Godard star system.
This location wasn't actually part of the Aurora Great Stellar Ring.
It was in the relatively outer regions, roughly 13 light-years from the ring.
It had been over five days since the Void Fleet appeared in the Aurora Great Stellar Ring, and everyone here was fully aware of what had happened.
"How dare they?"
An emergency meeting was being held.
The scene was chaotic, with members of the council expressing immense fury.
They had never considered the possibility of their own backyard being invaded.
Now, their defenses were breached in every sense.
Even Hua'a, sitting in a corner of the conference room, couldn't hide his shock.
He had actually anticipated something like this.
He had researched Luna.
Luna's most famous campaign was the one where she defeated Binom.
A surprise attack by a Void Fleet, appearing right in the middle of the enemy formation.
So, he guessed Luna would use the same trick against Glolo; after all, Luna had extracted a massive amount of information from him.
But now that he had confirmation, he still found it hard to believe.
"That person actually did it!"
Behind him, Haoifa felt the same way.
True, he knew Luna was confident, but confidence had its limits.
This wasn't just confidence; it was audacity.
"The Rusty Star Nation mobilized their Tier 2 fleet and deployed so many void ships and warships. Their interior must be incredibly vulnerable right now; aren't they afraid of internal rebellion?"
"Glolo was well-prepared."
"This is a total 'all-or-nothing' gamble!"
The two of them exchanged looks, each seeing the shock at Luna's madness reflected in the other's eyes.
"If Glolo is destroyed, everything is solved. But if they fail here, then all of Rusty will be wiped out."
"People call me 'Greedy Hua'a.' I suppose that person will be known as 'Mad Luna'."
Hua'a gave a dark chuckle.
In truth, he liked collaborating with people like this.
If they had stuck to conventional methods, how could Rusty ever hope to face Glolo?
Only by acting like this did Rusty's plan have a glimmer of hope.
He recalled Luna's promise.
If Rusty won, the Fenton Games Company would not be suppressed. Furthermore, Luna would use Rusty's influence at that time to expand Fenton Games' reach.
It all came down to interests.
If this goal were truly realized, his vendetta could be settled.
That was something he had looked forward to for a long time.
"Haoifa, I don't know why, but I suddenly feel a sense of emptiness!"
Haoifa replied.
"It seems you truly believe Luna will emerge victorious!"
"Do you think the people sitting here are incapable of defeating a single Luna?"
Rusty only had one Luna.
But here, there were many who had made a name for themselves in Glolo's history. Although they were now leisure-loving aristocrats, their past experiences wouldn't fade, and their fighting spirit was still restless, because no one in the Star Nation ever aged!
Their near-immortality meant their spirits would never grow old.
Haoifa, under Hua'a's arrangements, had been harassing the borders of Glolo, but it wasn't because Hua'a didn't want to go further, he was also getting tired of staying in Glolo.
Glolo was developing well, but too slowly.
Being a high-tier Star Nation was the limit; expansion was forbidden by the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant.
The Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant did not allow the emergence of any power that could challenge their status.
What truly prevented Haoifa from advancing further were the powerful individuals sitting right here.
They were masters in all fields; some were no less capable than Haoifa, and in terms of military records, they left him far behind.
Could such a group of people gathered together really fail to dismantle a fleet of 200,000 ships?
Once he realized this, Hua'a also smiled calmly.
"Indeed, I've been overthinking it!"
Though he felt Luna could pose some threat to Glolo, in his eyes, Luna was still just a cash cow. No matter how brilliant her talent, the final outcome wouldn't change much.
He only needed to be a spectator for a good show and rake in more money along the way.
Hua'a's eyes darted around, and he finally took note of the discussion in the meeting. It was dull; otherwise, he wouldn't even want to listen.
"..."
No one paid any attention to Hua'a, a mere gaming company boss.
The only reason he could even sit here was that his business was large enough to influence many things. In the eyes of ordinary people, his power was roughly equivalent to these officials.
