Chapter 273: Entering the Solar System! The Preacher! Humanity's Governor!
"Very good."
Li Ang nodded, then raised his hand and gestured to bring up the list Lucy had just sent. After quickly scanning through it, he continued:
"Send me the troop deployment data for the prosperity Star front-line base."
As the first stronghold conquered by LA Universal Megacorp in the Halo universe, prosperity Star had essentially become the company's central hub in this sector.
Whether dealing with Earth's UNSC, the Prophets of the Covenant, or the human insurgents, most major deployments originated from here.
Lucy, receiving the command, promptly sent the relevant information to Li Ang.
"Our current total troop strength is approximately 780,000."
"We have 1,367 warships, with another 369 currently under construction."
"Within the next two weeks, the force is expected to grow to 860,000 troops, including about 120,000 clone soldiers."
LA Universal Megacorp was now fighting on three fronts—against the Covenant, the rebels, and the UNSC. Of the three, the Covenant front was consuming the most manpower.
The rebels and human forces posed less of a problem, but with the surrender of the UNSC Navy, Li Ang had to quickly dispatch reinforcements to take over Earth.
"Good."
Li Ang nodded again and issued his next order to Lucy:
"Inform the Fertile Star front-line base to form 80% of their forces into three fleet legions and immediately deploy them to the Solar System. Don't forget to bring the engineering corps."
Now that the UNSC's Earth fleet had decided to surrender, it was the perfect opportunity to secure a firm foothold on Halo's Earth.
Marching into the Solar System now was the political equivalent of an emperor entering Chang'an—the rightful return of humanity's central authority. The symbolic significance was enormous!
"In addition," Li Ang added, "instruct the Shield World core base to dispatch three Traveler-class dreadnoughts at once to the Solar System to support our fleet."
One crucial requirement for accepting a surrender was having a superior military presence—only then could the surrender be properly enforced and the new regime stabilized.
Otherwise, things could easily spiral out of control. A powerful navy was the foundation for ensuring a successful transfer of both political and military power.
"Got it, boss!"
Lucy acknowledged the order and immediately relayed the directives to the relevant departments within the Megacorp.
With all plans in motion, Li Ang finally allowed himself a moment of relief.
Based on the current situation, LA Universal Megacorp's unification efforts in the Halo universe had entered their final phase.
From here on out, the goal was to proceed steadily, gradually consuming each faction's territory and converting them into rear bases for the enterprise.
This was the first major milestone since LA Universal Megacorp had activated the Stargate—an enormous leap forward.
On the naval front, they had the addition of UNSC personnel and the Traveler-class dreadnoughts from Shield World.
Not to mention a substantial number of Covenant naval assets, including a fleet of Long Night of Solace-class carriers!
In terms of territorial expansion, the Covenant had once held more than half the Milky Way, and now, with the addition of vast human colonies, all of it had become company property.
According to the system's corporate credit valuation scheme, this would allow Li Ang to unlock at least two new templates and construct two megastructures in one go.
At the current rate of progress, transcending the mortal realm, ascending to godhood, and rewriting the laws of physics was no longer just a dream!
But it still wasn't time for Li Ang to pop the champagne.
After all, there were still remnants of the Flood in the Halo universe—and a far more dangerous figure: the Preacher, leader of the Forerunners' Warrior-Servant class.
Thankfully, the company's biotech division had developed the Scorpiolion Virus specifically to counter the Flood, so that threat was no longer as pressing.
The Preacher, however, was a different story entirely—a formidable and dangerous opponent.
His true name was Starshatter's Shadow—a name as melodramatic as it was fitting, reflecting a life of highs and lows befitting a protagonist. He was the Bai Qi of the Forerunners—an unmatched war master.
Standing four meters tall and weighing 360 kilograms, the Preacher had a massive frame and devastating combat abilities. But he wasn't just a brute—he was also a brilliant strategist.
As Grand Marshal of the Forerunner military, he had a wealth of combat experience and had played a pivotal role in the war against ancient humanity. His signature tactic, the "Planetary Leapfrog," had devastated humanity time and again.
Targeting the enemy's vital points with relentless strikes—burning supply lines, cutting off transportation hubs, assassinating key leaders, and attacking major production centers—the Preacher's forces waged a campaign of deep-penetration raids that left ancient humans reeling.
Thanks to these tactics, the Forerunners eventually destroyed ancient human civilization, cementing their dominance over the Halo universe.
The so-called "Planetary Leapfrog" strategy was essentially a brutal campaign of pressure applied directly to the enemy's critical weaknesses.
But despite being a military genius and master of space warfare, during the Flood War, the Preacher was sidelined and ostracized by the rising class of Forerunner Builders.
As time progressed, the Builders—scientists and engineers devoted to logic and progress—rose to power within the Forerunner hierarchy, creating powerful technological weapons and vast megastructures.
Unlike the Preacher, who believed in defeating the Flood through warfare, the Builders proposed building Shield Worlds—independent celestial sanctuaries—and activating the Halo Rings to wipe out all intelligent life, thereby starving the Flood of hosts and allowing for a post-Flood rebirth.
