Xyrin Empire
Chapter 424 - Chapter 424: Chapter 424: Deadly Weapon

Chapter 424: Chapter 424: Deadly Weapon

After an order, passed down the command chain with the highest authority, reached each fortress planet, the colossal war machine of the Imperial Army had initiated a series of responses internally. Although it seemed on the surface that we were still defensively coping with outside attacks in our usual unhurried pace, the perceptive Protos Natives had already sensed an extreme sense of oppression deep within their souls. Specifically, the base established by the Taldarim bristled with countless defense troops overnight, and their continuously dispatched attack squads gradually decreased in sortie frequency.

How exactly did these mystical Protos get the “unsettling aura” from the so-called “Voice of the Void”? Are they all possessed by Lin Xue?

From the time the Three Races Alliance launched their first raid on us to now, not even four days had passed. Facing the formidable space combat units of the Xyrin People, they had paid a price akin to that of a major combined forces operation just for their mere sneak attacks. As for the Insect Race, which was always confronting us on the main battlefield, we would relentlessly annihilate any of their planets that we found, regardless if they attacked the Imperial Army or not. Human losses were second only to the Insect Race. Their hit-and-run tactics initially achieved significant effects, but frankly, battlecruiser squadrons are entirely unsuitable for this kind of highly mobile guerrilla warfare. Once we began concealing large fleets within the spatial folds of our patrol squads, any daring attacks by human forces met unprecedented devastation. As soon as they appeared, spaceships equipped with gravity traps would immediately block off the surrounding space, and then a swarm of assault ships would burst forth from the spatial folds. A salvo of ghost energy fire often inflicted up to 80 percent casualties on the fragile human ships. Even the thick armor of the battlecruisers couldn’t withstand a frontal attack from even a single assault ship; after losing several large battlecruiser squadrons, the human offensive had softened somewhat. The Protos, meanwhile, had always sustained the least losses. Firstly, their tactics were consistently cautious; while our main forces were tied down by the Insects and Humans, such cautious tactics ensured their relative safety. Secondly, the technological prowess of the Protos was truly formidable. The “official storyline’s” Protos are to these genuine advanced civilizations mere weaklings with a combat power of less than five. The Divine Race’s carrier fleets utilized super space-time jump technology to deploy nearly ten thousand unmanned interceptors in an instant, posing a real threat to our smaller units–after all, we couldn’t possibly equip every single soldier fighter jet with devices like gravity traps. The plasma shields allowed these massive Protos ships a breather from ghost energy cannon attacks until now, leaving the Taldarim Fleet still in a low casualty state.

Of course, this was also why we hadn’t mobilized our main force to attack them.

But… I truly hate this word. Despite seemingly holding an overwhelming advantage on the surface, there’s an issue I must face: compared to a base number of several hundreds of billions, the number of enemy forces we’ve eliminated is still too few–

“Those things are already prepared, but the core stability of those clones is still an issue,” Taville reported to me, projecting a series of holographic models that displayed massive mechanical structures. “We’ve simulated the ghost energy decomposition principle of the Sniper Star Cannon, but we’ve yet to conquer the key technology of the gigantic Ghost Energy Abyss. Its operational speed can’t compare to the Sniper Star Cannon,” Taville said with a look of regret. “Perhaps capturing some neutron stars to place in their cores as a substitute for the energy furnace would be more efficient, but the sustained energy release of neutron stars is still inferior to that of a Ghost Energy Well. Such time-consuming efforts to prepare a weapon that has such a short service life is a serious flaw.”

“That’s already quite good.”

I sincerely said, believing that at times, it’s good to have certain limitations.

Big Sister was never much interested in such cutting-edge weaponry. She was just immensely frustrated by our still-unrepentant foes and rubbed her temples with a voice full of sorrow, “Are they still attacking? Fighting desperately against the Imperial Fleet with a thousandfold casualties–do their lives mean nothing to them?”

Sandora, with her arms crossed in front of her chest and her bright blue eyes slightly drooping as if discussing the weather, replied, “At this point, even though that strange power known as ‘Revelation’ has disappeared, these people have largely lost the ability to discern right from wrong. Moreover, to the controllers of this war, the lives of soldiers are merely numbers. As long as the scale of the battlefield is large enough, they even have the capability to make those soldiers who go from birth to death on the battlefield feel the same way. I bet each soldier on their side believes, to their last breath, that their unprecedented Interstellar Coalition holds the absolute upper hand against brutal alien invaders. After all, excellent generals never let their soldiers know the whole truth.”

“Of course, that does not include the Xyrin Army.”

Sandora added.

“Brother, brother, when can we launch a full assault? It’s so boring waiting like this! I’ll lead the army myself and blow up the humans’ Capital Star!”

