The Scum Shou’s Survival Guide

The fact that Fort Frederick had been destroyed three years ago because of an infected spy had already planted a seed of distrust of Cossen in the hearts of the people.
This incident pushed him toward the angriest winds and waves once more.

In this world, it was very difficult to become a hero.
He must continuously be victorious and could not make a single mistake. 

Because no matter how great the price you paid, no matter how many things you did right, as long as you did one thing that wasn’t good enough, people would remember your mistake…What was more, the huge defeat they suffered back then truly was an inerasable stain on Cossen’s person.

For the past three years, Cossen had put in endless blood, sweat, and tears in order to resist Xicks.
He always fought at the frontlines.
He was diligent, disciplined, and responsible, finally winning back a bit of the people’s trust.

 

 

But no matter how hard he worked or tried to make up for his shortcomings, it seemed completely flimsy in the face of all the rumors.

Three years was not enough time for people to forget the price of their bitter defeat.
Perhaps he would’ve been able to misstep in some other way, but he absolutely couldn’t shield Harvey.
Not a single misstep was allowed in that regard. 

All sorts of comments spread rapidly.
People began to question Cossen’s character and capabilities.
They believed that perhaps a different person would’ve handled things better.
It wasn’t as if the Human Federation absolutely needed it to be him…People could not tolerate someone who already had been stained and now continued to shield an infected as the leader of the military.

 

Ye Ming couldn’t help but sigh.

[Ye Ming: There has to be someone secretly fanning the flames behind the scenes.
But it’s not Xicks.
As an alien that everyone wants dead, Xicks definitely doesn’t have this kind of influence in the Human Federation.]

[888: Yep, it’s Cossen’s political opponents on the capital star, led by Representative Lindt.
They’ve been wanting to curb Cossen’s power for a long time now, but never managed to do anything because of Cossen’s exceptional prestige in the military.
This entanglement of interests is extremely complicated and can’t be explained in just a few words…But their objective is simple: attack Cossen.]

 

[Ye Ming: Looks like human nature isn’t much different even in an interstellar world.
There are always so many lofty people who pass judgement on everything when they haven’t ever known suffering.
I get some people’s anger and doubt, but they’re seriously too easily led into dogpiling on him…Cossen’s the military’s symbol of vigor and cohesion.
Those people can’t understand how much he’s done in his campaign here over the last couple of years.
If they really replaced him, there won’t be anyone who can occupy the same spot he did in the heart of the soldiers in such a short amount of time, who has the ability to lead the entire military, or who has the reputation needed to sway the masses.
Then the immense Fort Müller will be disorganized as loose sand.
If Xicks forces its remaining infected spies to suddenly revolt in the chaos, it’ll be able to catch the humans completely unprepared.
If they’re not careful, the tragedy of Fort Frederick will repeat itself.]

[Ye Ming: For Xicks, it’s impossible to kill Cossen or boot him from his position as leader of the military, but as long as it sends me to Cossen’s side, it won’t need to anything at all, and there’ll be other humans who’ll help it accomplish its goals.]

[888: Looks like you understand everything already.]

[Ye Ming: To tell the truth, I’ve always had my suspicions.
Why was Xicks willing to send me back, even when it clearly knew I betrayed it? Does it really trust me that much? Now it seems it already predicted that I wouldn’t be obedient.
As long as I continued helping Cossen, when Cossen found out the truth, he would definitely protect me at all costs.
But there’s a heavy price to pay for protecting me.
It’ll make it so that he’s no longer invulnerable.
Those who don’t like Cossen will rush to outdo one another in helping Xicks get rid of him.
Some people will always place their personal interests above the interests of the people.] 

[888: Then what do you plan on doing now?]

[Ye Ming: I have a plan that’s still in the works.
Let’s take it step by step for now…Anyhow, Roy truly is a chess piece Xicks discarded.
I’ll light a candle for him ^_^]

[888: Hehe.]

[Ye Ming: I’m in a bad mood today.
I wanna eat grilled octopus to make myself feel better.
Eat some and toss some.] 

