Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

The Mech Unit was filled with excitement over Ruo Manni’s recent advancement, and no one paid much attention to the reactions of the two commanders, nor did anyone discuss the origins of the human bombs.

Sure enough, three days later, early in the morning, the Empire News Channel, controlled by the Gus Empire, aired a significant news report. The mastermind behind the attempted assassination of the Second Prince over three months ago had been apprehended by the National Security Bureau. Since high-ranking military officials were involved, the case would be tried in a military court.

The broadcast then showed photos of over a dozen suspects, along with their brief profiles.

The public was eager to see which fool had dared to threaten the future hope of the Empire and was ready to curse them thoroughly.

To everyone’s shock, the main culprit was not only a member of the Gust Empire but was someone known to many.

‘Feidenbach Beery, male, 273 years old, initial-stage Level 7 fighter. Commander of the Empire’s 7th Army, rank: Colonel…’

The public was stunned—an Army Commander as the mastermind behind the assassination attempt on the Second Prince?

The assassination attempt on the Second Prince three months ago had caused a massive uproar, leaving the entire Gus Empire both aware and outraged. Since the exposure of the Yunkai people’s issue, the Second Prince and Miss Hua, both exceptional talents, had become, under the guidance of certain “interested parties,” beacons of hope for the people of the Gus Empire.

In uncertain times, people instinctively search for a spiritual pillar to lean on. Though people in this interstellar era have some belief in the existence of a “god of worlds,” they don’t typically see it as something to worship, believing instead in human capability and self-reliance.

However, the looming threat of intelligent extraterrestrial life, intending to invade their world and seize their resources and living space, had stirred underlying fear and anxiety in the hearts of ordinary citizens, despite the government’s soothing words. At a time like this, the people yearned for the existence of a true world deity, one who could ensure their safety and protect the military’s efforts to defeat the alien invaders.

As a result, when the people of the Gus Empire noticed that over the past decade, an overwhelming number of young talents had emerged from the entire Gumera Star System, and that the Gus Empire had produced two unprecedented geniuses, the people naturally felt that this must be the work of the World God lending them support.

Although the star system they relied on for survival was about to face a terrifying invasion by extraterrestrial forces, the people believed that their World God had not abandoned them and had brought hope to their side.

In short, under the guidance of certain interested parties, the people of the Gus Empire deeply believed that the Second Prince, Hebrew Adam, and Miss Hua De Manni were the hopes for defeating the aliens and saving their world.

At a time like this, when someone attempted to assassinate their future hope, the people of the Gus Empire could not help but feel furious. Regardless of the motives behind the assassination, they viewed the perpetrators as anti-human and even suspected that they were puppets of the Yunkai people. This led to an outcry online for a thorough investigation.

It was reported that the Second Prince was severely injured in the assassination and needed two days of treatment before the outcome could be determined. During those two days, the hearts of the people were in suspense.

Fortunately, their hopes were not dashed. Two days later, the royal family announced that the Second Prince, due to his misfortune, had advanced to the level of a seventh-level martial artist, which greatly relieved the people. However, their anger only grew stronger.

The current King of the Gus Empire, King Adam, had limited talent and was only a mid-level six-level martial artist himself. His governing ability was also mediocre. However, he had two exceptional sons.

The First Prince had reached the early stages of level eight martial arts before turning forty, a genius that hadn’t been seen in hundreds of years.

But in the hearts of the people of the Gus Empire, the First Prince’s most impressive ability was not his combat strength, but his governing skills.

Most of the people believed that since King Adam and the First Prince had started co-governing the country, the national strength of the Gus Empire had increased two to three times in just a few years.

Various resources to deal with future crises were being prepared in an orderly manner, and no other country in the Gumera Star System was as well-prepared as the Gus Empire. At a time like this, having such outstanding leaders was indeed a blessing for the people of the Gus Empire.

Now, the Second Prince had already advanced to a level seven martial artist at the age of twenty. Based on his previous speed of advancement, it was expected that he would reach level eight within two years.

A few years later, when the anti-interstellar invasion war broke out, the Gus Empire would not have to worry about lacking a master strategist to lead the entire army.

At that time, with the First Prince commanding the rear, the Second Prince leading the entire army, and Miss Hua De Manni, a level eight telepath, providing support, the possibility of winning the war would be very high.