Visca suddenly emerged from entertaining Little Baobao with a lovingly discussed topic and instantly declared her opinion full of militaristic blood, then went back to her head bowed, exploring with Little Baobao the thirty-second way to consume the True Knowledge Stick–of course, this was probably her unilaterally issuing such opinions, as I truly couldn’t find any rationality in Little Baobao’s monosyllabic vocabulary.

I was left speechless.

At least don’t decide on battle strategies while you’re sucking on a lollipop, jerk! You’re practically destroying the grand lollipop culture, you know?

“Commander! We have received a communication request from the enemy! It seems to be from the humans, should we connect?”

Vega’s sudden loud report brought me back from my rant, and at the same time, the Imperial bystanders on the bridge also showed surprised expressions.

Communication from the enemy? After such a long period of one-sided silence, they had finally decided to contact us?

It seemed that the thousandfold casualty rates over these last few days had finally made these guys feel the pain.

“Connect,” I nodded, and then the super gigantic holographic projection system next to the bridge immediately switched screens.

A middle-aged man with a somewhat majestic appearance, dark brown thick hair, and a stern beard on his chin appeared before us.

“Perhaps we should talk.”

This dignified-looking middle-aged man, his eyebrows seemingly perpetually furrowed, spoke to me in a very plain tone–huh? That doesn’t sound like a tone for peaceful negotiations!

“Akatoros Monssk, the ruler of the Independent Federation? If I’m not mistaken.”

The human ruler named Monssk wasn’t surprised that I could immediately state his identity. His expression remained calm, and he even had the leisure to glance at James Raynor standing next to me, who had by now fully evolved into a committed Imperial bystander, “Raynor, it seems you get along well with your new alien masters. I truly hope that when they retreat from this star zone, they’ll be kind enough to take you with them.”

Raynor’s eyes flashed with a cold light, and he retorted without any politeness, “Maybe you should consider your own situation right now–you aren’t unaware of the price your army is paying to fight, are you? Even the powerful ‘Divine Race’ are wisely keeping to the sidelines, and yet you are willing to doom all of humanity with such a no-return strategy? I advise you to back off before this Emperor here really gets serious…”

Lilina immediately facepalmed, her face crumpling, “Oh no, now I’m starting to think of the invaders and their lap dogs…”

…Can’t this girl ever say anything nice?

Putting aside Lilina’s terrible analogies and Uncle Raynor’s counterproductive mess, I coldly stared at the mole on Monssk’s forehead (at this moment, I really wanted to rant about the absurd design of this gigantic holographic projection–especially when its resolution was tens of thousands of pixels) and said quietly, “Leaving this star system? Is that your demand–or should I say, your request?”

“As the invader, do you doubt such a righteous demand?!” Monssk said resolutely, “Leave our homeland immediately; that’s my final ultimatum, otherwise, the real attack is only just beginning…”

“You’ve got it wrong, Uncle,” Lilina, whom I had just thrown aside, shamelessly squeezed forward again, “With your situation being so dire, you should be the ones to surrender!”

Monssk looked at the little girl who had suddenly squeezed forward, seemingly completely baffled as to why alien invaders would bring children onto the battlefield. Ultimately, he made a decision that an adult should make: he decisively ignored this little one, who had to stand on her tiptoes just to reach the camera.

“Invaders, I’ve said my piece. I admit that your strength slightly exceeded my expectations, but if you continue to be deluded, we will let you know just how powerful the people are! You know nothing about this star zone, and you have no idea how strong we are when united…”

“So, the peace plan doesn’t work?” I abruptly shrugged my shoulders and switched to another smile.

“Without a doubt, we will resist to the end!”

“Snap,” I snapped my fingers, nodded, and said, “Okay, let’s switch to the not-peaceful plan.”

Having said that, I paid no attention to Monsk’s reaction, and turned to Sivis who was awaiting orders, “Send the spreadsheet over.”

“What’s this?”

A second later, the main computer of the “Imperial Admiral” easily hacked through a series of encryption barriers and sent a schedule directly to Monsk. Looking at the spreadsheet with a series of familiar names and periodically marked times below, Monsk furrowed his brows and asked thus.

Meanwhile, this schedule was also transmitted to every corner of the star zone through a wide-area signal, including Taldarim Base, which was standoffish with the Imperial Fleet, and those fighting the Holy Expeditionary Army warriors of the Insect Race. I believed their leaders were definitely monitoring the conversation between Monsk and me through their channels, and Monsk’s question was certainly what these shadowy figures urgently wanted to know.

“Clearly, it’s a schedule, with alternatives on top and our lottery times below. Would you like me to demonstrate it now?”

As soon as I finished speaking, Sivis standing by immediately brought a tray to me, neatly arranged with some bright chips.

I glanced at the time nearby, then casually picked one up, glanced at it, and smiled slightly at the puzzled Monsk, “Imperial Mother Star time, 10:30 AM, the first lottery time. Congratulations, number twenty-three, Nu’er Kulas planet has won the draw.”

