Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 162: Defection and Reverse Defection

"Chief Maley, what are you doing? We have been fighting for you. Why are you arresting me?" shouted Dilo, unable to accept how he was being treated.

"Why? Because you're defecting," replied Maley coldly.

"That is a baseless accusation!" shouted Dilo.

"Baseless my ass. Lock him up," ordered Maley. Dilo was dragged away by several burly guys.

"Who will order the clones to stop if he's arrested? You guys are too full of yourselves," said Wind Spirit, who was slowly calming down.

Everyone blanked out. True. Without Dilo, who would pass on the order?

"Hakan, why don't you go?" said Maley toward the guard still kneeling on the ground.

"This mission is too important. This lowly one does not dare to take it. I only know how to charge and break through enemy lines. Something like this is beyond me, Chief," said Hakan. He seemed to have smartened up incredibly quickly after his small lesson.

Maley was happy with the smart reply and said, "Stand up. What are you doing staying on the floor?"

Hakan breathed out in relief and hurriedly got back on his feet.

"We can't delay the ceasefire. Someone needs to notify the attacking forces to stop immediately. We also need someone to bring the message of the ceasefire to Gunda's army," said Maley.

"I believe Wind Spirit and Canyue are the best candidates. They will bring the message to the clone soldiers and Gunda's army," suggested Master Crystal.

"I'll go with Canyue," Baron Sisse volunteered.

"How about this? Princess Wind Spirit, the baron, Canyue, and Hakan will spread the message. The master will stay with me," Maley decided.

Clearly, he was keeping Master Crystal at his side to have a hostage to keep us in check.

"Canyue, Baron, go. I'll be fine here. End the battle as soon as you can to avoid further casualties," said Master Crystal.

The four of us did not waste any time. We left the tent and went toward the blockaded main road. After leaving the barbarian encampment, we arrived at the area guarded by the clone soldiers. Compared with the barbarian encampment, the military fortifications there were obviously stricter and finer. The clone soldiers had gone through a long and comprehensive training. Their discipline was much higher than the barbarians' coarse battle tactics.

With Wind Spirit walking in front of us, all the soldiers parted to make way because they all knew her. The nearer we got to the main road, the more people we saw. Countless soldiers had surrounded the road, ensuring that escape was impossible.

After walking through layer upon layer of soldiers, we arrived before a large platform from which the main road could be seen clearly. With one look, I saw over a thousand Wargod corpses piled up at the crossing, and the ground was flooded by blood. This was an extremely cruel battle. An ox-headed warrior that looked like a military leader noticed us and immediately walked toward us.

"Superiors, this is the front line. There might be stray arrows anywhere. It's too dangerous. Please leave immediately," said the military leader.

"We're not here for an inspection. We're here to bring the message of ceasefire from Chief Maley and Commander Dilo," said Wind Spirit.

"Ceasefire? Before he left, Commander Dilo had prepared several offensive plans. He said that no matter what time he returns, we are to attack after 60 minutes. We are only 27 minutes away from the deadline. Without Commander Dilo's direct order, the offensive won't stop," replied the military leader.

All four of us were stunned. So Dilo actually had a backup plan. He had actually arranged it before leaving.

"Commander Dilo is in the middle of discussing an even bigger operation after receiving an urgent message from the empire. The four of us are sent to bring his message. You need to halt the offensive immediately, or you'll be punished for insubordination," said Baron Sisse.

"Superior, it's not that I'm unwilling to stop. The clone soldiers can only be ordered by the highest commander. Without Dilo's direct authorization, the soldiers won't even listen to me," explained the military leader with a helpless face.

"This is going to be troublesome. We need Dilo himself to give the order to cease the attack," I said to Wind Spirit.

"What should we do now?" asked Baron Sisse.

"What else? Go back first and have Dilo issue the order. We don't have much time left. Let's go," said Wind Spirit.

