Chapter 68

"Wu Ying, did you fertilize today?" A classmate from the same experimental group asked. Wu Ying nodded, and the classmate turned and left. She stood there, fiddling with her Light Brain, deciding it wasn't good to keep playing. She put it away, dressed herself fully again, and pushed open the thick glass door to continue the experiment.

She forced her expression to relax; she needed a moment to compose herself, afraid that if she went in with a sour face, things would go badly.

Before leaving, she glanced at the messages on her Light Brain, and when she opened it, her face fell even further. Before the experiment, she had sent Asher a message, saying she wasn't on Pilan Star, and if he needed anything, he could just message her.

He hadn't replied at all. She wondered what he was doing.

—

On Alpha Star, the war that had lasted a year seemed finally to be drawing to a close.

A week ago, Asher led his team to find the insect race's core nest. It was so heavily guarded that they couldn't get close. After some probing, Asher concluded that something was wrong with the insect queen—the nest was shrinking and collapsing. The exact cause couldn't be investigated for now, but this was definitely the best opportunity. It also confirmed that in recent years, the insect race had been behaving abnormally, even showing signs of other evolutionary paths.

Fortunately, Asher and his team had captured that insect and hadn't let its abnormality slip by. Researchers ran repeated tests, and they even nearly asked Wu Ying to participate in an experiment. But in the end, the results were ideal—they had developed a corresponding inhibitor.

Everything clicked into place. Asher immediately decided to launch a full-scale assault, striking on two fronts: a blade squad of the strongest mental power and physical prowess would penetrate deep into the nest, while the rest of the forces concentrated their armed strength in a full attack to pin down as many insect worker drones as possible.

The moment Asher and his team succeeded, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze in place. The insect race, which had been fighting with full vigor, suddenly seemed to lose direction, crazily retreating back to their nest.

"Did we make it?"

"Probably."

The adjutants and generals left behind stood atop mountains of insect corpses. The Fourth Army had deployed in full force, nearly annihilating the insect forces on the opposite side.

"Will the ones that escaped affect the Commander's operation?"

The highest-ranking officer present immediately flew into the air. With Asher absent, he had to take control of the situation. "All personnel! Form up immediately! We haven't achieved final victory yet—the announcement of victory will come from the Commander himself. For now, clean the battlefield! Scout craft, move out, and hunt down any fleeing insects with everything you've got! Everyone else, stay on alert!"

The scattered formation slowly regrouped. The Fourth Army's cohesion and execution were on full display in that moment.

Until final victory, stay alert! Stay alert!

Da Li had been trying to contact Asher all along, but the communications signal had been jammed. Going deep into the nest sounded brave, but it was riddled with danger. If not for the Commander's mental power being the sharpest blade, he shouldn't have gone himself.

Seven full days had passed—whether the blade squad had taken damage was still unknown.

Da Li closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. The next second, the Light Brain on his wrist vibrated. Da Li's eyes snapped open, and there was no trace of fatigue in them.

A coordinate!

Asher hadn't said anything—just a coordinate. But that was enough.

Da Li stood up, almost running over to the few major and lieutenant generals he could trust. No words were needed; a single look sufficed.

An emergency wartime meeting was called. Da Li didn't say much—he just showed them the message Asher had sent. Everyone's faces immediately turned grim. There was no time for longer discussion. "Pick your people and leave now. We'll hold the rear. Remember—the fruits of victory can only be plucked by the Commander himself!"

Soon, everyone in the Fourth Army who was resting received a message: the Commander's squad was engaged in fierce combat ahead, and the adjutant was preparing to lead a team to reinforce. Selection would begin immediately.

No one thought Asher would lose, especially when the main battlefield had already turned in their favor.

Quickly, a highly elite team slipped away quietly, heading for the coordinates Asher had sent.

At the coordinate location, a battered small military vessel drifted through space, hiding behind a field of debris. Its hull color was almost identical to the rocks, and Da Li had to work hard to find them.

"How's the Commander?"

"In the medical pod."

The worst-case scenario had occurred. As a soldier in wartime, you wouldn't easily enter a medical pod—it meant being completely vulnerable.

"Doctors! Quick!"

Asher's team hadn't been equipped with medical personnel. They'd put him into the pod the moment he lost consciousness. Even without expertise, they could sense something was wrong. The insect queen's toxin seemed to have a particularly severe effect on mental power, and the Commander had suffered a head injury!

Da Li dragged the hidden doctor up front. The doctor's brow furrowed—his arm was bound to be bruised from the yanking—but he didn't pay it any mind. With a grave expression, he took out his instruments and began examining Asher's injuries. The main damage was to the head, though there were scattered wounds elsewhere, mostly healed by the pod.

"Hiss..." The moment the pod opened, that overwhelming, terrifying mental power lashed out at everyone around, like a furious tyrant swinging a royal sword in every direction.

