Chapter 1057: Chapter 1056: This World Is Not as Simple as You Think
Fang Zheng did not concern himself with the crew on that white warship. He simply confirmed that they had surrendered, then let other Mind Models tow the warship to the rear, while he continued to command the Swarm to battle the Reapers.
Of course, during this interval, he received a report from Tilia.
"Oh? General Anderson agreed?"
"Yes, he promised us ten thousand tons of Element Zero to hire one of our fleets."
"Is it a fully deployed Super Flagship Fleet or an ordinary Elite Squadron?"
"Elite Squadron."
Tilia smiled like a little fox that had stolen a chicken.
"According to the contract signed between both parties, we will dispatch an Elite Fleet to cooperate with Commander Shupard, assisting her in fending off attacks from the Reapers..."
"That’s not bad. I’ll let... hmm... let Forbin’s fleet assist."
A fully deployed Super Flagship Fleet and an Elite Fleet are different. The former is a legion formed around Titans and Arks, a super fleet. The latter is more like a special team responsible for specific tasks like bombing, infiltration, anti-stealth, and repair.
Since Shupard isn’t leading the fleet to fight against the Reapers directly but is mainly seeking allies from other races, there’s no need to bring a fully deployed Super Flagship Fleet. In this case, an ordinary Elite Squadron should be able to meet their requirements.
"There’s one more thing..."
"What is it?"
"Commander Shupard’s flagship has crashed, and they want to board our warship..."
... Meow meow meow?
"No way, absolutely not!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng shook his head vehemently. What a joke, these cosmic protagonists come with a shipwreck Aura; Chief Officer almost wrecked Iona for him back then, and now the Normandy has crashed too, indicating Shupard is also a natural warship blight like Chief Officer. He won’t allow Shupard to board his warship!
"But Earth doesn’t have any warships left..."
"Alright, hmm... wait, I have an idea!"
Thinking this, Fang Zheng suddenly thought of something and slapped the table.
"No problem, leave the rest to me. You go on negotiating with Anderson. Oh, and after the fleet arrives, you should go with them too. I believe the ones needing our ’help’... won’t just be the Star Alliance."
"Right, Elder Brother, leave it to me. I promise to maximize the interests of the Heavenly Dao Palace."
The two exchanged a look and chuckled evilly together.
They’re all walking fat sheep!
If we don’t take this opportunity to cut them a slice, it would be a pity!
"Oh, if you encounter the Turui People, raise the price by double."
Fang Zheng stopped to give Tilia some advice. At the current speed of the Swarm, he’s afraid it’s too late for Alisa and Serret’s side, but Fang Zheng is confident about having a field day with the Turui Empire’s territory. As such, he decided to slaughter them mercilessly, letting the Turui People bleed well.
"Understood, Elder Brother."
Tilia nodded, then disconnected the communication, while Fang Zheng pondered for a moment before standing up.
"Continue front line alerts, let’s go to the rear and bring the people from that warship over!"
After dealing with the imposing Reapers, the opposition seems to lack sufficient forces to launch further attacks for the moment. Hence Fang Zheng has leisure time to summon the crew from the white warship to inquire why they came here, what transpired, and the eventual outcomes.
However, their answer still left Fang Zheng surprised.
According to the crew from the Nadeshiko, their world witnessed a catastrophe called "Time-space Quake" two years ago. Then, inexplicably, several forces from different universes appeared in their world.
Originally, in the Nadeshiko’s world, there were only the Earth Federation and Jupiter forces. Yet, following the Time-space Quake, mysterious forces like the New Humanity, Zeon, ZAFT, and the Underground Empire emerged.
After a series of battles and negotiations between these organizations’ leaders, the two camps were established with Earth Federation and Jupiter as their nuclei. This Nadeshiko is a civilian warship manufactured by Nirga Heavy Industries, belonging to the Earth Federation faction.
Originally, they intended to journey to Mars, but during a resupply at the neutral resource satellite nation Heliopolis, it was suddenly attacked by a joint force of ZAFT and Zeon. To escape the battlefield, the Nadeshiko teamed up with the Archangel Ship to break through the siege. However, in the process, they were unluckily swept into another outbreak of the Time-space Quake and... ended up in this bizarre place.
Incidentally, the two robots Fang Zheng’s Swarm eliminated were piloted by Kira Yamato and Aslan Zala, one a member of the Archangel Ship, the other from ZAFT. During battle, as the Time-space Quake suddenly broke out, the pilots had to seek shelter on the warship to avoid being torn apart by the force.
As a result, both pilots and their Mobile Suits appeared aboard the Nadeshiko.
Meanwhile, pilots Amamiya Hikaru and Hauskai (Yamada Jiro) from the Nadeshiko sought refuge on the Archangel Ship.
As for the Archangel Ship... its whereabouts remain unknown.
"I see, I understand now."
After hearing their tale, Fang Zheng nodded, then turned his gaze towards the Nadeshiko’s captain Goto Yurika, vice-captain Aoi Jun, and a silver-haired twin-tailed girl—Nadeshiko’s pilot Ruri Hoshino standing before him.
And of course, the group of chaotic onlookers behind them.
"Now, let me explain your current situation."
Fang Zheng spread his hands and shrugged.
"It’s not as complicated here as it is over there; things are simple: There’s a group of creatures called Reapers wiping out and annihilating civilization across the Milky Way, and we are opposing them... it’s that straightforward."
"Civilization across the Milky Way..."
Upon hearing this, everyone across from him was stupefied. Even in their tumultuous world full of constant wars, the worst were wars between Earthlings and New Humanity, Earth Federation and Jupiter Lizard, or between certain organizations... But nobody ever mentioned annihilating civilization of the entire Milky Way!
In fact, many forces there haven’t even left the Solar System!
And here, the Milky Way is about to be obliterated?
"Next, I need you to do something."
Fang Zheng continued to gaze at them with a grin.
"I need you to use this warship to transport a special guest. Your task is simple: just deliver them to the destination. My fleet will escort you along the way; you needn’t worry about combat. Merely follow her orders and take her to the set location... like a carpool... No issues, right?"
"Why us?"
"You don’t need to worry about that."
Faced with Vice-Captain Aoi Jun’s curious inquiry, Fang Zheng couldn’t even be bothered to respond. During the earlier communication with Tilia, Fang Zheng came up with the idea: being cautious of Shupard’s crash Aura means finding a non-personal warship to ferry her.
"I will have individuals modify your engines and systems to adapt to our navigation mode while your task is simply transporting the member."
"But... we still need to find the Archangel Ship..."
"If you’re lucky, you’ll encounter it. If not, that Archangel Ship might already be devoured by Reapers."
Fang Zheng shrugged.
"Furthermore, this isn’t a request, it’s an order... You are captives, don’t forget your status."
"Don’t underestimate us!"
Upon hearing this, the previously hot-tempered black-haired individual waved a fist and angrily glared at Fang Zheng.
"We can fight too!"
"With your broken robots?"
Fang Zheng glanced contemptuously at the black-haired man.
"Sure, if you want to die, I have no objections... but for now, complete your mission."
Saying this, Fang Zheng smiled subtly.
"I think you’ll soon understand that this world is not as simple as you think."