Chapter 19.2
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Lu Fenghan clicked “connect communication.”
It took two attempts before the communication was established. Huo Yan sounded impatient and agitated. “Who is this?”
Without hesitation, Lu Fenghan retorted, “Your father.”
Stepping out of the control room, Huo Yan was already simmering with anger, now ready to hang up on this pointless communication. “I’m your—”
Midway through his tirade, he abruptly halted, eyes widening in shock. He even stomped his foot too hard due to lack of attention, causing a sharp jolt of pain shooting up from his heel.
“You—you—”
“Recognize your father?”
This was reminiscent of the time back on the front line in the Southern Cross Region when Huo Yan, confident in his piloting skills, challenged Lu Fenghan to a match with high stakes—whoever lost had to call the other “dad.”
Lu Fenghan saw no issue with using Lu Jun’s reputation as a wager and readily agreed. Both of them piloted fighter ships through the asteroid belt, and naturally, Lu Fenghan emerged victorious.
At the time, Lu Fenghan even joked to himself about being quite impressive, having managed to give his father a grandson at such a young age.
“Something’s not right—”
A sharp pain shot through Lu Fenghan’s eardrums, causing his brow to twitch. “Shut up!”
Huo Yan, a burly man, looked on the verge of tears, his voice hoarse as he responded, “I’m shutting up. Are you really not a ghost?”
Lu Fenghan couldn’t be bothered with such foolish questions and quickly briefed him on the situation, “There’s a deactivated military jump point near Fontaine-1, connecting Leto and the Southern Cross Region. The two ships that just arrived aren’t space pirates. They’re rebels.”
Without waiting for a response, he cut to the chase, “Who are the individuals brought by the ‘Mountain Eagle’?”
Unlike the others on Fontaine-1, Huo Yan had spent several years on the front line and was responsible for a fighter squadron, so it didn’t take much for him to grasp the severity of the situation. His demeanor turned serious as he replied, “They’re scientists from ‘the other side,’ carrying the source architecture of a military starship control system, as requested by the Alliance. Their destination is Leto, and they’re here for temporary resupply at the fortress.”
Lu Fenghan’s brow furrowed. “Is it Y who came?”
“No, it’s not Y himself.”
“That’s good,” Lu Fenghan affirmed. “The rebels are targeting this. We absolutely cannot let them succeed.”
Unable to contain his frustration, Huo Yan cursed, “I’m only responsible for the defense of Fontaine-1, and I’m just finding out about this. Who leaked the information!”
Surprisingly calm, Lu Fenghan responded, “The acting commander on the front line has ties to the rebels. If I were to get angry, I’d have bled out long ago.”
“The capital star’s defense system—”
Lu Fenghan cut him off without hesitation, “We’re at the far side of Moon Two. The probing alarm system will be disrupted by Moon Two. Unless we obliterate the entire planet, the defense system’s cannons won’t reach us here.”
Huo Yan immediately grasped the situation. This was all meticulously planned by the rebels in advance! Subconsciously, he asked Lu Fenghan over the communication line, as he used to do before, “Commander, what should we do?”
Lu Fenghan’s gaze turned cold and firm, his profile resembling rain-washed mountains—fearless and resolute. Yet, there was a casual smile playing at the corner of his lips. “A soldier never asks that question.”
In that moment, Huo Yan transitioned from a state of bewildered panic to sudden calmness, recalling the phrase Lu Fenghan had once taught him, and completed it, “Pick up your weapons and protect the stars behind you!”
In this attack, the rebels deployed two starships, both of a compact size and highly maneuverable. With their triple high-sensitivity cannons, they accurately pounded Fontaine-1’s defense system.
With the defense system neutralized, one more hit and they would helplessly watch their armor being breached.
Huo Yan wasn’t dulled by Leto’s comfort and quickly shifted into gear. Emulating Lu Fenghan’s boldness, he seized control of the entire fortress, swiftly deploying defenses. He dispatched four fighter ships to intercept the enemy and raised the remaining cannons, ensuring the enemy starships wouldn’t enter within a thirty-range radius.
For a moment, everyone inside the fortress held their breath, waiting. Outside the fortress, Fontaine-1’s response, though delayed, wasn’t too late.
Lu Fenghan couldn’t see the specifics through the glass wall. He relied on various reports and combat requests coming from Huo Yan to understand the situation.
