The members of the Mad Bee Team were walking down the passage of the shipyard, looking like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden, each one stunned by the gigantic spaceport before them.

Meanwhile, a team of people wearing gray standard uniforms passed by. Those around them instinctively stopped and paid their respects.

"Seven-pointed Star emblem, they’re Star Alliance members!"

The white man, Gibson, immediately said in a low voice, sparking a quiet discussion among his teammates.

"Star Alliance members, they seem to be heading to port 781, could they be participating in this operation too? Wait, hold on, look at the person in the middle!"

The unexpected shout startled the others, but they didn’t have time to dwell on it, instead focusing their attention on the person in the middle.

This was a short-haired man in a white uniform, walking at the center of the crowd, surrounded by several people in gray.

"What’s up with him? Is there something suspicious?"

"Look, that’s a Daring Clothes, in white, which means he’s from the Radiant Institute, and there are three golden edges on his clothes, indicating he’s at least a third-tier Awakener, and I recognize him... It’s just... Why would he appear here... It shouldn’t be..."

The other guys, feeling tantalized by the vague comments, urged him to spill the beans without keeping them in suspense.

Yin Rao scratched his head and said:

"I once saw him from afar during a visit to the Star Alliance Headquarters, he’s Li Xiang, the captain of the Star Alliance’s Third Fleet, and it’s said he’s been commanding the shuttle for fifteen years, never losing a single battle. According to logic, our task this time is just a simple big boss task, why would he come in person? Could it be he will lead the team himself?"

Li Zixuan and the others felt confused upon hearing his answer.

If Yin Rao’s words were true, then this big shot named Li Xiang certainly shouldn’t be joining this operation, it felt like using a cannon to shoot mosquitoes.

"Perhaps, he’s just passing by, maybe the captain leading our operation, Captain Gao, is his student or something, and he’s only here to take a look... "

Someone voiced their speculation, but it was quickly proven wrong, as everyone received an urgent notice, stating that the Canglan Department of the Star Alliance had adjusted the operation’s scale, expanding the fleet by five levels, now directly carried out by the Third Fleet, with Li Xiang replacing Gao Qi as the overall operation leader.

"The entire Third Fleet is mobilized!? What’s going on!?"

Li Zixuan and the others were completely shocked, unable to recover for a moment.

They were originally told it was just a simple retrieval mission, how did it escalate to deploying the Third Fleet, which consists of over a hundred space shuttles?

By normal standards, the Third Fleet’s configuration includes at least 1 flagship, 3 battleships, 15 cruisers and battlecruisers, and a formation of over 70 escort ships and destroyers, such a lineup is the top-tier of humanity, and now it’s all being deployed.

"Wait a minute, don’t we have the Titan-class warship?"

"The Third Fleet doesn’t have Titan-class, that’s only in the First Fleet, but this lineup is already invincible okay, what are we going to do, wage interstellar war?"

"I mean... With this sudden task adjustment, should we still go along? This feels less like retrieval and more like risking our lives..."

"Hold on, task information updated, we’re going along, the retrieval task proceeds, the Third Fleet is going to execute a protection mission."

"What? Protection mission? Protect whom? Our retrieval team?"

"Of course not, my information is just a brief, detailed information should be with the Boss, Boss, hurry up and tell us the specifics!"

"..."

All eyes turned to Li Zixuan, who appeared oblivious, merely staring at his communicator in a daze.

After a long while, he lowered his wrist, his gaze slightly hesitant, turning to his teammates.

"Boss, what’s going on, tell us quickly!"

Seeing their anxious expressions, Li Zixuan exhaled deeply before speaking:

"The intelligence states that strong spiritual power fluctuations have been found in the target Star System, suspected to be a large-scale Alien Species hive, but there’s still no clear enemy target or quantity. The bad news is, an extremely powerful Calamity Species is lurking within the Constant Star of the target Star System, codenamed ’Emperor’. It’s not yet confirmed if these sudden spiritual power fluctuations are related to Emperor, for safety, the Star Alliance dispatched the Third Fleet to station there. Our task remains the same, to the Ninth Asteroid Belt region for collection and retrieval, that hasn’t changed. I’ll send the detailed task report to your communicators, check them for updates."

After his words, they all received mission transmission info from him as their ship captain, and were stunned upon browsing it quickly.

"Really, really? What’s this about, the task difficulty has instantly shot up from basement to ceiling level!"

"Emperor... It’s actually a Level 7 Alien Species!?"

"Darn! Really! Are we going to fight a Level 7 Alien Species?"

Li Zixuan glared at them.

"It’s not about fighting a Level 7 Alien Species, Emperor is still asleep, it’s just abnormal spiritual power fluctuations, don’t talk nonsense! The Third Fleet is going too, if anything happens they’ll take over, we just focus on our task, the mission report is clear, complete retrieval and immediately return with all equipment."

The white man looked frustrated.

"Boss, what exactly are we retrieving, is it really worth such huge risks?"

Li Zixuan shook his head and said:

"I don’t know either, seems like some defensive equipment left in the Asteroid Belt to resist the special energy radiation in the target Star System, this retrieval is to collect them all back, looks like Guleng Star intends to give up..."

"Give up? What’s happening?"

"Guleng Star’s living environment has been deteriorating, heard the Star Alliance plans to relocate the remaining survivors, this time retrieving the defensive equipment is the best proof."

They engaged in conversation, but no longer cared for visiting the shipyard, all returned to their rooms for final preparations.

It wasn’t long before Li Zixuan’s superior found him, confirmed the Mad Bee Team’s status and mission targets, and notified them to prepare for an early departure.

"Early departure, brothers, seems like we’re on a tight schedule, check the ship’s attributes, we don’t need to fly ourselves this time, just dock Mad Bee into the Third Fleet’s flagship bay, let’s move now!"

Li Zixuan clapped his hands to gather everyone, then they quickly took their positions, though still nervous inside, emotions yet to calm, but upon boarding the ship, they were immediately at ease, highly focused on their tasks, as if all previous worries didn’t exist, a necessary psychological quality of a qualified crew member.

On Victoria Ship Harbor’s platform, nearly a hundred ships detached from the berthing area and entered the flagship formation tens of thousands of kilometers away.

The team aboard Mad Bee never left their posts, their eyes unwaveringly fixed on their respective monitoring systems, ensuring every piece of data functioned correctly.

"Brothers, the flagship is activating the wormhole, preparing to enter impulse space, countdown, three! Two! One!"