Serial Player
Chapter 1508 - 158: Jumping Ship (3K)

Chapter 1508: Chapter 158: Jumping Ship (3K)

This was a galaxy obviously inhabited by intelligent creatures.

On the orbital path of a star system, there resided a Ring World built by a technologically advanced Civilization, albeit in a state of disrepair, it still operated.

And on an orbit farther from the Ring World, there were planet fortresses—superweapons—lined up in formation. It seemed they were guarding the safety of the Ring World.

The abrupt arrival of a human fleet startled the gargantuan fortresses, resembling hexagonal starfish. Turning their massive bodies, they aimed countless terrifying gun ports at the invaders.

This scene was discovered by almost all the Divinities in the desolate cosmos.

After all, within the boundless universe, Divinities constantly watched for dangerous anomalies, seeking opportunities to engulf either side.

Hence, the moment the humans confronted the star system fortress, their gaze turned here.

"That is a fortress from the Lincang Civilization!" An entity sneered, "That species called humans is about to have a bad time!"

"I really hope they can escape, and then..." Another entity slowly approached the galaxy, "they’ll be found by me."

"The opposition has two individuals analogous to Demigods, they should manage to escape facing the immobile fortress. Once their Divinity is overly depleted, they’ll become my meal."

"Such exquisite Divinity..."

"The human species, with its rich emotions, is a good choice for Believers. Just not sure about their breeding capabilities..."

"Their bodily construction is too complex, difficult to sustain, but they are passable." The gods chatted and laughed, seemingly waiting to divide the spoils of war.

They generally believed the humans would suffer a heavy loss in that star system.

After all, that was a star system where efforts were rarely rewarded. In a universe where Divinity was hard to restore, even a True God would not bother to collect materials there. For the effort one might put in, gains could be less than the losses, and the danger was great.

The Lincang Civilization was the precursor to Annihilation, and also the victor of a round of the Evolution Game. Occupying thousands of worlds at its peak, the Lincang Civilization had hundreds upon hundreds of Demigods and even True Gods as overlords.

After a war erupted with the next Champion Civilization, some Lincang descendants were exiled to this world.

Among the exiled were their planetary fortresses, along with several Demigods and a True God.

At that time, this was a force not to be ignored, even in a universe teeming with diverse races.

And as was said, the descendants of the Lincang Civilization stabilized their footing here.

The Lincang descendants made use of their technological strength and the resources they gathered to construct the Ring World in that star system, commanding the planetary fortresses to defend against any approaching entities.

For a while, they were unrivaled. Other entities did not dare to wage war rashly.

However, the good times didn’t last.

The Divinity of the Lincang True Gods and Demigods gradually waned.

Their Void Engines took the place of the thrones of normal Divinities, indeed becoming more formidable, and also strengthening the Demigods of Annihilation, making them powerful. Within their ranks, the Void Engines were notably more efficient, greatly enhancing the combat strength of both Demigods and True Gods.

But there was a significant drawback not to be overlooked: without sufficient resources to aid them, the computational power of the Void Engines vastly declined, and with it, the efficiency of restoring Divinity declined even more.

And over the lengthy passage of time, amidst a scarcity of resources, the descendants of the Lincang Civilization even began to experience bodily degradation and civil strife within their ranks.

Demigods perished in these internal conflicts, their Divinity devoured by their own kin.

The Lincang True God could only suppress the civil war and seek solutions to break the impasse.

At the time, the True God faced two choices: to gather the last of their strength to launch an expedition. To slay the True Gods or Demigods of other races, take over their Divine Countries, and plunder their resources.

But after surviving various crises, the numbers of Lincang descendants greatly diminished, and technological gaps began to appear.

They could no longer afford to exhaust their few remaining descendants.

Thus, the increasingly paranoid True God opted for the second plan.

Focusing on intelligent AI, they used their remaining Divinity to operate the Void Engine, accelerating research into intelligent AI. They sought to create a legion of mechanical Titans, to challenge other True Gods and seize resources. This idea seemed flawless—protecting their people while minimizing casualties. This was the last gamble of the Lincang Civilization.

However, the Lincang Civilization didn’t last long enough to take that step. During the True God’s critical computations, another True God ambushed the Lincang’s star system. To protect their descendants, the True God fought to the death with their fleet, which led to the Divine Corpse encountered earlier by Li Changhe and his party.

Before dying in battle, the True God had commanded the self-evolving intelligent AI to annihilate all approaching enemies, to ensure the survival of the last spark of the Lincang Civilization at all costs.

The planetary fortress faithfully executed the True God’s orders. Other entities, wary of the fortress’s firepower, didn’t dare approach the Ring World blindly.

It seemed Lincang had been preserved.

But that was all. Without the combat power of the True God and Demigods, and with technological decline and lack of materials, the Lincang Civilization’s fleet was vulnerable once it left the star system and the protection of the planetary fortress, open to being devoured whole by various entities. Their waning technology and depleted resources prevented them from building a powerful fleet again.

They were completely locked upon the Ring World.

