Chapter 52

"Please check if the internal fleet communications are running smoothly."

This was the first thing Yang Ning said after the warp jump ended, during the cooldown time of the curvature drive.

No explanation, no summary, not even a single word of encouragement or remembrance.

Fu Luo felt like her heart had been scooped out by a giant hand, her feet weightless as if she couldn't touch the ground. The memory of the national flag and the possibly fallen Earth now filled her heart, almost bursting her small chest.

She felt that standing here, she was like an abandoned child, utterly helpless, yet burdened with the heavy shackles of the fate of all humanity on her back, pressing down on her so much that she couldn't breathe.

But soon, she heard Yang Ning give the second order: "Maintain formation. Each ship, report its model and casualty status."

The man's clear and powerful voice gradually separated from the surrounding mechanical noise, calling back Fu Luo's wandering mind. She stood stiffly behind him, looking at him as if he were her last hope.

At this moment, Fu Luo couldn't help thinking, General Yang, General Yang is on the flagship!

But Yang Ning... how could he still stand here calmly issuing orders?

The next moment, Fu Luo's heart came to a realization: That's right, because only Yang Ning is left here.

The allied forces were gone, the fortress was gone, only the lonely Second Department remained here, and the last backbone of the Second Department was only this General Staff Office.

Yang Ning unhurriedly gave the third order: "The entire army activate stealth mode, the General Staff Office please confirm our military's galactic coordinates, the two wings deploy the highest level monitoring."

With his firm command, suddenly, a voice rang out in Fu Luo's mind: "I am... I am from the General Staff Office..."

"Colonel!"

The commander of the Second Department's main giant ship "Changjiang" was the first to connect with the General Staff Office. The Changjiang's overall commander was a middle-aged man, his eyes red as he looked at Yang Ning: "Colonel, are the generals..."

Yang Ning interrupted him expressionlessly: "Do I need to repeat the orders I just gave?"

"...Reporting to the leader, the Changjiang... the Changjiang's internal communications are basically normal, with one S-class giant ship, six A-class large ships, eighteen B-class medium ships, small warships and scout ships totaling..."

The Changjiang's commander choked up, unable to continue.

At this time, the entire fleet had lost all contact with the outside world, and even the internal communication system's delays and interference were very severe. Even so, in the video communication where the sound and image were difficult to match, one could still see the Changjiang's flagship shrouded in gloom.

"The Changjiang's escort fleet has a total of seventy small warships and scout ships," Yang Ning slowly opened his mouth to continue his words, "This doesn't need to be said, I know - report the casualty situation."

The Changjiang's commander could barely make a sound.

Gradually, his sorrow spread like an infectious virus, transmitted through the cold screen to the General Staff Office on the fleet's command ship, and a suffocating silence fell.

Yang Ning looked at him silently, suddenly sighing: "I would like to ask everyone a question. When a person is in the most difficult and dangerous situation, what should he do?"

He was met with a long silence.

However, this question was like a match, instantly burning away the barriers in Fu Luo's heart. She suddenly had an epiphany and blurted out: "He should keep going."

When the road ahead is shrouded in fog and full of crises, when the way back has collapsed and is difficult to return, what else can a person do besides keep going?

Crouch down and pray to the gods, or have a good cry?

Those who abandon me, those who disturb my heart...

The past cannot be changed, but the future can still be pursued.

Yang Ning was a little surprised. He turned his head and looked at her deeply.

Then he turned to the internal communication video and repeated in a tone devoid of inflection: "The Changjiang report casualty situation."

"The Changjiang lost one A-class escort ship and three B-class medium ships. Some small warships and scout ships have sustained slight hull damage, not affecting their combat capability." The Changjiang's commander wiped his face hard, his skin flushed red, veins bulging on his neck, nearly roaring as he spoke.

As if by doing so, he could draw a precious bit of courage from it.

"The Taishan's main ship power system is damaged and under repair, escort fleet lost ten B-class medium ships..."

"The Loulan's main ship is intact..."

