Enshrouded by the flames and waves of the starships, what appeared in the public's eyes first and walked slowly in front of the parliament building of the Federation was a strange team. Countless soldiers in neat uniforms were marching forward at the same pace, but their faces were grave and sorrowful. They were all holding a small metal box that was covered by the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars flag.
The soldiers who had burnt their lives and soul in the space battle a month ago and sacrificed their everything for the Xing Yao Federation were sleeping inside the boxes quietly, marching forward in silence to the low and generous march of 'Our Motherland Will Never Forget'.
The streets, alleys, and squares were all quiet except for the heavy breathing of people. Many people's tears had dried up in the past month. At this moment, they were no longer crying. Instead, they were holding hands and staring at the metal boxes that were as red as fire, singing silently to the tune of 'Our Motherland Will Never Forget'.
After the deceased, it was the camp of the disabled soldiers.
Many of them had just woken up from the medical cabins in the hospital. Every one of them had more or less lost part of their limbs and organs, which had been replaced by cold, glittering artificial limbs. Some of them had even replaced their entire body with artificial bodies.
They were not used to the brand-new limbs yet, and they did not have the time to drill the formation repetitively. Naturally, they were not as neat as the guards of honor in the beginning.
However, the intense stink of blood that they had stained in the space battle a month ago still enshrouded them tightly and leaked into their muscles, veins, nerves, and bones, giving them a killing intent that was entirely different from that of the guards of honor and that was almost tangible.
The soaring killing intent completely tore apart the slightly heavy atmosphere and turned into invincible dominance. Their disobedient eyes seemed to be saying, "Look. Even the elite expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings at the center of the cosmos is no match for us. We are the strongest troop of human beings in the three thousand Sectors!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Following the camp of the disabled soldiers was an iron army made of tens of thousands of Crystal Suits. Before they appeared in people's sight, thunderous footsteps were already echoing. Not just the long street, even the glass windows on the skyscrapers on the two sides of the street were rattling because of them.
From the perspective of the children on the floating auditorium in midair, it was a glittering iron dragon that was striding forward unhurriedly, one step after another.
"Wow …"
The children's mouths, which had finally been shut, were wide open again, as if a duck egg or even a small watermelon could be stuffed into them.
Many of the half-hearted children were in a dilemma.
They had just made up their minds that they would be swift, dominating space shuttle pilots when they grew up.
After seeing the magnificence of the starships, they changed their minds and decided to be a part of the iron behemoth.
After the army of Crystal Crystal Suits, they were deeply attracted by the charm of the 'King of magical equipment'.
Space shuttle, starship, Crystal Suit … Which one should they choose?
Looking at each other in bewilderment, the children counted their fingers, unable to make up their minds.
However, when the few magnificent shadows that they had thought to be skyscrapers slowly moved close, as if mountains were falling down on them, allowing them to see the full picture of their magnificence, the space shuttles, starships, and crystal suits were all forgotten. All the children were dumbfounded and couldn't have been more shocked.
It was especially so when the iron giants almost thirty meters tall brushed past them. Because they were on the floating auditorium, the heads of the giants and the enormous crystal cameras happened to be parallel to theirs. Some of the iron giants even turned their heads and glanced at them with gentle brilliance beaming out of their crystal cameras.
"Giant … Giant Soldier God!"
"So huge? So huge! So huge, so huge, so huge giants! "
"Is that the 'Tartarean Skeleton', the most awesome Colossus that our teacher mentioned? I'm told that it destroyed the space gate of the Imperium in the space battle and broke into an army of a million soldiers on its own, blowing up the commander-in-chief of the Imperium directly. How awesome, how awesome, and how dominating!"
"It must be the real super hero Li Yao inside, not the clumsy uncle who came to our kindergarten last time, right?"
"I've made up my mind. When I grow up, I'm going to pilot a Colossus like Li Yao! A Colossus! A Colossus! "
The children were jumping up and down, shouting and yelling.
Had it not been for the blockage of the net, a few bold children would've jumped directly from the floating auditorium to the shoulders of the Colossus.
When Li Yao slowly walked past the parliament building of the Federation with the super heavy legion made of twenty Colossi, the children were still drooling at the mountain-like back, with stars in their eyes.
The heroic spirits, the disabled soldiers, the Crystal Suit Legion, and the Colossi that were covered by the national flag passed the parliament building of the Federation one after another and gathered in the square of the Federation.
This was the place where Lu Zui, director of the Secret Sword Bureau, carried out a shocking assassination on Speaker Jiang Hailiu a hundred years ago.
After a hundred years of expansion and modification, the scale of the museum on the ground had been expanded by three times. An enormous war museum had also been established below the ground, recording the six hundred years of ups and downs of the Star Glory Federation from its birth to its rise.
Today, a new statue had been erected at the center of the square.
The main part of the enormous statue was a highly-abstract, prosperous, and peaceful planet with countless mountains, rivers, and zigzagging coastlines. It could be regarded as both the home planet of the Heaven's Origin Sector and any habitable planet of the Xing Yao Federation.
The glittering planet, however, was carried on the shoulders of a giant who was kneeling on the ground with strong arms.
Judging from his bulging muscles, his gritting teeth, and his knees that had been deeply smashed into the ground, the weight of the planet was much more than the giant could bear.
But he was supported by an invisible force, which allowed him to carry the heavy planet.
