Their names were different, hailing from various star domains and homelands across the Federation.
Some were fresh-faced Military Academy cadets, their brows still carrying a youthful air, their eyes filled with longing for the starry skies.
Some were warm-eyed veteran soldiers of their fathers' generation, their cheeks etched with the marks of time and war.
Yet in the end, the images all showed warships exploding into silent flames in the Star Sea, fighter craft shattering into drifting dust amidst the wreckage.
All those vibrant stories were erased by the flames of war in the same second.
No farewells, no last words.
Only names, military ranks, and dates of birth and death, coldly scrolling across the holographic screens.
As if they had never been young, nor ever grown old.
The crowd in Triumph Square was instantly enveloped in sorrow; the previous cheers and exclamations vanished without a trace.
Some silently covered their faces and wept, their shoulders trembling slightly.
Some instinctively turned their heads away, unable to bear looking at those youthful faces.
The veterans stood straight-backed, their gazes solemn as they watched the screen, their eyes filled with pain and reverence.
Just as this heaviness was spreading.
A deep, powerful voice rang out through the square's amplification system, piercing through all the silence.
"The Battle of the Bushman System has affected eight star systems within our Federation.
Property losses are incalculable, civilian casualties have exceeded eight hundred million, and military casualties have reached as high as nine point eight billion.
A full ten point six billion names—each one was once the star of some family."
The voice paused briefly, growing heavier and more resolute as it continued.
"And all of this began one thousand five hundred and thirty-six years ago.
The Goldstein Family tore apart our once-unified Federation with their schemes.
For a millennium, they have been as greedy as jackals, never ceasing to erode our territories and trample our civilization.
They seek not only to destroy our fleets but also to extinguish the starlight of freedom, to imprison trillions of souls back into the cages of surnames and bloodlines.
To force us to kneel beneath the hierarchical system they have ordained."
At this point, the fury and determination in the voice grew even clearer, spreading to every corner of the square.
"When tombstones spread beneath the starry sky to form new rings, when the cries of children echo through burned homes.
How can we not be enraged?
How can we not fight to our last breath?"
At this moment, the anger in the square surged like an ignited torrent, instantly sweeping through every corner.
Young men clenched their fists, their voices hoarse with shouts.
Veterans straightened their hunched backs, their roars steady yet carrying immense force.
Even mothers holding children covered their faces with one hand, tears in their eyes as they shouted loudly.
"Down with the Ferry Empire!"
"Destroy these imperial barbarians!"
"Shatter their delusions with the artillery fire of civilization!"
Countless voices intertwined, forming a deafening wave of sound.
It soared straight into the sky, drowning out the faint rumble of descending warships.
Amidst these impassioned cries.
The Kunlun Mountain - Modified, guided by several precise lasers, slowly moved toward the dedicated landing zone in front of Triumph Square.
On that open ground, twelve sets of curved anti-gravity buffer devices had already been pre-deployed.
They were arranged in a straight-line array, their metallic arcs gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
As the warship drew closer, visible distortions began to appear in the space above the curved surfaces.
The air seemed compressed and stretched by an invisible force, forming a shimmering barrier of faint blue light.
The massive hull of the Kunlun Mountain - Modified descended steadily toward the force field.
As if gently cradled by an invisible giant hand, its descent abruptly slowed to a rate far below that of a conventional landing.
By now, the warship's main engines at the stern had long been completely shut down.
Only the small auxiliary thrusters distributed along both sides of the hull remained active.
They emitted fine blue plasma streams, precisely fine-tuning the ship's attitude and correcting the minute deviations caused by air currents.
When the bottom of the Kunlun Mountain - Modified made firm contact with the anti-gravity curved surface, the entire warship trembled slightly before coming to a complete stop.
The auxiliary thrusters shut down simultaneously, emitting a uniform hissing sound.
Several plumes of white cooling steam sprayed out.
A thin mist rose between the hull and the ground, quickly dispersed by the wind sweeping across the square.
Immediately afterward, the same deep, powerful voice echoed once more through the amplification system across Triumph Square, its tone filled with reverence.
"And in this campaign that seemed all but lost…
There was one man who could have retreated to safety behind the scenes to preserve his own life, yet he chose the most difficult path.
He led the Pluto Fleet, using meteorites as cover to infiltrate the perilous Imperial Hinterland…
With tactics beyond ordinary imagination, he single-handedly turned the tide of battle.
It was precisely because of his selfless sacrifice that we achieved our great victory in the Battle of the Bushman System!"
As the words fell, the crowd in the square was instantly stunned by this wildly ingenious strategy, and murmurs erupted everywhere.
No one had expected such a daring deployment behind the campaign.
Using meteorites as projectiles, leveraging a black hole as the ultimate killing blow, and even setting up wreckage as traps.
Every step was fraught with peril, yet executed with precision and ruthlessness.
The crowd gasped in amazement. Someone slapped their thigh and exclaimed,
"My god! Even if you injected me with ten doses of Neuron Activator, I could never come up with such a bold idea!"
The person beside them nodded repeatedly, their face filled with relief.
"Thank goodness he's on our side. If the Imperial barbarians had someone like that, I can't even imagine how many of us would have died!"
Another's eyes lit up, their tone speculative.
"The Pluto Fleet… Could it be that the one who devised such a strategy was Senior Colonel Qin Bei Wang?"
The murmurs grew increasingly fervent. All eyes were fixed intently on the Kunlun Mountain - Modified at the center of the square, eagerly awaiting the appearance of that legendary commander.
Just as the crowd buzzed with discussion, a hovering platform slowly rose between Triumph Square and the hull of the Kunlun Mountain - Modified.
The platform was crafted entirely from silver-white alloy, its surface smooth as a mirror, hovering steadily in mid-air.
Immediately afterward, seven cylindrical metal pillars slowly ascended from the center of the platform.
They stood upright, seamlessly linked to the platform.
In the next moment, a straight gap appeared on the smooth surface of each metal pillar.
The gaps gradually widened, like sliding gates slowly opening, revealing within them tall, upright figures.
When those figures stepped out of the metal pillars and stood on the hovering platform…
The murmurs in the square instantly ceased, followed by an even more explosive wave of exclamations.
"It's the Seven Grand Marshals!"
A young man leaped up excitedly, his voice trembling.
"My god! I actually saw the Seven Grand Marshals!"
Some held up recording devices, their hands trembling slightly, afraid to miss this rare moment.
Others, older citizens, gazed at the figure on the platform with deep reverence.
"In the past, the Seven Grand Marshals only appeared in the media. Who would have thought we'd see one in person today—this is a once-in-a-lifetime honor!"
Marshal Ruan Zhixu slowly stepped forward.
He suddenly turned to the side, uttering the same sound as before.
"The legendary Commander who turned the tide and saved the nation from collapse is..."
Ruan Zhixu raised his right hand, thumb tucked into his palm, four fingers pointing toward the Kunlun Mountain - Modified.