“Divine Ark Civilization, what are you doing? What is that thing you brought here? Hm… you intend to destroy this star?”
This was the message transmitted by the Guardian Civilization’s City-Class ship. The instant after sending it, the warship vanished from its original location. Tachyon detectors showed that it was rapidly closing in on the Stellar Cannon, its speed reaching roughly one hundred times the speed of light.
That speed was extremely fast, so fast it almost surpassed Xiao Yu’s imagination, but it still could not compare with the velocity of space weapons or tachyon strikes. In fact, if the ship had chosen either of those two methods of attack, its assault would have reached the Stellar Cannon virtually instantaneously. But it had not. The reason was clear to both Xiao Yu and the ship itself, neither of those attacks could destroy the Stellar Cannon in such a short span of time.
Thus, it chose its current approach, attempting to close the distance before striking. Yet this method was likely to prove futile.
If it reached close range, Xiao Yu had no confidence he could keep the Stellar Cannon intact. The weapon’s target was simply too large, and the enemy ship’s speed was too great.
At its velocity, it would take less than four minutes to arrive. In other words, Xiao Yu’s window to react was under four minutes.
That was a short time, but for Xiao Yu it was already enough. The Stellar Cannon had long since been prepared for firing; all that was missing was his order. And giving that order would take less than a second.
Even though the cannon had not yet closed within the optimal firing distance of five billion kilometers, Xiao Yu still gave the command to fire. If he didn’t now, he would never get another chance.
The instant Xiao Yu issued the order, massive amounts of negative-matter tachyons broke free from the confinement of their powerful magnetic fields, surging forward in a violent torrent.
The Molian soldiers, still locked in bitter struggle against the biological army, had no idea that their enemy had already unleashed such a weapon. They did not know that in the very next moment, their sun was about to be destroyed.The star is the foundation of a star system. Without a star, can a star system even be called a star system?
It was a simple truth. To annihilate a star system at its root, destroy the star itself. The method was ruthless, cruel, but to achieve his goal, Xiao Yu could no longer afford hesitation.
At the instant the Stellar Cannon fired, Xiao Yu immediately commanded his biological army’s ships to flee. Within the star system, his vessels could not use curvature travel, and conventional flight could never outrun the wrath of a dying star. Thus, Xiao Yu’s chosen direction of escape was toward the far side of the planet, just as he once hid behind Mars to shield against the Jupiter-Moon Collision in the Solar System. This time, he hoped to use the planet as cover, shielding himself from the star’s final fury.
A few minutes was enough time for his ships to reach safety. As for the vessels still stationed in open space to guard the Stellar Cannon, Xiao Yu had made arrangements for them as well.
In this star system there was only one planet. It was too late for those ships to retreat behind it, too late for them to flee at all. But Xiao Yu had another object that could serve, however crudely, as a shield.
The Stellar Cannon, nearly ten kilometers in diameter, no less massive than a small asteroid, and designed from the beginning with the resistance of stellar backlash in mind.
In Xiao Yu’s current fleet, there were no Nation-Class ships of colossal scale. The Stellar Cannon’s size and mass dwarfed that of any vessel he possessed. That meant this weapon itself could act as a barrier, covering his entire fleet from the star’s impending wrath.
With the Stellar Cannon as the spearhead, a relatively safe passage would be carved through the raging ocean of stellar energy. As long as all the ships were placed within this channel, they would survive. Some residual energy might still cause damage to Xiao Yu’s ships, but such damage was negligible, well within the range he could accept.
Earlier, Xiao Yu’s fleet had been tasked with protecting the Stellar Cannon. Now, with its historical mission complete, the Stellar Cannon itself would transform into a shield, protecting Xiao Yu’s fleet instead.
This was Xiao Yu’s entire plan, with the star’s destruction, break through the defenses of the Molian Civilization’s capital planet, annihilate most of the structures on its surface, dismantle their defense systems, and crush the bulk of their fleet. When that time came, even if the Guardian Civilization’s City-Class ship still refused to let him go, so what? Could it possibly pin down over one and a half million ships?
The answer was no. Which was why Xiao Yu had nothing to fear.
