about 20 minutes, the plan will work!" Xiao Niao’s voice answered.

A rejuvenated Yao Yuan yelled into the communicator, "Hope, this is Yao Yuan. Get Nian Xi Kong to central command and give her an electromagnetic transmitter. Ask her to try singing at the mother nest!"

Following Yao Yuan’s orders, the diffident Xi Kong was brought to command central. She fidgeted nervously under the crowd’s gaze as Yao Yuan explained to her the mission.

"I…" Xi Kong glanced at her feet, afraid to lift her head. After a long while, she took a deep breath and said, "Yao, Yao Yuan, do you really need me to do this?"

"Yes, Xi Kong, I need you! I need you to use your voice to disturb the mother nest’s cellular actions, so sing at the top of your lungs and fill the empty cosmos with your voice!"

"Okay," Xi Kong replied in a soft voice before closing her eyes to focus.

Bo Li, who was sitting in the captain’s seat beside Xi Kong, kept her face straight, but a closer inspection would reveal her subtly twitching eyebrows.

After all the equipment was set up, Xi Kong’s voice was transmitted through s.p.a.ce in the form of electromagnetic waves. However, more than that, her voice also reached across people’s hearts in a more ethereal connection, one that science couldn’t explain.

"She really does have an impressive voice. I get relaxed every time I hear it."

A male technician in command central offered as he involuntarily closed his eyes to submerge himself in the enjoyment of Xi Kong’s song. The female technician beside him nodded in agreement, but she nudged him out of his reverie, adding, "Look, the cellular distribution in the mother nest is changing!"

Following Xi Kong’s singing, the cells inside the mother nest started to show a "rogue" condition. They started to slow down until they reached inactivity. This gave the alien plant the break it needed to spread out across the mother nest. Slowly but surely, more and more of the mother nest was consumed by the alien plant!

The troopers who were still fighting cheered in relief when they saw this development. Even Yao Yuan sighed in relief.

"…Please don’t revive again. We’ve used everything we got, just become plant food already!" Yao Yuan mumbled to himself while looking at the gyrating mother nest before him.

As time pa.s.sed, the troopers who returned to fix their jets came back to surround the mother nest, and Yao Yuan returned to the Hope in the Red Lightning to personally give support to Xi Kong… The girl’s voice had gotten hoa.r.s.e from singing nonstop for about an hour. She was reaching her limit.

The room was as still as the inside of a coffin as Xi Kong finished another song. The initial excitement was replaced by a heavy solemnity. Many civilians crowded the corridor outside of central command after they heard what was happening. Many hugged each other closely and stared at the singing girl in silence. Some of the younger girls in the crowd even started to cry.

"That’s enough!"

Yao Yuan strode to Xi Kong’s side and took the trembling girl in his arms, adding, "You’ve done more than enough, please leave the rest to us."

Xi Kong smiled up at him. There was a faint, sickly blush on her face. She said weakly, "I hope I’ve been of use to you…"

"Of course, you’ve done more than what I could have possibly asked for, so please, rest now," Yao Yuan replied kindly. Then he felt pressure on his arms because Xi Kong had collapsed.

"Carry her to the care unit, and keep a close eye on her." Yao Yuan pa.s.sed Xi Kong to the crew of doctors who were already waiting. After they had left, Yao Yuan turned to Bo Li. "Bo Li, I’ll leave the Hope to you. Keep me updated on the mother nest’s condition. We’ve done everything we could. The rest…

"We shall leave to fate."

Yao Yuan left for the hangar after that. He got on the Red Lightning to finish the rest of his mission.

In his hurry, he failed to notice the disappointment that flitted across Bo Li’s eyes and hatred that flitted across Ji Jie’s.

Xi Kong, in her unconsciousness, returned to the empty s.p.a.ce she occupied whenever she sang. She was surrounded by light orbs and dots. She instantly spotted the biggest orb that represented Yao Yuan, but to her consternation, she found a dark orb behind it. It was bigger than the size of the normal orbs, and instead of emanating light, it seemed to be sucking the light from its surroundings. It was cold, as cold as the touch of death…