Section 450: Chaos Isn't the Half of It
Grey Valley.
Beiguang, Alva, and Ahua sat solemnly upright opposite Xiao Wan, their expressions composed. Even the once somewhat impulsive Ahua had matured considerably after years of training. They had just been summoned by the young lady, and all three were utterly astonished, as it was currently 4:40 in the morning.
Xiao Wan was the first to speak, her calm voice carrying a metallic quality: "We just received the latest intelligence. Last night at 7:14 PM, an anomaly indeed occurred in the spatially unstable region within the Red Flame Master Corps' jurisdiction. At 9:30 PM, the Red Flame Master Corps sent people in to investigate. None returned alive. Two hours later, the purple mist had already engulfed one of their bases. Later, they came under fierce attack. Various nearby forces have received the Red Flame Master Corps' request for assistance."
Upon hearing this, the trio's expressions shifted slightly. In Grey Valley, there was an unwritten rule: no matter the faction or its strength, they would never seek help from others unless facing utter annihilation. Once a request for aid was issued, it signified that faction's impending demise.
Could the Red Flame Master Corps truly be in dire straits?
The three exchanged glances, shock flashing in each other's eyes. The Red Flame Master Corps wasn't far from them, and they had previously invested considerable effort in assessing their strength. Although slightly inferior to their own, if some force could annihilate the Red Flame Master Corps, it undoubtedly possessed the power to inflict fatal damage upon them as well.
Beiguang asked in a deep voice, "What's their current situation? Who's attacking them?" Despite their immense surprise, the three remained seated steadfastly, without a trace of panic.
Xiao Wan fell silent for half a minute before replying with difficulty, "It's still unknown. However, we haven't received any information from them for the past four hours."
The trio, who had only slightly changed expressions moments before, now paled dramatically.
Xiao Wan's eyes swept over their faces; her own complexion was also grim. Nevertheless, she continued, "Right now, various nearby forces are dispatching combat units to the area at top speed, hoping to encounter any survivors. So far, we know nothing about what's happening there. Who launched such a fierce attack? I expect we'll have news by around noon today."
"Which faction could it be?" Ahua murmured, then couldn't help but ask, "What should we do now?"
Xiao Wan turned her gaze to Alva. "Alva, what's your view?"
A thoughtful expression appeared on Alva's plain face; only the flicker of intelligence in his eyes hinted at the extraordinary nature of this youth who resembled a farmer. After a moment's contemplation, Alva looked up and said steadily, "The situation remains unclear. We simply need to prepare for battle and respond flexibly to changing circumstances. I believe the attacker's true nature will be revealed by 6 PM tonight. We can then formulate our response based on the specific situation at that time."
Xiao Wan shifted her gaze to the other two. "What do you think?"
"Nothing else we can do," Beiguang agreed with a hint of resignation. Indeed, apart from Alva's suggestion, they had no other options. Strength dictated everything! If they possessed the formidable power of the Three Great Families, they would have long since mobilized their forces without hesitation. But given their actual strength, they were helpless. On the contrary, any other move now might only cause them to lose their composure.
Xiao Wan nodded. "Alright, then it's settled. Keep a close watch on the situation over there." As she contemplated the increasingly perplexing and chaotic situation, a trace of irritation rose in her heart. Grey Valley had always been in a state of chaos, but beneath the surface disorder lay the deep imprint of the valley's unique unwritten rules. For those like Xiao Wan who had grown up in Grey Valley, these rules were intimately familiar.
For some inexplicable reason, Xiao Wan had a premonition that these rules, which had existed for centuries in Grey Valley, were about to be shattered this time! This feeling was baseless, yet it lingered in her heart like a winter haze, refusing to dissipate.
Beiguang and the other two exchanged a glance, understanding passing between them, then took their leave and exited the room.
After they left, Xiao Wan seemed to deflate, all her strength draining away. She let out a long sigh and half-reclined in the soft chair. A full five minutes passed before she recovered, but the irritation in her heart only grew stronger. Unconsciously, her right hand activated the room's holographic screen.
"This is a live broadcast for you…"
Xiao Wan, who had been listless moments before, suddenly sat bolt upright as if electrocuted, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on the holographic screen.
※※※※
The Patriarch of the Ye Family stared grimly at the holographic screen. Behind him stood Ye Juxing and Ye Guangxing, their faces equally ashen. Ye Yin, the Ye Family's top expert, stood impassively behind the three. His indifferent face seemed as if nothing in the world could move him. In stark contrast, Ye Luo beside him displayed an extremely animated expression, one moment gnashing his teeth, the next cursing vehemently. Surprisingly, his usually strict father offered no reprimand for his behavior this time.
The Ye Family had mobilized unprecedented forces for this operation.
Three hundred warships! This terrifying number held enough power to make one's heart tremble. The total number of warships the Ye Family had deployed throughout the Heyue Star Domain was only about a thousand. This time, they had drawn almost a third of them.
Warships were virtually taboo entities, whether in the Five Major Star Domains or the Heyue Star Domain. Thus, even the Three Great Families who possessed the technology only dared to develop them covertly.
Deploying these warships was also a bitter pill for the Ye Family to swallow. The Ye Family itself lacked long-range combat capabilities, with almost all their mechs specializing in close combat. Based on the situation Ye Yin and the others encountered in the Free Passage, they realized long-range firepower was essential. This was why they had no choice but to transfer the warships. The cannons on the Ye Family's warships were exceptionally powerful, and the numerous smaller turrets on the ships could effectively strike the smaller, numerous creatures.
