the main reason was that the performance of federalpliance was too embarrassing. They were hot-blooded military officers and could not stand it anymore. They had to flex their muscles and show their capabilities. After all, this was their home.


    They had to use actions to show that human beings were not mere flesh on a chopping board, and that they were not weak, insignificant beings! Humans were the masters here!


    ...


    Once again, days passed.


    “Wow, it’s so beautiful,” voices eximed.


    The blue ahead appeared in front of the spiritual artifact that was the ship.


    There were about 100,000 of such ships. Among them, they carried more than eight million Protoss immigrants. These immigrants widened their eyes and stared at the earth ahead.


    Transparent blue skies and oceans, brownish-green earth, huge cities, and all sorts of man-made infrastructure... Indeed, the first impression was one of beauty.


    It might not be as good as the environment of the Heavenly Realm, but a that was full of vitality was still a delight.


    Afterward, under the guidance of the spaceship, Traction.


    The ships that were originally clustered in one big group decelerated continuously, and rearranged themselves into a series of 10 smaller groups at a rtively safe speed before slowly flying toward Earth.


    They entered the atmosphere and decreased their altitude.


    A giant airport with a diameter of more than 20 kilometers built in northern Africa had been cleared. The airport opened its arms in a metaphorical embrace, weing the arrival of Protoss immigrants.


    On this day.


    The global news media put all their focus on this matter.


    Tens of billions of people were either on the scene or on social media tforms, giving all of their attention to the arrival of the Protoss. There were many discussions around this topic.


    “8 million Protoss arrived on the first wave, and all of them are very powerful and extraordinary.”


    “Ah, it seems that our peaceful and quiet life will be gone forever.”


    “Can’t they simply note here? The Heavenly Realm is really good, so why do they have toe here and seize our living resources? And every one of them is a superpower who cannot be argued with using logic, only strength. Will there be peace in the future?”


    “The Federation might have made a very stupid decision. The weak bureaucrats chose topromise at the beginning, but this is only the beginning of the disaster! If we had been tough at the beginning and firmly refused them, we could have still protected our home. Now, I’m afraid that it will be war in our homnd! When a war happens inside our territory, we are sure to be the ones who experience the greatest damage.”


    “The higher the station, the more afraid they are of death. I understand the mentality of those who are in that position. They are faced with the Protoss, who can resist even the 155-millimeter howitzer, and could easily kill a billionaire or a country’s president. For the sake of personal safety and peace of mind,promise is inevitable.”


    “Our Earth has officially entered a semi-colonial state, and a new struggle is about to begin.”


    Most of theizens’ mentality was one of uneasiness. They were not very optimistic about the future.


    ...


    Bang—Whizz—


    There were some noises as the spiritual artifacts that were the ships made contact with the ground and firmly nted themselves on thending tform of the airport.


    The upper shield dissipated.


    The gangway was put down.


    The ship’s bodyguards stood on the sidelines, holding their ancient icy weapons with a vignt air.


    The immigrants on board came out from the hold of the ships with bags and bundles of all sizes.


    The sun felt warm and genial.


    The dark blue sky was clean and pure.


    Holding a small, colorful cloth bag in her hand, Li Huoqing walked down the gangway. She stepped on the hard ground with her leather boots and looked around curiously.


    She heard a sound beside her. It sounded as if it was produced by an audio-amplifying technique.


    “Wee, friends from the Heavenly Realm. You have arrived at a new harbor. We warmly greet your arrival with enthusiastic cheers and apuse. Wee,dies and gentlemen...”


    This was said in a very eager tone by the host on arge projection screen, who spoke into the microphone in his hands.


    p, p, p, p...


    On the viewing tform above the passageway, there were more than 100,000 high-ranking officials from the Federation, representatives of various countries, sessful businessmen, and elite representatives from all walks of life. There were also some ordinary people who bought entrance tickets. They stood up, apuded, and cheered.


    “You don’t have to be confused feel sorrow. This is your new hometown, and is also your homnd...


    “I hope that you fall in love with this homnd and that you will also fall in love with people here...


    “From today onward, everyone’s love will be harmonized here, and beautiful things wille together in this ce.


    “Everyone, let’s celebrate and cheer together on this happy day,” he said with a joyousugh.


    p, p, p, p...


    The devilishly charming voice of the host, watching the apuse of the audience, and the cheering from people from all over the world ying on the big screen...


    Feeling the boundless enthusiasm and experiencing the lively scenes, Li Huoqing found it far from annoying. On the contrary, as someone with a vivacious personality, she liked it very much.