Chapter 1207 - 1073: Military Mobilization (Part 1)

Chapter 1207: Chapter 1073: Military Mobilization (Part 1)

The laser cannon flashed once and went silent.

Next, the Big Head Butterfly rotated slightly, "It’s the guard team, they shot down a geostationary satellite."

Qu Jianlei was not surprised by this, as the Sealing Land Technique protected areas beyond just the surface.

The sky corresponding to the territory is also within the protection scope of the law.

However, the law does not clearly define the maximum limit for the sky—conditions vary for each planet.

Generally speaking, as long as the satellite does not exceed the atmosphere and poses a threat to their territory, an attack can be initiated.

In other words, the territory can independently decide whether to attack a satellite under certain circumstances.

Usually, if the territory does not want a strained relationship with the government, it tends to overlook certain surveillance activities.

Yet when the noble is particularly assertive or feels it’s necessary, it’s normal to attack passing satellites.

Since the last major battle, the Gustine Clan has shot down over thirty passing satellites.

This behavior has led the government to protest, saying they have shot down several useful satellites.

But the territory’s guards clearly replied: the satellites flew too close and conducted targeted surveillance.

Anyway, the Gustine Clan has recently achieved a brilliant victory, so the guards are quite energetic.

The government has lost its temper; it’s even adjusted the height and angle of certain satellites.

Qu Jianlei was a bit curious, "Could they still be official satellites?"

"Unknown origin," the Big Head Butterfly casually replied, "They will surely be shot down."

With the Imperial technology level, satellites don’t necessarily need to launch from the ground; starships can launch from deep space.

Therefore, unknown origin satellites appear frequently; they’re usually not friendly, so the guards shooting them down is expected.

Recently, these dubious satellites have indeed frequently appeared over the territory.

But Qu Jianlei knows, the origin of these satellites can’t escape Little Lake, "Whose launch is it?"

"Who else could it be?" The Big Head Butterfly rotated, replying helplessly, "The military."

These unknown satellite source origins mostly come from various factions.

But there’s no point in being serious; military attention to Gustine’s tenants is out of order maintenance.

Covering up the origin properly is already respecting the territory law and giving Gustine due honor.

Qu Jianlei furrowed his brows, whispering, "The military has been probing quite frequently recently..."

"Do you think it’s the Divine Text Association or some organization using military satellites for observation?"

This scenario is quite common; even some patched commercial organizations have sent satellites to observe.

After Gustine Clan shot down those satellites, they issued warnings to those organizations through relevant channels.

The other party usually defends, claiming some survey task...

Survey activities for various planets are too frequent due to diverse needs, they’re impossible to seriously verify.

Essentially, the main play is "no evidence."

The Big Head Butterfly rotated, "The battle array holds strong appeal for the military; better not underestimate it."

Qu Jianlei smiled, "Doesn’t matter, we’ve only exposed the battle array."

After the recent battle, he’s very satisfied with this point.

Though the team showcased extremely strong combat power, only the battle array shone brightly.

This battle indeed made many people reconsider and spurred some covetousness, but only coordination can be shown off.

The battle array is effective and can significantly enhance military combat power, but the military isn’t just about individual coordination.

The army is a whole, during the interstellar navigation period, its main combat power is still starships and other high-tech weapons.

These war machines can be industrially produced, unlike Awakened, naturally restricted by numbers.

In terms of power comparison, a shot from a Star Destroyer should rival a Supreme’s strike.

So while the military does care about the Awakened’s battle array coordination, it’s not a necessity.

A testament is Qu Jianlei’s first encounter with the Five Elements Battle Array wasn’t with the military, but an Awakened sneak attack.

Clearly, many forces study battle arrays, but the military falls behind.

If they really want to forcibly demand battle array results from various forces, who would dare refuse?

Even if free would be inappropriate, purchasing with money wouldn’t be a problem, right? The military is wealthy.

Anyway, there’s little concern over these inexplicable satellites, Qu Jianlei hasn’t bothered much about them.

Mainly, the team hasn’t exposed other strengths, backed by the broad background and territory law, potential dangers are minimal.

Any notable strength that gets matched with the team’s history of combat power might jeopardize even territorial law protection.

After Nutrient Injection proposed joining the team, Qu Jianlei discussed this with everyone.

Yet the team members’ reaction was... a bit odd, indicating for the leader to decide.

Qu Jianlei was momentarily at a loss, and simply indicated that this issue should be set aside for now.

It wasn’t about avoiding responsibility, but rather that creating sufficient trust among team members requires undergoing a period of adjustment.

