Imperial warlords: Cannons are the only truth

"Commander-in-Chief Zhou, is this possible?"

A reporter stated, "It wasn't that the Interstellar Expeditionary Force's monitoring systems failed to detect the arrival of this space magnetic storm in advance."

"Instead, the relevant personnel responsible for monitoring used their positions to conceal or tamper with the monitoring data."

"And thus, did this ultimately lead to the current situation of them going missing?"

"Oh?" Zhou Guangming frowned as he looked at the reporter who had made the assumption. "Is this reporter's assumption based on the premise that there is a traitor within the Interstellar Expeditionary Force?"

"It doesn't necessarily mean there's a traitor."

The reporter went on to express his doubts and hypotheses: "Perhaps another possibility is more likely..."

"From the information about the Badaf insectoid race that was made public by the imperial court."

"We know that there is a type of insect called the Puppet Worm among the Badaf Worm Clan."

"These puppet insects themselves have no combat ability, but they have the ability to manipulate the behavior of their targets."

"Humans who are parasitized by the puppet worm will be controlled by the puppet worm and act entirely according to its instructions."

"I'm wondering—could it be that some members of the Interstellar Expeditionary Force had already been parasitized by the Puppet Worm long before they even set out?"

"Your assumption is that the Badaf Zerg had already infiltrated us before we took preemptive military action against Badaf Prime?"

Zhou Guangming shook his head slightly: "Are you trying to tell everyone that the Badaf insectoids attacked us before we even realized it?"

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief Zhou!"

The reporter who posed the hypothesis nodded very seriously: "I think this kind of thing is still possible!"

"Everyone should think about this carefully—the Badaf insectoids are an existence that has been running rampant in the Black Horse Galaxy for millions of years."

How could they be so "weak"?

The reporter stated his opinion with certainty: "Don't you all think that yesterday's interstellar expeditionary landing operation went a little too smoothly?"

"And the armed clearing operation that took place during the day today also went incredibly smoothly!"

"Could it be that the Badaf insectoid race, which has dominated the Black Horse Galaxy for so many years and destroyed countless civilized planets, is really so vulnerable?"

"I think things are far more complicated than they appear on the surface!"

"The methods of the Badaf Zerg are probably more complex than that..."

"Therefore, I believe that since Qianxing was already being targeted by the Badaf insectoids several years ago."

"Therefore, it is very likely that they sent out special advance forces such as puppet insects before their main force arrived at Qianxing."

"As far as I know, the roles and tasks of the various insects in the Badaf insectoid race are very clearly defined."

"The role that the Puppet Insects play within the Badaf Insectoid race should be that of a special operations force, much like our human agents..."

"The Puppet Worm is an agent of the Badaf Zerg!"

"As everyone should know, in many cases, the destructive power of special agents, spies, and undercover agents is no less than that of armed forces on the front lines!"

"I still have great trust in the loyalty of the soldiers of the Great Qian Dynasty."

"Therefore, I think—perhaps it's the puppet insects of the Badaf insect race causing trouble!"

"It is possible that some members of the interstellar expeditionary force have been parasitized by the Puppet Worm."

"And coincidentally, the person being parasitized happened to be one of the personnel responsible for the monitoring system."

"Or rather, it wasn't a coincidence at all, but a premeditated arrangement and plan by the Zerg..."

"I greatly admire this journalist's boundless and open-minded thinking..."

Zhou Guangming shook his head, both amused and exasperated, and said, "If we were to make a science fiction movie based on this idea, I think it might be a huge hit!"

After a pause, Zhou Guangming directly addressed the hypothesis, stating, "I can only say..."

"This assumption is basically impossible to hold true."

Then, Zhou Guangming explained to the reporters present: "Actually, everyone only needs to know a little about the process before the interstellar expeditionary force sets off and boards the interstellar warship."

"This explains why I said that this journalist's assumption is basically impossible to hold..."

"Since this reporter doesn't seem to know much about this, let me give you a quick explanation on the spot."

"Every officer and soldier in the interstellar expeditionary force goes through a security checkpoint before boarding a starship."

"This security screening device can comprehensively detect the soldier's physical condition."

"If anyone in the interstellar expeditionary force is indeed parasitized by the puppet worms, they will definitely be discovered during security checks."

At this point, Zhou Guangming immediately ordered someone to display relevant information about the puppet worm on the large screen at the scene.

"Everyone can take a look—the big screen shows a more detailed introduction to parasitism by the parasite."

“We can see very clearly that after the parasite enters the body, it parasitizes the brain.”

"Moreover, not to mention the special security screening devices used by the military."

"By simply taking a CT scan or X-ray of the brain, we can easily detect the presence of the parasite."

"Therefore, although the assumption made by the reporter was very brilliant and even seemed very plausible."

"But unfortunately—he overlooked the details of reality..."

"Here, I would also like to reiterate my appeal to everyone—please do not make any unfounded or far-fetched assumptions."

"It's not that we don't encourage people to use their imagination and reasoning abilities."

"However, before that, I still hope that everyone can base their analysis on reason and evidence."

"At the very least, you should understand the relevant knowledge points before expressing your 'profound opinions'!"

As he spoke, Zhou Guangming's gaze swept over the reporter who had just made the hypothesis, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally.

"Otherwise, it would be easy to make a fool of oneself and become a laughing stock."

"At the same time, I can also confirm one thing to everyone with absolute certainty."

Zhou Guangming said with a serious expression, "That is—so far, there is no indication that the Badaf insectoids have secretly infiltrated Qianxing."

