Another urgent report arrived, but the City Lord didn’t even want to look at it.
The city defense soldier who delivered the intelligence didn’t leave. Instead, he anxiously said to the City Lord, “City Lord, the insect disaster is attacking the city gates. There are too many of them!”
The City Lord followed him to the watchtower, where he indeed saw the insect disaster surging forward. The city defense soldiers on the walls fought desperately against the enemy.
Unlike the temporarily calm City Lord’s Mansion, the city gates had already been reduced to a horrific sight.
The militia organizations were still doing their best to maintain boundaries between different areas, preventing the Insect Clan from breaking through the blockades and spreading elsewhere.
Compared to the previous Insect Clan invasion, this insect disaster was like a mere skirmish.
Insects lurked in every imaginable shadow, springing out at any moment to attack people. The volunteer militiamen soon grew utterly exhausted.
The streets were filled with blood and limbs—both from insects and humans.
…But they preferred to search the streets and kill off stragglers rather than head to the walls to stand with the city defense soldiers.
From there, they could see the dense mass of insects covering the surface of the walls, surging forward like a tide.
Laser weapons, charged cannons, high-voltage power grids.
Every available weapon had been deployed, wave after wave knocking the insects off the walls to the ground. In just a few hours, the vast desert sands had accumulated a thick layer of insect corpses into towering mounds.
Yet still, insects climbed tirelessly over the bodies of their comrades.
“Why are there still so many?!”
A city defense soldier with weaker mental resilience broke down. “They’re not decreasing at all! Where the hell are these insects coming from?!”
He had just witnessed a comrade’s face being latched onto by an insect that leaped up, its mouthparts clamping onto the man’s nose.
That face instantly became unrecognizable, flesh and blood flying everywhere.
He blasted a hole through the insect with his gun, knocking it down.
But he watched helplessly as his comrade let out muffled cries of pain and collapsed to the ground, unable to hold back his emotions any longer.
He couldn’t help but think: What if that insect had leaped at his face instead…
His weapon clattered heavily to the ground. He stared blankly ahead, where a massive insect loomed, its wing cases rubbing together as it leaned forward…
And leaped straight at him!
His mind went blank, a single thought flashing through: Who will save him?
That insect was sliced in half mid-air by a long knife.
It was like cutting into freshly seared meat with an exceptionally sharp dinner knife—the hard shell was nothing more than a slightly crisp thin layer.
The flames’ intense heat scorched his eyelids. The young city defense soldier snapped back to reality.
As if awakening from a dream, he stumbled back two steps and fell to the ground.
A bionic person in a pitch-black uniform stood in his original position, wielding a long knife wreathed in flames that flowed like water.
Xie Jianxun could only hear Julius speaking.
He followed step by step, doing exactly as Julius instructed.
Even relying solely on his eyes, the butler could tell him precisely what to do next, with chilling accuracy.
The continuous roar of cannon fire didn’t affect him. He immersed himself in his own world.
Until someone cried out in alarm: “The King Insect has surfaced!!!”
Xie Jianxun’s train of thought was abruptly interrupted. He lifted his head, looking out the window along with everyone else.
He didn’t see the King Insect’s actual form, but he could see the sky shrouded in yellow sand as something enormous burst from the earth, kicking up a massive sandstorm that blotted out everything.
The Middle-Aged City Lord’s face drained of color in an instant.
He rushed to the edge of the watchtower, gazing toward the city gates, and murmured, “Wasn’t it supposed to be half an hour from now…”
Sand and dirt blinded his eyes. He clutched his mouth, coughing violently.
The King Insect emerged, formally confronting Golden City.
Unlike the Insect Clan invasion eighteen years ago, driven by a thirst for human resources and flesh, this time it came with purpose, heading straight for Golden City.
It seemed to possess human-like emotions and memories. Even after being buried deep in the desert for so long, it still remembered events from over a decade ago.
It looked enormous, but its movement speed was incredibly fast.