"The Lancang..."

"Reporting, stealth mode has been activated."

"Leader, protective monitoring has been activated to the highest level."

"Reporting our military coordinates as..."

Yang Ning listened quietly. The Second Department had emerged from such heavy fire with losses controlled below 20%, elites largely intact. Even with the help of the immature curvature drive, it was a miracle under those circumstances.

"Everyone." After a long time, Yang Ning lightly exhaled and said in a very calm tone, "In the absence of the command, as the highest authority of the Second Department, the General Staff Office will be directly responsible for matters big and small from now on. I hope you can understand and cooperate with our work."

"The Loulan's escort fleet is designated as the third team to patrol the boundary within thirty range units in turns. Technical personnel, please prioritize repairing equipment according to the degree of ship damage. Set up medical points on the flagship, medical soldiers please take your positions, injured personnel are to come to the flagship for treatment after registration."

"The second key task is that our forces need to repair external communications as soon as possible, at least to obtain a certain degree of information sources. We can't just fumble around blindly in the universe..."

"Leave that to me." Yesi suddenly interjected.

Yang Ning glanced at him and gestured to temporarily close the other internal communication systems.

"I have some understanding of your identity through certain channels," Yang Ning said, his tone toward Yesi overly cautious. "But now, on behalf of Earth, I want to ask: if the allied forces have truly been wiped out, will you choose to leave the fleet?"

"Kid, don't try to trap me with your tricks," Yesi gave a cold, sarcastic laugh, speaking in a gruff voice, "I promised twenty years, and I won't go back on it by even a second."

The blond man turned his face, seemingly unwilling to talk more with Yang Ning, and pointed a finger at Fu Luo: "You, come with me."

Fu Luo was stunned.

"You haven't escaped the solar system yet. If I remember correctly, there should be some abandoned long-range communication stations left by humans in the early years within a hundred range units," Yesi explained impatiently, "I'm going to see if there's any possibility of salvaging that scrap metal."

Yang Ning: "I can send you a team of technicians..."

"Are you unable to understand what others are saying, Mr. Yang?" Yesi interrupted him, "I said you haven't escaped the solar system yet, and the enemy could show up at any time to kick your ass. Are you planning to send a bunch of useless people and have me practice first aid on them?"

Yang Ning paused for a moment.

The long-range communication stations abandoned here indeed didn't have much technical value, after all, they were all antiques... Yang Ning pondered for a moment, then turned to Fu Luo and nodded slightly.

Fu Luo immediately understood and chased after Yesi.

"Wait." Yang Ning suddenly called out to her.

Fu Luo's footsteps halted and she looked back at him.

Only to see Colonel Yang's brow slightly furrowed, and then he said somewhat gloomily: "Safety first, communication... if it really doesn't work, we can think of another way."

Then, as if he felt there was ambiguity in his words, he added in an attempt to cover it up: "From now on, all your lives belong to Earth - go."

Lives belong to Earth, so don't take them lightly or fear death.

As for shame and sorrow, they are too personal, too sentimental. If unnecessary, they need not be mentioned.

Although Yang Ning didn't say it explicitly, Fu Luo inexplicably grasped his hidden meaning.

Her slightly reddened eyes from the jump hadn't dried yet, but her gaze had already become firm.

"Yeah, after all I'm a soldier." Fu Luo thought to herself, saluted him, lightly tapped her heels together, and then chased after Yesi without looking back.

"I'll drive, you're familiar with ancient long-range communication stations?" Seeing Fu Luo shake her head, Yesi opened a small cabinet in the cockpit that stored various manuals, took out the onboard reader and tossed it to her, "There are many manuals for spacecraft inside, go find them and familiarize yourself as quickly as possible. If you dare to drag me down, you'll see."

When Yesi first met Fu Luo, he called her "little beauty" in a frivolous but polite way. As they gradually became familiar, Yesi's address quickly changed from "little beauty" to sarcastic "lady", "female soldier", "soldier", and later to the blunt "that girl", "that stupid girl"... and now most commonly "hey" and "oi".

