Limited Ambiguity Chapter 48

Chapter 48.1

Diamond Sky Plaza.

Nie Huaiting hastily left the rostrum. Immediately after, Klimo and Hodgkin followed. Lu Fenghan ushered Xia Zhiyang and the other two away from the crowd, seeking refuge under a nearby tree.

Xia Zhiyang was puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

Lu Fenghan looked towards the giant holographic screen.

The rostrum now stood empty, save for the lone figure of the Secretary-General. Perhaps the departure of the three generals did not arouse suspicion among the crowd.

Lu Fenghan’s expression became serious. “If I told you that Leto is in imminent danger and that the rebels have reached the vicinity, would you believe me?”

Xia Zhiyang laughed. “Hahaha, how could that be? Today is the Alliance’s Foundation Day, how could the rebels—”

The smile on his face faded bit by bit as he looked at Qi Yan first, then back at Lu Fenghan. “Seriously? You really mean it? You’re not joking?”

Lu Fenghan answered candidly, “Eighty percent sure.”

He underestimated this figure. The true probability was closer to ninety-five percent, with the remaining five percent being a mere stroke of luck.

Ye Pei and Mondrian exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and spoke first, “I believe you!”

Xia Zhiyang raised his hand hesitantly. “I… I believe you too!”

Though it sounded like a fantastical tale, there was something about Lu Fenghan’s demeanor that made his words oddly convincing.

Even though he was just Qi Yan’s bodyguard.

Mondrian: “So, what do we do now?”

Lu Fenghan: “Time is short. What are your thoughts?”

Ye Pei swiftly made a decision, “I’m going home! If something happens, my parents are there!” She turned to Mondrian, “Want to come with me?”

She knew that Mondrian’s parents had been assassinated by the rebels, leaving him without any other relatives in Leto.

Mondrian immediately nodded. “Yes, I’ll come with you!”

Xia Zhiyang hastily added, “I’ll go home too!”

Lu Fenghan nodded. “Each of you return home. Once there, find a place to hide from the explosions.”

Ye Pei: “And what about you?”

Lu Fenghan glanced at Qi Yan.

Qi Yan: “I’ll go with him.”

After a brief farewell, the three ran against the crowd towards the exit.

Lu Fenghan stared at Qi Yan. “Are you really coming with me?”

Qi Yan nodded earnestly. “Yes, it’s in the contract. You must protect me, at any time, in any place. And the contract period isn’t over yet.”

Lu Fenghan studied him for several seconds, then laughed softly. “Alright, I’ll protect you.”

Outside the command post.

Nie Huaiting, clad in a black military uniform, strode into the command room with an aura as chilling as winter, the four silver stars on his epaulets reflecting the sharpness of metal.

Klimo and Hodgkin followed a few steps behind him, their faces equally composed.

Abruptly, Nie Huaiting halted, then turned on his heel and drew his gun, aiming straight at Klimo’s forehead!

Klimo’s pupils dilated, his voice lowering. “Nie Huaiting, what are you doing?”

Tension filled the air.

Hodgkins stood to the side, startled and unsure how to intervene. Resorting to his usual role of peacemaker, he urged, “The situation is critical right now. Let’s focus on the bigger picture!”

Nie Huaiting’s gaze was dark and brooding, his grip on the gun causing creases to form on his hand, yet it remained remarkably steady. His shadow fell on the floor, its edges sharp and defined.

“This question should be directed at you, Woodrow Klimo. What are you doing?”

Klimo sneered. “What’s this? You think blocking the communication channels was my order?”

Nie Huaiting didn’t speak.

After nearly ten seconds of tense silence, he lowered his gun, leaving only one sentence. “If the order came from you, I will kill you.”

The command room was filled with an ominous atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Lu Fenghan and Qi Yan had already boarded a hovercar and swiftly departed from the Diamond Sky Plaza.

Lu Fenghan’s personal terminal remained lit up as Vincent continuously relayed various pieces of intelligence.

“General Nie just pulled his gun on Klimo! But in the end, he put it down! Could it be that General Nie concluded Klimo wasn’t behind the communication blockade? Or perhaps he fears a mutiny from the pro-peace faction in this critical moment, so he spared Klimo’s life temporarily to stabilize the situation?”

Lu Fenghan’s gaze flickered slightly. “Both are possible.”

“Now there’s an urgent meeting behind closed doors. We have no idea what’s happening inside! It’s been confirmed that the communication channels were blocked internally,” Vincent’s teeth clenched as he spoke, forcing himself back into composure, “The blockade has been breached, and communications have been restored successfully. According to the latest updates, Fontaine-1, acting as Leto’s vanguard, has been entirely wiped out. It’s reported they sent back hundreds of ‘enemy attack’ signals before their final moments!”

Vincent’s voice choked for a moment.

Lu Fenghan’s breath caught.

Qi Yan, upon hearing the news, couldn’t help but look up at the sky.

He still remembered seeing the fortress floating in the space as they left Fontaine-1. Every person inside, once seen, remained vividly in his memory.

