A ceasefire agreement was no trifling matter; it possessed an undeniable mandatory force. When two nations engaged in war, the signing of a truce immediately carried legal weight. Should either party breach this accord, they would face sanctions from the State Dispute Mediation Office.

The High Civilizations spared no effort in maintaining cosmic peace, establishing vast frameworks and stringent regulations to limit the outbreak of war to the greatest extent possible. The current era of universal peace was largely owed to these very constraints.

Thus, when Hondolous heard the order issued down from the Supreme Command, he promptly vomited blood. Victory was within sight, a mere beckoning away.

The intense unwillingness filled him with bitter regret, and he hated the short-sighted bureaucrats to the extreme.

The existence of the Davao Republic posed an immense threat to the Xianhong Federation. They had watched Davao develop from its nascent stages. In the beginning, peace between the two nations was sustainable because the disparity in strength was too vast.

However, over the last millennium, Davao’s rate of development had left its neighbor, the Xianhong Federation, utterly dumbfounded. Davao had traversed the path the Federation had taken in a thousand years in only half the time.

Especially in the last few decades, Davao’s progress could only be described as meteoric. In a mere thirty-odd years, Davao's prestige had almost entirely eclipsed that of the Xianhong Federation, a nation boasting a history of a thousand years as a mid-tier civilization.

Currently, while a significant gap still separated Davao and the Xianhong Federation, their relative strengths had been rapidly drawn closer. It was feared that not much longer would pass before they caught up to and surpassed the Federation—this was by no means impossible, provided Davao maintained this momentum.

In reality, the Xianhong Federation had successfully engineered "Quasi-Satellite Class" warships twenty years prior. Yet, the Federation's high command had kept this development under the tightest wraps, with very few people even within the nation aware of it.

The twenty years spent preparing for this war demonstrated the Xianhong Federation's absolute certainty of victory.

However, at this precise moment, twenty years of painstaking effort, just as success was within grasp, were brutally shattered.

“Order… all warships attacking Davao…” A flush of color surged back across Hondolous’s ashen face. He roared with raw, grating intensity, “Withdraw.”

His eyes bulged furiously, hair bristling, he collapsed unconscious after screaming the final word.

The main control room of the flagship immediately descended into chaos. Every crew member aboard the warship felt an overwhelming sense of defeat. What immense sacrifices had they made to reach this point?

During the assault on Davao's fortress positions alone, over a third of their warships had been lost. This was followed by relentless spatial jumps to assault the enemy's inhabited star systems.

Ten more "Wushan Class" warships were expended before they could finally secure a foothold. They were on the verge of breaking through and officially occupying the enemy’s first inhabited world, only to have everything crumble at the final hurdle.

To simply pull back the warships already committed to the attack? What of the comrades who had already perished? Had they willingly offered their lives without hesitation for anything less than the victory that was nearly theirs?

The two "Wushan Class" warships guarding the perimeter of Lanling Star ultimately could not escape their fate. They were destroyed under the siege of four enemy vessels.

The residents of Lanling Star, experiencing night, watched the two blossoms of fire erupt in the sky in stunned silence. The mournful and heavy wail of the city’s alarms sounded: “Two of Davao’s most valiant warships, the Silver Star and the Crimson Star, after resisting the enemy for eight hours, have finally perished. Now, we can only rely on ourselves to save Lanling Star and resist the shameless invaders…”

In the hearts of the populace, alongside grief, there was despair. The enemy had finally broken through. Everyone understood that once they breached the atmosphere, Lanling Star—their home—would be lost.

Some of the fainthearted had already fled to secluded spots, preparing to wait out the end of the war. They were unable to protect others, so they focused only on preserving themselves.

A small fraction, however, had steeled themselves to fight the enemy to the bitter end. These individuals usually possessed some combat skill, many belonging to the Body Arts Association. But they were the minority.

The majority had nowhere to go, hiding in their homes, praying the conflict would bypass them so they could weather the storm unharmed. They could neither protect others nor defend themselves.

Regardless of the preparations being made on Lanling Star, one certainty loomed: the planet’s fall was now inevitable.

When the Star Governor's office detected that the enemy warships were not advancing but instead retreating back through the spatial jump points, they refused to believe what they saw, their first reaction being that their detection instruments had malfunctioned.

The second, then the third warship departed. Everyone held their breath, afraid that speaking would shatter this beautiful, fragile wish like a soap bubble.

After a long, long while, all the enemy warships had cleared the jump point and vanished, yet no one spoke, staring blankly at the empty screens of the diagnostic instruments, not daring to even breathe deeply.

“They… seem to have…” A faint voice finally broke the silence, emanating from the command console, “…left?”

A moment later, a tremendous cheer erupted within the office.

When the temporary operations room on Wole Star received the report from Lanling Star, relief warred with confusion. How could the enemy abandon such a dominant position? Lanling Star was entirely exposed before them, like a defenseless maiden, utterly incapable of resistance.

Could it be a trap?

This was the first thought that sprung into the minds of these powerful figures, who were accustomed to navigating complex conspiracies. They grew instantly wary, dispatching only a few destroyers to confirm the situation.

The final intelligence confirmed that the enemy forces were merely regrouping on the other side of Lanling Star’s spatial jump point; they had neither departed nor continued their assault. Their behavior was highly suspicious.

After reconfirming the veracity of this intelligence multiple times, the rulers of Davao found themselves mired in profound bewilderment.

What in the hell was the Xianhong Federation playing at? This question circled the minds of everyone present, and no answer was forthcoming.

Meanwhile, far away in the capital of the Xianhong Federation, Zhong Yun was encountering his own troubles, which caused him to forget transmitting the good news of the signed ceasefire agreement back home.

While securing control of the city, one squad of mechs suffered a devastating blow. A total of thirty-two mechs were completely annihilated while clearing the residential areas near the Presidential Palace; not a single one survived.

The first to receive the news was the direct superior of the mech squad. Startled, he immediately reported to Command while leading a full squadron—one hundred and eight vessels—to quell the unrest.

Zhong Yun, who was busy plundering the depths of the Xianhong Federation's national treasury when he heard news of losing nearly 150 mechs near a high-ranking residence, erupted in fury. He instantly ordered an entire battalion of fighters to raze that residential sector to the ground.

Although the ceasefire agreement had been signed, anyone daring to challenge his forces at this juncture was inviting death.

Ten minutes later, Zhong Yun received news that stunned him to the core: an entire battalion, nearly five hundred fighter craft, had been shot down. Their adversaries consisted of only about fifty mechs.

Amidst his shock, Zhong Yun sensed something highly unusual. Logically, if the Xianhong Federation possessed such formidable strength, they would have deployed it during the assault on the Presidential Palace, not waited until now.

He immediately commanded everyone to stay clear of that vicinity.

Unfortunately, this order arrived a moment too late. The elite mech team, having just secured significant merit in that area, had already received the news and were rapidly converging there…

P: I truly apologize. Taking advantage of my scheduled day off, I went out of the city to purchase a computer. I had assumed the task would take the morning, but I didn't return home until nine in the evening. After a quick shower, I rushed to type out this chapter.

I am profoundly sorry. I promise to make up for it tomorrow. Nine thousand words. If I fail to deliver nine thousand words tomorrow, you are all free to withhold your monthly votes from me. I swear it.