CHAPTER 402: ORIGINAL TEXT: VOLUME 5, CHAPTER 25, INVIGORATED, MODIFIED:

Yes, this is a miracle, especially in the year 2062, during the most difficult moments of the Leray National Defense War.

The Desic people have been continuously attacking Leray, advancing from the Public Star System towards the Central Leray Star Domain. Despite not deploying significant forces in this route, the Desic Empire has established a long supply line to maintain military pressure, with three Imperial Fleets taking turns to assault the jump passage leading to the Central Leray Star Domain.

The most critical battlefield for both sides is the jump point between the Galileo Star System and the Newton Star System. Since the Leray Federation’s great retreat in Lucerne, despite suffering continuous losses, the Desic people have been madly launching wave after wave of attacks on the jump point, without rest, unable to catch the enemy’s main force.

However, the Leray people have held their ground. The first, second, fourth, and fifth mixed fleets that grew through the war formed an unbreakable lock, securing the jump passage of the Newton Star System. On several occasions, the Desic people tried to break through with absolute superior forces but were ultimately repelled under the relentless attacks of the Leray Fleet.

As the war progressed, the Desic people increasingly realized that Leray, a nation tempered by war, was no longer the weak entity that Gazalin had crushed effortlessly within half a year. The war has unleashed unimaginable strength within her. Each of her citizens is firmly united, cheerful, confident, and disdainful of any pressure or formidable enemy. They are resilient, even stubborn!

Is this still the country that has enjoyed peace for over three hundred years, with each generation sinking deeper into decadence, drunk on the pleasures and excesses of life? How did those weak and lazy scions transform into warriors who fought like fierce lions on the battlefield?

The Desic Empire’s Leray Front Army Command Department calculates Leray’s casualties every day. Since the attack began in March, the losses have accumulated to a chilling number. Yet, they still cannot break through the jump point. Whenever they advance, countless Leray people continue to drive their numerous warships forward, fighting to their deaths.

This medium-sized nation is simultaneously facing an even larger threat from the Jiepeng Empire. How do they keep maintaining their resistance? Do they possess a magical treasure chest capable of producing warships? Why hasn’t this long-drawn battle worn them down?

The same question lingers in the minds of the Jiepeng Empire. This veteran imperial country attacked the Bermuda Star System of Leray with its full force. Since landing on Midway Star, two army groups comprising the Empire’s elite armored divisions have encountered almost insane resistance from the Leray people in both hemispheres. The initial prediction of clearing Midway Star within a week, landing on the Bermuda Star System’s main star, Rodbia, in three weeks, and achieving the occupation of the Central Star Domain within three months, has completely collapsed!

The three-step plan, until now, has not even completed the first step. The goal of occupying Midway Star within a week has become a notorious joke under Leray’s stubborn resistance!

A month after the Bermuda campaign burst out, reinforcements from the Saleria Federation, along with the Southeast United Expeditionary Army from Chuckna Republic and Feiyang Republic, arrived at the Bermuda Star System. The leaders of these allied forces could hardly believe that the small Leray Federation had managed to resist Jiepeng’s full-scale assault for so long!

Originally, they thought their mission was to rescue the Central Leray Star Domain and prevent this most critical passage from falling into the hands of the Western Alliance. However, they never expected the Leray Federation to possess such resilience and endurance. The fact that Leray stood alone for a month against two large military powers itself is a miracle!

But no one knows the hardships of the Leray people!

In this country, every young person has become a warrior or a reservist. Students shed their school uniforms, employees their work uniforms, putting on military gear and stepping into training grounds scattered throughout every corner of the city, to prepare for war and forge themselves into Leray warriors!

Waves of warriors are sent to the battlefield. Every day, electronic display boards in various squares reveal dense lists of the deceased. The screens scroll page after page endlessly. Every name on those lists was once a living person!

They left silently. Their families wept in hidden corners, grieved, and were heartbroken. The terrifying fires of cannon and the dazzling explosions have finally faded into the boundless cosmos. Only the fallen have remained, crystallizing into the new history of the Leray Federation.

Jack Hamilton, Supreme Commander of the National Defense War Supreme Command Department, eldest son of Federation President Hamilton, Deputy Captain of the 5th Fleet Gabrielle Battleship, died on May 10, 2062, at the Newton Space Jump Point.

Jason Barton, eldest son of Vice Admiral Barton, Deputy Commander of the Bermuda Military District, Commander of the 26th Armored Division of the Aviation Marine Corps, died on May 15, 2062, at Jialan Mountain in Midway Star.

Mark Albers, eldest son of Vice Minister of Defense Albers, Deputy Commander of the fully mechanized 205th Infantry Division Army, died on May 15, 2062, at Jialan Mountain in Midway Star.

John Albers, second son of Vice Minister of Defense Albers, Squadron Leader of the 779th Flying Battalion of the Land-based Air Force, died on May 14, 2062, at Jialan Mountain in Midway Star.