Chapter 80: Tunneling

Words : 1447 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

On Tianyuan A, Xiao Yu deployed tens of millions of robots, recreating a scene reminiscent of ancient cold-weapon warfare, with massive armies charging into battle. However, this spectacle carried a distinctly sci-fi edge. Without an atmosphere, despite the brightness of the half-lit Tianyuan IV, the sky remained pitch-black, with countless stars twinkling in the void. Against the backdrop of this dark universe, ships engaged in fierce combat at varying altitudes, from tens of meters to tens of thousands of kilometers above the surface. Energy Cannon shells flew in every direction, hydrogen bombs exploded, and ships disintegrated in bursts of dazzling light. Amid the space battles, some ships descended to dangerously low altitudes, unleashing devastating attacks with their underside-mounted Energy Weapons, Laser Cannons, and even nuclear weapons, bombarding the ground with relentless precision. This was a true carpet-bombing campaign. The Luka Civilization’s few hundred ships focused their firepower exclusively around the Energy Shield, foregoing attacks on robots in other areas. By doing so, they created a perimeter of overwhelming firepower, ensuring that any robot attempting to approach the Energy Shield was promptly destroyed. This strategy temporarily halted the robot swarm’s advance. But Xiao Yu quickly devised a countermeasure: tunneling from multiple distant locations simultaneously. Under Xiao Yu’s command, mining robots formed the vanguard, leading excavation operations. Processing robots dismantled nonessential robots to use their components for reinforcing the tunnels. Transport robots ferried debris away from the digging sites. Millions of robots worked in synchronized cooperation, dividing into thousands of “mole” teams. These groups dug furiously at distances ranging from several kilometers to a few hundred kilometers from the Energy Shield. Robots arriving as reinforcements either joined the tunneling teams to accelerate progress or continued advancing toward the shield as a diversion. Xiao Yu knew the advancing robots couldn’t breach the Luka fleet’s firepower perimeter. However, they effectively tied down the Luka ships’ attention, leaving them little capacity to target the tunneling robots. This tactic proved highly effective. To counter the relentless robot army, the Luka Civilization had to dispatch several hundred additional ships, bringing the total to nearly a thousand. This diversion reduced the Luka fleet’s forces besieging Xiao Yu’s ships by one-sixth, significantly easing the pressure on Xiao Yu. Despite the Luka fleet’s strong countermeasures, Xiao Yu’s robot army continued its relentless advance. The mining robots, specialists in their field, could extract resources from depths of tens of thousands of meters. Digging tunnels just a few hundred meters deep was trivial for them. Once a tunnel exceeded a depth of 100 meters, the Luka ships were virtually powerless to intervene. Due to Tianyuan A’s unique geological composition, even hydrogen bomb explosions couldn’t collapse tunnels at such depths. The robot army surged forward with unyielding determination, their target clear: the Force Field Generator inside the Energy Shield! Destroying the generator would enable Xiao Yu to restore the battlefield to a stalemate. Holding the line until reinforcements from the Tianyuan B fleet arrived would give Xiao Yu an 80% chance of victory! This realization filled Xiao Yu with renewed confidence. To his delight, one tunneling team had already progressed to within a kilometer of the Energy Shield. At their current pace, they would breach the shield’s perimeter in just five minutes. Once inside, the tunnel would allow an endless stream of robots to infiltrate the shield and destroy the Force Field Generator. With the generator down, Xiao Yu’s fleet’s combat effectiveness would instantly return to 100%! The Luka ships intensified their bombardment. Xiao Yu watched as high-yield hydrogen bombs launched from their ships struck the ground, exploding violently and releasing extreme heat and radiation. Each blast destroyed hundreds or thousands of robots. But for every thousand lost, ten thousand replacements arrived. The Luka fleet’s defensive line resembled a riddled dam struggling to hold back a raging flood. Xiao Yu’s robot army was that flood—relentless, overwhelming, and unstoppable. “Faster, faster...” Xiao Yu muttered under his breath, suppressing his growing excitement as he commanded the robots to accelerate their digging efforts. The tunnels moved steadily closer to the Energy Shield. 800 meters... 700 meters... 400 meters... 