Yu Lian calmly opened the door to the control room and walked out with a swagger. In the corridors on both sides, more than twenty Gray Mist robots had already arrived, all raising their dark gun muzzles and aiming them at him.
However, they didn't fire immediately, and Yu Lian was certain they wouldn't fire at all.
He simply treated the large group of menacing Gray Mist robots as if they were tomatoes and potatoes, and under their watchful gaze, he walked towards the bridge.
However, after only walking ten meters, he turned back and stepped directly onto the head of a scorpion-like Gray Mist patrol machine, sitting down on its cold, hard body.
"Too lazy to walk," Yu Lian said.
The robot seemed to be silent for a moment, but then it moved silently on its own. Its eight mechanical claws retracted and transformed into wheels, carrying Yu Lian towards the bridge.
"Go this way, it's a shortcut!" Yu Lian patted the robot's head again and pointed in a direction.
Whether the robot simply obeyed Yu Lian's command, or if its operator behind the scenes didn't want to cause further trouble, in any case, it carried Yu Lian away from the ship's central corridor and onto a high-hanging walkway.
Below the walkway was a hemispherical space, like half a stadium, with the dome unfolding beneath Yu Lian's feet, encompassing the entire space. In the center was a huge circular stage, where, in addition to four Gray Mist guards, there were still bloodstains that hadn't completely dried. The tiered seating around the stage, distributed like a stadium, was still full of people.
This was the Azure Princess's main auditorium after its renovation, capable of accommodating over thirty thousand spectators. A few hours ago, dignitaries had been here to watch the Navy Day celebration. However, half an hour ago, it had become an execution ground. Over twenty thousand people had witnessed two ordinary people's heads being shattered here.
A one-in-ten-thousand chance might not seem very high, but who knew if they would be next?
They were terrified, they were afraid, they were broken, they were despairing. However, facing those formidable combat machines and fully armed terrorists, they didn't even have the courage to scream. They could only huddle in their chairs, trembling, praying that the Earth Government would quickly reach an agreement with the terrorists, and also praying that it wouldn't be their turn in the next round of killings.
However, as Yu Lian rode the robot through the overhead walkway, many people seemed to sense something and couldn't help but look up.
Soon, Yu Lian truly understood the emotional journey of that handsome General Wei, who was "watched to death."
However, he felt that the ancient handsome man might only be able to compete with him a little in terms of looks. And if he thought about it more carefully, what were the twenty thousand or so people below? At the Present, the Universe probably had ten billion people watching him.
As soon as he thought of this, Yu Lian adopted a more heroic sitting posture, allowing all the spectators to feel a sense of heroic determination, like 'never returning until the enemy is defeated.'
"The wind sighs, the Yi River is cold..." A soldier, clearly of East Asia descent, looked at Yu Lian's back and couldn't help but recite a poem. Although an enemy, he still felt a sense of tragic grandeur so oppressive it made him breathless, and he immediately felt respect.
How could it not be tragic?
A rookie who had only awakened for half a year, a One-Ring—at least according to official records, still a One-Ring—how could he be Francis Morey's opponent?
What if he was the first to land in the Xiwei Star Region? What if he eliminated a Baiwan? Brigadier General Morey might not have participated in large-scale fleet battles like the Xiwei Star Region campaign, nor in boarding actions, but he had experienced many high-intensity battlefields. The spiritual energy users he had personally killed had already reached double digits, including several instances of cross-level counter-kills. It was just that due to Brigadier General Morey's job nature, these achievements were not widely known.
He's a true man! What a pity he's doomed. This was what the soldiers in the main hall thought, and many hostages probably thought the same.
Some ladies began to sob, and many gentlemen also had tears in their eyes. They had already despaired, but seeing this young man willing to fight to the death for them, they once again felt the world's kindness and the brilliance of humanity.
They knew that this handsome young man was destined not to return. However, his struggle would indeed bring them more chances of survival!
