Chapter 73: Laser Network!

Xiao Yu had been preparing for this moment for five whole years. During these five years, Xiao Yu never allowed himself a moment of relaxation, constantly remaining vigilant. Now, the battle was finally imminent. This would be the fight that decided Xiao Yu’s life and death. Two months later, these oddly shaped dark green ships finally approached the Tianyuan C orbit and began decelerating. Ahead of them, ten million kilometers away, Xiao Yu had already positioned a massive fleet centered around the two City-Class ships, Xingtai and Handan, in full battle readiness. In an hour and a half, the two sides would engage head-on. But before that could happen, Xiao Yu had already launched his attack. Precision-guided weapons, miniature nuclear bombs that were several times smaller than ordinary bullets! Using electromagnetic coil acceleration technology, these miniature nuclear bombs could reach speeds of 6,000 kilometers per second! At the Tianyuan C orbit, the forces consisted of two City-Class ships, three hundred County-Class ships, and an astounding twenty thousand Village-Class and Town-Class ships. In addition, there were six armed satellites and space gun turrets at Tianyuan C. At that moment, nearly thirty million miniature nuclear bombs were fired. According to Xiao Yu’s battle plan, these miniature nuclear bombs were meant to deplete the energy of the enemy’s shields. This was undoubtedly a bullet storm. Xiao Yu had employed a similar strategy against the Moluton Civilization. However, back then, the bullet storm consisted purely of kinetic weapons. Now, these bullets not only delivered kinetic destruction but also carried miniature nuclear bombs. This bullet storm was enough to wipe out the entire fleet of the Moluton Civilization! But unexpectedly, these bullets had little effect on the enemy. A pre-positioned superluminal communication satellite transmitted an image back to Xiao Yu. The bullets, upon approaching within one hundred thousand kilometers of the Luka Civilization fleet, suddenly turned crimson all over. Within less than twenty seconds, they exploded in the void. In the distance, a patch of bright flashes appeared, flickering like stars in the night sky. Each flash represented a bullet rendered ineffective. “What kind of technology is this? I didn’t detect any laser weapons intercepting them! Why are the bullets exploding on their own?” Due to this unknown interception method, 99% of the thirty million bullets exploded. Of the remaining 1% of miniature nuclear bombs that managed to penetrate layers of obstacles and enter the enemy fleet, they were intercepted by another round of lasers. The few bullets that hit their targets caused the enemy ships’ surface to emit a sudden dark green light, which quickly neutralized the white light from the bullets’ explosions, canceling each other out. The final results were in. Xiao Yu saw that the thirty million bullets, enough to annihilate the entire Moluton Civilization fleet, only managed to destroy three Luka Civilization ships. These were the smallest ships, even smaller than Xiao Yu’s Village-Class ships—and there were only three! Xiao Yu was utterly shocked but had no time to analyze the reason. He observed that the Luka Civilization fleet was already taking offensive action. Laser coverage! Countless high-energy laser beams were emitted from the Luka Civilization’s ships, speeding toward Xiao Yu at the speed of light. Generally speaking, laser weapons are unavoidable because lasers travel at the speed of light. The moment you observe a laser, it has already arrived. However, this situation had changed with the development of superluminal communication technology. At the instant the high-energy laser beams were fired, pre-positioned communication satellites used superluminal communication to report the lasers’ energy levels and trajectories to Xiao Yu, enabling him to evade them in advance. Xiao Yu was about to maneuver his ship to dodge, but within 0.01 seconds, he arrived at a startling conclusion. Because... these laser beams were impossible to evade! It seemed as if the Luka Civilization had anticipated Xiao Yu’s attempts to dodge. Thus, the laser beams were fired in a broad area-coverage pattern! The lasers only took 20 seconds to reach Xiao Yu, and within those 20 seconds, no matter where Xiao Yu maneuvered, he would be hit. Of course, the laser beams could not achieve total planar coverage, but the gaps between them seemed meticulously calculated. Each laser beam was spaced 500 or 1,000 meters apart, weaving a massive net in space. Through superluminal communication, Xiao Yu had already received data about the lasers before they arrived, but there was no way to dodge them! A thought crossed his mind: “This Luka Civilization is definitely a veteran in interstellar warfare. They have extensive battle experience that a rookie like me cannot compare to.” “However, I have ten thousand ships and the advantage of terrain. I still have a chance to win this war! If I can’t dodge, then I won’t dodge! Let me return the favor!” The massive County-Class and City-Class ships remained stationary, giving up on any attempts to evade. Xiao Yu quickly calculated the energy levels of these high-energy laser beams and predicted the damage they would inflict. If the damage was within acceptable limits, the ships relied on their armor to withstand it. If not, Xiao Yu maneuvered smaller ships to take the hits, sacrificing them to preserve the larger ones. At the same time, after the failure of the bullet storm, Xiao Yu deployed his next offensive measure. Another laser coverage network! And this time, the energy level of Xiao Yu’s lasers was even higher than the opponent’s! Because the Luka Civilization’s fleet was smaller in number, the area their laser network needed to cover was reduced, which allowed them to concentrate their energy. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu had over 20,000 laser cannons, including those on space gun turrets, at his disposal! The laser network Xiao Yu unleashed was equally unavoidable. The first direct engagement began with the clash of laser networks. The first to come under attack was Xiao Yu’s fleet. The high-energy laser beams quickly scorched the outer hulls of Xiao Yu’s ships. If a beam struck a propulsion system, it triggered explosions. Brilliant bursts of light began appearing in space, each representing the destruction of a ship. However, only the smaller ships were destroyed. Not a single County-Class or higher ship was lost, although many were riddled with small holes that pierced through their entire hulls. Twenty County-Class ships lost combat capability in the first engagement. In this initial clash, Xiao Yu lost 365 Village-Class and Town-Class ships. At this moment, the nano-robots came into play. Under Xiao Yu’s control, tens of billions of miniature robots began repairing the damaged hulls and restoring the internal systems of the ships. The twenty disabled County-Class ships would regain combat capability within 15 minutes. Xiao Yu then focused his attention on the enemy fleet. He noticed that, after his laser network reached the Luka Civilization’s ships, the enemy made no attempt to evade. It seemed they knew that dodging a laser network was futile. However, they possessed energy shield technology! For Xiao Yu’s laser network to damage their ships, it first had to breach these shields. At this moment, Xiao Yu once again felt the power gap created by technological disparities. Despite having a laser network with higher energy levels than the opponent’s, it only managed to destroy five small enemy ships. “Damn it,” Xiao Yu muttered, launching the second attack protocol. In interstellar warfare, engagements typically begin when the two sides are hundreds of thousands or even millions of kilometers apart. The sequence of attacks usually follows a specific pattern based on weapon characteristics. Laser weapons are the fastest and experience the least energy dissipation over long distances, so they are always the first to be deployed. Energy weapons, which are slightly slower, follow as the second wave. The first wave of laser weapon exchanges had concluded, and the second wave belonged to energy weapons. There was no distinct pause between these waves. In fact, energy weapons were fired immediately after 10 seconds of sustained laser fire. By the time the laser weapon engagement ended, the energy weapons had already reached the opposing fleet. This marked the second wave of combat: the exchange of energy weapons. Xiao Yu’s energy weapon systems were based on foundational theories acquired from the Moluton Civilization, later improved and developed by himself. Their power, speed, and range had all advanced significantly. Xiao Yu had even miniaturized energy weapons, equipping all Village-Class and Town-Class ships with them. At this moment, tens of thousands of energy cannons targeted their respective objectives and began firing. Countless azure beams streaked across space, racing toward their targets. While energy weapons were fast, they were still slower than lasers, making it impossible to create a network-like coverage with them. However, exceptions arose in scenarios where one side vastly outnumbered the other. Such was the case now. Xiao Yu’s numerical advantage allowed him to create an energy cannon coverage network, which the enemy could not replicate. This gave Xiao Yu the ability to maneuver his ships to dodge energy projectiles, while the enemy had no such luxury. This was a distinct advantage! At this moment, the two fleets were four million kilometers apart. Even at such a vast distance, they engaged in a barrage of energy cannon fire. Xiao Yu also observed that, as the enemy fired their energy cannons, they deployed numerous small devices. A brief analysis revealed that these were likely superluminal communication satellites. “It seems the enemy shares my understanding of warfare theory. On the battlefield of space, the speed and quality of intelligence gathering are crucial to determining victory,” Xiao Yu thought. With this realization, in addition to continuing his energy cannon barrage, Xiao Yu directed his laser weapons to perform pinpoint strikes on the enemy’s superluminal communication satellites. Simultaneously, he launched new satellites to replace those destroyed by the Luka Civilization. On the battlefield, maintaining one’s own intelligence channels while disrupting the enemy’s was vital.