This was the mindset that had gradually developed among the people of the Gus Empire over the past year. The idea that someone might want to destroy their hope was enough to make everyone furious.

The more the people focused on the Second Prince’s promotion, the more they despised those who wanted to assassinate him.

Since the royal family had two geniuses, the First Prince and the Second Prince, the people trusted the Empire’s ability to manage affairs. Since it was the Second Prince who was targeted for assassination, they believed that the National Security Bureau would not just sweep it under the rug, and that eventually, they would give everyone an explanation.

So when the results of the investigation came out, no one was surprised. However, the investigation result was a huge shock.

Before the results were announced, the people of the Gus Empire generally believed that the assassination plot was orchestrated by people from other countries. Although they were angry, they hadn’t lost control.

But now they learned that it was actually someone from their own country—and a military commander at that. The news sent shockwaves across the internet.

Feidenbach Beery, the commander of the Gus Empire’s army, instead of working to strengthen the nation and prepare for the future war against invaders, had plotted to assassinate the Second Prince for personal gain. It was intolerable.

In an instant, the people imagined several possible motives for murder driven by a lust for power, their anger rising. As they cursed, they began digging into the man’s background.

When they discovered that Feidenbach Beery was the head of one of the capital’s largest families, their anger grew even more.

Then rumors spread that the Beery family had wanted to arrange a marriage between the Second Prince and their family to seize power, but since the Second Prince was already paired with Miss Hua De Manni, a union with the Beery family seemed impossible. This led to speculations that the Beery family had resorted to the desperate measure of assassinating the Second Prince to achieve their goals.

Looking at the rumors circulating online, Miss Hua De Manni quietly complained to Hebrew Adam, “Cousin, what are you and the First Cousin doing? Not only are you making us targets, but you’re also making our personal matters public for everyone to see.”

Hebrew Adam had no objection to the fact that the whole world knew that Ruo Manni was his girlfriend.

Originally, Hebrew Adam was a bit concerned that Ruo Manni’s rising fame might put her in danger, but now that she had become a level seven telepath, there were very few people who could harm her. He felt slightly reassured.

After all, in the Gus Empire, with the fall of the Beery family, there were no longer any forces openly opposing them. In fact, in the current situation, if the Beery family hadn’t gone too far, the First Prince would never have moved against them.

In Topaz Star, the commander of the First Regiment stationed at the headquarters, watched the video of several people being tried at the military tribunal. As he listened to the National Security Bureau present one incriminating piece of evidence after another, he felt as if the sky was about to fall.

A few days ago, after the failed assassination attempt using a human bomb, the commanding general had been deeply shaken, and it showed. Although he had been treated in time and didn’t suffer major aftereffects, he appeared completely drained.

In the past few days, the commanding general had been trying every possible way to contact the Beery family for help, but no one could be reached, and his condition only worsened.

He had especially hoped that Lin Changfeng would personally send an investigation team to look into the human bomb incident, but when nothing happened, it only made him more anxious.

The general didn’t believe that such a major event would be ignored by the people behind Miss Hua De. He assumed it would be normal for an investigation team to come, and the more silence there was, the more uneasy he felt.

Because the silence suggested that the situation might be worse than he realized, and that something unknown was happening out of his sight, ready to explode later.

As expected, he wasn’t wrong. Things were waiting for them here. The capital city had already dealt with the Beery family, and what could the small fish like them do to escape? So, for now, they were set aside and would be dealt with once there was time.

The two regiment commanders knew a little bit about the internal affairs and were aware of who was behind the assassination attempt on the Second Prince. Therefore, when the royal family, disregarding all propriety, sent the head of the Beery family to the military tribunal, they knew this matter wouldn’t end easily.

The National Security Bureau’s actions were truly impressive; the evidence they provided was overwhelming. One particular piece of evidence, especially, made the public—especially those from the fringe stars—become even more enraged.

It turned out that the Seventh Army had been colluding with the black market in the fringe star zones for a long time, engaging in many heinous and unspeakable deeds.

Many ordinary people might never encounter the circle of aristocratic families in their lifetime, so they wouldn’t feel much impact from their arrogance and dominance.

