Chapter 124: The Viper Strikes Again

Watching the No. 3 aircraft disintegrate completely in mid-air, the pilot of the Galaxy Empire’s No. 1 lead aircraft screamed, "No!!!"

However, no matter how he shouted, he could not change the fact that one of his wingmen had been shot down; he was forced to accept the reality unfolding before him with fury.

In stark contrast, every member of the joint household guards of the Zhang and Liu estates burst into cheers as they witnessed the destruction of the enemy aircraft. Seizing this momentum, the guard unit’s anti-tank squad used anti-tank weaponry left behind by the ancient super-humans to target the Galaxy Empire’s hover tanks, which had now closed to an effective range. They quickly destroyed three enemy tanks that had approached the perimeter of their front line, shattering the Dinosaurian Galaxy Empire’s plot to use the sheer power of their tanks to break through the guards' defenses. This victory significantly boosted the overall morale of the joint guard unit, giving them even greater confidence in their ability to eliminate the enemy.

Meanwhile, Goli Dende, the commander-in-chief of the Galaxy Empire’s pursuit force, found the situation inconceivable. Based on his prior observations, he had firmly believed that the enemy before him stood no chance against their tanks and other weapons. Yet, the facts were laid bare before his eyes. Knowing this was no time for hesitation, he immediately grabbed his communicator and called the two remaining space combat-attack aircraft in the sky: "What are you doing? Do not just sit there watching! Launch your attack at once!"

The pilot of the Galaxy Empire’s No. 1 lead aircraft replied, "Understood. We are launching our attack immediately. The situation on the ground proves that the enemy’s overall strength is greater than we estimated. The weapon they used to destroy No. 3 was clearly a laser weapon. I request that the ground forces launch a more ferocious assault to coordinate with our air operations."

Upon hearing this, Goli Dende responded, "Understood. I will immediately order all available forces to launch an all-out offensive. We will take the enemy's position at any cost to coordinate with you. By the way, did No. 3 provide any report before it was shot down?"

The lead pilot asked, "What kind of report? What are you referring to?"

Goli Dende replied immediately, "I mean, did you see anything unusual? I recall the intelligence stating that the mountain ahead is a crater, somewhat like the circular mountains on the moon, formed by a meteorite impact many years ago. I suspect there is something hidden in the center of that mountain, which is why I am asking."

The lead pilot answered, "I am afraid not. No. 3 was shot down too suddenly; we were completely unprepared. We are launching our attack now. Let’s coordinate our efforts."

Goli Dende agreed, "Good. Coordinate with us; the ground forces are attacking immediately."

However, an unexpected turn of events occurred. Just as the two Galaxy Empire aircraft were entering their dive, their radar systems suddenly emitted urgent alarms. Seeing the display on his radar screen, the lead pilot shouted, "Missiles?! Ah!!!"

The missiles, fired from a distance, closed in rapidly. Before the pilots could react, they struck their ships with precision. Before Goli Dende and the other Dinosaurians could even process what was happening, the remaining two Galaxy Empire combat aircraft were struck by missiles and disintegrated in mid-air.

Goli Dende and his men stood stunned, at a loss for how to react, while Zhao Chengming and his men broke out into cheers. At that moment, a small combat vessel flew in from the distance. Zhao Chengming and the others shouted, "It’s the Captain’s ship!"

Indeed, it was Zhang Desen’s ship. After destroying the Galaxy Empire’s electromagnetic railgun, Zhang had originally intended to head to the Ulangom region to wait for an opportunity to destroy the Gomar space warship. However, upon learning that the Galaxy Empire had dispatched space combat-attack aircraft to strike the crater base, he had temporarily altered his plans.

Having downed the Dinosaurian aircraft through a surprise attack, Zhang immediately struck the Galaxy Empire’s ground army from the sky. The airborne cannons on "Life-Saver No. 1" opened fire simultaneously, diving to strafe the most concentrated areas of the Galaxy Empire’s forces.

The Galaxy Empire’s ground troops suffered heavy losses, and the joint guard unit cheered wildly at the sight. Despite this, Goli Dende, the commander of the attacking force, was enraged and ordered a full-scale assault. However, Zhang Desen piloted his ship like a harvester, reaping the lives of the Dinosaurian army in swathes.

