March 12, 2505 CE, 21:00
Long Feng stood at the hatch of a light transport ship, taking a headcount.
All twenty-three Special A1 members were present, each with a silver metallic case measuring one meter high, one and a half meters long, and thirty centimeters thick placed beside them. Long Feng took out a pocket watch from his coat, glanced at it, uttered a single word: "Go." He put the watch back in his pocket, picked up the metal case beside him, and strode into the transport ship.
The twenty-two Special A1 members filed in one after another.
The transport ship's ramp suddenly transformed into a silvery liquid substance, slowly covering the hatch. A faint blue glow flashed, and the hatch disappeared, seamlessly merging with the surrounding structure of the ship without a trace of any gap.
March 12, 2505 CE, 21:30
The transport ship's four rectangular nozzles suddenly ejected high-energy particle streams, dragging twenty-meter-long blue flame tails that left a white vapor trail in the air. The vessel roared straight into the blue sky, breaking through the atmosphere of Sagittarius's second planet within ten seconds and speeding toward a jump point at the outer edge of the planetary system.
The spacecraft accelerated at nearly 200 meters per second. Aside from the Special A1 members, even the most elite special forces soldiers would struggle to withstand such intense acceleration. Yet Long Feng and his team conversed effortlessly inside the cabin.
Long Feng gazed calmly at a display screen behind the front seat and said quietly, "Galaxy-class large freighter, standard crew of 300, capable of carrying 20 million tons of cargo. Long Huo, do you have any information on this freighter? Recently, it seems the New Japanese Empire has no need for large-scale transport operations in that area."
A lean young man frantically typed on a personal computer keyboard, his fingers flying, and replied calmly, "No intel. I've already breached the first layer of the New Japanese Empire's highest military headquarters system—no data… trouble." He tapped the keyboard wildly a few more times, then shrugged helplessly and glanced at Long Feng with a grimace.
A deep, composed male voice suddenly sounded: "Major Long Huo, this is the ninety-third time you've violated network regulations in the past six months, and you have illegally occupied a large amount of military bandwidth. According to the rules, special treatment applies to Special A1 members—one week's salary will be deducted. Do not repeat this offense."
Long Huo snorted and said, "PanGu, my salary for this year has already been completely deducted." The male voice, PanGu—the master control computer of the Supreme Military Commission of the People's Republic of China—chuckled softly: "Then we'll start deducting from next year's salary. I assume you have no objections. I can provide you with the information you need. Major Long Feng, this freighter is directly under an agency of the New Sun Empire's Supreme Command, though its specific designation is unclear. Exercise extreme caution on this mission—based on my probability calculations, there should be no fewer than a thousand armed personnel on board. I do not wish to see any casualties among the Special A1 members during this operation."
The male voice faded. Long Nu said coldly, with clear dissatisfaction, "We've never heard any good news from PanGu."
Long Feng responded icily, "As it should be. NüWa is the base's master control computer, equipped with simulated emotions. PanGu is the supreme master control computer—it neither requires nor is permitted to have such programming. Long Nu, you've already broken the rules three times, but NüWa hasn't recorded it in your file. If it were PanGu, you'd have been sentenced to a month of confinement." Long Nu immediately fell silent, not daring to say another word.
23:10, March 12, 2505 AD
The transport ship reached the target area, and the main control computer on board said softly: "Attention all crew members, positioning signal received. Preparing for spatial jump. Please put on your protective helmets."
Long Feng said coldly: "Special A1 personnel do not require helmets." The main control computer acknowledged: "Understood. Jump initiating in ten seconds. Energy charging in progress, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6…"
A blue glow enveloped the transport ship. Its form twisted momentarily before vanishing. Simultaneously, hundreds of light-years away in the Orion region, near a white-glowing spatial signal marker, the transport ship's outline gradually materialized as the blue luminescence slowly faded. The main control computer's voice announced: "Spatial jump completed."
Four powerful streams of high-energy particles shot backward as the transport vessel headed toward the silvery glimmer ten light-seconds away. There, one hundred eighty warships from two space assault divisions of the 19th Heavy Space Assault Corps lay docked.
The transport vessel silently and seamlessly approached a three-thousand-meter-long main battleship, quietly docking with one of its interfaces. Long Feng and the others quickly lifted the metal cases at their sides and proceeded along the metal passageway.
A blast door gently closed as the transport ship that had completed its mission slid away into the distance, performing another space jump before vanishing.