This self-serving, "save ourselves at all costs" philosophy quickly gained favor with the Forerunner Council. After all, who wanted to send their own children to die as cannon fodder?
Someone else's kids? Sure.
Seeing himself reduced to a background character in a story he used to lead, the once-celebrated Preacher grew despondent. He retreated to the Crypt of Mourning on Requiem, deciding to waste away in obscurity.
Requiem was the very first Shield World—Designation 0001. All subsequent Shield Worlds, including the massive Installation 0459, were improvements based on its design.
As the first such structure built during the Flood War, Requiem was also the central base of the Promethean Corps and served as the frontline of the defense.
The Preacher chose to dwell there partly because he still harbored dreams of dying in battle for his people—a final, noble sacrifice.
But fate, as always, had other plans.
Ironically, the Forerunners who hid in these "safe havens" were completely wiped out—while the Preacher, stationed at the most dangerous military fortress, managed to survive.
The cruelest twist?
He had been sealed inside the Crypt of Mourning—unable to escape.
It turned out that the Monitor overseeing the Precursor Thinker installation had locked the Crypt before departing, intending to force the Preacher to "reflect on his mistakes."
But once the Halo array was fired, the Monitor vanished. Some say it died; others believe it still exists somewhere.
Regardless of what happened, the Preacher was trapped—left to rot in darkness and solitude, entering stasis to await the one who would one day set him free.
Before entering the Crypt, however, he had one last conversation—with the infamous Didact.
During that meeting, the Didact, through his usual manipulative and persuasive rhetoric, amplified the Preacher's hatred of humanity.
But hatred aside, once the Preacher learned the full extent of the Didact's sins, he personally put an end to him—granting the Didact a final release.
The method?
He activated the stasis prison that held the Didact but altered its entropy settings, drastically accelerating time within.
The Didact rapidly aged, his body decaying, his skull splitting, until his entire form disintegrated into dust—utterly annihilated.
This so-called stasis prison was actually a "Happy Room" specially built by ancient humanity to contain the Didact.
And it worked—brutally well.
---
Its purpose is to suspend a specific object in an almost completely static time state, drastically slowing down the passage of life processes and the consumption of energy.
The reason the Primordial was able to defy entropy and possess such an overwhelmingly long lifespan—earning the title of "immortal being"—was precisely because of the existence of this "Happy Cabin."
As for why ancient humans would build such a godlike stasis prison for the Primordial, Li Ang didn't even need to think about it to know the answer.
It was probably because the Primordial managed to fool the ancient humans by saying that the title deed to the Halo universe was signed under their name, with no share for the Forerunners.
The ancient humans only had to act as devoted caretakers, serving the Primordial as loyal descendants.
But they never expected that the Forerunners would simply wipe out the ancient humans and forcibly seize the ancestral home. From then on, the captured Primordial geezer could no longer be happy.
And that's what eventually led to the mess that followed.
After committing such crimes as orchestrating the Flood War and corrupting the Forerunner AI known as the Abominable Intelligence, the Preacher activated the "Happy Cabin's" acceleration function, turning entropy all the way up.
The Primordial's physical body was annihilated on the spot, aging to death in an instant.
But for a being as cunning as the Primordial—one of the most ancient and advanced predecessors—how could it not have prepared a backup plan?
In truth, the Primordial had long since compressed and uploaded its genetic code, memory data, and consciousness into the genetic programming of every single Flood spore.
As long as the Flood reached critical mass, the collective Gravemind they form would one day awaken the Primordial's consciousness. And that day would mark the Primordial's Edo Tensei-style resurrection!
This is precisely why the Biotech Division of the Universal Megacorp made zero progress in studying the Flood genome.
The Flood is the Primordial's ultimate masterpiece—its vessel for returning from death. If the Flood defeats the Forerunners, the Primordial becomes the true winner.
If the Megacorp wants to fully unravel the secrets of the Flood virus, they must rely on the Think Tank's data and comprehend the supreme technique known as [Neurophysics].
After sorting through all the critical data regarding the Preacher, the Primordial, and the Think Tank Director, Li Ang prepared to dispatch one of his top agents to personally eliminate the Preacher.
There was no other choice—under the Primordial's indoctrination, the Preacher had developed a deep hatred toward the human species. There was no chance of negotiation anymore, and to top it off, it had centuries' worth of "wake-up rage."
If they were going to awaken the Preacher on Requiem, they had to kill it immediately—otherwise, it would be the Megacorp personnel who got wiped out.
Lastly, there was the teleportation gate located in the Mombasa region on Earth.
Li Ang had already sent people to locate the device. Once the gate was activated, they could immediately travel to the outskirts of the galaxy and seize a Forerunner Ark structure over 100,000 kilometers in diameter—completely for free.
With that, the entire Universal Megacorp would gain a decisive advantage in establishing cosmic defense lines across the multiverse and purging evil species from other universes. They could practically hit a button and send enemies to the afterlife!
After all, the Ark is a device capable of mass-producing Halos, and it only requires a few planets' worth of resources to operate—an absolutely broken piece of technology.
