Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 66: Indestructible
It was now clear that energy cannon projectiles were ineffective—at least, those equipped on County-Class spaceships.
Xiao Yu’s fleet was armed with several types of weapons: high-rate-of-fire autocannons, interstellar missiles, laser cannons, energy cannons, and auxiliary high-energy particle beam weapons.
Since the damage mechanisms of high-energy particle beam weapons were similar to laser cannons, and the laser cannons had proven ineffective, Xiao Yu assumed that high-energy particle beams would also be useless.
“Then let’s try… interstellar missiles!”
Xiao Yu issued the command. The missile launch racks beneath the County-Class spaceship Pingxiang extended, and an interstellar missile carrying a high-yield hydrogen bomb roared forward at several thousand kilometers per second.
In just over a second, the missile reached its target and struck the peculiar droplet-shaped probe. Under Xiao Yu’s precise control, the hydrogen bomb detonated in a massive explosion.
A blinding white flash illuminated space, engulfing the droplet in temperatures of several hundred million degrees.
But when the light faded, Xiao Yu was greeted by an astonishing sight.
The droplet remained completely intact. Its surface was as pristine as ever—no dust, no scorch marks, no sign that it had been affected in any way.
At that moment, Xiao Yu felt an overwhelming urge to collapse. The phenomenon before him defied all understanding. Hundreds of millions of degrees! What kind of material could withstand such temperatures unscathed?
If the droplet had survived the explosion by using an energy shield, that would have been somewhat more acceptable—energy shields, after all, fit within Xiao Yu’s theoretical framework. But the droplet had no visible energy shield; it had relied solely on its own material to withstand the hydrogen bomb.
This could only be described as inconceivable—a miracle.
It was a clear demonstration of an insurmountable technological gap.
“Then… can I really withstand its attacks?” Xiao Yu thought bitterly.
But suddenly, he noticed something unusual. His precise instruments detected that after the hydrogen bomb explosion, the droplet’s speed had briefly decreased—from 100 kilometers per second to 99 kilometers per second. Although it quickly regained its speed, Xiao Yu’s sharp observation didn’t miss the anomaly.
Immediately, Xiao Yu began analyzing the situation.
“It seems… while its outer shell is unbelievably resilient, its kinetic energy isn’t particularly strong! At least, the impact from a single interstellar missile was enough to slow it down!”
“This makes sense. Perhaps they’ve bypassed relativistic limits through some ingenious means to achieve faster-than-light travel, but their conventional propulsion capabilities may not be as advanced.”
Xiao Yu used his vast computational power to conduct war simulations. Gradually, he identified a potential strategy with a slim chance of success:
Bombard it with unlimited kinetic energy weapons to drain its energy reserves. Once its energy is depleted, how could it possibly destroy Xiao Yu?
After all, this was just a probe.
“It’s worth a try!” Xiao Yu concluded.
He immediately ordered all 1,000 ships in Tianyuan C’s orbit to open fire with their high-rate-of-fire autocannons. Millions of bullets swarmed toward the droplet, interspersed with interstellar missiles for added impact.
But the results were disappointing.
Other than a slight wobble caused by the initial bullet barrage, the droplet seemed completely unaffected. Amid the storm of bullets and explosions, the droplet maintained its elegant, almost regal trajectory, steadily advancing toward Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu couldn’t shake the feeling that the droplet was toying with him like a cat playing with a mouse.
“I refuse to believe this!” Xiao Yu roared, issuing a new command.
“Tianyuan C interstellar fortress! Fire all energy cannons at maximum power! Ten volleys! Target: the droplet!”
Tianyuan C, which Xiao Yu had transformed into a war fortress, was equipped with energy cannons far more powerful than those on City-Class spaceships. A ten-cannon barrage from these would unleash unimaginable destructive force.
Xiao Yu couldn’t be sure, but he estimated that a ten-cannon volley could entirely vaporize an asteroid with a 50-kilometer diameter.
Upon issuing the command, ten energy cannons stationed on Tianyuan C’s satellites 3, 6, and 13 simultaneously locked onto the droplet. In an instant, flashes of light burst from the cannon barrels, launching ten energy projectiles at speeds too fast for the naked eye to follow.
In just 0.06 seconds, the projectiles collided with the droplet.