We turned to leave the platform. At the same moment, Gunda's army launched another suicide attack. I was saddened to see the sight of the Wargod soldiers dropping one after another. I couldn't bring myself to keep looking, so I averted my gaze and hastened my footstep from this slaughterhouse. But I noticed something wrong only a few steps later.

"Wind Spirit, Baron, that Hakan fellow is gone. He's not coming with us," I said anxiously.

"Shit. I was focused on the suicide charge, so I didn't notice what Hakan was doing," said Baron Sisse.

"This is bad. The three of us are unarmed and the situation is dangerous. We must leave immediately," I ordered.

We started running toward Maley's tent, but as we ran, sounds of disturbance erupted behind us.

"Run!" I said loudly.

"Arrest them! Don't let them escape!" A shout came from behind us.

Several burly figures promptly stood in our path. A massive hammer then came swinging toward my face. With my morph-capable shield on, I leaped to the right. The hammer landed on the ground beside me, creating a deep crater.

A group of burly ox-headed warriors stood before us. With our builds and martial skills, we were completely not their match. Without our weapons, we cut sorry figures as we tried to deal with them. The ox-headed warriors were able to surround us, cutting all paths of escape.

"Capture all three of them. I want them alive," Hakan's voice rang out behind us.

"Hakan! You dare rebel against Maley? You're dead!" Wind Spirit scolded furiously.

"Hmph! How would a princess like you understand my struggles? There is no turning back for me. If you obediently surrender, I won't make things hard for you. You can help me eliminate Maley and get the empire to grant me an official position. I'll be willing to spare Gunda and even lead the barbarians in surrendering to the Kenante Kingdom and ending the war," said Hakan. That was quite an attractive offer.

"Deal!" Wind Spirit agreed without any hesitation.

Both Baron Sisse and I gasped in shock. This little fellow was way too prone to changing her stance. The straightforward answer stunned the clone soldiers. The ox-headed giants around us were looking rather awkward because they didn't know if they should now attack or not. The crowd parted, allowing Hakan and the military leader to approach us.

"Welcome to the side of justice. I have successfully convinced Commander Lipu to delay the attack for an hour. We must make full use of this break to take down Maley and his command. We also need to rescue Chief Commander Dilo," said Hakan.

"What a surprise. How did a coarse soldier like you explain something so complicated to the clones in such a short period of time?" said Wind Spirit with derision.

"My apologies. I had practiced this plan many times in my head. I was merely reenacting all my practice runs in real time. Are you going to work with us? If yes, be cooperative. If not, we will arrest you immediately," threatened Hakan.

"Didn't this princess agree? What devious plan are you cooking now?" said Wind Spirit. Despite agreeing to cooperate, Wind Spirit's mouth was still as unforgiving as ever.

"Return with this Blueling and tell Maley that we have notified both sides of the ceasefire. Invite Gunda to the front line. I'll arrest him when he's here," said Hakan.

"Do you think Maley is a fool? How would he enter the clone army's camp so easily? He would ask to have Gunda sent to him instead of coming out to meet him," said Wind Spirit, pointing out the weak point of the plan.

'Looks like this girl is still able to stay rational in emergencies,' I praised inwardly.

"That's your problem. I don't care. You'll bring Maley here or the baron will be facing threats to his life," threatened Hakan.

"Hahaha. How laughable. Why do I care about the so-called baron? Feel free to kill him right now," said Wind Spirit uncaringly.

"No, I'll go meet Maley and try something," I said.

"You only have an hour. After that hour is over, the final offensive will begin. At that time, I will no longer be able to protect the baron. Pace yourself accordingly," said Hakan.

Then, two burly clone soldiers walked up and dragged the baron back. I nodded at the baron. I would never abandon a comrade-in-arms. Wind Spirit and I returned to Maley's tent. Along the way, both of us were deep in silent contemplation.

The situation here had undergone several reversals, such as betrayal, reverse betrayal, encirclement, and reverse encirclement. This was the most complicated scenario I had ever encountered, but with both of my comrades stuck in two different camps, I had to think of a way to rescue both of them.