His attitude also became increasingly simple, crude and unfriendly.

Fu Luo was not one to be perturbed by praise or insults. Plus, she had gotten used to his abuse in the simulation cabin, so she didn't take his threats to heart at all.

Without saying a word of nonsense, she immediately fastened her seat belt and started flipping through the reader single-mindedly.

They gradually drove away from the lonely floating fleet, positioning themselves at an abandoned communication station a hundred range units away as a smaller presence, speeding away.

As if to set the mood, Yesi didn't hum his strange nursery rhymes, but instead whistled a Japanese folk tune. The melody was mysterious and austere, with a hint of eeriness in its subtlety, making the small scout ship seem even more isolated and lonely.

After setting the target coordinates, Yesi turned on the alert screen and observed Fu Luo out of the corner of his eye.

What would be the state of mind of a little brat in her twenties who had lived in peaceful times since childhood, falling into such a situation? Yesi thought with interest, trying to find some panic and confusion on Fu Luo to make him happy.

However, the girl remained silent, as if she was completely immersed in the palm-sized reader.

After a long while, Yesi finally couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you afraid?"

Fu Luo was too focused and it took a while for her to react that the other party was talking to her. She looked up and glanced at Yesi in confusion, seemingly not understanding what he was asking.

For a moment, Yesi felt a little amused. He thought this little girl seemed a bit slow to react. Faced with such a big event, she was probably still dazed, passively accepting the mission and still executing it by the book, not really accepting the fact that the Earth Alliance had been defeated.

Out of some inexplicable malice, Yesi decided to pierce this layer of window paper separating reality.

He said slowly, "You see, in the Earth Alliance, the US military is tied up in the battle for Jupiter. From the half-feedback information sent back by your special forces, the situation is definitely not optimistic. Russia has been annihilated and China has disintegrated, which means the three main attack forces of the Earth Alliance are lost. The other countries are in disarray, with no strength to fight. The other star system's people may have already occupied Earth now. Think about it, don't you feel scared?"

However, unexpectedly, he didn't see the look of sudden realization and desperate helplessness on Fu Luo's face.

Fu Luo lowered her eyes, the light was dim, and her eyelashes suddenly cast a large shadow under her eyes. Her growing hair covered half of her forehead. She was by no means ugly, but somehow lacked a distinctly feminine beauty, probably because her height drew attention from her slight, youthful build. Looking closely like this, she actually looked more like a pretty boy with clear eyes.

Still so shamefully young and immature.

"Scared." Fu Luo said frankly, and then suddenly asked, "Are you scared, Senior Yesi?"

For a moment, Yesi's eyes were so intricately complex that it was hard to understand.

"Me?" He said in a voice as slick as a snake, "Did your Colonel Yang not tell you what kind of person I am?"

Fu Luo: "What kind of person are you?"

"I was born on a space battleship and am a notorious space pirate leader. I've fought with Earth, the other star system, and even the space pirates. Ten years ago, I was captured by Zhao Youxuan's special forces when I was careless and alone. Strictly speaking, I'm currently serving a sentence - do you know what a pirate leader is?" The man grinned, his deep eyes flashing with a kind of wild light, "We charge around the universe, killing and robbing, drinking human blood - you... a little girl, asking me if I'm scared?"

Fu Luo was not surprised. She almost suspected that she would not be surprised by anything anymore.

She just fell silent for a moment, and then said seriously, "I'm not a little girl, Senior Yesi, I'm a soldier."

"Do you know what a soldier is? From the day we enter school, we vow to be loyal until the last moment of our lives." As long as Yang Ning is still alive, General Yang Jinghe will remain.

As long as the Second Department is still alive, the Chinese fortress will not fall.

As long as there is still one warship, still one warrior, the Earth Allied Forces will be immortal in their legacy.

Fu Luo put down the reader and checked the trajectory and target of the small craft: "We're approaching the target. I think we can start slowing down now."