Xiao Yu remained quietly hidden a hundred billion kilometers from the star, silently watching this place, observing the constant movement of ships in the star system, bustling day and night.
This was the advantage of staying in the dark, Xiao Yu could plan at leisure and strike later, while the Molian Civilization could only react passively. Without the slightest awareness on their part, a total of 865 special operations soldiers had, using their individual life-support systems, infiltrated the star system. The remaining 135 had already been lost. Negative matter was not antimatter; when it annihilated with positive matter, no energy was released, and no trace was left behind. They had been erased from the universe in the most thorough way possible.
Such was the nature of the special forces. They carried out the most dangerous, most difficult missions, shouldered the highest risks, and reaped the greatest rewards. Every piece of intelligence they gathered could potentially save thousands of ships.
During the next phase of operations, these 865 special forces soldiers gradually suffered further losses of more than 300. In the end, fewer than 500 successfully, and without alerting the Molian Civilization, approached their mineral transport ships and began an unknown journey alongside them.
Xiao Yu continued to wait in silence. Until he had gathered enough intelligence to confirm the location of the Molian Civilization’s homeworld, he would not act. The follow-up tracking ships had already departed, but they could not travel too close to enemy vessels, while too much distance made tracking extremely difficult. At this point, the special forces embedded aboard Molian mineral transport ships became critical, taking on the responsibility of guiding the tracking vessels toward their targets.
In this stretch of space, an immense undercurrent was stirring, but until it erupted, no one could detect it, certainly not the Molian Civilization.
“Target confirmed. Coordinates are… This appears to be a residential planet. Military strength unknown, but likely not too strong.”
“Target confirmed. Coordinates are… This is an industrial planet with heavy military strength, at least 200,000 ship movements in three days.”
“Primary target confirmed! Coordinates are… This star system contains three planets. The primary star is a stable yellow dwarf. Of the three planets, the one closest to the star is the capital planet, while the other two are large-scale residential worlds. This star system is heavily defended. Special forces cannot approach, and exact military strength is unknown.”
Over this period, Xiao Yu had deployed three brigades, totaling thirty thousand special operations soldiers, to conduct comprehensive reconnaissance of the Molian Civilization through various methods. The results were significant; Xiao Yu had at least gained a general understanding of their force distribution and military arrangements. However, the losses were severe. More than half of the thirty thousand had been killed, and over a dozen had been captured unexpectedly by the Molian Civilization. Fortunately, Xiao Yu’s reaction had been swift, he immediately activated the self-destruct devices, preventing the enemy from taking any captives alive.Only negative matter could achieve such complete self-destruction, and any civilization that possessed negative matter was at least a Level 5 Civilization. Xiao Yu surmised that the Molian Civilization now knew an unfriendly Level 5 Civilization was secretly spying on them, though they still could not determine exactly where he was.
Nevertheless, tighter security on their part was inevitable. Subsequent intelligence confirmed Xiao Yu’s assessment, reports from the special forces showed the Molian Civilization’s military ships moving with increasing frequency, and defenses around their industrial and residential planets had clearly been raised by a full tier.
“I don’t need extremely detailed intelligence. What I have now is already enough. After all, my strength is somewhat greater than the Molian Civilization’s. Then… it’s time to launch the full assault. Luka Two, lead your forces toward the Molian Civilization’s capital star system. Stay hidden during your advance and only attack upon my command. If you lose contact with me, wait until their strength has been reduced to a certain level before initiating your assault. That’s all.”
“Understood, Master. I obey your command. The route has been set. Please review it.”
“Approved.”
In the void three hundred billion kilometers away, the Heaven’s Kingdom fleet slowly came to life. Half an hour later, it entered curvature travel, heading toward an ordinary yellow dwarf star nineteen light-years away.
This long voyage would last more than a year. During that time, the main battlefield led by Xiao Yu would pin down the majority of the Molian Civilization’s military forces. While their rear was left unguarded, Luka Two’s army would launch a surprise attack on the Molian capital star system as an unexpected strike force.
“Then… let’s move out. The time to wash away our humiliation has come. This first battle must be won swiftly and cleanly! All ships, remove camouflage, advance at full speed!”