To Long Feng's utter astonishment, waiting for them at the end of the passage on a small plaza was Long Ao—wearing a faint, lazy, and mischievous smile while idly toying with a crystal card—along with three young men in black Zhongshan suits standing beside him.
Long Ao strode over and called out loudly to Long Feng, "Hey kid, it's been a year. Your master here has missed you quite a bit. Come on, let's have an exciting reunion ceremony." He spread his arms wide, but Long Feng remained standing in place, staring coldly at him.
Long Ao shrugged helplessly and turned to the three young men behind him, saying, "I told you—even after I worked so hard for a whole year to teach him the essence of camaraderie, this little brat still acts like he doesn't know me. You lost. Remember, 100,000 bucks each—no backing out."
Suddenly, Long Feng revealed a captivating smile, like ice thawing on a glacier, and said softly, "Big brother Long Ao, it's been a while. I've really missed you." Then he tightly embraced Long Ao.
The three young men behind let out a long sigh and chuckled: "Long Ao, you lost. Three hundred thousand, haha…"
Long Ao was dumbfounded. He turned around and murmured to Long Feng: "You… are Long Feng? The Long Feng from Special A1?"
Long Feng resumed his icy expression and said coldly: "In any case, making you lose money is always something that pleases me. You spent one week teaching me the mantra, then fifty-one weeks fooling around at the base, received 343 love letters, and then disappeared without a trace. Someone asked me to teach you a lesson, but I can't beat you, so this is the only way. Explanation complete. Take us to see Major General Zhong."
The three young men behind cheerfully rushed forward and led Long Feng and the others along the passage, leaving Long Ao alone behind them, grinding his teeth and cursing incessantly.
In the spacious main control cabin of the massive flagship Chen Tang, Major General Zhong, who had been checking telemetry data, quickly walked to the entrance to greet Long Feng and the others.
Facing Major General Zhong, whose rank was far higher than his own, Long Feng merely gave a slight nod and asked: "What's the current situation?"
Admiral Zhong, however, replied with utmost respect: "The cargo ship from the New Sun Empire suddenly experienced engine failure and has anchored in space three hundred light-seconds away from us. Additionally, three days ago, one of their compartments was struck and detached by a small meteorite, falling into the atmosphere of New Planet No. 13. Colonel Wen and I have concluded that their armed personnel are inside that compartment."
Long Feng coldly examined the signals transmitted via cosmic oscillation waves and said icily: "Prepare the fleet for combat. Jam all signals from that cargo ship and cut off its external communications. After we locate the target below, destroy the enemy completely."
Admiral Zhong snapped to attention and said loudly: "Yes, sir."
After carefully reviewing the telemetry data for a while, Long Feng ordered: "Deploy two hundred heavy fighters to apply appropriate pressure on the enemy. We will rest for four hours first. Send someone to wake us after four hours."
Admiral Zhong nodded and ordered his lieutenant colonel adjutant to escort Long Feng and the others to the residential area.
After Long Feng and his team had left, a lieutenant colonel with an arrogant expression rose from his main fire control station and asked puzzledly: "Commander, who are these people? Just a lowly major—is it necessary for you to show them such respect?"
General Zhong glanced at him coldly and said word by word: "Remember, you may not respect me, but you must respect them. They are… your military clearance is insufficient to know their identities."
The lieutenant colonel was stunned. He understood what the phrase "insufficient military clearance" implied. His expression turned serious, and he quickly returned to his post.
General Zhong issued a series of commands: "Prepare to launch high-frequency jammers. Notify General Wen, request his fleet to deploy one hundred heavy fighters to cooperate with our division's aircraft in imposing a full blockade on Neo-13 Planet. Deploy three hundred high-explosive space mines to prevent the enemy freighter from escaping."
His orders were strictly executed one by one.
05:10, March 13, 2505 CE
Long Feng quietly opened his eyes, swiftly unlocked the silver metal case by his bed, took out a set of matte black individual combat armor and put it on. Next came his single-soldier combat weapons: a high-energy laser emitter, micro thermonuclear missiles, and a high-energy particle beam cannon.
Fully armed, Long Feng stepped out of the rest cabin door. From nearby cabins, members of Special A1 emerged one after another.
After Long Feng assembled the team, the twenty-three youths headed directly to the lower-level fighter craft hangar.
Throughout the entire battleship, the voice of the main control computer echoed: "Combat plan initiated, all personnel prepare for action. All crew members, return to your stations. Please note, this is not a drill. Repeat, this is not a drill."