[888: …]

In order to hide his golden eye, Ye Ming wore colored contact lenses, which made him appear just like any normal human being.
Right now, he was very glad Xicks hadn’t transformed him into one of those half-human, half-beast monsters, which would’ve made it inconvenient to go out.
In contrast, it was totally tolerable to deal with just one eye changing color.

Because of the video, many people could recognize his current appearance, so it was still a bit of a risk to go out directly.
So Ye Ming put on an inconspicuous hat that obscured most of his face, and then he actually did manage to find grilled octopus.
After eating and drinking his fill, he made good use of his time and went to the military base.

Ye Ming’s identity was sensitive right now, and it wasn’t convenient for him to walk straight in and out of here.
He stood near the entrance and hesitated for a moment, then sent Brody a message. 

Brody quickly came outside.
Clearly, he also knew what had happened online and was very worried that Ye Ming would run into danger.
A little anxiously, he brought him inside and asked, “How come you’re out and about? No one recognized you, did they?”

Ye Ming smiled a little.
“No.
I was very careful.”

 

Brody sighed in relief and then asked hesitantly, “Are you looking for the marshal?”

Ye Ming nodded. 

Brody said, “He’s in a meeting right now.
I can take you there, but you’ll probably have to wait outside for a while.”

Ye Ming said, smiling, “That’s fine.
I don’t have any other matters to attend to.”

Brody said, “Then come with me.”

Ye Ming followed Brody upstairs.
There were soldiers everywhere here.
If it weren’t for Brody’s help, there was no way he could’ve made it in so easily. 

Brody was worried that Ye Ming would run into danger if he was alone.
When they arrived, he didn’t leave Ye Ming immediately.
Instead, he stood there with him.

Only, because of what had happened before, Brody was ashamed to face Ye Ming.
He looked extremely uneasy, and he didn’t dare force conversation.
The atmosphere felt a bit awkward.

Ye Ming, however, seemed unconcerned.
Beyond being an infected, he was first and foremost a soldier.
He prioritized the mission of protecting humanity above his own life and honor, so at the moment, those matters weren’t a very big deal.
Besides, Brody hadn’t known the truth at the time.
Who would’ve believed Ye Ming under those circumstances?

He didn’t have the energy to blame every single person who didn’t believe him. 

Brody snuck a glance at Ye Ming.
His face flushed red, then went white.
He involuntarily recalled the past.
He seemed to like this person even more now, but it looked like he wouldn’t get the chance to voice these feelings in this lifetime.
The one Ye Ming liked was the marshal.
Plus, Brody had treated him so poorly…

As Brody thought about it, he bowed his head, his eyes sad.

But Ye Ming didn’t notice Brody’s complicated mood.
He suddenly heard a fierce argument erupt from within the meeting room.

Brody heard it too, and he immediately looked toward Ye Ming, worried.
He didn’t even have the time to worry about his own previous discomfort anymore. 

One officer’s boorish, angry voice exclaimed, “Marshal, sir, the current public opinion of you is very unfavorable.
They’re all saying that you’re harboring a traitor out of selfishness.
Don’t you have anything to say to us? If we hadn’t found out about that from outside sources, we wouldn’t have known you’ve already captured Harvey, that traitor! Do you really intend to shield him? You must give us an explanation!”

Cossen’s voice was low and steady.
“General Cassius, please mind your words.
I’ve already explained the situation regarding Harvey and Roy to you.
Harvey isn’t a traitor.
He was wrongly accused.
Naturally, you can’t say that I’m shielding him by keeping him here.”

Lieutenant General Cassius scoffed coldly.
“How can Harvey’s innocence be proven based solely on a few words from Roy? We’ve always been very particular about evidence.
If a charge could be cleared solely on the basis of a few words, then wouldn’t that be too easy? I figure we won’t even have to capture any infected in the future.
Even if we capture them, they can just say they’re not spies, that they’re being wrongly accused.”

Although Cossen had great prestige here in the military, there were still some factional disputes between high-ranking officers.
Lieutenant General Cassius’s clan didn’t have a very good relationship with Cossen; on the contrary, they were closer to Representative Lindt. 

