Chapter 2888: Unable to Return… to Heaven?
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
»pamn..”
Every word in the forum stung Meng Lichuan’s eyes like burning nails, pierced through her chest, and burned her palm.
She did not necessarily stand at a high strategic position and firmly believed in principles such as ‘the lips are gone and the teeth are cold’.
It was her natural stubbornness that made her unable to stand failure, especially in the first important strategical deduction that she participated in as a representative of Team Moon Fiend.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Now that the cooldown was over, she could join the battle again.
Taking a deep breath and focusing her mind and soul, Meng Lichuan sank into the Nerve Interaction Liquid again. But she saw a series of colorful data streams through her closed eyes and entered the strategical deduction again.
This time, she was playing the role of a high-level advisor of a support fleet. She was also responsible for transporting the fuel, ammunition, and space shuttles to the most important places on the frontline. If possible, she would drag the broken starship and the wounded back and repair them in the large maintenance fortress in the rear. At the very least, thirty to fifty percent of their combat ability would be restored.
For a moment, the torrent of data, the swirl of information, and the meteor shower made of various formulas, graphs, and curves smashed into her brain.
In such a strategical deduction at the level of experts, there were barely any scenes that the ordinary audience liked to see, such as ‘starships blasting each other in a battle line, interconnecting the space shuttles and the crystal suit legions, and the Giant God Soldiers tearing open the stomachs and crushing everything in their way’, where the war had been simplified or reduced to its original appearance. Countless cold data changes were taking place, each of which represented a starship or thousands of lives. The disappearance of data was even more insignificant than the annihilation of chess pieces, and Meng Lichuan had to make up his mind not to think about the meaning behind the numbers or the chess pieces and send them to the place where they should die as precisely as possible.
It was not an easy job.
She was under even more pressure than the real staff and commanders of the Star Ocean Imperium.
It was because she was not going to be the only one who had so much data in a real battle in the sea of stars. The strategists, captains, and commanders would share the pressure for her when she commanded so many starships. She only needed to be a simple screw.
In this place, Meng Lichuan had to deal with almost a hundred pieces of information every second and distribute the last batch of assets of the federal army to the frontline precisely.
It was better to have data that could be processed. More often than not, when the enemy launched high-intensity spiritual interference and cut off all her sources of data, she was like a blind horse galloping on a cliff. She could only rely on her ‘intuition’, ‘talent’, and ‘luck’ to decide the distribution of the assets.
Under the tremendous computational ability and the mental pressure, Meng Lichuan’s brain broke through the limits of fatigue and reached the brink of collapse again in only half an hour.
Ina trance, she could not tell whether she was carrying out a virtual deduction or watching her fleet fall into the abyss of destruction in the cruel battlefield.
The boring data and the complicated diagrams all turned into vivid illusions.
Meng Lichuan seemed to see countless starships of the federation burning at the edge of the Empyrean Terminus Sector into shrieking butterflies.
They also seemed to see bleeding wounds being torn open in the dark space. More, faster, and fiercer starships of the Sanctuary Alliance were arriving through the wormholes.
Disturbed by the radiation of the star, the invisible waves from the cannons of the two parties were both emitting glamorous and terrifying colors. The rays interweaved, twisted, and intertwined, as if countless mottled, brilliant snakes had appeared in the sea of stars and were biting and swallowing each other.
The giant snake that represented the federation, on the other hand, was swallowed by the giant snake that represented the Sanctuary. “No. Absolutely not!”
Meng Lichuan gritted his teeth. His computational ability was five times higher than before because of the unknown force. Every supply ship under his command was like her nerve endings that she had deployed precisely.
On the frontline that she was in charge of, the firepower of the federal army was doubled instantly. Countless starships of the Sanctuary Alliance were drowned in the brilliant ocean of flames. Many experienced teammates sent ‘appreciation’ to the newcomer in the communication channel.
It was a pity that, in the magnificent confrontation of almost a million starships, individual strength was insignificant after all. No matter how valiant Meng Lichuan’s side was, it was impossible to reverse the decline of the other dozens of fleets.
Besides, even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice. When Meng Lichuan ran out of the last batch of assets and all the supply ships under her command turned into empty tanks, there was nothing she could do! “Lichuan, there’s something wrong with the amplitude of your brainwaves. Quit the deduction now!” ‘Meng Lichuan vaguely heard a voice calling him anxiously. “Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. How could we have lost? This deduction was simply reckless. Just reckless!”
Meng Lichuan’s eyes were bloodshot. He ignored the warnings and gazed at the nonexistent fleet of the Sanctuary Alliance through the messy data. “Lichuan, you are going to be mentally deranged. Quit now!”
The voice continued shouting.
Meng Lichuan, on the other hand, heard the mocking, mocking, screaming, and frustrated sighs on the forum. “Bullsh*t! We won’t lose! I won’t admit defeat just like that!”
Meng Lichuan gritted his teeth. Every brain cell was boiling and exploding. “Forced exit. Forced exit!”
The voice in his ear screamed. ‘The data in front of Meng Lichuan’s eyes was jumping crazily, indicating that a fleet of the Star Glory Federation had discovered her small supply fleet.