But in reality, there was a world of difference. Hua'a could toy with ordinary people at will, but when it came to war, in their eyes, he was an expendable character.
The meeting had been going on for a while now; the trivial discussions had ended, and they were moving on to the actual situation.
Naminko let the Golden Fleet Admiral, Honest Tin, give the briefing.
Honest Tin pointed to the star chart and said:
"Based on their current vector, Rusty is likely heading for the Feuae star system."
"That is the military weak point of the Aurora Great Stellar Ring. Previously, my request to build a defensive station there was rejected. No one thought an enemy could ever reach the Aurora Great Stellar Ring, but reality has proven that the enemy indeed has a way in."
He opened by taking a jab at the Finance Department.
The funds required for military operations were astronomical, and the Finance Department had been very stingy with him.
Of course, Honest Tin also knew what needed to be done now. He continued:
"Theoretically, even if this was a military blind spot, no one should have known. We have several military bases in the Feuae star system; they are under sealed management, and the internal conditions are known only to the officers there."
"Even if an external spy stayed in the Feuae star system for over a thousand years, I don't believe they'd have that kind of capability."
"So it's quite clear: there are traitors within the military."
"And perhaps not just within the military!"
The military was under his control; by suggesting the second possibility was himself, he used self-reflection to ensure no one could trouble him later.
A large population has its advantages, but also its drawbacks.
The internal workings of a Star Nation are always intricate and complex, especially for a high-tier Star Nation that has lasted tens of thousands of years.
After finishing, Honest Tin requested instructions from Naminko.
"Chairman, I hope to form a special military unit to investigate our internal affairs. The war could drag on for a long time, and if internal issues aren't resolved, this conflict could take some very unpredictable turns!"
The expressions of the others changed instantly.
Honest Tin was clearly angling for investigative authority.
In any organizational hierarchy, the power to investigate is absolute. Since it was wartime, the entire Star Nation should theoretically be under military command, but the problem lay within the thicket of internal factions. These groups feared Honest Tin would use this opportunity to move against them.
Immediately, several people stood up to object, claiming it was unacceptable.
"The number of military officials alone within the Star Nation is in the millions. Conducting a thorough investigation would be incredibly difficult. Won't this just take away from the time needed to deal with the enemy?"
"The enemy is right in front of us. A delay of even a year would result in catastrophic losses. I believe we should focus our efforts outward."
"I agree!"
"Me too!"
A succession of dissenters spoke up, drawing a cold stare from Honest Tin.
To him, these people were nothing but malignant tumors.
They hindered military progress in times of peace and obstructed the defense in times of war. If he ever secured investigative power, he would definitely cut these people out!
"Without a specialized military unit for internal review, even if we ultimately win, it will likely be a pyrrhic victory."
"A thousand-mile levee is destroyed from within by ant nests, not by the external surge of a flood."
"It doesn't matter if we're facing Rusty or the Federation; we must investigate our own ranks first."
"Chairman, your decision!"
Honest Tin refused to let the others speak further, tossing the issue directly to Naminko.
Naminko paused to think before saying, "This is an internal military matter, but having only the military conduct the investigation might be inappropriate."
"I believe multiple departments should co-found an investigative team so that everyone can monitor each other."
He was trying to play both sides.
The others beamed with joy, while Honest Tin's face grew heavy with concern.
It sounded good in theory, but everyone had their own agendas. This would only lead to the internal investigation becoming a tangled mess of complications.
The military would still keep an eye on the overall situation, while those from other departments likely only cared about settling scores; at that point, their internal affairs would surely turn into a chaotic mess.
On the other side, Hua'a found it quite amusing.
"Naminko definitely knows this, but he can't stop the overt and covert infighting between these people, so he might as well let the situation escalate."
"Later, he will independently extract the military from the mess."
As if following his words.
Naminko indeed spoke again.
"It's enough for a small portion of the military to handle those tasks; after all, the enemy currently poses a major threat, so our primary focus must remain outward."