The doctor bore the brunt of the first wave. He clutched his head and endured it.

"No good. I can only suppress it as best I can. We need more precise equipment, and I'll have to bring in my mentor. I... I'm not confident."

The injury was to the head, and the toxin was bizarre. The repair fluid he had on hand didn't match the symptoms at all; it couldn't clear the poison. It was already a miracle he could suppress the violent mental power.

But from here to Capital Star, even a space jump took two days. Their energy reserves couldn't support a long jump, and there was the matter of approval for the jump-point star systems—they were just a mission squad, after all.

At that moment, the man who had been standing quietly beside Da Li stepped forward. His unremarkable face had almost no distinguishing features.

He pulled an identity card from his chest and said quickly, "I've already contacted the Sicel family. Someone will come to pick us up shortly. We need to get the Admiral treatment as soon as possible. Adjutant Da Li, please make sure you keep things in order in the army. From now on, the Commander is in my hands."

Da Li had always known that Asher had others around him doing work similar to his own, but he hadn't expected this person to be embedded in the military.

He nodded. His task now was to compile the data and count the casualties, preparing contingency plans while the Commander was unconscious.

It was only when counting the fallen that he learned Captain Meng Ke was among the dead.

That quiet, resolute, stubborn man would never again stand behind the Commander.

Da Li was stunned for a few seconds, then quickly moved on to the next name. A hundred-man squad, now reduced to just twenty-three—there was no other way to put it: it was devastating. The twenty-three who needed treatment were already in place. Along with the two hundred he'd brought, they would form the last line of defense around Asher.

"Head trauma, unknown toxin infection, triggering mental power fluctuations."

"Prepare for surgery as soon as possible."

"Surgery failed. Moving to the intensive care unit."

"No good—mental power is surging out of control. Prolonged abnormal state, very dangerous!"

...

One piece of bad news after another came out of the doctors' mouths, and Ming Yu's face turned pale, her eyes clouded with a daze.

She hadn't stopped since receiving word of Asher's injury—contacting hospitals, finding doctors. She had secretly summoned every authoritative physician she could find to Bell 13 Star. The medical facilities there were mature and fully within the Sicel family's control. More importantly, it was the closest to Asher.

But even so, Asher's condition hadn't improved. All her efforts so far seemed to have achieved nothing.

"Madam, perhaps this is already the best we can hope for."

Indeed—after all, the poison on Asher came from the insect queen, the very core of the insect race. How could a wound soaked in its venom heal so easily?

Abner couldn't come over. His movement would draw too much attention, so he had to stay put. Asher's actions had been too bold; even if they tried to cover it up, it wouldn't hold for long. He had to maintain the current situation. Only when Asher woke and all the glory was heaped upon him could he rest easy.

His proud son, the heir to the Sicel family, the Federation's most decorated chief commander!

Two days later, the head of the medical team—Dr. Vido—emerged from the lab with a new treatment plan.

"This is a repair fluid developed from the insect queen's corpse. Initial model tests can clear ninety percent of the toxin. But human trials haven't been conducted, and adverse reactions can't be assessed yet. The surgical risk is unknown. Madam, this is the consent form."

Ming Yu heard his words and felt her nerves writhing in chaos. "Is this the best you could do in two days? Ninety percent, and the adverse reactions are still unknown!"

Vido didn't argue. He knew Ming Yu was a reasonable person—she just couldn't control her emotions right now.

"Time is life. The Commander has a high tolerance for medication. The current drugs might..." He didn't finish, because Ming Yu had already signed the consent form. She had always understood the gravity of the situation. The venom seeping through the wound was invading her son's mental domain. Asher's raging mental power was a sign of resistance. She wouldn't let Asher's struggle be in vain.

Neither would Abner.

The operating room doors closed. Ming Yu stood frozen outside, silently feeling the terror and anguish of the moment. How long had it been since she'd faced something like this—something without assessable risk, without a visible end?

Her need for control wasn't weak. Her whole family was intensely averse to uncertainty, and yet here they were, drowning in it.

Time became overwhelmingly real. Every second stretched long, each tick of the clock piling on more uncertainty, the weight of it sinking into the corridor.

Layer after layer of guards surrounded Asher, while he ran desperately through a bizarre, fragmented dream.

Asher remembered he was still in the insect nest. No—he was injured! He tried to wake up, but the shrill screeches and crashing sounds flooded his ears like a torrent, driving him mad with the urge to escape.

But something was off. These sounds seemed to be coming from inside his own head. He opened his mouth, trying to make a sound, but it was futile.

After what felt like an eternity, other sounds crept into his noisy yet strangely calm world—the rumble of machines, voices in conversation... He finally stepped out of that clamorous chaos and into a new, pure white space.

It hurt so much it made him calm. Maybe he'd gotten used to the pain, or maybe it was something else he didn't yet understand.