Chapter 1373: The Uneasy Squeeze
Such selfish behaviour was no doubt very annoying, but it could not be denied that Pontin had those higher up bastards by the balls. Those guys could not tolerate losing a weapon that could be mass-produced and could significantly increase the combat power of the humans in ground warfare. And that was why such a large fleet had been mobilised!
In the same way, those crazy human bureaucrats also had the Protoss elders by the balls - if they had any balls. Facing a combat force of such scale, the power of the Keystone had become insignificant. After all, even the Spartan warrior king Leonidas could only flee if he had to face tens of thousands of people; it was the same theory. The Protoss' garrison forces near the Lost Temple planet numbered less than one tenth of what the humans have sent!
If a war broke out, the Protoss would undoubtedly lose the two Keystone shards. This was a cost they simply could not bear....
Therefore, the great Protoss race had to handle this situation very carefully. Although the humans were showing a very aggressive and forceful attitude, although the Protoss elders were feeling humiliated, they had no choice but to compromise. They sent down Pontin's photos and other detailed information of him to their subordinates and asked them not to touch this guy if they met him.
At the same time, the Protoss sent out a mobilisation order to all other Protoss tribes in the name of a "holy war", asking them to mobilise troops here on the grounds that the Keystone was in danger. They had already calculated that even though the humans had the upper hand at the moment, if the other Protoss tribes that received the mobilisation order could warp here to their aid at once, the Protoss could form a counter encirclement.
That is to say, the Protoss could trap more than a third of the total forces of the entire human army in this place. This way, the Protoss would hold all the chips in the ensuing negotiation.
Finally, there was the matter regarding the Monster of Calamity. Initially, the Protoss did not pay much attention to the war machine, but after they replayed the recordings of the previous fight, they now had no choice but to take it seriously, because it had displayed a combat power that was even higher than the Colossus! No wonder the humans were making such a big fuss. It was for the sake of getting their hands on this brand new technology!
Given a choice, the Protoss were absolutely unwilling to let Pontin go back alive, because once the Terran Dominion obtained the assembly line manufacturing method of the Monster of Calamity from Pontin, the humans would no longer have a disadvantage in ground warfare. The more powerful a ground unit was, the weaker the effect Psionic Storm would have on it. In truth, the humans' most cost-effective weapon was actually the combination of Marines and Medics, but they were completely defenceless against the Protoss' Psionic Storm that could kill them in large numbers.
But the situation now was clear. If the Protoss killed Pontin, the fragile peace maintained between the Protoss and the humans would collapse, and the spark of war would be ignited.
What would happen next could be easily deduced. The two Keystone shards would be destroyed, and an all out war would break out between the Protoss and the humans. A third of the humans' military power would meet its demise here, while the Protoss would also sustain extremely heavy casualties. In the end, they would both be wiped out by the Zerg.
It was a cost neither side could bear.
And so, they were back to square one - the Protoss did not dare harm a hair on Pontin's head.
After making the decision to protect Pontin, the Protoss elders also made another resolution at a speed rarely before seen from them. They decided to overturn the ban that the Protoss Conclave imposed on the Colossus 3700 years ago, and made concrete plans to recommence the manufacturing of the war machine. They needed the war machine, because they now had an even more evil enemy to deal with.
***
Sheyan shut his eyes. He could clearly feel the faint stinging pain on his bare back, caused by the wounds made by the Queen of Blades' nails. The gorgeous female beast seemed very fond of using her teeth and nails to make wounds on her partner's body when she got excited. But because she was so strong, these flirtatious actions would actually cause some serious damage.
If Sheyan was an ordinary man, he would have been tortured to death.
Sheyan's wounds were currently soaked in the Zerg's Creep carpet. After a while, the stinging pain turned into chill and numbness. Sheyan felt like his body was full of energy, as if every one of his cells had been reborn. He felt like there was something different about him, but he could not say for sure what it was.
Sheyan turned his head slightly to the side. Although his dick was numb and a little painful from weariness, what he saw still forced him to inhale deeply to suppress the fire rising from below his belly.
Less than half a meter away lay the fair, curvy figure of the Queen of Blades with her back to him. She was naked, of course, and because of her posture, her full ass and slim waist really stood out. The sight of the deep groove partly hidden underneath her butt cheeks made Sheyan ready to go again.