“Divine Ark Civilization, you are despicable, despicable!” After the Stellar Cannon fired, Xiao Yu received another message from the City-Class warship, its tone filled with rage. “I am furious. I am furious!”
Xiao Yu’s heart suddenly sank to the bottom. For he realized that in the end, he had miscalculated one thing.
In Xiao Yu’s estimation, the Guardian Civilization’s City-Class ship had always been in a neutral position. It had no ties with the Molian Civilization, and had only promised to protect them to lure them into submission. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu’s Divine Ark Civilization had shown sufficient sincerity in offering allegiance to the Guardians. Therefore, Xiao Yu believed that when it saw the situation was irreversible, when it realized the Molian Civilization’s destruction was unstoppable, the ship would choose neutrality. After all, the loss of the Molian Civilization as an ally was already certain. If it wasn’t stupid, it would not push the Divine Ark Civilization into becoming a permanent enemy as well.
But Xiao Yu was wrong. He had overlooked one thing, the anger of an intelligent being, or a group of intelligent beings. In wrath, they might act irrationally, like the City-Class ship now.
Perhaps it did not care about the feelings of Xiao Yu’s Divine Ark Civilization. Perhaps, in its eyes, a Level 5 Civilization was insignificant, something whose existence or absence made no difference. If such a civilization dared to manipulate it, dared to stir its wrath, then so be it, abandon them, destroy them, and vent its anger. Why not?
Could a single City-Class ship, even one belonging to a Level 6 Civilization, annihilate over one million five hundred thousand ships of a Level 5 Civilization? The answer was no. But now, things were different. If it destroyed the Stellar Cannon, then without its protection, Xiao Yu’s fleet would certainly suffer catastrophic losses under the fury of a dying star…
“Honored Envoy, please calm your anger. We of the Divine Ark Civilization used this method only as a last resort. We meant you no disrespect. We have already decided that after eliminating the Molian Civilization, we will join the Guardian Alliance…”
Though anxiety filled Xiao Yu’s heart, his tone did not betray it. He remained steady and composed.
“Enough! You are merely a Level 5 Civilization. You have no qualifications to bargain with the Guardian Civilization! Today I will teach you a lesson, so you understand, the dignity of the Guardian Civilization cannot be defiled! If you insult our dignity, you will pay a heavy price…”
Xiao Yu could not afford to lose these one million-plus ships. Without them, relying on the biological army alone, he had no confidence in achieving his goal.
The situation had reached its most critical moment. If he mishandled it, everything he had worked for would be in vain. All the ships lost, all the warriors dead, all of it would have been for nothing.
Xiao Yu refused to accept that outcome. At this moment, his mind raced at full speed. Nearly half of his total computational power was dedicated to solving this crisis, half his processing ability, enough to command a million ships in full-scale combat, enough to direct the complete construction and modification of a star system. All of that power was now turned to this one problem.
“Guardian Civilization! Do you remember the Taihao Civilization from the Large Magellanic Cloud?” Xiao Yu quickly transmitted this message.
“Hm?” The Guardian Civilization’s City-Class ship sent back a brief response, expressing its doubt.
“Our Divine Ark Civilization’s shield systems, far beyond our current level of technology, came from fragments of the Taihao’s body!” Xiao Yu said urgently, without pausing. “And do you remember the Trolor Civilization, which was completely exterminated over a million years ago under pursuit by the Sweepers?”
“What are you trying to say?” the Guardian warship asked.
“You should know that some of our larger ships are equipped with space weapons, a technology only Level 6 Civilizations possess! These space weapons came from the ruins of the Level 6 Trolor Civilization!”
What followed was silence. The City-Class ship sent no further messages to Xiao Yu, nor did it move to destroy the Stellar Cannon he had turned into a shield. Instead, maintaining its hundred-times-light speed, it flew past his fleet and vanished, its destination unknown.
“Hoo…” Xiao Yu let out a faint breath of relief. “Did I succeed? Hah, that was close. But at least that scourge has left. Without it, I can finally focus on dealing with the Molian Civilization…”
Once more, Xiao Yu’s attention turned forward, to the star itself.
He knew that at this very moment, the star should already have been destroyed. Its violent energy should have already reached the planet…