Soon, an air-to-ground missile from Zhang’s ship landed on Goli Dende’s command post, causing a massive explosion. A large number of command staff were killed, and Goli Dende himself was wounded. A staff officer urged him, "Commander, we must retreat! If we don't, our brothers will all perish here..."

Goli Dende barked, "How can I do that? How can I answer to my superiors?"

The officer countered, "Do not worry, sir. Our mission is to completely cut off the retreat of Yuri Gotne’s army. As long as the enemy in this crater does not break out, our mission remains intact. We can simply claim that after defeating the enemy and completing our encirclement, they received reinforcements that destroyed our tanks and aircraft, but we still successfully completed our objective."

Goli Dende asked, "Will that work?"

The officer replied, "Absolutely, there will be no problem. We just need to leave a small force behind to monitor them. As long as we don't engage in a siege, they seem unable to break out and attack us anyway."

Goli Dende surveyed the situation and told the officer, "Very well, do as you say. We are retreating immediately. Move!"

The officer replied, "Yes, sir!" and immediately relayed the orders, arranging for the entire army to withdraw.

With the attacking enemy forces gone, the joint guard unit cheered even louder. Zhao Chengming then contacted Zhang Desen: "Captain, the enemy has retreated, and the railgun has been destroyed. Should we return to base?"

Zhang Desen replied, "Not yet. I must head to the Ulangom region to destroy the Gomar vessel. Intelligence indicates they have brought a terrifying creature on board, and they must all be destroyed."

Zhao Chengming was stunned: "A terrifying creature? Is it more dangerous than the humanoid creatures we encountered before?"

Zhang Desen replied, "Yes..." He then began to explain.

It turned out that Zhang had gathered a great deal of information through channels such as the satellite of the Dinosaurian Olmec Empire. When the Galaxy Empire’s Dinosaurian army first attacked the Gando people in the Ulangom region, the Gando were indeed caught off guard, and the situation was initially one-sided. However, the Gando soon recovered and put up fierce resistance using weapons gifted (or, strictly speaking, sold) to them by their gods.

To the surprise of the Galaxy Empire, the Gando people possessed strength, reaction times, and combat capabilities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. Because the Galaxy Empire’s new army was freshly formed and lacked sufficient weapon supplies, many of their Dinosaurian soldiers were fighting with cold weapons like bows and arrows, intending to engage in melee combat.

As the Galaxy Empire’s hover tanks and other heavy weapons helped them break through the unprepared Gando lines, their soldiers armed with cold weapons surged out of transport carriers. Yet, as they fought, the Dinosaurians discovered that every single Gando warrior was incredibly powerful; it took at least seven Galaxy Empire soldiers to barely subdue a single Gando warrior.

This was a shock to the Dinosaurians, who were mostly from primitive societies and had recently joined the high-tech Galaxy Empire. Given their own immense natural strength, they found it difficult to believe that they struggled so much against the Gando, who also appeared to be in a primitive tribal state.

The frontline commander, Jilong Kongde, soon deduced that the Gando might not be native Earth creatures at all, but rather a biological weapon created by the Gomars using human genes.

(Note: Genetic weapons, also known as third-generation biological agents, utilize genetic engineering to create new forms of biological warfare. They include toxin-enhanced agents, race-specific "human bombs" targeting specific gene sequences, and genetically modified organisms designed to induce disease or enhance the combat performance of "super soldiers.")

Seeing the Gando warriors perform like super soldiers, Jilong Kongde ordered more troops to attack and requested that their leader, Goba Xiaofu, send all available super soldiers to assist. The super soldiers sent by the Galaxy Empire were the same humanoid creatures Zhang had seen earlier. There were about a hundred of them, but although the Gando had only about thirty similar super warriors, they were able to hold their own against the Dinosaurian humanoids, much to Jilong Kongde’s astonishment.

Before Jilong Kongde could figure out the reason, a massive disc-shaped space warship appeared. It was the "Ice Chill," a new warship the Gomars had dispatched to Earth. Jilong Kongde and his commanders immediately realized the Gomars were illegally interfering in Earth's affairs and threw all their available air power into a desperate siege of the "Ice Chill."

