ISMW Chapter 75

Leviathan insectoids are the largest soldiers among all Severir insectoid types, except for adult king insects.

 

Even a medium-sized Leviathan, when upright, is twice the height of an SSS mecha. Due to the close distance making firing inconvenient, Yun Xunlan had to abandon the idea of finishing off that 3S mecha pilot, first drawing his close-combat mo dao to block the Leviathan’s front teeth, then rolling and dodging to prevent being bitten and restrained.

 

“Weren’t all the mechanical insectoids powered down?” Seeing this scene, Gui Yan’s puzzled expression deepened. “Why is there still a Leviathan attacking His Highness?”

 

The mechanical insectoids had all stopped moving under the main control system’s command the moment the assassination occurred. How could a Leviathan suddenly appear?

 

And what did Yun Xunlan just say?

 

Among the group of assassins launching the attack, one was piloting a 3S mecha?

 

The assassins hadn’t even shown themselves yet, so why could Yun Xunlan be certain that there was a 3S mecha among them?

 

Since His Highness the Prince wouldn’t let them pursue the assassins, Fu Yanxi asked Yu Chen: “Yu Chen, should we help the Third Prince?”

 

Yu Chen frowned and said coldly: “…Wait a moment.”

 

Now Yu Chen was also somewhat confused about the situation.

 

Something was very wrong.

 

Although everything that had happened from entering the combat zone until now roughly matched Yun Xunlan’s plan, the situation just felt wrong—there was an assassination, but not during the time frame Yun Xunlan had arranged; there were insectoids out of control, but the timing, types, and numbers of attacks were also beyond Yun Xunlan’s expectations.

 

The attack firepower of SSS mechas was extraordinary, and the assassins also had nine SS-level ground mechas. So many high-level mechas didn’t appear out of thin air. Yun Xunlan speculated that there must be small warships docked nearby, so he stopped Lu You and the guard army, wanting to contact Dike to report the specific coordinates of that SSS mecha and have Dike dispatch patrol ships to investigate. This would be more prudent and minimize casualties.

 

“Di…”

 

“Yun Xunlan—!”

 

Unexpectedly, just as Yun Xunlan uttered the word “Di,” Jian Wenxi’s sharp shout drowned him out.

 

The black-haired omega’s originally clear voice was now saturated with fear and panic. He had a loaded small plasma pistol pressed against his temple, but this wasn’t the source of Jian Wenxi’s terror.

 

Because from the moment Yun Xunlan activated Jian Xing Chen, Dike had raised the plasma pistol and aimed it at Jian Wenxi’s head, his expression cold, warning in a flat tone: “Young Master Jian, to ensure you and the Third Prince can’t do bad things, please forgive my rudeness. I hope you won’t do anything that would put yourself in danger.”

 

“Mm mm okay okay okay.” At that time, Jian Wenxi was still leisurely eating potato chips, not taking Dike’s words or the gun at his forehead seriously, responding with perfunctory sounds.

 

But after seeing Jian Xing Chen hit by an unplanned sniper beam at the maintenance hatch, Jian Wenxi was stunned. The potato chip at his fingertip fell to the ground as he stammered in shock: “Did you arrange this? This isn’t what Yun Xunlan told me…”

 

Dike watched this scene, observed carefully for a few seconds, and couldn’t help but frown: “…3S mecha?”

 

Where did the 3S mecha come from?

 

Dike immediately put down the plasma pistol, about to go to the warehouse to get his own 3S mecha, and was preparing to contact Yun Xunlan to ask if His Highness could directly determine the coordinates of the 3S mecha or the other 2S mechas.

 

But just as he took half a step, before his foot even touched the ground, a Leviathan mechanical insectoid lost control and launched an attack on Yun Xunlan.

 

Dike turned back and raised his gun again, this time deliberately loading it, his attitude unprecedentedly serious: “Young Master Jian, the Crown Princess has already made concessions. I hope you and the Third Prince will have some limits even when fooling around.”

 

“It’s not me!”

 

Jian Wenxi’s eyes widened in terror. He quickly opened his light brain, forcibly hacked into Yun Xunlan’s communication channel, and loudly warned the young man: “Yun Xunlan—!”

 

“It’s not me! I haven’t acted yet. That Leviathan is wrong!”

