Chapter 375: Indiscriminate Attack!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After the Hope escaped from the Shelter, humanity had a clear view of how great the damage was. The giant Shelter had lost its shape and was crumbling into pieces. Due to its self-rotating centrifugal force, the cracks kept spreading and a large part of the Shelter had broken off from the core. There was large debris shooting into s.p.a.ce from the decompression of air leakage, and this Shelter was officially a s.p.a.ce ruin.
However, this situation was within expectations, or else the Gravity Cannon would not have been a weapon used by high tier s.p.a.ce civilizations. This was a technology that involved at least a mid-tier s.p.a.ce civilization! Of course, the exhaustion of energy was indeed a bit too much…
Following the Hope"s departure from the Shelter, they instantly discovered the many unique differences of the Shelter. After the creator"s particle was activated, within its range, those that did not have a creator"s particle isolator would be paralyzed. On the surface of the Shelter, there were many spots that glowed like stars in s.p.a.ce. These spots were obviously the places that contained creator"s particle isolators. They could be the energy center or life support system for escape pods. Regardless, these were all targets for the s.p.a.ce Combat Jet Prototype 011s!
Just as Yao Yuan ordered, all of the s.p.a.ce Combat Jets started attacking indiscriminately in units of three after they left the Hope. All of the places that still had lights obviously had power sources, and these were the targets for the s.p.a.ce Combat Jets. Even though the Shelter was huge, as big as a real planet, with the s.p.a.ce Combat Jets" travelling speed, the 300 plus jets had surrounded the Shelter in less than a few minutes. Giant explosions were happening all over it.
In contrast to the s.p.a.ce Combat Jet Prototype 011s, the Hope had completely hidden itself in the darkness of s.p.a.ce using the ECS system. As long as the Hope did not launch an active attack, there was no worry of being discovered. If there was a large mothership that escaped destruction and the s.p.a.ce Combat Jets could do no harm to it, then the Hope could fire another shot from the Gravity Cannon from the dark to ruin it.
Just as the s.p.a.ce Combat Jets were attacking the Shelter indiscriminately, there was chaos inside the Hope, especially in the department that held the reactors. Several thousand workers and technicians were trying their best to fix and salvage the broken down reactors.
"New error discovered on the eighth reactor. From live inspection, it seems to be related to the heavy isotope condensation mechanism. The technician requests that the Workshop sends a few specialists over."
The busiest of the people gathered at the reactors were naturally the workers. However, the ones with the most pressure were the technicians. Half of them were new interns that had just graduated from Hope University, while the half leading them were the experienced technicians. They were all treasured by the Hope. Of course, there were also a few survivors from the Noah One. Their knowledge was deep and their techniques were stable. Even though they were temporarily in the ranks of interns, that was only because they were still learning the ropes. This operation was the perfect opportunity for them to improve themselves.
"Emergency repair for the 11th reactor is complete. The engineering team is trying to repower it as we speak…"
"It has been confirmed that the third reactor cannot be repaired on the fly. To prevent possible explosion, the engineering team is hoping that we can shut it down. At least until we have enough free time, the reactor is not to be used again."
"The inspection on the central energy source is complete. It is working fine and can continue to support a high function…"
A great deal of information travelled to the engineering team, and after a.n.a.lysis, the information was sent back to the various task forces dealing with the individual reactors. At the same time, the information was also sent to central command so that the high officials there could come up with the respective solutions.
"Things are not looking so great…"
Inside central command, Guang Zheng looked at the information on screen and sighed. "The Gravity Cannon has ruined half of our reactors. Currently, the Hope can only maintain the Gravity Cannon for another 30 seconds if we wish to fire another shot… Ol" Yao, you"re not really planning to demolish this Shelter, are you?"
Yao Yuan shook his head and said calmly, "I"m not that crazy. We might have been able to destroy the Shelter and it might have seemed that even level 3 s.p.a.ce civilization was no match for us, but that is not true… We merely capitalized on the element of surprise, a surprise attack and a surprise weapon. To be frank, I"m still sweating. One wrong move and humanity would"ve been over. However, I am thankful for this Gravity Cannon…
"Don"t worry, we just need to defend ourselves for another 24 hours and then we can leave this solar system using warp drive and head towards the fringe of this solar system…"
Guang Zhen understood the intention behind Yao Yuan"s words. He was afraid that the Hope would be pursued during warp drive. He agreed with it, which was why he asked that question early. He was worried Yao Yuan might act too rashly… Normally, Guang Zhen would never worry Yao Yuan might lose his sensibility, but in recent times, the man had suffered from one too many grievances, so the occasional rash decision, especially following a win, was not impossible. However, as the leader of humankind, the hand leading the race of humanity, even one rash decision was not permissible!
However, if Yao Yuan really acted rashly…
Guang Zhen scratched his nose and felt greatly comforted. It was then that he heard a voice that was barely above a whisper.
"Ol" Wong… It"s still the same thing. If I lose my sensibility one day and act outside of the greater interest of humanity, then you must replace me, just like how you took over the Black Star Unit. This is my order and my promise to you!"
At the same time, the Black Star Troopers were fighting at their maximum capacity. Even though the Shelter was breaking apart, it was still ridiculously huge. As the Troopers surrounded the Shelter, it was hard for people to use the naked eye to follow the Troopers. If not for the constant explosions and Xi Kong, who was using the soul web to detect the number of h.o.m.o Evolutis, perhaps even the Hope would have a hard time taking account of these Black Star Troopers.
After two hours of indiscriminate attacking, the first batch of alien s.p.a.ceships finally appeared from the Shelter"s ruins. From their appearance, these s.p.a.ceships were already broken down and most of them were smaller s.p.a.ceships. The biggest among them was the most broken down. One-third of its body was twisted like a pretzel, but it could still fly, which was quite impressive.
Of course, even the biggest s.p.a.ceship was still smaller than the Hope. If it was slightly bigger, then it would have been torn apart by the tidal force.
The first batch of s.p.a.ceships had around 30 ships. They escaped through the giant cracks of the Shelter, and a mess of smaller combat jets came out from some ships. The number of those was in the thousands. They showcased the presence special to a s.p.a.ce civilization. Their numbers weren"t high, and this was because they were attacked by the Gravity Cannon. If the alien civilization had their normal numbers, the fleet would be more than several ten thousand in size.
When the first combat jets escaped from the Shelter, the s.p.a.ce Combat Jets that were waiting in s.p.a.ce started firing heavy Gaussian spiral bullets that tore through the alien s.p.a.ceships" electromagnetic shields easily. They exploded in a great show of lightning and fire in s.p.a.ce, and the source of the bullets had flashes of a combat jet.
This was because the s.p.a.ce Combat Jet Prototype 011s who were in the ECS system had started attacking. Even though they would be revealed the moment they attacked, the pilots were all h.o.m.o Evolutis, and high speed strafe attacks were their speciality. Furthermore, every h.o.m.o Evolutis had a certain degree of danger sense. In other words, as long as they could take down the shield, even when faced with a level 3 s.p.a.ce civilization"s combat jet, the s.p.a.ce Combat Jet Prototype 011 still had the obvious advantage!
Just like that, following the emergence of alien s.p.a.ceships, the s.p.a.ce Combat Jet Prototype 011s started to gather. Equipped with the latest Gaussian weapons, the s.p.a.ce Combat Jets could take down these s.p.a.ceships that were trying to escape the Shelter without taking any damage in return.
However, this was only the first batch. Next, more and more alien s.p.a.ceships peeked through the Shelter"s cracks, and the number was climbing into the thousands…