He wouldn’t have dared speak to Cossen like this in the past.
He only dared to do so now that he had something to hold against him, which he rarely did.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Lieutenant General Cassius wanted to say something else, but General Monroe coughed, interrupting him.

General Monroe had always had quite a good relationship with Cossen, and he got along well with people.
This time, he meant to step in as a mediator.
He said, “There isn’t sufficient evidence as of yet, but considering that Roy has said what he said, we can’t just accuse people as we please because of public opinion and outside pressure.
Harvey was once one of us.
He was our comrade.
In any case, we should at least hold off on making a decision until after everything is made clear.
Rushing to hand him over in order to appease the public’s anger would be a truly distasteful move.” 

Lieutenant General Cassius sneered, “Then when will the truth be made clear? We don’t have the time to slowly investigate right now.
If we don’t give people an explanation as quickly as possible, none of us will be able to afford the consequences.
We’re risking our lives here to fight the alien beasts, and yet they’ve begun calling us incompetent, useless soldiers.
They say we’ve long since been corrupted by the infected from the inside.
Can you bear the weight of that kind of accusation?”

Although General Monroe knew that Lieutenant General Cassius’s words were coming from a place of selfishness, it was true that the current situation was not looking very optimistic.
He thought about it, then turned to Cossen and said, “Marshal, sir, I understand your desire to clear Harvey’s name, but it indeed wasn’t in accordance with procedure to conceal the news and keep him of your own accord, and it gives people an opportunity to attack you.
Why don’t you hand him over, keep him in prison, and wait for the investigation and retrial? That way, Harvey’s life won’t be in danger for now, and it’ll put a stop to the outside gossip.
Wouldn’t that be the best option for everyone involved?”

The emotions deep in Cossen’s eyes were conflicted.
He clenched his fists and didn’t reply to General Monroe.

He knew General Monroe was trying to give him an out.
Handing Harvey over was the most favorable option in order to maintain stability within the military.
But General Monroe was only considering the overall situation and was overlooking what Harvey would be up against.
In truth, this was also a disguised attempt to abandon him. 

Apart from Roy’s testimony, there was no way Cossen would be able to produce enough evidence to clear the charges against Harvey in such a short amount of time.
If they imprisoned Harvey, he would very quickly be put on trial, and his case would be handed over to the highest military tribunal.
There was no way Cossen would be able to control the trial before the entire world.

It was highly likely that Harvey would still be put to death or sent to a research facility as a rare infected specimen, losing his name and his freedom.
Whichever the outcome, Cossen could not accept it.

He couldn’t watch the person he loved be condemned and tormented like that when he was innocent.

So even though Cossen knew that his taking the risk to keep Harvey was very irrational, he still didn’t want to hand him over.
Because once he did so, the angry masses would push Harvey to a tragic death.
They urgently need someone to hold responsible for their past defeat. 

Cossen swept his sharp gaze over the people in the meeting room.
In a deep voice, he said, “There’s no need to speak of this anymore.
I already have plans for how to take care of Harvey.”

General Monroe didn’t expect that even at this point, Cossen still would not budge at all.
His expression twisted a little.
He asked, “Do you really want to do this?”

Cossen lifted his eyebrows.
Slowly, firmly, he said, “I definitely would not shield any traitor! Since Harvey isn’t a traitor, I have a responsibility to clear the charges against him.
If we hastily pushed an innocent person forward to take the blame in order to save our own asses any time anyone questions us, then I apologize…I’m not that kind of person.
I must let them down.”

General Monroe was a little anxious.
“But…” 

Cossen stood up, his cold, sharp gaze sweeping over the group.
“Today’s meeting is over.” Then he strode out first, completely ignoring the unpleasant expressions on everyone else’s faces.

As soon as Cossen exited, he saw Brody and Ye Ming standing outside, and his expression flickered slightly, his eyes softening at once.
He asked, “Why are you here?”

Ye Ming knew that it wasn’t a good idea to talk here.
Quietly, he said, “Let’s talk in your office.”

