Chapter 1806: Nobody
Bianchi was a B-class engineer employed by the Thomas Industries.
He had arrived in the Golden Rock Worlds forty-eight years ago.
Originally, his assignment in this medium-sized star domain was supposed to last only twelve years.
Unfortunately, halfway through his cross-star-domain posting, the Magus Civilization’s forces sealed off the entire star domain and cut off his way home.
In truth, even before the Magus Civilization arrived, the federation had kept a small number of evacuation routes open.
But at the time, priority was given first to military scientists, high-tech specialists, top-level engineers, and similar personnel.
Only after that did they consider ordinary engineers like Bianchi, along with mobile suit and warship maintenance crews, logistics staff, and others.
There was, however, one group whose evacuation priority was even lower than people like Bianchi—the military’s regular soldiers!
Naturally, Bianchi missed the best chance to leave the Golden Rock Worlds.
There were countless non-combatants like him scattered across the entire Golden Rock Worlds, likely numbering in the millions.
In the Gallant Federation, human life was the cheapest thing of all... After all, with so many life planets and habitable worlds under its control, the federation’s total human population exceeded that of the Magus Civilization by tens of thousands of times.
Whenever Bianchi thought about the possibility of dying in this strange yet now strangely familiar star domain, bitterness welled up in his chest.
At just over a hundred years old, he was still considered to be in his prime by the Gallant Federation’s standards.
Bianchi also had a child. His wife had just delivered the baby shortly before he left the federation for this overseas assignment.
In recent years, the increasingly intense war with the Magus Civilization had only deepened the Gallant Federation’s atmosphere of pressure and unrest.
So when a highly paid but extremely dangerous overseas posting appeared, Bianchi, who had only recently become a father, accepted the company’s assignment with hardly any hesitation.
Risk and reward had always gone hand in hand. During his first few years in the Golden Rock Worlds, Bianchi earned enough money to ensure that his wife and child could live comfortably for decades.
Not to mention that after becoming stranded in the Golden Rock Worlds, Bianchi—thanks to his exceptional skill in drone system tuning—had been recruited by the military twenty-seven years ago as a maintenance officer for the federal fleet’s unmanned drones.
Based on his years of service and the number of unmanned drones he had maintained during that time, Bianchi was promoted to First Lieutenant.
Of course, Lieutenant Bianchi had no soldiers under his command.
Inside this cramped repair base, aside from Bianchi himself, there were only nearly five thousand combat drones of various types and more than twenty thousand wrecked unmanned drones.
BOOM!
Violent explosions and deafening blasts erupted, and the noise was steadily drawing closer to Bianchi.
Everything told him that the final moment was near.
Bianchi pulled a liquid crystal photo card from the sleeve pocket of his oil-stained uniform. It was wrapped in a handkerchief blackened with grease.
The handkerchief had been a gift from his wife. It had originally been pink silk, but after years of being soaked with engine oil, its original color was barely visible.
The liquid crystal photo card, however, had been preserved well, and the images on it remained clear.
It held a photograph taken decades ago, not long before Bianchi had left the Gallant Federation. In it were Bianchi, his wife, and their son.
He could still remember his wife’s gentle smile and the way his son had waved his tiny fists, as vividly as if he had seen them only yesterday.
As Bianchi stared at the card in his hand, the anxiety, unease, fear, and confusion he had felt earlier gradually faded away.
When I left the Gallant Federation, the planet where my wife and family lived had not been touched by the war. It probably still hasn’t. Bianchi thought, or perhaps prayed.
The last time we met, Colonel Doug said that all military engineers killed in action would be treated the same as fallen soldiers.
Along with the company’s compensation, my wife and family should also receive a death gratuity from the military. I only hope Colonel Doug wasn’t lying to us.
The sounds of battle and explosions drew closer and closer.
Inside the repair base, all the drones Bianchi had personally calibrated had already taken off from the runway. By now, they were either still fighting outside or had already been destroyed.
Amid the explosions and violent energy fluctuations came the sharp clatter of hooves.
Bianchi knew those hoofbeats could not possibly belong to the Gallant Federation. They came from that evil civilization known as the Magus Civilization.
What was more, Bianchi knew that the vast majority of creatures he had seen were not even natives of Magus World, but merely the subordinates and vassal troops of that civilization.
The native humans of Magus World looked strikingly similar to those of the Gallant Federation.
The only obvious differences were their slightly taller average height, sturdier bone structure, and a few subtle variations in their internal organs.
Besides the increasingly thunderous hoofbeats closing in, Bianchi could also hear familiar voices speaking in the language of the Gallant Federation.
These creatures of the Magus Civilization were trying to win over and manipulate the federation’s lower-ranking personnel.
Bianchi knew they were eager to seize control of these heavy industrial factories. That was also why he had been left alone in this cramped base.
But rather than shaking his resolve, the Magus Civilization’s attempts at persuasion only made Bianchi more determined than ever.
The liquid crystal photo card pressed against his chest gave him endless strength.
He was fighting for his family.
Before long, a terrifying monster was the first to break into the cramped base where Bianchi made his stand. It was a bull-headed creature several meters tall.
He did not recognize it as a “minotaurling”, but that did not stop him from firmly pressing the control switch in his hand.
BOOOM!
A violent explosion swallowed the entire base, both inside and out.
Bianchi, along with nearly two hundred minotaurlings and dozens of nearby centaurs, was blown to dust in the blast.
***
From high above the plane, Sein noticed the localized explosion on the battlefield below.
Small explosions like that no longer caught his attention the way they once had.
Too many similar blasts had already erupted across this battlefield alone.
He no longer felt the same concern over the destruction of the federation’s heavy industry factories as he had at the beginning.
After seeing enough of it, he understood that some things simply could not be prevented completely.
The good news was that under Gin’s advance and the centaur legion’s assault, this planar battlefield was gradually showing signs of being fully secured.
Unlike in previous battles, some of the federal creatures here seemed to have chosen surrender, which allowed quite a few heavy industry factories to be preserved.
“Inform the mages skilled in mechanical arts to take over and inspect the preserved factories,” Sein ordered.
“After that, prepare for the campaign against Flame Star-5!”