"Honest Tin, the Golden Fleet hasn't seen action in thousands of years. Facing that Void Fleet led by Luna, how much confidence do you have?"
As expected, the military was basically kicked out of the internal investigation by Naminko.
Even for such a large department, energy was finite; they couldn't deal with internal strife and external enemies simultaneously.
Honest Tin had shot himself in the foot.
But there was no helping it; everything depended on what Naminko wanted to do.
The art of leadership lies in balance; one side cannot be too powerful while the other is too weak. Maintaining stability on all fronts was the key principle.
Honest Tin sighed, then spoke with regained confidence: "100%!"
"The opponent is merely a fleet composed of ships; how can they compare to the Golden Fleet?"
"Even if they use evasion-type ships, I have researched those things; aside from being slightly more stealthy, their offensive capabilities don't even match standard ships."
"The battle against Binom succeeded only because they fully exploited Binom's relaxed mindset and pressured him step by step."
"That is an assassin who has put all talent points into stealth; even their attacks are mediocre. As long as we are careful enough, Rusty is just a buzzing fly."
The Golden Fleet was a fleet composed entirely of warships; even if there were smaller ships, they served only in auxiliary roles, not as primary combatants.
It was no wonder his first priority was the internal audit, as he didn't consider Rusty a problem at all.
A high-tier Star Nation must possess the pride of a high-tier Star Nation.
"The opponent's ship and warship speeds are quite high; the Silver Fleet likely won't be of much help. Moreover, the Aurora Great Stellar Ring is a Sector protected by the Golden Fleet itself. You will lead this mission personally; you must annihilate the Rusty fleet."
"This time, Rusty has likely gone all-in. As long as we destroy this fleet, we can begin the plan we discussed last time, the entire Lican Sector will be ours for the taking."
"That is an entire Sector. Afterward, whether we use the captured evasion technology ourselves or hand it over to the Frost Blue Star Nation, it will generate massive profits. Perhaps we could even join the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant."
"Come, let us work together!"
Naminko had the bar brought in, and the group, smiles spreading across their faces after hearing his words, raised their glasses together.
"Together!"
Just like Hua'a, they wanted expansion.
Glolo occupied the entire Abandnda Sector, true, but it was just one Sector. Tens of thousands of stars, and after so many years of development, the cake had already been divided.
To get more of that cake, one had to either advance technology or expand outward.
The latter was clearly faster.
The Lican Sector was slightly smaller than the Abandnda Sector, with a total of over 10,000 star systems and fewer than 17,000 stars, it was perfectly suited to alleviate some of Glolo's internal wealth distribution pressures.
Glolo had always intended for this to be a double-edged move; the Frost Blue Star Nation's orders were merely the catalyst.
Now, after nearly 1,500 years of waiting, it was time to wrap things up.
Everyone present was incredibly confident, just like Hua'a.
Haoifa thought of the Luna she had only met once.
"The cosmos is too vast and wide; any genius is but a mayfly. Too much conceit will only end with them crashing into a giant tree."
"That was likely the last time I'll ever see her."
Haoifa had met many geniuses, though none on Luna's level, but those geniuses almost all shared the same fate.
Geniuses prefer aggressive progression, yet forget that only stability leads to longevity.
That was how Haoifa had lasted this long.
...
The Void Fleet.
7 o'clock time zone on the Aurora Great Stellar Ring's clock plane.
This was also a way of describing orientation.
By treating a region as a plane and using the center point of that plane as the center of a clock, time zones could be used to delineate directions.
The 7 o'clock zone was in the lower-left position.
And that was the location of the Feuae star system.
The distance wasn't great to begin with, and the void-class fleet traveled incredibly fast; in just six years, they were already within striking distance.
The entire fleet pierced through the stellar sphere's layer. Here, energy was highly constrained, forming a natural high-density shield reaching 20,000 degrees Celsius, yet it still couldn't stop the void-class warships.
Upon entering the star system, hundreds of thousands of lasers instantly surged toward the fleet, a continuous torrent of light, truly spectacular to behold.
