Xiao Yu closely monitored the movements of the opposing fleet. Real-time battlefield footage was transmitted constantly for Xiao Yu’s analysis.

Through surveillance satellites, Xiao Yu observed the streams of bullets striking the enemy ships.

Seventy million miniature nuclear bombs, each no larger than a fraction of a regular handgun bullet, with a blast radius of only a few cubic decimeters. However, their sheer quantity compensated for their lack of power.

Xiao Yu saw that the Luka Civilization’s ships, without the protection of their Force Fields, resorted to laser interception to counter these bullets. However, they were not equipped with nearly enough Laser Cannons to handle the sheer volume, and the overwhelming number of bullets rendered their interception efforts ineffective.

Due to evasive maneuvers and laser interception, at least four-fifths of the seventy million bullets missed their targets. Yet, even the remaining one-fifth—over ten million bullets—could inflict massive damage.

For the first time in reality, Xiao Yu witnessed a swarm of ants overpowering an elephant. A single miniature nuclear bomb was akin to one ant, while the enemy ship was the elephant. The explosion from a single bomb hardly impacted the ship as a whole, but what about ten bombs? What about ten thousand?

Xiao Yu witnessed an unending series of intense flashes, resembling a dazzling galaxy in space. Under this barrage of countless brilliant “flowers,” the energy shield of a Town-Class ship visibly dimmed before disappearing entirely. Subsequent miniature nuclear bombs began directly striking its armor.

Desperately, it continued firing laser beams to intercept the bombs. However, for every ten bombs intercepted, a hundred more surged forward. For every hundred intercepted, a thousand pressed on.

Under the relentless assault, its outer armor rapidly deteriorated. Xiao Yu saw these damages being repaired in real-time at a visible pace, evidently utilizing nanobot repair systems. However, the repair speed couldn’t keep up with the destruction. Ultimately, the Town-Class ship succumbed to the continuous bombardment and exploded into pieces.

The fate of this Town-Class ship was merely a microcosm of the larger battlefield. Every ship in the Luka Civilization’s fleet faced the same dire predicament. Accustomed to relying on Force Field protection, they lacked sufficient kinetic interception weaponry, a vulnerability that became glaringly apparent after losing their flagship-class ship.

This wave of miniature nuclear bomb attacks destroyed at least seven hundred Luka Civilization ships. Moreover, the remaining two thousand or so ships all suffered varying degrees of damage.

This was a staggering achievement. Yet, Xiao Yu grew increasingly anxious.

He noticed that despite severe damage and combat strength reduced to less than forty percent of their initial capacity, the Luka fleet continued advancing resolutely.

“This is wrong. Something’s definitely wrong,” Xiao Yu pondered. “What are they relying on? In this situation, why wouldn’t they retreat? They should know I can’t chase them if they run. Unless… they really have a trump card? I need to be cautious.”

The enemy’s abnormal persistence made Xiao Yu even more vigilant.

After the bullet barrage ended, it was time for the long-range bombardment from conventional Laser Cannons and Energy Cannons. If not for exhausting the ammunition reserves, Xiao Yu would have preferred launching another wave of miniature nuclear bombs.

The bullet barrage was akin to archery on ancient battlefields—effective at long range. Once the enemy closed in, melee combat dominated with swords and hammers.

Following the conclusion of the long-range exchange of Laser Cannons and Energy Cannons, the Luka fleet had less than 1,800 operational ships remaining, while Xiao Yu’s side still boasted over 38,000 ships. No matter how the odds were calculated, even if the Luka Civilization’s ships could take on twenty of Xiao Yu’s, they still wouldn’t stand a chance.

Xiao Yu, filled with deep anxiety, began direct combat against the enemy ships.

The numerical disparity was overwhelming. On the battlefield, the situation was entirely one-sided. Based on the simplest arithmetic, each Luka Civilization ship was surrounded by more than twenty of Xiao Yu’s ships. Under such circumstances, the sheer numbers fully compensated for Xiao Yu’s lack of defense and attack power.

The eight armed satellites around Tianyuan B also joined in the fray, periodically locking onto targets and firing long-range Energy Cannon shells.

Thirty minutes later, the Luka Civilization fleet was reduced to just over 1,200 ships, while Xiao Yu still had more than 36,000 ships.

“At this point… they still won’t reveal their trump card?” Xiao Yu muttered, staring at the desperate but persistent Luka fleet, growing increasingly perplexed.