At that thought, I suddenly recalled the 600 soldiers we had hiding. I needed to send them an update on the situation. Slowly, a plan formed in my mind. It did not take us long to be back in Maley's command tent.

"You're back so fast? The fight hasn't even stopped yet. Huh? Where's the baron and Hakan?" asked Maley in astonishment.

"Hakan has defected and joined the clones. He's coming for you soon," I hurriedly said before Wind Spirit could open her mouth.

"What?" Maley stood up in alarm.

"I doubt his betrayal is something he just came up with. From his words, I can feel that he has been plotting this for a very long time," I said, exerting even more pressure on Maley.

By my side, Wind Spirit looked at me in confusion. She did not know what I was trying to do, so she kept winking at me. However, I acted like I didn't notice her.

"It's my fault for letting that fake kid fool me. I should have gotten rid of him long ago," said Maley with regret.

"Chief, the baron is in Hakan's hands. We must make a move immediately, or our friend's life will be in danger," I said.

"Hero Canyue, what plan do you have? Tell me. We're completely surrounded by clones and won't be able to break out. Hakan also knows the situation here well. He will not let go of such a good opportunity to defeat us," said Maley as he slumped down in a vexed manner.

"I have an idea to help you break free, but I need your army's cooperation," I said.

"What is it? Tell me!" said Maley. Some light returned to his eyes upon hearing that I had a solution.

A frantic guard rushed into the tent and reported, "Reporting to the chief, the clone soldiers are slowly shifting their positions. Their new defensive positions seem to be aimed against us."

"Looks like Hakan is already making his move. Hero Canyue, what idea do you have? Say it already," Maley urged.

"Give me a communicator. My army is lying in ambush on a mountain outside. Wind Spirit will meet Hakan with me later to tell him that you have surrendered. But I'm sure he won't have the guts to come meet you. He will demand that you go to him instead. I will try to convince him to prepare an empty passage among his clone army and let you go with your personal guards to surrender with your dignity intact. Since he's also running out of time, he will definitely move his army around. I will order my army to attack at that time and try to create an opening in the encirclement. You and your army will attack from the inside and try to escape during the chaos," I said.

"Canyue, why don't you use Hakan's plan against him? Just tell him we have successfully tricked Maley out," asked Wind Spirit in confusion.

"Silly girl. Both you and Hakan know Chief Maley well. Would you or Hakan believe that Maley can be tricked so easily? That was merely an empty demand. Tricked or not, he only needs Maley out. If we really tell him that Chief Maley was tricked, he might grow suspicious and do something untoward," I explained.

"In truth, Hakan made a major mistake. He didn't need to make this so complicated. He should have just attacked," said Wind Spirit.

"No, Hakan himself is worthless. The clone soldiers only care about Commander Dilo's life. That is why they didn't decide to attack," I explained.

"Fine. We'll follow this plan. I'll need to trouble you both. Soldiers, bring me a communicator," said Maley decisively.

A soldier came with a communicator. Master Crystal helped with changing the communicator to the correct frequency.

"I have one more request," I suddenly said.

"Hero, this is a critical moment. What request do you have? Just say it. I'll try my best to help so long as it's within my capability," promised Maley.

"Ok. After breaking out, notify your soldiers to immediately stop fighting. Also, I need to borrow some soldiers from you. I intend to launch a surprise attack at an imperial base," I said.

"The Divine Empire is trying to use someone else's hand to kill me. Any operation against that dogshit emperor is an operation I'm more than happy to support," replied Maley furiously.

With his promise, I picked up the communicator.

"Anxashe, Zhang Bao'er, can you hear me?" I called out.

"Yes, we hear you clearly. Canyue, how are things there?" came Zhang Bao'er's excited voice.

"I'm fine. Long story short, in a moment, I'll need the team to launch a surprise attack. Have the crew prepare. Upon seeing my signal, attack in the direction of my signal, and when I withdraw, stop and pull back immediately," I ordered.