At that moment, Milton and Gu Qing arrived at the military cafeteria, with the adjutants Yier and Feili following close behind.
It was noon. Large numbers of female soldiers were filing in. The dining area was neatly divided, each squad seated together. Conversation rose and fell in overlapping waves, and for once, there was a trace of ease in the air.
Until—
A violent upheaval in a mental sea shattered the calm like a sudden downpour.
Gu Qing turned his head toward one corner of the cafeteria. His brows drew together slightly, his expression shifting.
“Boom!”
A heavy explosion rang out. A long crack split open along the eastern wall.
A suffocating wave of mental pressure followed, as if the entire space had begun to tremble. Glass, metal, even the floor emitted a low, vibrating hum.
“It is Legion Commander Weili! He has lost control—!”
A female soldier shouted.
The blue-haired, golden-eyed female, clad in battle armor, had dropped to his knees. His body convulsed violently, veins bulging. His pupils shifted from gold to a frenzied crimson. His right arm had completely insectified—skin splitting like fractured rock, revealing black-glinting carapace and jagged spikes beneath.
Weili let out a hoarse roar. His collapsing mental sea had stripped him of reason. With another furious bellow, he leapt up and swung his fist. A nearby military medic had no time to react before being hurled several meters away, slamming hard into the wall.
From the corner, a medic cried out while retreating, “He just injected a high-dose purification agent—how could he still…?!”
“All units, in position! Suppress the target!”
A squad of female soldiers immediately surrounded him.
Photon guns were raised. Energy-binding nets were deployed. Yet none could fully close the distance. Weili’s strength had surged explosively. With a heavy stomp, the ground cracked beneath him. He charged wildly, sweeping several female soldiers aside. Energy armor shattered. Blood splattered across the floor.
Amid the chaos, four male insects were being desperately shielded by female soldiers.
“Please! Can any of you stabilize his mental sea? Hurry!”
“N-no, do not come closer!” One delicate male was already sobbing in terror, shrinking behind a female soldier, shaking his head frantically. “I do not want to die—I am not going near that thing!”
“It is filthy. That kind of mental contamination…” another male sneered despite the sweat drenching him. “You expect males to approach that? Are you trying to kill us?”
“Please… take me away…” The third male had collapsed to the ground, nearly fainting, clutched tightly in a female’s arms.
The fourth pressed himself into a corner, trembling, eyes vacant.
The scene had completely descended into chaos.
Milton’s brows were tightly furrowed. In the depths of his eyes flashed an anxiety and heaviness he could not conceal.
“Sir, the area is being sealed. Military medics and riot control will arrive in three minutes,” Feili reported calmly.
“Permission to deploy neural suppression rifles?” Yier had already drawn a backup electro-lock device, alert and ready.
Milton shot Yier a cold glance, his tone grave yet firm.
“No need. I will handle it.”
As the words fell, he surged forward like a blade unsheathed, aiming straight for Weili.
“Bang—!”
The instant they clashed, the entire cafeteria shook violently. Mental waves roared like a tsunami, overturning tables and chairs. Milton moved like a shadow, so fast he was nearly impossible to track. His strikes—precise, relentless—targeted Weili’s neural nodes with unerring accuracy.
In less than half a minute, Weili was struck hard at the neck by a crushing elbow. He collapsed unconscious.
Silence.
The males were still sobbing and gasping.
And Gu Qing had not moved from beginning to end.
He stood to one side, calm to the point of coldness, watching the riot unfold.
【Heavenly Dao, did you see it?】
【Saw it, saw it! A black, stinking mass rolling everywhere! His entire mental sea looks like someone dumped it in a garbage pit—disgusting, disgusting!】
【But this level is nothing to Sword Venerable, not even harder than morning meditation. If you were not too lazy to act, the whole place would have gone quiet long ago!】
Gu Qing’s divine sense stared coldly into that swirling black mist.
He murmured, “It is finally beginning to surface.”
Milton hoisted Weili over his shoulder and turned to give orders.
“Take those males to the isolation ward as well.”
“Wait, we are nobles! How dare you—”
“Males have the responsibility to stabilize mental seas.” Milton cut him off coldly. “This is not an invitation. It is an order.”
Yier immediately moved with the special operations females, escorting the terrified, struggling males away one by one. What remained in the cafeteria were shattered tables and chairs—and an air thick with frozen tension.
Feili stepped closer to Milton and spoke in a low voice. “General, he did not move at all just now. But judging from his aura, he seemed to have sensed the anomaly early on.”
Yier frowned. “But he is a male. Normally, males would have hidden the moment they saw something like that. Even those serving in the military avoid these riots.”
Feili nodded slightly. “That is precisely why it is strange. He did not leave. He kept observing. Too calm.”
Milton was silent for a moment. His gaze shifted and landed on the male figure standing serenely nearby, sharp as a blade. He said nothing, merely studied him for a brief second, fingers tightening imperceptibly.
—What is he waiting for? Calculating? Testing?
“…He noticed long ago,” Milton finally said, voice very light, as though stating an anomaly. “Yet he chose to do nothing.”
Yier did not understand. “Is that not normal? He is a male… not a female soldier.”
Milton paused, then replied quietly, “No. He was observing. As if waiting for something—waiting for the fire to burn hotter.”
Gu Qing suddenly spoke. His tone was mild, almost casual, yet it struck the heart of the matter.
“This decision to compel the males… will likely draw considerable criticism.”
Milton tilted his head slightly to look at him. His eyes were cold, but his voice was unexpectedly steady.
“If we do nothing, that female soldier will die. Compared to criticism, I care more about his life.”
A faint sharpness flickered between his brows. He resembled a beast lying in shadow—yet to strike, but already coiled tight.
Their gazes met briefly, like blades colliding, sparks flaring in silence.
Behind them, Yier escorted a still-sobbing male, muttering under his breath, “Seriously, who is this male? With that little white blossom look, he should have been scared to death. Instead, he is calm enough to give you chills.”
Feili remained silent for a moment, watching Gu Qing’s retreating back. His voice was low, edged with subtle caution.
“He is not like ordinary males. Nor like the previous coordinators who always carried themselves above everyone else…”
Gu Qing withdrew his divine sense and let out a quiet laugh.
“Finally,” he murmured, “the situation is beginning to grow interesting.”