If one observed carefully, they would discover that the vivid, lifelike giant was full of cracks.
He was actually made of countless metal scraps the size of fingernails, or to be more exact, the debris of the Crystal Suit, the starships, the space shuttles, and even the Colossi of the Union Army in the space battle!
As for the glittering, slowly rotating "planet" above him, there was also a universe within it.
Inside the 'planet' was an unprecedentedly enormous database of information. Every light spot the size of a needle tip that made up the surface of the planet represented the name of a victim.
The government of the Federation and the families of the victims would also add their personal information into the database incessantly, including 3D photos, videos, and all kinds of text information.
Gradually, the 'Monument to the Martyrs of the Federation' would contain the lives of thousands of victims.
They were not just cold names on the monument, not just 'heroes' or 'martyrs' in the abstract sense, but also fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands of flesh and blood who could talk and laugh.
The monument would be open to the entire Federation. People would be able to retrieve their information randomly in the war museum or visit the martyrs remotely through the Spiritual Nexus.
Today, the first national public memorial ceremony for the space battle would be hosted by Speaker Wan Guqing.
After an hour of solemn and intense public memorial ceremony, it was Ding Ling Dong who walked to the front of the Monument to the Martyrs of the Federation slowly. She was wearing a white slim suit with a ribbon of the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars, and her hair was dyed black and coiled high on her head.
On her left and right sides were a 'Constitution of the Xing Yao Federation' and a 'Basic Law of Cultivators'. The two fundamental laws of the country were both tied with dark gold silk with the emblem of the Rising Dragon of the Nine Stars. She pressed her hands on the two laws and stared at the billions of people in the Federation before she began her inaugural speech.
With the help of the highly-developed Spiritual Nexus, her figure and her voice crossed dozens of lightyears within a breath and were seen and heard by tens of billions of people on dozens of planets in the seven Sectors at the same time.
"Thank you, former Speaker Wan Guqing, representatives of the parliament of the Federation, citizens of the Xing Yao Federation, compatriots in the seven Sectors, friends from Firefly and the Ancient Sages Sector. Thank you.
"I believe that there is no better place to make the most solemn vow than right below the Monument to the Martyrs of the Federation, under the gazes of thousands of heroes and billions of compatriots."
In the square of the Federation, the living and the dead, the healthy and the maimed, the warriors who were protected by the rebars and standing straight with their passion all listened quietly.
"… In the past month, or rather, in the past hundred years, the young country that has just been established at the edge of the cosmos has encountered unprecedented crises and challenges.
"Had it not been for the people who are lying behind me in silence right now and standing in front of me in silence, the irreversible destruction would have been unavoidable. Our home, our family, and our future would have all been destroyed."
Not just in the capital city, in every city large and small on the Heaven's Origin Sector, even in the vast but sparsely populated villages and the depths of the forests where nobody ever visited, enormous 3D light beams and broadcast rune arrays were spreading Ding Lingdang's image and voice to the ocean, the mountains, and the land.
"… The crisis is over for now, but peace, happiness, and a beautiful future are far from coming. At the center of the cosmos, countless ordinary people are mired in pain and suffering, losing their lives in the slave mines, the forests of demon beasts, and the cold space. Countless talents are killed before they are awakened. Countless hopes are extinguished before they are ignited. The most beautiful feelings are exploited, deprived, stomped on, and twisted.
This is a massacre against all human beings. Such a massacre must be stopped immediately!
"At the center of the cosmos and at the edge of the cosmos, we are all compatriots illuminated by the brilliance of the same civilization. The cosmos is boundless, but nobody can be a self-sufficient island. We are connected to each other and share history, culture, fate, and glory. Their sufferings are our sufferings, their dreams are our dreams, their successes are our successes, and their oppression is our oppression!"
In the depths of the forests in the Forest Ocean Sector, the animal controllers who were wearing the skins of animals were squatting on the branches and listening to Ding Ling Dong's speech in silence.
"… I know that many compatriots are tired of war, and they do not know how much slaughter and sufferings they will face on the journey to the center of the cosmos. If there is the slightest possibility, nobody is willing to be involved in the incessant flames of war.
"But I want to tell you that what we are shouldering is not just a sacred destiny but also a cold reality.
"The behemoths at the center of the cosmos are still sharpening their weapons. If we do not take action in advance and cannot free ourselves from the illusionary peace, the miserable and desperate fate of our compatriots at the center of the cosmos right now will befall us one day, too.
"If we don't fight for them now, when the final destruction comes, no one will fight for us anymore!"
In the Nether World Sector, in the bright purple venomous fog that was absolutely unsuitable for the fleshly body of normal human beings, countless spectral Cultivators connected their crystal wires and sensed the quakes of Ding Ling Dong's soul in silence.
In the narrow cabins of countless starships in the Uranian Ring Sector, the warriors leaned against the cold cabin wall, but their blood was so hot that steam was popping up.
In the Blood Demon Sector, the warriors of the demon race in the past and the citizens of the Federation today listened to her in silence, too.
In the deserts of the Water Crystal Sector, the space of the Flying Star Sector, the resource planets with harsh environments, the bottom levels of the zigzagging mines … Countless people held their breath and listened to the solemn promise.
"… Therefore, I hereby pledge my loyalty to the Xing Yao Federation, to the Supreme Council, and to all the people of the Federation. With my loyalty, I beg all my compatriots to summon their courage, hold their weapons, and fight together until the end.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