 

At the same time, netizens watching the Third Prince of the Galactic Empire test drive the 3S mecha also found it strange—

 

【Ahhhhh how can someone assassinate the Third Prince? Where are the guards and escort army? Go save him!!!】

 

【What’s with that Leviathan? Was the control system hacked too? What kind of people are doing this assassination? So fierce? Is this something we should be watching?】

 

【This Corona person laughed. Self-directed and acted, right? If it’s an assassination, why stop after breaking a maintenance hatch? Other places don’t even have a scratch of paint, tsk tsk tsk.】

 

【Seems like more than one Leviathan insectoid is out of control… There are several rushing toward His Highness from the left, wow, more and more!】

 

【All Leviathans. If they were king insects, that would be good. I wanted to see how many seconds he could last under king insect attacks before dying.】

 

【Why did it go black? Is my light brain broken?】

 

【What the hell? Where’s the picture? Mine went black too. Did they cut the live stream?】

 

—The live stream was indeed cut off.

 

The one who ordered the live stream cut wasn’t anyone else—it was Yun Xunlan.

 

When Jian Wenxi warned him that the Leviathan insectoids were suspicious, it was already too late.

 

This didn’t mean Yun Xunlan was injured by the Leviathan, but rather that he had already thrust his close-combat mo dao into the Leviathan’s abdomen, needing only one slash to split this beast in half.

 

But the feeling transmitted from the mo dao’s blade edge was wrong.

 

Mechanical insectoids aren’t real Severir insectoids. Their bodies are composed of cold steel and polymer materials. When a blade pierces these things, the feedback should be a cold, hard, sluggish inorganic sensation.

 

However, what was now transmitted to Yun Xunlan’s hands was a series of regular, violent pulsations—the heartbeat of a living insectoid.

 

Yun Xunlan looked up in surprise, and Jian Xing Chen raised its head accordingly. Through the mecha display screen, he met the crimson compound eyes of that Leviathan insectoid. The gaze pouring from its blood-colored insect pupils was even more sinister and deathly than lifeless machinery. The only living thing inside was its hungry desire for food.

 

“Jie—!”

 

The Leviathan raised its head high and let out a sharp, piercing shriek into the air, like an attack horn.

 

Immediately, the ground beneath trembled, and countless medium and small-sized Leviathans burst from the soil like emerging reptiles, surging toward Yun Xunlan, toward people outside the combat zone, toward all life that could serve as “food.”

 

“Cut the live stream!”

 

Yun Xunlan shouted sternly. He abandoned this opportunity he had fought so hard to win against Yun Xunguang, not even daring to move his right arm, afraid that before the live stream was cut off, he might accidentally disembowel this Leviathan in front of countless people across the galaxy.

 

Then people would discover that what flowed in this Leviathan’s belly wasn’t tangled wires and biomechanical biological filler, but chunks of meat, organs, blood vessels, or other unborn Leviathan larvae.

 

—The second and third defense lines of the galaxy hadn’t been breached, so why were Severir insectoids appearing on the experimental insect planet within the third defense line?!

 

Yun Xunlan couldn’t imagine what kind of uproar this news would cause throughout the galaxy.

 

If he felt this way, the others were even more so. Even Dike and the guards all stared at these Leviathans in shock and horror, not understanding how they had appeared here.

 

The silver-haired alpha’s slightly hoarse voice was dry and trembling: “Wenxi, immediately cut off all non-military communication channels and networks on the experimental insect planet!”

 

“Control all reporters and civilians!”

 

“Yu Chen, continue escort flying beside me. Everyone else spread out to kill Leviathans and protect civilians. Have everyone evacuate the experimental insect planet immediately—!”

 

Jian Wenxi trembled all over as he removed his gloves, following Yun Xunlan’s instructions to cut off all current non-military public communication networks on the experimental insect planet, ensuring that not a single civilian here could spread the situation.

 

Lu You barely maintained a steady voice: “Your Highness, what about those assassins?”

 

“Damn bastards, I’ll fuck their entire families!” Dike shoved the plasma pistol into Jian Wenxi’s hands for self-defense, then hurriedly grabbed his mecha keys and headed to the warehouse. “The main starship detected jump gravity waves. They have starships too! They’ve already escaped!”

 

“Don’t worry about them anymore,” Yun Xunlan also said. “Since they have SSS mechas, they must be from the Nebula Federation or Corona military. With such a big incident, they won’t easily leak secrets. Focus on evacuating civilians now.”