The entire fleet's protective shields were activated, resisting the curtain of laser fire.
Fortunately, while the opponent's attacks were numerous, their actual energy output was low; much noise but little impact, unable to halt their advance.
"It looks like we can easily take the Feuae star system." Toma K suggested they could relax a bit.
Luna realized he hadn't scrutinized the intelligence on the Feuae star system.
"The Feuae star system contains several military bases equipped with anti-interstellar weaponry. Do not underestimate them."
"Keep the warships at the front; the smaller ships cannot withstand anti-interstellar weapons."
Toma K understood the implication in Luna's words and felt a bit embarrassed, immediately shaking off his complacency.
The energy scale of anti-interstellar weaponry exceeds that of a warship's main cannons; even for a warship, resisting them is not easy. If an opening were found, the losses would be catastrophic.
He became dead serious.
This was a battle for Rusty's survival, and also for the future of himself and Giotto.
Luna marked several military bases.
But for a fleet of this size to evade attacks from a military base was nearly impossible.
A blinding flash of light erupted against a warship's energy shield, dazzlingly bright.
The energy shield visibly flickered.
This was expected.
These military installations were built specifically to counter warships.
Just as anti-aircraft guns are designed to hit planes, if they couldn't, what would be the point of anti-aircraft guns?
[Fleet struck by BCS-Holy Light No. 2 attack, energy shield is dissipating!]
Holy Light No. 2, a relatively famous planetary anti-warship weapon.
Most have a diameter of around 800 to 1,000 meters, with an energy rating of 7,000 MEL.
A warship's energy shield can theoretically withstand an impact of 10,000 MEL. Logically, a 3,000 MEL difference means it shouldn't be able to shatter the shield.
But that's a simplified calculation method. It assumes both the shield and the attack are pure energy, which is never the case in practice.
Holy Light No. 2's energy beam carries macro-phage particles, which seize and devour particles up to 50 times their own mass, and they are almost entirely indiscriminate in what they consume.
The warship completely loses control over the devoured particles because their fundamental properties have been altered.
A single shot cannot fully destroy a warship's energy shield.
However, the second and third shots arrived in quick succession.
The distance between the two sides was roughly 5,000 AU, which is relatively far for a warship but ideal for anti-warship weaponry controlled by a Star City mainframe, achieving an 80% accuracy rate.
The next two attacks struck the same warship.
That warship instantly vanished within the light, the entire vessel vaporized by the intense heat.
Even a void-class warship is hard-pressed to survive against anti-warship weaponry.
However, under Toma K's command, the counterattack began.
Warships have weaknesses, but so do anti-warship weapons!
Primarily, they are too massive.
Beyond the 1,000-meter diameter, they require enormous energy reservoirs to ensure continuous firing.
Further, anti-warship weapons generally face an entire fleet; logically, these weapons are rarely deployed singly in one location.
Thus, these things are typically placed within Star Cities or on planetary surfaces.
In that case, they are even easier to target.
"Target these seven points. Attack!"
The warships' main cannons fired in unison.
Constraining energy rings appeared in front of the warships; once the massive energy beams were fired, they maintained an incredibly high energy density.
Roughly 28 days later, the main cannon fire arrived.
Above the Star City, an atmospheric shield deployed, countless refractive and scattering layers designed to disperse the incoming energy.
If a Star City's offense is strong, its defense naturally won't be weak.
Sieging a fortified position is always the greatest challenge.
Fortunately, Star Cities and planets do not move at high speeds.
Of course, they could, but it wasn't necessary.
Therefore!
The scattered energy projected into space slowly transformed into a fine, powdery substance. This material blocked light and electromagnetic waves, and even affected the gravitational structure to a certain extent.
Unlike ancient times, modern weapons are overwhelmingly powerful; ancient warfare lacked weapons capable of cloaking an entire city.
[7,631 ships and 7 warships detected at 11 o'clock!]
The mainframe issued an alert.
Toma K reacted immediately.
"Lock on target. Hold fire. Scan for optical cloaking or optical decoys!"