A holographic starmap materialized before him, with both sides already playing out scenarios in his mind’s eye.
But…
Something wasn’t right.
For someone like Lu Fenghan, who had charged into battlefields hundreds of times, often what saved him wasn’t strategy but intuition.
Instead of hastily interrupting Huo Yan’s deployment, he focused intensely on that nagging feeling in his mind—
Ah, yes!
He straightened his back suddenly and ordered Huo Yan over the communication line, “Give me the view behind the fortress!”
One second, two seconds, three seconds passed with no response.
Lu Fenghan looked again, only to find the communication had been severed, likely by some blast that had taken out the signal facilities.
Just as Lu Fenghan was about to leave with Qi Yan, his clothes were tugged again.
Lu Fenghan lowered his gaze.
Qi Yan: “Do you want to see the view behind the fortress?”
Lu Fenghan’s initial reaction was to glance at Qi Yan’s ears—where the earplugs were still snugly in place.
“Can you hear me speaking?”
Qi Yan shook his head, pointing to his earplugs. “I can’t hear.”
His gaze fell on Lu Fenghan’s lips. “But I can lip-read.”
Lu Fenghan: “……”
Qi Yan asked again, “Do you want to see the view behind the fortress?”
Only then did Lu Fenghan respond, “Yes.”
Qi Yan nodded. “Then I’ll show you.”
His tone was casual, as if plucking a flower by the roadside.
But Lu Fenghan knew that the fortress’ central control system must be exceptionally secure, far beyond the scale of Turan’s intranet.
Removing his earplugs, Qi Yan paid no further attention to him. Instead, he opened his personal terminal, projecting the screen into the air and bringing up a virtual keyboard, swiftly inputting command characters with one hand.
Lu Fenghan couldn’t understand, but he noticed Qi Yan’s input was incredibly smooth and rapid, with pages of characters continuously refreshing on the screen.
As Qi Yan stopped typing, the projection displayed the surveillance footage from behind the fortress. The screen showed nothing, frozen as if it had glitched.
However, Lu Fenghan remained patient, carefully scrutinizing every corner as if searching for prey hidden in the grass.
After two minutes, a starship gradually approached the fortress from the shadows like a drifting leaf.
Qi Yan also noticed and asked, “What’s that?”
“A microstarship, capable of carrying bombs powerful enough to blast through the fortress’ armor.”
Arms folded, Lu Fenghan pointed lightly, “The defense system has already been breached by three high-sensitivity bombs. It’s been hiding in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity, intending to exploit the distraction caused by the ongoing battle at the front of the fortress. It plans to brute force its way through the fortress’ armor from the easily overlooked catch bay and enter directly.
“The fortress is mostly staffed by unarmed civilians. Once they get in, they will open fire indiscriminately until they find the target.”
Despite the imminent danger, Qi Yan didn’t appear nervous. “So, what do we do?”
“Of course, we’ll blast it to dust with a single shot.” In that moment, Lu Fenghan was like a freshly unsheathed blade, his edge keen. “You can connect to the surveillance and manipulate the artillery, right?”
“Yes,” Qi Yan didn’t say “let me try,” but instead opened another interface, displaying the configuration of all the fortress’ artillery platforms.
“Impressive,” Lu Fenghan’s gaze settled on the configuration map, locating the artillery covering the area where the microstarship was. “Connect to Gun Platform G11-3-25.”
Qi Yan selected it, transferring control of the artillery platform from the central control room to his personal terminal.
A square button appeared on the virtual keyboard.
Lu Fenghan stood behind Qi Yan, his chest almost against Qi Yan’s shoulder blades. He raised his hand to cover Qi Yan’s hand, enclosing it in his own palm, his lips nearing Qi Yan’s delicate earlobe.
Their hands, one calloused, one fair, hovered over the square button together.
Guiding Qi Yan, Lu Fenghan slowly adjusted the aim of the gun barrel with his fingertips.
Meanwhile, at the dark gray base of Fontaine-1, the pitch-black gun barrel extended silently, gradually taking aim at its prey.
Inside the fortress, Lu Fenghan paused, still holding Qi Yan’s hand. His voice was soft. “Here, Qi Yan, let me show you some fireworks.”
As the words fell, the hands pressed the launch button simultaneously, and the projectile shot out!
Silence.
The fireworks burst open in the vast, pitch-black expanse of space.
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Thanks for the chapter! Very date like, lol
Thanks for the update