Cossen nodded and went downstairs with Ye Ming, indicating to Brody that he could go off to deal with his own matters now that Cossen was here. 

Brody nodded.
Before he left, he told Ye Ming, “Don’t be sad, I’m on your side!”

Ye Ming couldn’t resist smiling.

 

Cossen returned to his office with Ye Ming, shut the door, and finally said warmly, “Why didn’t you stay at home? Were you bored?”

Ye Ming said, “I already know what’s going on online.
I also overheard your meeting just now.” 

Cossen’s expression went rigid for a second.
He pursed his lips and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

Ye Ming smiled grudgingly.
“It’ll be very hard for you to find evidence—after all, Roy did everything himself, and he’s sure to have covered all his tracks.
And Fort Frederick…is already gone.”

Cossen slowly said, “Nonetheless, I won’t let them continue to wrongly accuse you.
I’ll protect you.”

But Ye Ming wasn’t very optimistic.
After a long silence, he couldn’t help but say, “Honestly, General Monroe’s idea isn’t bad…” 

Cossen was a little bit angry, and also a little bit sad all of a sudden.
He interrupted Ye Ming, “Don’t you know what that’ll mean for you?!”

You’ll become a scapegoat, because there are all those people and they don’t care whether you’re guilty or innocent…All they know is that you’re an infected and that they have to provide a wrongdoer to take the blame.

Even if you really are being wrongly accused, nothing good will become of you, simply because you’re an infected.

Ye Ming’s lips parted, and he lowered his eyes, his gaze sorrowful.
How could he possibly be unaware? 

But he really didn’t want to see Cossen pay such a price in order to protect him.

If he didn’t stay, Cossen would be sad.
If he did stay, Cossen would be stuck in a dilemma.
Perhaps his very existence was a mistake.

Cossen let out a sigh.
He held Ye Ming against his chest.
His voice was tender and low, “Sorry, I spoke a little bit too agitatedly…”

He paused, a profound expression in his eyes, then said slowly and steadily, “Please stay by my side, okay? I’ll think of something.” 

Ye Ming sighed and finally dropped the idea of handing himself over.
Instead, he asked, “Do you know who leaked the information?”

Cossen furrowed his eyebrows.
“I’m still trying to find out.”

There hadn’t been many people present during Ye Ming’s interrogation; there was only Brody and his trusted aides.
They definitely wouldn’t betray him.
So who was it that leaked the information?

……………… 

The opinions online continued to stew.
The pressure on Cossen grew day by day, and he came home later and later every day.

In order not to inconvenience Cossen, Ye Ming didn’t go out again.
Right now, it was too dangerous to.

 

That is, until three days later, when he unexpectedly received a message from Cossen that said he’d captured the one who leaked the secret, but they demanded to see Ye Ming or else they wouldn’t talk.
Cossen was now sending Brody to bring Ye Ming over.

Ye Ming was very curious about who’d leaked the video and why they absolutely had to see him, so he hurried over very quickly. 

Cossen was waiting for Ye Ming inside of the interrogation room.
When he saw him arrive, he nodded slightly and said, “We figured it out.
It was Doctor Sliderly that leaked the video.
At the time, he himself had requested to participate in your interrogation.
Although we ordered him to stay silent about it afterwards, he still uploaded the video, despite the risks.”

Ye Ming turned to look at the handsome, treacherous, black-haired, green-eyed man fastened to the chair.
He instinctively felt ill at ease.
He could still remember the sight of this man as he’d circled him.
He’d looked at him like he was looking at a priceless test subject.
Both his tone and bearing made him feel very unhappy.

But he hadn’t expected him to be the one to leak the video.

Cossen turned around and said coldly, “Doctor Sliderly, you said that we must remove surveillance and that you had to see Ye Ming, or else you wouldn’t talk.
He’s here now, so you can talk now.” 

Sliderly paid Cossen no attention.
He looked only at Ye Ming, staring at him intently, emitting a strange, raspy voice, “You’re here.”