In the blink of an eye, it reached the base of the city walls, hooking its massive limbs onto them. The walls shuddered violently under the impact, unable to bear the weight. In that instant, a breach opened, allowing the half-clinging insect disaster to pour inside!
Boom—
A section of the wall collapsed into ruins!
The City Lord burst in, roaring, “How much longer?! How much longer?!”
Before anyone else could react, Delin decisively blocked Xie Jianxun, shouting back at equal volume to counter the clamor: “You think you’re the only one who’s anxious here?!”
But the gentleman behind him raised a hand, signaling them to quiet down.
The next second, Xie Jianxun excitedly lifted his head, his nose tip slightly red, fine sweat beading on his forehead. He practically glowed.
“I did it! I actually fixed it!”
If there weren’t so many people around, he probably would have jumped for joy. Even now, he grinned from ear to ear, unable to contain himself.
Julius applauded cooperatively and smoothly added, “You are the most talented student I’ve ever seen, Your Highness. Perhaps you’d honor us by joining a celebratory banquet, with your favorite raspberry cake.”
The City Lord: “What? It’s… fixed?”
Xie Jianxun held up the final panel in his hand and said cheerfully, “Now, just slot in this last piece and fill it with a high-grade Energy Stone, and it’ll be ready to fire.”
The City Lord took a deep breath, calming himself. The chance to save the city was right in front of him.
He directed the steward to fetch his privately stored Energy Stone from the storeroom. It pained him greatly—he practically gritted his teeth, reluctant to part with it.
But what Golden City provided him was years of accumulated profits.
Sacrificing this one Energy Stone in exchange for the city’s survival was still a good deal…
The next second, he watched in shock as a guard suddenly lunged from the crowd, snatched the part from Xie Jianxun’s hand, leaped out the window, and jumped to another terrace.
Everyone froze.
The City Lord snapped to attention and rushed over, barking orders: “You bunch of useless idiots! What are you standing around for? Chase him! Chase—!”
The thunderous sound of footsteps rushed past Xie Jianxun’s ears.
He looked down at his empty palm, completely dumbfounded.
A low voice came from beside him. He turned his face and saw Julius extending his hand.
Xie Jianxun turned his face away slightly, his initial enthusiasm cooling as rationality returned.
“I’ll honor my promise and send you to university,” he said coldly. “Don’t do things like this anymore. It makes neither of us happy.”
Xie Jianxun slowly stood up from the ground and brushed off his pants.
“You know full well that what you did made me unhappy,” he stated, his voice unusually firm. “A power-usurping thief, or an ambition-driven possessive maniac—which do you prefer?”
“I don’t like either.”
He actually smiled for once.
“How about the witch who hoards princesses?”
“…Save your bedtime stories for the air.”
Xie Jianxun unhesitatingly snapped off the Light Brain connection.
The communication cut out. Turning back, he faced Delin’s horrified expression.
The young man stammered, “I-I didn’t understand what you big shots were saying, but that… that part just grew legs and ran off!”
Xie Jianxun took a deep breath in and out, trying to soothe his racing heart.
He thought calmly: On a border planet, without precise spatial coordinates, direct warp jumps weren’t possible, so arrival couldn’t be instantaneous.
Even if Julius had pinpointed the exact location, the actual warp and landing would take at least an hour.
The final hour.
Delin tensed up. He instinctively froze and said dryly, “B-Big bro?”
Xie Jianxun whispered, “Sorry.”
Delin silently hugged him back. Suddenly, he thought: So what if he’s some noble big shot? Up to now, he was still his adorable little colleague.
He patted his shoulder: “Big bro, this isn’t your fault. Who could’ve guessed there’d be a human spy like that… Uh, we’re not going after him?”
Xie Jianxun nodded. “Let’s go see.”
The man was cornered onto the rooftop terrace, the upper levels of the City Lord’s Mansion behind him and a group of guards closing in from the front.
Xie Jianxun arrived in a hurry, just in time to see the man about to leap off the high platform with the crucial part.
But a red dot appeared, and a single shot killed him on the spot.
The man flipped backward and plummeted. The released part was caught by someone in the crowd and tossed over.
