Chapter 1

Dizzy and with blurred vision, Yu Lian could hardly feel anything except pain all over his body. In his ears, apart from the ominous ringing in his eardrums, there was even more annoying noise and clamor.

However, Yu Lian felt a bit happy.

After all, the moment his previous memory stopped was not a pleasant one—He didn't know why he still woke up, with his eyes radiating a brilliance like that of a star, and the massive mouth spewing out a gamma-ray burst powerful enough to tear apart a Titan battleship.

With his high-level psionic abilities and decades of experience traversing the stars, he could determine:

"Hopeless! Dead for sure! Wait for the next life!"

However, the eternal annihilation he expected did not come, which of course was worth celebrating with champagne.

So, those two kids pulled me out? Smugglers can also save a great hero from the mouth of the Star Dragon, enough to boast about for the next century, right?

Sure! When I recover, I'll teach you whatever you want to learn, and I won't hide anything you want to know.

"He's already a goner, we really have to..." a man's voice said urgently.

Retract the previous statement, smugglers are still smugglers!

"Three comrades have already died today! Sir!"

Right, this is the kind of cultivation a smuggler with ideals, aspirations, and integrity should have... Wait, this seems to be a rather young woman's voice? I don't remember there being any pretty girls on your ship.

Because the girl's voice was very pleasant, brisk, and a bit stern, it was Yu Lian's type, so he thought she must be a beautiful girl.

"But his power armor is already ruined, and given the current situation... Are you planning to drag him back step by step?" The voice that previously wanted to abandon him became more agitated.

"I didn't think it was a question, Sir!" (The beautiful girl, as Yu Lian thought) refused to back down.

"Watch your attitude! Sergeant Xilika!"

At this point, even Yu Lian, whose head was still dizzy and whose intelligence and judgment had not recovered to even a tenth of his usual level, felt something was off.

Sir? Sergeant?

I haven't dealt with military organizations for at least five or six years. Yu Lian was certain that if a proper military organization really encountered him, they would either be in deep mourning or overjoyed, but they would never have this attitude.

Desperate to figure out the current situation, he felt his eyelids weren't as heavy, and he managed to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was an endless expanse of sandstone that seemed to shimmer with a golden hue. The heat caused the air, filled with dust, to form a visual distortion on the horizon. Above it was a sky of azure, and two suns, one blue and one red, like the eyes of a deity.

As the saying goes, "The vast desert with a straight rising smoke, the long river with a pair of setting suns!"

"This must be Tatooine... Oh, I've been using this old joke for decades, how boring!" Yu Lian was sad about his own bad taste, and then in half a second, he determined that he should be on New Jade Gate, the first colony planet developed by humans in the Andromeda galaxy.

He was too familiar with every grain of sand and every patch of soil here.

New Jade Gate... It was like a second hometown for him, but this was the name before humans lost the planet.

"We are just newcomers to New Jade Gate! Don't you understand? We are already in grave danger!" The person called "Sir" by Sergeant Xilika shouted again.

So, your conversation is so out of place! What do you mean by "just a few years"? Isn't it the 884th year of the Galactic Common Era? Humans have lost this "Andromeda's Yellow Jade Gem" for nearly half a century!

It was also renamed "Iron King's Territory" by its new owners, a rather tasteless Kaitai name.

"They're coming!" A third voice sounded, with a hint of panic.

Yu Lian could hear rapid and heavy breathing, the sound of mechanical exoskeletons rubbing, the click of bullets being chambered, and the roar of power axes and chainswords. All of this made him feel like he was in a surreal farce, and he couldn't feel any tension at all.

He propped himself up halfway—just this action drained all his strength—and quickly assessed his condition.

Yu Lian told himself that even if it felt out of place and even if every bone in his body ached, he must immediately grasp the current situation. This is a quality that a "Free Knight," a seventh-rank psionic, and a renowned wanderer must possess.

He was lying on a powered stretcher. Within a ten-meter radius, there were over a dozen armed personnel hastily forming a line. It was clear they were exhausted, and some were even trembling, but at least they weren't fleeing, which was commendable. However...

"You're standing too close, and there's no layered distribution of firepower. This is early infantry tactics before General Patton's reforms. In our parallel universe, the tech tree is skewed, otherwise, we wouldn't still be using these tactics in the space age." Yu Lian shook his head and sighed.

