Next, Lei Ting made an appearance as the "Solar Star" at the guest house of the Ring World’s Complex Council. Amidst the ecstatic cries of "I hit the jackpot!" from the waiting reporters, he and Lucas sat for an interview together.
Of course, he only cherry-picked a few questions to answer before ditching Lucas and his squad once again. He left behind only a dozen news reports and candid photographs that continued to circulate through the Galactic Star-Net, centered around the Ring World.
It wasn't until a day and a half later, after rushing back to the Federation’s star sector via the Ethereal Plane, that Lei Ting finally shed a lingering, peculiar aura.
To be specific, he looked as if he were simultaneously fuming yet amused, as if he had unexpectedly stumbled upon something precious and couldn't help but steal a smile every now and then. But upon closer inspection, it seemed as if nothing had happened at all, making the former impressions seem like mere illusions.
In truth, the first two were real; only the third was an act.
However, by the time he descended into the Human Union Assembly Hall, he had truly cast aside all thoughts of romance, returning to his usual state of calm and gravity.
Inside the hall, hundreds of councilors were seated in unison. Lei Ting did not take one of the primary seats prepared for him at the head of the room. Instead, as was his custom, he sat suspended alone outside the main ranks, his metal cubes orbiting him like planets as he looked upon the assembly with a tranquil expression.
The theme of this meeting was the current state of the Federation—war had broken out within its borders. A dark force, suspected to have originated from the direction of the Perseus Arm, had infiltrated the territory. Coordinating with anti-human forces already hidden within the Federation, they had launched a lightning strike and occupied several habitable planets.
Although this development had long been anticipated and hundreds of plans had been drafted, a coordination meeting was still necessary now that the war had begun.
To be perfectly honest, Lei Ting couldn't quite understand why so many enemies in this world were obsessed with attacking the Federation.
As a barred spiral galaxy, the Milky Way was small enough to be non-existent compared to the Local Group, but it was still vast for ordinary life. And while it was relatively barren compared to the universe at large, the civilizations within had built so much over the years that internal resources remained sufficient.
Aside from the Galactic Core and the Orion Arm, there was the "Three-Kiloparsec Arm," nearly 13,000 light-years from the core and forming almost a complete ring. Since its birth, it had been expanding outward at a speed unimaginable to most. In the 21st century, that speed was 53 kilometers per second, and it remained 53 kilometers per second today—a span of time long enough for life, but not even a single breath to a galaxy.
Beyond the 3kpc Arm lay the Carina-Sagittarius Arm, the Scutum-Centaurus Arm, the Norma-Outer Arm, and the old neighbor, the Perseus Arm. The vast majority of these arms consisted of deep-space voids without interstellar civilizations; only a small portion had been occupied by civilizations that had begun to develop over the last ten thousand years. Even so, the galaxy appeared remarkably vibrant.
Among these main structural arms, the Orion Arm was a minor region with relatively meager resources. Wedged between the Carina-Sagittarius Arm and the Perseus Arm, it was essentially a branch. Consequently, even in today’s Complex Council, those from Orion seemed particularly out of place—though their own "backyard" was large, they ultimately hailed from a small corner of the galaxy.
It was a small corner with a folk culture that was perhaps a bit too... "robust."
The Progenitor Elves of the Centaurus Arm had been researching life and philosophy millions of years ago. The Tane of the Sagittarius Arm had repeatedly rebuilt their homes over hundreds of thousands of years, rising from the fires—or perhaps boiling water—of rebirth. The "Hata" huntresses of the mid-Norma-Outer Arm had been running the path of the hunt for tens of millennia. And the "Wraiths" of the Perseus Arm had left their marks on Earth back when the ancestors of the Orion people were just beginning to develop their civilization.
No matter how one looked at it, the Orion Arm—especially the part occupied by the Human Union—could not be considered a land of auspicious omens.
Yet, from ancient times to the present, there were always people trying to crowd into this place.
From civilian evacuations to military responses, the Federation Council had plenty of talented individuals to formulate various plans, especially those designed to lure the enemy into deadly traps.
Lei Ting did not attempt to manage this field. He was not a conceited man; he understood better than anyone that one cannot hold everything in their palm, nor should one attempt to do things they are clearly not skilled in when the consequences are so far-reaching. To do so would be to harm others.
As the council members spoke, Lei Ting took everything in, yet he never looked up. He merely focused on the small metal block in his hand, which was constantly shifting its form.
It was a miniature floating cannon of his own design. Its only two functions were to convert psionic energy into beams and to combine with others into a larger floating cannon.
Like most of the weapons and ships he crafted, anything he made naturally had its use. However, even the most exquisite weapon's damage could not compare to a single, crude exertion of his own power. Thus, the parts that could be mass-produced by industrial lines entered the Human Union’s armory, while those that could not... were mostly kept for his personal collection.