Optical cloaking would naturally hide more ships, while optical decoys were meant to trick them into firing their weapons.
These were tactics they had used against the Ynun Star Nation, but that didn't mean others wouldn't use them. For hundreds of thousands of years, the Federation had analyzed every conceivable tactic; the only difference lay in the weapons themselves.
Whether using a hammer or a sword, the tactic remained the same.
[Gravitational anomaly detected. Recalculating. Target is 82 ships.]
"Monitor our surroundings. Prevent the enemy from closing in on the rear ships."
"Deploy particle screening. Scan for trap weapons within a 100 AU radius."
"Activate sleeper agents. Shut down the enemy's energy shields!"
Toma K commanded with precision.
A place like the Feuae star system posed little challenge; Luna was letting him practice.
If such a location could withstand the assault of a 200,000-ship fleet, then her creation of the Void Fleet would be the ultimate joke.
Toma K's goal was to minimize losses as much as possible.
...
In the fleeting moment Luna was lost in thought, the battle took a sudden turn for the worse.
Toma K's reaction was, after all, a split second too slow.
The Feuae star system hadn't just observed the Tier 1 fleet after they entered; they had clearly been prepared.
The distant fleet was merely bait to draw their attention.
The real attack came from nearby, only 7 AU away.
It wasn't a fleet.
It was a pure interstellar fortress, hidden behind an asteroid.
It might not even have had a crew, only simple equipment, an energy source, and cannon muzzles.
The energy-boosted attack targeted the void ships, instantly inflicting massive losses; 104 ships vanished.
Toma K moved to attack, only to find the object had already served its purpose and gone dormant.
Before he could even process it, a third unexpected complication arrived.
A genuine fleet suddenly emerged, over 10,000 ships charging straight toward them. A barrage of rays struck from the flank, catching several ships completely off guard.
He was still a bit green.
Fortunately, Toma K had seen enough large-scale conflicts that he didn't panic.
He hurriedly issued commands.
"Counterattack the ships on the flank. Keep the fleet's trajectory unchanged. Do not let them lead us by the nose."
"Focus monitoring on potential traps ahead."
He was handling two fronts at once.
The opponent was very likely trying to lure them into changing direction, where a trap awaited. And on their current path, to be absolutely certain, the opponent had surely set traps there as well.
[Abnormal energy source detected 323 AU ahead of the fleet. Ease Level 7.]
Sensitivity refers to the detector's sensing intensity, while "Ease Level" indicates how easily the object can be detected.
Ease Levels typically range from 1 to 24.
A 7 isn't exactly easy, but it's certainly not very stealthy either.
"Clear the path ahead!"
Toma K ordered several thousand ships to unleash a dense barrage of gamma-ray bursts.
These gamma-ray bursts didn't have high energy density, but organic beings hit by them would still lose a layer of skin.
They acted like minesweeping devices, sweeping straight through to uncover the traps.
Space offers nowhere to hide. It's impossible to fold space or anything like that, at least, Human Civilization cannot achieve that level yet.
So they mostly rely on optical cloaking combined with techniques that allow matter to pass around rather than bounce back, but high-density ray sweeps can still detect them.
Traps work not because there are no minesweeping tools, but because those sweeping cannot do it endlessly.
Space is vast and locations uncertain; no matter how rich you are, you can't blanket everything, ship and warship energy reserves are finite.
Spreading energy across dozens or hundreds of AU is far too energy-draining.
Usually, warships handle this, as ships are the primary combat force.
But with warships currently pinned down defending against anti-warship weaponry, only ships could take the job.
[3,873 anomaly points detected]
"Clear them!"
[Understood!]
A succession of high-density energy beams swept through.
Explosions flared, exposing the hardware within.
Toma K had specially studied military tactics for this war, recognizing those devices at a glance as "Shadowless J283."
A type of interstellar stealth flow disturber.
This thing didn't disturb fluids, but particle flows.