 

“Your Highness, our main starship can’t take so many people…” Ni Chun told Yun Xunlan with a trembling voice after checking relevant data. “Even if all other starships on the experimental insect planet are activated, we can’t evacuate everyone at once…”

 

There were many people living long-term on the experimental insect planet. After all, someone had to do the daily maintenance and repairs of those mechanical insectoids. They were inconspicuous ordinary civilians, but they were also lives that couldn’t be abandoned.

 

“We’ll evacuate in batches.” Yun Xunlan calmly commanded everyone. “Prioritize evacuating civilians. I’ll leave last.”

 

Ni Chun said nervously: “…Your Highness! The medical team also can’t—”

 

“I know, I’m not making them leave.”

 

“Dike, you don’t need to come find me. Keep a patrol ship and protect the medical team teachers.”

 

“Wenxi, you…”

 

Jian Wenxi quickly protested after hearing his name called: “I’m not leaving! If I leave, the planet’s network will be restored! You can’t do without me!”

 

Yun Xunlan was helpless: “Then stay with Dike and the medical team teachers. Protect yourself.”

 

“Don’t be afraid.”

 

These three words were broadcast to everyone on the experimental insect planet. Yun Xunlan gently comforted everyone: “The Crown Princess has already set out for this planet and has also dispatched starships from nearby systems to help us evacuate.”

 

Time passed second by second, minute by minute. They killed one Leviathan, and another would crawl out from underground. This planet seemed to have been hollowed out by them like a lotus pod, with Severir insectoid traces hidden in every gap, like a bone-deep disease that couldn’t be cured.

 

But amid the anxiety and fear, amid the terrifying hisses of the Leviathans, the young man’s voice, like a low string tone, had a strange power that inexplicably calmed people. It seemed that as long as they did what he said, all problems could be solved. Gradually, they became calm.

 

Under the gunfire and flames, they looked up and saw the core source light on Jian Xing Chen’s chest flickering like breathing, like a heartbeat. It was a miracle that gathered countless human efforts, standing at the forefront at this moment, blocking death together with its pilot.

 

They heard His Highness the Prince say firmly: “We will all survive.”

 

Yun Xunlan never doubted that he would die someday.

 

If there was such a day, it wouldn’t be today.

 

He had completed the system’s daily task today—not relying on Yu Chen, but on his accumulated “Bedtime Sleep Aid Reading.”

 

Because Yu Chen was too angry last night. No matter how he coaxed him, he couldn’t make him feel better. Yu Chen wouldn’t even talk to him, let alone “scold” him.

 

But it didn’t matter how he completed it. He wouldn’t die anyway.

 

Yun Xunlan wasn’t afraid of death.

 

If he were to die today or in the next second, the only emotion he would feel would be regret.

 

Regret that he couldn’t save more people.

 

“Imperial Sister shouldn’t have opposed me going to the front lines.”

 

Yun Xunlan swung his blade to cut off the head of what he couldn’t remember was the how-many-th Leviathan. These Leviathan insectoids were all juveniles and medium-sized ones. Large ones were rare, let alone complete forms and super-variants that had evolved into biological ships capable of jump travel. So killing them wasn’t difficult. Yun Xunlan’s movements of taking their lives had become numbly mechanical by the later stages, almost resembling the system’s speaking tone: “…What’s the point of making me stay?”

 

“My time is really precious…”

 

He shook off the fresh blood from the mo dao’s tip, murmuring to the system. Perhaps his speaking tone had also become numb and monotonous: “Why doesn’t she understand…”

 

“Because she doesn’t know of my existence.”

 

The system spoke up, its voice sounding more human than Yun Xunlan’s, more like himself: “How could she understand that you won’t die?”

 

“Should I tell her about your existence?” Yun Xunlan paused his movements, his brow slowly furrowing. “No… I think I already told her.”

 

“…Lanlan? Are you talking to me?”

 

However, this time what responded to him was a deeper voice.

 

Yun Xunlan was slightly stunned and asked Yu Chen back: “Am I talking to you?”

 

Yu Chen’s white Snow Owl mecha hovered beside Jian Xing Chen in escort flight. Through the heavy mecha shell, Yu Chen couldn’t see Yun Xunlan’s appearance, but the young man’s voice had never stopped, from complaining that the Crown Princess wouldn’t let him go to the front lines to the barely audible whispered murmur “I think I already told her” at the end. This made Yu Chen unable to determine whether the young man was talking to himself or to him, so he asked.

 

He also answered the young man: “You’ve been talking to me all along.”

