Chapter 727: Chapter 408, Who Will Judge? Governor Gu!_2
However, after weighing their options, they gave up on that first reaction.
Forget it, just stay put and wait for Matins.
Even if they chose to break out now, with half of them dead, how could they escape Matins’ pursuit in this desert?
Amidst uneasy waiting, Matins arrived.
Of course, he did not come alone. Accompanying him were fifty new Phoenix Warriors.
Moreover, aside from the Phoenixes, there were also a number of elite warriors. Although these people looked like normal humans in stature, not having the visual pressure of generally towering figures over two meters tall, they were certainly not to be dismissed lightly. Each one wore Feedback-Type Powered Armor, bearing the Alliance’s insignia.
…
There were over a hundred such individuals.
When this group, led by Matins in Terminator Power Armor, began to tighten the encirclement and advance towards their hiding place, every traitor knew clearly that there was no need to fight.
Their subsequent orders depended entirely on the judgment’s outcome.
Despite this, they still did not relax completely.
At the entrance of the sand cave where they were hiding, they set up a small defensive position.
As Matins approached with his men, a gun fired, launching a bomb onto the open ground before Matins and his group’s route of advance, full of warning intent.
Matins did not halt even a moment.
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His roaring voice, through the helmet’s breath mask, pierced through the defenses.
“Blaywins! I know you’re in there! Come out and see me!”
The eight defectors were taken aback.
It wasn’t that the shout was so terrifying, it was just… man, there are so many outsiders right next to you, your yelling is letting everyone know, isn’t it?
Blaywins himself was a bit caught off guard.
Aren’t I the Phoenix’s disgrace?
Why are you shouting so loudly?
Are you afraid others won’t know?
Before they could recover from their shock, Matins spoke again, “You’ve betrayed the Empire, betrayed the Battle Group, betrayed all the brothers who sacrificed in the campaign of atonement! You traitors! Deserters! How dare you even show your faces before me! Get out here and face your deaths!”
…
A defector said to Blaywins beside him, “Why don’t you hurry up and go out? If he keeps shouting like this, the Battle Group’s face will be completely lost.”
Having said that, he himself felt somewhat embarrassed, as if it were Matins who had defected.
Even Blaywins had not anticipated this.
Until just now, his imagined scenario involved only Matins arriving at the cave entrance with the Phoenix’s Interstellar Warriors, and then just talking in hushed, private circles within the Battle Group. Whether the talk ended in life or death, at least the matter would be resolved internally.
How could he have expected that while he, the defector, was still thinking about not airing dirty laundry, Matins would be howling for all the world to hear?
Helpless, he had to walk out.
He did not carry a weapon, because there was no difference.
Under Matins’s gaze, he stepped forward, making a friendly gesture: “I want to talk to you…”
But what met him was Matins’s fist!
The Powered Armor deliberately stomped the ground loudly, and Matins quickly stepped in front of him, smashing a punch into his face.
The output force of the Terminator Power Armor was so immense, it sent him reeling, head spinning. By the time he came back to his senses, he was already lying on the ground, with Matins’s foot pressing on his chest.
He reached behind Blaywins’s head with both hands, pressing on the nape and side buckles, and with an upward pull, he removed Blaywins’s helmet, revealing the face underneath.
It was a face weathered by time.
Matins removed the mask of his Terminator armor, and the two finally looked each other in the eye.
In his eyes, there was a mixture of emotions, which was quickly replaced by rage:
“Blaywins, it’s really you…” Matins lowered his head, their faces drew closer, “Why didn’t you die at Karlo Cast?”
Blaywins, however, laughed: “Die? For what reason?”
“You, and those cowering traitors in the cave, your very existence is a disgrace to the Battle Group!”
“Yes, we are a disgrace. But are we truly the ones who should feel ashamed? The Redemption Expedition! The Redemption Expedition! It was meant for us to all die! Why? After all these countless years, hasn’t the Phoenix contributed enough?! Why should we all be tarred with the same brush just because of the Cercis rebellion?”
“Moreover, was Cercis wrong? Were we wrong? Is it not Iron Armor that is the true error?”
“Why are we the ones in error? Because we lost? Is losing synonymous with wrongdoing?”
Blaywins roared these words, making Matins even angrier.
He threw another punch.
Blaywins’ head burst open and blood flowed immediately.
But Matins had held back.
Otherwise, even the skull of an Interstellar Warrior, far more durable than normal, would be smashed like a rotten melon under the heavy fist of the Terminator.
After silencing Blaywins with a punch, Matins said, “There’s no point in making excuses, Blaywins. I didn’t come here to dredge up the past with you. I came to cleanse the Battle Group of disgrace, to bring judgment upon you damned traitors!”
“Say whatever you want, the victor is always right, and now you’ve won.”
Blaywins, with a blood-covered face, spoke these words, but moments later, his expression turned hesitant, even somewhat pleading: “Do what you want with me, judge me, and I will accept any verdict. Let all the blame fall upon me, but please… spare the others. They were misled by me at the beginning; now they can rejoin the Battle Group, they are all elite warriors…”
“When did you learn to daydream?” said Matins, “The Phoenix will forever remain the most loyal heroes. We accepted the Imperial decree, we have been through the Redemption Expedition, we endured every test given by The Emperor, and paid countless prices for it. Today we have cleansed everything, but you cowards, who turned deserter during the Redemption Expedition, who abandoned honor, who betrayed kindred, dare to fantasize about continuing to be counted among our ranks? Ridiculous!”
“Heh…” Blaywins scoffed, but there was nothing else he could say on the matter.
However, he hadn’t forgotten the most important reason for this meeting.
“But I still have to warn you, we are not the only ones who did not die.”
“What do you mean?”
Blaywins lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear: “Zhong Jihua and his group, they’re also still alive. They have embraced chaos, merged with other traitors. Now, they call themselves ‘The Ashen Dead’…”
Upon hearing this, Matins was shaken.
“The Ashen Dead… Are they Zhong Jihua’s people?”
“Yes.”
It took Matins a while to digest this information.
He said to Blaywins with a touch of irony, “So it seems even among you traitors there’s a hierarchy, huh?”
Blaywins turned his head and spat out a mouthful of bloody spit: “Say whatever you want.”
Matins grabbed the edge of his breastplate, lifted him up, then turned his head and shouted towards the cave entrance: “The rest of you, come out! Drop your weapons, take off your armor, surrender unconditionally. I will take you all back to the Battle Group’s monastery.”
“There, you will be interrogated, you will have to truthfully confess every crime you committed after your shameful betrayal of the Empire and the Battle Group. Then, you will receive a fair verdict, pay the due price for your over thirty years of missed Redemption Expeditions, for your desertion, for all the sins you’ve committed since leaving the Battle Group.”
Blaywins spoke with difficulty, “Stop with the pretense. You are the Battle Group Leader now. Just say what you intend to do. After all, who else has the authority to judge all this?”
“Mr. Gu.”
“…Ah?”
Blaywins was confused.