200 meters... When the robots were less than 100 meters from the Energy Shield, Xiao Yu noticed something peculiar. A hundred Luka ships abruptly ceased their attacks on the robots. Instead, they dispersed evenly around the Energy Shield and unleashed a powerful electromagnetic interference. In an instant, all the robots within a certain range of the Energy Shield froze in place, as if paralyzed. Xiao Yu’s army of digging robots came to an abrupt halt. Xiao Yu paused for a brief moment before realizing what had happened. Rage surged through him as he cursed aloud, “Damn it! How did they figure out my weakness? Now what? What do I do?” The electromagnetic interference had severed the communication link between Xiao Yu and the robots. Without this connection, he could no longer direct their efforts. Although Xiao Yu had mastered superluminal communication based on quantum entanglement, which was immune to interference, this technology had a significant limitation: it could only enable point-to-point communication. Unlike traditional radio waves, it couldn’t establish a broad, point-to-multipoint network. To command his millions of robots, Xiao Yu relied on a relay system. He used superluminal communication to contact a central hub, which then used conventional methods to broadcast commands to the robots. This hybrid approach combined the strengths of both technologies, meeting Xiao Yu’s communication needs. However, this system had one critical vulnerability: large-scale interference could disrupt communication between the central hub and the individual robots, rendering them inoperable. The Luka Civilization had identified a more efficient solution than brute force. By deploying electromagnetic interference, they rendered all robots within range of the Energy Shield inert, halting the digging efforts. Xiao Yu’s robot swarm strategy had failed. His final hope to destroy the Force Field Generator was extinguished. With only 100 ships, the Luka fleet had neutralized millions of robots. The remaining 900 ships immediately rejoined the battle against Xiao Yu’s fleet, amplifying the pressure on him. The last glimmer of hope to destroy the generator—and turn the tide—was gone. It seemed that Xiao Yu’s chance of victory had vanished as well. “I refuse to accept this. There must be a way! After thousands of years of struggle, I’ve finally reached the Tianyuan IV system, and now I’m to be crushed like an ant? Never!” Xiao Yu thought furiously. His central computer’s computational power surged to over 95% as he worked desperately to find a solution. “There must be a way. There must be a way...” Xiao Yu repeated to himself, launching a frenzy of modeling and analysis. Countless models were constructed, tested, and discarded. Finally, one model withstood all tests. Xiao Yu began refining it meticulously. Meanwhile, his fleet continued to be destroyed. The advanced material sciences, propulsion systems, energy technologies, and weaponry that Xiao Yu had prided himself on seemed like paper before the overwhelming firepower of the Luka ships. Inside the encirclement, Xiao Yu’s fleet had been reduced to just 3,000 ships. These ships formed a defensive formation around the Shanghai, fighting desperately. Surrounding them were 5,000 Luka ships, and beyond that, another 25,000 of Xiao Yu’s reinforcements attempting to break through the siege. The reinforcements had encircled the Luka fleet in turn, creating a multi-layered battlefield. If not for the reinforcements’ relentless attacks tying down much of the Luka fleet’s strength, Xiao Yu would have been annihilated already. Escape via radio waves was not an option. The intense interference caused by nuclear explosions, energy weapon discharges, lasers, and particle beams in space made it nearly impossible to ensure safe transport. Xiao Yu feared the tragic irony of being disrupted mid-transmission and dying from radiation rather than enemy fire. Xiao Yu had ten City-Class ships in total. The Xingtai and Handan had already been lost at the Tianyuan C defense line. The Tangshan and Langfang were en route from Tianyuan B, but they needed more time. The Baoding, traveling from the asteroid belt, was three hours away. The remaining five City-Class ships were with Xiao Yu, fighting the Luka fleet. Under the oppressive effects of the Force Field, coupled with the superior firepower, defense, and mobility of the Luka ships, Xiao Yu was at a severe disadvantage. Then, a signal arrived. “Beijing destroyed. Tianjin, Chongqing, and Shijiazhuang severely damaged.” “I can’t wait for the reinforcements from Tianyuan B. At this rate, I can hold out for two hours at most. In two hours, my flagship, the Shanghai, will be reduced to a ball of fire, and I’ll perish with it.” “Then... initiate the Tianyuan A Relocation Plan.”

Chapter 80: Tunneling

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