He spread his hands in helplessness. After carefully running through the vocabulary of the common galactic language he had gleaned from Boluobolu’s mind, Gu Xichen pieced together another term: “Our mercenary group’s chief? The honored Keqing (Guest Official), Mr. Miaohua. He possesses incredibly potent individual combat capabilities—extremely powerful!”

“Keqing…?” Fuya Ming murmured the unfamiliar word several times, slowly nodding. “Your mercenary group must be immensely powerful!” As she spoke, she issued an order via the personal terminal strapped to her wrist, and an Yafik Kingdom soldier quickly delivered a large pot of fruit tea.

Smiling demurely, Gu Xichen stated calmly, “Moderately so. Our mercenary group has over three hundred thousand frontline fighters, and we are actively expanding!” This was the plain truth; as the strength of Hadwar Defense Corporation grew, the bearded commander was furiously absorbing new blood.

“Three hundred thousand mercenaries as powerful as you?” Fuya Ming’s eyes lit up!

“However, only ten thousand are deployable right now!” Gu Xichen shrugged helplessly, sighing, “We’ve run into a bit of trouble, and we’ve even misplaced our star lane coordinates.”

Fuya Ming spoke quickly, “Star lane coordinates are not an issue. Our Yafik Kingdom possesses the entire Alliance’s standard star charts!”

“That’s wonderful!” Gu Xichen’s eyes brightened too. He smiled, “In that case, may I request that you include these star charts as part of our payment?”

“Of course!” Fuya Ming didn't give the supposed standard star charts a second thought.

Penghua squirmed like a slug over to Ducat, leaning in close to Ducat’s ear to whisper, “Isn’t this girl afraid we’ll just swallow their entire kingdom whole?”

Ducat gave Penghua a look usually reserved for idiots and gently shook his head. Only when Penghua was furious enough to steam through all seven apertures did Ducat sigh softly, “On our approach, my little darlings’ detection radars scanned dozens of massive energy signatures nearby. The sub-strata of Planet Yafik houses an extremely powerful planetary defense system!”

“Planetary defense system?” Penghua found the term quite foreign.

“Otherwise, why does their kingdom only have three hundred thousand people?” Ducat frowned. “We’ll have to play it by ear!”

The vessel continued forward for another ten minutes before entering mountainous terrain. They followed a broad river for nearly a hundred kilometers until they reached a colossal waterfall, a thousand meters high and several hundred meters wide. The ship slowed its speed, hovering gently before the cascade. A soft luminous screen projected from behind the waterfall, and a powerful energy field opened an entrance tens of meters wide and long in the curtain of water. The ship, the fighter craft, and the armed robots Ducat had summoned all flew through the opening.

Peering through the viewport, Gu Xichen stared in astonishment at the channel behind the cascade. Such a massive passage guarded by only a single checkpoint at the entrance? On Earth Federation territory, the passage behind any military base would have at least ten layers of heavy firepower defense lines, with some highly sensitive bases even mounting several railguns designed to attack starships right at the main gate! This facility, which Fuya Ming claimed was the headquarters of her resistance movement, had only two or three sentries posted at the main gate—barely enough to count.

He swept his divine sense rapidly into the passage, even forcing it deep into the thick rock layers, but found nothing. This direct channel to Fuya Ming’s command center was indeed guarded by such minimal force. He glanced at Fuya Ming standing beside him, a slight twitch pulling at the corner of his mouth. Was this woman insane, or was the entire nation unhinged?

Stepping off the ship, Gu Xichen was once again stunned by the immaculate uniforms of the ground crew on the landing pad. Were these even ground crew? The finest attendants at an Earth Federation five-star hotel wouldn’t wear cleaner attire. As for the four heavily armed soldiers standing at attention before the massive metal door, they hadn't even brought their sidearms to the checkpoint, leaving them resting neatly by the guard post. Besides looking decorative, what use could they possibly be?

Penghua raised one finger and lightly drew it across his throat. His meaning was clear: he alone could slaughter everyone in this base until not a soul remained.

Gu Xichen sighed softly and gently shook his head. He couldn't let Penghua act recklessly.

Fuya Ming gave a sharp command. The officer in the guard post, who had been distractedly polishing an energy cell with a handkerchief, sprang to attention. He snapped a respectful salute to Fuya Ming, then fumbled around in his garments, producing a silver metallic card which he swiped across a reader on the desk before him. The heavy metal door ahead slid open silently, letting in a stream of brilliant sunlight.

Gu Xichen, Ducat, and Penghua were all shocked by the base revealed before them—a place brimming with sunlight, fragrant flowers, and birdsong.

A military base, in their understanding, should be dull gray, hard, emitting a cold metallic sheen—a place of iron and blood, pulsating with heat, filled with the screech of tank engines and the wild shouts of soldiers. Yet, this so-called ‘military base’ looked like anything but a military base. It resembled a sanatorium, a scenic resort, or the back garden of a five-star hotel. Except for not being a military base, it looked like many other things.

A dozen slender youths, clad in soft, pure white robes with gentle faces, sat beside a small flower bed, playing a melodious tune on various instruments. Though Gu Xichen didn't recognize what the instruments were, the skill level of these young men was nearly master-class, even by Earth Federation standards.

To the right, beside an artificially dug pond, several youths in sandals were lazily crushing what looked like baked bread in their hands, playfully teasing a school of silver fish in the water.

Further ahead, on a patch of grass, a young man wearing only briefs—his skin fair and flawless, his blonde hair radiant, his physique lean with the faint outline of two abdominal muscles—was striking a pose of Herculean effort. He tensed his arms, his slightly loose muscles bulging reluctantly into two fist-sized mounds. A group of youths stood nearby, marveling and sketching with canvas and brush, applying strokes to map out the contours of his body.

Beneath a large tree blooming with tiny white flowers whose fragrance was carried far by the artificial breeze, a disheveled young man wearing a wreath of leaves on his head was pacing rapidly around the trunk. As he ran, he screamed hysterically toward the sky like a madman: “Ah, Divine Universe! Where lies the meaning of life? Where is the ultimate purpose of existence, O Great Source of Life! Have you abandoned your children?!”

Gu Xichen’s mouth began to twitch uncontrollably. Were these people the most loyal and elite soldiers of the kingdom, led by Fuya Ming?