Chapter 66: A Soldier in the War

"Approaching Gliese 581."

"This is a red dwarf system with three planets. Our target is planet c."

"All warships, prepare for enemy attack..."

A voice came through the headphones, and Plita put on her exoskeleton.

This exoskeleton had been updated to the 8th generation, and the helmet's display provided a 360-degree view of the surrounding area, including a top-down scan of the battlefield.

Plita took a deep breath and headed towards her fighter, a single-soldier unit that would fly out when the warship approached the enemy, providing close-range breakthrough capabilities.

"Hey!"

A Kaitian called out to Plita and then spoke in a friendly tone.

"Your exoskeleton doesn't look like it's part of the system. It's unusual to see a human soldier here!"

"It's rare. Humans usually don't go to the battlefield themselves. You're the first human I've met. Nice to meet you. What's your name?"

Plita responded to the friendly Kaitian.

"I'm Plita. I like this environment, even though it's easy to die in battle, but it keeps me passionate."

Bie was surprised.

"I've never heard anyone with a name like that. Usually, names consist of one character for the surname and one or two characters for the given name, right?"

This was indeed very rare.

Such names are typically transliterations, and Plita's name does not originate from Earth but from the Hundred-Eyed tribe, meaning warrior.

"Doesn't every individual in the Civilization Federation have the freedom to choose their name?"

Plita was not actually named Plita. In fact, this body was not a human flesh-and-blood body but a cyborg.

Inside was an attachment of Yan Xia!

Yan Xia felt that exploring in the virtual world was more enjoyable than living in the real world, which he found tedious.

However, he couldn't just go out and risk his life, as he lacked the means to challenge a warship on his own.

So, he came up with a compromise.

He had Ella create a copy of himself to go to the real battlefield, and then he would transplant the memories of these attachments into his brain, effectively experiencing the battlefield himself.

This brilliant idea was indeed the best solution, as each attachment was like another version of Yan Xia.

"Haha, that's great."

Bie found Plita's personality a bit odd, perhaps because she didn't have the typical civilian demeanor.

To be able to wear her exoskeleton onto the battlefield, this human must have some background.

Bie was a sociable individual and naturally struck up a conversation. "We're in the same squad, and when we get closer to the planet's surface, we'll likely be paired up."

"We can look out for each other on the battlefield. In space combat, the destruction rate of fighters is quite high."

"It's a shame we don't have tachyon technology; otherwise, we could control unmanned fighters remotely without any delay, instead of going ourselves."

Bie was quite talkative, and once she started, she couldn't stop.

Plita didn't mind talkative people; the world she lived in was too quiet, and she needed some liveliness to ease the tension.

"By the way, what's your pilot rating? I'm an A+, the best in our training squad."

Bie wanted to show off.

"Maybe an S, I don't remember how many pluses after that!"

Plita thought for a moment, as she didn't pay much attention to these ratings.

This statement made Bie's expression change, and she began logging into the system.

"Wait, let me check!"

After a while, Plita exclaimed.

"It's an S+++, I've never seen such an excellent rating..."

Bie looked at Plita in awe. "No wonder you're a human. I once had a human classmate in middle school, and he was the smartest person I've ever met. He always came first in exams, and I always thought he was just playing around."

Plita shook her head.

"Every race has its geniuses and fools. Apart from a few with natural talent, most intelligence comes from learning."

Bie smiled.

"You're a real stickler, but you're interesting."

Plita was indeed strict, and even Ella, when she created Plita, felt that this copy was nothing like Yan Xia.

However, just as no two leaves are identical, no two copies can be exactly the same.

Plita was currently just a soldier, not an attachment of Yan Xia.

As they chatted, the warship shook.

"Looks like we're engaging the enemy."

Bie and Plita remained calm, having experienced hundreds of simulated battles in the virtual system, knowing how to respond in different situations.

"It's time to get into our fighters."

They headed towards the hangar where their fighters were parked.

Coincidentally, their fighters were parked next to each other.

After boarding their fighters, they waited for a long time until the order came, and the hangar doors opened.

Each fighter's launch did not rely on thrusters but on the launch devices at the back, allowing them to be catapulted out of the warship within 0.5 seconds.

The warship's vibrations intensified.

All the soldiers began to breathe heavily.

They could access the external situation through the internal system.

At this point, they had entered the enemy's system and were facing the enemy warship's blockade.

Three of their warships had been lost, and the enemy had lost 22, seven times as many.

"I heard that the construction of Tau Ceti is complete, and I bought Steven Ming's cryogenic technology for our parents. They will wait for our return."

"If we had the new warships, we might not even need a single one to destroy these purple guys."

Bie spoke through the communication channel.

Space travel took a long time.

Every soldier on the mission faced the possibility of returning to a changed world, with their loved ones having aged or passed away.

Just then, a loud bang came from the hangar door, and a large hole appeared.

They received a message.

"027 warship's right wing is severely damaged. All soldiers, board your fighters and prepare to leave the warship."

"The hangar doors will open in 30 seconds..."

"We are now approaching planet c. All fighters, your mission is to break through the enemy's defense line in the planet's orbit, enter the planet's surface, and bomb the facilities built by the purple beings on planet c. Do not harm the native life of planet c."

"I repeat, do not harm the native life of planet c!"

Boom!

The warship shook violently.

All the soldiers gripped their controls tightly.

When the hangar doors opened, the first group of 300 fighters launched, followed by 17 groups of 5,100 fighters in total.

Bie and Plita were in the last group. Even the talkative Bie fell silent.

After a tense 170 seconds, they were suddenly accelerated to over 10,000 km/s. Despite the gravity device compensating for the acceleration, their bodies still went numb for a moment, and their vision blacked out before recovering within a second or two.

They had already traveled tens of thousands of kilometers, and when they turned back, they saw their disintegrating warship.

A voice came through the headphones.

"All fighters, dive towards the planet's surface!"

Plita pushed the control stick forward, and her fighter dove like an eagle swooping down on its prey, folding its wings.

Bie followed closely behind Plita.

The battle for these soldiers had just begun!