"...Lieutenant, you're awake?" Yu Lian heard Sergeant Xilika's voice and then saw her face up close.

To expect a girl wrapped in a blood-stained and dusty power armor, with a face covered in dirt and fatigue, to have a pleasant scent was unrealistic. Of course, even if she was wind-battered, she showed no signs of distress. Under a neat short golden hair was a clear face and a pair of (normal) Earthlings couldn't have fiery red eyes. Lively yet sharp, she was indeed a dashing beauty.

Xilika... Sergeant? Red eyes! No way?

Yu Lian felt he should know her, but only from news and videos.

And it definitely wouldn't be such a young her...

"Rest assured, Commonwealth soldiers will never abandon their comrades!" She said formally, checking her rifle meticulously.

The Commonwealth... Uh, girl, why are you wearing the AS-40 exoskeleton that only pirates and the Black (Miao) Gang use, and holding a C10 kinetic rifle that has been out of production for almost 30 years? Are you shooting a period drama?

Although Yu Lian wanted to say this, as a free wanderer who had roamed half the universe, he knew this wasn't a movie.

These people were genuinely tense, scared, and gritting their teeth to deal with something.

"This place is too open, we can't engage in a prolonged battle! Lieutenant Mendersen!" The "Sir" who initially wanted to abandon him was still rambling, but now to a middle-aged man in an old exoskeleton.

Lieutenant Mendersen seemed to hesitate for a moment but then gritted his teeth and said, "We will crush them here! Get back to your position, Lieutenant!"

His tone was firm, but overly firm, which seemed a bit forced.

The argument between the two officers stopped, not because the lieutenant didn't want to continue, but because the rolling dust was getting closer. Close enough to smell the stench.

They, of course, didn't notice that Yu Lian, who had woken up, had already sized them up.

The rank insignia on the shoulder plates was orange, which belonged to the extragalactic colonial planet's garrison guard, commonly known as "guard grunts," the lowest in the military hierarchy.

The rank insignia was a silver swallow with a star and without a star, indeed a lieutenant and a second lieutenant.

As for the lady sergeant, it was a red copper bar with crossed swords, indeed a third-class sergeant.

This was indeed the rank insignia of the Commonwealth military. However, that broken country... Yu Lian looked at the solemn-faced lady sergeant again, especially her dashing and beautiful face, and vaguely guessed his current situation.

What is this? A second run?

"Fire!" Lieutenant Mendersen shouted.

A dozen kinetic rifles glowed with electromagnetic light, and with a dull sound, they instantly shot hundreds of steel nails into the dust. Immediately, accompanied by fierce and cruel howls and the splattering of insect-like or beast-like limbs, a more dense and nauseating mist of blood and stench spread out in a mad frenzy.

Clearly, the kinetic rifle barrage couldn't make them retreat.

"What the hell are these things?" A black man with a sergeant's rank cursed through gritted teeth.

A more robust sergeant beside him remained silent, one hand holding the rifle and the other already gripping the power axe on his waist. He was the strongest and tallest in the team, not wearing an exoskeleton but clearly taller than the lady sergeant and the annoying second lieutenant.

However, even this giant, who could crush a bear with his wrist, showed obvious tension.

Natural beasts wouldn't charge through a hail of bullets. This exceeded everyone's common sense, naturally causing panic.

"Roar!" A large hyena-like alien monster with insect-like hooks on its sides leaped out of the dust, revealing its ferocious and terrifying appearance. At first glance, there were hundreds, and it was unknown how many more were hidden in the dust.

Among the large "hyenas," there were also large "cobras" that stood upright, instantly exceeding two meters, waving their mantis-like claws.

Indeed, they were terrifying, clearly emotionless predators, and their numbers were so many that they didn't seem like carnivores. Their thick, bullet-resistant armor was evolved for some unknown purpose.

Everyone was terrified and gritting their teeth to hold on! But Yu Lian felt humiliated, humiliated to the point of almost shedding tears.

Help me up! Bring me my atomic light spear, storm blaster, and dawn sword! I'm at least a hero who fought the Ether Dragon for three hundred rounds! I've even beaten your queen more than once!

Now, to be humiliated by a bunch of low-level jump bugs and spiny snakes, what a disgrace!