ABRIWMTHM Chapter 133

After asking a few questions, Shi Xing’s expression was quite complicated.

On one hand, he was amazed at how well the two star beasts communicated.

On the other hand, he was surprised by the number of star beasts that had come this time, as well as the determination of the king beast.

“The vanguard, circle the planet and find me, and take a look at the situation in our galaxy.”

“One has a speed mutation and was just killed. The one with space mutation ability is the leader, and it’s also gone. The remaining two have higher mental power and agility, but their mutation levels aren’t very high.”

After asking, Shi Xing reported.

“Awooo.”

“Uuuu.”

The two star beasts cried out again.

Chi Yao: “What are they saying?”

Er Ya couldn’t bear to watch, “I told you not to get too close to them. It’s too terrifying.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Everyone: “…”

Fei Chu walked around one of the star beasts in surprise, “They still know fear?”

“Wuuu, awoo.”

The star beast being circled began to cry out again, its voice sounding particularly mournful.

Fei Chu: “What’s wrong again?”

After a moment of silence, Er Ya continued translating, “It means you shouldn’t stand so close to it. You’ve made it nervous.”

The star beast being circled: “Awoooo.”

She was right!

Er Ya facepalmed.

“Aww～～～”

Shi Xing: “Let’s show our sincerity in communicating.”

Fei Chu conceded and stepped back.

Chi Yao: “How many advance scouting teams like them are there, and how did they breach the boundary line?”

Er Ya relayed.

The star beasts were quite honest and explained everything clearly.

Occasionally when there were vocabulary comprehension issues, Er Ya and Shi Xing would change their wording to explain, and the star beasts never pretended not to understand.

It might be because Chi Yao stood too close, his deterrent force was too strong.

After integrating the information, Shi Xing and Er Ya began to speak one sentence at a time, “They don’t really know.”

Er Ya: “They entered through their spatial mutation abilities, but some teams did not.”

“As for how many advance scouting teams there are…” Shi Xing’s voice lowered, “Many.”

“They’re not good at counting. They say it’s more than one group, but they can’t translate the specific quantity.”

Fei Chu squatted down casually to examine the two large star beasts, “What do you mean by they can’t translate?”

Er Ya: “On the planet, a small group occupies a mountain, and at least there are the number of star beasts equivalent to one mountainous area sent out. Can you translate that?”

Fei Chu was once again convinced and fell silent.

Shi Xing: “Those with energy interference abilities will usually also bring along a space-mutated star beast.”

After a pause, Shi Xing continued, “There are also those with time mutation abilities, which can exchange parts of space-time to enter.”

“As for more powerful star beasts, they also don’t really know.”

“They said they like to bask in the sun on the mountaintops regularly, and they don’t like to move or socialize unless necessary.”

Er Ya: “The stars are right.”

As Shi Xing was about to ask something else, he suppressed himself, considering the waiting crowd.

Later, when Chi Yao asked, they translated and learned more about the situation.

The missing king beast from the last star beast clan was very angry. Even though it didn’t know the specific planet Shi Xing was on, it wouldn’t let Shi Xing go this time.

The leader of the clan was a direct descendant of the king beast, birthed by the king beast itself — one golden, two silvery, and one brown star beast. In other words, there were four high-level star beasts leading.

This was definitely not good news.

As for the levels of other star beasts similar to the white star beast and the leading brown star beast, there were even more. These two star beasts didn’t study arithmetic and could only repeat many times; Shi Xing and Er Ya couldn’t find an accurate perspective to understand their numbers.

The only thing they could be sure of was that this time the Twin Star Galaxy faced a beast tide that, while it may not have as many numbers as three hundred years ago, would still be a formidable battle.

Because on Blue Star, the beast group had experienced a rebirth.

They had produced mutated mental power capable of invading the mental sea.

And this ability, once a battle started, would lead to casualties that were immeasurable.

After a round of negotiations, the atmosphere became heavy.

No one spoke much in response to the situation.

They didn’t know how to start.

Anything they said felt pale.

“What are they going to do?”

In the silence, Er Ya finally spoke, pointing at the two star beasts and asking.

