by <unknown>
"The enemy's flagship, Burning Prairie, is leading the charge right now and slightly separated from the starships nearby. Should we launch all the Colossi we have to fight together with Black Swirl, hoping to knock down Burning Prairie? We are waiting for your order, commander!"
"The most unorganized, chaotic battle? That's exactly what I'm hoping to see!" Heiye Ming smiled and said, "Ask all the remaining Colossi to run the final tests and be ready to take action at any time. But before that, pass my order to them that the mainframe crystal processors of those Colossi, as well as all the starships and the crystal suits of the Black Wind Fleet, should open all their ports and that everybody must be deeply melted with their crystal processors."
The Chief Advisor of the Black Wind Fleet and the Chief Mate of Black Swirl were both greatly surprised. They found it hard to believe their ears. "W—What? Open all the ports of all the crystal processors? That's really—
"We've been engaged with the enemy for a very long time. The cyberwar of the two parties has reached the climax, too. The interference and invasions to each other are too many to be counted. The ultra-powerful interferential starships are unleashing spiritual and magnetic storms nearby!
"Even with the blockage of the defense rune arrays and the firewalls right now, our tactical network is still being bombarded crazily and may fall into chaos at any moment. If we open all the ports of the Spiritual Nexus, wouldn't we—"
Halfway through his sentence, the Chief Advisor saw Heiye Ming's chilly eyes and then lost his courage to finish the rest of his speech.
"Carry out the order." Heiye Ming patted the Chief Advisor's shoulder softly. Looking at the guy's hesitating eyes, he said, "I will speak to everyone in the Black Wind Fleet."
Even if the highest commander intended to speak to every individual of the whole fleet, it was still unnecessary to open all the ports of all the crystal processors.
However, burnt by Heiye Ming's deep and profound eyes, both the Chief Advisor and the Chief Mate ignored the problem very wisely.
The military law was ruthless. In the world of Immortal Cultivators, no mercy would ever be shown to the weak who defied the orders of the strong.
Heiye Ming's order was soon carried out dutifully. After only one moment, most of the starships of the Imperium as well as the crystal suits and the space shuttles that were offering dazzling performances in space opened all the ports on their crystal processors.
Most of the Immortal Cultivators were in the state of 'Half-Step Grand Illusionary Land' to help themselves fight in the first place. Data and information streams were pouring before their eyes like storms and flooding into their brains incessantly.
Their souls were already deeply melted with the crystal processors. So, not much needed to be changed about that.
"All the ports have been opened. We await your orders, commander!"
The Chief Advisor was very anxious, but his absolute trust in Heiye Ming after hundreds of years of space battles and Heiye Ming's absolute confidence right now still made him complete the work at the highest efficiency.
"Very good. Then, next…" Heiye Ming grinned. His white teeth and his black eyes made a vivid contrast. "Let's welcome our reinforcements!"
Before the Chief Advisor and the Chief Mate understood what 'our reinforcements' meant, an black tide had already surged out of the cabin at the rear of the starship where Lu Qingchen was caged and swept across the entire starship as fast as lightning!
Black Swirl seemed to be tangled and enhanced by black, enormous lightning. Every slave soldier and Immortal Cultivator on the starship was covered in dark mist. Black streaks popped up inside their eyes, which gradually interweaved into what appeared to be a synaptic network and vanished into the depths of their brains!
All their feelings and emotions were rolled up and compressed into the feeble strength named 'tenebrum energy', which stimulated their nerves and brain cells, making their heads clearer, their mind sharper, and their computational ability higher!
Through the fully open Spiritual Nexus, the weird force from the extraterrestrial land swept across the entire fleet within the moment. The same things were happening to every starship and even every Immortal Cultivator who was fighting fiercely in their crystal suit.
Compared to the crew members of the starships, the Exos on the frontline suffered much greater influence. Their desire to kill and destroy were increased infinitely, and large masses of black air spurted out of their nostrils and mouths. By burning their life and soul through the tenebrum energy, they unleashed unparalleled strength, speed, and computational ability!
Lu Qingchen had got the keys to hack the mainframe crystal processor of the starships of the Imperium through Su Changfa's and the star child's memory pieces in the first place.
During the space jump, he had also implanted a lot of tiny 'gifts' in the brains of the crucial figures of the Black Wind Fleet, including Heiye Ming.
After a prolonged battle between the federal fleet and the Black Wind Fleet, everybody was exhausted and had burnt their soul to the limit. They had lost most of their ability to resist.
For a moment, the entire Black Wind Fleet and most of the Immortal Cultivators including the pilots of the Colossi were consumed by the dark mist!
It was not just a common 'arrival of extraterrestrial devils' but a 'tenebrum energy outbreak' carefully planned and controlled by Lu Qingchen. He merely simulated the brains of every Immortal Cultivator through the Spiritual Nexus while controlling all the mainframe crystal processors of the Black Wind Fleet so that their 'limits of exhaustion' would be improved.
They would be more bloodthirsty, violent, and insane, but they did not lose their memories and self-awareness. They could still control the most precise magical equipment and carry out the missions designated to them.
