Chapter 16

The big screen showed the perspectives of the sixteen teams, the same challenges they would face. Now it depended on what choices and commands the team members would make.

The fleets entered the Swan Nebula, and before long, they encountered drifting asteroid belts. Some detoured, while others opened paths with firepower. The top three teams all chose to detour. Although time was tight, they couldn't be reckless. Attacking the asteroid field would consume the fleet's energy and ammunition, and the effect wasn't guaranteed. There were too many uncertainties.

Even though it was just a competition, commanding a massive fleet still evoked a sense of heroism. The team members in each department were on high alert. This was the commander's world. As the fleet commander, one was supreme. In interstellar navigation, the fleet commander's orders were the highest law.

Galaxy Team's commander, Dan, didn't smile much. "All members, high alert. This competition is different from previous ones. There will definitely be surprises in store for us at the end."

The team members were all focused. The director also helpfully provided the Galaxy perspective. No one expected that Galaxy Team, already so far ahead, could still be so cautious, not giving their opponents even the slightest chance. This was why they deserved to win the championship. At Galaxy Academy, the students gathered in front of the big screen, chatting and laughing. Never underestimate the heart of a champion. Galaxy Academy's powerful genes had created one strong individual after another. They were already eager for the grand parade after winning the championship.

First, they would win the Starship S-League, then the Mecha S-League. Galaxy Academy was the number one academy in the universe.

After avoiding the asteroid field, interstellar navigation became calm. But soon, everyone realized that the second challenge should be coming soon, but it was too quiet. What would it be?

The fleets that chose to detour were very fast, still in the first echelon in terms of drive power. On the other hand, those who wanted to take a gamble had gambled themselves out of the running. Suddenly, the Galaxy Fleet, Eternal Fleet, and Celestial Star Fleet decelerated. Such a large ship.

Fleets led by North Carolina were still sailing because they were in a hurry, and with space currently peaceful, they didn't want to miss an opportunity to create a miracle.

Soon, an anomaly appeared. A terrifying gravity suddenly appeared in space. A huge gravitational tide swept in, causing chaos and blaring alarms. The big screen began to scan. The most feared thing in interstellar fleets had appeared: a black hole!

Moreover, it was a static black hole. This type of black hole had no charge and no rotation, like an abyss quietly waiting for its prey to approach, impossible to defend against. By the time it was discovered, the prey was already difficult to escape.

In essence, it was rare to encounter such extreme situations during normal navigation, and general navigation speeds would avoid them. Clearly, this competition was a bit targeted. Even a one-in-ten-thousand chance had appeared.

At this point, it came down to luck. Some fleets were traveling too fast and were directly pulled in, unable to escape at all. Others cautiously launched reconnaissance planes, but they didn't have time to escape either. Although the reconnaissance planes suddenly lost signal, the commanders didn't immediately deduce the danger from the information.

North Carolina Fleet's commander, An Liang, reacted quickly. He had the fleet decelerate the moment the reconnaissance plane lost contact. It was this decision that allowed North Carolina to escape the black hole.

It wasn't that other fleets didn't want to decelerate. During normal navigation, decelerating or stopping without sufficient reason was a huge drain on the fleet. Misjudgments were penalty points, especially in rescue situations.

From ro

Anluo Dan's choice was to perish together.

At this stage, retreating would only result in being chased and killed by the giant insects. Having missed the first opportunity to retreat, Anluo Dan had made his final preparations. If he couldn't save the humans on Kepler, then he would destroy Kepler and completely annihilate the enemy.

As a fleet commander, he was willing to sacrifice everything for humanity. His own life was insignificant.

The Loki carrier advanced continuously under the cover of the battle group, while the terrifying forbidden planetary weapon was also being prepared – the Dzhanibekov effect cannon.

This was humanity's ultimate forbidden weapon, capable of altering a planet's axis of rotation. Any rotating object in three dimensions has three axes. The Dzhanibekov effect cannon would change one of the planet's axes of rotation, causing the planet's rotation to become chaotic. At that point, Kepler would become a living hell, a planetary-scale weapon far exceeding any nuclear weapon.

Dan's judgment was that Kepler had already threatened human civilization, and destruction was the best protection.

On the other side, the situation for the Celestial Star Mecha Force was even worse. Arths was focused on observing the battlefield. Planetary weapons were an option, but once used, Kepler would no longer be a paradise for humanity's future, but would become a hell, and all the humans on Kepler would be exterminated.

Was it a dead end?

It shouldn't be. Any intelligent life must have a command structure. This was especially true for the silicon-based giant insects, whose life pattern was similar to ants. The low-level giant insects were simply worker ants. The core of this rescue mission was to find the brain insect of the space giant insect swarm.

The problem was that intelligent life would definitely hide. How could they find the brain insect among the vast, countless giant insect swarm?

The giant insects all looked the same, swarming everywhere. The giant insects' signal transmission was different from humans. These biological waves were currently beyond the grasp of human scientists, making them impossible to detect.

Similarly, after so many years of fighting the giant insects, humans also knew that the giant insects were very good at camouflage and hunting. This was evident from the low-level lurking giant insects. Mimicry and camouflage were their usual tactics, and the more advanced the giant insects, the more cunning they were. Giant insects of this scale could be described as having become spirits.

The brain insect was definitely on the battlefield, but how could one know unless they became a giant insect themselves?