Within 100,000 km, all particles would be disrupted; whether a warship or a ship, it would instantly dissolve into stray electrical currents scattering in all directions.
Even within 1,000,000 km, it caused interference capable of paralyzing delicate electronics.
"Utterly insidious!"
On the other end, the counterattack began.
Evasion-type ships actually carried physical munitions more than laser weapons.
These projectiles could be easily accelerated to over 200,000 km per second, and combined with their current speed, reaching near-light speed was entirely possible.
"Launch Starlight KK113 missiles!"
This was a missile independently developed by Rusty.
It lacked destructive power.
However, it could unleash an ultra-intense flash of light.
This light could reach up to a billion times the brightness of the Sun and last for 5 seconds.
Within a 10 AU radius, it could damage optical instruments.
To put it plainly, it was a flashbang.
But each one was approximately 50 meters long.
Following these "flashbangs" were No. 7 guidance missiles.
Don't think that modern interstellar warfare is exclusively about various lasers; physical missiles are actually quite prevalent. Accelerating these rockets to sub-light speeds is relatively easy.
The only downside is that they are easily intercepted.
Therefore, these weapons are typically used in conjunction with "flashbangs."
When the intense light erupted in the distance, the guidance missiles' tractor beams also activated. The ships, moving irregularly in space, were instantly snagged at high speeds, it was much like a car going 100km/h being brought to an immediate halt.
The powerful inertial forces tore into the ships, ripping some to shreds.
Even the ships that remained intact saw their speeds plummet, leaving them unable to keep up with the Tier 1 fleet as it sped away at 180,000 km per second.
"Physical bombs are truly powerful!"
The soldiers aboard the Tier 1 fleet erupted in cheers.
Just moments ago, they truly believed they were going to die.
Lasers can achieve similar effects, but the conditions required to convert a laser into a tractor beam are very demanding.
In space, a tractor beam is essentially gravity, unidirectional gravity.
For a laser to achieve this, it must generate specific artificial particles to convert its massive energy into gravitational force. A physical bomb is much easier to work with, as it can utilize various types of energy and carry actual hardware to accomplish the task.
This is why physical bombs still maintain a significant usage rate in genuine warfare.
The cheers from the lower-ranked soldiers didn't distract Toma K.
In fact, he was even more alert and tense than before!
During an enemy raid, one can infer their intentions from their movements.
But now that the surrounding space was empty, he had to be extremely cautious to ensure total defense.
"How far to the nearest Star City?"
[2,873 AU]
"Continue approach. Activate Star-Killer weapons!"
Star-Killer weapons are not the same as a warship's main cannon.
While a warship's main cannon can certainly destroy a planet, it wasn't developed for that specific purpose. For a planet-killing mission, a warship's main cannon might require ten times the energy of a dedicated Star-Killer weapon to achieve the same result.
It was a matter of specialization.
Standard Star-Killer weapons are typically "Anti-Core Weapons."
Theoretically, their target is always the interior of a planet, rather than dismantling it from the outside.
Toma K had no intention of occupying these planets, especially since they were inhabited by so many people.
If they controlled the planets and the Star Cities, wouldn't they also have to control the populations?
With scales of tens of billions of people, it was unmanageable; they would end up overwhelmed by the logistics.
If they were significantly more powerful than Glolo, if Rusty were the high-tier Star Nation and Glolo were the mid-tier, they might have attempted it.
But obviously, there were no "ifs." The reality was the exact opposite.
From the beginning, their objective was total annihilation.
It was estimated that the Feuae star system had a population of around 250 billion; after all, it was part of the core ring of a high-tier Star Nation, effectively the capital region.
This population density wasn't actually that high.
However, because of the war, these people would have to die!
A high-welfare society doesn't mean living in perpetual comfort.
They targeted one of the six planets in the Feuae star system, with a diameter of 5,381 km, slightly smaller than Mars.
But this didn't prevent it from housing roughly 16 billion people.
In this era, there was no need for vast farmland or even oceans. Thus, the planet's 90 million square kilometers of land could be fully utilized. Combined with vertical expansion, modern planets are incredibly efficient.
