The Beloved Guide Was Forced in a Love-Rival Shura Field - Chapter 82

“A miracle… I saw it with my own eyes. That was a miracle!”

“Exactly! That S-class Sentinel’s mental sea was almost completely destroyed, and yet, they say that person just… raised a hand, and he was fine?”

“Really? Who could possibly be that powerful?”

“Who else could it be? The Marshal personally carried him out from the isolation chamber, protecting him like a precious treasure.”

“Shh—lower your voice! I heard this has already been classified as A-level top secret. Don’t spread it around!”

At the Seventh Sector Frontline Base, a steel fortress perpetually shrouded in clouds of death, life seemed to have been injected overnight.

The news that Ning Ning had successfully healed a near-death Sentinel could not be contained. It spread quietly among officers and soldiers, like a gentle breeze that everyone tacitly acknowledged. It didn’t cause loud commotion, but it inspired far more than any pre-battle rally.

At the end of despair, a sliver of light had finally broken through.

They began, in private, to reverently and respectfully refer to the silver-haired boy guarded so tightly by the Marshal as—the Moon God.

Hope, it seemed, was more effective than any military stimulant.

Yet, beyond this isolated base, in the vast, cold void of space, this newly kindled hope had become the most precise, most lethal coordinate.

……

Darkness was eternal here.

A throne made of an unknown black metal floated high above a void of still silence.

The man on the throne, Los, was shrouded in shadow; only a faint, elegant silhouette was visible. He rested one hand on his chin, his posture lazy and casual, as if enjoying a play that had finally become interesting after a long wait.

A shadow, almost merging with the darkness itself, knelt silently at his feet, every breath seemingly frozen.

“My Lord, the intelligence has been confirmed,” the shadow’s voice sounded like two pieces of rusted metal scraping together—emotionless. “The Dawn has reached the Seventh Sector. The target you’ve been waiting for… has manifested a miracle.”

“A miracle?” Los finally moved.

He let out a light laugh that echoed through the vast, silent hall, carrying a subtle amusement, like a cat playing with a mouse.

“Yes. He purified a Sentinel whose mental sea was on the verge of collapse. The entire process… cannot be explained by any existing scientific theory.”

The shadow presented an encrypted data file with utmost reverence.

A light screen unfolded before Los, clearly displaying everything that had occurred in the A-level isolation chamber.

At the center of the screen, the silver-haired boy was enveloped in a soft purple halo, sacred yet fragile, as if a single touch could shatter him.

Los’s gaze immediately grew greedy and burning, inch by inch, like a chisel tracing every detail of Ning Ning on the screen.

That fluffy, soft silver hair. The pale profile drained of energy. Especially those dreamlike purple eyes, tightly shut in exhaustion…

He was too beautiful.

So beautiful that his blood began to heat unnaturally.

It was as if he had found a rare treasure, lost for countless centuries, finally rediscovered.

He stared so intently, his eyes revealing an unabashed, almost pathological obsession and twisted possessiveness. Unconsciously, he stretched out a hand; his long, cold fingers paused in the air, as if they could touch the warm, soul-stirring skin through the cold data screen.

“I’ve waited so long… My God has finally… revealed His true form.”

Los whispered softly, a contented sigh in his voice, mixed with a barely perceptible shiver born of extreme desire.

He slowly raised his other hand, making a grasping motion toward the screen.

As if to crush the glowing figure, along with the entire image, and press it into his bones and blood.

“Send the order.”

His voice suddenly turned ice-cold, full of unyielding authority and cruelty.

“Project Capture the Moon—initiate.”

“Command the fleet to immediately seal off the entire Seventh Sector. Cut off all external communications. Turn it into an iron coffin at maximum power.”

The smile on his lips grew wider, but his eyes remained as cold as the ice of the abyss.

“This time… I will not allow a single insignificant insect to slip away with my treasure.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

The shadow obeyed, silently retreating into the endless darkness.

The hall returned to absolute silence.

Los leaned back in the cold throne, closing his eyes, replaying over and over the figure enveloped in purple light in his mind.

The prey had already stepped into the trap he had meticulously prepared.

Next… would be the pleasure of the hunt.

……

At the same time, aboard the Dawn.

On the massive star map screen, countless red dots representing the insectoid forces moved with an eerie, precise efficiency. They no longer collided chaotically as before, but formed a gigantic, intricate net, slowly tightening inch by inch.

At the center of this net was their location—the Seventh Sector Frontline Base.

Gu Qingfeng stood alone in front of the screen. Behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his pupils reflected the horrifying sight. His usually gentle, smiling face was completely expressionless, cold to the bone.

Behind him, the heavy alloy door slid open silently, and Xiao Lin’s tall figure entered.

The man had just come from Ning Ning’s room.

The boy was utterly exhausted, falling asleep the moment he touched the bed, breathing shallow and soft. Xiao Lin tucked him in, stayed by the bed until confirming his breathing was steady and his color slightly returned, before reluctantly leaving.

Yet the lingering aura on him—mixing unparalleled pride with immense fear—remained intense and frightening.

“He’s asleep,” Xiao Lin said in a low, hoarse voice, a hint of fatigue even he hadn’t noticed in himself.

Gu Qingfeng didn’t turn around, his gaze still fixed on the net tightening on the star map.

“Marshal… don’t you think the mood in our base is a little… too optimistic?” His voice was calm, unreadable.

Xiao Lin frowned, following his gaze.

At a glance, his dark-golden eyes instantly narrowed to the dangerous sharpness of a needle.

As the Empire’s Marshal, a war machine crawling out of corpses and blood, he immediately understood the terrifying implication behind the star map.

This wasn’t a normal encirclement. Nor was it an unintentional swarm attack by the insectoids.

This was… a meticulously planned, highly targeted hunt! The opposing commander was an absolute tactical genius!

“The communications?” Xiao Lin’s voice turned icy, every word squeezed out like steel.

“Since half an hour ago, all channels have been jammed by high-intensity data interference. Completely cut off,” Gu Qingfeng replied, calm as if stating something unrelated to himself.

Finally, he slowly turned to Xiao Lin.

“We’re an island now.”

“Bam!”

Xiao Lin’s fist slammed heavily on the control console, producing a dull thud! The alloy surface dented instantly.

His knuckles turned white from the force.

A wave of anxiety, mixed with a sense of humiliation at being toyed with, surged through his chest, making it hard to breathe.

Just a few hours ago, he had been so proud of Ning Ning’s power, feeling his treasure was the brightest light in the world.

But in an instant, reality slapped him with the loudest, hardest blow.

He had been wrong.

Grossly, terribly wrong.

Gu Qingfeng adjusted his glasses. Behind the lenses, his gaze was as sharp as a knife, piercing straight into Xiao Lin’s heart.

“Marshal… do you understand now?”

His voice was light, gentle, yet like an ice-sharp awl, stabbing into Xiao Lin’s heart with each word.

“What Ning Ning did yesterday, the so-called ‘miracle’ praised by everyone in the base…”

Gu Qingfeng paused slightly, a faint, sarcastic curve at the corner of his lips.

“You thought having him save someone was the antidote?”

“No.”

“You just personally lit the brightest lighthouse, sending the most fatal invitation into the hungry, greedy, insane predators of the cosmic abyss.”

Gu Qingfeng took a step forward, his voice lower yet clearer, like a devil’s whisper.

“He saved one person, but he turned you, me, this ship, this base, everyone… into…”

“Bait.”

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