Chapter 492: Chapter 490: City-Wide Martial Law

Inside the dim movie theater.

Jiang Qin sat silently in the front row, watching the movie.

She didn’t look back, nor did she pay attention to the faces of the warriors watching with her. She just focused on the movie.

Actually, it wasn’t really a movie, just a projected short film.

After all, she had seen the few movies that actually had an effect on her far too many times. They no longer did anything for her.

As for horror movies she hadn’t seen, she wouldn’t watch them even before she was pregnant, let alone now.

So, today they were showing a short film.

And it was one with a rather bizarre plot.

Bai Mufeng, Lan Shaoyu, and Gu Tianyou were in a state of shock the entire time.

You could never guess just how absurd the plot would get in the next moment.

If they didn’t have to stay quiet, they would have probably already launched into a heated discussion.

What shocked them even more was that many Spiritual Bodies gradually began to appear around them. This meant the females were already completely engrossed!

’Seriously, who is the target audience for this ridiculous show?!’

Bai Mufeng watched with a frown on his face the whole time...

Suddenly, he felt a Spiritual Body appear on his head. He quickly looked up.

A familiar white rabbit was stomping its feet and flailing its arms on his head. It looked a little... hmm, angry?

Bai Mufeng’s first instinct was to reflect on his own actions.

But he quickly realized—wasn’t the plot they had just watched rather infuriating?

’Anyway, if I were the main character,’ he thought, ’I’d probably choose to take those nonsensical people down with me rather than reconcile.’

But based on the show’s plot so far, the ending would most likely involve forgiving the people who had hurt the protagonist, leading to a "perfect" conclusion.

Bai Mufeng really didn’t get it. ’Just because you get to live again, does that mean you can forget the pain you suffered in your past life?’

’If you go back to before something happened, does that mean it never happened at all?’

’Isn’t that just deceiving yourself?!’

That’s why he couldn’t comprehend the show’s plot. The more he watched, the angrier he felt.

’So... does she think the same way I do?’

’If not, she probably wouldn’t have gotten so angry that her Spiritual Body manifested.’

The thought was somewhat amusing, but it also brought him a secret flicker of joy. After all, he hadn’t seen her in a very long time.

Coming to the theater today, he hadn’t been sure if he would run into her.

’To think we’re actually in the same theater...’

Lan Shaoyu and Gu Tianyou naturally recognized Jiang Qin’s Spiritual Body as well. After all, they used to frequent the bar to listen to her sing.

So, they were no strangers to this little white rabbit.

Not to mention, Jiang Qin’s Spiritual Body was distinctly different from other White Rabbit Spirit Bodies.

The two of them shot Bai Mufeng suggestive looks. Gu Tianyou even nudged him lightly with his elbow and whispered, "Hey, aren’t you going to say hello?"

Bai Mufeng, who was gently stroking the White Rabbit Spirit Body, shook his head. "I’ll message her later."

’Better not to disturb her while she’s watching the show for now.’

...

After the short film ended, Jiang Qin didn’t pay any mind to where her Spiritual Body had gone. All that mattered was that its soothing function had been fulfilled.

She logged off, satisfied.

Although the short film today was a bit infuriating, she had to admit the short-film industry was already blooming all across the Interstellar.

She knew it. When it came to imagination, there was no reason Interstellar People should be so lacking.

See? You just had to give them an opening, and everyone’s imagination immediately soared.

Things were getting more and more absurd now. There were even love stories about Cosmic Beasts. What a wild imagination.

However, when she logged off, she discovered that the entire Central City was under martial law.

The sound of alarms was blaring continuously.

She quickly asked her partners, "What’s going on outside?"

Yun Xie shook his head, his expression grim. "Yuan Ling is looking into it."

Normally, for an alarm like this, information wouldn’t spread too quickly. It might even be suppressed by the higher-ups.

So, to get accurate information quickly, Yuan Ling chose to hack into the Federation’s internal network.

Jiang Qin immediately realized the gravity of the situation.

For an ordinary alarm, Yuan Ling wouldn’t resort to hacking the Federation’s internal network. He would only do it himself if he felt something was seriously wrong.

Soon, Yuan Ling obtained the information that the authorities were suppressing.

"The Main Star has been surrounded by a Cosmic Beast. From the satellite observations, it looks like a giant tree.

It’s holding the entire planet in its embrace. Currently, no ship can leave the Main Star.

Any object that tries to fly out from the Main Star is almost guaranteed to be attacked by the tree."

This includes small detection instruments. Even the tiniest machines are not spared; the tree’s perception is incredibly strong.

The images they have are all blurry feeds transmitted just before those small machines were destroyed. Not a single one is clear.

So, the city’s alarms are actually meant to assemble all the High-level Beastmen.

The high command really doesn’t dare to release the details right now. They can only tell everyone to remain vigilant.

Because if the truth gets out, those desperate to escape might adopt a ’if we can’t get out, we’ll take everyone down with us’ mentality.

As things stand, they can’t escape. If that Cosmic Beast decides to attack the planet, they’re all finished.

This is why the higher-ups are keeping it a secret.

However, they are already working on a solution. There are two plans on the table. One is to attack the tree with heavy weaponry.

The other advocates for escape.

Sacrifice a group of warriors to draw its fire, while everyone else looks for an opportunity to flee—saving as many as they can.

As for those without ships... they would have to fend for themselves.

But the majority disagreed.

"This is the Federation’s Main Star!!

No one who becomes a citizen of the Main Star is ordinary, not to mention all the powerful factions here.

Even if we manage to save these people, we’d still be finished! Are we supposed to spend another hundred years building a new Main Star?!"

"Aren’t there plenty of other First-class Planets? We can just pick another one to be the Main Star.

As long as we preserve the upper echelons of power, we can start over anywhere!"

"If you want to run, then run! We will never flee!!"

"That’s right! The Cosmic Beast is powerful, but our warriors and our national defense weapons are no pushovers either."

"But if mishandled, those weapons could lead to our mutual destruction with that tree!"

"So what? At least it’s better than you cowards who are too afraid to even think about fighting back!"

"Heh, that’s right, we are cowards. Since you’re not afraid to die, you can go fight it yourselves. We’ll escape on our own."

’This is actually better. With these fools holding the line, it’ll be easier for us to slip away in the chaos.’ 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

’There’s no way we’re just going to wait here to die. With our assets, we can live well no matter where we escape to.’

The Chief just listened to their bickering, his eyes filled with exhaustion.

’Perhaps this is why we can never catch up to the Empire,’ he thought.

’Our people are not united...’