This planet hadn't even been fully developed.
In the Federation, a planet of that size could house around 80 billion people.
It was also because of these large populations that spies could be embedded.
However, the sleeper agents Toma K activated were not Rusty operatives, but Hua'a's; Luna had purchased them from him.
With Hua'a, nothing was off-limits if you had enough money.
Reality confirmed that these agents had been operating in the Feuae star system for quite some time and remained deeply covert. Thirteen hours after Toma K sent the signal, the warship's mainframe observed the energy shield on the planet's surface dissipate.
"Activate the Star Annihilation Cannon!"
Most warships were equipped with Star Annihilation Cannons, often sharing a muzzle with the main battery.
It was much like a 500mm grenade launcher capable of firing different types of 500mm shells; the Star Annihilation Cannon and the main battery only differed in their rear energy modulation.
To leave nothing to chance, eighteen warships fired their Star Annihilation Cannons simultaneously.
Toma K didn't know the name of that planet. Now, he didn't need to.
As the Star Annihilation Cannons pierced the atmosphere and the crust, the entire planet's surface began to bulge before shattering.
Watching from the warship, Luna felt as though she were seeing the shattering of Earth before her eyes once again!
But this time, the explosion was even more violent. A highly developed planet naturally possessed immense energy supplies. As the planet was destroyed, its energy storage cells ruptured, unleashing a torrent of power that ignited the remaining atmosphere.
This was an explosion in the truest sense. Searing flames and debris radiated in every direction. It rapidly formed a "cotton candy" cloud over 500,000 kilometers in diameter.
Toma K spared it only a glance before ordering the fleet to pivot; they had several more locations to deal with.
[BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!]
[Star system under attack. All personnel proceed to shelters immediately!!]
[Star system under attack. All personnel proceed to shelters immediately!!]
On the deserted streets, the alarms reached a deafening crescendo.
Behind sealed metal doors over two meters thick, extending nearly a kilometer underground, ten shelters covering over 200,000 square kilometers were packed with people.
They stared anxiously at the screens before them, which were broadcasting information about the enemy.
"It's Rusty!"
"Isn't Rusty over 200 light-years away?"
"A mid-tier Star Nation fleet actually reached us here? What on earth is the Golden Fleet doing?"
"It's over, it's over. That looks like no less than 100,000 ships. Our Feuae has only about 20,000 ships, and they're all for police use, not military!"
"Look, Jiceeca City is destroyed."
"How? Doesn't it have a planetary shield? A normal warship shouldn't be able to shatter it!"
"There must be traitors!"
"Could there be some here too?"
"Staying in the shelter is useless! I want out!"
In the shelter, everyone had their own thoughts, but they all shared a single emotion: terror. Terror of the enemy, and terror of death.
No one here was under ten thousand years old. They had experienced many wars. They knew that if the enemy was bent on total destruction, hiding would offer no safety at all.
Some who had fled to the shelters now wanted to leave, charging at the main entrance.
At the gate.
Lananfu, a member of the guard, was tasked with suppressing such riots. He looked at the people surging toward him, suppressed his own fear, and shouted:
"Please, don't be rash! Going out now is a certain death sentence."
Someone in the rioting crowd bellowed back:
"Don't listen to him! Those big-shots outside are definitely grabbing our starships and ships, they've already started fleeing."
"Otherwise, look around us, is there a single official here?"
People looked at one another; everyone had an impressive memory. If they saw a high-ranking official, they would surely recognize them.
But silence reigned.
They all understood.
"You heartless bastards! You dare trick us into staying here to die?"
"Is it because there aren't enough ships, so you locked us up to let the officials escape first?"
"Treating people like dogs! Open the gate! I want out!"
"Yes, we want out!"
Instantly, the chaos escalated.
Fortunately, Lananfu and his security team had riot shields. Once planted on the ground, they projected a 20-meter diameter hemispherical energy shield that ordinary people couldn't hope to break. The shield blocked the exit, rendering the crowd's pushing futile.
