This scene delivered a massive shock to both the Federal government and its citizens.
It was like telling the public that humans aren’t carbon-based lifeforms, but silicon-based instead.
Madman Lao Cao’s mouth hung wide open, his features twisted into a grotesque expression, as if he had been frozen in time.
The next second, his body jerked violently, like a startled deer. He let out a howl, unleashing the surging, restless excitement pent up inside him.
“AAAHHH! She punched right through the entire defense line! Did you see that? The mighty First Star Ring Space Fleet of the Federation was utterly helpless before her!”
Madman Lao Cao’s face flushed bright red, his eyes sparkling with fervent adoration.
He no longer cared about the Federation’s control over public opinion on the Starnet. Right now, all he wanted was to pour out his endless admiration for Lin Xiaohe!
Even if the Federation banned his livestream, even if they shut down his Starnet account, he had to shout his true feelings out loud for everyone to hear.
“Lin Xiaohe, you’re a f*cking badass! Lin Xiaohe, you’re absolutely goddamn incredible! Those bastards in the Federation will surely regret persecuting you. They will swallow the bitter fruit they’ve sown themselves!”
“Holy black hole! Where did she get the materials?! This isn’t a symbiotic mecha suit—Lin Xiaohe is the mecha itself! Lin Xiaohe, you’re not human, you’re a god!”
“I solemnly declare, from this day forward, Lin Xiaohe is my idol, my one and only idol!”
Madman Lao Cao stood at attention, straightened his body, clenched his right fist, and pounded his left chest three times heavily. “Loyalty!”
In his livestream, the barrage of comments nearly drowned him out completely.
[AAAAHHHH! Lin Xiaohe is terrifying beyond belief.]
[So damn cool! I thought Insect God was her limit, but I never imagined she could be this heaven-defyingly awesome!]
[Who else could pull off a flex like that? You show-off, there are so many seats on the Hummingbird, couldn’t you just take me along? Or let me be a little accessory hanging off your leg! That battle armor is just too handsome!]
[Can someone explain what the Security Bureau even does? They’re the real traitors, Imperial moles, right? They’ve single-handedly driven away the Federation’s strongest combat power!]
After Madman Lao Cao swore his loyalty, the comment barrage moved in perfect unison.
[Loyalty!]
…
The face of the First Star Ring Military District Commander was ashen. His breathing ragged, his berserk mental energy riddled his office with holes like a sieve.
He stared at the Federation fleet frozen in space, his heart aching so much he could barely breathe.
In this encirclement battle, the Federation’s First Star Ring space warships had suffered losses exceeding half their number.
And it was the kind of loss that was utterly irretrievable, with not even wreckage left to tow back to the repair docks!
What was even more, even more heartbreaking was that Lin Xiaohe had shattered the spine of the First Star Ring Space Fleet!
The invincible morale, fed by countless victories, nurtured by boundless funds, and bolstered by federal propaganda, had been wiped out by just two lashes of Lin Xiaohe’s whip.
Cultivating such morale again had become a near impossibility.
He called Cassius. After a long, shared silence, he finally spoke through gritted teeth. “Lin Xiaohe is too ruthless. Was it intentional? Was that symbiotic battle armor secretly developed by your Central Military Academy?”
Cassius rolled his eyes dramatically. “You should be asking the Security Bureau that. They forcibly imprisoned Lin Xiaohe. You should be asking them what they did to her.”
If the Central Military Academy had the technology for a symbiotic battle armor, would he have tolerated the Security Bureau dancing on his head?! Hell no, he’d have wiped them out!
Cassius rubbed his bare neck, feeling a bit out of sorts.
Ah well. His beloved warship, accompanying his beloved student, finding a second wind in its career in space. The effort he’d poured into the Hummingbird hadn’t been in vain after all.
The First Star Ring Military District Commander was, of course, going to hold the Security Bureau accountable.
With so much of his family fortune blasted to bits, his heart was weeping blood.
“Don’t you people in the Security Bureau owe us an explanation?! Lin Xiaohe was this strong, and you didn’t tell us, leading us to make a grave misjudgment. What, because it’s the military’s budget getting destroyed, you don’t feel the pinch?”
The Security Bureau had sent Andrei this time.
As a Stardust Mutant Creature Controller, Andrei had a fairly good impression of Lin Xiaohe, but unfortunately, their opposing stances meant they couldn’t be friends.
“Alright, no need to be so furious. You and I both know perfectly well that Lin Xiaohe’s sudden surge in power was something no one anticipated.”
“Hmph! You Security Bureau types are always so secretive. Who knows if this was your doing?”
Andrei laid his cards on the table. “Lin Xiaohe’s mutation likely began during the interrogation. We can provide you with a copy of the full interrogation video.”
They were both old foxes who’d been around the block. Who were they trying to fool?
What the Commander really wanted was the symbiotic battle armor, wasn’t it?
The First Star Ring Military District Commander tacitly accepted this compensation. He pulled out an e-cigarette, stuck it in his mouth. “What do you plan to do? Just let Lin Xiaohe escape the Federation?”
“Of course not. We will dispatch a Special Operations Task Force to apprehend her.”
With the disastrous precedent of the First Star Ring Space Fleet, the other Star Ring military districts certainly wouldn’t exert full effort to intercept Lin Xiaohe.
Even if they were willing, the Security Bureau wouldn’t trust them to.
Lin Xiaohe held too many secrets, especially the fact that she had fused insectoid and mutated stardust plant armor!
Any faction would salivate over that battle armor.
The reason the Security Bureau could stand at the very top of the Federation’s pyramid was precisely because it possessed the most cutting-edge technology, the most advanced science, and overwhelming combat power.
Lin Xiaohe’s secrets had to be controlled by the Security Bureau.
…
At the Starlight Life headquarters research institute, a group of researchers howled like wolves watching the combat footage of Lin Xiaohe.
“This is it! This is exactly the kind of symbiotic battle armor we want!”
One researcher pressed his face almost against the display screen, his gaze obsessed, a trickle of drool escaping his lips. “Truly perfect armor. Look at how smooth the lines are. That shimmering red light is like the breathing of a black beetle. It doesn’t look like an inanimate object—it looks alive.”
“Brimming with vibrant life force, the energy lines are seamless. The reason Lin Xiaohe can walk in a vacuum and move so fast must be because the armor has fused with the insectoids!”
He shouted, “Old Zhang, is there any red beetle like this among the insectoids? How come I’ve never seen it?”
Old Zhang was practically wearing out the database. “There’s nothing in the files. Its shape resembles a black beetle, but its carapace color is fiery red. Black beetles are the lowest tier among insectoids, with low intelligence, and their defensive and offensive capabilities are the weakest. They also don’t have energy absorption characteristics.”
“Lin Xiaohe is hiding a lot of secrets! Where did she get this red beetle? Could she really be with the rebels? Has the rebel research on insectoids already outpaced us by this much?”
“Report! Test Subject 11073, fusion failed. Complete insectification,” an intern researcher reported.
The researcher glued to the screen looked like he wanted to crawl right inside it to observe Lin Xiaohe more closely.
“Useless! All of them, useless! Tell the lab director—I want Lin Xiaohe! I want her! I’m going mad with wanting her!”