On the battlefield, it was quite a common phenomenon for one to lose their mind briefly after going on a killing spree. Also, since Heiye Ming was supervising the whole battle as the highest commander, nobody would notice the insignificant change at all.
Even if they grew suspicious, what could they do in the middle of such a fierce battle?
But for the federal fleet, it was entirely different.
Right now, the federal fleet and the Black Wind Fleet had been deeply mixed up with each other. The two parties were almost engaged in a close-distance combat.
The hole inside Lu Qingchen's brain was wide open, summoning countless extraterrestrial devils. Other than making an accurate 'tenebrum energy outbreak' within the Black Wind Fleet—greatly boosting the Immortal Cultivators' morale, combat ability, and desire to kill—a lot of invisible devils also lunged at the fleets of the federation!
The fleet of the federation had fully activated the backup network after the previous virus attack and the paralysis of the Spiritual Nexus. It was already highly blocked from the outside world.
But the sturdiness of the backup network was limited. Under the bombardment of the Black Wind Fleet, many loopholes were bound to occur.
Besides, Lu Qingchen did not intend to control the crystal processors of the entire federal fleet. All he needed to do was send out the unsubstantial devils to sneak into the crystal suits, the space shuttles, and the starships of the federation to cast interference to the Cultivators!
"Ah!"
A pilot of the federation who was flying up and down to dodge the enemy's attacks inside a space shuttle suddenly 'saw' a worm that had tusks grown all over its body lurking inside his cockpit and spitting out fatal venom at him. He could not help but cry out and block the attack.
In that momentary distraction, he was already locked onto by the armed shuttles of the Imperium and blown into a fireball.
"This is—"
Another Exo of the federation was fighting the enemy wholeheartedly when he suddenly sensed boundless fear rising from the depths of his brain. His nerves turned so feeble that he almost fled in fear. He could barely hold on to his magical equipment. Naturally, the en
emy took the opportunity and chopped him in half.
The same illusions and horrors were spreading inside the federal fleet like a fatal virus.
Chapter 1813: It Has to Be Blown Up! |
The fearless Exos and pilots of space shuttles became sensitive and vulnerable. All kinds of bizarre creatures from nightmares and the illusions of the deceased family and friends corroded their retinas and brain cells. The keen and calm fire control officers, battle analysts, and magical equipment specialists in the engine compartments on the starships were disturbed, too. Their ears were humming, their vision was clouded, and the world was shaking around them. They were all suffering the symptoms of claustrophobia.
The vastness and darkness of the universe was magnified countless times. They were no longer warriors who were piloting the most magnificent starships of mankind but more like ants that were caged inside metal matchboxes.
Some of the soldiers crouched like babies and sobbed gloomily. Some other people even had bloodshot eyes and grim faces, with black air flowing around their heads and bodies. Thick, black liquids ran out of their facial organs before they bawled and gnawed crazily.
The determined charge previously became hesitant and sluggish. The well-organized battle formation of starships was disrupted, too. Somebody even cut into somebody else's sailing route when they were retreating under the overwhelming fear. When the starships were moving at more than one percent the speed of light, it was terribly difficult for them to alter the sailing route quickly. As a result, a lot of starships of the federation crashed into each other or even entered the area of friendly fire by accident.
The bullets of spiritual energy could change course, but the high-energy mystic rays' course could not change. To make matters worse, while the starships of the federation were performing ugly emergency evasions, the Black Wind Fleet's attacks that were ten times more violent and dense than before swept over like a storm.
The entire federal fleet seemed to be restrained by an enormous aura of fear. If one observed the battlefield with a special lens, they would see countless devils that looked like jellyfish, specters, and shooting stars on the battlefield tying up the crystal suits and space shuttles of the federation, before the monsters crawled into the equipment quickly through gaps that were torn open by the enemy's fire.
With one side rising and the other side declining, the situation was reversed again.
The 'arrival of extraterrestrial devils' that Lu Qingchen had summoned was just a momentary outburst. The energy level of the devils was very low, and they could barely be called real 'energy life'. They could do nothing except slightly activate the fear and other negative emotions in one's heart and create minor chaos.
However, on a battlefield where the two parties were at an impasse, such chaos was enough to decide the outcome of the battle and the life and death of everyone involved.
The Black Wind Fleet's overall capabilities were no lower than the federal fleet's in the first place. It was just that the federation had taken the initiative in the battle, and they had to take care of the defenseless star beacon troop in the rear. They were not free to fight the way they wanted. That was why they had been stopped and suppressed.
The chaos caused by the arrival of the extraterrestrial devils, on the other hand, gave them a precious opportunity to catch their breath and ripped gaps that looked like abysses inside the federal fleet.
Heiye Ming was too experienced to let go of such a rare opportunity.
The Immortal Cultivators whose brain cells were filled by the desire to sabotage, destroy, and slaughter carried out the order of their commander dutifully and surged toward the 'gaps' like lunatics.
Countless crystal suits and space shuttles of the federation were destroyed in an instant. Without their protection, the clumsy starships of the federation immediately became the most succulent meat.