When Ye Ming heard it, he shuddered from head to toe.
He looked up at him fixedly, his face deathly pale.

The countless terrifying memories rooted deep in his heart rushed forth in an instant.
He trembled minutely.

Cossen immediately noticed that something was wrong with Ye Ming.
Also, the voice that had come from Sliderly just now was completely different from his voice before.
It was as if something was controlling him from somewhere far, far away, forcing him to say these words, like his body had been taken over by a different soul. 

Sliderly slowly twisted his head.
His movements were very subtle and stiff.
Faintly, his pupils shone a strange gold.
His mouth opened, then closed; he looked like a puppet.
He said, word by word, “My child, you’ve betrayed me again.”

When Ye Ming heard that, it seemed like a horrible nightmare had finally come true.
He staggered backwards a step.
His pupils constricted, and his voice shook.
“I-impossible.
How can you be here…”

This voice was exactly the same as Xicks’s when it had spoken in his mind.
But there was clearly a human being in front of him.

‘Sliderly’ looked at Ye Ming, fixing his gaze on his golden eye.
His lips curled into an odd grin.
“My most perfect creation, do you like the appearance I crafted for you?” 

Ye Ming clenched his fists tightly.
It took everything he had in him to quell the dread in his heart.
Cossen was standing right next to him, and this was human territory.
He had no reason to fear this monster!

He quickly looked up, his eyes shining dazzlingly with determination.
“What do you want to say to me?”

‘Sliderly’ smiled.
Slowly, he said, “I just want to tell you that you’ve made me very angry and disappointed, so be prepared to come back and be punished…”

At those words, Ye Ming recalled what Xicks had said to him when he awoke from that unending nightmare: it told him to prove his loyalty by fetching Cossen’s severed head, otherwise, he would be fused into its body… 

Ye Ming thought of the torture he endured inside of Xicks’s body.
Looking into those green eyes, he felt like he could see Xicks gazing back at him from some faraway corner of the universe, icy as a deadly wave of cold.
He was instantly submerged in deep, endless fear.
Even if he’d left that place…the pain was still engraved into his soul.

Ye Ming finally couldn’t bear it anymore and fell to his knees on the ground, gasping for breath.
He gripped his collar tightly.
His face was twisted in pain and fear.

 

‘Sliderly’ glanced down at him.
He said insipidly, “Come back and become a part of me once more.
Be with me forever…”

He hadn’t finished his sentence before his head was blown off by a bullet, leaving only a headless body on the chair! 

Cossen’s expression was solemn and stoic.
He put down the gun in his hand and turned to look anxiously at Ye Ming.
Worriedly, he asked, “How are you?” He felt very remorseful; he shouldn’t have rashly let Ye Ming come here…He completely hadn’t predicted what just happened.
He didn’t think there’d be any danger at all.

When he finally realized something was wrong, he immediately shot Sliderly dead, but Ye Ming’s pain didn’t seem to dissipate.

What—exactly was going on?

Ye Ming gripped his collar, his entire body shaking.
After a long time, he finally seemed to realize that he was no longer under Xicks’s control.
And that person wasn’t Xicks—he was just a puppet controlled by Xicks. 

Ye Ming looked up and saw a tiny tentacle-like thing squirming in a chunk of Sliderly’s blown apart flesh.
He suddenly grabbed the gun from Cossen’s hand and fired repeatedly at that tiny tentacle! Then he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his hands began to tremble again.

Cossen didn’t rush to ask Ye Ming what was going on.
He knew that once Ye Ming had calmed down, he would explain.

All sorts of conjectures flitted through Ye Ming’s mind.
Finally, he decided that Xicks had taken control of this human via that parasitic tentacle.
Before this, no one had ever known Xicks could control people this way.

Sliderly wasn’t an infected, and yet it had controlled him.
But the cost of using this method was surely very high, or else Xicks would’ve long since taken control of countless others, rather than revealing this method only now. 

It was clear it had run out of patience and was using up its trump cards in order to deal with Cossen.
When it exposed Sliderly, it had given away this method.
Deliberately coming here and saying these things was only meant to cause trouble for Cossen, that was all.