This was one of his current hobbies.
Now, within his psionic sun that illuminated the entire Ethereal Plane, the ruins of the unmanned city—shrouded by a massive metal sphere—were filled inside and out with all sorts of weapons and vehicles.
Beyond that, something even larger than the city was under continuous construction above it. Although Lei Ting himself didn't know if there would ever be a day they were needed, he figured that since he was idle anyway, he might as well build some heavy firepower. Even if they were just decorations, they were reassuring to look at.
As for the materials used to manufacture them, most were extracted by Lei Ting from asteroids or the wreckage of abandoned ships during his travels. Of course, some of the pirate ships he encountered hadn't originally been "wreckage."
Lei Ting was not a soft-hearted man. On the contrary, he was someone who—well, very much—knew how to be ruthless.
The meeting did not last long. People already knew what they had to do, whether they were bureaucrats whose physiques defined the word "bloated" or their lean, capable assistants. As the meeting adjourned, everyone nodded to Lei Ting before leaving. Perhaps the gathering of the crowd made them feel they could afford a modicum of confidence, so as not to appear so fearful.
But that fear was understandable. Lei Ting knew this well, because when he was still a defenseless child, if someone who could kill with a mere thought stood before him, he too would have instinctively wanted to retreat.
There was no point in saying that because they were fellow Orion humans, they should offer more trust. There was no need to expect everyone to stake their lives on a mere possibility.
The councilors filed out. Lei Ting watched their retreating figures and, after a moment, withdrew his gaze.
"The end of this war might be the beginning of an even greater conflict," he said suddenly.
"I have reason to believe that since you say so, you are already certain of it," Angye said.
Lei Ting did not look at him, nor did Angye look at Lei Ting. Of course, Angye could no longer "look" at anything. Mistakes carried a price.
"Is the Speaker here?" Lei Ting asked abruptly.
"..." Angye was stunned. He had never expected Lei Ting to ask such a question.
What had prompted the "Solar Star" to think about the Speaker? When an uncommon person brings up an uncommon topic, there must be a cause.
Angye remained silent for a moment. His mental power as an A-class esper and his correspondingly agile mind reacted, combining the information he knew to finally condense a counter-question: "Was it the Headmaster who told you?"
"Perhaps," Lei Ting said nonchalantly.
He had no intention of hiding his source of information; he simply wanted to make the atmosphere of that moment seem more tense than the facts warranted. He knew Angye would be misled by him, as the information gap between them was significant.
He could sense seventy percent of Angye’s intense emotional reactions. Although it wasn't like his effect on ordinary people—where, if he wished, it was practically mind-reading—it was still dangerous enough.
"...I see." Angye narrowed his eyes. "Did you... encounter 'Starstream'?"
Lei Ting said nothing, merely crossing his arms as he looked at the Speaker’s seat, which had been vacant for a century.
"It seems you've learned quite a bit... Did you capture Starstream and interrogate him?" Angye’s eyes lit up. "Ordinary methods wouldn't make him divulge this information. But you didn't bring back a prisoner. Did you kill him?"
"The person I wish to speak with is not you," Lei Ting said coldly. "You still have your work to do, Upton Angye."
A heavy sense of danger made Angye wisely choose to shut his mouth. It seemed Starstream had escaped—Evenheiler Kang... he was always so adept at staying away from danger. Even the "Solar Star" hadn't been able to catch him.
Or perhaps, from the moment he saw the Solar Star, he had been preparing his escape.
One of the Federation’s Vice Speakers sneered in his heart.
Ever since his eyes had been burned away by that sun-like power, the image of "Lei Ting"—someone he once thought he could win over to establish a friendly relationship before the man went mad—had shifted. He no longer saw him as "a man with a promising future who might go insane later than those other Double-S classes." Instead, he saw him as a man who wasn't already mad? You're telling me a mental projection can manifest a psionic sun?
In that moment, he finally understood how Bunker felt when his joints were blown apart like a hedgehog's. Unfortunately, Bunker himself didn't have much of a chance to voice his opinion on the matter.
In short, Angye was convinced that Lei Ting would not let Starstream go, just as he wouldn't let any villain who crossed his line go unpunished.
It was just a pity he couldn't see the look on Evenheiler’s face when he was caught by the Solar Star...
A powerful Alpha capturing an Omega with whom he once shared a hazy emotional connection and controlling him with violence—even if the former's sense of morality and self-control prevented him from doing anything untoward, the latter wouldn't be feeling very good under the instinctive drive of an Omega's submission to an Alpha.
Angye curled his lips and addressed Lei Ting’s request: "I cannot contact the Speaker alone. At the very least, Mira and Yondell must be with me to have a high enough authorization level to initiate communication."
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