Seeing that the rioters couldn't harm him, Lananfu breathed a sigh of relief.
He turned to the others and said: "Stabilize them for now. We'll withdraw when the time comes."
"If all these people left, they definitely wouldn't follow orders. They'd crash into the planet's defensive network, and the enemy would seize the opportunity to fire."
One guard looked at the people below, his heart aching.
"Captain, are we really going to abandon them?"
"So many of them..."
Lananfu looked at him coldly.
"If they don't die, we will."
"Letting them go would jeopardize the entire Star Nation. Even if you survived, you'd be executed."
"Don't throw away everything for a few people. Unless you know someone in that crowd?"
"Life is cheapest in this era, ours included. You should be grateful, at least those high officials still remember us."
Lananfu patted his shoulder, then walked to the elevator, riding the 40-meter-wide platform to the surface.
The surface was desolate. He picked up his communicator to contact the team at the Starport.
"What's the status of the evacuation?"
The person on the other end said: "It's chaotic here. Lots of people are trying to hijack ships and starships, but it's handled now."
Lananfu didn't ask how it was "handled." He was more concerned about himself.
"After the officials left, how many starships are left?"
He didn't even consider the smaller ships.
The contact replied: "There's probably nothing left at Starport 5. You might want to check the other Starports."
At this, Lananfu panicked. He asked:
"How can there be nothing?"
"Didn't you say earlier there were two or three hundred ships and thousands of starships over there?"
The contact, a friend of Lananfu's and a former squad mate, was silent for a moment before speaking:
"You know how those officials are. They don't want to be crowded, so they basically took starships for just a few dozen people each."
A starship was several hundred meters long; it could easily fit one or two thousand people. Yet they left with only a few dozen?
Lananfu couldn't help but curse.
But he quickly regained his composure.
"What about the ships?"
"The top officials' people took about a hundred. They wanted to move some valuables, and only then did they start taking people. I've got hundreds of thousands of people here, and a few more military units arrived, they want to leave too. They don't plan on staying for long; they'll likely be gone in a few days. You'd better hurry up."
"A bunch of damned bastards!"
Lananfu's face was grim.
This was just one location; the other areas surely weren't any better. Whether it was the officials or the military, everyone was looking for a way out.
Desertion?
They called it a strategic withdrawal!
He naturally loathed this reality, but there was nothing he could do to change it.
The only thing he could do was...
"The car!"
He ran to his vehicle, got in, and drove off.
As for his team members? In this emergency, being ten minutes late could mean being left behind. If that were the case, why bother with subordinates?
He drove toward Starport 7.
Seeing hundreds of starships still in the distance, he immediately relaxed; with his connections, he could get on.
But very quickly, he saw those starships lift off, vanishing into the cloud layer in the blink of an eye.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Some people left in the Starport were crushed into pulp by the intense sonic booms of the acceleration; these corpses numbered in the tens of thousands.
And it wasn't just bodies in the Starport, outside, the number of corpses pierced and scorched by lasers was beyond count.
After all, not everyone waited until they were in a shelter to realize the danger. They had rushed directly to the Starport, but those at the top were always the fastest.
Lananfu hurriedly turned toward another Starport, his anxiety mounting.
Starport 10!
Starport 4!
Starport 1!
There were no starships or ships at any of them.
In the distance, he saw some low-altitude shuttles flying toward the sky. But they lacked coordinates and could only charge blindly, exploding upon impact with the defensive shield.
Even some private mechs were flying back and forth, searching for an exit.
At that moment, the entire sky suddenly became bright as day, an attack from the enemy!
Although most of the energy was blocked, some radiation still leaked through, heating the entire surface to over 400 degrees Celsius.
At the horizon, the clouds suddenly churned, forming a hollow ring. That was a military base, likely firing its anti-warship weaponry.
Lananfu saw no hope here. He thought that perhaps he could go to the military base; after all, while he wasn't part of their unit, he was still part of the system.
He sped toward that direction.