However, the actual combat situation differed significantly from their expectations. The purple mist and unknown creatures emerging from the unstable spatial region were completely different from the anticipated armored mandible insects and soft-bodied spiked caterpillars. Furthermore, their numbers far exceeded initial estimates.
The firepower network formed by the three hundred warships didn't hold back the fierce and tenacious unknown creatures for long. Their numbers were simply too vast, and they flew with agility, fearless and relentless. Left with no choice, the Ye Family deployed their mech groups, finally stabilizing the situation.
Close-quarters combat inherently meant significant losses on both sides – injuring the enemy a thousand, losing eight hundred of your own. Even for a family like the Ye, renowned for close combat, this held true, let alone in a large-scale battlefield involving thousands upon thousands. It had become a massive meat grinder!
Watching Ye clansmen fall one after another, the Ye Family's upper echelons felt their hearts bleeding. These clansmen were not only their kin but also individuals who had undergone ten to twenty years of training, representing immense investment from the family!
The Ye clansmen displayed极高的纪律性 (jīgāo de jìlǜ xìng - extremely high discipline), facing the overwhelming horde of unknown creatures fearlessly, stubbornly holding the line. However, the enemy's strength also far exceeded their expectations. In the vastness of space, a full eight mech regiments were engaged.
Eight thousand mechs desperately held firm against wave after wave of attacks from the unknown creatures in the starry expanse. The three hundred warships' cannons had not ceased firing since the beginning. But the scale of casualties was driving the Ye Family leaders nearly insane. In just half an hour, casualties had already reached at least three mech regiments, with the exact number still unknown.
Because the unstable spatial region was located precisely within the Ye Family's heartland, they had no room for retreat. Consequently, the Ye Family had made ample preparations. Almost two-thirds of the Ye Family's combat strength currently deployed outside the Heyue Star Domain was concentrated here.
But the battle had only just begun!
The Xue Lai Tribe was also locked in fierce combat.
From the current perspective, the Xue Lai Tribe undoubtedly held a much more favorable position.
A full fifteen thousand various models of Xue Lai Tribe mechs densely packed the area where the anomaly had occurred, allowing them to proceed methodically and unhurriedly.
Their powerful火力网 (huǒlì wǎng - firepower network) shredded the astonishing number of unknown creatures into pieces; the nearby space was littered with floating corpses and debris.
However, they soon noticed something amiss.
If the purple mist contained nothing, energy beams shot into it should simply pass through and emerge from the other side. Yet they discovered that no matter how powerful the beam or energy blast, upon entering the purple mist, it vanished without a trace, like a clay ox entering the sea – swallowed without a ripple.
The rapid,疯狂扩张 (fēngkuáng kuòzhāng - frenzied expansion) of the purple mist placed immense pressure on the Xue Lai Tribe. They had already dispatched no less than five hundred mechs into the mist, and not a single one had returned. In an attempt to halt the mist's expansion, they bombarded the interior for a full thirty minutes, yet it yielded no visible effect. To their alarm, it seemed that the more they fired into the purple mist, the faster it expanded.
Left with no alternative, they could only cease fire and encircle the purple mist, treating it as a grave threat.
Among the three major powers, the Xi Feng Tribe fared the worst. Their territory contained two spatially unstable regions, placing them in a far more critical situation than the other two families.
The Xi Feng Tribe Leader's expression was one of utter despair, while the tribesmen behind her were ashen-faced.
So far, the losses suffered by the Xi Feng Tribe had far exceeded the psychological expectations of everyone in the tribe. Watching mech after mech explode in the void, every tribe member felt a wrenching pain in their hearts.
Due to the need to defend two locations, the number of mechs deployed on the front lines was significantly diluted, resulting in insufficient firepower intensity. Many unknown creatures broke through the defensive lines, and close-quarters combat directly led to a rapid increase in casualties.
The glow of explosions from the frontline, transmitted via the holographic screen, illuminated the pale faces of all present.
What exactly were these monsters?
Translation Notes:
- Section Title: "怎一个乱字了得" (zěn yī gè luàn zì liǎo dé) is an idiomatic expression meaning the situation is so chaotic that the word "chaos" alone cannot fully describe it. The translation "Chaos Isn't the Half of It" attempts to capture this sense of extreme, indescribable disorder.
- Proper Nouns:
- Grey Valley, Xiao Wan, Beiguang, Alva, Ahua, Red Flame Master Corps, Ye Family, Xue Lai Tribe, Xi Feng Tribe, Heyue Star Domain, Free Passage are transliterated or translated based on common conventions for Chinese names in speculative fiction.
- "Master Corps" is used for "师士团" (shīshì tuán), implying a corps of skilled pilots/warriors ("Masters").
- Cultural/Terminology:
- "光甲" (guāng jiǎ) is translated as "mech" (short for mechanized suit/walker), common in sci-fi for human-piloted combat machines.
- "世家" (shìjiā) is translated as "Family" (capitalized) when referring to the major powers like the Ye Family, indicating their status as powerful clans.
- "全息屏幕" (quánxī píngmù) is "holographic screen."
- "火力网" (huǒlì wǎng) is "firepower network" or "barrage."
- Phrases like "以不变应万变" (yǐ bù biàn yìng wàn biàn - respond to myriad changes by remaining unchanged) and "伤敌一千自损八百" (shāng dí yī qiān zì sǔn bā bǎi - injure the enemy a thousand, lose eight hundred of your own) are translated idiomatically.
- Style: The translation aims to maintain the tone and pacing of the original text – the tension, the formal dialogue, the descriptive battle scenes, and the characters' internal monologues and emotions.