"Some people may be overlooking a problem."

“That’s right—although the Badaf Zerg had their eyes on Qianxing several years ago.”

"But let's not forget—when we were targeted and identified as an invasion target by the Badaf Zerg."

"Qianxing is still at a very backward level of technology."

"Before the Badaf insectoids set their sights on a new civilized planet and ultimately decided to invade it."

"They will all conduct a comprehensive assessment of this civilized planet."

"The Badaf Zerg will formulate their final invasion operation plan based on a comprehensive assessment."

"Clearly, Qianxing is no exception."

"When the Badaf Zerg set their sights on us and sent an expeditionary Zerg army toward Qianxing."

"In the eyes of the Badaf insectoids, Qianxing is a low-level civilization planet."

"This kind of primitive civilization is not worth the effort the Badaf insectoids put in."

"Therefore, regarding the invasion of Qianxing, they believe that simply sending an army of Zerg to crush them is sufficient."

"There's absolutely no need to resort to those underhanded schemes beforehand."

"However, the Badaf insectoids never dreamed that Qianxing would suddenly enter an era of technological explosion."

"In just a few years, it has gone from being a low-level planet as judged by the Badaf insectoids to entering the interstellar age."

"It has become a planet with a higher civilization that can rival it."

"This turn of events was something the Badaf insectoids never anticipated."

"Therefore, in conclusion, the hypothesis about the worm mentioned by the reporter can only be considered as a 'not bad' movie material."

"If any director is interested in this, they could have a private chat with this journalist friend."

"Back to the main topic!"

Zhou Guangming continued, "If anyone has any questions they would like to ask, please feel free to ask them now."

"Everyone is welcome to speak freely."

"The best way to communicate is to put things out in the open and say them face to face."

"If someone is maliciously stirring up trouble behind the scenes, then it could potentially involve criminal activity..."

-------------------------------------

Three hours later.

Zhou Guangming had just finished his press conference.

There was no way around it—the thousands of reporters at the scene just had such wild imaginations.

All sorts of questions and hypotheses kept popping up.

Zhou Guangming's repeated rebuttals and denials did nothing to stop the reporters from asking questions.

Originally, everyone's questions and assumptions revolved around this disappearance incident.

But as the reporters' enthusiasm for asking questions grew, the question gradually began to stray off-topic...

In the end, the press conference specifically held to address the disappearance incident turned into a comprehensive discussion about the entire pest control campaign!

From initial inferences and assumptions to later becoming advisors and strategists, they all started to offer their advice and strategies.

If Zhou Guangming hadn't forcefully stopped it, this press conference probably wouldn't have ended all night...

"how's it going?"

"There's still no sign of communications being restored with the interstellar expeditionary force?"

Upon returning to the interstellar operations command headquarters, Zhou Guangming went directly to the operations command hall.

"Communication has not yet been restored."

The duty communications officer then reported to Zhou Guangming: "However, according to data from the star system near Badaf Main Star,..."

"The magnetic field interference has begun to decrease."

"Once the magnetic field interference is reduced to a certain extent, we should be able to re-establish contact with our base on the main planet of Badav."

"What an inauspicious start! Our first day of operations after landing on the main planet of Badav has been marred by such a troublesome incident!"

Zhou Guangming stared at the large screen in the command center with a grave expression: "The Badaf Zerg are incredibly lucky!"

"Given the current rate of magnetic field decay, how long is the fastest you can expect to restore communications?"

"If this rate of attenuation continues, our anti-interference system should be functioning normally in another three to four hours."

"However, it could also be faster."

"Generally speaking, the rate at which a space magnetic field storm dissipates usually follows a pattern of gradual acceleration."

"But there is another possibility."

"That is—if the interstellar expeditionary force's anti-jamming system malfunctions due to a severe overload of the strong magnetic field and becomes unable to operate normally."

"Then we can only resume communication after this space magnetic field storm has completely dissipated."

"The expert team predicts that the space magnetic field storm will end around 7 o'clock?"

"This data hasn't changed, has it?"

"No change; the expert team's conclusion remains around 7 points."

Upon hearing this answer, Zhou Guangming checked the time: it was only 1:33 AM.

There were still more than five hours until 7 a.m.

Normally, five hours wouldn't be a big deal, or even difficult to endure.

However, for Zhou Guangming and the others, these five hours were a very long time.

And it was extremely difficult to endure...................

Before communication with the interstellar expeditionary force was restored, Zhou Guangming felt as if each day was an eternity.

Three million troops were fighting on an unfamiliar planet in outer space when they suddenly lost contact with Qianxing.

Anyone would be sleepless if this happened to them....................

Feeling the strain of the night, Zhou Guangming even regretted that the press conference had ended a little too early.

At least, answering those bizarre and outlandish questions at press conferences made Zhou Guangming feel that time passed a little faster...

Now, Zhou Guangming, who is in the interstellar operations command, can only stare at the large screen in the operations command hall and feel like every second is an eternity.

This kind of torment is truly maddening......................

"Commander, would you like a cup of coffee or strong tea?" An officer standing nearby asked in a low voice, noticing Zhou Guangming's dark expression throughout.

"No need, I won't feel sleepy at all even if I don't drink anything..."

Zhou Guangming sighed and remarked with emotion, "I reckon most people around the world are staying up all night today waiting for the latest news on this incident."

"On the second day of the insect extermination campaign, the entire Great Qian Dynasty experienced a sleepless night..."