Chi Yao thought for a moment, “Suck dry their mental power and keep them, we might ask them questions about the clan later.”

There was an information gap between them and the beast groups; the questions they had asked today were only those they had doubts about. With the arrival of the beast groups, there would still be many unclear matters that needed information, and no one could say for sure. Keeping the two star beasts that could provide information at any time was always better than having none.

Er Ya: “That works.”

Shi Xing: “I’ll do it.”

Just to intimidate these two star beasts a bit as well.

Using his devouring ability, he extracted every drop of mental power from the star beasts’ bodies. As he approached the critical point, the two star beasts sensed danger and began to wail again, terrified that Shi Xing might lose control and crush their cores.

The intimidation effect was great. When they were carried away, the two star beasts’ eyes lost their light, and they didn’t even make a sound.

After discussing, Chi Yao and Fei Chu decided to call all the officers of the First Legion overnight for a meeting in the palace.

Shi Xing knew that Chi Yao could handle things well, so he finished up what he was doing at hand, leaving the scene for the robots to clean up, then turned to look for Shi Ran.

Shi Ran was sitting on a nearby bench, white-faced and looking dazed.

As Shi Xing approached, he could see that Shi Ran’s face and hands were clean, indicating that he had already been cleaned up once.

“Where’s Major General Ying?” he asked, referring to Ying Yucheng, Shi Ran’s partner.

Shi Ran weakly replied, “Isn’t he taking care of some beast cores…?”

“Right, all for you. It’s chaotic outside now, it’s best to stay in the palace until you’ve passed the maturity period.”

Shi Ran put on a painful mask, “I know, he went to help me clean the beast cores.”

All were bloody, Shi Ran couldn’t bring himself to do it. He’d witnessed the brutal slaughter of the star beasts, and it was too gory. As a stress reaction, he vomited severely, and Ying Yucheng thought of this way to clean it up and bring it back.

Shi Xing acknowledged, “That’s thoughtful of him.”

Shi Ran forced a smile, “If it weren’t for his thoughtfulness, he’d probably have to watch me puke all night.”

Shi Xing patted Shi Ran on the head, “Hang in there.”

Shi Ran knew Shi Xing meant well, and nodded.

Not long after, Ying Yucheng returned, accompanied by a steward who held the remaining three beast cores.

After politely greeting Shi Xing, he thanked him. Seeing that he was quite organized in his actions, Shi Xing thought about the First Legion’s meeting, exchanged a few more words with Shi Ran, and instructed the steward to have a doctor keep an eye on him before getting up to leave.

Shi Ran, pale and with no color in his face, still didn’t forget to remind, “Be careful.”

“Got it, you take care too.” Shi Xing waved as he left.

The meeting lasted until daybreak.

The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy.

After the meeting, Chi Yao tapped his fingers on the table and scheduled another meeting for the seven major legions in two hours.

Shi Xing was a bit tired, but after passing the maturity period, he could still hold on. Chi Yao wanted him to take a rest, but Shi Xing pulled him to stay together. The two of them made do in the study, resting for a little over an hour.

They got up before the meeting started. As Shi Xing picked up a towel, his hands trembled a bit, and Chi Yao took it and wiped his face for him.

Looking at Chi Yao’s serious expression in the mirror, Shi Xing mumbled, “Is fighting always this exhausting?”

In response to his question, Chi Yao smiled, “We haven’t gotten to the thick of things yet. The star beasts have strong physical qualities; in a single breeding season, it’s possible for the border troops to be on duty for two or three days without rest.”

Shi Xing pursed his lips, “That sounds too exhausting.”

Chi Yao realized something and asked him, “Are you worried about me?”

Shi Xing didn’t speak, but his eyes revealed everything.

Chi Yao’s smile widened, becoming much more genuine, “A kiss would help.”

When the two came out again, Shi Xing’s lips were full, and Chi Yao’s corner had been nibbled on.

It was barely noticeable, shallow marks, so the stewards looked down, and by the time of the meeting, it had already disappeared.

After the internal meeting in the legion, they convened a meeting for the civil service.

