When Zero handled documents, he was used to first turning off the system to think on his own. Once he figured out a solution, he'd then use the system to check for flaws or missing details.
The papers on his desk didn't require him to give an immediate answer, but things were completely different on the battlefield.
Zero had to deal with natural disasters, personally leading his subordinates to the front lines.
He had reliable subordinates, on the battlefield, they were the ones giving orders.
Zero only needed to use the system's map to tell his people the locations of small enemy units that the fleet couldn't detect, and to remind them when it was time to retreat. That was enough.
Oh, and by the way, he also had to help out his teammates' pitifully weak fleets a little.
Zero opened up the system's galactic map.
Countless fleets turned into tiny icons on the map, all moving toward the star systems infested by insect swarms and machines.
At first, he'd sent out his own forces to contain the disaster within five star systems.
But once the Xianzhou Alliance pulled back, no other faction in the universe stood up to take responsibility.
Outsiders said Zero was bloodthirsty, but he only thought, easy to talk when you're not the one doing the work.
Whether it was an insect swarm or rogue machines, neither was easy to handle. He'd gone to great lengths, even forcing himself to socialize despite being a total shut-in, and finally managed to find a few teammates to form a group.
Most of those fleets belonged to the Xianzhou.
A small number of his so-called "allies" outwardly supported the Alliance's decision, but when it came time to actually send out fleets and manpower, they started playing tricks, only willing to contribute a token force.
After reviewing some of their info, Zero could roughly estimate how many fleets they were capable of sending.
As for their petty calculations… he didn't really care, and even understood those stingy cowards' mentality.
He only felt sorry for their citizens.
If their leaders were too stingy to even dispatch fleets, their people were probably not living too well either.
But that was fine, because the ever-helpful Xianzhou Alliance would step in to help them replace their current leaders with ones who actually cared about their people.
Zero silently noted down the teammates who were genuinely willing to fight the calamities alongside him, and personally sent a signal to one of their ships.
Once the communication was connected, Zero raised his eyebrows slightly.
This good teammate turned out to be that blunt man with the mustache he'd met on the cruise ship.
"Second time," Zero said with a light chuckle. "This is the second time I've seen you."
The mustached man froze. "Marshal?"
Zero asked casually, like making small talk, why he was on the battlefield.
That teammate held a high position, yet still came personally, seemed like his situation wasn't great.
The mustached man was honest to a fault, saying whatever came to mind. After listening for a while, Zero finally understood why he'd been sent here to die.
The reason was simple, he spoke too bluntly, and probably offended a lot of people.
Then, out of nowhere, the mustached man changed the subject, bringing up something the Marshal had said before.
"You once said, that the number of casualties on a document aren't just numbers to you, right?"
Zero caught the hidden meaning. The man's reason for joining the Xianzhou Alliance and fighting against the disasters wasn't just due to political pressure, part of it came from that one sentence Zero had said.
He now had a clear grasp of his teammate's character,
a commander who deeply loved his people, but was shunned by his peers.
Zero gave him a deep look and answered firmly, "Of course."
After exchanging a few more polite words, Zero hung up the call.
Once the line disconnected, the mustached man finally let out a sigh of relief.
When he first received the signal, he thought some audacious hacker had invaded his ship.
But after seeing that face, he immediately understood.
He didn't bother to question how the other could send a signal across multiple star systems so precisely.
No need to ask, it was Xianzhou technology.
Even as he was startled, he couldn't help feeling envious.
If his home planet had the same technology… perhaps not so many soldiers would've died.
Just as he was thinking that, his ship received another signal.
After connecting, a man appeared with gaudy hair ornaments, speaking softly and smiling brightly at someone off-screen.
His tone was so gentle and elegant that the mustached man actually got goosebumps just listening.
"Yes, Lord Marshal..."
As soon as he said that, his smile vanished, replaced by a cold, stern expression.
"I am General Zhaoyao of Yaoqing. From now on, your fleet will be under my command. Any questions?"
The mustached man, "..."
'Come on, wasn't that change of attitude a little too fast? One second all spring breezes and politeness, the next second an ice cube!'
He forced out an answer, "No problem."
General Zhaoyao immediately sent him over a dozen coordinates and said coldly, "Use your orbital cannons to destroy these planets."
The mustached man, "???"