Yet the planetary fortress remained ’loyally’ executing the commands of the True God.

The first command: Guard the Ring World, remain stationed here forever, never leave.

The second command: Attack any non-friendly entity approaching the star system.

Although they commanded formidable fortresses that would make even a True God frown, the fortresses followed the prior orders, refusing any command. Unless the Void Engine would amend its command. But... the Lincang descendants could no longer do this. This even led the external entities to speculate that there had been an AI rebellion in Lincang.

Certainly, whether AI rebelled or not,

the ultimate result was that the once-powerful Lincang Civilization perished in the long river of space-time.

And yet, the planetary fortress continued to guard the surroundings of the Ring World, like a sentinel of a civilization’s tomb.

Those True Gods who coveted the Lincang’s legacy, however, because of the planetary fortress, lowered their banners and ceased their pursuits, abandoning any plans to approach and risk getting tainted with the stench of blood.

As a result, this star system became a Restricted Area for all beings.

If, during the early period when the Lincang people were exiled, their True Gods and Demigods had made a prompt decision and launched a great expedition, slaughtering the other races, perhaps the outcome would have been different.

Of course, it is very likely they would have been exterminated even faster— who knows.

Anyway, now, the sudden intrusion of the human fleet had revived this planetary fortress once more.

From an overall perspective, the planetary fortress resembled an Abnormality of a top with six massive protruding cabin arms, each equipped with countless gun barrels, capable of accommodating a large number of flagship-level warships.

This was originally the Lincang Civilization’s major weapon for void expeditions, serving both as a temporary port, resupplying hundreds of flagships, and as a space fortress, securing the entire star sector.

However, this was certainly not good news for the human fleet.

The fleet’s sudden dimensional transit had placed them within the firepower range of the planetary fortress.

In reality, the two sides were still very far apart, almost a thousand kilometers apart— a distance that would have taken Li Changhe a long time to cycle.

But from the perspective of the gargantuan planetary fortress spanning thousands of kilometers, it was as if the human fleet had crashed straight into its face.

In an instant, the shields of two human flagships were in critical condition, and more firepower from the planetary fortress was slowly coming back online. In fact, if the position they had appeared at had not been in the dead angle of the fortress’s flare main cannons, they might have been shredded as soon as they arrived. Even so, the human fleet wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

In such a critical situation, Li Changhe decisively chose to defect!

A planetary fortress... although rather large, was still a warship, right? If so, Li Changhe could ride it! Controlling the planetary fortress meant the human fleet would be safe.

The players saw no reason to object; after all, it seemed there was no better plan.

The barriers of the human fleet were about to shatter, and another barrage would mean death for everyone aboard!

Not everyone could survive in space like divine creatures. Jumping out was necessary, or else they wouldn’t even have a place to land.

But the distance was just too vast, and without the protection of the Dark Matter Barrier, the other landing pods or medium-sized warships would have been easily torn to shreds. And even the teleportation abilities of the Supreme King couldn’t cover the distance of thousands of kilometers.

Thus, Li Changhe planned to go alone. Meanwhile, he would help attract enough firepower for the human fleet.

The next moment, Li Changhe was teleported outside the warship by the Supreme King.

A second later, the Demigod State, Hero’s Watch, appeared, clad in a black cloak, holding a great bow.

When he drew the bow, a terrifying pressure enveloped the void.

A being responded, "He has two kinds of Demigod States? Has the outside world progressed this far?"

"The first State has incredibly strong defense, and this one... is offensive? It’s somewhat dangerous."

"Indeed a dangerous species. But what a pity, his Divinity will be wasted on this autonomously attacking fortress."

...

Li Changhe naturally did not know how those beings were planning to deal with him.

Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared much.

True Gods were strong, but True Gods who were too afraid to fight due to their depleted Divinity,

truly had nothing to fear.

Li Changhe stood atop the warship, drawing his great bow repeatedly, unleashing Heavenly Dragon Fall after Heavenly Dragon Fall!

A dozen dark dragons rushed towards the planetary fortress at incredible speeds; most were shredded by artillery, but one successfully crashed into a chamber of the fortress, causing a small hole. For the fortress, it was but the size of a sesame seed. Trivial.

But for Li Changhe, it was enough.

After the black dragon struck, Li Changhe decisively used the Fusang Sky-breaking.

The next second, he appeared right where the black dragon had fallen, successfully infiltrating the planetary fortress.

Ever since he acquired Fusang Sky-breaking, Li Changhe’s ability to board enemy ships had grown even stronger.

If one arrow landed on a warship, he could immediately invade it.

But this was not yet the end; although Li Changhe’s infiltration caused many of the fortress’s guns to halt, diminishing the pressure on the human fleet,

the Defense Power within the fortress had been awakened as well.

And in the central command bridge at the deepest part of the planetary fortress, a giant humanoid skull suddenly came to life.

"Invader detected, deploy the mechanical Titans!"

(Supposed to be 4K today, but I had a matchmaking meeting, so I’m a bit short on time. I’ll make it up tomorrow.)