Ye Ming sucked in a deep breath.
He told Cossen, “That wasn’t Sliderly talking to me just now.
That was Xicks.”

Cossen was very shocked.
No one had ever seen Xicks, even though they knew Xicks had many underlings.
It had always existed only by word of mouth.
Even its appearance and whereabouts were a mystery; face to face communication with it was completely inconceivable.
Humans only learned of its existence through the mouths of those infected and alien beasts.

Cossen thought of Ye Ming’s pained look from a moment ago and remembered how Roy said Xicks had tortured Ye Ming endlessly.
Xicks had also said it would personally punish Ye Ming, who had betrayed it once again…What kind of horrifying torment could make Ye Ming so distressed just by hearing the sound of its voice? 

Yet these past three years, I was completely clueless about it.
Instead, I foolishly thought you had betrayed me…

Cossen felt absolutely horrible.
He was overwhelmed by his powerlessness and guilt.
He wrapped an arm around Ye Ming’s shoulder and held him against his chest, resolving never to let Ye Ming fall into Xicks’s grasp again! He would never let him endure such pain again!

Ye Ming felt Cossen’s embrace.
Its warmth dispelled the fear Xicks had brought to him.
Slowly, his expression became calm, and he continued, “It probably took over Sliderly as a parasite, which allowed it to control him.
Cossen…”

Cossen lowered his head.
“I’m here,” he said. 

Ye Ming lifted his eyes, looking sorrowful and helpless.
He said, “You’ve probably already guessed that if Sliderly has been under Xicks’s control all along, then his using the separation serum on me and revealing my identity as an infected…It was all premeditated.
It wants to use me to drag you down and cause a rift in the human military.”

“When it first sent me back, its orders were for me to kill you.
Now it looks like it actually wanted to use me to destroy you.
It’s completely meaningless even if I’ve betrayed it again and identified the traitor—I’m still a weapon it’s using to hurt you.”

 

“The more you defend me, the more you make an enemy out of the people, and the more you go along with its plans.”

Cossen had evidently realized this as well.
Even though he’d already had a bad feeling previously, sensing that he was being targeted, Sliderly being controlled by a parasite finally laid the truth out completely bare. 

Xicks didn’t care at all if he knew the truth, because this was an obvious multiple-choice question.
The answer was right there, and yet you couldn’t select it unfeelingly.

Ye Ming said softly, “You should hand me over to assuage the people’s anger.
Keeping me here will harm not only you but also the entire Human Federation.
I won’t be executed right away.
You must…let me go.”

Cossen held Ye Ming tightly.
He said, “We still have another option.”

How could he truly be forced into an impasse by a trifling, despicable plot? If Xicks dared to attack Fort Müller again, Cossen would wipe out its army completely! 

Cossen dipped his head and gently kissed Ye Ming’s forehead.
The emotions in his dark red eyes were profound and resolute, and in them there was also a sort of self-assurance.
He said, “Trust me, okay? This is human territory.
A monster like Xicks can’t get away with whatever it wants here!”

Ye Ming looked at Cossen a little bit despondently.
But he couldn’t think of any other option…

He didn’t want to become a weapon Xicks could use to harm Cossen—the thought of it made him sad.
Did he have to be protected by Cossen like a cumbersome burden?

He’d originally wanted to protect humanity.
He loved the humans, but the humans only hated and loathed him…This made him sad and hurt. 

It was all because he was an infected.
If only he weren’t an infected…

Then they wouldn’t have to undergo such tribulations.

Cossen gently stroked Ye Ming’s cheek and offered him a reassuring glance.
He spoke steadily, “Don’t worry.
Xicks wants to use public opinion to coerce us and divide and rattle the human military.
I’ll make it realize that its idea is way too naive.”

Ye Ming forced a smile. 

Just then, there was a sudden outburst of commotion outside, and there was the sound of gunshots.

Brody flung the door open and stumbled inside.
He seemed to have been injured, and there were bruises on his face.
Urgently, he said, “Lieutenant General Cassius’s men have surrounded this place.
Representative Lindt came with him from the capital star as a special envoy.
He brought with him orders from the highest level of government requesting you to immediately hand Harvey over.”