With the clerks present, Chi Yao felt much less pressure.

The meeting wasn’t about anything else, they anticipated entering a wartime state. Non-emergency internal affairs would be delegated to the Senate and the Elders Council, while those sent to the palace would see the clerical office take on more reviewing responsibilities.

Responsibilities were clearly divided, and with a framework in place, when the time actually came to prepare for battle, there wouldn’t be a need for hasty makeshift meetings.

Finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that quite a few planets had been in contact with the Empire recently, wanting to dialogue with Chi Yao.

These requests for audiences had been suppressed by Chi Yao earlier, but after experiencing a surprise attack from the star beasts, the number of requesting planets had doubled. Upon hearing this, Chi Yao asked, “What about the Alliance?”

The response was, “A few small planets from the Alliance have contacted us, but the main planet hasn’t reacted yet.”

“Understood, no rush. Let’s still have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handle it; we won’t see them.”

Chi Yao felt it wasn’t time yet and didn’t want to waste his time.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs agreed.

They had been in the meeting all day, and after dinner, both of them were exhausted and went to wash up and get to bed early.

When finally relaxing, Shi Xing thought about something. He originally didn’t want to say it, but after two sentences, Chi Yao noticed and proactively asked.

Shi Xing wasn’t deliberately hiding it; he just felt it unnecessary, and since Chi Yao asked, he would naturally tell him.

“I was wondering what Blue Star is like now.”

When he had encountered the two star beasts, he had wanted to ask.

Chi Yao paused, then came over and hugged Shi Xing. Shi Xing inhaled the familiar scent from him and felt very secure.

“You’ll see it eventually.”

“Since you have the ability to influence the laws of time, the information left by the priestess is crucial.”

“She said you would return to Blue Star, so you certainly can.”

“Don’t worry.”

This round of conversation indeed made sense, calming Shi Xing’s restless heart a little.

Nodding, he said, “You’re right, Your Highness.”

Shi Xing murmured, “I wonder when we can set foot on Blue Star again.”

It was a call ingrained in their blood, Shi Xing could feel it.

Chi Yao gently patted Shi Xing’s back, “Soon.”

“Mm.”

Shi Xing closed his eyes.

Another week passed, and the changes in the galaxy were immense. Initially scattered planets, this week, with star beasts attacking, the number of planets affected increased exponentially, and among them, many medium and small-sized planets suffered significant casualties.

The Alliance, being a collective of planets, naturally bore the brunt.

Every day there were meetings within the Alliance.

Between the six main planets, meetings were held daily.

As the number of planets affected by attacks from the Alliance increased, one day, the Alliance finally couldn’t hold on any longer and proposed to activate the defensive shields.

It passed unanimously.

The Alliance sighed in relief. The border planets that hadn’t yet been attacked were also on edge. The Empire had activated its defensive shields early on. Seeing that both major political entities in the galaxy had made the same decision, they finally no longer hesitated over energy consumption, and all planets agreed to activate the defensive shields.

Finally, when the last border defensive point’s shield was activated.

Two hundred years after the conclusion of the beast tide defense battle, the Twin Star Galaxy once again opened the galaxy-wide defensive shields, encompassing all high-level planets with life and forming a unified defense line.

In the two or three days after the shields were activated, the incidents of star beast attacks significantly decreased.

But there were still some.

A few days later, as the Imperial Capital faced the second assault from the star beasts, both Fernan Star and Hani Star among the six main planets of the Alliance were also attacked.

With Shi Xing present in the Empire, his perception ability towards the star beasts was extraordinarily strong; once again, there were no injuries.

Fernan Star was a resource planet. Although its military strength wasn’t strong, it had purchased many military arms from the Empire and was still advanced. There were casualties, but it fared better.

The most severe damage occurred on Hani Star, which was itself an entertainment planet, with a developed entertainment industry that could support nearly a third of the Alliance’s economy. Although culturally strong, its military strength ranked among the lowest in the Alliance.

This time, the number of casualties among the populace from the attack by star beasts reached a peak. At midnight, they called for reinforcements from Tianyang Star and other military planets of the Alliance. The confrontations on Hani Star lasted for three days before finally ending.