 

“Yes, baby.” Yun Xunlan told Yu Chen. “I’m talking to you.”

 

After saying this, he bit his lower lip tightly and continued asking the system: “Did I actually tell her or not?”

 

“You’re asking me?”

 

“Do I have a brain?”

 

The system laughed heartily: “What can I remember for you?”

 

Yun Xunlan opened his eyes and blinked.

 

He couldn’t see things, yet he could see things. His own eyes couldn’t see, everything in sight was darkness, but he was in perfect resonance with the 3S mecha. Jian Xing Chen was his second body. Whatever Jian Xing Chen could see, he could see.

 

And he saw crimson blood gushing from the Leviathan’s wounds, like the blood boiling inside himself, desperately seeking an exit.

 

Yu Chen’s mecha was like a strand of snow-white owl feather falling in front of Jian Xing Chen, once again trying to talk to him: “Lanlan? Are you afraid?”

 

“…Huh?” Yun Xunlan’s thinking had become somewhat sluggish.

 

The system was still laughing wildly, questioning Yun Xunlan: “What can I remember for you?”

 

“You either forget everything or remember everything.”

 

“You clearly remember everything, yet you want to think you’ve forgotten—what’s that about?”

 

Its noise made Yun Xunlan’s mind increasingly slow and rigid. It took him an unclear amount of time to recognize each word Yu Chen said, hearing the man ask him again: “Are you afraid?”

 

“Your voice is trembling, and your breathing is somewhat rapid.”

 

“I can understand this as a normal physiological reaction caused by ‘fear,’ but the data from your light brain bracelet butler shows your heart rate is very normal.”

 

“Don’t be afraid, I’ll stay with you.” Yu Chen shot and shattered a medium-sized Leviathan’s heart in mid-air, then hovered by the cockpit door on Jian Xing Chen’s side, frowning and asking softly, “But you’ve been piloting the 3S mecha for three hours now. Is there anywhere on your body that feels uncomfortable?”

 

“If you feel you can’t hold on.”

 

He was silent for a moment, then spoke again: “Then I can also…”

 

“Shh, baby, don’t talk yet.” Yun Xunlan suddenly interrupted Yu Chen, and he also told the system to shut up and stop making noise.

 

In the deathly silence, Yun Xunlan heard another new voice.

 

It came from deep underground, muttering about loneliness and solitude away from the brood mother, but quickly turned to joy, gurgling with excitement about smelling the scent of “honey cocoon.”

 

“Dike… immediately have the patrol ships leave the ground.”

 

This time Yu Chen didn’t mishear—Yun Xunlan’s voice was indeed slightly trembling: “Everyone stay away from the ground!”

 

Dike was puzzled: “What’s wrong, Your Highness?”

 

“King insect, there’s a king insect here.” Yun Xunlan revealed the secret he heard. “My arrival made it wake up early…”

 

The Severir insectoids serve the supreme brood mother, who controls and rules the entire race. The brood mother’s direct bloodline offspring and those chosen specifically for mating—the most powerful worker insects evolved from the swarm—are all collectively called “king insects.”

 

They are the pinnacle of insectoid combat power. Even a newly hatched juvenile king insect is far stronger than people imagine, let alone this awakened king insect, which is an adult.

 

If Yun Xunlan’s mind were clear enough now, killing this adult king insect wouldn’t be as easy as turning his hand over, but it wouldn’t be too difficult either. The problem was that Yun Xunlan was a bit dizzy now, and he knew this dizziness would gradually worsen until he completely lost consciousness.

 

Fortunately, he was prepared.

 

“Yu Chen.” Yun Xunlan opened the cockpit door on the side of the 3S mecha and said to the alpha, “Come pilot Jian Xing Chen with me.”

 

The young man’s invitation left Yu Chen stunned for a full three seconds before he came to his senses.

 

He and Pei Xingting had waited decades for this day, never expecting it would finally happen because of Yun Xunlan’s active invitation.

 

Yu Chen couldn’t refuse this invitation at all. However, after he pulled out the neural sensors inserted in his limbs and spine and roughly stopped the bleeding from his wounds with sealing spray, he remembered: “Your Highness, we can’t pilot a mecha together.”

 

All mechas have only one pilot seat. If one alpha uses it, another alpha can’t use it. How can they pilot together?

 

“It’s possible.” The young man insisted. “I told you, my way of piloting mechas is different from yours.”

 

“I don’t need to use the mecha pilot seat.”

 

“I use mental power.”

 

**

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