The entire fortress… wiped out?

“The rebels are approaching the outer perimeter of Leto’s defense system, armed with a large number of unidentified weapons. The small-scale fighter jets have completed preheating and are ready to engage the enemy!”

The information was too overwhelming, even for Vincent, who had seen his fair share of combat and was accustomed to the urgency of war. He struggled to discern what was crucial and what was secondary.

Lu Fenghan gripped the control lever, eyes fixed ahead. Countless thoughts raced through his mind, feeling as though some crucial detail had been overlooked…

A sudden icy sensation crept up Lu Fenghan’s spine, causing his grip to tighten around the control lever. “The control room of the capital star’s defense system!”

Vincent was momentarily caught off guard. “What?”

“Who’s in charge of the control room right now?”

Vincent’s breath caught in his throat as he struggled to respond. After a tense silence that lasted for over a dozen seconds, he finally managed to answer, “Klimo! It was initially under General Nie’s control for three months, no, four months—I’m not sure. Klimo demanded control of the capital star’s defense system from General Nie, who refused. Eventually, they compromised, and the control was transferred to Hodgkin. A few days ago, after General Nie officially stepped down as the Alliance Supreme Commander, Klimo immediately wrested control from Hodgkin!”

The final word hung in the air, its weight echoing in the tense silence. Vincent’s heart pounded like a drum in his chest as he rasped out, “Commander—”

Lu Fenghan’s face turned into a mask of cold determination, his eyes glinting like twin blades.

Vincent’s voice trembled uncontrollably. “Commander, could it be—”

At that very moment, a deafening explosion erupted from an unknown direction, the shockwaves reverberating through the hovercar, causing the windows to tremble violently.

Vincent’s side of the communication crackled with static, “Commander, it’s a dwarf planet-class space missile!”

Lu Fenghan slammed down the accelerator with force.

He could already discern the nature of the explosion with his acute hearing alone.

A space missile had struck Leto. What did that signify?

It meant Leto’s defense system had been deactivated, deactivated from within!

Leto, the Alliance’s capital star, was now completely exposed under the rebels’ cannons.

If it hadn’t happened before everyone’s eyes at this moment, who would dare to imagine it?

Vincent couldn’t believe it. “Unless authorized by a four-star general, no one can shut down the defense system without permission!” After saying this, he muttered to himself, “Klimo… has he really betrayed the Alliance?”

The more critical the situation, the calmer Lu Fenghan’s voice became. “I’m seventy seconds away from the ground control room of the capital star’s defense system. I’ll seize control first and contact you if anything happens.”

Vincent: “Understood!”

The bustling cityscape outside dissolved into a blur of indistinguishable colors as the hovercar tore through the streets, the electronic voice’s persistent warnings about overspeeding going unnoticed by Lu Fenghan.

At this moment, a notification appeared on his personal terminal—a message on the encrypted channel.

A certain suspicion surged in his heart. Lu Fenghan’s fingertip trembled, taking two seconds before clicking it.

Lines of text appeared, each word seeming to bleed.

“Pick up your weapons and protect the stars behind you.”

“Commander, I did not dishonor our mission.”

“Fontaine-1, the entire fortress, falls in sacrifice. May the survivors cherish life.”

Lu Fenghan clenched his fist, slamming it fiercely on the hovercar’s control panel, bloodshot eyes betraying his inner turmoil.

——The entire fortress falls in sacrifice!

Qi Yan, seated in the passenger seat, reached out and placed his hand over Lu Fenghan’s clenched fist.

After a moment of silence, Lu Fenghan finally relaxed and clasped his hand in return.

Qi Yan projected the virtual screen of his personal terminal into the air and informed Lu Fenghan, “I accessed the system. There have been personnel changes in the ground control room over the past six months, with a significant increase in the past month. A total of twenty-three personnel were transferred, fourteen of whom are suspicious. Today, eleven of them, along with fifty-three employees who has been serving for five years, are currently on duty.”

Lu Fenghan suppressed all his emotions, his voice hoarse as he asked, “Who authorized these transfers?”

Suddenly, he remembered what an old soldier had told him when he first arrived at the front lines—there’s no time for mourning on the battlefield.

“The overall supervisor of the control room, Colonel Gavriel,” Qi Yan added, “And I’ve obtained direct access to the ground control room.”

Capital star’s defense system ground control room.

Gavriel was reassuring his panicked subordinates, “From the information we’ve received, the rebels have already formed up outside the capital star, but the current situation is unclear. We must remain calm until we receive orders from the higher-ups to attack! Until then, no one is to act on their own initiative!”

He emphasized again, “You must trust that our defense system will hold Leto as firm as a fortress!”

The atmosphere in the control room was almost stagnant, with everyone focused on their control panels.

Only a few people knew that Gavriel had taken control of the control room’s external communication channels, and at this moment, all the “real-time messages” received by the control room were fabricated.

Of course, they would never receive any so-called orders from the higher-ups.

In reality, the defense system of the capital star hadn’t been activated at all. It had been shut down by Gavriel using the authority of a four-star general three minutes ago!

