Tens of thousands of explosions were melded into a single blast, much as countless instances of bloodshed are distilled into the singular statistic of a war.
Regardless of who instigated the conflict, the ultimate victor would always be the one who walked through a sea of flowers amidst the cheers of the masses.
...
When Lei Ting stepped into the spaceport, carrying his black case and luggage, everyone was cheering.
The people ahead cleared a path for him; his classmates behind him intentionally lagged more than a dozen meters back; and the merchants in the distance, who had been placed under protective custody after the war broke out, did the same.
He could hear what they were shouting: "Double-S!" "The Spear!" "God of Metal!" "The Federation’s New Hope!" There were others too, calling out his name or "Solar Star." They called him a sun, believing that he alone could decide the outcome of an entire front...
Though their guesses were likely correct, Lei Ting showed no sign of particular joy.
Under the lights, his expression remained calm and solemn. He nodded stoically to the crowds as he walked toward the line of personnel waiting to receive him.
The Chief Administrative Officer of the spaceport, the Commander-in-Chief of the local garrison, the Director of the hospital... Lei Ting acknowledged each of them in turn until he came to a halt before a peculiar figure.
It was a strange, roughly humanoid creature whose body resembled a shimmering, unsettled jelly of gold-and-pink starlight. Usually, in shops, jelly of that color would be peach or orange-flavored...
Under the gaze of the two pairs of silver-white glowing eyes on the entity's face, Lei Ting recalled that this was a male Dota person.
This race’s home planet was located at the near end of the Perseus Arm. They were mild-tempered and gentle by nature, born with the power of "Communication." They could converse with any living creature, using this ability to facilitate mutual understanding, cooperation, or the avoidance of harm. Consequently, they occupied the vast majority of positions as "Conflict Mediators," a profession unique to the Galactic Aggregate.
Looking at this Dota person again, he wore a pristine white uniform. On his chest and his matching cloak, a display-thread screen woven into the fabric showed a colorful badge recognizable to any race within the galaxy.
It was a miniature of a barred spiral galaxy, framed alongside a nebula within three layers of incomplete, overlapping rings. Seven small circles sat upon the rings, representing the seven permanent Arbiter civilizations of the Galactic Aggregate Council.
To any discerning eye, it was clear: this was a Mediator from the Aggregate.
He must have been here for a long time—this border region had seen trouble over a decade ago. Back then, if "Starstream" hadn't beaten the Yabrisak Empire half to death and fought that star-system-destroying battle near the Sagittarius Arm, this border region would have been the starting point of an invasion.
However, when the Mediator introduced himself, Lei Ting was still slightly surprised.
"Hello, Mr. Lei." The other party used Orion grammar and word order fluently, extending a gloved hand. "I am Jo'iba, a Conflict Mediator for the Aggregate. Thank you very much for saving 'Mistletoe' Spaceport."
The names of the vast majority of spaceports in the world were identical to their primary control AIs... as were the younger Legions. Strictly speaking, the spaceports and fleets were the "bodies" of those AIs.
"I was only doing my duty," Lei Ting said calmly, shaking the hand.
"But you saved me nonetheless—ha, this conversation reminds me of Evenheiler Kang..."
"...Hm?" Lei Ting’s attention was piqued by that name.
"Ah, it’s like this," the empathetic Mediator, Jo, said. "Twenty years ago, I traveled forty thousand light-years from the Ring World to come here, and I’ve been here ever since... This is my second home," he rambled on. "Fourteen years ago, this place was also attacked. Evenheiler was here then; he saved us. He and I became friends. Later, he went missing. I believe he certainly hasn't returned to the embrace of death, though I don't know how he is doing now..."
Though his expression remained cold, Lei Ting listened patiently to the somewhat wordy chatter of the Conflict Mediator.
Even setting aside the topic of "Evenheiler," a Mediator was worthy of respect. Any creature brave enough to choose this profession, pass the trials, and successfully take up the post deserved honor, for their courage, ability, and benevolence were of the highest order.
While the salary for the profession was high, who would be willing to risk their life traveling the stars, exerting immense effort every day to soothe tempers and mediate disputes, if they didn't truly love peace?
Lei Ting conversed with Mediator Jo as he moved forward with the group that had come to meet him. As they spoke, the conversation turned to the failure of the early warning system during this incident.
"The enemy's attack was disguised by some unregistered energy-based superpower; it couldn't be identified or detected by any electromagnetic induction-based warning system," the military commander of Mistletoe said.
"But through data comparison, we found that this fleet bears a high resemblance to the Flo people's 'Deep Space Stealth' fleet... Given that the Flo and the Hata'an have indeed formed an alliance, this is likely the latest version of 'Deep Space Stealth,' and one of the assets the enemy relied upon to ignite the fires of war against us."
"Then their reliance was indeed well-founded." Lei Ting’s expression grew serious.