But the black market is different. Hidden among the common people, the black market engages in human trafficking, child abduction, gambling, theft, robbery, and assassination, all of which have harmed many people. Therefore, the public’s view of the black market is very negative.

What enraged people the most was that Feidenbach Beery and his family had actually directed people from the black market to assassinate Hua De Manni, who had joined the military after returning to her home planet, Topaz Star.

Who is Hua De Manni? Very few people in the Gus Empire wouldn’t know her.

It was only through this news that the public learned that this young lady had, after graduating from the military academy, returned to her homeworld in the fringe star zone to join the military. The reason was that this planet would become the first battlefield when the intergalactic anti-invasion war broke out, and she wanted to defend her homeland.

Upon hearing this, the people of the Gus Empire were deeply moved. Such a grateful and righteous young woman. Yet these parasites wanted to harm her, and as a result, the entire country erupted in a call for the Beery family to be severely punished.

Things progressed quickly. The Beery family fell from power, and the Seventh Army changed commanders. The new commander was an old royal prince, Albert Adam.

Albert Adam was actually King Adam’s uncle and Hebrew Adam’s great-uncle.

This veteran general was a level-seven martial artist and had previously served as the commander of the Second Army. However, more than ten years ago, he retired due to age, and the position of army commander was passed to another younger level-seven martial artist from the royal family.

Now, Prince Albert Adam had come out of retirement to take command. It was clear that he was making way for the Second Prince, Hebrew Adam, to eventually take control of the Seventh Army’s power.

While the Second Prince was already a level-seven martial artist, and as a graduate of the first military academy of the Xuan Gu Empire, he was qualified to serve as the commander of an army, he was still very young. No matter how smart or capable he was, his lack of experience and youth were weaknesses. If he were directly appointed as the commander of the Seventh Army, no one would feel comfortable with such a big responsibility on his shoulders. However, if he were made deputy commander, no one would object.

No one would object to Albert Adam becoming the commander of the Seventh Army. After all, he was willing to support the younger generation of his family. What could others do?

Everyone believed that while the Second Prince was still too young and lacked experience to temporarily take on the role of Seventh Army commander, it wasn’t that they thought he would never be able to do so.

Although the fall of the Beery family caused a huge stir online, as the situation progressed, especially after the appointments of the new commander and deputy commander of the Seventh Army, things gradually quieted down.

In reality, everyone was extremely busy. Each person didn’t want to waste time training, as they wanted to increase their chances of survival in the future.

During this time, because there were so many news reports online, only the people of Topaz Star paid attention to the local news about their planet. They noticed that the commanders of the stationed First Battalion were arrested by the National Security Bureau.

When people saw the charges against these two individuals, they learned they were allies of the Beery family and lost interest, as there had been so many arrests of this kind recently.

After the news broke that the young lady had returned, the people of Topaz Star left messages on the local network, hoping to meet her.

When it came to the upcoming interstellar anti-invasion war, the people of Topaz Star were the most fearful and helpless. After all, their planet would be the first battlefield, and most of the people there had no means to immigrate.

Other planets couldn’t truly understand how important it was for the people of Topaz Star when they heard that the young lady had returned to fight the invaders with them. It gave them a sense of hope and courage.

The Empire had not abandoned them, and the young lady had not abandoned them either. They were not weak and helpless.

However, the people couldn’t find the young lady. While some people claimed to have seen her at the Topaz Star space station over three months ago, no one dared to confirm it since they hadn’t seen her in person.

“Come out and show your face. It will calm the public,” Lin Changfeng called Ruo Manni.

Ruo Manni did not object. Seeing the increasing calls on the internet, she had already been thinking about it.

If it weren’t for the fact that the former commander and deputy commander of the stationed First Battalion had been arrested by the National Security Bureau, and Ruo Manni had been “elected” as the new commander of the First Battalion, she would have already posted something online. To suppress those who were dissatisfied with her, she had been demonstrating both kindness and authority over the past few days.

It should be noted that the First Prince had told Ruo Manni that she and Hebrew Adam were the “targets” placed in the open by the Gus Empire. As long as her safety was ensured, she should be as high-profile as possible.

Ruo Manni had originally planned to post a selfie on the internet, but who would have known that Lin Changfeng thought it wasn’t enough of a statement and directly arranged for her to be interviewed by reporters.