"What's his name?" The hostages wanted to remember his face and voice, his name, his history, his existence!
However, what they didn't know was that during the half-minute he spent passing through the walkway, Yu Lian had taken the opportunity to clearly see the entire situation within the main hall.
There were four Gray Mist guards on the stage. Inside the hall, there were twelve Gray Mist patrol machines, patrolling the aisles, the dome, and the main entrance.
There were thirty-two special operations members, four of whom were in the hall. All the rest were outside, guarding the four main entrances.
Such a troop deployment was understandable. Thirty people, even with a dozen machines, would find it easy to kill twenty thousand people, but keeping them completely contained would be a bit troublesome. It was better to gather everyone together; they only needed to guard all the exits.
In a real emergency, for example, if a few movie-protagonist-like figures emerged from these twenty thousand hostages and prepared to resist, simply locking the doors would be foolproof.
A few more minutes passed, and Yu Lian guessed that the other side was probably getting impatient. The "steel scorpion" beneath him also sped up a bit. He quickly arrived at a spacious central cabin, which was the transportation hub at the front of the ship, just a few steps away from the bridge.
However, although called a cabin, it was actually as wide as a bustling commercial plaza in a city center, with the floor not covered in ship-grade composite materials, but real high-grade stone. The plaza even featured fragrant and colorful flowerbeds, lifelike stone sculptures, and elaborate fountains. The ceiling above was still enclosed by a transparent dome, outside of which the sky was full of stars, and one could even see a bright, moon-like object occupying part of the view.
Of course, this was just a metaphor. The moon standing here was not bright at all; its grayish-white rock was covered with pitted ravines and protrusions, plus the cold halo of a steel city.
A so-called luxury cruise ship must have such ostentatious and impractical arrangements!
Of course, in Yu Lian's memory, this place in the future had been restored to what a spaceship should be. The dome above was re-covered with three layers of armor and shields, the spacious plaza was divided into two hangars and crew quarters, plus twelve crystal railgun emplacements!
He had once, right here, personally operated a crystal cannon to deliver the final blow to the Dreadnought, the Sayil.
He had once, here with his companions, fought against Empire Assault Team members multiple times. The blood of enemies and allies even stuck to the joints of the Emblem Machine.
He saw the last back of his best friend before he was completely vaporized by a torrent of ions. He also remembered the terrified expressions of the Imperial Star Realm Knights when he stood before the passage, holding the head of a Knight Commander and Imperial Prince, challenging them.
For Yu Lian, the Past was the Future; they mingled here, with the Present.
This was indeed a very suitable place for spiritual energy users to duel. It was spacious enough, luxurious enough, and certainly enough to entertain the audience.
And it was enough for Yu Lian to recall that, compared to his "Past," that future which had not yet happened, a "mere" Four-Ring, a secret police chief, a terrorist, was nothing at all.
Brigadier General Francis Morey stood in the center of the plaza, hands clasped behind his back, standing proudly and majestically, looking quite ceremonial.
Seeing Yu Lian approach, he extended his hands from behind him, each gripping a thick metal block. With a flick, they unfolded into two large cleavers, over a meter long with very thick blades. Of course, if one were to say they were two door panels, people would believe it; they looked so intimidating that one felt if they struck a person, even if they didn't kill them, they would certainly crush them to death.
"Breaker Type 2 folding combat knives? These things... aren't they used by the Imperial Army's Gladiator Assault Squad?" Yu Lian looked Francis Morey up and down, his gaze lingering particularly on his two large cleavers for a moment, then suddenly let out a sneer, conveying blatant contempt.
He didn't know if this famous "Number One Master" of the Commonwealth military, secretly known as "Carrion Vulture" and "Death Bird," would be susceptible to taunts, but Yu Lian decided to do enough of what he needed to do first.
