After the thunderous sound faded, Yang Ying opened his eyes in a spacious office, momentarily stunned by the refinement. Expensive carpeting covered the entire floor, and elegant art pieces were tastefully arranged around the room, lending an air of comfort without any vulgar ostentation.

This was not his usual command center.

Yang Ying rose and moved to the window, drawing back the curtains to reveal a blaze of golden sunlight streaming in.

In the sky, a sun the size of a millstone hung suspended. Its pervasive, intense golden light seemed capable of baking an endless, boundless ocean dry, and then setting the seabed itself ablaze—a sight that immediately left one parched.

That was the real sun, the genuine article, the progenitor of all life and energy in the Solar System—not those man-made fakes that offered light but no heat!

Although the blazing orb looked truly fiery, the ambient temperature around him was not as high as appearances suggested. This was because a specialized barrier encased the city, absorbing most of the radiation and thermal energy, converting it into pure energetic matter, which then solidified into energy blocks.

If not for this barrier, any ordinary person who dared look up for even a moment would have their eyes seared blind.

This was a space city, an energy hub.

Six months prior, at the tail end of that tumultuous Jupiter withdrawal operation, during the rear-guard engagement, the Trant Mercenary Corps had secured two space cities as compensation: one for energy production, the other for industry.

These two cities were now being fully utilized by the Trant Mercenary Corps. Yang Ying had positioned the energy city in Mercury's orbit—the closest trajectory to the sun among the eight major planetary orbits, maximizing solar energy capture for the city to produce energy blocks at extreme efficiency. Energy blocks, as a strategic resource, drastically reduced the consumption of high-energy gases.

The city was simply named Trant Energy City, channeling a ceaseless stream of power to the Floating Continent via a concealed Protoss Stargate within the complex.

The other industrial city, designated as a major branch of the Trant Corporation, was directly named Trant City. Its location was fluid, with its operational range covering the entire Inner Solar System.

While the Trant Corporation’s technology lagged far behind the Floating Continent’s research institutes, as an arms dealer famous throughout human high society and possessing numerous classified technologies, the number of entities and powers coveting these secrets was like fish swimming upstream. Therefore, possessing a base they could completely control was essential.

As soon as Trant City became operational, the Earth-based headquarters of the Trant Corporation poured its most valuable core elements into it. Since the city was populated entirely by clones, outsiders could never infiltrate, ensuring the highest level of security.

In reality, neither Trant City nor Trant Energy City had invited natural-born citizens to immigrate. The city dwellers were all clones from the Floating Continent, excluding those designated for military or research roles. New types of clones—political, economic, artistic—along with clones possessing specific specialized skills, all resided in these two urban centers.

Currently, Yang Ying’s psychic power had hit a bottleneck. The resources produced by the Floating Continent’s ninety thousand square kilometers were insufficient to sustain the over two million inhabitants across the three races; consumption was simply too rapid. Yang Ying avoided using key resources like silicon and gas ores whenever possible; ninety-five percent of the resources currently consumed were gathered throughout the Solar System by the Trant Corporation.

"Sir," Kalia’s voice sounded behind Yang Ying. "The Military-Industrial Joint Council has sent an invitation."

"Show me." Yang Ying turned, taking the exquisitely crafted invitation from Kalia. After a brief glance, his brow furrowed in thought.

Following the collapse of the Caesar Group’s leadership, a host of voracious entities, the largest appetites in the human world, had unfurled their massive jaws, eager to tear chunks of flesh from the suddenly exposed Caesar carcass. The Trant Corporation was among them, setting its sights on the superior assets of the Caesar Group. Through a series of overt and covert maneuvers, they had finally achieved their desired returns.

It was a haul of industrial infrastructure worth hundreds of billions, along with several massive ore veins spread across Earth and Mars—all strategically significant assets.

In the process of contending with those behemoths, Yang Ying’s Trant Corporation finally made contact with the Military-Industrial Joint Council that Gaius had mentioned.

This Council comprised over a dozen of humanity’s premier arms manufacturing conglomerates. They were deeply embedded in every corner of society, their shadows cast across the entire Earth industrial framework. Their influence was intricate and deeply intertwined; normally inconspicuous, but when mobilized, their latent power was sufficient to control the entire operation of the Earth government.

