“Heh, an oath?” Lin Xiaohe opened her palm. Two shiny gold captain’s insignias appeared in her hand out of thin air.
She used to cherish this honor quite a bit. She’d even specifically entrusted the insignias to Dou Dou for safekeeping.
But looking at them now, the rank of Federation Captain wasn’t all that impressive.
She turned her gaze to the military special forces. Her eyes were dark, as if endless emotions were churning within them.
“If the ruler treats me like a national hero, then I will repay that ruler as a national hero should.”
The corners of her mouth curled up, a hint of mocking laughter showing in her eyes. “But the Federation is treating me like a traitor. How am I supposed to repay that?”
The captain of the military special forces team had a throbbing eyelid. He didn’t quite understand what Lin Xiaohe was saying, but he could read her expression.
Sure enough, Lin Xiaohe casually tossed the insignias onto the ground.
With a sharp crack, the three stars on the insignias got stained with blood, and a shadow of gloom also fell over everyone’s hearts.
They all understood. Lin Xiaohe had no intention of ending this peacefully.
Lin Xiaohe seemed to think of something. She opened her palm again.
This time, a Federation medal appeared.
She tossed the medal aside like it was trash. “Loyalty? Heh, I’m about to betray the Federation, and you’re still talking to me about loyalty.”
Watching this live, the Federation senators felt their blood pressure spike.
Was Lin Xiaohe just throwing away a medal?
No, she was clearly stomping all over the Federation government’s dignity, right in front of the entire Federation!
After dealing with the trash, Lin Xiaohe dusted off her hands and turned her gaze to the civilians being protected by the military special forces and the Central Military Academy students.
“Alright, which of you have talked trash about me online?”
The military special forces soldiers immediately pressed the controls on their mech suits. Twenty-five standard-issue military ‘Falcon’ mech suits stood protectively in front of the Federation citizens, like mother hens.
A deep male voice came from the lead mech suit. “Lin Xiaohe, stop this now. Even if you kill everyone here today, you can’t escape the First Star Ring.”
In the interstellar era, why were heroes so rare and precious?
Because humans couldn’t survive in space without a spaceship.
A hero’s power was only power on a planet, not power out in the cosmos.
And the Federation was a colossal behemoth controlling six star rings. It had hundreds of millions of spaceships and warships. What could Lin Xiaohe possibly use to fight that?
Lin Xiaohe said, “Since you’ve never given me a hard time before, I can let you live. I’ll count to three. Hand over your mech suit controls.”
She lowered her eyelids, hiding the sudden surge of violence bubbling up inside her.
So annoying. These people were so freaking annoying!
“Three.” Green vines coiled upward.
Even with the ‘Falcon’ mech suits running at full power, they couldn’t break free.
“Two.” The vines tightened. The mech suits creaked and groaned under the strain, sounding like they were being squeezed to their breaking point.
Lin Xiaohe lifted her eyelids, her eyes filled with murderous intent.
A clear path to heaven, and you wouldn’t take it. No gate to hell, and you insisted on barging in.
Just because I’m kind, I deserve to be pushed around?!
“One…”
“Wait! We surrender!” The captain of the military special forces team decisively threw himself to the ground in submission.
Lin Xiaohe saw them obediently climb out of their mech suits and snapped her fingers lightly.
In an instant, a blur of green blades flashed around the mech suits. Within moments, all that was left where the mech suits had been were piles of grayish-white gravel.
The captain of the military special forces team swallowed hard, a chill running down his spine. Lin Xiaohe was truly insane. You don’t mess with her. You really don’t!
Cassian quickly led his students to the side, not daring to provoke Lin Xiaohe any further.
Suddenly left exposed in Lin Xiaohe’s line of sight, the onlookers felt their minds go blank.
They broke down. “Are you even soldiers or not?! You said you’d protect us, and this is how you surrender?!”
“And you Central Military Academy students! You should be charging at her! Are you scared? Are you cowards? Such weaklings, how are you worthy of being in the Central Military Academy?!”
Cassius’s eyes widened in shock, a look of disbelief and hurt flashing across his face.
Just a moment ago, when he was protecting these people, they hadn’t talked to him like this!
Lin Xiaohe, however, was used to it.
When you give to them selflessly, they’ll lift you up to the heavens with their words.
But when you don’t want to give as much anymore, or can’t live up to their expectations, they’ll drag you down from heaven to hell and stomp on you a few extra times for good measure.
Lin Xiaohe sighed softly. Back in the day, she’d been too young and had fallen for that trick.
She’d let the Federation’s sweet talk and honors coax her into staying willingly at the Central Military Academy.
It wasn’t until she’d taken a huge fall that Lin Xiaohe finally woke up.
Why should people have to choose between material things and emotional validation?
As a grown-up, she wanted both!
Lin Xiaohe lifted her eyelids, her voice cold. “Everyone who talked trash about me, step forward.”
“I didn’t. I only lurk online. I never post!” Little Liu, socially anxious, thanked his social anxiety ten thousand times.
“I… I didn’t either.”
In the end, not a single person admitted to having spewed nonsense on the Star Network.
The green leaf mark on Lin Xiaohe’s forehead flickered once.
The courtroom’s speakers suddenly blared out: “Lin Nan, Star Network post: ‘Lin Xiaohe is total garbage. She’s Marshal Chu’s mistress. All her past achievements are just a ladder Chu built for her to climb.'”
Lin Nan was suddenly called out.
He didn’t dare look Lin Xiaohe in the eye. His throat tightened; every swallow felt like swallowing shards of fear.
When the thread of his reason finally snapped, he broke down and yelled, “Lin Xiaohe, are you insane?! I just said a few random things about you online! Can’t you be a little more magnanimous?!”
“No, I can’t. I’m petty.” Lin Xiaohe had originally wanted to cut out his tongue, but then remembered that accessing the Star Network used mental power, not a keyboard or voice typing.
She extended her index finger and pointed at him from across the space.
Lin Nan let out a bloodcurdling scream. Blood streamed from his nostrils and ears.
Cassian took one look and knew Lin Nan’s mental sea had exploded. He would never be able to access the Star Network again.
The court bailiffs huddled even tighter around the chief justice, looking at Lin Xiaohe as if she were a monster.
What a terrifying ability! With just one finger, she could cripple someone with B-level mental power.
With Xin Bao around, no keyboard warrior could escape judgment.
Everyone who’d come to watch the trial in person were citizens of the First Star Ring. They looked down on Lin Xiaohe from the bottom of their hearts because she was from the Wasteland Planet.
What made it worse was that Lin Xiaohe had climbed all the way up to a position that even they had to look up to.
That just made them even more bitter and resentful.
They didn’t dare badmouth Lin Xiaohe in real life, so they just made up whatever they wanted online and slung mud at her.
“Honestly, you’re so unlikable. Nothing like the citizens from the remote star rings.”
At least the citizens of the Sixth Star Ring genuinely admired her, rather than being two-faced.
Lin Xiaohe raised her finger again, gave it a light tap, and the scene erupted in screams.
She tilted her head and looked at the chief justice, who had been silent all along, a smug look on her face.
“See? When I judge cases, aren’t I fairer and more justified than you? Ah, I’m really such a kind person. They caused me immense psychological damage, but I didn’t execute them. I only crippled their mental powers.”
When a hero falls, they aren’t met with comfort and warmth. They get ridicule and sarcasm instead.
Since you love treating other people’s suffering as a joke so much, then go through that suffering yourselves!