When a female soldier with long hair asked why there hadn’t been any orders from higher-ups yet, Gavriel replied, “Our current situation with the rebels is vastly different from before. It’s prudent for the higher-ups to make careful decisions. We must all remain patient.”

At that moment, the metal door behind Gavriel suddenly slid open to both sides. He instinctively turned back, frowning as he demanded, “Who are you people?”

The fact that they entered the control room without triggering any alarms meant they had valid access permissions.

But both of them were complete strangers.

Lu Fenghan pulled out a folding pistol.

It was the same one Qi Yan had taken from inside the ISOC’s elevator wall. He had kept it instead of returning it, never imagining he would actually need it.

The gun’s muzzle was now trained on Gavriel’s forehead.

Gavriel took a half step back, shouting sternly, “Who the hell are you?!” He then raised his voice, “These must be rebels! Someone, quick—!”

Dripping with ominous aura, Lu Fenghan pulled the trigger directly, the gunshot interrupting Gavriel’s words with a loud “bang.”

“Gavriel colluded with the rebels, putting the Alliance’s capital star in jeopardy. Given the circumstances, he’s executed on the spot.”

As Lu Fenghan spoke, he compared the people in the control room with the photos Qi Yan provided him, identifying the eleven individuals on the list.

Then, with each gunshot, a life was taken.

“Feng Ye, guilty as charged.”

“Ben Qi, guilty as charged.”

“Elliott, guilty as charged.”

……

Eleven consecutive gunshots.

In less than a minute.

Lu Fenghan moved with the precision of a grim reaper, each shot a chilling reminder of his deadly purpose. The sound of his scythe dragging across the floor echoed in the minds of those who witnessed his ruthless efficiency.

The control room, once bustling, now fell into silence.

Lu Fenghan appeared anything but a killer, even allowing his gun to hang lazily with its barrel still hot. With a casual glance around, he announced, “Execution done. Now, I trust everyone will cooperate.”

His recent actions and these words also served as a warning to the few stragglers.

After an intense silence, someone screamed.

These soldiers, all in non-combat positions, had never set foot on a battlefield, and for most, this was their first encounter with bloodshed.

Soon, a long-haired female soldier stepped forward, calmly questioning, “Why should we trust you?”

The next moment, Qi Yan, who had been inputting commands with his head down, spoke up, “The capital star’s defense system has been reactivated. In the past three seconds, a total of thirty-one dwarf-planet-class space missiles have been intercepted.”

The female soldier was astonished. “What did you say?”

Then, someone else realized, “He’s right. The defense system is turned on! It was just in the off state!”

“He’s telling the truth! Gavriel was just fooling us!”

The remaining people forgot about the recent string of gunshots and rushed to the control panels.

Lu Fenghan continued Qi Yan’s statement, “Before this, Gavriel had shut down the defense system, and several dwarf-planet-class space missiles from the rebels had struck the capital star.”

He surveyed the crowd. “From now on, the fate of Leto rests in your hands!”

The female soldier who had initially questioned the situation, stepped back along with the others and saluted Lu Fenghan. “We will not fail!”

Lu Fenghan returned the salute.

Another person spoke urgently, “It’s not enough. Gavriel is dead, and we lack the authority. At most, we can only raise the defense level to A.”

Without hesitation, Lu Fenghan strode over to the speaker, entered a string of numbers on the authorization interface, verified his fingerprint, and inputted a triple key.

The electronic voice chimed in, “Verification successful. Defense level confirmed: S.”

Everyone present knew that only Alliance Generals had the authority to raise the defense level.

However, Lu Fenghan didn’t disclose his identity, and no one dared to ask.

Authorization granted.

The four walls of the control room lit up, revealing a complete starmap. In the center of the control room, a clear sphere emerged—it was Leto.

The defensive grid surrounding Leto was already in place, with a thin layer of light covering each piece of land.

Before leaving, Lu Fenghan faced the female soldier who had questioned him earlier. “Can the Alliance trust you?”

The female soldier nodded, her gaze resolute. “I graduated from the First Military Academy. Our motto there is to fight only for the Alliance and never retreat!”

Lu Fenghan’s lips curved into a smile as he handed the folding pistol to her. “Now that the defense grid is fully activated and only a four-star general can deactivate it, I entrust this gun to you. If anyone tries to endanger the Alliance again, you have the authority to take decisive action.”

The female soldier accepted the gun solemnly.

Back in the hovercar, Qi Yan asked, “Where are we going now?”

“To the launch tower.”

These words immediately reminded Qi Yan of his first day on Leto. In Xia Zhiyang’s limited-edition, fiery red hovercar, Xia Zhiyang had pointed out the launch tower bearing the military’s longsword and silver shield emblem.

Xia Zhiyang had mentioned that despite living in Leto for over a decade, he still had no idea what was being launched from that tower.

Before they could travel far, a large crater blasted into the road ahead, blocking their path. Without hesitation, Lu Fenghan steered the vehicle to decelerate and skillfully maneuvered around the obstruction.

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