In the office, a silence fell.

Fatty’s words were like steel and iron, resounding powerfully.

However, obviously... Fang Xiang and Margaret didn’t hear a thing.

The two women stared dumbfounded at the little kid, clinging like a koala to Fatty’s head, with a cigar in his mouth.

Their shocked eyes seemed as if they had seen the end of the world.

The men exchanged glances and shrugged their shoulders. A woman’s maternal instinct is indeed the most bizarre and unfathomable thing in this world. Even these two breathtaking beauties were no exception. At this moment, they seemed like two hens ready to rush up and protect their chicks at any time.

Indeed, at this moment, Fang Xiang wanted to go up and pull this little guy down, then scold Fatty. She had never seen such an absurd father and son. The son smokes, and the father feels it’s only natural. However, when the little kid turned to look at her, mouthing a word silently with his lips, her irresistible thought vanished without a trace.

"Mom!"

The little rascal smiled naively.

Although Fang Xiang was sure that she was the only one who saw that silent word, a rush of embarrassment still surged from her body. The image of Fatty shyly calling her "sister" every day resurfaced in her mind. Her normally calm heart, suddenly rippled. The ripples spread out, gradually radiating, tinting her ears with a faint red.

This little rascal... compared to the big rascal!

Fang Xiang, ashamed and annoyed, stomped her foot lightly and turned her head away, not wanting to see this pair of father and son who enjoy falsely acknowledging relatives.

A man who doesn’t even save his own woman, what kind of man is he?... That voice, full of masculine hormones, rumbled in Fang Xiang’s heart. In this war-torn world, her heart was momentarily in turmoil.

At the same time, Margaret also dismissed the idea of forceful intervention.

Fatty is indeed the father of that little rascal; if he doesn’t mind, why should she reprimand the child... Besides, if that little rascal called her mom, just like he called Fang Xiang... Dear God, she would rather not be alive.

"Are you saying... yours... is also on Canglang Star?" Margaret forced herself to look away from the little boy, and when she opened her mouth to speak, she found her voice terribly dry: "So, you have to go?"

Fatty’s lips trembled a bit, and he nodded vigorously.

Margaret looked at Fang Xiang, but found that the usually mature and capable Saleria Major General looked like a little woman at the moment, gently and painfully looking at Fatty and the little boy, as if she hadn’t noticed her question at all.

"If..." Margaret sighed, pointing to the electronic folder tossed to Fatty, "if the Alliance’s highest Commander, Marshal Hastings, personally ordered you to abandon this dangerous rescue plan?"

"Marshal Hastings?"

Margaret’s words made the officers present take a deep breath. Russell, sitting on the sofa, sighed softly and shook his head. The little kid riding on Fatty’s neck snorted a puff of smoke from his nose, indifferent.

Margaret suddenly felt her heart sink.

"You’re the ones asking me to rescue, and you’re also the ones asking me not to rescue." Sure enough, Fatty sneered, "This is something even Marshal Hastings cannot control. It’s my own business."

He looked at Margaret and said indifferently, "If it means defying a military order, I don’t care. It wouldn’t be the first time anyway."

Margaret felt a bit wronged and angry. If she had known that Fatty agreed to that mission for his woman, rather than for his and Bernadotte’s so-called righteous mission to rescue Marshal Li Cunxin, she wouldn’t have gone through the trouble to beg her grandfather.

A dog biting Lü Dongbin! Margaret murmured in her heart, but for the first time she didn’t have the thought to argue with Fatty.

She remained silent, with complex emotions.

She was a soldier, but at the same time, she was also a woman.

After a moment, she asked in a tone of unexpected softness, "When are you planning to set out?"

**********************************************************************************************************

"Tian Xingjian..."

Sobel sat on the crescent-shaped lounge chair, looking at the starry sky outside the window of the Scorpion fortress, silently reciting this name in his heart. On the side table next to him lay a blue-glowing electronic folder and a cup of coffee that had already cooled.

Alessandro stood silently behind Sobel. The young officer remained upright, gazing intently. But if one looked closely, they’d find a trace of shame and unwillingness in his eyes.

The white electronic lamp illuminated the office brightly.

On the electronic interstellar map that occupied an entire wall, the Saleria Longbow Star System marked with a big red cross was exceptionally eye-catching. A massive attack arrowhead, filled with numerous Combat Department unit numbers, lingered outside the Longbow Star System, like a trapped fierce beast roaring in helpless rage.

The combat plan was hampered, and what was supposed to be the main attack route, the Southeast Main Channel, had become a dead end. The Fei Alliance moved its positions into the heart of the Western Alliance’s Southeast Battle Zone, and two Royal Elephant-class Fleets were defeated and surrendered... All because of that Leray fatty!

Alessandro had to exert great control over himself to not clench his teeth to the point of breaking them.

He knew it was his previous failed mission that led to all this happening.