“Alright, maybe I’m overthinking this,” Xiao Yu tried to reassure himself. “Or perhaps they really don’t have a trump card, and they’re fighting so hard for some other reason, like being forbidden to return home unless they kill me.”

Following this line of thought, Xiao Yu began to speculate.

“Perhaps they misjudged my strength from the start. They’re using the mindset of confronting a sentient civilization to deal with me. But don’t they understand? The biggest difference between a Mechanical Civilization and a Sentient Civilization is that as long as there are sufficient resources, computational power, and development time, a Mechanical Civilization can proliferate infinitely, while a Sentient Civilization cannot.”

“For example, my fleet of 100,000 ships and various bases would require nearly a hundred million humans to operate, all specially trained.”

“Maybe… it’s just their miscalculation,” Xiao Yu consoled himself, but the worry in his heart didn’t fade. Instead, a peculiar sense of unease arose—a sensation of lurking danger, as if he were a hunter in a dark forest being stalked by a tiger hidden behind the trees. This sense of foreboding made him restless, his back cold with sweat.

“Let’s deal with these 1,200 ships first. I don’t care if there’s a hidden threat—eliminating the visible enemy comes first.”

Resolving himself, Xiao Yu cast aside his psychological burdens and focused entirely on the task at hand.

Under Xiao Yu’s assault, the Luka fleet’s ships dwindled rapidly.

In a battlefield resembling a slaughterhouse for ships, every second, ships were mercilessly torn apart and reduced to debris. Azure Energy Cannon blasts streaked through space, and interstellar missiles armed with high-yield hydrogen warheads rained chaos everywhere.

“Finish this quickly,” Xiao Yu decided.

At that moment, Xiao Yu’s surveillance system captured a shocking image.

The footage came from his base at Tianyuan A.

Upon seeing it, Xiao Yu finally understood the source of his sense of danger.

Just as the remaining Luka fleet was about to be completely annihilated, the Luka Civilization finally revealed their trump card.

Xiao Yu had overlooked a critical question: Were these 5,000 ships their entire force?

Previously, Xiao Yu had subconsciously assumed that these 5,000 ships represented the entirety of their strength. However, he had ignored one possibility: What if they had hidden a portion of their forces, using the visible fleet to draw his attention, while launching a surprise attack with the concealed fleet to eliminate him in one swift strike?

Xiao Yu realized that the Luka Civilization, seasoned veterans of countless interstellar wars, could certainly employ such strategies. It wasn’t as if only Xiao Yu could devise clever plans and tactics—why wouldn’t the Luka Civilization do the same?

Was that even possible?

“The Luka Civilization hasn’t mastered Faster-than-Light Travel technology. From my previous intel, it’s clear that exchanging for FTL capabilities within the Guardian Alliance is incredibly expensive. I never expected them to set such a massive trap for me, at such a high cost…”

“Besides the one free FTL transmission opportunity, they redeemed another FTL transmission. Two FTL transmissions—one exit point outside the star system, and one within.”

“The first brought 5,000 ships. The second… I don’t know the exact number yet, but it’s definitely more than the first!”

This was the scene Xiao Yu witnessed.

At Tianyuan A, near his base, just tens of kilometers away, a spatial disturbance appeared. From this spatial anomaly, ships began emerging continuously, seemingly out of thin air. As soon as they materialized, they launched fierce attacks on Xiao Yu’s fleet stationed in orbit around Tianyuan A.

This location was directly below the space-based turrets Xiao Yu had deployed. In other words, the turrets couldn’t target them. Furthermore, due to Tianyuan A’s obstruction, the solar sails couldn’t strike them either.

The only forces capable of engaging them were the 40,000 ships Xiao Yu had stationed at his base. However, these ships weren’t in combat readiness; although their energy reserves were full, their weapons systems weren’t activated, and they carried no miniature nuclear bombs.

In an instant, Xiao Yu found himself in grave peril.

“So this is a surprise attack… I’ve actually been ambushed,” Xiao Yu muttered in disbelief.

More and more enemy ships emerged, their numbers increasing to a staggering 7,000!

At the Tianyuan C defensive line, the Luka fleet had used just 2,500 ships to destroy 20,000 of Xiao Yu’s. In other words, Xiao Yu would need at least 80,000 ships to match the Luka fleet’s strength.

But Xiao Yu had only 40,000 ships, and worse, they were completely unprepared for combat.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep