Chapter 262: Crisis Mounts

be husband and wife, but alas, as an unfavored daughter, I ultimately inherited the throne. To balance the power within the court, my mother arranged for me to marry Zhao Qian, the heir of the powerf...Ripple rubbed her temples, this was the most difficult thing. They were completely isolated. They could either hold out with the soldiers stationed here, but the fighting here wasn't small, it would definitely attract attention. The question was when that attention would bring support, and that was a mystery.

Either leave ZJWL space station now and avoid the signal jamming range, sending a distress signal. But that way they'll be exposed quickly, perhaps this is what the pirates intended, to force them out of the planet so they could pursue them. The other party's goal from the beginning has always been them.

His gaze rippled across every student in front of him, then he rubbed his forehead and said:

"My background is well known. My biological father gave me up due to his own shortcomings. Now, he and I only have blood ties left. Although my maternal grandparents are very caring towards me, after all, I'm not a member of the Du family, so I'm not that important."

When the nonsensical phrase "ripples" came out, the companions paused for a moment before reacting and one by one revealed their identities and backgrounds. Each background was impressive, but none were important enough to warrant the Star Pirates besieging the Xingxing planet. If it was to extort star coins from them, it seemed like a poor return on investment.

Ripple turned her gaze to Hill, then raised an eyebrow and said:

"Hill, is there anything you'd like to say"

"Um, um"

Hill hesitated for a long time, unable to explain clearly. His eyes darted around nervously, and he kept twisting his fingers together, looking like a guilty little wife.

Anne was about to blow her top. She marched up to Hill, crossed her arms, and said in a low voice:

"Hill, normally it's fine, but right now you better tell the truth, or else our friendship is over!"

"Okay! But I hope you all keep it a secret!"

Hill said helplessly.

"Say!"

"The Supreme Leader of the United Empires, Hopson Zhao, is my father, and I am the youngest son in the family."

After Hill finished speaking, everyone fell silent. It turned out that after four years of being classmates, there was actually a hidden master among them.

"This makes sense, as long as they capture you, they should be able to achieve their intended goal. Now their actions are understandable."

Kate stood arms crossed beside Ripples, saying flatly.

"Guys, please don't be angry. It wasn't intentional that I kept it hidden. My identity is too sensitive, and I'm under 24/7 protection. It's really annoying, so I chose to study at the First Military Academy. The teachers here are very good, and I'm not afraid of any trouble. Besides, nothing unexpected has happened in four years."

So this time you bravely participated in the mecha practice and left Blue Star.

Kate pinched the bridge of her nose and finished Hill's sentence for him.

"Well! I'm sorry to bother you all!"

Hill said sheepishly.

It's too late, you've been hiding it from us for four years, that's not cool at all! Classmates! Beat him up!

Anne didn't care if Hill was the president's son, she kicked him down with one foot. When other students saw this, they also rushed up and beat him up, punching and kicking.

"Oh! Oh! Don't hit me in the face! Let's talk it out! After all, we're classmates!"

Hill's wail echoed from the crowd.

Ripple and Kate were not involved, discussing countermeasures instead. After all, they had found the source of it all.

"I said how a simple mecha practical could require the escort of the Academy's top fighter, Master Ou Yang. We originally thought we were good enough, but it turns out we were overestimating ourselves. Master Ou Yang was protecting Hill Zhao all along."

Kate gave a rare smirk.

We need to believe that we are good enough. Mr. OuYang protecting Hill isn't just about protecting him, it's about protecting us all.

The ripples in her heart were great, but she said indifferently.

"Agent, trigger the side quest, save Hill Zhao, a key figure in the Empire's future, and her classmate who participated in this mech practice. Change the fate of the United Empire."

The stone mill jumped out at this time.

Ripple raised an eyebrow and asked directly:

"This time, the planned siege was targeting Hill Zhao. That's not something a band of pirates would dare do; there are people behind them."

Ripple said it was an affirmative sentence.

Yes, the hostile star system bribed pirates to appear and hijack Hill Zhao, then put forward an exchange request to the Empire.

In his previous life, because this matter involved the interests of many parties, they forced Hopson to refuse the other party's request. Hill was ultimately torn apart, along with his classmates.

In order to sow discord between Hopson and the interest groups, they even sent back the bodies of Hill to Hopson. They were successful, and from then on, Hopson's relationship with those interest groups deteriorated, and the United Empire also began its decline.

At that time, Wu Lianbo had grown powerful. With the system's help, he gradually began to develop his own power and eventually replaced Wu Yishan, taking control of the Fifth Army. During the war with hostile star systems, he avoided the enemy's strong attacks in order to preserve his strength, revealing a weakness that allowed the enemy to break through the Empire's defenses.

Wu Lianbo, seeing the tide had turned, led the Fifth Army to join the enemy star system. However, not all soldiers in the Fifth Army shared his views, and ultimately, it began to fall apart from within. As for what happened next, I think you can guess.

"So this mission, I have to take it. And no matter what, Hill can't get hurt."

"Yes, best of luck to you."

After the stone mill announced the task, it went offline.

At this point, Hill had taken all the hits he could handle. Though everyone was angry, they weren't going to kill him; they just needed to vent their frustration.

Finally, with her face protected, Hill was pushed by everyone to Kate and Ripple's front.

Kate is the class monitor and excels academically. She has been the backbone and brain of the class since first grade. Although Ripples was a transfer student, her ability to overcome adversity and excellent grades also made her a core member of the class, so everyone respects both of them.

You can't hit my face either.

Little Fatty Hill still protected his face, saying with a hint of resentment.

"Who's free to hit you!"

Ripple replied, getting straight to the point:

If you go missing, how long would it take the Presidential Guard to notice

“This month-long internship means if I don't return on time after a month, they will naturally realize something is wrong.”

Is there a way to contact them in advance

"Yes, I tried contacting my guardsman before, but then I found out there was a problem with the network."

Both Ripples and Kate looked at Hill with half-smiles, it seemed that the moment he realized something was amiss, he started calling for help.

"Including yesterday, we've been here for nineteen days. If we don't receive any return information in eleven days, they should realize there's a problem. Dispatching reinforcements from the nearest satellite would take at least five days. This means we'll have to hold out on the ZJWL planet for at least sixteen days."

Kate immediately began analyzing and gave the time to hold.

"What if we choose to break out and send a distress signal"

Hill whispered.

They could have predicted this and definitely would have intercepted it.s necessary."Zhu Jinyu originally didn't want to answer this call, but since the information the other party provided was important, he made an exception."Yes, I understand, my child."A ripple of tent...