He wouldn't blindly assume those things were weak just because the warning systems couldn't scan them or because they were useless against him. That wasn't arrogance or confidence; it was stupidity.
Just because those things couldn't hurt him didn't mean they couldn't hurt the people around him.
If he wanted to gain a greater voice, he had to achieve ultimate victory in this war.
And he would.
...
Capital System, Senate Chamber of the Federation Parliament Headquarters.
A meeting had just concluded. The senators lowered their seats, which had been floating like stars against the backdrop of a starfield projection, and greeted one another as they departed.
Apton Onye was in no hurry to leave. He sat in his seat as Vice Speaker, looking at the habitually vacant Speaker’s chair, his hands clasped and his gaze calm.
Once the last ordinary senator had left, Mira, the Assistant to the Speaker—who had stood behind the empty chair for the duration of the meeting—closed her data pad and asked, "Apton, what are you thinking about?"
"..."
Onye did not speak. But from the other Vice Speaker’s seat opposite him, centered around the Speaker’s chair, the occupant suddenly smiled. "He’s thinking about how to settle scores with the Kang family."
"..." Onye cast a silent glance at the speaker.
Yondel looked back with a dignified smile. "You know that Kang Pharmaceuticals is involved in many things. We cannot decode 'Ascension' without their strength."
"And our 'Double-S' is closely associated with him," Mira reminded him. "Do you really intend to make the 'Double-S' resent us just to kill a traitorous 'S'?"
She might as well have written *'Please, don't tell me you're being that petty, it's really pathetic'* on her face.
"..."
Onye’s silence was like a goldfish blowing bubbles.
A few days ago, he had finally received definitive news: Enan Valen was Evenheiler Kang.
And this intelligence... had actually been exposed by the man himself.
On the second day after the "Double-S" left the Capital System for his mission, that fellow seemed to have received some sort of instruction or intel from somewhere. In an extremely abrupt move, he suddenly shed his disguise, activated his super-powered mecha, and flew alone into interplanetary space.
Then, in a clear zone suitable for space-time folding, he had physically cleaved open a stable but short-lived spatial rift. It was highly suspected that he had gone directly to the location of a certain warp induction field.
But the Federation couldn't even pursue him... because the existence of that spatial rift meant there was a certain possibility that a ship’s warp jump could go horribly wrong.
If the target was only one person, suppressing the news was simple. But if a ship or a squad met with an accident in the interplanetary space of the Capital System, it would be a major disaster.
Thus, for the sake of the big picture, Onye had to swallow this bitter pill. As for the fact that Valen was Evenheiler, he immediately suppressed the news through Federation channels; currently, only a handful of high-ranking Federation officials knew.
Afterward, he had nearly gone to settle a massive account with Essengard Kang, but... first, because the man’s only son, Lucas, was a classmate and friend of the "Double-S," and second, because Kang Pharmaceuticals was a vital helper in decoding the "Ascension" virus and countering the "Boiling" virus. In the end, he could only make the Kang family bleed heavily in the commercial sector before returning to his seclusion to nurse his grievances in silence.
However, over the past few days, the "Double-S" had stirred up quite a bit of trouble out there, to the point where Onye had to come out for this meeting...
It was laughable. Throughout the entire meeting regarding "Adjusting the attitude and related plans toward the Double-S rank esper Lei Ting," he could clearly feel Yondel staring at him, likely mocking him inwardly.
But then he remembered how he had watched Yondel’s own embarrassment from up close two years ago, so this could be considered even.
Onye silently rubbed his brow and threw a cold barb at Yondel. "Vice Speaker Yondel, how is your charming wife with the octopus tentacles faring lately? The Empire even swapped out a Crown Prince just to give him to you. It’s been two years—have you found the root of the hidden agenda behind that?"
*Snap.*
The sound of something cracking under pressure came from Yondel’s direction. Yondel seemed to lose all desire to speak with him; he stood up and turned to leave, clearly so disgusted by the topic that he didn't even want to maintain his facade.
Excellent. Onye’s mood brightened instantly.
He stood up with a smile and quickly caught up to Yondel. "Teacher Yondel, what’s wrong? To be honest, I still prefer the way you used to try so hard to pretend nothing could make you angry..."
As soon as that long-abandoned title left his lips, Yondel’s pace quickened. Onye did the same. The two of them practically raced to the meeting room door, ready to clock out—
"Wait, don't leave yet!" Mira suddenly shouted from behind.
"...?" A grim-faced Yondel and a beaming Onye stopped and turned back.
"I just received word," Mira said, her face grave as she looked at her optical computer eyepiece. "Our 'Double-S'... has given the interstellar community a greeting even louder than Evenheiler did back then. Now, we might need to call all the senators back and... hold another meeting."
".................."
Indeed, the lethality of "overtime meetings" was infinite.
The two powerful Vice Speakers of the Federation fell into a synchronized silence.
***