To their dismay, the "Ice Chill," which they thought would be easy to defeat, used its powerful shields to withstand their combined assault. Enraged, Jilong Kongde ordered all available forces to attack the Gando on the ground while exhausting all air power to drain the "Ice Chill's" shields until they broke. The conflict in the Ulangom region thus fell into a stalemate.

After hearing Zhang’s explanation, Zhao Chengming said, "Captain, it seems that the data collection device you installed on the Olmec Empire's satellite was incredibly useful. I hope we can eliminate these troubles soon."

Zhang Desen said, "Indeed. I am going to deal with them now. You must hold the crater base until I return. Even though those enemy troops retreated, I am certain some were left behind to monitor us."

Zhao Chengming replied, "I realized that, but what do you plan to do, Captain? The enemy has a massive space warship!"

Zhang Desen said, "The shields must require a vast amount of energy. I will use the remaining two stealth cruise nuclear missiles on my ship to destroy them."

Zhao Chengming asked with concern, "Captain, if you use bunker-buster nuclear missiles against an aerial target, wouldn't that be a misuse?"

Zhang Desen laughed, "Don't worry. I already used the 'Nuclear Mole' missiles on the enemy railgun. The remaining two stealth cruise nuclear missiles are perfect for this. I'm going to give them a double mushroom cloud."

Zhao Chengming said excitedly, "That’s great! Then rest assured, Captain, the crater base is safe with me."

Zhang Desen replied, "Good. See you later!" And with that, he piloted his ship toward the Ulangom region.

...

Meanwhile, about 8.7 light-years from Earth, Sirius A continued to radiate its dazzling light into space, looking as brilliant as ever. 3 billion kilometers away, its dim companion, Sirius B—a white dwarf—continued its orbit. Nearby, on a planet named Gomar, the Gomar Empire went about its daily life.

In the palace in the capital city of Gomar, the ruler, Bart Kedorff, was handling state affairs when his chief of staff, Deda Batan, rushed into his office in a panic. "My Lord, it is terrible! Our space warship 'Ice Chill' reports that the Dinosaurian army on Earth is besieging our allies, the Gando people—the ones with high-tech civilization. Furthermore, our warship has come under heavy attack. The situation is dire!"

Bart Kedorff slammed his hand on the table and stood up in a rage. "What? A planet dominated by a primitive civilization dares to oppose my entire planet of advanced intelligent beings? This is preposterous!"

Deda Batan said, "The generals are aware and are demanding an immediate, large-scale retaliatory strike against the Dinosaurian Galaxy Empire on Earth to make them pay the price..."

Bart Kedorff stopped him, saying, "No. Considering this is their first offense, we will give them one chance. Find the captain of the 'Ferocious Snake' and have him immediately depart for the Seattle-Atlantis Empire on Earth for a 'friendly visit' to mediate. Meanwhile, our nation will immediately mobilize for total war, and then..."

After the conversation ended, Deda Batan immediately moved to execute the ruler's orders.

At the same time, in the Ulangom region on Earth, the fighting remained intense. The Gando people were nearly decimated, and the Galaxy Empire’s forces had suffered heavy losses, but the results were startling. The shields of the "Ice Chill" had finally been breached, and the warship, now battered, was being hammered by the concentrated fire of the Galaxy Empire.

However, it still possessed powerful combat capabilities. With its shields down, it launched a swarm of space fighters to engage the Galaxy Empire’s air force. It was only then that Jilong Kongde officially confirmed that the "Ice Chill" was a mothership. The battle between the two sides became even more ferocious.

Because the Galaxy Empire’s attention was increasingly focused on the Ulangom region, the conflict in the Uliastai region had become less intense. The Dinosaurian Olmec Empire, now aware of the Galaxy Empire’s presence and realizing the battlefield was disadvantageous, had only one thought: retreat.

In the Olmec Empire’s frontline command post in Uliastai, Acting Commander Kaba Dur was waiting anxiously for news. Finally, a voice came from outside the door: "Report, Commander of the Rescue Fleet, Sede Ouli, reporting for duty."

Kaba Dur exclaimed with excitement, "Oh, my friend, come in quickly!"