Chapter Twenty-Three: A Beautiful Weapon

Chapter Twenty-Three: A Beautiful Weapon

The next day, Yunyang strode down the road, swaggering with his Dragon Gall Spear slung over his shoulder. He didn’t even bother with his usual private meal, insisting on eating in the mess hall just so he could show off his weapon.

Every soldier he passed stared in astonishment—not at Yunyang himself, but at the spear resting on his shoulder. It was simply too ostentatious; on the battlefield, he’d be the first target for the enemy. The spear's ornate tip flickered with blue electricity, and its impressive power was apparent at a glance. "Better take him out first," they thought.

Yunyang, oblivious to their thoughts, assumed they were admiring his weapon. He even took the spear off his shoulder and twirled it a few times, showing off (though his movements were rather random), his face glowing with pride as he walked away.

The others, witnessing Yunyang’s smug antics, covered their faces in embarrassment, unable to bear the sight. Yunyang, of course, knew nothing of this; he continued to bask in his own glory.

On the way, he ran into Angel Qingxue. Yunyang turned sideways, afraid she might miss seeing his weapon.

Qingxue didn’t disappoint him. She ran up, looked over his weapon, and commented, "It’s very beautiful." Not "powerful," nor "a good weapon," but "beautiful"—a weapon meant for bloody combat judged for its looks.

Yunyang didn’t mind in the slightest, perhaps never realizing that weapons should be simple and practical. He thought Qingxue had good taste and asked, "Right? How’s my craftsmanship? Want one?"

"It’s beautiful, but not very practical. I’ll stick with my Flame Sword," Qingxue replied, giving a candid assessment and decisively refusing his offer to modify her weapon.

Yunyang’s joy at showing off his handiwork evaporated at her quick rejection. He immediately withdrew his praise for Qingxue—no taste, this angel! Farewell!

He muttered to himself, "How is my spear not practical? Look at the tip—sharp enough to stab and chop. So long it can pierce an enemy straight through, and it’s double-edged; a slash would leave anyone reeling."

Ignoring Qingxue, Yunyang strode into the mess hall, which was really just several tents joined into a big one, with a few stainless steel containers of food and two soldiers helping serve.

After eating, the march resumed. They were now close to North Star, but the enemy grew more numerous. Just recently, they encountered two more scout boats. Armed with his new weapon, Yunyang led the charge and dispatched them swiftly, boosting his confidence further. "See this craftsmanship? One shot, one kill, pierce right through. Who says my Dragon Gall Spear isn’t practical? No vision!"

Meanwhile, in a golden wheat field, a massive crater had been smashed out by tremendous force—this was the work of our Galaxy Force, Ge Xiaolun. As a tank rolled by, it discovered him.

After so long recovering, Ge Xiaolun was nearly healed. Awakened by a pull, he looked around, eyes clouded, and asked, somewhat absent-minded, "Where are you all headed?"

"To North Star," replied the soldier, glancing at the scruffy Ge Xiaolun. He didn’t linger—this wasn’t out of disdain, but because time was tight and the mission urgent. They needed to cross enemy territory; there was no time for idle chatter.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xin, wielder of the Star of Virtue Spear, encountered a cute angel girl claiming to be his guardian angel, swearing an oath to protect him. But he didn’t believe her, suspecting it was a ploy to break his will.

Elsewhere, Liu Chuang, Qilin, He Weilan, and Rui Mengmeng had just survived a fierce battle, with the Wild Wolf Special Forces helping them wipe out the invading foreign force, North Oath.

They all heard Angel Yan’s broadcast and set out for North Star, the most vital city of Huaxia, the political center, which absolutely could not fall to the siege of the Gluttons.

As they pressed deeper, the closer they got to North Star, the more aliens appeared—not only Giant Wolves, but now Gluttons too. The Giant Wolf ships were dwindling, while Glutton vessels grew more numerous, making Yunyang's group's advance ever more difficult. After all, Giant Wolves were merely a subordinate civilization to the Gluttons, and those who could command them were even more powerful.

Glutton technology was more advanced, but, unexpectedly, they were easier to fight—not because Huaxia’s army had superior tech, but because Gluttons preferred charging into combat. Worshipping Death, they did not fear dying; instead, they relished the thrill of killing between life and death. Thus, they abandoned the safety of their ships, choosing to ride hovercrafts into battle.