An immense wave of light and heat erupted from the impact, as if a second star had suddenly ignited in space. The brilliance illuminated hundreds of thousands of kilometers around the point of impact.
When the dazzling light finally faded, Xiao Yu realized the droplet was no longer visible.
“Could it have… been vaporized?” Xiao Yu wondered in disbelief. But his hopes were shattered in the next moment.
The droplet reappeared in another direction, still gliding leisurely at 100 kilometers per second toward the inner stellar system.
Its surface was as pristine as ever—smooth, flawless, untouched by dust or any visible damage. The ten-cannon volley had merely knocked it a few thousand kilometers off its original trajectory but had done nothing else.
At that moment, despair gripped Xiao Yu’s heart. But then, a new idea surfaced.
“Its normal cruising speed seems to be capped at 100 kilometers per second! If I maneuver my ships to circle around the star system, at this speed, it won’t be able to catch up to me!”
“In the star system, it seems incapable of faster-than-light travel; otherwise, it would have already destroyed me directly. This plan might be worth a try!”
But just as Xiao Yu entertained the thought, it was ruthlessly crushed.
As if sensing Xiao Yu’s intention, the droplet suddenly accelerated, jumping from 100 kilometers per second to an astonishing 2,000 kilometers per second in less than a second.
Even with the technological advancements Xiao Yu had achieved, including planetary engines, his fastest ships couldn’t exceed 1,500 kilometers per second. Moreover, his most maneuverable Village-Class ships required at least a full minute to accelerate from stationary to their maximum speed. In contrast, the droplet reached 2,000 kilometers per second almost instantly.
This demonstrated an extraordinary level of mobility.
Within moments of accelerating, the droplet shot toward the Pingxiang. It pierced through the ship’s bow and exited through its stern in less than 0.01 seconds, destroying the fusion reactor in the process.
In the next instant, the Pingxiang glowed red like a cooked shrimp before erupting in a fiery explosion.
Next came the Julu, then the Nanhe, the Guangzong, and the Qinghe.
Within a single second, five County-Class ships were annihilated.
The sheer destructive power left Xiao Yu in stunned silence, delaying his response by two precious seconds. When the droplet shifted its attention to the Village-Class and Town-Class ships, Xiao Yu finally snapped out of his daze.
He quickly ordered the remaining ships to scatter, while every autocannon fired relentlessly, and ground-based and space-based turrets on the Tianyuan C interstellar fortress unleashed their full power.
The barrage of bullets momentarily slowed the droplet’s movements but failed to halt its carnage. It continued its assault, relying on its immense kinetic energy and speed to devastate Xiao Yu’s fleet.
Xiao Yu calculated that his fleet of over 4,000 ships would last no more than 30 minutes before being completely wiped out.
He recalled a science fiction novel he had read back on Earth.
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Xiao Yu realized that his current situation was eerily similar to the one described in that story.
In the novel, humanity faced a similar droplet-like entity with near-impenetrable defenses and devastating kinetic energy. The human fleet was almost entirely destroyed, with only a few ships managing to escape due to their superior speed.
But Xiao Yu had no such option. He lacked faster-than-light travel and couldn’t match the droplet’s conventional speed.
“Am I destined to suffer the same fate as in that story, watching my fleet be annihilated by this droplet?” Xiao Yu thought with despair.
“No! I can’t give up hope. Despair is for the dead. As long as I’m alive, there’s still hope! These thousands of ships can buy me 30 minutes. In that time, I must find a way to survive!”
Determined, Xiao Yu began maneuvering his ships closer to the droplet. Although proximity would mean instant destruction, the onboard sensors could still capture crucial data in the milliseconds before annihilation. The collected observations were transmitted back to Xiao Yu for analysis.
In this grim and tragic manner, Xiao Yu meticulously gathered information about the droplet, bit by bit.
“Its outer shell doesn’t belong to any known material. Could it truly be made of what the novel described—strong interaction force material? If that’s the case, I have no chance of victory.”
Xiao Yu felt a wave of hopelessness wash over him.
Materials constructed from strong interaction forces would have atoms fixed in place, arranged with extreme precision and density. Their vibrations would be virtually nonexistent, making them, in a word, indestructible.
In Xiao Yu’s theoretical framework, there was no way to destroy such a material.
And if it couldn’t be destroyed, Xiao Yu’s death was inevitable.
Xiao Yu sank deep into thought.