Because it was very quiet, the faint breathing sound made by the Queen of Blades could be clearly heard. It was even, soft, and uniform - she had probably fallen asleep. It seemed that she was exhausted too, not only because of the battle she had just been through, but likely also from resisting the Keystone's power.
Sheyan suddenly had an idea. He looked around and found that the Zergling and Hydralisk heroes that were originally standing watch nearby were all gone. He tried to sense his surroundings and could not detect any of them at all. Have they all gone out to patrol and stand guard? That made sense, considering the terrible state the Queen of Blades was currently in.
Sheyan was overjoyed at the discovery. Was this not a great chance for him to run away? If he waited until the Queen woke up, she would surely be hungry after a vigorous mating session to satisfy her desire. What if the bad habit of the female scorpions, female spiders and female mantises in her prevailed? Wouldn't Sheyan become her food?
Having thought of that, Sheyan burned with the desire to escape. One must absolutely avoid hesitating and delaying after making such a decision. If Sheyan were to do it, he must do it immediately, so he instantly climbed up silently. However, at that instant, Sheyan pondered over everything he had discovered and suddenly paused.
"Weren't there simply too many coincidences? With the Queen of Blades' personality, would she really not put up any guards against me? Would she really sleep with her back to me, and it so happens that when I wake up, all the Hydralisks and Zerglings are gone?"
The more Sheyan thought about it, the more doubts he found. Fortunately, he was a quick-witted person. After a moment's contemplation, he immediately came up with a plan. He slowly walked towards the Queen of Blades who had her back to him.
The Queen's curvy, lustrous body was laid bare in front of Sheyan. The purplish-red blood vessels that could be vaguely seen beneath her skin showed that the Protoss' vicious trap had not taken effect. Rather, it had made her genetic chains combine more perfectly. It was akin to a piece of steel that was tempered and pounded thousands of times. If the piece of steel could withstand the process without breaking apart, it would become more solid.
Sheyan slowly squatted down, then gently extended his hand towards the Queen's slender neck from behind her... In a spot hidden from Sheyan's view, the nails on the Queen's left hand which was pressed underneath her body started growing longer and sharper! They shined with a glint that was no inferior to the glint on Evil Sword Apophis!
But Sheyan's hand merely passed by her neck to grab at something in front of her body. And thus, this action that originally hid countless murderous intents had suddenly changed into something else, becoming very shameless and obscene. As for how shameless and obscene it was, one only needed to imagine what was located about 20 cm below a woman's neck to figure it out.
Sheyan could feel the Queen of Blades trembling slightly after the squeeze, but she was still pretending to sleep. Sheyan immediately felt relieved, like he had removed a heavy stone from his heart.
All the clues showed that the current situation was something deliberately arranged by the Queen of Blades. Only she could pretend to sleep, and only she could make the heroic Zerg units leave quietly.
Sheyan could infer two possible intentions from the powerful woman's actions - two very different intentions....
If her intention was good, the Queen of Blades may no longer have any desire to kill Sheyan after a night of pleasure with him. She was an ambitious woman with the authority over the whole Zerg race in her hands, so there was no way she would get into any kind of serious relationship. Therefore, she had created a chance for Sheyan to remove himself from her sight.
But if her intention was bad, it might mean that the Queen of Blades was now hungry, but not too hungry, so she wanted to play a game of cat and mouse before dinner. She would let a certain fool think that he had found a chance to escape, only to strike suddenly, making him lose all hope and fall into despair. The possibility of this outcome was pretty high too!
This was a matter which may decide his life and death, so of course Sheyan would not be so stupid as to escape right away, as that would be akin to making a gamble. If he lost the gamble, he would have to pay with his life.
So Sheyan came up with a very indecent plan in response. Since revealing the cards may mean his death, why should someone as clever as he reveal the cards?
Therefore, Sheyan's plan was to not run away. But if the Queen's intention was to let him go, then he would have missed the opportunity to escape.
So he could not just stay and do nothing.
And thus, Sheyan impolitely grabbed the Queen's breast. It might seem to an onlooker that Sheyan was enjoying himself, but in truth, he had reached out with a very uneasy heart. Obviously, if the Queen of Blades intended to play him like a cat playing with a mouse, she would not let Sheyan have his way. On the other hand, successfully grabbing the Queen's breast meant that the Queen at least did not have any intention to kill him...