After the battle, the state of Hani Star was updated online.

The once-brilliant buildings had collapsed, and the people who had lost their homes temporarily resided in makeshift shelters made of polymer material. The hospitals were overcrowded, and medical cabins couldn’t provide for the displaced patients.

Interviews began from the moment the reporters disembarked, revealing scenes of devastation.

In the streets, there were people waiting for the government to build shelters, injured individuals waiting to receive aid, and young people holding protest signs, vehemently criticizing the government’s inaction in the past days.

Support medical teams from the other five main planets of the Alliance were already on their way.

There were so many bodies trapped under the collapsed buildings that Hani Star decided to use energy cannons to destroy them along with the collapsed structures, avoiding excavation in order to prevent foreseeable public health issues.

In front of the collapsed buildings, cameras captured many civilians digging through the debris.

Trying to retrieve their loved ones’ remains before the government acted, they would take them away for cremation on their own.

The destruction on Hani Star covered half the surface of the planet, and as residents from the remaining half rushed to the other side, one steward, Yan Changyue, could no longer bear to watch and went to a corner to calm his emotions.

Xu Jin murmured, “It’s just like a video scene I saw when I was a child.”

Although Xu Jin was born after the war, the older generation still retained memories of the struggle, often describing it. During that time, there was a strong emphasis on educating about the star beasts, leaving a deep impression on Xu Jin.

Shi Xing, however, thought of the priestess and the once-thriving Blue Star.

He couldn’t help but wonder what the scene was like when Blue Star vanished.

Was it also crumbling ruins, all in shambles…?

Clearly knowing that the priestess would never return, even if Blue Star was found, the people who had already sacrificed would not be brought back. A trace of sorrow rose in Shi Xing’s heart.

When reporters wrapped up later, Shi Xing had already left the living room.

Chi Yao caught a glimpse of his figure heading out the door.

Wanting to change his mood, Shi Xing went to find Shi Ran.

The star beasts attacking for the second time were of a higher level, for safety considerations, none were kept, and all the beast cores were given to Shi Ran. He had been working hard to absorb them these days, and Er Ya would come over every day to check on his health.

“Xing Xing, why are you here?”

Shi Ran, resting with the beast cores in his arms, rubbed his eyes and sat up on the sofa.

“Where’s Major General Ying?” Shi Xing asked.

“Oh, him? He’s in a meeting in the legion, listening to an online conference upstairs.”

Shi Xing nodded. After the incident at Hani Star, Chi Yao followed up with a meeting. The major legions had also been holding meetings in succession to discuss rehearsals for counterattacks against potential beast attacks. Although it wasn’t particularly necessary, Chi Yao didn’t stop it.

After all, Shi Xing wasn’t a god; if there were times when he couldn’t perceive something in time, the legion would need to cope with the initial assault on their own.

The Empire’s defensive shields had already been activated.

Many citizens working on satellites had also been brought back.

The preparations made by the Empire before the war were leading the galaxy.

“Aren’t you busy? What brings you here?”

Realizing Shi Xing was now different from before and had much more to handle, Shi Ran had restrained himself from visiting Shi Xing since coming to the palace, but he still thought about him every day. After all, before leaving the Tree Nest, they had almost spent every day together, living, going to classes, and dining together.

Shi Xing didn’t want to talk about the situation in Hani Star. He sat down and silenced for a moment before suddenly asking Shi Ran, “If Blue Star were still here, would you want to go back and take a look?”

This topic startled Shi Ran, “It’s still here?”

“It is.”

Only then did Shi Xing find the right time to explain to Shi Ran that he had returned to the past.

Shi Ran listened with his mouth agape.

When he finished, Shi Xing replaced Ying Yucheng’s role, placing Shi Ran’s hand back onto a beast core to absorb energy.

Shi Ran: “So, we can see Blue Star again?”

“Theoretically, yes.”

Shi Ran smiled, “That’s wonderful! We still have the chance to set foot on Blue Star.”

Shi Xing: “But we don’t know when that will be.”

“It’s okay, we can still live a long time; we will definitely see that day.”