Yunyang’s group encountered several waves of such Gluttons today, swarming their positions, only to be gunned down in a hail of bullets.

After several total defeats, the Gluttons grew wiser, no longer attacking in small groups. They gathered several escort ships and brought a thousand warriors at once.

Fortunately, thanks to Yunyang, the soldiers’ weapons were enhanced. No longer did several soldiers have to focus fire on a single Glutton without killing it.

That battle was fierce, both sides suffering casualties, nearly one-for-one. Commander Old Li, though pained for his troops, felt they were gaining ground—previously, only by piling up bodies could they take out a few aliens. Now, the fighting was much more balanced, a victory in itself.

The Gluttons reported this situation to their superiors: they’d discovered a Huaxia army equipped with light weapons capable of piercing their armor. This shocked the Glutton commander—previously, Huaxia troops needed tanks or other heavy weapons to kill a Glutton warrior.

Now, suddenly there was a lightweight weapon able to penetrate their armor—a revelation indeed. Light weapons and heavy weapons are two entirely different concepts; heavy weapons are costly, massive, hard to handle, and less accurate.

With light weapons able to pierce their armor, attacking Huaxia cities would now mean heavy losses. Light weapons are portable, affordable, and can arm every soldier, putting enormous pressure on the Glutton commander.

If invading a pre-nuclear, non-space-faring civilization meant too many casualties, her future prospects would be bleak—possibly even executed. After all, the Gluttons did have a king.

The Glutton commander made a snap decision: strike first and wipe out this unit. She couldn’t control other fronts, but this threat had to be eliminated before it caused greater losses.

With her order, the staff began making intensive preparations. If not for Demon Queen Morgana’s prior warning forbidding the use of nuclear weapons on Earth, she’d have sent a deadly tide to crush this uncertain element.

The Huaxia soldiers marching on, unaware that a plot was closing around them, not even Commander Old Li sensed it. After so many days, only small groups of aliens had attacked, and yesterday’s battle was the largest yet.

Meanwhile, Yunyang had just finished healing the last wounded soldier and was strolling with Angel Qingxue. After a morning of intensive treatment, even a super soldier was exhausted.

"You don’t need to rush so much," Qingxue said, feeling sorry for the weary Yunyang.

"How could I not? These warriors fight for Huaxia. If they’re hurt, I must do all I can to heal them," Yunyang replied, believing it his duty to ease their pain.

"As long as you’re happy," Qingxue said, unable to find a reason to argue.

"Alright, enough about that. Yesterday’s big ship was too far away, and I had no time to deal with it. Next time, if it appears again, do you think we can take it down together?" Yunyang asked, a bit frustrated that he hadn’t had a chance to attack the ship—yesterday, the Glutton warriors’ fearless charge had kept him and Qingxue busy.

"If we ignore the Glutton warriors and go straight for the ship, it shouldn’t be a problem," Qingxue replied after thinking it over.

"Great! Next time we see one, we’ll go straight for it and give those Gluttons something to grieve about," Yunyang said excitedly, reassured by Qingxue’s answer.

They continued their conversation, talking about Angel City. Yunyang had seen the animation, but not in detail. With an angel by his side, he had to ask.

Angel City was located on Melos Star in the Angel Nebula, which had nine layers of defense and a binary star defense system. Qingxue mentioned it briefly, without going into detail. Yunyang thought it sounded grand and powerful; if he ever had the resources, he’d build one for Earth.

If Qingxue knew what he was thinking, she’d say he was dreaming. The Angel civilization’s foundation was far beyond Earth’s; any single ring of defense was worth more than Earth’s resources combined. It was constructed from the resources collected over thirty thousand years of cosmic rule, unmatched anywhere in the known universe.

They chatted further, discussing a prodigy from Qingxue’s generation, Angel Zhixin. Both were considered geniuses, but even among geniuses, there were differences. To other angels, Qingxue had achieved the rank of high-level angel before a thousand years of age, an extraordinary feat.

Yet, she had a friend four hundred years younger who had already risen to the right-wing guard of the Holy Angel King, leaving Qingxue without much pride.