The current President, Frank, had only won his election after securing their backing. Should he lose their support, Frank’s administration might collapse immediately. The Council controlled sixty percent of the Inner Solar System’s propaganda resources; smearing and destroying any individual, even a President, was trivially easy. Originally, the Trant Mercenary Corps ranked highly within this Council. Gaius had secured a key position. However, once news spread of the catastrophic losses sustained by Caesar Group’s core figures, the other Council members were the first to target the remnants.

During the carve-up of the Caesar Group, Yang Ying had clashed with them several times. Yet, riding the momentum from that rear-guard operation, these conflicts were kept within manageable bounds.

Now, Yang Ying held an invitation from the Council, inviting him to a reception in the former territory of Belgium, Brussels.

"A reception, sounds pleasant," Yang Ying chuckled lightly. "This indicates that our strength has been acknowledged and valued by them."

"In the past six months, we’ve eliminated over ten thousand of their private troops across various skirmishes. They must realize that engaging us militarily is unprofitable," Kalia stated, his shoulders squared with the bearing of a Lieutenant General, his eyes sharp. "As the best-informed group among humans, they likely already attribute the downfall of Caesar Group’s core leadership to us. Even if they aren't entirely certain, we must rank at the top of their suspicion list, especially given how conspicuous we’ve been lately."

Yang Ying folded the invitation in his hand and tossed it onto the desk as if it were scrap paper. "Being conspicuous has its advantages, just as low-key operations have theirs. We are using a certain type of visibility to mask a different kind of subtlety. Otherwise, persistent, unprincipled low-profile behavior makes others think we’re easy targets. If the Trant Mercenary Corps had possessed our current prestige back then, how would Ishta—a mere heir of the Caesar family—have dared to trespass so brazenly?"

Kalia bowed slightly. "How should we handle this invitation, sir? Agent Tom has also received an identical one."

Hearing this, Yang Ying immediately began to process the implications. The Council inviting both the Chairman of the Trant Corporation and the Commander of the Trant Mercenary Corps clearly indicated significant intentions.

Recalling some of the whispers he'd caught recently, Yang Ying had a sudden realization.

This reception mentioned in the invitation was not merely a simple social mixer for making new acquaintances. It was an event initiated by several Council members to absorb the Trant Corporation into their fold.

He glanced at Kalia’s expression and noticed that Kalia clearly understood this as well.

Yang Ying pondered for a moment. "The Jupiter campaign is imminent. Reply that I am unavailable; I must return to the Asteroid Belt tonight."

Everything in the Asteroid Belt was ready; they lacked nothing, even the necessary preparations. All forces were poised, awaiting only the command to reclaim Jupiter's orbit.

Everyone knew the Jupiter campaign was close, but the exact timing, the force deployment, and the breakthrough point remained heavily guarded secrets by the Earth military's upper echelon. It seemed the recent intelligence leaks had made them extremely cautious.

Currently, various rumors circulated among the troops—speculations unverified by military command—but the higher-ups weren't suppressing them, as it served a purpose in obfuscating the truth.

Therefore, returning now to prepare for war was a plausible excuse—though only just plausible.

Using an excuse to decline the invitation inherently signaled an attitude.

Yang Ying disliked social gatherings, especially those of the upper echelon, which he considered one of the most hypocritical environments on Earth. The higher the society, the greater the pretense. Chatting and laughing with people who maintained polite exteriors while sharpening their knives internally was detrimental to his cultivation.

"What about Agent Tom?" Kalia followed up.

"Have him find a reason to decline as well. For them, regardless of how friendly we are, they will not hesitate when action is required. Caesar family's fate is a testament to that; they are pure survival-of-the-fittest adherents. But for me," Yang Ying said with a smile, "if I establish a good rapport with them now, it might make me feel reluctant when the time comes to strike against them later."

"I understand, Commander." Kalia saluted crisply, picked up the invitation from the desk, and left the room.

As he opened the door, Katerina was standing there, holding the hand of a little girl with white hair and grey eyes. She nodded slightly upon seeing Kalia emerge, then led the girl inside.

"Brother Yang Ying, this place is so fun! The sun is big, like a cake."

The speaker was the little girl with awakened psychic powers whom Yang Ying had rescued previously. Her voice was very clear. As she spoke, she spread her arms wide to either side, drawing a large circle. Though her arms were fully extended, she still felt it wasn't large enough, so she tiptoed and drew the circle again.

Under Katerina’s diligent care, she had now recovered to be healthier than a normal person.