The members of Qu Jianlei’s team are relatively unique; most joined him out of necessity to escape their circumstances.

Nutrient Injection has had some successful collaborations with everyone, and now wants to join the team, just need to go through a few more experiences.

In the blink of an eye, they had detained people from the Stephen family for half a year, yet no one had come to settle scores, and compensation had been paid on time.

In the past, such situations were truly rare — to cause such trouble and yet remain unscathed.

Qu Jianlei and his group were initially very vigilant, always expecting trouble to come knocking, including but not limited to the Stephen family seeking a confrontation.

Over time, things remained calm and peaceful, and everyone gradually relaxed a bit.

After Nutrient Injection’s realm gradually stabilized, Bentley felt he was also nearing his own bottleneck.

He originally had little hope of achieving supreme breakthrough.

Back when he was awoken, wandering everywhere, his lifelong dream was simply to reach B-level within his lifetime.

Even after meeting Qu Jianlei, now reaching A-level, age nevertheless was a limitation.

Although the boss helped him calculate the cultivation method for achieving supreme breakthrough, he still did not believe he would surely succeed.

——The bigger the hope, the bigger the disappointment; he understood this principle long ago.

Until Nutrient Injection successfully broke through right under his nose, after careful consideration, Old Ben decided to go all out to achieve supreme breakthrough!

He had not yet reached his optimal state, but had already sought out Qu Jianlei, expressing his desire to visit Youyou and the others.

In speaking of Old Ben, he could be considered a pitiful person, having no relatives besides those in the team.

His closest allies Flower Scorpion and Claire are currently by his side, and then there are Youyou and the former traitor Xiao Moshan.

As for Xiao Qin... their relationship was more distant.

Bentley hoped to visit old acquaintances before breaking through, and then devote himself sans distractions.

Qu Jianlei and the team had been out for over a year, with three bases still manned by guards.

News from these three indicates everything is normal, although with some delay, no major issues seem apparent.

Old Ben just wants to take a look, "...I don’t need to meet with them, just viewing them from afar will suffice."

"...Don’t set a FLAG!" Qu Jianlei interrupted, "Going alone is dangerous, bring a supreme level with you."

In his eyes, Old Ben usually appeared exceptionally cold-blooded, yet at this moment he was still concerned about his comrades’ safety, revealing true feelings.

To be honest, after being a fugitive for so long, there are few tender places left in one’s heart, yet such warmth is commendable.

However, although they have six supreme levels, considering Qingyuan Star might encounter issues, choices are limited.

Just Paranoid and Qinghu to choose from; if one leaves, they can still assemble a supreme level Five Elements Battle Array.

Qu Jianlei originally hoped Paranoid would agree, but this guy said he wanted to help him "handle chores."

Qu Jianlei highly suspected he couldn’t bear to part with Mu Yu—or the junior couldn’t bear to part with the senior.

No matter what, among a group of fugitives, for such a pair to emerge as star-crossed lovers is quite remarkable.

Especially given that their combined age exceeds seven hundred.

Finally, Qinghu was easygoing, indicating that since Chao Yun senior was inconvenienced, he would go along.

On the tenth day of their departure, a massive fleet appeared over 3,000 kilometers away from Gustine’s Territory.

From afar, it seemed to be a military fleet, consisting of two regiment-level warships, accompanied by six company level ships and numerous smaller ships.

Besides gathering warships, gunfire was audible; although sporadic, combat definitely erupted.

Soon after, the military dispatched another regiment level warship to completely seize control of the situation.

This commotion was substantial, immediately perceived by Qu Jianlei and his team.

They weren’t gossipy folks, typically little interested in such spectacles, yet events of this nature couldn’t be ignored.

Big Head Butterfly’s reaction wasn’t slow, it rotated twice to locate the position.

"It’s within Marquis Cicero’s territory range, but current information is incomplete, unable to ascertain what’s occurred."

Qu Jianlei furrowed his brows, "Confirm whether the attackers are military sequence starships?"

Big Head Butterfly replied crisply, "They sure are Qingyuan Military Region’s warships...in war alert state, invasion difficulty high."

Not impossible to invade, just rather challenging and likely to leave traces.

"Be cautious," Qu Jianlei pondered, "Try to inquire on the sidelines, but don’t give up."

Today’s happenings, any way you look at it, are unjust; military intentionally attacking a noble territory...is there a change coming?

A silhouette flickered, and Nutrient Injection appeared beside him, murmuring as they gazed into the distance.

"With such a grand display, could it be...for capturing resistors?"

(First update in October, requesting double guaranteed monthly votes.)