“What do you mean?!”

Monsk’s growing shadow of unease thickened and he could only voice such a loud question to alleviate the terrible suspicions in his mind, but I just smiled and quietly waited–within minutes, a certain message was delivered to Monsk.

A minute-rich, abandoned mineral planet named Nu’er Kulas, just three minutes ago, was struck by a sudden beam of light from space and vanished completely–note, completely vanished, not turned to ashes, nor shattered into fragments, but disappeared, as if erased by an eraser, leaving not a single molecule behind. Aside from the intense heat radiation and the spatial storm, there was no longer any trace of the Nu’er Kulas planet.

This astonishing news was also simultaneously conveyed to the ears of the top echelons of each race paying attention to this conversation. Here, I must thank the advanced information channels of the Kepulu Star Zone.

The sudden arrival of such shocking information cemented the expression on Monsk’s face as if it were coated in cement.

“Hopefully, the resulting gravitational fluctuations will subside within thirty years,” I clapped my hands, refocusing Monsk’s attention, “The next draw will proceed as per the schedule. Perhaps you can set up a betting entertainment program or something, guessing where the next strike will be?”

After saying this, I directly cut off the communication, then casually placed the bright chip in my mouth, as it was made of rock candy.

My movement was a signal, and with the message “It’s time to eat” issued, several of the younger ones on the bridge swarmed up. In no time, they snatched the rock candy from Sivis’s hand clean. However, speaking of Lilina, this fake loli always acts as if she’s a child, but Qianqian, do you really need to snatch it crazier than Little Baobao? And Sandora… at least leave me that plate! That’s the last piece of Jingde Town porcelain left by the Expeditionary Army, damn it!!

During the observational process, Reynolds underwent a mental rollercoaster from surprise to horror until he was now dumbstruck. Watching the “alien villains” who had just destroyed a planet laughingly turn into a bunch of starving ghosts, Uncle with a beard twitched all over his face.

“Old buddy… I think we’d better swear our loyalty now… damn it, I don’t plan on being the fool who resists to the end…”

Tex poked at Reynolds’s side, the huge scar on his face trembling as he spoke.

“No… wait…” Reynolds mumbled, then quickly stepped forward, approaching me. “You just…”

“Relax, relax,” I certainly knew what he intended to say. “Although that list almost enumerated every planet you know, including all the mother stars of various races, you’ve also seen it, there’s nothing written on this plate–so do you still have to worry?”

“Just a bluff?” Reynolds started, incredulously.

“Nonsense, do you think Monsk was so lucky that the first planet to be destroyed was a deserted, uninhabited planet?”

Reynolds’s face took on an odd expression, culminating in a long sigh. “Your personalities are really…”

I know, you don’t need to say it.

“A mere threat isn’t enough; it would only provoke a stronger spirit of resistance in them. What we need is absolute panic, letting them feel a pressure so intense that even a sneeze could bring about racial extinction,” Sandora, having polished off the last remaining Jingde Town porcelain of the Imperial Fleet, said indifferently as she licked her fingers. “Now the ‘Zeros’ can start their mission.”

Thus, as the shock of Nu’er Kulas’s mysterious disappearance just began to spread throughout the entire star zone, another astonishing and even terrifying event occurred again.

Within the star zone explored by Humans, the Insect Race, and the Protos, hundreds of planets gradually began leaving their orbits and moving along absolutely impossible paths!

Countless detectors of various races, drawn like attracted bees, swarmed towards these aberrant celestial bodies and allowed them, under our deliberate permission, to approach the disturbing presence. What then gradually revealed its ghastly and eerie fangs was something even the Protos Natives found shocking: the planetary surfaces of those automatically operating planets gradually peeled off. The entire star shells, like crustaceans unfolding their wing cases, slowly opened up, revealing giant and mysterious mechanical structures and Crystal Jungles from those cracks. The dimly visible cores inside the brightly lit planets emitted an unsettling dark red glow. The huge energy fluctuations caused detectors millions of kilometers away to self-destruct in an instant, transforming this terrifying scene of giant starships into a still image, delivering it right before their master’s eyes.

Under Pandora’s guidance, Taville generously contributed, and the Imperial main flagship… the counterfeit version, named ‘Zero’ by Sandora, finally completed their long months of extensive preparations and were exposed for the first time to every race in the Kepulu Star Zone.

The disguised Planet Battleships, propelled by the Class Coordinate Engines, gradually accelerated, drawing closer to predetermined targets, Char, El, Titan Wind, Tulado, Tasanni… familiar names gradually became clear on these Planet Battleships’ routes, and every Racial Leader had a timetable in their hands, the names of their mother stars were being sequentially matched on these routes and timetables…

Then, enjoy the ball, my lovely enemies.

The last line of the timetable stated in bold, blood-red font: (To be continued, for more information, please visit www.NovelFire.net, with more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)

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