Xie Jianxun instinctively caught it and looked up.
Huo Jing raised an eyebrow at him, though his expression wasn’t pleasant.
Xie Jianxun: “Huo…”
Huo Jing jumped down from the terrace railing, landing steadily on the ground and walking toward him. The crowd parted like frightened beasts, cowering and looking up fearfully as he passed.
The Great Star Pirate tucked his weapon into his waistband and draped a hand over Xie Jianxun’s shoulder, rasping, “Let me see how you’re going to save this city that’s supposed to collapse.”
Xie Jianxun: “I’m not saving it. I’m just doing my job.”
The main cannon was directly wheeled onto the watchtower, aimed straight at the city gates.
Xie Jianxun installed the final part, fitting it seamlessly with the main body. It was completely different from when it had first been dug out of the storeroom.
Its lines were sleek, gleaming silver—a cannon of immense power, an Energy Cannon.
Just then, the steward dispatched to fetch the Energy Stone returned with his men, drenched in sweat, and installed the stone into the main cannon.
The energy gauge filled to maximum. Xie Jianxun checked it and said, “The energy is fully charged now. It should fire about three shots. I need to test one.”
The City Lord thought: That leaves two, so he agreed.
Xie Jianxun aimed the barrel at the city gates. The massive King Insect crouched there, no longer charging inward but instead waving its antennae, seemingly warily assessing the humans’ resistance in the city.
Waves of insect disaster surged from beneath it, while farther out, the city defense soldiers and spontaneous citizen militias put up stubborn resistance.
He muttered to himself, peering through the sight like he was using that rifle.
“I’ve targeted the King Insect’s joints and the vulnerabilities beneath it—there are lots of insects there.”
“This cannon is an extension of my body.”
Just like One’s. “I trust my aim, my instincts.”
He pressed the button. A deafening boom exploded beside his ears, and the entire building seemed to shake. Xie Jianxun nearly fell to the ground but was caught swiftly by Huo Jing.
Boom————
It was still a bit off. It didn’t hit the King Insect but blasted a massive hole through the teeming insect disaster.
The pressure on the city defense soldiers eased dramatically.
They finished off the insects in front of them, wiped the blood from their faces, and looked up in astonishment toward the distant, towering watchtower.
The insect swarm suddenly wheeled back to protect their King Insect.
The City Lord hurried up, trying to snatch the main cannon’s firing button from Xie Jianxun’s hand. “We can’t use it recklessly anymore. Wait for the King Insect to expose a weakness, then deliver the fatal blow…”
Xie Jianxun pointed downward and said quietly, “But people are dying down there.”
The City Lord raised his voice: “They’re dying heroically… I’ll award Golden City’s highest honors!”
Xie Jianxun gripped the button tightly, not letting him take it. “One more shot, and their pressure will drop a lot!”
The City Lord grew frantic, his voice sharpening: “What if it’s the last shot and the King Insect doesn’t die? There are still so many citizens behind! Kill the King Insect, and none of this matters!”
Xie Jianxun paused, and the button was immediately snatched from his hand.
“…”
But the next moment, the button appeared in Huo Jing’s hand, which he tossed up and down.
“Fire it. I’ll cover you.”
Huo Jing said suddenly, jerking his chin at them. The others looked up in confusion, just as the city-wide air raid siren blared.
The sky seemed to sprout a city… no, a massive shadow was gradually approaching the atmosphere.
Huo Jing’s “private fleet” had finally arrived!
Xie Jianxun still didn’t fully grasp what he meant, but the Middle-Aged City Lord did instantly.
His eyes widened, breath quickening as a flurry of thoughts raced through his mind.
“Mr. Huo, about those trade routes we discussed… and the taxes…” He glanced at the sky and probed.
Huo Jing grinned lazily. “Sure, all good, whatever you want.”
He signaled into the distance. “Blast all those bugs to hell for me. They’re an eyesore.”
Xie Jianxun tugged at his clothes. Huo Jing didn’t turn, couldn’t see his face, but he reached back, covering Xie Jianxun’s hand with his own.