He instinctively looked up at Zhaoyao's projection, dumbfounded. "Huh?"
Perhaps sensing the confusion, Zhaoyao actually took the time to explain a bit more than usual.
"These insects are like this. Once they occupy a planet, they eat the native population and turn the world into their nest, breeding endlessly."
"Using orbital bombardment is the best solution."
The mustached man said nothing.
Maybe this was what they meant by Xianzhou's advanced technology, their fleets hadn't even arrived yet, and the Xianzhou already knew everything happening on those planets.
He fell silent for a while, then passed Zhaoyao's orders to his subordinates, watching as the vast fleet advanced toward the given coordinates.
Generation after generation, humanity had longed to leave their homeworld and reach the stars.
The ancients had looked up at the sky, pouring their hearts and lives into trying to get just a little closer to the stars and moon.
But limited by technology, despite all their effort and sacrifice, they couldn't break into space, they never got to see the starlit sea they'd dreamed of their whole lives.
Thanks to the data and research those ancestors left behind, later generations could continue their dream.
They spent their own lives just to advance research by a tiny fraction.
That generation never got to sail across the cosmic ocean or discover new worlds; they couldn't explore the infinite universe.
Yet they didn't give up, they left their findings behind, paving the way for those who would come after.
After countless generations of effort, humanity finally entered space, piloting ships to witness the vastness of the starry sea with their own eyes.
But no matter how many credits were spent building ships, in the universe, they were still nothing but specks of dust.
To put it nicely, they were like ants, small and fragile.
Yet once the fleets reached a certain scale, everything changed.
Even the insect swarms that left no survivors wherever they went had to bow to humanity's might.
Beams of light tore through the silent darkness.
When the first ship fired its orbital cannon at a planet infested by the swarm, the others followed, unleashing volley after volley of devastating fire.
Once-prosperous civilizations vanished in moments after the invasion, only broken, scarred planets remained.
These insects, stupid to the extreme, had no sense of good or evil, no intellect. After devouring every species on a planet, they still weren't satisfied.
Driven by pure instinct, they drained every last resource from the planet, turning it into their breeding ground.
Once new swarms were born, they'd move on again, repeating the same destruction elsewhere.
But now, their supposed prey, humanity, armed with its unique wisdom, finally struck back.
Under the fleet's relentless bombardment, those round planets, so fragile they could be crushed like clumps of dirt, crumbled and disintegrated, turning into cosmic dust.
The Xianzhou soldiers were long used to such sights, chatting and laughing casually as they piloted their ships.
The others held their breath, silently watching this divine spectacle forged by generations of human effort.
Before human ingenuity, even gods didn't seem so untouchable anymore.
"Keep moving forward."
Zhaoyao ordered. The rest, as if waking from a dream, followed the vast fleet onward once again.
After wiping out over a dozen planets, Zhaoyao, leading the mustached man and the Cloud Knights, received a signal from an ally in the neighboring star system.
He accepted the call. The projection showed a small-framed, adorable colleague named Chanzhen, her name the same as dodder, a parasitic flower.
The dodder flower looks like it depends on others to survive, but in reality, it parasitizes and drains its hosts' nutrients, strangling them in the end.
This colleague served as a general under Zhuming, obsessed with studying the "Golden Ones", so much that she spent fortunes on figurines and custom outfits.
Zhuming had no Colossus, but since the Marshal had given an order, she had no choice but to suppress the Heliobi leader "Flint Emperor." Now, with a new Dragon Lord from Vidyadhara assisting, she finally had the chance to join her peers in battle.
[T/N: Flint Emperor is the leader and progenitor of the Heliobi. It was defeated in the Heliobi War and was imprisoned in the Zhuming]
And like the dodder flower itself, she was not to be underestimated.
Chanzhen cursed in Xianzhou slang as soon as the line connected, then said to Zhaoyao, "The machines are fleeing in your direction."
Zhaoyao nodded.
Chanzhen kept swearing, "Damn these stupid machines, every time I get close they run, Run where, huh?, Oh right, I forgot, machines don't have families…"
Despite her cute face, she slammed the table and cursed furiously, "Full speed ahead! Ram them with the cockpit!"
"I'm gonna unscrew every bolt off those bastards and melt them down!"
Zhaoyao, "...The Marshal said not to get close. Keep your distance and take them out slowly."