The Exos of the Imperium swarmed through the federation's sparse fire net fearlessly like a bunch of locusts. They stuck themselves to the shells of the federal fleets. Fireballs expanded soundlessly one after another, and the composite plate armor several meters thick blossomed like orange flowers.
The Exos of the Imperium flooded in. The cruel boarding battles began!
'Never allow a war to take place in one's own territory'—that was the ultimate truth for every general that had passed on for thousands of years. In terms of space battles, it meant that the boarding battles must not be fought on one's own starships because, whether the boarding battles were won or not, the starships would definitely be destroyed internally.
The performance of the crystal suits of the Imperium was higher than the federation's in the first place. The Immortal Cultivators' insanity, violence, and fearlessness were among the top tier in the whole universe, too. Even if they were annihilated in the starships of the federation, they would still detonate all their crystal bombs, their super-compressed crystal reactor, and even themselves before their death.
'Self-detonation' was a tactic that was well elaborated on in the tutorials for the middle- and high-level officers of the Imperium. Real Immortal Cultivators were certainly no cowards!
An irreversible chain reaction began.
The two parties were too deeply mixed up with each other to break away from the battlefield and regroup. They could only grit their teeth and fight the bloody battle to the end no matter how chaotic the battle was.
Tremendous crystal suits and space shuttles on the federation's side were destroyed. Without their protection, it was barely possible to prevent the groups of crystal suits of the Imperium from invading the starships of the federation.
After starships were destroyed one after another from inside, they could provide less and less fire support for the crystal suits and space shuttles at the front, and it was more unlikely to stop the massacre.
In the end, although the influence of the arrival of extraterrestrial devils was gradually negated, and the soldiers of the federal army gradually broke free from the aura of fear, the Black Wind Fleet was already on the winning side of the battle!
"How is this happening?"
Ding Lingdang, who was piloting the Draconic Phoenix as the arrowhead of the assault team of Colossi; Bai Kaixin, who was commanding the battle on Burning Prairie; Bai Xingjian on Infinite Fire; and Jin Xinyue, who had just arrived in space with the reinforcements from the ground, were all caught in brief bewilderment.
With their Cultivation and determination, the ranged attacks of the devils could barely affect them.
However, the appearance of the devils and their obviously discriminative attack on only the fleet of the federation implied the most dreadful fact.
"The Black Wind Fleet has joined hands with the extraterrestrial devils!"
Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, Bai Kaixin, Bai Xingjian, and everybody in the highest command center on the ground felt their hearts fall into a bottomless cave of ice.
The extraterrestrial devils were not rare in the universe. In most cases, they were just a minor harassment. Even though the Flying Star Sector in the past had suffered a lot from the arrival of the extraterrestrial devils, mankind's government of the Flying Star Sector had never been shaken.
In other worlds, despite the occasional incidents of attack, they had never really posed a real threat.
Ever since the arrival of extraterrestrial devils in the tenth space ring of Heavenly Saints City in the Flying Star Sector more than a hundred years prior, the extraterrestrial devils had never caused any major trouble. Everybody thought that the soil in which the extraterrestrial devils grew had been removed after the New Federation was founded and the society grew more positive and promising, and that the extraterrestrial devils had left the bright land for good.
None of them expected the extraterrestrial devils to choose to show up at such a critical time.
Although the devils were not so strong by themselves and could easily be ripped into shreds by weapons of mystic rays and interferential magical equipment, one mome
nt of chaos that they caused was enough to declare the doom of the entire federation!
"Look at the back of the Black Wind Fleet!"
On the bridges of Burning Prairie and Infinite Fire, in the highest command center on the ground, and inside Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue, and other people's communication channel, desperate cries were echoing at the same time.
On the Imperium's side, taking advantage of the vacuum created by the chaos and the destruction of tremendous starships of the federation just now, the most elite forces of the Black Wind Fleet, led by Black Swirl, were finally unfolded into a solid battle formation. Like dozens of glittering tusks, they joined the same location from all directions.
Behind those 'tusks', one star beacon after another spurted out bright exhaust flames before they attached to and combined with each other as if they were pulled by invisible hands.
The enormous force field continued expanding, enshrouding all the star beacons. The star beacons were flashing in a fixed rhythm as if they were breathing and were soon adjusted to the same frequency.
The assembly of the space gate of the Black Wind Fleet had begun.
Once the assembly was completed, it would send signals to the brown dwarf dozens of lightyears away and navigate the main force of the Black Wind Fleet to arrive!
Before, the Big Bai Fleet had been marching in and out of the enemy's rear time and time again to stop the assembly of the space gate.
But the Big Bai Fleet was under the scourge of countless devils, too, and was quite devastated by the crystal suits and space shuttles of the Imperium that came at them quickly. It was more like they were fleeing than fighting at this moment.
The Big Bai Fleet had been engaged in the battle under the enemy's siege for too long and was reaching its limits in every respect. Despite the brilliant command of Bai Xingjian, it was impossible for him to summon more starships, crystals, and ammunition out of thin air, heal the soldiers' wounds and fatigue in a moment, or repair the starships that were shaking and riddled with holes to make them as good as new!