The acceleration and agility of the enemy’s warship were much higher than those of her carrier. She had nowhere to run to.
Meng Lichuan sniffed. Without any hesitation, he maneuvered the supply ships under his command into a head-on battle formation. However, because of the design of the directing team, the ‘mutual morale’ and ‘commanderliness’ of her fleet had hit rock bottom. It was barely possible for them to assume a ‘mutual destruction’ stance.
Therefore, before she was ready to die, the enemy had marched into her fleet like a hungry tiger pouncing on a lamb. The figures in front of Meng Lichuan turned into shining shooting stars, which congregated into a bleak white brightness and suffocated her soul. She passed out without even finishing her curses.
Meng Lichuan had the deepest sleep of his life.
He also had the most terrifying and absurd nightmares.
Most of her nightmares were related to the great war in the sea of stars. She seemed to have fallen into a thick swamp that was full of oil. Then, the oil was ignited, and she watched her and her companions’ heads burning furiously.
The nightmare repeated itself countless times before Meng Lichuan managed to open his bloodshot eyes. He stared at the ceiling for a long time before he was certain that he had woken up.
But she still had a splitting headache, as if somebody had cut open her head and stuffed a starship inside. ‘The smell of disinfectant in the air and the beeping monitors next to her made her certain that she was lying in the med bay of the hospital.
It must’ve been a long time, so long that she thought hard for a while before she remembered what she had been doing. “Competition! I’m in a competition!”
Meng Lichuan’s heart skipped a beat. He sat up abruptly, only to feel that the world was spinning. The starship inside his head opened fire and smashed her back. His ears were ringing, and he was seeing stars. “Hey hey hey, what are you doing? Do you want to lie down for another three days and three nights?”
Around, somewhat ‘cute’ face appeared above the med bay and looked at her with a smile. “Sister Tao!”
Meng Lichuan blushed and shouted in embarrassment. ‘Sister Tao’ was named Jiang Baitao. She was a veteran member of ‘Team Moon Fiend’ and a senior who had brought Meng Lichuan into the sect. According to the rules of the world of Cultivators, she was her ‘guide’. Naturally, the two of them were quite close. “My head hurts. What—what happened to me, Sister Tao?” ‘Meng Lichuan held his temples and took a few deep breaths. “Competition. We are still in the middle of the competition. Why are you here?” “Thave bad news and good news.”
Jiang Baitao smiled. “The bad news is that you triggered your brain cells without caring about anything else. Your computational ability was so high that your cerebrovascular vessels almost exploded. You fell into the most serious mental derangement and have been lying in the hospital for three days and three nights. What a reckless girl. “The good news is that ‘almost’ mental derangement does not mean mental derangement. Not only will there be no sequela, you also made a ‘sudden breakthrough’ and advanced quite a few levels without yourself knowing! Of course, we won’t know the specific status of your brain until we run a series of tests. We’ll talk about it when you’re better! “Allin all, your performance three days ago was amazing, Right now, the entire strategical deduction center is aware of the existence of a little girl who doesn’t care about her own life like you. Not only have many experts in the Dark Moon Foundation retrieved your detailed information, they are also rubbing their fists in preparation to focus on fostering you. Even the military, the Glorious Sunlight Group, and the major sects are very interested in you. They believe that you have endless potential and want to poach you over. Hey hey hey, you won’t leave Sister Tao who treats you so well, right?” “Ah” ‘Meng Lichuan was somewhat embarrassed. His cheeks were slightly red.
In the past, such good news would’ve been enough for her to sing and dance.
However, after such a brutal battle in the sea of stars, she was no longer concerned about her personal level. “The match—is it over?”
Seeing Jiang Baitao’s cheerful face, Meng Lichuan felt that something was wrong. “Did we win the game by a miracle at the last moment?” “Reverse my ass. We’ve run out of ammunition and food, and our entire team has been wiped out. How are we going to win? Of course, we’ve lost. We’ve suffered a crushing defeat. It’s the biggest defeat that Team Moon Fiend and Team Blood Shadow have experienced in more than ten years. Sigh. What a disgrace!”
Jiang Baitao said straightforwardly. “Huh?” ‘Meng Lichuan was confused. He mumbled, “We lost. We actually lost. Then, why does Sister Tao feel so relaxed and happy?” “Happy?”
Jiang Baitao rubbed her fat face and said with a smile, “You must be very happy to see that you woke up safely.” “Sigh. What’s the point of me waking up? We’ve lost after all. The forums must be cursing us to the core right now, right?”
Meng Lichuan said gloomily, “Also, according to the polls, how many people are left in favor of ‘immediately sending troops’? 20%? 10%? Not even 5%?” “Well, about that…”
Jiang Baitao’s face suddenly turned weird. He coughed and said, “According to the comprehensive polls of the three authoritative forums, 68% of them are in favor of ‘immediately sending troops’ and 17% are uncertain. Only 15% believe that we should ‘think carefully before we act’. Besides, as time goes by, more and more people are supporting ‘immediately sending troops’. “What?”
Meng Lichuan was dumbfounded. He sat straight again and crashed back to the ground… Without caring about his dizziness, he shrieked, “Are you kidding me? How did this happen?”