The Halo rings emit faster-than-light phased pulse waves capable of instantly wiping out all intelligent life within galactic-scale range.
Despite being such an insanely powerful doomsday weapon, it somehow still looks harmless—anyone unfamiliar would think it's just a pretty installation.
Once the mission in the Halo universe was completed, Li Ang planned to reward each member of the Universal Trade Circle with one free "Great Halo."
Even the civilizations that joined the Trade Circle later would also receive one each—fully covered by the Megacorp, including lifetime maintenance and free replacement parts!
If any Trade Circle member got the bright idea to backstab the Megacorp, Li Ang could instantly fire up the Halo and teach those fools a harsh lesson in obedience.
Clearly, the strategic value of the Ark and Halo—at least from a practical standpoint—was even greater than the "Quantum Slingshot" megastructure Li Ang had been coveting!
This treasure-hunting mission was an absolute jackpot. The Halo universe was filled to the brim with top-tier megastructures!
"Boss, are there any other instructions?"
At that moment, seeing Li Ang lost in deep thought, Lucy couldn't help but speak up.
As the Megacorp's Chief Secretary, Lucy was already used to Li Ang's habit of zoning out and sinking into deep contemplation.
After all, those with great vision and profound minds always needed solitude to think. In Lucy's eyes, the silent Li Ang possessed a unique aura of strength and charisma.
"Get ready. We're heading to Universe 004—the Halo Universe—immediately."
Snapping back to reality, Li Ang turned toward the observation deck of the base. Gazing at the nearby Stargate, he could hardly wait to take control of the Solar System and become the human Supreme Commander of the Halo Universe!
…
…
Half a month later.
Halo Universe — Solar System — Earth!
From tens of thousands of kilometers above the Earth's surface, the blue planet still appeared beautiful and pristine.
At that moment, among the numerous defensive arrays outfitted with supermassive electromagnetic railguns, most of the installations were in standby mode, hanging in low orbit.
Ever since the UNSC Navy voluntarily surrendered to the Universal Megacorp, the soldiers stationed at these defense posts had stopped doing their jobs, waiting for the Megacorp's troops to come take over.
They were also looking forward to receiving new uniforms and following their new employer.
However, civilian freighters and cruise ships still had to run as usual. The constant need for slipspace jumps wouldn't simply vanish with a regime change.
After all, changes at the top rarely affected the working conditions of those at the bottom—working is working, regardless of who's paying.
Amid all the military vessels, the most eye-catching were the Megacorp's four wanderer-class Dreadnoughts.
Each of these colossal warships measured over 10 kilometers in length, towering juggernauts even among the UNSC fleet.
Thanks to these four warships—practically treasures of the fleet—the Megacorp's consolidation of the Solar System had proceeded smoothly.
Less than a week after Li Ang issued the takeover order, reinforcements from prosperity and Shield World bases arrived swiftly, taking full control of the Solar System's military command.
Previously hesitant UNSC forces and would-be opportunists dropped their ambitions the moment they saw the Megacorp Navy arrive.
Because Earth is the capital of human civilization.
Now that Earth had fallen into the Megacorp's hands, there was no point in resisting elsewhere. No matter how many colonies they controlled in other star systems, they'd just be delaying the inevitable.
They understood well enough that a weak arm can't twist a strong thigh.
At least the Megacorp was still a human power. The spoils would stay in the family, so to speak. As long as it wasn't the Covenant bastards showing up, humanity in the Solar System wasn't going to risk it all in a last stand.
So, when the Megacorp offered amnesty, the locals accepted the regime change with little resistance.
During this period, to develop the Ark teleportation gate, the Megacorp transported large amounts of personnel, resources, and equipment to the Mombasa region.
The first task was to construct a forward operating base to improve logistics and coordination efficiency.
Next, cloned soldiers and Megacorp military forces were deployed across the planet for garrison duty, ensuring the Megacorp had sufficient manpower on the ground.
These cloned soldiers were the latest generation, developed by the Biotech Division's core team.
Under the control of a collective neural system, they could think as flexibly as real humans while maintaining unified ideological alignment.
They were now fully capable of replacing human troops and handling all assigned tasks with precision.
Additionally, the Megacorp issued massive recruitment notices across Earth, advertising job openings for all departments and encouraging people to help build a new homeland.
Engineering personnel used Hex-bots to rapidly construct massive facilities in Mombasa to prepare for troop deployments.
Meanwhile, armed cloned soldiers patrolled the streets to maintain order and prevent riots.
After all, this was a critical transitional period. The Megacorp had to guard against UNSC remnants or rebels trying to stir up trouble.
Of course, the surrendered UNSC Marines weren't just sitting around doing nothing.
After receiving Megacorp benefits, they also began working with the Megacorp military to maintain security—though all commanding officers had been replaced by Megacorp personnel.
Every major city's security bureau had several trainee Astartes stationed there, along with a few elite Sangheili acting as guards.
As for the Megacorp's most elite forces, they were all concentrated in the Mombasa region, patiently awaiting the moment the teleportation gate would be activated.
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