Shi Ran was unexpectedly optimistic.

Looking at Shi Ran, Shi Xing added, “There are still many mutated star beasts up there.”

“Well, after we eliminate them, then there won’t be any left, right? That’s much better than not knowing where they came from,” Shi Ran replied.

Shi Xing thought for a moment and smiled, “You’re right.”

Knowing the whole situation and where to start solving the problems was definitely better than being completely clueless.

Under Shi Ran’s unaccountable optimism, realizing everything could still be corrected, Shi Xing’s mood lifted again. When Chi Yao arrived after checking the video, he found Shi Xing and Shi Ran happily engaged in conversation on the sofa. He rejected the steward’s report, listened for a while around the corner, confirmed that Shi Xing’s mood was no longer low, and quietly left.

The unfortunate events on Hani Star made the Alliance restless. Once the people of Hani Star had received a certain level of resettlement, the Alliance urgently called for a galaxy-wide meeting, inviting all advanced cultural planets in the Twin Star Galaxy to participate.

The moment Chi Yao received the document from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he understood: the time had come.

Shortly after, a piece of news transmitted back from the border further confirmed Chi Yao’s thoughts.

If they did not call for a galactic meeting soon, it might be too late.

The post-battle scenes from Hani Star rapidly circulated throughout the galaxy, and all planets actively responded, with the galactic conference utilizing the latest projection technology from the Alliance to gather the leaders of over a hundred planets.

Of course, the Empire was represented by the royal family, including Chi Yao, Shi Xing, and Bi Shu.

The officers brought along the marshals from the Fourth and Seventh Legions, and representatives from the Elders Council Ren Yan Yong and the Senate Wei Zhen.

The conference opened in the morning.

At the start of the meeting, the new Prime Minister of Fernan Star announced a shocking piece of news.

—— The energy strongest star beast clan detected will arrive in the Twin Star Galaxy in a week.

Taking advantage of the shock within the galaxy, the new prime minister continued, “According to the Alliance’s speculation, all the star beasts that have attacked so far originate from this one star beast clan.”

Smaller planets began to pose questions.

The Alliance answered them one by one, including some questions related to the situation after the attack on Hani Star.

Among the conclusions was that the damage caused by mutated mental power to the residents of the galaxy was several times greater than that inflicted by high-ranking mental power officers.

“In the investigations in Hani Star, many attacked civilians have exhausted their mental seas.”

“This is the detailed report.”

The report was placed in the center; interested planets could take a look.

Bi Shu took one, and after the three of them finished reading it, Chi Yao and Shi Xing exchanged glances and continued listening to the meeting.

After all the eager planets had spoken, seeing that the Empire remained silent, the prime minister of the Alliance took the initiative to cue Chi Yao and Shi Xing, asking if they had anything to say.

Ren Yan Yong said, “The messages brought by the Empire this time are significant and crucial, and I want to speak last.”

“If any planets have questions regarding previous matters, they can ask now.”

“Otherwise, after we disclose the information about this beast tide, there might not be another opportunity.”

Upon hearing this, several planets raised discussions on whether to activate the second layer of defensive shields.

There were also debates on regulations for aiding the galaxy that could be reused from the defense battle during the previous beast tide.

Pulling and tugging for almost another hour, the speaking rights finally went to the Empire.

Chi Yao and Shi Xing stood up together.

Chi Yao: “The Empire has two important messages. The first is closely related to this beast tide.”

He stated succinctly, “The king beast from the last defense battle did not die a natural death.”

“It was responsible for the displacement and disappearance of Blue Star.”

“The star beast clan attacking this time is its new clan.”

This statement sent ripples through the crowd.

The meeting hall erupted.

Shi Xing: “The second message is that the Alliance’s speculation is correct, but there is an error in the predicted time of arrival.”

“The new clan is composed entirely of mutated star beasts, and there are many star beasts with spatial mutation abilities among them. The Empire has already detected their energy fluctuations due to a large amount of mental power being used to travel.”

“So,”

“The right time for the king beast’s new clan to arrive in the Twin Star Galaxy is—”

“Three days from now.”