Cossen’s eyes were frigid.
Lieutenant General Cassius and Representative Lindt had not only teamed up, but also dared to directly make a move against him.
They were definitely taking this opportunity to mutiny! What an excuse!

Brody told Cossen, “You should take Harvey and go first.
I’ll hold them off!” 

Cossen stood there, his expression grave.

The present situation was indeed critical.
Lieutenant General Cassius was intending to make the first move in order to gain the upper hand.
He was already at an advantage with the orders from the highest level of government in his possession.
If he gained control of Ye Ming on top of that, he could not only continue to pin the blame on Ye Ming, but also use Ye Ming to implicate Cossen and drag him down as well.
So he absolutely could not let them get their hands on Ye Ming.

 

However, the one he was waiting for had not yet arrived…

Cossen clenched his jaw tight.
Finally, he instructed, “Hold them off.
I’ll leave with Harvey first.” 

Ye Ming could see that Brody’s injuries weren’t light.
Supposedly, Cassius wouldn’t dare to straight up kill anyone right now—that would be too unjustifiable of him.
But everyone knew that Brody was Cossen’s right hand man.
What if Cassius took advantage of this opportunity to do something underhanded? If he claimed that he’d killed Brody by accident, who would be able to prove otherwise?

Since Cassius had already made his move, he must certainly be staking everything and would not give up until he achieved his goal, because if he didn’t succeed, he definitely wouldn’t be able to endure Cossen’s counterattack! There was no turning back for him now.

It was much too dangerous for Brody to stay behind!

Ye Ming hurriedly said, “Come with us…” 

Brody looked at Ye Ming intently and gave him a shy, rarely seen smile.
He said, “I’ll be fine.
You go first.”

Like I said, I will definitely protect you!

Cossen understood that as well, but he was determined.
He grabbed Ye Ming’s wrist and said, his voice deep, “Time is running out.
Let’s first—”

Just then, the ground quaked, and there was a loud rumble—hundreds of times louder than the previous commotion—that stunned everyone. 

Brody looked surprised and astonished.
Did Lieutenant General Cassius actually dare use heavy weaponry here at the military base? Had he gone insane? Had he stopped caring about his outward reputation?

Right now, however, he didn’t have the time to think too deeply about it.
He had to let Cossen and Ye Ming leave first.
He said, “Hurry up and go!”

But this time, Cossen didn’t move.
He squinted a little bit, gazing outside.
A faint, nearly imperceptible smile finally graced his lips.
He said, “We don’t need to go anymore.”

Because the person he’d been waiting for had finally come. 

Brody turned around to stare blankly outside.
In fact, right now, everyone was looking outside in the same direction.

In the plaza at the center of the base towered an enormous silvery-white mech that was bigger and more magnificent than any fighter ship here.
Her silvery-white, streamlined contours, her wings, and her beautiful, grand design made it exceptionally clear that this was an awe-inspiring weapon of war, but so beautiful at the same time.
It was captivating.

But this wasn’t the entire reason everyone was staring at her.
Her allure was unparalleled not simply because of her powerful charm, but chiefly because everyone in the Human Federation knew who this mech belonged to.

It was silent everywhere.
Everyone halted their movements and looked deferentially in that direction. 

A moment later, the cockpit in the middle of the mech finally opened up slowly, revealing the owner sitting inside.

She extended her long legs, standing up in the middle of the enormous mech.
She looked like she was standing in the palm of an ancient giant.
Then she leapt straight down from the cockpit over a hundred meters in the air and landed steadily on the ground!

 

Slowly, she straightened.
Her close-fitting combat uniform left nothing of her tall, lithe figure to the imagination.
She raised her head, smiling prettily and nobly, and her silver hair and violet eyes glimmered under the sunlight.

Everyone gazed at her adoringly and bowed in respect. 

The princess, Her Highness Veronica.

Twin sister of His Highness Saen.

She had arrived.