"I heard you're a master of the Stone-Splitting Decapitation Sword Art, and using heavy decapitation swords, you must want a quick victory, right? But what if the battle doesn't go as you wish? The Dual-Wielding Decapitation Sword Art consumes more than just double the physical strength and spiritual energy. If you really get overturned by a rookie who only awakened half a year ago, how will the history of spiritual energy users record such a thing?"
"...In the long river of spiritual energy user history, we are not even a small ripple," he said.
Hmm, outwardly unmoved, seemingly unaffected, but such a flowery response is too indirect and doesn't fit the persona of a secret police chief. So, are you really not bothered at all?
Yu Lian sneered again, turned his head, and directly broke off one of the steel scorpion's arms. With a pull, he extracted a curved blade from the folding joint beneath its armor and held it in a reverse grip.
This was the Gray Mist patrol robot's melee weapon; on the robot, it looked a bit like a praying mantis's claw, but held in a human hand, it was just a curved blade no more than seventy centimeters long.
Not to mention the disparity in strength between the two sides, even the visual impact of their weapons seemed to be enough to decide the outcome.
However, Yu Lian looked directly at his opponent, without any fear: "If I lose, I die! General Schwartz's small and cozy spiritual haven will be saved. If you lose, put down your weapons, shut down these chaotic combat robots, and immediately release all the hostages! Do you dare to swear by the universe spirit, Francis Morey?"
The drone faithfully recorded this scene.
At this moment, the image of David challenging Goliath appeared once again before everyone.
However, this time, David was more in line with everyone's aesthetic.
But perhaps precisely because of this, when that handsome young man, holding a thin blade in a reverse grip, faced the giant blade opposite him with his slender body, many people at that moment felt a more profound sense of heroism, bravery, and tragic grandeur.
More than sixty years ago, when a young man from Earth stood in the center of the Central Defense University campus and raised his arm in a rallying cry, wasn't it just like this?
Francis Morey seemed to be intimidated by the young man's resolve. He was silent for a moment, then showed a complex expression: "I swear in the name of the universe spirit, by the Covenant of spiritual energy user Guardians, and by the ten-thousand-year glorious tradition of spiritual energy users, I will fight you!"
At this point, he suddenly smiled. Of course, it was less a smile and more an unnatural twitch formed by the forced contraction of his facial muscles, looking quite unnatural.
What was the point of spouting such high-sounding rhetoric at this stage?
"Of course there's a point!" A sinister voice echoed in the general's mind: "The will of the universe spirit is omnipresent! No matter what path you choose, you must know this! If you don't even trust your own spirit, losing control is only a matter of time!"
Francis Morey pondered for a moment, then stiffly twitched the corner of his mouth again: "You are very brave, but not smart enough! Young man, the gap in strength cannot be overcome by mere passion, talent, or will! I hope you learn this in your next life!"
Before he finished speaking, his entire person vanished into thin air. Neither his body nor his shadow could be clearly seen under the countless lights.
Ordinary people seemed to feel nothing, but Yu Lian, as a spiritual energy user, could feel that the space within several hundred meters around him, the entire vast cabin within his line of sight, was enveloped by a sharp and deadly aura.
He could barely breathe, as if just a slight twitch of his nose would allow dangerous energy to invade his body, then instantly transform into destructive power that would tear him apart.
Yu Lian twitched, his body seeming to stiffen.
In the realm of advanced spiritual energy users, this was the most fatal. Then, at that very moment, the rocks on the ground suddenly cracked open, or rather, suddenly transformed into giant mouths large enough to swallow several people, lunging at Yu Lian, who was in a "stiffened" state.
The rocks were swept into the air like a whirlwind; the friction between almost every pebble was enough to tear apart a warship's alloy armor.
However, at that moment, Yu Lian suddenly moved. He raised his hand, his movements agile and decisive, completely unaffected by the opponent's deterrence.
"Yes, the disparity in strength doesn't just depend on brute force! I hope you'll convey that to the old man when you get to the universe spirit!"
A colorless light suddenly bloomed in the storm of rocks.