The moment Chanzhen heard that, she instantly deflated. "Oh," she muttered, then hung up.
The mustached man, who'd overheard everything thanks to the open comms, was speechless.
His expression began to crumble.
Zhaoyao noticed his reaction, glanced at the still-active projection, realized he'd forgotten to mute it, and smiled lightly in reassurance.
Half-jokingly, Zhaoyao said, "The women you've met are all like that, right?"
The mustached man silently shook his head.
Zhaoyao easily understood why.
He wasn't from the Xianzhou, how could he possibly get it?
When the Marshal chose subordinates, there weren't many restrictions.
The great Marshal wasn't influenced by stereotypes, never judged anyone's worth by gender or age.
As long as someone was capable, he'd assign them to the right place.
Zhaoyao, killing time, started talking nonsense, "If we were to follow those stereotypes, saying things like gentleness or courage define men and women, then I'd undoubtedly be more womanly than all my female colleagues. Ranking-wise, I'd probably be second."
The mustached man stared silently at the projection of Zhaoyao, who looked suspiciously like he was wearing makeup, had curled hair, and adorned with decorative hairpieces.
'Xianzhou people… were they all this androgynous? And this guy wasn't even first place?'
The Yaoqing General seemed to read his thoughts and chuckled, "The first place is a coward, got captured by the swarm once, and the Marshal had to trade several planets just to get them back."
The mustached man wasn't good at socializing, but since Zhaoyao had brought up internal Xianzhou gossip, he forced himself to ask, "So… that person, are they fighting with us this time?"
Zhaoyao's smile faded. He shook his head and sighed.
"No. That coward finally got what they wanted, I suppose. Kinda enviable, really."
Seeing his confused expression, Zhaoyao laughed, skipped the topic, and continued leading the fleet forward.
As he looked out over the endless fleets, Zhaoyao thought of their superior.
Their almighty Marshal, he must be so busy right now.
At that moment, that "busy" Marshal Zero had just finished checking every fleet and star system's status, and found two high-level NPCs slowly approaching his position.
One was an irritating one. The other, a dear friend worth every single credit spent.
[Current progress: 1%]
[10% of the universe remains under control of the swarm and machines]
Zero glanced at the system's estimate for when the war would end, but didn't care much.
Last time, during the war against the Golden Ones, the system's predictions had been just as unreliable. It was only a reference.
He pulled out Mirror Flower, Water Moon from his system inventory, and turned to meet Aha's eyes.
Zero couldn't help sighing inwardly.
He'd gotten stuck with this troublesome being again.
Aha, uninvited as always, casually opened his fridge and pulled out a bottle of champagne.
Zero raised an eyebrow and stood up.
With one hand holding Mirror Flower, Water Moon, he rummaged through a cabinet with the other and took out an old can of true insect meat.
Man and god, perfectly in sync, walked to the bar counter.
Zero pushed the can toward Aha.
Aha blinked. "What's this?"
Zero said calmly, "Snacks to go with the drink."
Aha cheerfully played along, opened the can, took the fork Zero handed him, and started eating while sipping champagne.
Zero watched closely. When he saw Aha nearly finished, he said in a thoughtful tone, "By the way, there's a question I've been wanting to ask you for a while…"
Aha perked up, finishing the can and urging him to go on.
Zero smiled faintly, tone shifting from curious to gleeful, and asked with deliberate meaning, "So, how does the taste of insects compare?"
Aha, "..."
Aha slowly lowered his fork, and then burst into laughter loud enough to shake the entire ship.
Zero just watched coldly as the star god laughed like a maniac, doubling over before falling off his chair onto the floor.
Still smiling, Zero looked down at him.
Aha laughed for a long time, then suddenly shot upright, eyes gleaming.
"I've decided, you're my best friend!"
Zero kept his smile, saying nothing.
A high-level NPC who saw everyone as ants, what did he know about friendship?
Then Zero turned his gaze to the corner of the ship, where a moment ago no one was there, now stood a gray-haired, golden-eyed young man.
"Best friend..."
Akivili smiled brightly, but when he saw Aha, he froze.
"Huh? Aha? What are you doing here?"
Aha nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! He's my best friend too! We met back when I was being a therapist!"
Zero, "..."
Akivili, "..."
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