The City Lord beamed, repeating “Good, good!” several times.
He handed the button to the steward and bellowed, “Fire!”
Boom!!!
Countless insects vaporized under the intense heat and impact. The city defense soldiers cheered hoarsely, huddling behind camp stone walls as the bugs vanished in the cannon fire.
The King Insect seemed enraged, rearing back with a shrill cry as it raised a pair of massive pincers high into the air.
The final shot targeted its head.
A blinding blast from the Energy Cannon fired out, only to be blocked by the raised forelimb.
The forelimb shattered outright, crashing to the ground. The King Insect howled in pain, and its remaining pincer swept through the nearby remnants of the city wall.
It had lost at least half its combat ability!
The middle-aged City Lord finally couldn’t hold back. He burst into loud laughter. “A mere King Insect dares to wreak havoc before my Golden City! Now, we’ll kill you… Mr. Huo?”
Huo Jing was already standing atop the railing on the other side of the terrace, flashing them a wicked grin.
“You think I’m some kind of obedient sheep who’ll honor his promises?”
The Great Star Pirate spread his arms wide, his coat flapping in the wind, hair disheveled. He clacked the heels of his Martin boots together and leaped straight off the wall.
The City Lord was dumbfounded. “Huo… Huo Jing!!!”
That damn, dishonest star pirate!
He stood there gaping, too stunned to even think of ordering anyone to stop him. By the time the guards rushed to the edge and peered over, there was no mangled corpse below—the Great Star Pirate had vanished in an instant.
He had run off!
Someone screamed, “The King Insect—it’s turning over!”
The colossal beast finally scaled the wall. With every step forward, the ground trembled.
It no longer planned to watch from afar. The excruciating pain had thoroughly enraged it—
It intended to completely and utterly destroy this place!
The City Lord’s mind went blank. He couldn’t believe that Golden City, which he had defended with such difficulty, would fall because of a star pirate’s flippant promise.
He couldn’t die here.
Right—he could escape, flee far away from this planet, even this star system, as far as possible from these terrifying, damnable bugs. He could cover his ears and pretend he knew nothing!
Let these bugs go to hell!
He whipped his head around and bellowed at the top of his lungs, “Have the Transport Port launch immediately to pick me up!”
The crowd fell silent, staring blankly into the distance.
“…”
“He ran toward it…”
What?
The middle-aged City Lord’s chaotic thoughts pulled free from his muddled mind. He forced himself to focus and looked out from the tower.
A figure in a pitch-black uniform, carrying a long knife, charged against the flow of the city defense forces, running resolutely toward the wall—toward the King Insect.
To carry out the ultimate order he had waited over a decade for.
Exterminate the King Insect.
As soon as One moved, Xie Jianxun moved too.
He unconsciously fixed his gaze on that dark silhouette, then turned and bolted down from the observation tower.
He leaped three steps at a time over a dozen flights before his dazed mind registered what he was doing.
He was going to meet him.
The crowd let out soft screams, but he paid no attention, single-mindedly racing toward the small exit of the observation tower.
Once out of the tower, he vanished into the sea of city defense soldiers.
“He ran up there!”
“Oh my god, he’s climbing the King Insect’s leg—that’s something a human can do?!”
“The King Insect’s shaking—he’s still standing!”
Xie Jianxun turned a deaf ear, pushing past layer after layer of unfamiliar figures until city defense members blocked him, preventing him from going further. “Insects ahead!”
Cannon fire boomed endlessly. The man shouted right in his ear, gripping his shoulders tightly. “Get back! The city gate isn’t a place for you!”
But the distance was just right now.
Xie Jianxun halted, like the throng of city defense soldiers around him, and lifted his face.
He saw the Mechanical Puppet’s long knife plunge into a crevice in the King Insect’s carapace, saw strange flames burrow deep into the gap and burn.
He saw the King Insect emit a pained screech, raise its remaining pincer, and clamp the Mechanical Puppet’s body in two.
He saw One plummet from on high, smashing heavily into the ground.