Xiao Yu gave the order. Immediately, more than 3.5 million ships flared with bright exhaust plumes at their sterns, surging forward. Almost at the same moment the ships shed their disguises and began accelerating at full power, there was a reaction from the star system ahead.
Xiao Yu clearly saw the ships in the system begin moving faster. Countless vessels scrambled into space, forming battle formations, while more ships accelerated toward the rear to flee.
“The first battle must end in complete annihilation. How could I allow even a single ship to escape?” Xiao Yu smiled faintly.
The reason he had brought only about 3.5 million ships was because another 300,000 vessels had already split from the main fleet earlier, lying in ambush on the opposite side of the star system. Xiao Yu had already set his trap, a perfect encirclement. The opening battle had to be fought beautifully.
By combining curvature travel with conventional propulsion, Xiao Yu needed less than twenty hours to reach his target. Twenty hours was not enough time for the mineral transport ships in the system to get far enough from the star to enter curvature travel. Moreover, Xiao Yu had long stationed heavy forces at the system’s edge to intercept them.
“Who are you? This is a Level 5 Civilization mining base of the Molian Civilization. What do you intend to do?”
While advancing at high speed, Xiao Yu received a message laden with wariness. Attached to it was a dictionary file. Xiao Yu shook his head in disdain and ignored it.
“Stop! Do you intend to violate the Galactic Peace Accord? Once you become a Level 5 Civilization, you automatically join the Galactic Alliance. If you launch an attack on a fellow Alliance member without authorization, you will be punished!”
“Galactic Alliance? Galactic Peace Accord? What’s that supposed to be?” Xiao Yu mused in puzzlement. “Probably another thing made up by the Guardian Civilization. Since the Guardian Civilization and I are mortal enemies, why would I care about small fry like you?”
He still ignored them.
Sensing Xiao Yu’s resolve, the Molian side sent no further messages. Thirty thousand warships stood in formation, silently awaiting battle. Behind them were well over a hundred thousand mineral transport ships fleeing in panic.
Mineral transport ships had extremely poor combat and defensive capabilities, and their maneuverability was just as bad. In front of warships, they were nothing more than lambs to the slaughter. The 300,000 warships Xiao Yu had hidden earlier would be more than enough to annihilate them all without letting a single one escape.
“We are the Divine Ark Civilization. Remember this name.” This was the final message Xiao Yu sent before the battle began.
When the two sides finally engaged, more than ten million kilometers still separated them, yet the ship-mounted Faster-Than-Light negative matter cannons had already opened fire. Countless FTL tachyons reached their targets in an instant, rapidly draining the energy of enemy shields. At the same time, Xiao Yu’s ships were also taking fire from the enemy’s negative matter cannons.
“Oh? So the Molian Civilization has also mastered the technology for shipborne negative matter cannons? But it’s useless. Your largest ships are only Province-Class, no Four-Dimensional shields, no space weapons…”
The ten million kilometers closed in an instant, and the surging tide of warships engulfed the 30,000 enemy vessels completely. The disparity in numbers was overwhelming, most of Xiao Yu’s ships didn’t even get the chance to fight before the battle ended. The flagship of the Molian fleet, a Province-Class ship, was sliced in two by a space rift attack from the Nation-Class warship America, its explosion lighting up tens of thousands of kilometers of space.
The battle ended within an hour. In the end, Xiao Yu’s side annihilated all 30,000 enemy ships at the cost of just over 2,000 of his own, without letting a single vessel escape. The more than 100,000 mineral transport ships were also intercepted by the 300,000 warships lying in wait. Their maximum speed was only seven times the speed of light, and even if they entered curvature travel, Xiao Yu’s fleet had negative matter cannons to use against them. In this star sector, bursts of light erupted again and again, each one marking the destruction of a ship.
Thirty thousand warships, annihilated. Over a hundred thousand mineral transport ships, annihilated. The star base was seized by Xiao Yu, and all remaining personnel were eliminated. These were the results Xiao Yu received within three hours. From this moment on, the entire star system was firmly in his control.
“I didn’t use any communications jamming. I imagine news of this star system’s fall will quickly reach the Molian Civilization’s leadership… Now, how will you respond?” Xiao Yu thought with a trace of amusement.