ABFMV Chapter 53

Principal Mackey of Lilan Military Academy stood in the command hall, his brows furrowed tightly, his expression grim and severe.

All around him, personnel moved in a flurry of tense activity, while Mackey stood at the central console, rapidly analyzing and assessing the situation in his mind.

Moments ago, three explosions had gone off inside the Research Center’s main building, and large-scale blasts had also been reported in the Lilan Star mining zone.

He and the military had already dispatched mecha units to assist and contain the situation, but the latest reports confirmed the worst—the entire Research Center and mining base had been seized by the Chiyan Group.

Because the enemy might be holding hostages and had already locked down the facilities for over half an hour, they could not afford to risk a direct assault.

Lilan Military Academy, being one of the Empire’s primary institutions for military talent and reserves, had always maintained strong defenses both inside and outside the campus.
However, just recently, traces of Zerg activity had been detected near the mines, prompting the academy to reassign its two elite squads to support the military there.

Now, those two squads would need at least an hour to return to the academy.

At a time when military forces were already stretched thin, this crisis—and the suspicious timing of it—made Mackey’s instincts scream that something was wrong.

What worried him most was that hundreds of people were now hostages inside the Research Center, the very heart of Lilan Academy—and as its principal, he was utterly in the dark about what was truly happening.

Time was slipping away. Every second added new uncertainty.

If the situation worsened, Mackey knew he would no longer be fit to hold his position. His top priority now was protecting Elder Jiang and the entire Research Division.

But as principal, his authority only extended to the academy’s internal forces—he couldn’t command the Imperial Army’s legions.

He had just spoken with the Fifth Legion’s commander, but the other man had told him that most of their forces were deployed on the front lines. They could send only a handful of elite reinforcements; the rest, Mackey would have to handle on his own.

Handle it? How was he supposed to handle this?!

“Principal, you’d better take a look at this…” one instructor said nervously. He hesitated before tapping the central holo-display, projecting the newly received message in the air.

A set of bold red characters flashed across the screen—

“Damn it!” Mackey’s face twisted with fury as he skimmed through the message, then slammed his palm against the console in rage.

The email was nothing short of a provocation—a challenge letter from the Chiyan Group, mocking him and asking whether he was satisfied with their little “game.”

The Chiyan Group—a criminal syndicate that should have been wiped out long ago—had resurfaced, bolder than ever.

And to make matters worse, the academy’s defense units were all away near the mines, while the Chiyan Group somehow appeared inside the school grounds.

It didn’t add up. None of this did.

This was a premeditated diversion, a lure to draw the tiger from its mountain—and the Chiyan Group had even teamed up with the Zerg. They had abandoned all sense of restraint.

“Immediately contact the other legions’ security divisions for backup! Issue a Level-One Battle Alert to the military! All available instructors are to arm themselves and mobilize every able-bodied force on campus!”

This wasn’t a random attack—it was a long-planned infiltration. Mishandling it would lead to catastrophic consequences.

Usually calm and composed, Mackey was now shouting orders with barely contained rage.

The personnel in the command hall stared at him, wide-eyed. None of them had ever seen the principal lose his composure like this.

After forcing himself to take a deep breath, Mackey steadied his voice and opened his personal terminal again, contacting high-ranking generals across several legions.

Five minutes later, the entire Lilan Star system was in motion.

Orders flashed across the network at lightning speed. Countless combat mechas powered up and launched toward the explosion sites at full throttle.

As the roaring of engines filled the skies, the students of Lilan Academy and the miners below looked up in confusion.
A Level-One Alert notification appeared on their personal terminals—signaling that tonight would be a sleepless night.

——————————

Jin Duoduo had never felt despair quite like this.

Earlier that day, she had happily finalized her team lineup and returned to the workshop, eager to share the news with Xu Linlang.

But Xu Linlang had already gone back to the dorms—and what happened next was beyond anything Jin Duoduo could have imagined.