Chapter 2191 - 1688: New Expeditionary Army (Five-in-One)_3

Rabavis watched this scene and couldn’t help letting out a sigh, but he was too lazy to correct them. He turned to Icarus and said.

"What’s the situation over in the 18th Star Domain?"

"A lot more polluted Monsters have appeared over there. If I’m not wrong, that’s one of the main routes. If we follow the trail, we should be able to trace it back to the source of the disaster."

Icarus gave a brief explanation.

"That’s great. In the end we still have to rely on you at critical moments—one move and you’ve nailed it. So what are we waiting for? Grab our gear and go wreck them."

Colimy’s eyes lit up, and he spoke with obvious excitement.

"Ahem! The Council lords are still in the middle of discussing this, aren’t they?"

Rabavis coughed lightly, cutting Colimy off.

"Alright, alright, keep discussing."

Colimy said with an awkward smile.

Icarus sighed, though he was already used to this. Then he spoke solemnly.

"My idea is basically the same as Council President Colimy’s: form an Expeditionary Army, then in one decisive strike wipe out the source of the disaster."

"Lord Icarus, that makes sense!"

"I agree."

"I agree as well."

"This can’t be delayed!"

...

The Councilmen and Generals present all echoed in succession.

Colimy’s lips twitched nonstop, then he quietly griped to Rabavis.

"We were saying the same thing, right?"

"Listen more, talk less."

Rabavis replied helplessly.

"Fine."

Colimy let out a helpless sigh.

Seeing that everyone was in agreement, Icarus no longer hesitated. He looked straight at Colimy and said.

"Colimy, any problems on your side?"

"What problem could there be? You submit the war order, I’ll sign it! Tomorrow we convene the Cosmic Alliance Government’s Supreme Council for a vote, and the day after that we can begin war mobilization."

Colimy answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Good. As long as the paperwork’s fine. Let’s talk about force allocation."

After hearing Colimy’s words, Icarus gave a nod. He was quite satisfied with the speed of this process.

"Deployment of forces is where it gets troublesome. Our main forces are still off on other cosmic expeditions; recalling them would take several years."

Colimy said, head aching a little.

"No. If we wait until they’re back to make a move, it’ll all be over but the crying. Who knows what the situation will look like by then. How many units can we mobilize with what we have right now?"

Icarus frowned tightly as he spoke.

"The Alliance Government currently has a total of 172 Legions (including the three major Alien Clans). The Expeditionary Army has taken 124 of them; we have 48 left at home. But among those 48 Legions, 24 are defensive Legions with pretty mediocre expeditionary capability. Strictly speaking, we can only mobilize 24 Legions. How about I approve all of them for you?"

Colimy said, rubbing his chin.

Hearing this, Icarus’s brows knit tighter as he fell into thought.

"If you feel that’s not enough, in the worst case we can pull troops from the elders and the various Level 1 Empires. Doubling that number isn’t too hard."

Colimy Divine Radiance laid his cards on the table.

At this moment, You Lan spoke softly: "Big brother, if you think the manpower isn’t enough, the Insect Race can also assemble a few more Legions."

Iswen also expressed her stance.

"Aliens and Aliens have no problem either; increase as many as you want."

"No, we don’t need that many troops. That’ll only backfire."

Icarus said in a deep voice.

"Lord Icarus, in war isn’t more troops always better?"

Some of the Councilmen nearby asked in confusion.

"In conventional wars, sure, the more troops the better. But this time it’s different. You’ve all seen those Monsters—the pollution is off the charts. If we send that many troops, once large swathes start getting infected, we’ll be in real trouble. Also, based on the data we’ve verified, Mechas below third generation basically can’t engage in close combat. Get too near and the pilots can’t handle it. So only elites can take part."

Icarus dumped a bucket of cold water straight over everyone’s heads.

"Damn, I actually forgot about that part. That complicates things."

Colimy said, head pounding.

Rabavis now turned to Icarus and asked.

"Icarus, is there really no way to deal with the pollution?"

"For now, no. That stuff is nasty. It’s even more disgusting than those infamous dirty bombs from back in the day. But don’t worry too much; we’ve already handed this over to the Helos Technology Group. We just wait for their report."

Icarus replied in a low voice.

"Ugh, what’s taking them so long? We still don’t have a solid answer."

Colimy said anxiously.

"It can’t be that fast."

Rabavis tried to talk Colimy down.

Right then, a cool voice sounded from the doorway.

"Who said we’re slow?"

Icarus and the others turned their heads. A man in a white lab coat, Terence, was standing at the door. His eyes were icy, devoid of emotion, as he spoke.

"Uh, ahem."

Colimy immediately felt a bit awkward.

"Terence, you’re here, perfect timing! Tell us about the pollution situation."

Icarus’s eyes brightened as he spoke.

Terence walked straight up to the group. He addressed them in a calm, confident tone.

"After this period of dissection and analysis of those deformed Monsters, we’ve already figured out the root of the pollution."

"So what exactly is going on?"

Colimy and the others hurriedly asked.

"The pollution carried by these Monsters is a kind of high-dimensional virus that erodes via radiation. And this high-dimensional virus is different from conventional viruses. Once it finds a host, even if the dose is small, it will slowly grow, and eventually spread and erupt. Our people have extremely poor resistance to it. That’s also why, when the Mecha is even slightly subpar, the pilot can’t withstand the radiation from High-level Polluted Monsters."